There was an awkward silence between Jiro and Bakugo as the girls messed around in the closet.

For a long time, the two had been the only two genderless kids in their grade. Kaminari, Tokoyami, and Asui had been a part of that group when they had all first started highschool, but then the others all started transitioning at the beginning or middle of their first year, leaving Jiro and Bakugo to fend for themselves.

It was sad, but Bakugo knew Jiro had always received a majority of the bullying from the kids in the other classes and the older students. And since Jiro was now the oldest kid in the highschool that still didn't have a gender, it left them as the biggest target for all the rotten bullies in the school.

Their class was decent at defending Jiro from all the other kids when they were at school, but of course, they couldn't be there all the time, and Bakugo knew that school wasn't the only place where bullying happened.

Bullying outside of the safe school walls was always so much worse.

The bullies would often seek Jiro out to torment them outside of school, and Jiro had the scars to prove it. Bakugo had seen them in the bathroom the genderless kids used as a dressing room; an old white scar of a slur carved across their lower stomach and multiple purpley cigarette burn scars on their back.

Honestly, it was horrific and sad to look at. Bakugo couldn't believe Jiro was still putting up with all of it. Bakugo had a cigarette burn scar of their own on the back of their neck from a particularly brave little bitch. Cigarette buds were hot and boy did that shit hurt, and Jiro had at least five of them.

Bakugo couldn't figure out why Jiro didn't just fight back at all. It had mostly worked for Bakugo, so what were they waiting for? Bakugo knew that Jiro might be little, but they were strong, mentally at least. The fact that they put up with all this shit was enough to prove it. So why not show those fuckers who's boss?

Of course, Bakugo was now learning that plan of action tended to backfire a bit later on in life if you were unlucky.

Bakugo shifted their crimson eyes to look at Jiro sitting next to them on the floor.

Jiro very much had a rock aesthetic about them; darkly colored short hair, dark makeup, a heavy metal band t-shirt, ripped jeans, and chipped black nail polish. Heck, just looking at the kid you could tell they probably had depression and self esteem issues.

More commonly than not, Jiro had headphones on, playing music just loud enough where if you sat within a few feet of them, you could hear it. Today was one of those rare times when Jiro didn't have headphones on. They just sat there, peacefully listening to the rain and happy chatting of their friends.

Looking at them, Bakugo wondered if Jiro ever felt like the world was caving in. Did they deal with the same anxiety Bakugo had over the fate of their gender? Or did they actually not care all that much? Were all those heavy metal t-shirts and dark attire a fashion choice or an emotional outlet?

The silence was getting so awkward at this point, Bakugo could barely handle it. They had to come up with something to cut through it.

Bakugo studied how Jiro happily watched the girls fawning over the different dresses in the closet.

"You're not going to join them?" Bakugo asked Jiro in the pissiest tone they could manage at the moment.

"I'll put on the ones they ask me to try. They love playing dress up with the resident genderless kid." Jiro sighed, ignoring the attempted venom in the blonde's previous comment.

"You know, you can just say no if you don't want to." Bakugo shifted their eyes away from the dark haired kid.

"Nah. I don't really mind." Jiro replied. "I'm okay with dresses. I might not have a gender yet and I do tend to rant about gender norms, but that's not because I hate the idea of having a gender or anything. It's just I'm not really opposed to either one. At least, that's what the doctors are saying anyways."

Bakugo tilted their head to one side. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Jiro shrugged. "Apparently I'm some sort of anomaly at this point since I'm seventeen and still don't have a gender. The doctor's think my body isn't changing because I don't have a preference for either gender, and I don't participate in any activities that are more suited towards a specific gender either. I don't have any siblings to look after, or participate in any male heavy sports. I just kinda float back and forth between everything."

Bakugo just listened quietly.

"Apparently love can sometimes have something to do with it too apparently, but even that seems to be having little to no effects on my hormones." Jiro looked away, seemily debating on whether or not to say something. Eventually a look of what Bakugo could ony assume was "fuck it" flashed across their face and they continued talking. " I mean, if it did I'd probably be a guy already." Jiro sighed.

