3 years before the entrance exam. 1st year of middle school.
Adrenaline Junkie
ASHJFKCHJSJEJN!
*link*
Lord Explodo
The hell? Stop sending me your nerd shit
Adrenaline Junkie
ITS TEH ALL MIGHTBRONZE AGE FIGURINE FIST EDITION!
THEIR SELLUNG IT TOMORROW
Lord Explodo
Chill. You're gonna pass out if you keep this up
Adrenaline Junkie
YOU HAVE TO COME BUY IT WITH ME
Lord Explodo
no.
Adrenaline Junkie
KACCHAN! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE
Lord Explodo
no.
Adrenaline Junkie
I'll buy you coffee
Lord Explodo
What time?
Adrenaline Junkie
;p
It opens at 8
The two boys met at a quaint little cafe not far from the merch store. It was a hidden gem they had found a year prior, small, but with what Bakugou described as "hecking good coffee", which coming from Bakugou was equivalent to a five-star rating and recommendation.
While I cannot attest to the hecking goodness of the coffee, having never tried it myself, I will say that the cafe was very aesthetically pleasing, the wood and potted plant theme being especially well-executed. And because the cafe wasn't well known it was typically very quiet and provided a peaceful atmosphere well suited for homework or cozy outings with a significant other.
As such, at 7:25 on that Saturday morning, the cafe was very tranquil, it's total of 5 occupants- if one was to include the barista and Midoriya, who had arrived early- were going about their business in the sleepy like manner all Saturday mornings constituted. That tranquility, however, shattered the moment Bakugou walked in.
He stomped over in his usual I'm-Better-Than-All-You-Extras manner and dropped heavily in the chair across from Midoriya.
Midoriya for his part didn't even flinch as he finished the note he was scribbling in a notebook of his and slurped loudly at his Italian soda.
"Hey, Kacchan."
"You still stalking heroes?" He said without preamble.
"No, I'm just analyzing them. Not stalking," Midoriya replied sarcastically.
"You can dress it up in your fancy words all you want but I know the truth." He paused as Midoriya finished up and capped his pen. "They're weird as hell y'know."
"Well I haven't been yet, but I'm fairly certain Hell is a whole lot weirder than my analysis."
"Whatever you say, smartass," Bakugou said with an eye roll.
Midoriya just chuckled at that.
"What's so funny?" He sneered.
"Nothing, just laughing at the humor of the boy whose sweat smells like caramel calling me weird."
"At least I don't constantly smell like BO like you, adrenaline junkie."
"No, you just blow up when you're hot. Perfectly normal."
"Well, I don't cough glitter every time I use my quirk like some kinda gay-"
"Kacchan, YOU'RE gay."
"Your point?"
"MY POINT is that analysis will be a good skill to have once I'm a hero." At that Midoriya stood and made his way to the counter continuing his conversation as Bakugou followed him. "Even if my quirk keeps me safe it's still not great in a fight. I need to identify a villain's weakness to win."
Bakugou snorted. "'Not great in a fight.' That's one way to put it."
"Oh shut up! I'm getting better at controlling it!"
"Oh, you are? I wasn't aware." He then turned to the barista, "Large iced coffee two shots caramel."
"Please!" Midoriya added.
The barista, a bored teenager who looked slightly out of place in all the comfy decor, simply rolled her eyes and turned to make the drink.
"Care to tell me exactly how many bones you broke yesterday?" Bakugou continued as Midoriya counted out money for the drink.
Midoriya blushed. "That doesn't count! Yesterday was an outlier and you know it!"
"Was it 3? 4? Oh, wait. IT WAS 27."
The two sat back down at the table after grabbing Bakugou's coffee, continuing their conversation with a vigor that drew the attention of the rest of the cafe.
The rest of the cafe amounted to not much, mind you. There were only three other patrons, a man in his late 40s and a young couple that looked to be early 20s. That meant that aside from Bakugou and Midoriya it was relatively quiet. Not that they seemed to care.
"It was an accident!"
"Izu, I saw you trip over your OWN FEET, shatter BOTH arms trying to catch yourself, and then proceed to fall down 3 FLIGHTS OF STAIRS." He threw up his arms. "I don't know how to do that on purpose for crying out loud! How the hell did you manage to do it by accident?!"
"... I'm talented like that?"
"Your only talent is ruining my clothes with all your blood."
"Well excuse me! I never ASKED for you to carry me home!"
"You had BONE showing! What was I supposed to do?!"
Midoriya scoffed. "My legs were fine."
"They were fractured in 6 different places."
"But not broken!"
At that moment a man dressed in a black shirt, a black beanie, and a black coat that he stuffed his hands in, walked in and then up to the counter.
I will be frank, he looked like the definition of sketchy. Heck, the bulge in his pocket was so clearly a knife that you would have to have led a completely knife-free life to not recognize it. And since "knife-free life" did not describe either of them in the slightest, what with Midoriya's 'condition', you would think they would notice, but they were too invested in their conversation to pay him any heed. That or they just didn't care, which I cannot rule out.
"Your arms were dust from trying to catch yourself!" Under his breath, he whispered, "Getting better my ASS."
