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1
Momo cringed away from Mineta’s disgusting comment on her chest. She hated it so much. So fucking much. She hated it with a burning passion. Hated when Mineta talked about her chest more then any of the other disgusting thoughts that spilled out of the boy’s mouth, which was weird because he said some disgusting things but that was unrelated because what was important was how much she HATED how Mineta talked about her chest. She knew she had a big chest, ok? That was pretty damn obvious! If he could just leave it be, that would be GREAT! But noooooo.
“Shut the fuck up grape bitch!”
“Yeah! Leave Momo alone!”
“Sorry Momo, I don’t know why he thinks he can get away with the gross perverted stuff he says.”
Momo didn’t even know who said it, too stuck in her own head to put a name to the voice. She just mumbled out a thank you and tried to straighten up. She immediately gave up on that when the hood posture just made her chest seem bigger. Nope. Nope. She did not want that. Slouch. Today was a slouching day. That was ok. It was just 1A around. It wasn’t a school day, it was fine. She could slouch and tuck her legs up to her chest as much as she wanted.
“Are you ok Momo?”
Ok, maybe not as much as she wanted, but she could get away with it. She was good at that.
“Yeah, just tired, it’s been a long week… do you guys want to watch a movie maybe?”
With that, they had a movie on and Momo was comfortably curled up under a blanket and leaning on Jirou’s shoulder tiredly. Damn, she hadn’t realised just how exhausted she was. She had thought it was an excuse, but she was truely drained.
Still, she let herself close her eyes, filter out the sound of the movie and just think. Something had to be wrong with her, right? Like sure, none of the girls liked how Mineta talked about them, but she had never heard anyone describe it in the way she felt. Not at any of their hundreds of vent sessions.
They would all talk about how it was horrible to feel how much he wanted them regardless of what they wanted or how gross it felt for Mineta to be talking about them like objects or like they weren’t there or just overtly intimate and sexual. Which, yeah, Momo felt all of that, but… there was also that other feeling. That one that came out whenever Mineta referred to her chest. That one feeling that wondered if it would be so bad to just chop them off. That… that wasn’t normal. She knew that. It wasn’t normal, but what it was? She had no clue.
No. Best not to think about it. Best not to think about any of it really. She should focus on the movie. She just didn’t like how Mineta was preying on her. That was all. It was just disgust that made her think those things.
~~~~~
2
Momo relaxed back into the girls sleepover night. It sucked that Jirou, Izuku and Tokoyami had decided against coming, but between the two enbys and the genderqueer, she could understand it. Jirou had backed out last minute on account of shark week sparking dysphoria, and Tokoyami hadn’t come since he was feeling particularly masc today whereas Izuku had just betrayed them to go on a date with their boyfriend (which they had apologised immensely for and the girls had all of course told them not to worry about it and to have fun). All that to say, it was just the girls (and demigirl Tsuyu of course) for today’s sleep over.
Momo smiled softly, comfortable with her friends as they painted their nails and Hagakure rambled about the newest makeup trend she wanted to try on one of them tonight, an idea which of course Mina had accepted readily.
That conversation swiftly changed to a discussion led by Mina and Hagakure about fashion that Momo didn’t quite follow, but was deeply happy to simply listen to her friends be excited over anything.
“Ugh Momo I wish I had your boobs,” Mina sighed, “Some of the outfits I dream of would look even better with boobs like yours!”
Compliment. That was a compliment. Momo knew that. That was a compliment. So WHY did it make her want to rip all her skin off!?
“Th-Thank you,” Momo pushed out, pressing her hands hard against the floor she was sitting on, letting out some of her discomfort subtly without the others noticing. It was a compliment, so why did it make her want to cry so damn much? It made no sense? Momo could take a compliment. She knew that. So why… why was this not one of those.
“You have great boobs Mina!”
“Yeah!”
“You’re boobs are beautiful!”
