I Am Not Number Seven (TUA/MHA Crossover)

18. Sero: Certain Perks

A/N: can't post on my usual first day of the month, so early chapter this time hehe
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April

Vanya waited on the street corner, looking at her phone to pass the time as she waited for her friend.
Sero and Vanya were getting lunch the day before their first day at UA as a last hurrah before they dove into the hero education program. They were celebrating their times of freedom coming to an end and welcoming the stress, limited free time, and copious amounts of studying they would have to do for their rigorous education at UA with open arms. Vanya had wanted to have a nice dinner with her friend but Sero's family had wanted to do a celebration dinner for him as well. She was invited, his family was really interested in meeting this girl he spent so much time with but the idea of meeting his family made her break out into a nervous sweat. When they were talking about it, Sero noticed how pale Vanya had gotten and quickly banished the idea. Due to the fact that she still hadn't told him she was an Academy member and his previous experience of meeting her odd siblings, he just assumed she had a rough family of her own and was hesitant to be around others. They left it at that.

So, here she was. They would have lunch then go their separate ways then meet up at the train station tomorrow to ride to school together. She could hardly wait.

A familiar heartbeat pricked at her ears. Vanya looked up to see Sero nudging his way through a crowd towards her. She almost laughed, for a guy that tall, he sure was mindful of others and did not use his height to bulldoze a path through a crowd.

She slipped her phone into her pocket and jumped down from the small wall she had been sitting on, meeting him halfway.

He looked ruffled, Vanya offered him a look of sympathy and her arm, "Everything ok?"

"There was a line for the bathroom! A line! I've never seen a line for the men's restroom," he laughed and slipped his arm through hers as they began to walk down the street, Vanya leading them.

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The boy was enjoying his last day of freedom before starting school. As he walked through the streets with his friend on his arm he couldn't help but notice how different he was from this time last year. If you would have told him that his friend would be taking him to a high-end restaurant on her dime, he would have laughed and said none of his friends could afford that. And they definitely wouldn't be gladly holding his hand as they did so.

At first, Sero had been embarrassed by the physical contact Vanya initiated but when she explained that this amount was normal between her and her siblings, he began to grow comfortable with it. Hell, sometimes he even offered her his hand first.

They walked to the skyscraper that held the restaurant, chatting as they did, arm in arm. Sero had been a little apprehensive about the place they were going to, Yoritomi Midori, seeing as it was in Kyushu. But Vanya managed to convince him to go by saying the food was very much worth it, plus they would ride the train together and she'd cover his meal. She'd even hinted that she got him a present, but Vanya gave a quick glance at her phone which apparently told her that it was running late so she said would reveal it to Sero during the meal rather than before, like she had planned.

The duo entered the building, stopping briefly when the man at the front desk asked for IDs to check the names on their reservation but the quick flash of a grey card from Vanya had the receptionist bowing to her and directing them to the elevator.

"What was that about?" Sero questioned as they rode to the top floor where the restaurant was. He hadn't wanted to question his friend in front of the receptionist but the way that man took a single look at that card and practically fell over himself to show them to the elevator was almost... like how someone would treat a celebrity.