The end of the day could not come fast enough. Not only was I getting healed today, but it was also Friday, which meant I would get to enjoy my first days of freedom without having to worry about work!

My excitement reached a head when I saw a now all too familiar black sedan out front. Despite being the number 1 hero, Toshinori-san much preferred to stay under the radar in his daily life, which was one of the reasons I really respected the kind blond man.

"Hey, Tsukibara! Looks like your boyfriend is here!" Kurosawa Isao, one of my coworkers, teased loudly. He was an okay guy I guess. His hair was dark brown, straight, and neat, and his eyes were amber in color. By most girls standards, he was a good-looking guy. The only thing was…

"Shut it, Kurosawa! He's not my boyfriend! He's just a friend who's helping me out until I'm healed," I explained for what felt like the hundredth time.

"Oh… So that means I can get your number then?" Kurosawa asked as he came up beside me with a smirk, his amber eyes shining with mischief. For some reason, he would not leave me alone about getting my number. It got on my last nerve. Toshinori-san reached us right at that moment and seemed wildly uncomfortable at Kurosawa's question. His smile faltered slightly, and I felt my own good mood dip for some reason in response.

"Not on your life, Kurosawa," I answered with a smirk of my own before adding somewhat absent mindedly under my breath, "Besides, I'm kind of interested in someone already." Where the hell had that come from? Obviously, the two men in front of me were thinking the same thing, except Toshinori-san looked somewhat...disappointed? My chest pained again, and I made a mental note to mention it to Recovery Girl when we got to her office. Speaking of which…

"Toshinori," I said, getting his attention and causing Kurosawa to raise an eyebrow, "Can we please go now?" Toshinori's smile came back brighter than before and nodded.

"Of course! Let's go!" Toshinori exclaimed happily as he grabbed the handles on my wheelchair and started pushing me towards his car. He opened the door on the passenger side and picked me up bridal style to carefully move me from my wheelchair to the seat.

"Hey, Kaera! If you ever get tired of hanging out with Scarecrow-oji-san, just let me know!" Toshinori tensed with me still in his arms at Kurosawa's jeer, his smile trying to hide the disheartened look in his electric blue eyes. I placed my right hand comfortingly on his chest.

"Ignore him, Toshinori," I murmured in comfort, "He's a moron." Toshinori's smile turned more sincere though it still didn't quite reach his eyes the way it had before, chuckling lightly as he placed me in the car, gently shut the door before going to the driver's seat.

We rode in silence for a couple of minutes before I decided to try and break the silence. It was clear that Kurosawa's comment had gotten to him more than he wanted to show.

"How old are you anyways, Toshinori-san? Kurosawa's a moron! He thought I had just finished my bachelor's when I started," I asked, quickly adding the last bit but leaving out that the reason he had thought that was because I had used one of my folders from college the first day.

"Ah… Well… I probably am quite a bit older than you and your colleague are…" Toshinori started nervously before trying to change the topic, "Why did you start adding the -san to my name after dropping it earlier?"

Now, it was my turn to be a bit flustered. I had no idea why I'd done it other than it had just felt...right?

"I-I'm not sure… It happened earlier without me thinking, and I was worried it may have offended you," I half-admitted with a shy smile, "Sorry about that."

"No need to apologize," he stated kindly, his eyes darting to mine for a moment before returning to the road, "It was nice. I've been All Might, the Symbol of Peace, for so long that not many people know me as just Toshinori anymore. I'm not exactly the safest or easiest person to get to know. Everyone is much more interested in All Might." His voice and words both held so much emotion in them that I felt tears prick my eyes and quietly cleared my throat to avoid a voice crack; however, a few tears managed to escape, but I wiped those away quickly.

"Well, for what it's worth, I prefer you as Toshinori," I said before realizing that could be taken in a weird way and laughed to lighten the mood, "You're much quieter and less awkward this way."

Toshinori looked absolutely shocked before his face lit up with the brightest smile that I had seen from him as he let out a joyful chuckle before murmuring a thank you.

"No problem!" I exclaimed before smirking, "Now about your age…" He groaned at my persistence, but I continued, "I'll make you a deal. We both tell each other our ages, and we both drop the -san's from each other's names." I gave him a sort of pleading look, and he shook his head in defeat.

"Deal," he agreed hesitantly, "But no making fun of my age." I nodded enthusiastically.

"Nothing too bad," I assured with a teasing smile, and he sighed but smiled despite himself.

"I'm 35," Toshinori finally admitted, and I giggled, causing his face to go red in embarrassment.

"Sorry, Toshinori," I apologized between giggles, "I just find it funny that you think that 35 is old! I mean, I'm 27. That's only like 8 years difference give or take depending on our birthdays. Mine is December 21." I was rambling kind of quickly at the end, a nervous habit I thought I had long since gotten over.

"That's almost a decade of difference, Kaera," he pointed out. Now, it was my turn to groan in frustration, causing Toshinori to send me a puzzled look.

"Look, I haven't made a single friend since before the funer- since before I left the U.S., not because I wasn't approached. I fought to keep everyone at a distance. If you want to not hang out with me anymore now that I'll be healed, then fine. Just drop me off at Recovery Girl's office and leave. Your heroic duty will be over and you can quit pretending to care!" I all but spat at him.

Most of my anger was stemming from my nervousness and anxiety from finally being close to someone again. After Santosh and Isha's funeral, I had fled the U.S. and sworn off letting myself get attached to anyone, especially men. Then, this blond dork had to burst past those rules I had made, no matter how slightly close he had managed to get to me.

I could feel my chest tightening, and I tried to stop my breaths from coming out as gasps. Without thinking, I bent over, reaching with my left arm to grab my wallet from the floor board that had my emergency panic attack medicines in it. Pain shot through my left shoulder as I managed to grasp my wallet and sit up, opening it before the pain again exploded in my shoulder, making everything fade to black…