How Do You Like Me Now? // Pro Hero Deku x Reader

Everything's Changed

Up until that moment, whenever you had pictured Izuku your mind had brought forth the image of a short, bright-eyed boy with round cheeks and stocky limbs, a gentle mist of freckles littering his skin. But that boy was not the one approaching you now. No. That boy was gone.

The only similarities left to be seen between him and the stork of a man who is striding toward you now are exactly two things: 1) they share the same emerald curls and 2) the faint strip of freckles that paint his skin are identical in pattern. Beyond these two things, you cant begin to register how this man could possibly be your Midoriya.

There was no way. For starters, your Midoriya didn't walk like that! –Like he owned everything within a square mile of where he stepped. And his shoulders were never that broad, nor was his jaw ever so strong and boyish.

He stops in front of you with that dazzling smile and the giddy look in his eye is unmistakable. "God," he breathes, "That really you, doll?"

You're breathless. Now battling to process the absolute shock of hearing a voice that deep come tumbling out of lips that once strictly emitted a pitchy stuttering mess. Who the hell was this man?

"Izu?" you say, "What the hell happened to you?"

Midoriya laughs heartily then and the sound is so loud and full of confidence that it only serves to jar you further. He closes the space between in one step and then you're in his arms, your head nestled into the groove where his pectorals meet.

You're quick to realise that he even smells different –smoky like tobacco but somehow still fresh like mint and pine needles. Your face immediately flushes red at the press of his body but you bury your face into his shoulder to hide your embarrassment, playing it off as a reciprocation of his embrace. Why on earth was he so different?

"I should be asking you that!" he retorts, "After all, I'm not the one who jetted off to another country for three years."

"It's not every day you see two number ones hugging it out," you hear Kaminari remark from somewhere behind you.

At that, you pull away to look up at him. "You really did it," you muse, more to yourself than him, "You made it, Izu."

The smile Midoriya offers you in return is so full of love, it makes your heart feel like it's about to burst.

The look of a promise fulfilled burns behind the rich green of his eyes as he whispers to you, "I told you I would."

It doesn't take much convincing from Mina to get most of the class together to carry the festivities over to a nearby local bar. You'd been hesitant when she'd asked you but couldn't come up with a convincing enough excuse to refuse her offer and so you tagged along to the delight of the group who were more than eager to make up for lost time with you.

You were surprised to find that Midoriya agreed to coming along for the night. You could have sworn parties had never really been his forte but you supposed you should get used to being surprised by him. After all, he'd changed more than you could have ever imagined during your absence and it felt almost silly of you to expect him to be the same.

Even so, you couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness to think that you perhaps no longer knew him as well as you thought. And worse still, it begged the question of whether there was still a friend to be found in the man he was today. Probably not, you thought dejectedly. As far as it looked, Izuku seemed to have outgrown you these past three years. You shook the idea out of your head and tried your best to focus on enjoying the night.

You consciously spend most of the night dancing with Mina and Sero in the hopes of distracting yourself. Kiri and Kaminari slide in to join you now and then but are for the most part glued to the pool table where Bakugou engages them in game after game in a ruthless cycle which ultimately ends in him snapping a couple of pool sticks when Kaminari refuses to stop cheating.