Chapter Text
Izuku Midoriya moved out at the matured age of nineteen. He had finally gotten into the prestigious college he wanted after two years of nonstop work. His dream of becoming a journalist was finally coming true. The many problems Izuku faced were only amplified by the fact that he was moving to a different country. He finally got into New York University, the college he always wanted to go to, but that meant leaving everything he knew behind. He was scared to say the very least, but more than anything he was excited.
He was finally settling in after three months of living in his new apartment. Izuku had gotten a job working part time at a library a few blocks from where he lived. He met a few people there that he quickly became friends with, like Mina Ashido and Hanta Sero. They all went to the same college and had pretty similar schedules, so finding time to hang out was surprisingly easy.
Ashido: hey do you guys wanna hang out saturday?
Sero: i’d be down if we can get snacks while we do ;)
Ashido: i mean i thought snacks were implied
Midoriya: lol yea sure who’s place are we hanging out at?
Sero: i mean you have the biggest apartment out of the three of us so why not your place
Midoriya: hey i dont wanna clean and it wasnt my idea :/
Ashido: he’s right midoriya, and besides we can just hang out and clean while we’re there
Midoriya: mmmfine that’s fair but as long as we’re actually cleaning
Sero: deal
Ashido: deal
Izuku had to clean up a little before they came over Saturday, they didn’t need to know he was a complete slob just yet. He cleaned up a little but quickly decided it could wait, it was only Thursday after all. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to go out for a bit just to walk around, maybe get some coffee and a snack while he was out.
And with that he was off, wandering the streets of New York during the busy afternoon. He had become a regular at one of the many coffee shops around where he lived. The two baristas always working there knew him by name and always had his order ready rather quickly.
“Hey Midoriya! You want your usual right?”
“Hey Iida! I didn’t know you were working today? And oh, yeah I want my usual.”
Iida started on his usual order: a honey almond milk cold brew and banana bread. He had gotten about half way done with his order when Bakugou, the other barista working there, walked in for his shift. “Hey Bakugou!” Midoriya chimed. He and Bakugou weren’t as friendly with each other as he and Iida were, it was very much so a worker-customer relationship with the two of them. “Hey.” Was all Bakugou responded with.
“Cmon Bakugou don’t be like that. It’s Midoriya, our favorite customer!” Iida voiced, a hint of enthusiasm could be found as he spoke. “He might be your favorite customer but he sure as hell aint mine!” Bakugou barked. He didn’t exactly hate Izuku, he didn’t actually hate anybody, he just acted like he did for whatever reason.
Before Midoriya could say something in response, Iida had called him to tell him his drink was ready. He quickly paid for his food and drink and walked out. As he was looking at the receipt, he saw a note at the bottom that read,
‘hey this is my number (xxx)-xxx-xxxx, text me like ten minutes before you come in and i’ll have your order ready lol - iida.’
As Midoriya looked at the note he quietly smiled to himself. He quickly put the number in his phone and texted,
‘hey! Its midoriya, just texting to let you know its me lol.’
He knew Iida wouldn’t respond quickly because he was at work, but thought it would be nice to go ahead and text him letting him know it was him. Just as he was looking up from his phone, he saw what looked like an 80 foot wave heading straight towards him. Was this where he died? Was he really going to die having just gotten the number of his favorite barista? How was his mom going to find out? Would one of his friends have to break the news to her? As all of these thoughts raced through his mind, a hero appeared right in front of his very eyes.
“HEY! EVERYONE MOVE! GET OUT OF THE WAY! TAKE COVER IN ANY NEAR BUILDINGS OR LITERALLY ANYWHERE OTHER THAN THIS STREET!”
Midoriya however, heard absolutely none of this. The hero in front of him freezing the water right in front of his very eyes. This was the most attractive person he had ever seen in his entire life, and that was the only thing he could think of at that very moment.
Midoriya knew people had what were called quirks, most people had them actually, but he was one of the unlucky people who didn’t have one. He admired the people who did have them, but this person, this hero, damn he was hot, and Midoriya knew it.
