Learning to Trust

"When there's a good fit between skills and expectations, there's what we call compatibility, and we would expect a good outcome. When there's a poor fit between expectations and the capacity…, there is incompatibility, and that's when we see people exhibit challenging behavior."
-Ross W. Greene

Chapter 11: Compatibility

Toshinori and Kayama sat in a quiet corner of the coffee shop. The rain lashed viciously at the window near their booth and the sky outside was nearly black except for those times when lightning lanced across the sky. Kayama had taken her phone out and set it on the table in case a call for heroes came out. So far there had been no solid confirmation that this storm was anything other than a particularly nasty natural occurrence.

The Ariyoshi Café was a small shop, mostly empty now due to the ugly storm outside, but warm and cozy. Still, Toshinori shivered a bit, cold in his still-wet clothes. He wrapped his large hands around the chipped white cup on the table in front of him, trying to draw what warmth he could into his body. His eyes lingered on Kayama's phone, his own buried deep in his pocket. He honestly expected a call any time now. This storm had come on so abruptly and the timing was far too coincidental to be anything other than a villain attack. Still… you can't fight what you can't find.

And so they waited.

Kayama's disgusted sigh from across the booth drew his attention back to his companion. She lifted her own cup to her red lips and blew the wafting steam from its surface, murmuring, "I still can't believe you got decaf."

Toshi blinked at her a couple of times and then smiled a bit sheepishly, taking a sip from his coffee. It was too hot and he wound up burning his tongue. He yelped a little, hissing in pain and setting the cup back down abruptly, sloshing a little on the old formica table and spilling some on his shirt.

"And it's more milk and sugar than coffee anyway," she observed. "It's kind of sad, really. Why even order coffee if you're just going to shame it that way?"

"I can't drink caffeine," he replied simply, dabbing at the stain on his white shirt. He only made it worse. "And the darker the coffee, the harder it is for me to drink."

"Then I ask again… why even order it? They serve tea here. Or milk," she added, smirking.

Toshinori met her eyes and shrugged, now wiping at the spilt coffee on the table with his napkin. "I like the taste." He picked up the cup again, carefully blowing on it this time. "I used to drink coffee all the time-strong and black. I miss it sometimes, so I drink what I can." He took another more careful sip.

Kayama fell into a thoughtful silence after that, drinking her own dark roast.

Certain he'd satisfied her curiosity, Toshinori awkwardly shifted his focus back to the window. He was surprised by her next question.

"So what happened?" she finally asked after a minute or two of silence, broken only by the noise of the storm outside and the faint buzz from the neon sign in the window.

He turned back to her, startled. "Excuse me?"

"Why can't you drink your coffee anymore?"

"I just can't handle it. That's all," he replied awkwardly. He glanced away again. "I don't recommend getting old," he continued quietly. "Your body will make all kinds of decisions for you that you don't remember agreeing to."

Kayama chuckled at that. "I'll keep that in mind," she murmured. "Although I do have to say that I think I'd prefer getting old to the alternative."

His expression remained distant as he responded thoughtfully, "I suppose…"

Finally she sighed. "Yagi-san, you're an odd one. I can't decide what to think of you."

"Oh?"

She leaned forward, drawing his intense blue gaze once more. "Honestly, I don't want to like you," she replied. "I don't really want to like the employee that All Might sent in his place because he couldn't be bothered to show up himself…"

He blinked at her blankly. "I'm... sorry, I suppose?" he offered, confused.

Her red lips curled into a small smile, and she motioned at him in mock disgust. "See? That's exactly what I mean. I want to be annoyed with you in All Might's stead, but you're just so… blandly pleasant. It's impossible to actually get irritated with you."

His forehead crinkcled in confusion. "I'm.. not actually sure how to respond to that," Toshinori replied slowly. "Am I supposed to thank you or be insulted?"

Kayama laughed at that and shook her head, sighing lightly. "You're all right, Yagi-san. You're all right." She drank some more coffee. "So tell me about your boss. Give me a reason not to be annoyed with him for sending his very pleasant gopher instead of showing up to do his own job."

Toshinori smiled faintly at that, the tightness in his shoulders finally relaxing a bit. He met her eyes seriously, and in a quiet voice replied simply, "I don't have one. You're right. He should be here-Nezu said so as well-but All Might had concerns about the entire teaching situation, so I came to get a feel for UA."

The woman raised one dark brow. "Concerns?"

