meganwiththeknees

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Chapter 11

Summary:

Everyone in Japan seems to know something you don’t.

As the weekend rolled around you realized you needed to do some much-needed cleaning up that you hadn’t gotten done from your week of being sick. With all your grocery shopping and other things out of the way from days prior, you could get right down to the nitty-gritty, which was a deep cleaning.

You gathered all the supplies you needed and popped on your favorite playlist. You sang along to the music as you went around the house trying to scrub down every surface. As you were in the middle of sweeping your floor “I’m Goin’ Down” by Mary J. Blige came on. You grabbed your broom like a microphone and nearly started screaming into it.

“I’m goin’ doooown, I’m goin’ dooown, cause you ain’t arooound baby. My whooole world's uppp-side dooown!” You scream into the broom and slide down it for dramatic effect.

You get up from the floor and the next song comes on. You go back to cleaning and get about 75 percent done when you suddenly hear loud ass banging on your front door and the doorbell ringing like it’s about to break. You nearly jump out of your skin as you run to see who could possibly be at your door trying to break it down. You look through the peephole to see a crazy-looking pinkette screaming your name. You open the door and she immediately comes rushing past you.

“Damn, Mina what the hell? This better be a real emergency- you almost made me piss my pants.” You follow behind her as she walks over and plops down on your couch.

“Girl- shut up and listen! This is serious!” Mina exasperates as she frantically grabs the remote and turns on the TV. She flicks through a couple of channels until she finally lands on what she’s looking for. It’s one of those talk shows where the ladies sit around a table and gossip about frivolous topics. Mina likes to watch these types of things on her days off and ramble to you about whatever the hottest gossip is.

“Mina, if this is about one of your celebrity crushes getting into another relationship, this could have simply been done over FaceTime-”

“Sh sh shh!!” Your words were cut off by Mina placing a finger on your lips.

“Girl, didn’t I tell you to shut up? Look at the TV right now!” Mina pulls her hand away from your lips and points at the screen.

Usually, Mina isn’t one to shout at you unless that matter is serious. So you indulge her and look up at the TV. The talk show seems to be coming back from a commercial break and getting into a new segment.

“Now for our next segment; it seems to me like love is in the air! And not too long after the new year” A lady with a blonde, short bob shares with the audience and the other ladies in the room.

Everyone hold onto their seats because I can assure you these next clips are the real deal.” The blonde winks as the screen pans to a picture of you and Izuku at the grocery store then transitions to a video of the two of you walking to your car and Izuku holding your groceries while he helps you unload everything into the car.

Your eyes go as wide as saucers and you don’t know what to say or even think. You can only sit there and watch as they continue with their conversations.

“Could this be Deku’s not-so-secret lover? Are we finally going to see the number one settle down?” The lady practically has stars in her eyes as she looks at the other women sitting around the table.

“You know this is a very rare sighting. We never get a look into the number one's love life!” A brunette lady in a pink suit speaks up, with a slightly more intrigued look in her eyes. “He has kept it a really well-hidden secret for quite some time. Hell, we’ve even seen a glimpse into the number two hero Dynamight’s love life - and he seems to hate everyone!” The brunette at the table exclaims and the crowd begins to laugh.

“Well, what if that means this encounter was not meant to be so secret after all and this was a way of letting people know our number one is officially off the market?” The blonde lady turns her attention to the audience. “I mean come on people, he’s spotted in broad daylight with the girl at a public place with his hero suit on. Also, I’m pretty sure she attended the Hero Gala with hero pinky a couple months back. So, come on, how much more proof do you people need?”

“Oh, you’re absolutely right I think I do remember seeing her at the event! And here did you guys see the way he looks at her, like if that isn’t love I don’t know what is!” The third lady at the table adds as the camera pans to the audience to see their reactions. Everyone in the audience seems to have puzzled looks on their faces as if they are considering what the lady has said to be true.

“Now let’s take a look at what the people have to say!” The brunette lady announces as the screen transitions to clips of different Twitter replies to the talk show page based on the situation.

“Dekuslover1226 states, ‘she’s not even that pretty fr.🙄’ “Oooh dekuslover I think many others who have spoken about this topic seem to think otherwise. Let’s see what the audience thinks.” The camera pans to the audience.

“Twitter is so fucking toxic,” A plump woman says when asked about your appearance. “If Twitter is saying you're ugly, you’re obviously not.”

“Yeah she’s pretty hot,” A boy with a cheesy grin says. “A solid 9/10.”

A couple of more people are asked their opinions on your looks, and they do indeed think you are quite beautiful.

The host goes back to the Twitter comments. “Dekus_no.1_fan says, ‘I think they look cute together whoever doesn’t think so are a bunch of haters and don’t want to see our #1 happy. Get a life.’ We think they make a really cute couple as well. All of us over here in this studio today want to see our number one happy!” The crowd starts to cheer after that statement.

“Our last tweet from nina_nini23 claims ‘is it just me or does she look a lil pregnant??👀’ Oh, it seems we have a true analysis on our hands. Take us back to the picture.” As the first lady at the table says her last statement the screen pans back to the picture of you and Izuku standing in front of the grocery store from a side angle and zooms in on your belly.

You grab the remote and shut off the TV. Your face feels hot and you sit there on the couch in complete awe. Maybe this was just one big prank that Mina was pulling on you. It just had to be.

“How did you find out about this?” You get up from the couch and start pacing around.

“Well…I was sitting down on my couch at home watching the talk show.” Mina puts her finger on her lips as she recalls what happened, “They were talking about some new beauty products at first - then they started talking about what would be coming up in the next segments right before a commercial break. The next segment was going to be: Up and Coming Top 10 Hottest New Heroes! Stay tuned!” Mina giggles as she imitates what she heard. “Thennn, they said the next one was going to be about the number one hero having a secret lover! I was so confused so I kept looking and it was a picture of Izuku standing with ‘some girl’ in front of a grocery store.” You nod your head in understanding as Mina continues her story.

“Your face in the picture was blurred out because I guess they only wanted to give people a sneak peek of what was to come next. They couldn’t fool me though!” Mina hops up off the couch and squeezes your cheeks. “Cause I know that brown milk chocolate skin and signature low puff anywhere I see it.” You push Mina away as she continues. “So, I got up from my couch and rushed over here as fast as I could before the segment started so you could see it.” Mina clasps her hands together, finishing her recap.

“Mhmmm, well this is all one big ass misunderstanding.” You turn away as you pinch the bridge of your nose.

“Well the people certainly don’t know that and they are eating this shit up,” Mina claims with the same cheesy grin on her face that boy on TV had.

“Mina none of this is funny and these people are crazy.” You sigh as you walk over to your bedroom and start fishing through your closet for some clothes.

“No, this is in fact hilarious cause I was just talking about this the other day. Now the whole of Japan seems to ship the two of you. How cute!” Mina gushes as she follows behind you.

“No, it’s not. Oh god, I wonder if he’s found out about this yet?” You question as you pull on a hoodie and some leggings along with a winter hat and some uggs.

“Oh, trust me girl, if the whole internet knows then him and his PR team definitely know. Also, why the hell are you getting dressed?” Mina tilts her head in question as you walk over to your coat rack and throw on your biggest winter jacket.

“I have to put a stop to this. All these people have the wrong idea.” You reach for the door handle and try to open the door.

“Wait! You can’t go out there all regularly like nothing happened.” Mina wraps her hand around yours. “People know what you look like now and probably want some answers. You have to go,” Mina puts some shades on you, “Incognito.”

“Oh damn, I didn’t even think about that. I’ll go get a mask or something.” You walk back to your room to grab the mask.

“That’s why you have me here girl” Mina grabs another one of your shades and puts them on. “And by the way, I’m coming with you. We can take my car.” Mina insists as she pulls on her coat and waits by the door for you.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to impose on your day off. I know you don’t get many of those.” You say looking at Mina.

“Impose?! Girl, this just made my day ten times better and now I have to see the rest of this through!” Mina grabs your hand. “Ei’s not even home yet so there’s not much to do anyway. Besides, I know my way around Izuku’s agency way better than you do, so I can get us in without you being seen.” Mina opens the door for you and the two of you walk to her car.

You two get in the car and begin your drive to Izuku’s agency. As you two are in the car Mina shuffles through the radio stations until she finds one she’s satisfied with. The two of you sing along to a couple of songs before the music goes out for a commercial break. When the commercial break starts it’s one of the radio podcasts and they are talking about the situation with you and Izuku.

“Wellllll looks like that’s enough radio for today.” Mina laughs awkwardly as she cuts off the radio.

As the two of you approach the agency you see a herd of paparazzi crowding the front doors to the building. Luckily, Mina turns the car in a different direction and goes to an underground parking area. You need access to get down there and this was the best place for you to get in the building without people seeing you.

“See, now what would you do without me?” Mina parks the car and the two of you get out.

Mina leads the way to an elevator in the parking garage that will take you to the lobby of the building. The two of you arrive on the floor the lobby is on and begin to walk to the reception desk. However, the two of you are immediately stopped in your tracks by the commotion going on outside the lobby doors.

Mina grabs your arm and yanks you behind a corner from the peering eyes outside the building trying to get a look inside. The paparazzi are swarming the building trying to get inside while police officers are guarding the door inside and out to keep them at bay.

“Oh my god, I knew it would be bad but not this bad…These people are animals!” Mina looks at you with worry written all over her face.

“What are we gonna do now? We can’t go to the receptionist or the paparazzi will see me.” You peek over the corner to get a better look at how bad the situation is outside.

“You know what? Screw the receptionist, we'll just walk right into his office and demand this be resolved as one big misunderstanding.” Mina yanks your arm once again and leads you to another elevator.

The two of you get in the elevator and Mina pushes the button to take the two of you to the floor Izuku stays on. As you arrive on the floor Mina leads the way to Izuku’s office and barges right in the doors, but the doors open to an on-suite that belongs to Izuku’s assistant. The big doors ahead lead to his actual office.

“Oh! Good afternoon Mrs. Pinky, I’m sorry but Mr. Deku is in a meeting right now and isn’t seeing anyone for the rest of the day, but I can squeeze you in for an early appointment tomorrow at 8 am.” Izuku’s assistant explains as she scrambles to get Mina out of the office.

“I don’t care if he’s in a meeting, we need to see him now, this problem can’t wait till tomorrow. Meeting be damned, we’re going in.” Mina insists as she goes to the office doors and throws them open. As the doors open the two of you are met with the sight of an empty office.

“I’m sorry but I thought you said he was in a meeting? Where is he exactly?” You question as you walk back to Izuku's assistant.

“I’m not allowed to disclose that information. He’s in a closed-door meeting which means no interactions. I’m sorry but I’m going to have to ask the two of you to leave and come back tomorrow when this all hopefully blows over.” Izuku’s assistant sighs as she tries to guide you and Mina out of the office for the second time.

“Wait, so I’m assuming this meeting is based on what’s going on downstairs going off what you just said. Where is it? We need to be at that meeting!” Mina demands again as she stops in her tracks.

“Like I told you two before, I'm not allowed to disclose that information. Now you need to leave.” Izuku’s assistant repeats.

“Fine, we'll leave. Sorry about this and thank you anyway. We’ll take that meeting for 8 am. Now come on Mina, let's get out of here.” You apologize as you take Mina’s hand and guide her out of the office and hear the door shut behind you

“Girl what? We can’t just give up like-” You cut Mina off by covering her mouth with your hand and dragging her down the hallway.

“We’re not giving up, girl. He has to be in one of the offices. We’ll just have to check all of them to find the one he is in.” You shrug as you look at Mina with indifference written all over your face.

“Oh my god, I think I’ve become a bad influence on you. I like it!” Mina laughs.

The search begins with the two of you knocking on practically every door on the floor and peeking inside till you see a green head of hair. So far the search has ended with a lot of “sorry wrong door.” Till finally the two of you had a breakthrough and came across a door where you heard a couple of other voices and what sounded like Izuku.

The two of you burst through the doors and are met with the green-haired man you were looking for.

“Oh- hey! What are you doing here?” Izuku jumps up from his seat to greet you.

“I’m here because of all of this,” You say as you look around the room and see two women and one man sitting around the table Izuku recently was sitting down at. “I’ve seen the news Izuku, about us and everything that’s going on and it needs to be put to a stop for the sake of you and me. I don’t want everyone in the entire world to get the wrong idea when we’re just…”

You pause for a moment. “Just friends that happened to bump into each other and have a friendly encounter.” You chuckle awkwardly as you try to make light of the situation and what happened.

“Right, just friends…” Izuku trails off as he looks down at you.

You look back up in Izuku's direction and realize it’s been a long while since you got a good look at him. You realize how much his features have matured over the years, but he still manages to keep his same boyish charm. You also notice how his haircut is fresh and faded at both sides and back leaving his signature emerald green curls neatly trimmed at the top. You turn your head to the side looking back at Mina to see what she thinks about the whole situation and she’s looking like a giddy high school girl trying to hide her excitement.

You looking back at Mina seem to snap Izuku out of whatever trance he was in and he begins to speak again.

“Um-,” Izuku clears his throat, “Right, like I was explaining to my PR team,” Izuku says as he introduces the other people in the room to you and Mina. “You and I are just good friends and all of the news and articles are blowing things way out of proportion.”

“Okay, great, so we’re all on the same page here. So, how do we get this issue resolved so I can go back to my regularly scheduled life?” You walk over to a seat around the table and sit, making yourself part of the meeting. Mina soon follows behind you and sits in the seat next to you seeming fully invested in what’s happening at the moment.

“As we were saying, the best way for the two of you to resolve this issue is for Deku to schedule a meeting with the press as soon as possible to address that this is all a misunderstanding. We’ve crafted a list of news articles and shows for you to contact in order to discuss these issues.” One of the women at the table states as she slides over a folder with the list of people they want Izuku to speak to.

“Review these tonight and tell us which ones you want us to contact by tomorrow morning so we can schedule your meetings with them.” The second lady demands as she continues with her next proposition. “We also need the two of you to keep in-person interactions to a minimum till everything calms down. If the two of you must see each other through, make sure it is in private where no one can see you.”

“Ok that all sounds easy enough. I honestly don’t even see Izuku that often. We really just happened to bump into each other. So, how long do you guys think this will take to all blow over?” You look around the table for an answer.

“Well miss that all depends on you as well. The last thing that needs to be done to sweep this whole thing under the rug is for you to stay out of the public eye as much as possible. So, this means disregarding your normal routines for about a month. Apart from going to work of course. Also if the press happens to catch up to you don’t answer any of their questions and get away from them as quickly as possible.” The man at the table explains.

“Okay, that all sounds very easy to do. I’ll just make sure to be more mindful when I go out in public. So, is that the end of the meeting?”

“Well yes, that’s all we have to say and that’s what we think the best course of action is for the two of you, but this only works if Mr. Deku agrees with this proposal.” The first lady that spoke states as she gathers her things.

“I think it’s the best course of action. I’ll talk to these publishers and you can set up meetings with them for me as early as possible tomorrow.” Izuku highlights the press companies he wants to speak with and hands the folder back to the second lady at the table.

After a few small exchanges between Izuku and his PR team, they leave the office. You stand up with Mina following suit and begin to leave the office as well. However, as you reach for the door you are suddenly stopped in your tracks.

“Wait, I was hoping I could get a minute to talk with you since I have you here,” Izuku interjects as he gets up from his seat once again.

“Listen Izuku, if you're going to apologize to me I promise it’s okay. This isn’t either one of our faults, it’s the press for being nosey and misinterpreting things.” You reassure Izuku as you turn around to face him.

“But it is my fault. If I hadn’t been so careless you wouldn’t even be in this mess. When I saw you at the grocery store I wasn’t even thinking, all of this could have been avoided if I had just been a little more careful.” Izuku sighs, stepping closer to you.

“I promise I will be fine, and like your PR team said this should all end soon! Then there should be nothing to worry about.” You look up at him and give him a soft smile.

“That’s the thing though; this will never fully calm down now that people know you are associated with me. I’m the number one hero and that comes with a lot of responsibilities and baggage.” Izuku pinches the bridge of his nose.

“Basically what I’m trying to say is I deal with a lot of bad people and I would hate for them to get the wrong idea about us and try to harm you in any way. I would never want you to be in any sort of danger, especially not from a stupid mistake I made.” Izuku brings his hands to rest on either side of your arms and looks down at you.

You look back up at Izuku without much to say. You never even began to think of things in the way he just described. Izuku is the number one hero, which means he has a lot of eyes on him constantly, even ones he may not want. You also begin to think how naive you had been about the whole situation, only thinking about yourself and not the other person involved as well.

Izuku was right, there was nothing little about this whole situation and it would never truly be over unless you literally disappeared. Maybe it was right to come here because it allowed you to look at the situation from a whole new perspective.

“Look, I understand what you are saying and I promise I will be extra careful when I go out on my own from now on. I’ll even go as far as to change you to my emergency contact.” Those words seem to put Izuku at ease a little as you watch his face change from worry to a soft smile.

“Okay, that does make me feel a bit better but don’t ever hesitate to call me if you feel like something is wrong. This is the least I can do for you after getting you into this mess.” Izuku agrees to your proposition as he slowly backs away from you and heads to the door to walk you and Mina out.

You, Mina, and Izuku walk out of the office, and you and Mina exchange goodbyes with Izuku. He offered to walk the two of you to the car but you declined, insisting that you and Mina had to sneak past the reception desk to get up here and the paparazzi would more than likely catch sight of him if he followed the two of you.

You and Mina arrive safely back to the car without encountering any lingering cameras or eyes and begin the journey back to your place.

“Oh girllll, he got it bad for you.” Mina slaps the steering wheel for emphasis. “Like did you see the way he was looking at you and when he held your arms?? Girl I was practically melting for you!” Mina fans her face, “And did you hear the part where he said ‘he never wanted to see you in danger’ he basically signed himself up to be your Superman.” Mina kept rambling on about how she was 110% sure that Izuku had the hots for you.

“Girl, if you don’t hurry up and snatch that man up before someone else comes along and does. He’s offering himself up to you on a damn silver platter.” Mina insists for what feels like the entire car ride back to your place as you sit in silence and listen to everything she rambles about.

Mina finally pulls up to your place and you thank her for everything as you get out of the car and walk to your door. Before you finally enter your home to get back to your cleaning you turn back to Mina and shout.

“You know you're really delusional!”

Extra Notes:

Let’s pretend I posted this on time! Also don’t mind the large spaces in between…idk why that’s there. But enjoy!!

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Chapter 10

Summary:

Final flashback!

-FLASHBACK CONTINUATION-

Suddenly you wake up with what feels to be like a heavy object being moved off of you. You open your eyes and look straight up into the sky, only to notice ash raining from the sky. The next thing you register is a blob of green looking right over you. It takes you a second to realize that the so-called 'blob' is Midoriya, and his lips are moving.

“-Can you hear me? Do you think you can walk?”

You sit up while holding your head.

“Hey, take it easy- don’t try to get up so fast. Do you think you’ll be able to walk, or do I need to carry you?”

“Ah, my head really hurts, but I think I can walk,” You grunt out as you grab hold of Midoriya’s hand, and you stumble a little as you stand.

As you stand, you begin to take in your surroundings, and the place looks a mess. There’s rubble everywhere- lots of smoke and ash to top it off. The two of you begin to walk, and you have to step over a tremendous amount of wire, broken poles, and glass.

“Your stomach's bleeding!” You reach down to Midoriya’s abdomen to put pressure on the spot where blood seems to be collecting.

“No, it’s okay. I already checked it- there’s a cut, but it’s not very deep,” Midoriya reassures you.

The two of you continue to walk over to the first-aid area, but you don’t feel right after a minute. It’s almost like you forgot something, and your head starts to hurt as you try to recall what it is.

“Hey, I think I need to take a seat real quick before we keep moving,” You hold your head as you start to feel light-headed.

“Okay, you can sit right here,” Midoriya turns and pushes some rocks out the way for you to take a seat. As he turns back around to you, he sees you fumble and almost hit the ground before he catches you.

The last thing you hear is the sound of your name being called out before everything goes dark.

-

You open your eyes, for the second time it seems, to a white ceiling with very bright light, along with the sound of beeping. As you regain your senses, you feel something attached to your left arm and something on your finger. You run your fingers over your right arm to what feels like mini tubes attached to your arm and what feels like a mini block on your finger.

It took you a minute until you finally recognized that you were hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor on your finger, hence the beeping you were hearing. You slowly shift to sit up and realize that you’re in the hospital. You look to the right side of your bed when you hear what sounds like light snoring. As you look over you're met with the sight of a sleeping Midoriya. He’s sleeping in a chair right beside the hospital bed while sitting in a rather uncomfortable looking hunched over position. You can see that his mouth is open, causing him to snore, and there is the tiniest bit of drool forming on the side of his mouth.

