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It was not a rare occurrence for students of Class 1-A to return to their dormitory only to find a gaggle of their classmates sitting in a circle on the floor, furniture pushed to the side to make room for everyone involved. It happened so often, in fact, that it had a name: Floor Circles. The last time a Floor Circle came to be, Tokoyami, Kaminari, Shinsou, and Shouji were attempting to summon a ghost while everyone stood around to watch.
(Secretly, Tokoyami was summoning a demon, but he decided not to share this fact when unexplained paranormal activity began just hours after the summoning.)
The time before that, it was a “braid train”, and everyone with long enough hair joined in to get theirs braided, excluding Bakugou, who was asleep already, and Hagakure, because nobody could see her hair in the first place. When this happened, everyone with hair deemed “too short” had to busy themselves with other things, which led to a game of Duck, Duck, Goose a few feet away from the original circle.
This time, however, it was a truth or dare circle. Jirou had suggested the idea after Iida refused to explain why he owned so many pairs of glasses, and the rest of the class quickly caught on. It was the largest Floor Circle since the great Study Circle™ of last month, where the entire class studied for their mid-terms at the same time, wallowing in their soon-to-be abysmal test scores together. The Study Circle had been memorialised with a fridge magnet using a picture taken by Kouda during the circle. In the image, you could easily see the despair and terror written across the faces of every member in the class. Yes, even Iida, Mineta, and Bakugou, who were known for getting some of the highest scores.
Although maybe Mineta just… looked like that. It is still to be determined.
“Alright, then!” Jirou announced once everyone sat down. “Here are the rules!”
“Wait, why do you get to make the rules?!” Iida exclaimed, horrified. Jirou grinned wolfishly at him, and he swallowed thickly. He was going to regret this, wouldn’t he?
“Rule number one!” She continued. “Anything goes, as long as it can be done without leaving the dorms. No sneaking out or anything like that, got it?”
A flurry of excited (and anxious) nods. “Rule number two! If the truth or dare makes someone genuinely uncomfortable and upset, then we skip it and choose something else.”
“Boring!” Sero booed. Jirou flipped him off and continued counting her rules on her fingers.
“Rule number three, no inside jokes. I’m talking to you, Mina.”
The inside joker in question squawked in offence, but at Jirou’s challenging stare, she acquiesced to the rule.
“Finally…” Jirou paused for dramatic effect, and after everyone leaned in in anticipation, she shouted, “...Have fun and do your worst!!”
The Floor Circle burst into cheers. Kirishima and Tsu played rock, paper, scissors to see who got to go first, and once Tsu won (Kirishima only ever picked rock), the game began.
“Todoroki,” Tsu asked. At Todoroki’s questioning stare, she said, “Truth or dare?”
Todoroki narrowed his eyes at her with all of the seriousness he could muster. The room went dead silent. This was the first time Todoroki had joined a Floor Circle, after all.
“Truth.” He replied eventually. Tsu nodded, equally as serious.
“Where is your mom?”
Half of the circle started protesting; it was a silent rule to never ask about Todoroki’s family, as per Midoriya’s request. Todoroki just cleared his throat with a shrug. “She lives in a mental hospital. I visit her on weekends.”
Everyone breathes a quiet sigh of relief. The “Don’t ask about the Todorokis” rule was not there just because it could make Todoroki uncomfortable, but it was also because he tended to overshare, and the class thought it would be unfair to fish information out of him when he didn’t understand the social rules of Lore Dumping™.
“Now what?” He asked, breaking the silence.
“Pick someone else in the circle, and ask them if they’d prefer truth or dare,” Yaomomo replied gently. Todoroki nodded and looked around.
“Denki,” He finally decided on. “Truth or dare?”
Kaminari broke out into a terrible grin. “Oh, dare, for sure.”
Todoroki furrowed his brows and glanced at Yaomomo for obvious help. ‘I don’t know what to ask him to do,’ he mouthed. Yaomomo shrugged in response.
“You want help, Todoroki-kun?” Mina asked, feigning innocence.
“Yes, please.”
“You got it! Denki, I dare you to play a prank on Bakugou tonight. While he’s sleeping.”
Bakugou immediately exploded, both figuratively and literally. “No the fuck you won’t?!” He snapped.
“Sorry, Bakugou,” Jirou said. “Rules are rules. I never outlawed suicide missions, after all.” Bakugou growled at her, actually growled, and Midoriya put a hand in front of him before he could tackle her.
