Chapter Text
“For being someone so optimistic about things, there has to be some dark secret you have!” Curious brown eyes looked up at Midoriya as they headed to a nearby cafe to catch up. Uraraka had her day off of Hero duty and had contacted Midoriya to see how he was doing.
“What are you talking about?” He lightly laughed at her remark.
“Oh come on. Someone, with no quirk mind you, who just jumps in front of a villain while smiling to save me must be hiding something. Besides, you’re supposed to meet that one friend of yours soon right? And from what you’ve told me, he actually doesn’t seem like a friend…”
Right. When he first met Uraraka they had both been in high school and she had been in danger while fighting a villain. He didn’t even think to sprint in front of her when she was caught off guard and he took a hit. He lasted about 3 more hits before he blacked out and the next thing he remembered, he was in UA High being specially treated by Recovery Girl due to Uraraka’s request.
They turned to enter a small cafe squished by clothing stores and furiously decorated with plants. “Ah… Don’t bring that up. It’s a little embarrassing,” It’s when I fully realized how useless I am. “I bet I could take that guy on now though.” Midoriya flashed a playful, cheeky grin as he slightly flexed an arm. Uraraka backhanded his bicep with a snort before she rounded the white wooden table to take a seat.
“But seriously Izuku,” she adjusted her pastel yellow dress to be free of any wrinkles, “this guy you’ve told me about, are you sure he’s a friend? He used to bully you!” Her brows furrowed with concern as she took off her sun hat and placed it on the corner of her chair. Midoriya almost wanted her to keep the hat on for publicity sake and not because the sight of her sitting here in this cafe with crisp white, faded green, and time slowing down was all too pretty. In the beginning he thought he liked Uraraka, romantically. But it never got past just being a thought because he’d start to feel uncomfortable when he pictured himself being in a serious relationship with her. Midoriya loved her company, loved how she would tell him bluntly when he was being unreasonable, loved how she was patient with him yet urged him to open up and talk about things that he’s never talked to anyone else before. He disliked that a little bit but he would always feel lighter after spending time with her. From an outsider’s view, they could pass as a happy couple but only they know they don’t have any romantic feelings for eachother.
Midoriya sighed as he sat, “He did. But I also stuck around him.”
“Why are you guys meeting anyway? You haven’t seen each other since before high school. Also, you never told me his name. I want to know what it is.” Uraraka adjusted her posture as she picked up a menu and started browsing it.
“He sent me a message saying he found something of mine and he wants to return it. Honestly, it really caught me by surprise and I never expected to talk to him again or that he’d even remember me,” he picked up a menu and peeked over it, “and no, I’m not telling you his name.”
She flopped her menu down.
He rose his up further.
“Oh come ooooooon. What’s the harm in knowing his name?”
“I think it’ll cause a lot of harm if you knew his name.”
She sneered as she pushed back into her seat and leaned to the side.. “So it’s someone I already know.”
“Wh-”
“Bingo~ your ears are red.” She gave an angelic smile that could fool the world. Midoriya wasn’t the best at controlling his facial expressions but he tries his hardest. But even that can’t control the blood rushing to his ears when faced with embarrassment or shock.
“You’re a Pro Hero, you know a lot of people.” He tried to dissuade her with that and hoped that she didn’t catch the small unintended amount of spite into the words Pro Hero . He knew that her and Bakugou were in the same class in high school. He knew that she knows his boasting pride. Midoriya had watched the UA tournament afterall. And he knew if he spilled anymore clues she could pick up, she’d know exactly who he was going to meet. Why didn’t he want her to know? For publicity sake. “And whether if you know the person or not, I know you’re going to do background checks on them. I know you’re just worried for me but I’ll be fine Ochako.” He gave her a soft smile before a waitress came, took their orders, and returned with their drinks.
Uraraka felt a little hurt that Midoriya wasn’t willing to tell her who his friend is. But she respects his boundaries and knows that she’ll hear about whatever happens. She sighed in defeat as she swirled her iced tea. “I know you’ll be fine. I mean, look at you. You could probably beat up the guy if he tries to bully you again.” Midoriya choked on his coffee a little. Him. Beating up the infamous Ground Zero, Bakugou Katsuki. It could happen.
“I’m… I’m not that buff!”
“Then why did you train so hard to get so strong?”
“Certainly not to beat up my friends.”
“He’s not a friend if he bullies you!”
When Midoriya got the message from Bakugou that he wanted to return something, Midoriya felt a large mixture of emotions. Excitement for seeing an old friend again. Anxiousness from past interactions with said friend. Worry from not realizing he had left something so long ago and that Bakugou had taken care of it all this time. And envy, because Bakugou is now one of the top pro heroes. Midoriya moved on from his childhood dream of becoming a pro hero. No matter what he did, he wouldn’t be able to become one. That didn’t stop him from working out and pushing his body to be able to at least help in the littlest ways but nowadays, he tried to avoid things that involved pro heroes. He never really wants to be spotted with one because that’s not the kind of spot light he wants. The media went crazy the first time he was spotted with Uraraka so having to meet Bakugou made him really nervous.
