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Monoma’s favorite part of the week is quickly becoming when he gets Izuku’s letters. It’s been five weeks since Izuku’s first letter, and Monoma has gotten five more. Each letter has had a Drawing with it that he shows to the class. The letters so far have mostly been them asking and answering questions back and forth. There are some things they don't talk about in their letters, like Izuku’s father or each other's quirks. Monoma enjoys writing Izuku letters, and loves getting them in return.
Another thing that has happened since the Pen-pal activity started; Todoroki wants to be friends with him. They started by talking about Izuku, sharing information on how they wanted to help him and keep him happy. But after a few days, they started hanging out in each other's room and just enjoying each other's company. Lately, Shinsou has been joining them in these little hangouts. It’s nice, having friends to hang out with. All of their class is close, mostly because of the USJ during their first year. But Monoma has trouble fitting in. He’s loud and too competitive. In his defense, so is Bakugou, but he’s got the ‘Bakusquad’ to soften his personality, Monoma doesn't. Or, well, didn't. Todoroki Didn’t fit in well with the class until his breakdown in first year that brought Endeavor's abuse to light, which made the class try to bring him closer. Now, Todoroki hasn't changed, still stone-faced and cold, but people understand him now.
Shinsou transferred into class 1A after the sports festival, which already made him stand out in the class. There were a few people in the class who were wary of his quirk, which made Shinsou pull away from everyone, although Monoma did his best to always include Shinsou in his activities (read: pranking people/bullies). That was, until second year when the class all went to the mall together and ran into some of Shinsou’s old bullies. After seeing how they treated Shinsou, the class made sure that he never felt that way again.
But even in third year, Monoma’s class doesn't know anything about his personal life. They don’t know about His abusive mom who he lived with after his dad died before his Aunt Magne took him in. They don’t know about his cousin, Himiko, who was horribly bullied because of her quirk until Aunt Magne took her out of school and into quirk therapy. They don’t know about how Monoma himself was bullied because of his ‘useless’ quirk, and that his desire to get to the top strives from always being pushed to the bottom.
But now Todoroki and Shinsou know, and they understand him. They eat lunch together and meet up after school almost every day to hang out or study. It’s a good time, having friends and just hanging out. Izuku is quickly becoming a close friend as well, even with only a few letters and drawings. In Monoma's last letter, Todoroki and Shinsou insisted on writing their own short paragraphs to Izuku. That was a few days ago, and they’re all eagerly awaiting Izuku’s next letter.
They’re sitting together before homeroom starts, talking about the movie they watched the night before. Their classmates aren’t subtle about the looks they’re giving them and some of them tried to get Todoroki and Shinsou to leave Monoma to talk to them. Monoma doesn't mind, he knows they don't like him, they haven't liked him since first year, but this year has been better. Better because now, Monoma has Izuku, Todoroki, and Shinsou. Better because once a week, the class looks at Monoma like he’s good when he shows them Izuku’s drawings. Better because for the first time, he wakes up excited about school and goes to sleep with a smile on his face.
When Aizawa walks in, he’s carrying a box along with three envelopes. At the sight of them, Monoma knows it’s all from Izuku. Izuku always uses fancy, colorful envelopes that make Monoma feel broke despite having quite a bit of money from his late father’s will. Aizawa immediately looks at Monoma, Todoroki, and Shinsou with tired eyes before opening his mouth to call to them,
“Monoma, Todoroki, Shinsou. You all have something here for you.” They all walk to the front of the room to grab their envelopes. Monoma is surprised when he gets a box along with his envelope, but hurries back to his seat to open it.
They decide to take turns opening their letters, starting with Shinsou. The class watches as he takes his time opening the envelope and reading the letter.
“He’s so..” everyone holds their breath, waiting for Shinsou’s judgment. He’s reliable for being honest, even if he can be a bit harsh sometimes “Nice. He said he wanted to thank me for what I wrote in the last letter he got. Oh, and he made me a drawing. He’s so sweet, it’s almost sickening. I feel the cavities coming in from just this letter.”
Some people laugh at Shinsou’s wording, but most are asking to see the picture. Shinsou says that he won’t be showing the picture to anyone but Monoma and Todoroki. Mina, Kaminari, and Sero complain a little but a glare from Shinsou and Todoroki shut them up pretty fast. Todoroki opens his letter next. He only smiles at the letter softly, deciding not to say anything to the class, but the look he gives Monoma says that he will tell him and Shinsou later. Monoma is a little worried about how Todoroki’s eyes narrow at the second paper but brushes it off for the moment.
Monoma opens his letter and laughs softly at it. Izuku stuck to calling Monoma by his name, just as Monoma calls Izuku his name in his letters. The letter is mostly Izuku answering questions that Monoma asked him in his last letter, and talking about how kind Shinsou seems. Izuku already knows Todoroki and mentions how nice it was to talk to him. Izuku mentions a book he's started reading and… By the time he finishes reading, Monoma is grinning and thinking of the next letter he’s going to send.