Jiro was quiet for a moment, seemingly staring off into space. Bakugo figured the conversation had just died off or Jiro had gotten bored with it, then Bakugo noticed exactly where Jiro was looking.

Bakugo's eyes studied as Jiro watched sadly as one of the girl's blushed softly at the other girl's sweet comments about how stunning she looked in the short red cocktail dress she had on. It went so well with her raven colored hair and matching dark eyes.

The look on Jiro's face as she watched the girl was undeniable. Bakugo had seen that look in movies and even sometimes on their parent's faces. It was one they had probably never made themselves, but one they knew nonetheless.

"You like Momo Yaoyorozu." Bakugo murmured quietly.

Jiro seemed surprised for a moment then smiled sheepishly, realizing they had been caught staring.

"Maybe. I guess so. A little crush perhaps."

Bakugo looked back and forth between the girl and the darkly dressed kid on the carpet, remembering back to what they all had been talking about earlier.

"Then why don't you ask her to that shitty dance or whatever?"

Jiro raised an eyebrow at Bakugo for a moment before they turned back to look at Yaoyorozu and their smile slowly faded.

"She is going with a guy already."

"Oh."

"Plus, she only sees me as a friend. One of the girls." Jiro looked away from Bakugo and quickly straightened up. "But that's okay. As cheesy as it sounds, just being with her is enough."

Bakugo studied the way Jiro's eyes followed Yaoyorozu as she danced in and out of the closet, occasionally stopping to hand a dress to one of her friends, encouraging her to try it on. She looked so incredibly happy, and so did Jiro, a rare expression of bliss on the pale face of the genderless kid.

Bakugo wasn't quite sure what to say. Situations like this weren't really their strong suit. Comforting people had never come very naturally to them. They were more of a suck it up and deal with it kind of person, but this didn't really feel like the right situation for that mentality.

"Why don't you just settle on becoming a guy? Chances are your body will go with that if you want it enough like most normal people's bodies work. Then she might see you as more than a friend."

Jiro let out another long sigh then shook their head. "Like I said earlier, I'm not sure how to do that. Trust me, I've tried." Jiro studied the chipped black nails on their left hand. "But I can't get rid of that part of my brain that likes dresses and romance movies, make up and the color pink, or flowers and love songs. If I became a boy, the word would criticize me even more for my feminine preferences, but if I become a girl…" Jiro paused for a moment.

"You lose the chance at having a simple relationship with the girl you like." Bakugo finished.

Jiro nodded sadly. "I'm not really sure what love is, but I'm pretty sure that this is it."

Jiro sighed, placing their hand back in their lap. "I hate that this world is so dead set on gender norms. I just want people to stop saying that if you love a girl, you should have chosen to become a man. Or vise versa. It's dumb. Why can't you love someone genderless, or be in love when you're genderless?"

Jiro turned away from Yaoyorozu before looking back towards the blonde sitting next to them. "Hey Bakugo. Did your parents ever read you fairytales when you were a kid? Like, the ones with princes and princess and evil villains, and all the true love bullshit?"

Bakugo rolled their eyes. "You have got to be kidding me. Hell no. Fairytales are complete horse shit. That's not how the real world works."

"Yeah, I know. But it's nice to think about." Jiro smiled wistfully. "Imagine how nice it would be if falling in Love was that easy. No decision making or messy love triangles, just fate. Then you could know exactly what love is. There would be no way to deny it."

"I don't want to talk about that dumb bullshit." Bakugo growled.

Jiro raised an eyebrow. "Hits too close to home with your own romantic issues?"

"Shut up emo kid. I don't have 'romantic issues'."

"Speaking of that weird little note," Jiro shifted their eyes a little to look sideways at Bakugo. "There really isn't a single person in the entire school you would go to the dance with?"

Bakugo groaned. "Why are you all so focused on that dumb question?"

"Cause you never answered it." Jiro said smugly, leaning backwards a bit on their arms.

"Yes I did!" Bakugo hissed.

"If I recall correctly, your exact words were," Jiro fanned their hands out above their head to mimic Bakugo's spiky hair and did a horrible impression of the blonde's nasly, shouting voice. "'What do you think the answer is' or something." They smirked at Bakugo's scowl at the mocking impression before finishing the thought. "And that answer doesn't qualify as a yes or a no."

