The rest of the day was spent wisely napping on the couch. It turned out that stopping to talk about boundaries and expectations was a mood killer of epic proportions. Mei, now dealing with a mountain of anxiety and excitement, was simply unable to function for the better part of the evening. He was more than happy to reassure her and speak of nothing and everything until she was ready to go to bed. She would have slept on the couch if he had let her, so he ended up carrying her to the bed and dropping her on it gently. After changing into more comfortable clothes, they went to bed and both fell asleep faster than they could blink.
The morning was spent studying for the most part, with Mei helping him with the more obscure parts of world history. It was his weakest subject by far, and he needed all the help he could get. After lunch, they went to the train station and landed close to where they were supposed to meet the bean for coffee or whatever else Mei could think of. Expect the unexpected, especially when his girlfriend was part of the equation. Somehow, they ended up waiting for All Might's protege in a small cafe on the outskirts of town. Midoriya had chosen it because it was the perfect place for Takuma not to feel overwhelmed by his surroundings. As much as he liked to complain, he had to admit the bean had done a great job. There weren't a lot of people around, no butcher or underground fighting ring, which most people underestimated the number of. It was a pretty good place that took into account his Quirk's drawbacks. Even a bit too well, Takuma was interested to learn how Midoriya had thought of this cafe in particular.
The day was going well, everything was going as planned. Midoriya reached the edge of his Quirk and made his way toward the cafe, right until he was grabbed and slammed into an alleyway.
"Order for me, I think Midoriya got lost, so I'll just go and get him," he told Mei, leaving before she could reply and undoubtedly demanding to come with him.
He counted three assailants and, from what he could gather so far, he understood Midoriya knew them somehow. Walking at a quick pace, he stopped just short of the back alley the bean had been pulled into and strained his ears.
"—don't think I've forgotten you didn't answer my question, you Quirkless freak. What the hell are you doing on my turf, you reject!" the boy seethed, his voice deeper than normal in an attempt to be threatening.
"I-I-I told you I'm just meeting some friends, Shideya. Nothing else," the bean shot back with more spine than Takuma expected of him, given the years of abuse from his peers. "Let me go, I'll be late."
"Oh no, no, no, you Quirkless fuck. Ever since Bakugo has stopped wasting his time on you, I've been looking forward to this."
The intent to harm was not overly severe, like a knife or a lethal Quirk. A punch or a rather weak Quirk, if he had to guess. Takuma sighed as he entered the alley. The trio had their backs turned to him, and he met Izuku's eyes with his own right before he grabbed the heads of the two lackeys closest to him and slammed them against each other.
"OW!" "FUCK!"
He was already done with whatever Shideya had going on, and he didn't waste time before sending a kick to the chest of the chubby boy on the left, then sending his heel against the cheek of the one on the right. Both stumbled against their respective brick walls, falling on their asses gracelessly. Intimidation tactics were his forte, and there wasn't much better than a bigger, meaner dog to deal with a smaller pipsqueak messing around.
"Who the FU—"
Two quick steps and a straight punch landed firmly on who he assumed was one of Midoriya's classmates. The boy's head snapped back as he cried out at the sudden rush of pain. "Grargh, what the fuck?!"
Blood dripped from his nose, broken. "You've got my friend. Please give him back before I break something else."
"WHA—"
Another straight punch to the gut had the leader bent over, emptying his stomach on the floor.
"Any volunteers?" he asked the two others, who were quick to turn tail and run away.
'Man, this is pathetic,' Takuma groused, walking around the bully crying as he held his nose with his hand covered in vomit.
"You good, Midoriya?"
"I—yes?" the green mop of hair half-mumbled as the shock of the quick succession of events racked his mind. "You..."
Takuma brushed some grime that had gotten on the shorter boy's clothes, making sure he didn't look like he had been in a scuffle. If he wanted to tell Mei, he wouldn't stop him, but he doubted the bean would even brush the subject unless he was forced to.
"Alright, if you're good, then we can go," he said, wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulder and pulling him to the road. "And in case what happened didn't compute for you, he's one of mine. Fuck with him, and I won't content myself with a broken nose next time," he added with a death stare toward the bully, who was too in shock to react.
And then they were gone, with a bully covered in vomit behind them and a shaky Midoriya next to him. This day wasn't going great so far. He took his arm off the bean's shoulder; he didn't enjoy the contact much.
"You could have stopped them without hurting any of them," the bean finally said after some time.
He shrugged, removing his arm from around the boy's shoulder. "I could have. A bunch of school bullies aren't much of a threat if you know what you're doing."
