Chapter Text
“You’ve got to be joking.”
Aizawa shook his head. “I’m sorry Jirou-san. I wish I was.”
“I’ve worked my ass off for this company! I’m one of the youngest department heads here and I’ve helped increase UA’s profile 30% in the past fiscal year, they can’t be serious,” Jirou cried, pounding her fists against the glass table dividing her and her executive director.
Aizawa flipped through his folder and nodded, “You’re one of our best in senior management, Jirou-san, but you know our Board of Directors. They’re traditional and seeing a young woman in a position of power, especially an unmarried one, makes them nervous.”
If that had meant to appease her, it was unsuccessful. “As if that’s my problem?” She cried, “Momo is just as young as I am—”
“Yaoyorozu -san has been a part of this company since the day she was born,” Aizawa interrupted, waving her arguments away, “The board knows that her father wouldn’t have hired her as the head of consulting if she was unable to handle it.”
Jirou groaned. “Is this even legal?”
“Technically?” Aizawa mused, “No. But they’d never be foolish enough to cite that as the reason for demoting you. They’d chalk it up to there being a more qualified candidate or needing your experience in another department.”
“I’m good at what I do,” Jirou said quietly, rage bubbling deep inside her, “If they can’t see past my “shortcomings” or whatever, then I don’t know if I want to work here.” She folded her arms and stared Aizawa down.
He began to casually flip through his documents, pulling out the company calendar. “Look, employee reviews are in three months. Either you ignore my advice and risk getting demoted or you start sucking up and maybe the board will let you keep your position.”
“Maybe?!”
“Their main concern is a woman in power, seconded by the woman being unmarried. Since you aren’t changing the female and you definitely aren’t up to changing the “in power,” the only way I could really see them changing their mind for good is by changing the unmarried.”
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Jirou muttered, running her hand through her hair exasperatedly. How would she manage to find a boyfriend and convince him to propose in the next three months?
Aizawa looked up at her distress, a rare softness in his eyes, “You do good work Jirou-san, I wish the board would see that rather than your gender.”
She smiled determinedly, “I love my team and I’m not going to let a bunch of old guys push me out of my job,” she paused, looking over at Aizawa, “No offense.”
The softness was gone, replaced by his usual aloofness, “None taken, I think they’re as out of touch as you do. Nobody would blame you for leaving, least of all your team, but if you can’t change the rules of the game by sitting on the sidelines.” Aizawa sighed as he stood up to leave, collecting his papers as he did so, “Start thinking of how to impress the board, how to make them see just how important you are in this office. They’ll be here for a meeting next Thursday and fresh pastries are always appreciated.”
“I did that shit as an intern, there’s no way I’m going back to coffee runs,” Jirou scoffed.
“Do you have any better ideas?”
Buzz. Buzz. Jirou looked down at the table to see her phone lighting up, a shock of yellow hair illuminating the screen. Bingo, she thought.
“Actually yes,” she called out and he paused, his hand frozen on the door handle. “You can tell the Board of Directors not to worry, after all, I’m pretty sure my boyfriend is about to propose.”
...
“You said what?!” Yaoyorozu cried, her normally calm demeanor falling away in shock.
“Keep it down, will you?” Jirou flushed, reaching across Yaoyorozu’s desk to shove her hands over her friend’s mouth. “I don’t exactly want this getting out just yet.”
Yaoyorozu batted her hands away, unbuttoning the top of her trademark maroon pantsuit and fanning at her face. “I apologize Kyouka, it’s just such a shock. I can’t believe Aizawa-san told you you needed to get married or else the board was going to demote you.”
Jirou shrugged, “He didn’t say that exactly, but he made it very clear that the board was uncomfortable seeing a woman like me in a position of power.”
“Kyouka, you’ve done a lot of dumb things in your life but this one takes the cake,” Yaoyorozu sighed.
Jirou groaned, slumping over the desk, “I know, I know, it just came out of me, like my mouth moved before my brain even had a chance to catch up. But I love this job, Momo, and I’m damn good at what I do. I’m not willing to give that up just because the board thinks a woman needs to be married to be successful.”
“Have you even asked if he’ll do it?”
Jirou shrugged, toying with her hair. “Denki is Denki. I’m hoping he’ll want to pull one over the board just as much as I do, but if not I know he’ll do just about anything for free food.”
“Back in college I could’ve sworn he would’ve done just about anything for you,” Yaoyorozu remarked slyly, taking delight in the way Jirou’s face lit up bright red.
“That’s just- we weren’t- he would’ve done anything for any girl who looked at him twice,” Jirou sputtered in her haste to correct her friend, “I was just the unlucky sap who got stuck with him all this time.”
Yaoyorozu hummed absently, remembering study sessions and nights out and the way Kaminari had looked at Jirou when she wasn’t paying attention. Yaoyorozu prided herself on her powers of observation, both in the classroom and out, and she watched as Jirou and Kaminari danced around each other from the moment the electric blonde sat next to them in the lecture hall. While Jirou had initially been flattered by his intense flirting, the girl had walls up that were greater than the one in China, and she ultimately rejected his advances after a few weeks of flirting. Kaminari, in turn, had played it off as a joke to hide how much he was hurt, and Jirou lashed out at him in anger, furious at Kaminari for making her feel like he was truly interested and even more angry at herself for believing that he was. After many mornings of him bringing her coffee, she eventually forgave him, but neither of them forgot the initial spark and the resulting explosion.
