Izuku staples the last of the missing pet posters with a yawn. He had looked in every place he thought a cat would be but came up empty, meaning he had to print out the fliers at a local convenience store and hang a bunch up. He slips his obnoxiously-colored backpack off, opening it and setting the stapler inside, quickly re-zipping the bag after. He puts it back on, turning to head back down the neighborhood. He had to go to his apartment so he could change into his work uniform, but stops when he sees Shinsou staring at him with slight confusion and suspicion. He was already dressed in casual clothing rather than the stiff uniform that U.A. assigns, wearing a light blue sweatshirt and dark jeans.

"Didn't know I had an assassin after me. Care to tell who placed the hit on me?" Izuku tilts his head, tapping his chin. Then he places his fist in the palm of his other hand, hitting it lightly with realization. "Actually, I bet I know. Mrs. Suzuki has been eyeballing me ever since I found and gave her daughter's wallet at the police station. Wonder where she got the funds to do this."

Shinsou stares at him for a moment before he huffs, shaking his head, "Midoriya, you are strange."

Izuku blinks. "You're not the first to tell me that."

"Not surprised, though I am confused why you're hanging up fliers about a missing cat, considering she apparently isn't yours."

"Ah," Izuku makes a sound of understanding. "It's a thing I do. I go around finding lost things and pets, along with the few intimidation cases."

Shinsou repeats, quirking a brow, "'Intimidation cases?'"

"Bullies. Around the age of seven to ten."

"Ah." Shinsou grunts.

Izuku pulls out his phone, checking the time. "Looks like I gotta go, else I'm gonna be late for my job."

"Job?" Shinsou's eyebrows furrow, and he seems to frown. "You already have a job?"

"Y'know, for someone not looking for friends, you're asking a lot of questions." Izuku smiles in amusement while Shinsou's eyes widen. "I have to make a stop at my apartment, but you're free to follow me." He starts walking, going past the purple-haired boy. "That is, if you want your questions answered. Is your curiosity strong enough, Shinsou?" He mentally laughs at the his weird and cryptic question, imagining the confusion the other must be feeling.

He strolls down the street, softly humming the tune of an opening from a random anime he had watched when he couldn't fall asleep. His apartment wasn't too far from Mrs. Sato's neighborhood, so the awkward walk didn't last long, but it was still uncomfortable to go through. Shinsou follows Izuku up the stairs to his crummy apartment, the four-story building being far from appealing but cheap enough to live in with just a small part-time job (along with a few other paying tasks). Izuku shoves a hand into his pocket, bringing out a key attached to a ring and unlocking the door to his place. He turns the doorknob, pushing open the door, and beckons his new visitor with a passive smile. He kicks his shoes off, and he slips his backpack from his shoulders and tosses it on to the ragged couch. He heads over to his bedroom, calling out to behind him, "Hang out until I get changed. Won't be long."

He makes sure to shut the door after he goes in, and heads straight to his closet where his uniform shirt was on a red hanger while a white undershirt hung on a yellow one. He takes the hangers (and the shirts with them) and sets them on his bed, pulling off his pink shirt that has "ROSE" across it. He replaces it with the undershirt and dark blue polo, making sure to put on some more deodorant. He grabs a hair tie and brings his shoulder-length hair back, tying it into a mid-to-low ponytail. A few bunches of curls were left out to frame his slight tan face (he's often caught in the afternoon sun when doing his searches), and Izuku brushes a few behind his ear. He grabs the shirt he was wearing before and tosses it in his hamper. He pats his pant's pockets to make sure he has his phone, key, and wallet. Once sure, he walks back out into the main room, where Shinsou is sitting on his couch, looking down at his phone.

"All ready, Mr. Assassin." Izuku can't stop himself from smiling when he sees the teen jump, tensing up, before relaxing.

Shinsou stands up from the couch, putting his phone into his pocket with an eyebrow raised. "Not an assassin, last time I checked."

"Ah, yes," Izuku nods, expressing a faux realization. "You wanna be a Hero, so I've heard."

Shinsou's face sets into a cold, bitter expression. "You've heard correctly." He glares, and Izuku can see the walls the teen has built grow taller, stronger. "Got a problem with it? Think I'd be better as a villain?"