He slowly started to come to the realization that he was in danger when the danger just, well, disappeared? The ice had disappeared along with the person who originally made the water. The cops had shown up and taken them away. Immediately after, reporters flooded in, eager to be the first to ask Pro Hero Icy Hot what had happened.
Before Midoriya realized where he was, the hero in question was approaching him quickly,
“Hey, are you alright? I noticed you weren’t moving when I asked everyone to move, and I wanted to make sure that you weren’t stuck in place by a quirk or something?”
Midoriya stared at him wide eyed before he finally stammered out,
“Oh uh, hey! Yeah I’m doing great, just fine. Completely and utterly okay!”
He was internally cringing at the words that just came out of his mouth when a massive amount of reporters suddenly rushed to talk to the hero standing in front of him. He quickly got up from his seat on the ground (when he had sat down he had absolutely no idea) but not before Icy Hot had said under his breath,
“Hey, is there somewhere else we can talk? I want to make sure you’re okay.”
Midoriya, completely amazed that a pro hero would even want to talk to him, let alone ask him to go somewhere else with him, responded quickly,
“Yes! Let me text somebody real quick, follow me!”
As Midoriya and Pro Hero Icy Hot ran quickly away from the reporters, he was frantically texting Iida
Midoriya: hey iida
Midoriya: you better be at work rn
Midoriya: srry where are my manners
Midoriya: PLEASE BE AT WORK RN AND WHEN I COME IN LOCK THE DOOR IMMEDIATELY
Midoriya: ill explain when i get there, but i have pro hero icy hot with me i think was his name
Iida: oh, um, okay, this is a little sudden but alright
Iida: WAIT YOU MEAN THE PRO HERO ICY HOT??
By the time Midoriya had put his phone away they had already arrived at the coffee shop and were quickly ushered inside. Iida and Bakugou were freaking out, Iida more so than Bakugou. There was a rather tense air around them as Iida locked the door and closed the blinds before Icy Hot finely piped,
“So, this is where you brought me? A random coffee shop? I was hoping for somewhere a little more private but this will do I suppose.”
He put a small emphasis on private and looked a little glum as he said it when Midoriya blushed harshly and responded quickly with,
“Oh my gosh I’m so sorry! This was just the first place I thought of! I wasn’t really thinking of going somewhere super private. I did just meet you after all. Oh my gosh what am I saying I’m so sorry. I hope I haven’t offended you by bringing you here. We can go somewhere else if you’d li-”
“Hey hey, it’s okay. This place is fine. Hey, by the way, what's your name?” Icy Hot quickly cut him off.
“Oh it’s Midoriya, Izuku Midoriya, what’s yours?” Izuku had said this in the most genuine voice anyone had ever heard. Icy Hot, slightly taken aback at the thought that someone didn’t know his name responded with,
“Well, my hero name is Icy Hot, but my real name is Todoroki, Shoto Todoroki, you can call me either one, I don’t really care.
Todoroki had said this very nonchalantly, however, after watching the scene play from the sidelines Bakugou finally cut in,
“Is SOMEONE gonna explain what the hell is going on or are we just gonna play the name game for the rest of the day?”
Todoroki quickly followed this up by explaining why they were there,
“There was a villain, and when Midoriya over here didn’t move when I was SCREAMING at him to move, I got rather concerned. So I asked him if we could go somewhere else, because I was being flooded by reporters. Now we’re here. Happy?”
Bakugou tsked and retorted,
“Yeah whatever, I didn’t really care that much anyway.”
The last part of that sentence was more of a mumble than anything else when Iida cut in,
“Hey, would either of you like a drink? It’ll be on the house.” He paused before he hesitantly asked, “Hey Midoriya? Where did your other drink go?
Midoriya had only then just realized that he no longer had his food or drink. He had no idea what happened to them. He quickly turned to Iida with an apologetic look on his face that said ‘I’m so sorry, but I do not know’ Iida took this as que to make Midoriya another drink as well. He asked Todoroki what he wanted and started on both of their drinks.
Midoriya and Todoroki made their way over to a table next to the window. The conversation had come to an awkward standstill before Todorki finally asked,
“So, why didn’t you move when I was very clearly telling you to move huh?” He chuckled under his breath as he said this.
