But as it was, that wasn't the thing that was first on Izuku's mind.
No, that was the way Venom described the logical next step. He seemed to take it for granted that Izuku would reciprocate Mina's… feelings... For him.
...
There was so much to unpack there. Not least of which being that a large part of Izuku(Too large a part) frankly had difficulty believing that Mina was actually serious about this.
It was a stupid thought of course. Mina WASN'T the kind of person who would make a game out of something like this. Well... Not a deception game anyway, she seemed to find plenty of fun in flirting and teasing him.
She wouldn't act like this unless she was serious… would she?
His brain told him no. His heart… Well… If Izuku was honest with himself, he had trouble believing that anyone, much less someone as wonderful as Mina would… Be interested in him.
The fact was that he had never, in his life, had had to deal with this kinda thing. He hadn't had many friends over the course of his life, much less any girls interested in him.
It was such an unknown feeling for Izuku, and he didn't quite know how to think about it.
And then of course there was… The other side of that coin.
Assuming that Mina was absolutely, utterly serious, did he… Did he reciprocate that?
He didn't know.
He… He felt differently about Mina than he felt about Uraraka for example. Putting it all on the table, he knew that much to be true at least.
When he'd first met Uraraka, he'd been completely blown away by the simple fact that a cute girl was talking to him, but… once he'd moved on from that stage, he'd mellowed out on that front. His class was full of cute girls, and the fact was he didn't completely freeze anymore when he talked to them.
With that said, he'd come to think of Uraraka as just another friend. Mina though? Well, there had been… A change with Mina. The way he just felt a wave of gladness when he saw her the first time after… after their talk, was an obvious example.
The way she made his heart skip a beat and stomach flutter every time she had flirted with him today... Those had felt… different somehow, than the way he'd reacted the first times he'd met Uraraka and talked to her.
For one thing, he'd looked away from Uraraka back then. Completely unable to meet her glance, or even look her in the eyes as they talked.
Today though… He'd done anything but look away. In fact, he'd frozen while looking at her sly, cute face each and every time. And back then, he… he wasn't sure how to describe it. He… he had been a strange mix between uncomfortable, and just nervous and scared when talking with Uraraka.
Today, he hadn't been either scared nor nervous. In fact, he'd… not been… Against it?
It was weird. On one hand, he'd felt incredibly confused and god almighty had he felt like his face was burning, but… On the other hand, he hadn't felt the same kind of instinctual fear or nervousness he'd felt with Uraraka.
Then again, it wasn't the only difference between then and today. He just… didn't feel the same way being around Mina as he did with… anyone else really.
He felt… Happy, when he was around Mina. Safe. Just seeing her brought a feeling of joy in him.
He liked Mina. He liked being around her, talking with her, seeing her adorable, pretty smile.
He liked her pure and carefree, yet strong conviction in her own future. The way she always had a smile and was full of energy and optimism.
But… the thing he liked most about Mina was… That she cared. She cared deeply about other people. She cared if they got hurt, or felt sad, or humiliated.
He remembered back over the time he'd known Mina, and he recalled how she'd made the effort not to laugh at him when he completely humiliated himself the first time he'd consumed chocolate after bonding with Venom.
She could have laughed back then. She had found it absolutely hilarious, yet she hadn't laughed. Because she could tell how utterly humiliated he had felt, and she had taken that into account with how she reacted.
It was a small thing in the grand scheme of things, probably less important than other grander stuff, but… It was something that had stuck with Izuku.
Izuku was no stranger to other people having fun at his expense. He'd experienced that in all degrees before Yuei.
It wasn't like Mina never had fun at his expense, with jokes and the like. She leaked teasing him. But… It was so different from the way Katsuki or his old class had been.
They… would just keep going and going until they finally had decided to move on, either because there was no more enjoyment to be found putting him down, or because they had grown bored. They didn't care about how hurt he had felt about any of it. Just how they themselves had gotten a kick out of it.