Toshinori nodded. "Yeah. Well, he doesn't really know what he's doing, does he? He doesn't know how to teach, and Nezu is placing him in foundational classes. It's all a bit overwhelming. Plus there's the fact that he doesn't really know many of you beyond a superficial level. If he needs support, it's going to be difficult for him to know where to go. And…" Toshi trailed off, unsure of how to exactly word the next part.

"And?" Kayama prompted, gently.

He shrugged, attempting to slant the conversation differently. "I've been talking to a few of the teachers, and have been getting mixed responses, so let me put it this way… do you actually like All Might?" He winced a bit at how juvenile those words sounded. Still… he couldn't expect regular support from people who didn't even want him there in the first place.

Kayama leaned forward, elbows on the table and chin resting on the palm of her hand. She tapped her index finger thoughtfully on her lips. "Do I like All Might? Hmmm…"

Her brows drew together thoughtfully, surprising him. He'd expected this to be an easy answer, given her overall response to the Number One hero thus far. He took a sip of his coffee as she considered her answer.

"Do I like him? I suppose so." A small smile twitched at her lips, as she added, "I mean, I'm not really into older men, but he's not bad looking for his age. Honestly though, I have some older friends closer to his age who'd probably be more interested in him than me if he's serious…"

At that, Toshinori choked, and began coughing into the napkin that he'd hastily brought up to his mouth. What the hell? "No! I-" he tried to gasp out, but began coughing again.

Kayama continued as though he weren't drowning in his own blood and coffee across from her. "Well, if he isn't into older women, I do have younger friends, too. I mean, it's All Might, and some of my friends really aren't that picky."

Toshi had finally controlled his breathing by then, and managed to bite out, "No, Kayama-san! I don't… I mean, he doesn't-" he stammered. "That's not what I meant! He's not looking for a girl!"

Kayama's cup of coffee stopped halfway to her mouth. "Oh," she replied, eyes wide. "I'm sorry. I completely misunderstood."

He sighed in relief. Finally we're on the same page…

"I think Eraserhead's single, and Lord knows he needs to get out more."

At those words he just dropped his reddening face into his hands. "Please tell me you're joking," he moaned.

She blinked at him calmly, sipping her coffee as though this were an absolutely normal conversation. "Joking?"

He glanced up and could have sworn there was a small twitch to her lips. She was enjoying this.

Kayama just let out an exaggerated sigh. "Well I was really hoping he was looking for a date. That man needs to get a real social life."

"He's social." Toshi internally winced at how offended his voice sounded in that moment.

She smirked at him. "I mean with actual people. Not the media. Not fans. Not the show he puts on for the world. Just him being normal with other people." She leaned forward, her eyes sparkling. "Maybe if he comes here, we can socialize him. What does he do for fun? Does he like karaoke?"

"Can we stay focused, Kayama-san?" Toshinori ground out through clenched teeth. When did I lose control of this conversation? He glanced away, trying to center himself again, uncertain if she was just playing with him or if she was genuinely serious. Honestly, he had no idea how to take this woman. He tried again, slowly looking up, rubbing at the bridge of his nose. "All Might is concerned about support. He doesn't know what he's doing. He wants to know he'll have support in the school. And if his arrival is just going to cause issues among the students or staff, he doesn't feel he should come." Toshinori met Kayama's eyes, his expression serious. "All Might may play the fool," he said quietly, "but he isn't one. Not really. He knows that not everyone wants him here. And he knows he could be more of a distraction to the students than an asset. So it seemed best to find out what others think of him."

"So he sent you to find out who likes him? You do realize how much this makes him sound like one of the students in my class passing notes about a crush?"

"Can we please drop the crushes and dates for a moment, Kayama-san?" bit out Toshinori in frustration. "You'll be working with him, Kayama-san. Shouldn't you like who you work with?"

"All Might sometimes works with Endeavor. Do they like each other?" At his silence, she replied, "Of course they don't. No one likes Endeavor. But it doesn't matter if they like each other. What matters is that they can work together to get the job done well." She held up one perfectly manicured red nail. "Rule number one about being a teacher-and you can pass this on to All Might from me-teaching isn't about being liked. If the kids like you all the time, you're probably doing something wrong. And if the staff likes you too much…" She shrugged, and that small smile tugged at her lips again as she purred. "Well, you need to keep business and personal separate, you know?"

"Trust me," Toshinori replied in a tired voice, "he wants to keep business as far away from personal as possible. He just wants to know where he stands."

"Ahhh…" Kayama murmured, gently. "So the truth comes out. You're not here to do the paperwork and 'get the lay of the land.' Have you been reporting back to him this whole time?."

