He was happy that this was one of those weekends where he was forced to be with his father.

But also dreaded it because he couldn't tell Honey 'No, I have something to do that day.'.

Honey was an amazing person, always thoughtful and supportive of their friends and of well, Sato Daichi. He was the key reason they even started talking to each other. They were both, on quote, 'Stan Accounts'.

Honey had been in the fandom longer than Shoto has, for about two years, while Shoto had only freshly entered the fandom. They were basically his guiding light when it came to all things Sato Daichi. The singer was never shy about talking about his personal life, and was very open to talking about anything.

And now, Shoto stood somewhere in the vendor's market, the many stalls of food or keepsakes lined up on either side around him on the street. He was actually walking on the city road, it had just been closed off for this event.

It was chilly out, but not cold for a few days after Christmas.

It was actually quite beautiful out, the snow that lightly dusted the ground and on top of the stalls, sticking to the trees or park benches gave that wonderland feel.

It was crowded amongst the stalls, people having fun at the market, not relatively caring about how much money they were spending after Christmas Day. The year was almost over, and so it was like their last 'Hoozah!' When it came to spending more money than they probably should.

He was worried, the regular fears when it came to meeting people online. He didn't know how to react, were they really a 19 year old barista? Or a 50 year old creep on the internet? He didn't know. Hell, he has never seen Honey before! Only has heard their voice during voice calls.

He rubbed his hands together for warmth, the jitters in his form magnifying by the cold he felt despite heating up his own body via his right side. It was cold today, very chillingly.

He froze up, realizing a flaw in this meet up.

They both don't know what the other looks like-

So how the fuck are they supposed to know who each other is?

He cursed silently to himself, pulling out his phone to check for messages. None except for the occasional tweets from users he had notifications on for. And well, the group chats he was sure he had muted but somehow miraculously weren't any more. He was going to blame Kaminari for that.

-hey where are you?-

He sent the text to them, lowering his phone to hang down by his side, loosely holding onto it, heterochromic eyes surveying the many different background characters in his story present at the vendor's market.

His phone buzzed, pulling his attention down to the screen.

-One word- Hot chocolate on drugs.-

Confused with the choice of words but honestly, not surprised by whom they were coming from.

His gaze casted over the different stalls for the vendor's, searching for one that specialized in hot chocolate? But somehow on drugs? Or was that Honey's way in saying that it was really good hot chocolate?

He spotted the stall, the generic sign of saying 'The best hot chocolate in the world!' was poorly marketed because- Everyone always said that about a product. And as much as Shoto wanted to scoff at it, he was amused by the marketing. Because apparently, it was working because there was a pretty long line for the stall- Or er, food truck? Since they were apparently making 'high quality' steaming hot chocolate.

He anxiously made his way over, clutching his phone inside of the pocket of his navy blue winter jacket. 'I am in the same vicinity as them...' Dawned the realization, the quickened heartbeat in his chest from nerves escalating. He felt like he was running a marathon by just walking. Stricken with nerves. Is it too late to turn around and leave? Could he just bail and apologize later for wasting Honey's time? Why was he more nervous about someone he has called a friend before then when he has faced off against LITERAL VILLAINS!

-i'm at the hot chocolate thing.-

-I am at the picnic table across from it!!! Oh geez, this is so exciting!-

The reply from Honey lessened his nerves a tiny bit- They appeared excited to meet him finally face to face. So why couldn't he feel the same way?

Oh maybe because he ghosted/gaslighted them for half a year?

He was going to take that into account.

He looked over his shoulder to behind him, spotting the picnic table Honey was talking about. But he wouldn't be able to point out them single handedly right away, because there were other people sitting at the table.

-which one are you?-

-OH! Sorry I totally forgot that we don't know what the other looks like! This is like a really cool romcom.-

-romcom?-

-NVM. Anywayssss~ Do you remember my favorite color?-

-yeah, why?-

-That's the color of my hair!-

His head whipped up, cracking a portion of his neck from the quick motion almost painfully.

