Work Text:
“I need a WHAT?”
“A plus one, moron. It’ll make my seating chart even and I don’t wanna deal with you whining that you’re alone during my wedding.” Bakugou glares from where he’s sitting at his venue, crossing his arms. “I don’t care who it is. When you find them, tell me or Eijirou so I can get name cards.”
Mina, whose plans for the day have been changed in the span of three seconds, holds her head high. It’s not every day your perfectionist friend gets married to your easy-going friend, so Bakugou’s been a pain in the ass to deal with ever since they both asked her to be a groomswoman.
“Bold of you to assume I don’t have a date already,” Mina retorts, grinning when Bakugou gives her a look. “I just haven’t brought my partner around yet! Wanted to see if y’all were cool enough for them, so you better give me an invitation and reserve a spot for both of us!”
“What, you managed to keep a secret for this long?” Bakugou mocks her, but he seems to let up for this moment. “Fine. Bring this so-called partner to the rehearsal dinner then. It’s in a week, so don’t you dare be lying to me, Mina. I’ll know if you are.”
This is true. Bakugou may hate most people, but he knows way too many of them and their gossip. Mina may be really good at keeping up with others and talking it out, but Bakugou has a weird tendency to overhear the tea! She has no idea how he does it!
Mina swallows and gives him a peace sign, sticking her tongue out. “You can count on me, Kats! When have I ever let you down? And don’t bring up the time I did your eyeliner and the tip of your wing smeared because you were sweating!”
“You said it was waterproof, asshole,” Bakugou snaps, but sighs and relents, waving a hand at her. “Don’t disappoint me. I’ll see you in a week.”
“Roger that!” Mina salutes and hurries away, already running through her contacts as she calls an Uber to get her home. She’s got a lot of searching to do, and she’s already on a short enough deadline that she has to weed out candidates before the middle of the week. Fuck.
Mina’s search for the perfect partner in under a week unfortunately takes longer than she’d like. Everyone in her list of potential partners (Shinsou, Camie, Kouda) unfortunately already knows either Bakugou or Kirishima or both of them, and Bakugou would immediately blow her cover.
Her next bet other than her contact list is going to a random coffee shop that wasn’t close by to anyone’s apartment and seeing if she could scope out a date from the crowd of customers. It speaks a lot about a person on how they treat service workers, and since she worked in retail for a few years, it helped to ensure if they were a good person or not.
Baristas, of course, are always overworked, underpaid, and deal with enough as it is, so Mina stands in line to order a cup of coffee and pays attention to the people around her. There’s a guy with pale blue hair that looks like he hasn’t washed his hair in weeks, and the green-haired barista looks relatively bored and tired as he takes down the complicated order.
“And I want caramel drizzle on that!” The blue-haired guy snaps. “And you can put my name as Shigaraki, thank you, I KNOW you’re the one that put some other loser’s name on it!”
Mina, obviously, knocks the guy out of the running in her head, watching with distaste as the guy has no regard for the horrors of customer service, even going so far as to snap his fingers. She already knows she would’ve snapped at him by now, or if she was in a worse mood, outright refused him service.
“It wasn’t even your drink you picked up, that’s why it didn’t have your name on it.” The barista says tiredly. “But yeah, it’ll have Shigaraki on it, even though your grandma teaches my Ethics class and I know your name is Shimura.”
Shigaraki—Shimura?—glares and stalks away after slapping his card on the card reader, storming outside to presumably wait for his drink. The barista closes his eyes and lets out a sigh that could rival Bakugou’s on a particularly bad day. “Next, please?”
“Sorry about that asshole,” Mina says sympathetically. She stuffs some dollar bills into the tip jar and watches the light come back to the barista’s eyes. “You’re doing great, by the way! Could I just get a chocolate cold brew shake and two ham and cheese bagels?”
“I would die for you,” the green-haired barista tells her, and Mina laughs delightedly. “You absolutely can get those.” He rattles off her total, and Mina almost cries when she realizes he took off her cold brew. “Name, please?”
“Alien Queen,” she says, and watches as the barista smiles to himself before writing her name with a flourish on the cup. “Sounds good! I’ll have this right out for you. Have a seat wherever you’d like!”
Mina waves and looks around the café. There’s unfortunately not a lot of people, which already derails her plan as it is, and she comes to the horrific realization that she’s probably not gonna pull this off. Her entire career in life consists of her pulling off the most insane schemes ever, and this might be the first time she actually fails.
She groans and slumps into a chair, putting her head down on the table. With her deadline fast approaching, she might have to resort to terrible measures like Tinder and Hinge. Maybe Bumble if she’s desperate enough.
“Ah, hello?”
