pretend it only happened in a dream | bakuiida

part six | swiss cheese and roast beef with light mayo

"Maybe. I've never actually been to a game."

Tenya's eyes went wide. "Really? They're so fun, especially when they're home and all of leadership comes out and cheers and screams for us. And the cheerleaders have the halftime show and they flip and all that. You can get food and coffee and you sit with your friends and cuddle together in the cold," he says excitedly.

I smile melancholy. "I wish I could go with my friends."

"Why couldn't you?" he asks. I like the way he's genuinely interested in me- makes me feel important. 

I shrug. "Well Kiri and Mina are always busy especially with everything happening in their life. Kami won't stop making out with Jirou so it's not fun to be around them. Sero is- well stoned the second he leaves campus."

"I would go with you, if I wasn't yknow, playing," Tenya mumbles.

I hate the way that this makes me feel and I hate the way that Tenya Iida is so attractive and I hate the way that he's so sweet and I especially hate the way I'm blushing so hard. "Thank you, Tenya. That's- well that's really nice of you."

He chuckles, and the librarian reminds him with a harsh, hush this is a quiet work place and he immediately stops laughing. "I hate the librarian," he whispers.

I raise an eyebrow. "I'm surprised, you love everyone."

He shrugs. "I hate more people than I care to tell," he smiles while speaking.

"Who?"

Maybe I should start a notebook of things I know about certain people. I'd have multiple pages for Tenya Iida, and it would be covered with things like this:

Note: Tenya Iida hates half of his football team, but especially Shoji, who won't talk to Tenya at all. Tenya thinks it's jealousy. He's not sure but at the end of the day he thinks it's childish.

Makes me wonder why Tenya likes me. I'm pretty childish myself.

Before I can ask more, the bell rings. "Wanna walk to fourth together?" Tenya asks.

"Sure, better than being alone," I reply.

The walk from the Library down to the Math hall is long, and there are multiple ways to get there. Tenya leads us through the new building, around the gym, through the senior lawn and then the math halls are right there. Occasionally I'll say some dumb joke or make a comment about someone and Tenya will laugh.

We pass by Momo Yaoyorozu, who waves Tenya over to her and her friend group. I trail behind Tenya with him.

Momo giggles once Tenya is over by her. We are in a large group, shoved into a corner. "My friend Kendo needs to know if Todoroki is single."

I notice how they're all dressed in cheer uniforms and have their hair up in high ponytails. I assume the one with orange hair is Kendo, by the way she's blushing and is attached at Momo's waist.

Tenya laughs. "He is. Shoot your shot, I'm sure he'll be interested."

And then he turns on his heels and walks away with me. "Wanna know something?" He says to me.

"Sure. I love knowledge."

"Good," Tenya says. "Todoroki is a very odd guy when it comes to girls." He sighs. "He's so- particular about them, I always wonder how we will react to someone admitting the like him."

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I mean like. Sometimes he will accept the meanest girl, and play with her feelings for a few months, and then just. Get bored, as he calls it. And that mean girl will come out different to say the least. But then nicest girl comes along and he rejects her even though he wants her. He rejected Momo months ago and he can't stop thinking about her. Everyday. But he had her? I don't understand it. I don't understand why he does these things to himself."

I nod. "Maybe he thinks he's doing the world a favor."

Tenya shrugs. "Don't know. But you didn't hear it from me."

"I didn't hear it all, right?"

He laughs as we enter the classroom. "You get me. I like that."

We don't speak the rest of the period. After school I skip along to the parking lot where Mina is waiting to pick me up. She smiles wide when I hop in the passenger seat. "So whats the hot gossip?" she immediately asks.

I sigh. "I accidentally became close friends with Tenya Iida and now I know too many secrets about people."

Her eyebrows go up as she drives us around the block. "Well don't leave me hanging, tell me about it!" She exclaims.

I shrug. "Todoroki is just- an asshole I guess, to girls and everything. But then he's like- self punishing himself? I really don't understand what's up with him," I tell her.

"Crazy." She reaches down to grab her phone and plugs it into the aux chord and chooses some music. We're at a stoplight, so she has time. "I'm addicted to this song," She says.

It's body electric, and I can't help but to turn it up. It reminds me of my Freshman year. It used to be the only song I would listen to. 

One time Mina took me to a house party and when we got in the car (who knows who's car it was) Mina leaned over from the backseat, over someones lap, and turned this song on and the volume up. The guy in the passenger seat (the one which she had leaned over) pulled her by the waist into his lap and kissed her; and she kissed him hard before crawling back to me in the backseat.

On the way to the party she hung out the window, singing the lyrics. The older boys in the car told her she was so pretty and wild. They eventually changed the music to some rap that Mina pretended to like.

Once we arrived to that party, Mina left those boys as fast as she could and instead dragged me to the floor. We drank and danced. That's where I meet him. He was loosely friends with Mina, but I didn't remember or care about that.

He was just so tall and so handsome and so charming and so much older. I think Mina said he was a Senior. I remember how it tasted when he kissed me- like classic chapstick and cheap beer. I was too tipsy to care. He said: "Do you wanna get a room?" And I moaned against him as he went to suck another hickey on my neck. "Please."

I giggled and stumbled alongside him to an empty room. His height allowed for him to practically push the crowd aside for a room. Once inside, he pushed me against the wall and kissed me and I scrambled to wrap my legs around his waist. He carried me to the bed, laid me down and kept going. "Do you want music?" he asked.

I nodded and told him Lana Del Rey. He pulled up Body Electric. I asked him his name, and he told me. To this day I can't remember what he said. But I do remember how it felt. The way his body felt against mine, and the way I couldn't help but beg for more.

When I went home that night, via an unknown car with Mina, she played Body Electric.

~*~

god sorry for this late ass update lmao ive been busy with cheer