The afternoon seemed to go by both quickly and slow all at the same time. Laundry and just cleaning up around her home was tedious work. And it felt odd having an audience to watch her doing such mundane tasks. But yet his presence was not completely all that bad. Having someone to idly chat with as she folded her laundry that she refused to let him help with made the task go by faster than normal. Though she had to slap his hands away a few times from trying to snag a top or pants and fold them for her. It was rather entertaining to watch her small soft hand slap at the top of his large scared hands every time they tried to offer her some assistance. He even gave her puppy dog eyes. Which was not far, the man could look so sweet and innocent and make her feel guilty for something as simple as not letting him help her with laundry.
Instead she moved to sit cross legged on the floor of her living room in front of him with the clothes between them as she sat across from him. Made it easier to have a face to face chat as she worked. And it also helped her keep an eye on those scared hands when they threatened to try and grab a piece of clothing. The chatting seemed to oddly just fall into place as the two sat in her living room chatting back and forth. It was simply things as Midoriya would mostly ask simple questions like what she liked for food, or colour. He was smart and tried hard to avoid subjects he taught may be touchy after he had asked her a question about her high school life which he had avoided answering and asked him a question about his work that sent him a small ramble about his own line of work. Which her younger self would have loved, before her mid teens she had seen hero's like celebrities. Like when Hawks had started to climb the ladder when he debuted. But after a few years out on the streets and learning hero's only helped those who were deemed important to society she could not deny she struggled to see heroes in that same light her younger self had seen them in. So she bit her tongue as she listened to him tell her what a typical day was like. How he loved to work with his friends such as Uravitiy and her husband Ingenium, and apparently Endeavour's son worked in the same agency as Deku, then Dynamite and his partner Red Riot didn't exactly work in Deku's agency but they did a lot of joint work she learned. Apparently the man enjoyed working with his former classmates as much as he could. That made sense once she learned that UA had implemented their dorm system while he was a first year student. So spending over two years living with those people built some rather strong bonds and he seemed to hold them dear to him. It probably didn't help she had a feeling the sugar cookie also didn't have a lot of friends outside of his hero work so that made the friends he had important to him.
Still it sounded like it was nice to have so many friends and for them to all be so close to each other. She almost wondered what that was like? Sure she had a friend or two but she had learned early in her teens people were far faster to stab you in the back than help you. Trusting people was not something she did well. Now acquaintances she had a lot more of. People she knew by name and talked to on the very odd occasion but usually only when she needed something from them or when they more often than not needed something from her. Not wanting to give that or anything overly personal away she always would just ask him questions any time he tried to ask her something she did not want to answer. Though she didn't always do that. Like when he asked her what her work was like she softly shrugged her shoulders.
"It's kinda boring. During weekdays it's always the same, often business people getting lunch. Dinner time and weekends are more families or random people and groups. Into the evening we start to see those who want a few drinks with their meals but it's not usually like a bar setting. Sure if you work closing you may be stuck with the odd drunk salesman who had one to many. But they are rarely an issue. At the end of the day it could always be worse, the jobs are not pleasant but it's not horrible usually," she said as she finished folding what laundry had been able to dry during the day. There was still stuff drying since most of this had also been things she had not put away from her last load of laundry from a time before she had her new roommate.
"Hmm it sounds like it's not too bad, though I know first hand being on your feet all day can be painful. It looked like you had some sort of uniform when you left yesterday," Of course that train of thought seemed to have the man pause and blush as he recalled what he had seen the woman wearing before she had left him alone while she went to work. And of course she found it entertaining watching the way his brain almost seemed to short circuit as he recalled the memory. Her soft giggle brought him back to the realization she had noticed his flustered state.
"Take a breath before you pop a blood vein," She couldn't help but smirk as she teased him before continuing with her reply to him, "It is more like a dress code. Black if professional looking. Female staff members are allowed to wear black dress style pants. But skirts get better attention, let's say if you know a table will contain a few drinking businessmen."
She had little issues showing off her body in an attempt to get tips and make more money. It was better than if she was forced to sell her body. Letting guys google and look was easy. If they touched her on the other hand fingers would roll across the floor if someone was not careful. But all the regulars were well aware of that danger, it also helped that with it being a restaurant groping was rare though she was aware it happens sometimes but was not something she had yet to experience while working any of her shifts.
