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"Never have I ever called someone who's not my Mom 'Mom'?" Ojiro proposed a little awkwardly, and smiled when Mina nodded encoragingly. Guy obviously wasn't used to the party vibe, but she was working on it.
Besides, he was far from her only classmate with that problem, and absolutely not the worst.
"What the fuck are you looking at, Deku?" Her second favorite blonde demanded, and she winced at the shout but looked to her left curiously.
Midori and Bakugo had been, very deliberately, seated as far away from each other as possible. Not that anyone expected this to stop them if they wanted to fight- been there, tried that, got the lecture thanks- but it was kinda the principal of the thing.
Midori didn't answer, just kept staring at Bakugo expectantly, and the chattering in the room fell a few pegs. If nothing else, these two had a talent for catching their class's attention. Or, at least, their fight or flight responses.
Especially when Midori was starting something.
"You know why." Midor shrugged, and Mina relaxed. The two of them had been doing this to eachother all night, it was fine. Bakugo scowled, and Midori got a slightly-creepy smile. "Don't make me call her, Kacchan."
Maybe- just maybe- their favorite homeroom teacher was a somewhat bad influence sometimes.
"You wouldn't." The blonde seethed. Midori's grin just got a little bigger. "I- Two can play this game, nerd."
"Oh, but unlike me, Kacchan, you actually wouldn't."
As soon as Midori's finger twitched for his pocket, Bakugo growled and ate one of the Wasabi peanuts they were using instead of liquor for the game. They had class tomorrow after all, and besides even she wasn't going to risk bringing liquor on campus.
"Soo," Mina spoke into the confused silence, because it was like the third time it happened, "Mido. What the fuck was that?"
"Hm? Oh! I just- I didn't want Kacchan t-to cheat? He didn't eat a peanut when I knew that he'd done the thing before." Midori explained, scratching his cheek. "uh- sorry?" He finished after a beat, and she laughed.
"Aww. No, no, you're fine Mido. Lying is strictly against the the spirit of the game! Thanks for keeping our favorite short fuse in line." She gushed, ignoring Bakugo's empty threats beside her and wishing she was close enough to give Midori a noogie. He looked like he could use one. Gosh, why was the kid always so nervous? Or How, even? It looked exhausting.
But still, he nodded and sat back again, and the atmosphere smoothed back out with giggles and murmurs, so she could let him slide. For now.
"My turn! My turn!" Toru enthused, because it was in fact her turn. "Never have I ever....found a villain attractive!"
The room was silent again, but the tension was exciting instead of awkward this time. Mina smiled, sat back, and rolled her eyes when- predictably- Denki caved first.
"Where the hell did you get these? They're so hot." Denki whined, while Kyoka and Hanta ate their own peanuts in slighlt-shamed silence. She silently makes a note to herself to look into that later.
"Oh yeah, hot." Mina snickered, because If Denki was gonna be a villain fucker then it was her right as his friend to make fun of him. Especially after that time he spent half an hour having a gay meltdown over fucking Dabi. "Just like-"
"My turn!" Denki coughs, blushing a little. She scoffs at his attempt to save face, but he shocks her a bit and keeps talking.
Screw Sensei, Bakugo was a bad influence.
"Never have I ever picked a fight in a back alley." Denki says, grinning at Bakugo expectantly. When that falls through, he looks to Midori, because the two of them have been holding their weird incomprehensible vague childhood bond over each other's heads all night, but Midori shakes his head.
"No, not a back alley. There's too many heroes crawling around Mufastafa because of- uh. Because of Yuuei being so close." He says, and Mina is 100% willing to press that near slip-of-tongue, except something much more interesting happened instead.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Iida eat his first Wasabi Peanut of the night.
"Iida?" She asks, drawing all eyes to the class rep just as he swallowed and reached for a glass of water. everyone seems to have some comment or question to ask, but she isn't paying attention to them. "Oho, class rep! I didn't know you had it in you!"
"Yes, well. It isn't something I'm proud of." He admits, looking away. He looks uncomfortable enough that Mina pauses, but ultimately she shrugged and continued. It's not like anyone in the Dekusquad would hesitate to jump for her jugular in the legacy hero's defense, if he needed it.
