apathy

sponsored by JelloFello

When Monoma drops his tray onto the Midoriya & Co lunch table, no one bats so much as an eye. Hatsume continues to talk Tsuyu's ear off about one of her inventions, with Todoroki listening, blank-faced. Midoriya keeps his eyes on his food, lost in thought, and oblivious to the glances Shinsou keeps shooting him.

"Hello 1-A bastards. And Hatsume." Monoma greets with his usual amount of antagonistic drama. Hatsume waves without breaking from her tirade and he gets a nod from Todoroki.

"Hey." Shinsou and Midoriya reply in unison, though neither even looks at him. Tsuyu meets Monoma's gaze with her own eye roll. Lovebirds, honestly.

"I got fifth place overall on our class' written finals." Monoma announces instead of addressing that mess. He can sense Kendo hovering nearby, not that she'll get a chance to karate chop him today. With the group chat, these particular '1-A bastards' are already used to how he acts and are unbothered by it. It doesn't hurt that he supplies them with pictures of his cats. No one can resist the facade of coolness that Kai, his russian blue, puts on, or the violent dumbassery of his black cat, Mell. "How about you bastards?"

"Fifth as well." Todoroki mutters. Tsuyu holds up a six with her hands, apparently invested enough in whatever Hatsume is going on about to not interrupt her.

"Ninth." Shinsou sighs, slumping slightly. He nods to Midoriya, who is fully checked out. "He got second. Beat Bakugo, which will be fun to watch the aftermath of."

"Of course he did. He's Midoriya, after all." Monoma sighs in a melodramatic manner as he lifts his wine glass. "Better than everyone without even trying. I bet he's planning the destruction of this entire table even now."

"I don't need to plan that anymore." Midoriya says, lifting his head with a dangerous sparkle in his eye. Monoma, unaware that he'd even been paying attention, stares at him for a moment before slamming his glass back down. 

"DON'T SAY IT LIKE YOU'VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT ALREADY!" He roars. A familiar expanded hand almost comes slamming down onto his head, but Midoriya leans over and just barely blocks the hand with the arm of his that's in a cast. The entire table turns to stare at her.

"Oh—sorry," She apologizes, to Midoriya, who merely blinks calmly. Like he didn't stop a blow from a huge hand with his broken arm. "I didn't hurt you did I? I didn't mean to intrude, I just usually step in when Monoma is being antagonistic."

"I wasn't doing anything this time!" Monoma objects, swiveling in his seat to glare at her. Kendo shrinks her hand and Midorya pulls his arm back to press against his stomach with the barest traces of a wince. "Not everything is my fault, you know!"

"Sure." Kendo says skeptically. She takes the seat next to him while he sends a look of utter betrayal Shinsou's way. Lavender boy holds eye contact with Monoma for a moment, then deliberately turns his head to join Hatsume's revived conversation. Fucking traitor. "So, you guys were talking about finals, huh?"

"Yes." Todoroki of all people answers her, since the rest of the table is either absorbed in Hatsume rambling about a tail of some sort, dissociating like crazy (Midoriya), or being dramatic about betrayal (Monoma himself). "I do wonder what will be on the practical."

"Oh, an upperclassman I talked to said that it's robots, like the entrance exam!"

"You guys fought robots in your exam?" Midoriya asks, glancing up at them. Monoma has the brief realization that maybe Midoriya just pretends to be zoned out during conversations. In response to Midoriya's question, Todoroki just shrugs, because fucking recommended students. Shinsou, who turns at the sound of Midoriya's voice, nods.

"It fucking sucked." He remarks bluntly. Hatsume reaches over to pat his fluffy purple hair without even pausing in her rant. Monoma has to shake his head at how well the trio always react to each other's needs, even subconsciously. It's amazing, seeing that as far as he knows, they've only been friends since month before the festival.

"It was an ordeal." Monoma cuts back in with a sigh, dramatic as he's apt to be. A calculating look enters Midoriya's eye. "Nothing I couldn't handle but all the same."

"Yo, Meimei," Midoriya says, ignoring Monoma, and the fact that she's already in a conversation, "You got blueprints for the exam robots?"

"With practice—Of course I do, Izukkun—he would be able to use the tail to immobilize and attack! 'Course I'll have to get some samples to develop the quirk suppressants..."

Midoriya turns his attention back to Monoma and Kendo with an easy shrug.

"Well, if it is robots, we're set." He says, then turns back to eating his lunch. Monoma almost wants to smack him, but refrains. He already knows what it feels like to be in a fight with Midoriya, and he hadn't even been trying to kick Monoma's ass. Better to not provoke that beast. "If not, we're not any more fucked than before."

"Your carefree bad-ass attitude is really annoying sometimes, Midoriya." Monoma informs him. He gets a shrug in return. Shinsou pats his shoulder. Then even Kendo forsakes him, leaning to listen in on the chattering that is still coming in a steady stream from Hatsume. Monoma smacks Shinsou's hand away, pouting. "Don't pat me, traitor."

"Don't worry, we'll all be waiting for you to complain about Izuku in the chat later." Shinsou says, ignoring his order and patting him once again. Midoriya glances at them, for only a second. "That's what it's for, after all."

"I hate this fucking family." Monoma announces, snatching his glass back up. Shinsou pats him a final time before turning back to interrupt Hatsume's rant with a question about some mechanism or other.  The rest of lunch continues in largely the same order, with the whole table listening to and questioning Hatsume at odd intervals. 

Midoriya stays quiet for the most part, letting the rest of them talk away. It's always hard to tell with his overall lack of facial expressions, but Monoma doesn't think the guy's annoyed by them talking so much. He thinks Midoriya is actually enjoying having everyone there, honestly.

Monoma meets Midoriya's gaze at some point and nods in solidarity. He enjoys having this crazy friend group too.