Chapter Text
Sako Atsuhiro unlocked his apartment and walked in to find a guy almost asleep on his couch.
He blinked in shock. “What.”
The guy startled and fell off the couch. “Oh shit!”
Atsuhiro sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “What are you doing in my apartment?”
The guy rubbed his eyes and stared up at Atsuhiro. “Uh…This is your apartment?”
Atsuhiro raised an eyebrow. “Yes.”
The guy winced. “What number is this?”
“412.”
The guy pushed himself to his feet and twisted his back, letting out a terrible pop. “Ah, I’m 512. Sorry about that.”
He made towards the door. Atsuhiro stopped him with a hand on his arm.
“How did you even get in here?”
The guy rubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, I climbed up the balconies. Mine is as bare as yours, but I guess I miscounted.”
Atsuhiro stared. “Why did you climb the balconies to get in?”
The guy winced again. “Um…Kinda got fired. I had a nice job, but apparently since I ran into this person that jumped in front of me I’ve got ex-villain on my resume now. Was trying to avoid having to talk to the landlord about it.”
Atsuhiro blinked.
The guy didn’t seem all that bad, climbing balconies aside. Besides, hadn’t his boss been complaining about a lack of workers for a while?
The guy was also trying to leave again. That wouldn’t do.
“What’s your name?”
The guy blinked. “Uh, Bubaigawara Jin. Sorry about breaking into your apartment by the way, I’ll probably be evicted soon, so don’t worry about it—”
“Look, Bubaigawara, my boss has been complaining about not having enough workers, and despite the fact that you broke into my house, you are the first person to treat me like a person in a while, since my gig as a magician got cut. I wouldn’t mind you crashing here for a bit, I’m basically never here anyways, and if both of us are working we might even be able to buy a bigger place. This does only have one bedroom.”
Bubaigawara stared at him. “Are you serious?”
Atsuhiro shrugged. “I’m dead on my feet and not thinking anywhere near rationally, but at the same time you’re nice and I really don’t care. Now, I’m gonna sleep on my couch for as long as possible, you’re gonna do whatever but feel free to use the bed in my room that hasn’t been slept in since I changed the sheets five days ago, and if you’re still here in the morning, we’re going to go talk to my boss, and hey, maybe I’ll get a raise so we can get a two bedroom that much quicker. Cool? Cool.”
He gently pushed Bubaigawara out of his way, and closed and locked the door. He then headed to the couch and crashed onto it.
Bubaigawara spluttered something, but Atsuhiro couldn’t make it out. He had been awake for fifty-two hours, could you really blame him for falling asleep near-instantly?
—
Atsuhiro woke up with the feeling that he had made a poor decision that had a 50/50 chance of working out.
The last time he felt like this he had discovered a marble with a gun and bullets in it in his pocket, but the time before that he had found a child’s thank you note for something he couldn’t decipher, so there was no telling how this was going to go.
He sighed and blinked into awareness.
There was someone cooking in his kitchen.
Atsuhiro shot up on the couch. Shit, Bubai—whatever from last night wasn’t a dream?
Eh, his boss had been complaining about a lack of workers, so no harm there.
He sighed and stretched before standing and heading for the kitchen.
Bubai-something was making something that smelled amazing on the stove. He was humming something under his breath. He looked much better and less stressed than he had been the night before.
Wait. Fuck.
Atsuhiro sighed. Just his luck he’d accidentally get involved with someone really attractive.
Bubai-something startled at the noise and nervously waved when he saw Atsuhiro.
“Hey! So I don’t know how much of last night you remember, but I thought I’d at least make you something as an apology for breaking into your apartment. Um, do—”
Atsuhiro put a hand up to stop his ramblings. “Don’t worry about it, I remember most of it, and my offer still stands. You really didn’t have to cook for me, but I’m grateful for it.”
Bubai-something grinned. “Thank you so much! It means a lot to me! Seriously, just call me Jin!”
Fuck. He was like the goddamn sun.
Atsuhiro startled out of this realization. “I’m Sako Atsuhiro, you can call me Sako or Atsuhiro, I don’t mind.”
Jin’s smile somehow got wider. “Nice to meet you! Here, have some food!”
Atsuhiro smiled and grabbed two bowls out. “Thank you for cooking. We can head into my workplace whenever we’re done eating, if you have your identification with you.”
JIn winced. “I need to go upstairs to get it. My apartments kind of bare right now, and I should check in with the landlord as well.”
Atsuhiro shrugged. “That’s fine. If you don’t have much stuff we can just dump it here before we go, so you don’t have to worry about losing your stuff.”
Jin smiled again. “Thank you! Man, you’re so nice.”
Atsuhiro shrugged. “Eh, you caught me on a good day. You’re also a fellow victim of hero society.”
Jin raised an eyebrow. “What happened to you?”
“My old apartment burned down. The family next to me had a few kids I’d watch sometimes. No one saved them because of some complications with their father’s villain status and their quirks.”
Jin got sad and patted Atsuhiro’s arm. “I’m sorry.”
Atsuhiro shrugged again. “I’ve become jaded at heroes. I also get nightmares, so I keep going until I can pass out. Otherwise I’ll wake up screaming.”
Jin nodded. “I suppose I got off pretty well, huh?”
Atsuhiro nodded. “I suppose. I’m glad you found me. Maybe between the two of us we’ll make a fully functional human.”
Jin laughed. “Thank you.”
Atsuhiro smiled. “Yeah.”
Jin turned back to the stove.
Atsuhiro whispered, “Nah. Thank you.”
—
Bedroom:
Bubaigawara Jin
Living room:
Sako Atsuhiro