Cigarettes and Smoke - Tododeku A.U

Chapter 14

A/N: Sorry this is so short!  Also, tbh, the first part of this is kind of a filler 

~Shoto~  

"Need a ride back?" Izuku asked.

"Were you waiting for me, just to ask that?" I asked.

"Do you need one or not?" he snapped, putting the cigarette out under his shoe. I wanted to say no, but my legs felt like they were about to give out on me.

"Why not." I sighed. This will either end good or bad, but I don't think I can make the walk home. 

At the first stoplight, Izuku began to light yet another cigarette. "You'll get lung cancer if you keep smoking this much," I told him. "It'll kill you at a young age, smoking like this." 

"All the better." Izuku muttered. I didn't say anything after that, looking out the window instead. Other than the occasional curse, he stayed quiet as well. Before long I was lost in thought, not even noticing how we were practically going in circles.  He pulled me out of my thoughts by asking, "Uh... Where do you live?"

"Why didn't you ask in the first place?" I asked, turning to him. "Any normal person would have asked right away." 

"I have a lot on my mind, okay?" Izuku explained. After a few moments, he added, "So you think I'm not normal?" 

Is anyone actually 'normal'? "You're not normal. But I'm not either. It's not a bad thing, it's just.... odd that you didn't ask me for my address first." I replied, then gave him my address. Silence fell over us yet again, but this was a comfortable silence. I relaxed in my seat, watching the traffic as Izuku navigated the Chicago streets. I don't think I could drive on these streets, they're too busy. 

The streets began to look more familiar, and soon we were stopped outside my apartment building. I thanked Izuku for the ride home, forcing my legs to take me up to my apartment. My legs nearly gave out on me in the elevator, but I managed to stay upright. When will this stop? Will it be days or weeks before my body catches up?  

You just have to push through, I told myself, you don't have any other options.

~~~

In all my time working at The Caffeine Fix, I had hardly seen Izuku there. Now, he shows up nearly every day, takes smoke breaks with me, and is always waiting outside for me to take me home. When I asked him why I had expected him to snap at me, but instead he got flustered and told me, "You look exhausted all the time, so I want to make sure you get home safe." Seeing Izuku flustered like that was confusing. Why was he so flustered? Was it because he wasn't used to doing nice things? Yeah, that's why. He's just not used to doing nice things. 

On top of him showing up to the cafe nearly every day, he would bring me gifts. They were little things, but some of them were pricey. The first gift he gave me was a pack of cigarettes (the kind we always smoke together) and a lighter just like his. His reasoning was that I was using all of his, so I needed my own. The most expensive gift was a designer watch, and his reasoning for that gift was that the only watch I do own was getting 'old'. I had accepted it to not come off as rude, but I didn't really need a new watch. When I had gotten home I had looked it up and found out the watch was worth five thousand dollars. He didn't need to do that, I thought as I carefully held it, but I won't let five thousand dollars just sit around. That next morning I had worn it to work, which made Izuku happy. 

What I wasn't realizing was the reason he was giving me gifts and driving me home every evening. It was going straight over my head. I just thought that he was doing it to be nice, but I was wrong. Very wrong. I didn't notice that that was him trying to flirt with me. I'm not stupid, but when it comes to things like flirting, I don't get it until it's too late, and this time wasn't any different. 

Things were about to change in a big way, and not for the better.