Chapter Text
A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor
-anonymous
Izuku remembered a time where he used to sit at the park next to his childhood home and people watch. Always curious how so many of the adults seemed to walk with glazed eyes and stone shoulders. As if the journey they made was a familiarly boring one, a necessary but regretful walk. He had wondered why they never seemed to pause to just enjoy the world around them, why they never marveled at the interesting quirks of strangers or the loud buzz of passing trains. He remembered vehemently denying his mom when she teased that he might be one of those boring adults one day. He had bet on his future hero cape that that would never happen.
Izuku would have laughed cruelly at the memory if he had the time to do so, dishes couldn't wash themselves and the manager had been burning holes into his back ever since they got promoted. Going from an annoying bigot waitress to an annoying bigot manager didn't change her distaste for him; she was waiting for him to slip up so she could write him up and get his ass fired. So he let his mind wander silently as he cleaned dish after dish in the familiar mindless routine.
Time flew like a penguin, and once Izuku went to clock out, his hands were wrinkly and rubbed raw. His shoes were weighed down by stones, but his shoulder stayed by his ears unwaveringly. The holes his manager had drilled into his backing burned, causing phantom pains of past heated glances to repeat in his mind, putting his head on a swivel and a hand in his pocket to fiddle his pocket knife.
His apartment wasn't a long walk from the small restaurant but Musutafu was dangerous, Izuku respected that no matter how much he loved the city. With little to no heroes enforcing the streets, Musutafu had become its rumors: dangerous, filthy, and full of scum.
Izuku made sure not to relax until he locked the door behind him once he entered his apartment. He noticed a pair of shoes at the entryway, remembering that Himiko had an early morning shift at the sight and brightened knowing they could probably just hang out ad watch one of the cheap movies they owned.
"I'm home!"
"Izu!" A blonde and pink blur quickly pounced on him, and only practice made Izuku able to catch the charging woman.
Izuku had met Himiko when he was first planning on moving out of his mother's house. They were in the same online forum for years but in a coincidental grocery run, they managed to collide (literally), become friends, and realize they were already online friends in a fifteen-minute window as they sat on the floor of a grocery store. Himiko had pounced on him and deemed them super friends and that no matter what Izuku wouldn't be able to get rid of her. She was surprised when Izuku simply laughed, picked up all of their groceries, and asked why he wouldn't want to be her friend.
Izuku put his backpack by the door, took off his shoes, and then threw himself on the couch. The green old thing was missing a chunk off the armrest, and barely fit Izuku when he was laying down, but it was a huge find for a garage sale and Himiko insisted they needed it because it matched Izuku's hair. He was so glad to be home.
"Izu, you can't sleep yet. We are having guests over."
Being on the edge of unconsciousness, Izuku didn't process what Himiko said for a few seconds. But once it did, Izuku shot up and peered over the couch at Himiko. "What?"
Himiko, knowing Izuku long enough to not give him time to overthink, quickly went to explain. "Well, I ran into this odd guy after I got back from my shift and he's funny. He mentioned that his boyfriend and he just moved in RIGHT NEXT DOOR, and I always wanted to do the thing they see in movies like invite people over like those American ones. So I did! Except I can't cook, but you can." Himiko was refusing to meet Izuku's eyes.
"Ko-Ko, you invited strangers into our apartment because you want to copy a thing you saw on a pre-quirk era American movie." Izuku didn't falter when she looked up to meet his gaze.
"Yes?"
"Okay, what do we have in the fridge right now? If at the very least I can make fried rice and miso. Maybe something else if it isn't totally baren."
Himiko cackled loudly and dove towards the fridge. Izuku sighed fondly, he always knew that being her roommate would always put them in interesting situations. Maybe he wasn't a mindless adult yet.
"Okay Izu! We don't have a lot but your fried rice is to die for. Also, I'll have a knife so if they try anything funny I'll just get their blood. Even if the cool guy looks like his blood would be too salty."
"When are they coming over?" Izuku was already focusing on getting the materials ready for a four-person meal so he was basically asking questions without fully listening.
"Oh at 10. The boyfriend apparently works later." Izuku couldn't help but freeze. He turned towards his phone and checked the time. 9:30 glared back at him. Oh fuck.
"Ko-ko, that's in 30 minutes."
"Oh."
Then it went to chaos.
"Oh my god, Ko-ko, the living room is filthy! Grab the vacuum and make sure there is no dust anywhere. Oh my god. Oh my godohmygodohmygodohmygodoh-" Izuku could feel himself spiraling but could do nothing except think about how horrible hosts they were.
"Izu. Calm down, breathe with me." It took a while for Himiko to get Izuku out of his head. "We really should invest in some anxiety meds for you."
Getting back to the rice, Izuku made sure not to look at Himiko. This conversation was a common argument. "We can't afford anxiety meds Ko-ko, you know this. Between the doctor's fee and then actually paying for the meds, we don't make that kind of money."
Izuku already knew the face she was pulling behind his back. She always hid her real feelings behind mania and odd phrases, but when she felt guilty her eyes softened and her eyebrows drew together. It always was like this, especially since they couldn't afford anxiety meds for Izuku but they saved the money for Himiko's blood bars. The expensive ones that Himiko needed to stay in control of her quirk.
The argument might have gone more in-depth if it wasn't interrupted by a steady knock on their door.
"This isn't over Izu." Himiko slipped out of sight towards the door before copying the breathing exercise Himiko had just helped him through and turned the stove on warm so that the finished meal wouldn't cool. If that was any notion of how dinner was going to go, Izuku was in for a whirlwind of disaster.