A/N: The finale is here! Will things work out the way both Midoriya and Mei want it to? Who knows?
Opposites Attract Chapter 12 - The End
The day started just like any other day would. Everyone woke up at an acceptable time (as organized by Iida himself), everyone ate and everyone left to attend their lessons. Little did everyone know, however, that Midoriya Izuku was panicking more than normal.
For today, he planned on asking Hatsume Mei to be his girlfriend.
Naturally, Midoriya spent most of the past few days fretting over every small detail, running all of the worst scenarios through his head and almost backing out at the last second. The green haired boy had steeled his nerves for the while and tried his best to persevere with his day while those thoughts lingered in his head and distracting him from his lessons.
What if, despite what everyone had said, Mei didn't actually share Midoriya's feelings? Perhaps Mei's actions that lead people to believing she liked him were all just an act, or simply her way of teasing him into oblivion. Maybe it was just a really cruel joke that everyone was in on except for him, and it would be revealed at the very end once he confesses his feelings to her, ending in a lifetime of embarrassment for him and a story that he would never be able to live down no matter what.
Or it could simply be that he's overthinking it, who knows? Regardless of what would happen, Midoriya was ready. This was his moment, his time to confess his feelings and make everything right again. Everyone will be happy, and that will be the end of it.
Though, perhaps he's been thinking about Mei a bit too much.
Currently everyone was in the dorms, going about their businesses. However, they were unfortunate enough to walk in on something truly disturbing for some. Hunched over on one of the couches was Midoriya, muttering his head off. This was no normal muttering, though. Unlike Midoriya's regular muttering, he was speaking at a crazy speed, almost at the point where nobody could understand him.
"Holy shit… what is this?!" Someone yelled. Midoriya was too caught up with what he was doing to pay any proper attention.
"H-He's reached a whole new level of strange!"
"He's the master of muttering!"
"M-Midoriya! Snap out of it!" That was all he needed to hear to break his trance. Midoriya's head quickly shot up and examined the room. It turned out that everyone in Class 1-A (minus Bakugou) was surrounding him, watching in fear as he muttered.
"Huh? Wh-What's going on?" Midoriya asked slowly.
"You were muttering up a storm over there! Are you alright, Deku?" Uraraka asked. They may be exes now, but they're still on good terms.
"O-Oh, yeah I'm okay. I must've been r-really distracted!" Midoriya replied, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head and laughing. "Uh, I hope you don't mind me asking but, wh-what are you all doing here?"
"Well, I was going to inform you that our lessons for today were cancelled, but I witnessed your more 'high intensity' muttering and was almost entranced at how a man can speak that quickly." Iida informed, keeping his hands firmly placed behind his back instead of waving them around like he usually would.
"Yeah, that's a pretty serious thing coming from a guy who speaks faster than all of us!" Kaminari butted in from the back of the crowd.
"Indeed. Regardless of my speaking speed, we were concerned for you, Midoriya." Iida finished.
"W-wait. lessons are cancelled today? Why?" Midoriya asked.
"According to the message sent to me by the principal, the school's main power grid was shut off. The surveillance cameras showed that it was a sleepwalking student with a rather destructive quirk getting into places he shouldn't have been." Iida explained. "Because of that, all power going to U.A's main building has been cut off, so lessons cannot proceed as they would have."
"Sweet, right? No lessons!" Mina exclaimed. She was one of the… less talented when it came to intelligence, so she was more than joyed to hear that lessons weren't going to be proceeding today.
"That may be so, but I won't let you all slack off on a day of learning! I strongly urge that you all study each of your subjects, even if it means finding an empty gym to conduct quirk training! I'll contact Mr. Aizawa to see if I can get a copy of today's lesson plan!" Iida yelled, much to everyone's dismay. "However, I cannot force you to study. If you truly wish to squander this day on trivial acts, I cannot stop you."
"Hell yeah! Free day!" Most of the class yelled, each person darting off either to their own rooms or outside to conduct their own business. Those who were left chose to go back to study, like good students. The only person left by the couches was Midoriya, returning to his cycle of thinking.
'This is perfect! With the lessons cancelled, I can easily take today to spend time with Mei, then make my move! Whoever cut off the power is a true saint!' Midoriya thought, screaming internally. Of course, lessons being cancelled was a right shame, but that wasn't important in the situation. Midoriya had a plan and he wouldn't let anyone stop him from achieving it.
-line-
Hatsume Mei woke up to the exact same news as everyone else. Their class president, Amake Chiyo, received the same message that Iida did, and was quite happy to find that their lessons were cancelled. For the Support Course lessons, having their lessons cancelled wasn't much of a big deal since their lessons really only involved tinkering and building. So either way they'll spend their day tinkering and building. It's a win/win.
