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In retrospect, Monoma has a natural hatred for all the kids in Class 2A. He can't help it that every time they walk past each other in the hallways that his mouth automatically spews out rude, cruel and hurtful things. He does, however, do it in good fun, just to get a rise out of the opposing class and to make them retaliate. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and sometimes Kendou will knock Monoma out before he could finish his tirade.
Until one fateful day, everything changed. Everyone gathered at Ground Beta for training. Aizawa and Vlad King decided it would be a good idea to have classes 2A and 2B battle each other, just to get themselves prepared for the real world of heroes, super villains, and the glorious things that come with it. All of the students were suited up in their hero gear, some having modified their costumes to better suit their quirks, some have stayed the same. Monoma noticed that Izuku has changed his costume quite a bit, the other having a black suit with dark green lines running down the sides of the suit. He even changed out his signature red sneakers for black combat boots.
Let's be honest here, Monoma thinks, it was time for Midoriya to give up those shoes. Aizawa claps his hands once to get the students' attention. "Alright, let's get started. As you all have probably speculated by now, both classes will be battling each other. However, if I see unfair fights or hear slander of any kind, you will be washing the floors, the ceilings in every room, and the chalkboards to three weeks. Now, to get into the specifics of what is going to happen, I'll let Vlad explain that."
Vlad King nods his head. "Right. Aizawa mentioned this type of exercise has been done last year with just 1A, but we will do it again. One person from each class will be paired to fight another pairing. One pair will be villains, and the other will be heroes. There will be a device that the villains will have to protect and the heroes would have to retrieve. No one truly wins or anything like that, but you do get credits from attempting the exercise.
"Let's get to the drawings. The first pair, who will be the heroes, are Izuku and Monoma. The villains will be Jirou Kyouka and Itsuka Kendou. You will have fifteen minutes to complete the exercise." Vlad King continues down the list of students. Really? I'm paired with the problem child. Great, freaking great, Monoma thinks. By some godforsaken deity, Kendou knows exactly what Monoma is thinking, and smacks him hard upside the head.
Once the other pairings are given and the students break off into their pairs, Izuku comes up to Monoma, smiling. "Hey, Monoma. Looks like we're paired up for this exercise. We should probably go over a few strategies and see what would be the best route." Izuku continues to beam at Monoma, and it's hard to tell if the sun is shining harder or Izuku's teeth are just that white. With five minutes left to prepare for the exercise, Izuku and Monoma sit down on the ground to discuss strategies. "I have a pretty good idea of what 2B's quirks are, so it shouldn't be hard to come up with something."
"If Kendou is the villain, then her big fist quirk will pummel not only her own partner, but the both us. Class 2B is amazing if I do say so myself," Neito flares a flamboyant hand, his expression nonchalant.
Izuku chuckles. "I'll take your word for it. But we'd have to think about Jirou's quirk too, and she'd probably make it hard to reach to where they're keeping the device safe. Regardless of that, your copy quirk can hold someone else's power for ten minutes at most. Then again, I wonder if you can contain the quirk and not starting the time clock and then when the time counts, then you could start using it but I don't know if that's even possible-" Izuku starts to mutter, Monoma leaning in to hear what he's saying before Izuku sits upright, and snapping his fingers. "I got it!"
Monoma blinks. "Got what?"
Izuku looks at Monoma with the eagerness of a child in a toy store. "I have about two plans that'll work. One of which will require a lot of begging. So, here's what we'll do..."
{x}
"Alright the time for the exercise starts...now." Vlad King says over the intercom in the watch room, the other students gathered around to watch the others through the various screens. Izuku and Monoma make their way through the building, looking around the corners before walking down the hallways. Monoma trails after Izuku, sighing. "Are you sure these plans are going to work?"
"As sure as I'll ever be, but I'm one hundred percent certain that your keen intelligence skills will come in handy for us." Izuku says, the two students climbing up the stairs.
That strokes Monoma's ego. He smiles proudly. "Well, of course my keen intelligence skills will come in handy, I am one of the best and got into one of the best schools in the country."
Izuku chuckles again. "Yeah, you remind me of Kacchan when you talk like that. Then again, you don't like much of 2A, do you?"
