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It was bound to happen.
Sooner or later, the students of Class 1-A became increasingly tired of listening to 70% ads and 30% music. And since all the students were as broke as expected of the typical highschooler, they decided -- as a whole -- to pitch in and pay for the monthly Spotify premium.
After that, each student made their own playlist. The one rule was, you weren’t allowed to add or delete songs from another person’s playlist. And while that was all fine and dandy and whatnot, and no one broke the rule, there was no rule against listening to another person’s playlist.
And sooner than later, they did.
(Kirishima’s Playlist)
“I wonder what kind of songs Kirishima listens to…?” Kaminari wondered out loud to himself, pulling up his Spotify app and heading to Class 1-A’s playlists. He, Sato and Sero sat at the kitchen table, the two latter looking over Kaminari’s shoulder. “I’m betting either pop or metal.”
“Well, I don’t know,” Sero shrugged idly. “I don’t really know Kirishima all that great, so...I mean, he looks more like a punk-rock guy, if you ask me.”
“I’m leaning more towards pop, to be honest,” said Sato, rubbing his chin. “I’m not sure why, though.”
“Only one way to find out,” said Kaminari with a wide, fiendish grin, and he selected the playlist titled “Kirishima’s Sick Beats.” They all leaned in for a better look.
And then,
“WHAT!?” Kaminari yelled. “There’s only one song on here!”
“What is it?” Sero asked frantically. “I wanna know!”
Wordlessly, looking more done than ever before and never once breaking eye contact with Sero, Kaminari played the song.
Sun is shinin’, in the sky. There ain’t a cloud in sight. It stopped rainin,’ everybody’s in a play, and don’t ya know, it’s a beautiful new day, he-ey.
...Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why, you had to hide away for so long (SOOO LONG). Where did we go wrong?
Sato sighed. “Well, it’s not super surprising now that I think about it,” he said heavily.
“Dangit, I was hoping for punk-rock!” Sero complained.
(Todoroki’s Playlist)
“Ha, I bet it’s gonna be ‘Hot N’ Cold’ or somethin,’” said Kirishima with a grin. “Or, like, ‘Disco Inferno.’ Or maybe punk or something, I dunno.”
“I wanna know what kind of music he listens to!” said Hagakure eagerly, bouncing up and down. “C’mon, play something! Play something!”
“Okay, I’ll just start it from the top,” said Kirishima, hitting “Play” on Todoroki’s playlist.
It was all Panic! At The Disco.
And literally nothing else.
(Midoriya’s Playlist)
“I wonder what kind of music Midoriya listens to,” Kirishima pondered out loud as he scrolled through his phone. Mina sat beside him on the couch, looking over his shoulder.
Behind him, Bakugō snorted. “Probably some stupid pop or something to motivate his pathetic self,” he sneered.
“I dunno,” said Kirishima, shrugging. “Let’s see…”
He tapped a random song, without looking at the artist or song title. Everyone leaned in closer to listen.
At first, no one quiet knew what to think.
“Are...are you sure this is Midoriya’s?” Mina asked after another moment. “T-This...doesn’t really seem like Midoriya to me…”
“I know what you mean,” said Kirishima, nodding, and he looked at his phone again. “Nope, it’s Midoriya’s…”
And then, the screaming started.
“WHOAWHOAWHOA WHAT THE LIVING CRAP--!” Kirishima shrieked, leaping backwards and frantically pressing the Stop button on his phone. “This is Midoriya’s playlist!?”
“Are you sure you didn’t mistake it for Bakugō’s?” Mina asked desperately.
Kirishima double-checked, then shook his head. “Nope, it’s definitely Midoriya’s,” Kirishima stated, and then, he looked up at Bakugō with eyes wide with horror. “Dude, what did you do to him?” Kirishima whispered.
“I didn’t do crap to that loser!” Bakugō snapped furiously, leaping away from Kirishima and Mina, who looked at him accusingly. “It’s not my fault Deku’s being all emo and crap!”
And then, a little later on that day, after their classes were over and they all met back at the dormitory…
“Hey, guys!” Midoriya said cheerily, waving a hand and racing over to them. “How are you--?”
