an odd way of receiving mail
;;
It's Friday and Tenya Iida receives a letter after school is over.
He thinks how it's delivered is an odd way of receiving mail. The envelope is plain and white and neatly sealed with no wrinkle in sight. It doesn't stand out from normal letters received from day to day in the mail. In fact, it may have even been easily overlooked.
If not for the fact that it was placed in his shoe locker.
Ochako Uraraka gasps once her eyes land on the letter in Tenya's hand, she slaps Izuku Midoriya's arm in excitement. Her brown eyes sparkle.
She squeals out her friend's name, "Ooohhh, Iida-kun!"
Tenya turns to Ochako in confusion. Why did she just call his name out like that?
"Yes?" He answers, he turns the envelope from back to front. He catches his name written on it along with Momo Yaoyorozu's name.
"That letter!" Ochako quips.
Even Midoriya looks impressed. He nods and says, "I expect such an outcome from Todoroki-kun since he's cool and popular but it looks like you're popular enough to get those kind of letters too."
Those kind of letters? Tenya thinks.
"As expected from the class president of class 1-A!" Ochako chimes.
Tenya looks at the two, very much lost. What? What were they talking about?
"Pardon?" Tenya says, putting it as politely as possible. He knows he tends to over analyse everything but he can't be too far behind from the truth, right?
Ochako and Midoriya exchange a look, coming to a realization that Tenya was in the dark. Ochako's constant blush brightens and Midoriya mirrors it by looking flushed. Tenya wonders if they've made up some sort of secret language together.
"I can't tell you!" Ochako says.
"What?" Tenya asks. Why does she sound so reluctant? Has he offended her or something? "Why not?"
"I can't tell you!" She repeats, pointing at the letter.
Tenya looks down, blinking at it.
While Tenya's attention is preoccupied, Ochako grabs Midoriya's arm and starts pulling the green haired boy away. She adds, "You need to figure that out yourself!"
"I'm sorry, Iida!" Midoriya calls, his voice sounding far away.
By the time Tenya turns away from the letter to ask Ochako what she means, she and Midoriya are already gone.
For a moment, Tenya wonders if Ochako's real quirk is being a ninja.
…
Tenya has Momo's letter tucked in the safety of his school jacket pocket.
He figures he should save the letter reading to when he gets home so that he could take in the information word by word and then take out his stationary and reply in a similar fashion – on pen and paper.
But unfortunately, he figures wrong.
He never gets to read his letter. And Katsuki Bakugou and Eijiro Kirishima are largely at fault of that.
"COME BACK HERE, YOU FUCK HEAD!" Bakugou yells on the top of his voice as he chases after his one and only friend, Eiijiro.
Eiijiro lets out a laugh of glee as he runs away at full speed – sharp teeth stretched in a wide smile. That's the face of a sadistic prankster ready to get his ass whooped.
"DIEEE!"
"Stop! No roughhousing on campus grounds!" Tenya scolds, standing between Bakugou and his target.
This action skyrockets Bakugo's already short temper. The pale blonde boy grabs Tenya briefly by his sides and shouts, "Move, Engine Legs!"
Then Bakugou activates his quirk and blows Tenya aside. Tenya stumbles back and falls, landing on his butt, hard. The first thought that enters Tenya's mind is That was unnecessary and hurts! The second though is, Oh no, the letter!
One minute, Tenya had it then BOOM, it's gone – literally.
Tenya doesn't even need to pull the letter out of his pocket. He is met with a hole in his school jacket and burning paper. Bakugou's explosive quirk burns it to black dust before Tenya even had the chance to uncover the mystery of its importance. Much less have a chance to read it.
"Bakugou! Kirishima!" Tenya yells, raising his voice but he is ignored.
Pale blonde and red hair blur together. The two zoom past their class president and resume their horseplay, yelling and chasing until they're out of the school gates.
Thinking of the worst case scenario, Tenya feels his stomach sink. Momo is going to be furious.