For Mei, hearing that the lessons were cancelled wasn't much of a big deal for her. Just like the rest of her class, Mei would have spent her day tinkering regardless of whether the planned lessons for today were going to happen or not. However, today's sudden absence of the school timetable would inevitably help Mei with what she wanted to do today.
She wanted to patch things up with Midoriya.
It was rather obvious that Midoriya's lack of presence in her life recently was due to his relationship with Uraraka, but if the rumours were correct he's now single. Although not much time had passed since their contact had ended Mei still felt that they may have lost their old friendship, which in the eyes of a teenager, is a very serious thing.
So, given circumstances, Mei would do something about it. Her days sitting idly by in her room wondering what their reunion would be like were over, today she would meet Midoriya and fix everything. Their friendship would be back to where it used to be, and she would continue walking the long and harsh road known as making Midoriya like her.
Her morning went along rather plainly, just as it would on a normal school morning. Nobody really talked to each other too much, they just ate and left except this time it was more leisurely as nobody really had places to be. And, from the sound that came from outside during the morning, so did everyone else. This really worked in Mei's favour. She knew that Midoriya liked to spend his time inside doing simple training or studying, so he'd probably be the only one in his dorm room. A man and a woman alone in a secluded area usually lead to romance. Just thinking about it was pumping her up, adding to her motivation to leave and get her plan moving (Not that she'd ever admit that she's thought those things, nor would she admit that she's watched romance themed TV shows and movies).
So today, Mei would steel her nerves and march over to 1-A's dorms. Today, Mei would spend time with the person she loves. Today, Mei would make her final move and become Midoriya Izuku's girlfriend, one that would not deprive him of his social life and free time. Or at least, that's what she hoped would happen.
Despite her second thoughts, Mei decided to leave. It was still quite early, but Mei figured that the healthy time of 9am was a perfect time to start her master plan at. She marched right up to the 1-A dorm doors and knocked firmly. She knew Midoriya was inside at the time due to a shriek being heard from the other side of the door. Not long after she knocked, the door opened to reveal Midoriya dressed in a dark green hoodie and jeans.
"O-Oh, hi Mei. Wh-what's up?" Midoriya asked, his stutter still ever-present in his voice.
"Eh, nothing really. I just wanted to come hang out for a bit since we have the whole day free, if that's okay with you of course!" Mei replied, sending the boy a happy smile. "It's been a while since we've hung out, so I thought I'd change that!"
"Oh, uh, sure! C-Come in! Nobody e-else is here at the moment, so it'll be just us.." Midoriya said softly, moving out of the doorway to let Mei in. Little did he know that this was what Mei wanted; the whole dorms to themselves for perhaps the whole day.
"That's fine, just means nobody will interrupt us once we start hanging out." Mei replied nonchalantly, making a beeline towards the couches. "Sooo, what do you wanna do?"
"Y-You didn't plan anything in advance? I th-thought you would have done that first, since you came here wanting to hang out…" Midoriya said.
He had a point. What were they going to do?
'Dammit, should've thought this part through more…' Mei cursed in her head. She's usually really good when it comes to planning things in other situations, why is now the exception?
"Hmm, I didn't think about that. We could just talk, you know? Catch up!" Mei suggested. "We haven't really talked in a while, and I'm sure a lot of interesting stuff has happened to you in that time! You are in the Hero Course, after all."
"That's true, a lot of stuff does happen to me and my class. It's like we're the protagonists of an anime!" Midoriya joked.
"Heh, yeah. Either that or the protagonists of a poorly written fanfiction." Mei followed, following along with Midoriya's joke (oh, if only they knew). "But jokes aside, we should really catch up."
"Yeah, I think so too." Midoriya replied, flashing Mei with his bright smile. Mei couldn't help but smile back, it was her natural reaction after seeing Midoriya smile. His smile just filled her with happiness, it was contagious.
-line-
Meanwhile, all of Class 1-A were huddled around a phone in a public park.
Iida, who was holding the phone, took a moment to readjust his glasses. "I feel very dishonourable for doing this, but there is no other way." He muttered, looking towards the ground in shame.
"Don't worry about it, this really is the only way to get those two together. Also, try not to look too dodgy in the park. The last thing I want is you guys to get pulled up by the police for suspicious behavior…" The voice on the other end of the phone, which belonged to none other than Jirou, advised. "I'll keep you guys posted on what they're doing."
"Very well, Jirou. You're our ears on the inside, don't fail us." Iida said enthusiastically.
That's right, they were spying on Midoriya and Mei.
Everything that had happened today was meticulously planned by most of 1-A, even the convenient power outage in the classrooms. Their plan was flawless: step 1 was to have a student go into the power generator room and bust it up (it was Satou who did that one. He'd go in and eat a bunch of sugar and almost mindlessly bust up the generator. It was easily perceived as a sleepwalking incident). Step 2 was for everyone except Jirou to leave the classroom as soon as the 'no school announcement' was made. Jirou would stay in her room, under the guise of studying, to eavesdrop on Midoriya and Mei's conversations and report back to Iida via a phone call, which would take the longest as the two might hang out all day.