“Leave me here to die,” Mina laments, shaking her head and feeling her curls bounce everywhere. Her drink surprisingly stays stable. “I was on a mission but it’s HOPELESS! All of my potential dates know the stupid grooms! I’m SCREWED!”
A chair slides out, and someone sits down in the space across from her. She peeks up to see the green-haired barista from earlier, and he offers a warm smile at her. “I’m not sure what this is about, but maybe I can help? Do you wanna talk about it?”
“I don’t want to keep you away from your job,” Mina begins, but blinks when the guy smiles at her and waves it off. “It’s my break time anyways, so no worries! My name’s Midoriya Izuku, what’s yours?”
“Ashido Mina,” she grins back at him. “I mean, if you’re willing to hear the gossip, then by all means! So I’ve got two BFFs, right, and they’re getting married in a little over a week, and I’m supposed to have a plus one by then! I lied and said I do, so I was trying to scout various friends if they’d be willing to be my plus one for the night, but they know either one or both the grooms! So now I’m resorting to asking total strangers!”
“That is a pretty difficult mission,” Midoriya muses, tapping his pointer finger against his lips. Mina realizes that his cheeks are coated with freckles, which also cover his nose. He’s…actually really cute, especially with how bright his green eyes are. “What’re your qualifications for this fake plus one? I might have a few friends that could be willing to help out! Also, what’re the names of the grooms? I just wanna make sure I don’t know them either, y’know?”
“My best friend Eijirou is one of them,” Mina starts off, then tilts her head to the side. “And the other groom is—wait, actually, why don’t YOU be my plus one? You’re really cute and you seem really sweet, so it’d be really easy to show that you’re my best option!”
“What?” Midoriya’s face goes a pretty shade of red, and Mina already knows she’s going to be enamored by him. “Me? Surely you have better people to ask! Or, uh, someone else who isn’t just a typical barista in graduate school! Listen, all I do is hang out with a few of my friends whenever I’m not working or in class, and I pet-sit for my friend’s cats, and—”
“You’re perfect,” Mina declares, and Midoriya makes a dial-up noise. “Would you like to be my impromptu plus one to a wedding? The food will be delicious and completely free. All we have to do is sell it long enough like we’ve been dating for a few months, and we’ll be set!”
“I think this is one of the weirdest things I’ve been propositioned for in a long time, but it sounds fun.” Midoriya says seriously. “As my best friend Ocha would say, ‘fuck it, we ball.’ I’m in! If you’re willing to wait for my shift to be over, we can go over the cover story for this if you want?”
Mina nods immediately, over the moon at how well she picked in the spur of the moment, and writes her number down on a napkin. “I’ve gotta head out to something one of my friends invited me to, but please feel free to text me later when your shift’s done! We can meet up for a date.”
“It’s a date,” Midoriya echoes, and he flushes that pretty red color again. Mina has the strangest urge to keep giving him compliments to continue seeing the color on his face, and genuinely wants to reach over the table and hold his hand. “Where…where do you want to meet up? Should I dress nice? I don’t want to show up with an old All Might t-shirt, right, and I know my mom taught me better than that to show up to a date with a gorgeous girl wearing work clothes and sweatpants.”
Watching Midoriya dissolve into mutters tells Mina everything she needs to know. She usually has a great track record of figuring people out and getting good or bad vibes from them, and Midoriya has hit every single green flag she can currently think of on first impressions.
From what she’s seen so far, Midoriya Izuku is kind, patient, and has a shred of human decency, which is pretty low standards and pretty much the bare minimum, but there’s a shine in his eyes that reminds Mina of Kirishima. It’s comforting, in a loving way.
“Are you okay with sushi?” Mina asks, and beams when Midoriya rapidly nods. “Okay cool! Thank you so much for helping me out by the way, we can go over our cover story there! And don’t worry about paying; it’s on me!”
“I’d be a terrible date if I let you pay,” Midoriya protests, but there’s a shy smile tugging at his mouth. “Okay! I’ll text you after my shift then and I swear I’ll freshen up with nice clothes. I’ll see you then, Ashido!”
“You can call me Mina! You can pay me back on our second date.” She calls back, giggling when Midoriya sharply inhales and puts his head in his hands. He shakes his head briefly, making his curls bounce around, and Mina coos up at him.
“Then you can call me Izuku,” he says, and scurries back to his work shift. Mina settles back in her chair, absolutely delighted at this turn of events. She sips her drink and vibrates in place, pressing a hand to her warm cheek.
She’s got a date to prepare for!
“Your plus one’s coming today, yeah?”
