fake happy ✴︎ yaoyorozu momo x reader
after weeks of pretending that everything is fine, 1A's top student finally breaks down during a test. thankfully, you're there to pick up the pieces and bring her back together. details: hurt/comfort┊platonic/romantic┊not sure where this fits into canon... let's assume 3rd trimester of year 1?┊~3.7k words┊gn! reader┊based on the song "Fake Happy" by Paramore┊part of @d1strict99's echoes & verses event
Aizawa-sensei had left his seat at the front of the classroom, walking past you until he reached the back.
You hadn’t thought much of it until you heard a faint, “What’s wrong?” followed by a series of stifled sobs.
Immediately, everyone’s heads whip around to see none other than Yaoyorozu Momo crying. Aizawa-sensei glares in response, a silent reminder for everyone to mind their own business and continue taking their test.
You quickly glance at the others. They’re clearly dumbfounded, seeing the top student in class in distress during a test.
“Do I have any hope?” You hear Kaminari not-so-quietly whisper to himself, but thankfully, it goes unnoticed by your homeroom teacher.
Though you try to focus on the remaining items, you really can’t help but listen in, Hero Regulations be damned.
“Are you feeling unwell? Don’t bother lying.”
“I’m just overwhelmed. But, I’m not sick,” Momo whispers.
“Alright. Still, you have the option to retake the test another time.”
“No. I-I’ll continue, Aizawa-sensei,” she whispers, punctuated by shaky breaths.
Aizawa-sensei sighs, although you don’t sense annoyance. “If you’re sure, Yaoyorozu. Focus on calming down and breathing in the meantime. I’ll give you an extra ten minutes.”
“Yes, Aizawa-sensei. Thank you.”
You hear another bout of sniffles before your homeroom teacher’s footsteps echo throughout the classroom. “Everyone, continue focusing on your test. You still have twenty minutes.”
For the rest of the time, you go over the multiple-choice and free response sections before returning to your unanswered fill-in-the-blank segment. With a frown, you stare at the page. Understanding laws was one thing, but memorizing the details was preposterous (verbatim, too!).
You silently curse whichever teacher decided this was a great idea. Aizawa-sensei would never. Even on paper, you knew he cared more about application than theory. Not that his free-response questions were easy, but still.
Speaking of theory…
Momo has a knack for mastering theoreticals, whether the lessons were from regular academic subjects or the specialized hero classes. As the minutes run out and everyone else starts to panic in silence, you wonder what it is about this test that has finally pushed her to the brink.
“Do you think that if I cry during the next test, Aizawa-sensei will let me off- OWW!”
You kick Kaminari in the shin.
Jirou snorts, nearly choking on her food. “You deserved that, Jammingway.”
“I’m just curious!” Kaminari whines, rubbing his affected leg. “Gosh, you didn’t have to kick so hard. We have training tomorrow.”
“Sorry, Kaminari. I just-” You sigh, realizing that you shouldn’t have done that impulsively; Kaminari had studied really hard for this exam after all. “Momo’s been off lately. I’m sure Aizawa-sensei noticed it too.”
“I guess it makes sense.” Mina taps her chin. “Yaomomo hasn’t offered to lead any study sessions for the last two weeks. Iida stepped in, and we were all stressed out…so I didn’t really think much about it. Oh man.”
“Mhm. But also, Yaomomo is the last person we expect to cry during a test,” Uraraka adds. “Not that she isn’t allowed to, of course, but she must have been carrying a lot more than we expected.”
You nod in agreement, and the table grows silent for a while. Then, someone starts the conversation again, but at this point, you’re not really listening anymore. Vaguely, you recognize them discussing plans to cheer your vice class representative up, but all you can think about is that you should talk to her. Alone.
It’s a product of personal guilt, you suppose. You’ve caught on to the signs earlier than everyone else probably did.
