oh, shit. this wasn't suppose to be this long (this is extremely long, where's my writer's block now??). sorry jkdjwqosc i got carried away. if someone wants more of this, just tell me, i have so many things in mind. enjoy!
they use they/he pronouns (but has preference for they/them)
however if you call them «él» —spanish version of the pronoun he— they will throw you a brick (they have to bear with his family calling them «él» because they're not out to their family yet and he hates it so much it hurts). they don't really know why they hate that pronoun so much, is just unpleasant to hear and makes him uncomfortable
they —unexpectedly— call shinso every time they're visiting his family in mexico during the summer holidays. he calls shinso so they can assure them and call them by his right pronouns time and time again, until they're feeling good
shinso was the one who introduced him to the term non-binary. the summer after their first year, when it was announced that shinso will be in their class for their second year (replacing mineta ofc), former class 1-A made a welcome party for them
it was then when shinso asked their new classmates to use they/them pronouns (what everyone respected) and explained it because some of then weren't aware of the term or didn't actually know what it meant. after their explanation, sero ran across the whole place and started asking questions because they felt something, they felt their heart pounding and a feeling of happiness he couldn't even understand, in the moment shinso explained it, in the moment they explained what it meant that term to them and what they felt
so shinso was happy and they spent almost the entire party talking about feelings, feelings they had never share with anyone before. by the end of the day, everyone was amazed on how they got along so well and when they were leaving, shinso, without warning, used they for referring to sero. he immediately felt something, something they couldn't name, but it was pretty relieving, as if shinso just took a load off them. he slept without any worries that night
three weeks after that party, in which sero did a lot of research and talked with shinso and was referred as they only by shinso just to know how it felt in him, they chose to tell his friends (bakusquad first)
they were nervous, scared, even though they took it well when shinso came out, they thought it will be different because he was closer to them
oh, how wrong they were. they took it so well that sero almost cried, in fact, they cried. they knew kirishima and knew about his love for the word manly, but sero didn't expect their friend to change that so quickly
kirishima: hey, sero, don't cry, m—
kirishima: homie
yeah, he definitely didn't expect that. they didn't even told him that calling them man made them uncomfortable, kirishima just somehow assumed it could be unpleasant and changed that for them
since that day, kirishima only uses homie with them and shinso, and they eventually got attached to that word, because it really shows how supportive they are and how they accept them no matter what
kaminari seems to be really happy. every time sero looks at him, they can see the proud smile as he somehow knew he was non-binary even after themselves (and it's actually true or that's what denki tells them one day. he tells sero how he perceived there was something in their aura and how he realized what it was after listening to shinso's explanation). sero is just thrilled that their best friend acts how he does, he treats him as always, telling him they're still his best friend and that he's proud that they have found their real self
they eventually decided to tell todoroki. they had been friends since the sports festival and they have been sharing mangas, opinions and they have been staying up all night laying on the floor of sero's room. they're pretty close and sero won't say it at loud, but they have been feeling this strange butterflies every time todoroki smiles, every time they accidentally touch each others hands, every time he's so close to their face that the only thing he wants to do is kiss him.
they have —eventually— got used to those gentle and almost unnoticeable brushes. sero sometimes thinks that todoroki actually notices and that he does it on purpose, trying to pretened he doesn't know every time he's too close to sero
that friday night at 2 am, when todoroki was laying face up in sero's bed, he told him. at first shoto didn't say anything so sero thought he has fallen asleep
but instead he just moved and left a space to let sero lay next to him. todoroki moved his head to look into sero's eyes and everything they could see was their best friend's wide smile. they knew todoroki wasn't the most expressive person in the world, but sero knew him enough to understand what that smile actually meant
unexpectedly, todoroki reached for their hand and slowly intelocked their fingers, as he was waiting for sero to let go of his hand. however, it did not happen and when sero less expected it, he spoke:
"i talked with bakugou and shinso," he said, squeezing his hand a little, "i know i'm not the person you deserve, because you deserve someone who can actually tell you what they feel or that they love you or that they can express those baffling and enigmatic butterflies they feel whenever they are with you," he paused, breathing in and out before continuing, "i know i'm not that person, i can't really explain what i feel when i'm with you, but i just want a chance to show you"
sero closed his eyes, thinking in every word todoroki said, because they have never heard todoroki talking so deep and free about his feelings, so they knew they had to appreciate the moment
"i know," they said after an eternal silence, "but i want you anyway," he didn't say anything more, but todoroki seemed to know what those words meant
that night, they slept together —still holding hands— after a few clumsy kisses and several hits with each other foreheads
a few days later, when they were playing video games in todoroki's room, he finally asked what was consuming him
todoroki: sero
sero, still playing mario kart: yeah?
todoroki: are you comfortable if i call you my boyfriend or do you prefer something like significant ot—
sero didn't know what it felt to be called boyfriend by him, in fact, he thought todoroki was evading the subject, but when they heard those 2 words, he knew they wanted to hear it more, because even though he hated every word including boy/man, boyfriend sounded so good in his mouth that they just wanted to be called like that again
sero: it's ok
it wasn't ok. it was surely the best thing ever and they couldn't even hide how thrilled and delighted they were