"Down, boy," Izuku shakes his head and chuckles, heading over to the door, where his and Shinsou's shoes were tossed. "You love to put words in people's mouth, don't you? First the friend-thing, and now, the Hero-villain-thing." Izuku snorts, slipping his old shoes, the red color not as vivid as the first day he wore them. That was when his mother had bought them for his fourteenth birthday. Izuku sighs, tying the worn laces. He stands, waiting for Shinsou to quietly put his own shoes back on.

He takes a deep breath, hoping he doesn't mess up his words with his lack of eloquence. "Just so you know, not everyone thinks the same, even if it seems like it. I don't even know what your quirk is, nor do I give a shit. A quirk is only as good or bad as the user; I thought that was obvious." Shrugging, he opens the door. "Anyway, I got a shift to get to, so if you're gonna follow me, hurry up." Shinsou doesn't say anything besides a mumbled apology as he passes the green-hair boy to step out of the apartment, to which Izuku clicks his tongue in disapproval. "No need to apologize, just remember what I said."

Izuku shuts the door behind him, turning to swiftly lock it. He and his foster family have a deal: he can live by himself as long as he shows up for anything important. All he has to do is look happy for the family pictures, make sure he has a beautiful smile, or something bad may happen. Of course, he sometimes likes to show up to spend a bit of time around the younger children―the older kids don't particularly spend a lot of time around the house, not that Izuku could blame them, but that also includes leaving the youngers three with the guardians―and sometimes, if he has enough money on him, he'll take them out for ice cream. He has a soft spot for children, screw him, and their foster mother is a delusional bitch.

It is a miracle that they'd pass any type of check ups sent from the prefecture's ward(?). They also fortunately take care of any forms he gets, such as from school and his job (getting references for his resume was hard, good thing he was already doing strange tasks for people before he went into foster care; his dream of becoming a Hero came into good use), just so he stays out of their hair. At the beginning, when he arrived there and saw how messed up his new family was, he wanted to help them. There's nothing he can do now though.

He walks down the hallway, an early-to-mid spring breeze blowing, and Shinsou follows him, looking like a lost puppy having a small mental crisis (to which Izuku doesn't really blame him for). None of them say anything, and the sound of their feet meeting each metal stair was annoyingly loud. Izuku decides to hum again, something soft and relaxing. They don't speak all the way to Plus Ultra Food.

Izuku wipes the table with quick movement, knocking off any crumbs that were left with a dish rag, leaving them to be swept up later. He yawns, taking note of the time from the clock on the wall. It's past eight, leaving him with less than an hour (If the next person comes for their shift, that is). It's late, and a weekday, so not many people are eating inside of the restaurant, the majority most likely going through the drive-thru (he isn't allowed to take orders anymore; last time didn't go so well). There are only a few tables taken, one specifically taken by a quiet, and mostly likely bored, Shinsou, who is scrolling through his phone with a blank expression. It's going slow, but there is always work to be done, or at least that's what Kawaguchi said before sending him out to clean the empty tables. The male always tells him to call him by his first name, but Izuku loves to piss people off with the pettiest things he can think of.

(Izuku loves to piss him off with the pettiest things.)

Kawaguchi Michael is an older teen, though he is almost twenty years old, and he is way taller than Izuku, and maybe even the tallest out of all his present co-workers (Izuku doesn't like to mention anything about height―no, not because he's self-conscious of his own short height, shut up). He was in college, working on a degree that had something to do with history (Izuku couldn't remember what exactly), and sometimes he'd come into his shift acting like a complete idiot (which Izuku can relate to a degree). The blond was blunt, on the thin line of being a dick, and he never sugarcoats anything. Izuku didn't have any problems with Kawaguchi, often inquiring about the stories he had from America, and the guy mostly argues with Nakajima about the stupidest of things. Of course, the arguments weren't ever serious.

Nakajima Yume is an adult who is be considered to be slightly emo (an appearance style influenced by her girlfriend, most likely). While she may act like a high idiot sometimes, the only drug she smokes is nicotine from the occasional cigarette she lights. The blue-haired woman was the person Izuku went to when he wants to have fun. If either had a bad day, neither spoke about it; the company was enough. Nakajima is smart, she just has her strange and weird moments, which often make Izuku laugh. For some reason, she likes to get Kawaguchi riled up, which explains the arguments they had, but if it ever got to be too much, she or Kawaguchi would apologize. They're good like that, though sometimes Yamamoto would have to mediate.