"Oh, don't give me that! It's good to get a little fight out of your system every one in a while! Besides, I'm sure you didn't hurt anyone that didn't deserve it- Sometimes people deserve a bit of a beat down!"
"I....do not disagree with that on principal. Provided there are extricating circumstances." he nodded cautiously, and she grinned. most everyone else was paying attention to them now, and she couldn't help playing to the crowd a little by throwing her arms wide.
"Perfect! So! Give us the deets, prez! They won't leave this room, hero's honor!" She pressed, and got a round of agreements.
He falls silent at that, and for a minute Mina thinks she's got him, but then he shakes his head and she deflates. Damn.
"Even if I wanted to talk about it, legally I cannot. I do not doubt your integrity as heroes, but I am just not at liberty to discuss the event. I hope you understand." Iida sighs heavily, deadly serious.
Mina can't help it. She chuckles, and Denki giggles, and soon half the class is laughing.
"Y-Y'know, class prez," Hanta snickers, shaking his head and taking a deep breath, "I know it doesn't always seem like it, but I promise you could just not answer one of Mina's weirdly invasive questions. You didn't have to fabricate a government cover up to get out of answering."
"I mean, didn't he though?" Eijiro proposed, mostly teasing. "How else would you get out of Mina's gossip ring? It's not all that manly, but I'm honestly peeved I didn't think of it sooner."
"Ye-pfft- yeah! Shut- Shut up, Hanta. Shut the hell up, he absolutely had to do that. That was the funniest shit." Denki adds, and Iida clears his throat.
These assholes were lucky she loved them.
"I- I did not lie." Iida flounders, blushing heavily. obviously embarrassed at being called out. Todoroki gives a consoling tap to his arm. "Why would I lie about that?" He weakly defends himself. As if that's not deflection 101.
Jesus, Iida couldn't talk himself out of a paper bag, could he? He's lucky to be in a class with her. Well, her and-
"No, no, Iida's telling the truth. I was there. We almost died. Endeavor himself did the cover-up." Midori steps up to bat for his friend, as deadpan as Midori gets and smirking just a little bit, drawing attention away from someone else and to himself so easily it almost seemed reflexive. Mina had to admit it was a little impressive, watching Midori work when no one else even notices.
Todoroki and Iida are whisper to each other, mostly ignored, and Mina pouts dramatically at Midori's borderline-challenging smirk.
"Boo, you whore." She whines, falling back and dropping the topic. Oh well, In the world of gossip, you win some and you loose some. Even when your name was Mina Ashido.
Well, that just meant the universe owed her a win. And right on time, too.
"Never have I ever dyed my hair." Mina asserts. She watches Eijirou eat a peanut, of course, downing two entire glasses of water. Then Kyoka, Todoroki, and Aoyama, which isn't expect but isn't exactly surprising either.
In the corner of her eye she sees Midori dry swallow his- fifth?- in a row, and that was interesting, but not what she was looking for right now.
No, right now, she was staring daggers directly into Denki's soul, as the blonde shifted uncomfortably.
Slowly but surely, it dawned on the rest of her classmates what she was playing at, and they all watched with bated breath as Denki finally gave a defeated sigh and ate a Wasabi peanut.
No one handed him a glass of water. Instead, the circle decended into pandamonium.
"Bull-SHIT!" Mina herself yelled, which, really, was not a moment for her, but was totally justified as Toru started cackling.
"I did it! I knew I could do it and I did!"
"No way." Kyoka shook her head, just as Eijirou fist bumped in excitement, and the dekusquad started whispering furiously at each other, and a few more things happen too probably, but Mina has priorities.
"You didn't do shit! Kyoka-chan's right, there's no way." She insisted, and Eijirou shook his head in that motherly disappointed way.
"I get that you're not used to it, but Mina, bro, it's super unmanly to be unsportsmanshiply."
"That's- that's not a word." She sputtered, eternally grateful that her natural hue disquises most blush. "And I-"
"Mina's right." Denki finally cut in, thankfully sipping on water that someone had gotten for him while they were fighting- Sato, maybe. "Unsportsmanshiply isn't a word."
"And?" She demands impaitently, leaning into his side expectantly, and Toru seemed to do the same on his other side. She'd probably feel bad about making him go as red as Eijirou's hair in a minute, but, again, priorities.