As you continue to look at Midoriya, you notice something over his eyebrow...but it's slightly covered by the curly bangs on his head. You reach to push the hair out the way to take a closer look. You examine the area on his head and notice that there are about four stitches right above his eyebrow. As you look at his face, you don’t know how you never realized how many freckles lined his face. You couldn't recall how long you sat there and looked at his face until you suddenly felt self-conscious for staring so long when his eye opened slowly.

“Oh- I didn’t mean to wake you,” You say as you retract your hand, “I’m sorry. I just saw the stitches on your eyebrow and wanted to have a look.”

“It’s okay. I’m just really happy to see you’re finally up,” Midoriya smiles, looking down at the hand you pulled away.

“What do you mean ‘finally up?’ How long have I been out for?” You place a hand to your head as you look at the clock on the tiny desk beside him, completely baffled.

“You’ve been out for three days now. You’ve had everyone worried. Your parents even flew down here to see what the problem was.”

“Wait- my parents are down here? Since when? Do you know where they’re at right now?”

“Uh, when I came to check up on you yesterday, they were here. I’m not exactly sure where they are right now, but they were here before I fell asleep last night,” Midoriya explains.

“You’ve been here all night? What about school?”

“Well, we’re still downtown close to Endeavor’s agency,” Midoriya adjusts himself in the chair, slightly cringing at the neck pain from the way he’s been sleeping.

“The day when everything happened, and I carried you to first-aid, they patched up most of the wounds you had, but you wouldn’t wake up, so you were rushed to the hospital. Even though work-studies are over now, Endeavor let me stay with you since I had to go to the hospital as well to get stitches. Endeavor’s assistant set up a room for me in a nearby hotel. Last night was the only time I stayed here overnight,” Midoriya explains the whole situation.

“So Kisa and her son-” You feel tears in your eyes before you hear someone walk into the room. You look up to see your parents walking in carrying takeout.

“Go get the nurse,” Your mom stammers as she nudges your father. Your father looks up, makes eye contact with you, and sets the food down on the table. He walks over to you, engulfs you in a gentle hug before turning around and leaving the room to get the nurse.

Your mother walks up to you and caresses your face with both of her hands. She pulls your face forward and presses a kiss on your cheek, then proceeds to pull you into a hug.

“We haven’t seen you in almost half a year, and then we hear that you’re in the hospital. Your gonna give your poor mother a heart attack, baby,” Her voice cracks a bit, still hugging you up.

You didn’t notice the nurse waking in the room until she started talking. “It’s so nice to see that your up. How are you feeling?”

“Ah, I feel fine. Nothing hurts or anything,” You reply.

“That’s good to hear. We’re gonna run a few tests and scans to make sure that everything’s good with you. If everything checks out, then you’ll be all set to go.”

The nurse helps you out of the room, and you run all the tests, passing each flawlessly. You are guided back to your hospital room when you see your parents, along with Midoriya eating the takeout they brought.

“She checks out on everything, so she should be good to go pretty soon. All I need to do is get her discharge papers and some clothes- since the ones she came in were ruined. So, I’ll be back with the papers and clothes shortly,” The nurse leaves the room with a smile.

"Are you sure you're okay, sweetie?" Your mom passes you your part of the takeout.

"Yes, I'm fine," Physically, at least. You still had a slight headache, but you wouldn't tell your worrisome mother that.

You find out that your parents were informed of the full situation, apart from why you were still in the building in the first place. As far as you know, they think you just didn’t make it out of the building in time. You didn’t tell them the real reason behind the unfortunate incident. You didn’t want to give them another reason to worry about you.

Alas, you had been discharged from the hospital. Midoriya went back to UA, and you stayed with your parents before they left in five days. Each day you had to try and conceal tears when they were around you. You managed to go the whole five days without them finding out everything, but you didn't realize how your suppressed feelings were piling up day by day. Your parents left on the fifth day, thinking that you were okay. In reality, you were far from it.

When you got back to UA you weren’t sure how you were supposed to carry on. You didn’t feel like you could actually continue on. You had been holding it together for the most part of the whole week, but it was painfully obvious to about everyone that you were anything but fine. You barely spoke a word to Denki and Mina anymore, and you seemed to only hang around Midoriya like a lost puppy- not seeming to want to be away from him. At some point, you stopped sitting at the lunch table with Mina, Denki, Bakugou, and Sero to eat lunch with Midoriya.

Whenever Denki or Mina came up and asked why you were acting so strange, you always told them that you would talk to them later or change the subject. You were keeping everything bottled up, and it felt like it could pour out any minute.

One day during training at ground beta, the class was doing an exercise where you were split into teams and had to retrieve items around the broken building before time was up. You thought you could go through with the training, but you were wrong. Once you stepped foot into the broken-down building, it brought back many horrifying memories, and you started to have a panic attack.

You were hyperventilating, and everything was starting to get spotty. The next thing you register is hands engulfing you and someone telling you to breathe. Once you calm down a little, you realize that you are being picked up and rushed somewhere.

When you come to it again, you realize that you’re being placed down on a bed. You look up and see Midoriya placing covers on you. He then walks over to the other side of the room, grabs a chair, and slides it over to the side of the bed. He sits in it then looks at you.

“Are you feeling any better now?” Midoriya looks at you as your eyes fill with tears.

“I’m not okay. I...I don’t think I can do this anymore. I’m not cut out to be a hero. I knew what I would be getting into when I signed up for this, and I knew people would get hurt cause I can’t save everyone but- I just can’t do this anymore,” The tears you've been trying to push down for weeks now finally made an appearance.

“I think I understand,” Midoriya sighs as he brings his hands to rub small circles over your back.

“Did you see her Midoriya? Did you see Kisa?” A part of you just wants Midoriya to say Kisa was fine, happy with her son.

“Only for a brief second, but I don’t think I fully comprehended that I saw her at the time. I was too focused on trying to get you out of that building,” Midoriya admits.

“She was already dead by the time you got up there. She had no pulse Midoriya. She was gone,” You whisper softly, looking down at the tear-stained covers.

“Hey, look at me,” Midoriya asks, and you do so. “I think you need to talk to someone about all of this. Like a therapist to talk about all of the things you're feeling.”

“Yeah...yeah, I think so too,” You agree as you nod your head and wipe the rest of your tears away.

—

In the following weeks, you had attended therapy at the expense of Endeavor’s finest agency. You had assumed that they paid for it because they pitied you. Nonetheless, you were honestly thankful, considering you didn’t want to ask your parents and explain why you needed it in the first place. Your sessions had been going reasonably well, and your therapist was very understanding. It took you nearly a month before you felt like you could be fully vulnerable with her. Your therapist was very patient with you and understanding; she never pushed for you to share anything if you didn’t want to.

During the month, you had stopped participating in training with the class. You would observe and analyze from the sidelines and give everyone pointers at the end. You still worked out with the class during workout sessions, but that was as active as you got. You still hadn’t opened up about the tragic situation to any of your classmates. Some days were harder than others; you could go a week with being somewhat okay, then the next you were not.

Another month had passed, and therapy was really starting to help you make it through your days- until one night, you had another nightmare. You knew it meant it was gonna be another one of 'those' days. You had practically dragged yourself through the day until night rolled around, and you felt like you needed some fresh air.

You heard on the news there was a high chance of snow sometime tonight. Snow would surely brighten your mood on this sluggish day, so you were hoping for your sake it snowed tonight rather than later tomorrow. You grabbed a random hoodie and some sweatpants putting them on over what you already had on. Alas, you headed for the door.

You had been outside for a little less than fifteen minutes when it started to snow. The snow started to collect on the ground and looked beautiful. The snow-covered branches and the icicles that hung along the UA rooftop reminded you of your love for the snow.

You had tilted your head up to the sky and closed your eyes, sticking your tongue out to taste a couple of snowflakes. You chuckled as you felt a cold sensation lie on your face. As you opened your eyes and looked into the sky, you were immediately reminded of the ash falling from the sky that day. You tried your best to push those thoughts out of your head because you didn’t want to ruin the experience of snow for yourself.

“What are you doing out here?! It’s fr-freezing- hold on I’ll be right back!” You turn around to see a bundled-up Midoriya rushing back into the dorms.

As fast as he left, he was right back. Along with him was a blanket and what appeared to be a hat. He draped the blanket over your shoulders and pulled the so-called hat over your head, covering your ears. You thought he was done until he reached over your shoulder and pulled the hood from your hoodie over your head, pulling the strings to tighten it.

“Are you trying to get hypothermia or something? Why are you out here? It’s freezing!” Midoriya grabs your hand and tries to warm them between his large ones.

“Well, I heard it was gonna snow...I just wanted to see if it would come down tonight," you find yourself staring at his attempt to warm up your hands, and you feel your cheeks slightly warm. "And I’m not really that cold, I have on clothes under this, so that helped a little,” He seems to notice you looking down at his hands and pulls them away quickly. His already red cheeks seem to go a shade darker.

“Oh, I’m sorry. When Momo told me she saw you walk out here a while ago, I overreacted, and I assumed the worst,” Midoriya stammers.

“It’s okay. At this point, I bet you can only assume the worst with me. I mean, I’ve put you through so much you're probably going to need therapy just from dealing with me all the time. Hell, I practically cling to you like a koala, it must get annoying. If anything I should be the one saying sorry to you,” You ramble letting out an awkward chuckle.

“No, don’t say that. I understand that you’ve been through a lot- it’s only natural to feel the way you do! I never judged you for any of your actions," Midoriya smiles. "If anything, I’m happy that you feel comfortable enough to lean on me for support,” he tries to reassure you.

“Well, it’s good to hear I’m not scaring you off. I think it’s time to head in...the snow is starting to really come down, and I want some hot tea.”

“Okay, that sounds good to me. But I feel like I can’t take you seriously in that All Might hoodie especially since you have the hood on,” Midoriya laughs as he points at the odd-shaped things that are supposed to represent All Might’s hair.

“Well, you’re the one that put it on my head. And how are you gonna make fun of the hoodie you got me?” You huff as you push Midoriya’s hand down so he can stop pointing at you.

“What? I think it looks good on you. I got it for you cause I knew you could pull it off.”

You don’t say anything to Midoriya as you proceed to drag him back inside so the two of you can make some hot tea. You end up forcing Midoriya to make the tea for the both of you since he made fun of you wearing the hoodie.

—

Three months had gone by, and spring was rolling around. Your therapy sessions continued, and you finally felt like you were in a good enough place to open up about the whole situation.

You finally came clean to your parents about everything. They were a bit unsettled by the news but were relieved knowing that you were doing much better. You still left out the fact that you didn’t want to be a hero anymore since you didn’t want your parents to be disappointed in you. You felt like you already put them through so much to move to Japan that it was just better for them not to know.

You had decided to tell Denki and Mina why you had been so distant lately. You had planned to have a talk with them at the same time, but Denki had claimed he was busy. You had finally sat down with Mina and explained your whole situation. She was so shocked to hear about what you had gone through. She even shed a couple of tears, and so did you, but she was there to comfort you. You were happy to finally have someone close to you other than Midoriya give you comfort about the whole situation.

You still hadn’t talked to Denki yet. Every time you wanted to talk to him, he seemed to be doing something. Part of you felt like he was trying to avoid you, but you figured you were just overthinking things. After about a week of trying to talk to him, you finally cornered him when you were pretty sure he was doing nothing.

“Denki, you're free right now, right?” You question Denki as he’s sitting in the dorm living room watching TV with a couple of others.

“Well, I was about to-”

“No more excuses. You’ve blown me off all this week saying you, 'have to do something.' I know you’re not doing anything cause I saw when you got back from training, and I know you finished your homework with Backugo and Kirishima earlier,” You eye Denki.

“So, stop trying to avoid me. I would just like about five minutes of your time, then you can go back to avoiding me like earlier,” You say as you grab Denki by the arm and drag him up to your room.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Denki sighs as the two of you finally arrive in your room, and he takes a seat. “So, what did you want to talk about?”

You explain your situation to Denki, and you can see a hint of guilt on his face. You assume he feels bad for avoiding you for so long since you were just trying to open up to him. You had finished telling Denki everything, and he offered you a hug and some comforting words. You were proud of yourself for not shedding tears while sharing your story this time. You thought of it as a sign of improvement.

“Anyway, enough about me. I can only stay on this subject for so long,” You say, grabbing Denki’s attention again. “Why have you been avoiding me?”

“I wasn’t exactly trying to. I was...um,” Denki scratches his head, almost as if he was trying to remember why he was avoiding you, “Well...I was just giving you your space. I thought you were trying to do your own thing, so I was just stepping back and giving you some room.” Denki says with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

“I honestly have no words for you, Denki. I really wonder what truly goes on in that head of yours sometimes. Anyway, now that you know I’m not doing my, 'own thing' will you stop avoiding me?”

“I mean, whatever floats your boat, I guess.” Denki sighs as he gets up and heads for the door.

“Wait- where are you going? I thought you would stay, and maybe we could watch a movie or something,” You say as you hear a light knock on the door and get up from your bed. You crack the door open slightly to see a beaming Midoriya.

“Hey! I just came by to check on you. Um, is it okay if I come in for a bit?” Midoriya tilts his head, peeking into your room.

“Um, well, I actually-” You feel a hand on your shoulder.

“It’s okay. I was just about to leave,” Denki says while looking between you and Midoriya as he tries to get you to open the door slightly so he can slide out.

“But, what about the movie?” You frown as you step back from the door.

“It’s getting late, and I’m tired, but I bet Midoriya over here would love to watch that movie with you. Wouldn’t you, Midoriya?” Denki suggests as he makes his way out the door.

“Well, I mean I wouldn’t mind watching a movie. I mean- if that’s okay with you- of course,” Midoriya stammers, glancing at you. His face goes slightly red.

“Well, that’s great! Don’t let me stop you two from enjoying that movie now. Have a good night, you two,” Denki says as he finally walks away.

“Um, Night,” Midoriya calls out as Denki disappears down the hallway. You stand in your doorway, very confused about what just happened.

From the days following, you and Denki had barely exchanged words. You would occasionally catch him glancing at you, but it was nothing more than that. You thought you had resolved whatever was going on between the two of you, but it seems like things were worse.

The time had come for you to leave for the summer, and you and Denki still barely even greeted each other. You didn’t even bother to tell him that you were leaving as you headed off to the airport after telling Mina and Midoriya goodbye.

By the time your summer ended, you hadn’t gotten one call or text from Denki. You didn’t try to reach out to him either since you figured he wouldn’t respond. When your third year started, you were surprised to see that Denki was perfectly fine and acting normal for the most part. Other than the simple fact that he no longer talked to you.

You had never been so confused in your life. You tried your hardest to figure out what the problem was. Was it you? Were you the problem? The stress was starting to fester inside of you, and you could no longer take it. So, you stopped. Stopped with all the overthinking and questioning. You realized you couldn't turn your life upside down over one person. You had bigger things to worry about, like graduating and figuring out life after school.

The year progressed, and you focused on school and tried to look into college and scholarships, all while staying in therapy. Your therapist really helped you through the ups and downs of the year. If it weren’t for her, you don’t think you would have made it this far.

With school nearly over, everyone was busy looking for agencies to work at after graduation. You had already decided on a college to go to, so you watched as everyone went through the motions.

Mina had found a place to work rather early, so she had nothing better to do than bother you on how you could come to visit her when she started work. Midoriya had been stressed out of his mind because he couldn’t decide where to go considering he had many amazing offers. So he spent most of his last days in school figuring things out.

Graduation day had been bittersweet. Your parents had flown in to see you and everyone off. Everyone was crying and remembering the amazing times they had throughout the years.

"You better come visit me girl, every Friday!" Mina shakes your shoulders.

"Mina, I don't even know what my schedule is like," You sigh as you just let Mina fantasize about what you two were possibly going to do on that Friday.

You didn't realize she stopped talking until she poked your cheek.

"Gotta run! You should turn around by the way," Mina giggles as she skips out to her other friends.

"What? Turn around..."

You were surprised to see Midoriya had walked over to you offering you a big bouquet of flowers. They were a bundle of beautiful red and white blossoms.

"I, um, just wanted to thank you for leaning on me when you needed it." Midoriya stares at the ground, his face redder than the flowers, "I know it must have been really hard getting through the rest of the year, so I just wanted you to know that I'm proud of you." He looks back up at you with a radiant smile.

"But, uh, I actually put some thought in when choosing the flowers! At first, I was going to choose your favorite color, but I thought the choice of flower should have more meaning so I did a little research. The flowers I got you are called Amaryllis, which mean-"

Midoriya almost drops the whole bouquet when you embrace him in a hug that you needed for a while now.

“Thank you Izuku, they’re beautiful.” You sigh as you squeeze him extra tight before pulling away from him. As you finally move to look at him once again you see that he is beet red.

“You- you said my first name,” Izuku stammers, not meeting your gaze.

“Well it’s about time, and besides you always say mine, so we’re even now.” You smile as you take the flowers from Izuku’s iron grip. You think you might have broken him because he hasn’t moved since you hugged him.

You thank him once again for the flowers insisting you should be the one thanking him for all he had done for you. Before you could fully walk away you see him bowing at a perfect 90-degree angle muttering something under his breath. You cover your mouth with your hand to not make it seem like you are laughing at him. You lower your hand over his shoulder to get him to ease up. He finally looks at you before he hurries off somewhere else. Somehow Mina managed to witness the whole scene and insisted that the flowers were a secret confession of love.

As you finish wishing all your classmates well, you head for the bag you had left in class before leaving. When you arrived in the classroom, you were surprised to see Denki sitting down in his old seat. You figured he wouldn’t want to spark any conversation, so you decided to just grab your bag then go. As you were about to leave the room, you heard Denki mumble something.

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” You turn around slowly.

“I said, I’m sorry,” Denki repeats.

“Yeah, I heard you the first time, just wanted to make you say it again,” You smile slowly.

“I guess I deserve that.”

“You think?” You say sarcastically.

You two silently look at each other until you finally decide to break it.

“But why? What was the reason?”

“Figured since I was headed off to an agency and you were headed off to college it would be good practice to, you know, give each other some space,” Denki shrugs his shoulders as if nothing mattered.

“You're lying,” You deadpan. “Cause that’s basically the same excuse you gave me last time, and I thought we sorted that out.”

“I don’t know what you mean. Considering we’re taking different paths now, I thought this could be good for us, but I was clearly wrong,” Denki retorts.

“Yeah, you were wrong as hell. You were just gonna assume I wanted the same thing too? Well, I didn’t, and I still don’t.”

“That’s why I said I was wrong cause this is hard.”

“What’s hard?” You find yourself getting frustrated. It's as if he's trying to keep something from you.

“It seems to be everything lately, but especially staying away from you,” Denki states, breaking eye contact.

“Then stop. No one asked you to in the first place. I certainly didn’t.”

“It’s not that easy,” Denki sighs.

“Sure it is. Look, we're literally doing it right now. It’s not that hard. So, stop all this sulking and just go back to being the Denki I know.”

“Okay, whatever you say, boss lady,” Denki sighs, putting his hands up in defense.

For the next ten minutes or so, you and Denki spend time catching up over almost 8 months worth of information. You find out what agency he’s going to, and you tell him what college you plan on attending. The moment was almost as if nothing changed between the two of you. It was surprising to see how fast the two of you could go back to normal.

“I’ve been eyeing those flowers you’ve been holding for a minute, they’re really pretty. Let me guess your parents got them for you?” Denki asks as he gets up out of his seat.

“Right, they're gorgeous. I thought the same thing when I got them, but actually, no, my parents didn’t get them for me, Izuku did,” You say, smiling down at the flowers.

“Oh- did he now? That’s very thoughtful of him.” You didn’t notice the way Denki narrowed his eyes at the flowers.

“Yeah,” You sigh happily.

You look up to see Denki staring directly into your eyes. You could see him searching your face until he finally lands on your lips.

“Stop staring- it’s weird,” You chuckle as you look back at him.

Those words seem to snap him out of whatever trance he was in because he suddenly backs up a little. Without saying a word, he lifts his hands to take your bag out of your hand, and you let him. He places it on the desk right beside you two. Next, he proceeds to slowly take the flowers out of your hand and place them on the same desk, and you willingly let him.

He places a hand on your cheek and caresses it while looking directly at you. You stare up at him confused, but somehow almost stuck in place, unable to move. He begins to inch closer and closer until the two of your lips meet. The kiss was gentle and sweet but somehow filled with numerous different emotions. The emotion you could make out the most was sadness until the kiss was broken when Denki moved back and removed his hand from your face.