When you caught her staring at a blank notebook page in class, you asked if she was alright. Of course, Momo waved you off, saying she was fine. (Sure...nothing concerning about five minutes of empty staring. Maybe she had zoned out—even Midoriya does it once a day.)
On another day, you had asked her for personal help with a topic. You figured her easy-to-understand explanations would help you progress with your review, but she had uncharacteristically declined. Warning bells rang in your head, but Momo said she didn’t have a good grasp of the topic, as she hadn’t reviewed the assigned readings enough.
Even at your suggestion to review together, she had politely refused—she still had an essay and other assignments to catch up on. You couldn’t do anything after she greeted you goodnight and closed the door.
Then, she gradually stopped leaving her room outside of class hours, unless it was for an important class meeting or dinner. You overheard how she’d turned down invites from the girls to do miscellaneous bonding activities. Apparently, she had confidential internship paperwork to deal with.
No one could really question that. This was her first internship, which required her to take days off during the school week. It made sense that she needed to catch up on more work.
Despite the uneasiness settling in your gut, you assumed she needed the rest and the space. She spends enough time with everyone throughout the day, and it’s another thing entirely to get your class in order, even with Iida’s help. (No wonder Aizawa-sensei calls 1A his problem children.)
But now that she’s starting to crack, there was clearly more to this than you thought. Maybe Midoriya and Iida were right about how “meddling in another’s business is the essence of being a hero.” You should really intervene before it gets worse.
Soon enough, Momo appears by the entrance of the cafeteria, and everyone rushes out of their seats to greet her. You lag behind the group a little, letting them go first. Your classmates voice their support and good wishes, and she thanks them sincerely.
“I’m okay,” she smiles with her teeth, her best attempt to ward off everyone’s worries. But you don’t believe her—not when her eyes lack their usual sparkle.
Later, when everyone walks to the dorms together, your classmates are trying their hardest to keep their conversations light and normal, for Momo’s sake. However, there’s still an undercurrent of worry and concern.
Initially, they complain about how tired they are from the second day of hell week, and you notice how they avoid saying anything about today’s test, or any other upcoming ones, for that matter. Nothing about Ectoplasm’s mind-boggling math assignment. Nothing about Present Mic’s upcoming quiz on verb conjugations and vocabulary. Nothing about the midterm practical exam with the entire faculty—and you can only pray that you don’t go up against Principal Nezu.
Momo nods and pouts along in sympathy, but you can see how hard it is for her to keep up her typical demeanor. It’s as if she realized there was no point in trying to do that when all eyes and ears were on her now.
So, you ask Midoriya about his thoughts on what Amajiki-senpai could do if he ate a lemon and a bunch of other foods, and the green-haired boy goes on chattering nonstop about the possibilities. Kirishima excitedly shares his own input, too.
Eventually, the conversation grows more natural. They start sharing internship experiences, driven by Kirishima’s hilarious tales during patrol with Fat Gum, Tetsutetsu, and Amajiki-senpai. Jirou and Shouji share about the time they overheard Gang Orca fawning over some heroes-in-training, much to Bakugou and Todoroki’s disbelief.
You glance at Momo, who is more than content to listen to her classmates. The grin on her face looks more genuine, if her small giggles are anything to go by. That’s when you truly realize that there is a clear difference between time spent in the classroom and the time spent outside of it. She’s been going through it alone this entire time.
“Oh, Yaomomo! Any exciting stories from your internship?” Mina tosses a question to her, and Momo freezes. But before you can say anything, Tsuyu cuts in. “Unless it’s confidential information, of course. Ribbit.”
“Ah,” Momo scratches the back of her neck. “Yes. Unfortunately, that is the case. Most of my work involves private investigations, given the nature of the agency.”
“Right! It’s so cool that you get to work with Sharpedge!” Midoriya exclaims. “She’s really good at what she does. They usually credit the police more for the media releases, but from what I’ve heard from Tsukauchi-san, she has huge roles behind the scenes.”
“Oh! It’s kinda like what Fat Gum used to do! He knows lots of things about the black market and stuff!” Kirishima adds.