"Absolutely not, not after all the things you've put the school through. The money, the numerous press conferences and the villainous attacks, we'd at least deserve a break by now," Monoma scoffs.
They're about a floor away from reaching the 'villains' on the top floor. Izuku shrugs his shoulders. "If we're still here after all of that, it shows that we're strong and that we can handle anything thrown our way."
"Like that piece of the wall coming your way?"
"Huh?" Monoma tackles Izuku, the said piece of wall flying above them and hitting the other side of the floor. Izuku's eyes widen. "Shit, they're more prepared than I thought. That scared the crap out of me."
Monoma crawls off of Izuku and sends him an incredulous look. "You mean to tell me that although you've been through a USJ Attack, fought numerous villains, went through what was basically World War Three, got attacked when we went to the camp over the summer, that a fucking piece of a wall was one that scared you the most?" He rolls his eyes, and goes to stand up.
Izuku stands up after him, dusting himself off. "Yeah well, if you went through what we went through, then maybe you'd understand what we're coming from."
"I understand that you made the other students looks like pussies, that's what I understand." Monoma bites back. "Alright, so when should we use the first plan?"
"When we get close enough to the others. Also, please make sure that you don't blow everything up in the process. I would like to not go to the nurse after this."
Monoma snorts. "You're practically a regular. You have your own bed and everything."
"True." Once they make it to the top floor, Izuku and Monoma hide behind the wall, making sure that they can't be seen. Izuku turns to Monoma. "Okay, you've used this quirk before, so it shouldn't be difficult to make a diversion to get to the device. Once we have it, we win. Ready?"
Monoma nods, and walks out into the open, showing himself to Kendou and Jirou. He holds his arms out in a lazy, confident gesture. "Ladies, ladies! I give up, you win. You're both guarding the device, so there's no need for me to even try."
Kendou squints at Monoma. "What's the catch?" She and Jirou get themselves ready to fight, just in case.
Monoma shakes his head. "There's no catch, ladies. I just want to give you all a big round of applause." He brings his hands to together in a hard, loud clap, and the copied quirk activates, a big explosion going off in the air, smoke filling the floor and Kendou and Jirou lose sight of the others. "Now, Midoriya!"
Midoriya activates his Blackwhip, and pulls Monoma out of the way in exchange of propelling himself forward, grabbing the device and securing himself around it. "We got it!"
Kendou and Jirou cry out in mock agony. "No!" And the heroes win the day, yet again. Izuku holds the massive device with one hand over his head, making a fist with the other. "We did it!"
Monoma fist-bumps him back. "You mean I did it. I practically saved our butts."
"Yes, of course. You were amazing today, Monoma. Nice work!"
Izuku smiles brightly at him, and something in Monoma's chest revels at the sight. They reach the outside of the building, and Izuku yells out, "Thanks, Kacchan for letting us borrow your quirk!"
"You're not doing that shit again, but it's whatever," Katsuki gruffly says, and Izuku laughs. As the others do their exercises, Monoma doesn't see Izuku in the room with the other students, but outside the door, talking to All Might with a serious expression on his face. Izuku's gaze flickers over to Monoma, who flinches at being caught, and turns around to watch the camera monitors.
A few weeks later, Monoma notices the little changes at U.A. Nothing in particular, but he just notices that Class 2A meshes with 2B, some of them sitting at lunch together, chatting with each other outside of classes, and Monoma wonders if it was always like this, and he just didn't notice. At lunch, Monoma grabs his usual food, setting it on his tray and walking through the crowded room. "Hey, Monoma! Over here!" Monoma looks around to find the voice, seeing a hand waving at him, and the said hand belonging to Izuku himself.
Monoma comes over to the table, putting on his usual smirk. "To what do I owe the pleasure of talking to you scoundrels? I know my presence is a gift and everything, but I don't see why you would want me to come over to your table of misfits."
Izuku shrugs his shoulders. "Well, I was just wondering if you'd like to sit with us, that's all. You usually sit by yourself, so I wanted to extend our group table to you!"
