Top pic credit: JEvelynArt.05

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Shouto POV:

It's rare that I take to the internet for advice. But, desperate times call for desperate measures.

And this is certainly....a desperate time...

My brows furrowed in focus as I typed out the question into the search bar...

Yoogle Search:
What's the difference between a small compliment and a big compliment?

It's important business. Actually, it's so important, the question itself kept me up all night. I haven't slept in almost twenty four hours.

I just....I still don't understand what she meant yesterday—The Woman, I mean...

"I kind of like....compliments. It doesn't have to be anything big. But, just something like—I don't know. You get what I'm saying, right?"

Once again, no. I don't get what she's saying. I usually don't get what she's saying and it's starting to make me annoyed. Not at her, but with....I don't know. I hardly ever know what anyone's saying, but it never usually bothers me this much.

I don't even have any intention to compliment her, so I'm not sure why this is on my mind. I'm just...I want to know more about what goes on inside her head. It seems like an interesting place up there—it's only interesting because I don't understand it.

I can see the dark circles under my eyes through the reflection of my phone screen, scanning the countless internet searches.

My tired gaze instantly widened at the first search I caught sight of...

Five Compliments To Make Your Partner Swoon For You!

"Partner...?" I grumbled under my breath, quickly readjusting my search question.

How Do I Compliment Someone I Can't Stand?

Significantly less searches appeared with my modification, none of which matched what I was looking for.

Is it so hard to find a way to compliment one's enemy? I didn't think it was....

That same article from before still stood at the top of the list—even after adjusting my search, making me scoff slightly.

"It must be a popular one, huh..." I said to myself, trying to push down the curiosities rising in my brain.

Maybe I can just get some ideas. Obviously, she's not my partner and I'd never want her to be, so who cares if I click on the website?

Heat pricked the tip of my ears as I tapped on the link, quickly looking around the HPSC conference room to ensure I was still alone.

Why do I feel like I'm looking at some forbidden website...? It's not a big deal. I wasn't even this jumbled when Midoriya accidentally opened the porn window on his phone the other day when trying to show me something.

I was more intrigued by that one. I didn't know someone's back could bend like that—or that Midoriya was into such creative porn.

My knee began to bounce up and down under the desk as the article downloaded, taking one last look around the empty room before reading it.

I skimmed the first part of the article, not caring for the irrelevant introduction about romance and love.

I'm not really a believer in love. At least, not in the romantic sense. Dating. Marriage. Even the act of procreating. You don't need to have love for any of those things. From what I witnessed growing up, there definitely wasn't any love when it came to those things...

People get together because they have to. They either don't want to be alone, or they want to produce children because that's what they've been taught to do at a certain age.

Or, in my case, they're just an object used to fulfill their father's dreams. They weren't brought into the world out of love, but for convenience instead.

Love isn't real. And I like being alone.

The only thing dad did right was coming to his senses and letting me call off my quirk marriage last month.

I never planned to go through with it anyways. Not because I didn't love her—and I didn't, but that's not the point.

I just didn't want to marry her. There doesn't need to be a reason for that, does there? Well, if there does, I really don't know it.

She was perfect—or, that's what everyone told me. It's not that I disputed it. I had no reason to disagree with it. She didn't do anything that made her un-perfect—unperfect? I think the word is imperfect. I don't know why. Un-perfect makes more sense.

The only reasoning I could think of was that if I couldn't love someone who was perfect, it meant I must not be capable of loving anyone at all—once again, romantically.

I don't know. Maybe I called off the engagement to get under my old man's skin—I actually would have preferred he fought me on it so I could annoy him...

But, he didn't fight me. Not even once, nodding in agreement and giving a pathetic, embarrassing attempt of a smile. He should really stop doing that. It's weird...

"I want you to be happy, Shouto. If this isn't what you want, I won't force you."

I walked out in the middle of his sentence that day. Why? Because I could.

'I want you to be happy. I won't force you.' It would have been nice to hear that everytime he forced me to train harder. But...

I did hear him when he said it that time.

My girlfriend—ex-girlfriend was crushed when I broke the news. But, she always knew I was only doing it out of obligation, so I was confused when she cried.

I'm getting off topic.

I continued scrolling past the overly long and sappy introduction, stopping my thumb on the screen when the numbered list of compliments finally came up.

