"Huhhhhh..."
Saiki wanted to ignore the dissatisfied, sighing grunt. He really did. But, it was the sixth time in the past twenty minutes so someone was clearly trying to get his attention. "Something wrong, Uraraka?"
"What, no! No, of course not!" the bright-eyed girl quickly denied the possibility. It took every fibre of Saiki's being not to roll his eyes at her. "It's just... Maybe not what I was expecting when we started here, you know?"
"Yeah, well," the young hero shrugged as he picked up another envelope and ran the scanner over it. "Welcome to the working world. A bunch of shit needs doing and more than half of it isn't even hero work."
Opening the envelope, it was another fan letter. Ryukyu had a presence on every social media site and someone to manage all of it for her and send 'personal' thank yous to well-wishers and grateful civilians. But, no matter the era, it was considered a positive to handwrite a letter for a more personal touch. Naturally, such effort being relatively rare by comparison, Ryukyu would respond to these. Often with form letters and a personal autograph, sometimes with something a little more personalised if she felt it was merited. This morning, it was Saiki's job to scan the fan mail for dangerous substances (whether from crazed fans or vengeful villains), then categorise them based on how much he believed they warranted a real response. Ones that mentioned specific incidents, he could cross-reference with reports, and if they were genuine they'd receive top priority.
... A series of dick pics dumped them into the Do Not Respond pile. Though for amusement's sake he looked at the letter attached. "Oh. Oh wow. This guy wants to be... Eaten by a dragon. Weirdness aside, he knows Ryukyu is a hero, right? Cannibalism is kind of a breach of... Everything." Then again, was it cannibalism if she was a dragon? That was probably the logic this guy used. Oh, reading further, he understood she couldn't actually eat him, but he just wanted to be... Put in her mouth and feel her tongue run over his whole– "O-kay, dropping that into the burn pile. In fact, burn it now. Doing a burn." He dropped the letter and the pictures into the incinerator chute meant for hazardous materials. Most dangerous thing he'd gotten his hands on today and one of the letters had been laced with fast-acting poison.
That one didn't go into the incinerator though. It didn't taste good, but training was training. You never know when you need absurd poison resistance, after all. He hoped Uraraka didn't see him do it.
"I get it, work isn't fun," Ochako sighed again. "I figured that out at my internship. I learned a lot about how to fight from Gunhead, but most of my time was spent doing stuff like this." She gestured at her pile of more formal correspondence. She was undertaking the same scanning process, but handling mail that was far less likely to contain anything untoward.
"Bottom rung," Saiki responded, picking up the next letter. "Unless we're out on patrol, we're extra bodies to do whatever needs doing."
"I'd feel better about it if this wasn't so the regular mailroom people could take an 'extended smoke break'."
"Yeah, it's–"
"Yaegeki, have you–?" A woman began speaking before she even opened the door in a demanding voice. "Uh... Who are you?"
"I'm Ochako U–"
"Flygon," Saiki interrupted Uraraka as he held up his lanyard, "And Uravity. Work-study apprentices."
The woman squinted at him. "Whatever. Where's Yaegeki?"
"Smoke break."
"Has he sent the outgoing mail yet?"
Saiki looked at the pile of paperwork under the table labelled 'outgoing'. "Doesn't look like it."
The woman harshly breathed in through her nose. "Right. Do me a favour. Take the outgoing mail to the post office. There's an account keycard... Here," she said after a quick scan of the room and snatching a card off the wall. "They'll charge it to the agency. I'm gonna go kick someone's ass for wasting time and pawning their jobs off on someone else. Excuse me."
Ochako flinched at the slamming door. "Wow. She was... Nice?"
"By the standards of workplace etiquette when shit isn't getting done? Yeah, she was." Instead of heading for the pail of outgoing mail, he instead stepped toward the shorter girl, tugging on the band of her lanyard and taking the plastic card between his fingers.
"What're you–?"
"This." He flipped the card over and pointed to her hero name on it. "This is you. Here, at work, we're heroes. We might be apprentices, we might get pushed to doing grunt work sometimes, but don't forget that we're heroes first. Help, but don't let them look down on you."
She stared at him, then smiled as she took the card back. "Right! Is that what that was just now? Ratting out the mailroom guys?"
"It, uh, comes with experience," Saiki admitted as he started filing the outgoing mail into a box. "I did part time work for a while."