He spends two days making up theories on the secret behind the letter until his mother starts worrying about him and he hears his father openly expressing a worrisome attitude towards the chain-link red yarn and articles pinned against his study board, the burned letter sits in the center of his crazy ideas. Tenya is just glad Tensei wasn't home for the weekend to witness his behaviour.
;;
"So about the letter." Is the first thing Momo Yaoyorozu says to Tenya Iida on Monday morning as they meet in class 1-A.
It's early and no one has arrived yet.
Oh damnation! Tenya immediately regrets his routine of being the first to class.
Tenya breaks out into a sweat right there and then. His heart pounds and his hands begins to feel clammy. He knew he couldn't avoid the situation forever but, still, to be put in this situation.
"Uh …" Tenya mumbles.
Momo's standing by the door as if she wants to make a quick exit in case anything goes wrong and he's just clammed up in his seat.
She tells him, "I asked you a question and I expect an answer."
"I'm sorry," Tenya says, feeling guilty.
"Is that a yes or a no?" Momo pushes onwards.
"Neither." Tenya replies. "I ... I didn't get a chance to read it."
Momo frowns. Wasn't Tenya the type to reply to a text message within three minutes of receiving it? Why was he beating around the bush?
Tenya continues speaking, ready to fess up, "And the reason for that is –"
"I know."
Tenya's eyebrows shot up. Momo knows? Then why is she asking?
"Maybe I asked too much too soon. I know you're busy with your brother and school work and therefore don't have a lot of time." Momo says, cutting him off.
Okay, so she didn't exactly know.
"But, please," Momo continues. "Please make some time to think about it."
"Ah ..." He doesn't have the heart to tell her the letter had gone down in flames. "Okay,"
Momo nods her head then sets her book bag by her desk before sitting down. Students entering the class and exclaiming a cheery 'good morning!' helps fill in the awkwardness. They don't talk for the rest of the day.
;;
Tenya begs for his friends to explain what exactly the letter was but it comes off as a fruitless attempt.
…
Monday –
"Tell me!"
Tenya says, cornering Ochako in a corner at the Yuei dorms after everyone's disperse into their rooms.
"No!" Ochako declines as she shrieks away from Tenya and uses her quirk to float away from him.
"Please, you were the first to click the contents of the letter! You have to tell me!" Tenya begs, chasing after her like a child chasing after a balloon.
"No, Iida-kun!" She says and then hides in the safety of Tsuyu Asui's room.
"Uraraka!"
"No!" Ochaho says again through the door then repeats her words. "Figure it out yourself!"
…
Tuesday –
"Talk to me!"
"I can't, Iida. I promised Uraraka-san I wouldn't!" Midoriya says, almost timidly as he pushes the small wedge between his bedroom door and Tenya trying to force it open.
"Yaoyorozu's going to be so mad at me if she finds out I didn't read her letter!"
"I'm sorry, I can't!"
"Midoriya!"
"I'm sorry!" Midoriya apologizes then uses his One For All and slams the door so hard Tenya swears it would have broken to pieces.
…
Wednesday –
Tenya throws his hands in the air. "Midoriya! Uraraka!"
"NO!" They tell him in union.
His shoulders slump from defeat. It's no use, those two have their mouths clamp shut.
;;
Three days pass by then. The atmosphere between Tenya and Momo are a little … suffocating. Hanging out in the dorm's living room and passing by each other have never felt weirder to Tenya in his entire life. Even more so when they sit at the same table when eating – that's three courses of awkwardly glancing at each other. At least when class is in session, Tenya has a legitimate reason to not pay attention to Momo.
It's Thursday when both Tenya and Momo are assisted to stay back and sort out a few class representative tasks while everyone else has return to their dorms.
Both of them sit in classroom 1-A, silent and surrounded by paper that's stacked neatly and sorted.
"So about the letter," Tenya speaks up, using Momo's exact sentence just a few days ago, paper in hand.
The sudden conversation causes Momo's ears to perk up and for her pen to hang mid-air.