You were at a loss for words. That was your first ever kiss, and it was given to you by your best friend of all people. You stood still unmoving until Denki placed both your bag and the flowers back into your hands and walked towards the door.

“Make sure to keep in touch, okay?” Denki gives you a sad smile as he exits the room and closes the door behind him.

You didn’t say a word as he walked out, only stood there. It wasn’t until you realized that you had dropped your bag and the flowers on the ground. You drop to your knees, uttering five words.

“What the hell just happened?”

—-------

You wished you could have stayed true to Denki’s word and stayed in touch. You tried time and time again, but you could only do so much. You truly wondered what could have been going through his head the day he decided to change the two of your lives forever.

extra notes:

probably should be doing homework rn but i hope you enjoy this one :)

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Chapter 9

Summary:

Life before things turned upside down.

-FLASHBACK-

Your first year was definitely something to remember. It took a lot of adjusting to finally get used to living in Japan and going to a new school, but it was nothing you couldn’t handle. You had gotten to know everyone, and you were pleased to say that everyone was genuine and your friend- it felt like one big family.

You and your father got the news that the school wanted everyone to move into dorms for no special reason; other than stating it would be convenient for students. You were excited to live with your classmates, but your father was skeptical. He wasn’t sure how to feel about you living somewhere without him or your mother. On the other hand, your mother was all down for you to experience something new. So, with a lot of convincing from your mom, your dad finally permitted you to live in dorms. He decided that since you were no longer living together, he would go back home with your mother. Both of your parents living in a different continent than you came with the price of calling in for daily check-ups with them, but you never minded talking to your parents.

When the end of your first year came to a close, you went back to the states for your summer break to spend some time with your parents and Elina. Before you left, Denki was really upset when he found out the two of you couldn’t spend summer together, and Mina broke out into full-on tears. You reassured them that you would be back in no time, and you would be starting your second year together soon.

Your time in the states was bittersweet. You had missed your parents and Elina so much it hurt. You made sure you soaked up all the time that you had with them before your summer came to an end. Before you knew it, your summer came to an end, and part of you didn’t want to leave, but you knew you would feel better once you got back to Japan and saw Denki and Mina.

After the long flight, you were met by a familiar pinkette running up and engulfing you into a hug.

“Oh my goddd, I missed you so much!” Mina sobs as she begins to squeeze you.

“How did you even know I would be here?” You laugh, squeezing Mina back just as tight.

Mina has to rub her eyes and collect herself before answering. “Well, since everyone had to come back to dorms today, you were the only one missing, so I asked Mr. Aizawa where you were, and he said a car would be sent to pick you up at the airport. So, I asked if I could come along to get you, and he agreed.”

“Oh, well, it’s so good to see you- I missed you so much" You tilt your head, eyeing her up and down. "You look a bit different...did you get a bit taller while I was gone?”

“Yep! But I’m not the only one that had changes- look at you,” Mina looks at you then proceeds to give your chest a little mush. “I think these got a little bigger from the last time I saw them,” Mina giggles as she winks at you.

“Ahhh! Mina, why are you like this- we’re literally in public!” You pull Mina's hands off you, frantically looking around to make sure no one saw.

“What can I say, girl, I think they look good,” You roll your eyes at Mina’s silliness. She helps you with your bags and leads you outside to the car so you two can head back to the school.

Once you two arrive back at the dorms, you immediately greet everyone and ask how their summer was. Once you finish conversing with everyone, you realize that you haven’t seen Denki yet. Next thing you know, you are being pulled by your arm when Mina tells you to follow her into the kitchen. In the kitchen, you see Denki talking with Sero, Kirishima, and Bakugo. You greet all of them and walk over to Denki behind the counter. He walks up to you and wraps his arms around you, hugging you while whispering, ‘welcome back.’

“Ah, Kiri, I have something to show you. Follow me,” Mina grabs Kirishima’s hand gently and leads him out the kitchen.

“Well, looks like that’s my cue,” Sero looks at the imaginary watch on his wrist. He makes his way over to Bakugo, trying to get him to follow.

“Why we got to leave just cause these two can’t keep their hands to themselves? Besides, we were here first,” Bakugo scoffs.

“Dude, read the room,” Sero sighs as he puts a hand on his shoulder.

“Get your hand off of me,” Bakugo huffs as he shoves his hand and walks out the kitchen with Sero right behind him.

“He’s still as rowdy as ever I see,” You laugh, watching Bakugou and Sero leave.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’ll ever change. Anyway, how was your summer?” Denki questions as he looks back at you.

You fill Denki in on everything that you did over the summer. You two continue to talk, and he tells you everything he did over the summer as well. Then the conversation shifts and you two begin to talk about frivolous things. You converse about plans for your second year and reminisce on your first year. At some point in the conversation, you mention how you missed going to Yui’s diner with him.

“Y'know, I thought you might say that, so I got you a little something. Think of it as...a welcome back gift,” Denki plops a brown bag with a few grease spots on the counter.

“Is this what I think it is?” You open the bag to find a burger and fries. “Oh my gosh- thank you, Denki! I was really craving this while I was gone,” You gush as you grab the burger out of the bag and peel back the wrapping to take one big bite.

“I’d figured you’d say that,” Denki smiles as he watches you enjoy the food.

You two end up talking and catching up for the majority of the night until you realize it was getting late.

The first day of your second year was truly exciting. It was almost hard for you to believe that you made it this far. You found it crazy that you had been in Japan for a little over a year now. School proceeded to pass, and so did all the vigorous training.

Sports Festival finally came rolling around, and you did extensively well this year, considering many high-end agencies wanted to recruit you to do work studies with them. Apparently, you had a natural talent for replicating an opponent's quirk and quickly adjusting to use it against them as if it’s your own quirk.

The year proceeded with more training and making memories to last a lifetime. At some point, you and Denki started to train together after school hours. It was honestly a surprise for you, regarding Denki liked to ‘chill out’ as he would say after school. When you realized that this training was starting to go on longer than you anticipated, you decided to confront him about it one day.

“Denki, we’ve been training together pretty much every day for the past week and a half after school. What’s up with that? My limbs are starting to hurt from all of this, on top of the training we do in class. We should go out and do something fun,” You get up from stretching and walk over to Denki.

“Well since you're so curious to know why I’m doing this, it’s because I’m tired of being scared whenever something goes down while we’re training. I want to get stronger, ya know?” Denki sighs as he flops onto the ground.

“Well, I think you’re already strong. Hell, look how far you made it in the Sports Festival this year,” You say, smiling down at Denki.

“You’re one to talk- you made it farther than me. I may have made it farther than I did last year but, I know I can do better.” Denki says, and he doesn’t fail to notice how the smile has slightly fallen from your face.

“Well that’s nice to hear that you want to do better, but don’t kill yourself by overtraining. I’m heading inside now, don’t stay out here too long or the cafeteria will close on you again." You ruffle Denki's hair before beginning to walk back to the dorms.

"And I will NOT be making you dinner again if you miss it,” You warn Denki, waving at him.

“Yeah, alright, mom,” Denki calls out as the door shuts behind you.

Just as fast as the Sports Festival ran around, so did the Cultural festival. You could barely believe that the semester was about to come to a close. You honestly didn’t know how 2A was gonna top what happened last year, but you were sure that you all could come up with something. In the end, you all ended up putting on a performance that was bigger and better than the first one.

As fast as your first semester ended, your second one began. With your second semester starting, that meant joint training with class 2B. Around this time of year, the weather was cooling down, so winter suits for everyone (Finallyyy!). This time class 2B was more of a difficult feat and put up a good fight with a total of four ties and one win from 2A, putting the class on top for the win once again.

When Christmas came this year, the class decided to switch it up and do secret Santa. Lady Luck must have been on your side when you got to pull for who you would be getting a gift for because you got Eri. You were through the moon to buy a gift for her. You went a little overboard and bought her two different outfits and some cute little hairpins along with a little plushy. She was extremely merry with everything she got, and it made your heart almost stop over how cute and happy she looked.

When you finally opened your present and saw that you had gotten an oversized All Might hoodie, you knew immediately who got your gift.

"Ah, I wonder who got this for you," Mina giggles as she lifts the hoodie out of the box for everyone to see.

"Mina-! Stop playing around!" You snatched the hoodie back from her, stuffing it back in the box.

"I know it's kind of obvious, but I couldn't help myself!" You turn around to see Midoriya looking everywhere but you.

You couldn’t help but laugh as you thanked Midoriya for your gift, and you didn’t fail to notice how he went beet red.

Your favorite point in the school year rolled around, work studies. You couldn’t have been more excited to go shadow under a real pro hero and finally do some real hero things, but you were conflicted. You had a problem figuring out what agency to work under; there were too many good options to pick from.

It had come as a surprise to you when Todoroki came up to you saying that his dad had requested you to work at his agency.

“Your dad wants me to work for him. You sure he asked for me?” You honestly thought that Todoroki has mistaken you for someone else, only because of the simple fact that he can be a complete airhead sometimes.

“Yes, he asked for you, specifically." Todoroki tilts his head as if he's trying to remember what his father told him. "He said something about you having a gift, and he could aid you in making it sufficient...”

“Well, if he’s asking for me specifically, of course, I can’t say no,” As much as you acted like it wasn't a big deal, you were practically jumping out of your seat.

“Great, the more the merrier- I can only deal with my father for so long before I don’t want to see him anymore,” Todoroki sighs while pinching his nose, “I’m not saying this to scare you off, it’s just better for me since now I’ll have You, Bakugo, and Midoriya there too.”

“Oh, so they’re going again this year. Those two must have really enjoyed their time there. I think everything will be fine,” You say, giving Todoroki a smile.

“Yeah, things went surprisingly well last year. The biggest problem we had was attempting to stop Bakugo from fighting Midoriya while on patrol. Since we’re gonna have you with us this time around, maybe you could copy Bakugo’s quirk and use it against him,” You think he’s joking but you’re pretty sure he doesn’t know how to do that.

“We’ll have to see about me using his quirk against him. Maybe I’ll consider it if he gets too out of hand,” You laugh as Todoroki just looks at you.

Once you got back to the dorms, you really had time to think about the conversation you had with Todoroki. If you were being honest with yourself, going to Endeavor’s agency was your best option. So, that night you had made what you thought would be the best decision of your life.

A couple of days before work studies began, you could hardly contain yourself. You were so anxious to meet Endeavor; he just looked so intimidating that he scared you sometimes. When Denki came to check up on you, it dawned upon you that you weren’t hiding your nervousness as well as you thought.

“What’s going on with you? It looks like you’re bout to jump out of your skin," Denki questioned you with a worried look on his face, "Did you wait till the last minute again to pick an agency to work at?”

“Well, not exactly- I mean- I only decided what agency I wanted to go to about four days ago, but that’s not the problem. I decided to go to Endeavors agency, and I’m honestly so scared to meet the man himself,” You admit to Denki.

“Why are you so scared? That's literally amazing. I wish I was able to go there," Denki tries to reassure you, "I’m actually going to Fatgums agency with Kirishima and Tamaki.”

“WHAT?! You're actually not gonna go back to Mt. Lady’s agency with Mineta. You two never stop talking about her, so I was sure you were gonna go work for her again,” You were thrown for a loop at hearing Denki’s news.

“Yeah, last time Mt. Lady didn’t exactly teach us anything, just made us do her chores. Besides, as I said, I want to get stronger, and doing someone else's chores won’t help with that. So this is the best option for me.”

“Well, that’s good. I hope Fatgum’s agency can offer what you're looking for,” You put your hand on Denki's shoulder as he just nods his head in response.

The week had finally come for everyone's work studies to begin. You bundle up in your uniform and warmest scarf- oh, and gloves- that you had to feed off the cold. You grab your hero costume before running outside. You and your classmates went to the train station together to wish each other well during your work studies. Everyone split up and went to their designated train stations as you waved them off. You made sure to give Denki and Mina an extra hug as you told them bye. Once everyone was gone, you began to walk to your train station and wait for the train. As you were walking, you felt a tap on your shoulder. You look over to see who was trying to grab your attention.

“Oh hey, Midoriya. I don’t know why it’s now dawning upon me that you and I would be going to the same train station, along with Bakugo and Todoroki." You glance behind Midoriya in search of the other two.

"Speaking of which, where are they?"

“Well, Kacchan walked off as soon as we got here, so I assume he’s already waiting for the train, and Todoroki went to the restroom a minute ago. So, he should catch up to us pretty soon,” Midoriya explains.

“Oh, ok. When you first did your work-study with Endeavor, did you find him…well scary?” You quickly get embarrassed by your own question. “You know what- forget I asked. It was a silly question. He’s a person just like me. I mean how scary can he really be? You don’t have to answer that either,” You shake your head bashfully in the realization that you're rambling.

“No, it’s okay. To be honest, I felt the same way until I realized that he’s not that bad. He’s way more intimidating than scary, and I’m pretty sure it’s all one big act he puts on.”

“Well hearing it first-hand makes me feel much better. If you three could do it, I can do it as well,” You say with determination in your eyes.

“Looks like that lifted your spirits. I’m happy I could help,” Midoriya says while smiling at you, and you do the same, thanking him for the advice.

Your work studies went on surprisingly better than you thought they would. On your first day, you almost made a complete fool of yourself from all the sweating and shaking you were doing when you met Endeavor. The rest of the week went by fairly well; you surprised yourself at how efficiently you worked with the sidekicks and your three classmates.

For the most part of your week, you just did patrols like stopping bank robberies, catching thugs from shoplifting, or even just helping out citizens. Until your fifth day into the internship while waiting around the agency for reports. There’s a call about a building, and people need to be evacuated immediately. You and your classmates, along with the sidekicks that were in the building at the time, were rushing onto the scene.

When you arrive at the scene, you're met with the sight of a burning building in shambles. The building was the headquarters of some high-end company. You take in your surroundings and see Endeavor, along with a couple of other pro heroes barking orders to sidekicks before they disband and head for the building. The only one that stays behind is Endeavor, assuming that his quirk won’t be useful in the case of another fire. You and everyone you arrived with run over to Endeavor, waiting for his instruction. He ordered some sidekicks to assist with the evacuation and the others to help with first-aid.

“Shoto and Dynamight, you're on first-aid. There’s no room for debate on this decision- now go!” Endeavor shouts as Todoroki and Bakugo run off to help with the first-aid, Bakugo muttering something under his breath.

“You and Deku are on rescue,” Endeavor demands as he points to you and Midoriya. “Yae and Rei, please come over here. Briefly explain your quirks and demonstrate them to her so she can copy them?” Endeavor orders as the two sidekicks nod and pull you and Midoriya to the side.

“Alright, so I’m going to try to explain this as quickly as possible. My quirk is Portal, and I can teleport anywhere I leave a portal. Things can enter in and out of my portals as long as I grant it permission- this works on living and non-living things. To go to a certain portal I just think of the place I need to go to at the time,” Yae shows you a portal that appears in her hands as she makes it big and small by stretching her hands. You take that as an initiative to copy her quirk.

You had worked with Rei before, so you knew his quirk. It was a simple quirk that could make objects bigger or smaller by touching them. As the four of you ran to the scene, Rei demonstrated his quirk for you to copy.

When you stepped inside the building, you immediately noticed that the building was crumbling and could come down at any point. You all agreed that it was best to split up to cover more ground. So, you stuck with Midoriya as Yae and Rei ran off.

"I left a portal at first-aid!" Yae shouts out to you before they are fully out of sight.

You and Midoriya ran over to the elevator, and he pries it open since it wasn’t working.

"It seems there are fifteen floors..." Midoriya thinks aloud. "I'm gonna use float so we can start at the highest floor." He turns back to see you nodding at him, letting him know that you're ready.

You two made your way over to the stairs, and he told you to climb on his back so the two of you could avoid all the stairs and make it up swiftly. You climbed on and held on with a vise grip. You were nowhere near as used to flying as he was. At some point during the ascend upward, he told you that you were choking him, and you apologized like your life depended on it.

When you two finally arrived on the fifteenth floor, you both scoured the area for people. For the most part, people weren’t too injured to the point they couldn’t walk, so you had opened a portal to lead them to the first-aid area. As the two of you made your descend, there were fewer people around. By the 8th floor, your time for Yae’s quirk had run out. You figured the heroes and sidekicks that arrived earlier had covered most of the area.

“Hey, I noticed about a minute ago your eyes stopped glowing. So, I’m assuming you no longer have Yae’s quirk. If you want, we could go find her real quick so you could get it back,” Midoriya says while he makes sure he’s searched every corner of the floor.

“No, It would be a waste of time to head down the stairs and still have to search for her. Besides, I think we’ve evacuated everyone by now, and I still have Rei’s quirk to use if I need it,” You say as you help Midoriya with the search.

“Okay. I think this floor is clear of people- we can head to the next one.”

Arriving on the seventh floor, you and Midoriya are met by a different set of sidekicks and a hero aiding two people towards the stairs to exit the building.

“Hey, this floor is clear, you two can head down to the next one. These two were the last ones up here,” The hero states while carrying one person in their arms.

“Okay, we’ll head down to the next floor,” Midoriya walks towards the stairs.

“Umm, I’m gonna stay up here and double-check if that’s alright with you. It just feels weird to come to a floor now and not check it. Not that I don’t trust their searching skills cause I trusted the other heroes and sidekicks with us on the other floors. I just want to-” You were cut off mid-sentence when Midoriya turned back around.

“It’s okay, I understand, and I never questioned your judgment. I’ll go check out the next floor, so you can come down when you’re done with this one,” Midoriya reassures you as he turns and makes his way down the stairs.

Once he leaves, along with everyone else on the floor, you begin to research the whole area. You didn’t find anyone and felt that it would be safe to leave the floor and head to the next until you heard a faint sob.

“H-help me.”

You thought your ears were deceiving you until you heard the sound again. You rushed to follow where you heard the sound coming from. You arrived at an area on the floor that looked like it received the most damage. There was rubble and broken wire everywhere.

“H-help me p-please.”

You drop to the floor and use Rei’s quirk to shrink every piece of rubble in your line of sight. You finally get to this piece leaning against the wall covering up the corner. You shrink the object only to be met face to face with a woman in tears under another piece of rubble. You immediately shrink the part lying on her body and throw it to the side.

“Ma’am, are you okay?!”

“Mmh, I think so. Although I can’t feel my lower half and my spine kind of hurts,” The lady says as she tries to move and groans.

“Oh no, please don’t move. I’m gonna go find some help,” You try to reassure the lady as you get up to search for some help before you feel a tug on the pant leg of your hero costume.

“Um, do you know if my baby is okay? Please tell me my baby is okay. I was just pushing him in his stroller before the next thing I knew I was waking up under all of the stuff. Can you please look for him? He has to be somewhere around here,” The woman pleads as she looks into your eyes.

“Ah, okay, please give me a minute,” You say as you tear a piece of fabric off your costume to tie around the lady’s leg to stop the bleeding. “Okay ma’am, I’m gonna be right back. I’m going to look for your baby,” You give your best smile towards the woman, masking the tears that are starting to brim your eyes.

You get up from your crouched position and turn around to scan the room. You figure if the lady had just had her baby, then he should be in his stroller somewhere close by. You walk around the area until you finally come across a stroller. You run to the thing and flip it up from its sideways position on the floor. When you look into it, you see no traces of a baby other than a stray teddy bear tucked inside the stroller.

You grab the bear and run over to the stairs and swing the door open shouting for help, hoping that someone would hear you from the floor below. You would have gone down the stairs, but it would take too long, and you didn’t want the lady to think that you left her since you told her you were looking for her child. You run back over to the lady to check on how she’s doing.

Before you even say a word to her, you notice how her breathing is uneven. You bend down to check her pulse, and it’s faint but still there nonetheless. You were beating yourself up on the inside for not going to find Yae when Midoriya had asked you. If you had, the poor lady could be getting the treatment she terribly needed.

“Ma’am, I’m back. How are you doing? Does your back still hurt?” You question as you crouch down to be at eye level with her.

“Y-yeah, it still hurts a bit. Um, s-so how’s my son? Is h-he okay?” The lady takes in a deep breath before she looks at you. You didn’t know how to tell the lady how you didn’t find her son, but you were sure that the hero just happened to get to him before you could.

“Uh- yes, I’m sure the heroes have already taken in your son so he could be treated for any wounds he may have gotten. I did happen to find his teddy bear though. Here you can hold onto it until you see him again,” You reassure her, fighting back tears as you hand the lady the bear. She manages to form a wobbly smile when it enters her hand.

“I informed the heroes downstairs that you need help. So, someone should be on their way to help real soon. In the meantime, do you mind me asking you and your son’s name?” You ask while moving a couple of stray hairs out of the lady’s face.