“That’s cool! Well, if you can’t share the investigation details, what’s she like as a mentor, Yaomomo?”
“Oh! Sharpedge?" You don’t know if the others notice it, but for a fraction of a second, her breath hitches. “Well, she is as sharp as her name suggests. Intelligent, cunning, resourceful…a little strict, even.” She laughs nervously. “She has high expectations for her sidekicks and team members.”
“And me,” is what you think she fails to mention.
“However, it’s all for good reason!” Momo clarifies. “We all know how dangerous things can be when information hasn’t been maximized well enough for strategy creation. She knows that risk very well; it’s precisely why she has ‘edge’ in her hero name.”
“Oh! I don’t think she has publicly discussed the origin of her hero name!” Midoriya rambles, pulling out one of his Campus notebooks. “I mean, Sharpedge has always seemed like a fitting name for her, but I had no idea there was a specific reason she had ‘edge’ in it! What did she say?”
“‘Edge’ signifies how she strives to gain the advantage over her adversaries. So, under her agency, everyone is trained to develop and use their intellect to achieve their goals and objectives.”
“That makes sense!” Midoriya scribbles a few more words into his notebook. “Hero name creation is truly a fascinating process.”
“No wonder you were invited to her agency!” Uraraka compliments. “It’s the perfect internship for you. Maybe she might invite you to work there in the future!”
“Ah, I suppose so.” Momo scratches the back of her neck, looking at the ground.
Luckily, 1A’s arrival at the dorms saves her from further questioning; from the front, someone cheers loudly at the chance to finally crash on the couch. Your other classmates agree, drawing the attention away from the previous topic.
Regardless, your mind drifts elsewhere—the puzzle pieces have finally come together.
As usual, Bakugou takes charge of the kitchen for dinner preparations. He still complains about Kaminari and Kirishima’s bickering over task assignments, but you’re just grateful he’s not criticizing Todoroki’s chopping skills-
Never mind, Sero tried to sneak a bite of some ingredient.
With chaos slowly erupting in the common area and kitchen, you notice Momo taking her chance to slip away. She walks to the elevator, and luckily, no one else follows her but you.
“Going up, too?” You stand next to her, waiting for the elevator to go down.
“Yes. I am rather tired. There’s more work I need to do for the exams this week. Then there’s my last day of internship on Saturday. I was assigned a post-mission report, which I…haven’t made much progress on.”
The elevator doors open, and the two of you enter. “That’s fair. I’ve been struggling to keep up with the coursework, too,” you comment.
“It’s not usually this difficult,” she sighs, pressing the button to the fifth floor. “But, I guess that is to be expected with everything happening at UA.”
“Yeah. I don’t think any middle school would have prepared us enough for UA. Hero work and academics are truly tough things to balance.”
“I suppose- Wait.” Momo glances at the floor indicator, which displays a three, and now a four. “We just passed the second floor. Why haven’t you gotten off?”
“Um…Momo?” The bell dings as you both reach the fifth floor. “Could you spare me just a few minutes of your time to talk?”
“Talk? About…oh, was this about what happened to me in class earlier? Ah, that was nothing. I…”
She drops her gaze to the floor, making no move to leave the elevator when the doors open. You grab her wrist gently, guiding the two of you towards her dorm room.
“Momo, honestly, it’s not just about the test earlier. This is about how you’ve been the past few weeks.”
After she grabs the door key from her pocket, she pauses for a moment, gently biting down on her lip.
“It’s…” She sighs. “I’m just tired. That’s all there is to it. There’s no need for you to worry this much. Everyone is working hard to get through this week. It will pass soon.”
“I believe that you’re tired, but I know there's more to it.”
She snaps her head to face you. The resigned look in her eyes makes your heart clench painfully.
“So, can I come with you inside? Please?”
Momo looks conflicted, but nods anyway, giving you room to walk in. As she shuts the door, you sit at the edge of her large bed, the way you normally do when you visit. She takes a seat next to you, avoiding eye contact.
