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There was no other way to say it: Shinsou was fucked.
He didn’t have expertise, training, or any sort of natural instinct to evade the guy in front of him. And was he supposed to? All he could do was throw his things and run, if that even mattered. But no. There was no way he would make it out of this situation without an empty wallet and bruised body. Oddly enough, this was the third time this month that this had happened. Something about Shinsou must had been attractive, because he wasn’t decked out in any rich private school uniform. Or someone was just out to get him. Either worked.
He eyed the man. Much taller than Shinsou, his large form staggering above with a knife in his hand, he was practically inviting the violet-eyed boy to engage.
As if that would work.
Technically, he could use his quirk. The man had no idea what it was, and most people responded if some middle schooler called them a ‘little bitch’. But... he was on probation from the authorities for quirk usage. Of course, Shinsou would love to have the option of calling the authorities, but when Mister-Muscle-Man wanted to take his money, he didn’t exactly have the chance to call his local hero agency.
“Brat. Are we doing this the hard way or the easy way?” The man sneered.
Oh, right. Big man with knife.
Shinsou shook his head. “I’m sure both ways are the hard way for me, sir.”
Mister-Muscle-Man lunged forward, wrapping one of his meaty hands around Shinsou’s neck. He gasped, his mind blanking, other than the constant flow of ‘oh shit’. The man chuckled, and held him against the alley wall he had been initially pulled into, reaching into Shinsou’s booksack for his wallet. He flipped through his things, looking back and forth between Shinsou and his ID.
“This is fake.”
“...What?”
The man turned to him, keeping him cornered. “Your ID. It’s fake.”
“Again, what?”
“You’re a Watanabe?”
Shinsou stared at him.
“A what? ”
The man placed his arms around Shinsou’s frame, keeping him from running, suddenly much more angry than before.
He sneered. “I bet your daddy would pay good money to get his son back.”
Holy shit, what ?
Shinsou squirmed under his grasp, immediately aware he’d been mistaken for someone else. “You’ve got the wrong guy, I’m an orphan, fuckwit-“
“What did you just call me?”
Shit.
The man dragged him through the back alleys, keeping a hand clasped over his mouth. He should have just used his quirk when he had the chance, but no he just had to figure out how to save himself some other way. The law should really just change, that’d be great.
It seemed futile to Shinsou, his body at a loss, unable to act, him assuming that whoever this Watanabe guy was, he wouldn’t pay to get a total stranger back. Totally unfair, that this was the end. Unfair, because he hadn’t even gotten the chance to try for UA.
Until the greenett jumped down from absolutely nowhere.
The boy was barely anything to speak of physically- there was no way he would win, but the green blur full on tackled Mr-Muscle-Man, effectively getting Shinsou pushed out of his grasp.
As soon as he was free, he heaved, relief setting over him, even though there was no way to tell what would happen next.
“Run!” Green yelled, currently diving all of the man’s punches. “There's a crowd out there! Run!”
Shinsou only hesitated a second before he did just that.
But in that second, he saw Green pull out something(a weapon?) and hit the man multiple times in the stomach, back, and legs. It was terrifying . The man crumpled like a sack of potatoes, and Green ran after him, grabbing his hand.
“What are you doing!? Run!” Green yelled, clearly out of breath. But anyone could tell that he was happy- or at least a semblance of it. His voice, the way his eyes were just lighting up- it was quite telling of his emotions.
From that, Shinsou couldn’t help but grin. “What does it look like I’m doing?” He watched Green’s face, seeing how his smile also broke out, wide, bright, and absolutely stunning.
Shinsou had never seen a smile like that before.
Green laughed as they rounded the block, crashing straight into the foot traffic of the busy street. He turned his head around, seeing that the man was still pursuing them. Shit.
