Chapter Text
Furihata groaned as the door to his apartment swung open. Getting home had taken longer than he expected thanks to everyone’s fussing. He really did appreciate his friends, but there wasn’t really that much to fuss over. He had lacerations everywhere, but only a few that required stitches. He also had a cracked rib and a few spots around part (all) of his body that were definitely going to bruise. Still, he considered himself lucky for even getting out at all.
He wobbled towards the back on his apartment, shrugging off his pants along the way. He’d deal with everything else tomorrow. He finally reached ivory curtains that hung from ceiling to floor, and tied them back to reveal his bed. The brunet carefully adjusted to lay on the navy comforter, enjoying the way it puffed around and hugged him like a cloud. There weren’t many things that he accepted from his mother when he moved out, but she insisted on giving him this blanket. Now that he was engulfed in the comfort of blanket fluff, he silently promised to never question her again. As his eyes began to droop, he thought of the striking man that had been his personal hero for the day. He wondered about the color of his eyes, swooned at thought soft lips upon his, and even imagined life as a superhero’s boyfriend. It wasn’t long before his musings turned into dreams.
Sunlight invaded the room at precisely 7:42 in the morning. Furihata Kouki knew this because in an attempt to evade said sunlight, he instead threw himself off the bed and landed himself a bloody nose. The journey to the bathroom took another five minutes. It was, of course, near the front of his apartment, so trying to get there without causing more injuries proved to be difficult. The pants that had been haphazardly kicked the night before almost killed him halfway there, and his muscles whined at every step. Finally stumbling in the bathroom, Furihata carefully peeled off his clothes and allowed himself look in the mirror. Aside from the blood that trickled down his chin, his face actually didn’t look horrible. The rest of his body was starting to look like a bad painting though. Some bruises were darker, some were larger, and little scrapes and cuts decorated everything else. He took a deep breath and turned on the shower. The bruises and rib would be ok. What he needed to focus on now was his shop. After giving himself a chance to relax, he had to return to the real world and face his problems.
“Wh-what do you mean it’s taken care of??” he squeaked. It just wasn’t possible.
The gruff man in front of him let out a booming laugh. “Someone dropped off an anonymous check this morning to pay for the damages to the building! Can you believe it? You’re still going to have to fix everything inside of course, but there’s some money left and I think you should take it.”
Furihata shook his head furiously and gripped the strap to his bag tighter. “I can’t accept this, if it’s for the building it belongs to you.”
His landlord beamed and continued to poke at him with the check. “And you put my building on national television! I don’t need the extra money, so take it to get a new refrigerator for your store. I know you could use a little help, and you’re a nice kid. Get your business up and running again so you can sell flowers to all of the people who want to see the spot where Imperial Red took down Nitromaster.” He smiled warmly at the young florist and held the check out one more time.
Furihata looked at the determination in his landlord’s eyes and let himself give up, thanking him over and over again. At first the burly man has intimidated him, but once he got past the rough exterior, he turned out to be a good-hearted man. Furihata counted his blessings for the nth time as the man moved on to brag about his daughter's first school play.
Once his landlord left to attend to other things, Furihata finally took a look at the check. The amount covered just about half of a new refrigerator. His savings would still take a hit, but he was no longer responsible for the damage to the building itself. The extra money meant that he could still afford rent for both his shop and apartment as long as he went on a temporary ramen diet. After Friday, of course. Friday was special.
After pausing for a minute to take a deep breath, he tidied up the best he could. In all honesty the store didn’t look half as bad as he had feared. Thanks to Imperial Red, most of the glass had already been cleaned up. All he had to do now was sweep up the remaining shards and remove all of the damaged flowers. There was a table that had been knocked over, but the doctor insisted that he avoid heavy lifting, so that would have to be left it there. He made a mental note to ask Kagami for help later. All of the flowers that survived the incident were made into smaller bouquets within the hour, and Furihata spent the rest of the morning selling them to those who happened to pass by. They were sold at a discounted price since the flowers weren’t in the best shape, but the money he made was just enough to buy some extra groceries to prepare for Friday. He still hadn’t quite decided on what he wanted to get, but he hoped that walking through the nearby supermarket would give him some ideas.
“Furihata-kun?” a familiar voice called out to him as he approached the store. He spun around to find the source, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he found Kuroko standing inches away on his right side.
“H-Hi, Kuroko-kun. What are you doing here?” Furihata gulped and did what he could to mask the shock in his voice. No matter how much time he spent around his former teammate, he could never get used to Kuroko’s sudden appearances.
“I was in the area and thought I should visit you, actually. May I ask where you are going, Furihata-kun?”
“Ah, I’m going to the grocery store, actually. I’ve already done what I can for today.” He let out a shaky laugh and scratched his head. “Do you have any ideas on what I should make on Friday? It's only Tuesday and I'm already nervous. "
Kuroko's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and his brows scrunched together. After a minute of strange and pained looks, his eyes finally softened when his gaze landed back on the florist. He turned towards the market and quietly said, "I think something simple will be fine. Perhaps some tofu or a curry."
Furihata smiled and looked up to consider his suggestion. "Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you, Kuroko-"
No one was there. He had looked away for a moment and he had disappeared.
"Kuroko-kun?" Furihata's smile left him as he tried to find any sign of his friend, but he was nowhere to be seen. "If he had to go he could have told me," he grumbled, "and he didn't need to use misdirection. Who does that?"
With a sigh, he shuffled into the grocery store alone. At least he had gotten some advice before he had been ditched. He'd take all the help he could get. It wasn't every day that he had to plan a dinner worth serving a superhero, after all.