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The chill nipped sharply at Izuku's nose the moment he and his companions exited the station. It took all of his will power not to nestle his face down into the red, blue and yellow scarf bundled about his neck. If he were alone, he would do just that, but his present company required him to speak.
"A-alright," his voice began in a shiver, the cold seeping in so thoroughly there was no hope of containing it. He would have shoved his hands deeper into his pockets but neither of his friends appeared phased by the temperature so Izuku followed their lead, merely bearing it. "We—we're clear on the plan, right, guys?"
With the question out in the air, his eyes zeroed in on their target just a few storefronts down. His pace was remarkably quick but his friends managed to keep flanked on each side of him, their longer legs making it easy for them to match his stride. Todoroki, on his left, merely hummed in an affirmative reply. Iida, on his right, however, had much more to say. “Midoriya-kun, I’m not sure if I’d call this much of a plan so much as a gist of an idea.”
“Sure, it may not be in depth or anything, but it still counts as a plan.” Izuku swiftly jerked his hand up, his index pointing upward in a matter of fact kind of way, as he held his other arm in a firm ninety degree angle. “I seem to remember you saying once that all great laid plans stem from a simple idea!”
“Well, I suppose that is true…” When Izuku looked back to Iida, it was to find that he crossed his arms, his head tilted down in thought. “I suppose so long as an end goal is in sight, one could make a rational argument that that, in and of itself, does qualify as a plan. But then, of course…”
He was distracted from hearing the rest of Iida’s rambling, however, by Todoroki’s voice on his other side. “If I remember correctly, we have to convert yen into coins. That should be where we start, right?”
Izuku nodded and began to give his friend a proper refresher as they made their way forward. It had, after all, been a couple of months since their friend group dragged Todoroki out to visit his first arcade. To experience the wonder of the games after a particularly grueling few days at school!
It seemed as though he was mostly just letting himself be dragged along back then. But Izuku couldn't forget the smile that graced his features throughout the occasion or his affirmation that he had fun being out with the handful of classmates after the fact.
Throughout the rest of the year though—between homework, visiting his mother, and taking the remedial course for his provisional license—Todoroki hadn’t had a chance to return. But now that the remedial classes were over, he was free to come down and have fun.
Of course, this visit wasn’t about fun. It was serious business. That definitely sounded like an oxymoron, considering they were going to waste the day away playing various arcade games. But, regardless of how foolish it sounded, it didn’t change the fact that it was for a very important reason!
“But, remember guys, this arcade is a bit different. So you’ll have to follow my lead okay?”
It was easy to tell just from their approach how woefully different this building was compared to the usual sort in Japan. Most arcades were six stories high, painted in a singular solid color accompanied by windows to break up the uniformity of the vibrant paint job. But this one was no higher than three stories tall, the outside primarily white with an array of red, blue and yellow patterned along it as well. Along with the notoriously cheesy name that was just so fitting considering who it was modelled after: Token of Peace Arcade.
“So, you said this arcade is modelled after those prevalent in America?” Iida asked as they stopped just outside of the building. After Izuku nodded and agreed, citing All Might’s love of the United States and his time there as a primary basis, Iida lifted one of his hands, gesturing upward. “Are the differences really so stark that the building’s only half as tall as ours?”
“Actually, kinda yeah! Let me explain.” Izuku had never actually been to America before—though wait did I-Island count? It was somewhere between the two places, technically—but after finding out this arcade was being built in honor of All Might’s new residency in Musutafu, there was no way he didn’t spend way too much time researching it.
Arcades in Japan were much more mainstream compared to their counterparts in America. Some theorized it was due to the companies that create the games being from here rather than being imported from elsewhere. Others attributed it to being a great way to kill time while waiting for your train to or from work. As a result of that, their arcades were massive with each floor designated with a particular kind of focus. But American arcades were much more generalized and usually primarily only a single floor of a building.
“The main floor is going to be like that,” Izuku explained as he finally moved forward to lead their trek inward. “The second floor is medal games—easy cash grab from any traditional patrons—and the top floor is large simulators like rhythm games and robot battle pods.”
“I’m not sure I understand,” Iida remarked even as Izuku reached out to open the door for them. Opening it resulted in a wave of heat dancing across Izuku's face while the other two file in. “What would be the point of the main floor, then? And how exactly does this relate to the gift idea you spoke of?”
“And why do we need the three of us?” Todoroki added on to the growing list of inquiries as Izuku followed in behind them.
It was much warmer than outside—maybe a little too warm for his scarf and jacket—and there was commotion all over the place. The chatter of the other patrons drifting about, even over the sounds of various arcade machines. Artificial engines revved, an air hockey puck clacked with each collision on its table, basketballs dribbled after being tossed haphazardly, and oh so much more.
But Izuku had neither his eyes nor ears focused on the common ambiance of the arcade. Instead his gaze swiveled pointedly toward the countertop tucked nicely beside the elevator to the other floors. A worker stood behind it, smiling as a young kid walked up and spoke words he couldn’t possibly hear from such a distance. “We’re here for that.”