"Yes."

Kayama nodded thoughtfully. "That's… not what I expected. Honestly, it seems a little shady to send you to feel us out when he could just be honest and come on his own. Hmm…" She ran her finger over the rim of her empty cup. "Then again, I guess it never occurred to me that he'd have normal insecurities. I guess he's only human just like the rest of us though, isn't he?" She fixed her gaze on him over the rim of her glasses. "So, do I like All Might?" she replied, seriously this time. "As a hero? Absolutely. I mean if I could pick a group of any heroes from the last twenty years, I'd match myself with All Might, Eraserhead, and O'Clock in a heartbeat. They're my dream team." She sighed. "But do I want to actually work with him day in and day out? I'm not certain. I don't really know him. I just know the image he's projected, and I know for certain that I don't want to work with that."

He tried not to look too crestfallen by her words. Honestly, it's what he'd expected. But he had still hoped she would surprise him and be one of the only people to give him hope. How is it that everything I built up-my Symbol that has worked for everything else-is my downfall here?

Kayama must have noticed the look on his face, because she smiled at Toshinori. "And then there's that. You strike me as an honest sort and a really good judge of character, and you seem to want me to like him. So Yagi-san, why don't you tell me what All Might's really like?"

The frail man studied her carefully. Midnight, the R-Rated hero: an impressive pro, colorful teacher, and recruiter for UA. He stroked his chin thoughtfully. Nezu trusts her. He trusts all of them, and not one has made me question his faith… Maybe… "Well... " he began slowly. "Actually, All Might's a lot like-"

But before he could finish that thought, an alert went off on Kayama's phone, drawing both of their attention. A call for heroes. A villain attack.

A second later Toshinori's own phone began to beep.

Even in her hurry to check the alert, she had a moment to raise an inquiring eyebrow at him.

He met her eye as he pulled out his own phone, and his moment of bravery to come clean was overshadowed by his instinct to hide the truth. He flashed her a quick smile. "Any message sent out to All Might comes to me, too."

Her sky blue eyes skimmed the message on her screen as she murmured, "That man sure keeps you on a tight leash, doesn't he? How obnoxious. Never mind… I can see what he's like."

Toshinori inwardly flinched. Dammit.

He didn't have time to respond, however. A second alert went off just then.

Both heroes stared down at their phones in utter surprise. Two calls from completely different areas. One coming from security across town complaining about flooding due to localized storm activity. The second coming from police forces in the general vicinity of their coffee shop identifying the beginnings of the same thing.

Both calls indicated that they had a positive visual on the perpetrator: Floodgate.

Impossible. The incidents are at least fifteen miles apart...

Toshinori paled. That means Floodgate isn't working by himself. If that's the case, Midnight can't do this alone…

Toshinori's eyes scanned the diner quickly. Minimal civilians, but no real backup in this area. Police already active. Most of the heroes already dealing with the problem on the other side of town.

Distantly he heard Kayama's voice, snap at him, "All Might's got to be on his way, right? Hopefully he'll get here soon. I'll try to do damage control until then."

Except that All Might's out of time… Shit.

Kayama stood abruptly, slamming her hip into the table and sloshing coffee everywhere. A distant part of her mind was aware that Yagi had thrown some napkins onto the mess she made. Two nearly identical attacks by the same villain fifteen miles apart? Impossible. Floodgate's range is five miles on a good day. Her eyes scanned the impossible message again. Does he have a copycat borrowing his quirk? No. The police claim to have a positive visual ID on him in both locations.

Her quirk was absolutely not suited to this-Floodgate's erratic weather tended to wash away her sleep drug-but according to reports, most of the heroes were working on the worse of the two situations across town. It was up to Midnight and whatever staff might be able to leave UA to take care of this situation before it also wound up out of control.

As if on cue, the wind picked up and hail began pelting the windows harder and harder, already beginning to crack the glass in areas.

"I need to take care of this," she said, fixing her eyes on Yagi, who was remaining remarkably calm despite the obvious danger of the situation. She yanked off her heavy, restrictive sweater, dropping it to the booth beside her and revealing a tight tank top. "You stay here, Yagi-san. I'll try to draw him away. Call your boss and then UA. Get us some backup. We need All Might and Eraserhead if you can get them." She flashed a tight smile at him. "I want my dream team."

The blond shook his head. "Can't. The weather's disrupting the cell service. My phone is barely getting me updates to this alert now." His voice was dead calm, as though this was completely normal. The lights flickered a couple of times but remained on, though dim. "I'll get people into the back room." Squinting out the window to see past the wild rain and hail, Yagi scanned the street. "I still don't see him. We have some time." His voice was cool and commanding. Reassuring somehow. "I've got this. You see what you can do."