“MIDORIYA!!” Kirishima shrieked, running at him and engulfing him in a tight -- really tight -- hug. “It’s gonna be okay, buddy! It’s gonna be okay!”
“Who hurt you, Midori!?” Mina asked desperately, rushing over, looking frantic. “Was it Bakugō? It was Bakugō, wasn’t it? Who hurt you!?”
Midoriya blinked, looking more confused than ever. “E-Erm...w-what happened, exactly...?”
(Iida’s Playlist)
“Do you know what Iida listens to, Uraraka-san?” Midoriya asked; he’d been heading to his own playlist when he passed Iida’s and thought about it for the first time.
Ochako shook her head. “I don’t know,” she replied, moving over. “What do you think?”
“No clue,” Midoriya answered. “Let’s see…”
He tapped Iida’s playlist, took one look at the song titles, and sighed. “Yeah, that sounds like Iida,” he said, nodding.
“What is it?” Ochako asked.
“Classical music,” said Midoriya. “It’s all classical music.”
When asked why by the duo and a few of their classmates, Iida’s response was, “CLASSICAL MUSIC CALMS THE MIND AND STIMULATES POSITIVE CHEMICAL REACTIONS IN THE BRAIN!!” to which Kaminari cocked his head, looking as confused and clueless as ever.
(At least, until he realized that, apparently, classical music was good to study to--after that, he couldn’t get enough of it.)
(Aoyama’s Playlist)
Oooh, I’m a rebel just for kicks, now. I been feelin’ it since 1966, now. Might be over now, but I feel it still.
Oooh, I’m a rebel just for kicks, now. Let me kick it like it’s 1986, now. Might be over now, but I feel it still.
And that was literally it.
(Jiro’s Playlist)
“WAIT, JIRO, YOU’RE INTO THIS STUFF, TOO!?” Mina shrieked in horror, nearly dropping her phone in shock. “WHAT THE HECK IS IT WITH THESE SCREAMO ARTISTS!?”
“Yeah, is there a problem?” Jiro questioned with a frown; it was common knowledge that the class sorted through each other’s playlists, so no one was really bothered by it. “And what do you mean ‘too’?”
“Midoriya!” answered Mina helplessly. “His playlist is full of this stuff!”
“Wait, Midoriya?” Jiro asked, and then, she got up from her seat at the dining table and took off in the direction of Midoriya’s room. Mina, as well as Kirishima, leapt to follow her.
A few minutes later found Jiro and Midoriya bouncing artists and songs off each other, fangirling over their favorite lyrics and trying to decipher the meaning behind each song with eagerness unmatched by anything Mina and Kirishima had seen before.
“This is...scary,” Kirishima whispered; Jiro and Midoriya ignored him, going on about an artist called Pierce the Veil.
“Midoriya looks almost as excited as he does when he’s talking about heroes,” Mina added quietly.
(Kaminari’s Playlist)
It was just twenty plus hours of pure, straight-forward, instrumental electronic music.
And honestly, no one was surprised.
(Sero’s Playlist)
“I still don’t think it’s very polite to go snooping through other people’s playlists,” Sato commented idly one day as Ojiro scrolled through Sero’s Spotify on his phone. The two of them were sitting on the couch; Sero was hanging nearby, looking over Ojiro’s shoulder.
“I mean, music is a pretty personal thing, y’know?” Sato went on. “Are you sure we should be doing this?”
“Well, I guess I get what you’re saying,” said Sero, shrugging, “but, I mean, we’re all sharing the same account, so what did you expect? And anyways, it’s not like I mind people going through my playlist.”
“Let’s see…” Ojiro glanced down at the song titles of Sero’s playlist. “Hey, I feel like I’ve heard of these songs before…I mean, the titles sound familiar…”
Sato, against his own will, looked over Ojiro’s shoulder. “I know what you mean,” Sato nodded. “Oh, what are these guys called? I feel like it’s right on the tip of my tongue…”
After another moment or two, Sato played the first song of Sero’s playlist.
