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After Tenko and his other siblings had finished their undercover mission with the League of Villains, he decided it was time to take a break from hero work. He had been working for the agency for 2 years, and he wasn’t sure that it was his thing. He was good at it, but it wasn’t what he wanted to spend the rest of his life doing. So when their mission ended and they were able to get back to semi-normal life, Tenko decided to leave the agency. He was assured that there would be a spot open for him if he did want to return.
He spent a week at home, not sure what to do with all his free time. He had been working for the agency since he was 16, and it had been a rather demanding job. So the downtime he had had then was utilized for combating the high stress the job put him under.. He brought up his issue to his mom, and she suggested that he might try and find a new job while trying to figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He had never applied for the hero job, the internship was just offered to him. So he had no idea how the whole job application process went. Luckily his mom was willing to help him out with that as well.
After applying and interviewing at a few places Tenko finally got hired. It was a small bookshop that was just a short train ride away from his house. The owners were an older couple and they were very nice. They even told him that they didn’t mind him going on his phone when customers weren’t around. Overall Tenko liked the job. It was a lot more relaxing than he was used to, but that was a good thing. They weren’t too busy most days. For the most part people would come in to study at one of the seating areas around the store. The most exciting it got was when one of his siblings would come in. That is at least until one day.
The day was like any other weekday. It was slow and the only customers were students looking for a quiet place to study. Tenko was sitting at the register on his Nintendo Switch. He had just spent his last paycheck to get Animal Crossing and he was invested. He was so absorbed in the game that he hadn’t noticed the bell ring. Nor had he noticed the customer that was standing at the register.
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Natsuo had just started his 2nd semester of college. Pre-Med was not an easy major, but Natsuo was a hard worker and he was determined. Just because he refused to follow in his father’s footsteps doesn’t mean that he doesn’t want to save people. So he’s going to become a doctor and he’s going to help as many people as he can.
However, to become a doctor he would have to fix the predicament he currently found himself in. It turns out that when he was buying his books for his new classes, he had missed one. And of course it had to be the textbook for the class with the strictest professor. In Natsuo’s defense, when he was looking for the books he had gotten called about the newest dangerous situation his younger brother’s hero class had gotten into. Either way, he was short one important textbook.
Natsuo hadn’t spent much time exploring the area that his school was in, so he wasn’t sure where he could find one. When he asked one of his classmates, Kokoro, she told him that there was a small bookstore not too far away that she would sometimes go to to study. She offered to walk him there and he gratefully accepted.
They separated after walking in. Kokoro headed straight over to a small seating area, and Natsuo headed towards the register. The person sitting behind it clearly hadn’t noticed him. Natsuo took a few seconds to observe the man sitting in front of him. He had shaggy light blue hair that obscured his face. He was distracted by the Nintendo Switch in his hands. Speaking of his hands, he had rather interesting gloves. They covered only the last two of his fingers. He must have a quirk that requires all 5 fingers to activate it.
Natsuo tried clearing his throat, but that didn’t work. So he hesitantly reached forward and tapped the man on the shoulder. He jumped up startled by the touch. Natsuo threw up his hands to try and reassure him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you. It’s just that you were so invested in your game that I wasn’t sure how else to get your attention.”
The man shook his head and responded with a sigh. “It’s okay. I should have been paying more attention. After all, this is my job.” Natsuo couldn’t help but notice that the man’s voice had a pleasant scratch to it. “What is your question?”
“Oh uh yeah. I was wondering if there was any chance you have this textbook, I need it for school.” Natsuo told the man the name, and he turned towards his computer to search it up. Natsuo took another look at the man, now that he could see his face. It looked like they were around the same age. His eyes were red, which contrasted well with the blue of his hair. Overall the man was rather attractive. When the man turned his attention back to Natsuo, he felt his face heat up at getting caught staring. The man looked away and mumbled off what aisle to find the book in. Natsuo thanked him and headed to get it.
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Tenko hadn’t expected a customer to come up to the register. He definitely didn’t expect the customer to be so attractive. After looking up from the computer, he caught the guy staring at him. When Tenko met his eyes, the guy started lightly blushing. It was adorable. Tenko had never been one to get crushes. Himiko had always gotten enough for both of them. And the very few times he had it was always made clear that it was not reciprocated. So seeing the man’s blush surprised him. Tenko looked away and mumbled out where to find the textbook. After the man had left, Tenko tried to pull himself back to his senses. He had to have just been blushing for some other reason. There was no way a man that looked like that would be interested in Tenko. The man was tall with hair as white as snow and eyes the color of steel. And...and he was standing right in front of Tenko’s register.
“I found the textbook. It was right where you said it would be. Thanks.” The man was rubbing the back on his neck and had a rather bashful look on his face.
Tenko couldn’t help the small smile that came to his face. “I’m glad you were able to find it.” He takes the book and rings it up. “That’ll be $75.”
The man pays for the textbook and leaves. Tenko wishes he had gotten his name.
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Natsuo turns and leaves the store mentally cursing himself for not introducing himself and getting his number.
He gets down the block before deciding, screw it. He turns around and jogs back to the bookstore. The cute guy looks up in surprise when he opens back in the door. ‘Alright, it’s now or never’ he tells himself as he walks back up to the counter.
“Hello again. My name’s Natsuo, what’s yours?”
The cute guy cocked his head to the side and replied, “My name is Tenko.”
“Okay Tenko,” Natsuo said, trying out the name. “I should’ve asked you when I was in here earlier, but would you want to go on a date with me sometime.”
Tenko gave him a bright smile. “Yes Natsuo, yes I would.”
Natsuo couldn’t help but smile back.