When he glanced back to his friends, they both sported looks of confusion. In retrospect, it probably would have been a better idea to explain prior to actually arriving. Especially since they hadn’t been there when he, Uraraka, and Asui had popped in shortly after its opening day. Just like then, he explained how a marked difference that American arcades had was various games spitting out tickets based off of your scores. The tickets could then be exchanged for prizes behind the counter.
“And the three of us are going to get enough tickets...” Izuku guided them over so they could better scrutinize the rewards. Once he spotted the Thirteen plush among various other Pro-Heroes plush merchandise, the shelf labelled with a definitive twenty thousand for the prizes, he pointed at it.“...to win that plush for Uraraka-san’s birthday.”
Iida brought a hand to his chin, observing the arcade’s trove as he relayed his understanding of the task. Todoroki, however, maintained a neutral expression, thoroughly unimpressed by the view. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just buy it?”
Maybe Izuku should have expected that from him.
“Well, we could ,” he agreed, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck. He did actually look up buying it, but apparently this particular plush only gets restocked once in a blue moon because of the Pro-Hero’s merchandise not being as high in demand as others. “But it was on a waitlist online.”
“Not to mention...I think Uraraka-san would appreciate it more if we worked hard and had fun to get her something,” he admitted as his hand slid around to his mouth, muffling his explanation somewhat.
His eyes flicked down and to the left as he recalled Uraraka’s excitement upon seeing the plush. She practically bounced on her toes, grabbing Asui’s shoulder and shaking her as she said they had to get those two thousand tickets. Of course, upon finding out that it was actually twenty thousand—she had glanced at the number too quickly—her actions quickly turned downcast. Though he could recall her trying to play it off with a smile.
“Aw, shoulda known. Two thousand’s way too low for a quality plush, huh?”
He felt bad, considering how excited she was at the time, but then when he remembered how close it was to her birthday and...well, the pieces just sort of fell into place.
Especially once he found out that his mutual friends were struggling to find a quality gift for her as well. Earning twenty thousand tickets in one day, by himself, would be nigh impossible, he was fairly certain of that. But splitting the task among three of them? That was bound to have some better odds.
His friends were understanding about it and seemed keen to help get the task underway following the proper explanation. The three of them ventured over to the coin machine, replacing their varying amounts of yen with an equivalent sum of tokens. Each arcade coin boasted a side profile of All Might’s smiling visage on one side and “Token of Peace” on the other. Izuku won’t lie, he actually pocketed one from his first visit for the memory.
And maybe also for his collection.
The plan wasn’t all that difficult. Himself, Iida, and Todoroki would have to split up, focusing their efforts only on the arcade games that gave you tickets for playing. Thankfully, only a few of the games on the first floor didn’t provide tickets. Izuku made sure to tell the other two which games to avoid and said that it might be better to try and stick to whatever one they got the most tickets from. Todoroki admitted he might spend a bit of time testing out games since he was still new to the arcade scene. “Where are you two planning to go?”
“I might try to see if I can find any trivia games.” Iida readjusted his glasses as he admitted that he always had a knack for those kinds of games. “If I can’t find any of those, I’m rather good at the jackpot game!”
“I got to try out a lot of the games when I came in with Uraraka-san and Asui-san. But I’ll probably go look for a Whack-a-Mole game or try for skeeball if there’s any open,” Izuku answered with a shrug.
Todoroki only stared, giving a soft hum in his understanding. At first, the intense focus took Izuku by surprise—until he remembered that his friend had only been to the arcade once before. And it was quite a few months ago now. “Oh! Uh, do you wanna follow one of us around to see how to play some of the games or…?”
“No, I’m sure I’ll figure it out.”
He sounded perfectly confident in his reply, but Izuku found himself lingering to see if the answer changed at all. Iida must have been overcome with a similar feeling because he assured their mutual friend that he, in fact, doesn’t get nervous with an observer around, so he’d be more than glad to show him the ropes if need be.
“Yeah! It’s really no trouble if you want, Todoroki-kun.”
His heterochromatic eyebrows raised as he looked between them, his expression otherwise unchanged. Todoroki didn’t often emote as clearly as some others, but after so much time with him in and outside of school, it was easy to recognize the surprise hidden in the small movement. “No, it’s fine, but thank you. I’ll be sure to look for one of you if I’m confused by anything.”
They took an extra moment to agree on messaging one another when they met the appropriate number of tickets. They had their work cut out for them though, considering the plush was worth a whopping twenty thousand tickets! A truly unreachable feat for one person in one day, that was for sure. But with the three of them teaming up on the task, it meant they each just had to try to reach six thousand six hundred and sixty-seven tickets a piece.
Okay, maybe that still sounded a tad outlandish, even still. But when Izuku broke down the mathematics of it, it wasn’t so crazy!