Kaminari just grinned wider. “You’re on!” He shouted. “Kiri, dare?”
“You know it!”
Kaminari put a hand to his mouth, thinking hard. “Call your mom and fake come out to her.”
“As, like, straight? Because she already knows I’m gay.”
“Oh, uh… yeah. Do that.” Snickers sound out around the circle, and Kirishima shrugs before pulling out his phone and dialling his mom’s number.
“Put it on speaker,” Ojiro hissed while the phone rang.
“Hey, Ma!”
“Hey, Eijirou! How are you?”
“Doing good, Ma. I just, uh, wanted to talk to you about something, if you have a minute.”
“Oh! Sure. I always have time for you, Baby. What’s up?”
Kirishima sent a panicked glance at Kaminari. “What do I say?!” He whisper-yelled.
Everyone just sent equally panicked looks in return.
“Eiji?”
“Sorry, Ma. Someone just distracted me for a second.”
“No problem. What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Uh-” Kirishima swallowed thickly. “I’m straight.”
Silence.
“Huh?”
“I’m straight. I’m not gay.”
“What on Earth?”
“...Yeah…”
The line went silent for a moment. Everyone could hear Kirishima’s Ma yell for ‘Babe’.
“Say it again so both of us can hear it, Eiji.”
Kirishima worked his jaw before whispering, “I’m straight, Ma.”
His Ma burst out into undignified cackles. “Didja hear that, Manami?! He says he’s-” She chokes on her laughter.
The other person on the call, Manami, presumably took the phone from Kirishima’s Ma. “Who dared you to tell us that, Eijirou? Are you on speakerphone?”
“Uh, no, Mom, I’m actually straight. I swear on your life.”
“Ha! No, you’re not, Baby. Call us back when you’re not being dared to, okay? Love you, bye!”
Right before the call cut out, Manami snapped at Kirishima’s Ma to, “Quit laughing, Itsuyo! Our son just tried to prank us, and it didn’t work! He must be so embarrassed, so at least pretend to be serious about it!”
Kirishima hung up before she could say more.
“Wait, you have two moms?” Sero said, dumbfounded.
Kirishima just glared at him. “Moving on!” He yelled. “Midoriya, truth or dare?”
Midoriya’s eyes widened. “Oh, uh… truth?”
“Not again!” Uraraka interrupted before Kirishima could ask him a question. “Come on, Deku! Try dare for once! Kirishima will even go easy on you, he promises on his Ma, who laughed at him!”
Midoriya audibly swallowed. “Uh- I mean, I guess so? Dare, then?”
Everyone cheered. In every other game of truth or dare, Midoriya always picked truth, and he always answered the questions too vaguely to actually get anything out of it. To hear him finally say, “Dare,” was enough for everyone to lose their minds. What ridiculous things could they make him do now that he picked dare?
“Call a bullying hotline,” Kirishima said. “I don’t care what you say to them, but call ‘em anyway.”
Midoriya’s eyes widened. “No, I can’t do that. Pick something else. Anything else?”
“Nope!” Jirou snapped. “You heard the rules! No backing out unless you’re seriously messed up over it, and you look fine to me, so…”
“Okay, but this might be weird…” He muttered, pulling up his saved contacts.
Shouji pointed at his phone with a raised brow. “You have a bullying hotline as a saved number?”
Midoriya turned bright red. Contrarily, Bakugou paled to the point of translucency. “Uh!” He quickly pressed the call button. “Whoops, looks like I called them already!”
“SPEAKERPHONE!!!” Ojiro whisper-yelled. “PUT IT ON SPEAKERPHONE!!!”
Meanwhile, everyone else looked at each other suspiciously. Something was going on here.
“Hello, this is Masaki. How can I help you today?” The operator said before falling into the generic spiel. Midoriya interruped him with a, “Hi, Masaki-san…”
Masaki shrieks. “Izuku?! Is that you?!” The class could hear some of the background voices of the hotline suddenly rushing over, yelling over each other.
“Yes, it’s me. How are you, Masaki-san?”
“Guys! It’s Izuku!” Masaki yelled at his coworkers. “I’m doin’ good, Izuku, but I distinctly remember telling you to just call me Masaki.”
“I know, but-”
“HEY IZUKU-KUN! IT’S ME, TAO! DO YOU REMEMBER ME?!” A new voice interrupted.
