"Man, I feel like you've been up to so much and I was just laying around!" Atori sprawled herself out on top of the hungover girl still in bed.
"Atori… please… my head is pounding."
"That's your own fault for drinking so much yesterday. We desperately need Ato, Kyo time."
Kyoko groaned, "Can't we do it later tonight when you bring your bags back?"
Atori rolled to the empty side of the bed, snuggling against Kyoko and buried her face into her pink hair and mumbled, "I'm not moving back."
Kyoko shot up and twisted to look at the woman. Atori held her breath.
"What? Wait… what? I thought we were good… it's been super lonely without you here."
Atori rolled onto back and stared at the ceiling, "I know, it's just…"
Kyoko sighed heavily as she laid back down next to Atori, intertwining her fingers with her best friend.
"Shinso is a good guy. I'm glad he was there for you."
"Honestly, he was there for the both of us really. Lurking in the shadows." Atori propped herself up to look at Kyoko, "I'm glad that Bakugo was there for you."
"He wasn't really. Maybe, I don't know, he seemed annoyed every time he was around me."
A laugh rippled through Atori, "How dense can you get. He likes you, Kyo, and you like him too."
"I don't…He doesn't." Kyoko tripped on her words.
"It's obvious you're feeling some kind of way about him. Stop trying to run away from feelings and explore them for once. Ever since you met the man you've been trying harder to be a better pro hero. You must be challenging Bakugo as well, because even he has been upping his game too at work."
Kyoko rubbed her temples, "I don't want to think about this right now. How about we go for a celebratory coffee and greasy food. After all, my best friend hit a big milestone in her relationship."
Atori screamed happily, rolling up and over Kyoko, causing her to grunt as Atori got out of bed.
It was like no time had even passed; what had felt like the biggest and longest fight the two had gone through, was as if it had never even happened. The autumnal time was starting to slip into winter, the biting chill in the wind hinting that snow was now around the corner. The two walked side by side down the street, arms linked together and giggling as they caught up.
"Well, now is a good time to let you know you wouldn't have even had a chance with Shoto." Atori said once they slowed down to their favorite coffee shop, "He's on the same wavelength as Mirio."
Kyoko's mouth fell slightly open, "Oh, I'm so glad I didn't even try to shoot my shot. That would have just been embarrassing."
"With the reputation Shoto has, I think he would have been so nice that you wouldn't have known you were rejected."
Kyoko nodded slightly in agreement as they reached the counter. The girl behind the counter beamed at them.
"Oh, my goodness! Girls!" She shrieked, "Are my two favorite customers best friends again?!"
Kyoko and Atori laughed in unison, realizing that both of them have complained to their favorite barista about missing each other. The girl put in their drink orders, and they chatted for a few minutes before another person came into the line. Atori's typical iced drink turned into a hot coffee for the colder months, whereas Kyoko kept her iced coffee year-round. The two waved goodbye after they received their drinks and headed out to their next destination.
Atori pointed to the convention posters that were now plastered around the city, "Are you going to do a meet and greet?"
Kyoko looked at the group photo she had been apart of, "I'm not sure. I think the people closer to the top 10 do a panel. I might have an interview."
"You better stop by my table." Atori wiggled her eyebrows.
"You're actually going to do a table this year? I thought the convention was too much of a pain for you to contribute to."
"If you can move past your feelings of modeling and attending the convention, I can move past my issues." She linked her arm through Kyoko's again, "Let's get to the bookstore, my manga has a new volume out I need!"
…
After the Liberation War, the safety commission had to do a huge clean up; not only in society, city wise, but how they managed the view of Heroes. Thus, the Hero Convention was born. Heroes had different shifts when they came in so that the streets were still being looked over while the convention was going on. Making sure that someone with in the top twenty was always out patrol. The panels consisted of several heroes together, and always presented guest appearance opportunities incase one hero got caught up apprehending a criminal.
Kyoko sported her new winter wear, feeling guilty she ever fought about the style. The full-length galaxy body suit was comfortable like Atori had told her; with the new addition of sleek pockets to hold her weapon. Kyoko sported the weapon as a walking stick, seeing as she had used it enough in battle throughout her latest shifts at work.
She followed behind Mirio. Each agency had their own table up. Not only was it for civilians to come and see the heroes, but also gave the option for the UA students that were coming up on their internships in the spring, to choose which agency they wanted intern at.
Atori was already standing at the Nighteye table, waiting.
