three friends get coffee together and no one gets poisoned
Monday
[DMs between Kirishima Eijirou and Sero Hanta]
Sero Hanta
Hey you got Wednesday afternoon free?
Kirishima Eijirou
Thought we were still on for tomorrow?
Sero Hanta
Yeah, we are! I just. Hm. Not sure how to explain this.
Kirishima Eijirou
Take your time! I am free on Wednesday afternoon tho by the way
[DMs between Midoriya Izuku and Sero Hanta]
Sero Hanta
Okay so sensitive question: would you maybe want to go get coffee with Eijirou and I on Wednesday afternoon, and. Do you mind if I tell him about. Uh. Why you’re staying with Shouta?
Midoriya Izuku
Wednesday after you’re done at UA? Yeah, I can. And. You can just. Tell him to DM me. I can explain it.
Sero Hanta
Dude are you sure??
Midoriya Izuku
It’s my suicide attempt, Hanta
It can be. Practice.
I haven’t exactly been the one to TELL anyone about it, except for my therapist and manager, but they don’t count
Sero Hanta
How do they not count?
Midoriya Izuku
Therapist gets paid for this. Manager is… also paid for this. Kind of
Sero Hanta
Okay yeah I feel that
I will tell him to DM you, then.
[DMs between Kirishima Eijirou and Sero Hanta]
Sero Hanta
Okay so Izuku’s been staying with Shouta for Reasons and so I was thinking maybe it would be good for ah. For you and I to… maybe talk to him? A bit? So I invited him to coffee on Wednesday after UA. He said you could DM him for specifics.
Kirishima Eijirou
Oh! Okay! Sounds good. Haven’t seen Izuku for a while, it’ll be good to see him again! I’ll message him.
[DMs between Midoriya Izuku and Kirishima Eijirou]
Kirishima Eijirou
So! Hanta said to message you and you would explain why you’re staying with Aizawa?
Midoriya Izuku
Yeah uh
There is really no easy way to say this huh.
Kirishima Eijirou
Take your time, man! I’m here.
Midoriya Izuku
I almost killed myself on Thursday morning and called Shouta instead of doing so, and now I’m potentially staying with him long-term? So yeah that’s where things are at right now
Kirishima Eijirou
For the record, I am really glad you did not follow through on that. Glad to still have you with us.
Midoriya Izuku
Thanks
Kirishima Eijirou
I can imagine you probably feel pretty shitty right now. I’ve had a few close calls, too, so… You can always talk to me about that stuff.
Midoriya Izuku
Thanks
Sorry I’m just. Tired. Not really sure what to say rn
Kirishima Eijirou
No problem! I get it. It’s all good, man. Has staying with Aizawa and his family been helping?
Midoriya Izuku
Oh yeah, absolutely
They’ve been amazing
Not sure why they put up with me, honestly
WAIT
Shit. Sorry. Dropping my self-deprecation all over the place.
Kirishima Eijirou
It’s okay! Like I said, I get it. So you’re doing better, now?
Midoriya Izuku
Yeah, I am. At least. I’m slightly more functional.
Sorry I’m not the best conversationalist at the moment. Not sure I’ll be much better on Wednesday, tbh
Kirishima Eijirou
That’s okay! I’m still excited to see you!!
Midoriya Izuku
Yeah. I’m excited to see you, too
[DMs between Midoriya Izuku and Sero Hanta]
Midoriya Izuku
Wait I lied. I also told my mom, which doesn’t count, because I’ve had to call her for every major injury in the past four-ish years so I’m desensitized to telling her these things
Sero Hanta
You’ve had to call her for those???
Midoriya Izuku
She hasn’t been one of my emergency contacts in years.
Sero Hanta
Wow. Harsh.
Midoriya Izuku
Yeah. It is what it is.
Thanks for inviting me to coffee, too. I’m looking forward to it.
Sero Hanta
Of course! Looking forward to seeing you then!
Tuesday
[DMs between Midoriya Izuku and Sero Hanta]
Sero Hanta
Just saw the announcement video! I guess I should know you’re a good actor, but there’s just such a wild difference between when I saw you and what I saw in that video.
Midoriya Izuku
Yeah. The makeup definitely helps.