I wish I found some better sounds no one’s ever heard. I wish I had a better voice to sing some better words. I wish I found some chords in an order that was new. I wish I didn’t have to rhyme every time I sang...
Wish we could turn back time, to the good old days...
“Oh, I know these guys!” Sato exclaimed brightly. “Twenty One Pilots, right? These guys rock!”
“Wait, you listen to them!?” said Sero excitedly, spinning around. “I thought I was the only one!”
“No way, man!” said Sato. “Those guys are awesome! I really like that kind of style of rapping, y’know, the poetry and whatnot? Between those guys and Ed Sheeran, that’s all I really listen to.”
“Oh, really!? I like Ed Sheeran, too!”
“NO WAY!”
“Dude, this is awesome!”
Ojiro sighed. “I feel so out of the loop…” he moaned quietly.
(Ochako’s Playlist)
They were on the bus, heading off-campus to one of their training grounds, when Ochako moved up front and tapped Aizawa, who was in the passenger seat, on the shoulder. “Hey, Aizawa-sensei?” she asked, holding up her phone. “Can I play a song?”
Aizawa gave her a funny look, but he just shrugged, handing her the aux cord. “One song,” he said, and with an eager smile, Ochako plugged in her phone and played the song.
You’re on the phone with your girlfriend, she’s upset, she’s going off about something that you said…
“I LOVE THIS SONG!!” Hagakure shrieked unexpectedly, nearly tripping over half her classmates in her haste to get up front to Ochako. “I HAD NO IDEA YOU LIKED TAYLOR SWIFT!!”
“You like her, too!?” Ochako asked eagerly, spinning ‘round to face her classmate. “I really like her older stuff! It has a country feel to it, and I think it’s amazing!”
“I know, right!?” said Hagakure. “She’s all I listen to nowadays!”
“Hey, Bakugō,” Kirishima whispered in said classmate’s ear, “the old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now…”
Bakugō whirled around, looking just as furious as ever. “What’d you say, weird-hair?”
“Why?” Kirishima went on anyway, and he laughed. “OH!”
And then, Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, Ochako, Hagakure, Kirishima, Tsuyu, and Mina in unison:
“‘Cause she’s dead!”
And then, in unison, they broke into laughter.
“I don’t get it,” Iida said flatly, watching the scene with genuine curiosity (and a bit of worry, too). “Why are you laughing?”
“Sorry, inside joke,” said Kirishima once he’d calmed down enough to form a coherent sentence. “I’ll explain it some other time.”
(Mineta’s Playlist)
Midoriya and Ochako stared down at their phones for a long time, and then, they turned and looked at each other.
“Let’s try something else,” Midoriya decided, closing out of Mineta’s playlist.
Ochako nodded, doing the same. “I don’t think I want to know what kind of music Mineta listens to…” she admitted.
(Tokoyami’s Playlist)
PUT ON YOUR WAR PAINT!!
YOU ARE A BIG TIE TO ME THAT’S, DRAGGIN’ ME DOWN. STRIKE A MATCH, AND I’LL BURN YOU, TO THE GROUND. WE ARE THE JACK-O-LANTERNS IN JULY, SETTING FIRE TO THE SKY, HERE, HERE COMES THIS RISING TIDE, SO C’MON!
“Ooooh, Fall Out Boy!” said Mina brightly. “These guys are awesome! I was kinda obsessed with them a little while back, they have a lot of good stuff…”
“Wait, there’s one more,” said Hagakure, pointing. “That one isn’t Fall Out Boy, is it?”
“I don’t think so,” said Mina. “The title sounds familiar…”
She tapped it.
Hello Darkness, my old friend…
She and Hagakure looked at each other for a long, long time.
And then, they burst out laughing.
(Shoji’s Playlist)
I’m gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket--
It was Macklemore.
All Macklemore and nothing more.
Kaminari clicked off immediately, turning and staring at Ojiro with a blank expression. “Well, I can’t say I’m super surprised,” Kaminari said. “Shoji seems like the kind of person who’d like rap…”
“Wait a second, I have an idea,” said Jiro, leaning over and taking Kaminari’s phone out of his hand. “This is gonna be really mean, but hilarious, too.”