Quickly, the man moved, gathering the handful of patrons and the two employees, and moving them to a safer location.

Meanwhile, Kayama worked to try to get information, but Yagi was right. Their phones were practically useless. Dammit. Now what? She was a skilled hero, but no idiot. This villain wasn't going to be easy to take down. It had taken both Ectoplasm and Thirteen last time, and that was with a massive police force involved as well. Her eyes narrowed. Guess I stick with Plan A and just try to keep him busy and stay alive until reinforcements arrive. Every other agency in town, including UA itself, has to have gotten the same notification. It's only a matter of time before they figure out exactly where he is.

"So what are we planning on doing?" came a deep voice from her right.

Kayama jumped. She hadn't even heard Yagi return. It took her a moment to process what he'd said. She blinked at him. "What?"

"What's the plan?" He was looking at his phone again, shaking it a bit as though that would somehow make it work better. "According to the last report we got from the tracker, it seemed like he was pretty near. I'm guessing a block or two away at most."

"What's this 'we?' Are you crazy, Yagi? You aren't doing anything. You're staying here with the others. Keep trying to call for help. Maybe I can draw him far enough away to get a signal out."

His shadowed eyes flicked over to her. "Your quirk isn't going to do anything against him unless you can get into a close enough range. You're just going to get yourself injured if you go it alone. You need backup until someone else can get here."

She ground her teeth. "I know. But Floodgate's just getting started. He's going to start causing serious chaos soon. I don't exactly have options right now."

"You have me. I'm here."

She was about to scoff at that while forcing him into the back room when something about his voice struck her and for a moment she found herself letting him talk.

"I can't help you fight, but I know how this works. From what I've gathered this guy has a limited range. He has a radius of five miles, but the area nearest him is like the eye of the storm, right? No activity."

She nodded. "That's what Thirteen said." Her eyes narrowed suspiciously. "How do you know so much about him?"

Yagi met her stare with a small, guilty smile. "I may have been involved in some of All Might's work chasing down our runaway this morning. The police gave me a rundown of his quirk's functions." His brow furrowed just as the lights flickered again and the shop went black.

Midnight's mind tried to process this new information. "Since when do the police share information with an office worker?"

She could hear him sigh beside her. "I'm not an office worker," he replied quietly. "I'm a Pro." He glanced over at her, his eyes seeming to glow eerily in the dark as the lightning flashed through the window and reflected off of them. "Look, I have an idea. Can't promise it will work, but it's about the best I can come up with. How well do you trust me?"

"Currently I don't, but I'll take what I can get. What's your idea?"

He nodded. "Fair enough." Yagi took a deep breath. ""How big is the eye?"

Kayama shot him a curious look. "About a block. Why?"

Yagi began scanning the area as best he could through the damaged window. "Your quirk is only going to work if we can get you past rain and wind. If we can get you into the eye, you might have a chance to take him down."

"'If' is the key word. His attack is at its worst just outside the eye. And he'll be guarding it. We don't even know what he wants."

Yagi grunted in response. "He just escaped from jail. My bet would be that he wants to escape. The police have probably created a barricade, trapping him in a limited space. He's going to fight like a cornered animal. If I can distract him, he might throw his force at me and leave you an opening."

"You're going to get yourself killed."

He flashed a grin at her. "Didn't say I would directly do the distracting. My quirk has a limited time frame, but I can get you All Might for about five minutes if I can get close enough." Before she could even ask, he added, "No time to explain how it works. I can get him, but I won't be able to keep him here for long. Five minutes is my max. I may have less time than that. It's a slim window, but if we can get close enough, we might be able to take him down quickly before he starts dropping buildings." He didn't need to clarify that. Water was already seeping into the diner under the door, steadily rising. At this rate, between the damage the hail was causing and the rising waters, he was going to cause terrible damage and seriously harm people. They needed to take him down fast.

"We need to find him first."

Yagi pointed in the near dark toward a small park in the distance. "Look over there. What do you see?"

She squinted through the darkness. It was hard to see anything through the driving wind. "Trees." And then she understood. "They aren't moving."

He nodded. "Exactly. There's our eye."

Author's Note: Thank you so so so much lolo popoki for your awesome beta work. This chapter was terribly rough until you saved it! And thanks to all readers for sticking with this story, reading, and commenting. I appreciate it so much!

Sincerely,
Sirius:)