#monoma imagine

knock knock

pairing:pro hero!monoma neito x reader

synopsis: monoma, new to the pro hero world, moves into his new apartment near his agency. his neighbor leaves him their number on a sticky note plastered on his door, along with a corny joke. bored, he texts back. and it begins.

content:and they were neighbors, monoma likes crepes, he’s also so smitten hehe

word count: 2k

4/5 of my 500 follower celebration

Monoma had only lived in his new apartment for a day, and he already loved it. 

He’d been able to snatch the one bedroom apartment away before anyone else at his agency, and his coworkers were jealous. It was only two blocks from the agency, it was surrounded by great places to get food, and there was even a movie theater nearby. Even the rent wasn’t so bad. 

Monoma had been concerned it would be too good to be true—there had to be some sort of catch. 

“Maybe your neighbors will suck,” Pony had supplied, looking at him hopefully. The two were eating lunch together at their new desks in the agency. “Then you can move out and I can take the apartment.” For such a nice person, she certainly had learned to use her innocent demeanor to her advantage.

Monoma was still unpacking his things, so he hadn’t had much time to sneakily spy on his neighbors to see if his friend was right. He could always move in with Tetsutetsu, who lived nearby. But he’d been looking forward to his own place, and now that he’d got it, he didn’t want to have to move out.

Since he’d moved in a Wednesday, he couldn’t fully unpack until the weekend. Work kept him busy throughout the week, especially because his new boss, Phantasm, was keen on easing new recruits into the busy life of being a pro hero. She was so nice to all of them, overseeing their first week herself, that Monoma kept forgetting she’d defeated six strong villains by herself a few years ago, with no backup. 

Sometime throughout the week, a neighbor had left him a post-it note on his door. He’d brought it inside along with his groceries and had left it on his kitchen table all week, until he was doing some cleaning on Saturday and was reminded of it. 

It was bright yellow, so he wasn’t sure how he’d managed to ignore it all week. On it someone had scrawled a knock knock joke, along with a phone number.

Knock, knock,
[Who’s there?]

Olive.
[Olive who?]
Olive next door. Hi neighbor!

Here’s my number in case you ever need anything!

- Y/N 

Monoma actually laughed aloud, and then slapped a hand over his mouth as though afraid someone would hear him. He sat down at the kitchen table and saved the contact to his phone, then quickly moved to look up his own joke. He’d already unpacked all of his belongings, put away his groceries. Nothing to do with the rest of his evening but reply to this text message and go to sleep ridiculously early. 

Hey, Y/N. Thanks for leaving your number and that corny joke. Let’s see if mine can beat yours.

What do you call a man that irons clothes?

Iron Man.

 - Monoma Neito

He was giddy with his cleverness the rest of the day. Unless Y/N happened to be a UA Hero follower, they wouldn’t recognize him for his job just yet. And yes, it was possibly the dumbest joke he could find, but he thought it was stupidly funny, and Y/N seemed like the kind of person to enjoy it.  

Monoma got ready for bed the second his message had sent. He put his phone on silent as he did, not wanting to get woken up by a random call from his parents or a friend. He had an early shift tomorrow, and he really didn’t want to have to chug five cups of coffee by the end of it. 

 His alarm woke him up a few hours later, and he scrambled to change out of his pajamas and into jeans before running out the door. He could get breakfast while on patrol.

On his short walk over, he realized Y/N had answered his text. 

 AHAHAHAHA thank you for that! And thank you for not being super loud, the last person who lived there loved to blast music at ungodly hours so it’s nice to have a quiet neighbor for a change :)

 There wasn’t really anything else to say—and normally Monoma would’ve let the conversation die out, and only speak to his neighbor when he had to. He walked into the agency, greeting everyone without looking up from his phone, and migrated over to the locker rooms to change into his costume. 

Oh i’ll be an excellent neighbor no need to worry about that 

 He was still holding his phone when he left for patrol. It was his first time being out alone—normally another sidekick would be paired with him. But Phantasm was easing them into being alone more often, and he was glad there wasn’t anyone else around to see him constantly checking his phone for a reply from Y/N. 

 Monoma wasn’t sure why he’d grown attached to them so quickly, especially since he’d never even seen them before. 

 Then he realized it was 4AM, and Y/N was probably asleep. Which made him feel even more pathetic. 

 He didn’t have time to think about it much, though. After his patrol he went back to the agency and was bombarded with more paperwork, talk of insurance policies through the agency, and a bunch of other things that gave him a headache. 

 The next week wasn’t much better. The only time he felt less exhausted was when Y/N texted him.

 He’d looked them up, and wasn’t at all surprised to see they were cute, even in their ID photo. He had yet to meet them in person, but the text messages were more than enough to leave him with butterflies in his stomach every time his phone pinged with a notification.

 Y/N quickly deduced his job was at fault for his odd response times. Monoma was careful not to say too much about it, not wanting to give specifics, and Y/N didn’t pry. They talked about virtually everything: Y/N shared gossip on their fellow neighbors, he talked about his coworkers, and they both speculated on which new businesses would get the highest ratings. They lived near streets of businesses, and Monoma was surprised they’d never run into each other there, since they both frequented them so often.