"I'll admit, I was kind of apprehensive when you guys told me about this plan, but it's turned out to be quite fun!" Kaminari commented.
"Indeed. It's for the greater good as well, so that alone has reassured me about these actions." Tokoyami replied, choosing to sit on a low hanging branch on a nearby tree. Some thought that to be quite comfortable for him.
"No matter how good our actions are and no matter how fun this may be, I still feel as if I'm betraying Midoriya and Hatsume by doing this. After all, eavesdropping on their conversation, which was meant to be private, is very rude and unbecoming of future heroes." Iida commented, still feeling the shame despite what his classmates have said.
"Actually Iida, this could prove useful for later life as Pro Heroes. Jirou's quirk allows her to hear things on higher frequencies than any normal human should and it works very well for eavesdropping, so this task alone could very well help her if she has to partake in any stealth missions." Yaoyorozu commented, holding her finger up in a very matter-of-factly manner. "Also, it also helps us for that exact same reason. Relaying information from inside a villain's hideout will prove invaluable in later situations, and this is very good training for it, despite it's shameful nature."
"You're right as always, Yaoyorozu. I see that I still have much to learn." Iida replied, turning to face Yaoyorozu and bowing slightly. All the while, passers-by watched in confusion as a mob of 18 students huddled in a secluded corner.
-later-
An hour had passed. Iida and co were still at the same park, except they had moved out a bit and had begun talking to each other in small groups. Iida was on his own for the most part since he was in charge of relaying the information he got from Jirou to everyone else, and needed peace and quiet so he could hear, and peace and quiet isn't something you can have with the students of Class 1-A. The rest of the groups were:
-Bakugou, Kirishima and Kaminari
-Yaoyorozu and Todoroki
-Satou, Kouda, Shouji and Mineta
-Aoyama, Ashido, Sero and Tokoyami
-Ojiro and Hagakure
-Uraraka and Tsuyu
Iida wasn't too interested in what the groups were doing, mainly because he had the task firmly planted in his mind and was set on getting it done. He had essentially drowned out all outside noise and focused solely on the phone.
"Hmm, sounds like they're watching TV still…" Jirou reported, the sounds of said TV being heard in the background ever so faintly. "It's really loud. I'm not sure whether you can hear it or not, but I can assure you that it's loud, even more so for me."
"Yes, I can hear the TV through the phone. What are they saying?" Iida asked.
"Well, they're just making fun of the characters. Sometimes they make links between the characters and a classmate, then branch off for a bit before going back to the TV show. They've been doing that for almost an hour. I can't see how that can be fun.." Jirou commented.
"Perhaps its not the show that's fun to watch, but their company that's fun to be in? If that makes sense, of course." Iida mused. "The show in itself may not be very entertaining or fun to watch, but the two simply being there is making it fun. Simply being in the company of someone you enjoy being around is enough to make any activity a fun one."
"I guess you're right. Heh, maybe you are smart enough to beat Yaomomo." Jirou joked.
"I wouldn't count on it. Yaoyorozu is a very smart girl, and I don't have anything that can beat her in terms of intelligence."
"...dude, that was a joke."
"It was? Forgive me, I'm not good at deciphering those.."
-line-
Meanwhile, Midoriya and Mei were huddled together on the couches in front of the TV. They were watching some badly made reality show about an auction which neither of the two were awfully interested in. Despite that, the people on the show were funny enough to make fun of.
Just as Jirou said, the two had been doing this for a long time. After a while, the two had stopped making running commentary of what they found funny and instead chose to just laugh and point it out every now and then. As this went on, Midoriya had noticed that Mei was inching closer and closer to him, not that he minded. He had hoped for this to happen so they could get closer (physically and emotionally), and everything was slowly falling into place.
This also applied for Mei. She was deliberately moving closer to see how Midoriya felt about it, and she was hoping that he would be okay with it. She knew that each time she moved, Midoriya's head would move ever so slightly towards her as if he was watching her, so she would know whether he was feeling uncomfortable. Surprisingly though, he felt fine with it, so she kept inching closer and closer.
'Okay, just a little bit more…' Mei thought, shuffling over just the smallest bit.
'Okay, she just needs to move a little bit closer…' Midoriya thought as a plan hatched within his mind. Within moments, Mei had made the final shuffle and their arms collided. Midoriya froze up a little, even though he could feel Mei's body heat through that simple touch. This was when Midoriya's master plan came into play.
Mei only noticed when it was too late. Somehow, Midoriya had managed to lift his arm up from under Mei's and into the air. When Mei looked up, the last portion of his plan was completed. Midoriya lowered his arm and neatly placed it behind Mei's head and over her shoulders, his hand falling limply on her upper arm. It was Mei's turn to freeze up now.
