By the time she returned home she was exhausted, her feet hurt and her arms felt heavy as she carried a couple of bags of things. Most of them were groceries that she had used the rest of her tips on when she stopped at a discount grocery store a little out of her way but it was worth it for every yen saved she could. Her guest would need protein and meat. Things she rarely bought but she imagined he was used to eating more filling meals than she was usually living off of. Using her food to close the door she carried her bags of groceries to the kitchen placing them down on the counter before she grabbed a small bag and headed for the bedroom.
She gave a soft knock before walking into the bedroom to find the man on his phone apparently watching tv since he could get his own internet service from his home. He had forgotten to ask about what her internet password was before he left. Though Izuku had not yet realized she did not have internet. It was all she could do to afford basic tv and her cell phone.
"I see you didn't kill over. That's a good sign. Here I got these for you. I'd suggest you take one a day," She said reaching into the bag to pull out an old worn looking prescription container and tossed it at him watching the confused look on his face as he read the label on the container telling him it was some sort of antibiotic.
"How did you get these?" he asked that hero tone he used on the tv started to slip through.
"You will not like the answer but since you're refusing to do this the easy and right way you have left me with no other options. I also grabbed you some basic painkillers. These may not help a lot but hopefully it will help," She said walking over towards the nightstand to place the unopened new box of painkillers for him to use.
Midoriya wanted to argue with her and refuse to use the clearly illegal drugs that the woman had bought. But it was hard to argue when she had been right. It was his fault she bought illegal drugs in order to help him because he didn't want to go to the hospital, and ended up with it on the news he was hurt and once again upset his poor mother. He was being incredibly selfish and in turn this woman who didn't even know him was having to pay for his selfishness.
"Thanks. I won't ask again how you got these. Are you sure they are safe though?" He couldn't help but be a little skeptical. She smiled softly at him and gently shrugged her shoulders.
"My source is as reliable as street scum comes. But he wouldn't give me something that could kill you. So you should be okay," she admitted. After all, she couldn't blame him for being a little unsure. There was always a risk of getting anything off the street. Grabbing his glass she left him in the bedroom before she refilled the glass and returned to the bedroom placing it beside the bottles of pills on the nightstand.
"I am sure you're hungry. I'll get started on something to eat," she said simply as she placed the glass down on the nightstand.
"You look exhausted. You've had a long day Sugahara. Why don't we order something in? It will be my treat. It seems the least I could do," he said, simply flashing her a wide innocent grin. That did all sound like such a great offer. Take out food. When was the last time she ate take out that wasn't leftovers from the restaurant? It had been a long time. And it wasn't going to be a cheap microwaveable meal from a convenient store. And if he was paying then she could order all the food she wanted right? It would also mean the food she bought would last longer. But still she was arguing with herself about taking him up on the offer as she nibbled on her bottom lip.
"Come on I know a great place that will deliver out here. They make a great katsudon. Not as good as my mothers but still it's pretty good," he said, smiling that innocent boyish grin at her. It was really hard to argue with him. And it did help his case that he was paying. Passing up a free meal would be stupid.
"I can't remember the last time I had katsudon," She mumbled as she gave in as her mouth started to water and she could hear her stomach growl as she thought about a nice hot meal.
"Great I'll order us both some katsudon then," He said as he reached his phone which he had placed down on the bed while she was getting him a fresh glass of water. It always cost a little extra to get his favourite meal delivered but he didn't mind knowing that it was a good distance from the restaurant to this apartment complex. And the fact they always delivered the food nice and hot so it was always worth the little larger price tag on the meal.
"Alright you order and I'm going to put away the groceries and get changed," she said as she moved to walk across her room to fetch herself something much more comfortable to wear. Another loose t-shirt and this time some tight soft leggings was her choice of clothes to relax in. But first she needed to put away her groceries, unable to leave them on the counter but that only took a minute before she was making her way to the bathroom.
Dragging her feet slowly she headed to the bathroom. First things first the face paint had to go, it was annoying to wear and running a cloth over her face felt heavenly as she washed away the makeup and worked at cleaning her skin before she changed into her more relaxing clothes.
Walking out of the bathroom she felt at least a little bit of energy having returned. But she paused for a second, usually she would crash on the couch and watch a little bit of tv before bed. But she felt bad just ignoring the man. He had been home alone all day. So she headed to her bedroom and knocked softly before strolling in.
"How are you feeling?" She asked as she slowly stepped into the room and towards the bed.
"I'd be lying if I said I felt fine. It still feels like I got run over by a bus," he said simply admitting his body hurt a good bit.
"For all I know you did get stabbed and ran over by a bus. Hopefully the antibiotics and painkillers can help a little but I feel without someone with a healing quirk you're going to be hurting like this for a while. What are you gonna do for work? I don't need cops knocking on my door because they think you're missing," she realized she didn't have a clue if his work was aware of his state or even where he was for that matter even though he hasn't even been in her place for a full day yet.