"But...why didn't you? He's still there, covered...and you broke his nose," the bean stumbled on his words. The casual display of violence had left him shakier than Takuma realized.
"You're friends with Mei." He sighed, hoping to find the right words to calm down the bean. "We haven't talked as much as you two, but since she considers you a friend, then you're one of mine. And I take care of mine. Sometimes it means being cruel to some jackass who needs to put someone down to feel better about themselves, and sometimes it means hanging out at a cafe. There's not much to it, really."
"It's a very cold way to look at the world," Midoriya commented. "You could have talked to him. He wasn't listening to me, but I'm sure he would have listened to you."
"Why bother?" he asked without truly looking for an answer. "We had a problem. I punched the problem twice. We don't have a problem. Now, next time he sees you, he'll wonder if I'm around and walk the other way."
"And if he doesn't?"
"In that case, I'll gently remind him that kneecaps are a privilege, not a right."
"Please don't go hunting down my bullies...I'll be done with them in a few months. U.A. will be better; it's just a question of time," Midoriya said in a panic, afraid of disrupting the status quo and bringing the wrong kind of attention to him.
"I won't do anything if you ask me not to, but if Mei gets worried for you, be prepared for a few empty seats in your class until they leave you alone."
Beating the snot out of a few high schoolers would be a waste of time of epic proportions, but he could probably speedrun it with a few instances of breaking and entering.
"Alright, we're here. You've got your head straight yet?"
"I-I think so?" the bean informed him with the confidence of a deer trying to tap dance.
"Good. Mei is going to be a bit mad I left her behind, so be prepared."
"She doesn't strike me as the angry type."
"She isn't," Takuma agreed easily. "She's way worse."
"You two had fun," Mei greeted them as they entered the café. "Sure, don't invite me. That's okay." His girlfriend pouted, only half-serious, her display more cute than anything to his eyes.
Midoriya, on the other hand, saw her little display of being hurt at being left behind and swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. "We-we weren't, I-I..."
"Got lost," Takuma interjected quickly, giving Midoriya the information needed to coordinate their lies if he didn't wish to share his misadventure. He felt like shit lying to her, but it was for a good reason, and he hoped she would forgive him if she knew.
"Left behind by my own boyfriend for a boy he barely knows, woe is me," Mei continued her overdramatic act. "How could I ever recover?"
"Chocolate?" Takuma offered, striking at her weakness.
"Dark."
"Spoon?"
"Little."
"It is done, my lady," he declared dramatically, as if their discussion had more meaning than Mei asking for chocolate and to be the little spoon later tonight.
"I-uh waaa..." fumbled Midoriya in a spectacular display of social anxiety. "I feel like I am missing some context?"
Takuma shared a complicit smile with his girlfriend and decided to explain. "How was your training with the blonde-in-chief?"
"It's different. You both met Gran Torino, right?" Midoriya asked rhetorically as they both nodded. "Well, he took over my training. I still do a lot of muscle training to be able to use my Quirk before the entrance exam, just with some added 'Common Sense' lessons... that's what he calls them anyway."
Mei raised a confused eyebrow at him. "I think he's talking about the best way to act and protect yourself when on a mission," Takuma clarified.
Midoriya nodded. "Yeah, Gran Torino told me being street-smart is the best way to avoid trouble or where to find it. He's been giving me thought exercises to think about during my workouts."
"Like what, if two drug dealers are on a street corner, how much drug are they selling in a night?" Mei asked, intrigued.
"Not exactly. It's more like, if you're in a fight with three assailants, what kind of weapon can you expect? There's no clear answer; he just wants me to explain what and why I would expect each weapon that feels right for the situation," Midoriya explained.
"And what answer did you give him?" Takuma couldn't help but ask, as the question interested him more than he was willing to admit.
"Knife, knuckle-duster, and a gun," Midoriya said. "I added Quirk just in case."
Takuma nodded. "Knife is a given; pretty much every criminal carries one. Knuckle-dusters are a bit less common—most people who use them have an enhancement Quirk, so you rarely get surprised when one comes out. A gun very much depends on who the assailants are and the reason for the assault. I would say no about eighty percent of the time, unless it's linked to organized crime. Then a gun is a sure thing. None of them would use a Quirk in this context."
Mei hummed, digesting his breakdown. "Why are you so sure none of them would use a Quirk? They're already trying to kill you; using a Quirk or not doesn't change much."