“M-my name is Kisa Himikaga and my s-son name is Haru Himikaga. What about yours, s-sweetheart?” Kisa gives you another wobbly smile.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Kisa,” You say, giving her a smile as you tell her your name. “Uh, how old are you and your son?”

“I’m t-twenty-six, and m-my son is almost o-one,” Kisa coughs. You notice that her words are starting to become more slurred, along with her having a hard time keeping her head up, and her grip on the bear is starting to loosen.

“Hey Kisa, please stay with me. Don’t close your eyes just yet, please. I’m gonna go see what the hold-up is downstairs, okay? I’ll be right back.” You say, turning quickly to not face Kisa. You're sure if you looked at her any longer, you would have broken down into tears, but you didn’t want to give her any reason to worry. So, you stood and stared at the stairs on the other side of the floor.

“O-okay.”

You run over to the stairs, and right as you’re about to open the door, it flies open. You’re met face to face with a frantic-looking Midoriya. The next thing you knew, he’s grabbing you up and throwing you over his shoulder, quickly descending down the stairs.

“What are you doing?! Let go! I have to get back to Kisa!” You plead, kicking Midoriya in the groin and hitting his back. He immediately puts up down and plants his hands on your shoulders.

“What are you still doing here? We have to get out of here now. I got some news while I was outside, and apparently, they caught the corporate and have him in interrogation. He got fired from his job here due to being caught doing 'shady' activity. So, he got upset and planted three bombs around the building," He glances up at the ceiling.

"One on the top floor, another on this floor, and one on the bottom. The one on this floor and the bottom have yet to go off but can go off any minute now," When Midoriya looks back at you, you can see the panic in his eyes.

“Apparently, since the bombs come from a quirk, there is no way to figure out when they go off- he’s the only one that knows. The only thing he said was that any minute now, the whole building will be crumbled,” Midoriya says practically out of breath, “Everyone is evacuated. I came in here to get you- we have to go now!”

“But everyone isn’t evacuated!” You practically scream at Midoriya as you take his arms and shove them off of you. You failed to notice that you had pushed him down a couple of steps in doing so. You were too focused on sprinting back up the stairs and to the door to go save Kisa.

You finally round the corner to where Kisa was laying to see her lying limb on the ground with her eyes closed. You drop down onto your knees and begin to sob.

“Kisa, hey, you promised me that you wouldn’t fall asleep just yet. I need you to wake up for me now. I found some help- we’re gonna get you out of here,” You ramble as you grab hold of Kisa’s hand that isn’t holding the bear and try to shake her awake. You notice no signs of movement and reach forward to check her pulse, you find nothing.

“No, no, no, no, no. Please- Kisa, wake up. Your son’s waiting for you to hand him back this teddy bear,” You say as you grab the bear out of her hand and try to show it to her. “Look, he needs this, he needs you,” You say while you frantically wipe tears from your eyes.

“We have to go now!” Midoriya suddenly enters the room and runs straight for you as he scoops you up and throws you over his shoulder again.

“NO! WE CAN STILL SAVE HER! PUT ME DOWN AND HELP HER!” You scream as you see Kisa getting farther from your field of vision. “PUT ME DOWN, PUT ME-” That was the last thing you remember before you hear a loud ringing in your ears.

Extra notes:

Another early one! Hope you enjoy :)

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Chapter 8

Summary:

You have an encounter with two of your favorite boys.

You had finally fought off your cold and was able to get back to work. You didn’t have a lot of appointments booked, so that meant staying at the office and doing paperwork, woohoo. Lucky for you, the paperwork was easy. You finished in no time. It was a short work week, and you couldn’t have been more thankful since the ones leading up to this one were more than stressful.

During your week off, you would visit Mina during her lunch breaks. The two of you would usually go to the nice-looking local cafe across from her agency. She was technically still on her shift, so she wore her hero outfit. Fortunately, the tiny cafe was pretty much unknown, and it was mellow. So, other than a few people asking for her autograph now and again, the two of you were unbothered.

Mina would always insist on updates about what you and Denki were doing after you filled her in on everything that's going on between the two of you. You and Denki had gotten back into the swing of things, and everything was finally going back to being somewhat normal. You two have even been texting so often it seemed like you guys talked almost every hour. You were honestly surprised at how Denki managed to keep the conversation going since he was supposed to be at work. Even if he replied every five to ten minutes, it was still surprising. Once he got off of work, the texting was more consistent, and you, too, would end up texting into the wee hours of the night.

“AHHHH! You two are so cute. It reminds me of when Ei and I were in the talking stage of our relationship,” Mina squeals, hands on her cheeks as she shakes her head in eagerness.

“How did you get 'talking stage of the relationship' from what I just said? Besides, the two of us are just making up for the lost time. That’s all there is to it,” You turn your gaze to the window, taking a sip of your steamy americano for an excuse to stop looking at her. If it were busier here, you would’ve tried to shut Mina down entirely. After all these years though, you’ve grown used to Mina’s…everything. You blow the steam away from your drink before looking back at Mina.

“Ha! You didn’t sound very confident when you said that. Come on girl, I can read you like an open book- and besides, you always do this weird thing with your voice when you lie." You put your hand on your chest giving Mina an exaggerated offended look. "You sure there’s nothing more going on between the two of you?” Mina eyes you, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh my god- ok- maybe things have been a little different between us. When I was telling you about the talk I had with Denki I left out one major part, but that’s only 'cause I know how you get with these types of things,” You admit with a sigh.

"Oooo, SPILL." Mina slams both her hands on the table, leaning in to hear as if the cafe table isn't small enough. You shake your head in response to her antics.

You then give Mina the rundown about how Denki was jealous of Izuku and how he believed that you and Izuku were in a relationship. How he basically confessed that he liked you and said if he confessed earlier he would hope things would be different between the two of you. You also admitted to her that Denki has been rather flirtatious in his messages and you sometimes flirted along with him. You decided to go along with Denki’s flirting since it seemed harmless and you two agreed to put the past in the past. As well as the little part of you wanting to see how far you and Denki’s relationship could blossom.

“Oh-oh, I knew it! Me and the girls weren’t the only ones that knew those two boys had a thing for you. Denki knew too and of course, Ei cause you know I HAD to fill him in. Gosh, I wonder if any other boys knew? Ahh!" You roll your eyes as Mina continues to think out loud.

"Girl, please tell me why you were so oblivious back then. I tried to tell you so many times, but you always turned me down saying it’s 'ridiculous' but I think you were truly in denial,” Mina cuts herself off in her rambling session to look at you with her eyes blown wide as if she had just witnessed something extraordinary.

“Yes! That’s it! I cracked the code. You liked both of them so, you kept telling yourself that it couldn’t be true cause you couldn’t figure out which boy you liked more. Gosh, I shipped you with those boys so hard, but maybe Izuku a teensy, tiny bit more,” Mina leans in closer to whisper something to you. “I always thought that you and Izuku would make the cutest little curly-haired, freckled, brown skin babies!” Mina gushes, abruptly leaning back into her chair, almost falling backward. If there were more people around you would have been slightly embarrassed.

“But, go Denki, look at him shooting his shot, and you too! So, tell me, does the flirting ever get...spicy?” Mina whispers the last part as she wiggles an eyebrow.

“Mina! Lord, this is why I don’t tell you things and you 'didn’t crack any sort of 'code'. You put your hands up, signing air quotes. “I’m also just gonna ignore the part about Izuku and the babies,” You glared at Mina, who is still wiggling her eyebrows for lord knows what.

“Hey, don’t get mad at me, I wasn't the only one that thought all those things. Back in school me and the other girls used to bet on who you would get with. Except for Ochako though, we all collectively felt a little bad that she was part of a one-sided crush with Izuku. I honestly used to root for her in our first year until in our second year I noticed how he looked at you." Mina's voice gets a bit softer as she continues.

"Honestly, I always thought you liked Izuku more but, I know you were working through some things and didn’t want to come to terms with it. For Denki, I always knew from the very beginning that he liked you. They both looked at you with those eyes. Do you know what I mean?” Mina tilts her head.

“Nope,” You let out a sigh.

"Ugh, you're no fun." Mina playfully pouts, sticking her bottom lip out a bit. "But I think if you see something in Denki now, you should go for it and don’t hold back like last time. Besides you two are adults now so I think you should be able to sort out all of your feelings,” Mina shrugs with a hand resting on her chin.

“Well thanks for that, I’ll try and follow your advice if the time comes,” You then turn your gaze to the counter not too far from you as Mina fished out something in her pocket. You and Denki are adults now; communicating should be easier, and you should be sure about him.

“Your welcome girl! Lucky for you it’s time for me to go, so I’ll get out of your hair for now.” Mina giggles, bringing you out of your thoughts.

You and Mina both get up from your seats and hug each other. She insists on paying for the meal so you let her but tell her next time it’s your turn. You two walk out of the cafe and you walk her back to her agency before you take your leave.

—

Before you decided to head back to your side of town you decided to go grocery shopping and to just walk around the city and possibly purchase some new clothes. You decided to go grocery shopping first just to get it out of the way. You didn’t really need much, just the essentials; like food and toiletries. You browsed the aisles for about thirty or so minutes until you were pretty satisfied with everything in your cart. You pay for all your things and begin to walk out of the store.

As you make your way to your car with two tote bags full of groceries you see a familiar head full of green curls and a costume that would sweep the whole of Japan off its feet.

“Izuku?” You call out, readjusting the tote straps on your arms.

“Huh? Oh, hey!" Izuku perks up, walking- almost running- towards you.

"It’s surprising seeing you around here. What are you doing here?” Izuku tilts his head as he glances at your groceries.

“Oh, I was over in the area because I came to visit Mina on her lunch break. Then I decided to do some shopping for myself. Although, I should be asking you the same thing," You eye Izuku. "What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be out there saving the world or something?” You say, looking at him with a smile.

Izuku playfully gasps. “What?! A man can’t get a sandwich around here? The last time I checked, lunch breaks were still a thing. Of all people, you should know! Didn’t you just say you went to have lunch with Mina for her lunch break?”

“Alright I get it, you can calm your tits.” You roll your eyes.

Izuku puts out both of his hands. “Here, let me hold your bags. I’ll help you put them in your car.”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to be any trouble to you, especially on your break. Besides, I can carry these, it’s no big deal.” You hesitate long enough for him to put his hands down and give you a reassuring smile.

“No, it’s perfectly fine, and even though I may be on break, I’m still on the clock. Besides, I never mind helping out anyone, especially you,” Izuku gestures for the bags again.

You finally hand over the bags and he puts both of them on his shoulders. During you and Izuku’s little interaction, you noticed that a few eyes would peek at you two every now and then. Some would glance at you as they passed and some just full-on stared. You figured it could be one of two reasons why people were staring. The first being it was probably some people’s first time seeing the number one hero and they were too frightened to ask for an autograph. The second reason could have been people didn’t enjoy their number one being so friendly with a civilian, let alone a female civilian at that.

“Alright, I think it’s about time for us to head to the car. We’re getting some questionable stares and deadly side-eyes,” You whisper as you briskly walk toward your car with Izuku quickly following suit. The two of you make it to the car and you proceed to open the trunk. Izuku puts the bags in and shuts it.

“Sorry about back there, I kind of got caught up in the moment and forgot I’m in my hero costume in broad daylight,” Izuku chuckles as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Oh, it’s alright don’t worry about it. Thanks for carrying my bags for me though,” You look at Izuku.

“Yeah, it’s no problem, anytime. I won’t hold you any longer though, I know you’re probably trying to get home. Besides, I have to go before my break is over. It was nice seeing you again! Since the last time we saw each other, Shoto had to go and make things weird,” Izuku says, looking at you with a weird smile. “I’ll see you around though! Bye,” Izuku chuckles awkwardly as he waves you goodbye and begins to walk back towards the store.

“Hey, wait! Izuku, don’t go anywhere just yet,” You say as you open your trunk again and fish in one of the bags for something. “Here, take this bottle of water. Think of it as thanks for helping me out and a drink for your meal.”

“Oh, thanks. I really appreciate it,” Izuku thanks you for the bottle as he tries to grab it from your hand, but you still grasp onto the bottle not letting go.

“I also want this to be our promise bottle,” You look up at Izuku. “You have to promise if you take this bottle and drink from it that you will no longer bring up what happened at lunch the other week. I say we leave what happened that day in the past and move forward,” You look into Izuku’s eyes waiting for an answer.

Izuku hesitates before muttering with uncertainty in his voice.

“...uh, yeah, okay. I’ll stop bringing it up,”

“Okay, well then I’ll leave you with this bottle. Have a good rest of your break. Remember, if you keep the bottle and drink from it then you can’t speak the unspoken,” You remind Izuku with a wink as you let go of the bottle and leave it in his hand. You wave to him as you say goodbye, and he does the same.

You hop in your car and as you pull out you see Izuku walking in the other direction as he looks at the bottle in his hand. You suddenly remember Mina talking about some look that Izuku and Denki had in their eyes. You weren’t sure what the look was, but Izuku definitely had something in his eyes as you handed him that bottle. You don’t ponder on the thought for long as you continue to drive.

—

When you got home unloading all the bags from your car and into your apartment was hell. You had only gone shopping for a couple of new clothes but ended up going home with about ten bags full of clothes. So, that meant you had three trips to your car to get all the clothes and groceries out. It didn’t help that you lived on the third floor so you had to wait for the elevator to take you up, down, then back up again.

You unpacked all the groceries and put them where they needed to be along with putting all the clothes in the wash. You preferred to wash clothes from the store before you wore them out, also it was time for a wash day. When everything was done you plopped down on your bed and began to scroll meaninglessly through your phone. This went on for about an hour or two before you were interrupted by a text from no one other than Denki.

5:02 PM

Denki

you me dinner

5:03 PM

Me

what??

5:10 PM

Denki

sorry i was working and didnt want to forget to ask lol. dinner tonight?

5:10 PM

Me

okay...what time u get off?

You didn’t have any plans for the rest of the evening so you agreed. You and Denki were really starting to get to a normal relationship so you wanted to test the waters and see if you two could go back to spending one-on-one time together.

5:11 PM

Denki

at like 6:30

so how abt around 7:15?

5:11 PM

Me

now what if I said no

5:12 PM

Denki

please?

You saw that Denki sent you an address to a restaurant and when you saw it you immediately knew where you were going. You didn’t bother texting him back and asking why he choose that specific spot to eat at, you figured you’d ask him when you got there.

5:13 PM

Me

you better not be late

5:13 PM

Denki

( ˘ ³˘)♥

5:14 PM

(っ˘з(˘⌣˘ )

5:14 PM

Me

denki

5:15 PM

Denki

sorry sorry

It was around 5:15 pm so you had a good amount of time before you would have to leave the house. Since it would only take thirty minutes to get to the place you decide you would start getting ready at about 5:50 pm then head out. You set an alarm on your phone to leave a little before 6:40. You plop on your bed and continue to scroll on your phone until your eye grows heavy and you weren’t even paying attention to what was on the screen. You felt your consciousness fading away, and your thoughts, as clear and concise as they were before, were coming to an end.

You then hear a faint sound coming from your phone and you make a lazy attempt to reach to stop it. After you managed to stop the sound you drift back into your peaceful slumber. Next thing you knew you abruptly woke up to the familiar sound of a certain someone texting you. You rub your tired eyes as you grab the phone and see who was texting you.

6:38 PM

Denki

gettin off work rn

“Oh my- shit,” you silently curse to yourself as you scramble out of your bed and to your closet. “How did I manage- I swore I set an alarmmm.” You facepalm yourself in aggravation as you try to figure out what to wear.

You finally set on wearing a long sleeve beige shirt with a brown and fuzzy beige flannel to throw over it. You also had on some black flared jeans that hugged your thighs just right. After you fumble into your clothes, you run into the bathroom to fix your hair and brush your teeth real quick. You set for swooping your hair into a high bun and slicking a bang to the side. You lay down your edges and finish it off with a little setting spray to really help lay your hair down and stay. You quickly brush your teeth before you rush out of your room.

You decide to start your car from inside so that you can just hop in and start driving. Fortunately, the third floor wasn’t too high to push start your car. You search for your purse for a while until you finally find it. You- somehow- managed to forget that you actually have to put shoes on your feet, so you run back into your room to get some. After you slip on your socks and shoes, you make a beeline for the door. You run to the elevator and mash the buttons, and it seems to take a decade before it arrives. You ride it down and book it in your car as soon as the doors open. As soon as you get in the car, you pull up the address on your phone and begin to drive. You glimpse at your phone to check the time, and it was already 7:02 pm.

It took about a thirty-minute drive until you finally arrived at the place at 7:36 pm. You pull into a parking spot and then almost literally jump out of your car.

You honestly felt bad for not telling Denki that you would be late, but you were in such a rush that it was the last thing on your mind up until this point. You figured that if he was still there when you arrived, you could just explain yourself. You really hoped that he would still be there and have a table waiting for the two of you when you walked in. The last thing you wanted was for him to leave because he thought you wouldn’t show, even if he did ask to have dinner with you last minute.

As you walked in, you were overjoyed to see that he, in fact, was sitting at a table for the two of you. He was currently too preoccupied with scrolling through his phone and sipping on whatever drink he ordered to realize that you walked in. You walk over to the table and quietly sit down. He lazily looks up with a very puzzled look on his face until he realizes it’s you.

“Hi Denki,” You say as you look back at him.

“Hey. You had me a little worried, thought I was getting stood up,” Denki chuckles to himself as he goes to take another sip of his drink.

“Yeah, I ended up falling asleep and sleeping through the alarm I set to get ready. Then, of course, I still had to drive thirty minutes to get over here. Sorry for making you wait.”

“Nah, it’s fine. Besides, we’re even now since I was late last time we met up.”

“I guess you're right. I have a question for you, though,” Denki stops sipping his drink and looks at you, waiting.

“How could I stand you up if this isn’t a date? I mean, if you wanted it to be, you could have just asked me. I would have still agreed to come,” You say rather bluntly.

The question seems to catch Denki off guard as he begins to choke on nothing but air. You were fond of the idea of going on a date with Denki, so you hoped that your statement didn’t put him off. Honestly, you would be really surprised if it did, considering how flirtatious he’s been over text. You frankly hoped you weren’t reading things wrong because that would undoubtedly make things awkward between the two of you all over again, and you don’t think you could go through that again. You keep your eyes on him, waiting for an answer.

“Well, I’ll make sure I keep that in mind for next time,” Denki answers boldly, and you can see how his lips turn up into a small smile.

You smirk at him. “Oh, so there’s going to be the next time?” You raise an eyebrow as you reach over to tap him on the shoulder playfully.

“Well, as long as you agree, that is. I could only hope there is a next time.”

“Well then, we’ll have to see about that, won’t we?”

“Yeah, we certainly will.”

—

As the two of you continue to make flirtatious small talk, the waitress comes over to take your orders. Denki orders his all-time favorite burger, and he convinces you to get it too. After about ten minutes, the waitress comes back with your food, and the two of you enjoy your meals as you talk.

“How come you didn’t just tell me where you wanted to go?” You question as you take a bite of your food.

“I didn’t want to tell you because I felt like you wouldn’t want to come since last time we ate here, you know…”

“Nothing could ever ruin this place for me Denki. I would have come here with you no matter what we were going through.”

“I also just felt like I had to make up for last time. I felt like coming here would be like a real reset, you know?”

“Yeah, that makes sense, but I bet you also just wanted to come and get a burger,” You laugh as you grab your drink and take a sip.

“I mean, you're not wrong,” The two of you both laugh as you enjoy the rest of your meal together. You two both finish your meals, and Denki pays. He walks you out to your car as you both begin to leave.

“Thanks for this, I think we both really needed it. We should do it again sometime,” You say as Denki opens the door for you and you get into the car.

“It was no problem. Just thought you deserved a treat, and I look forward to doing this sometime soon,” Denki says with a cheeky smile on his face.

“You look a little too excited- we might have to do this every day,” You roll your eyes sarcastically at Denki’s antics.

“I wouldn’t mind that at all.”

“Ahh! You're too much Denki,” You sigh.

"Yeah I know, but isn’t that what you love so much about me?”

“No," You deadpan as Denki begins to laugh at you. “Good night Denki,” You say as you wave Denki a goodbye, and he does the same looking at you with a big ass grin on his face as if he just won the lottery.

On your drive back, home Mina’s words creep their way into your mind again. You can't help but think of how Denki’s face sort of lit when he first saw you. Honestly, the last thing you wanted to do was actually think about the nonsense that Mina spouts- but this time she may have been right about Denki and Izuku. There was definitely something behind their gazes, but the question was what?

Extra Notes:

Early post! Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Chapter 7

Summary:

You and Denki realize you need to sort things out.