"Actually I called them earlier. Our healer is busy if I am lucky then maybe tomorrow she will be available but otherwise it will be the next day before she gets here. I'm not dying so I didn't want to force her away from other matters. I hope you do not mind," he said simply. His large scared fingers were suddenly fidgeting with her bedsheets as she moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. It felt too weird to stay standing while he was forced to stay on the bed.
"No, that's fine. At least someone can come get you healed up eventually," she said with a simple shrug of her shoulders. Though now she needed to figure out what she was going to do about her sleeping arrangement. Her couch was not comfortable. She didn't have a futon. Looked like she was going to be sleeping on the floor of her living room for the next night or two. Oh well wouldn't be the first time she slept on the ground. At least her apartment was dry and warm.
Before he had the chance to say anything else a knock at her door had her jump to her feet as she listened to Midoriya tell her it was already paid for. So that made it easy, all she had to do was grab the take out bag from the delivery man and head back to her bedroom. Once returning she found Izuku had squirmed his way to be able to kick his feet over the edge of the bed and looked like he was about to get.
"Stay put idiot," she said simply as she walked towards him with the bag of food in hand. She watched him blink his eyes as he looked over at her.
"Huh?" He softly tilted his head a little confused as she told him to stay put.
"We can eat it while sitting on the bed. You do not need to get up," she said simply as she moved to sit beside him and started to pull food from the bag, handing him one container and some chopsticks while she took the other container.
Both mumbled their thanks for the food and started to eat. The silence felt a little awkward, or at least Aoi found it to be. She didn't mind though as the food smelled delicious and it was all she could do not to make some embarrassing noise as she took her first bite of food. Still the silence did not bother her that much, she had not eaten a meal with someone in her home in a long time. She rarely had company, she didn't have a lot of friends she liked having in her home. Izuku must have felt the same awkwardness since they only ate in silence for a moment before he broke it by asking her a question she never expected.
"So what do you do for work?" He suddenly asked in between bits of food.
"Mostly waitress," she answered softly after she swallowed the mouthful of rice she was eating.
"Mostly?" He asked with an arched eyebrow.
"I've done odd jobs as well. Sometimes I've worked nights at a bar not too far from here. But the pay isn't worth the danger," she said simply thinking about that job. It paid better than cleaning tables. But walking to and from work in the dark was scary. And the amount of patrons who scared her and made her worried about even reaching her home after a shift had her quit fast. Still she worked the odd shift when she was desperate. Which she had a feeling she would be doing after he left. And of course she watched his eyebrows pull together softly and suddenly he started mumbling about how working night jobs had dangers, if the bar was close it was most likely not in a great neighborhood. The rambling continued even as she paused in her meal and arched an eyebrow as she struggled to both hear and keep up with his rambling.
"Do you always ramble on about things sugar cookie?" She asked with a light chuckle before she continued eating again.
"Oh sorry. I've always had a habit of doing that," he said blushing and gently running one hand through his wild and slightly tangled hair. She would need to remember to go get his hair brush or comb the next time she goes to his place to get him anything else.
"You're quite the nerd aren't you?" She asked rather bluntly and yet that had the man beside her start laughing till a hiss of pain quickly followed and ended the laughing rather quickly.
"Kacchan calls me a nerd all the time. Did as kids and still does. But you're both not wrong," he admits flashing her a wide smile as he continues to eat.
She had slowed down on her eating already and although she wasn't completely full she had half her meal left and yet she had slowly stopped eating. Feeling the need to keep the rest for later to help ensure she would have a meal tomorrow she found herself closing the lid on her take out container and hopefully that would get rid of the temptation to continue eating. Some habits she had developed long ago were hard to shake.
"Are you done eating already?" Midoriya asked as he noticed she had stopped eating while he still had just under half his own meal to finish. And he was not yet full.
"Yep. Not all of us are mountains of muscle and strong squirks. I don't require as much food as you do," she said with a soft smile hoping that would be enough for him not to push the question more. But maybe she would have rather than the next question he asked.
"Oh so what's your quirk then? If you don't mind me asking," he seemed so interested and excited over getting to talk with someone about their quirk. But that question had the last of her meal tasting sour on her tongue and her stomach tightening, threatening to remove what she had just eaten. Silently she pushed herself to stand up and turn her back to him not wanting to see the look on his face when she answered. But in doing so she also missed the look of concern that crossed his face.
"I'm quirkless," she said simply as she walked away taking her food with her so she could use it as an excuse for why she ran from him. He never even got to apologize for the question. It was clearly a subject that bothered her and Izuku could understand that. Pangs of his past feelings about being quirkless quickly had him feeling guilty and bad for asking her about it. And clearly it was a sour spot for her as well. Now his own meal was forgotten as he contemplated if he should attempt to get up and go after her to apologize. But seeing how he barely got himself to the bathroom alone without her he couldn't imagine he would get far even in her small apartment. And so he looked down at the carpet under his feet as guilt ate him and he waited for her to return.
