Chapter Text
Momo sighed as she reviewed her notes. She clicked her pen impatiently, trying to hammer the redox reactions in her head. The half-charges seemed to make sense one moment, but then it would completely confuse her once she moved onto the next practice question.
This is useless. I need a break.
She stretched and pushed her chair back as far as it would go. (Not very far, as her bed was much too big.) Opening up the drawer to the right, she shifted the various textbooks and encyclopedias to the side to pick out her target.
There it is.
She plucked out a book, placing it on her table before quickly covering it with her worksheets. There was no one else in her room, but she still felt self-conscious. It was her guilty pleasure, after all. The one thing keeping her sane amidst all the studying.
She lifted the cover of her secret book, the cover still hidden by her chemistry worksheets. Her cheeks heated up and she struggled to keep her mouth from smiling as her eyes widened and scanned through the pages of the book.
Momo was so deeply immersed in the book that she didn’t hear the knocking at her door, or the sound of her door opening and closing again. She certainly did not see the floating pink t-shirt and short shorts coming towards her.
“Oh. My. God.” A high pitched voice squealed.
Momo nearly jumped out of her seat and the book slipped off the table. She swiveled around in her seat, frantically searching for the source of the voice when she finally saw a floating hair tie fairly close to her eye level.
“Oh my, it’s you, Hagakure-san. Don’t scare me like that.” Momo put a hand to her chest, trying to slow down her breathing.
“I knocked and everything! You didn’t respond even when I was calling your name!” Toru insisted, the arms of the t-shirt waving up and down.
“I – I apologise, I didn’t mean to ignore you,” Momo stuttered, glancing down toward the floor in between attempts to search for where Toru’s eyes would be.
“More importantly, you’re reading Deadly Infatuation! I can’t believe it! Vice president Momo-chan reading yaoi smut?”
Momo’s face flushed bright red and she hid her face behind her shaking hands. This was the end of life as she knew it. There was no chance of recovery from this.
“I have the other three volumes, you should have told me earlier Momo-chan!”
“Wh–what?” Momo stuttered, peeking through the gaps in her fingers.
She saw the book float up and the cover get pushed in her face. Momo looked away, unable to look directly at the risqué cover of two young men engaging in… intimate relations.
“This, Momo-chan! I have the rest of this series! Seriously, you never told me that you also read yaoi.”
The book floated up and opened up as Toru flipped through the pages.
“How did you even get this into the school? I had to use fake book covers on all my physical volumes.”
Momo opened her mouth and closed it a few times, unable to answer. She was still reeling from being exposed and from the revelation that her classmate shared the same hobby. What a strange coincidence.
“Hey, do you think that Mina-chan or Ochaco-chan also read BL? Let’s go ask them!”
Momo’s eyes widened as she saw Toru’s clothes turn around and start to float away with her book. She quickly reached up to snatch the book back.
“W-wait. Hagakure-san. We can’t just do that.”
Toru paused.
“Eh? Why?”
“It might be… uh…” Embarrassing? Mortifying? Against school rules? She tried to think of something to say. “Um. They might be busy. There’s a test tomorrow.”
“Ah, okay! Maybe we can talk to them some other time” Toru’s voice sounded chipper, and Momo sighed, relieved. She clutched her not-so-secret book closer to her chest.
“BUT!” Toru’s yelp made Momo suddenly sit up straight.
“You owe me for never telling me that you read BL! And hardcore yaoi too!”
“What do I owe?” Momo’s brow furrowed.
Toru giggled and Momo saw a dent form on her bed where Toru’s clothes seemed to settle.
“We gotta chat more! I can’t believe I finally have a BL buddy!”
Momo smiled, her breath coming out easier. If it was just conversation, that she could handle.
“Very well, what shall we discuss?”
Toru seemed to pause her excited movements, then whispered loudly.
“Kirishima and Bakugo or Todoroki and Midoriya? Who makes the better couple?”
Momo glanced at her door, her lips wobbling from trying to keep a straight face.
Leaning in, she whispered her answer to Toru, who squealed in response.