Right, comforting. She should be comforting her friend who did have nice boobs and shouldn’t be jealous. Why would she be jealous? Was she jealous of back pain and discomfort- Shut up. There is no need to get sarcastic, even just in her own head. It’s mean and uncalled for. Especially when it was sparked from a COMPLIMENT.
“I knowww but sometimes I just wish my boobs were as big as Momo’s you know?”
“I mean obviously!”
“Momo’s cute as hell, you’d have to be insane to not have at least a little envy there.”
“Guyssss,” Momo whined softly, “You’re all beautiful. Don’t compare yourselves to each other. You are beautiful regardless.”
Plus, none of them struggled to find bras that fit, so until they knew that pain, they really shouldn’t be jealous of her. Stop. Stop thinking like that. These are her friends! Why was she being so rude? Even if it was in her head, it was rude and Momo hated being rude.
If she was a touch quieter for the rest of the night, no one mentioned anything, and Momo certainly didn’t want to bring it up.
~~~~~
3
Momo woke up and realised today was going to be one of those days. One of those days where she couldn’t stand to see herself in the mirror, despite KNOWING logically she was beautiful- she had been told it plenty of times before. One of those days where her chest felt stupidly annoying and big- why did people want big chests? It was stupid as fuck and she HATED it.
She gritted her teeth and ignored it, getting changed quickly and avoiding the mirror at all costs, going as far to use her phone camera angled so she didn’t have to see her chest (stupid stupid stupid why was she getting so upset about it?) in order to do her hair.
She grabbed an apple and mug of tea from the kitchen, not willing to eat much more then that, and sat in the common room, forcing herself to go over the notes from class during the extra time she had.
Momo did everything she always did, she smiled at her classmates, made quiet small talk, walked with them to class, and dutifully ignored everything that made her skin itch. It was nothing. It was stupid. Why couldn’t she just be like everyone else? It would be so much easier.
She let her mind focus entirely on the lessons of the day, from maths, to English, to law and ethics, to health, where Aizawa was discussing the importance of screening for various issues, especially cancer, so any issues could be detected easily and treatment could be sorted swiftly.
If Momo had a chance of having breast cancer, would she be better of catching it early or if she left it longer would they have to do a mastectomy which would get rid of them once and for all- NO. No. This was stupid. It was unfair to all the people who actually struggled. Why the hell was she feeling JEALOUS right now!? That’s not- that’s not normal. That’s not ok. Momo was better then this. She is better then this, so why the hell is she getting jealous of other people’s suffering!? And for what? Her own weird body image issues that contradicted what everyone else said?
Momo forced herself to focus back on the lesson, still internally berating herself for that thought track that should never have happened. She was better then that. She had to be better then that.
If Momo left class with a little bit of a swifter pace, well her classmates could think whatever, maybe that she was doing homework or something. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she did not want to have to pretend to be ok anymore when she felt this ridiculously disgusted with herself on so many levels. No. She wanted to be alone right now, whatever that might mean.
~~~~~
4:
Look, Momo loves clothes shopping, she loves parties, she loves spending time with her friends and she loves the excitement a school ball brings… it’s just… well… sometimes clothes shopping is infuriating. Don’t get her wrong, she still loves it, but when you try on the hundredth dress of the day and they still make your chest look horridly big, and definitely not in a good way… well it’s not exactly fun.
Worse was how everyone so completely agreed that she must find shopping so easy since everything suited her- except not everything suited her because not much even fit! It was infuriating! Either it fit over her chest but was too big, giving her a hospital gown aesthetic (definitely not the look she was going for) or it fit her perfectly, right up until she couldn’t get it done up at her chest because it was too small.
She was probably going to have to get something tailored again, and she was probably going to get mocked by Uraraka for spending money so frivolously- Uraraka wasn’t being mean of course, she was just careful with money and she didn’t understand. Plus, Uraraka didn’t even mean it badly or anything, more just friendly teasing. Momo couldn’t be mad at her, but that didn’t help the way her whole body tensed at the thought. It just… sucked. A lot.