Yamamoto Akari is the person in the group who keeps them from both voluntarily and involuntarily killing themselves. She is the only sane one among the evening employees, the one who mother-hens and cares for them, which Izuku, along with Kawaguchi and Nakajima, is always grateful for, considering the fact that they get up to the stupidest activities. She was saving up for a small flower shop, based on her quirk, Botany. Her quirk allows her to consciously touch any plant and learn any information about it, as well as its properties.

Ah, quirks. Something that Izuku loves and didn't have. Kawaguchi's quirk is called Paralysis Shock; if he touches someone, he could freeze all motor functions for around five minutes (Izuku had him use his quirk on him, just so he could analyze it). He didn't get good traction because of it, mostly because of how weak it is, but Izuku believes that it is cool. Nakajima's quirk was really interesting, being called Dream Manipulation, or Dream Planter as Izuku calls it. She could change a sleeping person's dreams by "planting" a good or bad "seed," changing a nightmare into a good dream and vice versa. Sometimes, in the dead of night, Izuku wishes she was there to plant a good seed so he didn't have to relive the last memory he had of his mother.

Izuku softly sings the English words of the song playing. Music, with clean lyrics, is allowed to be played in the restaurant, and the evening group took turns daily with who gets to play what. Today was Kawaguchi's turn, and he went with an old, popular artist, Shawn Mendes, whose voice was way better than the mostly auto-tuned songs of today. There were a few artists and groups who could produce music without sounding like a robot, having the actual talent to do without.

"Izuku, could you bring another box of Hero toys from the storage? I've ran out."

Izuku breaks out of the song, calling back, "Got it, Yamamoto!"

"Izuku..." Izuku grimaces at her tone.

"Got it," he amends, "Akira."

He ignores the fact that some of the patrons chuckle, including the indigo-headed student that he brought along, and makes his way to the storage room, going past the boxes of styrofoam cups and plastic straws. He lifts the brown box of children's toys, each a small figure of random popular Heroes, such as the Symbol of Peace, All Might, the fiery bastard, Endeavor, and the fast birb, Hawks, and carries it out of the room, kicking the door shut on his way out. He takes it over to where Akira was fixing the order of the waiting customer, setting it on a nearby table and swiftly opening. He grabs a random toy, absently noting it was a figure of Edgeshot, and hands it to Akira, who takes it with a smile, placing it inside of a kid's meal. Izuku moves the box under the table, so it was out of the way, and goes back to the customer area, a thrown glance telling him that he wasn't needed.

Izuku continues to clean tables until his shift was over, the clock hitting nine, and the next employee already showing up for the last shift. He clocks out, snags a couple of wrapped burgers and a box of french fries, as well as a few napkins, and saunters over to Shinsou's table. The green-haired teen tosses a burger in front of Shinsou, gaining his attention, and sits down. He puts the box of french fries on the napkins, keeping the longer ones from touching the table.

Izuku unwraps his burger, "You wanna drink, you gotta buy one yourself."

He takes a bite out of it, which prompts Shinsou to unwrap his own and start eating it. Izuku uses his free hand to pull the hair tie out of his hair, ruffling his messy, but liberated, curls. After chewing and swallowing another bite, he reaches to take a fry. The two boys eat with an awkward silence, allowing the low-quality food to fill their stomachs.

Finally, Shinsou speaks up, "Thanks..." He averts his eyes, looking completely uncomfortable. "For the food," he adds.

"Perks of the job, I guess," Izuku hums, bringing another fry to his mouth. "Now, are we gonna talk about your angsty past, or are we going to talk about the cat that's been mentioned multiple times today?"

Shinsou sighs, sounding slightly drained, "The cat, please."

"Got it." Izuku takes a deep breath. "So, to get a little money on the side, I do little tasks for people. As I said earlier, most of them are to find lost pets, like poor, poor Yuka, or lost items, like Mrs. Suzuki's daughter's wallet. Sometimes a young, innocent boyo, like myself, needs another way to pay the bills." He goes for a joke, "Didn't wanna go down the path of underage prostitution, y'know?" He grins when Shinsou snorts, shaking his head.

