Chapter Text
This was it, Kirishima decided, he’s hit rock bottom.
Even if he wanted to be a hero, there was absolutely no way he could be one now. He just witnessed two of his school mates almost get hurt because of a villain— he was in reach, he could’ve stepped forward and defended them.
Yet he didn’t.
He was frozen. His heart yearned to move forward and save but his body refused to even take another step forward.
Now here he was, head hung in shame, feet dragging across the asphalt while he made his way to the train station that would bring him home. He wasn’t on the mood for anything, he could just go home and fall asleep.
And maybe never wake up.
He went through the processing, barely sparing the employees a mumble when he bought a ticket and inserting it into the machine so he could pass through the gates and move onto the platform. Maybe once or twice he’d over a meek smile if someone would greet him a ‘good afternoon’ for the sake of being polite.
The train ride was peacefully quiet, majority of the people on board were scrolling through their phones. Kirishima took a position by the doors, holding onto the pole.
It wasn’t until later on that he noticed the train was moving for a lot longer than he had anticipated. He looked around, surprised that no one was reacting by the length of the ride. When the train finally pulled to a stop, he caught a glimpse of the destination they had stopped at.
“Shizuoka Prefecture.” Kirishima muttered to himself, reading aloud the sign that greeted him face the moment he stepped out from the air conditioned train. “Oh shit.”
Okay, okay. This was fine, he wasn’t that far from home. He could just board another train and be on his way.
The only problem was that a few minutes later, an announcement came over the speakers. “Good evening. This is an announcement from the Shizuoka Local Police. It seems a villain with an illusion quirk has escaped into the station. To prevent him from escaping into another city, we are stopping all train activity until we capture the villain. Please forgive this inconvenience.”
The intermission cut and Kirishima felt like sobbing.
On the bright side, he heard nice things about the area. It wasn’t dark yet so he could at least walk around for a bit, maybe buy a snack. Something to lighten up his mood. Try to forget about earlier? It was a cowardly move, to run away from his issues like this, but he’d take it.
He exited the station, following a crowd that was leaving after the announcement. The air outside was much colder compared to that of the compacted indoor building, here Kirishima could take a breather. The streets were pretty much clear the farther he got from the station, and eventually he had stumbled into a more suburban area.
It was quiet, and oh so peaceful, like nothing could go wrong in this area.
Taking close to no risks. Kirishima pulled out his earphones, plugging them into his ears and let the music from his phone fill his head. This was nice.
Very relaxing.
Or at least it was until he took a turn and slammed straight into someone.
The impact wasn’t even that hard, but both parties were distracted so the other person ended up falling. Kirishima stumbled but didn’t fall onto his ass like the other guy.
“Oh, God.” Kirishima gasped, already offering a hand. “I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going—“
The guy—he’s kinda small, Kirishima notes— rubs the lower part of his back and hisses through his teeth. “No, it’s alright!” He squeaks, tilting his head up to look at Kirishima and oh fuck
He’s cute
Kirishima doesn’t notice he’s staring, but the other doesn’t seem to mind, because he keeps talking.
“I get so into my thoughts some times, I don’t even pay attention to my surroundings anymore.” He explains, grasping Kirishima’s hand and tugging at it. Kirishima quickly helps him stand up right, “It’s a bad habit, honestly, but like I said— it’s a habit, it just kinda happens. It shouldn’t be an excuse for me to bump into random people though, because that’s just rude.”
Oh my God. Kirishima’s probably really, really red at this point.
He can feel it, his cheeks are burning up. Was it bad that he found this guy so adorable? Especially when he rambled like that— wait, he was apologizing! He doesn’t even need to apologize! Dammit, Kiri. Say something!
“Ah, vague apology.” Kirishima says, his lips trying to quirk into a smile but it drops a moment later when he realizes what he just said. His expression must look ridiculous, because the other guy visibly tries to bite back a snort.
“Oh my God, did I just say that out loud.”
“Yeah, you did.”
Kirishima brings his hands up to his face and tries not to scream. He takes a few breaths, before finally putting his hands down. The guy in front of him is smiling, though he’s biting onto his lower lip. “Okay, sorry. Let’s start again. I’m sorry for bumping into you, my name is Kirishima Ejirou.”
The other guy nods, “I’m sorry for bumping into you too, my name is Izuku Midoriya.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” Kirishima keeps going, “Though I wish it was under better circumstances. Bumping into someone is not the first impression that I want to make.”
“I could say the same.” Midoriya chuckles, no, wait. It was more of dry wheezing.
When Kirishima looks a little closer, he notes three different things.
One, oh my god, Midoriya has freckles.
Two, He’s so small, Kirishima just wants to scoop him up in a hug.
Three, He looks exhausted. It’s the look in his eyes.
“I don’t wanna sound like a creep, but you look really tired.” Kirishima points out, and Midoriya’s face goes just a little redder.
“A lot has happened today, I was just heading home.” Midoriya says, his hands grip onto the straps of his yellow backpack. Kirishima’s eyebrows rise up in realization.
“Oh, I should stop holding you up, then.” He takes a side step to the left, and ends up bumping into something. At first it feels like one of the electrical poles, but when Kirishima turns to the left he sees that he had bumped into a person.
At least he thinks it’s a person? He looked very skeletal, it was a little alarming to look at. Was it a quirk?
“Oh, pardon me, young man.” The skeleton-looking man says, almost shyly. His hollow cheeks look almost ready to shatter when he speaks. Kirishima should probably stop staring, but holy shit—
The three people in the area have a stare off, but it’s mostly between the skeleton and Midoriya, the other teenage boy gives glances to Kirishima every few seconds. Eventually, Kirishima gets the message.
“Were you two hanging out?” The skeleton man asks carefully, stepping closer to Midoriya. Kirishima has half a mind to step in between them, he’s getting bad vibes from this guy. “Sorry, I just got worried, you shouldn’t stay out too late, son.”
Midoriya splutters, eyes going wide and the blush on his face crawls to his neck.
“Oh! Right, right. I’ll get going now.” He wheezes, turning on his heel and booting off to the direction he came from. Yikes, he did not expect Midoriya to have such a creepy looking dad.
—x—
Okay, some people might call Kirishima desperate, but he liked to call himself dedicated. By the end of the next week, Kirishima found himself boarding another train that would bring him back to Shizuoka in hopes of somehow bumping into Midoriya again.
He seemed like a really friendly kid. Kirishima had the itching feeling in his heart to get to know him better.
He passes by the same area where he first bumped into Midoriya, it was deserted except for an old man walking around with a cute stray cat. He exits the area and moves on to search for more places.
Kirishima actually considers moving here, it’s so nice and quiet, just like last time. The people seem nice and welcoming, he could totally convince his step-mom to move into the prefecture.
He’s passing by a small house when he hears a shout from the other side. He circles around the building and sees Midoriya desperately trying to pull at a rope. The boy is sweating, a lot. He has his lips curled slightly downwards with his teeth grit together.
The skeleton man is just sitting by the side, watching Midoriya work.
Should he interrupt? Probably not? Would that be rude? Oh, man. This was probably a bad time, Midoriya’s gonna think he’s a weirdo and—
The rope that Midoriya was pulling on snaps and he falls face flat onto the sand. Kirishima jolts forward to help up the other boy, the skeleton man also rises from the microwave he’s sitting on. Kirishima bends down and puts a hand onto Midoriya’s shoulder, “You Okay?”
Midoriya looks up in surprise, his mouth opens slightly and Kirishima realizes he’s gaping. “You’re back.”