Sure, Momo could explain it but the girls would take it as her boasting about her boobs or something stupid. She had made that mistake once and she didn’t plan on making it again. No, she would just suck up the comments, smile and wave them off. That seemed safe.
~~~~~~
5:
Momo grinned when she was called out of the study class by Midnight. They were one by one talking to Midnight to work out their hero persona, since she was one of the most distinctly different in costume and out of costume, so of course Midnight was teaching them about personas.
Momo found it all fascinating and she couldn’t wait to develop her own. She loved the way Aizawa’s was almost exactly like himself, except a little bit gruffer, obviously adding more intimidation then he would have naturally- because all of class 1A knew he was secretly a softie. Then there was Present Mic who’s persona was so developed he was pretty much never recognised outside of his costume, and while his personality was similar, it was all the more exaggerated in costume. Midnight was perhaps the most fascinating, given she is the r-rated hero known for- well everyone knew what she was known for- but Nemuri, out of costume and truely herself, was aroace and not at all into the stuff she talked about. It was weird, but interesting, to see how much someone could change like that.
“Alright Yaoyaorozu, have a seat,” Midnight smiled, nodding to the seat across the desk from her, “Do you have any ideas for your persona?”
“I- no, not really…”
“That’s ok, that’s what I’m here for, and remember, you don’t always have to have a persona, you are allowed to just be you.”
Momo nodded her understanding, allowing Midnight to continue.
“Well like me, you have a quirk that requires skin to be revealed, so you could quite easily follow in my footsteps with a similar persona,” Midnight pointed out and Momo winced internally. She couldn’t do that, she didn’t know why, she just- she hated the way her costume showed off all her skin as it was, to make that her personality? She couldn’t. She could not do that.
“Are you ok?” Midnight asked gently, and Momo was dragged out of her spiral, nodding quickly- maybe too quickly but that didn’t matter, “Ok, how about something else, how would you like to be seen? What draws you to heroics the most, those two are important deciders.”
“I… I like to feel like I can help and look after people, especially little kids, I like to be a bit of a mother-hen to my friends too, would that maybe carry over?” Momo asked hesitantly.
As they worked on her persona, coming up with ideas and brainstorming options, Momo couldn’t help but wonder what it was that had made her so against Midnight’s suggestion. It wasn’t really the sexualisation, she didn’t care, was used to ignoring that sort of thing anyway, so it would make sense to lean into it, especially with how easily it took villains off guard but… it felt wrong. She didn’t know if she could stand that and she didn’t know why either.
+1
It was painfully late and Momo couldn’t sleep. Why? Because her brain had decided to run through all the times she had ever felt uncomfortable because of her chest. Great. Just great.
With a groan she stood up, finding the biggest hoodie she owned and pulling it on, hunching a little to make her chest feel a bit smaller. With that, she headed downstairs to make some tea in the kitchen. Some of the others would still be awake, it was late for Momo, but it wasn’t THAT late.
She blinked, a little disorientated as she entered the common room and found a group of her classmates talking quietly but clearly annoyed at the same time.
It took her a moment to register who it was- Midoriya, Shinsou, Kirishima, Jirou, Tokoyami, and Tsuyu.
Oh. Oh no. Tonight was a Tuesday, which meant everyone cleared the common room to let the trans and genderqueers have a meeting. It wasn’t technically formal, but it happened every Tuesday, and they reliably looked happier on Wednesdays so no one ever interrupted them but now Momo was here, interrupting because what? She had felt a little weird in her body? That was nothing compared to these people! She was being selfish again!
“Hi Yaomomo!” Izuku grinned, looking up from the group, to wave. At least they didn’t seem upset?
“Hi, I’m just getting some tea, I won’t be long.”
“Are you ok? You’re usually asleep by now?” Jirou pointed out. Of course they would know that.
“Yeah, I just couldn’t sleep,” Momo smiled, boiling the kettle and getting out her favourite mug and tea.
