Mineta tried (and failed) to ignore the crushing guilt for several days, but it began weighing on him so heavily that he felt nauseous and the thought of eating made him want to throw up.

He had asked Midoriya for help with his chores: an honest request, since he was struggling to get accustomed to living in the dorms with distractions in the form of his classmates. But somehow, that simple request had turned into laziness, and he actively began to take advantage of Midoriya's kindness to skirt his fair share of chores.

The short teenager was used to doing a good bit of cleaning at home, although what he could do was limited because of his short stature, so he should have realized that living in dorms would be no different.

And yet he hadn't—or at least not until Tsuyu had brought it up over a nice meal.

He tried to pick up on the things he had normally done at home, sweeping and picking up trash and similar things, but then he found himself struggling to get all of his homework done instead. So he talked to Midoriya and everything fell apart.

Mineta hadn't realized the effects of pushing his work onto his friend until he watched him collapse at the end of a training session. That, more than anything, had scared him. But frankly, that was the wake-up call he had needed. And although it turned out that he hadn't been the only one to foist their chores onto their kind classmate, he still couldn't shake how horrible it made him feel.

In fact, it became glaringly obvious that he wasn't the only one feeling bad about it, although Kouda really had nothing to feel bad about. But after seeing the way his quiet classmate had tried to cheer Midoriya up, Mineta felt like he should be better than simply doing what he should have been doing all along.

And so after that, he purposefully began cleaning up after himself consistently, even going out of his way to pick up on some of Midoriya's things as well in hopes of paying him back.

It was almost comical how flustered he got when someone (a certain frog, animal-lover, and pervert) cut him off from doing any form of cleaning. Of course, it only would have been funny if it wasn't so sad that he couldn't handle others being nice and genuinely caring for him, much less the horribly self-loathing expression that Midoriya tried to hide after every occasion.

He respected Midoriya so much, especially after the USJ, training camp, and Kamino incident… hell the list just kept growing as time went on. Mineta had no idea how someone could not like Midoriya and just go on with their life without stopping to admire his determination and care.

And that wasn't even mentioning his intelligence and willingness to see the best in others.

Hell, he willingly hung out with Mineta for crying out loud. Half of their class still made excuses to exit conversations with him after just a few minutes.

Which was why—when he said something after class back at the dorms and received a punch to the jaw from Jirou—he found himself going to Midoriya for advice. He always seemed to do everything right, he was respected and adored by everyone, and so Mineta was drawn to him. The green-haired, wide-eyed wonder was the definition of a cool guy, and he just wanted to know.

And that was how he found himself hesitantly standing outside of Midoriya's door past curfew, standing there awkwardly as he tried to build up the courage to knock.

Of course, he never had the opportunity to get that far, as Midoriya approached from down the hallway, clutching a notebook, writing utensil, and a steaming mug, and dressed in loose pants and a shirt that read 'pajamas' in katakana. He blinked tiredly at Mineta, obviously confused as to why he was awkwardly standing in front of his dorm.

"M-Mineta-kun?" he stammered in surprise, "D-did you need something? O-or am I in your way?"

Mineta blinked as Midoriya seemed to double-check that the room was in fact his own. Seriously? Was Midoriya's first instinct to assume himself to be in the wrong? Or maybe he was just that tired...

"Uh, no. Nothing like that… I just…" he trailed off, shuffling his feet as he failed to muster the right words.

Midoriya just stared at him with an unreadable expression before moving forward to open his door. He sent his shorter classmate a soft, yet shakey smile before gesturing for him to go inside. Mineta just stared in awe that his friend seemed to just know what to do.

So he followed him into the All Might shrine that was the teen's room.

Of course, everything just felt even more awkward and tense, despite Midoriya's seemingly psychic ability to know exactly the right thing to do or say in these kinds of moments. So he just stood there in his night clothes, watching his friend lethargically shuffle around his room, slotting his notebook along with a large collection of them that he was well-known for.

But Midoriya never flopped onto his chair or bed, instead choosing to sit on the floor informally. Mineta was inclined to follow suit, though he knelt more respectfully as he felt he owed his friend more than he could ever hope to repay.

