Fuck off, Mineta!

Chapter 20; The Commission, Part 3

"I'm glad you decided to come!" Native beams.

"I'm glad as well..." Tenya claims. He wasn't: He was too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye, and he was usually pretty good about that. His dress was first to blame, its revealing nature made him feel vulnerable, like a deer in headlights.

The second to blame was the man in front of him, ordering alcohol left and right as if he wasn't in the company of a minor. Tenya's only tell was by looking at the blurry menu and comparing it to the pictures on screen, the boy chose not to wear his glasses tonight and it shows. When Native offers to specialty-order him a virgin mimosa, Tenya quickly declines.

The man casually leans back in his chair but makes a portrait with his fingers around Iida's face. "I get if you were tryna' pass off as a dude, but has your jawline always looked like that? I could have sworn it was sharper last time I saw you," He asks. Tenya runs a hand along his jaw in a sort of self-consciousness.

"It was, but I got hit by a gender-reversing quirk a couple of weeks ago," He confesses, "Tensei told me to stop explaining it to everyone, which is why I never brought it up."

"Coulda' fooled me!" Lewis then looks at him in confusion. "So... Girl?"

"Boy," Tenya replies bluntly.

"Dress?"

"I didn't get much of a choice in the matter..." Tenya admits.

"Right. Right..." He repeats. "Well, we're not all perfect! You are pretty, though," The man compliments? It doesn't do much for Tenya's confidence, confusing him instead.

Tenya sighs. He should've just stayed with Todoroki... The man wasn't even drunk and yet he was already twisting Tenya's thoughts.

"You know, you're a lot prettier than the girls back in the States!" Lewis claims.

Tenya perks his head. "I am?!" He asks, more confused than anything. The sudden flattery catches him off guard.

"Yeah, of course. You're a little large, but asian girls are so much prettier than white girls, y'know?"

"A little large," That catches him off guard as well. Not that it was an incorrect statement, but it ramped up his self-consciousness a fair bit. He wraps his arms around his shoulders. "Is that a common opinion back in America?" Tenya asks.

"Yeah, mostly among teens, I'd say around your age," Native explains. "How old are you again?"

"Sixteen, going on seventeen," He responds.

"Yeah, around that age. Something about anime and K-pop and all that jazz. That something you're into?"

Tenya shakes his head. "I'm more a fan of literature if anything," He answers. The man hums.

A waitress arrives with a small tray of beverages.

"Before I put these down I'm gonna have to see some ID from you both," She says. "Protocol with all the minors running around. You two understand, right?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Lewis replies as he whips out his hero license.

Tenya waves around one of his hands. "I can't drink. I only ordered a water anyway," He states. The woman quirks an eyebrow.

"Guess that's fair, I know a lot of y'all still got hero work in the morning," She assumes, bearing an accent similar to Native's. "Still gotta see it though."

Tenya fishes his wallet from his dress's pockets, its only saving grace, and shows the waitress his preliminary license. She hisses in concern and eyes Native's license.