During his last day in the hospital, Midoriya wasn't expecting any visitors, least of all his childhood friend coming to check up on him years later. Kacchan, his pointed ashen blonde hair and rugged good looks have barely changed. Minus the scar at the center of his forehead. Though Midoriya figures Kacchan must have just gotten that wound from doing hero work. Rather, the weirdest changes are his old chum's shift in personality and fashion sense. For starters, Kacchan isn't one for wearing a suit and tie, a purple one no less. And the usually gruff attitude he'd inherited from his mother has switched to the opposite side of the spectrum, a much more friendly side to his friend that he didn't know existed until now. Not that he should be complaining. It's nice to be close to Kacchan again after all this time.
The happy go lucky blonde has his arm wrapped around Midoriya's shoulders, pulling him into a side hug while he sits on the edge of the hospital bed. "Funny thing happened on my way over here! I ran into that american girl and she asked about you. Maybe you and her should go out on a date!", he fabricates a story and weaves lies much to Midoriya's current state of naivety.
The bedridden billionaire blushes at the implication of a girl liking him, "Really? I don't know, Kacchan.." Though it must be true if Kacchan says it is. He trusts his childhood friend more than anyone afterall.
Kacchan shakes the relative wallflower a little to get the nerves out, laughing a bit. "You should make your move! Just go and do something small for a first time out.", he pauses like he's thinking of an idea before snapping his fingers with his free hand, "Hey! I know! Why don't you take her to see a movie?" A sly smile starts to spread across his face.
Midoriya looks away, as though he's searching for an excuse. He finds one when he remembers, "I can't. I got a responsibility to raise that girl I took in. Eri."
But Kacchan's smile doesn't waver. He just shrugs the reasoning off like he deflected the excuse using a shield. "Just bring Eri with you. Ladies love seeing men are good with kids.", his red eyes glint with amusement.
"Well..", Midoriya falters but ultimately realizes there's no winning an argument with Kacchan, "If you say so."
"That's the spirit!", Kacchan bounces on the bed with joy while giving his childhood friend a firm squeeze. "Call her up right now and set up the date for tonight, why dontcha?!", he urges Midoriya on by grabbing the hospital's bedside phone to dial.
"Tonight?! Right now?!", Midoriya squeaks out in surprise. He's reduced to a stammering mess while Kacchan dials for him. And he has no choice but to take the phone from Kacchan when it's practically shoved in his face.
"Hello?", Melissa Shield's voice comes through the line inquisitively.
Midoriya winces when he realizes he's forced to go through with asking her out now. He presses the phone to his ear and clears his throat, "H- Hey M- Melissa.."
"Izuku!", he blushes at the usage of his first name, "I heard what happened! Are you okay?!" His face goes from warm to hot when he hears the concern in her tone too.
Midoriya quickly glances over towards Kacchan for advice, but only gets an unhelpful thumbs up in response as his only encouragement. "Uuhh.. I'm fine. Doctor said I should be discharged later today.", he runs a hand through his curly green hair as he mentally prepares himself for what he's about to say next, "That's actually partially why I'm calling. I- I was wondering if y- you would like to, um, t- tonight.. Maybe? We should p- probably or could p- potentially.. Or what if we w- were to.. ?"
"What?", Shield interrupts the ramblings in confusion, making Midoriya wince a second time since he's called her.
He decides to just rip it off like a bandaid. Hastily, he blurts out, "EriandIwereplanningtoseeamovietonightandIwaswonderingifyouwouldliketocomewithus!"
"Oh! Why didn't you just say so?", and she somehow understands the hurried word jumble enough to reply, "I'd love to!"
Midoriya sits up straight, startled by the loudness of her enthusiasm. "R- Really?!", he's now grinning ear to ear just as much as Kacchan. "I- I mean, great! I'll have Kurogiri pick you up at eight!", the blonde's thumbs up switches to a much lewder hand gesture that flusters Midoriya so much he winds up hanging up on her after setting the time, "K- Kacchan!? Stop that!"
The blonde bursts into gleeful laughter, doubling over. Midoriya had never seen his friend laugh so hard before. Seeing Kacchan so happy makes him laugh along, smiling too. After they're finished, Kacchan feigns wiping a tear in between aftermath giggles, "Good to know you can still take a joke."