If he got an average of thirty tickets per game,—which really that number was lowballing it for highscores—that would mean that he would have to play approximately two hundred and twenty-three games total. If every game was an average of five minutes per coin, then he would earn three hundred and sixty tickets in one hour. With that said, it would take him about as long as the arcade was open to amass that sum. Maybe that still still sounded like a lot, but that was the exact reason he had arranged this for a weekday. He and his friends had the whole day to spare.
So they’d be fine. Totally.
By the time he reached the end of their first hour of gameplay, he paused to count his tickets and confirmed he had underestimated the amount of tickets he could earn. Izuku managed to get up to four hundred and seven tickets. Some games were better than others as far as how many tickets they’d churn out. There was a kind of game in particular that he knew could spit out a crazy amount of tickets.
He weaved his way through toward the center of the arcade. True to form, the machine with the clear dome top was open for use. It gave a boatload more tickets, but most people were here to have fun. The jackpot games were, more often than not, downright frustrating so seeing someone actually using one was a bit of a treat. Though considering this one actually spat out tickets compared to the usual playing tokens of most arcades he had been to.
Through the see-through dome, the machine was colored similarly to the outside of the building, like All Might’s old costume. It had a circle of lights, lining just inside the perimeter of the dome,—all of them unlit for the moment and each and every one with a random number underneath. There was a “Jackpot” counter that declared there was a whole five hundred and sixty-three tickets up for grabs to the lucky winner. And just under that, the light in the dead center was separated by two small, neon red arches and labelled as the jackpot.
Once the coin was inserted, a light would race through the circle of tiny bulbs, lighting them one right after the other. There was a button on the panel—labelled as United States of Smash—and once the player clicked it, wherever the game stopped was how many tickets would both print up and be added to the jackpot total. Of course, the light was so fast, in order to actually hit the jackpot required precision timing.
He was going to waste so many damned tokens on this machine.
But gods, Izuku thought as he started slipping coin after coin into the slot to rack up his chances, that jackpot will make it so much easier.
Once he straightened back up, he could see the light already streaking through the bulbs. Managing to cut through the circle in...gods, it had to be no more than fifteen seconds. Izuku knew the trick to these things, though the odds of succeeding are always low. The light went so fast that if he looked only at the jackpot bulb, he was bound to overshoot. So in order to hit it properly, he had to slap the button when he saw the light reach the second to last bulb. But timing was the real trick to it.
He didn’t expect to get it on the first try. Or the second. The main benefit though to the multiple plays was that he could hear his failed attempt tickets printing more and more as the jackpot counter rose higher and higher. First by seven. Then ten. Then seven again. Eight—he hit too soon, dammit! Nine—now he slowed down too much. Back to ten.
“Midoriya.”
“Wha—huh?” Izuku tore his gaze from the bulb to see Todoroki’s eyes boring into him. He blinked before shaking his head and returning to hunch over the machine as he told the other that he surprised him. “What’s up, Todoroki-kun? Seven again, ugh —the ticket getting going, okay?”
“Oh, well, yes, I suppose so.” Izuku grumbled when the light went out, grabbing more of his tokens to shove into the coin slot. As he went to return to the button, he wondered what it was Todoroki wanted then, in that case. “Oh, I was going to see what these machines were like. And I figured I ought to speak to you because you started muttering to yourself. Some kids who passed by were concerned.”
Okay, that made sense. Nine. The light raced again. He was really muttering though...? Man, he must have gotten more sucked in than he thought…
“I also had a question, though.”
“Okay.” Eight. “Shoot.”
“What does it mean”—seven—“when someone places a coin on your machine while you’re playing?” Five? How was he getting this so far off now? Talking was clearly not helping.
Though that jackpot hit six hundred and fifty pretty fast.
Izuku groaned but decided to pause for a moment, leaving the light to run comfortably in its circle. He reached down to grab the eighty-seven tickets he managed to rack up since starting his attempt. “A coin on your machine?”
“Yes.” He took a step closer toward Todoroki as he began to fold up his tickets to put them away with the rest. Once he finished, Izuku pulled out his phone, typing in the number to the total he already saved on one of his notes. “A child came over and set their token down on my machine. And I told them I didn’t need it, I had plenty for myself. They seemed to think I was rather rude before they stormed off.”
“Oh—Todoroki-kun, no, um.” Izuku brought his hands together, the tip of his fingers tapping at his own mouth as he tried to figure out how to explain. “See, doing that—it means that the kid wanted to play next game. It’s like calling dibs on the next one—”
“YOU REALLY BLEW THEM AWAY,” All Might’s voice came out of nowhere, accompanied by what sounded like recorded clapping.
Izuku whirled around to the machine, baffled at its sudden interjection. Only to find a kid standing where he’d previously been, grinning as the tickets began to print out. “Nice!”
“Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me…” If this kid was their age, he likely would have debated whether or not those tickets belonged to him—he still had several more tries from the tokens he put in a bit ago. But this kid looked, at the oldest, eleven. And Izuku wasn’t about to argue with someone who wasn’t even in middle school yet.
“Excuse me.” His classmate stepped forward suddenly, and a terrible feeling dropped into his stomach. He practically loomed over the kid who had been watching the tickets print up. However, at Todoroki’s voice, he looked up, the annoyed grimace on his face reminding Izuku staunchly of his childhood. “My friend’s tokens were in that machine. I believe those are his tickets.”
“Oh, well, gee, mister—” His tone was faux polite, so sickly sweet that somehow it managed to loop back around to snarky. He bent down to pick up the start of the tickets, his eyes squinting as he looked them over. “I don’t see his name on ‘em. So I think that means they’re mine.”
“Well, of course they don’t have his name on them. That would make no sense. How would the machine know his name?” Oh gods, was this really happening? Was Todoroki really doing this? Izuku’s hand smacked his own forehead. How did sarcasm just always manage to go right over his head? “Regardless, you used his coin. He didn’t tell you you could. They’re his tickets.”
“That’s not how it works, candycane.” The kid continued to gather up the ever printing tickets—six hundred and fifty took a while to print and all—rolling his eyes as he did. “It was his coin, but it was my click. He probably wouldn’t have even gotten it even if it was his turn.”
“He would have. Midoriya is talented.”
Could Izuku just...die? He would love to die so as not to suffer this horrific secondhand embarrassment. That sounded just so tempting as he heard Todoroki continue to argue with what might be a ten year old. Over his honor. Izuku’s hand slid up from his forehead, his fingers tangling into the front of his green hair. Embarrassing felt like too weak of a word. Flustered. Abashed. Ashamed.
It would have been kind if the gods had smote him where he stood.
“Midoriya-kun! Todoroki-kun! How’s the ticket wrangling going?”
Iida’s appearance could make things better or much, much worse.
“This child took Midoriya’s tickets.” Why did it sound like he was tattling?
“They ain’t his! I clicked the button, fair and square!”
“But it was his coin, child.”
The kid started to retort back—something about he didn’t need an old man scolding him—but Izuku lifted his hands, moving so he was facing Iida and standing between him and the other two. He could see the no-nonsense expression of the class rep begin to fall over the other teenager’s brow. Definitely not what was needed right now. “L-listen, it’s not a big deal, really! It was my fault for stepping so far from the machine. By all accounts, he hit the jackpot. He earned those tickets.”
“But it was your coin, Midoriya.” Well, yes, that was true. When Izuku looked over his shoulder he watched Todoroki level his gaze to the kid once again, folding his arms. “And who just plays a machine that clearly has someone else’s play on it? We were standing right here. What stopped you from asking if we were done? Midoriya only stepped away for a minute at the most.”
“Who moves away from a game if they’re gonna keep playing?” Despite the difference in height and the rather imposing aura flowing off of Todoroki in waves, the boy was undeterred in his own stance on this argument. He folded his own arms, one side of his face scrunched up like there was a foul stench around them. “Listen if you’re that butthurt about it, I’ll give one of my tokens to make up for it. You can finish whatever plays are left but that’s it, man.”
That made sense. Izuku was about to say so but the other cut him off, “That’s not good enough.”
“Iida-kun.” He looked back to their class rep who had been silently taking in the exchange. He had brought his hand up to his chin, seemingly lost in thought as he considered the prospects before him. Iida was rational and, while he was late to the conversation, Izuku was certain that he would be able to shut this down in an instant. After all, he had gotten so good at reeling their class in during their arguments and all. “Help me out here.”
For a moment, the other didn’t say anything, but eventually he hummed definitively. He told Izuku not to worry, bringing a smile to his face. Then he side-stepped around Izuku, directing his next statement toward the other two. “Alright, you both have fine points, and I feel like you’re both equally correct in claiming the tickets have rights to belong to each of you. So…!”
In typical Iida fashion, he threw one of his arms out in front of him as he determined, “We shall have a contest to determine who gets the tickets!”
That wasn’t what he meant! Izuku groaned and leaned on another nearby machine, just barely keeping himself from repeatedly smacking his head against its surface. Why was this happening? Why him? Gods…
Iida’s arm cut through the air to point toward the kid who was staring back with his mouth agape. Izuku didn’t blame him in the least for doing so. “Young man, our friend will play you in a three on three match in a game of your choosing! Select your contest!”
“Uhhhh…” The kid went from annoyed to startled by the appearance of Iida’s enthusiasm. Couldn’t blame him. Izuku remembered being incredibly intimidated by his classmate during their entrance exam at the beginning of the year. But the kid managed to regain his bravado, as he wondered, “Is it really that important?”
Izuku lifted one of his hands, waving it half-heartedly as he said, “It’s really n—”
“Of course it is,” Todoroki interrupted. He was about to sigh at his friend’s insistence when he continued on, taking Izuku by surprise. “We’re getting these tickets for a reason. It’s very important to a close friend of ours. It’s also important to Midoriya because of that, so we’re doing our best to earn every ticket. Including those.”