"More than a while." Based on her sudden shocked expression, it was only as he slowly turned to look at her did she realise she might have said something out of line, not that she could have known. "I mean, before Kamino, the news did this huge profile on you. Where you worked... For how long... Some... Other stuff... I guess that's all stuff you didn't want people to know, huh?"
"Didn't come from a nice background," and that was all he was going to say on the matter. "Anyway, had to make ends meet somehow."
"I get it," she assured him. "Trust me."
He honestly didn't think she did, but he wasn't about to push it. "Point is, if you let them, people will happily take you for a ride. Don't get too comfortable with how things are at UA, the rest of the world isn't a haven of altruism. If people are nice, they'll maybe ask you to work late or cover their shift. If they're less nice, they'll dock your pay to make you work overtime to make ends meet. But most people... If you don't set boundaries, they'll push and push and push until something breaks, whether that's you or your patience. And then when you're gone they'll do the same to the next one who takes your place."
"That's pretty cynical."
"Like I said... It comes with experience."
"Hm." She let the conversation drop for a moment, letting him quickly work through the task of moving the mail. "Which type are you?"
"Huh?"
"Which type of person are you? Nice, less nice, or... Well, I don't think the last type is most people, but...?"
He lifted the box onto the now empty table. His hand resting on top of it as he failed to look her way. "I was the last type. But I'm trying not to be."
"I'd say you're succeeding?" Ochako asked with a smile in her voice. "I mean you're trying to give me advice from your experience, even if it is a little too cynical. That counts for something."
"Yeah?" Hefting the box under one arm, he carried it toward the door. "It's easy to do the small stuff, but... I guess we can call it baby steps. We'll see how it holds up when it matters."
Uraraka watched him go, her encouraging smile turning to a worried frown. To this day, she didn't know what to think about Saiki Saisei. She had known for a long time that he was a shameless womaniser, not that most of the women involved seemed to mind too much. The only one who had was Izuku, and it was Izuku's perspective on him that coloured most of hers.
No wonder then, that her view of Saisei, of Flygon, was as jumbled and confusing as Izuku's was.
To hear Izuku tell it, in the early days Saisei was a charming and heroic boy. The exact type she hoped to see when she came to UA. But not all heroes were All Might and neither were all hero students, even the ones who looked like they might be. Paragons of righteousness. Saisei wanted to look like one, but he wasn't one. And in that... Uraraka could relate. Her own ambitions were selfish, even if they were the kind of selfish that got Iida applauding her in the school hallway. But Saisei's... His selfishness ran thicker and deeper than hers. And it hurt Izuku deeply.
That should have been it. Then and there. When he made Izuku cry, that should've been enough to leave Ochako with only hatred for him. Well, maybe not hatred but at least severe dislike. She was only allowed that certainty for a short time before things would be turned on their head again after final exams. And then at I-Island... He asked her a favour, and really, she'd take any opportunity to mess with Katsumi when presented. That girl needed an ego check on a daily basis. She was more than willing despite her dislike.
But then the training camp...
Saisei thought he was a horrible person. But was he actually a horrible person? She couldn't even consider that to be possible. She couldn't think of a single selfish reason for him to go save Izuku, to put himself at risk like he did. He nearly died. That wasn't selfish. That was what a hero did, whether Saisei wanted to believe it or not.
Maybe... Maybe he and Izuku weren't that different. Izuku was looked down on so much growing up for everyone thinking she was quirkless. That turned her into the shy and squirrelly girl she became. Saisei got looked down on for being poor and his... His origins. Maybe that turned him into the cynical boy she was speaking to. The one who thought everything he had done was sinister when, despite his womanising, he was as much of a hero as the rest of them.
And the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. Like with Iida. She could see the friction between the two of them. Everyone could! Iida trusted rules and authority to a fault, but Saisei immediately thought Iida hated him and that he had decided Saisei was a criminal, when really it was because he thought Saisei was pushing their class to be reckless. Well... He was, but Saisei thought it was worse than that! He thought it was personal because for him, it always was personal! He was used to people looking down on Saiki Saisei because he was Saiki Saisei, for who he was and not what he did! This made so much sense! Saiki Saisei was a hero who'd been told so often that he was in the wrong for no reason that he took any challenge as a personal attack!
Ochako Uraraka decided then and there. She would help him! Help him see he really was a hero! That he was just like them! That he didn't have to armour himself like he did! She'd show him that he was a real hero!
... Then wilted.
"As soon as I figure out how to do that," she muttered to herself, getting back to her task. Saying and doing were two entirely different things. But she would find a way! That's what heroes do!