"And- uh, um. And?" Denki stutters, pouting in confusion and carefully making eye contact. "I have no idea why you're fighting and at this point I'm too afraid to ask." He admits.
"Your lightning bolt, lightning bug!" Mina informs him. "There's been a pool since day one over whether or not you dye it! Eijirou, Toru-chan, Todoroki-kun, and Uraraka-chan all thought it was, but Kyoka-chan and I know that it isn't, so tell them I'm- we're, sorry Kyoka-chan- right so I can get my 2200 yen!"
"Ooooh! Oh? Uh, yeah, the bolt isn't dyed, I was just born that cool. I just went pink for, like, a year in middle school."
Oh, Mina was putting a pin in that, because she would commit all sorts of misdemeanors to see those pictures. There had to be pictures, right?
"NOOoooOoooOooOOo!" Toru wailed dramatically, "Foiled again!"
"Pleasure doing buisness." Kyoka smirked, recovering with the grace of someone who knew they never lost in the first place. "You guys can pay out in homeroom tomorrow."
Eijirou, Todoroki and Uraraka nodded at them from across the circle, looking mildly disappointed. Toru, after another minute of wailing, let out a defeated sigh.
"Fine! You win this round!"
"And every other round so far." Mina reminded her smugly. She only bet when she knew she was going to win, so she wasn't sure why other people insisted on betting against her, but it's not like she'd complain at the free cash.
"But not every round in the future! I'll make sure of it! One day!" Toru declared, melting into Ojiro's side.
Hm. Spite isn't the worst of motivations, Mina admitted, and shook her head. She grinned a little apologetically at Denki, but he just smiled at her and nodded, ruffling her hair as she leaned away again. He got a pass, but only because she felt a little bad for harassing him.
"An-Anyway! Kacchan, it's your turn!"
"I told you not to fucking call me that." Came the expected protest of the blonde on her other side, and Denki ducked behind her a little while he could still play off of her brief ounce of good will, because sometimes he was smarter then he seemed.
"Just go, sparky." Mina urged obligingly. Bakugo scowled.
"Never have I ever started a fight I couldn't win." He grunted, still glaring, but the glare was quickly shifted and intensified on Midori, so Ashido would take it.
Almost sheepishly, Midori ate another wasabi peanut. Bakugo's glare didn't let up until he ate two more, which wasn't in the rules, but she'd let it slide because from what she'd heard Midori probably deserved it.
Eijirou, Tooru, Denki, and Aoyama all eat one, of course. Shinsou does too, which is kind of weird but understandable she guessed. The real surprise was Todoroki and Iida both grimacing a little as they each have one as well.
Mina...has a hard time picturing a fight that Todoroki can't win, much less one he picked himself, and makes the rare call that it is, perhaps, none of her business (right now). Iida isn't quite so lucky.
"Oh, again class prez? You gonna spill, or is this part of the state secret ass kicking you apparently were a part of?" She teased, just petty enough to make fun after being denied information.
"...The later." Iida admitted, looking away with a light blush, and Denki snickered.
Mina opened her mouth to heckle him a bit more, but Uraraka and Midori both gave her a cut the shit for real glare that she could recognize on nearly any face at this point, so she instead pouted again but nodded. She loved poking fun, but she wasn't gonna be a bitch if it was, like, an actual issue.
...Well. Not too much of a bitch, at least.
"Hmm..." Eijirou hummed next, seeming at a bit of a loss. Usually Mina would help the guy find a question, but she had a pin to address first, and Hanta looked to have it handled anyway. Sort of.
"Soo....Pink hair?" She whispered. She wasn't leaning close enough to (mentally) short circuit Denki again she didn't think, only close enough to whisper, but he went red anyway.
"....yeah." He admitted- squeaked, really.
"Pics or it didn't happen."
"Yeah, sure, I'm totally cool with 'it didn't happen', glad we're on the same page."
"Bruh."
"What? You said it!" He defended himself, waving a hand. She rolled her eyes.
"C'mon! You and I both know I'm gonna get the pics, one way or another. why not make this easier for both of us?" She proposed.
"What if instead I promise that I'm legally not at liability to disclose these pictures that didn't happen, and we both move on?" He countered hopefully, which was almost funny enough for her to take pity on him, but alas.
