Work Text:
Izuku could never get behind love. Romantic and sexual love, to be precise. Izuku knew that he was aroace, but never thought to share it with anybody. He could always brush it off with, “I’m busy,” or “I’m not looking for a relationship.” He already used it with his mom, and it worked fine.
Not that he doesn’t think she won’t support him, but he just doesn’t want to explain it to her.
But he still wanted to know what ‘love’ was. He could get behind platonic, queerplatonic, and familial love, but anything else just made him confused.
In middle school, he overheard his classmates always talking about “oh yeah their hot” or, “I’d date them, they're my type.” It just never made sense.
And now he’s in high school, and it seems like everybody else has the same mindset. Sure, he could see why someone was ‘hot’ or ‘attractive’, but that was just aesthetic attraction. He wouldn’t actually want to date them or… get intimate with them, but he could see why others might.
And it’s not even like he was sheltered. He was left alone on the internet for hours at time, since he can remember. You don’t just be on the internet that long without seeing some sort of weird stuff.
But no, because he never could grasp what ‘love’ was, he was just seen as sheltered or a ‘cinnamon roll’. The latter of the two was okay, but some people made it seem like that was his whole personality. And its happened several times, with different people.
//
1.
All of class 1-A (or were they class 2-A now?) were having a slumber party in the common room, to celebrate summer break. All of them were supposed to be asleep right now, but instead most of the class was playing truth or dare. (Bakugou and Iida were the only ones who weren’t playing)
Currently, it was Mina’s turn. “Ok… Mido! Truth or dare!”
Dares got kinda crazy with Mina so… “Truth.”
“Who’s your crush~” She waggled her eyebrows along with sing-songing her words.
But what should he say? Nothing? No, she’d think he was just hiding a crush… And he really didn’t want to say any of his friends…
No answer it was. “Oh uh- sorry Mina but I don’t have a crush! Just no interested in anybody.”
Mina sat up straighter. “Oh come on, you can tell us!”
“... Mina I’m not lying, I just don’t have one.” Mina slouched back down. “Finnnee. But now its your turn!”
Thankfully, everyone let it go, and the game continued. (He did feel someone’s eyes on him for the rest of the night, but it was probably just Mina…)
//
2.
Earlier, Aizawa-sensei had announced during the beginning of homeroom that today was going to be different. He also had said something about a guest who was late, and then slunk down into his sleeping bag. So now him and the rest of his classmates were just waiting (and some of them quietly chatting) for this ‘guest’.
The mood very much changed when Midnight-sensei burst into the classroom. “Hey kids~ So where’s Shout-”
Aizawa raised his hand out of his sleeping bag. “I’m here. Do whatever. Class, your having a-” He grimaced. “Reproductive and Sex Class.” About half of the class now had some amount of blush on their face.
Midnight-sensei grinned. “Mhm! So- lets get started~” Now almost everyone in the class either had blush on their face, looked embarrassed, or were a mixture of both. And when he says almost everyone, he means everyone but him.
He knows he’s not embarrassed right now, and if he were blushing, he’d feel the hotness in his cheeks. Oh. This was another ‘love’ thing, wasn’t it? Oh well.
Hopefully Midnight-sensei would do a better job than his middle school, who just put boys in one room, girls in another, and had them watch literal decades old videos. To be fair it was UA, so they’d probably try to make anything related to the school good. So maybe it’d teach something to him or his classmates.
Yet, after two whole hours of Midnight-sensei teaching, Izuku had learned nothing. He knew all this, and he wasn’t even trying to be cocky. He just knew all this, and he was getting boring.
“Okay, that’s all for the reproduction bit… Does anybody have any questions before we move onto the other thing?~” If his class blushed one more time, he was sure that they’d pass out from blood rushing to their heads so many times.
Kaminari was the first to raise his hand. “So… people with… uterus’s have eggs. Eggs that make a baby… if a sperm… touches and goes inside it…?” He was pausing and blushing furiously the whole time he asked his question.
Midnight-sensei hummed. “Yep! Any other questions?” Nobody spoke. “Well time to move on I guess!~” Izuku almost slammed his head on his desk as everyone got squirmy and blushed. Again.