Izuku’s chest swelled as Todoroki spoke, a tremulous smile spreading across his face. He really did assume that they were mostly humoring him with this whole gift business. Half-heartedly assisting him because it worked out well with respect to Uraraka’s upcoming birthday and the fact that he practically begged for their help. But no, they were willing and wanting to put in as much effort as he was. They hadn’t said it or made that obvious before, but it was clear as crystal now.
“Hmph, fine. But let’s make this more interesting then.” The kid folded his arms taking a step back from the jackpot game as he nodded his head toward the machine. The light was still racing round and round through the bulbs. He lifted the six hundred and fifty tickets still in his grasp as he continued, “Finish your plays, then we’ll go upstairs. Winner gets these and any others you get. You’re not the only ones here for a big prize today.”
Iida and Todoroki agreed to the terms before he even got the chance to weigh in on them. The latter of his friends was keeping an eye on the kid to make sure he didn’t disappear on them. Meanwhile, the former alternated with Izuku on getting through the rest of his inserted tokens—it was no wonder Iida mentioned these when they talked about their preferred games...he was a lot better than him.
When they finally ran out of tokens, it had sweetened the pot by seven hundred and ninety tickets. He was contemplating telling the kid that they really didn’t need to do all this. He could just take the token that was offered earlier and leave the kid with the initial jackpot...but then he realized just how much that added up to.
A whole one thousand four hundred and forty tickets! Adding that to what he already got, if he won this contest, it would push him up to almost two thousand. That was a third of the way to his goal in less than two hours!
Yeah. He could totally do this.
“Alright, now what game did you decide on, young man?”
Iida sounded like such a dad, it was no wonder the kid referred to him as “old man”—wait, hold on! The kid was the one picking the game? He totally forgot about that... Maybe he should just call it off. The kid probably wouldn’t mind much, right? He just needed to say something before—
“We’re doing one of those dancing games they got upstairs!”
Oh.
Oh, hang on…
“Well, what are we waiting for?”
Izuku lingered back with his two friends, walking at a slower pace than normal, as the kid began to lead their way upstairs. Todoroki was the first to break their silence. “Midoriya, what are you doing? Haven’t you said yourself you’re bad at dancing? I know Ashido managed to teach you some basics but…”
“Oh, yeah, but don’t worry, Todoroki-kun. I may not be great at dancing. But rhythm games are a totally different beast. I got this.”
By the time they finished the three matches, the kid was pissed, Iida and Todoroki were very confused, and Izuku’s total number of tickets had skyrocketed to one thousand nine hundred and thirty-four. He was going to thank the kid for a good game, but—in a way that felt all too familiar—he just huffed and gave a vague insult before storming off.
He shrugged as he went to take back his scarf and jacket from Todoroki since he’d had to shed them prior to the gameplay. When he received them, however, his friend wondered how it was that he managed to be so good at this game. “Oh, well, uh. I guess you could say I’ve gotten a lot of practice…”
He and Kacchan would go to the arcade a lot to play a bunch of games together. Kacchan didn’t like anyone to be better than him at anything—but he also couldn’t stand a lack of competition either. Their other friends, it felt like, went easy. Or maybe they just weren’t very good. The point was Izuku got a lot of practice in on this game as a result.
It helped that this arcade happened to have the exact same model they used to play on. So he still had a pretty good grasp of the movements during the song.
“Yes, well, congratulations, Midoriya-kun,” Iida said, his hand giving him an accompanying slap on the back for good measure. “A victory well earned!”
Izuku gave a soft laugh as he said thanks. However, soon after his chuckles faded, his mouth was pulled into a frown when he looked back to the awarded tickets in his hand. This was a big hurdle to overcome, getting almost a third of the way there. Reaching six thousand was possible, absolutely. But the way they were trying to accomplish it before...it was very ineffective.
“Y’know, I think it might be smarter if we try to stick to these kind of jackpot games,” he said, finally looking away from the tickets and back up to his friends. “Playing the other games is more fun, for sure. But if we wanna rack up a lot without worrying about going under…”
“I agree entirely.” Iida patted at his school bag, presumably where he packed in all of his tickets. He explained that he spent some time on a wide variety of arcade games, testing out which would provide the most tickets. “I have a decent number already, but I think, perhaps, it may be wiser to pass between the machines that give us the greatest amount of tickets. Then, once we amass the appropriate sum, we can finish our task.”
Izuku gave his agreement but their other classmate only hummed. When he looked toward him, it was to find Todoroki’s gaze settled on the dancing arcade game. They asked what was wrong, and he merely shrugged his shoulders as he glanced back toward them. “Oh, I was just thinking...it’s a shame that this machine doesn’t give tickets. I’m sure both of you could have gotten quite a few if it did.”