"Yes?" Momo answers, short and simple. She's always been the serious type. She doesn't play around and knows when to buck up.
"Why didn't you just hand it to me in person?" Tenya asks, his eyebrows knit together. "You're usually a very straight-forward person."
Momo looks away. Her seriousness fades. "I was embarrassed of telling you the details."
"Embarrassed?" Tenya echoes. In that case, why would Momo forward him such a letter? If she didn't feel comfortable telling him the details then why even tell him at all? Let alone single him out on this piece of confidential information. What made him the special snow flake in the first place?
"But," Momo pushes the fluttery feeling in her chest away. It looks like she's going to be see-sawing between wanting to be all tough and determined, and wanting to shy away and just be like every flustered girl in front of her crush. "I'm still waiting for your answer. You haven't said anything yet and it's been a week."
Tenya comes clean, "I don't think I can give you an answer."
This flips a switch inside Momo. It looks like she won't just be dealing with being serious and bashful.
"It's just a yes or no sort of thing." Momo speaks.
"I know but I can't."
He can't be serious.
"Just tell me." She says, now trying not to let her temper get to her but Tenya can see she's visibly upset. "I asked you a question and you're just never going to answer it? Why are you ignoring it?"
Tenya shakes his head. "I'm not – I'm not ignoring it. I – I just –"
The look on Momo's face tells Tenya to get straight to the point. He knows she's angry for his careless behaviour but he doesn't think she should be this angry. So he says it aloud.
"I just don't think you should be angry at me over a piece of paper." Tenya says. "It's … It's just a letter, right?"
Momo's mouth drops a little.
"It's not just a letter." Her voice contains a small hint of anger. as she says this
"It's not?" Tenya question. "I'm sorry if I angered you then. I'm sure whatever was written in it contained very important information. If you could just relay it to me now, I'll make sure to put all my effort into the task –"
"It was a love letter."
Tenya swears time stops. The stack of paper in his hands slips and scatter to the floor. He must have looked like such an idiot.
Momo doesn't even give him a minute to recover. She's waited a whole week for this moment. "Well, do you accept my offer or not?"
"Like – Like on a date?" Tenya questions.
Momo only nods.
"I …" Tenya feels his stomach do a 360 flop. "This is so sudden … I …"
"No, it's not. This was supposed to happen last Friday."
She's right! Tenya realizes.
Momo questions him, "Didn't you read it?"
"I … There was this accident involving Bakugou." Tenya explains. "I'm sorry. He blew it up and I didn't have the heart to tell you since Uraraka made such a big deal about it when she and Midoriya saw me pulling your letter out from my shoe locker."
Momo's face drops.
Tenya tells her as his hands move nervously, "I've been doing everything in my power to figure it out. I begged Uraraka and Midoriya to tell me but they wouldn't answer me no matter how much I prodded them."
"O – Oh," Momo stammers out.
The room fills with silence at this. Momo looks down at her desk, ashamed that she semi-snapped at Tenya. She thinks the stillness will eat her up until she cracks. She's no good at this.
But then Tenya breaks it with a question.
"So what did it say?" Tenya asks. He doesn't know if it's him genuinely talking or the fact that he's had an overwhelming fact thrown at him.
"What?" Momo questions back, eyes snapping back up to look him in the eye.
Tenya rephrases his question, pink tinting his cheeks. "What did the love letter say?"
"It was a confession," Momo mutters.
"I know but …" Tenya trails off before he picks his sentence back up. "But I want to know what exactly it says so I can relay your feelings."
"Geez," She breathes out a sigh but it's an attempt to hide her blush. "If only you had read the letter then I wouldn't have to say these embarrassing things," Momo quips. "But basically ..."
And so, Momo spills her guts out – saying everything on her mind while red in the face. After all, despite going through hero training, she is still at heart, a fifteen year old.
"… so what do you say?" Momo finishes her story telling.
Tenya's mouth feels dry as he drowns them both in an awkward pause. The clock above the blackboard ticks away, telling him the precious seconds he's wasting. And she's looking at him with such determined eyes but he can't decide what to say.
