Trash Talking Phantom

❝Ah, oi—❞ An annoyed frown curls his lips the second his phone has been suddenly plucked away from his fingers. He’s not exactly a fan of anyone touching his things, even if the perpetrator is a cute pompous blond who can’t seem to find a filter for his words. But just as he’s about to reach for his phone back, the mere sight of Monoma’s teasing smile puts a stop to his objective and the reminder that the headlines of the dating scandal are still very much present on the screen of his phone has his mind suddenly clawing for any excuse he could come up with.

Has he really been staring at those articles for so long that his roommate had caught on it quick? Shit. Shit. Shit.

Hitoshi brings his hand back down to his side and watches the blond close the small stretch of space between them, sending a rush of heat to dust his cheeks with a bright shade of red. Close. Too close. He knows Monoma has his flirtatious moments that are not solely reserved for him but somehow, Hitoshi could still never get used to it. Especially now when the guy is invading his personal bubble like it’s no big deal.

He could just nudge him away though. Hitoshi knows he could. But to have Monoma this close to him feels like an opportunity so rare, he’ll regret missing out on it if he breaks the spell now. No, wait, fuck no. If he lets this play on for far too long, his friend will start having the dreaded sneaking suspicion of how much Hitoshi doesn’t really mind him making a move on him— even if said move is just a way to get under his skin and nothing more. But even with his newfound resolve, the taller hero still finds his own eyes flickering down to the blond’s lips. Realizing his stare, he quickly shakes his head and snatches his phone back.

❝Quit it. I was just wondering why you didn’t bring this up.❞ He could think of one good reason why— Monoma doesn’t want him to feel pathetic that he finally found a guy he romantically clicks with while Hitoshi is still here, coming home from another disastrous date. ❝And I’m only your ‘favorite’ because I pay half the rent.❞

Truth be told, Monoma had expected to be brushed off. Of course he believed there was a strong possibility Shinsou was jealous for one reason or another… Maybe because he believed himself to be unlucky in romantic endeavors where he thought Monoma was flourishing.

What he got instead was a blush coloring his roommate’s cheeks. Calculating eyes quickly zeroed in on it, wondering for the faintest of seconds if years worth of teasing flirtations would finally lead to something more…

Kiss me, you fool. His own cheeks darkened, wanting nothing more than to lean in, but he refused to give in, to show his hand. This was always something he was far too careful with… never doing anything that couldn’t be explained away as simply a facet of his personality. For as arrogant as he could come off, doubt was a plague he never leaned how to rid himself of…

Ah, but there it was. The spell being broken. A quiet, nearly sad sounding laugh left him as Shinsou retorted, his fingers briefly dancing along the side of his friend’s face. Just because he pays half the rent? “Not quite…” His often scrutinizing stare was softened, a small but fond smile gracing his lips. Monoma did mean what he said, after all.

He should have thrown in a retort of his own, made mention that it’s also because Shinsou does his fair share of the handiwork, but instead he let the sincerity hang in the air as he stepped away and moved on, wrinkling his nose in distaste from what he was about to say. “As for Awase, his sights are still set on the former class present of the ever so abhorrent class A.” And mine on you. That thought would stay locked away, but as Monoma turned, he gave a pointed look over his shoulder. “As for my own interests…”

❝Sure, all right. Convince yourself all you want.❞ He says with a shake of his head, a touch of tease laced in his tone. As much as Hitoshi would like to think his friend is just overcompensating for something, he knows this is just Monoma being Monoma. He never bothered to clarify anything every time his relationship with his roommate is being questioned. At least his PR manager can finally stop pushing him into going on carefully orchestrated ‘dates’ with other heroes for the sake of keeping his name in the headlines. 

❝So what have you been up to all day?❞ He asks as he fishes his phone out, although he knows not much had happened during his friend’s shift. Otherwise, he would have known about it by now. But even after asking his question in an attempt to shift the topic, his eyes catch on the strange number of DM’s he’s received while he was gone. He normally has a lot of unread DM’s but this is twice the amount which is never a good sign. Far too distracted to even notice whether or not Monoma is answering his question, he taps open one message which turns out to be from a fan.

“welder and phantom were out on a coffee date?!?! pls tell me this isnt true 😭”

He frowns and opens a few more. Most were from fans, sharing paparazzi photos of Monoma and Awase having coffee in some cafe together in their civilian attire. What’s the big deal though? They’re just two friends hanging out— his eyes then catch on that one slice of cheesecake that was apparently being shared between the two heroes. Oh. That… that sucks. Okay, yeah, that really sucks. But maybe people are just reaching. This really shouldn’t bother him.

Except it is and he couldn’t stop his frown from further dragging his mood down.  

“Hmph.” And just like that, Monoma’s nose turned back up. He didn’t appreciate being dismissed or ridiculed! “Convince myself…” Monoma muttered disdainfully before a low chuckle vibrated his chest. That was as close to letting things go as Monoma got. Normally someone else stopped his tirades as he was frequently too tenacious to back down himself. It did help, however, that Shinsou asked him about himself. That was a topic Monoma seldom grew tried of.

“Well, since you asked~” His day really wasn’t all that exciting, but that didn’t stop him from rambling on as if he had partaken in some grandiose adventure. It was mostly gossip and gripping over trivial matters, all whilst praising himself here and there. He could absolutely go on for minutes upon minutes by himself, but his thrilling grocery store rendition stopped abruptly when he noticed from the corner of his eye that Shinsou wasn’t even looking at him!

“Are you even listening? You ask about my day, then go off in your own little world-“ After moving over to where Shinsou was, the phone was quickly snatched from his hand, both to scold him and to see what could possibly be more interesting than him.

As it turned out, only he himself could be more interesting~ Eyes lit up, a smile stretching from ear to ear. “Oh, what do we have here, hm?” It felt like the tables had turned, suddenly Monoma was the one with the upper hand, a cat cornering his prey. The phone was dangled in front of Shinsou as Monoma leaned in far closer than necessary - breaching whatever personal space there was while placing a finger under Shinsou’s chin. “Tell me, dear Hitoshi, does this bother you? Even when you’re my favorite~?”

Monoma could feel himself relax when Shinsou didn’t argue against that notion that his date was subpar at best. Shinsou was forthright enough that, had Monoma been wrong, he would have been corrected. There was always the slight possibility that he was simply too tired to deal with his antics, but Monoma felt confident that he hit the nail on the head.

There was also that grin. Whenever that barely there smile appeared, Monoma felt like he won. He loved seeing his stoic nature chipped away until he could no longer hide his amusement and adoration towards him. That was how Monoma took it, at least.

His victory felt short lived, however, as Shinsou had the blonde raising his eyebrows soon after. “Jealous?!” Monoma had to remind himself that Shinsou was likely referring to the scenario he just explained instead of actually calling him that. Though, if Shinsou picked his wording based off the theatrical drink pouring hypothetical, the word jealous was still hardly fitting of what he described! “I would be scorned not jealous, and it’s just a scenario, in case you forgot!” Monoma huffed before smiling near manically. “Me, jealous! Ha! It’s adorable you think that could ever happen!” He wiped an imaginary tear from his eye once he was done laughing, but he wasn’t done his spiel just yet!

Looking overly pleased with himself, he shrugged. “You should feel lucky I’d let people believe we’re together. The things I’m willing to do for you~”

He didn’t know if he was fooling Shinsou, but he certainly wasn’t fooling himself...