...Yeah, I know... Hella long time since I've updated this story but I fell into a writer's block that wouldn't budge until yesterday. It's still there, but, I think I can crank out some more chapters? In any case, I'm really sorry!
Check out my series on Archives of Our Own called 'Stories I Will Be Expanding On Later'. I've got the first chapter of a bunch of different stories that are at varying stages of completeness and I'd love to know which is the favorite!
Thank you for coming back to read after SO LONG!
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Letters From A Fan
Chapter 14
"Woah…" Izuku gushed, looking around the unbelievably large workshop space Mei had just bought. "This… This is amazing…"
"It is, but it cost SO much money…" the girl agreed. "I've just about finished every gadget we thought up for heroes, so, this is a preemptive strike. We're going to get those babies sold and I'm going to pay this off before the interest on my loan bankrupts my already bankrupted bank account."
"Well… What do we do first?" Izuku questioned.
The girl looked him up and down, rubbing her jaw and tapping her lip as she hummed. This simply wasn't going to work. "First, we get you some new clothes. I bet half the reason you couldn't sell shit to anyone was that you look like a runaway twelve-year-old. We're professionals now, Deku. Dress for the part you want, not the one you have!"
Midoriya looked down at his admittedly worn clothes, but couldn't help the nervous chill in his spine. Hatsume had this look on her face like when she wanted him to test some of her 'babies'… it almost always ended in disaster the first, second, and occasionally even third time.
"Uh…" he drawled, clearing his throat. "T-then what?"
"We get the word out. We have 'Deku' advertise my business as part of the 'suggestions for improvement' sections of the letters."
Midoriya bit his lower lip slightly, furrowing his brows. It didn't sound like a good idea to him… In fact, it was actually an awful one. Sure, his seal of approval would guarantee Mei's business would take off and heroes from all around the world would be requesting personalized tech from her. But it also painted a big ass red target on their heads.
"Mei…" he sighed, feeling almost apprehensive about bursting her bubble. "Since you know my identity now, you've got to realize I'm the one that requested all those drones from you…"
"Of course?" she responded, looking at him curiously. "Got to admit though, I never would have guessed that the dorky kid that showed up at my mom's shop in a trench coat, sunglasses, and hat with a literally crumpled wad of cash would eventually be 'The Great Deku'. Biggest kept secret of the century if you ask me…"
Midoriya sweat-dropped from the unfortunate memory; that particular incident had happened when he was in his first year of high school. "I was in stealth mode! Gah, off-topic. Okay, well I needed those drones to make it impossible for anyone to track where my letters were coming from; I'd be killed if a villain figured out where I lived. Plus, if they were ever intercepted on their way to heroes, it would be a disaster since they contain a detailed analysis of their quirks' strengths and weaknesses. Anonymity has always been imperative to keeping me and heroes safe!"
"… Right?"
"So," he continued with exasperation, "once heroes start 'spreading the word' of sorts that you're my—Deku's—choice for specialty items that make them even more successful at stopping crime… you will literally be Number 1 on the villains' hit lists and even though they won't know I'm Deku, I'll be Number 2 just for working here."
"Oh, damn… Didn't think of that…" She frowned, contemplating. "What are we going to do then? Heroes aren't going to buy shit from us because you, no offense, are a known nuisance and I'm difficult to put up with. We need 'Deku' to endorse our work or we won't succeed…"
Again Izuku was biting his lip, brain spinning to come up with an answer that wasn't readily available. "We'll figure something out… I've just got to think about it for a bit."
Despite how nervous she was, Mei snorted and nodded. If there was anyone who'd figure it out, it was Deku.
Midoriya had been in the middle of groaning into his desk when his phone rang with an unknown number, immediately setting him on edge since Mei was the only person who ever called him. As it turned out, the person on the other end of the line was Kirishima, the redhead begging him to come back and help Bakugo; He wouldn't give any details, but he said it was urgent and 'life or death'.
Despite the situation he was trying to solve with Hatsume and their new shop, he'd rushed back to his old city and the home he'd shared with the blonde after promising Kirishima that he'd do whatever he could.