Complimenting Style With Appearance!
To wow your girlfriend, try complimenting something about her outfit and relating it to the way she looks.
Example: I like your shirt. It really goes with your eye color.

"Hm..." I uttered in thought, hearing the chair next to me being pulled out of its space now.

Upon looking up, I saw it was Midoriya, quickly rotating the screen of my phone away from his direction.

I don't want him asking questions. Mostly because I don't have any answers.

"Oh. Hey." I said, still distracted with the article.

"Morning." My best friend chimed as he plopped into his seat, seeming extra excited today. "Ah, man. I had one of those chicken bake pastries from the convenience store for breakfast—Shouto, I know you don't really care for processed food, but I'm telling you-"

"That shirt...really goes with your eye color." I interrupted casually, testing out the compliment.

It seems I took the words right out of his mouth as Midoriya looked at me blankly, glancing down at his hero suit as if he had a stain on it.

"Oh—uh—okay?" He said in confusion, giving me an encouraging smile. "Thanks!"

I furrowed my brows slightly as he instantly began chattering about another topic while texting on his phone, unsure if the compliment worked.

Well...actually....how is it supposed to work? What happens now?

I slowly leaned in closer to him as he continued to mutter excitedly.

"Did that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, Midoriya?" I asked quietly, causing him to practically jump out of his seat at my proximity.

"Huh?!"

A small kick to the back of my chair caused me to look up, seeing Bakugou snarling his teeth lazily as he took the seat on my other side.

"What are you idiots yapping about like a buncha idiots." He greeted roughly, slouching in his chair and looking to the front of the room.

Getting another idea, I peered back down at my phone, looking for the next idea in the article...

Compliment A Personality Trait!
Appearance is always a nice compliment, but the downside is that it can sound too shallow. Try complimenting something the person naturally does.
Example: You have a really nice voice!

I nodded in focus, clearing my throat and turning to my other best friend.

"Bakugou-" I started off, causing him to sneer reactively.

"Oi. If you're not paying me back for my nigiri you ate yesterday in the break room, then I don't wanna hear it." He crossed his arms, getting progressively louder. "It had my name on the lid—and on the side, you blind bastard!-"

"You have a really nice voice." I cut through his words, watching his pupils shrink in size.

"Huh?!"

Hm. Maybe that wasn't enough?

"Like..." I grasped, quickly skimming the next compliment in the article and blurting it out. "Your voice...it makes me want to...giggle."

Bakugou uncrossed his arms and turned towards me now. The vein in his temple is doing that thing again where it pops out. He should really get checked for that-

"Are you trying to start something with me?" He grit lowly, causing me to instantly scroll to the next compliment.

"Yes, I am. I'd really like to take you out-" I tried before Midoriya chuckled in his seat.

Bakugou's foot slammed into my ankle under the table, jolting it upwards from his shuffling.

"Ow-" I said boredly, with him only starting to nag when I tried to talk.

"You moron!" He yelled in the conference room, leaning his back into the wall next to his chair. "I'd never go out with you. If I did, I'd jump off a bridge after the first day!"

I titled my head to the side in question. "Really? Why?"

He scoffed and faced forward again, waving me off with a bitter grumble. "As if you even have to ask."

"I just did ask though?" I said in confusion, watching his body start quivering in anger.

But, in all my distraction, I didn't notice Midoriya looking over my shoulder.

"Are you—wait—are you looking up...how to compliment people?" He asked, causing me to turn towards him and see he was looking at my phone.

My eyes went a bit blank at being caught, watching Bakugou's irritation immediately fizzle into question as he looked at my phone now, too.

Oh.

I looked at the table in silence as the two of them glanced at my screen, then to me, and then to each other, pressing their lips together before breaking out into laughter.

Why is it funny....

I sighed tiredly as Midoriya's shoulder bumped into mine, getting knocked into Bakugou before he nudged me back into Midoriya.

"Ahhh!" Midoriya wiped his tears with a laugh, instantly wiping the smile off his lips when he saw my serious face. "Oh—Kacchan, stop. We...we shouldn't be laughing. What if he's really trying?"

"Heh. All the more reason to laugh." He said snidely.

Midoriya pressed his lips together tightly at Bakugou's words, clearly starting to feel bad now as he changed the subject.

"Shouto, why are you looking up compliments?" He asked with genuine interest now. "I didn't think you cared about that stuff."

I pinched the bridge of my nose tiredly. "I don't. I was just curious."

