Courting Over Coffee

The sky was a bright, shimmering blue, and trickles of sunlight were dabbing across Izuku's cheeks, illuminating his features. The air was warm and humid, and Izuku was panting quietly as he toyed with his suit's collar. Izuku was wearing a newly acquired black suit, and he was attending his boyfriend's funeral.

His mate's funeral.

Tears were swimming around in his green eyes, and Izuku was stifling his soft cries—his sniffling. He knew that no one would judge him if he cried at his boyfriend's funeral, but he still didn't want to do it.

Izuku...he...he...

He had to be strong. If he fell apart, he wasn't sure he'd be able to put himself back together again.

So...

He had to stay strong.

Izuku had to stay strong for his pup.

Gently, Izuku ran his fingers through his baby girl's short green hair. His daughter was two years old, and she was just learning how to talk. She could form short clipped sentences, and that was about it. His daughter, however, still didn't understand the concept of death. She didn't understand that her father, her sire, was gone.

His baby girl's father was gone forever, and there was nothing that Izuku could do. The two of them were...were...they were going to be alone. They were going to be alone for a long time.

It was just going to be Izuku and his little Kurva for the foreseeable future.

With a loud sniffle, Izuku clutched his daughter close to his chest, his eyelashes wet and heavy with tears. His mate's brother was still giving his eulogy, and Izuku felt like he was on the verge of breaking down. His heart felt heavy in his chest, his skin was pale and clammy, and there was a cold sensation growing stronger in his body.

With every passing second, Izuku's chest grew more cold and tight—more strained. Izuku's heart felt like it was going to snap , and his breathing was coming out fast and shallow. The world around him was spinning around, and everything looked hazy . With his eyes burning with unshed tears, Izuku buried his nose into his daughter's green locks and began to smell his pup's reassuring scent.

His daughter smelled like milk and honey, and Izuku clung onto that scent desperately. If Izuku let go of his daughter, if he thought about his boyfriend's face, he was going to break down. He couldn't break down—not now.

With unshed tears pooling in his eyes, Izuku began to think about his boyfriend against his own will. The two of them met on a mulberry tree fruit farm. It was the strangest encounter in Izuku's life by far. Izuku went to the fruit picking farm, so he could gather some fresh mulberries for his mother as a gift. He never thought, however, that he would meet his future mate at that farm.

Izuku's boyfriend, Arakan, went to the fruit picking farm so he could relax. Arakan, after all, was a Pro Hero. He was in the Top Fifty, and his job was stressful. Or at least, he always told Izuku that it was stressful.

When Izuku was younger, he used to obsess over Pro Heroes—he used to fanboy over them. Izuku used to own more All Might merchandise than anyone else he knew, and he used to keep up with every major hero religiously. When Izuku met his mate, however, he began to drift away from the Pro Hero community.

Arakan, after all, didn't want to see his competitors' faces in their apartment together. He didn't want to see All Might's face or even Uravity, and whenever Izuku fanboyed over different Pro Heroes it...it worried his mate. Arakan didn't want Izuku to get involved with his work—with the Pro Hero community.