Izuku did not forget to text Hadou.

No, his decision to not send her a message was, in fact, very deliberate.

At first glance, this may seem like a dumb move. On closer inspection, it may seem downright idiotic for him to be graced with a beautiful girl's number and then choose to not message her. Some people might even think it would be the biggest mistake of his life to do such a thing.

To all of those people, Izuku would simply tell them to face the facts.

For one, Hadou clearly felt bad for him - she threw him into a lamppost for crying out loud - and there was likely a certain amount of pity at work in her giving him her number. She was probably just doing it to be nice.

Also, there was a pretty good chance that she didn't actually give him her phone number. He'd been on the receiving end of that more times than he could count - someone starts acting nicely towards him for a day or two and gives him their number to hang out, and then when he goes to use it it's fake… or he's already blocked. He'd rather save himself the humiliation if that was the case.

Finally, if she didn't do it out of pity, and if she really did give him her number, then it was only a matter of time before she realized how much of a loser he was. Somehow the topic of his Quirk never came up beyond her questions about how soft his hair was, but he was sure that if she knew the truth about it she'd be disgusted, terrified, offended, or a mix of all three - a trait that everyone aside from his mother seemed to share regarding his status.

Besides… Izuku was a nobody. He doubted she'd even remember him in a week if half the stories she had told him were true.

Hadou certainly lived an exciting life. Or maybe that was just how it was at U.A. It wasn't like he'd ever know.

It didn't take long for him to forget about his chance encounter with the U.A. student. Life went on without a care in the world for his feelings (even if his mom was completely flabbergasted as to how he came home with a brand new backpack and his old one in tatters), but everytime he opened his phone and saw her name it stirred something deep inside him.

Izuku didn't know why, but he couldn't find it in himself to delete her number. Maybe he was just a sentimental fool - actually, that was probably it. He felt too mean if he deleted the number, even if it didn't mean anything.

Plus, the fact that there were only, like, four other numbers in his phone meant it felt pretty tough to remove one of them. It wasn't a very good look for his self-confidence.

But that didn't matter. What did matter was his grades (and making sure they were good enough to pass, but not too good as to look like he was cheating), and his ability to hide from Tsubasa and the rest of his douchebag classmates who suddenly had a renewed interest in him.

More specifically, a renewed interest in his backpack. More than a few thought he was making fun of them for being unable to pass U.A.'s Hero exam. Of course, that was an incredibly stupid idea with even dumber reasoning, but Izuku didn't bother explaining himself. It would be a waste of oxygen.

Oxygen that was much better spent running for the hills once the final bell of the day rang out, signifying the end of classes.

And that it was time to book it.

"Heya, Deku," Tsubasa sneered, already stomping over to his desk (his wings were too tiny to support his flight anymore) with three kids behind him, "It's kind of rude to keep dodging our questions, you know? We just want to know where you got the backpack from?"

Izuku didn't bother so much as twitching at the name Deku anymore. Thanks to Tsubasa, he'd had the pleasure of hearing that name for the next three years. It clung to him like glue now.

That didn't mean that he was okay with hearing it from now until the end of time, though. He hated that name more than just about anything else; it was just a constant reminder of how he and anything he ever did was completely worthless.

"From the same place I got my last one," he said quickly, already on the move.

One of the cronies behind Tsubasa snorted. "From the Salvation Army?"

"Oh, I know!" Another jeered, "It's gotta be from the homeless shelter!"

Tsubasa shook his head slowly. "No, no," he said calmly, "U.A. wouldn't give up their goods like that… he must've stolen it!"

Yeah, it was time to go.

The good thing about being a scrawny Quirkless kid is that nobody ever expected you to charge at them, so even with his lanky frame it was still enough for most of them to flinch back in surprise for a moment - which was exactly what Izuku wanted.

"Hey!" Tsubasa shouted once he realized Izuku was making a break for it, "Get back here!"

Unfortunately for the winged boy, he had taken far too long to react. Izuku had been doing this for years with Bakugou, and nobody could quite compare to the fierceness and determination the blonde had for beating him up. Tsubasa just wasn't up to snuff.

By the time he had reached the door, Izuku was long gone.

