"Welcome to The Record Store! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask," the cashier said.
"Thank you, sir!" Midoriya replied.
The Record Store was about a minute from Midoriya's house, although the name of the store did not imply all that they had. As Midoriya walked around the store clumped full of merchandise thrown on the shelves, he saw that in addition to records and CD's, there were also posters, shirts, figures, and other things related to bands. There was even some All Might stuff on one shelf!
"The singing All Might action figure! Well, he did have a small role in a music video ten years ago, so I guess that's why they carry some of his stuff!" Midoriya said.
While he dug through the various items on shelves near the back of the store, another person entered wearing a Deep Dope shirt.
"Hello, Kyouka! Looking for some more merch?" The cashier said.
"You know it," Jirou said with a smirk.
While Midoriya put back the last of the All Might merchandise, Jirou flipped through the CD cases in a bin by the front door to see if there was anything new. Sure, she could just download or stream the songs online, and she certainly did that as well. But having a hard copy of the CD was also fun to have from a collecting standpoint. Meanwhile, Midoriya walked towards the center aisle of the store to find a display shelf with several Deep Dope items on it, causing him to squeal. Like he did with the All Might stuff, he began to dig through the items on the shelf as well.
Nothing caught Jirou's eyes in the bin, however. Having come to the store hundreds of times, she knew the Deep Dope shelf was in the center of the store. So she then went over to the particular aisle. But then she saw green hair.
"It's… it's… shit!"
She sprinted back to the front of the store. Looking all over for anything to take her mind off of what she just saw, she decided to rummage through the CD bin once more. At first, she was more surprised than anything else about Midoriya caring enough about music to come to this store. But then something dawned upon her. He was standing where the Deep Dope shelf was at. Does that mean…
"Does he actually like them?" Jirou thought.
Feeling the tension she felt in her head subside, Jirou reverted back to her expressionless face. She approached the Deep Dope shelf once again.
"Hey, green."
Midoriya glanced over from the shelf to see Jirou looking at him while twirling her jack. He grabbed a black t-shirt that had the band name in white on the front while holding it out towards her.
"Jirou! I listened to some Deep Dope earlier and they're so good! I just had to get a shirt of theirs! What do you think of this one?" He asked.
Jirou stopped her twirling. She had never met anyone her age around here that knew who Deep Dope was, let alone actually being a fan. Midoriya actually cared enough about their earlier conversation to listen to them? And he liked them so much that he wanted a shirt already?
"I think that you would look rockin' in it," Jirou said, the corner of her mouth now upwards.
The two chatted for a few more moments, while Jirou looked through a few posters to see if there was anything interesting. She decided to treat herself to a newer poster based off the song "Heroes are Dope."
"That's my favorite song by them! I would get a poster too, but I don't think there's any room on my walls…" Midoriya said.
"Dude, really? That's my favorite too. Are we more alike than we thought?" Jirou asked
"Well, I don't know, but it's nice to know another Deep Dope fan!" Midoriya said.
They looked into each other's eyes for a few seconds. They then broke eye contact to walk together to the cashier to pay for their items. Afterwards, they exited the store before having to part ways.
"See you tomorrow in class," Midoriya said.
"Yeah, see you then. I'm glad you like them as well - oh hey, what's your number? I can send some more suggestions if you want," Jirou said.
"Oh, um, sure!" Midoriya said as he rattled off his number.
They then departed as they headed towards their homes. The sun was beginning to crawl underneath the high rise buildings on the sides of the streets, which meant it was almost dinner time. Jirou looked down in her bag to see the new poster she bought. She smiled once more thinking about how she geeked out with Midoriya about her favorite band, after so many years of wanting a conversation like that.
Now back at UA, Midoriya sat in his seat for homeroom. He had enjoyed going home yesterday to spend time with his mom, along with being in his own bed again, and not to mention his impromptu meetups with Jirou. He listened to more Deep Dope that night and packed the new shirt he bought for his trip back. It was Friday too, which meant everyone was in a good mood for the most part.
"Hey, Mido-bro! Where were you yesterday?" Kirashima said as he walked past his desk.
"I went home for the night. Anything big happen here while I was gone?" Midoriya asked.
"Hmm, not much in particular… well, Tsu scared a few of the others because she accidentally camouflaged herself at dinner, so it looked like an invisible person was eating!" Kirashima said.
"Hey, I heard that!" Hagakure quipped, as the boys saw her shoes step forward from her desk.
"Well, I meant unexpectedly, of course," Kirashima said, sweating as he realized his oversight.
"Jirou was gone as well which sucked," Kaminari said as he joined Midoriya and Kirashima.
"Well I'm back now."
The three boys then turned around to see Jirou standing next to them.
"Oh, uh, hey Jirou! I just noticed you weren't, uh, here last night, so I was just making sure you were good!" Kaminari said.
"I'm as good as ever, thanks," Jirou said.
"It's funny you say that, because we were - ah!" Midoriya paused.
Jirou extended her jack and locked it right in front of his nose. He glanced over to her before shifting his eyes back to where they were, not daring to make a move.
"Crap, Aizawa's gonna be here any second now, sit down everyone!" Kirashima said.
While all the students in the room dived to their desk, Jirou leaned in towards Midoriya's ear and whispered, "don't say anything about what happened yesterday to them."