Sero Hanta
I know! I’m going to be honest, I knew before seeing you on Friday that you had more scars on your face than you let on, but man, the actual amount surprised me. I’d never actually seen the one that runs across your face before.
Midoriya Izuku
Yeah, not many really have. Ochako and Tenya, and Mei and Melissa, and the doctors who helped patch that one up, but those were the only ones before Shouta and Eri and Yamada.
Sero Hanta
Not your mom?
Midoriya Izuku
I don’t think she saw it after it healed. I think she saw it while it was still bandaged up? Idk, it’s fuzzy. I was on a lot of pain meds.
Sero Hanta
When did it happen?
Midoriya Izuku
It’s the one that took me off the field right before Kacchan’s death
Sero Hanta
Oh shit, it’s that one. I remember that. We were convinced we would be losing you and Katsuki in the same fucking weekend.
Midoriya Izuku
Yeah, it was touch-and-go for a while, from what I remember.
Sero Hanta
Damn, it was healed up enough for you to be covering it up already for Katsuki’s funeral?
Midoriya Izuku
Yeah. I pulled a few favors to get some people with healing quirks to work on it. So, for tomorrow—you have a place in mind?
Sero Hanta
Yeah! There’s a coffee shop that Eijirou and I both like to go to near UA. I’ll send you the address and exact time!
Midoriya Izuku
Thanks. I’m looking forward to it.
Sero Hanta
Great! It’ll be good to see you!
Eijirou isn’t quite sure what to expect out of Izuku. Not in like… a bad way, or anything, he just knows that he’s probably going to see a different side of Izuku than he’s ever really seen before. The man is notoriously good at masking his problems, and Eijirou is hoping that maybe he’ll be a little more inclined to let them in since both he and Hanta already know about his recent suicide attempt.
First, he meets Hanta outside the gates of UA. The other man (the shorter man, and damn, Eijirou hadn’t let that one lie, having reveled in the fact he was taller than… well, most of his other friends, but especially tall-and-skinny Hanta) is in his civvies, wearing a nice button-down and jeans. They greet each other with a hug, Eijirou picking up Hanta and squeezing. Hanta laugh-wheezes as his back pops, his hands patting Eijirou’s shoulders.
They strike up an easy conversation as they walk to their favorite café. Hanta talks about his students and Eijirou talks about the gym he just started working at and the classes he’s taking.
It’s familiar, routine, something that calms down the little part of Eijirou he hadn’t even noticed was anxious. The bells on the door of the café jingle the same little melody they always do as the two walk in and survey the room.
A handful of UA students, standing in line, notice Hanta and wave at him. There’s what looks like a couple sitting in the middle of the shop, holding hands and chatting, and there’s a group of university students who have taken over the back corner. For a moment, Eijirou considers that maybe he and Hanta got here first, before he catches a glimpse of green from the corner of his eye. There’s Izuku, sitting by the left wall, hair falling in his face as he types something on his phone. The light pink of the Uravity hoodie that he’s wearing, with the right sleeve pinned up and out of the way, should have been enough to catch Eijirou’s eye, but it’s possible that Izuku’s using that weird stealth part of his quirk subconsciously (or consciously?).
After a few moments, Izuku looks up, and Eijirou suppresses his instinctive double-take. A scar, running diagonally from jawline to hairline, splits his face in half. For a moment, he wonders if it’s recent before discarding the thought. Despite how starkly it stands out, it’s obviously several years old, all the silver-white of old scar tissue.
Izuku’s eyes widen, just enough for Eijirou to notice, and a small, cautious smile curls his lips as he lifts his hand, a small wave, his index and middle fingers uncurling from their grip on his phone.
Eijirou waves back, grinning. A moment later, Hanta’s nudging him in Izuku’s direction.
“I’ll get your usual.”
“Thanks!” Eijirou grins at Hanta, too, before heading the rest of the way over to Izuku and sitting down across from him. “Hey! It’s good to see you.”
“It’s good to see you too,” Izuku replies. He sets his phone face-down on the table and wraps his hand around his drink. For a moment, neither speak, and Izuku’s fingers begin to tap against his cup. “So… You’ve started taking classes recently, right? Have they been good?”
