Work Text:
Retire.
The word kept being thrown around in her head. He had told her a few days ago, very offhandedly.
Koichi was planning to retire.
She wasn’t exactly sure how to deal with that. After all these years. Why was he planning to quit? Just because he might get a stupid job?
This was their job.
Wasn’t he planning to do this with her? They had made so much progress since they started. They were finally being respected. The civilians in their area trusted them. Even started calling him by his actual hero name, only a few select still called him “crawler,” and even then, it was done out of jest.
The people of Naruhata came to depend on them. How could he give that up?
Forget this life that they made together.
She put her hands on her head. How can one guy be so stupid? She thought.
—-------
Now it had been a few days later since she heard the news, and Kazuho was determined to not let it affect their time together.
She had just gotten back to Koichi’s place a little bit ago and was now making herself comfortable on the small couch. The place had become like a second home to her (in the deep parts of her mind, some bit knew it felt like a first). It was good to have some time to just relax in the warmth of Koichi’s apartment; the temperature had been dropping lower and lower throughout the week. With the worsening weather conditions, it was unlikely any crime could occur. She and Koichi would have time to relax.
Or at least what little they had before Koichi left her.
The door handle jiggled, knocking her out of her thought process, and a second later, Koichi walked in wearing his suit. He must have had another interview today. A small part of Kazuho had hoped it didn’t go so smoothly as the last few had gone.
“Oh, hey Pop, happy to see you,” Koichi said, taking off his shoes and hanging up his coat. He didn’t seem to surprised to see her, which was probably fair. It was more often than, assuming there was no practice or concerts, that Kazuho had made her way over to Koichi’s, and they ended up spending time late in the evening. It had become one of her favorite ways to decompress for the day.
Kazuho responded a “Yeah, you too,” before looking him up and down. He also seemed to be gathering a bit of a chill from the outside. Hopefully, now the heat of the apartment could clear the tinge of pink that formed on his cheeks, although Kazuho wasn’t afraid to say she enjoyed the way his face flushed.
Still, it wouldn’t do to have her partner-in-not-crime-but-definitely-not-legal-activities be cold.
At least that was something she could solve, she stood up and started making her way to the kitchenette, “Hey, I was thinking I could make us some soup. It might be good to warm you up,” Kazuho said, making her way over to the stove. She had improved significantly in the last few years in making decent meals, enough that she was confident enough to offer up her dishes willingly. And a good hearty meal was just what he needed.
“Oh yeah, that’d be nice,” Koichi responded, “so long as it’s something light, though.” It sounded like he was still by the door.
Kazuho twisted his head to look at him, “What, are you trying to lose weight?” She teased, turning around to look at him. Koichi seemed to be slipping on his All Might sweatshirt and zipping it up.
“Wait, are you going to patrol out there?” She started. “It’s practically turning into a blizzard!”
The wind only seemed to have picked up more since she first came to his place. Now it was audibly heard banging against the shutters of his siding.
“Why don’t you rest for the night?” She asked. “You can afford a bit of rest.”
Koichi just smiled at her, “Well, if I’m going to be retiring soon, I want to be able to fit in as much with this last year as possible,” he responded.
It was like a cold washed over. No words were coming from her mouth. No matter how much she tried to move them, any words stopping Koichi from reaching the door weren’t voiced.
In a split second, the lights they had hanging over went out, and they were thrust into darkness.
In the darkness, she could barely make out Koichi trying to flip the light switch on and off. The clicking very quickly grated on her nerves. She was a saint resisting the urge to roll her eyes.
“Well, it looks like the power is out,” Koichi said after a bit.
Kazuho had made her way to the window and looked out the blinds. The tall buildings around them, usually seen lit up with the promise of people was now pitch black. It was like the skyline had turned into a ghost town. “It seems like it’s out for most of the neighborhood” She felt a shiver come up her spine, not entirely from the sinking cold. Their heat most likely got cut out with the rest of the power.
“What if there is a city-wide power out?” he asked. She looked up at Koichi and found him staring at the door with a troubled face. “We should probably go and make sure everyone’s alright.”
Kazuho checked the temperature on her phone. The weather station had was not promising.
“Koichi, it’s going to be like negative __ out. Even if there are people out there who need help, there’s not much we’d be able to do without freezing just as easily.” Especially as the coming hours promised a possible snowstorm, she thought.
She could see his face drop even more. His willingness to help others was what initially drew her in, but still, someone had to make sure he didn’t lose himself to his work. A small voice in her head was telling her she already had lost him since he wanted to retire. She took care to quiet that part and continued on, “Unless your sweatshirt has thermal packing, we’d probably be more of a liability” she tried to be firm but not unkindly. All Might did make quality hoodies, but Kazuho was sure it wouldn’t withstand the freezing temperature and windchill. That wasn’t even mentioning her new costume. While it had been leaps and bounds better than her first version, it would never hold up in this weather.
Koichi seemed to realize this too, “You’re right,” he said definitively.
“Of course I am, stupid,” She responded. Despite the nickname, there was no natural heat in her voice. It had been a long time since her voice held anything but fondness. But Kazuho couldn’t stop herself from hoping that the strong affection that slipped through wasn’t heard. She had successfully hidden her crush enough up to this point; she could hold it in for longer.