"So, you already have a part-time job, and you have to pay bills. Most teens our age don't need to do that yet."

Izuku shrugs, "Guess I'm not like most teens our age then, another thing to add to the list. Also, you haven't leveled up on friendship points yet, so no point in asking about my job and stuff. And from what you said earlier, it seems you won't ever get to find out, seeing as how you don't want any friends." Shinsou frowns slightly, looking down. "I'll throw you a bone though. I'm quirkless."

Shinsou winces. Seems he knows the treatment the few quirkless teens of their generation receives just for not having one special thing the majority did. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize."

"I've been a dick to you this whole time―"

"I've had worse." Another bone, unwanted, tossed.

Shinsou changes the subject, weakly mumbling, "The cat... Yuka..."

"As I said, Yuka doesn't belong to me. She belongs to an old lady, Sato Mio, who's asked me to find her for a pretty good price. Unfortunately, the cat doesn't have a tag with Mrs. Sato's information on it, which is bad on her part, but can't really do anything about that now. I'm hoping that someone found her and is waiting for missing posters to go up, which is why you saw me putting them up." Izuku wipes his mouth and hands with a napkin, finished with his burger. "If I don't find her, or really any pet I'm paid to look for, I refund the full price to the owner."

Shinsou chews on a couple of fries, showing that he understood with a single nod. Izuku makes sure to grab the last three, shoving them into his mouth. He chews while he stands and gathers the trash, and Shinsou takes that as a sign to also stand, pushing his phone into his pocket. The taller boy follows the short as he tosses the trash into a trash can that was right beside the door.

Izuku calls behind his shoulder, "Goodnight, guys."

A series of "goodnight"s and "see you later"s came in different pitches of voices, but all carrying the same fondness for one person: Izuku. It was clear that the evening works of this particular Plus Ultra Food establishment were close, almost like a weird family. A slightly greasy and hardworking one, but a family nonetheless.

The breeze from before has picked up, making the temperature a bit cool but bearable. It is strong enough to tangle its invisible fingers through Izuku's curls, bringing a few up into air gently. He and Shinsou make their way down the sidewalk, keeping to one side as to avoid the evening group of people going the opposite way. It will take around ten-to-fifteen minutes to walk to the station, and the train would be showing up at half past nine, the ride lasting about forty minutes. Luckily, while Izuku's phone is close to dying, he has a classmate to chat with, who just happens to get off at the same stop as him.

Izuku yawns, stretching his arms towards the night sky as he turns from Shinsou to head down his street. He had already said a "goodnight," and now he can't wait until he's able to step into the shower and then drop into bed. He shoves his hands into his pockets, rolling his shoulders. He yawns again.

Suddenly, there's a shout, "Midoriya!"

"Hm?" Izuku turns, quickly noticing Shinsou hurrying over to him. He was holding something, something slightly small, in his arm, and Izuku narrows his eyes. "What?"

Shinsou makes it over to him, bringing his top hand down to show a cat's head. "Isn't..." He sucks in a deep breath. "Isn't this the cat you've been asked to find? Yuka, right?"

Izuku can't help but grin as he tugs out his phone to pull up the picture of Yuka. Quickly, he finds the similarities between the cat in Shinsou's arm and the one in the picture. The final clue is when Izuku finds the collar's tag, lifting it up with barely any trouble, despite the cat squirming slightly to get out of the purple-haired boy's arms. There, engraved, was the name Yuka. "Well, Shinsou. Looks like you're better at the job than I am. Care to drop her off with me? I'm sure Mrs. Sato would like to meet her hero."

There's a nice gleam in Shinsou's eyes, unconsciously brightening when he hears the word "hero," and he's quickly nodding, shifting the cat to a better position. Yuka stops trying to get out of his arms, and instead she rubs her head against Shinsou's chin, purring softly. Izuku smiles, leading the way to Sato's home.

"I hope you've texted your guardians before you started following me around, Shinsou."

Shinsou is quiet for a moment before he asks, "Could you take her while..."

"Sure," Izuku chuckles. "Don't want to be yelled at for keeping their son away." He carefully takes Yuka away from Shinsou, scratching the happy cat's head, while the other goes to text his guardians (Izuku didn't want to assume anything). He coos discreetly, "If only I had a cat like you. Maybe the apartment wouldn't be as empty if I did." He decides to hum again, the tune random this time. He didn't like the quiet.