Once Midoriya had gotten there, however, he felt utterly unprepared and had to take several deep breaths as he walked up the front pathway, hoping to whoever was listening that this wasn't going to end in a fit of explosions and tears. Every second he waited after knocking felt like an eternity, only for it to seem like not nearly enough time once the door opened.
But then he saw the state Bakugo was in and was certain that he must be having an awful nightmare. The blonde's eyes were bloodshot and he was only wearing an old ratty pair of sweat pants, clearly inebriated as he swayed on his feet. Midoriya admittedly hadn't seen him much on the news, but he'd been avoiding any clips from Bakugo's city… Had he stopped working? Is this what Kirishima had wanted him to help with?
"The h-hell you doin' here?" he grumbled, scowling at Midoriya even as he sniffed roughly and had to rub tears from his eyes. "Why aren't you with that b-boyfriend stealing c-candy—hiccup—cane?"
It took Midoriya a good long while to process what he was seeing; he'd never in his life seen Bakugo so utterly wrecked emotionally. "Uh… Kacchan," he started nervously, stepping up into the entryway with careful movements. "Why don't we… why don't we go inside, hm?"
The blonde squinted at Midoriya in what might have been confusion, but with a gentle push on his chest, he began moving backward, stumbling every couple of steps even after he'd been turned around. Izuku slung his arm over his shoulders and half carried him to his room, effectively maneuvering him to his bed.
It wasn't more than a few minutes before he'd squished a pillow close to him and drifted off into a drunken sleep, leaving Izuku exhaling in exasperation. Out of habit, he headed back to the living room and looked around, finding that while nothing appeared to be broken, it was a mess… the whole place was a mess, actually, and smelled stale.
It wasn't like he had anything better to do until Bakugo woke up, so he set about cleaning up the emptied alcohol bottles and take out boxes, deciding he'd put the place back together before trying to do the same thing for the house's owner.
Katsuki had come to save him when he was at his lowest point… It was his turn now.
Midoriya felt a chill of nervousness run up his spine when Bakugo finally woke up the next morning and slowly walked to the kitchen with a hand over his eyes. There wasn't any doubt he had a massive hangover, one that was probably even more debilitating since he'd spent the entirety of his life refusing to indulge in anything that would impede his ability to become the Number 1 Pro in the world… he likely wasn't used to it.
"Uh, h-how are you feeling, Kacchan?"
The blonde stopped dead in his tracks, his muscles tensing harshly before he sagged low and began moving again, finally removing his hand from his light-sensitive eyes. "I thought I'd just fucking dreamed you'd showed up here, Deku."
Midoriya swallowed thickly from his tone; it was hollow and tired sounding, the usual bite or at least fierceness completely gone. When he'd left Bakugo, he hadn't thought for a moment that the blonde would sulk for more than a few days before taking his rage out on villains and then moving on. He'd always been so strong an independent; at least, that's what Izuku had thought.
"I m-made you breakfast…" he stated, pulling the neatly made dish from the oven and setting it out for his ex. "And I looked up a hangover tonic i-if you want it."
Bakugo ignored Midoriya and headed straight for the fridge, somewhat slamming it closed when he found that it had been emptied. His aching head knocked straight into the stainless steel, breath coming out heavy with irritation. "Damn it, you annoying little fuck… Where'd you put it?"
"If the 'it' you're referring to is the copious amounts of alcohol you had stashed throughout this place, it's gone. Now come and eat; you'll feel better."
"Feel better?" Bakugo grunted, turning to glare at his unwelcomed guest. "You show up here three and a half months after leaving me for that two colored douchebag and you think some damn breakfast is going to make me feel fucking better? Go to hell, Deku."
"I'm not with Shoto, Kacchan; I haven't seen him in three and a half months either. I wouldn't date him because I thought doing so would hurt you, but clearly that didn't matter." Midoriya snapped back, glaring equally as hard while he pushed the plate across the counter with purpose. "Eat."
The blonde petulantly sent a small blast straight towards it, sending the food flying while the plate shattered against the cupboards on the opposite wall. He didn't do anything more, however, the two of them standing tensely and staring at one another with frustration.
"You don't live here anymore, Deku." Bakugo finally grit out. "So you'd best fucking leave before I call the cops on you or blow your ass away myself."
