Chapter Text
It had been a few months after Midoriya Isami came out. Neito had been noticing a lot of changes, both in Midoriya and in himself these past few months. Changes that made him happy for Midoriya, but confused, lonely, and frustrated for himself. Changes like Midoriya’s voice becoming a bit more higher pitched, Midoriya becoming a bit more sure of herself, losing the stutter she had for so long. Neito overheard Midoriya talking to her… friends? Girlfriends? He couldn't really be sure, but Midoriya was talking about how she was going to start ‘E’ pretty soon and that she was excited about it. After some googling, Neito discovered that ‘E’ was shorthand for ‘estrogen’. That google search led him down a rabbit hole of more google searches which led him to this moment. Sitting in his dorm, debating if he was a ‘he’ at all.
From the moment he saw Midoriya wearing the girl's uniform, he felt… off. When he saw Midoriya, he knew that he had walked into a sensitive situation. He had wished her luck and let her be, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He hadn't known that it was that easy. That someone could just… change when they weren’t comfortable with what they were before. Midoriya changed. She changed her pronouns and name and uniform and seemed so happy. After seeing her so happy, Neito couldn’t stop wondering that maybe, if he changed, he could be happy too. He usually shook those thoughts out of his head, but now…
After finding out about estrogen, which led him to finding out about dysphoria, he didn’t know what to think. He didn’t really care much about his body. He was slim with some light muscle tone. His body served him perfectly for the type of heroics he was interested in. He didn’t care about his voice either. It was just fine in his opinion. He doesn’t really grow much facial hair thanks to his father's genetics, but even if he did, he doesn’t think he would care much. He didn’t have body dysphoria. But what really got him thinking was the article he read about social dysphoria.
Oh, how Neito loathed gender-separated exercises and training. He hated being pushed into the boy’s group. It wasn’t only because he was closer friends with the girls in his class than the boys. It went deeper than that. He hated every ‘young man’, every ‘boy’s on that side, you too Monoma’, every ‘he/him’ sent his way. It sickened him. It made his blood boil. So, he likely has social dysphoria. What does he do about that now?
Neito flops back onto his bed and begins thinking. She/her sounded nice in his head, but it didn’t really fit too well, at least not now. Maybe they/them? That felt nice.
“Neito is so cool. They are so much better than any of those 1-A assholes. Look at their training stats,” Neito whispered to himself. He immediately began to feel a warm buzzing sensation in his chest. Oh yeah. They/them worked just fine for them.
But if they liked they/them pronouns and weren’t sure about she/her just yet, what did that mean? During their research, they had read about nonbinary people, but they weren’t sure if that label fit them. Neito sighs and sits back up. Thinking about labels is too much work for one day. They’ll think about it tomorrow.
They didn’t think about it the next day. Or the next. Or the next. Rather, they started thinking about it and got sidetracked by other obligations and decided to think about it the next day. Neito’s mind kept going in circles and it pissed them off. What they knew for certain was that they weren’t a boy.
So now what? They weren’t a boy, great, but they didn’t know if they were a girl. They needed more help with this than they could give themself. It was time to ask for help and, as much as they hated the notion, that help had to come from class 1-A.
One day during lunch, Neito gathered their courage and walked over to Midoriya’s lunch table. It was weird. They had never felt shy or nervous about approaching 1-A before. They usually just walked up, made fun of them, and then got dragged away by Itsuka. This time was different, though. They weren’t going to be an asshole. They weren’t going to make fun of anyone. They were going to ask for help with a problem and that translated to being cordial and… nice. And that bothered them. They’ve never been good at being nice. And why do something you’re not good at?
“Midoriya, can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?” they ask, heart pounding.
Midoriya looks up from her tray and seems to study them. Everyone at the table stares, trying to assess the situation. Neito’s hands tremble slightly before they ball their fists. The rigid boy with the glasses is about to say something when Midoriya stands from her seat and gives Neito a smile.
“Sure thing, Monoma! Lead the way!” she says before turning back to her friends. “I’ll be right back!” she says, smiling.
Neito walks out of the cafeteria and into the hall, Midoriya in tow. When they reach a point where they’re certain they won’t be heard, Neito turns to Midoriya and takes a breath. This is it. The moment of truth. They’re about to spill their greatest secret to someone they barely know. Okay. Here it goes.
“Midoriya, I-”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t accept!” Midoriya interrupts, bowing.
Neito blinks. “What?”
“I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I’m currently in a very happy relationship and I can’t accept your feelings. I’m sorry!”
“I- huh?” Neito was baffled. What does Midoriya mean she ‘can’t accept their feelings’, what-
Oh.
“Oh, kami, not that!” Neito exclaims. “I don’t have a crush on you!”
Midoriya straightens from her bow. “Really? But you’ve been staring at me during joint training and someone from your class, not naming any names, told me-”
“Well they were wrong! I keep staring at you because I’m jealous!” they rush before clapping their hand over their mouth.
“You’re… jealous?” she asks, tilting her head to the side slightly.
Neito sighs. “You’re so sure of yourself. You know exactly who you are and where you want to go in life. I’m not good at expressing my feelings, but I admire that and I want that for myself. So…” they trail off, thinking of the words they want to say, “how did you know you were a girl?”
“Oh!” Midoriya’s eyes widen slightly in surprise. “Well, I didn’t really. ‘Chako and Tsu actually knew before I did. I’ve always had an aversion to haircuts and an interest in feminine things like clothing and makeup that I was too scared to pursue until I was invited to my class’ girl’s night. I actually realized during girl’s night that I was a girl, it cracked my egg, so to speak. Being treated like one of the girls really helped me figure myself out. You know, it’s quite funny when you think about it-”
“Thank you for the help,” Neito interrupts, cutting off Midoriya’s ramble, “My class does girl’s nights too. I think I might ask Itsuka if I can join in sometime. Thanks.” They go to walk away when Midoriya stops them with a tug at their sleeve.
“No matter what you discover, gender-wise, I want you to know that I’ll always support you, okay?” she asks, digging into her blazer pocket. She pulls out a slip of paper and half a pencil. She quickly jots something down on the paper, using her nondominant hand as a small table. She shoves the paper into Neito’s hand and smiles. “Text me any time, okay?”
As she walks back down the hall to the cafeteria, Neito looks down at the paper holding Midoriya’s phone number and lets out a small puff of air, a small smile crossing their lips. They shove the paper into their pocket and walk back to the cafeteria. They glance over at Midoriya’s table on the way to their own. The boy with glasses seems to be scolding her for something. The frog girl, Asui, they think, sticks her tongue in his ear from across the table. The boy screams and cups his ear while the table laughs at his expense. Upon sitting at their own table, Itsuka elbows Neito in the ribs.
“Ow! What?” they ask, giving Itsuka an annoyed look.
“I hope you didn’t bother Midoriya too much. She has a lot on her plate right now. Plus, I’m pretty sure she’s dating the frog girl and the gravity girl,” Itsuka says, taking a bite of her rice. Neito groans.
“I don’t have a crush on her! Why do people think that?” they lament.
Itsuka shrugs. “I don’t know, you tell me.”
“Hush. I have something to ask you later, so I’m coming to your dorm after class,” they announce, using their chopsticks to steal some beef from Itsuka’s plate.
“Hey!” she snaps. Neito smirks at her as they eat their stolen prize. She glares at them without any real contempt.
“Phantom Thief strikes again,” they smirk.