“Yeah!” Eijirou nods. “I’m mostly getting my gen ed classes out of the way, but it’s almost fun to be going back to school. It’s wild, you know? I wear my hair down in classes, and my roots are growing in, and for the first week or so people kept gossiping about whether I’m actually Red Riot or not until I had to step in and tell them! Everyone’s been chill since then, though, which has been great!”
Izuku huffs and nods, a wry smile twisting his lips. It’s a well-acknowledged fact that, despite being the Number One Hero, he is one of the heroes least likely to be recognized out-of-costume. He has distinct civilian and hero personas, or, at least, he has very distinct ways of carrying himself depending on whether he’s in hero-mode or not.
There’s also the massive scar running across his face that he has somehow managed to keep hidden for what must be years.
“So you’ve been… enjoying it.” Izuku speaks slowly, much slower than Eijirou’s used to him speaking. For as long as Eijirou’s known him, his thoughts have always manifested themselves at lightspeed, and to have them presented slowly, deliberately…
It’s interesting. It’s an interesting difference.
Rather than continue ruminating on this change (there will be time to evaluate everything after he goes home), he replies: “Yeah, I’ve enjoyed it a lot! My math class has been the hardest; the professor is a real taskmaster. It’s still almost fun, though, to be… challenged in this way, I guess?” Eijirou shrugs at the end of it. He’s not quite sure what he means by that, but Izuku nods.
“Academic challenges are… nice,” he replies. “It’s… I’ve always enjoyed the investigative side of hero work, a lot. I…” He takes a deep breath and looks away, biting at his lower lip, before exhaling and continuing. “I’ve been thinking a lot about… some things. Considering things. I might… take some classes or something, I don’t know.”
“Oh?” Eijirou blinks. “That’s great! What sort of things have you been thinking about?” He’s probably poking at some very sensitive spots right now, he knows that, but if Izuku doesn’t want to talk about them…
Well, Izuku is very good at not talking about things he doesn’t want to talk about.
The other man shrugs, taking a sip of his drink. He’s very transparent in his stalling for time.
“I just…” When he finally speaks, there’s a furrow in his brow and a tightness around his eyes. “I’m… thinking about the future, I guess. And… what I may want to do… after I’m… done with hero work.”
Wait, what?
For a moment, all Eijirou can do is stare at Izuku and blink. Izuku starts to shift his weight and shrink in on himself more the longer Eijirou goes without speaking, his eyes turning down towards his drink and teeth catching his lower lip.
Eijirou will apologize in a minute, as soon as his brain has recalibrated, because this is the first time Izuku has ever made any mention of a life after hero work. Even when everyone else around him is talking about their plans and what they’re going to do when they retire, Izuku has always remained stubbornly silent or otherwise abdicated from the conversation.
As far as they all know, there is no life after hero work for Izuku.
“That’s, uh, that’s great, dude!” The words finally find their way out of Eijirou’s brain. “Any… thoughts? Well, you just said you’ve been thinking… anything in specific you’ve been considering?”
Izuku shrugs. He relaxes, a bit, sitting up a bit straighter and pulling his shoulders back. “Nothing… specific, no. I… Well, it’s not like I’ll have to immediately figure it out or find work or whatever once I’m… once I’m done, but. I should probably at least have something in mind, you know?”
“Yeah.” Eijirou nods. “I know.” His job at the gym is a temporary thing, just something to keep him busy outside of classes and a way to earn some money so he’s not just burning through his savings from hero work with his living expenses. Going from doing hero work to only classes would have been tough, and Eijirou didn’t have the same hardcore schedule Izuku keeps. “So… you want to share your thoughts? It’s cool if you don’t, but it would be nice to hear what you’re thinking about!”
A smile tugs at the corner of Izuku’s mouth as he huffs affectionately at Eijirou. “I… Well, I’ve only had one session with Dr. Mori this time, but she suggested I… look at my hobbies? Not that I really have many.”
There’s a self-deprecating tone to Izuku’s words, something that makes Eijirou’s chest squeeze in sympathy. He knows that feeling and he knows it well, but to hear that sourness come from this man’s mouth…
Well, safe to say, Eijirou will be re-evaluating a lot of things he thought he knew about his friend when he gets home.