He wasn’t given the chance to think, because before he knew it Green was dragging him through the crowd. Ducking under arms, weaving him through the mass of bodies. He moved with so much flow- Shinsou’s awkward, tumbling, figure was laughable behind him. If they weren’t in such a rush, he probably would have gone back and apologized to the fifteen people he hit head-on.
Even though he was used to the Mustafu area, there was no way for Shinsou to tell where they were going through the rush of their movements. After what seemed like forever, Green finally slowed to a stop. His grip still tight on Shinsou’s hand, he pulled Shinsou into what appeared to be an ice cream parlor.
“You’re,” The boy paused, taking a deep breath. “You’re definitely not a Watanabe-whatever that guy said you were, are you?”
Shinsou laughed.
Green turned his head to look at him, an odd look on his face. “What?”
Calming himself, Shinsou rubbed his free hand on his face. “Nothing, just… this is the third time this month I’ve gotten mugged, and I really just want to say thank you.”
The boy’s face quickly turned red, and he shoved it into his arm, feigning another cough. Shinsou’s heard some mumbles, but he couldn’t make out anything.
“I.. uh..” Green paused again. “I’m Midoriya Izuku! AndIjusyrealizedwewerestillholdinghandssorry!”
He dropped his hand as if it was on fire, promptly covering his face, still trying to hide his blush. Shinsou though it was cute, until he was immediately reminded of the fact that he just took on a seven foot mass of muscle as if it was nothing.
What a fucking badass .
“Shinsou Hitoshi.” He offered his hand to shake, though it seemed Midoriya had had enough of holding his hand for one day.
“You want to be a hero, right?”
Midoriya nodded, flexing his arms a bit sheepishly. “I’ve got a long way to go, but I’ve been training…”
“Sounds like more than I’ve done.” He hummed appreciatively.
There was an excited squeak, and he was met with the starry eyes of Midoriya. “You too!?”
He nodded, running hand on the back of his neck habitually. “Yeah.”
He really did. And honestly, he didn’t plan on stopping until he did. Sure, he probably wouldn’t be able to do it easily, but there was nothing he wanted more, except maybe a place to stay. Being who he was, with everything he could potentially do, he would give anything- do anything to get that. He was sure that Midoriya would to.
“That’s so cool! What’s your quirk? I mean, any quirk could probably be useful in a hero setting, or at least be useful, I mean it’s not like your quirk wouldn’t be! It’s just..” Midoriya rambled, catching Shinsou by surprise.
Placing his hand on the other boy’s shoulder, he steadied him. “Hey.” Midoriya paused. “You’re probably saying something interesting, but I honestly couldn’t get a word of that.”
Rearing back, Midoriya’s face pinked, and he was waving his hands rapidly. “N-no it’s okay! Sorry, I tend to do that a lot, lots of people complain about it-“
“Midoriya.” They met eyes again. “It’s okay.”
That worked.
“Oh, well- I mean.” The greenett paused, fumbling over his words. “Thanks?”
He shrugged, and allowed a smile for the boy who probably just saved his life. It was anything but simple, this moment, but to Shinsou, he couldn’t label it anything but.
Midoriya smiled back, until his phone started going off rapidly. He checked the caller, his face paling severely. “I.. I have to go! I’m sorry!”
“I-It was great to meet you Shinsou!” The greenett cried, before saluting and turning away. Shinsou smiled, and waved back as the boy retreated from view.
It was only hours later, when he finally made it back to his house, that Shinsou realized he forgot to ask him for his number.
“There’s quite a few of us. Did you know that?” A voice spoke, drawling from in front of his classmates… what was it that he recognized? “Depending on the results of the sports festival, they might consider transferring us to the hero course.”
What was it?
“I understand the reverse is also possible for you.”
Izuku pushed through the crowd from behind Kaachan and Iida, the two blocking him. But he made it through. And he instantly recognized the speaker.
“Shinsou?”
He spoke softly, looking up at the purple-haired boy.
“Midoriya?”
And suddenly, things weren’t so simple.