Monoma refused to tell any of his coworkers about his new friendship. Pony seemed to think something was up, though, because she was always glancing at his phone when she sat down to do paperwork, as though expecting a phone call to happen in that instant so she could eavesdrop.

After a particularly tiring day, Monoma almost asked Pony to give him a ride home, two blocks down. But he ended up shuffling out of the agency alone after changing back into his regular clothes, yawning tiredly. Phantasm had shown everyone the gym the agency had, and then he’d sparred for a while with his coworkers, which had tired him out. 

Monoma immediately straightened when he entered the apartment building to see someone setting down groceries in front of the door beside his. They were struggling with their keys, four bags of groceries behind them as they did.

“Need any help?”

They whirled around to face him just as they got their door unlocked. Recognition settled onto their expression. 

 “Yes, please,” Y/N smiled. “You’re Monoma, right? Nice to finally meet you.”

 “Likewise, Y/N,” he answered, easily lifting all the bags of groceries in his arms and following Y/N inside to their apartment. It was the same layout as his, but Y/N had considerably more decoration and furniture, since they’d been living here longer. Monoma was still hunting for a few last finishing touches to his own apartment. 

 “You can set them down on the table,” Y/N said, hurrying to remove the mail that was on it. “Thanks so much.”

 He set them down and glanced around their apartment. It was cosy, way cosier than his. “You’re welcome.”

 “Do you want to stay for dinner?” Y/N asked, flying past him to start sorting groceries. “I bought lots of things to make…” They paused, looking at their groceries laid out on the table. “You know, I didn’t have anything planned. But I don’t have guests a lot, so I thought I’d offer!”

 Monoma smiled as they studied the ingredients they’d bought. “How about crepes?”

 Y/N brightened considerably at that. “Great! Do you by any chance know how to make those, because I do not.”

 Monoma got to work. Y/N grabbed the ingredients from around the kitchen as he read them off his phone, and they both got to measuring everything out. 

 “Isn’t it unwise to let in a strange man to help you cook a delicious dinner?” Monoma asked after a long stretch of silence. They were both watching the crepes cook in the skillet.

 “It would be, yes,” Y/N said, expertly flipping over the krepe. “But I googled you.”

 “Oh.”Oh. 

 “Oh I’m not trying to say—” They quickly took the skillet off the stove top and transferred the finished krepe onto a plate where Monoma then added the powdered sugar and fruit. He set it down next to the other finished plate and they both sat down to eat. “I just didn’t want to be texting a creep, you know? I really didn’t expect you to be… you.”

 He laughed at that. “I’m just teasing. I looked you up, too.”

 Y/N laughed along with him. “Nothing too interesting, right? I tried not to read about you a lot, since that would’ve been super weird, especially since now you’re sitting in my kitchen and we’re eating together.”

 Monoma happily ate his crepe. His wonderful cooking skills had paid off again. 

 “Such a shame. I’m a very interesting person, you know.”

 “Oh I don’t doubt that,” Y/N closed their eyes as they ate the crepe. “This ish sho good!” they said as they chewed. “Thank you!”

 “You’re welcome.” They ate in silence for a while, the only sounds filling the small kitchen the clinking of their forks against the plates. 

 “You’re probably wondering why I left you a corny joke,” Y/N said after they’d finished their crepe. “Truthfully, the landlady told me you were a handsome young guy moving in next door, and I just wanted to have a good relationship with my neighbor. And she wasn’t wrong about the handsome either, so that doesn’t hurt.”

 Monoma almost choked on his krepe. Y/N frantically smacked his back and he managed to swallow his last bite. 

 He hadn’t gotten this flustered since… since forever. He was a bit of an asshole, he knew that, so he didn’t always make a good impression on people. 

 “So you looked me up and decided to shoot your shot with a knock knock joke?” He sputtered out, gratefully taking the glass of water from Y/N.

 “I mean, yeah,” Y/N looked embarrassed. “And hey, it worked didn’t it? You just made me dinner.”

 Monoma tried to hide his smile as he drank water.

 “How about tomorrow we go out to that restaurant you’ve been meaning to try?” he asked innocently. “The one next to the flower shop.”

 “It’s a date,” Y/N smiled cheekily, as though they already knew this would make him blush. Was he that easy to read, or did they just know him that well already? They’d been talking over text for a few weeks, even over the phone a few times. But being here in person with them was different. He felt like he’d accidentally say something way too real way too quickly, and his heart was constantly beating much too quickly to be healthy. He was whipped, and he knew it. 

 “Great. See you then.” He helped Y/N wash dishes despite their complaints. He washed, and they dried, both of them standing close enough to press against each other each time they moved. 

 When they’d finally finished Monoma was feeling sleepy, so he wished Y/N a good night before heading next door. 

 “Night,” he murmured, his eyes already drooping. Y/N was holding back a smile. “Good night.”

 He kissed them on the cheek before he walked out the door, then stumbled into his own apartment to fall asleep, his lips warm where they’d touched Y/N’s cheek. The thought of what he’d just done almost jerked him into a state of full consciousness, but he willed himself to fall asleep instead, smiling at the pleasant feeling in his stomach just at the thought of Y/N’s surprised face when he’d kissed them. 

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