“Hobbies are a good place to start!” Eijirou grins, letting his own natural enthusiasm color his words. “That’s kind of where I started, too! That, and I still wanted to be able to help people, you know, while doing something I’m good at. That’s why athletic training! I already know bits and bobs from, you know, hero work, and it’s a profession that will let me still help people.”
“I think you’ll be really good at it,” Izuku replies, nodding. “I’ve… you know, I’ve come up with the obvious options, like quirk counseling or research or staying somewhat involved with hero work but just on the analysis end. I’m just… not sure those are really for me.”
“I get what you mean!” Hanta’s back, carrying his and Eijirou’s drinks, and he jumps into the conversation as he sets them down on the table and sits down, to Eijirou’s right, across from Izuku. “To be honest, it took me a while to decide I wanted to teach. Honestly, if that’s an option you were interested in, I think you’d be a great teacher.”
“Yeah!” Eijirou agrees, nodding rapidly. “You’re great with all the sidekicks and interns you take on, so I’m sure you’d be great at teaching, too!”
Izuku rolls his eyes. “I am a terrible role model. Besides, interns and sidekicks are one thing. Students are another thing entirely.”
“Not… really.” Hanta shakes his head. “It was actually a fairly simple transition? Interns are just students, after all, they’re just students you only see three times a week or whatever the schedule you have set up is.”
“Besides, you’re a great role model!” Eijirou will not let this injustice go uncorrected. Sure, there’s a lot of places Izuku goes wrong, and he has a distinct lack of ability to care for himself, but there are… there are worse people to emulate.
(Like Katsuki, the traitorous, quiet little part of his brain whispers. Of course, Katsuki and Izuku are the same, are they not?)
(Shut up, he tells it. There is one obvious, glaring difference between them:
Izuku asked for help.)
(And that was something Katsuki never learned how to do.)
“I’m really not,” Izuku responds, holding up his hand, fingers curled up into a fist. As he speaks each point, he raises a finger. “First: I have a terrible habit of ignoring my own physical health. Second: as it has been pointed out to me on numerous occasions, a hero who breaks himself beyond repair is of use to no one. Third: I’m kind of a terrible friend. And fourth: I’m impulsive.” Points made, he lowers his hand back to the table and rests it there.
“Okay, but, consider this: while those are… valid points to be made, except for the third one, seriously, you’re a great friend, I have no idea how you got to that conclusion—”
“The only one of my close friends I still talk to is Tenya,” Izuku snaps, shaking his head and baring his teeth. Hanta’s mouth closes, taken aback by Izuku’s vehement interruption.
“Friendship is a two-way street,” Eijirou says, using his knee to nudge Hanta’s leg under the table.
“I know that.” Izuku’s knuckles are white, his fist clenched tightly. “That’s—I—They put up with me for so long, and… And I…”
Eijirou has to take a couple measured breaths before he speaks, stepping in during one of Izuku’s pauses, careful to keep his tone even. “You didn’t let me finish. There’s… always two parties involved, you know? It’s almost impossible for one person to be at fault for a friendship… ending, or drifting, or falling apart. I mean, look at what happened with Kyouka and Momo.”
Hanta’s elbow collides, very painfully, with Eijirou’s side. “Ei, bro, terrible example.”
“No! Hey!” Eijirou slaps Hanta’s shoulder. “It was—They were already drifting apart, while Kyou was on tour, so just! Think about them… before they both cheated on each other!”
Izuku snorts. “That actually does make me feel kind of better. At least I never cheated on anyone.”
“Anyways,” Eijirou rolls his eyes. Augh, his friends are all assholes. “Drifting apart can just… It happens, you know? It’s part of life. Doesn’t make you a terrible friend.”
“I know that. But… that’s not what this was,” Izuku says, sighing. He doesn’t look directly at them, rather, he looks off towards the door as he speaks. “Drifting apart is like… It’s what happened with Yuuga and I, and Tsuyu and I… So I know what it looks like and feels like, okay? That’s… I just… She… she left because she couldn’t deal with me, and that’s—that’s…” He almost whispers the next part. “If I was a better friend, I would have stopped for her.”
There’s only one way Eijirou knows how to respond to that: He stands. “Izuku, I’m going to hug you right now, okay?”
