Cool Motive, Still Murder

Chapter four- Flirty Banter, But I Promise You It's Completely Platonic

It took over an hour for Hitoshi and Midoriya to walk from the rooftop to Midoriya's apartment.

In that time, Hitoshi learned that Midoriya's favorite hero is All Might, and he named the cat from earlier as such. He also learned that Midoriya obsessed over anything in the color green, he often put himself into dangerous situations just to get closer to hero fights, and that he lived alone.

The more Hitoshi's friend spoke, the more concerned he got. On the surface, Midoriya was an energetic and positive kid. If you dug a little bit below, there were a whole lot of issues that we don't have the time to unpack.

Arriving at what was presumably Midoriya's apartment, on the second floor of a meh looking complex that smelled either like a hotel or something indescribable but unpleasant depending on where you stood; they had to pause their conversation about the difference between a bastard and a dumb bitch cat's personality while Izuku looked for his keys.

"It all depends on their eyes," Midoriya was balancing his backpack on his knee while shuffling through its contents. "The bigger, the dumber— oh, butterscotch toffee."

The bag fell— open side up, luckily— but Hitoshi wasn't focused on that.

"Did you actually just say that?" His mouth was agape with the corners pointed up.

Midoriya gave up on trying to keep up the balancing act and just resumed his search with his backpack on the ground.

"What did I say?" He didn't look up from what he was doing.

"Dude, butterscotch toffee? Seriously?" Shinsou braced his hands on his knees and shook with silent laughter. "Can't you just say shit?"

Midoriya was currently untangling his lanyard that somehow ended up strung up with his earbuds, charger, and a bungee cord. Huh. He didn't remember packing that.

"Well I could, if I wanted to," he hissed as the stringy amalgamation tore off his left index fingernail.

Shinsou, observing the battle between Izuku and his keys, resumed teasing him. "Oh yeah? Prove it."

With Shinsou saying it like that, Izuku really didn't want to. His mother always used substitute profanities around him as a child, so it felt almost like a dishonor to her. Not that she was dead, or anything.

Shinsou noticed Izuku's discomfort. "Hey, I was just teasing." Shinsou paused, before adding, "I think it's cute."

After what Shinsou said, Izuku dropped his newly untangled keys to cover his beet red face with his arms.

"Don't just say that!" He was shriek-whispering, getting his tone across without being inconsiderate to his neighbors.

The other teen quirked an eyebrow up. "What, that your inability to cuss properly is adorable?"

"Shinsou!"

"Has nobody ever called you cute before?" His tone was unbelieving.

He took a moment to think about that. "Well, no," the only person to do that was his mother, and that was years ago.

"Then they're all liars. You are the incarnation of a puppy with very large eyes and a heart of gold."

To reference the sound that came out of Izuku's mouth, imagine a verbal keysmash. He wanted to get back at his friend for making him so flustered so early in the morning. Not that it was hard to get him that way, but still. Unfair.

"Well— uh, you look nice!"

Shinsou didn't even bat an eye.

"Thank you."