–

Izuku's lungs burned as he hurried down the street, each breath weighing him down further and further as he fought to escape his classmates. He couldn't hear them shouting from behind him, but that meant little - he'd seen some of those kids run in gym class, and they could be fast.

Musutafu General wasn't exactly in the nicest part of town. For better or worse, U.A. sucked up all potential investment money in the area like a sponge, which made it great for people who got it. For people who missed out, or didn't want to go?

Not so much.

The only saving grace was that U.A. was technically a private school - it meant that while their methods, teachers, and just about everything else could be fitted to their needs, it also meant that district funding only went to other schools in the area.

Not that it meant much. He'd seen the board meetings for his school, and with the way those people acted it was more likely than not that the entire system was a giant money-laundering scheme.

Oh well. It wasn't like he needed a good education or anything.

When his thoughts started to spiral out of control into the random and bizarre like this, it helped. It meant he was focusing on something instead of the aches in his legs from pushing himself too hard, and that meant he had a chance of getting away from Tsubasa today.

Of course, making a break for it also ran the significant risk of running into Bakugou, a decidedly worse fate for Izuku, but the odds of that couldn't be high, right?

Hopefully not. Bakugou wasn't one for loitering around school. As horrible a person he was (and yes, Izuku could finally see past his rose-tinted glasses on this one - Bakugou was not his friend and not a good person), he was a hard worker and rarely had time for frivolities like 'hanging out' when he could be studying or training.

He wondered if Bakugou made any friends at U.A. Probably not, considering how he treated those around him at Aldera, but there was always a chance. Maybe he'd meet someone just as stuck-up as him.

Izuku snorted at the thought, slowing down slightly as he reached the corner where he'd pass U.A. Yeah right, he'd be more likely to try and kill that person than befriend them.

Once he made it to U.A. he was usually in the clear - heroes sometimes patrolled around the area, and it was kind of out of the way for Tsubasa or his cronies to chase him all the way to U.A., funny enough.

He grimaced as he swiped the back of his hand across his forehead, his arm now slick with sweat. Gross. His hair was going to be a pain in the ass to wash later.

Whatever. It was better than getting clobbered. Again.

He knew that Tsubasa must be pissed, though. Izuku still remembered the day after the U.A. entrance exam, with him sniffling and sobbing about how unfair it had been.

Call him crazy, but Izuku wasn't sure Tsubasa quite understood the meaning of the word 'unfair'.

The backpack must have been driving him crazy, though. Izuku didn't take any pleasure in it, but he certainly didn't feel sorry for the boy. Maybe he would have if the boy had been nice to him at one point in his life, or if he didn't feel as empty as he had since All Might had crushed his dreams, but–

"Look out!"

Izuku flinched back reflexively at the words, but it wasn't enough. Whatever was coming at him was fast, and he had a strange sense of deja vu as he went flying backwards for the second time in twice as many days.

He squeezed his eyes shut, fully expecting to end up flying through yet another mailbox, but something shot out and yanked him to a stop, just as quickly as he had been launched. Instead of flying through the air, he found himself wrapped up tightly… by something very soft.

"Dang it!" A familiar voice cried, "Not again!"

He peeked his eyes open, and suddenly everything became a lot clearer.

Hadou Nejire peered down at him as she held him in her arms awkwardly, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Heya, Midoriya!" She greeted casually (or tried to at least), "Uh, fancy seeing you here!"

Izuku blinked slowly, finally realizing exactly what that softness pressing into his face was.

"...Hi."

–

"Something on your mind, Nejire?"

Mirio frowned as Nejire completely tuned him out - wait, that wasn't the right word. It was more like she didn't hear him in the first place.

It had been like this for a while now. Two days ago she had been in higher spirits than usual (although she wouldn't say why, to Mirio's exasperation and Tamaki's slight amusement), but that mood had dampened quickly between yesterday and today. Even on her bad days Nejire had never really been, well, in a bad mood, but they were starting to approach that territory.

"Nejire?" He tried again, to no avail. "Hello, Earth to Nejire?"

It was almost comical how ineffective he was at grabbing her attention.

Mirio sighed. Almost.

"Just relax," Tamaki said quietly, filling out Ectoplasm's homework sheet, "She's clearly just in her own little world."