Aoi quickly put her left overs into the fridge. No longer hungry she was more than happy to toss the container into the fridge. But now she needed to figure out what she was going to do. She just ran out on Izuku and it wasn't his fault it was a harmless question to him. He did not know her enough to know she was quirkless, and surely in his line of work he only knew people who had quirks. She should not have been so rude to him but still she did not want to go back and face him. Even if she apologized, would he look at her the same way others did? Would he pity her? Or would he be repulsed? Those were the two most popular looks she got. And she hated both. But still she couldn't hide from him all night. And it was rude of her to run.
Slowly she dragged her feet back to her bedroom and found the man sitting on the edge of her bed staring sadly at the floor before his feet no longer eating his dinner. Now she felt bad for how upset he looked. She may as well have just kicked the guy's puppy. Sighing she continued into the room and slowly walked towards him.
"Don't look so sad there hero. Your food is going to be cold if you just keep staring at the floor," she said trying not to let her voice sound upset as she walked over to sit beside the man.
"I'm really sorry," he said softly before picking up his gaze to look at her as he seemed to be blinking back tears.
"Don't apologize. It was a simple question," she said, simply trying to remind herself that it was a harmless question more than him.
"I know what it's like to be quirkless," he said simply though the skeptical look she gave him had him quickly continue, "I was a late bloomer. I didn't get my quirk till right before high school,"
Well that was interesting to learn, she would have never guessed that the number one hero went over a dozen years without a quirk. But he was lucky he still developed a quirk. And yet she recalled the image of Deku with who she assumed was his mother in his apartment. But she didn't recall seeing any images with a male. So where was his father?
"How did your parents take that? Assuming you were quirkless?" She was curious to know if he could understand her pain with being quirkless.
"It devastated me at first. I had always dreamed of being a hero. And learning at five I was assumed to be quirkless; it crushed young me. My mother could have handled it a bit better, at times I felt she could have been more supportive that I still could have been a hero. Still though she loved me and still did what she could at the time to soothe me," he answered talking about his mother. But there was no mention at all of his father. Maybe he simply was not around at the time.
"Lucky," she mumbled, not actually meaning to say that out loud. But it seemed she did and that the man beside her had heard it.
"What about you?" He couldn't help but ask after seeing how she had reacted to his question about having a quirk and the way she looked upset herself he was already quick to assume her experience had not been as good as his but he still did not expect the answer she gave.
"My parents were in denial for years. At first it wasn't so bad at five and six. By eight they seemed to be coming to terms with the realization their first born was quirkless. So they started trying for another. A little before my tenth birthday they gave birth to a little boy. And I found myself kicked out and discarded. There was no need for a quirkless child in their house. Both my parents had strong quirks, and they had big plans for a future pro hero with a strong quirk. With the chance my brother could be that they kicked me out," she said simply ending it there not wanting to tell a near stranger that she lived on and off the streets for over a dozen years since. Even though neither of her parents were hero's they had both always wanted to be but never made it. Forcing their children to live their dream they were enraged when they could not do that any more.
She watched his reaction as she told him the sliver of what her life was like. And of course he seemed to go through a mixture of emotions as he took in what she told him. Though what caught her off guard was the anger that settled in on his face. Usually people settled on pity when they heard her story. But Izuku seemed mad about it.
"How could they do that? They were your parents, they should love you no matter what," he was nearly growling as he clenched his hands into fists.
"I have no clue how they could be that way. But it's fine. I haven't seen them since. I am alive and well. It's in the past," she said simply with a shrug of her shoulders, a little unsure how to get him to settle down.
"Still it's not right," he growled.
"And yet it happens. You would be surprised at the amount of kids I met on the streets who were disowned due to their quirks or lack of," she said simply and watched the surprise cross his face before he sighed and settled down.
"I don't think I want to know. I have a friend who grew up in an abusive home due to his own fathers drive for strong kids and a protégé who could one day beat and surpass All Might. And he had a quirk. I can't imagine what life for him may have been like had he been quirkless," Midoriya said as he thought of Todoroki. He probably shouldn't have been talking about such a personal matter that was not his story to tell. But still he couldn't help but tell her wanting to show her he could understand her.
"Even with a quirk do you ever still feel helpless?" She asked softly, not wanting to comment on his friend's story. She had heard similar stories from kids and friends she had made growing up. She had a good idea of what the poor person's life must have been like. She almost wondered if maybe she had met this friend of Midoriya's since most runaways came from abusive homes like that. But she didn't ask.
"All of the time," he said softly, which was both surprising but also somehow nice to hear. To know that even with a strong quirk and strength he still was human and felt helpless at times.
"Oh do you want your food warmed back up?" She quickly changed the subject as she wanted to get away from the personal conversation. A silent nod of his head was all she needed to grab his take out container and run it to the kitchen to warm up and bring it back for him to finish eating.