"M-Mei? Is this alright?" Midoriya asked hesitantly. He may have though that putting his arm around Mei was a good idea before he did it, but he wasn't sure whether Mei would be for it or not, and judging by her reaction he wasn't sure whether it was the right move.
"Oh, y-yeah it's fine. I was just surprised, it's not like you to make moves like this! Usually I'm the one doing it!" Mei replied jokingly.
"Yeah, you're right about that. I-I just… wanted to do... the same, too…" Midoriya said, his voice slowly failing him towards the end of his sentence.
"Hmm? What did you say?" Mei asked. "You… wanted to do that to me?"
"...yeah."
Mei didn't know how to feel. Part of her was really happy, since Midoriya had pretty much said he wanted to get closer to her. Though, part of her thought he was just teasing her, getting her back for all the times she's done it to him.
"I… Are you just doing this to tease me? To get revenge for all the times I've done it to you?" Mei asked, doing her best to sound sincere. She's been known to not sound very serious in serious situations, so she wanted to make sure she wasn't kidding around.
"No, that's not it. The truth is that I…" Midoriya began.
'Well, it's now or never I guess…' he thought as he uttered the rest of his sentence.
"...I like you, Mei."
-line-
"Hooooooly shit!" Jirou yelled, startling the resting Iida.
"Huh? What's happened? What was so shocking that you used such awful language?" Iida asked.
"Midoriya just confessed! He just said 'I like you, Mei'!" Jirou reported. Iida's jaw dropped.
"Holy shit!" He yelled. "I shouldn't break the rules I set myself but now is a perfect exception! Everybody, Midoriya's just confessed his love to Mei!"
A collective shout of 'Holy Shit!" echoed throughout the entire park.
"It seems love has finally won in the end!~" Aoyama yelled, gracefully firing his Navel Laser into the sky.
"That's my boy Midoriya!" Kirishima cheered, raising his fist into the air triumphantly. Everyone else followed suit, raising their fists into the air and yelling 'yeah!'
-line-
"...what?"
Mei was in absolute disbelief. Despite this being what she wanted to happen, she was still shocked that Midoriya was the one to confess and not her.
"I like you, Mei. In truth, I've had a crush on you since after the Sports Festival. At first, I was intrigued by your intelligence, but now I'm drawn to something completely different. Once I got to know you, I was surprised and attracted to your sense of humour, your thought processes and the things you do in general." Midoriya confessed.
Mei was still in shock.
Midoriya lifted his arm off of Mei and nervously shuffled over a bit. "I-I mean, it's not just that! Y-You're also very… beautiful, too…" Midoriya muttered. "Ah! That sounded weird, oh no now you're gonna think I'm weird too. I'm not like Mineta! N-Not that Mineta is a bad guy, but he has those weird tendencies…"
Midoriya began muttering again, how typical. Mei couldn't help but smile at him muttering like crazy while fiddling with his hands in a mindless manner. It seems that he can't stop being himself, even in the most tense situations.
"...i-it's just so strange- M-Mei? Wh-Why are you looking at me like that?" Midoriya asked, his muttering slowly stopping as he noticed Mei's gaze focused on him with a large smile on her face.
"Hehe, you don't need to explain all that to me, Izuku." Mei said, moving in closer to him. She wrapped her arm around Midoriya's neck and pulled him closer, using enough force to give him the hint but not enough to hurt. Her head was inches away from his, she could feel his breath hitting her face, which was also a clear sign of his nervousness. Midoriya knew full well what was going to happen.
He placed his hand behind her head, and Mei smiled. Wordlessly, she bridged the gap between the two and connected.
They kissed.
It was a relatively quick kiss, just a peck that lasted for a few seconds. That didn't stop both Midoriya and Mei from enjoying it. They separated and looked each other in the eyes.
"I like you too, Izuku."
A/N: I did it. Finally, after more than a month of waiting and almost constant drafting, it's finished. I'm sorry for the wait, I've suffered from not having any ideas for a very long time and I have struggled to write anything for this in the first place, but after drafting some new fic ideas I was calm and ready to write again. This story has been one hell of a ride for both me and you, the humble viewer. Speaking of which, I would like to thank all of you amazing people for taking time out of your lives to read and review my awful story, your comments really have helped with the development of the story and I don't think I would have made it without them.
I would like to make a special thank you to Drakolf who has been following this story from the very first day of it's existence, all those months ago. He's been leaving some very helpful feedback through reviews and PM, and they've been crucial for me while crafting parts of this story, so thank you again. I still have one more chapter planned for this story, an epilogue which focuses on parts of Midoriya and Mei's life after this event, written in oneshot-esque form. So be looking out for that sometime this month. See you all then for the true final chapter!