"So… what did you need?" he asked softly, tilting his head just enough to give off precious vibes.

"...how do I become cool like you?" he murmured, almost hesitant to admit it out loud.

"H-huh?" Midoriya furrowed his eyebrows, his cheeks beginning to heat up, "Y-you think I'm cool? B-b-but that d-doesn't, I-I'm not… I uh… huh?"

"But you always strive to help others, like at the USJ when you saved Tsu and I! You always go and do brave things even though you quake in your boots just like me, and everybody likes you!" Mineta's heart sank a bit as he watched his friend shrink into himself more and more after each word. Because apparently he was unable to handle the string of observations—he honestly couldn't even call them compliments, because they were just statements of fact.

"B-but no… I-"

For his friend's sake, the short hero-in-training decided to move on, otherwise they would be there all night. Although Mineta would argue his point and drill how cool and awesome Midoriya was into his thick, stubborn skull all night... that was if he thought it would actually work.

But since he knew it would not, he chose to get to the point, "It's just… I'm not cool, I'm not popular, b-but…" he trailed off, looking at the floor before forcing his eyes to look back up at the classmate he was asking advice from.

Midoriya just stared at him, his face slowly relaxing and focused. Clearly he was listening to Mineta's every word, and that made his chest warm.

"I know that popularity isn't everything… I… I used to think that it would make me happy, but after everything… the USJ and Kamino… and even the licensing exam has made me realize that doing good was so much better than the fame of it."

He took a breath, feeling the way that his words began to build up until he wanted to pour out his very soul in this confession.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I liked it when I helped us escape from the flood zone a-and when I… I just… This is the best class I've ever had and I like being useful and making people laugh and I…" the words clogged in his throat as his mind finally caught up to his mouth, decided to push through and whisper out the last of his confession, "I don't make any of the girls happy and I don't know why."

This time, he couldn't bring himself to lift his head at his admission, instead staring awkwardly at the wall adjourned in All Might merchandise. For some reason though, he felt like the brilliant smile of All Might was mocking his incompetence and lack of understanding.

He didn't feel like a hero when Jirou yelled at him, nor when the girls made cruel jokes at his expense. Sure, he liked making people laugh, but there was a line between being a class clown and being hazed through 'jokes.'

And he didn't like it one bit, but he wasn't sure why they all hated him so much.

Mineta just wanted to get along with the class, not just Midoriya, Sero, and Kaminari, and Tsu on a good day. Sero and Kaminari had similar tastes in humor, Midoriya was just that nice, and Tsu put up with whatever she didn't like about him because of their shared experience at the USJ.

But the rest of the class? Not so much.

So when Midoriya sucked in a deep breath, Mineta fought back tears. Midoriya was nice, sure… but he could be very blunt at times without realizing it. There was a good chance that whatever his friend—no, his hero—said, could hurt. But this was what he had come in expecting, and this was what he needed to know.

And nobody else would give him the same kind of advice. Mineta braced himself for the truth and swore that he would follow every word religiously and find something to pay him back, despite his inability to do so despite his best efforts.

"Mineta I-" Midoriya started, "That's-"

"I know!" he exclaimed a bit too loudly, quickly remembering the late hour and lowering his voice, "I know that it's… it sounds terrible but I just-"

"N-no! That's not…" he paused.

He quickly stood up from the floor and rushed over to his desk, quickly shuffling through his many notebooks, "You are useful and cool, really! I'm really happy that y-you've… you've figured some things out on your own. I'm so g-glad that we make you h-happy."

Mineta blinked at that, taken aback by the positive response rather than the lecture he had been expecting. Maybe… maybe he hadn't gone to Midoriya for the blunt response, but instead a kind one.

Maybe this had all been for nothing and he had just been hoping to be reaffirmed and validated. What a hero he was. Fake and unwilling to change.

Tears began to pool in his eyes and he let his head hang as his shoulders began to shake. But then, Midoriya suddenly grabbed his shoulder. He looked up at the green haired teen and stared in confusion at his soft smile.