It had officially been three weeks since Denki had seen you. Stress seemed to linger as you were on his mind every day (all day, unless he was occupied by something else). Hero work kept him busy for most of his day, but all his thoughts went straight to you once he got home. It's funny because it’s not like he had much free time when he got home. For the most part, he would simply shower then go to sleep, but for those moments that should have been peace and relaxation, the only thing on his mind was, well, you.

It was getting harder for Denki to get through the day, and it started to show. When he would go on his breaks, he would run the whole conversation in his head on replay. If he was in a meeting, he would hear your broken cries in his head over and over again. Until a week ago, he ignored it the best he could at work until people noticed something was off. His sidekicks said he was zoned out most of the time, and his coworkers just said he was acting off.

So, Denki did the only logical thing that he could think of to cope, sex. Denki didn’t mean to get into this 'relationship' with Jirou. It was just something quick and easy for him to enjoy. Over the past year or so, he and Jirou had fallen into this interesting relationship of theirs. In short, they were friends with benefits.

So here he was, in his room with Jirou, enjoying yet another sinful night full of lust and moans. However, this time it was different. The only thing he could think of was you. He imagined himself doing the things he was doing with Jirou, but with you. Having sex with you was different- it was better. His imagination was starting to get the better of him, and he did the unthinkable. He had called out your name. That’s when everything stopped.

“What the hell- what the fuck was that!?” Jirou shoved Denki off her and shuffled to the other side of the bed, eyes full of pure shock.

“…I’m sorry I-,” Denki was cut off mid-sentence to Jirou, sighing abruptly.

“Look, if you got something going on, then don’t try to use me to get that shit off your mind. If you wanted to, we could have talked, but this is just fucked up.”

“Look- I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.” Denki sighs as he runs his hand through his hair. “I guess my head really isn’t in the right place,” Denki murmurs the last part under his breath.

“Clearly! Listen, I don't know what happened between you, but if it’s some shit like back in high school, just grow a pair and talk to her. You can’t do the same thing again and walk on eggshells around her.” Jirou lectured Denki as he looked down in shame.

“Yeah, you're right, but we recently got into an argument, and I don’t even know if she wants to talk right now,” Denki admits.

“Well, you will never know unless you try. She’s probably waiting for you to say something first since you're the one that caused the argument in the first place. Knowing you, you probably said something stupid that upset her.” Jirou sighs as she begins to get up and grab her things.

“Hey, who said I started the argument- and where are you going?” Denki finds the courage to look back up at Jirou.

“By the way you're acting, I can tell you did something, and I’m leaving. You seem to have a lot on your mind right now, and I think you need to be alone to collect your thoughts. In the meantime, while you figure things out, I’ll be on my way. When things are figured out, if you need a shoulder to cry on, I’ll be there. So, feel free to call me when things blow over or don’t depending on how good or bad things go. For your sake, I’m hoping things go well.” Jirou finished putting on the rest of her clothes and walked out of the room.

“Ahhh! What the fuck just happened?” Denki throws his hands onto his face as he deflates onto the bed.

It had been a week or so since the whole lunch fiasco with Ochako and everyone. Today you got a message from an unfamiliar number.

5:56 PM

Unknown

hi!!!!!!!

just wanted to see how mina was doin

5:59 PM

Me

who dis?

You usually don’t reply to numbers that you don’t know because most of the time it’s just spam, but the number was actually Izuku’s. He claimed he messaged you to figure out how Mina was doing, but you knew that wasn’t the reason.

6:00 PM

Zuku

oh it's izuku

i forgot I got a new number

6:00 PM

Me

ohhh okay lol

6:01 PM

Zuku

it's nice to have ur number back tho!!

can't believe we lost touch :(

how’s everything?

Honestly, you weren’t okay. Your mind seemed to think about a million things each second. To top it all off, you caught a cold from one of your idiotic overworking coworkers that came in sick (Because who would want to take a perfect day off instead of working?). Alas, that’s how you ended up stuck at home for the week, bundled up in layers of clothes and blankets trying to block out the cold winter air. Of course, you didn’t tell Izuku those things.

6:03 PM

Me

im good, hbu?

6:03 PM

Zuku

im good! lil tired from work tho

OH, i have something to tell you!! :D

6:03 PM

Me

go for it

6:04 PM

Zuku

alr so here me out

Those words set him off. Right after you messaged him he went on a long tangent about how Todoroki can be “funny” sometimes and makes questionable jokes at the same time.

6:11 PM

Zuku

anyway ik im super funny n all but seriously tho, you good from the other day?

You honestly didn’t have the mental capacity to deal with what he was saying, and your cold was starting to give you a headache from all the coughing you were doing. So, you replied the best way you could.

6:11 PM

Me

how many times am i gonna have to tell you im fine?

don't you got hero work to get back to

6:12 PM

Zuku

yeah yeah just making sure my bestie is ok <3

6:12 PM

Me

never say bestie again.

As you set your phone down on the nightstand and began to get up and fish for a pill for your overbearing headache, your phone buzzed, signifying you got another message. You grabbed your phone to see who it was from, and your stomach sinks a bit when you see it was no one other than Denki. Part of you wanted to put the phone down and not respond, but you knew if you did that, you would never bring yourself to talk to him again. So, you opened the message, and it only said two things.

6:15 PM

Denki

we need 2 talk

i get off around 7:30 so...

You stared at your phone for a while, contemplating your answer.

6:20 PM

Me

ok

6:20 PM

Denki

ill head 2 ur place

need that address tho

Part of you didn't want him to come to your place since you were sick and your house looked like a mess from a week of no cleaning. As well as the fact that you had a little voice in the back of your head telling you that he might chicken out and not come to your house. So, that leads you to your decision of asking to go to his house instead.

6:22 PM

Me

can we talk at yours instead?

Denki seemed to take forever to text back after that, so you assumed he had gone back to work. In the five minutes that it took him to text back, you had finally gotten a pill to get rid of your headache and some water to help with your coughing.

6:27 PM

Denki

👍

You decided to end the conversation there as you received an address to Denki’s apartment. You wait for the time to pass before you went to his place.

—

Around 6:45, you checked the address that Denki had sent to see how far it was. You knew he lives in the city, and it shouldn’t be too far from your residence, considering you live about a twenty-minute drive out of the city. You saw that he lived thirty minutes away from your place, so that gave you about fifteen minutes to get ready.

You honestly couldn’t be bothered with how you looked, considering you probably looked like shit from your cold anyway. So, you grabbed a sweater and some sweatpants that you had discarded in the corner of your room about a day ago. Then you proceeded to your bathroom to put on some deodorant and pull back your hair into a low puff. You didn’t bother to slick your hair back or do any sort of edges since you would put a beanie over it anyway.

As you're about to walk out your door, you grab a coat and throw it over your body, as well as a mask to cover the cough that didn’t seem like it was going to cease any time soon. You stumble a little as you put warm boots on, and you then proceed to walk out of your house and head to the car after locking your door. You get in the car and turn up the heat immediately. You honestly weren’t that big of a fan for winter. It was nice if it snowed, but other than that, you didn’t like it. Once you finish typing in the address in your GPS, you begin to head to Denki’s apartment.

You begin to think of all the things you two needed to talk about. A lot of things- too many things were left unsaid since the last time you two sat down and talked. Part of you wasn’t looking forward to the conversation ahead, but you also wanted to get everything off your chest.

Arriving, you could see that Denki lived in a rather quiet part of the city. Everything was admirable and luxurious, but the surroundings were serene. There were no loud cars or trains to disturb the beautiful frill apartments in the area.

When you finally found his apartment building and a parking spot, you got out of your car. You admired the quality of the apartment complex another time as you started to make your way to the elevator. Denki lived on the top floor, so you had to wait in the elevator for a bit. When the elevator finally came to a stop, you stepped out and wandered around, searching for Denki’s apartment number. You double-check that it's the right number when you finally find it. You didn't realize the breath you were holding in as you rang the doorbell. There was no answer, so you ring it again. When he doesn’t answer a third time you assume he can’t hear the doorbell and begin to knock real hard on the door. Still, there was no answer.

You pull out your phone and check the time; 7:42 PM. It was safe to assume that Denki got held up at work, one of the many cons of being a pro hero. You would have to text him and let him know you were at his place. Although, you didn’t want to disturb his work, nor did you want him to feel bad for being late.

It was freezing outside, and you knew this weather couldn’t be good for your cold, but you didn’t want to go in your car. You didn’t want Denki to think you had left because he was late. So, you stood there in cold weather on the mini balcony at the front of Denki’s door, leaning on the slim glass railing, looking at the pretty little lights in the city.

After about fifteen minutes of staring at the lights with your mind full of racing questions, you hear a small ding indicating that someone is getting off the elevator. You acknowledge the footsteps starting to approach you, looking over your shoulder to see the man that has been on your mind for three weeks now. You don’t fail to notice how he almost freezes when he sees you, and his once exhausted face lights up at the sight of your face. You turn your full attention to him as you greet him and slowly walk towards his frozen figure.

The only thing that you can register after a few seconds is the feeling of two muscular arms hugging you tightly and a faint whisper in your ear.

“I’m sorry,” Denki whispered as he held you tighter.

You glanced up when he finally stopped hugging you, and you could catch the genuineness in his eyes. You frankly didn’t know if he's apologizing for being late or for what he said, but you still anticipated either apology.

“How long have you been waiting out here? You’re freezing,” Denki questioned with a worried look on his face, rubbing his hands up and down your arms.

“Oh, don’t worry about it, I haven’t been out here for that long- ahem,” You pull away from Denki when you sense a bundle of coughs bubbling out of your throat. You had a full-on coughing fit.

“Woah, are you okay?” Denki tries to pat your back. “Let’s go inside and get you some water,” Denki said as he opened the door for the two of you.

The first thing you notice as you walk in is...the cheetah print welcome mat. You weren’t surprised, though, considering Denki’s odd taste. As you walked further into the house, you noticed that the interior was rather pleasant. You follow Denki into his kitchen, where you then proceed to sit down in one of the chairs at the long island countertop.

“Are you sick or something?” Denki glances at your face masks before putting down a glass of water in front of you.

“I’m okay- it's nothing too bad. One of my coworkers came in sick about a week ago and gave me a cold.”

“You’ve been sick for a week? How is that not bad? You also just stood outside in the freezing cold waiting for me, so that’s not any better. Not to mention those coughs I just heard.”

“Look at you being the observant type,” You mumble under your breath as you take a sip of your water.

You honestly didn’t know what came over you when you said that, but you came to his home to get down to business anyway. There was no point in beating around the bush when you two both know the real reason you stopped by his place.

“Look, when I said that I was sorry earlier...I meant it. I was a total dickhead when I said that stuff at the diner. I know that choosing not to be a Pro Hero anymore is a sensitive subject for you, and I don’t know why I even bought it up. If I could go back, I would change everything I said that day. I’m truly sorry.

“You're lucky I’m not one to hold grudges, but that doesn’t mean I forgive you yet. I still recall you saying how I didn’t try to reach out to you,” You glare at Denki with an eyebrow raised. “How could I possibly be the one to blame for that when you were the one that never responded when I did?”

“I was deflecting,” Denki sighs out as he looks you in the eyes. “The reason that I never answered your calls back then was that I was upset with you. When the whole thing happened with you in our third year at UA, things didn’t feel the same anymore.”

“What do you mean? Back then, I tried to talk to you when I felt comfortable enough to open up about the situation, but you had always shut me down and claimed you had something to do. So, what made things change between the two of us?” You were looking at Denki with an intense gaze, waiting for him to answer your questions.

Denki looked at you for a minute. You two sat in complete silence. You could see in his eyes that he was trying to gather his thoughts, or more so, trying to figure out what he wanted to say.

“I was...jealous.” Denki finally said, letting out yet another sigh.

“Huh? What were you possibly jealous of? I was barely attending class because of therapy. Not to mention I couldn’t sleep most nights. So, please tell me what you could have possibly-”

“I was jealous of Izuku.”

You were caught off guard by what he said. Why would he have any reason to be jealous of Izuku? You two were best friends at the time, and yeah, Izuku was your friend too, but he was your best friend. Didn’t he know that?

Sure when the whole situation went down back then, you had spent more time with Izuku, but that was because he understood what you were going through. He was there to help you when times were tough, and you felt like you could always lean on him when it did. It’s not like you chose one specific person to lean on. It just happened to be Izuku since you felt like he could truly understand you since he was with you when things went down.

“Why would you possibly be jealous of Izuku? Yeah, we spent some time with each other, but you were still my best friend. He just helped me through a few things, that’s all. He wasn’t trying to steal your title as a best friend.” You let out another awkward laugh.

“Yeah, maybe not best friends, but definitely something more. Come on, you can’t tell me you didn’t know- everyone knew. Dude had a big ass crush on you in high school.”

There it was again, yet another person telling you that Midoriya Izuku had a crush on you. Honestly, you would be lying if you said you didn’t notice it now when you look back on it. Back in high school, you always knew that Ochaco liked Izuku and you just assumed he liked her back. You honestly were a blockhead for not noticing that he liked you from as many times Mina threw “subtle” hints your way back in school. You couldn’t understand though, why did everyone want to bring this up now?

“Okay, but what does that have to do with anything you're telling me now? So, what if he liked me back then it’s not like anything ever happened between us, and it’s not like we’re together now. Besides, he’s a Pro Hero, the #1 at that, I’m pretty sure he has plenty of girls ready to throw themselves at him. You're a Pro too- I’m pretty sure you know as well- your fan base is huge! So, could you please explain to me how this has anything to do with why you stopped talking to me? Cause you're still making no sense.” You state, raising an eyebrow.

“By the end of our third year, everyone thought the two of you were dating but not officially announcing it to anyone. So, being your best friend, a guy, at that, I decided that it was best to remove myself from the equation. By the time we all got settled into our new agencies, and you went off to college, I figured you two had still kept in contact with each other and were still dating.”

“Well, how bold of you to assume that I was in a whole ass relationship with someone and not ask me directly. And even if the two of us were in a relationship, why would that stop us from being friends?”

“Because it hurts to know that you're happy with someone else,” Denki glares at the floor, looking anywhere but you.

You could only look at Denki after what he had said. Was this the real reason that you two haven’t talked in years? Because he was too afraid to admit that he liked you? He was honestly still a big kid at heart.

You couldn’t lie to yourself and not say you didn’t have a slight crush on the two boys back in school. You just figured that one liked someone else, and the other was too good of a friendship to risk. So, you kept quiet and bottled up your feelings. However, after hearing all of this information, you couldn’t help but feel like you lost out on something that could have been. With that being on your mind at that very moment, you say the very first thing that comes to your mind.

“Then what do you think would have happened if you admitted your feelings to me back then?” You question as Denki raises his head back up.

“Then maybe this could have been different. We could have been different,” Denki states as he looks right at you. Waiting for your response.

“Then how bout we start over and forget the dumb shit that was said?”

“Yeah. Yeah, I’d like that a lot,” Denki drags his hands over his face, and you can see a tiny smile on his face.

This was good for the two of you. Things finally seemed to be looking up. The talk that you had been regretting for weeks had finally happened, and you felt like the two of you put everything on the table. Nothing was left unsaid, and you were happy with how things were.

“So, does this mean you forgive me?” Denki questions with a look of hope in his eyes.

“Yeah, I forgive you.”

Extra Notes:

hope you guys enjoy this one! summer is over and school is out so bare with me with these updates lol, i get busy

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Chapter 6

Summary:

A look into the past after your offer to attend UA.

-FLASHBACK-

You accepted Mrs. Yagiyama’s offer, and you're making a lot of progress with your online courses. You had finally reached the second month of your eighth-grade summer, which meant that you had been taking classes for two months. Things were kind of rough in the beginning, though. When you informed your parents about the events that unfolded, they were through the roof with enthusiasm...but when you told them that this was an offer from a school in Japan, the excitement quickly faded.

Your parents made a fair amount of money due to their jobs. Your mom was a businesswoman that worked for a reasonably big company in the states, and your dad was an engineer. Since your mom had such a demanding occupation, it would be hard for her to just pick up and move out of the country. To top it off, the company did not have any partners with Japan, so she couldn’t be transferred to a new job there even if she wanted to.

Your parents knew how much you wanted to be a hero at the time and always pushed you to follow your dreams, so they came up with a plan for you to move to Japan. Since your dad was an engineer, it wouldn’t be as hard for him to find work in a new area. So, you and your dad would move to Japan, and your mom would stay in the states. When your parents first told you the plan they had come up with, you told them no immediately.

You didn’t want to go anywhere without your mother, let alone to another country to live. It took a lot of convincing from your parents until you finally cracked and decided that you would move to Japan in your tenth-grade year. You saw how happy they were when you finally said yes, and that helped comfort you. Your parents kept telling you that they didn’t want to be the reason you gave up on your dreams.

You were very thankful for your parents for what they did for you. You felt like things were too good to be true. Although, deep down, you still didn’t want to leave. Even though your parents didn’t want to be the cause of you giving up on your ambitions- you didn’t want to be the reason your parents were apart. Your parents assured you that nothing would change, and, to be frank, you knew nothing would break them apart, but you didn’t want to feel like you were at fault if something did.

Another thing that made you not want to leave was the simple fact that you would be leaving your best friend, Elina. She was one of your dearest friends, and you wouldn’t trade her for the world. You didn’t have many people that you could call a friend except Elina. So for you to leave her, you knew you would never find someone as extraordinary as she was.

You walk home with Elina, as you always do, and tell her about your acceptance into U.A.

"Wow, you're so smart! This is really amazing, you know? You always talked about Japan being your number one vacation spot!" Elina goes on and on about how you were the brightest person that she knew.

You knew Elina never wanted to be a hero, and Elina knew you wanted to be one. You and Elina understood each other and were always very happy about your successes, so you knew she would be content with whatever decision you made. Even if that meant leaving her behind and going to Japan.

"Yeah...I'm going to miss you, though," you sadly smile at her.

"Yeah, yeah, no more of that sad stuff! Don't make me hold you back- this is a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity!" Elina laughs as she pulls you into a hug.

You knew Elina would be fine; you could tell she had big things headed her way. She always said she wanted to be a model, and she was definitely model material with her long legs, long black curly hair, and pretty dimples- along with her fashion sense. You knew the two of you would do great things- just in two completely different ways. You never imagined that two people could be so very complex but so alike at the same time.

As time continued to pass, the days turned into weeks, the weeks turned into months, and the months turned into one whole year. You consume every second of your free time with the ones you love. Soon the time came for you to travel off to Japan. You and your father were informed that Mrs. Yagiyama had found a place for the two of you so it would be easier for you to settle down when you arrived. You would have to leave three weeks before school started over in Japan. One reason being the fact that you had to take the practical and written part of the test. The second being so that you and your father could get adjusted to your new home. You officially had a month before the day would come, and you would leave for Japan.

The work you did throughout the whole year was challenging at some points, but you were satisfied with how far you had come. You were nowhere near fluent in Japanese, but you knew enough to hold a conversation with someone and find your way around Japan.

The month was finally up, and it was time for you to leave. That moment may have been the hardest one in your life. It was hard for you to leave your family and friends behind, but you knew that they always had the best in mind for you. You shed many tears when you finally said your final goodbyes to your mom and Elina. The moment was bittersweet as you waved them goodbye before heading to the plane.

After a very long and gruesome flight, you finally landed in Japan. You were exhausted after the flight, and you blamed it on the jet lag. It would take days- or even weeks to get used to the new environment. Once you got out of the plane and you and your father went to pick up all your luggage, you headed over to your new home. Seeing Japan for the first time was like something out of a movie and just how you imagined it would be. There were so many lights and buildings to see, and you couldn’t wait to explore it all. Soon you will finally settle into your new home in; Musutafu, Japan.

When you finally arrived at your new home, you were amazed at how pretty it looked. The inside was nice and spacious, the perfect size for you and your dad- and maybe even one or possibly two more people. Your room was a perfect size, and you couldn’t wait to decorate it with your things. Lucky for you and your dad, Mrs. Yagiyama and U.A. spared you no expense, and the house was completely furnished with everything you would need. You couldn’t have been happier about this because sleep was calling your name after a long trip. You tell your dad good night as you head to bed, thinking of what is in store for you in the next three weeks before you officially start school.

In your very first week of living in Japan, there were already so many things to do. The first would be taking your written exam. The test was very long, but you were pretty sure you passed it, so you weren’t very worried. Just three days later would be your practical exam, and you couldn’t have been more anxious. Your nerves had calmed down a little when you were informed that you would be taking the test with a couple of other students. This made you happy because it meant that you didn’t have to take the test with a bunch of other students.