That didn’t feel like a topic to keep up for too long, unless he wanted to become red in the face. Hearing how well he did at things, while nice on occasion, was something Izuku would try to go out of his way to avoid. “Well, I imagine determining that based off of scores would be hard, so I can see why they don’t.”
“True enough.” Todoroki shrugged before he glanced around to the commotion about them.
This room wasn’t nearly as occupied compared to the first floor, but with the racing and rhythm games, it was about as loud. There weren’t a lot of people, but the ones that were up here clearly had their groups, either playing a game all at once or else huddled around one or two machines and talking loudly amongst each other. When he came with Uraraka and Asui, it was mostly the two girls doing some rhythm games—he wasn’t up for dancing that day, talk about embarrassing—but all three of them did play some racing games together. In contrast to then, their group today likely wouldn’t spend much more time up here, considering their task.
“Is it really that important?”
“Of course it is.”
“By the way, guys, um…” Izuku trailed off. How did words work again? He began to place the new bundle of tickets into his backpack for safekeeping as a way to busy himself and possibly get his brain functioning again. “Thanks. Y’know, for coming with me today. I know I sprung it on you kinda suddenly, and I didn’t really give a proper explanation on what we were doing besides that it had to do with Uraraka-san’s birthday. And then, well, with what you guys said to that kid and all I just—”
Iida’s hand clapped down on his shoulder and sent Izuku’s words crashing to a stop. When he looked up properly, he could see Iida’s overly serious face possessed a smile. Every time he saw it, Izuku couldn’t help thinking that his friend didn’t let himself do it nearly enough. “Don’t be ridiculous, Midoriya-kun. You and Uraraka-kun are both close friends of ours. Of course we’re more than happy and honored to help out.”
“If we didn’t want to be here, we wouldn’t be.”
He wasn’t about to start crying over something like that. Nope. Definitely not. He willed the touched waterworks away, lifting his arm to wipe at his eyes quickly. When he lowered it again, he gave them a grin of his own. “R-right. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s go get those tickets!”
Over the course of the next hour and a half, the three of them texted each other with updates on their totals. They would say whether or not a high ticket rate machine was reopened for someone else to take. Once they reached their goal, they went to one of the ticket machines, feeding it bundles of their rewards one at a time until they finally got the last one in. The screen read a satisfying twenty thousand for its total, asking if they were finished with their usage.
The tiny paper, so similar to the design of the tickets, printed up and showed off that massive number. And then, finally— finally —they were approaching the prize counter.
“Ready to select your trophy for the day, fellas?” The employee placed one of his hands on the counter and leaned on it as he lazily held his other hand out for the ticket receipt. “What’ll it be?”
This was it. Mission accomplished. Now he’d have to think of the next step of birthday shenanigans. Would he wrap it or put in a bag—wait, no why would he wrap it? It would be so obvious what it was. Bag. Definitely a bag. He or one of the other two would have to buy one. Should they do anything else though? He would have to doublecheck if Asui had wanted to do any kind of party like she mentioned before or if it was just gonna be a free for all type of deal.
“Midoriya-kun.”
Oh. Muttering...
“Uh, right, sorry.” Izuku cleared his throat before he stepped forward, ready to hand the slip over as he said, “We’re here to collect your Thirteen plush over there—”
The words died in his throat as his eyes found the stuffed toy, only to see it was in the arms of another employee who was about to hand it to…the ten year old from earlier?!
“Hey, whoa, wait!” Izuku pulled back the receipt. There were some other plushes: Wash, the original Ingenium, and Gang Orca. Endeavor and All Might were on a higher shelf but even more tickets. But Thirteen...there wasn’t another plush that he could see. “Wait, wait, wait—you guys have more of those somewhere, right?”
“If there’s not any up on the shelf, it means we’re clean out ‘til our next shipment,” the worker replied with a shrug. That wasn’t a satisfying answer in the least, all things considered. “Can I interest you in another…?”
“No, no, it has to be—”
Izuku looked back as the kid accepted it and began to turn away.
“Aw, shoulda known…”
It had to be…!
Iida’s shout of his name was practically white noise as he began to head after the kid. It couldn’t end like that. They worked so hard! It was the whole reason they had come here! There was no second choice. There was no other option. He couldn’t disappoint her.
He couldn’t!
“Hey, k-kid!” He stopped to look back just before Izuku could reach him. The grimace that he noticed earlier made a comeback when he wondered what it was they wanted now. There was no time for pretense though, so he merely pointed at the prize. “That plush—please. Please, I need that.”
“First, you guys take my tickets, so I had to settle on a lower prize. And now you’re trying to snatch this too?” He shook his head, rolling his eyes as he went to turn away again.
“No, wait, I—” Izuku lifted his ticket receipt for him. And the little kid’s eyes narrowed as he looked from the receipt to him and back again. He had the kid’s attention. Maybe mild interest. But how was he supposed to convince him? How was he supposed to…? “You can go get another, but I. I need the Thirteen one. It’s...it’s for my friend. Her birthday’s in just a few—I, I can’t get it anywhere else. Please. It has to be that one.”