"It does. Quirk use in a criminal setting adds at least ten years to any sentence the perpetrator will receive, so they wouldn't want that kind of heat coming their way if things turned sour. Also, Quirk use would undoubtedly bring a few Heroes to snoop around, while a standard murder would only be dealt with by the police. Less heat means it's less likely the local operation would be disrupted, and the local gang won't need to send a punitive expedition for messing with their business," he explained. The politics of major gangs reflected those of more established criminal organizations in some ways, the only difference being the reach of such organizations.
He could feel some confusion from Midoriya, as what he just said made sense to him. Takuma bit his tongue. He had said too much, and he was going to need to explain himself. He knew if he didn't, Midoriya would come to his own conclusions, which would undoubtedly bite him in the ass down the road.
The server dropped two cups of chocolate and a coffee. Mei nearly downed her cup in one gulp before she stopped for breath.
"How are you so sure?" Midoriya asked.
"I'm an orphan, Midoriya. I didn't grow up in the best place, and I was around enough people living these kinds of lifestyles that I got the idea of how it worked pretty quickly," he shrugged as if it was nothing, though he doubted the bean could see through his lie. "Even the underworld has its rules. I'm sure that's something your two teachers will show you at some point. No one does anything without a reason."
Midoriya scratched his chin, seemingly accepting his explanation. "Did you grow up in an orphanage?"
He was quick to answer. "I did. I left after meeting Mei, and I've been living with her for some time now."
He sent a meaningful look to his girlfriend, hoping she would follow along with his lie. She gave him an almost imperceptible nod.
"Oh, you two met right after your fight, right?" Midoriya asked.
"'Met' is not the word I would use. She scraped me off the street, more like," he corrected, earning a not-so-gentle squeeze of the hand from his girlfriend on his arm.
"I did not scrape you off the street," she corrected firmly, daring him to disagree. "But I did bring him home after he asked me not to take him to a hospital. I couldn't really do much else."
"The hospital isn't the best place to be with your Quirk," Midoriya understood immediately the problem posed. "I've got some theories if you want to hear them."
"Shout," Takuma said between sips of the steaming hot black coffee Mei had ordered for him.
To his horror, Midoriya grabbed a notebook from his coat pocket. He should have seen it coming. The idea of his Quirk being put on paper for anyone to see sent a spike of ice down his spine. This wasn't something he could allow.
"What is this?" he managed to word out in the most neutral tone he could manage.
Mei looked at him weirdly as she stopped tapping on the table with her finger.
Midoriya was still clueless to his sudden discomfort. "Oh, it's my notebook. I've been watching and writing about heroes since I was four, and I like to theorize about their Quirks and how to use them. This one is the twenty-fifth."
"Can I see it?" he half-asked, half-demanded, not that Midoriya realized he wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Sure. I've only started this one, so it's a bit empty, sorry."
Takuma dived into the notebook with a sick feeling in his gut. The show didn't do justice to the bean's hobby because the second he laid eyes on the first page, he knew this was a problem he couldn't afford not to deal with. From drawings depicting a Hero's Quirk to psychological profiles, what was written on the page was simply a treasure trove of information about a Hero. He had no idea how Midoriya had managed to get his hands on it. He saw some names he had heard Mei mention during her spats on heroes with the green mop of hair he now called a friend: Thunder Tigress, Buster Jet, and some others. He noted a stark difference in quality from the heroes to the support equipment, the dip in quality probably coming from a lack of understanding of the mechanisms. He could feel his girlfriend's touch behind the added rubric in the notebook.
This was something many would kill for; many brokers would fight over the right to buy such a notebook. And Midoriya had twenty-five of these. The worst part was that he was one of the entries. And just as he thought that, he found it.
The first word that jumped out to him was 'Overstimulation,' then a breakdown of his Quirk, strengths, and weaknesses for the world to see, his range, an estimation of how many people he could afford to deal with. Theory about emotional loops, potential ways to help him—all scratched out. Too close to the truth for his own good.
Takuma wanted to rip that book to shreds and burn the remains. To stop himself from ripping it apart, he laid it down on the table so Mei could read it. He needed to find a way to stop Midoriya from writing every bit of information he had about him or at least find a way to mitigate the damage. This could get him killed, and he couldn't just slam the bean's face into the table and threaten to break something if he didn't stop. Midoriya was the heir to The Symbol Of Peace, the future wielder of One For All, and even if he didn't care much about any of that, he was still Mei's friend. Meaning hurting him would mean hurting her, and that was not something he would allow anyone to do, least of all himself.
