You could call Mineta many things. Most of them not nice.
But an idiot wasn't one of them.
Although that may seem surprising to many, anyone who was forced to stay around him for a while figured out the small boy was actually very intelligent.
And once you figured that out, everything about him made less sense.
Why act the way he does when anyone with a brain could tell that that would only drive women AWAY from him. Make them despise him?
And what was with the design for his hero costume? How could he not realize that the grape bowl thing looks like a diaper?
Was he really so driven by his hormones that his brain stopped working?
No.
Mineta knew very well what effect his actions had. How it made people look at him.
But they were looking at him.
He didn't even reach most people's field of view, and yet whenever he entered a room everyone knew it. Everyone looked at him. Acknowledged him.
They even had a fun dynamic going on. He'd do something stupid and perverted, and the girls would beat the crap out of him.
A win-win scenario. At least that's what he assumed, because if the girls really wanted him expelled they could have done so by now, especially with someone like Momo on their side, so the only explanation for why he was still at U.A. was that they enjoyed beating him up.
Now someone might argue, Mineta, won't this ruin your reputation? Ruin any chance of actually finding a girlfriend? Finding love?
And to that, Mineta would simply point out that he was a short, ugly boy with sticky purple balls growing from his head.
There's no improving your reputation when you look like this. There's no finding love. That's all fairy tale crap.
Ugly people truly were the bottom rung of this world when it came to love.
No matter what quirk you had or didn't have, so long as you were at least a little attractive, there was hope for you romantically.
Ugly people didn't even want to get together with other ugly people either. They like everyone else, pinned from the beautiful.
Love had never been an option for Mineta. That was decided at birth.
People already looked at him strangely when he was young, and it got worse once balls started growing out of his head.
It was a novelty for a while. They laughed at him, he did some silly tricks with his new quirk, and they laughed some more, he was like a clown. It was fun.
But it didn't last long.
The novelty stopped being novel, and soon Mineta started being excluded from the rest of the class.
When he asked why they wouldn't play with him anymore, they would answer something like "Because you look ugly".
This didn't change as he got older. If anything it got worse, as it became clear just how Mineta was growing. Or rather, how he wasn't.
Being short by itself wasn't the problem. Short people, even people as short as Mineta, could still be attractive. If they were cute.
Mineta was not. He'd never really been cute as a kid, and that didn't change. So his being short only added to how unattractive he was.
It also gave the impression of a lacking in a certain area. Not that it was a wrong impression.
And so people looked away from him. Assuming they saw him at all. All the way up until his last year of middle school, people just kinda ignored him.
Of course, he'd still try his hardest to make friends. Maybe even a girlfriend.
He'd look up guides online on how to befriend people, how to endear yourself, how to get people to look past your looks.
Nothing worked. And any attempt he made to socialize had been brushed off. Occasionally he'd get mad fun of, and bullied, but never anything long-term, they'd typically just go back to ignoring him pretty quickly.
His parents weren't much better.
They weren't the worst parents, but they made it pretty clear they were disappointed in how their son turned out. As such, whenever he was around, they typically weren't.
Eventually, Mineta realized the way of the world. He realized that any attempt to become something more than just an unpleasant sight would be pointless.
In denial, he decided to become a pro-hero. If he saved lives, people would HAVE to acknowledge him. Right?
This wasn't true of course. Even heroes like Gang Orca, who had done so much good for this world, had never once had a girlfriend. In fact, people had put him in the top 3 on the list of heroes that look like villains.
The fact that such an insensitive and horrible list existed and everyone was just ok with it, showed how much looks affected your place in society. With the fact that the top heroes in the popularity polls were always the attractive ones, added to it.
And yet, he still decided to become a hero. Because what else was he going to do? It was his best shot at getting noticed.
Then…something changed.
Some boys wanted to play a prank on him.
They said they'd let him be a part of their group if he stole a pair of panties from the girl's locker room.
It was a lie of course, deep down Mineta knew that, but he was desperate. Of course, he did as they said.
And of course, he was caught.
Not immediately. He'd managed to hide when the girls came in and stayed hidden long enough for them to start undressing.
By the time they'd found him, he'd gotten to see something that his young, extremely frustrated brain would never let him forget.
But that wasn't the only positive to come from that experience.
From that point on, Mineta had been branded a pervert.
People would look at him with disdain, bully him regularly, and come up with new insulting nicknames for him. Hell, his parents had even paid attention to him for a short while, yelling about how much of a disappointment he was.
They acknowledged that Mineta Minrou existed.
From that point on things became clear. If wanted to get noticed, he'd have to make sure they COULD NOT ignore him.
And so was created the Mineta everyone knows and hates, but knows nonetheless.
Sure, Mineta knew that what he did, morally speaking, wasn't the greatest. Sometimes he'd wonder if he went too far, committed to a bit of a smidge too much.
But if the world was gonna be so unkind to him, why should he be hesitant to sling a tiny bit of unkindness back.