“Did you want to join us for a bit? We’re just ranting,” Izuku offered, always the one ready to extend an invite to anyone.
“I wouldn’t want to intrude,” Momo smiled, grateful that they cared, even if she couldn’t join.
“You wouldn’t be intruding, right guys? We all trust you!” Izuku grinned and to Momo’s surprise, they all nodded. Jirou and Tokoyami even moved to create a space in between them for her to sit.
“I- are you sure?”
“Certain!” Izuku beamed, waving her over.
Hesitantly, Momo collected her tea and joined the group.
“Alright, anyways, what were you saying Tsuyu?”
Momo hadn’t realised how interesting it would be to simply listen to the rants about various things, from Tsuyu being upset at the way they are only referred to as she/her instead of she/they, to Tokoyami being annoyed that people refer to Dark Shadow as anything other then they/them- then blaming himself for that since people assume Dark Shadow would have the same pronouns as Tokoyami on any given day. The rest of the group rushed to assure him it wasn’t his fault though.
Then it was Shinsou’s turn to rant.
“Right so I’ve run out of trans tape, so I’m stuck wearing a binder, but I can’t go to the shops until the weekend and we have training this week so I guess I have to train in a binder which is FUCKED.”
“Toshi, you can’t train in a binder,” Izuku reprimanded gently, “It’s not safe.”
“I wish I could give you some but I stopped having it after top surgery,” Kirishima winced.
“Mmm, I only use binders and then sports bras on training days, I got insanely lucky that that’s enough,” Jirou hummed in agreement.
“Fuck me I guess,” Hitoshi groaned, burying his face in his hands.
“What’s trans tape?” Momo asked, hoping she could help, maybe she could make it?
“It’s like KT tape, you know the stuff you use for injuries, but specifically for binding,” Shinsou explained.
“Binding?” Momo asked, recognising the word as something this group mentioned a lot but not really understanding it.
“Making your chest flatter so it feels less feminine,” Shinsou explained easily. Huh. That was… interesting.
“Can you use KT tape for it?”
“Yeah, it’s what I use most the time because I can’t afford proper Trans Tape.”
“I know how to make KT tape, how much do you need?” Momo asked, internally wondering if she could do this for herself.
She made the strips for Shinsou, and then hesitantly made another one, just to look at it and think.
“Are you ok Momo?” Jirou asked gently, probably noticing how uncertain she felt.
“Yeah it’s just- it’s stupid.”
“I highly doubt that,” Jirou replied, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
“I just- I kinda want to try it myself but that’s… it’s for trans people I can’t- I just- I’m not trans.”
“Why do you want to try it?” Jirou asked, tilting her head in confusion.
“Well sometimes I just hate my chest and I wish it wasn’t there- well always, but like it gets worse on some days and I just- I hate it. I hate it so so so so much.”
“So your feeling dysphoric?” Jirou said gently, “We understand that. You don’t have to be trans to want to bind your chest, but I’ll admit it’s not the most common thing. Have you ever really considered it for yourself?”
“It took me years to work out I’m demigirl kero, I don’t bind often but I have on the odd occasion and it is a good feeling.”
“But I don’t want to like… appropriate it or something?”
“Momo, if anyone understands being dysphoric, it’s us. You wouldn’t be appropriating anything.”
“How about you give it a go, see if it makes you feel better, and if it does, that’s good,” Shinsou suggested gently, “I can teach you how to do it?”
“I- yeah… ok… I think I would appreciate that,” Momo agreed hesitantly, and Shinsou led her to his room where he helped her trial the trans tape safely, and FUCK Momo hadn’t expected it to feel this good as she stood in front of the mirror and didn’t wince immediately. She pulled on her shirt after a moment and just stared at the mirror, shocked at how much better it felt.
“I… thank you…” Momo murmured, turning her body to look at it, almost entranced by it as though it were magic.
“Of course. Do you- I know you said you aren’t trans, but do you want to do an exercise we tend to do when we try to work out our pronouns? Just to see if any feel right?”