"I'd maybe wear heels if I could but I would probably end up wanting to cut my feet off before my shift ended, that is if I didn't break an ankle before that," She said lightly with a slight chuckle she had no issues admitting she could not walk in anything with more than two inches of heel to save her life. She never really wore them as a kid. She could barely afford a simple pair of sneakers there was never money to buy heels with. And now as an adult she saw them as a waste of money, she couldn't run in heels seeing how walking alone was hard enough. It also didn't seem worth it to try and learn how to walk in them since she didn't see a need to be able to wear them at all.
"I can not imagine wearing heels for any amount of time would be fun. I know a few heroes who have heels with their hero costume and I do not know how they can wear them while out on patrol and fighting villains," Midoriya said thinking of Ochaku who had a rather impressive heel on her boots. But she had told him that the magnet's on the bottom of her soles made the heel look higher than it was for her to actually stand in. Though there was still a heel and he still didn't know how she could fight in it but she did.
"Some people are just freakishly good at wearing them," She said lightly with a chuckle as she leaned back softly placing her hands on the carpet behind her as she pushed her chest up and listened to the satisfying cracks and pops from her stiff back that was still reminding her it did not enjoy sleeping on the floor since she had slept in a bed for the last couple years. Listening to the sound of her back popping as she bent it, Midoriya was very quickly reminded that the woman had slept in nearly the same spot where she was now sitting. How could he keep her from doing that again tonight? He really did not enjoy the thought of forcing the woman to sleep on the floor of her living room again. But what could he do? And even if he thought of something, how could he talk her into it. After all she had shot down his first attempt at inviting her to sleep in her own bed sure it was a bit small and would be a little tight getting them both in it while giving them both personal space. But still it was the most rational plan that came to mind. This was going to take a little bit of time for him to either come up with a hell of a good argument or a better plan. Which would happen first he wasn't yet sure.
"You're not wrong," He said lightly with a little chuckle as he agreed with her comment. With the conversation dying out Aoi pushed herself to her feet as she started to gather up her folded clothes before she wordlessly started to carry them towards her bedroom to put them away. May as well put them away while he was not in her bedroom to watch her sort through her dresser as she put away the fresh cleaned closet.
She didn't really dilly dally as she put away her clothes and returned to the living room where she had left her house guest. The tv was still going, boy when was the last time it had been on all day long? Though it was the voices coming from the tv that drew her attention as she walked towards the couch. Her head turned to take in the view of the news station playing some villain attack that had happened earlier on in the day. Of course an unfamiliar pro hero was on screen though she could tell Deku was completely focused on what he had missed while spending his day recovering with her. His body had gone ridged and those green eyes of his were locked onto the screen as images from the battle between the hero and villain that was arrested flashed across the screen. It was pretty interesting watching as the man completely seemed unaware now of what was going on as he seemed completely immersed in the television and the information it was feeding him.
This was Deku she was seeing sitting on her couch, not Midoriya Izuku. A normal person may not notice the ever so soft shift in his was such small and minor things, but when you learn to watch people carefully and learn to read them it made for an interesting thing to watch as the man's hero side of his brain kicked into gear and he was no longer just a normal man. Was it just his personality or a result of his training? Since his room clearly screamed he most likely was extremely fixated on heroes and hero like work. Still it was interesting to watch him as he sat there watching the tv. She did wonder what he felt having to sit there and watch someone else do what he would have done if he was not injured. If he had been on patrol it most likely would have been him who was being played on the news for being the one to deal with the villain.
It wasn't till she had sat herself down beside him and her arm brushed against his that Izuku realized that he was no longer alone. She wasn't a threat so he didn't even notice when she had returned to the living room. He never even noticed she had returned and had she not touched him he probably never would have until the news changed to a subject that did not interest him so much.
"Do you have any requests for dinner?" She asked once she noticed his gaze quickly shift from the television to her for a split second letting her know he was aware of her presence beside him and that he had been pulled out of his little zoned out state.