"No deal. I'll only look for a week or two, though- if I haven't dug them up by then, you can keep your stupid state secrets." She compromised, because she was the best.
Denki scowled and probably would have kept trying to argue, but instead Eijirou spoke up.
"Okay! Never have I ever stayed up for 24-hours straight!" He declared, with one of his rare smug-grins that showed a few too many teeth. She had to admit, she was a little impressed that his expression held firm, as nearly everyone in the class glowered at him and ate a wasabi peanut.
The only ones that didn't were Eijirou- obviously-, Katsuki, Aoyama, and Iida.
"I am appalled! As heroes in training, you should all give more weight to the necessity of sleeping! Sleeping well ensures mental as well as physical peak performance, reduce risks of heart conditions, ensures we all-" Iida ranted, and Mina tuned him out with an eyeroll.
"Hanta?" She prompted, once it looked like the majority of the group was getting antsy, and he nodded.
"ahh, never have I ever....spied on my neighbors." He offered, somewhat lamely.Really, Mina just kind of mourned Midori's loss of his streak, he really had a thing going there-
Midori ate another peanut. Midori ate another peanut, seemingly because Bakugo was glaring knowing-daggers at him.
Huh. What the hell was up with that?
Tokoyami shook his head, as did Tsu. Uraraka, Aoyama, Kouda, and Shinsou clearly thought about it for a second, but ultimately didn't eat a peanut. Sato and Todoroki both just kind of shrugged, which was fair enough- mostly because that was pretty much her own reaction, too.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Shoji hang his head a bit and feed one to a mouth he'd grown for the game, Kyoka push one into her mouth with a light blush, and Denki ate one almost reluctantly. With a mildly concerning giggle, Toru ate one, and didn't even complain this time. Hanta looked mildly rebuffed that anyone was eating, and Ojiro, Iida, Bakugo, Yaomomo, and Eijirou looked varying shades of appalled- or disappointed, maybe?
But- at least all of those offenders made sense, if you thought about it. Shoji and Kyoka's quirks and general sheepishness about it meant theirs were probably an accident, and Denki had always had....nosy and/or prevented undertones- though he was getting much better!- so that checked out, and Toru had never made a secret about her tendancy to sneak around and gather information as either gossip or black mail, seemingly just for the fun of it, so she could see that too.
But. Midori? That would need to be elaborated on. Or at least looked into. She opened her mouth to steer another line of questioning, but Kyoka cut her off. Damn.
"Never have I ever had a secret admirer." She said, which, yeah, derailed Mina's entire train of thought.
Sue her! This was much more interesting- and even if it wasn't, it was a much more relevant and pressing matter. A little giddy, she barely registered the burn of the wasabi peanut as she watched the room with eagle eyes.
Blooming love, potential matchups, a general idea of the demand of each of her objectively desireably classmates- this was of the upmost importance.
Midori flinched at the question- only a little, in a way she wouldn't have noticed if the remnants of her previous line of thought didn't have her still half-focused with him- but didn't end up eating a peanut, which kind of bummed her out. She'd just as she started rooting for that streak for real, so of course he'd loose it. Typical. She shook it off, focused on the matter at hand.
Oh- interesting, how carefully Kyoka was watching Yaomomo for a reaction to her question. That only guided her eyes to Yaomomo herself, blushing deeply, who cringed as she ate one of the spicy peanuts- her delicate palate seemed to agree with them even less then most of their classmates, poor thing.
Uraraka gave Tsu a sickeingly sweet grin and Tsu nodded at her girlfriend, as they both ate a peanut, and Mina congragulated herself again on a job well done getting them together. Watching them trade letters back and forth without even realizing it had been torture. Tooru whined about being the only girl that didn't eat a peanut, and Mina rolled her eyes.
Sato chuckled something about getting to person through their stomach as he ate a peanut, Tokoyami looking to the side in what might be embarrassment, but also might be reminiscing on some sort of memory. His eyes held the same strangeness as Midori's a moment ago, as he shakes his head. Ojirou and Shoji both suffer thoguh another peanut with slightly annoyed looks on their faces, and Kouda just shrugs and hands out water with a small smile.
