Chapter Text
You were never a huge fan of heroes. You simply kept up with news stories like everyone else did, especially those of Deku or Uravity, real upstanding heroes who cared about the people they saved. On the off chance you’d witness a local hero in action, you would clap and cheer alongside fellow civilians, thankful to the hero doing their job. That was as far as your admiration went though, you were nowhere near a fangirl.
This also meant that you never idolized a hero, putting them on some sort of pedestal like you weren’t both just human beings getting by. They may have much more powerful quirks than you, and perhaps a stronger sense of justice, but those seemed to be the only differences between you and them.
Except for one particularly aggravating hero who had managed to become popular online due to his terrible behavior in interviews and rescue missions. You honestly found it hilarious, how he would yell at civilians, brush off the media, and even insult his sidekicks. What kind of douchebag calls himself a hero, and then acts like that ?
Fair to say that you’re nothing like that guy, and are thankful for that fact.
***
“He tried to make his hero name King Explosion Murder ? That’s so ridiculous, oh my god.” you snickered, scrolling through an article on your least favorite hero.
Your friend sighed your name, “Seriously, what is your problem with him? You know he goes by Dynamight now. He liked that other name in high school , give him a break.”
You turned to face her and smirked, “Haru, I know you’re only saying that because you think he’s hot. He literally has zero other redeeming qualities.”
She blushed a little and covered her face with her hands, groaning. “You can’t tell me he isn’t hot!”
“He’s conventionally attractive, sure, but his personality ruins it.” you giggle, “Your type in men is concerning.”
Haruko sits up and looks at you, “If you met him in person, I bet you would give in and admit he’s good-looking.” You notice a sense of challenge in her eyes before she goes right back to a blushing mess of a fangirl. “I mean, imagine him all sweaty and breathing heavily, towering over you after he saves your life from a villain.”
She’s practically squirming on your couch at this point, and you roll your eyes, smiling. “Yeah, if that ever happens I’ll be sure to let you know if I think he’s hot. Don’t get your hopes up, though.”
***
Shit .
Is the only word repeating in your mind as you dash into an alley, attempting to lose some thug who is trying to take your purse from you. He has some sort of weak knives quirk, you think, as he keeps trying to catch up to stab you with a blade growing from his palm.
Of course the only power you were gifted with was being able to shoot water from your pinkie finger. Of course this thug decided to chase after someone with a weak, useless, stupid quirk with no way of defending themselves. Of course you trip in the alleyway, landing on your knees and skinning the living hell out of them.
You scramble to get up, adrenaline still pumping through you and covering the pain, but a blade lands beneath your chin before you’re able to move forward.
You freeze when you feel a hot breath on your neck, “Caught you, pretty lady.”
Eyes darting everywhere, you quickly realize you screwed yourself over. You had run into an alleyway next to a quiet street, and no heroes were patrolling this block.
You cringe at your stupidity, eyes brimming with tears, “I’ll give you the purse, just please don’t hurt me.”
You release your white-knuckle grip on the strap of your bag and let it fall to your forearm, where the thug snatches it instantly.
Instead of being freed from his grip, though, the creep presses the knife closer to your neck and puts his other hand on your waist.
Your mouth goes dry and your spine goes ramrod stiff, absolutely frozen in fear. Was he going to assault you? Kill you? Was this really how you were going to die? In an alleyway, murdered by some random thug because of your lack of judgment. You almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. Almost.
His voice interrupts your racing thoughts, “I think I want something more from you. You’re too pretty to let go just like that.”
You feel his tongue lick the shell of your ear and you shiver in fear and discomfort. Still unable to form a single word, you stand there like an idiot, cursing yourself internally.
Suddenly, something settles within your stomach, the realization that there really was no one coming to save you. You were going to be raped and murdered if you stayed frozen like this, so you might as well fight back, right?
You slowly reach your right hand behind him, and let out some water from your pinkie onto his back. He glances behind him, and you take that as your opening. You duck away from the blade as your left hand comes up to punch him square in the face. Before he can recenter himself, you kick him as hard as you physically can right in the groin. His blade retracts, and he’s coiled on the ground in an instant.
Overflowing with adrenaline, you quickly grab your purse, which was now slumping sadly on the pavement, and begin to run back to the road.
Right before you can make it, though, you hear some explosions coming from the alley. Against your better judgment, you whip your head around to see none other than Dynamight flying into the scene.
You stand there in shock for a moment, watching as his eyes flicker between the thug writhing on the ground and you, a young woman walking out of the alley with her purse safely on her shoulder.
“You alright?” He asks.
Dumbfounded, you stare at him for a bit too long, and then you laugh. You laugh so hard it startles all three of you, and that somehow makes it all the funnier to you. You’re laughing so hard you’re losing your breath, until you finally compose yourself, still smiling. You assume you must look insane, but you don’t care at all at this point.