“Ugh.” Those eyes rolled again. The kid turned back toward him, tucking the plush under his arm as he wondered, his tone disgusted, “Is this some gross boyfriend thing?”
“Wh-what?! No, it’s not—” He remembered her face. How she beamed at the sight of the plush. The overwhelming joy that overcame her. And then just how quickly it was snatched away. All while pretending nothing was wrong. How would she feel if she saw that expression plaguing him? Because knew what she wanted and he brought her the wrong one anyway? Izuku shook his head. “It’s not like that! She’s just...I owe her a lot. And you don’t know how happy this would make her. It would really…”
“Hey, child.” Todoroki was suddenly by his side and the kid’s eyes narrowed as his nose scrunched up again. His friend paid this no mind, however, keeping his eyes trained on the Thirteen plush. “You like Heroes, huh?”
“Well, duh, candycane. We’re in a Hero-themed arcade. That’s a stupid question.”
The insult was like water off a duck’s back, Todoroki showing no physical reaction at all. In fact, instead, almost instantly he asked, “How do you feel about Endeavor?”
The kid shuffled awkwardly, now avoiding looking at the other. That disgusted look had fallen from his face, seeming more uncomfortable than anything else just judging from the color on his cheeks. His voice was quiet, practically talking from one side of his mouth as he answered. “I dunno, he’s cool, I guess.”
“Todoroki-kun, what’re you—”
“If you give us that plush, we’ll give you this to get something else.” His friend snatched the receipt from Izuku’s hand, holding it out to the ten year old. “And I can give you an autograph from Endeavor. Or merchandise or something.”
“Todoroki-kun,” Iida interjected, “you cannot bribe a child!”
The kid looked interested though, side-eyeing Todoroki with just a touch of skepticism. He seemed more tempting than he was by anything Izuku said. “How would you get it?”
“Oh, well, Endeavor’s my father so it wouldn’t be difficult.” The kid didn’t believe him and said to prove it and Todoroki frowned before he reached into his pocket with his free hand to pull out his phone. Whenever he found what he was looking for, he turned the phone for the little kid to see. “Satisfied?”
“Wh-whoa... you could really get me an autograph?”
Crisis...averted?
Todoroki and the kid ended up exchanging information so that he could send him an autographed piece of merchandise. The Thirteen plush was handed over to Izuku with a marked lack of resistance. The kid even gave them an oddly polite goodbye as he went to select a different prize.
They did it. They got what they came for. Mission officially accomplished.
But then...why did Izuku feel so...bad?
It must have shown on him clear as day, somehow. The entire way back to campus, Iida and Todoroki were either shooting him concerned looks (on the train ride) or else they were asking him what was wrong. Over and over and over again.
“It’s nothing.” It was something, but he didn’t know what. Not at all. Whatever it was was eating away at him, filling the entirety of today’s effort with regret.
But everything turned out fine! They worked hard, had fun, and managed to reach their goal with time to spare. The correct plush was hidden in his otherwise empty backpack. Uraraka was none the wiser to the day’s events.
It was something, but it was also nothing he could pin down. Nothing that made sense. Nothing he could put to words. Just a feeling that somewhere, somehow, some way, he was wrong.
But how was he supposed to explain what he couldn’t even understand?
“It’s fine,” he lied even as they parted ways.
When he made it back to his room, he set his backpack on the floor beside him as he plopped into the desk chair. Izuku unzipped it and took out the proof of their hard work, his green eyes taking in the plush she had coveted so badly. The gift that he knew in his heart of hearts, regardless of this elusive feeling, was perfect for her birthday.
The Thirteen plush was settled on his desk then, his fingers fiddling with the short, stubby arms. He stared at the black visor, his reflection visible with the lights hitting it. No wonder Iida and Todoroki were so insistent. He did look miserable.
“Ugh. Is this some gross boyfriend thing?”
It wasn’t that. Sure, maybe it flustered him for a moment. But it was a kid. Of course he’d assume that. So why would that bother him?
“She’s just...I owe her a lot.”
Izuku’s heart sank. That was it, wasn’t it? He did owe her a lot. Time after time, regardless of how big or trivial the task at hand was, she always had his back. The day they met. And every single moment thereafter—she was a constant that made most any situation better. He felt like he needed something to show her she was worth the same.
She saved him on so many occasions. That first day. She saved him from his past by redefining his nickname. Hell, she saved him from One For All when he couldn’t control it!
And this—this plush toy—was his solution? Like that made them even?
He slumped over the desk, pulling Thirteen’s plush in like it was a pillow to press the side of his face into it. "I'm an idiot…"
Of course it wouldn’t make things even. There was no comparing them. It may be a great gift. But it wouldn’t do anything like what he said to that kid. Matching her stride, breaking even with how much she did for him—it would be an uphill battle.