Midoriya caught it. "It's reflex okay?! It's really difficult to control ALL. THE. TIME. It's like- like, tiptoeing constantly. You can do it but it's easy to forget if you're focused on something else."
It was during his explanation that the sketchy man drew a knife and shook it at the barista.
"Money in the bag! NOW!"
The three customers stared in shock, first at the robber, and then at the two boys who continued talking and tuned out the situation behind them.
"Once we get into UA I'll be able to learn how to direct the force better. Right now all the energy is coming from breaking my bones and tendons and going everywhere. I need to learn how to-"
"Ugh! Fine! I get it!"
The barista looked at them and rolled her eyes once more. She was surprisingly unfazed as she slowly shoveled money into the bag.
I can only conclude that this calmness came from a frightening mixture of teenage angst and the laissez-faire attitude that one acquires after working in customer service for minimum wage, although I have no real proof for this.
"I swear we've had this conversation a dozen times-"
"And yet you fail to grasp the severity of my situation!"
The robber stared at them. "Will you two SHUT UP?!"
Bakugou sipped his coffee ignoring the man. "There's not enough caffeine for me to deal with you today."
"HA. Only a wimp would need caffeine to wake up."
"Not all of us are spastic junkies like you."
"Well-" He was cut off as the robber, who having had quite enough of these two idiots, decided to take matters into his own hands and grabbed the back of Midoriya's collar. He yanked him out of his seat and pressed the knife to his neck.
"I. SAID. SHUT. UP!"
It was like a flip had switched. The two went from being absolutely careless to having a slight care. That care having come about only once there was a literal knife to Midoriya's throat.
Midoriya screamed and reached his arm out straining, "KACCHAN!"
Bakugou's eyes blew wide. "SHI-" He dove wildly across the table, his fingertips almost there but just slightly too short.
But at the last second his hand wrapped around the Italian soda that was teetering from the activity and threatened to spill across Midoriya's notebook.
The two boys let out identical sighs of relief.
Because yes. Of course, they were worried about the soda. They were both aware of how Midoriya was in no real danger; the notes, however? Those couldn't come back to life.
This would be obvious to those who knew the two and Midoriya's blatant disregard for his life, however, the robber did not know the two and as such just watched the situation in complete and utter confusion. Which, considering the circumstances was a reasonable reaction.
"Gosh darn it, you almost spilled my soda."
"Wh- I- I have a knife to your throat!"
"Yeah, I'm well aware."
The robber just sputtered bewilderedly. It took him several moments to regain his composure. "You! Kid!" He said to Bakugou. "Hands in the air or your friend gets it!"
"Oh yes, please. End the bitch."
"Kacchan!" Midoriya gasped exaggeratedly in mock hurt. "You wound me!"
"That's what you get for ruining my sweatshirt."
"I said I was sorry!"
"I don't think you understand." The robber pressed the knife into Midoriya's neck, cutting him off from his argument. "I. Will. Kill. Him."
"He'd deserve it."
The robber, an unsatisfied grocer employee when he wasn't robbing cafes, was in a state of delirious bewilderment. This was quite possibly the weirdest situation he'd ever been in, even beating the lizard cheerios incident of last month (but we don't speak of that).
"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU. Is he even your friend?!"
"You know sometimes I wonder."
"ARGHHH"
"Look. You are clearly incompetent. So how about you let that nerd go and turn yourself in before I blow your face off, hmm?"
"Kacchan you better not-" Midoriya spoke, even against the knife causing it to graze his neck and drip blood onto the hand of his captor.
His captor for all his many faults was also quite squeamish at the sight of blood. This was rather unfortunate considering he was attempting (I say attempting as it's clear he was very bad at it) to rob a small cafe with a knife.
I am of the opinion that he should have tried some non-blood crimes if he had wanted money. My go-to suggestion would be embezzlement, difficult to get away with yes, but surprisingly blood-free for those villains who may be squeamish.
Regardless of what he should have done, the fact was that our hemophobic criminal was now painfully aware that there was blood in between his fingers.
There was a high pitch squeal as the robber let go of Midoriya and simply stared at the blood
He swooned, he shook, and he fainted.
"What."
"That was- rather anticlimactic," Midoriya said as he coughed and rubbed at his bloody neck. "Lend me your scarf would you?"
Bakugou obliged and Midoriya wrapped the material around his wound.
"There goes more of my wardrobe to your blood," Bakugou grumbled.
"We should probably call the cops huh?" Midoriya said, dodging the statement.
The barista, who up until that moment had been quiet spoke, "I like, called them ages ago." She popped her gum.
"Ah. Well that works I guess." Midoriya said before he jerked back to face Bakugou. "CRAP. What time is it?" He then proceeded to pull out his phone and find out for himself. "NO! We're late!"
"Oh no. How tragic."
"C'mon! Let's go, let's go, let's go!" He bounced in place as Bakugou gathered up his coat.
"Fine. But you owe me."
"I bought you coffee!"
"Yeah, and it nearly got you killed."
"What's new?"
And thus the two left, arguing all the way, leaving behind 3 confused customers, an unconscious body, and an exasperated barista attempting to explain the robbery to a pair of cops.