Another hour later, and class was dismissed for lunch. (They weren’t done with the day though, sadly) His classmates absolutely did not stay in their friend groups, and they’d probably sit alone at lunch. Not that’d he know. He by chance had packed a lunch for that day, and had decided to eat in the classroom.
Unlucky though, his two teachers had the same decision as him. They kept glancing back at him, and talking in whispers, but he didn’t mind. He just kept reading an article about a new debuting hero, and eating his bento.
As he was debating which notebook he should the debuting hero’s analysis, Aizawa-sensei coughed to get his attention. “Midoriya.”
Odd. “Yes?”
Midnight-sensei put her arm over Aizawa-sensei’s. “Don’t mind Shouta, we were just wondering how you were dealing with today.” Oh. They probably just noticed that he was the only one not blushing.
“Why wouldn’t I be fine?”
“Well we were just wondering kiddo!” Oh well. (and thankfully the rest of the day passed without any more complications)
//
3.
Well… This was awkward. Uraraka asking him to follow her already making him start to dread the worst. And when she lead him to a pretty secluded place, with tons of flowers? Only confirming him what was probably happening.
And of course, the confirmation only took a few seconds to happen. Uraraka was confessing to him. Like a romantic one. She’d asked him on a date. They’d probably sat in silence for more than a minute by now.
“Um. Well.”
“You don’t like me back.” Uraraka was now looking dejected. Shoot.
“No! Well- yes?” Fuck it. “I’m aroace so… yeah, sorry about that.”
“Huh?” At least she didn’t look like a kicked puppy anymore.
“I’m aroace. So… Oh! You remember the end Midnight-sensei’s class?” Uraraka nodded. “Well, kinda like how other people can be gay or lesbian, I’m aroace. But I just don’t… feel romantic or sexual attraction so…”
“Oh! Oh no, I get it! I’m sorry!” She almost immediately dropped into a bow.
“No, your fine! I never really told anybody though, so could you maybe not tell everyone? I’d just like to come out in my own time…”
Uraraka was back up. “Oh, of course! And if your fine with it, we could call each other by our given names? Just because this is kinda awkward and so I just thought-”
“I’m fine with that, Ochako.”
Ochako stopped flailing, and looked up. “Then I’m also fine with it, Izuku.”
They maintained eye contact for about a minute before both of them started laughing.
It felt nice to come out to someone.
//
4.
Izuku was waiting just inside the teacher’s lounge, waiting for Yagi-san. (it still felt wrong to call anything else other than All Might-)
Apparently he just wanted to get to know Izuku personally, since they actually didn’t know each other that well, even though they were ‘connected by a bond that nobody else has’.
He must have gotten sidetracked though, since he wasn’t here at the time he said he’d be. Resulting in him awkwardly standing in the teacher’s lounge, until Yagi-san arrived.
And finally, after 5 minutes of awkwardly standing, and getting side-glances from the other teachers, Yagi-san finally arrived. “Ah, sorry young Mi-Izuku. Nezu wanted to see me real quick, and I lost time!”
“Oh no, your fine! I’m fine with waiting a bit.” A lot of the other teachers were now semi-watching them. Hopefully they left, and quick.
“I’m just going to grab my wallet and keys, and then we’ll go! Your mother is going to meet us there, correct?” Now they were definitely watching.
“Uh, yeah.” Oh yeah, because he can pull a straight face during a literal sex talk, but when people look at him, he’s a complete mess. Way to go emotions.
“So… interested in anyone lately?” A lemon lollipop was offered to him.
Oh how badly he wished to yell at Yagi-san right now. Instead, he took said lollipop, and repressed the rage. “Nah. Really into this lollipop though. But lets go.”
Right before the two of them left, he heard Aizawa-sensei snort. (Was what he said really that funny?)
//
5.
Izuku had been dragged out of class by Mei, and now was helping her bring different metals? Either way he got a free pass out of literature so…
Both him and Mei were walking, with the occasional chit-chit, when they come across two ppl kissing? Making out? Either way they were both doing something in the middle of the hallway. Almost the second Izuku (and Mei) saw them, they both fell silent. So quiet it was starting to make his ears hurt.