"Wh-why do you uh… y'know… say and do things to and about the girls?" he stuttered out, still maintaining his signature smile.

Mineta blinked, "D-don't girls like it when you compliment them? Th-that's… I mean…"

"M-maybe the occasional comment about looking pretty is nice… b-but what you say isn't… making s-s-se-se… inappropriate comments ab-about them isn't a compliment. I-it's embarrassing a-and degrading. A-and if that's the o-only thing you say about them um… i-it feels like that's the only th-thing that th-they'll e-ever b-b-be to… to you."

Through the stutters and awkward pauses, it was like a light bulb had gone off. Mineta was pretty sure he was beginning to understand. But that didn't make any sense.

"B-but those kinds of things were how all the guys I used to know w-were popular and well-liked… I-" his lips trembled, "I didn't mean to make them think that-that…"

Mineta swiped at the tears that began to roll over his eyelashes, "B-but you don't do that and y-you're still well-liked. Y-you're still funny and everyone likes you. I-I think I'm starting to get it now.. I… I didn't mean to… I didn't want... I…"

Midoriya's smile finally dimmed a bit, although it didn't leave his face entirely.

"I'm not-"

Mineta cut him off, "Don't…. Don't say that. You are. I promise. I just… you need to sleep right, so just… get to the point."

The hero-in-training seemed put off, but quickly recovered, obviously deciding to continue on to help Mineta at the expense of his own issues. That simultaneously frustrated and pleased the short teen, but he had come here for not only himself but also the people who seemed to be unable to tolerate him.

Maybe he was trying to do something heroic after all…

"Wh-what's worse… a-and this might be the problem… um… actions speak louder than words a-and…" Midoriya trailed off, clearly downtrodden by Mineta's predicament.

At that, the tears just came faster, "I didn't mean… I-I, they're like family now and I just-I made them all hate me. I don't like it when they make fun of me maliciously or make jokes about hurting me. I-I feel so horrible and uncomfortable and you're telling me that I've been doing that to them all along and I didn't know but I should have known! But I made everything worse and I can't-"

Mineta's eyes shot open in shock as Midoriya's warm, muscular arms wrapped around his petite shoulders in the most comforting hug he'd had in years. And then he felt a wet spot growing on his sleeve and he felt that same kind of shock all over again.

He had made his friend—kind, cool, I'd die for you Midoriya—cry on his behalf because of something he did to himself.

It seemed like he was falling lower and lower. What a horrible person.

"N-no! M-mineta no that's not…" Midoriya exclaimed softly, much more conscious of the time and proximity to his ears than he was.

"Th-they like to feel capable too, th-the girls I mean," he shuddered as he took a deep breath, yet continued to cling to Mineta desperately, "It's-it's not only y-your fault b-but, th-they don't… don't trust you. R-right now at least… not completely…"

"S-so I-"

"But that's not the end of it. Y-you can… give them space. T-tell them you're sorry, maybe explain your m-misunderstanding a-and… let them try to get to know you o-on their own terms."

"They wouldn't listen to me though, e-even if I tried to…" he whimpered.

Midoriya finally leaned away from the hug and looked at him with a gaze that made him feel like he was being examined to his very core, "Th-then write a letter, m-maybe. Start small, be c-clear, a-and try not to do it ag-again…"

Mineta could barely whisper a soft, "Okay…" before he dashed out of the All Might shrine of a room, leaving behind a tear-stained, confused Midoriya kneeling on the floor in the middle of the night.

The next morning, Mineta was beyond mortified.

Of course, that talk had been helpful and had set him straight, but he could only think of the way he had made Midoriya cry and then even tried to excuse his own poor behavior with flimsy justifications. And then he ran out of there like a chicken without its head.

Surely Midoriya would resent him after that disaster, so Mineta found himself doing his best to avoid his classmate. Which ended up being much easier than it should have been, despite the fact that he sat behind him in class.

When he had almost run into Midoriya in the common room kitchen, he quickly ducked away.

