Chapter Text
It had been a pretty normal day for Awase. A peaceful one, or as close to one as UA ever got. In a place filled with egocentric teenagers, crazy powerful quirks, robotics labs and rivalries between classes and entire departments, it was safe to say the day just wasn’t complete without an explosion or two, but that was basically what Awase signed up for, so he wasn’t about to complain.
Finals were coming up fast, so most of the more rambunctious students had taken a break from causing a scene in favor of panic cramming. Declarations of superiority and showboating had been replaced with begging for class notes and study tips. Awase was sitting around the middle point of the new spectrum. He was competent enough with his study habits that he passed tests comfortably, but he still wasn’t in the class’s top five, so not many people were bothering him for help. He was free to enjoy his peaceful bubble as he floated through everyone else’s waves of anxiety and it had been rather relaxing if he was being honest.
But of course, that didn’t mean that there wasn’t one troublemaker still on the clock.
Listening halfheartedly to the latest of Tetsutetsu’s ‘get pumped’ speeches as they walked into the cafeteria, Awase casually glanced over the area, wondering where Kaibara and Honenuki ended up, only to groan as a dramatic voice crossed the room. Following it to the tables near the middle of the cafeteria, Awase took one look at the blonde moron and his meek victim before turning right around and grabbing Kendo by the arm, eliciting a gasp as he pulled her from her conversation with Shiozaki.
“Awase! That was rude.” Kendo cried, turning back to the vine user with an apologetic look as he just kept pulling her along.
“Monoma.” That one word said it all. It took only a second for Kendo’s irritation at him to dissipate to understanding, resignation and finally return to irritation directed at the blonde boy. Especially when she saw the scene.
Monoma was well into one of his spiels while his target was on his knees collecting what looked like half the contents of his backpack. There was little doubt that Monoma was responsible for that situation too, which only made the look on Kendo’s face sharper as she picked up the pace, now being the one to drag Awase to the crime.
“I mean, only an idiot goes looking for trouble and you can’t even control your quirk right. You go around flaunting your power, but at the end of the day, you’ll just-”
As usual, one blow to the neck from Kendo was all it took to take him out, leaving him collapsing toward the ground, only stopping when the girl grabbed the back of his shirt. A small grin spread across Awase’s face as he watched. Honestly, Awase never got tired of seeing that.
“Sorry about him.” Kendo sighed, offering the green head of the blonde’s victim an apologetic smile. “His leash is still in the mail, I swear. I hope he didn’t get…too out of hand.”
“Oh nothing I haven’t heard before. Or close enough to it.” The boy sighed, looking up with an appreciative grin of his own before turning back to his scattered belongings. “Thank you very much for the help. But is he ok?” He added, his eyes flickering back to Monoma with a noticeable amount of concern.
“Don’t worry, he’ll live.” Kendo shrugged, completely unconcerned as she lifted him further off the ground and started to head off. “He’ll be up in a few minutes, he always is. I’ll get him out of your hair. See you later, Midoriya.”
“Ahh, ok, bye.” Midoriya called back, a little unsurely as he waved after her. Awase just grinned in amazement as he watched the whole ordeal. This Midoriya was a total cinnamon roll. He gets harassed and cares more about the wellbeing of the bully than anything else, including the papers that were starting to get trampled. It was hard to picture after the sheer ferocity he’d shown at the Sports Festival.
Shaking his head amusedly as Midoriya just watched Kendo drag the pest away, Awase got down and started collecting a few notebooks and loose sheets, raising a curious eyebrow as he read the covers. ‘Hero Analysis For The Future’. Huh, they looked pretty old and weathered, especially the one with the number thirteen on it. He must have been at these for a long time. And he really put in a lot of detail, if all of the books looked like the few open pages he noticed. This kid was one dedicated student…or fanboy. He actually had Allmight’s autograph in this thing! That was really cool.
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that.” Midoriya said, a little flustered and red as he caught sight of the welder.
“Eh, my classmate fucked up, I’ll help with the cleanup.” Awase shrugged, smiling as he handed the books back to the grateful boy. He was just about to get to his feet when a phone caught the side his eye. Apparently it had slid under a table and was sent sliding again as a girl pulled out a chair. Casually snagging it as it slid by, he turned to confirm that it was Midoriya’s, only to freeze and gape as he saw the apps. The basics were all there, but other than that, they were almost all…well, professional was the best word Awase could come up with. A workout plan app, one for nutrition, a few social media apps, those were fine, but that was it. Awase almost found it heartbreaking and his face showed it.
“Please tell me you at least have some music on this thing. Or some pics with your friends or something!” Awase cried, the sudden increase in volume and desperation bringing a startled yelp from the now wide eyed Midoriya, the imploring look directed at the shorter boy begging him for a positive answer. “Or that you’re hiding your games somewhere, like a hidden folder?”
“Um…no? I never, umm, thought about that sort of stuff.” Midoriya muttered, shaking his head, confused and gulping as Awase let out a soft moan worthy of a kicked puppy. He just couldn’t understand it. Awase’s own phone’s storage data was almost completely full with all the games he had on the thing. To not have even one was sacrilege! And what did it say about Midoriya’s life? These days, your phone replaced the women’s purse as the best representation of someone’s lifestyle and personality. Everyone did everything on these things. If Midoriya’s phone was all business then didn’t that mean…oh man, ok that’s it. This kid needed a life and Awase was going to give it to him. It was the heroic thing to do.
…He was probably being way overdramatic, but come on! How could you live without online games?
“This is unacceptable. You poor, deprived child.” He stated, his fingers already a blur as they typed at his screen. “You’re connected to the school’s wifi, right?"
“Um, yeah. What are you doing exactly?” Midoriya asked, an unnerved, slightly suspicious frown crossing his face as Awase leaned away from his hands as he tried to take it back.
“Introducing you to one of my favorite pastimes.” Awase answered, standing straight up as Midoriya reached for the phone again, a proud grin split across his face as the new app finished downloading. “Ok, now we’re good. Here.” He said proudly, bringing a big, relieved sigh from Midoriya as he finally placed the phone back in its owner’s palm. “You can thank me later.”
“Why? What did you do?” Midoriya asked, a sharp frown crossing his face as he inspected the screen, raising an eyebrow as the new, opened app flickered a title banner over the screen. “My Hero Brawler?”
“Yeah, the name’s right on the nose.” Awase nodded, feeling quite proud of himself. “I figured it was the best game to start you off with, judging from those journals of yours. You start with a few heroes to choose from and fight other heroes. There are CPU and player tournaments to play with and the more you win, with the right conditions, the more heroes you unlock. Win enough, and you get some really strong heroes. Which come with lesser known tidbits about them and their abilities. Do well enough and you can even unlock Allmight.” He added with sly grin, it turning into a smirk as Midoriya’s eyes widened, lightening up a second later. Bulls eye, he got him hooked. “Tell me when you’ve unlocked Fourth Kind and I’ll take you on.” With that, he gave the boy a nod before heading off. After all, lunch was only going to last so long and he was hungry.
“Hey, wait one second!” Midoriya cried, the slight panic in his voice immediately having Awase spinning to face the frazzled boy. Any worry he may have felt was quickly resolved however, as Midoriya bowed his head to him. “Thank you for helping me…Yosetsu Awase, right?”
“Yeah, that’s my name.” Awase nodded, giving him another bright grin as he bowed back. “And you’re welcome, Midoriya.”