"Um …"
His brain has short-circuited. Never in his life would he have thought someone would have such strong feelings for him. He can't comprehend it.
God, this feels like a hopeless task.
Momo says, "If you're not going to give me a straight forward answer then I'll just leave."
She doesn't like waiting. Time is precious to a young hero in training like her. If she could just settle her feelings instead of being tossed around by fate then she can proceed in her daily routine - studying with a clear head, practising her quirk without a distraction.
Momo stuffs her things into her book bag, shoulders it and gets up to leave. She hurriedly walks towards the exit and has one foot out the door when Tenya stands up suddenly, his hands a blur of a mess.
"W – Wait!" Tenya calls out.
He wants her to wait even more?
Momo stops in her tracks, she doesn't turn around to face him. "What is it?"
"Please," Tenya pleads to her, his back straight and his hands kept to his side. "Give me one more day to think about it. I'll give you my answer tomorrow."
Momo loosens her grip on her book bag.
"Please, Yaoyorozu?"
She surrenders but only because it's Tenya Iida – only because he is still her crush. "Alright, tomorrow then."
He gives her a perfect 45 angled bow to show his gratitude.
;;
"Oh, Yaoyorozu." A voice says.
Momo turns her head away from the window she was staring out off. Her train of thoughts come to a halt. She comes back to reality – her sitting in the dark living room of Yuei's dorm at eleven PM.
Blinking back her bad case of space head, Momo stares at the person talking to her. He's dressed in his pyjamas and so is she.
"Oh, hi, Todoroki-san." Momo greets, she smiles at him.
"Hey," He echoes back because he doesn't really know what else to say and because he doesn't want to come off as rude.
"You're up pretty late." Momo points out, knowing Todoroki was the type to sleep early. She asks, "Can't sleep?"
"Yeah, I thought it would help if I made myself a cup of tea." He answers. "What about you?"
"I'm …" She trails off. "I'm just thinking."
He cocks his head to the side and Momo hopes he doesn't ask any more questions.
"You look kind of down." Todoroki says, not ever sugar-coating the moment.
Momo feels a little embarrassed. "Oh … you noticed?"
"It's kind of hard not to. You're frowning and staring out the window dramatically." Todoroki replies, sharp as usual. Then he adds, "Is something wrong?"
"It's uh – It's – um …"
Momo stumbles over her words. She had always felt a connection between herself and Todoroki. Not as close as she is to the girls. But still close enough to tell him her woes.
"… It's a boy problem."
"Ah," Is all he replies. Todoroki rubs the back of his neck, exposing red and white hair at the very nape. "Well, I'm not sure if I'll be much help but I could listen to your problem and tell you my thoughts on it."
Momo jerks back, she's surprised. She thought Todoroki would just walk away from the conversation. It is a weird topic, after all. "Wait – So you're willing to help?"
"Yeah," Todoroki nods and accepts the situation he's in like it's the most natural thing to do.
Momo is a little amazed by how adaptable he is.
"I don't really know how much help I can offer though." He adds with a small shrug. "But I'm a boy myself so I guess I have some level of expertise in that department."
Momo's face brightens. "That's – That's so nice of you. Thank you!"
"What are friends for?" Todoroki replies. "Just let me get myself a cup of tea first."
Momo nods her head and tucks her knees under her chin. She feels a little bit hopeful.
…
"I'm sorry, Iida." Izuku Midoriya apologizes on the other line after Tenya had spilled the beans about today's classroom moment.
Tenya Iida had decided to call his friend after going on a run on campus ground and upon noticing how private the open space was, he thought it was a perfect time to have the talk. With Tenya standing in the middle of a deserted footpath that's surrounded by greenery, eavesdropping seems impossible. Tenya isn't the type to have good gossip anyways.
"It's okay," Tenya says, his own phone pressed against his ear.
"I wanted to tell you the letter was a love letter, I really did! But Uraraka-San gave me this look not to tell you. Then when she pulled me away after we left you at your shoe locker, we had this talk and she said something about you having to realize what the letter was yourself because, sooner or later, you had to realize Yaoyorozu's feelings for you too."