On the day of the practical exam, your nerves were getting the better of you, and you felt like you had to throw up before even stepping foot out of the car. Your dad was encouraging you the whole drive, but it didn’t help the nerves. As you pulled up to the school, you saw a couple of students standing in front of the building. You hesitantly get out of the car and walk up to the group. As you look forward, you see a puffy figure in front of you that seems to be doing a headcount of everyone.

“12, 13, and 14, okay, that’s everyone! Hello everyone, I’m Thirteen, and I will be your instructor for today’s practical exam, as well as one of your teachers this year!” Thirteen exclaims as they greet everyone.

Thirteen proceed to tell everyone what the exam will consist of and that they will need to take a bus to the location of the testing site. As thirteen wraps up they’re speech, a bus proceeds to pull up, and everyone gathers on the bus and takes a seat. You sit next to a girl with black hair that is pulled back into a ponytail. You shuffle in your seat awkwardly until she breaks the silence.

“Ah, I’m so nervous. What about you?” She turned her head slightly to you as she fiddled with her hair.

“I’m so nervous that I almost threw up on the way over here.” you babble as you let out a little sigh.

“I’m glad that I’m not the only one, but I’m sure we’ll pass, considering UA themselves wanted to invite us to their school. Oh, and by the way, my name is Yaoyorozu Momo, but you can just call me Momo.” Momo smiles at you.

You then introduce yourself to Momo, and you two conversate the whole bus ride there. She shares little about herself and her quirk. Her eyes widened as you told her about your quirk and how you just got to Japan only about a week ago. She couldn’t believe how good your Japanese was, and she even offered to show you around the city and help tutor you with your Japanese if you ever needed help.

Your little chat with Momo helped you feel at ease, and before you knew it, you were done with the exam. You were really thrilled that you met Momo, and you hoped that you both passed your exams. At the end of the test, Thirteen told everyone that their results would be in by next week. In approximately one week, your whole life would change for the better or worse.

One week had finally passed, and in that week, you checked the mail each and every day. The anticipation was eating you alive, but the day eventually arrived, and you received the letter in the mail. You gaze at the thin piece of paper resting in your hands. You hesitantly tear the mail open and slowly pull the paper out.

"We are proud to inform you that-"

You didn't even read the rest. That's all you needed to know.

You and your father were overjoyed. You did a group facetime with your mom and Elina to tell the good news. They were screaming on the phone with joy. Along with your letter in the mail was your school uniform. You tried on the uniform and showed it to your mom and Elina as you did small poses in the outfit. Everything hit you like a brick later that night as you were getting ready for bed. You stared up at the blank ceiling of your room, falling asleep as you finally realized that you had one more week until school had officially started.

The night before your first day, you made sure that you were extra prepared. You set out your uniform and made sure that your backpack was packed. The morning you woke up, your dad had prepared you a 'nice first-day' breakfast and had called your mom so that she could tell you to have a good first day. You couldn’t wait to get to school, and for some reason, you weren’t nervous at all. Even though you were a little worried about your Japanese and introductions, the excitement was filling up every concern in your mind. Today was the day to the start of your new hero life, and nothing could change that.

You wave to your father goodbye as you nearly run into the building. Everything about the school was prominent, even down to the doors. You skim every sign, looking for classroom 1-A.

It took a lot of searching and asking before you finally found it. As you stepped into the classroom, you noticed all the students and one familiar face. What a coincidence that you and Momo ended up in the class. You immediately approach the girl to tell her hi.

“Hey, Momo, I can’t believe that we’re in the same class. It’s so nice to already know someone in class.” You gleam at Momo.

“I know! I wasn't expecting us to be in the same class either. It’s like we were meant to meet each other.” Momo beams a smile at you.

As you and Momo continue to catch up with each other, you notice a blonde-haired male with a peculiar black lighting bolt streak walk up to you two.

“Good morning ladies, I just wanted to come and introduce myself to the two of you. My name is Kaminari Denki, and can I say the two of you look very pretty this morning.” Denki smirks smugly at you and Momo.

You look at Denki and burst out laughing. He undoubtedly made an interesting first impression on you. It was just so funny that on your first day you were already receiving a compliment. Not that you didn’t like the compliment; it was just so sudden that it caught you off guard, and you thought it was funny.

“What are you laughing at?” Denki questions you, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m sorry, I just wasn’t expecting you to come over and give us a compliment, but thank you!” You look at Denki, giving him a smile after your laughter subsided.

Denki gazes at you, and you can see that he is a little embarrassed by the redness in his ears. He opened his mouth for a second before he turned around to leave.

“Hey, wait! What were you about to say just now?” You reach out and grab his arm so he wouldn’t leave so soon. You kind of felt bad because you thought you hurt his feelings by laughing at him.

“Well, if you must know, I was just gonna say that I meant every word I said just now before you laughed at me,” Denki pouted, puffing out his chest.

It was your turn to get a little embarrassed this time, but lucky for you, it’s not like anyone can notice if you did. Although, the room did feel a bit warmer than before.

“By the way, I never got your name,” Denki mumbles.

You tell him your full name but insist he must call you by your first name since that is what you are used to. You then look up at Denki and say while flashing him one more smile.

“Okay, well, then since I’m calling you by your first name, you should call me by mine too,” Denki points his thumb at himself, adding in a wink.

From that day forward, you and Denki were attached by the hip. You two were inseparable. You never thought that you would make another genuine friend in such a short amount of time, but you couldn’t have been happier. You never thought that you could meet anyone as good as Elina until Denki. You realized soon after your friendship started to blossom that he was truly the guy version of Elina. He was funny, kind, and a complete airhead just like her, but above all else, he had the same drive and determination that never stopped no matter what the goal was- just like she did. Even if it was difficult, they still pushed through, and that’s what you loved so much about both of their characters.

So, how could someone so close to you end up so far away?

Notes:

sorryyyy for the late post 😋

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Summary:

You go out for an unexpected lunch and catch up with some old friends.

Chapter 5

It's been two weeks since the Hero Awards, and you have never been so drained. Being a hero therapist means whenever they get their ego bruised, they need reassurance. By that, you mean things like, ‘everything's gonna be okay, and ‘you'll get up there next time, buddy.' It's like communicating with toddlers, and you mean that in the most modest way possible. But the best part about it is your salary was pretty hefty during times like that. Still, nothing compared to what a pro gets paid but still a pretty generous amount. So when you have extra spending money, the best thing to do is, well, spend it. So that’s what you did.

You purchased some shoes about a week ago, and they didn't fit correctly, so you've been meaning to return them. Although dealing with your busy schedule and the fact that you got in a very expressive fight with Denki, you haven't had the time. With your day cleared and nothing better to do, why not go return them now?

You put on gray sweatpants, an oversized graphic sweatshirt, and some white air forces. You put your hair into a low bun with a slick back side part and did your edges. You picked up an extra coat just in case and grabbed the bag with the shoes, and headed out the door.

After driving to the mall, you make your way to the store to return your shoes. You return your shoes and decide to go to a couple more stores since you’re already here. You make your way out of the last store for the day until you hear your name being called from a distance.

You hear someone calling your name and look over to see Uraraka waving her hand signaling that she was the one calling your name.

You wave back, walking over to her, wondering what she could possibly be doing at the mall.

“Hey Ochako, what are you doing here?”

“I decided to come here since I had a day off today. I’m also going out to lunch with Deku, Iida, Todoroki, and Tsu.”

“Oh, that sounds nice. Well, you have fun on your day off and tell everyone I said hi.”

Ochako faced you with a bright closed-eye smile on her face that went ear to ear. Then she began to look with wide eyes.

“You know what? How ‘bout you come and tell them hi yourself. I’d bet they’d love to see you too.”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to intrude on your day off? I know it’s hard for heroes to get days off.”

“No, I insist you must come. Besides the last time we hung out, I was drunk out of my mind, and you never go to hang out with the guys, so think of this as another get-together. Just with fewer people.”

“Well if you insist that it’s okay, then I’ll come, but could you at least let them know that I’m coming first.”

“What’s the fun in that? I want to surprise them.”

You roll your eyes at Ochako’s last comment. It was already bad enough that she was practically forcing you to come to hang out with her and your old friend. To not even let them know that you would be coming was another.

“Okay, let’s not keep them waiting any longer!”

“What do you mean to keep them waiting? Are you late to lunch?”

“Only by like ten minutes, but who’s really counting?” Ochako says with a shrug.

Ochako begins to grab you by the arm and practically drag you out of the mall. You were honestly surprised that she was so strong, and she had a mean grip. You assumed it was from all the hero training, though.

“Wait, Ochako, slow down! You never even sent me the address to the place we’re going to.”

“Oh yeah, you’re right, my bad.”

You two stop in the middle of the parking lot, and she pulls out her phone. She begins to type something on her phone as a car honks at her. You two move out the way so that the vehicle can pass.

“I’m so sorry, mister. I didn’t even realize we were in the middle of the road,” Ochako gasps as she stares at the car.

At this moment, you wondered how in the world was Ochako a real hero when she was so clumsy. Ochako returns to doing whatever she was doing on her phone before putting it back in her purse. You feel a little buzz in your pocket, signifying that you got a notification on your phone.

“I just sent you the address to the place, so don’t be late,” Ochako states while pointing at you, letting out a small chuckle.

“Sorry to break it to you, but we are already late,” You respond with a finger pointed towards her and letting out a snicker as well.

“Okay, well, I’ll see you at the place,” Ochako says as she waves goodbye and walks towards her car.

You walk to your car as well and hop in. You pull your phone out from your pocket to look at the address that Ochako had sent you. You click on the link, and the address pops up along with the name of the place. You realize that you have never heard of the area before, but you were always down to try new things.

You pull out your parking spot and begin to drive. The place wasn’t very far from the mall, but you expected as much since Ochako didn’t mind being late. You arrive in less than ten minutes and begin to look for a parking spot. As you get out of the car and begin to walk, you notice that the place looks a bit fancier than expected and begin to think you are underdressed for the mini outing.

“Oh great, we got here at the same time. That's a relief. If we didn’t, then I would have to come to look for you, and that means we would be even later than we already are.”

“You didn’t tell me that we would be eating at a nice restaurant. I thought it would be like a cafe or something. I feel undressed.”

“Oh, you’ll be fine none of us are going to care. Besides, we’re already here so no turning back now.”

You look over at Ochako and notice that she was wearing rather nice clothes to just go shopping in. She had on a white turtleneck that clung to her frame, a white overcoat that stopped a little below her knees, and some pink business pants that hugged her thighs. To top it all off, she had some pink pointed-toe heels that matched her pants along with a white mini handbag. You questioned how you didn’t notice her choice of clothes before.

After you finish looking over her outfit, you begin to look down at yours. You were definitely a little more than underdressed; you were very much underdressed. You looked like you just woke up and walked out of the house compared to Ochako. Even though you felt like you were out of place, you still wanted to go inside and take the opportunity to catch up with everyone. Also, who were you to pass up free food? By the looks of the place, you could tell that the food was going to be exquisite.

You and Ochako walked into the building and stopped at the front desk to check on the reservation. Ochako begins to talk to the lady at the front.

“Goodaftern ma'am, how may I help you?” The woman at the desk states.

“Hi, good afternoon, Ochako party of six,” Ochako tells the women so that you two could be seated.

“Oh yes, perfect. Your party is waiting for you, right this way ma’am.”

You and Ochako follow the lady to your seats. As the two of you are walking, you realize that Ochako said six people instead of five. You turn to Ochako and question her.

“When did you make a reservation for me?”

“On the car ride over here. I didn’t want to show up here, and they say that you can’t sit with us.”

“Oh well, thank you.”

“No problem!”

“Your party is right here ma’am, please enjoy,” The lady says as she sets two menus on the table and walks away.

“Hey guys,” Ochako says as she walks up and gives Tsu a hug. “I’m sorry if I took too long, I had to stop at the mall, and I ended up running into her, so I decided I would bring her with me.” Ochako continues pointing towards you.

“Hello, it’s so nice seeing you this afternoon,” Iida says as he greets you.

“Hey,” Izuku says, giving you a soft smile. “I didn’t think I would see you after the hero awards.”

“Hi,” Shoto says, glancing at you then going back to whatever he was doing.

You collectively greeted everyone and made your way to the empty seat next to Shoto. Ochako pulled out her chair, sitting next to Izuku, and started browsing the menu.

“Have you ever been here before?” Izuku asks you looking up from his menu.

“No, I haven’t,” you say while looking up from your menu. “I’m not really sure what to get.”

“The Unagi Don is amazing here,” Ochako says, looking at the menu.

“I might have to try it then,” You say, looking over the rest of the menu.

You all continued to talk and catch up while waiting for the food to come out. The conversation veers to many different topics. From how everyone's jobs are going to what they have been up, to since the last time they had all hung out in a group setting like this. Somehow during the conversation, you and Denki had become the hot topic.

“Oh, after the party, where did you and Denki go?” Tsu questioned you with a puzzled look on her face.

You were at a loss for words. Out of all the things we could have talked about, why did it have to be Denki? He was a sore subject for you right now since you two hadn’t spoken since that night. You decide to just answer her question in hopes that she drops the subject.

“Oh, we just went to this diner down the street,” You say while trying not to glare at Tsu.

“Yeah, Momo said you were gonna be gone for 15 minutes, but you never came back,” Tsu said while grabbing her water.

You mimic Tsu and take a sip of your water. You were starting to get really tired of the topic at hand. Shoto interjects her and starts to add on to the conversation.

“Didn’t Denki used to like you?” Shoto says while checking his phone.

Your eyes widen at the sudden statement. “No, I never knew that-” you say while being cut off by Shoto putting his phone down to address something else.

“Izuku liked you too,” Shoto states bluntly.

Your mouth gapes open, ready to say something quickly interrupted by the continuous choking coming from in front of you. Izuku’s face is red as he pats Ochako on the back. You stare at Shoto, and you start to wonder what provoked him to say such things.

Your brain was going a hundred miles per hour as you seemed to have the whole conversation on loop in your head. You start to think of what Shoto said about the two boys. What he had said about Denki was a question but what he said about Izuku was a statement. Shoto knew that Izuku liked you back in high school.

“Oh, look everyone, the food is here!” Iida exclaimed awkwardly.

Maybe coming to lunch wasn’t a good idea, you thought to yourself briefly as your food was placed in front of you. You didn't even know if you were hungry anymore, the embarrassment making you lose your appetite. No one at the table knew what to say next, so you decided to break the silence.

“So, how’s everyone’s food?” You say while everyone directs their attention towards you.

They all speak over each other, saying that it was good, and it went back to silence again. You get a notification on your phone from your one and only savior, Mina. You open the text message and begin to read it. She texted you to come over because she insists that she dropped so much water on the stairs and slipped and fell all the way down the staircase. She says that you need to come to see her right now because life is too short, and she could have died at that very moment.

You text her back and tell her that you would be over right away since you suddenly had so much free time. You couldn’t have been any happier at that moment. You had to get out of that restaurant and fast, and Mina just offered you the perfect opportunity.

“I’m so sorry guys, but I just got a text from Mina saying she got hurt.”

“Oh my god, is she okay?” Ochako says worriedly.

“Yeah, she should be fine. I just want to make sure she’s ok,” you say while getting up and taking your wallet out to pay for your meal.

“It was so nice seeing all of you again.”

“Bye, it was very nice seeing you, and I hope that Mina will be okay. I would hate for this to affect her hero work,” Iida exclaims, waving goodbye.

You walk out of the restaurant, taking your keys out of your pocket. You then get interrupted by a familiar voice. You turn around to see Midoriya calling out your name as he ran up to your car before you could leave.

“What’s up, Izuku?”

“I wanted to give you this,” he held his hand out, which held the money you left on the table for your bill.

“I knew if I said I would have paid, you would have declined, so I waited until you were out of the restaurant,” he says while laughing softly.

You looked up at him with a questioning look, then proceeded to look back at the money in his hand. It took you a moment to process everything and mouthed the word ‘O’ before you began to speak to him.

“Izuku, you don’t have to do that.” You spoke softly.

“Yeah, I know,” he said while rubbing the back of his neck. “But after Ochako dragging you here and what happened at the table-“

“Thank you,” you interjected while smiling.

“You’re welcome,” Izuku says while reaching for your car door and opening it for you.

You thank him once more as you get in your car. You head to Mina’s house to give her a giant hug for saving you from the most awkward conversation you have ever had in your life.

Extra Notes:

Sorry for the late post lol

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Summary:

A look into the past.

Chapter 4

-FLASHBACK-

You were in the middle of eighth grade and still living in America. Sitting at your desk, you were waiting for class to end, as the day had been uneventful and you were ready for it to be over. You were on the verge of falling asleep, feeling weighed down by the tedium of your advanced classes and the numerous clubs you were involved in. Although the administration suggested you join the school council, it never felt like the right fit for you. Your parents even wanted you to skip a grade, but you couldn’t bear the thought of leaving your best friend behind.

You didn’t have many friends in school. Many people were friendly with you, but you could tell that their kindness was fake. Whenever someone would be nice and talk to you, it would always end up with them asking for you to give answers to homework or even asking if you could do the work for them. You never thought that you would meet someone genuine until you met your best friend, Elina.

Elina never took advantage of you like everyone else. She wasn’t even as smart as you. Hell, Elina may have even been the slowest girl you have ever met. She wasn’t in any of your academic classes- or any of your classes- for that matter. You two met when the mere girl stumbled upon you during the spelling bee.

She was on her way to cheerleading tryouts. The tryouts were moved to the gym instead of the auditorium due to the spelling bee. Elina never got the message, and that was how she ended in the theater, watching you spell words. She claims to this very day that you are the fastest speller in the world, but you always tell her that if you were you would be in a book of world records.

“Please report to the counseling suite.” Your head pops up from hearing your name called over the intercom.

You get up out of your seat and grab a hall pass before heading out the door. As you walked to the counseling suite, you wondered what they could have possibly wanted from you this time. You hoped it wasn’t another conversation about you joining the student council or moving up a few grades. One thing you were really dreading was them asking you to talk to some random people about your quirk again and demonstrate it for them.

Your quirk was something that everyone seemed to fawn over. Your school would always call you up to the councilors suite so that you could show off your quirk to random businessmen and women. You weren’t even sure if your parents knew about this, but you never seemed to tell them. Most of the time, your councilors would say to become a hero in the future; people had to examine your quirk. It was always your dream to be a hero, so as much as it bothered you, you’d always end up showing your quirk off anyway. This time around was different, though. The administrators have never called you in the middle of class; it would always be at the end of the school day.

You finally arrive at the counseling suite and can already see two people inside. You knock on the door and wait for someone to sign that it is ok for you to come into the room.

“Please, come in. We have been waiting for you,” your counselor stated as you opened the door.

You walk into the room and let the door shut behind you. The two people that are there to see you look overjoyed. You give them a look of confusion as you walk to your usual seat in the corner of the room.

“It is so very nice to meet you, miss. It is an honor to finally meet you in person. We have been admiring you for quite a while now,” The lady says with a very thick accent.

“Oh, hello, it’s nice to meet you as well. Sorry, but I never caught your name,” You say as you greet the woman that is standing in front of you.

“Apologies; how could I have been so rude. Please call me Mrs. Yagiyama, and this over here is my co-worker Mr. Yato. We have both come here on behalf of UA high school to formally invite you to our prestigious academy,” Mrs. Yagiyama reveals as you look at her in awe.

The UA high wanted to invite you to their prestigious school. They sent workers from Japan to the United States of America to tell you that you have been requested to attend their school. This had to be a dream. None of this made sense to you.

“I’m sorry, I am not sure that I heard you correctly; you said that you wanted me to attend UA high school,” You stammered as if it were the craziest question on earth.

“Yes, you are correct. Like I said before, we are all very hopeful that you will accept this offer. We wish that you will join and work with us to be the best top hero that you can possibly be. So, yes, you are the perfect fit for what we are looking for at UA high,” Mrs. Yagiyama went on courteously.

“Wow, that was a lot to take in. I would love to attend your school, but I really need to ask my parents first, and my family would have to pick up and move to Japan, and I don’t even know any Japanese, neither do my parents and-” You were cut off from your babbling by Mrs. Yagiyama.

“We know that, but we have everything planned out so that you should be able to come to our school without any problems. Let me explain a little more. You see, over the summer- and your ninth-grade year- you will catch up to the curriculum that students in Japan are currently learning. We have everything in this folder that will explain this further. You will have a tutor teach you everything you need to know during that time, that is you agree to the terms of course,” Mrs. Yagiyama explains as she hands you the folder.

“Thank you, this is such an amazing opportunity. My parents will never believe this when I tell them. I am not sure that I can ever thank you enough for this opportunity,” You beam, grasping onto the folder.

“This may not be the thank you that you were thinking of, but could you please demonstrate and explain your quirk for us? I and many others have been desiring to see it up close and personal and for you to explain how it works in your own words.”