Besides, he was gonna be a hero. He was gonna save lives! That more than balanced out his karma or whatever.
He'd almost call himself a good person…Almost.
When he got U.A. he found more of the same.
Sure 1A were all good people, but whether you were a good person or not didn't matter. The rule of attractiveness was present in everyone.
When the girls talk about boys, they talk about people like Todoroki and Iida.
He'd never heard them talk about Koda, Shoji, or him.
While Mineta was sure these girls wouldn't make fun of him for his appearance, they would ignore him. Like everyone else would.
And so he continued his antics. Soon, all of U.A. knew of Mineta the pervert.
His perversion had even netted him something like a friend, in fellow pervert Kaminari.
Mineta was doing about as well as someone like him could be.
For the uglies in this world. It was be ignored, or be despised, and Mineta would gladly choose the second option.
However, suddenly, there was a new option.
Midoriya Izuku had harnessed incredible technology. He was even capable of completely changing his gender as if he was always born as a woman.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg. He knew it. Midoriya was a secretive person, especially when it came to his technology. So if he was willing to show them this, then he certainly had more impressive and powerful appearance-changing technology hidden away.
This would be his key. The key to a better life.
Now he just had to get that key.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Ugh." Izuku groaned.
Mineta and Izuku were meeting in his office, Sue standing by Izuku's side, ready and alert as always.
Getting a meeting with Izuku wasn't hard. He still had his phone number from when he was helping around the Foundation, and since Midoriya was a saint, he agreed to meet him without needing much convincing. Even despite his busy schedule.
Honestly, he really vibed with Midoriya. Beyond just him being the nicest person he ever met, Izuku was someone who was also screwed over from birth. Even worse than he was honestly.
He'd seen Izuku fight with his temporary quirk, and even though Shina helped him adjust to it, Mineta had no doubt that Izuku would still be able to use it extremely effectively without that assistance. Given how incredibly intelligent he was, and how good he was at figuring out quirks. He helped Uraraka invent full cowling after all.
Mineta had also seen what Izuku looked like as a girl. And the word, attractive, was not enough to describe them. And that wasn't even as an ADULT. Mineta could only imagine how hot an adult female Izuku would be.
If Izuku had been born as a girl, with a quirk. They'd be DESTINED for top 10 hero status. Of that, there was no doubt in his mind.
And yet, he had been born a guy and quirkless.
It was as if he was nerfed by god.
Although with that said, he was still capable of becoming the most powerful man on earth despite this. And appearance-wise he wasn't bad at all. A solid 6 or 7.
Putting all that aside, Mineta had just finished telling him the full details about the Yonda Blackmail incident.
"I can't believe Fu would do something like that under my nose." Izuku sighed. "I'm sorry that Yonda did that to you, but I have to wonder, why are you telling me about this now?"
"Your daughter blackmailed me. I want compensation." Mineta said, sweating bullets, hoping this would work.
"Compensation?" Izuku took a look at Mineta. Noticing how nervous he was. "And what do you want?"
Mineta pulled a piece of paper, unfolded it, and handed it to Izuku.
Izuku took it and quickly read over it. His eyes widened as he did.
"I know you can do it," Mineta said, forcing up the courage he needed. "You have the tech."
Izuku took a moment, before responding, giving Mineta a serious look. "The technology required for this…is still being worked on and tested. In theory, we could do this for you…but there would be consequences."
"...What kind." Mineta gulped, hoping they wouldn't be so bad.
"The process would make unpredictable alterations to your brain," Izuku said. "While your memories would stay intact, parts of your personality, the way you think and perceive things, and even your sexuality might change."
"I'm fine with that," Mineta said, breathing a sigh of relief. "I mean, let's face it, no one would be upset if my personality changed. Not even you. And my sexuality…worth it."
"You're not afraid of your mind changing on a fundamental level?" Izuku asked, looking at the boy with a bit of concern. "It'll almost be like being a new person."
"That's what I want!" Mineta shouted almost desperately. "Please!"
Izuku continued to look concerned as he thought about this for a while. "...I can clearly see that this is important to you. And I don't have any real reason to refuse. However, I will need to ask your parents for permission."
"Pft, they won't care." Mineta scoffed. "They stopped giving a damn about me a while ago."
"And I'm going to need you to get therapy," Izuku said. "Because it's very obvious that you need it."
"Fine." Mineta agreed, looking very hopeful. "I accept!"
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Mineta is going to be absent for the rest of the week," Aizawa said to his class. "Apparently he's getting some…surgery from the Midoriya Foundation. Whatever that means."
"Why does that sentence give me chills." Jiro cringed.
"You think you can surgically get rid of perversion?" Toru asked.
"If anyone can, it's Midoriya," Tsu said. "Still. I wonder what Midoriya could possibly want with Mineta. And why would it involve surgery?"