When Monoma looks up, he sees the class staring at him once again. He raises an eyebrow, asking what they want from him. It’s, surprisingly, Bakugou who speaks up,
“Open the box, Dumbass! And show the damn drawing before these nerds lose their shit!” Bakugou screamed but had a slight red tint to his face, showing that he too wanted to know either what was in the box or to see the drawing. The class so far has seen all of the drawings that Izuku has sent so far. The first one was of the second sports festival, the second was of a bunch of 3A students as animals (Monoma himself was depicted as an arctic fox, which he appreciated.), the third and fourth were of stars and the galaxy, both having Monoma in them in some way. This is the first box Monoma has gotten, so he’s pretty excited.
Monoma opens the box as fast as he can without looking like an over-eager puppy. Inside the box is mostly what looks like snacks. There is also some jewelry and a teddy bear. Monoma picks the teddy bear up first and looks to see everything else in the box.
“Woahh he got me so much!” The class all let out curious noises, leaning in to get a closer look at what's in the box while Monoma studies the bear in his hands. The bear has dull blue fur and looks homemade. It has a white thread that shows where it was stitched together in some places. The bear has bright green button eyes and a darker green nose. It has no mouth, but Monoma thinks it still looks cute. It has a tag on its ear that says “Neito” in Izuku's fancy font-like handwriting and “I.M” stitched into a foot. Monoma sets the bear on his lap before looking into the box.
The rest of the box is mostly snacks, none of which Monoma recognizes, although if he would have to guess, he would say they are from America. He skips looking at the snacks to look at the other pieces of jewelry he saw when he first opened the box. He pulls out a pair of small sapphire earrings, a silver necklace with a rose lined in diamonds, and a simple rose gold bracelet. At the bottom of the box, he finds a piece of paper. His face already feels hot, and he can tell that he’s blushing, but he picks up the paper and opens it to find a drawing,
The drawing is Monoma's favorite, if he does say so himself. Monoma is the center of the drawing, dressed like royalty. He's wearing the jewelry from the box, along with a crown. He's wearing a light blue turtleneck with black tights and dress shoes. He's sitting sideways on a throne with his legs thrown over one of the arms while he holds his head up with his hand. He's smirking and even if it's just a drawing, Monoma can swear he sees a gleam in the drawing's eyes. Standing on the sides of his throne are Todoroki and Shinsou, each dressed in the same outfit as he is but with different color shirts, Todoroki wearing white and Shinsou wearing a light purple.
Thankfully, Monoma doesn't have to listen to the class and their questions, because Aizawa is calling for everyone's attention.
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Izuku lays in his bathtub, warm water hugging him and easing his pain. He keeps his eyes closed, not willing to look at the state his body is in after his father got mad at him.
“Your father is getting impatient, Star. He thinks that you are lying to him.” Astraeus whispers in Izuku's ear. Izuku just nods, knowing what his father wants from him. His father may be a hero in public, but Izuku knows the truth. The man is a villain, a spy hiding amongst the heroes to gain information and fame. The only reason Izuku was able to sign up for the ‘UA pen-pal’ activity was that his father wanted more information. His father checks all the letters Izuku sends so that he can’t warn them. Izuku only convinced his father to let him send a gift basket under the disguise that it will get him more trust.
Izuku feels Astraeus brushing his hair softly, always softly. Astraeus refuses to touch Izuku in any way that is not gentle and soft.
“Hey, Astraeus?” Izuku whispers, on the verge of passing out.
“Yes, Star?”
“Do you think Neito will like his gift…?”
“He would be an idiot not to.”
Banging on the door jolts them out of their bubble of false peace, the screaming of Izuku’s father rushing their ears and making them scramble to finish what they were doing.
“You worthless child! Get to the living room, now!” Izuku shivers, knowing that he was in trouble. Astraeus hugs him tightly.
“I’ll go first, Star. I will try to talk to him.” Astraeus hurries out of the room, but they both know that this will end in red.
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Monoma meets up with Shinsou and Todoroki after school, they start walking to the dorms together before Kaminari, Uraraka, and Iida run up to them. They start talking to Shinsou and Todoroki while Monoma walks ahead. Monoma is mostly ignoring them, content with thinking about what he wants to get Izuku as a gift. Monoma is pulled out of his head when he hears Shinsou starting to yell,
“You guys are jerks, you know that?! Talking about him like that when he’s right there!”
“Come on Shin-bro, you know it’s true. It’s not like he cares anyways, he just wants attention!” Kaminari laughs awkwardly, side-eyeing Monoma like he was the one doing something wrong.