Izuku nods, so Eijirou walks around the table to sit down on Izuku’s left. He’s careful to avoid jostling or poking at Izuku’s shoulder port as he wraps his arms around him, tucking the smaller man into his side. Izuku leans his head back, resting it against Eijirou’s chest, his hair tickling Eijirou’s neck.
Hanta, meanwhile, sets his drink down after taking a long sip of it. “I… I can’t say whether that’s true or not, whether you changing your behavior would have… made her stay, okay, because there’s a lot of complex variables in friendships, but… I’m sure you’ve been told this by your therapist before, but… How she reacted, that’s about her, right? Her reactions and choices are about herself, not you.”
Izuku’s back presses against Eijirou’s chest as he takes a deep breath. “I… yeah. Still… I still… I could have done better.”
“Maybe so,” Eijirou will concede this point for now, because while he may have some idea who “she” is (Ochako and Izuku had a falling out a few months ago, didn’t they?), he doesn’t know why or what exactly happened, so… He’ll let this rest. For now.
Instead, he changes his focus.
“I’m going to tell you all the ways you’re a good friend,” he says. Instantly, Izuku stiffens, taking a breath to reply, but Eijirou shakes his head and keeps going. “Listen to me, okay? You’re… You are a good friend. You’re trustworthy. When we tell you things, we know you’re going to keep your mouth shut about them if we ask you to. You’re dependable. Unless an emergency happens, you always make it a point to show up whenever you say you will. You keep your word. You’re always ready to help any one of us, and you give some great advice and put a lot of thought into things and you’re great at helping us work things out… Would it be nice to hear from you a bit more? Yeah, maybe, but that… that’s negligible, okay, next to everything else. You are a good friend, Izuku.”
By this point, Izuku’s too busy crying to respond in words, but his hand comes up and grips Eijirou’s, hard.
Across the table, Hanta’s expression is soft, a small smile curling his lips and his eyes half-lidded as he looks at them.
“I’m pretty sure you’re going to need to repeat all that a good few times before he believes you,” he says.
Eijirou chuckles. “That’s okay. I’ll repeat it as many times as I need to in order to get it through his thick skull that he is a good friend.”
“St-stop talking about me like I’m n-not here!” Izuku stutters through his tears, the heel of his foot connecting with Eijirou’s calf. Eijirou laughs, and holds him a little tighter, riding out the tears with Izuku as Izuku’s shoulders shake with each hitched inhale.
Not all conversation during their coffee meetup is as serious as all that. They tease Hanta for his crush on that one sidekick of Edgeshot’s, Izuku tells them what staying with Shouta and his family is like (“Yamada and Eri are… they talk so much. It’s never quiet when either of them is home. I don’t know how Shouta has managed to stay sane.” “You’re saying he’s sane?” “Okay, that’s fair.”), Eijirou talks about some of the friends he’s making at the gym and in his classes.
Overall, it’s positive, but it… gives Eijirou a lot to think about—and a lot to be thankful for. The only friend Izuku still regularly talks to is, by his admission, Tenya. He’d naturally drifted apart from Yuuga and Tsuyu over the years, Hitoshi and Katsuki had died, Shouto had… Okay, honestly, Eijirou’s not sure what happened between Izuku and Shouto, they went from being tighter than the spandex Eijirou works out in to never speaking to each other seemingly overnight. And then there’s Ochako, who seemingly had her falling out with Izuku months ago.
On the other hand, Eijirou is still best friends with Hanta and Mina. He sees Hanta regularly, calls Mina every other day, and texts them both constantly. And then there’s Kyouka and Mezou, who he still texts all the time and talks to them often. Heck, he still regularly texts the class’s groupchat! If they’re not dead, he still talks to them, and they to him—often.
(The less said about Kaminari, the better.)
Although… Izuku had been the exception to that, but it seems like Izuku had stopped talking to and hearing from a lot of people. And… with some of the things Eijirou has seen said in the group chat… he can’t say he blames Izuku for not talking in there, either.
