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Annoying.
It was a label that had constantly stuck around Monoma Neito, along with crowd favorites such as “Drama King”, “background character”, “loud bastard”, and “that motherfucker.”
He was used to it, to the point where the insult slid down his back like water, leaving behind only a vague bitter sensation that he could power through and ignore.
The label had stuck around even after high school was over, and while he knew the former kids of 1-A didn’t bother hating him and were not part of the group who loved to call him like that, he was perfectly aware that most considered him to be too much and annoying. It was part of his persona, a carefully crafted facade he’d been perfecting for years in order to not let people know what bothered him.
His facade was so perfect it managed to fool almost everyone.
“Is something wrong?”
“Mh? What do you mean Toshi?”
“No, you just… seem down.”
Monoma stared at his boyfriend of six, almost seven years. His soft purple hair was pushed back from his face and stayed there thanks to the rain from the outside, his eyes had the same deep eyebags that they had when they first met each other, and they carried a love and devotion that Neito had lost all hope of seeing during the war.
“Who knows Toshi, maybe I feel down.”
“Are you okay? Did you get hurt? Did someone get hurt?”
“I’m okay! Everything is fine and no one is hurt. I promise.”
“...Is it just one of those days?”
“Probably, don’t worry about it. Now cuddle me!”
Hitoshi smiled, shaking his head like a dog and spraying water droplets all over the carpet and Neito himself. With a shriek by the blonde, both managed to get to the shower. Once they were done and dressed, and their hair was as dry as they could manage just with a towel, Neito pushed Hitoshi to the bed and dropped on top of him, demanding cuddles and stopping his boyfriend from leaving.
“So clingy, Nei.”
“And yet you love me.”
“Obviously.”
Neito smiled, nuzzling against Hitoshi’s collarbone before sleep claimed both. He’d successfully distracted Hitoshi from asking more about whether he was okay or not, but he knew there was no secret he could keep for long away from Hitoshi. The underground hero was too perceptive for any of his tricks to work.
The following day was normal, with the same typical comments thrown his way that he had to smile at and dismiss with a self-aggrandizing comment he had trouble believing in. He’d consider dropping by UA to stare at the statue made of and for him, just to keep his spirit up for a bit, but he knew that the temporary solution would only keep him afloat for the day and that his energy would collapse during the night.
With a heavy sigh, he changed from his hero suit to his normal street clothing and left his agency. He waved toward Kendo, before turning around and suddenly finding himself face-to-face with his boyfriend.
“Hitoshi!” He jumped towards him, Hitoshi easily catching him with one arm, like he weighed nothing. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to pick you up. Wanna go on an adventure with me?”
“If you take me hiking I’m divorcing you.”
“Can’t divorce me if we haven’t gotten married yet.”
“So it is a hike!”
“Nah, we’re going on my bike. You up to it?”
Neito smiled, still being carried by his boyfriend. Hitoshi put him down gently before taking his own helmet and putting it on Neito, carefully adjusting it to size and making sure it wasn’t moving too much. He took the other helmet that he kept reminding himself to change for a safer one and mounted his bike.
“Come on, hop on.”
“Going, going.”
The drive was relaxing, Hitoshi making sure to drive more carefully than he usually would on behalf of driving with his boyfriend. When they started slowing down they had gotten out of the city, where the route was emptier, the lights seemed softer, and the sunset was starting to paint the sky with shades of violets and reds.
They stopped at the foot of a hill, where a folding table and chairs were visible a bit further away.
“You prepared me a picnic? Did I forget an important date?”
“Nah, no important date. I figured I’m allowed to do nice things for my boyfriend from time to time.”
“Genuinely swooning over here, I love it Toshi.”
“Good, come on, I’m romancing you today.”
Neito hopped down from the bike, Hitoshi following right behind him and carefully taking Neito’s helmet off. After fixing his boyfriend’s hair he draped his jacket over him and holding his hand guided him toward the folding table.
“So, who’s your accomplice on this?”
“Hanta, he’s the one who told me of this place after we got high like a month ago.”
“Mhh, tell him I said thank you.”
“Will do.”
Neito and Hitoshi had been together for years, long enough that any awkward or uncomfortable silence had stopped existing all together. The only times when silence could feel awkward was if either was hiding something and on this occasion, Neito couldn’t help but swallow heavily.
“Would you tell me what happened, Nei? Or would you prefer I talk?”
“So you know?”
“Something like that. I saw the interview before I got home yesterday.”
“I mean, what’s there to talk about? I know people think I’m annoying and I can’t blame them. I am, after all.”
“You are what.”
“Annoying. I know I am, and it’s fine, it doesn’t bother me.”
Hitoshi stared at him for a second before standing from his chair and lifting Neito from his own, wasting no time in sitting down with his boyfriend now safely placed on his lap.
“You keep saying that, but why do you look like you want to cry Nei?”
“I don’t.”
Hitoshi hummed, kindly ignoring the shaky words of his boyfriend and his shaking frame. He simply rubbed up and down his back, allowing him to hide his face in the crook of his neck and pretending not to notice the damp spot growing on his shirt.
“So it doesn’t bother you.” A shake of the head was his only answer, causing Hitoshi to hum once more. “Okay, but you know? It bothers me.”
He gave it a few seconds to sink in, knowing Neito tended to purposefully forget that he mattered to other people. He broke his silence once he felt Neito give a small kiss on his neck.
“Do you know why it bothers me, love?”
“No.” It was a mere whisper, a tired and small voice that seemed so different than the usual mask that Neito presented.
“It bothers me because they are bastards who decided that their opinions are important, that just because they called themselves press they could tell as many lies as they wanted. You wanna know how I see you?”
“...how?”
“You are the center of my attention Neito, the person who before knowing me chose to trust my potential. You are compassionate, and you have more drive and ambition than those blessed ones. You know how hard you have to work to get what you want. You are able to master a Quirk you’ve never known of before in minutes.” He pressed a gentle kiss to his hair before continuing. “And you are also the man I want by my side until the end, the one person I wouldn’t mind annoying me until I stop breathing.”
With the hand still rubbing up and down Neito’s back he carefully took a small ring box from the pocket and presented it to his boyfriend.
“Ideally, I would be kneeling. But oh well, so, Monoma Neito, Phantom Thief, CopyCat, and the pro-hero stupidly known as “The Annoying Hero”, think you could spend the rest of our lives annoying only me?”
“That’s such a trash proposal, I accept.”
Despite their words, which could be considered mean had they been in any other context, both had smiles on their faces.
Yeah, perhaps to other people -insignificant people whose opinion matters not- Neito was annoying. But to the people that mattered… Well, he was gonna marry him, so if he didn’t mind, then Neito would continue being annoying according to others.