Chapter Five

You leaned on your arm, tapping the screen of your phone for the hundredth time, glancing at the clock. Your second glass of wine and half eaten bread sat in front of you.

'8:23pm'

You wondered where your pro-hero boyfriend was.

The Collocate app didn't report a villain attack taking place in your district, you sucked in another deep breath trying to ignore the stares and whispers around you. Did people really have nothing better going on in their own lives they had to make you their source of entertainment for the night? You wondered if anyone was taking bets out on you, was he going to show, or would you be stood up?

You wondered if you could get in on the bet.

'8:47pm'

"Are you still doing alright?" Your server came over to check on you.

"Um-" You looked to the empty chair, whispers still circling around you. "-yeah, do you mind if I order?"

"Of course." She nods, while she took out her notepad you looked at the empty seat, your chest felt heavy, quickly faking a smile putting on a show for everyone around you.

----

"(y/n)-!?" Midoriya stood behind you, mouth agape watching you walk in his direction after thanking the worker in the booth, the chilled wind stung his face. "-I-I am surprised to see you here!"

"I'm surprised to see me here too." You mumbled, still salty from this morning.

You had finished your patrol shift, ready to head home and crash but the Collocate app denied your attempt to clock out, a moment later you received a call, the director of the HC requested your presence here at the Sapporo Snow Festival, the director wanted extra manpower due to a bunch of the council members from both the HPSC and the HC judging the ice sculptor contest taking place in the early afternoon.

The five heroes stuck on night duty objected to this, claiming there were enough heroes already assigned to guard Sapporo which had been broken into zones, each zone had over five heroes patrolling.

The director didn't want to hear any argument, she ordered you and the other four to head over so here you stood after getting your badge from the sign-in booth; every worker needed an ID to freely walk around today.

With stinging eyes burning from the lack of sleep and a head filled with static you joined Midoriya and Kaminari's side.

"Why are you here?" Midoriya questioned, his large green eyes flickered past your shoulder, X-Less walked up.

"We were just told we had to be here." He replied, sizing Midoriya and Kaminari, wondering if these two young heroes were the bunch who refused to rotate patrol shifts, forcing him and you to remain strictly on nights.

"Hm?" Kaminari frowned, "That's odd, since there's plenty of heroes here today."

"I know-" X-Less shrugged, "-that's what we said, I guess they just wanted the best here today-"

"What does that mean-!?" Kaminari sparked.

"Shouldn't you be heading to your zone?" You cut in, knowing X-Less had a distaste for the day heroes.

"Yeah-Yeah." The eye-gun hero waved you off, flinging his red cage letting the breeze catch it as he stomped away.

"Is he ok-?" Midoriya wondered.

"He's just tired." You replied, nodding over to the scene behind you. "What's going on over there?"

"Oh nothing-!" Kaminari proudly puffed his chest. "-a store owner pointed him out for suspicious activity, when Midoriya and I went to question him, he bolted, we caught him in four minutes!" Kaminari brushed his shoulder, "It was nothing-"

"Did you find it?" An alto voice caused you to glance over your shoulder, where a four-foot something woman stood behind you. Her gray hair pulled into a bun while she was bundled in winter clothes.

"Excuse me?" Midoriya blinked, "Can we help you ma'am?"

"Did you find my purse?" She repeated the question.

"Your purse?" Kaminari turned to Midoriya, reflecting his confusion on his zone partner.

"That hoodlum-" The elder woman points to the scruffy man struggling against the police. "-stole my bag, my son told you!"

You turned to Midoriya and Kaminari, who went ghostly white.

"Please-!" The woman pleads, "-you have to recover my purse, all my money for my medication is in there!"

"You kept all your money in one bad?" You raised an eyebrow, "And took said bag out on one of the busiest days-?"

"I was going to buy my medication!" The woman defends, shooting you a sharp glare before turning to the greenette, who resembled a neglected puppy dog. "Please, if you don't find it, we won't be able to afford my medication this month!"

"Don't worry-!" Midoriya promised to find this magical bag, you watched him and Kaminari jog over, stopping the police from hauling the man away. You furrowed your brows, scanning over the dishelmed man, a sense of familiarity filled you.

You knew this man...how did you know him?

"Please-" Midoriya guide the sweet elder woman to a nearby bench. "-just remain here until we return, we are going to find your bag!"

"You're such a sweet boy."

"It-It's the least I can do." Midoriya's kindness was giving you indigestion, you rolled your eyes, but seeing how you were standing in your zone already, you didn't feel a need to begin patrolling right away, the morning heroes could pull the weight for a while.

"(y/n) are you ok?"

"Hm?" You looked away from the man being shoved into a patrol car. "Yeah, why?"

"Come on." Midoriya waved.

"Um-" You popped your lips, "-what?"

"Kaminari and I chased the villain over the course of two blocks, he is going to check one out while we do the other."

"Uh..." You craned your neck; the elder woman was watching you with wide innocent eyes. "...you two can't handle checking-"

"Is everything alright?" The elder called.

"Yes, everything is fine!" Midoriya waved her worries away while taking a gentle hold of your forearm, pulling you in the direction of the second block.

"Volunteering me for things now?" You hummed, walking beside the greenette who jolted, sweat instantly began to form.

"N-No I-I didn't mean to-!" He raised his hands in defense. "-I swear, I just thought that maybe...we could you know...patrol together...like we used to do."

