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Hirai Akira's nights usually went like this: Finish studying, finish dance practice, and go hide up on the roof or her balcony with headphones and sticks of incense. This was especially so in the summer, and at ungodly hours of the night, when the air was the perfect temperature and the perfect smell, and she could see the park and surrounding city, and the gorgeous sky. Here, in these moments, she could just feel and listen and be.
She never expected, though, for the number one hero to show up on the roof next to her, causing her to nearly fall backwards into the neighbours' plants while she fumbled with her earphones and struggled to maintain some sense of composure.
"You okay?"
Holy shit.
"Holy shit– you're Deku!"
"I am," he smiled at her. "And you are?"
She blinked and stammered, trying to figure out why the fuck Deku, out of anyone in the whole goddamn world, would be here, on her apartment rooftop, right now.
"H– I, uh– um... wow, okay, uh, ha– I'm– agh, I'm Hi– Hira– I'm Hirai Akira. Please, uh, please call me Akira, though– uhm..."
She was in complete, dumbfounded awe. The number one hero was here, on her rooftop, looking out at the city with her, asking if she was okay after he had accidentally startled her–
What the fuck.
"Are you sure you're alright? You still seem pretty dazed."
Akira nodded. "You're shorter than I thought in real life."
"I get that a lot," Deku chuckled.
"I said that out loud, huh?" Akira's cheeks flushed pink in embarrassment, matching the glow of the bright billboards and neon signs on the buildings across the street.
Deku awkwardly smiled and waved his hands, stressing "Don't sweat it. I fucked up my bones and ligaments and muscles enough... I honestly think it's kind of funny, when people point it out, anyway! Don't worry!"
They both laughed at that, like it wasn't weird to just be casually talking to the number one hero on your apartment rooftop.
Which reminded Akira: "So... why are you here, anyway? You're the number one hero, and by the looks of it, you're on patrol right now."
"I see you up here some nights when I'm on patrol. You always look kinda lost? I'm not sure if I'm reading that right, but, you always look kinda down, at the very least. I wanted to make sure you're doing okay," Deku explained. "That's what heroes are supposed to do, right?"
"I mean, I guess."
He nodded back at her, turning to lean against the wall at the edge of the roof and to look out at the bright colours and bustling life of the city. "So are you okay?"
Akira had to take a moment to think about that. Why would the number on hero want to know, anyway? He's the number one. He's gotta be busy as all hell.
But then again, Deku had made time specifically for her to make sure she's doing okay.
Akira sighed, and turned to lean against the top of the wall and look out at the city as well.
"I mean, I guess. Life's good for the most part," she said as she flicked a pebble off the edge of the wall.
"So why do you always seem down when I pass by?" he asked.
"Ever hear of teenage angst?"
Deku laughed at that. "You got me there, Akira. You got me there. But seriously," he shifted his gaze to look at her, "what's up? Yeah, teenage angst is a thing, but there's always some root to it."
She rolled her eyes at that. "Well, yeah– ugh, I don't know."
"Sure you do."
"Pretty sure I don't."
Deku sighed. He wanted for the both of them to walk away from this with a good experience, especially Akira. He had to make sure that Akira would be okay.
"Well," he started to change the subject, "how's this? I see you dancing up here sometimes when I pass by on my patrols, you're really good! Do you wanna be a dancer?"
Akira looked back at him with wide eyes. The number one hero complimented her! While she didn't really care as much for heroics as she did dance and music, a compliment from the number one hero? That's gotta be something big for anyone outside of his personal life that meets him.
"Yeah, kinda. An idol, sorta."
"Sorta?" He quirked an eyebrow at her.
"Sorta in the sense I'm hesitant, I guess."
"How come?"
"How come is because no one else believes in me," she sighed. "They think it's stupid and that I'm out of my mind and that it's not gonna happen... for a lot of reasons, they have reason to think that. For a lot more reasons, I don't understand why they wanna be dickheads."
"I'm sorry."
"You didn't do anything wrong. Not your fault."
"It still sucks, though. And I know how you feel, in a sense."
Now it was Akira's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Really, now?"
Deku smiled again, this time with more wistful reflectiveness. "Yeah. I do."
"Uh-huh."
"Yknow, people always said when I was a kid that I would get nowhere in life. I didn't have a quirk, I was smart but ended up in trouble a lot for no reason. I was pushed around and bullied for being quirkless and for being so hung up on a dream that seemed so far out of reach.
"My own mother and my idol both told me that I couldn't, either. My mom, that was more of an accident; an instinct reaction after we got the news I didn't have a quirk and I had still asked her if I could become a hero, I think. I don't think she ever meant that. My idol, however, straight up told me I couldn't."
"All Might."
"Yeah. Though, I'm sure you know the story; he offered to train me and be a mentor, and to give me his quirk after I rushed into a dangerous situation to save my friend. Basically up until even way after then, I was just stupid, quirkless Deku.
"But you know what I did with those experiences when I got older and I could better understand and process them, and when my dream was closer than I ever knew it could be?"
"What?"
"I took all the sticks and stones, and I showed them that I could build a house," Deku smiled.
Akira looked at him, dryly chuckling at the cheesiness of the metaphor.
"Not literally, obviously. But I showed them that I could and would become a hero–"
"And you did!" she exclaimed. "You became a hero! You showed the world! You became number one, you became Deku! The world's greatest hero of all time! You got into UA, you trained under Eraserhead and Midnight and All Might for fuck's sake! You fought– you helped fight Nine and Overhaul and Felct Turn! You helped fight pretty much the entire League of Villains! You fought Stain! You beat Shigaraki, and you defeated All For One in that same regard! You saved Japan, and you saved the world! You're Deku! You're amazing!
"But look at me! I'm almost seventeen, and I'm still here, on my fucking apartment rooftop in Tokyo! I'm about to graduate high school, I'm about to be an adult! I can sing and dance and I have a grip on producing, I can play an instrument and I'm pretty and can take good photos. I'm still here, after dozens of auditions that I've been doing since I was fourteen, mind you." She took a moment to breathe and to look down at her feet, and back up at the city.
"I'm so scared. Just in general. I'm scared because of my age, I'm scared because no one fucking has my back, I'm scared for things to change, as badly as I want them to."
The pair stood there a moment, letting the confession sink in.
Deku spoke again first. "Well, you have me to back you if that counts for anything!" He smiled. "It's not fun being alone or feeling like you're alone in things. I wanna help make sure you don't feel like that. That's–"
"What heroes do," Akira said, jokingly rolling her eyes. "I get it."
"Good."
She looked back up at him once more. "Do you really mean it? You think I'm good enough? And that you'll have my back? You're the number one hero, you've got to be busy as fuck..."
"Well, yeah, I am," Deku said. "But, I see a lot of potential in you, in whatever you want to do. I see a lot of potential in everyone, really! But especially in you right now.
"They're all going to tell you you're going nowhere, and they're going to tell you you're crazy! Don't ever let them change you, though, okay? Don't let them get you to put your hopes and dreams in a box in the metaphorical attic!"
Akira smiled laughed at that. "Okay. I promise."
"Good," Deku smiled back as he got up onto the top of the wall he had been leaning against, activating Float. "I've gotta go now, patrol and all, but I'll see you again soon! Keep me updated!"
Akira nodded. "I will."
Deku nodded back at her and took off to the next street, leaving Akira dumbfounded. Deku, the number one hero, just had a whole conversation with her.
"Huh."
And as she turned to go back inside, she caught sight of the pot of daisies, and she got an idea.
"Daisies."