Koichi seemed to stumble away from the door. It was hard to see across the penthouse, but Kazuho heard the soft bang and Koichi swearing softly. She made a note to be careful of where she stepped.
“Probably not that smart to try and cook in the dark,” Koichi said from the doorway.
Kazuho guided herself along the wall feeling her way over to sit down. “Probably not,” It wouldn’t be wise to do much else if it was already challenging to find the center table. Well, they were essentially stuck here. “I guess the best we can do is just wait here.”
“I guess so,” Koichi said. A few more bumps, and he joined on the cushion next to her. They sat in silence. It wasn’t entirely uncommon. Although they often had talked when Kazuho came over, their conversations had slightly stagnated since Koichi mentioned retirement from his hero work.
She looked down at where her hands were against her skirt. There was a slight tremor to them. Kazuho could feel her hand getting colder. It was like a deep cold sinking into the depths of her hand. Trying to flex her fingers did nothing. Almost numb in a way, like she wasn’t even there.
“Would you like me to warm up your hands?” she heard Koichi say from beside her.
“W-what?” It took a moment for it to register, her face felt hot as the words clicked in, and she registered the warmth that was surrounding her hands. Koichi had grabbed her hand like it was the most natural thing in the world. What the hell was wrong with him?
Kazuho could feel her heart racing as Koichi just sat there with his dumb smile. Koichi made a soft rubbing back and forth motion, holding her left hand delicately in between his. “You were holding your hands, and they’re a bit shaky. I figured I could try and warm them up.” The friction was doing wonders. Kazuho was too stunned to utter a word. Koichi looked at her questioningly, “Do you think it’s working?”
Kazuho could admit the temperature in the room did seem to be a few more degrees. “Yeah, I think it is,” Kazuho replied.
“That’s good, let me get to your other hand” Koichi had grabbed her right hand and started giving it the same treatment. The numbness in her fingers had long since faded. He was a good friend, doing this favor for her. “I think they’re good now,” she said.
“That’s good,” Koichi responded, dropping his hands and settling up a bit next to her. “Let me know if you start to feel cold again.”
She uttered out a “thank you,” and they were sat in silence. The only accompanying noises were their breathing and the soft blowing of the wind.
It was like the universe was out to get her. A large gush blew roughly against the siding, rattling the shutters and making a whirring noise next to their window. It was louder than she was expecting, and her body shivered instinctively.
Koichi piped up from next to her, “Are you cold?”
“No- no, I’m totally fine,” She responded. It wasn’t that cold.
Koichi reached out and placed a hand on her. “Pop, you’re freezing.”
“Here” next thing she knew, she knew, she was being covered with a blanket, and there was an arm around her.
She stiffened immediately. “Koichi, what are you doing?” Kazuho turned her head away. Feeling her face radiating heat. She dreaded to think what shade it might be.
His face held a smile, but Kazuho could see the nervous way his eyes were flitting back and forth. “I thought, well, we could cuddle for warmth?”
“Cuddle?” she questioned.
“Yeah, for us to keep warm, kinda like the penguins do?” His arm felt the weight on her shoulder.
“Like the penguins do?” She wanted to hit herself for how much she was parroting him. Well, it was warm, wrapped in the blanket and under the weight of Koichi’s arm. It was comforting for the moment. She could allow it.
“Yeah, Emperor penguins try and maximize heat between themselves by cuddling,” Koichi started, “and since the heats out because of the power, I thought it could help us.”
“Learn that one in college?” Kazuho joked. It felt forced. Like she was trying to act like everything was alright and she was herself. She didn’t know if it was working.
If Koichi noticed, he didn’t say anything, “I actually got it from a documentary, I watched.”
“That’s nice,” she said instinctively. Soon they both lapsed into silence.
Enough that she could still hear the sound of the wind passing through, slightly rattling any debris outside.
Koichi spoke up, breaking the voiced silence around them. “Hey Kazuho, even when I retire, I want you to know one thing.”
“Yeah?”
Koichi put his hand under her chin and slightly tilted her head up sideways. “I need you to know that you will always have me around,” She could only hope that would so. Kazuho tried to move her head away, but Koichi softly brought her head back to look at him. “Even when we retire and hang up our costumes. We’re still partners.”
Koichi’s face was honest and open. He did mean that, didn’t he?
“You’re so stupid, hero.” She batted his head to the side and settled herself back down under his arm.
Koichi laughed it off, “Yeah yeah, I know,” his arm tightened a bit around her. Despite the weight, it was the lightest she had felt all week.
As she felt lighter, it was easier to joke with him. “Well, Mr. Penguin facts any others things you can share with me?”
“Actually did you know elephants are the only kind of animal that can’t jump?”
“I didn’t” Kazuho replied “guess I’m not making them a part of my costume anytime soon”
“I’m not sure, I think a fake elephant nose would really get the crowds going,” Koichi joked.
Kazuho couldn’t help but smile, “well at least that would make the two of us animal based, crueller” The indignant squawk she got in return was worth it.
They spent the rest of the night with laughter and soft smiles and their cuddling kept them warm throughout the cold. At some point, Kazuho had reached her hands around Koichi’s middle, and his other arm came around her as if securing her. When the power had kicked on an hour later, neither had moved from each other’s arms, still holding on tight.
Kazuho could admit she could believe him when he said they would always have each other.