While the study sessions are no more and the nights out are few and far between, the one thing that Yaoyorozu is sure hasn’t changed is the wistful look Kaminari sometimes gets when he looks at Jirou, like she’s somehow so far away even though she’s seated next to him. Thus, Yaoyorozu hoped he would say yes, if only to force their hands and get them to confront their feelings for one another, but she couldn’t help but worry about what could go wrong. A false marriage was complicated enough, but add an emotionally stunted Jirou, an overly flirtatious Kaminari, and a boatload of unresolved feelings? Talk about a recipe for disaster.
As if sensing her thoughts, Jirou stood up, phone in hand. “Denki just texted that he’s off work, I’m going to go meet him at the yakitori place, did you want to come?”
Yaoyorozu smiled graciously, “And interrupt your grand proposal? I wouldn’t dare.” She laughed as Jirou blushed and moved to go, before she reached out to gently snag her wrist. “I know it’s not the real deal, but good luck, Kyouka. If Denki’s half as smart as he looks, he’ll know what a catch you are.”
Jirou let out an aborted laugh. “Denki? Smart? Yeah right.”
...
Kaminari shoved his hands in his pockets as he waited outside the yakitori shop. Spring had arrived, and along with it the influx of cherry blossoms, but that didn’t keep the cool evening breeze from making him wish he had brought a heavier jacket. He heard a voice call out his name and turned just in time for Jirou to run straight into him.
“Ah! Hey!” he cried, stepping back as she quickly punched him in the chest, “What gives?”
“That’s what you get for calling me at work, you dunce,” she scoffed, reaching up to brush a stray petal from his hair. “And for avoiding me and Mina all weekend.”
He barked out a laugh, “Hey, that wasn’t my fault! Hanta got a new game so naturally I was over at his all weekend.”
“Naturally, huh?” Jirou laughed, eyes sparkling, “I guess Mina owes me five bucks, she thought that maybe you’d met a lady friend after you guys went to the bar on Friday. I told her there was no way that any lady would be interested in a dunce like you.”
Kaminari grinned sheepishly, “Nah, no one at the bar really caught my eye. Of course, they could never live up to you Kyouka,” he said, winking. The smile on Jirou’s face dimmed slightly, and he cursed himself for making her feel uncomfortable. “Sorry, you know I’m just kidding,” he added hastily.
“Yeah that’s the problem, isn’t it?” Jirou mumbled.
“What was that?”
She sighed, running a hand through her hair, “it was nothing. Let’s just go on in and eat, okay?”
Kaminari nodded, following her into the small restaurant, once again feeling like he had somehow fucked up without even realizing it.
...
The pair ordered in relative silence, the awkwardness from before still lingering over them.
Kaminari smiled tentatively as he refilled her water glass, hoping that he hadn’t scared his best friend off for good.
Across the table, Jirou’s mind was equally occupied, worried about the request she was about to make of her best friend. She took a deep breath, it was now or never. “Denki, I- I have a favor to ask,” Jirou began, “and you don’t have to say yes just because you feel bad for me or whatever.”
Kaminari straightened up nodded, relieved to know that her hot and cold moods were more likely a result of her nerves, rather than annoyance at anything he had done. “Sure thing, Kyouka,” he replied earnestly, “how can I help?”
“It’s gonna sound weird but- Ineedyoutopretendtobemyfiancésotheoldguysatworkwillgetoffmyback,” she burst out.
Kaminari froze. Out of all the things he had been expecting, the girl he’d been crushing on— hell, at this point it was probably the girl he was in love with— asking him to be her pretend fiancé was not one of them.
“I know it’s a lot to ask especially because then you’d have come with me to corporate events and wouldn’t be able to see anyone while we’re “engaged” but I wouldn’t have asked if I thought there was any other way,” Jirou continued, her face flaming red as she stared resolutely at her glass in front of her.
Slowly, Kaminari reached across the table and grabbed Jirou’s hand, causing her to look up in surprise. “So you’re telling me I get to crash the open bars at all your work events and see my best friend every day?” He grinned, squeezing her hand, “That doesn’t sound too bad to me.”
“Denki, I’m serious, this is my job we’re talking about.”
“And so am I,” Kaminari shrugged, hoping that his rapidly pounding heart wouldn’t give him away. “You’re my best friend, Kyouka, and you love that job. If I have to play your fiancé for a little while in order to help you out, then so be it. I mean, a fiancé is like a best friend, but upgraded. I’m already halfway there!”
In a rare display of affection, Jirou stood up and hugged him over the table. “Thank you Denki, you have no idea how much this means to me.”
Kaminari wrapped his arms around her, same to you, he thought, squeezing her gently before letting go. “Now, speaking of engagements, what’s this I hear about Bakugo and Kirishima?”