"Yeah," he agreed gruffly, "Which is why I'm concerned. Remember the last time she was this focused on something?"

Tamaki frowned for a moment, rubbing his chin in thought before shaking his head. "Nope."

"The prank she played on Present Mic and Eraserhead?" Mirio reminded him, "The one she planned for like, three weeks?"

His shy friend shuddered. "Oh. That. Why would you remind me?"

Mirio laughed at Tamaki's antics. "Because that's how she is now! Look!"

He turned Tamaki towards Nejire's desk, where the girl was staring at the chalkboard ahead of them though no real attention was being paid to it.

Tamaki frowned. "Been there. But this isn't the same as that."

He gave the purple-haired teen a sideways glance. "You sure? But–"

Nejire's phone buzzed in her bag, and in the blink of an eye she snapped it up into her hands. She eyed the device eagerly, but the look faded as soon as she read whatever message had popped up. She sighed quietly and placed her phone back into her book bag, but yelped in surprise as she turned back to the front of the classroom and realized Mirio had popped up in front of her.

"What was that about?" He questioned, not unkindly.

Nejire blinked. "What was what about?"

"You look like your pet goldfish died," Tamaki chimed in, still at his desk, "And that you're waiting for a text saying you got a new one."

Nejire turned towards him slowly, eyes alight with confusion. "I don't have a pet goldfish?"

Tamaki sighed. "It's a simile."

"What Tamaki means to say," Mirio clarified, leaning forward to rest his palms on her desk, "Is that you've been all wonky! You've been kinda mopey the last two days, and you haven't told us why. Something going on?"

She hummed. "Uh, nope! I'm good!"

"You're not a very good liar." Tamaki muttered.

Nejire's cheeks turned pink as he called her out, squirming in her seat slightly as Mirio started to laugh. "It's nothing," she mumbled, "Don't worry about it."

Mirio's smile dimmed. "If it's bothering you then it's not nothing," he said encouragingly, "You wanna talk about it?"

No, she didn't. It was dumb. She wasn't gonna get upset about a boy she had known and talked to for a collective hour not texting her, that would be silly!

She put on a bright smile for her friends. "Really," she insisted, "Don't worry about it!"

Mirio and Tamaki shared a look. "…If you say so," Mirio shrugged. "But you know we're here if you need us."

Nejire nodded happily at them, and began to half pay attention to Mirio's discussion of the upcoming Sports Festival.

So what if she really enjoyed Midoriya's company? Or liked how he answered just about every question she threw at him, without her needing to repeat herself? Or —

Nejire slapped her cheeks, earning another weird look from her friends before she waved them off.

She needed to get a grip. Not everyone wanted to be her friend. She knew that.

It made her sad that it looked like Midoriya didn't either.

–

Lucky for her, she did not wind up in detention (or worse, Snipe's office) after classes ended for the day.

Unluckily, she still ended up walking home alone. Mirio apparently had some sort of secret meeting with Principal Nedzu and All Might - that was going to take some getting used to, having All Might be a teacher of all things - and Tamaki had to leave early for a dentist appointment.

That didn't surprise Nejire. With the stuff she had seen him eat for his Quirk, it was a miracle he still had teeth in the first place! She wondered why his Quirk didn't help him with that. What if he ate crocodile or shark? Could he replenish his lost teeth? Or was that the reason he was going in the first place?

She shook her head. Now wasn't the time for that, she had to get home! Her mom was making omurice for dinner, and she couldn't afford to miss that!

So she may have decided to use her Quirk again, sue her! Actually don't do that - she lucked out with Midoriya not pressing charges, but there were definitely people out there who would. But hey, she had done it before loads of times, and she had only hit someone once! That was a pretty good track record, all things considered.

At least until she hit a pedestrian (again).

"Look out!" She cried, barely seeing the blurry outline of a person right before impact. They flinched backwards, but it wasn't enough.

Sure enough she launched them backwards (again), but she was determined to not take out yet another innocent bystander. She lunged forward, arms wide open as she prepared to try and catch them instead of letting them kiss the pavement.

And it worked! Barely. It was a pretty close call, but any outcome was better than the one four days ago. Still…

"Dang it!" She cried, "Not again!"