Before Midoriya could respond, Jirou returned her jack and also took a seat. Kaminari narrowed his eyes but decided to not say anything further. Seconds later on cue, Aizawa entered the room in his sleeping bag.
"Two milliseconds. Wasting two milliseconds can be the difference between life and death as a pro. Irrational. Now, yawn, you'll be having a project that's mandated for all first years in the hero course. I personally think it's a waste of time, but I'm left with no other choice."
"That's because I was his EXCELLENT PARTNER that stole the show!"
Present Mic entered the room with his typical upbeat stroll, leaving his best friend Aizawa to grunt in response.
"Dammit, that's not Midnight… ACK!" Mineta yelled.
"Mineta, keep your mouth shut, ribbit," Tsuyu said while smacking his face with her frog-like tongue.
"Aizawa! Present Mic! What is the project about?" Ilda said, now standing up at his desk.
"Please sit. You'll be split into duos and you will make a presentation about a Pro Hero of your choice - except for me, and All Might," Aizawa said, glaring at Midoriya with red eyes on the last part, causing him to shudder.
"Don't listen to what Aizawa here says about this project being useless! You will learn more about a hero, but you will also work on your public speaking skills, and as your English teacher I'm sure you'll all do great. I got to run, but don't let Aizawa talk down on this! See ya," Present Mic said as he left.
"Who will we work with?" Yaoyorozu said while raising her hand.
"The same people as you worked with yesterday. It would be a waste of time to spend 43 more seconds generating a new list," Aizawa said.
"That means…"
Jirou glanced over at Midoriya for a split second.
"I'm going to work with Midoriya again?! Wait, he's always analyzing heroes, right? I'm guaranteed a perfect grade," she thought.
"We'll discuss further details at the end of class. For now, let's start the lecture," Aizawa said.
"Class dismissed. Behave this weekend. We'll do presentations on Monday," Aizawa mumbled to end the lecture, as he fell to the ground in his sleeping bag.
The class cheered as they left the room as if it were a race to see who would return to the dorms first. Jirou was not so enthusiastic, though, as she took her time clearing her desk.
"See you later," Yaoyorozu waved, prompting Jirou to wave her jack towards her.
"So, um, we're working together for the project," Midoriya asked her, now the only two people left in the room.
"Yeah, it looks like we are. You know a lot about heroes, right? I see you always take notes on them. Who should we do?" Jirou said.
"I have a few ideas already!" Midoriya said as the two walked out of the classroom together. "There's Gang Orca, Endeavor, Mount Lady, Fat Gum, Rock Lock - "
"Hey there, fanboy! Sounds like that project was practically made for you!"
All Might waved from his office doorway, making Midoriya and Jirou come to a halt. All Might then held out two slips of paper and motioned Midoriya to take them. The holder of One For All grabbed them and looked at them, smiling as he realized what they were.
"Your tickets for the convention tomorrow! I figured it would be easier for you if I got them instead of you having to get permission to leave campus today just to pick them up. And I got you an extra one as well just in case. See you tomorrow, young Midoriya," All Might said as he shut the door.
Midoriya's hands shook as he could not even attempt to wipe the grin off of his face. He placed them in his pocket, not even realizing Jirou was still next to him before she poked his shoulder.
"Oh, uh, Jirou! Sorry about that! I just, uh, needed to - it's nothing too important."
"It's not a big deal. What convention are you going to though? And why does All Might know about it?" She asked.
"Uh, it's, um, hero related! Yeah, a hero convention, that's all," Midoriya said as his face turned slightly red. Plenty of people knew about his obsession with heroes, but few knew just how deep it ran, especially with All Might in particular.
But Jirou smirked as she saw the boy's nervous reaction. She wondered why he would be so nervous about a hero convention, especially since All Might of all people knew, but maybe there was something more to it.
"Who's using your extra ticket, green?" She asked.
"Uh… n-no one. Oh, do you want to go?" Midoriya said.
Realizing what he had said, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked up towards the ceiling. Now Jirou would certainly know it was an All Might convention of all things if she agreed.
"It does sound pretty fun, and we've already been around each other a lot recently. Sure, I'll go, as long as UA lets me leave campus," Jirou said.
"Ahh! I mean, oh yeah, that's great! I guess we should go work on this project since we'll be gone tomorrow," Midoriya said.
"Sure, I don't have much else to do right now, so that's fine."
They walked together back to the dorm, as Midoriya tried his best to not make eye contact as he was contradicted by his actions. There was no hiding All Might from Jirou now, but at least One For All being revealed was not on the line. And he grinned when he realized he would get to spend more time with her.
Jirou looked over to Midoriya as she twirled her jack, "I wonder why Midoriya is always flustered about things… he's kinda cute when he acts like that though… wait, what did I just say?!" Jirou thought as they continued to walk together.
A/N: What was that word you just thought of, Jirou? I had a lot of fun writing out Midoriya becoming a fan of Deep Dope, along with Jirou's reaction too. Music and heroes, heroes and music…
So these two now get to spend some time working together on a hero project, and then it's off to a convention… how will things go down? Find out next Wednesday!
Thank you for reading, and thank you for the favorites, follows, and comments. I hope everyone stays safe as 2021 winds down, it's hard to believe it's almost 2022 already.