Grit Your Teeth and Bear it (KiriBakuDeku)

Chapter 12

Midoriya's POV

"Midoriya, please come with us. Denki would love the support," Shinso asked.

"But I'm busy right now. I can't go," I complained, while continuing to scroll on my laptop.

"With what? You've been staring at that screen since I got here."

"Just researching."

Shinso sighed and stood from my bed. He came over to my side and promptly shut my computer screen. "It's his birthday and he wants all his friends there, including you," he said. "You don't have to stay the whole time, but at least for an hour. Get out of this room for a little bit."

"I get out," I bickered.

"Work does not count," he argued. "It's tonight at the old docks."

I scrunched my eyebrows. "The one we used to go to during school?"

"Yes, Denki thought it would be nostalgic," Shinso rolled his eyes, but his small smile revealed the truth.

I pursed my lips. I wanted to continue my work on researching that one case that Aizawa had told me about. He was right. There are no records or report of the event and anytime I try to look it up in our database, I get a warning screen.

"Fine, I'll go. You're right, what I am doing is not more important than Kaminari," I said.

Part of me wanted to slap myself. I have never been so thoughtless when it came to my friends, yet, here I was, trying to get out of their birthday parties.

"Thank you, it starts at six, so don't be late," he said and turned. He gave me one last wave before leaving my bedroom.

I slumped back into my chair. "I'm really not myself anymore, am I?" I remarked quietly.

When the time came to leave for the old docks, I dressed myself a little casually. It's at a beach nonetheless, and knowing Kaminari, it will be pretty informal anyways.

Kirishima and Kacchan were ready downstairs, waiting for me to join them.

Kirishima gave me a light smile when I reached them. "Ready?" he asked.

I gave him a small smile back and nodded. The three of us left the house, Kacchan locking the door behind us and walked to the location of the party. It was not very far, so none of us saw any reason to try and take the bus.

Our walk was silent and peaceful, minus the shuffling of people spending the night out together. It was a Friday night after all. It makes sense that there would be so many people out. Some waved and said hi to us. Others asked for photos and autographs, but we didn't get bombarded as much as I thought we would.

Eventually, we made it to the party. The music was loud and I could feel it thump in my chest. There were pretty fairy lights strung up everywhere to deter the darkening sky as the sun went down. There were people everywhere, many that I had recognized, yet it had been so long since I had seen them. Kaminari had decorations of all sorts around, there was a bonfire in the center and a large table not far away that had all the food and drinks. Kaminari was quite accommodating, he had junk food snacks, but also healthier snacks for those of us who don't normally eat sugar. He had alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages as well. All in all, the set up was pretty amazing. The stars shone brightly above and the moon was full.

It was the perfect night for a party.

"Guys!" Kaminari called. Sero and Shinso walked over to us with him. "You made it! What do you think?"