"Orphic! It's so great to see you also attend this year! You two are really going Plus Ultra!."
"Thanks, Mirio. Can I steal Kyoko?" She intertwined her hands together, begging the blond man.
"Of course! I wanted Stardusk to walk around the convention. It'll be great publicity for her and our agency!" He gave a thumbs up before taking a seat, "She just needs to be back here in an hour to take over!"
Atori dragged Kyoko off before fully listening to Mirio.
"What's the big hurry?" Kyoko asked as Atori pulled her through the crowd of people.
"Merch!" was all Atori said as she headed to the buyer's market portion of the convention.
Kyoko was confused as to why she needed to join Atori to the merch table, even at their favorite merch store the two would always break up and meet up later to show each other what they found.
Atori pulled Kyoko to the table of figures, ecstatically pointing to a figure. Convention goers eyeing the two of them as they walked by.
"For real!?" Kyoko picked up a small version of herself.
It was a very generic pose they used for heroes, using her spring/summer hero outfit. Atori took out her phone and snapped a photo of Kyoko with her figure. As she set her figure down a woman holding a microphone along with a large man holding a camera walked up to them.
"Stardusk! Stardusk! Do you have a few moments? We are interviewing the top 100 Heroes at the convention today and would love if you could chat with us."
Kyoko looked to Atori, who waved to her as she stepped out of the way of the camera. Kyoko looked back to the woman in a navy suit and smiled gently at her, watching Atori disappear in the corner of her eye.
"Of course." Kyoko bowed slightly.
"Great!" The reported looked to the cameraman before she got into position to interview the hero, "First, we would like to congratulate you on your leap in the billboard into the top 50! How are you adjusting to your most recent climb in popularity?"
"Oh, I try to take it one day at a time. I am just grateful for anyone who has become a fan and hope I am doing my best to keep society a little safer."
"A lot of fans of yours has wondered why the name Stardusk and galaxy attire when your quirk is 'grounded' in nature."
Kyoko's face flushed pink, "It's a little embarrassing. I couldn't think of anything cool or memorable that was based in nature, but I remembered a quote from my favorite show."
The reporter leaned in as Kyoko reached up to pat one of her space buns. She looked down at the microphone.
"That 'all life in this galaxy has a shining star within itself'. It's from Sailor Moon. Stardusk is a reminder that; not only are most of planets associated with the show visible at dusk, but that everyone I can help or save can go on being a shining star in their life."
The reporter placed her free hand over her heart, "Wow, a plus ultra response, from a plus ultra hero! Speaking of shining stars… The rumor mill has been lit up online that there may be a fling going between you and Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight; is there any truth to the buzz?"
The microphone inched closer to her face. Kyoko thought back to her media training, she knew she couldn't falter in a statement, but that the words couldn't just be a simple yes or no either. She began to open her mouth before getting cut off.
"Don't you reporters have anything better to ask than weak rumor filled questions?" the loud voice rang throughout the section.
Kyoko and the reporter looked over to seeing Bakugo strolling by. It would seem to be a coincidence to the reporter that Bakugo happened to come to the same location, but Kyoko caught Atori stealthily coming back through the crowd with a smirk on her face.
"Would you care to weigh in on the rumors, Dynamight?" The reporter winked at him.
"Yeah, stop wasting her time on stupid questions when she could be meeting fans and other heroes instead!" He grabbed Kyoko's arm and started dragging her away.
She was too far from the reporter to hear what she could be saying to the camera. She pulled her arm away from him.
"Seriously, I literally could have put the rumors to rest if you didn't drag me away."
"No matter what you even say to them, they'll figure out how to misconstrue to fit their narrative."
"Not if I'm telling them we are just good friends."
Bakugo rubbed his forehead, taking a breath so he wouldn't explode, "You moron, remember when Mount Lady tried doing that with a rumor and people took it that they were friends with benefits and made it more of a scandal than what it was."
"Oh…" Kyoko turned her head staring into the crowd of convention goers.
She could see her best friend emerging from the crowd, waving to the both of them and a bag in her other hand.
"Phew! That could have gotten messy back there! How do you end up finding the top gossip reporter right away?" Atori slapped Kyoko's back while laughing.
"I didn't know! Why didn't you say anything?" She tried defending herself.
"What would the fun of that be? Well, stick with news station reporters asking you questions from now on. Good thing Bakugo showed up." The blonde woman wiggled her eyebrows.