From that point on, it seemed that his classmate also did his best to avoid Mineta. And, although that was what he had originally wanted, it still made his heart clench painfully and his gut churn anxiously.

After all, if he even upset their most forgiving classmate into hating him, he had no hope of ever becoming a better person and clearing up any misunderstandings. But despite that seed of doubt, he still decided that the girl's feelings should be his top priority, especially since he had made a promise to himself to follow Midoriya's advice religiously.

And especially because he had realized that before you could get, you'd have to give.

So after class, he decided to skip his usual gym routine with Kaminari (he felt his gut churn once more when he remembered that he had chosen this time and talked the blonde into it because it intersected with a girl-only training session the girls had organized every other week) and return to his dorms to get a start on the letters.

Kaminari had questioned him on why he was skipping today, but Mineta could only apologize and brush off his question. He felt bad about how little he had said, but he couldn't bring himself to say any more.

Yet when he was alone in his dorm room, staring at the blank page and rolling a pen between his fingers, nothing came to mind.

No words rose up and spilled onto the page like how they had tumbled from his lips so easily the night prior. He didn't know what to say, and he felt so frustrated and mad at himself for being unable to do the one thing he had to go through with.

At one point, he completely gave up. With a promise to himself to try again tomorrow, he switched gears and began powering through the large amount of homework they had been assigned that day.

That's why, when—several hours later—a knock on the door surprised him enough to accidentally clench his pen and jerk it, ripping a decent sized hole in his assignment. With a heavy sigh, he hopped off his chair and went to open the door, reluctantly wondering who could possibly want anything to do with him, much less at this hour.

Instead of seeing Kaminari with his own homework, begging for help, or Tsu with a nice snack, as the two of them surprisingly did often, Midoriya was waiting in the hallway, awkwardly shuffling in place.

"M-Midoriya?"

"I-I'm really sorry!" he immediately responded, bowing as low as he could without falling over (althoguh it was a close thing).

"S-sorry?" Mineta squeaked, completely lost.

Midoriya refused to rise from his painful-looking bow, resolutely reciting in a worryingly desperate tone, "I-I didn't mean to upset you last night, I must have not been completely awake, what I said was crossing a line! I apologize!"

"M-M-Midoriya I-" his voice wobbled, this was all wrong, "N-no! Y-you didn't do anything, I just… I made you cry and I thought…"

This time, his classmate (...was he still his friend? Even after all of that…?) reluctantly rose enough to look at him directly, clearly sporting a dumbfounded expression.

"I thought that I made you mad. I uh, I left you hanging after pouring my soul to you and making you cry and it was late and all I was thinking about was myself…"

"Th-that's not true!" he protested, "If you were only th-thinking of yourself, y-you wouldn't have asked what to do instead. A-asked for h-h-help, I mean…"

It was only then that he noticed Midoriya was holding one of his infamous stalker notebooks. Mineta internally chided himself for calling it that, as that was rude and Midoriya didn't deserve all of that.

"Wh-what's the notebook for," he asked, wondering if he should invite Midoriya into his room or if his friend would be willing to just stand in the open hallway without a care. For some reason, he felt like Midoriya would do whatever Mineta decided, and that line of thought didn't sit well with him.

The bulky, yet short boy shyly ducked his head and held out the notebook for Mineta to take. He carefully took it from his scarred hands and examined the cover. It was labelled 'Hero Analysis for the Future' and was apparently the 14th volume in the series. Upon further inspection, there was a page that was obviously and delicately tabbed, so he flipped it open and was met with a rough sketch of himself.

His eyes widened as he began to read. It was one thing to hear Midoriya muttering up a storm during discussions, class, and observing their classmates during heroics practicals, but it was another thing altogether to see the result of his musings written concisely with clarity.

These notes were about him, and they were not only accurate, but helpful.

It detailed possible uses for his quirk, among other strengths he had and weaknesses he could stand to improve on. There were other thoughts that were cut off halfway and had a footnote that seemed to direct him to different pages: some in this notebook, and some clearly in others.