"My mom says it's fine, as long as I get home soon. Curfew's getting close though, it's past ten." Shinsou pushes his phone back into his pocket, looking down at Izuku (curse his height).

Izuku nods. "Better make this quick then. Mrs. Sato's place isn't far now."

And it really wasn't, being a few buildings down. They speed up their pace a bit, and within two minutes, they're standing in front of the nice home of Sato Mio. Izuku transfers Yuka to Shinsou's arms, the cat makes its place with grace. With the hope that the old woman hasn't fallen asleep yet, Izuku rings the doorbell. The boys (and cat) wait, slightly fidgeting, when the door is opened, an older woman standing with a pink robe adorning her figure.

Her mouth is open to ask why there's two random teens at her door, before she sees her cat in Shinsou's arms. "Yuka!" Izuku smiles as Shinsou gives Sato her cat back. "Oh, thank you! I didn't recognize you at first, Midoriya, but now that Yuka's here, I remember! Let me go get your money."

Before Izuku can say anything (he honestly couldn't care less about the money right now; he's exhausted), Sato ducks into her nicer apartment. She comes back in less than a minute, a few bills in her hand, and Yuka purring contently in her arms.

She goes to place the money into Izuku's hand, but stops when he interrupts, "Actually, I wasn't the one who found Yuka, Mrs. Sato. Your hero isn't me, it's my classmate, Shinsou." He angles his hand at the teen, whose eyes are wide in surprise. "If anything, he should get the money."

Sato directs her smile at the mentioned male. "Thank you, Shinsou! It may not seem like much to you, but you're my hero. My late husband was the one who brought Yuka home, and I would have been heartbroken if I had lost her for good. Thank you."

Izuku could see Shinsou's eyes glaze over, shining. He stumbles over his words, "I―i-it's not a-a problem, Mrs. Sa-Sato." He takes the money that is pressed into his hand, almost unnoticeably shaking, but Izuku's eyes catches the small tremble.

The students finish up their conversation with Sato, and they turn to go back up the street they came from. Izuku doesn't mention the sniffling that comes from Shinsou, rather remarking, "Not all Heroes are flashy." He shrugs, looking up at the sky, slightly disappointed that light-pollution keeps the stars from being seen. "A lot of Pros may be, but it's part of the job. Even then, there's a lot of Pros that are specifically not eye-catching, and I'm sure you know who." He gives a short side-glance to the teen walking beside him. "True heroes are the people who help others without personal gain, they just save someone because they want to. Even if you don't become a Pro-Hero, Shinsou, you can still be a hero. Just wanted you to know, you're a good person, no matter what your quirk is."

"Thank you," Shinsou whispers.

"Now," Izuku moves on to a different subject. "You found Yuka, so what do you want in return?"

Shinsou blinks away his tears, sending a confused look to the green-haired teen. "What?"

"What do you want for finding Yuka? Like a favor, I guess."

"But Mrs. Sato already gave me the money, which I don't need, by the way."

"Oh, just let me do something good for once. I may not be heading down the Hero route, but I still want to be a nice person." Izuku sighs, pushing back strands of wild hair. "How about I get you trained up for the Sport Festival? Can't just go relying on your quirk the whole time." Shinsou averts his gaze sheepishly. "That's exactly what you were planning to do, wasn't it?"

He answers with a shy, almost self-conscious, "Yes."

Izuku places a hand on his chin, thinking. "Okay, so that's what I'll do. Gonna have to find someone to teach you some basics at least."

"Yo-you don't have to―"

"I want to. Anyway, give me a few days, I'll try to find someone to toss you around a bit. If I don't find anyone in three days, we can just fight each other." Izuku points his eyes at Shinsou, catching his purple ones. "I'll make sure you get a good placement."

The tears resurface. "I think I can afford to make one friend this year, if you're willing to..."

"I would love to be your friend, Shinsou."


11.7 pages · 4100 words


May 16, 2020


Edited September 27, 2021

12.5 pages · 4,298 words


Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please, feel free to leave a comment on the way about. They motivate me to keep writing, and plus I love reading what you guys have to say about what I write. You can also leave any ideas that you may want in this fic, and I'll consider them. Thank you for reading!