"Did you show my entry to anyone?" he asked, with an obvious frown and some discomfort, an act yes, but one that grabbed Midoriya's attention and made him incredibly anxious in barely two heartbeats.
"I-no-yes...only to All Might and Gran Torino," the bean replied with rising anxiety as Takuma's dislike grew more evident after each word. "Did...I..."
"Ah, this is good. Most of what he wrote is right on the money or close enough," Mei said, fully engrossed in the breakdown of his biggest strengths and weaknesses.
"A bit too much for my taste," he stated with a neutral tone that still made Midoriya wince. "Do you know what would happen if your notebook fell into the wrong hands?"
Midoriya opened his mouth to respond, but Takuma didn't let him. "A corpse, mine to be clear."
Mei, now alert, picked up on the sudden tension as what he said shocked her. She knew the most about him; she didn't need more than a few seconds to understand where his reservation came from. "That...might be a problem," she commented, her expression pinched.
Midoriya was now like a deer in front of oncoming traffic. "I...did...I didn't..."
"Breath, I'm not about to do anything, but I need you to listen," he invited him in a more gentle tone. Midoriya took a relieved breath at his comforting words. "My Quirk is difficult, in more ways than one. The number of people I've shared my difficulty with can be counted on one hand. Until you shared what you wrote with your mentors without my consent."
A flinch this time; this was too close to what Midoriya had been bullied for, and he was already bracing for the hurt and pain that usually followed. This wasn't what Takuma had in mind. He could feel Mei's tenseness as what was happening was so far from what she was used to; she lacked the know-how to interject herself into the discussion in a way that wouldn't worsen things.
With two of the most anxious people he knew in the throes of it, he felt like he was being cut with a thousand little needles. Not ideal, still. He was used to it.
"I don't want anyone to know about what I can do. I don't want anyone to find my weakness by simply stumbling on one of your notebooks," he added with a hint of desperation in his voice, pronounced enough that Midoriya picked up on it and felt a thousand times worse at eliciting such a reaction from someone. "Please, I need you to destroy it."
Mei was an anxiety-ridden mess next to him. He turned toward her and gave her a kiss on the temple to reassure her everything was okay. She hugged his arm close to her and breathed a bit easier.
"I...I can do that," Midoriya shakily said as he grabbed the sheet with the intent to rip the page off.
It wouldn't do; the bean still felt pressured to comply, and it wasn't what Takuma needed. He had to switch the narrative to a more useful one. In such cases, playing with him was as easy as breathing.
"Sorry to ask, Midoriya, but if I don't, I'm probably going to have nightmares about it until I'm old and gray," he added with a more tired yet thankful tone. "For next time, you should look into writing your notes in code."
Bullseye.
The mention of nightmares helped, but what the bean needed was the knowledge that there would be a next time. He was a social outcast, and making sure he knew his notebook wouldn't sever the only bond he managed to forge was the last push he needed to rip the page off without his train of thought bringing him back to the bullying he suffered from.
'Job well done.'
"It's like smashing one of my babies," Mei commented sadly. "That sucks."
"Sorry." "Sorry."
He met Midoriya's eye and chuckled lightly. It was good that the bean was comfortable enough to do the same.
"Stole the words right out of my mouth," he added in a more lighthearted tone to confirm to the anxiety-ridden bean they were still good.
He picked up on Mei's intent in an instant. "Hey, that's my job!" she mock-shouted before grabbing his head and kissing him fully on the mouth. "Now that's better," she stated with a self-satisfied smirk.
He stole a few pecks on her cheek before turning back his attention to Midoriya, who was blushing lightly and awkwardly looking away. Yep, he had his work cut out for him. It's not like he could allow the next wielder of OFA to be taken down by a villain with a plunging neckline.
Oh well, that would probably be Uraraka's job or whatever boy or girl he ended up shacking up with. He sure as hell didn't look forward to being stuck in a hormone-filled classroom for eight hours a day.
'What I do for love,' he sighed internally.
"Sooo..." Mei awkwardly said, trying to find what to say to restart the conversation. "Did you end up fixing your wrong think about Tigress?"
"She's still a terrible hero, just look at her collateral damage report!" Midoriya shot back in a heartbeat.
Takuma shook his head at the two dorks arguing, both their anxieties a faint memory as they argued about anything and everything just to get one over the other. He relaxed and let himself melt into the background. For a reason he didn't entirely understand, his girlfriend loved arguing over nothing, and if Midoriya made himself the target of his favorite little gremlin's less than ideal habit, then he was more than happy to let them go at it.
Midoriya is slowly making his way into the lives of Takuma and Mei.