“While I would not word it that way, Kaminari is correct! We were only inviting you to a class hangout, so there is no need to get rude!” Iida chops his arms through the air and Monoma starts walking away faster, already knowing what’s going on. They were inviting Shinsou and Todoroki out to a class get-together, but not Monoma. No, they would never invite Monoma. Not the stuck-up, no-friends brat of the class.
“Oh, so you were going to invite us but leave out Monoma. He’s part of this class just as much as any of us.” Monoma appreciates Todoroki sticking up for him, he really does, but he wishes he wouldn't bother. To the class, Monoma will only ever be a stuck-up brat who wants to be a hero for fame and money. Monoma feels himself tearing up, but he refuses to let himself break. Not here, not now. He has Izuku, Todoroki, and Shinsou. He has Auntie Magne and His cousin Toga. Why would he need his stupid class?
Monoma hears Uraraka whisper something but can’t make it out clearly. Apparently, it was bad, because a second later, Monoma hears a loud slap. He spins around to see what happened, only to see Uraraka on the ground holding a hand to her cheek, and Todoroki standing over her, looking enraged. Kaminari and Iida look panicked.
“If I EVER hear you talking about Neito or Izuku like that again, I will rip your tongue out! You insolent bra-!”
Todoroki doesn't have the chance to say anything else, because Monoma is already dragging him and Shinsou away while Iida and Kaminari help Uraraka. After a few minutes of walking in silence, they make their way to Todoroki’s room and sit down. It takes about a minute for Monoma to speak up,
“You called me Neito.” Todoroki’s eyes widen and he starts to apologize, but Monoma cuts him off, “It’s ok, I liked it. You can keep calling me Neito. You too, Shinsou. You two are.. My best friends.”
“Well then, I guess you two can call me Hitoshi.” Shinsou shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly, but his cheeks are red, and he has a smile on his face.
“Of course, you two can call me Shoto. It only seems fair.”
They sit there for a long time, talking about everything and anything. They talk about what they are doing for the weekend, they talk about their families, and they talk about what movies they want to watch next. Eventually, they move to the topic of Izuku. Hitoshi shows them the drawing that Izuku made for him. It actually happens to be a drawing of Eraserhead. In the paragraph Hitoshi wrote to Izuku, he must have mentioned his love for the Hero. Eraserhead is crouching on the edge of a building, with his capture weapon floating around him and his eyes glowing red. Monoma’s favorite part of the drawing is the purple cat wrapped around Eraser’s shoulders that is wearing a mini-capture weapon and a mask that looks identical to Hitoshi's’.
Shoto tells them that Izuku drew him a picture that alarmed him. After a little convincing, Shoto shows it to them.
The picture is of a bunch of heroes, which is odd enough because every drawing so far has had them in it. As Monoma and Hitoshi start looking harder, the drawing looks more sinister. Hawks has a collar around his neck and his wings seem to be bound in wire, the hero commission hidden behind a few heroes is holding the strings. All might is casting an oddly skinny shadow that has a sad face drawn over where the mouth and eyes would be. Eraserhead and Present Mic are standing together, Mic’s arm wrapped around Eraserhead’s shoulder, with midnight sitting at their feet, her limbs flailing like she was laughing. But all of their eyes were turned to behind them, where a person with blue hair and a bandage on his nose. The person has a splash of blood on their cheek and their eyes are blank, they’re all crying faintly. Endeavor is standing tall with his arms crossed over his broad chest, a scowl on his face. There were silhouettes of 4 children standing around him. One had an angry face in paint, although their eyes were X’s. Two of the silhouettes were standing behind him, with no details on them at all. The last silhouette child was at Endeavor's feet, with a sad face. There were strings tied around its neck that led to Endeavor's hand. Other heroes fill the picture, making all these details hard to make it out. The hardest to make out was Dragon, hidden to the left of the drawing. He’s smirking at something on the ground. His fist is raised in a symbol of victory, by the hand is covered in red and has strings held in the fist that are leading down to a figure that's at his feet. Dragon had a mask wrapped around his neck and he's not wearing his regular hero costume like the rest of the heroes are. Monoma could just barely recognize the mask and outfit. Monoma follows the strings down to the figure at the dragon's feet and is not so shocked to see a child-like silhouette. There are tears running down their face. There is red paint in various places on the child’s body, along with purple and blue that most likely represent bruises. The lines start out wrapped around the child's face, covering their mouth. The lines wrap around their neck and then down the child's body, keeping their arms trapped behind their back. The child is kneeling at Dragon's feet, unable to move. Monoma has one guess as to who that figure is.
They are silent for a few seconds, staring at the drawing before Hitoshi whispers,
“He’s telling us something.” They all nod in agreement. “We need to bring this to Aizawa.”
Then they’re leaving, all making their way to Aizawa’s room to tell them about the drawing. The drawing that had a hidden meaning, and things unsaid.