Bakugo grumbled under his breath as he crossed his arms, "Teach Bunhead how to talk to gossip reporters, I don't have time to keep bailing her out of trouble."
Atori bowed slightly, "Yes, yes. And as a token of my gratitude."
She extended the bag to Bakugo, who snatched the bag and peered inside.
"Tch, later." He waved them off as he turned on his heels and headed into the crowd.
"What did you buy him?"
Atori shrugged, "Just nerd shit for a nerd. It's time for you to head back though!"
They parted ways, Kyoko headed back to Mirio to relieve him of his duties. He filled her in on the forms for the interns, when they would be choosing them, and reminding Kyoko to chat with plenty of people.
"Good luck, see you in a bit!" He waved happily at her.
His sunny disposition was always interesting to be around, somedays needed while other days grated on her nerves. She understood why he was like it, but just wondered if on occasion he had a bad day. His optimism definitely put her anxiety at rest while working, she didn't know how Suneater could cling on to his pessimist views with Lemillion in his ear spouting off motivational monologues. Maybe the cloaked hero was used to it, like Kyoko was used to Atori's shenanigans.
Kyoko held up a peace sign in the picture she took with a young fan. She waved bye as they left the table. As she was sitting down another person approached the table. He was rather tall, seemed to be in his mid to late 30s. His light brown hair was combed nicely, and his beard trimmed up. Kyoko noted how distinguished he looked, as if he just got off of work. One arm was behind his back and he pulled out a single rose and handed it to her.
"I'm a big fan, Startdusk."
Kyoko hesitantly reached for the rose, "Oh, thank you for your support."
He looked pleased to be conversing with her as he perked up, "I've been following you since your debut, seen all of your interviews. It's such a pleasure to finally be talking to you in person."
Kyoko nodded; a tight smile etched on her face. The man seemed socially awkward, but she didn't want him to feel bad when he was standing there praising her.
"Is this where to sign up for the internship?" A teenager appeared, looking between the older man and the hero.
"I'll see you around?" The man shifted his stance.
Kyoko assumed he meant the convention, she nodded curtly, "Enjoy."
A smile curled on his face as he pumped his fists down like an excited kid before waving bye to her. Kyoko turned her attention back to the kid before eyeing the guy again as he disappeared into the crowd.
…
Bakugo looked at the growing amount of paperwork on his desk. He still felt like this portion of being a hero was useless, but he refused to do any of it bad. If he could get through almost dying in the war, a stack of paperwork word be a breeze.
He was almost through the first page before he growled to himself. He couldn't concentrate and it was getting on his last nerves. He grabbed his phone to scroll through the news, maybe going out for patrol and putting a bad guy in jail would help his focus.
His feed was still full of everyone reporting on the Hero Convention from a week ago. He and Midoriya had done a panel together now that the two of them jumped up in the polls into the top 20, staggering behind Half-and-Half.
It had taken a few years after the war to build back the trust of the citizens. Even rebranding the Safety Commission took time. Luckily, most heroes came back to work; though, some had retired as heroes and wanted to help behind the scenes at making society feel safe again. It still wasn't perfect, but it was a work in progress.
Bakugo stopped on a post from the reporter he pulled Stardusk from. The headline spoke about the body language between the two of them and the article spoke about how there was neither a yes or a no on their rumored relationship. He scrolled through the comments; some cheering on the relationship and others refusing to believe. His eyes landed on a comment: The type of woman Stardusk is would never have an interest in the likes of "Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight", she deserves someone who would never let her go or get hurt like he did in the rescue mission they did last spring.
He scoffed at his phone before putting it away. That commenter has only seen the face-value side of Stardusk, not the whiny, stubborn, emotional, or drunk side of her. He could only imagine how'd she react to this article.
Bakugo got up from his desk, unable to sit still. He needed to go for a walk and clear his head, and maybe get some coffee for the long night that would be a head of him.
The power walk to the café didn't help. Coffee in hand he started to head back to the office when his phone went off. He checked the alert going off on his phone about a battle a few blocks down. He chugged some of the coffee and threw the rest in the trash before taking off to the area.
He licked his lips, ready to blow off some steam. Civilians were running towards him, clearing from the area ahead. When he got to the scene he began looking around, assessing who he needed to go after and who was already on the scene.