Mina looks up to spot Bakugou narrowing his eyes at her. He’s instinctively folding a napkin into an intricate design, something he picked up when he wasn’t able to play the drums. “What should I know about this person, Mina? Am I going to fucking kill them before the end of the night? My wedding’s tomorrow. If you bring a piece of shit, I swear to god—”
“I have the best taste in partners, you bitch.” Mina grumbles, settling back in her assigned chair. She’s in her best dress and dolled to the nines, waiting for her date. Izuku’s running a little bit behind due to traffic, but sent a selfie to hold himself accountable. After their successful first and second date this past week, she’s honestly really excited to see their plan and chemistry in action.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Bakugou declares, and that’s that.
People start trickling in for the rehearsal dinner. Kirishima bounces out of their venue wearing his best Crocs, which Bakugou let slide for a compromise so he didn’t wear them during the wedding. Mina fidgets in her seat and eagerly looks over at the door, reading Izuku’s text that he’s arrived.
“Is your date here?” Kirishima asks excitedly, smacking Bakugou on the arm. “I’m really excited to meet them! I can’t believe you didn’t tell us you were dating someone Mina, this is what best friends are for!”
“Yeah, he’s here.” Mina beams at everyone, listening to Camie and Todoroki start gossiping about her date. The door to the venue opens, and Mina spots green curly hair as Midoriya steps forth with a burst of nervousness. “Everyone, I’d like to introduce you to—”
“DEKU?” Bakugou shouts at the top of his lungs, and Izuku ducks on instinct as a folded origami crane made of a napkin comes sailing at his head. “Well, whaddya know!” Izuku laughs nervously as Bakugou nearly knocks his empty champagne glass off the table to get to him. “I know the grooms after all! Hi, Kacchan, it’s been a long time!”
“Midoriya?” Todoroki asks, standing up and blinking in surprise. “It’s a delight seeing you here. Are you Ashido’s date? No wonder she seemed enamored with you, Ashido truly does have the best taste in partners.”
Mina whips around to Izuku, who’s impressively fending off a furious Bakugou. Her plan’s blowing up in her face even before the dinner started, but she honestly would rather take these odds. “The whole point of this was to not know anyone here!” She cackles, getting up and hurrying to her date. “Bakugou, meet my boyfriend, Midoriya Izuku! I see you both know each other from…?”
“Childhood!” Izuku says cheerfully, giving Mina a winning smile. “I didn’t know Kacchan was getting married! Mitsuki was telling me how happy she was that Kirishima was joining the family, but I thought he was still your boyfriend! Congratulations, I brought you a wedding present! It’s a reserved campsite for hiking up one of the holy mountains. I hope you like it!”
“You didn’t know I was the fucking groom,” Bakugou says, and Mina makes her move by sliding her hand into Izuku’s. His only indication that he’s nervous is his sweaty palms, which Mina squeezes to offer reassurance. “And you brought a gift for hiking? What the fuck, Deku?”
Izuku roughly exhales, and Mina brings him over to his assigned seat while offering him a sip of champagne. “Well, I had a weird hunch? I don’t know! But please let me stay since I’m Mina’s date. I promise I’ll stay out of your way.”
Bakugou stares, and closes his eyes. “I’m going to let this go only because my fiancé is far nicer than me, and we’ve got a lot to talk about. Namely, your opinion on the newest All Might trilogy because it fucking sucked and I’ve been wanting to talk to someone about it.”
“After the wedding, absolutely,” Izuku promises, and Bakugou goes back to his rehearsal dinner.
Genuinely in shock that everything worked out so far, Mina simply decides to keep her good luck going and gently squeezes Izuku’s hand. “Can I talk to you outside really quick?” She asks, and feels his hand shake a bit. “It’s not bad, I swear! Just something I want to clarify.”
They both head outside, standing tall as their friends clap and cheer for them. It’s an incredibly impulsive decision, and maybe it’s because Mina’s a strong, independent bitch who knows what she wants, but she knows damn well that this is the guy for her.
Mina grabs Izuku’s hand when she closes the door before her, fiercely staring into his eyes. “I know I haven’t known you for long,” she says firmly, “but I really want the opportunity to date you for real. You can say no if you want, but I’d at least like to genuinely shoot my shot. Is that alright?”
Izuku stares back, eyes going wider with every sentence. He seems to try and steady himself before bursting out, “I’d love to! You’re a breath of fresh air and you’re also really pretty, Ashido Mina! I’d be honored to see what our relationship could turn into!”
“You sound like a nerd,” Mina informs him, starting to giggle, “but I really like nerds too, so it works out. You wanna drink champagne and go eat fast food afterwards while we talk about fun movie series to marathon? We’ll be back to sleep and get ready for the wedding tomorrow!”
Izuku starts their new relationship by cupping her face and pressing their lips together, savoring their first kiss. Mina wraps her arms around Izuku’s neck and relaxes into his hold, smiling and stroking her thumb over Izuku’s freckled cheeks.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Izuku declares when they break apart, and he takes her hand, heading back into the venue and to their future together.