He felt his feet begin to move as if they have a mind of their own, holding his phone close to his chest, staring dead on by a tuft of teal hair poking out of a black beanie with cute little pins decorated on the side of it.

The beanie head looked up, noticing the motion at the corner of their eye, and about jumped out of their skin at the sight of Shoto. Scrambling up and out of their seat, leaving two hot chocolate behind on the table, apologizing to the other patrons sitting at the table for startling them before meeting Shoto halfway, wrapping long arms around the teenager.

"-Honey...?"

"Genna! Oh my goodness you look nothing like I expected you to!" Stated Honey, the smiling person reeling back, placing their hands on Shoto's face, squishing at his cheeks. "You're so cute! Like a little cat!" Shoto blushed, gently taking their gloved covered hands off of his face, "Umm, thanks?"

"Ah sorry, was that creepy? A tad bit creepy- Ah I don't know! Just woah... Can't believe that you are actually a real person."

"I'm glad that you didn't turn out to be a middle-aged man instead of well, you."

"To be honest, same." Shoto snorted, letting Honey lead him over to the picnic table, grabbing ahold of the two hot chocolates, handing one of them over to him. "I hope you don't mind that I ordered for you- And you don't have to pay me back! The line was longer when I got here so I decided in order to save time to just kill two birds with one stone- Is that the right saying?" He nodded, feeling himself slowly relax, relieved that Honey wasn't getting straight to business, and that their personality didn't differ to how it was online.

"Where do you want to go? I only walked through two of the blocks, not the whole market yet."

"Lead the way, I haven't been to one of these before." Honey nodded, humming in thought for a moment before striking their right foot down to begin the march to wherever they decided to land.

"Soooo.... To ease into this whole shabang, maybe we can get reacquainted with each other?"

"Like 100 questions?"

"Yes! That game that we used to on calls with everyone."

"Same rules?"

"Yepppp! We can say no to answering a question if we don't want to answer it! Okay, you start, Genna."

"Uh okay..." He stared at Honey's side profile, remarking their height. He didn't expect them to be shorter than him, with their outstanding and loud personality. He expected them to be at least 4-5 inches taller than him, except they were 2 inches shorter than he was. That wasn't going to be his first question though so why was he thinking about it?!

"Uh, age?"

"19 going on 20! Old, very old. Okay, my turn, age?"

"Soon to be 16."

"Oh! Your birthday is next month huh?"

"Yeah."

"Lucky, I always wanted to be a January baby, but I ended up being a October one."

"Occupation?"

"Barista in the morning and a mixer by night!"

"Mixer?"

"I serve alcoholic drinks at a local bar in Akihabara- But that's only on weekends. I don't work tonight though!" He nodded, remembering them saying that yesterday through text.

"How about you?"

"Student."

"Oooo, where at? I don't think you ever told me before."

"Oh UA." He realized his mistake when Honey about slipped on slick snow, grabbing ahold of Shoto's arm to keep themself from falling flat on their ass. "Did you just say UA?"

"Um yeah?"

"One of the top schools for producing Pro-Heroes?"

"Yeah-"

"GENNA YOU ARE GOING TO BE A PRO-HERO-!" Honey began to make a big deal, igniting a fire of nerves to rise out of Shoto's stomach. Shaking his head frantically, shushing them as kindly as he could, "Please don't yell, please stop yelling."

"Oh sorry! I'm just really surprised is all. I didn't expect one of my friends to be in a school like that!" Shoto sighed in relief, glancing around them to see if anyone was looking their way. No one seemed to notice Honey's outburst. Which was good for the nerves he was feeling.

"Hey you okay? You got really quiet all of a sudden."

"Uh y-yeah I'm fine. Can we move on?"

"Sure thing buddy! I'm sorry again for yelling like that." The two continued to walk, resuming their game of 100 questions.

"Is Honey your actual name? Or just a pen name?"