But even getting her to smile... His arms tightened around the plush leaning his head even more into its stomach as his thought continued, that would be a start right?
The remaining weeks to Uraraka’s birthday passed by at a crawl. It should have been expected, he supposed. They weren’t scheduled to return to internships until after New Year’s Day at the earliest, so the days were mostly filled with classes and homework. Not exactly exciting.
Christmas provided a fun reprieve from the mundane. They had all gotten to wear Santa outfits, each hat outfitted with a personal signature to each member of the class. Then there was their dinner, the visit from Eri, and the gift exchange… His heart nearly stopped when he realized that he and Uraraka received each other’s gifts in that. He thanked her profusely for the mochi chips, and she thanked him too, saying that she liked the netsuke.
He was pretty sure she was just being polite about it.
But it was okay! Because two days later he was with a few others in class, gathered together to celebrate her birthday. Satou, Yaoyorozu, and Asui worked together to plan the evening out. They made her a special dinner as well as a birthday cake, its frosting decorated with some varying colors of star sprinkles.
Once they finished doling out the cake, they migrated into the closer living area. Yaoyorozu directed Uraraka into sitting in one of the chairs, and she explained that they would hand off her gifts one at a time. And he knew without a shadow of doubt, as she began opening the gifts that her close friends brought, she would like this present much better than the one she got in that silly gift exchange.
“Awww, look, they’re so fuzzy,” Uraraka declared as she held up the pair of pink socks for all to see. Her grin was impossibly wide as she looked to the girl standing in front of her chair, a giggle laced through her words when she spoke again. “It’s good to know at least you listen when I complain about my feet being cold, Tsuyu-chan!”
“Of course, kero,” Asui chirped in reply. “I’ve been planning it since we moved into the dorms.”
“Wow, that long?!” The birthday girl was flabbergasted. “How did you even remember for so long?”
“It wasn’t hard...you say it at least twice everyday, Ochako-chan.” Uraraka’s cheeks flushed a little pinker than normal as she gave a simple “oh” in reply. “But I’m glad you like them!”
“Of course!” She jumped up from the chair to hug the other girl tight with a thank you.
“Next gift?” Yaoyorozu wondered, looking among the others.
“Here!” Iida stood, his arm holding their bagged gift straight up into the air. He called out for Izuku as well as Todoroki to join him, and they all made their way around the living room to stand in front of her chair. Once they had, he finally lowered his arm, holding the bag out delicately for her to take as he said in a soft voice, “Happy birthday, Uraraka-kun.”
She blinked as she looked between the three of them. Her face colored even more than a few moments ago—he didn’t blame her honestly, three people giving her a gift? He’d be flustered in her position, too! “All of you?”
“Yes,” Todoroki answered audibly even as the other two nodded. She finally accepted the bag from Iida though her expression was still questioning. “Though, if anything, Midoriya was the mastermind behind it. So he should get the most thanks.”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Izuku murmured. He fidgeted awkwardly when her brown eyes settled on him. He admitted that, okay, maybe it was his idea initially. “But we all worked really hard to get it so. It was definitely a team effort!”
“A team effort?” she repeated the phrasing before falling into a hum. She reached into the bag, tugging out the tissue paper to get to the present inside. Izuku felt his stomach tumble around, suddenly wondering if maybe another gift would have been better. But he didn’t have the chance to overthink it, to sink back into a sandpit of regret, when she suddenly gasped, looking down into the bag. “No way!!”
“What? What’d they getcha?” Ashido wondered from her spot on the couch, sounding just as eager as Uraraka looked snatching the plush out of the bag.
“It’s Thirteen!!” The bag fell to the floor, entirely forgotten, when Uraraka stood up from her chair, holding the plush up for all to see. She bobbed it back and forth, jabbering about how she had such little Pro-Hero merch in the first place and how she was so bummed about how little Thirteen themselves got. His stomach flipped over itself again when she gave the widest smile he had seen from her to date. “Thank you so much, guys! Oh my gosh, how did you even…?”
“We went to that Token of Peace arcade,” Todoroki answered. Iida nodded in agreement and then went out of his way to gestured to Izuku, saying that it was all his idea.
Why were they so insistent on giving him all the credit anyway?
“N-not really. I mean, it really was a team effort—”
He was cut off when she suddenly threw her arms about him, the Thirteen plush pressing against his back as she shouted, “Thanks, Deku-kun!”
How did words work again?
His brain felt like it had short-circuited at the sudden contact. It lasted no more than a moment, but her warmth and presence somehow lingered even as she let go and moved on to hug the other two in succession. “I really do love it, you guys! But how the heck did you get so many tickets?!”
“We worked hard,” Todoroki replied.
That was probably the understatement of the year, but it sent Uraraka into a fit of giggles all the same.
The plush didn’t make things even between them in the least. But getting the chance to make her so unbelievably and overwhelmingly happy? It was small, but it was still a start.