Apparently Midoriya had taken it to heart when Mineta had all but sobbed about liking the feeling of being useful. So here he was, apologizing for something that wasn't his fault in the first place, bringing something that made the short teen feel better about his progress and his potential, and then offering up his signature smile that never failed to brighten a person's day.

Once again, Mineta felt the tears begin to build, and he sniffled once before silently dragging Midoriya into his dorm room and softly shutting the door behind them. He quickly led him over to his desk and pushed aside his homework in favor of the blank sheets of paper that he had ignored out of sheer frustration.

It was then and only then that he let the tears flow, blubbering and begging, "P-p-please h-help me wr-write this I can't-I don't know what to say I just… I-I'm going to mess up and ruin everything and I need your help you always know what to say please Midoriya help me."

Despite his uncertainty of whether Midoriya actually understood him or not, his friend pulled him into a side-hug and shot another soft smile before rubbing his back.

It only took a few more minutes for Mineta to calm down enough to think clearly. Together, they dictated a letter for each girl in their class, outlining with an apology, an explanation of the misunderstanding, and a clear expectation for the future.

It wasn't perfect and it didn't make up for everything he had done, but it was heartfelt and honest, and Mineta finally felt like maybe he could do something right, if only he tried.

And if he ever wavered, he was certain that Midoriya would always jump at the chance to help him.

But as it grew later and later, and as they began putting the finishing touches to the heartfelt letters, Mineta finally gathered the courage to apologize and thank Midoriya for everything. Yet his friend denied doing much, claiming that the shorter teen had done most of the work, and all he had done was act as moral support.

It was like another stab to the gut. But as he was about to voice his protest, there was a soft knock on his door.

Reluctantly, Mineta abandoned his budding argument to open the door and was met with Tsuyu, holding a plate of delicious-looking home-cooked food. She had probably made it herself.

"Ah, I thought you were in here, kero," she croaked, clearly directing that statement towards Midoriya.

The frog-girl entered his room and placed the plate and chopsticks on Mineta's desk without sparing a glance at the papers before going back into the hallway. She quickly returned, however, with two more plates full of food and waltzed right back into his dorm.

"Our work-out today ran overtime, but I noticed that neither of you came down for dinner, kero. It got late so I thought we could share dinner together, just the three of us," she smiled sweetly as she placed the dish in her right hand on the desk with a fork.

She herself calmly sat on the floor and also used a fork to begin eating. Midoriya quickly joined her on the floor, and Mineta felt himself following suit.

It was… nice. It was nice that Tsu decided to cook for them, and that she wasn't disgusted by his very presence. Maybe it was the trauma from the USJ, or maybe it was because Midoriya was an intermediate of sorts, but regardless it gave Mineta hope.

They chatted about nothing important as they ate, but it was calm and it was soothing and gave them all a sense of peacefulness that was few and far between for the hero course, and especially for Class 1-A.

But when Tsuyu finally got up to leave, Mineta froze up.

This would be the perfect time but…

He sent a wary, questioning glance to Midoriya, who responded simply with a reassuring smile and a nod. And just like that, Mineta took a deep breath and swiped Tsu's letter from his desk. The three of them took their dishes downstairs to the common room and spent a few minutes cleaning them together, continuing to chat and joke around.

For once, Midoriya was the first to say goodnight and make his retreat, clearly to give Mineta a chance to give the letter privately and to prevent the girls from associating the letter with him.

Sure the green-haired disaster helped, but it really was from Mineta himself… or so Midoriya had reassured him.

So he steeled his nerves and handed Tsuyu the letter quickly as he gave a brief but deep bow, squeaked out a quiet, "Sorry!" and sprinted away to the safety of his own dorm room.

Once there, he leaned against his door and slid to the floor, his heart pounding in his chest and anxiety thrumming through his veins. He waited there in silence, the only sound was his heavy breathing that was slowly evening out the longer that he sat there in peace. Tsuyu never came back to his room to talk to him about the letter, and he tried his best to convince himself that that was a good thing.