This is the exact conversation I was trying to avoid.

"Curious about what-" Bakugou started before the door to the conference room opened.

In came the hero commission leader, counting the three of us at the front of the room before sighing with relief.

"Thank goodness Shouto's on time today." He whispered more to himself, walking to the front of the room with his file folder in hand.

I don't usually ever show up on time. The only reason I did today is because I was wide awake when my alarm went off. Remember, I didn't sleep.

Midoriya and Bakugou put their phones away and pulled out their notebooks, getting ready to take notes during the meeting.

It's our second one since being put together as a team for this new mission. We haven't heard anything about it since the first time the hero commission leader told us to be aware of whatever new drug is circulating.

But, if we've been called back here today, perhaps there's more to the story now.

I closed my phone as well, tossing it on the table instead of my pocket, before reaching into my bag and pulling out my own notebook-

Ding!

The hero commission leader closed his eyes in annoyance, already zeroing his gaze on me as he knew who caused the interruption.

He's always glaring at either me or Bakugou. Lately, it's been more directed towards me.

"Put it on silent." He sighed, giving me the criminally offensive side eye as he organized his papers.

Placing my notebook and pen on the table, I lazily switched the ringer to silent, barely catching the name of the sender on my screen.

It's my ex-girlfriend.

She still texts me regularly since the breakup—or, she tries to.

Glancing up, I saw the hero commission leader was still organizing his presentation, causing me to quickly check the text message from her...

Hey, Shouto. My parents would like to have dinner with you this weekend. I know it might be awkward, but...are you available?
9:15am.

I looked at the message blankly before closing my phone, not intending to respond. I don't respond to text messages and she knows I called off our engagement last month-

Vibrate.

My eyes closed in a bit of annoyance before I reached for my phone again, checking her next message.

Shouto, you have your read receipts on. I know you saw this. Please. I really don't want my parents to be disappointed.
9:17am.

It wouldn't be long. Just an hour or so. Maybe two....
9:17am.

I let out a tired sigh as I mulled over her words, letting a little bit of sympathy creep in.

She's not a bad person, and I did end things with her without any advanced notice—is one supposed to give advanced noticed when breaking up with someone? I don't really know. I didn't though. Maybe it's like quitting a job, where you're supposed to give two weeks notice before the breakup happens.

But, I do know how much she values her parents approval. While I don't want to continue these monthly dinners with her family past this month, maybe one more time wouldn't hurt. For her sake.

Fiddling over the phone keyboard with my thumbs, I internally groaned in dread and typed back a curt reply.

Okay.
9:25am.

I dropped my phone on the table with a harder plop, pinching the bridge of my nose and gaining the eyes of Midoriya and Bakugou.

"Trouble in paradise?" Bakugou smirked, keeping his voice quieter now that our boss was here.

"I wouldn't call it 'paradise.'" I murmured, crossing my arms. "You know we broke up last month."

Midoriya let out a small 'ah' from next to me, thinking about his next words carefully as if he's been rehearsing them for awhile.

"Speaking about that, Shouto. You haven't—well, you haven't really talked about the breakup since it happened..." He said quietly, sounding more concerned than before.

I furrowed my brows and looked at him, watching his fingers fiddle with the corner of his notebook.

"Is there something to say?" I asked genuinely, thinking back on how I broke the news to my friends.

'Oh yeah. By the way, I broke up with her.'

I didn't really notice it back then, but now I remember how shocked their faces were. Especially Bakugou's.

'What!??' The two of them yelled, with Midoriya spilling his bag of chips all over himself.

'Yeah.' I shrugged, looking over at Bakugou's lunch plate. 'Are you going to finish your dumplings?'

And that was it.

I haven't spoken of it since. Not because I couldn't. I just....didn't really think about it.

I didn't realize my friends still remembered it...

"Well, I don't know if there's anything to say about it." Midoriya chuckled nervously, tapping his capped pen against the notebook pages. "You guys were together for a long time and one day you just...end it and never speak of it again?"

I pursed my lips in thought, staring down at the table in question.

"Do I need a reason to end it?" I asked perplexedly, starting to rethink my actions.

"Of course not." Midoriya quickly reassured, propping his elbow on the table as he turned to me. "I just thought you liked her."

"I don't not like her-"

"Then why did you end things, moron?" Bakugou asked, seeming genuinely curious about my breakup. "She's the only one who ever put up with your shit."