She looked down at the poor sap she had hit, and was immediately hit with a sense of deja vu as she realized exactly who she had hit.

Again.

"Heya, Midoriya!" She tried, letting out an awkward laugh, "Uh, fancy seeing you here!"

Midoriya blinked slowly, seemingly trying to come to terms with the fact that she had tried to run him over again… and then he started to blush like crazy.

"…Hi," he squeaked out.

Why was he blushing? Was it because her boobs were in his face? Probably, yeah. This was a little embarrassing to have happened again. Maybe she should put him down. But first…

"What a coincidence, huh?" She tried to joke, "I mean, what are the odds?"

Midoriya looked like he was blue-screening. "Um… pretty low?" He eventually tried.

"Yeah, probably!" She giggled at his reactions. He was kind of funny when he was flustered! "Or maybe it's destiny!"

"D-destiny?" He choked out.

"Mhm!" Nejire nodded. "Everytime I try using my Quirk to get home early, I run into you!"

Midoriya gulped. "U-um, didn't Recovery Girl t-tell you not to do that?"

Nejire sighed. "Yeah," she groaned, "But where's the fun in that?"

"N-not running me over?"

She froze like a deer in headlights at his words. Midoriya immediately, almost reflexively, shrunk back, but there wasn't exactly a lot of space for him to do that considering his position.

"Crap!" She whispered, her head immediately darting over towards where she knew Nedzu's cameras were hidden, "Please don't tell any of my teachers that I hit you again!"

Izuku gave her a strange look - whatever reaction he'd been expecting, that… wasn't it.

"Uh…" He wasn't sure how that was the first thing she thought of. "I… won't?"

It came out as a question because he didn't know how he would even do that. What, did she expect him to bang on U.A.'s front gate and demand to speak to the manager?

Whatever the reason, his response made Hadou breathe a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Midoriya," she breathed out, "You're a lifesaver!"

Izuku blinked. "N-no problem," he muttered, her bright smile making him slightly more embarrassed, "U-um, you can put me down…"

Hadou froze in return, slowly remembering that she was still holding onto him like a big teddy bear with very fluffy hair. "Oh, right!" She exclaimed, slowly setting him down (and returning to the pavement herself), "Sorry about that!"

"I-it's okay."

Things got quiet for a moment between them, but Izuku wasn't sure why. Hadou hummed as she stared at him for some reason - until a lightbulb seemingly went off in her head as she snapped her fingers and pointed at him.

"Why didn't you text me?" She asked, "I told you not to forget, didn't I?"

Oh. Right.

Izuku winced; this wasn't going to be fun to answer.

He rubbed his arm slowly, eyes on anything but the taller girl in front of him. "U-uh…" he mumbled slowly, racking his brain to remember his excuses to himself, "I… k-kinda figured you were just being n-nice."

Hadou cocked her head to the side like a confused puppy. "I was?" She replied curiously, "But I still wanted you to text me."

Izuku gulped. There were no right answers, were there?

"Um, I meant more like you, ah, you felt bad…" God this was awful. Could an actual truck come and take a swipe at him now? He'd accept it gratefully. "Like, you gave me your number, but you didn't really expect me to use it…"

Her smile dipped. "Why would I do that? That would be kinda rude, wouldn't it?"

He sighed. This was not going well. Every time he tried to talk it was like he dug his hole a little deeper.

"I don't know, I guess I was just being stupid. Sorry."

Smooth, Izuku. The one time someone actually goes out of their way to be nice to you you have to go and spit in their face. He was such a loser. The old him would have jumped at the opportunity to make friends with somebody, anybody, but he had to go and ruin–

"That's okay!" Nejire said, shaking Izuku out of his thought spiral, "But now you know, right?"

He blinked. She didn't think he was a total dick? "Uh…"

The longer he went without speaking a real word, the more her smile dipped. "I mean, if you don't really want to talk, that's fine too, I just thought–"

"I-I-I d-do!" He blurted out, taking the older girl by surprise (and making himself feel like an idiot, but when was that not the case?), "Y-you're, um… I like talking to you too. I j-just, um, I'm not the best conversation starter, I guess? S-sorry."