Midoriya blushed as he said this, to be honest he didn’t really know why he didn’t move. Well, he did know, but he wasn’t about to tell a pro hero, ‘You were too hot, and I was distracted by your hotness, so I didn’t move.’ No no, definitely not that, instead he responded with,
“I think I was just too shocked and scared more than anything, you looked really cool out there though! I’d love to have a quirk like yours, saving people must be amazing!”
He said this with a big smile on his face. Todoroki just looked at him with a confused look. He quickly realized that his quirk must not be good enough to be a hero and asked,
“Oh yeah, I suppose it is. So, what’s your quirk? Can you show me?”
Midoriya looked at him, a little disappointed to be asked this by a pro hero. He sat there for a few seconds in silence. He knew he would have to respond eventually, even if he didn’t want to. So reluctantly, he responded,
“Oh,” he chuckled nervously, “I was actually born without a quirk, so I can’t exactly show you my quirk now can I?” He laughed it off like he wasn’t bothered, which he wasn’t too bothered, but still, it hurt a little to admit it.
“Oh, I’m sorry, that was really insensitive of me wasn’t it? I didn’t mean to bring that up, uh anyway-” Todoroki was quickly cut off by Iida bringing them their drinks and saying,
“Here are your drinks! I don’t mind keeping the doors locked for a little while longer, but sooner or later I am going to have to open them up again.”
Todoroki responded quite firmly with, “Oh, you can unlock them. The reporters usually leave after about ten minutes of not being able to find me.” He said this with a smile at Iida then returned his gaze to Midoriya and continued,
“Soo, what college do you go to, what do you want to be?”
He had just opened up a rabbit hole for Midoriya to go down, yet he had no idea. Midoriya took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He didn’t want to completely bore Todoroki with a super long rant, so he promised himself to keep this short.
“Oh! I go to NYU! It took me a super long time to get in, but it was completely worth it to finally get into my dream school! I hope to be a journalist one day, I’ve actually been looking for a place to intern at, for no pay obviously. I do have a part time job though, so it might get in the way a little bit, but I really want to.”
Midoriya went on with his ramblings for another three minutes or so. Todoroki just watched him with a smile on his face. Iida and Bakugou watched the completely unaware Izuku gush over his dream to a pro hero, pro hero Icy Hot at that, and he just.. listened?? He was even smiling at him?? By the time Midoriya was done with his rant, Todoroki quickly cut in,
“What if you interned for me?”
Midoriya was completely taken aback by this statement, and by the look on his face you could clearly tell. Todoroki took this moment to say something else,
“You could be my personal journalist, well maybe more reporter, but it wouldn’t be live so not really. You could come with me on my missions, take pictures, write stuff down. It would look great on a resume ya know…” He trailed off as Izuku looked at him in complete awe. Or maybe it was shock? He didn’t know and neither did Midoriya. He beamed,
“REALLY?? OF COURSE I WILL!! THIS IS THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME OH MY GOSH.” he quickly realized how loud he was being and said, “Oh, sorry, but of course I will! How should I contact you, or your company I guess. Oh my gosh I’m so excited!”
Todoroki watched the look on Izuku’s face and smiled. Then he said something Midoriya thought he’d never hear in a million years,
“Here’s my number, text me later will you?” He then handed Midoriya a slip of paper with his personal phone number on it before saying, “Well, I’d love to stay a little longer to talk, but my boss will get mad if I don’t turn up soon and report what happened. Take care Midoriya! Text Me!”
With that Todoroki left the coffee shop. Midoriya just sat there in complete shock. He had just been invited to be a pro hero’s personal journalist. He couldn’t believe it. He sat there in silence for almost ten minutes before Bakugou finally yelled,
“Hey NERD! If you’re not gonna buy anything else then get out!”
Izuku quickly left the coffee shop and walked back to his apartment. So much had happened in the past two hours. He almost texted Todoroki right then, but decided against it, he could text him tomorrow. As soon as he got home he went to bed. He had a long two hours. He could clean tomorrow too. And with that, he was asleep, excited for what the upcoming days were to bring.