≡Izuku POV≡
Shoto ended up winning the sports festival. He exploited Dark Shadow’s weakness with his flames and easily won from there. Even through the TV, I could still see the disappointment in his eyes.
Kacchan was a big help with cleaning. You’d never expect him to be so good at cleaning, but when he was done, you couldn’t even tell there was ever blood there. He stayed around for the rest of the night, despite being up past his bedtime.
I got a few texts from everyone asking if everything was alright. I lied to them, saying that it was a false alarm. I felt horrible lying so bluntly to them. They were my friends, yet I still didn’t want to share such important things about my life.
I only felt a little better when Kacchan reassured me that I could take my time and that they wouldn’t be mad and would understand why I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking about it.
By 10pm, Kacchan had cleaned the entire apartment after complaining nonstop about how it looked like no one had lived here for years, cooked in the kitchen for the first time in over 10 years, and asked billions of questions about my job.
I had a rendezvous tomorrow night, so I was working on the new gadget while Kacchan made small talk with me.
By 12, he was already starting to nod off. I can’t blame him, today was pretty eventful.
At 1am, I pulled my blanket over him as he slept in my bed and left with my saved up wad of cash from my cafe job.
I don’t know if I’ll have to put a payment down up front if I need to get something new, so I will just have to go without any ‘fun money’ for a while.
As soon as I walked into the medi clinic, Joe greeted me from behind the counter.
“Hey there Izuku. Here to put in more cash?” He leaned on the counter as I walked up.
“Hi Joe. Uhm, actually…” I pressed my lips into a hard line as I tried to figure out how to word what I was about to say.
“That’s… not a good look,” seeing that this was serious, he straightened up again and waited for me to continue.
“Well, my mom had an episode today when I was at school. I rushed home as fast as I could, but by the time I got there it was over and she was passed out with blood all over the floor. Please Joe, is there anything else I should be doing or giving her?” I looked at him with pleading eyes. I hate having to beg like this, but I’m desperate.
“Well, you sure are lucky Izuku. I actually just got a new shipment that I was going to mention to you next time you come. This stuff is supposed to be basically a stronger version of what you’re giving her now. You’ll have to change the injection time to as soon as she wakes up every morning.”
I felt a wave of relief flood over me as I watched him pull out a bottle and some new syringes. I gave him my saved up cash, hoping to lighten my load, even the slightest bit, thanked him, and walked home.
__________
“Good morning sleepy head,” I said from my work desk as Kacchan groaned and sat up.
“How the hell are you up? It’s 8am on a Saturday, and I know for a fact you didn’t sleep until well after midnight,” he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and stretched.
“How the hell do you sleep so much? I went to sleep around 3 and woke up almost 2 hours ago. Here,” I tossed him a banana and protein bar that he caught and immediately started eating.
“You really should start getting more sleep. That’s only 3 hours.”
“Yeah well, it looks like I won’t be getting much for a long time,” I turned around in my chair, pausing my work. “Last night I got something new for my mom. I’m going to have to start putting in more hours at the cafe and still finish my jobs on the side.”
“Jesus fuck Izu. You know, I can get a job or ask my parents and pitch i-”
“No. I don’t want to ask for any more of your help, you’ve done enough,” I gave him a smile and went back to my work.
He let out a sigh and walked over, “What are you doing? That looks like some sort of human skull.”
“Ding ding ding. A while back I started working on making AI’s, that’s why I made the city at school, I wanted to test it out. After yesterday, I got some more motivation to not leave my mom alone.”
“You’re making a robot doctor for your mom?”
“Basically, yeah. I’m hoping I can give it a personality so that she can have someone to interact with more too. I got the basics down, but I still need to make it more realistic.”
“How the hell did you get to be such a badass genius? I fear the day anyone gets on your bad side,” we both chuckled at the thought.
“Oh, sorry to kick you out, but I got a shift at the cafe in about an hour and I need to walk, so…” I looked at him with an apologetic smile as he got the hint.
“Fine, fine. I’ll see you on Monday,” he shoved the rest of his breakfast into his mouth and left. I got up from my chair and started to get ready for work.
I said bye to my mom and started walking. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough money to buy a weekend ticket for the train, so I plugged in dome earbuds and walked.
“Hey boss lady, how’s the morning going?” I asked as I walked in and bee-lined the staff room to put my things away and grab my stuff.
“It’s just how you’d expect a Saturday morning to be at 9am. I got the one regular at 6 right when we opened, but other than that only a few people have come in. Feel free to relax, but as soon as someone comes, you better treat them like royalty.”
“Yes ma’am,” I faked a salute as I pre made some coffee and poured myself some. I sat down at a booth and brought out my phone to see I had some messages from our group chat.
Goggles: I’m not going to lie, the angry pomeranian’s nickname is growing on me.
Insomnicat: I see you’ve chosen your side.
Goggles has changed Insomnicat’s name to Eyebags
Eyebags: Wow, thanks.
BoomBoomBoi: Why the hell are you 2 texting so early? And who named me this?
BoomBoomBoi has changed their name to LordExplosionMurder
Goggles: WHOA! Since when are you up so early?