You turn to her and open your arms wide. The effect is immediate—she slowly leans in and lets you embrace her. It’s not long before she starts sniffling and wiping at her face.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, voice cracking.
“You don’t need to apologize. Your feelings are valid.”
Gently, you remove her hair tie, letting her hair fall around her shoulders. You comb your fingers through the strands in soothing patterns.
“I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what’s happening to me,” Momo frantically states. “I just…there’s so much I don’t know. ”
“Well, I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who knows everything. Besides, we’re what, fifteen to sixteen? Even the adults don’t have it all figured out.”
“But, I should be better than I am now…”
“Better in what way? Did someone tell you that?”
“Sharpedge,” she chokes out in the middle of ragged breaths. “She-she’s great, but she told me I had so much to work on.”
Something unpleasant coils in your gut.
“What exactly did she say?”
Momo inhales deeply. “During our last mission, we had a team debriefing. I presented my plan, but she said there were lots of things I failed to consider. She pointed everything out in front of everyone and I couldn’t even answer most of her questions.”
“Huh? Is that some rite of passage thing people go through at her agency?”
“Rite of- I don’t know. The others were just looking at me. But everything she said was right. I guess it makes sense that she would nitpick, especially when lives and mission success are on the line.”
“Well, I guess, but you’re just a beginner when it comes to all this hero stuff, Momo. Of course you can still grow and become better. And even then, you're already one of the best in class when it comes to planning, leading, and delegating. There's so much we learn from you every practice mission-"
You don’t know what it is about your statement, but it causes Momo to sob into your shoulder.
“Oh, Momo.” You rub circles on her back. “I’m not just saying that to make you feel better. I mean that.”
“I-I know-” She cries. “I know everyone says I have amazing strategies, but I’m always afraid they’ll fall apart. Even when I pass or win, I always worry about next time. That I’ll make a big mistake and people will see I’m not that great after all and they shouldn’t have expected so much from me-”
“Momo…”
“And maybe Sharpedge saw that? She knew I got into UA by recommendation and that I ranked highest in class, so she said she was looking forward to seeing me demonstrate my skills. But it looks like I just let her down because she had nothing good to say about me.”
Momo wraps her arms tighter around you. With the way your heart drops, you’re thankful for the sensation to ground you.
“Wait. Nothing good?”
“No.” The hurt in her voice nearly brings tears to your eyes. “I still lack quick decision-making, I’m not that efficient, I didn’t plan far enough to counter the opponent’s advances, I’m not that good at complex pattern deduction, I-I’m not-”
“Alright,” you cut her off, holding her tighter. “No more of that. No more of whatever Sharpedge said-”
“And now, there’s so much to do and remember! The practicals are coming up, and I’m already worried about what we’re expected to do and who we’ll be up against and what if I actually fail this time? I can’t study for it, but I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not because I studied hard for the heroics test earlier but couldn’t remember important things and-”
Momo coughs and gasps for air, but before you can tell her to take a moment, she continues rushing through her thoughts.
“I don’t know if I’ll pass anything this week. I can’t even answer my parents’ messages about how school is going. I don’t know what to tell them or anyone because nothing is going well for me right now, I can’t tell…I don’t know- I’m- I’m just-”
All that comes out of her mouth is a jumbled mess of words and sobs.
“Momo, darling. You’re spiraling.”
“Sorry. Sorry,” she chokes out.
“It’s alright. Don’t apologize.” You squeeze her shoulders gently. “Can we try breathing together?”
“Yes. Okay. Yes.” She shakes in your hold, but she pays attention as you try to guide her.
“Inhale, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four.” Momo attempts to follow you as best she can. “Exhale, two, three, four. Hold, two, three, four.”
The two of you spent the next ten minutes working on steadying her breathing. Momo gets a little frustrated at the beginning, but eventually, she manages. She’s still sniffling, but you’re not worried that she’ll work herself into hyperventilation.