Tenya nods. Yes, that sounded like a reasonable explanation.
"I'm sorry you had to figure it out that way though." Midoriya says – that way as in the classroom scene. "But hey, at least you realized it was a love letter, right?"
"Yes but to have Yaoyorozu herself explain it to me must have taken so much out of her." Tenya replies. "I didn't even consider the situation I put her in. I just asked her what was written in the letter because I couldn't wrap my head around it and simply wanted something to assess."
Midoriya hums understandingly. There is a small gap between the conversation before Midoriya speaks again.
"Have you decided what you wanted to tell her?"
"No." Tenya answers, straight forward as usual. "No, not yet."
"Okay then, I suppose it's a lot to take in and think about. It is a living, breathing person's feelings, after all. It's not an easy task to think about, your decision means the world to Yaoyorozu!"
Wow, that didn't put more pressure onto Tenya's conscious at all! Thanks, Midoriya!
Midoriya continues speaking, "If you want to date Yaoyorozu then go for it. She's really nice and smart. I can see you two bonding better if you say yes."
Tenya can't help but feel a little flustered at this.
"But," Midoriya says, pausing for effect.
"But?"
"But if you let her down, be gentle about it. Girls are sensitive about these things, you know?" Midoriya says.
"They are?" Tenya asks.
"Well, at least my mom is. She cries a lot."
But so do you, Tenya thinks.
Then Tenya remembers the details about all the girls in class 1-A, how they're all already heroes in his head, how they're all strong and tough and how they can all punch just as good as any other person.
"Yaoyorozu can handle my decision." Tenya says – that is, when he decides what his decision is.
"Okay," Midoriya answers on the other line. "Just … choose your words carefully."
"I …" Tenya sucks in a deep breath, his lungs don't feel big enough. He thinks it'll feel even more so when his heart beats like crazy tomorrow. "I will."
…
Shouto Todoroki is standing by Tenya Iida's bedroom when Tenya gets back from his run.
"Todoroki," Tenya calls out as a way of greeting.
Todoroki nods his head back in return. "Iida."
"What are you doing here?" Tenya questions.
"Can I talk to you about Yaoyorozu?" Todoroki asks back as if it's the appropriate answer.
Oh.
Tenya stills. "Um – sure?"
Todoroki bobs his head once again. And Tenya doesn't really have a choice except to brace himself and invite Todoroki into his room.
;;
Tenya lies in bed, wide awake with his thoughts flying everywhere. He can't really sleep. His brain is buzzing, filling itself with Momo's confession of what she thought of him – earnest, intelligent and humble.
Was that really how he was in Momo's eyes? Was that how people saw him? After his run-in in Hero Killer Stain, he didn't really think himself that way.
It's obvious that she's done a lot of thinking about him. But has he really thought about her?
He supposes to some degree, yes, but never romantically.
It's slow at first, but then it hits him.
Then Tenya remembers the time Momo explained and laid out the facts when the class had to go through the Battle Trial, back when everyone was testing out their quirk costumes. They were in the computer room and Momo was telling everyone the faults of the match between Midoriya versus Bakugou and Ochako versus him. Tenya remembers the feeling he felt as Momo breezily pieced things together, something that took him a moment to grasp – She was amazing! Her analysis skills!
Momo was levelheaded and dedicated. A real born leader! Her quirk wasn't the only thing special about her. Neither the fact that she was one of the students who had gotten in Yuei through a well earned scholarship or the fact that she was ranked first in the Quirk Apprehension test.
Tenya realizes, but above that, Momo was kind and passionate and always willing to help her friends. She's a great person. Lovely even.
And she doesn't deserve having to wait for Tenya to beat around the bush.
He closed his eyes and nodded to himself. He's decided.
;;
And so, Momo Yaoyorozu waits a week and one day.
She wakes up to the sound of knocking on her bedroom door.