Damn, he could not talk to pretty women. Or women in general. Or people in general. Or–

You know what, Izuku just couldn't talk to others. Let's leave it at that.

He kind of expected her to laugh at him. Still, when she did start laughing, it was quite a blow to his already non-existent self esteem.

It looked like everybody was wrong; when you hit rock bottom, you can still go down.

"Alright, silly," she continued, still laughing, "Have it your way. Give me your phone number!"

…

"Huh?"

Hadou offered him another beaming smile, so bright it made him avert his eyes. "You heard me! If you aren't good at starting conversations, then I'll start them!"

She pulled out her phone and looked at him expectantly, which made him immediately belt out the same string of seven numbers he'd memorized since he first got his phone. Hadou stuck her tongue out as she created a new contact in her phone, jabbing at the buttons as quickly as she could.

"Alright!" She nodded at her phone, and then looked at him. "One last thing, say cheese!"

"What?"

Click

Izuku winced as the flash on Hadou's phone went off, briefly making him blink stars out of his eyes. "What was that for?"

"I needed a picture for your contact!" She exclaimed proudly, "It came out good, take a look!"

He leaned back in surprise as a phone was thrust in front of his face, coming face to face with himself from a few moments ago - his eyes were wide as he stared at the camera and it looked like he was trying not to have a stroke.

"...You think that came out g-good?" Izuku breathed out.

Hadou nodded. "Yeah," she agreed, "It's very you!"

Well, he couldn't argue with that. Cowardice and social ineptitude were two of his main features, aside from being Quirkless and having green hair, and it looked like all four were on full display in her picture.

"Do you want the picture?" She asked, "Oh! It can be the very first text message I send you! It'll be like a historic moment!"

"H-historic?"

Hadou nodded. "Yep! I remember all my first messages with my friends! It's usually a good way to tell what kind of friendship I'll have with them."

That was a first. He'd never heard of… anything like that. "Really?"

"Mhm!" She smirked. "Look at Tamaki, for example. You remember Tamaki, right? Shy, strong, purple hair, clams? Yeah, you do. The very first thing I texted him was a super uplifting message about how cool he was, but he took two days to respond and all he said was 'thanks.'! It was kind of disappointing, but that's just how he talks! Me and Mirio are always more upbeat than he is, which is fine, but when Tamaki talks he speaks from the heart! Not that we don't, but he chooses his words a lot more carefully than we do, kind of. You know what I mean?"

"D-does this mean I'm going to be judged on how I respond to the picture?" Izuku gulped.

Hadou shrugged easily. "Well, maybe!" She quickly tapped a few buttons on her phone, and suddenly Izuku's own phone buzzed. He pulled it out after a moment, and sure enough, he had received a text message from 'Nejire Hadou'. "I mean, it doesn't really matter if you respond now since we're talking and texting, but you catch my drift! Hey, take my photo now!"

Her request caught him off guard. "W-what?" He squeaked, "T-take your photo?"

Hadou rolled her eyes playfully. "Duh!" She giggled, "I just took your picture, now you have to take mine!"

"Um…" Izuku started, "I don't really use pictures for my contacts."

His… friend? Compatriot? Attempted murderer? Whatever she was, Hadou gasped as though he had committed a heinous act. "What?!" She shouted, "But how do you know who's texting you?"

There were two possible answers to this question. One was the (objectively true) claim that nobody ever texted him aside from his mother, so he wouldn't need to check beforehand, but that was lame so he chose not to say that.

"I j-just, um, read the name?" Izuku said slowly, "I don't know, it's just something I've never done."

"Well then!" Hadou clapped her hands together. "No time like the present, am I right?"

She leaned in slightly closer to Izuku (which was still more than enough for him to start blushing like an idiot again) and gave him a bright smile as she closed one eye and stuck her tongue out.

At his hesitancy to take the photo, she stuck a finger beneath her eye and pulled down, making her open eye even wider and giving her an even more comical appearance. "Come on," she teased, "Or I'll make the photo even goofier!"

Izuku gulped. "W-wouldn't you rather have me take a, um, normal photo?"

Hadou shook her head happily. "Nope! My picture, my rules!"

It came out kind of sloppily, considering she was speaking with her tongue sticking out.