Todoroki and Bakugo, uncannily synchronized, both shrugged boredly and dropped a peanut in their mouths. Eijirou looked almost embarrassed as he did so, like it was somehow a surprise even with how hot he was. Denki gave a whine almost identical to Tooru's, only getting more obnoxious when Hanta gave a half-guilty-half-smug grin and ate one while looking directly at Denki.
Aoyama grinned something dazzling, dampened only by his tight expression as he ate the peanut itself. Iida was watching Midori with something a little bit like confusion and a little bit like concern, his own bag currently untouched, and Shinsou didn't look like he gave a single fuck, literally yawning, which, how?
How could you be surrounded by this much love- potential and unrealized and requited and everything in between- and not be enraptured?
"Never have I ever...Hm. Cut my own hair?" the vice-president offered next, finger to her cheek as she managed not to overthink it too much. Mina grinned at the sight, overjoyed to see Yaomomo just fucking relax for a bit.
Mina sighed as she swallowed another peanut. At this rate she'd need water, even with her naturally high tolerance for spice.
Predictably, Denki followed suit- carefully avoiding eye contact with her specifically, which she could only assume meant this was related to his mysterious pink hair. Kyoka tucked a lock of hair behind her ear a little sheepishly as she did as well, and Uraraka bit her lip as she pushed a peanut past her lips and downed an entire water bottle.
Shinsou, Bakugo, and Midori all downed two peanuts without even blinking, sporting strangely vindictive expressions. For Bakugo, at least, she knew it probably had something to do with his mom and/or his transition, but she didn't know the other two well enough to be anything but puzzled at the odd glee. Especially Shinsou, who made no secret of his hatred for Wasabi before they started.
Oh, well. C'est la vie. No one else did anything of note, and Tokoyami sat a little taller as he realized it was his turn.
"Never have I ever consumed art supplies." He said hauntingly, which, she had to be honest, kinda threw Mina for a loop. What-
The crunch of Midori sheepishly downing another wasabi peanut was surprisingly audible, in the confused silence of the class.
"I thought you were over that!" Midori pouted, waving away an offered glass of water for the nth time, and it clicked in her brain so suddenly that she had to bite down on the knuckle of her thumb to keep from laughing at the memory.
"One does not 'get over' watching the gory demise of a dozen Copic markers." Tokoyami scowled. Dark shadow made a supportive noise that sent a shiver down her back.
"I payed you back! Twice!" Midori defended himself. "And I was testing my quirk, anyway, it's not my fault your markers were right there! If they were so important why didn't you keep a closer eye on them?" He crossed his arms. This was not the first time they had this argument.
It was the first time in a while, though. It'd been months, she almost forgot about it. Almost.
"I was sleeping right next to them." Tokoyami reminded the greenette as calmly as he could. It wasn't very calmly. Dark shadow was making a concerning hissing noise. "I was startled awake by a sickening crunch, and you splattered me with the ink of mine own slain supplies. You may have monetarily satisfied your debt, but I'm still owed emotional reparations."
Midori sputtered indigently,
"Are- Is- Did- Wait." Denki stumbled over his words, scrunching his face up. "Did Tokoyami just imply that Midoriya ate markers?"
Mina nodded, because she could quite easily confirm the story. For the first time in a while, she felt something like regret for her actions, because...
"It was- I was testing something out with my quirk!" Midori reiterated defensively. "As an enhancement quirk, I wanted to see if I could enhance my internal processes as well as my external ones. And someone recommended that I start with digestion. And it worked!" He harrumphed.
A beat of silence in the room, one that it took Mina a second to identify before pursing her lips.
Ah, right. This was where she would usually press for details and (more importantly) identities and pics and the like.
"Uh, someone?" Kiri asks, because he's the first one to realize she wasn't going to say anything. Bless his Himbo heart, because if anyone else was the first person to fill the silence and notice her odd lack of reaction they wouldn't have any trouble putting two and two together.
"Hm?" Izuku frowned. "Yeah, someone. My memory isn't good enough to remember who though...." He frowned, looking down in contemplation, but quickly shaking himself and looking up to meet purple eyes. "Anyway, Shinsou-kun! It's your turn!" He ushured the conversation along, focusing the class's attention on the purplette.
Well, most of the class's. Because Mina was still scrutinizing the greenette, trying to tell if he genuinely forgot or not-
and then he turned and winked at her.
Bitch.