"Maybe he flirted with Uraraka one too many times and Midoriya decided to take his balls." Mina snickered.
Ochaco rolled her eyes. "Grow up Mina."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The girls were eating together at lunch, when suddenly, Kaminari came up to their table.
"Ugh, what do ya want chargedolt?" Jiro asked, raising her ear jacks threateningly. "If it's something pervy, you're walking away from here with two more holes."
"Nah, just wanted to ask you girls a question," Kaminari said casually. "You see I was thinking about Mineta after what happened in class. And I thought of something. Couldn't you girls just get him expelled if you really wanted to? I mean I don't want you to, but that seems like something you girls would want because he's…a bit much. So why don't you?"
Pretty much all the girls sighed, their faces revealing a bit of sadness and frustration.
"Well at first we just thought U.A. would do something about it?" Mina said. "I mean, it just seemed kinda obvious that one of the teachers would do something about him."
"Eventually we figured out they weren't going to, for reasons I don't understand. But by that point, we learned a bit more about Mineta." Momo added. "Namely that he's doing what he's doing, mostly for attention."
"First, there's the fact that no one in real life acts the way Mineta does." Tsu pointed out. "Maybe in an anime or something, but in real life the only people who'd pull stunts like that, are absolute morons. Which Mineta isn't."
"Speaking of him not being a moron. Anyone with half a brain would realize that doing what Mineta does, isn't gonna get him any girls." Mina said.
"Second is that he always gets caught," Toru said. "Literally every time he tries something, he gets caught. Almost like he wants to get caught."
"And the last part that tipped us off, was that he never tries to fight back whenever we punish him." Ochaco pointed out. "Mineta's not weak. If he tried, he could probably at least escape from us depending on the situation. But he just…takes it. Like he wants it."
"Given all that, we've come to the conclusion that Mineta's antics are just extremely desperate attention-seeking attempts." Momo frowned. "And so we didn't get rid of him. Most out of pity."
"It's hard to be super angry at him, once you realize how utterly pathetic he is," Jiro said. "I mean I'm still mad, but I didn't feel as mad as I would be, and I just don't care enough to get him expelled in the end."
"And after that, we just kinda got used to him." Toru shrugged. "Desensitized and all that."
"Honestly it's not a healthy way to go about things. Both for our sake and Mineta's." Asui said. "I've been trying to plan some kind of intervention, but that'd require me to know more about him, which means spending time with him, which he does not make easy."
"U.A. 's complete lack of…anything when it comes to Mineta is extremely concerning." Momo sighed. "I have half the mind to make a complaint about their inactivity. Although it does give us the benefit of dealing with situations as we see fit."
"Ok. I kinda get it." Kaminari said as he pondered that.
So Mineta was an attention seeker…yeah that made sense. Even to Kaminari Mineta's actions seemed extreme to say the least. Which is why he didn't step in when the girls decided to punish him for his actions.
But it made him wonder. If Mineta only wanted attention, could HE have done something about that?
Could he have perhaps…been a better friend?
Oh boy, I'm about to do something…dangerous.
So Mineta.
In the series, Mineta's actions don't make a whole lot of sense. He's just the typical anime over-exaggerated pervert. So I tried to give a proper explanation that takes into account Mineta's over-the-top actions and his intelligence.
So now he has massive body issue problems and is a huge attention seeker.
And I want to remind you guys, explanation does NOT equal justification. Just because I am giving an explanation to Mineta's actions, does not mean I'm saying they're correct.
Obviously, both in canon and in this fic, Mineta's actions are wrong. And in this fic, He is aware of this but chooses to do it anyway, justifying his actions to himself, in order to get the attention he thinks he needs.
He's not really a bad person, he does feel guilty for what he does, and he wouldn't be doing it, if not for his horribly misshapen view of the world.
In other words, I'm adding Mineta to the Bakugo club of "not villains but seriously need a reality check and some therapy" club.
As for the girls. Once again, I try not to contradict the source material unless it's part of the story.
In canon, U.A. doesn't really do anything about Mineta's actions, and the girls just kinda beat him up a bunch, despite the fact that they could take action and get him expelled at any time, especially with someone like Momo on their side. And yet they just don't.
They also act surprisingly friendly with him whenever he's not doing one of his schemes, and they even indulge him during the school festival.
So I had to make an in-story reason to justify that, without character assassinating anyone. And I think this is the best way to do it.
Do keep in mind that all of these characters are teenagers. There are better ways to handle their issues, but they just don't know how to deal with them properly.
Last point, Mineta is going to go through a drastic physical transformation, to become more "attractive".
I put quotations around that because I want to emphasize that when I say that, I mean conventionally attractive. Obviously, everyone has their own taste, but there is a most agreed upon standard of attractiveness in society.
And it might not be what you're expecting.
Here is a hint. What form do you think someone like Mineta, would find the MOST attractive.
If you figure it out, yeah. I'm going there.
Anyway, please review and have a nice day.