“Is that really it? You just want me to show you my quirk and explain how it works? You, people, are pretty easy to please, aren’t you, but ok,” You scoffed, putting down the folder.

You get up from your chair, and your eyes begin to glow a bright yellow, signifying that you activated your quirk. You look over to your counselor and ask if they could demonstrate their quirk. From there, you copy their quirk. Their quirk was invisibility. You instantly turn invisible and walk over to tap Mr. Yato on the shoulder. Then you turn yourself visible again and deactivate the quirk. Everyone turns around and sees you standing behind Mr. Yato.

“So, as you two know already, my quirk is Copy. I get most of my power from the sun. That's the reason my eyes turn yellow when I activate my quirk. I can only copy a quirk if I know exactly how it works, and I have to see it in action before I can use it. Hence why I asked for a quirk demonstration before turning invisible too. I can only hold two quirks at a time for ten minutes each for a total of sixty minutes before all my vitamin D runs out. If that happens, I become very lightheaded and nearly pass out,” You explain, trying not to exclude anything.

You then look over to Mrs. Yagiyama and begin to ask her a couple of questions. She seems to know what you are going to ask and hands you a small piece of paper. You open it and see all the answers to the questions you would have asked.

“I was kind of hoping you would use me as a demonstration, so I took the liberty of writing down my height, weight, arm length, leg length, and waist-length,” Mrs. Yagiyama says.

You quirk an eyebrow at her but waste no time to turn into her. She looks at you like it’s the most marvelous thing that she has ever seen in her life. The only difference between you and her was that she was wearing a suit with a pin, tight skirt, and you had on your black polo and grey skirt with black leggings. You then shifted back into yourself.

“As you two know, again, I can shift into a person if I know their exact measurements. This takes a lot more energy out of me than just taking a quirk. I can only copy one person at a time, though. I can do this for up to thirty minutes each time, but I usually don’t do it because it requires too many things just to get it done. I also feel much more drained after time is up. There is one more thing that I can do, but I don’t like to demonstrate it, because it is very exhausting. I can take an appearance and quirk simultaneously, but it puts a lot of strain on my body. I can only do it for fifteen minutes at a time, and I can only copy one person and their quirk each time. This takes a lot more focus to do, and it is so draining that after fifteen minutes are up, I completely pass out. Do you guys have any more questions?” You state as you wrap up your mini-lesson on your quirk.

Mrs. Yagiyama and Mr. Yato begin clapping at the end of your speech. They both thank you for taking time out of your day to hear them out and tell them about your quirk. Mrs. Yagiyama hands you a card and tells you when you come to a final decision to give her a call and let her know. You all exchange your goodbyes, and you head back to class. By the time you get back, school is over, and you begin to pack your things up. You walk to the front of the school building to meet Elina so that you two can walk home together, and you tell her everything that went down in the suite as you walk home.

Denki’s POV

“Well, maybe if you didn’t give up on trying to be a hero, then none of this would be the way it is-”

“I’m going to stop you right there, 'cause you have no right to disrespect me like that. You, of all people, should know the real reason that I didn’t want to become a pro. So how dare you go and say something like that to my face?”

You were gone just like that. You left the diner faster than the conversation started. It felt like everything went back to how it was in high school, but I had to mess it up.

“What the hell just happened?” Denki pondered to himself, sitting there in the diner, dumbfounded.

Denki truly didn’t understand why you got so mad. You never tried to visit him when you knew where he was at. You stopped texting and calling him out of the blue. It was like you vanished from the planet without a trace. So, how could you be mad at him for leaving him behind? You never once told him that you were a therapist. He had to find out just a few moments ago when you were screaming your head off at him. This all had to be a sick, cruel joke. None of it made sense. One moment you two were talking like the best friends you used to be, then the next, you were getting up and walking out the diner, leaving him alone once again.

Denki pulled his wallet out of his pocket to pay the bill and got up to leave the diner. He stood outside, waiting for his Uber to arrive at the location. He was thinking about the whole conversation again, analyzing everything you said, leading him to this point. Was Denki actually in the wrong? No, you were the one who stopped texting him; he was only asking a simple question, right?

Denki gets in his Uber and heads to Mina and Eijiro’s house. He texts Eijiro and lets him know that he’s on his way. Once he arrived, he got out of the Uber and made his way to his car. He thought about going and saying hello to Mina and Eijiro, but knowing them, they were most likely knocked out. Denki began pulling his keys out until he saw someone coming out of the front door.

“Oh, hey Denki. Mina and Eijiro are both passed out if you were here to see them,” Momo waved while walking up to Denki.

“Oh no, I just came to pick up my car,” Denki says in a dry tone while waving his keys to show Momo.

“Oh, ok, that makes sense,” Momo chuckles and realizes that something is off with Denki. “Are you ok?” she asks with concern on her face.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m good,” Denki affirmed while snapping out of his thoughts.

“Apologies, I just thought that because when I was on the phone with… earlier,” Momo trails off trying not to bring up your name just in case you were the reason Denki was acting off. “She sounded off too, and I-”

“Hold up, you talked to her?” Denki interjected.

“Yeah. Is there something I should be concerned about?” Momo questioned with a look of confusion on her face, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Uh, no, don't worry about it,” he assured, smiling slightly.

“Are you sure? If you need me to tell her anything, I can call her for you,” She tilts her head reassuringly.

“No, I'm good for real, but it was good talking to you, but I should get going now.” Denki lies, smiling reassuringly.

“Oh ok, just call me when you ever need anything I’ll always be there for you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I do. And if you need anything, I’m here too,” He gave a small smile.

Momo smiles back while reaching in her back pocket, pulling out her phone, smiling, and responding back to whoever texted her. Denki starts to get in his car when Momo stops him to tell him something.

“Speaking of the devil, she just texted me,” Momo said, waving her phone in her hand.

“Oh, what did she say?” He replies in a nonchalant tone.

“She just told me that she made it home safely.”

Denki hummed in response, not wanting to continue the conversation any further. A car pulled by the sidewalk as Momo gazed at her phone.

“Well, it looks like my ride here,” Denki directs his gaze towards Momo as she walks to the car. “It was nice of you again. Oh, and congratulations on your promotion.” She waves goodbye while getting in the car.

Denki gets in his car to drive home after his long day. As he went home, he wished that his day could have been better than it was. Seeing you for the first time after years, he hoped that the encounter could have been better. He never expected to meet you at the ceremony, let alone leave in the same car as you, then proceed to take you to dinner. He never intended to get into a screaming match with you and have you walk out on him. If he could go and change one part of the night, it would be never showing up to Mina and Eijiro’s place and agreeing to take the same car as them. If he never did, then you and he would have never spoken in the first place, and maybe none of this would have happened.

Denki finally arrives at his house and makes his way inside. He couldn’t keep his mind off you and was starting to irritate him a little. He runs a hand through his hair and proceeds to walk towards the bathroom. He was hoping that a nice shower would calm him down and get his mind off of you. He hopped in the shower and scrubbed off all the dirt from his miserable day.

Once Denki got out of the shower, he still couldn’t get thoughts of you out of his head. He pulled on a sweater and some shorts and grabbed his phone before calling someone.

“Hey, could you come over? I really need your company right now,” Denki says, speaking into his phone.

“If ‘need your company’ means having sex, then just say that.”

“You know I can’t do that to you. It sounds wrong if I’m just calling you for a quickie.”

“Well you basically just admitted to it, so it all sounds bad, but I’ll be over in about 30 minutes.”

Jiro hangs up the phone and tosses it on the bed. She begins to pack a bag before heading over to Denki’s to ‘keep him company’.

Extra Notes:

Hey, I just wanted to say that these first few chapters were made a few years back, so please don’t mind any grammar mistakes! We honestly don’t feel like going back and fixing them lol…but you can really see the writing development as the story progresses so stick around!

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Summary:

You and Denki have a night out.

Chapter 3

"Hey Denki," You greet Denki from the bar and find a spot sitting down right next to him.

As you sit down next to Denki, you notice that he seems a little off. You can tell that he’s not drunk, but you can’t seem to figure out what is wrong with him. He finally turns to look at you, and you notice how his eyes seem to travel, looking at you up and down.

“Hey, what are you doing here? I thought you were hanging out with the girls.”

“I was, but Mina threw up on Tsu, and I decided it would be a good time to check up on you. Besides, Momo is watching over the others right now.”

“Oh, okay,” Denki deadpans.

“Uh, so what are you doing over here? How come you’re not hanging out with the guys?”

“I was at first, but then I went to the bathroom and never went back.”

“How come?”

“Just didn't feel like it.”

“Oh, alright,” You say, giving Denki a questioning look.

You definitely knew something was wrong with him now. He answered you as if it was a chore, almost like he did not care to talk to you. An awkward silence begins to fall over you two again, similar to the car ride over here. You want to say something to him, but you just don’t know what. You don’t really want to make things worse than they already are. When you are about ready to get up and walk away, you see Denki looking at you again. You look back at him, and the idea comes to mind;

“Oh Denki, I just remembered you were trying to tell me something when we first walked in here.”

“I was just asking if you wanted to have a drink with me, but since you’re about to leave, you don’t have to worry about it.”

“No, we can have a drink together. I was kind of hoping we could anyway since we’re at the bar.”

Denki calls over the bartender so that you can order a drink. You order a strawberry martini, and Denki gets a refill of whatever he was drinking. A short amount of time passes, and the bartender comes back with your drink. You begin to sip on your beverage as you thank Denki for getting it for you.

“Thanks for the drink! I can’t remember the last time I had a martini.”

“Oh, you’re welcome. Is it good?”

“Yeah, it really is.”

For the third time in one night, you’re faced with awkward silence. You begin to question your decision to come and find Denki in the first place. Why was everything so uncomfortable when you two used to be the best of friends? Why couldn’t you talk like regular people? Why couldn’t things just go back to normal? Maybe you two were meant to fall out. Maybe, you should just stop trying to mend this friendship. It didn’t work three and a half years ago, so what made you think it would work now?

You were cut out of your thoughts when you felt eyes staring at you again. You look over to Denki, but he doesn’t seem to notice. You really don’t understand why he keeps looking over at you. It looks like he wants to say something but won’t. You decide to take it upon yourself to snap Denki out of his trance.

“Um, Denki, are you okay? You just keep staring at me. Do I have something on me?” You begin to ask Denki, dusting all around your body.

His eyes widened from the fact that you noticed him staring. You can see that he is embarrassed from the end of his ears turning red. You begin to think that he was just deep in thought, and it looked like he was staring at you. When you looked at him earlier, you could tell that he had something on his mind, and he looked like he wanted to say something.

“Denki, do you have something to tell me? You looked like you were deep in thought earlier,” You ask Denki bluntly.

“Oh, I just thought that you looked pretty in that dress.”

Now it was your turn to be a little embarrassed. What Denki said caught you off guard. It’s not like you never received a compliment from Denki before...it’s just been a while. After all the awkwardness that happened tonight, you didn’t think he would say something like that. Somehow this compliment felt different, though. You couldn’t pinpoint why it felt so different, but it just did. He sounded different this time around. Did his voice get deeper?

“Thank you. You look pretty good yourself.”

“Do you wanna get out of here?” he says abruptly.

“What? I don't know, I don’t just wanna leave Mina and Eijiro here by themselves.”

“They’ll be fine, plus Momo or Tsu can drive them back if anything,” You look at him, pondering the decision “Come on I know a good place down the street, and it’s fucking loud in here.”

You roll your eyes playfully and smile “Okay, yeah, sure I’ll go.”

-

“I thought you said it was down the street,” You say while crossing your arms from the cold weather.

“Yeah, it was actually farther than I expected,” he says while rubbing the back of his neck.

“So, are you gonna tell me where we're going?”

“Oh, it's this little diner shop. I don’t really go there as much because of pro hero work, but since it was nearby, I thought it would be a nice time to stop by.”

As you two were walking, you noticed that your surroundings seemed familiar. You started to remember an ice cream shop down the road and a couple of little shops. You and Denki used to come here all the time during your UA days. Then suddenly you got back a memory that you forgot you had. You finally remembered the diner Denki was talking about. You and he would always go on your days off. He would get a hamburger claiming that they were the best in the world, and you would always try something different on the menu.

“Denki, if you wanted to take me to Yui’s Diner, then why didn’t you just tell me that?” You ask Denki, giving him a small smile.

“I kind of wanted it to be a surprise, but I guess you realized even before we got there.”

“You would have to blindfold me to forget a place like this.”

You and Denki approach the building, and he opens the door to let you in first. You two are seated at a booth with you sitting right in front of him. You both order drinks and look over the menu to see what you each want to eat.

“What are you going to get? Denki asked curiously.

“I’m not fully sure yet, but I think I’ll get chicken udon soup. I haven’t tried it yet. What are you going to get?”

“Well, of course, the best thing on the menu. Yui’s famous hamburger. I’ll never get tired of eating it. I swear it gets better every time I order it.”

You laugh at his comment and continue to question why he thinks their burgers are the best. Both of you sit and wait for your food to come out after ordering. A comfortable silence falls over you two. It feels just like old times. You let out a small smile as you begin to reminisce.

“What are you smiling about?” Denki asked, looking at you.

“I was just thinking back to when we would do this back in UA. Back when life felt a little more simple,” You say, whispering the last part under your breath.

Denki begins to look at you. You notice that he looks at you like he is guilty of something. You would never admit it to Denki, but part of you did resent him. Not because he became a hero and you didn’t. It was your choice not to become a hero, but you just felt like maybe if he didn’t become so distant from you, then perhaps, you two would still have moments like this. You had grown tired of being the only one trying to reach out. So, you took it upon yourself to stop, and he just never took it upon himself to pick up the slack.

“I have one chicken udon soup and one hamburger. Please enjoy your food.” The waitress says, handing out our meals.

You and Denki start to eat your food. He continues to talk about how the burger is the best in the world. You can tell that he is really enjoying his burger. He ends up finishing his food before you.

“Was the food good, Denki? You ate it like it was gonna be your last meal,” You snicker, pointing to his plate.

“I told you it was good. It was even better since I haven’t had it in like three years.”

“Are you telling me that you haven’t been here since the last time we hung out?”

“Well, maybe, I don’t really remember,” he shrugged his shoulders.

You look at Denki and shake your head. You knew he was lying, you weren’t sure why he was lying, but he was. Denki was never a good liar. You look up from your food and can see that he still has something to say.

“Why don’t you just tell me what you have to say instead of waiting for me to ask?”

“Why did you stop texting me?” Denki blurts out.

You glare at Denki as if he just asked the most idiotic question in the world. How could he be so dense to ask such a question? Did he really not know why you stopped texting him? At this point, you were ready to get up and walk away. Did he really take you out to dinner to ask you why you stopped texting him? As much as you wanted to go, you found this an opportunity to talk about the whole situation.

“I never wanted to stop talking to you. It was just a bad time for both of us, I guess.”

“You should have tried to visit me. You knew what agency I was at.”

At this point, you were really starting to get angry. How was Denki going to get mad at you for something he never tried to do. He never once tried to call or text you. He never once tried to see where you were or how you were doing.

“I shouldn’t have been the only one trying. I texted you on multiple occasions, and you never responded once. I would try to call, and never once did you try to call me back.”

“You know I was busy trying to train. Those were the most stressful days of my life. So sorry if I couldn’t respond every now and then, but you’re acting like I wasn’t busy.”

“Who says I wasn’t busy too? I was busy every day. In my free time, I always tried to reach out and see how you were doing. You know, trying to become a therapist is no easy job either.”

“I never said being a therapist was an easy job, but at least you are not out all day busting your ass and risking your life to save people.”

“Who says I wasn’t out busting my ass during my college days. Tuition isn’t free for everyone you know. Life wasn’t handed to me on a silver platter. I’m still paying off student loans to this very day.”

At this point, you and Denki are in a heated argument. He’s being so unreasonable that you just can’t help but yell at him. Lucky for you two, no one was in the diner at this hour. You thought that you two could handle this conversion like civilized adults, but clearly, you were wrong. You were one more statement anyway from getting up and leaving the building.

“Well maybe if you didn’t give up on trying to be a hero, then none of this would be the way it is-”

Denki was cut off from finishing his sentence when you abruptly got up from your seat and nearly started to break down.

“I’m going to stop you right there, 'cause you have no right to disrespect me like that. You, of all people, should know the real reason that I didn’t want to become a pro. So how dare you go and say something like that to my face?” You snapped at Denki.

You begin to walk out the door tearing up. This had to be the most frustrating conversation that you have ever had in your lifetime. You couldn’t believe Denki even had the nerve to say something like that to you. You hail a cab back to the parking garage. You would have just walked back there, but you couldn’t chance Denki trying to run after you.

While in the cab, you get a call on your phone. You really don’t want to check and see who it is because you assume it is Denki, but then they call again, and you decide to see who it is. You look at the caller ID and see that Momo is calling you. You choose to pick up the phone.

“Hello,” You say, sounding like you just got your heart ripped out.

“Are you okay? You don’t sound too good. Where did you go earlier? You had me really worried you said you would be back no later than fifteen minutes,” Momo asked, sounding like a worried mother.

��I’m fine. I just went to go get some food with Denki.” You only tell Momo the half-truth. In all honesty, you're nowhere near being fine.

“Well, as long as you're okay, that’s all that matters. Since you're already out, I can take care of things over here and get Mina and Eijiro home. I took an Uber over here so I can drop them home then get another Uber back for myself.”

“Oh, thank you, Momo. You didn’t have to do that.”

“It’s no problem. I’ll see you later. Make sure to text me when you get home.”

“I will, bye,” You get off the phone with Momo and check the time. It was almost four in the morning.

You let out a sigh and began to text Mina and let her know that you went out to eat with Denki and drove back home. The driver finally pulled up to the parking garage. You paid him and then started to walk to your car. As you walked, you realized that the temperature may have dropped some more because you were at a full-on shiver now. You finally reached your vehicle and hopped in. You quickly put on the heat to warm yourself up. You couldn’t wait to get home after what felt like the longest day of your life.

You pull out of the parking garage and begin to drive home. You didn’t want to do anything but get home and out of these clothes. You tried to stop thinking about the argument on your drive home, but you just could not help it. You still couldn’t believe the words that he had uttered out of his mouth. They just made you angrier and angrier as you seemed to have them on replay in your mind.

You sigh exhaustingly as you finally make it to your studio apartment and parking. You pull out your keys as fast as you can so that you can open your door quicker. You waste no time walking in your home and slipping off your shoes and tossing them somewhere off to a corner. Pulling out your phone, you send Momo a quick text to let her know you made it home safe. You strip off your dress and don’t even bother to put on pajamas. You flop on your bed and fall asleep quicker than usual, especially with all the thoughts running through your head. You couldn't help but think of your past as you drift into a deep sleep.

Extra Notes:

Oh the drama I love it. I hope you all love it as much as I do because things get messier from here. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and leave me a like and a comment because they make me feel extra special!! <3

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Summary:

The hero gala is over and everyone is ready to go out for the night to celebrate... or so you thought.

Chapter 2

“Over here girl.”

You look over from the large crowd and see a pink hand waving at you. You try to shove your way through the crowd trying to make it backstage to Mina and Eijiro. You finally get to both of them and see Denki standing next to them talking.

“Hey, we lost you for a minute, sorry.”

“No, it’s fine.”

You try to assure Mina that it is not her fault for getting lost in the big crowd. You begin to think if Denki notices you standing right in front of him. It is not like you really want to start awkward small talk with him, but at least you could say something to break the ice.

“Congratulations, everyone. It was nice to see how far y’all have made it in your Pro Hero journey. I’m really proud of all of you tonight!” You begin to congratulate everyone with a smile.

“Thanks, girl, you're so sweet,” Mina says as she wraps you in a big hug.

“Thanks but I’m really proud of my bro over here. Who knew you would be taking home the seventh spot tonight!” Eijiro exclaims, patting Denki on the back.

“Okay, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I’m ready to get out of here and go to the after-party. Your girl is ready to get her drink on. Are you going to come with us girl?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Isn’t the party only for pros though?”

“Yeah, but who cares? We’ll be there with you to let you in. Besides, think of it as a way to catch up with everyone.”

Thinking about it, you did feel like it would be nice to catch up with everyone and see how they were doing. Although, you already felt a little uncomfortable sitting in this place with all the pros around. Not to mention the fact that if you go to the after-party, you would have to see Denki more and deal with the awkward tension. He did not even acknowledge you when you faced him, not to mention he didn’t thank you for the congratulations. You ended up siding against your thoughts and agreeing to attend the after-party.

“Okay, well, if it’s fine, then I guess there is no harm in going.”