"Coming," Momo says, sounding sleepy and low in energy. Her hair is messy and her pyjamas are wrinkled up when Tenya Iida stands before her.
Momo's hasn't had the time to freshen up, she has literally just rolled out of bed. Tenya sees Momo at her messiest.
"Oh," Momo says upon realizing the situation. She quickly runs a hand through her hair. Then she thinks, Do I have any drool marks on my face?
God, that would be so embarrassing. This was embarrassing.
"Good morning." She adds. They haven't even eaten breakfast yet. It's not even seven AM.
"I came here to give you my answer." Tenya says, getting straight to the point.
He doesn't even bid her a good morning back, this makes Momo feel even more nervous.
"Oh," She says. It's funny because yesterday she was so determine to know and now … not so much. But regardless, she asks, "What is it?"
.
.
.
"I accept."
;;
It's Saturday and everyone at Yuei's gone home for the weekend.
Tensei takes one look at Tenya and raises a brow. "Where are you going?"
Tenya frowns. Can't his older brother see how professional he looks? He has flowers in one hand and chocolates in the other, polished shoes on and a stylish tie wrapped around his neck. "I'm going on a date."
Tensei's response is to swallow back a laugh after his eyes drift to Tenya's attire.
"What? What are you laughing at?" Tenya asks. Did he over do it? Tenya knows he can be overly serious at times but he just wants to make things as perfect as possible.
Tensei points at his brother then at a downwards direction, causing Tenya to follow the pointed finger. His eyebrows knit together. Was it his shoes?
Then Tenya's eyes travel a little bit more upwards.
Oh.
Ooohhh.
"I forgot to put on pants." Tenya says aloud.
"Yes, you did." Tensei replies, now laughing aloud. "And you were almost out the door."
Tenya quickly bows to his brother, acting as extreme as usual. "Forgive me, if anyone would have seen me running around without pants on – it would have – I would have tainted the family name!"
Tensei waves the matter off. "Relax, you're just nervous. Take a deep breath."
Tenya does as he's told.
But he must have made an error because Tensei sighs and says, "Okay … maybe not that deep."
"I'm sorry," Tenya breathes out.
Tensei pats Tenya on the shoulder. "Don't be. Just be yourself, okay? You're going to be fine."
"Really?"
"Yeah, of course!" Tensei says. "I mean, this girl you're going on a date with confessed to you because she likes you for being you to begin with, right?"
"How did you know she was the one to confess?" Tenya asks, blown away by his brother's sharpness once again.
"Because you've always been a little oblivious about romance."
Tenya drops his shoulders a bit. "Oh,"
"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't say that to discourage you or anything. I'm just saying things fly over your head sometimes. But anyways," Tensei clears his throat. "Just be yourself during your date and don't forget to put on some pants before you leave!"
…
The date goes surprising well – very smooth, in fact.
Everyone in class 1-A catches wind about Tenya and Momo's date by the time Monday rolls around. Tenya feels embarrassed that he's become the new target of all the teasing but he's ultimately glad about his decision. Momo smiles the brightest among the two as they walk in together with intertwined hands. Midoriya gives them a thumbs-up and Ochako cheers the loudest. Kaminari slaps a few dollar bills into Jiro's open palm, seeming to have lost a bet.
And Mineta salutes at Momo like he's lost an opportunity but it seems like a majority of their friends ship it. Especially a certain Shouto Todoroki.
;;
end
;;
Notes
I ship both IidaMomo and TodoMomo but since there was no fanfic that centred around the IidaMomo ship, I wrote it myself. I just see these two as the mom and dad of the class. How many times did I write 'class 1-A' before I felt like I suffered too much?
I used YouTuber FirstNameLastName's idea of Iida forgetting to put on pants. It just sounds legit.
It took me awhile to write this because I needed to watch both seasons and read the manga just so I could familiarize myself with Iida and Momo's speech pattern and personalities but I still feel like everything was robotic. I'm sorry but I hope I managed to write this well enough for you guys though!
– 23 July 2017