"Pen name! My real name is Romaru Minato. I don't care what you call me by." Shoto nodded, waiting for Honey to hit him with a question. "And your real name is definitely not Genna, no matter how cool that would be with your hairdo."

"My hair is natural."

"Really?! You are full of surprises!" He didn't know if that was a good thing.

"Anyways, what is your real name?"

"Todoroki Shoto."

"Please say sike."

"I am unable to say sike." He replied as he averted his gaze, knowing that they recognized his surname. Honey gawked at him, mouth falling agape as they stared at their friend. "The son of a Pro-Hero having a stan account. I never would have thought in a million years." His cheeks burned in slight embarrassment. As much as he hated his father, his impressive reach was indeed something to idolize.

"Please don't make a big deal out of it."

"O-Oh I won't! Sorry, I just didn't expect for you, Genna, to be in school to become a Pro-Hero, AND THEN, you are the son of the current Number 1 Hero?! Crazy world we live in." Honey explained as they took a sip of their hot chocolate, stepping over a jutting rock that was coming out of the bank of snow beneath their feet.

"I guess it is sorta a shock."

"Things are slowly coming together. Making sense, at least." Shoto nodded, spotting a vacant bench for them to sit at.

They headed over before taking their seats, Honey stretching out their long legs with a small groan, "I really need to get back into cardio, all of this holiday eating is not good for me." They stated with a laugh.

"Did you have a good Christmas?" Honey hummed thoughtfully, nodding at his question. "Yeah I did, Christmas this year was sorta ruined though." Shoto furrowed his brows at them in confusion.

Honey glanced to him, a spark of realization crossing their eyes. "Wait, you don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

---

"You really shouldn't have sprung this onto me like this!" Daichi nodded, continuing to listen to his manager rant to him. "I don't care that you wanted to go on break, but to cancel your tour, postpone the upcoming album, halt any work in just under an hour?! Without consulting me or anyone else on the team? We needed a meeting to discuss this, you would have still gotten your break, but with a definite beginning and end date so you don't disappoint or dissatisfy the consumers of YOUR product!" Her voice increased in volume, Daichi having to move the phone away from his ear to avoid hearing loss in his left ear.

"I apologize, I really am sorry. I just- I just need time for myself, focus on myself. If I continue on like I have been, I will just further burn myself out, and I don't want that to happen... How did things go with the refunds?"

"The company agreed to the refunds, but we still have to pay in full for the venues we rented out."

"Can we give the venues to smaller bands to use? That way those venues wouldn't be empty? And it will give smaller bands with little budget to spend a chance to shine." He listens to her hum, thinking about his idea. It was a few moments before she spoke.

"That is not a half bad idea. But we still need to make back that money that we should have had with the ticket sales, that are currently being refunded." Daichi walked into the living room, eyeing his tv stand, on display was some of his old albums, looking for another solution.

"Daichi?"

"S-Sorry I was thinking." He sucked in his bottom lip, softly sucking on it as his dark brows scrunched together. "We could release old EPs that never made it to the light of day? From back when I first started, branding it as limited edition. The EPs will be collaged together into a mini-album."

"How would the consumers react to that?"

"Older fans would eat it up I think, because they are back from when I was first starting out and developing my voice and style. We will of course announce the limited edition album as a way to cover costs for the venues that we already paid for." He heard her chuckle, a breathy laugh escaping her in amusement.

"Alright, instead of becoming an Idol you should have become a manager of some sorts." Daichi laughed at her words, shaking his head. 'Yeah right.'

"Maybe when I am old and grey."

"So when you are 30?" She cracked the joke, knowing about how things usually worked for his family in the past.

"Says the one who will be 32 this year." He joked back, hearing her scoff at him on the other line.

"Alright, I will speak to everyone about your ideas. I will get back to you as soon as I can confirm anything. Don't update them until I say that you can."

"Okay, have a good day, Nozuka." She ended the call, leaving Daichi in silence again, alone in his apartment.

To Be continued