“Oh, don’t worry Mr. Dynamight, I’m perfectly safe, all thanks to you! What a wonderful hero, you really came just in time to help me. What would the world do without you?” you ask with faux admiration.
Now you definitely look insane, but you still don’t care. Of all heroes to show up right now, of course it had to be Dynamight. And of course it happened after you just saved yourself, no thanks to him, and now you’re practically overflowing with adrenaline and frustration.
Dynamight cocks his head and sneers, “What the fuck is your problem?”
He’s really in for it now.
“What a distinguished response from such a distinguished hero, only the best from Mr. Dynamight, as one should expe-“
You stop mid-sentence as your eyes widen in horror. That creepy thug that had been writhing on the ground just moments ago was on his feet and COVERED with blades. What the fuck happened to his quirk?
Dynamight whipped around to face him, a flash of annoyance on his features as he muttered something about a quirk enhancer. You had no idea what was happening, and frankly didn't want to know, so you made a run for it.
Before you could make it to the street, though, blades appeared from above you and caged you from the road. You looked back to see that thug controlling them from the other end of the alley. Did he take a drug for his quirk? Is that what Dynamight was muttering about?
Speaking of Dynamight, he was in full-blown battle mode now, flying through the air, releasing explosions onto the villain from all angles. You could tell he was holding back though, since you were still in the alley. Plus, you had seen videos of his bigger attacks before, so you knew he was much more powerful than this.
The hero seemed to be taking the thug’s full attention now, so all you could do was watch the fight go down. Now you felt even more stupid. If you hadn’t let your anger take over, you could’ve been out of this damn alley already and Dynamight could’ve handcuffed the villain immediately. This could’ve been avoided, but you wanted to prove a silly point.
Tears fell from your eyes as you watched your least favorite hero fight to save your life. What if he died trying to protect you? What would you say to Haruko, the police, or his family ?
Shink
Your mouth falls open in horror.
“Ah, shit!” Dynamight seethes.
He was stabbed right through the arm. It didn’t look fatal, but you were horrified nonetheless. Blood ran down his elbow and dripped onto the concrete, and the hatred in the hero’s eyes grew stronger.
The rest of the fight was a blur, up until Dynamight landed the final blow to the black of the villain’s head, effectively knocking him out. Only then did you hear sobbing, and it took more than a few moments to realize it was coming from you.
As he handcuffed the villain and pulled out his phone to update the police on the situation, you shakily stood up and stalked over to the hero.
When he turned his attention to you, your entire body froze. He towered over you and was easily twice your size, nothing but pure muscle and power. The hero was covered in sweat, ash blonde hair sticking to his forehead and neck. Blood dripped from his injury where he had yet to remove the entirety of the blade, staining his forearm in streaks of brown and red. His costume was a bit jostled, slits from the blades exposing parts of his abdomen. The most striking part of him, though, was his crimson eyes which stared down at you, sitting beneath furrowed blonde brows and surprisingly thick eyelashes. They were filled with anger, intensity unlike anything you’ve seen before. Heat shot to your core before you could process it happening.
Maybe Haruko had a point.
“Are you gonna say something, or just stand there like an idiot?”
His aggressive tone catches you off guard.
“If you hadn’t been so weird earlier, this fucker wouldn’t have had time to inject himself with that stupid quirk drug. Don’t mess with heroes while they’re working, dumbass.”
You want to argue, you really do, but you know he’s right. So, you just stand there dumbly, trying to force the tears to stay in your eyes as he wipes some dirt off his shoulder.
“Th-thank you.”
You blush so intensely that you think you might explode, why the hell did you stutter ?!
“For saving me!” you quickly attempt to save it, “And I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have said those things, you saved my life.”
“Yeah, whatever, just stay out of the way,” he grumbles, not even sparing you another glance.
He motions for you to back up before blowing apart the wall of blades the thug had put on the end of the alley. Police cars and officers fill your line of vision instantly, you were so out of it that you hadn’t even heard them before.
Dynamight drags the villain out to the road and tosses him in front of the police, where some of the officers quickly gather him into the backseat of one of their cars. The hero begins speaking with one of the deputies, but you can’t catch any of what he’s saying because of the overwhelming screaming of the flock of fangirls that have just arrived on the scene.
Bewildered, you notice some of them brought supportive signs, figurines of him, and even official Dynamight merch in hopes that he’ll sign it. You stand there dumbly, dried tears and snot covering your face, taking in the sight. God, you’re stupid. You want to go home and eat ramen and rethink your entire life.
The deputy who was speaking to Dynamight signals for you to come over, so you do.
He starts with simple background information like your name, where you’re from, and if this has ever happened to you before. You answer honestly and politely, purposely ignoring the fiery gaze of the hero standing beside you.