"That's not true." My words came out plainly, gesturing towards him knowingly. "You're still here."

His brooding eyes went wide in surprise, instantly losing a handle on his inside voice.

"Wha—I—not 'cause I wanna be!" He defended, cheeks starting to turn red. "I've been stuck with you since high school! It's not by choice!-"

Spritz. Spritz.

Bakugou and I instantly flinched as the familiar cold water sprayed in our faces, turning towards the front of the room immediately.

"As you can see, I refilled your spray bottle—because you two emptied it so quickly last time." The hero commission leader said, holding up the bottle in his hands.

Rolling my eyes in annoyance, I wiped the water droplets from my face, watching the guy walk back to the front of the room and begin his presentation.

With a sigh, Bakugou and I picked up our pens. Midoriya's already been taking notes for the last minute. Nothing's been said yet, so I have no idea what he could possibly be writing down...

"Alright." The leader said, switching to the first slide in the PowerPoint. "Let's recap about the dangerous gang known as the Mizuchi-"

Vibrate.

My pen paused on the paper, barely glancing at the screen of my phone as it lit up again.

Thinking it was my ex-girlfriend once more, I didn't intend to respond.

But, my heart jumped at the name atop the message...

Text Message From: The Woman
How's my favorite hero this morning?
9:26am.

My eyes went a bit wide as I looked at my phone on the table, pen still frozen against the paper, and muscles going completely rigid.

Bakugou and Midoriya were completely focused on the presentation now, writing down notes and looking at the screen every few seconds.

But, in my ears, the words of the presenter came out as white noise, feeling my chest bubbling like hot cheese on a pizza.

Her favorite—did she say her favorite hero?

How can she just say these things so casually all the time. It's so annoying...

Completely distracted, I looked up at the presenter blankly, swiping my phone off the table when he wasn't looking.

Lifting up my notebook, I hid my phone in the pages, typing my fingers across the screen without a second thought.

Text Message To: The Woman
Am I really your favorite? Or are you exaggerating?
9:27am.

Text Message From: The Woman
Not exaggerating. Actually, I thought about you all night.
9:31am.

Once again my eyes went wide—even wider than the last time, catching Midoriya's side glance.

"Hey." He whispered as my heart began to wrack violently against my chest. "You okay?"

Quickly I covered my phone with the pages of my notebook so he wouldn't see, simply nodding and writing down a bunch of gibberish on my page.

What is with me? I never do weird things like that. I never care if Midoriya catches me not paying attention...

He smiled in acknowledgment and turned his attention back to the front of the room, focusing back on the presentation.

And me...

I was completely confused.

She thought about me all night? How? Why?—my head feels hot. One of these days, she's going to really kill me.

I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as I slowly uncovered my phone from the paper pages again, typing back the only thing I could think to...

Text Message To: The Woman
You did?
9:33am.

My eyes stared at the screen as I waited for the little gray typing bubble to pop up, but it never did.

Now she's not typing. Maybe I should have said something else—maybe she realizes she said too much. Or, maybe I didn't say enough.

I was forced to take notes now, haphazardly listening and writing as my thoughts continued to run loud in my head-

Vibrate.

With a sharp inhale, I flipped back to the page I left my phone buried in, scanning the contents of the message quickly.

Text Message From: The Woman
Of course. I was working on ur article. Remember? ;)
9:37am.

Oh.

My shoulders relaxed slightly at her words, feeling the memories of her article coming back to me.

Ah. That's right. It's...it's just the article...

Wait...

There's a wink at the end.

Wink? What does the wink mean? She didn't put a wink in the other messages.

I highly contemplated returning to the internet browser and looking up 'what it means when there's a wink at the end of a message,' but, I decided against it. I didn't want to risk Bakugou and Midoriya finding out and asking more questions I couldn't answer.

So, instead, I settled on a question I've been highly curious about.

Text Message To: The Woman
What did you say about me in the article?
9:37am.

Text Message From: The Woman
I'd tell you but then I'd have to kill you
9:42am.

My eyes went wide.

She'd have to what-

Text Message From: The Woman
Before you come over here and arrest me, that was a joke, Shouto.
9:42am.

I felt my cheeks flushing as my brain echoed the words in her voice, imagining her teasing tone.