Midoriya blinked rapidly. “Oh, hi, Tao-chan. How are you?”
“I’M GOOD!!! MASAKI IS MAD AT ME RIGHT NOW, SO I’LL CHAT WITH YOU IN A MINUTE! BYE IZUKU-KUN!”
“Bye, Tao-chan!”
At this point, the class was stunned into silence. Did… did the bullying hotline recognise his voice?
There was a violent crashing noise on the operators’ side, and a third voice filtered in, sounding exhausted. “Hi Izuku, it’s Ouri. I’ve overpowered Masaki. I am the greatest in the world.”
“Oh, congrats, Ouri-san,” Midoriya replied
“Thank you,” Ouri pauses for a moment. You could hear muffled screaming in the silence. “You know, if it weren’t for that Sports Festival, I would’ve thought you were dead.”
Midoriya jolted in place. “Wait, really? Why?”
Ouri laughs loudly. “Kid, you used to call us, like, every other week. I was convinced you’d offed yourself by now, but thank God for U.A, amirite?”
Midoriya dropped the phone to put his head in his hands, mumbling to himself, embarrassed. Meanwhile, Class 1-A looked at each other uncomfortably.
“And anyway,” Ouri continued, oblivious to the whole thing. “When were you going to tell us you got a flashy new quirk? I remember you saying that you were-”
“LATE!” Midoriya shrieked. He laughed nervously. “It was late, like, really late, so I thought I was, but I’m not, so…”
“Oh, that’s good.”
“Yep! Lucky me!”
“Mhm.” Ouri did not sound very convinced.
Midoriya started sweating profusely. He looked scared out of his mind. The class was already regretting every life choice that led them to this point, Bakugou especially.
There was a yelp on the operators’ side of the call, and Masaki returned to the forefront. “It’s me again, sorry! Ouri bound my mouth and wrists with his quirk because I tried fistfighting him. Will I be fired?”
“You’ve done worse.”
“Good point. So! Doing my job now,” Masaki could be heard typing something into a computer, then he said, “Are you calling for the same reason as last time? That one kid?”
Wait, what? Was Midoriya bullied before? It made sense, considering how Ouri said he “called every other week,” but still. It was a little unbelievable that someone had a reason to bully Midoriya, who, according to pretty much everyone he knew, was so nice that it was hard to hold a grudge against him for anything, let alone bully him.
“No! No, he and I are friends now, Masaki-san!” Midoriya replied flippantly, gesturing his hands at nothing in particular.
“Masaki.”
“Masaki-san.”
“No, Masaki.”
“Masaki-san.”
“Whatever, kid. You always win.”
Midoriya nodded, satisfied.
“So, you’re friends with that kid, now?” Masaki asked, dubious. “Wait, what was his name again? Ka-”
“ANYWAYS!” Midoriya interrupted again. “I was just calling to check in, is all! Let you know I’m… still alive!” He winced as he said it. “I’ll call some other time, okay? Bye!”
Before Masaki could respond, Midoriya hung up on him. He cleared his throat anxiously, then he finally looked up at the rest of the class.
He was met with varying degrees of horror strewn about on everyone’s faces. Mina had her hands over her mouth. Iida’s jaw was slack in surprise. Bakugou had his entire face covered by his hands, hiding his flush.
“Do I need to kill someone?” Todoroki asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. Midoriya blinked at him.
“What?”
“A-anyways!” Jirou stuttered to life, shaking her head sharply to expel her previous shock. “Midoriya, pick someone and let’s continue!”
As Midoriya debated his choices, the rest of the class (sans Bakugou) shared a brief glance with each other, in which they all produced the same thought. An incredible thought. A very good thought that was basically a promise, and that promise was never to be broken under any circumstances.
Never, ever, force Midoriya to pick dare. The world was better off with his short, vague answers to embarrassing questions than the ludicrousness that was the phone call.
The class took the moment to silently bind themselves to the promise, all holding out their pinkies for a split second to make a telepathic pinky promise with nineteen people.
Later, the Truth or Dare Circle would also be given a fridge magnet memorialisation as a reminder of the promise, and when one Aizawa Shouta dropped by a couple of weeks later to borrow a block of cheese, he had to take several deep breaths to keep himself from violently shaking the student closest to him, because why were there magnets of summoning circles on the fridge, and why did, in both of the images, was everyone so horribly distraught?