Mezo woke with a grumble, feeling rather groggy as he had been up late last night texting with his friends.
Pushing himself to his elbows, he shook himself and then yawned, his jaw unhinging before he ran a hand through his hair.
Moving to the bathroom, Mezo got himself ready, ensuring his mask covered his face's lower half before leaving the bathroom.
He decided to have an easy breakfast with insects while his mom was walking around the building.
Taking out the bag of crickets he bought yesterday for himself, eating a handful of them before grabbing the duck his mom bought for him and eating some of it.
And he made sure to wrap it up tightly since Mom didn't like the smell of raw meat.
He wasn't too fond of it himself, but he minded it less than she did, and it was easier than cooking something.
He wouldn't have to go back to school until tomorrow, so he was wearing the clothes he worked out in.
A nice tank top and sweatpants with some nice shoes.
Mezo grabbed a bottle of water and left the apartment, stretching as he walked through the halls, making his back crack a few times.
"Good morning, Shoji-San." Kiku-Kun greeted him as they passed each other in between in the hall.
"Good morning, Kiku-Kun. Do you want me to walk you to school today?" Mezo offered, but Kiku-Kun shook his head.
"No, thank you, Shoji-San. Aki-Chan, and I'll be okay." Kiku-Kun replied, and Mezo just nodded before continuing on his way.
Kiku-Kan would be fine walking to school, no one would touch him on his way.
Once outside, Mezo rolled all three sets of his shoulders and got onto all eight limbs, changing his hands so that they were plated in thick scales and leather pads on his palms to protect his hands from the rough terrain.
Then he took off running, the force of which left a few cracks in the sidewalk, a fact he was proud of since when he started, there were many, many more cracks made.
He was getting better at controlling his strength when sprinting like this.
Thankfully, in the South Side, no one would care that much for him doing this; people were seen doing worse all the time.
After an hour, Mezo felt his muscles start to burn and made his way back to the apartment, sitting outside on a bench and drinking from his water bottle.
Wiping away some of the sweat from his forehead.
"Hey, Mezo-Kun. Are you back from your run? Do you want something to snack on?" His mom asked, offering him a jar of bugs from the grocery bag she was carrying.
"Yes, Mom, that would be nice." Mezo replied, taking the jar.
"You must have been running harder today, let me fix your hair." his mom told him, Mezo leaned forward so she'd have an easier time working with it.
His mom leaned over him, and he felt her mandibles and palps combing through his hair, something that was rather calming for him.
She had always cleaned up his hair like this, and he made sure to pick brands of hair products that were non-toxic and edible so she still could do it.
It was a nice sensation, like when Sadi played with his hair yesterday.
Pulling away when she was done and wishing him a good day with his friends before going back inside.
Mezo looked at the bugs inside and glad most of them were already dead.
Pulling down his mask he began to munch on the bugs, a nice little crunch with each one so they must have been roasted.
It was hard to tell since each of them were black in color and they oddly enough didn't even smell charred like most roasted bugs did.
He was halfway done with his snack when a voice called out to him "Oi, good morning Jiji!"
Mezo jumped so badly he nearly dropped the jar, fumbling it for a second before he turned to the source of the voice.
"Woah Jiji, I didn't mean to scare you." Awase told him, hands raised in surrender.
Mezo sighed "It's okay, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings." Mezo told his friend, slightly embarrassed for his little scare.
"Nah, I don't blame you, Jiji; you were really into those creepy crawlers there." Awase replied, brushing it off.
Mezo tensed up and his hands flew up to his face, feeling it was still bare and immediately pulled his face mask back up.
"Hey, Jiji calm down, dude you already told us about munching on bugs before you don't need to freak out about it so bad." Awase tried to assure him, clearly reading his reaction for what it was.
But Awase seemed to think his source of discomfort was something else.
"I know, I just," Mezo timidly said, hunching in on himself, not wanting to actually say it and hoping that Awase would just crop it.
"Don't want me to see your face? Why the fuck not? Those fangs you got are pretty dope, you know." Awase guessed crossing his arms and confused.
Mezo hung his head.
He liked his fangs too, they were his favorite part of his face even if they were a bit bulky.
But that wasn't the problem.
"I don't like my face." Mezo confessed, ashamed of himself for saying it.
He half expected Awase to puff up indignantly and demand to know who it was that thought they could make him feel bad about how he looked.
Awase didn't though, he looked kind of sad as his shoulders slumped.
"Why?" he asked more concerned for him than anything else.
Mezo bit his lip, wondering if he really wanted to answer that question.
Reluctantly, though Mezo did say something.
"I look like my dad... " Mezo said, not looking at his friend.
It was a fact, aside from his eye color, teeth, and his nose, he looked like his father.
And he hated even thinking about it.
"Oh," Awase replied, clearly unsure how to respond further.
"Was he… like a dick to your mom?" Awase asked, a touch hesitant to press forward.
Mezo huffed.
"You could say that... technically." Mezo answered.