"I guess I'll let it slide-" You smirked, "-but you owe me a coffee after this."

"Deal." Midoriya sheepishly grinned.

Traveling back to where Midoriya and Kaminari gave chase didn't take long, on the way you studied the exquisite houses.

"You said the shop where the man warned you was around here?"

"Uh, yeah why?"

"No reason." You shook your head, it seemed odd how this elderly woman had a store near this busy part of town and yet she is barely making ends meet, something didn't feel right. You shook your head, you were just overthinking, you were overly tired, and your senses were off.

Not everyone was a villain, too many years of this line of work and you start finding the bad in everything.

"Is there any word on when you'll be returning to first shift?" Midoriya filled the space between you, unable to allow it to remain still, he always felt uncomfortable with the silence.

"No." You hummed; sleep burned in one eye. "Every time we try to say something it's always the same excuse. We are in a hero shortage right now; they are working effortlessly to bring more heroes onto the night crew-" You mocked.

"Why don't they start a rotation?" Midoriya suggested.

"They tried that." You replied, turning to your stepbrother you smirked. "I don't think I could picture you or Katsuki working the night shift."

"No?" Midoriya chuckled, "I guess I couldn't picture Kacchan getting up in the evening, that's usually when he goes to bed."

"Yeah." You nod.

"But I think he would get bored."

"Huh?" You turn, surprised by the reply.

"Yeah-" Midoriya chuckles, "-with the large number of heroes working at night due to the higher crime rate, I am sure Kacchan would get bored having nothing to do-"

"What are you talking about?" You butted in. "Who told you there were a lot of heroes at night?"

"The agency said this-?"

"That was a lie Izuku-" You breathed, staring into his green eyes. "-the rumor was spread months ago to scare villains into not creeping out at night."

"Why-?"

"How many people do you think we have?"

"I don't know...like twenty?"

You scoffed, sucking in a breath to muffle your laughter. If only you had twenty heroes to rotate through.

"Izuku..." You turned back to him. "...the five of us that showed up late today..."

"Yeah?"

"That's all we got."

"Wh-What!?" Midoriya gasped, "How-How!?"

"Hero shortage." You shrugged.

"But-But that's insane, how on earth-!?"

"The district is divided into different sections than what your use to in the morning." You breathed, "Then we are each assigned a section."

"But for only five of you that's...that's a lot of ground to cover in just one night!"

"It is." You nod, "It's exhausting."

"Why hasn't the HPSC and the Hero Core gotten involved!?" Midoriya questioned. "Why aren't the day heroes being pulled to the night-"

"The HC tried." You answered, "But they were told no."

"No?"

"Every day hero declined rotating the night shift."

"But...I-I was never-"

"Izuku-" You breathed, not in the mood to have this conversation, you couldn't be mad at your friends and fellow heroes for not wanting to work at night, it was a shitty schedule...but when you're being honest with yourself, you wished just a few of them would pick up one or two days a week, give you and the other four heroes a moment to catch your breath.

"What do you do when one of you gets a night off?"

"A night off?" You laughed, "Izuku we don't get nights off, the only reason I had those days off was due to the plane crash, and even then, I returned early because the others were getting their asses kicked."

"You...you guys don't...why don't I know about this!?"

"I assumed you did." You pointed to the upcoming corner, signaling for Midoriya—who wasn't watching where he was going—to turn.

"No!" Midoriya frantically shook his head. "I didn't know there was a hero shortage for the night staff, I-I would have agreed to take shifts, and I am sure the others would have too! Have you tried talking to All Might, maybe he could pull some strings to get you back on the-"

"I am not going to send my father to fight my battles." You rolled your eyes. "I'm not that type of person."

"I know you're not..."

"The HC says it'll only be a few more weeks..." You muttered, eyes falling to the sidewalk. "...and I need that to be true."

"(y/n)?" As Midoriya examined you, you felt his perturbation.

"I don't got much in me left Izuku." You breathed looking into his eyes. "And I know the others don't either."

"I didn't know it was this bad..." Midoriya stopped walking, lightly touching your shoulder. "...why didn't you tell me?" You two stood in the middle of the street, having walked into a cul-de-sac, only a handful of booths stood around you.

"Our schedules are opposite Izuku-" You sighed, "-when I'm awake everyone is asleep and vice versa, I'm not going to call you up in the middle of the night whining about my shit."

"But you can-!" Midoriya stressed, "-and you should because we are family, that's what family does!"

"I know..."

"I'm worried (y/n)-" Midoriya exhales, "-you look tired-"

"Oh, gee thanks." You glared, maybe if you got a full eight hours of sleep and breakfast you would look half as refreshed as Midoriya did.

"That-That isn't what I meant-!" The greenette defended.

'Beep'

You furrowed your brows, turning from your frantic rambling brother.

'Beep'

"Do you hear that?" You cut Midoriya off, he blinked staring at you before turning, sharpening his hearing trying to catch the mystery sound.

----

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peak of Variance!

Variance is one of the monthly stories I write for Patreon, January is about to be posted. These stories are promised to only be found here, which is why I will not post the completed story, people asked for the speak peak just to see what they would be getting on top of the main story, should they become a Patreon.

You can find the completed story here:

patreon.com/CherryBlossom402

Chapters for Mine drops soon!

Until then,

Stay Calm and Jommy on!

Sarah 🌸