“Who said you could go to the party?” A voice from out of nowhere states.

“Oh, Katsuki, get over yourself. Besides, when's the last time you remember seeing her?” Mina said to Katsuki.

“First off, I don’t even remember this extra, and she’s not even a pro.”

“Come on, Kacchan, don't be like that. Oh, and hi, it’s nice seeing you after all these years,” Midoriya says, coming up to give you a hug.

“Hi Midoriya, you're just as nice as ever. I can’t say the same for some people I know,” You state, shooting a glare at Katsuki.

“Tch, whatever. If she’s going to come, then she’s going to come.”

“Then why did you say anything in the first place?” Mina barks at Katsuki.

“Shut the hell up!”

Katsuki and Mina continue to go back and forth with each other. Eijiro has to hold back Mina in the end to stop the fight. As you look around, you notice that Denki has disappeared. You let out a sigh of relief, knowing that you didn’t have to start an awkward conversation with him. In hindsight, having any conversation at all was better than just downright not talking to each other. The tension in the air felt so thick that you could cut it with a knife.

You begin to think that maybe you should have been the bigger person and try to say something to Denki. This tension that resides between the two of you is not desirable for your mental health. Hell, you know that better than anyone else. You are a therapist, after all. You need to sit down and talk to him one day and resolve whatever the problem is. Well, first, you have to figure out what the problem is, to begin with.

“Okay, everyone, let’s get this party started!” You look up and see everyone cheering at the statement Mina made.

“Oh, Mina, is it okay if I get a ride there with you and Ei? I’m pretty sure you two will need a designated driver by the end of the party too.”

“Yeah girl, that’s fine. We’ll drop you at your car after the party.”

“You mean I’ll drive myself to my car by the end of the party. Y’all be too far gone to even drive.”

“You know me too well, girl.”

You and Mina start to walk out of the building together, heading to her car. You walk out of the auditorium into the big front lobby until you reach the main doors. You two walk out of the building together and rush past the paparazzi so that they don’t ask you any more questions. As you continue to walk towards the car, Mina starts to tell you something.

“Oh girl, I forgot to tell you something. Promise you won’t get mad at me?”

You give Mina a questioning look and promise that you won’t get mad at her for not telling you something in advance.

“Denki is riding in the car with us,” Mina said, rushing out her words as she spoke.

“How could you forget to tell me something like that? I can’t really turn back now. You already told Ei, and I’m pretty sure he told Denki since he went to go look for him earlier when we were walking out of the building.”

“You can turn back now I’ll just tell him that you wanted to take your car instead since you left something in there. Or something like that.”

“There’s no point of lying to him, I'll just come with y’all. I have a question, though...why is he with you guys in the first place?”

“He came over to get a pair of shoes that he left at me and Ei’s place. Then we all agreed that we should just take one car to get here.”

You looked at Mina with understanding in your eyes. You found no point in going back to your car, as you and Denki could act like normal adults and ride in one car. You think it will be awkward, but it would only be a fifteen-minute drive there. So it wouldn’t kill you.

“Do you want me to sit in the back seat with Denki?”

“No, you don’t have to do that, but thank you.”

Your conversation was cut short when you heard Eijiro calling out to both of you.

“Hey guys, I found him. He was coming back from the bathroom.” Eijiro was calling out from the middle of the parking garage.

Eijiro and Denki continue to walk towards you and Mina until they reach the car.

“Are you guys ready to go?”

Eijiro says as he unlocks the car, opening the driver's side of the door while Mina sits in the passenger and you and Denki sit in the back. Eijiro starts the vehicle, and the music turns on. Mina starts singing, or more specifically, yelling whatever was playing on the radio. You hum the song playing in the car, but as you look through your peripheral, you can see Denki scrolling on Instagram, sitting the farthest he can away from you. You roll your eyes in annoyance and start singing along with Mina again.

“Denki?” Denki hums and looks up from his phone, waiting for Eijiro to ask his question.

“You good man?” he asked, sounding a little concerned.

“Yeah, I'm good, just a little tired from tonight and all,” he smiled, giving Eijiro no reason to be worried.

During their quick conversation, you found yourself staring at Denki. You're not gonna lie, Denki was an attractive man, and anyone can see it. As you continue to stare at him, Denki can feel eyes on him, and he catches you looking at him. You smile, feeling a little embarrassed but feeling that this is the right time to spark up a conversation.

“I don’t know if you heard me earlier backstage, but congratulations, and I'm really proud of you.”

“Thanks, I was actually surprised that I moved up, but I guess hard work really does pay off.”

You begin to chuckle at his comment. It’s more of an awkward chuckle than a real laugh. You honestly didn’t know what to say to Denki after that. You two haven’t talked in about three and a half years.

“Yeah it really does,” you say as the awkwardness fills up the back of the car.

“Are you not cold in that dress? It should be around 50°F outside,” he asked, trying to continue the conversation.

“Oh yeah, I didn't really have time to grab a coat earlier.”

“Oh, I barely got any sleep last night. I was so nervous today I thought I would get demoted from eighth place,” he huffed quietly under his breath.

“Well you're a great hero, Denki. I don't think you should have been worried,” You smiled reassuringly.

“Thanks. You know I’ve been meaning to-”

“We’re here y'all!” Mina said excitedly, getting out of the car as quickly as possible walking to the club.

“Mina, wait!” Eijiro scurries out of the car, running, trying to catch up to Mina.

You and Denki get out of the car. As you both walk to the front of the club, you remember Denki was going to ask you a question before Mina interrupted.

“What were you saying before in the car?”

“Hm?” he stares at you, confused.

You realize he doesn't know what you're talking about.

“You know, before Mina interrupted, I'm assuming you meant to tell me something?”

His eyes widened, remembering the conversation again.

“It was nothing important.”

“Oh,” You say, lacking emotion.

You two start to walk into the building, and you feel the cold air against your body. Maybe Denki was right; it was cold outside. You and Denki arrive at the door, and he opens it for you. You start to think that he is still the same gentleman that you used to know. You thank him for opening the door and continue to walk into the building. The building is warm as expected, due to all the people inside.

“Hey, do you want to get a drink with me? It’ll be our first time together since when I last saw you; we couldn’t drink yet,” Denki says under his breath.

“Huh? What did you say? I can’t hear you because the music is a little too loud, and you were whispering.”

“We’re over here!”

Mina calls out to you with all the other girls from class standing next to her. You're about to go over to them, but then you realize that you never heard what Denki said for the second time today.

“Hey, Denki, what were you about to say?”

“Oh, it was nothing. You should go have fun with the rest of the girls.”

“Are you sure this is literally the second time today that you tried to tell me something but then got interrupted? Are you sure you don’t need to tell me?”

“Yeah, I’m sure, just go have fun.”

“Ok well, I’ll see you back here later. Bye.”

You start to head towards the girls, and they all seem happy to see you. Momo starts to hand shots to everyone. You take one in your hand and down the whole thing. You didn't want to get drunk, not just because you would be driving everyone home tonight, but you also just didn’t like the feeling of being drunk.

The girls continue their night of drinking, but you only took one more shot after your first one. You decided to stick to a bottle of water for the rest of the night. You and the girls begin to start a conversation that veers to a different topic every minute. Most of the girls were drunk, and you could clearly tell. Only you and Tsuyu were sober. The two of you would laugh at the other girls in their drunken states.

“Enough 'bout ussss, how have you been?” Hagakure asked, slurring her words.

“Life’s going good; I don’t really have anything to complain about.” You say.

“What you neeeed to be complainin' about is the lack of men in yourrr life!” Mina says abruptly, taking another shot and throwing it into her mouth.

“What- no! Mina, you're just saying that ‘cause you’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk girllll, you're jus' the one nut drinkingaa!"

“Okay Mina, I think it’s time for us to get going now you're drunk as hell.”

“I’m fin-” Mina tries to finish her sentence as she begins to throw up on Tsuyu.

“Ewww, you got your nasty ass barf on Tsu, Mina!” Ochako exclaims.

“It’s okay, ribbit. I’ll just take Mina to the bathroom to clean ourselves off.”

“Guys, what is that stench?” Jirou yawned, waking up from her cat nap on the lounge chair.

“Mina threw up on Tsu,” You began to inform Jirou.

Tsuyu begins to take Mina to the bathroom to clean themselves off. You and the girls sit and wait for them to come back. As you're sitting, you begin to wonder what Denki could possibly be doing right now. You want to check on him and see what he was trying to tell you before you came to hang out with the girls, but you don’t want to leave them alone.

You look over at Momo, and you can tell that she is not fully sober but only a little buzzed. You ask her if she would be alright looking over everyone while you step away for a minute.

“Is it okay if I leave you with the girls for a few minutes or until Mina gets back?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. I’m pretty sure I’m sober enough to watch over them. Besides, Jirou went back to sleep, so I have one less person to worry about.”

You two exchanged your goodbyes, and you promised you would be back in not later than fifteen minutes. You wander around the club for a little bit looking for Denki. You finally spot him sitting alone at the bar, and you decide to join him.

Extra Notes:

So did you like my little cliffhanger? This was probably one of my favorite chapters to write since everyone was drunk. Please feel free to leave constructive criticism in the comments. See y'all next week with a new chapter! <3

[meganwiththeknees]

Distant

Summary:

You and Denki have been best friends since your first year at UA. Unforeseen circumstances lead the two of you to follow different paths in life which causes the two of you to fall out as friends. Now after three years, the two of you meet again and wish to sort things out. Will you two be able to mend a broken friendship, or does the universe have different plans for you?

Chapter 1

“How do you feel when I ask you more intimate questions about your past?” You ask the man sitting right in front of you. You always know what the answer will be, but being the person you are, you always hope for a new outcome.

You notice the way he starts to play with his hair, seeming like he wants to be anywhere but here. He’s sitting on a couch not too far away from you, hunched into himself, almost as if he’s trying to make himself appear smaller.

“Uhm, don’t know, I just feel a little uncomfortable talking about certain things,” he stammers, looking anywhere but in your direction.

You feel taken aback, not hurt by the answer, but the fact that he actually said something this time.

“What do you mean you feel uncomfortable? We’ve been talking for about six months?”

“I just feel like you're a little intimidating.” He continues, purposely not directing his gaze on you.

Your mind starts to race. Why would he think that? Are you really that intimidating? You keep your composure and review the neatly written notes in front of you from the past few months . This client has been taking a while to open up, but you didn’t think it had anything to do with your behavior.

“Do…do you not feel like we’ve made any progress these last few months?”

“Yes, yeah,” he finally looks back at you.

An alarm goes off signifying that your session is over.

“Okay, Mr. Yuki, we'll try this again next week and see what progress you’ve made. I can’t seem to get through to you if you won’t open up to me. So, please make sure to go through the lessons I gave you last week.”

Mr. Yuki stood up and you quickly followed suit. You proceed to head for the door to let him out of your office. You exchanged your goodbyes and quietly closed the door.

You let out an exhausted sigh, finally happy that the week was over, and looking forward to the events happening later that night.

You tidied up your office and packed your valuables, getting ready to leave after a long day. You quickly leave the office to beat any unforeseen traffic to get ready for your outing with Mina.

You made it home only encountering one light traffic. Opening the door to your studio apartment, you feel the aroma of home as soon as you step in. You kick off your shoes immediately and walk over to your couch. You plop down knowing you have a little time before you need to get ready.

Last month Mina invited you to the Annual Japan Hero Billboard Chart as her plus one. Throughout the years, you and Mina stayed in contact and grew closer than ever. Your mind started to think of all the people that would be attending the event tonight. More specifically, Denki. After you graduated from UA high, Denki and you drifted apart due to communication issues and the fact that he just had never made time for you.

While in your thoughts you were interrupted by a phone call. You sat up to see who was calling.

“Hey girl!” Mina said enthusiastically.

“Hi, Mina.”

“Are you dressed yet? ‘Cause you need to be there in the next hour so we can walk in together. I got to show off how good my plus one looks.”

You look on your phone realizing you had lost track of time while you were consumed with your thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m fixing my hair right now.” You lied to Mina running off the couch and stripping off your clothes to hop in the shower as soon as possible.

“I hear you turning on the shower girl…”

“What are you talking about? That’s just the sink.” You lied again

“Whatever, just make sure you're there in an hour.” She giggles shortly after.

“Okay, I’ll see you there.”

You got out of the shower and brushed your teeth and put on some light makeup to make your skin glow. After that, you got started to slick back your hair in a low puff fluffing out the ends to make sure your curls pop then doing your edges after. You walked to your closet and pulled out a cream-colored satin dress that had a slit mid-thigh. You put a few things in your purse before heading downstairs and putting your heels on. You grab your keys before heading out the door to meet Mina.

A cold breeze hit your body, not having time to grab a jacket. You got in your car and texted Mina before you pulled off. The GPS confirmed that the address was only thirty-five minutes from your studio and that you would make it to the event with ten minutes to spare.

You arrived at the event with just enough time as you expected to walk in and get seated. You proceed to get your phone out and call Mina to let her know that you had arrived.

“Hey Mina, I just got here and parked. Where do you want me to meet you?”

“Oh perfect, you're here. I’ll come and find you so that we can walk in together. Where did you park?”

You proceeded to tell Mina where you were parked so that she could come to get you. After looking for about eight minutes you heard Mina screaming your name.

“Girl over here!” you jolted your head to see the pink-haired lady waving crazily at you.

Mina called out a little too happy as if she didn’t see you a week ago when you went out for drinks with her and Eijiro. Although you enjoyed yourself every time you hung out with them you couldn’t help but feel like a third wheel even though neither of them minded your company and always made you feel welcome.

“Oh my God Mina you look so good,” you say, eyeing her attire as she twirled around giving you a spin showing you her whole dress.

Mina wore a green cocktail dress and her black heels. She also had her hair slicked back at the side with some pins in it. Her hair never changed much from back in the days at UA High. It was still the same pink and curly shortcut that you have grown to love over the years.

“Me? I should be the one complimenting you. Who told you that you could go out of the house looking so sexy? But I expect nothing less from my plus one.’’

You both begin to laugh at the continued compliments that you give each other. Your talk is cut short when Mina gets a call on her phone. She picks up the phone and begins to talk. After a short amount of time, she hangs up.

“Eijiro just called and said that they are about to seat people in the next five minutes. So, we have to get going if we want to get some pics of us walking on the red carpet together.”

You were surprised when Mina said that you two would be walking in on the red carpet, but in all actuality, you should have known that there would be a red carpet at this event just like there was at every other event throughout the years. You remembered this especially because you used to love watching this same event on TV as a little girl. It was almost like a dream come true to attend, but you never would have thought that you would be attending as a plus one and not a pro hero.

You and Mina get to the entrance of the building and see the red carpet and all the paparazzi surrounding it. You two walk up and the cameras start flashing. You both pose for the cameras as you try to walk into the building. As the pictures are being taken one of the cameramen asks who Mina is walking in with.

“Pro Hero Pinky, who is this accompanying you tonight? Are you and Pro Hero Red Riot still in a relationship?”

All the cameras turn to you and Mina. You look at Mina waiting for her to answer the question until she bursts out into laughter.

“You people are really funny! Can’t two people just hang out without being together? Anyways, yes I can assure you that Red Riot and I are still a couple. This is my best friend.” Mina states as she says your name.

Mina proceeds to look at you and all the cameras are now focused on you. You are a little embarrassed by all the sudden attention, but it’s not anything that you weren’t used to. Back in your days at UA, all the news could talk about were all the kids in class 1-A.

“Oh yeah, I can confirm that I’m just her best friend.” You begin to smile and wave at the camera.

“Miss how long have you known Pinky?”

“Miss did you attend UA High with Pinky?”

“Miss over here. Did you happen to attend UA at the same time as Pinky and participated in the sports festival about six years ago?”

The paparazzi began to bombard you with hundreds of questions to the point that you couldn’t even understand what they were saying anymore. Mina grabbed you by your arm and pulled you the rest of the way until you two were inside of the building and safe from the paparazzi.

“Man I didn’t think that any of them would remember you from that long ago, it’s been years?”

“Me neither, but we should get seated now.”

Mina nodded in compliance. You guys begin to walk into the auditorium that the ceremony is being held in to find your seats. As you two are walking, Eijiro spots you guys and waves y'all over. As expected, you guys have seats close to the stage next to a whole bunch of other pro heroes. You can’t help but feel a little out of place, but you realize that you're here to have a good time with your friends.

As you sit you greet Eijiro and hug him. He begins to tell you how womanly you look in your dress and you just smile at him accepting the compliment that was given. Looking on the stage you see someone come up and say that the ceremony will begin in about five minutes so that everyone can get situated in their proper seats.

As you all wait for the ceremony to begin you and Mina start to talk about frivolous things. Like about the times you and her would sneak out of UA and go have nights on the town or when you used to be so dead set one being a pro hero.

“You remember a time when I wasn’t your number one bestie. I used to be so sure that you and Denki would end up together.

Your eyes widened by the sudden change in topic, not expecting Mina to even bring Denki up.

“Like I used to ship y’all hard. Even Eijiro did, isn’t that right Eijiro?”

“Huh?” Eijiro asked, looking up from his phone.

“Didn’t you used to think that she and Denki would be-”

“Ladies and gentleman, I would like to welcome you to the annual Japan Hero Billboard Chart and give a special thanks to all the amazing heroes out there in the crowd and even the ones that couldn’t make it tonight for keeping all of us safe with the sacrifices you all make every day.”

The crowd began to cheer and the host went back to their speech. The ceremony felt so different being in person than at home. It was nice to see some of your favorite heroes up close and cheer for them and they could hear you instead of cheering to a non-responsive TV screen.

The ceremony was continuing in its normal fashion and you cheered loudly and even let out a little scream when Mina and Eijiro’s names were called as well as a couple of your other old friends from UA were called to the stage.

You could tell that the ceremony was drawing to an end because the top ten were drawing close. You already knew who the top ten heroes were so there wasn’t much for you to expect. Of course, number one was the symbol of peace himself Deku. Right under him was the hot-headed explosive hero Dynamight in number two. Holding the third-place spot was the half-hot half-cold hero Shoto. Dynamight and Shoto always go back and forth holding the second and third spots so you assumed tonight you would see if Shoto took Dynamight’s place. And of course, you couldn’t forget that fact the eighth place was held by none other than Chargebolt himself.

“Now for the top ten heroes of Japan and congratulations on your hard work to make it this far!” The host of the awards show stated about announcing the top ten heroes.

You proceeded to listen to the hostess announce the tenth and ninth heroes. Even though you and Denki may not be on the best of terms didn’t mean that you wouldn’t clap for him when it was his turn next or so you thought. The eighth hero was called and it wasn’t Denki. You were shocked, but you knew that could only mean one thing.

“The hero coming in seventh place is Chargebolt! Kaminari Denki, our new number seven, congratulations!”

You began to clap, happy that he was finally moving up in the world and becoming what he always wanted to be. Even though you were happy for him you couldn’t help but think that you were somehow a bump in the road on the path to Denki’s success. You started to think that maybe if you had not stopped talking to Denki when you did that he wouldn’t be where he was right now at this very moment. You were probably a burden to him a few years back and that’s why he started to distance himself from you.

As the cheering died down you snapped out of your terrible thoughts. You don’t know why but whenever you see Denki you start to have negative thoughts. It’s not really like you and Denki have any bad blood between each other but you can’t help but feel a bit awkward whenever you're around him now. No matter how many times you try to tell yourself that nothing has changed and that you and Denki are the same people you know deep down that that’s not true in the slightest. The last time that may have been true was when you both attended UA and you still wanted to be a pro hero just like him.

“Thank you ladies and gentlemen for all coming out tonight and supporting these fine pro heroes. I’d like to give one more special thanks to all the pro heroes out there for keeping families safe around the world. With that being said, thank you for letting me host this tremendous event and goodnight Japan!” With those closing statements, the ceremony had been concluded.

Extra Notes:

To those who are completely new to this story, I hope you enjoy. To anyone who remembers the old version of this story I've decided to comeback and make it better than ever. It still has the same plot I just really wanted to change some things and I feel like I've made the story 100 times better for everyone to enjoy. <3

[meganwiththeknees]

Introduction

This story actually has two owners, meganwiththeknees and ethvera. Meganwiththeknees controls the A03 account while ethvera controls the Tumblr page, which is this!

Distant Chapters:

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Hey, I’m ethvera :)

I’m not used to Tumblr, so bear with me, but I really hope you enjoy reading this story. It took a lot of time and effort (especially from meganwiththeknees!) so any praise or criticism is appreciated. I’ll try to post updates weekly!

AO3 Link (If you wanna see the latest chapters!)

We also have to a Wattpad!:

Pssst, you should also look at my coloring page: @ethvera