After what seemed like forever of walking in silence, Mei spoke. “Honestly? I sometimes just hate society. Like what they call normal…”
Izuku almost dropped the box he was holding in confusion. “Huh?”
Mei slowed down to let Izuku catch up. “... I’m aroace. So I just don’t- ‘love’ is so weird! I just don’t get it!”
This time, he had to full on stop so he didn’t drop his box. “You’re aroace too?!”
Mei snapped her head to look at him so fast, that Izuku had to make her neck wasn’t broken. “Oh my god we’re both aroace!” She dropped her box, and started to do a little stim. (Something else he’d learned about her: she was autistic who didn’t care if other’s thought her stimming was ‘weird’) “Can we be best friends?”
Izuku quickly caught the box Mei dropped. “I mean, sure! Yeah! If you’d like to!”
Mei hugged him, sending both boxes to the floor. Oh well.
//
6.
Izuku was home for the weekend, and wanted some money to buy some new merch. “Hey mom…” Walking next to his mom’s door, he heard her talking. Quietly, he peered in. He must have been pretty quiet, because his mom kept talking into her phone.
“Izuku? Oh Mitsuki,” Ah. she was talking to auntie. “He… I think he’s hiding a relationship from me. Yeah. mhm. But he always says ‘I don’t want a relationship right now’ or- what? No. I don’t think he’s gay or anything like that- Katsuki? I don’t know Mitsuki-”
Izuku quietly shut the door, and quietly pondered. Katsuki? Like- oh no. Does auntie think he like’s, like’s Kacchan? Dear god no.
Izuku went back to his room to try and come up with more convincing excuses for why he wasn’t dating.
(The merch was forgotten, until the next day when he realized he never asked.)
//
7.
Pride month was here! Woooo! So excited to get told that he wasn’t able to celebrate Pride because ‘he wasn’t gay enough’! Or even be told that ‘he wasn’t a part of the community, he wasn’t actually gay’! (That was all sarcasm. He was so tired of it.)
Either way, him and the rest of his classmates wanted to plan their own pride parade, that would be open to the rest of UA. (Due to villain attacks, they weren’t allowed to go to the actual Pride, so it was better than nothing.)
His main job was being supervisor for the items that they were purchasing, which also included food. And while looking over at the buttons and flags they got, he silently noticed something. There wasn’t any version of the aroace flag, or the unlabeled flag. And after a few google searches, he didn’t find much. There was a few options for aroace buttons, but he was a bit iffy on the flag they had on them. (He remembered hearing something about the creator of the flag being ableist, and maybe something else? Either way, he didn’t really want to buy them.)
Other than that, there were small creators who did custom buttons, but that was about it.
So, he did the only logical thing. Make a whole load of custom buttons and flags, for all (not all, all, of them. That’d take forever.) the flags he knew that weren’t in the pack that were bought. Flags like polyamorous, aroace, unlabeled, aromantic and demiromantic, as well a few others he couldn’t be bothered to remember.
And when he saw those few people light up when they saw their sexuality on a flag or button? It completely made up for the late nighters and burning himself with a glue gun several times.
(At least, this Pride, he wasn’t told any hurtful things, just because he didn’t experience ‘love’. It was nice)
//
+1.
Back to the present. Where Izuku was just thinking. Hating how he was treated. Hating being who he was. Hating the fact that, no, he cannot understand something that society deems that ‘everyone knows’.
But he wanted to do something. He was getting bored of life. And he hadn’t really ‘come out’, only telling a few select people. Well, he could certainly change that. And it probably would change his life sooo.
Grabbing his phone, he made a group chat with everyone he was close to. (And yes, that included some of his teachers, just because, why not?) Quickly typing out a message, and then hitting send before he chickened out.
Izuku Midoriya: Sent at 6:15 PM
I’m aroace. That’s all I have to say, and this is my official coming out. (I am also fine with the simple ‘gay’ or ‘unlabeled’ term as well, but I’d prefer you’d just see me as aroace.) If you have questions, ask me later, or just google it.
Less than five minutes later, and his phone started pinging with tons of notifications. He set the phone to silent, set it off to the side, and just took a moment to breathe.
And for once in his life, he wasn’t ashamed for who he was.