Monoma is sure that Izuku meant well when he said that, but something about that rubbed Monoma the wrong way. He scoffs. "Please, I don't need sorry handouts. You must think of me as weak, or pathetic or something. For your information, I am happy to sit by myself. Hmph." With that, Monoma leaves a stuttering Izuku, and walks out of the cafeteria. The moment Monoma gets outside, he halts in his steps. Did I really need to react like that? God, Monoma, think before you speak. No wonder you don't have many friends to sit with. Monoma sighs, and continues to walk towards the large oak tree, sitting under the shade and praying over his food before diving in.
Izuku comes out of the school, and spots Monoma. He shyly walks up to him. "Hey, Monoma, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings or anything like that. I just thought you'd want to sit with us at our table, is all. I'm sorry if I said something wrong." He rubs the back of his neck. "To be honest, I only offered was because of the fact that I want to become friends, that's all."
Monoma rolls his eyes, keeping his gaze on his food. "I highly doubt that. You could be using me to learn about my weaknesses and to use them against me or whatever. I'm not stupid."
"I'm not saying that you are, but what I am saying is that I'm not going to exploit you for you quirk. That's not who I am at all, ask anyone." Izuku plops down next to Monoma, and Monoma smells the faintest scent of clean linen from the other. "Monoma, I honestly really just want to chat and to know you better. After our exercise a couple of weeks ago, I think that we can become really great friends. At least, if we try."
There's the hopefulness in the fucker's voice. Monoma makes the mistake of looking up to see Izuku's puppy dog eyes trained on him. He sighs, setting down his chopsticks. "Fine, alright. Sure, we can be friends or whatever." He nearly chokes on his rice when Izuku erupts into cheers and hugs the blonde.
Izuku lets go of him, and clambers to stand. "Since we are now friends as of now, I will sit out here and eat lunch with you, because that's what friends do. Be right back!" Izuku runs back into the school to get his things, and Monoma can't help the little smile that grows on his face.
{x}
Soon, it's the wintertime, which also means it's around Exam Week at U.A. Everyone has been stressed out about certain classes and certain subjects and getting study groups together. Monoma sits at his desk, idly twisting his pen in his hand while the other is resting against his palm, when someone comes up to him, tapping him on the top of his head. Monoma looks up to see Izuku standing before him with a grin on his face. "Hello, Midoriya. What're you doing here?"
"Well, everyone is heading back to the dorms to start prepping for finals and such. My friends are already branched off into different study groups, and quite frankly, they can't really help me in the subjects I need more tutoring on, so I came to you, because I figured you can help me study and vice versa!" Izuku explains. Over the course of a short few months, Monoma has really grown to kind of like Izuku.
If by like, you mean Monoma not meaning to count the freckles on Izuku's face, his heart skipping a beat whenever Izuku texts him or calls him about random things like hero stuff, Monoma finding himself looking forward to the small lunch dates on weekends and sometimes during lunch at school while also having deep conversations about the meaning of life and sneaking out of the dorms to go sky gazing like two BL characters in a thought-out manga/anime. Then yes, Monoma has grown to like Izuku in that way.
Monoma nods his head, putting the pen in his book bag. "Alright, I'll help study with you, what subjects do you need help in?"
"Computer science, Creative Writing and French. I would've asked Denki to help me, but he's getting tutored by Kacchan, so I let him be. I would've also asked Aoyama to help me in French, but he's too busy catching up in the other subjects." They walk out of the school building and back to the dorms, breaking off to go to their own rooms to change into more comfortable clothes. "I'll text you when I'm ready to come over."
"Alright," Monoma says, waving goodbye to Izuku with a small smile on his face, the smile immediately fading when he turns around to see Tetsutetsu and Shinsou smirking at him. He rolls his eyes. "Get out of my way."
"Aww, no need to get insecure, bro! We think it's great that you and Midoriya are finally getting along!" Tetsu exclaims, plopping down on the couch.
Monoma raises an eyebrow. "We've always gotten along."
"It was more so Midoriya being a good person while you thought everyone is out to get you," Shinsou points out, taking a sip of his water. "Besides, I've seen the longing looks you've been giving him."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Oh, yes you do. We've all seen it. The staring, the small smiles that are different from your arrogant smirks. You're whipped for Izuku Midoriya, and you know it." Shinsou says, sitting down next to Tetsu, kicking his feet up and resting them on the small coffee table.