Eyebags: Maybe someone hacked his number?
Eyebags has changed LordExplosionMurder’s name to AngerIssues
AngerIssues: You got a death wish?
Eyebags: A bit, ya
GeniusFreckles: Don’t say that Toshi! Also what’s up with my name?
AngerIssues: I thought you had work?
Goggles has changed GeniusFreckles’s name to Brocoliii
Brocoliii: Thank you Mei. I am at work, it’s just dead rn
Eyebags: I mean, it’s 9:30 on a Saturday
Eyebags: You’re about to get a customer
Brocoliii: Huh?
Eyebags: My dad basically just yeeted himself when he looked over my shoulder to see who I was texting and saw you were working.
Goggles: Your dad?
AngerIssues: Someone made a fucky wucky
Brocoliii: Who’s your dad?
Pikachu: I TOLD YOU ALL HE WAS MR. AIZAWA’S KID!!!
Goggles: Wait, he is??
Broccoliii: Only one way to find out, I see someone coming in
I put my phone away as I heard the door chime open.
“Holy shit, well what do you know? Denki was right,” I smirked at Shota as he sat down.
“What are you talking about, Problem Child? And don’t curse,” He sighed as I walked over to grab him a coffee.
“So, did you adopt him? I think the age gap of 16 is too small for him to be your kid… Unless… Wait, did you-”
“I’m going to stop you before you finish that. And from how you’re talking I’m assuming you found out about Hitoshi?” He did a long blink as he sighed, which only made me smile more.
“Yup! He slipped up and said you were coming over. Wait, do you live nearby? How’d you get here so fast?” I walked over and handed him his black coffee. He let out another sigh as he drank his coffee.
“I trust you to not tell anyone? We didn’t want anyone to think he’d get special treatment. Especially after me and Zashi started dating...”
“Sure thing Shota! Oh, by the way, why are you up so early? I figured you’d be the kind of person to sleep until noon,” I lightly chuckled at myself.
“It’s very hard to get sleep with a literal speaker living with you,” he finished his coffee and I gave him another. “What about you? I thought you’d sleep as long as possible. Why did you change your shifts? And what are they now? Just so I know when to come…”
“Nah, I’m always up early. I actually slept in today, woke up at 6 or 7ish. I picked up some more shifts so now I’m here Monday, Wednesday, Friday right after school until closing, and 9-2 on weekends.”
“That’s… a lot for a highschool first year. Why do you need the extra shifts?”
“Money, obviously. Besides, this cafe isn’t very busy so it’s pretty laid back,” I sat down across from Aizawa and drank my own coffee.
“Why do you need the money? Again, you’re a highschool first year,” Shota raised an eyebrow. Wow, just like Hitoshi.
“Why wouldn’t anyone need money?” I asked, also raising an eyebrow. I know my chances of outwitting Shota are low, but, I can still try?
“Shouldn’t your parents be the ones getting money?”
“Every household is different. Just because you apparently spoil Toshi, doesn’t mean mine do.”
“But what are you buying that you need to work almost full time to afford.”
“Many things.”
“Like what?”
“You know, basic things and a few others.”
“Your family should be providing all your basic needs.”
“Again, every family is different.”
“Why don’t you use your family name?”
“We don’t get along with that side of my family.”
“We?”
“Me and my mother.”
“Where’s your father?”
“Who knows?”
“Izuku, come on. This is getting ridiculous,” Aizawa sighed as he broke our intense eye contact we had developed.
“I could say the same thing for you. Besides, why do you want to know? Our only connection is Toshi, and I just found that out.”
“We’ll be having another connection soon,” he put his finished coffee cup down.
“And what would that be?”
“Teacher and student.”
My eyebrows shot up as I looked at him. The ends of his lips curled slightly upwards seeing my reaction.
“While the rest of class 1A are on their internships, you and Hitoshi will begin transferring over. You will mostly just be doing hero training to assess where you are at.”
“We don’t get to go on internships too?” I pouted.
“Of course not. You haven’t gotten any training,” he scoffed at me like I asked if he liked to eat garbage.
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” I winked at him and he gave me a questioning look. “Besides, Kacchan never shuts up about what you guys do in heroics. It’s almost like I was there.”
“Kacchan?”
“Oh, sorry. Katsuki Bakugo,” I corrected. He nodded and asked for another coffee. When I came back with refills for both of us he asked me another question.
“Why didn’t you try out for heroics? I don’t doubt you could’ve passed the exams after watching you in the obstacle course.”
“Uhm, creepy that you’re watching me, but then again, I was on TV, I don’t know what I expected. I didn’t try out for heroics so that I could use support items during the sports festival. I was planning on winning that and showing everyone up that someone in the support course won without a quirk,” I smiled smugly knowing that I still tied third place with Kacchan.
“Oh yeah, is everything ok? What was the emergency?” Shota asked already back at nosing around in my business.
“False alarm,” I smiled sweetly at him as another customer came in. “Sorry to cut this short, but I have to get back to work. See you Monday.”
I walked away, but not before hearing him grumble something like “problem child.”