A very large man with a giant magnet hand was pulling cars tohis hand and using them as mallets. Sero, Kirishima, and Hitomi were already on the scene. He watched as the man chucked a car towards them, Kirishima dashing a head to catch the car to slow it from hitting the other two. Sero jumped up, extending his tape out to try and secure the rampaging man. Hitomi was not far behind, trying to grow out the vines on her staff.
The large man grabbed Sero's tape and used his strength to whip the black-haired hero up into the air. He quickly stopped ejecting more tape, keeping the villain from spinning him mid-air. In that time Kyoko had managed to secure the vine around his wrist and leapt over him, pulling his arm with her as she flipped him over and slammed him into the asphalt.
Sero wasted no time to use his tape to apprehend the man on the ground. The guy looked slightly dazed before anger took back over. He screamed, trying to break free from the tight tape and when it didn't work he shifted his hand as much as he could towards the woman and activated his quirk, pulling in another car.
Bakugo's body moved on its own towards the woman. He could see Kirishima in the corner of his eye trying to run quickly from down the street, pointing and yelling at Hitomi to warn her. The blond man activated, hoping it would speed him up.
Kyoko had been dusting off her outfit, thinking that the battle was done since Sero had bound the man up. She seen Kirishima screaming and had looked up at him before peering behind her. The car was moving fast, sparking off the ground as it was being dragged in closer to the magnet.
Bakugo grabbed Kyoko seconds before the car was going to hit her. Kirishima ended up headbutting the man, causing him to inactive his quirk and stop the car for continuing to move towards Sero and the caught villain.
"Where did you come from?" Kyoko had asked once Bakugo had set her down.
"The fight isn't over until the bad guy is with the police!" Bakugo lectured her.
He watched her furrow her eyebrows together and her lips pull into a big frown.
"It's never an 'are you okay', you always go straight to yelling at me about something."
"I already know you're okay, cause I saved you! I'm not even yelling at you, I'm telling you to be aware of your surroundings in a fight."
His voice was just loud, it always sounded like he was yelling. With the constant explosions going off he was surprised he wasn't deaf yet.
Kyoko folded her arms as she looked at Bakugo, "Well… thanks for saving me."
Bakugo felt someone smack his back.
"Dude, nice save! You came out of nowhere!" Kirishima complimented.
"Shuddup! I'm just doing my job."
"I thought you said you were going to be in the office all day with paperwork." The red head looked at his friend.
"Couldn't concentrate."
"So, you came out to add more paperwork to your pile?" Kyoko asked, butting into the conversation.
"I came to get coffee before the alert went off and I just found myself here."
"I'm glad you showed up!" Sero called from several feet away, helping the police who had just arrived,
"Yeah, otherwise our new friend would have been splattered!" Kirishima patted Hitomi's back.
Her shoulders slumped forward, "Thanks, Kirishima."
"St…Stardusk?" A male's voice called out.
The three heroes looked over to a civilian. He looked slightly disheveled and out of breath, as if he had ran to the scene.
"You know this guy?" Kirishima asked.
"Not really, he was at the convention…" Kyoko replied in a low voice.
"I saw part of the fight and just wanted to tell you great job getting that guy. Oh, here! As a thank you for keeping the city safe." He had pulled out rose and extended it to Kyoko.
Bakugo could tell she was chewing on the inside of her cheek before she walked towards the man to take it. She quickly bowed.
"Oh uhm, thank you?"
Bakugo could tell something was off with the guy. He seemed creepy showing up in a fancy suit to a battle. He glanced over to Kirishima who was also watching the interaction go on. Kyoko waved by to the man before joining back up with the two heroes.
"That was kind of weird." Kirishima spoke up.
"I think he is just socially awkward." She tried defending, "He must work a lot, so maybe he doesn't interact with people much."
"Doubtful." Bakugo mumbled, watching the guy look back as he walked down the street.
…
Kyoko strolled down the sidewalk with a bag of groceries tucked in the crook of her arm. She was hungry after her long shift and was excited to get home and pop something into the microwave to eat quickly. She had no energy to cook anything and ate the last of her weekly meal prep before she had left in the morning.
"It seems like we keep bumping into each other." A familiar voice spoke.
Kyoko tensed up as she turned around, seeing the same man from the fight a week ago. In fact, she had seen him several times after that as well. She was starting to notice him at all her typical places after work and found it weird that he had never approached her before the convention.
"I…I guess?" Her voice was shaking.
He seemed to pick up on her nervousness, "Oh, I was picking up some ice cream from my favorite shop when I saw you pass by."