Monoma blinks. "Have I really been that obvious?"
"Not really, but me and Shinsou know you like the back of our hand. It's not something major that everyone in the class can see." Tetsu reassures him. "You should tell him how you feel?"
Monoma shakes his head. "After only what, six months of knowing each other? He would think I'm being too forward, and it would get awkward if I say something."
"So you'd rather wait and put yourself through all that pining bullshit, watching other people try to ask him out and watching him date other people and all that, when there's a fifty percent chance he may like you back."
"Wow, way to make me feel so much better, you two. You two deserve a fucking award for the year." Monoma sighs. "Look, I'm not going to waste a good friendship with him over some silly crush. If I need to tell him, I will."
"Alright. But whether you tell him tonight or in two years, at least you got it out of your system."
"Yeah." And Monoma heads up the stairs.
{x}
"You cancel out that side of the equation because we already found the missing number for it, so you plug it into the next variable and you'll have your answer." Monoma instructs Izuku, the two sitting on Monoma's bed. It's a miracle that Monoma isn't floundering around like some lovesick idiot (which, he totally is), and given with how close their proximity is, Monoma doesn't think his heart can handle it.
"Thank you so much! It's really hard trying to wrap my brain around this stuff. I'm jealous of your brain. It must hurt carrying all that knowledge up there." Izuku jokes.
Monoma laughs. "Nah, computer science just deals a lot with numbers. I just happen to like math more than the average person, so it's easy for me to do the problems. Speaking of problems, that was the last one you needed help on. We already did your writing homework, so let's do that subject and if you want, we could chill or something."
"Alright! Well, I understand French and I can translate it pretty well, but I'm having a hard time pronouncing this phrase." Izuku pulls out the sheet and gives it to Monoma.
Monoma looks it over. "Ah, okay. So, the phrase is Je t’aime beaucoup. It means 'You mean a lot to me'. It could be used for anything; it doesn't necessarily have to do deal with love or anything like that. Here, try and say the phrase."
"I'm gonna sound stupid," Izuku mutters.
"Probably, but maybe you're overthinking it. C'mon, try to say it. Je t'aime beaucoup. Your turn."
Izuku clears his throat, before softly trying to say the phrase. "Je...je t-t'aime...nope, I can't do it, I sound way too ridiculous." Izuku sighs, resting his cheek against his hand.
Monoma flicks him in the forehead. "You're a freaking hero in training for god-sakes. If you can lift eighty cars with one hand then you're able to say a simple phrase in French. Try again."
"Alright, alright...je t'aime beaucoup?"
Monoma smiles. "See? That wasn't so hard, right? Say it again, and I'll repeat the phrase back to you."
"Je t'aime beaucoup."
"Je t'aime beaucoup."
Izuku stumbles over saying it again, and Monoma has his hands on Izuku's cheeks, forcing him to say the word correctly. "Je t'aime beaucoup?"
"Nice, good job. Was that the only word you needed help with or was there another one?"
Izuku shakes his head. "Nope, it was just the one, but I do want to say something to you in French, and please tell me if you understand."
Monoma frowns. "Okay, yeah. Good ahead."
Izuku pulls out his phone, going to the notes section and pulling something up that was probably pre-written before their study session. "O-okay. Ahem... Je sais que nous ne nous connaissons pas depuis longtemps. Mais j'ai vraiment le béguin pour toi, Monoma. J'espère que vous ressentez la même chose." A blushing mess, Izuku puts his phone away, biting his lip in nervousness. "D-did you understand what I said?"
Monoma just stares at Izuku, stunned. Izuku averts his gaze. Monoma raises his hand, resting it against Izuku's cheek, and leans in to plant a sweet kiss to Izuku's soft lips, butterflies going crazy in his stomach when Izuku starts to kiss him back.
Monoma pulls back. "I like you too, Midoriya. I really, really like you."
Izuku breathlessly giggles, and pecks Monoma's lips one more time. "I'm really happy."
Monoma drags him close for a hug. "Me too."