“What are you doing?” Ojiro asked.
“I’m gonna change all his songs to the Kidz Bop versions,” was Jiro’s answer.
"...Isn't that technically against the rules?" Ojiro asked. "You know, the 'no adding or deleting songs off someone else's playlist' rule?"
Jiro shook her head. "I'm not deleting or adding anything, I'm just trading the songs out for another version," she said. "And either way, it's pretty funny, don't you think?"
Ojiro and Kaminari looked at each other, then back up at Jiro.
“You’re evil,” said Kaminari. “You know that, right?”
Jiro only nodded. “But, if Shoji asks, pretend you don’t know anything, alright?”
Ojiro and Kaminari nodded in unison.
(Yaoyorozu’s Playlist)
“Hey, Yao-momo,” Hagakure asked curiously one day, “what kind of music do you listen to? I’m looking for some new tunes, so…”
“Oh,” said Yaoyorozu. “You can go look at my playlist. I have a few songs on there. Not much, but a few.”
And she was right. Yaoyorozu didn’t have much, but what she did have was Adele, which Hagakure promptly fell in love with. Afterwards, she and Yaoyorozu took turns each day fangirling over their favorite songs.
(Mina’s Playlist)
“BROADWAY!” Mina exclaimed brightly when asked by her classmates what kind of style she listened to most (because her playlist was so random and sporadic, and there was no pattern to it whatsoever). “I really, really like broadway!”
“No kidding?” Kaminari frowned. “Honestly, I was thinkin’ you were more into pop or something…”
“Oh, I like that, too!” said Mina excitedly, nodding. “Honestly, I like all kinds of music! But, I really like broadway specifically. I think it’s amazing, the things a person can do with their voice! What do you think?”
Tsuyu hummed. “I don’t care much for it myself, personally,” Tsuyu admitted bluntly. “I’m not a huge fan of that style”
“WHAT!?” Mina shrieked, like she’d been told some horrible thing. “Then what do you like!?”
“I don’t really listen to a lot of music, if I’m honest,” Tsuyu said, tapping her chin. “I usually just find a loop of the sounds of waves crashing on a beach, or a rainstorm, or birds chirping, or something. It helps me focus.”
“Well...I mean...I guess that makes sense…”
But that didn’t mean Mina didn’t feel personally offended by it.
(Ojiro’s Playlist)
I’m waking up, to ash and dust, I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust. I’m breathing in, the chemicals…
“Imagine Dragons?” asked Ochako curiously. “The only song I’ve heard from them is that one. Are they any good?”
“Oh, I like them,” said Ojiro, nodding, turning off his music. “I don’t like everything by them, but yeah, they have some good music. You can go on my playlist anytime and listen. Maybe you’ll find something you like.”
Ochako nodded. “I think I will!” she said brightly. “Thanks, Ojiro!”
(Koda’s Playlist)
Instrumental soundtracks. His playlist was full of it. The songs were all instrumental, and they were all incredibly inspiring and uplifting in their own special way. Soon, Koda’s playlist became a sort-of escape from the torment of reality (or, more specifically, exams). Koda actually renamed his playlist from “Koda’s Music” to “Studying Playlist” due to how often his classmates listened to it.
(Bakugō’s Playlist)
My Chemical Romance. That was all it was. And, occasionally, a Pierce the Veil song (though all the Pierce the Veil music mysteriously vanished as soon as he realized Midoriya listened to it, too).
And honestly, it wasn’t super surprising.
“But riddle me this,” Kirishima said over breakfast one morning. “Y’know that one song, Welcome to the Black Parade? I wanna know, does Bakugō sing along to it? Because there’s no freaking way anyone listens to that song without singing along to it.”
The others turned to each other and shrugged.
And then, a few hours later…
“HE DOES!!” Kirishima screeched as he ran through the dormitory triumphantly, a fuming Bakugō chasing after him, looking more murderous than ever before. “HE TOTALLY FREAKING DOES!!”