The one that's just a little lower and sultry. Quieter, but more sly. With her soft lips in a smirk that looks so effortless, but so annoying at the same time-

Text Message To: The Woman
I knew that.
9:43am.

I didn't know it at all.

Text Message From: The Woman
Cute little hero. Even through text you're a bad liar
9:44am.

I'm about to present your article to my boss. Wish me luck. I'll text you later.
9:44am.

Text Message To: The Woman
Good luck.
9:44am.

Why did that...feel embarrassing to say?

She said to tell her good luck, so I did.

Ugh...

With that, I switched my phone off vibrate to ensure I'd hear the ringer.

She said she would text later.

I didn't realize when I stopped breathing until the room began to spin, quickly inhaling a silent breath.

She's so bad for my health...

Feeling a little clammy, I ran a hand through my hair and smoothed it backwards, yet it messily fell back against my forehead immediately afterwards.

What am I supposed to be doing again...? I...god, I feel so hot. My blood pressure feels raised-

Work—that's right, I'm working.

Jeez. I've never been so unfocused...

Knowing the woman would be too busy to text, I genuinely turned my attention back to the PowerPoint now, thankful I only missed the recap of the Mizuchi Mission.

I'll ask Midoriya for those notes later. This is the important part.

"As I've explained to you, there's a new drug on the market, targeting young heroes. The Mizuchi are the manufacturers and expanding their drug selling more everyday. This is causing more young heroes to fall victim and overdose on their own quirks." The leader said, clicking the next slide in the PowerPoint.

Midoriya and Bakugou—and even I grimaced at the dead body sprawled on a cold, forensic table. The hero looked like he couldn't be older than us.

"The drug has reached Sweden, apparently. This is the most popular hero who's succumbed to it so far. Their number five hero, known as Odyssey." The leader murmured a little quieter, looking grimly at the young hero on the screen.

Quickly moving away from the slide, the leader sighed stressfully, glancing down at the ground in thought. "If it can reach Sweden, it can reach other places—it probably already has."

Bakugou grunted from next to me, tossing his pen on the table with annoyance.

"So, what do we do?" He said, starting to get passionately angry. "We can't just keep sitting by and letting this thing kill people."

The leader nodded, lifting his eyes from the ground before continuing with the presentation.

"Well, that's why I've called you here today. We finally have a lead." He said, clicking to the next slide.

The next picture was blurry—incredibly blurry. Not only that, but it was outside and dark.

By squinting, I was able to make out the sight of two people in the picture, standing around and looking like they were talking to each other.

One person was in a black jacket with the hood up. They also had their back turned to the camera, so it was impossible to see their appearance. The other person was a hero. A low ranking one I haven't even seen around town before.

"I know the picture quality is bad. But, this is the best we could do at the moment." The leader said before Bakugou scoffed.

"How are we supposed to do anything with that?" He gestured to the screen. "We can't even see their face."

The leader nodded, using the clicker in his hand to zoom in closer to the fuzzy picture.

He zoomed in to the person in black, gesturing to the bottom hem of their jacket.

"If you look here, there's a small rip on the left bottom side of the seller's jacket." He said, switching to another picture. "We've been able to catch that same jacket on two separate drug deals, leaving us to assume it's the same person selling on both accounts."

Midoriya's lips formed a small 'oh' of realization, putting the pieces together immediately.

"I see. So you want us to look around for someone wearing and matching this jacket description?" He asked, quickly scribbling down his notes more rapidly.

The leader pointed to Midoriya with confirmation, speaking to all three of us now.

"Exactly. I know it's a vague lead, but right now, it's all we got. Two drug deals happened in Tokyo at ten minutes to midnight, but in very different locations." He explained, starting to slowly pace the front of the room. "Scoping out these locations is helpful, but looking for the person wearing the black jacket is more important."

I hummed in focus now, tapping my pen against the notebook in thought. "Makes sense. If we capture this person, we can interrogate them about the Mizuchi organization they work for and gather more leads."

"That's right, Shouto." The leader said, folding his hands behind his back and looking to us firmly. "Therefore, the instructions of your Mizuchi Mission have progressed slightly. During your nightly patrols, look out for the person in the ripped, black jacket, and detain them if you come in contact with them. Understood?"

"Understood." The three of us repeated, closing our notebooks.

The leader glanced at us with a nod, switching off the PowerPoint presentation and dismissing us.

"Good. Then let's get to work."