He dug into his bag to pull out a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
"Oh," Kyoko nodded her head slightly, "Yeah that shop is really good."
He stared at Kyoko for a few seconds, "Do you like, live in this neighborhood? I could stop by for a few minutes and share some of my ice cream with you.
'Oh, uh no I'm just passing by. I actually have to have an early night to get up for morning patrol. Enjoy your ice cream." She lied to him.
She slightly bowed before rushing off. Her apartment was close by and she hoped by saying she was passing through that the guy would walk in the other direction, but he was heading the same way she was. She knew the faster she'd get home the better. She was trying to powerwalk but also not look like she was trying to get away from him.
A few blocks later she reached the steps to her building; she looked behind and didn't see the man in sight. She exhaled in relief as she quickly punched in her code to get into the building.
Once she got to her floor she flew into her apartment, setting the bag on the ground and locking the door behind her. She hurried to her blinds and peaked through them, scanning the street. The sun had already set, and it was getting darker outside. A few of the streetlamps began to turn on and that's when she noticed a silhouette standing on the other side of the street, staring at the building looking it up and down.
Kyoko backed away from the window. She bit her lip, trying not to panic. It was probably not even the same guy; people walk around this neighborhood all the time admiring the buildings, but she was starting to get freaked out about seeing him everywhere.
She took out her phone, hovering her finger over Atori's name. She pulled back. She didn't want to worry her best friend or potentially dragging her into a bad situation. Instead, she clicked the name a few names below hers.
"I'm working, whaddya want?" Bakugo picked up the call on the first ring.
Kyoko sniffed, tears began to form in her eyes, "I think… I think I'm freaking out."
"Huh? Stop crying I can't understand ya."
Kyoko took a breath before explaining. Bakugo was quiet for a few seconds.
"Stay there, I'll be over soon. Don't look outside and don't answer the door until I call to let you know I'm outside it. Got it?"
She could hear him slamming the office door behind him before he hung up. She put her phone back into her pocket, trying to move through the darkened room, too scared to turn on the lights. For the most part she knew where everything was in the apartment, making her way back to the door to grab the grocery bag. She felt her way to the kitchen, placing the bag on the counter. She held the handle to the fridge, deciding not to open it, even though the light wouldn't be noticeable through the window. She shuffled to her table instead and sat down, waiting in the dark.
About 15 minutes later Bakugo called her, "I'm here, open the door."
He hung up before she could say anything back. She went to the door, unlocking and opening it. The light from the hallway blinded her; she took a few steps back to let him into her apartment.
"I searched the area and haven't seen anyone lurking around." He closed the door, leaving the space to be engulfed by darkness again.
"I probably overreacted."
She could hear him shuffling and saw the top part of his hair get outlined by the outside light at the window. He peaked out the binds, standing still for several minutes.
"I don't think you overreacted." He turned the flashlight on his phone to look for the light switch.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. The room lit up once Bakugo found the switch by the door. He was still in his hero outfit, minus his gauntlets; he had also switched to wearing his winter gear and Kyoko caught herself staring at him. Even though his summer outfit showed off more skin, there was something about the long sleeves hugging his biceps that got her distracted.
"…if you're fine, then I'm leaving."
Kyoko snapped her head up to see that he had turned towards the door. She reached out, grabbing his wrist. He looked back at her, annoyed at first then his face slowly turned to shock.
Tears were rolling down her cheeks, her lower lip quivering as she whimpered, "I'm honestly, really scared and creeped out."
An exasperated sigh escaped Bakugo, "Go pack a bag, you can crash on my couch tonight."
"Okay… oh, wait, I still need to put my groceries away."
"Pack. I'll do the groceries for you." He headed to the kitchen.
"Thank you."
"Tch, it would just take you longer to get ready if you try to do both tasks. Just hurry up." He could hear her rush off to her room.
Kyoko felt a little weird about staying at Bakugo's place, but the latter of being alone and figuring out if she was actually being stalked terrified her. She kept picturing the guy showing up at her door and since she knew nothing about him, she didn't know whether he was dangerous or not.
I didn't really expect to use stalker vibes to push these two characters together, but, here we are. Not sure how many chapters I'm going to make this, I debated for a bit on if I should actually finish this story. As of now I want to see it through. If I do finish this fan fiction I'll move on to trying to complete my Bungo Stray Dogs fan fiction.