-(-)-
"You look kinda frowny today, Flygon!"
He looked at the chirpy girl hovering over his shoulder. It had been Froppy's turn for patrol first. Leaving him and Uravity at the office to do whatever needed doing. Now it was his turn. "Pretty sure I'm like that most of the time nowadays."
"Yeah, but you're a hero on patrol," Nejire Chan reminded him, moving ahead to hover backwards while talking to him. "Nobody likes a broody hero!"
"Hm... Endeavour would beg to differ."
"Haha, no he wouldn't! He knows people don't like him! That's why he has to be so good at the job to stay on top!"
... Huh. She was right. Well, he knew she was right, he knew that already. Really he was just arguing because he was feeling pensive and wanted to be left to it. But she was absolutely right, this wasn't the time. So, following the advice of that one cranky old bitch from the license exam, he pasted the most natural smirk he could manage on his face. "Sorry about that." Really, he probably wasn't giving Nejire enough credit here. She was flighty, figuratively and literally. But she was also spending her entire day going on patrol with all three of them in rotation. She was in for a long day of babysitting duty. At least, that was how he imagined it, putting himself in her shoes.
"Great!" she chirped, moving back to hovering in step with him. "So was your dad really a supervillain?"
"Gh!" The not quite smile froze as his steps stuttered. "Not a supervillain. Just a petty crook with delusions of grandeur."
"Huh. The news said he was a supervillain but I guess the news says a lot of stuff. Well don't you worry! I'm sure if you work hard you can be a great hero!"
A frustrated breath in through his nose, and out through his mouth. "Yeah. Nejire Chan?"
"Mm-hm?"
She was still smiling at him as though she didn't realise she was kind of being a bitch. "I'm not him, and people thinking I inherently have to overcome him instead of having to overcome society's prejudice because of him–"
"Oh, yeah, no, I totally meant the second thing! Sorry if it came off the other way."
Well that was something. "Good. But that doesn't mean I want to talk about it. Ever. Not with my lovers, not with my friends, definitely not with someone I've met less times than I can count on one hand. So if you keep talking about it, I'm gonna start asking how big your tits are and how you do your pubic hair. Okay?"
"Oh! Well I'm a 34E and I wax," the bluenette answered without a hint of shame. "I used to do a cute little spiral but it took so long and having any under the suit got kind of scritchy-scratchy sometimes and I wouldn't be able to fix it."
"U-Uhh..." Was he going to get a harassment complaint from this? "It was just an example for an uncomfortable subject, Nejire. I didn't think you'd actually answer."
"Well I wanted to! You wouldn't have brought it up if you didn't really wanna know, right?" she asked brightly, no shame or regret in her voice or on her face. "That's what I think. That's what I believe will make the world a better place. If everyone can just be honest and not feel ashamed over every little thing. I have boobs! So do almost half the people on the planet! And almost everybody has hair down there! If someone wants to know something, they should be able to ask. If someone wants help, they should be able to ask for it! People shouldn't have to be ashamed of anything when we're all people doing our best!"
It sounded like that last part was aimed directly at him. But, "Hold that thought," he said as he heard a siren from around the corner. Wings out and soaring over the buildings in the way, he dropped down in front of a man running with a stuffed bag. "Not your day, huh?" Flygon asked. "Triggered the alarm too early?"
"Damn heroes," the thief cursed, turning to run the other direction.
Only to find Nejire Chan waiting for him there. "Hey there! Come quietly, please!"
"Ssssshit!"
"Just make it easy for yourself and–" Flygon said, only to be surprised when the thief leapt upward in the air. Or more accurately, sprang upward. In the glimpse he got, Flygon saw the man's heels were red-coloured springs like from a videogame. "Huh."
"Huh-huh-huh!" the man grunted as he continued bouncing upward, climbing by bouncing off the air itself. "Ha... Hahaha! That idiot should've–!"
"Should've what?" Flygon asked, flying beside him. The crook only got enough time to realise the wings weren't for show before he was slugged in the face, sent tumbling out of the sky toward Nejire who caught the bag with her off hand, and the criminal with a blast of energy from her quirk. Sending the villain right back to a waiting Flygon who caught him over his arm. "Should've come quietly like we said, that's what."
"Let's get him to the police. Not bad for a first patrol!" Nejire praised him. "Look forward to working with you, Flygon!"
-(-)-
A/N: This chapter seen early by my generous supporters on THE GREAT FORBIDDEN P! FEAR THE P! LOVE THE P!