Chapter 7: Busted Lip (and a bit of pining)

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His evening run to work is normally an uneventful half-hour to stretch his legs and mentally unwind, but a mere dozen blocks away from his destination, Izuku starts to feel a little uneasy. He has been running from his problems (and bullies) long enough to be able to outstrip most assailants that don't have a speed quirk (or a gun), but he also carries a little EDD (electroshock defense device) to deter anyone that can manage to catch him.

These details don't help him shake that creeping feeling of being watched.

Letting someone know you know they're there is a quick way to draw more attention, so he pushes aside the trepidation and keeps going. If his pumping arms happen to brush the EDD secured to his backpack strap a few times in reassurance, no one knows but him.

The weird feeling vanishes a few blocks before he gets to work. The dozing security guard couldn't care less about the danger he may have just dodged, so Izuku takes a quick shower and gets to paper-pushing.


When his shift ends, he's still a little unnerved about the weird occurrence on the way in, but he doesn't want to wait for two hours for the earliest trains. Another run does more good than harm, so he packs up his stuff and heads back toward his building.

He has plans to pick up groceries for a curry he hasn't had in a while, and then further plans to nap until it's time to cook. He might even make a trip to the nearby city park to lounge beneath a tree once the shadows of late-afternoon are long enough to keep him cool.


He burns a few hours on work while he's still wired from the run back home, but until he gets his last piece of evidence from the business owner, there isn't much else other than skimming the Hero Network request boards for something that might pique his interest.

(They all do, but he tries to be picky and select only the ones that might cause others trouble to solve. If he takes all the easy cases, then his fellow consultants will have less to choose from, and having his aliases attached to a hundred cases each year seems like a terrible idea. Maybe he needs to invest in a few more to thin the attention. Later.)



The grocery run does not go as planned.

The location he usually visits is closed for emergency renovations, thanks to a messy villain takedown by one of the top-tier heroes that also happens to have a top-tier insurance premium thanks to the amount of property damage he leaves behind.

His phone helpfully informs him that the next closest shop carrying what he needs is in a neighboring city he's not terribly familiar with. They don't take cash, and when he reluctantly whips out his region-assigned payment card, the salesperson flips their shit at the quirkless mark on the corner. (He regrets leaving his backpack with the EDD at the apartment.)

He knows he shouldn't have looked away, but he'd never have guessed a clipboard could be used as a weapon.

(His face proves otherwise.)

He still manages to get out of there in one piece with his groceries, despite the trouble.

And the police.

And the witness statement.

And dodging the paramedic that tries to lure him into the ambulance. No thanks, he's not dying.

He's almost home when he finally notices the throbbing ache in his face and the blood that has drenched the front collar of his shirt.

(It's fine.)

the cute guy next door (might be a villain) // ShinZukuWhere stories live. Discover now