Momo couldn’t help the way the euphoria was flooding through her, how natural this felt, how much more comfortable she was already, so she nodded, trusting Shinsou completely.
“Do you want to do it with the others or just me?”
“I… I don’t mind?”
“Hmm let’s go back to the others then, I think it will feel more natural if we do that.”
Momo nodded, tying her hoodie around her waist, no longer feeling the need to hide in it.
They returned to the group, who all grinned and seemed happy to see her, no one looking the slightest bit upset at her which felt odd because surely they should be but apparently they weren’t?
“So, what we’ll do is we’ll talk about you, and we’ll try a couple different pronouns and you can let us know at the end of any feel particularly good, ok?”
Hesitantly Momo nodded. Normally she’s shrug this off immediately, but… they hadn’t led her astray yet and if it made her feel better that would be good… right?
“One of my favourite memories with Momo was when we first met and they showed me their quirk and didn’t get upset when I got all excited over it! Most people think it’s weird at first but they always thought it was interesting!” Izuku beamed, starting them off and Momo felt like she was going to cry, although she wasn’t sure if that was just because of the compliment or if it had something to do with the pronouns too.
“Momo was one of the first people to greet me and invite me into the class without any judgement. He was always happy to help me catch up on what I’d missed and he would never let anyone be rude or condescending to me and that meant the world,” Shinsou added and Momo still wanted to cry at that, because she had never realised that she’d had that kind of impact on someone, but the pronouns hadn’t felt right. They’d felt… it was hard to explain, just… simply wrong.
“Momo was the first to make it clear I was welcome at a girls sleepover party, not because I was a girl, but because I wasn’t a guy. She made it a safe space despite the way it was likely to cause gender dysphoria normally, and she never fails to make sure I’m feeling ok. She has also never forced me to come or even been upset at me for cancelling last minute because of dysphoria,” Jirou smiled gently, and it meant so much to her that Jirou felt that way. She let herself think about the pronouns and stop focusing on the kind words and realised… it had felt… wrong. Just like the masculine pronouns had felt wrong, but that- but Momo was a girl. She was a girl, she was pretty, she was a pretty girl. She was a girl she- she- she wanted to be a they. She wanted to be a they desperately.
“So, did you have any preference? We can also do neo pronouns if you want to try that?”
“I- He/Him was definitely wrong, but… so was she/her? I’ve never had an issue with it before though? I’ve never felt weird about being called a girl so why… why now? I’ve never even considered that I might be nonbinary but the they/them felt so right?”
“Welcome to the trans gang,” Shinsou chuckled, leaning back.
“Trust me Momo, I get that,” Jirou laughed, “I was the same way, but it’s so much better isn’t it?”
“So… I’m…. Nonbinary?”
“You probably come under the nonbinary umbrella, yeah, although knowing you, you’re probably going to want to research microlables and find out what fits you, but that’s all up to you!” Jirou replied, “I just call myself nonbinary personally.”
“I say I’m nonbinary, but to be more specific, I’m agender, which comes under the nonbinary umbrella,” Izuku added.
“I go with genderqueer because my gender is too confusing even for myself,” Tokoyami added on.
“I go with demigirl ‘cause I’m kind of a girl but also not really, kero.”
“I… thank you so much… I always thought I was being weird or obsessive or broken but this… it makes it make sense. So, thank you, so much.”
“Of course! And you are welcome to join the trans gang, as we call ourselves, whenever you want!”
“Oh, do you want to tell the class or wait a bit? No pressure either way, it’s completely up to you!”
“I… I want to but what if I change my mind?”
“I change my mind constantly and the others don’t seem to mind,” Tokoyami pointed out.
“That’s… different.”
“You can always start by saying you want to try going by they/them as a test and decide in a few weeks, or you can keep it within the group and come to a decision there.”
“I… I think maybe I could tell them I’m trialing it?” Momo agreed.
“We will be there every step of the way, we promise.”
“Thank you guys so so much.”
“Of course!”