He wasn't sure how long he had sat there, but at one point, when his mind stopped spiralling and he had the capacity to actually get bored, he dragged himself off the floor and snatched the remaining letters before once again abandoning the safety of his room.

He snuck around quietly in his socks, knowing that if he were caught, he would be in major trouble.

Especially considering his… history.

But he made his rounds without issues, slipping the letter under each of their doors and silently making his way back to his dorm.

He didn't really want to face them all but… he didn't have a choice in the long-term. So this was his short-term compromise. Midoriya had said that this was okay, as the letter was only an opening to have a civil face-to-face discussion, or something like that. But he still felt like a coward.

Mineta laid in bed for a while, trying to quiet the doubt and self-loathing that bounced around in his head, back and forth, like a ping-pong ball. But then he heard a small shuffle and something sliding. He quickly hopped out of bed, anxious for what it could have been, but one glance at his door made it clear that someone had slid a note under his door.

Another closer look revealed it to be from Midoriya: a supportive note reminding him that he was trying and that everything would take time and the like.

Right. He still had to do more than just the letters and talking.

So as he crawled back into bed and pulled the warm covers back over himself, Mineta clutched the paper tight and thought about what he could do to show that he wanted to make it up to them with actions and not just words.

The next day, luckily for Mineta, was one of their rest days where they were permitted to freely use the gyms and roam the campus in pursuit of personal training, while classes were not held that day. Which made it even easier for him to avoid all the girls in his class in the same way that he had avoided Midoriya.

Sure they must have read the letters, but that didn't mean much of anything, and he didn't want to talk with them until he did something tangible for them.

Speaking of, the plan he had come up with as he drifted off to sleep the night prior (or was it morning, time was tough to tell in the early hours where few were awake) was to make dinner for the girls and possibly use that time to talk it all out. It felt like he was bribing them, but that really wasn't his intention, and he hoped that they wouldn't take it that way after reading the letter.

However, he did make sure to inform Midoriya of his intentions, if only so he could have support for when (if, he was supposed to think positive, if) it all crashed and burned.

So imagine his surprise when he—after a busy day of avoiding all the girls in his class—walked into the kitchen and was greeted by Midoriya and Tsu, ready and willing to help him make this dinner. Despite feeling happy to the point of tears (was Midoriya rubbing off on him?), he instead requested that Tsuyu go and tell the girls about the dinner while he and Midoriya worked on the meal.

It was a bit more difficult to adjust for drastically different portion sizes for a larger number of people, but Midoriya was surprisingly proficient in the kitchen.

Time flew, and before he knew it, the main dish was in the oven and a side dish was slowly cooling on the counter, ready to eat. It was then that Mineta began grilling Midoriya about the contents of his notebooks.

At first, the shy hero-in-training was embarrassed about it, but as soon as his shorter friend made it clear that he was genuinely interested and actually cared, all hesitation melted away and Midoriya became a ball of sunshine and passion that was infectious.

The girls slowly trickled into the common room as the two teens excitedly and loudly conversed about Mineta's quirk as well as some of the possible combinations between his quirk and others in their class. At some point, all of the girls were on the couches, chatting away while occasionally shooting the pair unreadable looks that began to set Mineta on edge.

His nerves only grew until he smelled smoke and realized that he had completely forgotten to set a timer for the food in the oven. Midoriya mirrored his expression of shock and panic as they rushed over to the oven in hopes of salvaging the food.

In the end, it was… mostly edible and the discussion was a step in the right direction.

Afterwards, all of the girls stayed to help clean up, and they even thanked him—which he quickly refuted. There was no reason to thank him when it was all his fault in the first place.

But once the commotion died down and the kitchen was clean, Mineta found himself in Midoriya's dorm once more, talking over how everything went. He was glad that he had overcome what was holding him back, and was able to figure out how to move forward the way he wanted to, but he lamented the partially ruined dinner, which got a small laugh out of Midoriya.

"I just wanted it to turn out nice for everyone," Mineta groaned as he flopped onto Midoriya's floor, "What's wrong with that?"

Next Chapter: Kirishima Eijirou