Midoriya chuckles, laying back down, "Yeah.." He's suddenly tired from exerting himself so much. Despite being cleared for release, he's still not recovered one hundred percent. "Thanks, Kacchan. I needed this.", but he thinks the whole thing was worth the energy.
Kacchan seems to think so too, flashing a toothy grin. "Of course!", his voice is a low growl but he sounds sincere when he adds, "What are friends for?" Despite the question being rhetorical, he carries on before Midoriya can have any chance to answer. "Welp! I should get going!", he claps his hands together while backing out of the room, "Have a fantastic time tonight! It should be.. Enlightening."
"Um, okay. Bye, Kacchan?", Midoriya raises a brow at the odd farewell but shrugs it off nevertheless.
He reaches for the TV remote afterwards, but finds that it's missing from where it was placed. Come to think of it, Kacchan turned the television off when he first came into the room, cutting the news station's story about some sorta prison breakout. Now the clicker is missing. Midoriya shakes the suspicion from his mind. He has no idea where those thoughts came from. Afterall, why would he suspect his best friend? The remote probably just got misplaced or taken by one of the orderlies.
Midoriya closes his eyes, figuring that he should get some sleep instead anyways. He needs to be well rested for his date tonight. So he drifts into unconsciousness, allowing slumber to overtake him. Though he gets less than a peaceful nap. His dreams quickly become nightmares, haunting him with an irrational fear of clowns. Green hair, red smiles, obnoxious laughs. The madness echoes within his mind. Then a bullet flies through the clown's head and into his.
Midoriya snaps awake, breathing heavily and reaching for his forehead. There's an ache, not quite a migraine, but no bullet hole. There's still something missing from his memory, no matter how hard he strains to remember what it is that he's forgetting. His thumb traces down to his brow as he gives up on trying to clear the fog in his mind. He instead calls for a nurse to take something for his headache and makes another attempt to get some more sleep.
The next time Midoriya wakes, it's because Kurogiri has come to sign him out. He's taken out in a wheelchair, much to Eri's delight to push him around. Eri is even more thrilled when he tells her about the date he set for the movie theater. And even though Kurogiri warns him that he just got released for him to be overexerting his energy, the caretaker is just as happily supportive.
"I never imagined that you would one day spend a night like this..", Kurogiri watches Midoriya climb out of the vehicle with a fondness in his tone that matches his slanted yellow eyes.
"What do you mean, Kurogiri?", Midoriya's smirk matches his raised eyebrow. He's expecting some kind of quip.
What he gets instead is a pause of silence. Kurogiri takes in the sight of the boy he raised now a man, standing beside the daughter that he adopted and his date Melissa Shield. "Nothing, Izuku. Nothing at all.", he begins rolling up the door's window and looks ahead in order to drive away.
Midoriya is taken back by his caretaker's actions, but shrugs it off just as quickly. Eri and Shield make the strange moment easily forgettable. Hand in hand, snacks in mouth, they spend the night watching the latest cinematic release.
However, it's what happens after that will be committable to memory.
When the three come out of the theater, the night has overtaken the city. Dead bulbs darken the sidewalk, no path of light to guide them home. Eri's grip tightens, her hand in Midoriya's. On the other side, Shield holds on just as strong. The touch is a familiar one. The sight is similar. The glint in the dark. The glimmer of something other than hope. A gun.
"Get back!", Midoriya instinctively moves Eri and Shield behind him. He protectively places himself in the front, facing the figure that's moving towards them.
The tall figure is wearing a wide brimmed hat that conceals their face and a long overcoat that drags along the ground. But the color. "This is a familiar sight for you, eh, Zuku?", and the voice. Midoriya's green eyes reflect the purple outfit before tracing it to the wearer's grinning expression.
Midoriya swallows, not wanting to identify the man in front of him. Somehow, he can and can't recognize his childhood friend's appearance at the same time, as though the hero had undergone some sort of transformation to become a villain. He asks anyways, "Kacchan?"
But he was right in doubting. "I got a new nickname now..", it's not Kacchan who answers, "Joker!"
The gunshot that rings out is just as deafening as Eri's scream. The sound of the pearls from Shield's necklace hitting the pavement echo in that wide space. Darkness surrounds Izuku Midoriya before closing in on him. Suddenly, the street is small, just like the child watching their mother shot through the stomach. Shield falls as a bullet penetrates her waist. Inko Midoriya bleeds out from a bullet in her abdomen. The shooter, a cruel monster in the dark. The screeching. Like the sound of a bat.