"Well what do you think it means, you pissy metalhead?" Bakugo slouched farther in on themselves.

"First of all, I know you listen to metal as well, so don't pull that shit. Secondly, I think it means you don't know the answer." Jiro closed their eyes for a brief moment, "I think it means…"

Those dark eyes opened and glanced sideways at the blonde sitting next to them. "... You'd go if a certain person asked you to."

Bakugo stared, confused, at the choppy haired student sitting next to them. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I bet if they asked you, you wouldn't be able to turn them down. Right?" Jiro fiddled mindlessly with one of the long, cord-like earrings hanging from their earlobes.

"What the- Who the hell are you-"

"Come on now. You can't be that dense. You know who I'm talking about." Jiro said calmly, turning to watch the excited girls roaming in and out of Yaoyorozu's closet again, showing off all the pretty garments they found to one another.

"Of course I don't, dumbass!" Bakugo stuttered angrily. "Not with you saying all this weird cryptic bullshit! And I already said I wasn't going so would you just drop it al-"

"Would you go if Eijiro Kirishima asked you?"

Bakugo's body froze.

"What the hell?"

"I see the way he looks at you during lunch. And in class. And basically everywhere." Jiro tilted their head a bit to the side. "He constantly talks about you and gets super defensive the moment someone says anything even remotely offensive about you, even when you're not around."

Bakugo stared, unable to find any words as Jiro continued. "He always defends your bad attitude and is constantly apologizing whenever you walk off after humiliating someone. Plus in gym class, you were the only one he would ever play full out against. I mean, he makes it so obvious that it's painful."

"I… No… That's… I mean…"

"I even heard him mention the dance last month. When all the other boys asked, they all guessed that he was probably going to ask Ashido… but he was looking at someone else the entire time they questioned him. And can you guess who that person was?" Jiro grinned and held up their hand in a finger gun, supporting the bottom of it with their other hand as if they were actually holding a gun, and pointed it right at Bakugo's chest. "But the real question at hand is, would you go if he asked you? I bet you wouldn't have the guts to say no to him. Might as well spill."

No. wait…

"I have no idea what the hell you're talking about!" Bakugo shouted, suddenly standing up.

"Woah, calm down firecracker." Jiro said, lowering their finger gun. "No need to get so defensive. It was just a question."

"No it is not!" Bakugo yelled. They could feel a strangling, stinging sensation rising in their lungs, making it hard to breath, like an elephant was stepping on their chest.

The girls stopped what they were doing in the closet and quickly came walking over, realizing something was wrong.

"Is everything okay?" Yaoyorozu said urgently.

Eijiro? Ask me? To a dance?

Why in the world would he ever do that?

Eijiro doesn't dance, right?

And they said he was going to ask Ashido!

Then why would he be looking at me the whole time they talked about it?

That's just what Jiro said though! They are just trying to get under my skin!

But what about those times you caught him staring in class? Or that one time he stopped that basketball from hitting you in the head? Or how he checks that you make it home safely every day after school?

"No. That can't be…"

But everything adds up. Doesn't it?

Is that why he's been avoiding me?

...

Jiro looked at the other girl's accusatory glances and shrugged. "Uh, Bakugo? Are you okay? Your face is all white."

"Bakugo? What's wrong?" Uraraka stepped closer to Bakugo and reached out a hand.

Bakugou quickly batted it away out of instinct. "Don't touch me! I'm fine! I just don't feel well. I- I'm gonna head home."

The girl's didn't say anything as Bakugo gathered their things up off the floor and into their green and orange bag before heading for the exit of the room.

"Umm, it's raining pretty hard out there, Bakugo." Jiro said softly. "You should probably wait until it stops."

"I'll be fine!" Bakugo snarled.

"I'm not so sure about that." Yaoyorozu frowned and pulled back one of the curtains on the window so the others could look outside.

It was raining so heavily that it was hard to see more than blurry silhouettes a few feet away through the downpour.

"Do you at least have a ride home?" Uraraka said, concerned.

"I said I'll be fine!" Bakugo snapped before slamming the door shut behind them and rushing as quickly as they could out of the large house and away from the concerned faces and pitying glances.