"Ha!" Izuku scoffed, maneuvering past his ex as he rolled his eyes. "You had quite a streak before we broke up where you didn't use your quirk on me, Kacchan. Even if we aren't dating anymore, I doubt you'd want to break such an achievement."
"Don't you walk away from me you bastard! Where the hell are you doing?"
Midoriya pointedly ignored him even as he trailed after and muttered obscenities under his breath, making his way to the blonde's room to get it picked up now that he didn't have to worry about waking him.
"And don't fucking touch my shit!"
"It smells like sweat and booze in here, Kacchan. I'm going to change your sheets while you go take a shower... Then you can clean up the mess you made in the kitchen and we'll figure out what we're doing from there."
Bakugo rubbed his face roughly, still trying to keep his temper under control even though he almost didn't have the energy to get mad in the first place. It wasn't really in his nature to take orders from anyone and he'd always had problems with authority for that very reason, but Midoriya clearly wasn't going to do a damn thing he said either.
"Whatever…" he conceited, half dragging himself to his bathroom to do as he'd been told.
Midoriya watched him as he went, finding that he was saddened and maybe even a little unnerved by his uncharacteristic surrendering. Part of him was a little glad that Bakugo hadn't been doing much hero work—something he'd confirmed as he'd cooked that morning. With that level of distraction and general apathy, he'd have gotten seriously hurt.
[Izuku]: Mei, that 'emergency' I had to drop everything and leave for isn't going to be resolved right away and I think I'm going to have to bring it *him* back with me. It might be a couple of days but I'll keep working on our store stuff in the meantime!
[Mei]: Uh, okay? I don't know what you're planning but you tend to know what you're talking about so, I'll see you when I see you! Good luck!
'Shoto,'
Honestly, I'm not sure where to begin. So much has happened in the last week that's both good and bad. My friend (Mei Hatsume) and I officially opened our new store and it's so big and clean and new! But… with that comes a fairly hefty price tag.
So… I've decided to use my alias to bring in customers by suggesting that they use her tech. I can hear you panicking from all the way over here, take a deep breath! Yes, I'm fully aware of just how dangerous this idea is and no, you can't talk me out of it.
I've gone back and forth about telling you about the next major development in my life, but I think you have a right to know... Gods I hope I'm not wrong about that and end up upsetting you.
Kirishima (Red Riot) called me out of the blue and begged me to go and 'help Bakugo', but he wouldn't tell me what was wrong… Well, for lack of a more eloquent way to word it, Kacchan is nothing less than an absolute train wreck right now.
I can't stand to see him like this, especially not when part of the reason he's this upset is that I totally cut off communication with him since I was worried I wouldn't be able to stay strong and not go back to him otherwise… Now I just feel like I'm the worst person in the world… I hurt him and I hurt you and it's all because I'm selfish. There isn't a way for me to possibly describe how sorry I am that everything has gone so wrong between the three of us…
I brought Kacchan back with me to see if I could help him get back on his feet; he did that for me once and no matter what goes down between us he'll always be my best friend. He was really unhappy about being dragged back to my city and forced in a cramped little apartment, but, until he sobers up enough to think clearly, I'm just going to keep insisting he do what I say.
I sound so confident and tough saying that, but honestly I'm just as scared and uncertain as ever. It feels like every decision I've made has made things worse for you and for Kacchan… and because of that, I have to wonder if I really am the right person to help him. Kirishima seems to think so, but, I don't think he's fully aware of what led to this disastrous meltdown in the first place.
I hope you are doing well and again I'm so sorry.
Love,
Deku.
Todoroki read through the letter he'd received more than once, caught somewhere in a whirlwind of emotions that ranged from fear of Izuku being killed trying to execute the terrible plan he'd mentioned at the beginning, to jealousy that Bakugo was receiving in-person attention that he wasn't…
But it didn't take Todoroki long to know what he was going to do to fix both of those problems at once. He packed his bags and got a train ticket, heading straight to Hatsume's shop.
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#The Angst Train has returned!
My name on Archive of Our Own is also AnimeFanGirl2223 just in case you decide to check out my Series!
Thank you for reading and being a loyal follower of my occasionally super late updates! Ya'll are the best!