Either way, Izuku recognized a losing battle when he saw one. With a flick of his hand the camera was open, and she finally stopped making faces at him when she heard the telltale click of the phone go off.

"Ooh, how'd it come out?" She asked eagerly.

Izuku opened the photo and winced. "Um, it's kind of blurry, sorry," he admitted.

Kind of was an understatement. His hands must have been shaking like crazy when he took the photo. You could still make out Hadou and the 'funny' face she was making, but it was tough.

"It can't be that bad!" Hadou insisted, "How badly could you mess up a photo?"

He wordlessly flipped his phone around, fully intending to let her eat her words…

But then Hadou laughed.

"Pff!" She put a hand over her mouth to cover her giggles, "That's hilarious!"

Izuku sighed. "I'm not exactly a photographer."

Hadou shook her head. "Definitely not. But you should send me that, it's great!"

"You… want it?" He asked slowly, as though he didn't believe his ears.

Hadou nodded, wiping away her tears from laughing too hard. "Of course! It's a riot! I need that photo!"

He stared at her in disbelief. Izuku could see why some people would be overwhelmed by Hadou now.

"Okay," he agreed dumbfoundedly, sending her the picture. "There you go."

The moment Hadou checked her phone, she started to laugh again. It really wasn't that funny, was it?

Who was he kidding. He had a horrible sense of humor. He probably only disliked it because it was him who took the photo. Another stellar example of his skills.

"Anyways…" Hadou took a deep breath, finally muffling the stream of giggles that had been flowing from the moment she had seen his picture, "What're you doing out here? Didn't you say you had, uh, extracurriculars or something?"

Izuku hummed. How could he lie here without revealing the fact that he had a) already lied about that last time, and b) could continue to lie about why he would sometimes come home late from school?

"Uh, it's a pretty c-casual thing," he tried, "Sometimes I have stuff to d-do, sometimes I don't."

That seemed to work. Vague enough to not raise suspicion but also somewhat true - sometimes he got held up, sometimes he didn't. It was really a 50-50 bet most of the time.

"I see, I see," Hadou replied, "Does that mean you don't have any plans for the rest of the day?"

He blinked. Where was she going with this? "N-not really?"

"Sweet!" Hadou whooped, "Want to go get something to eat? I'm kind of hungry!"

…

"E-eh?!"

Nope. He definitely couldn't handle this. Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. Izuku was out.

Hadou blinked at him in confusion as he turned as red as a strawberry. "Everything okay?"

Izuku was fairly sure he was shaking like a leaf at this point. "U-u-uh, n-not that it sounds b-bad or anything it doesn't, um, I-I think I have to g-go home and eat? Like, dinner?"

Her eyes went wide at his words. "Oh, man!" Hadou groaned, "I knew I was forgetting something! How could I forget about the omurice?!"

She threw a panicked look down to her phone, presumably checking the time, and gasped. "How is it already 4:15?!"

Hadou gave Izuku a strained smile, already starting to run. "I gotta go!" She announced, "Omurice is waiting for me! I'll see you around! No, wait, I'll text you! We can hang out some other time, but only if you want! Don't leave me on read! Also I still need to know about your hair!"

With a flash of yellow light Hadou was gone, probably using her Quirk to rush home… again.

Izuku wondered if hitting people was just something that she did as a pastime. There was no way he was the only one, right?

Oh well. No use in thinking about that now, he needed to get home, wash up, and eat.

…And text Hadou, if the way his phone was starting to vibrate like crazy meant anything.

Man, he was so out of his depth talking to her. Was he even going to survive the next time he saw her?

Probably not. Still, for some strange reason, the thought of seeing her again…

It made him feel better than it did before. Even if she was a lot of, well, everything, he did like talking to her.

But if she hugged him like that again (even if it wasn't really her intention, it was basically a hug she caught him in) Izuku was definitely going to die.

—

A/N: New chapter new me. Don't expect this often of updates lol idk how I got this out so quick.

But yeah! More interactions, a bit more of a look into Izuku's life, and now he can't hide from Nejire-Chan! Not that he wants to, he just doesn't know how to talk to people.

Let me know what you thought! Hope you enjoyed! See you next time!