The officer asks if you want medical attention for your skinned knees, and you shake your head. You still couldn’t feel them because of the adrenaline.
Then, you’re asked to explain what happened in as much detail as possible, and, albeit reluctantly, you do. You flush in embarrassment while purposely skipping over the part where you mocked and distracted the hero who had then saved your life just moments later. You feel terrible for lying, but you know jail would feel worse.
Now you’re unable to look at either of the men as the officer thanks you for your cooperation and the three of you exchange bows.
After asking Dynamight if he needed a ride to the hospital and him saying no, the police drive off, and you are more than ready to walk home and sob on your couch. Before you can, though, you hear a fangirl cry out for Dynamight.
“Oh my, are you injured from saving this girl? You are incredible! Our hero! We love you!” She shrieked from the crowd, holding out a t-shirt for him to sign, which he does grumpily.
You study his expressions and realize that he’s holding back grimaces of pain from his injury, barely able to sign the t-shirts being shoved in his face.
Reluctantly, knees on fire, you trudge over to the hero and place a hand on his shoulder. He whips his head to glare at you, eyes so intense you feel your legs almost give up. Instead, you steady yourself and breathe, matching his gaze with one you pray is half as intense as his.
“Get to the hospital, that injury is bad. It’s a few blocks away, I can walk with you if you need any help.”
His fiery gaze suddenly turns cold as ice, and he smacks your hand away. “Get the fuck away from me.” He demands, low enough so the fangirls can’t hear, but cold enough that a sharp pain shoots down your throat as you swallow roughly.
He looks away before you can say anything else, and then a fanboy speaks up from the crowd.
“That girl is so lucky, oh my god.” He whines, “I can’t believe she got to be saved by Dynamight, and touch his shoulder!”
The girls around him shriek in agreement, and one turns to you, eyes wide, “Was he hot when he was fighting that villain up close like that? I know I would’ve gotten wet from just watching! Did you?! What was it like? Tell us!!”
And then, Dynamight has the balls to fucking snigger.
Your face heated as you were overrun with anger and embarrassment. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” You mumble as you stomp away from the crowd and begin to angrily walk home.
***
Unfortunately for you, you couldn’t escape reminders of the incident for the next two weeks, no matter what you did.
When you arrived home that day and switched on the TV, the first channel was a live report from the scene of the fight. The media must have arrived after you’d left, thank goodness.
You proceeded to watch the on-the-scene interview in horror as the news anchor pressed Dynamight for details on the fight, the villain, and you.
“Dynamight, witnesses are telling us that the young woman you saved was quite the beauty. Will we be seeing any more of you two together?”
The bastard, still hiding how much pain he was in, scoffed at the anchor as if she had just insulted him. “Absolutely not. That girl was just some extra who got herself into some trouble.”
The anchor laughed a bit too much at that, you thought, before she solemnly asked, “Was she hurt badly? She must have been very thankful that you showed up to save her.”
Dynamight’s brows furrowed and he scowled, “No, she was fine. She had gotten away from him herself before I showed up. I saved her ass only after he used that quirk enhancer.”
You frowned at your TV, anger dissipating momentarily. At least he didn’t pretend like you were a helpless damsel in distress waiting for rescue, even though you almost were. You had just gotten lucky, that’s all.
The interview ends, and right before you’re about to turn off the TV, the anchor perks up, “This just in, folks, a bystander has taken a video of the woman Dynamight saved! Here it is on screen!”
Your heart drops as you see yourself, teary-eyed and roughed up, speaking to the police, bowing, walking away, and then back to the blonde hero, where you place a hand on his shoulder before he smacks it away. You feel like you’re reliving the entire event, embarrassment flooding your senses as you receive dozens of text notifications from your friends and family.
At the very least, you were thankful none of your conversations were picked up in the video. The screaming of the fangirls drowned it out. Still, you were flushed red, tears falling down your face yet again, as you answered a call from Haruko.
***
“You WHAT??!” She shrieked.
You sighed, “Obviously I regret it now, I was just so full of frustration at that moment that I lost control and said a bunch of stupid things.”
“You’re so lucky he didn’t tell the media that, or the police. You could’ve been arrested for interfering with a hero’s job, or worse, you could have angered his fangirls! You know how crazy they are.”
You shivered at the thought of an angry mob of Dynamight fans breaking through your front door, pitchforks and all.
Haruko finally calmed down, throwing her head back on your couch and humming for a moment. “Well, do you at least understand why I like him now?” She smiled.
You blushed feverishly, suddenly remembering what the hero looked like up close after he had saved your life. His towering height, hair sticking to his forehead, sweat covering his body, and large arm muscles you just wanted to gnaw on-
You threw yourself into a fetal position to hide your face, and Haruko snickered, “I’m guessing that’s a yes?”.
“Shut up.”
***