"Huh oh not really. I'm happy with anything you feel like making. After all, I am in no position to be trying and make any sort of demands. If anything you're the one who has the right to try and make demands of me," He said, flashing her a small smile as he rubbed the back of his neck. He did have a point; it was her who was doing him a big favor by tending to him, feeding him and helping him since the man could barely walk across her small apartment. He really was not in any position to try and tell her what to do in any sense of the manner.
"You're not making demands. I just simply want to try and make sure I don't make something you will not like is all," She said simply with a shrug of her shoulders.
"Well I'm really not a picky eater so I'll eat anything you cook," He said simply.
"Okay well that makes it a bit easier then," she mumbled softly. Well she didn't have to worry about him hating a meal by the sounds of it. But still it did not help her when she tried to think of what to actually cook. Hmm maybe something to go with some fried rice would be a good idea? Hmm okay that did sound good but now what to make for the protein? Maybe a teriyaki grilled chicken would be a good idea. That would be pretty easy to make though it needed to ideally marinate for a few hours. She would have had to do that earlier. Okay scratch that idea. Hmm maybe just breading it was the better way to go about it then. Yes, that sounded like a good idea. If he liked katsudon then maybe a chicken katsu would also be something he would like but instead of breaded pork she would bread chicken and serve it with some fried rice. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.
"Alright then. Well I am going to get started on dinner then. If you need anything while I'm working just yell out," She said as she pushed herself to her feet and headed to her kitchen to get a start on what she planned to make for the two of them to eat.
The smells that proceeded to come from the kitchen was heavenly as Izuku sat in the living room unable to do anything but sit there and wait and suffer a little. He so badly wanted to get up and wander into the kitchen as he listened to food sizzle and smell heavenly as he watched the woman do what she did best as she moved around the kitchen seeming so at ease as she cooked. In the end he did force himself to his feet, and with the wall as his support the man was able to painstakingly slowly drag himself from the living room into the kitchen where he then sat at her small kitchen table. Now he could always see her but also could now see the stove top and what she was actually cooking aside from relying on just his nose and guessing.
"Must smell pretty good if it made you force your ass from the couch to the table," She called out playfully as she glanced over at the green haired man who was now occupying one of the two chairs she had at her small little table.
"It does and I was also rather curious, I see something breaded. And some fried rice as well. It looks really good from over here," Izuku said as he sat back in the chair and continued to watch the woman as she worked. Well she wouldn't exactly say she wasn't going a little beyond, this was not a meal she would typically make for herself since her meals often were cheap microwavable meals and maybe some rice. She only got to enjoy cooking for herself like this after a good payday and she could afford some cheap groceries. Which often were things that were near or about to expire so she could get them cheaper than fresh things and it saved her a few yen. Every little bit saved was a must.
"Well your timing is rather good, food is done," She said, quickly loading his plate first with an extremely large helping of food before she walked over and placed his plate down in front of him. Then she went back and grabbed herself a smaller serving than his before she walked over to take her seat across the small table from him.
It was odd how such a simple thing as sitting across from the woman eating a meal could almost feel intimidating as they both said their thanks and started to dig into their food. The meal was rather delicious, and Izuku was quickly learning that the woman was a rather good cook even though it seemed her ingredients were a little limited. The breading on the chicken was homemade rather than store bought. It was simple but that made it good. It wasn't too heavy nor did it get in the way of the taste of the chicken. The rice was nice as well, not over done with too much other things that can sometimes take away from the rice. Overall the dish tasted great even though it was clear it was a simple thrown together meal. It made the man wonder what even better dishes the women could make if she actually had a full kitchen with unlimited ingredients. Giggling suddenly had the man pull his attention away from eyeing up the plate of food to look across at the woman who was apparently giggling at him.
"Must taste pretty good if it has you mumbling a mile a minute over there," She teased lightly as she stuck a bit of chicken in her mouth and tried not to laugh harder as she watched the big strong hero across from her blush as she teased him.
"Sorry," He mumbled as he felt his ears heating up.
"It's fine, no need to apologize. I just find it entertaining how that mind of yours just suddenly goes into overdrive like that," She said flashing a warm smile at the man before she turned her attention back to her food unaware that the man across from her was just sitting there staring blankly at the woman his mouth agape. He had never seen such a beautiful soft smile before.