Slowing his breathing, Midoriya looked up from the papers with messy handwritings and focused on the meeting point of the wall with the ceiling. Focus . Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about Bakugou, he had papers to correct. Midoriya’s main job is a kindergarten teacher and he decided to take his work home since he couldn’t focus at the school. The grading wasn’t difficult at all since most of the assignments for him to grade were spelling papers, but he just couldn’t get the anxiety to go away.
His eyes wandered around the study room of his apartment. Soft sage walls meets the white ceiling. The cream desk and shelves were covered with various books, papers, binders, pens, and paper clips. Normal. He saw empty spaces on the walls where he would have put up posters of All Might. He saw space in the shelves where he would have filled them with the All Might comics and collectible DVD sets. Empty slots on his desk that had just enough room for figures. As his eyes wandered to the papers in front of him, the vibration and chime of his phone on the desk made him jump since he felt like he was caught red handed doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing. He reached over for his phone to see who the message was from. It wasn’t that late in the day so it could be from anyone he knew.
He felt relieved to see that he had something else to keep him busy and to keep his mind off meeting Bakugou. For a second job, Midoriya also tutors high school students and one of them asked for a session soon due to a quiz coming up. Working two jobs did get a little stressful especially during exam seasons when Midoriya gets many requests for tutoring, and him having to adjust and prepare the kindergarten curriculum to his students needs. But it supported him enough to afford to live comfortably in a two bedroom apartment in the city, and it kept him busy. As word got around about Midoriya’s unique tutoring technique, more students requested him. He was able to explain and challenge his students in a way they can understand and also to help his students approach problems in different ways if it’s difficult to understand. He texted his student asking about their availability and then put his phone down to correct the spelling papers.
His phone chimed again almost immediately and when he picked up his phone without looking, his heart stopped for a second when he saw who the message was from.
Kacchan 19:21
“You never fucking answered my quest…”
He gulped and did not open the message. He had read receipts on and couldn’t turn them off now, Bakugou knew he had it activated so it would be weird for him to suddenly turn it off right? But if he turned them off then Bakugou wouldn’t really know that he did turn it off and then he could read the message without having the feeling to respond right away because Bakugou wouldn’t know that he actually read the message. He just couldn’t respond with read receipts off. God, why did he leave that feature on when he got this phone. Why did he have text previews set on his phone. Why did he have to feel so nervous about texting and meeting Bakugou?
He wouldn’t blame it on anything like trauma . He knew it was partly his fault too. Like he said to Uraraka, he also chose to stick around Bakugou. But why? Midoriya could spend months nonstop trying to figure that out but life had to go on and he needed to take care of himself. A quarter of his life is already nearly gone and he couldn’t spend too much time overthinking things. Even though he does.
His phone chimed again and he couldn’t bring himself to look at it. He wasn’t in the mood to take the gamble to see if that message was from one of his students or from Bakugou. He tried to focus back on the paper in front of him as he placed his phone on the farthest edge of the desk, but who was he kidding. He was pretending, trying to fake it till he made it with correcting these papers and not think about Bakugou. Not think about replying when he had a day off to meet him. He wanted a whole day. A whole day just to return something. Did Bakugou also want to catch up on what’s going on in Midoriya’s life? It’s strange but possible.
Midoriya scoffed to himself at the thought.
Since when did Bakugou care to know the details of his life? And now of all times? Midoriya’s surely recognized him on the streets while Bakugou was patrolling but wasn’t sure if the blond noticed him. What if he did. What if there were times where Bakugou noticed him and he didn’t notice Bakugou. Why does that even matter, he’s carried on with his day normally for so long he could do it again. He just needed to act like he was meeting Uraraka and not someone from his childhood that he secretly looked up to. Bakugou was excruciatingly brave, boasting with confidence, rusty on leadership skills but they were there and if Midoriya just had a quirk then maybe—
His eyes shot to his phone as it started ringing. He glared at it and it stopped after only 2 rings. The 3 seconds if silence stabbed him in the chest then the sounds of police sirens out his window caught his attention. Something was going on, there’s definitely at least 3 police cars out there. And very close. This would be considered normal since he lived in a city but something about this was off.
The red and blue lights from the police cars were being reflected off buildings and through the window behind him. They had just passed his block. He turned back to the paper in front if him and suddenly it was hard to read the scribbly CANANDHAND.
His blood ran cold when he heard multiple screams and was out of his chair grabbing a jacket before he heard, no felt, a small explosion. It was close.
Midoriya was out the door and headed towards the scene before any of his neighbors took action to what was happening outside.