He was much worse than that but he didn't want to tell any of his friends about that, not right now anyway.
"Can we please not talk about this?" Mezo requested, his mood swiftly nose-diving from the subject at hand.
"Of course, Jiji, sorry for being so damn nosy." Awase apologized, putting a hand on one of his main arms.
Mezo felt the urge to assure his friend about this, it wasn't his fault he didn't know about his... father being a sensitive subject.
Mezo never brought it up at all if he could help it.
"Promise not to say shit about this to the others too, not my crap to unload." Awase added, even going so far as to physically 'cross' his heart as he said this.
"Thank you. I'd really appreciate that, Awa-San." Mezo told him, feeling a weight being removed from his chest.
It was possible that Mido-Kun already knew about his circumstances regarding his father, but if he did, he never brought it up to him or treated him any differently.
"No problem Jiji. Hey, let's go get something from Red; Uki's favorite cookies are going to be half off today." Awase suggested.
The thought of Uki smiling over them, surprising her with a bag of her favorite cookies, made it hard for Mezo not to perk up.
"Okay, I think she'll let us in early." Mezo commented as he got up.
Awase scoffed, then chuckled as he elbowed Mezo.
"Of course, Red will; she's a sucker for romance. How could she resist an opportunity to help two young people in love?" Awase joked.
Mezo became flustered and sputtered.
"W- What are you talking about?" Mezo questioned, his face somewhat red.
"Of come on Jiji, you think I haven't seen how you and Uki look at each other?" Awase teasingly asked.
Mezo's face became much redder.
"... You think she likes me?" Mezo said, feeling like he had eaten a bunch of live insects.
Mezo could believe that he had an unnoticed crush on her.
Uki was quite a pretty girl, and she was sweet to everyone, especially him.
She was also a hard worker who pushed herself hard to achieve her dream of being a hero.
Why wouldn't he fall for her, at least a little bit?
But what in the world would Uki see in him?
Well, he was tall... but that would hardly be enough reason to spark any feelings like that towards him of all people.
Because he was certain he was leaning more towards the intimidating type of tall, at least that's always what it felt like.
There were countless times he could recount people talking about him as the emotionless creepy giant.
And the way people outside of the South Side and his friends looked at him was pretty obvious too.
"Um, kinda yeah? I mean, you've seen the way she acts around you right?" Awase told him with his face a mix of amused and 'really?'
"Acts what way?" Mezo questioned staring confused.
He would have remembered if Uki had flirted with him... Right?
"Jiji, she practically dotes on your ass." Awase replied.
"So do you and Mido-Kun." Mezo protested and Awase laughed.
"Oh really? So, Zuri and I go out of our way to check on you during your work out and spend a lot of time with you after training?" Awase asked smirking with his hands on his hips.
Mezo bashfully looked down.
Uki... did spend a lot more time with him compared to the other two, but Mido-Kun was working a lot so they couldn't talk in person.
But he was sort of right about Uki spending a bit more time with him, like helping him out at the community center and working out with him.
But that couldn't be her showing interest in him, she was just doing what she thought was right and working on her training with him.
"And you remember what happened yesterday right? Uki was certainly quite vocal about her thoughts of your heroic potential." Awase reminded him waggling his eyebrows.
Mezo's face turned red at that one.
He couldn't deny that, and having Uki so adamantly defend his ability to work in whatever branch of heroics might have made his heart skip a beat.
Mezo blinked then his face started burning as he realized that Awase was right.
He did have a crush on Uki.
Awase laughed and elbowed Mezo again.
"Don't lose your crap Jiji, you ain't the first person to have a crush on one of their friends." Awase teasingly told him.
"And from the looks of it, Uki doesn't seem like she'd turn you down." Awase commented with a wink.
If his face was burning before it was so bad now that he could probably pass out, and there was a hive's worth of activity going on in his chest.
Was she really interested in him back... romantically?
Mezo quickly ran through all of his time spent with Uki, searching for any signs that Uki was interested in him.
Only to wonder if he was over thinking things and that he was looking too much into things, like when she would smile at him after a tough workout or bring him his water bottle when he was tired.
"Hey Mez, you, okay? You don't normally space out kiddo?" Magne said, waving a hand in front of his face, surprising Mezo and he wondered when he got to the bakery.
"Don't mind him Red, I just broke it to him that he has a crush on Uki." Awase told him dismissively and he stared at his friend.
How could he tell her that? Didn't he know that she'd definitely tell his mom about this?
Magne snorted, giving him a firm pat on the shoulder.
"About time you realized Kiddo, doubt a girl like Uraraka would wait on you forever." Magne told him, and Mezo, thoroughly embarrassed, let his head hit the table with a groan.
Did everyone know about his crush before him?
Author: Hm... why would Mezo wear a facemask all the time?
Common fanon reason(s): Cause his face looks scary/weird?
Author: Hn.
Artists: He... likes the look?
Author: Closer.
Random thought: What if he hates his dad?
Author: That, let's do that.