So, yeah, Eijirou is very thankful he still has his friends, is still close to them. He messages Mina and tells her that, tells her he’s thankful for her presence in his life, and he gets back a very confused “Thanks, but what brought this on?” kind of message from her. He does the same with Kyouka and Mezou, getting a similar response from Kyouka and a “I’m glad you’re still in my life, too” from Mezou.
With that done, he moves on to his next task.
While there’s no way he can fix all of Izuku’s self-esteem issues in one night, every journey starts with a single step, right?
[DMs between Midoriya Izuku and Kirishima Eijirou]
Midoriya Izuku
Uh, you good? You’ve been typing for a very long time.
Kirishima Eijirou
Hold on I’m typing
Midoriya Izuku
…I see that.
[DMs between Midoriya Izuku and Kirishima Eijirou, ten minutes later]
Kirishima Eijirou
[link]
I couldn’t fit it all into the character limit
Midoriya Izuku
???? Okay…
WAIT
THIS. THIS IS? AN ESSAY???
YOU WROTE ME AN ESSAY
ABOUT ME
Kirishima Eijirou
Yeah man you weren’t appreciating yourself enough today
Midoriya Izuku
THIS IS??? I AM???????
Oh my god Eri just busted into my room and asked me whose ass she needs to kick that’s how hard I’m crying
Kirishima Eijirou
And yet, your typing is flawless
Midoriya Izuku
Oh yes I’ve had a lot of practice typing and sobbing I’m very good at it
Kirishima Eijirou
And pfft doesn’t she know you only cry when people compliment you or say nice things to you?
Midoriya Izuku
You do NOT need to expose me like this!!!
DMs between Midoriya Izuku and Sero Hanta]
Midoriya Izuku
So is writing essays for people and sending them to them just, a Thing, Eijirou does?
Sero Hanta
Ah, so you’ve gotten your first!
Midoriya Izuku
OH GOD THERE’S MORE?
Sero Hanta
I think our current record-holder is Mina, who has had a whopping seven essays written for her.
Personally, I’ve gotten two.
Midoriya Izuku
Oh my god
Sero Hanta
Haha welcome to the KiriSquadtm, membership comes with overwhelming love and validation
Midoriya Izuku
Oh god I think this is gonna kill me. I can’t handle that much love and validation you KNOW I cry at the drop of a hat
[Groupchat: *hoedown intensifies*]
[Glorified Fly Trap added Midoriya Izuku]
Glorified Fly Trap
New challenge: who can make Izuku cry the most times
Midoriya Izuku
NO
[Glorified Flamingo changed Midoriya Izuku’s nickname to Glorified Broccoli]
Glorified Rock
Challenge accepted! [flexed biceps]
Glorified Broccoli
NO!!!!!
Glorified Amp
Whoa this is a development
Glorified Fly Trap
He got an Essaytm
Glorified Amp
Oooooh okay carry on
Glorified Fly Trap
Also Izuku I maybe sneaked a couple candids when you and Ei were hugging, do you mind if I send them?
Glorified Broccoli
Sure??? Go ahead???
Glorified Fly Trap
[Image: Eijirou with his arms around Izuku, Izuku is crying and looking indignant while Eijirou grins]
Eijirou’s winning by two
Glorified Flamingo
Aw fuck I better get on it
Glorified Broccoli
Holy shit Shouta’s having to explain to Eri that I only cry when people are nice to me and now she’s crying??? How is this my life????
Glorified Fly Trap
Pfft oh my god
The imagery
I wish I could see that
Glorified Amp
Okay I’m confused, what’s going on with you and Shouta and Eri?
Glorified Broccoli
I’m staying with them for the time being.
Glorified Amp
Oh okay cool. Tell Hizashi hi for me
Glorified Flamingo
Call him yourself, coward
Glorified Broccoli
[thumbs-up] will do
[Groupchat: *hoedown intensifies*, five hours later]
Glorified Octopus
Holy shit y’all, 700 messages?
700 messages and NONE of you asked about the scar none of us have ever seen?
Glorified Amp
Yeah dude we’re not rude
Glorified Octopus
That’s rich, coming from you.
Btw hi Izuku
Glorified Broccoli
Hey Mezou
Glorified Octopus
If you see Hanta anytime soon, please kick him for me. He knows what he did.
Glorified Broccoli
Oh- okay???
Glorified Fly Trap
HEY