“Thank you,” Momo says softly, playing with the end of a hair strand. “Thank you for being here. For listening.”
The two of you now lie on her bed, side-by-side.
“I will always listen to you when you need me to, Momo. You’re always listening to everyone else—1A would return the favor in a heartbeat.”
“I…I’d like to hope so. It’s just difficult to, um…it feels like adding another burden on other people’s shoulders. As a hero, I really shouldn’t be doing that.”
“You are the hero Creati, yes. But, you are also Yaoyorozu Momo.” You take one of her hands in yours. “You’re human. It is impossible to do it all on your own, no matter how much you want to.”
Momo looks up at you. “I know that, logically. But, it’s just that I’m scared of…”
“Scared of?”
“People realizing that I’m not good enough,” she huffs. “I don’t know how to trust myself right now. It’s like there’s a voice in my head, criticizing my every move. I feel like people are constantly watching and judging me.”
“I can understand that, considering how much expectations people tend to pile on you—rather unfairly, if I’m honest.” You hum to yourself. “Did this feeling worsen during your internship with Sharpedge?”
Momo thinks for a moment, before nodding. “I think so. Even after my loss at the sports festival, or our team’s loss against 1B in the joint training class…I’ve never felt this bad about myself before.”
“I see. Honestly, I wanted to give you space, but I had a hunch that it was starting to take a toll on you.”
“Yes. I was looking forward to learning at Sharpedge’s agency, but over time? I started to dread going,” she admits.
“It’s so insane to me,” you complain, rubbing slow circles on her hand with your thumb. “She really didn’t try to compliment you once? No ‘great work’ or even a smile?”
“No. Just criticism. Constructive, but well…” Momo shrugs.
“For someone so intelligent, I can’t believe she hasn’t analyzed how unreasonably high her expectations are.” You make a disgusted face, which makes her giggle. “Also, isn’t her intellect related to her quirk?”
“It is. Her brain has developed in such a way that her neural impulses travel incredibly fast.”
“So, she was born like that! Of course, fifteen-year-old Sharpedge would’ve had much faster processing speeds compared to you. You’ve literally spent your whole life studying and honing your talents, so right now, you’re operating to the best of your abilities. It is so unrealistic for her to demand so much from a first-year.”
“I suppose that’s true. But, she really is amazing.”
You exhale sharply through your nose. “I agree that she’s a good hero-investigator, but I wouldn’t say she’s a great mentor. Sure, we all have room for improvement, but I think there are better ways to go about it without killing a student’s self-confidence.”
Momo hums, trying to process it. “I guess so. Thank you for that. I was worried I was overreacting.”
“No. I don’t think you are. The things we do are stressful enough—even I wouldn’t know how I’d manage in your position.”
“You’re doing pretty well, though.” Momo smiles at you. “You probably could.”
“I can’t say either. But, whatever the case,” you look at her directly, “you’re so much tougher than you think, Momo. You always show up and try to take initiative, even when it’s hard.”
“Oh, well…”
“Also, the opinions of one person won’t always reflect what everyone else thinks about you. You’re worried about what the others think? The other day, I overheard Aizawa-sensei and All Might talking. They agreed that you played such an essential role in the success of our practice rescue mission two weeks ago. They had so many good things to say.”
“They did?”
“Yeah!” You perk up. “And 1A? How could we not love you? You’re so generous with your time. You help the class arrive at important decisions or explain a lesson we’ve been struggling with. Iida wouldn’t be able to handle our ruckus of a class alone. He needs you. We all do. Even…even I need you. You're a friend I don't think I could live without."
“Oh,” Momo gasps. Her eyes get glassy again, but you know it’s not because she’s sad.
“So, please believe me—for all that you are truly expected to do? You are enough. Everyone here believes that.”
Once more, you bring her into your arms.
“When you need help or someone to talk to, please don't fake your happiness anymore, Momo. We will always be ready to support you as you are.”
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