Mina… Didn't act like that. On the contrary, the one time Izuku had actually cried around her she… She had comforted him, with a friendly hug, and a shoulder to cry on.
She'd listened to him, and she hadn't judged or asked any questions, just… given him her support. And when someone had come asking about it, she'd kept quiet about the things he'd told her under four eyes.
That meant a lot to him.
It meant a lot to him that not only had he trusted her, but when that trust had been out to the test, she hadn't broken that trust. Not even to her mom.
Whether all of that was a romantic attraction, however… well, he didn't know.
"Hey… Venom?"
"Yeah?"
"You… You've known how Mina has felt the entire time I've known her, right?"
Venom did the Klyntar equivalent of rolling his eyes at Izuku, as he answered.
"Yes… She does in fact have a real romantic interest in you, bizarre though the concept OBVIOUSLY seems to you."
Once more, Izuku flushed even harder. It was a wonder his brain was not melting, as hot as his head felt.
"That… Wasn't what I wanted to ask…"
"No? What the hell did you wanna know then?"
Izuku swallowed.
"When… When did Mina-" "Sometime before the tournament. Though there was a decisive shift during the events themselves, where it really crystallized for her."
"And you just… Knew?"
"We've been through this dance 32 842 times Izuku. We have gotten pretty bloody decent at spotting the pattern by now. Reading emotions is kinda our thing, and lust and love are some of the most powerful emotions there are… Which shouldn't be surprising, given both are deeply connected to adrenaline"
Izuku chose to ignore that, and instead focus on his questions. So, now he knew… How long Mina had been interested in… in him. That left… The other question.
"Do you… Do you know WHY Mina is… interested in me?"
It was a simple question, but one Izuku himself couldn't wrap his brain around.
He… He had begun to accept that Mina WAS interested in him now… But frankly, he couldn't fathom WHY she was interested in him.
It just didn't make any sense that someone of her caliber would ever look his way. Much less that she'd apparently been interested for a while now, and he'd just completely missed it.
Mina was… Wonderful. Amazing. Beautiful. She walked through life with a confidence that Izuku could only dream of. She was a social butterfly who energetically and with tons of enthusiasm had managed to make friends with pretty much every single one of their classmates, while Izuku could count the number of close friends he had on one hand.
She was the scion of a great hero, who had inherited all she had, and more while he… he was a quirkless, plain boy who'd needed to make a bond with an alien to ever manage to do something with his life.
"Who the hell knows. Maybe she's just really into shy guys who she finds cute and adorable. It certainly isn't due to you being a paragon of human manliness that's for sure. So, it must be one of your actually existing traits. Also, by her own admission, she really likes how you manage to charge when push comes to show."
Logically speaking, Venom was probably right, but… Well, there was a massive difference between thinking or knowing, and believing something.
Frankly speaking, he still had trouble wrapping his head around the fact that Mina thought he was cute, despite the fact she had said that she thought he was, to his own face.
It all seemed so… Unbelievable to him.
"So now that we've established how things actually are, and we've opened your eyes… What ARE you gonna do now?"
Izuku swallowed.
That… That was the big question, wasn't it?
One thing that was for sure, was that he would not be going with Venom's first idea, of inviting her up to the roof for a romantic evening. Even if he HAD had full confidence in how he himself felt about all of this, there was no way in hell he'd be bold enough to do something like that.
But… that wasn't the real question.
The simple fact was that… Overtly bold as Venom's proposed plan was, he… Wasn't wrong. If Izuku actually wanted this to go anywhere then… All he had to do was call Mina up to have a word under four eyes, and then ask her out.
It was simple. So simple that even he, completely inexperienced in stuff like this that he was, could see how simple it was.
The only question was whether he would do so or not.
He didn't know.
The only thing he was sure of at that moment, was that he had to figure out where he stood on this matter, before he made the next step here, whatever that might be.
...
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