🦋 y/n's POV 🦋

"ms.(l/n)," called my boss, "these are the heroes you'll be interviewing today."

just as i was finishing up writing down my questions behind my desk, i quickly stood up when i saw my boss entering my office with the pros. i had put on my fanciest and most professional suit i had in my closet for this big meeting and made sure to look my best for my first interview with the heroes. i worked as a journalist for their hero agency, and ironically, i've never met a pro hero in person before. and one by one, they all came inside the room in casual clothing. i looked very overdressed next to them.

"they were once the big three of ua high," my boss stated, "i'm sure you've heard about them before. this is pro hero nejire hado; also known as miss surge."

a woman with pretty periwinkle hair and matching blue eyes greeted me with a wave.

"oh. so you're a journalist? that's so cool!" she rambled, "you know, i've always kinda wanted to be one when i was little. until i later decided to become a hero! and that was when i went to ua and..."

"this is pro hero lemillion," my boss addressed, "he's the one you'll be interviewing first."

beside Miss Surge, a tall, blond and muscular man smiled at me energetically.

"hey! i'm mirio! mirio togata!" he grinned, "Nice to meet you!"

and then, we all turned to the last hero who was yet to be introduced.

"and this," my boss informed, "is suneater. yours truly: tamaki amajiki."

we all waited quietly for him to say something, and suneater slowly raised his head as his eyes still glued to the floor. he held his arm timidly when he spoke, distant and withdrawn.

"h-hey," he mumbled, "i-i'm ama... a-amajiki."

i blinked twice, mindlessly staring at suneater as his friends huddled around him, bewildered.

"see, tamaki? that wasn't so hard now, was it?" lemillion chuckled.

"yeah, amajiki! that was great! you nailed it!" Miss Surge cheered on.

"now that you all introduced yourselves," my boss interrupted, "ms.(l/n) will be interviewing you three for the upcoming hero festival. you're all going to be in the news headline in our paper, so be prepared, heroes."

all of them nodded, and my boss proceeded to turn to me and gave me a scolding, dirty look.

"i expect you to be respectful and act accordingly within their presence, ms.(l/n)."

i admit; i had a bad habit of calling heroes by their real names, and apparently that was a big deal because people address them as their professional names during their work hours. but i simply hated formalities, so i had a history of doing the opposite.

i flinched, smiling awkwardly as i bowed in reverence to the big three.

"yes. of course."

"oh, no need to be so formal!" togata reassured, "you can simply call us by our names when we aren't doing our hero duties, ms.(l/n)! there's no harm done there!"

i exhaled, glad. At least i was able to skip that part easily.

"it's so good to finally meet you, ms.(l/n)! we've heard a lot about you and your work! it's amazing!" hado complimented.

i smiled again. but this time, it was genuine.

"likewise."

"well i'll let you kids get to it, then," my boss said, "and ms.(l/n)! Remember the deadline!"

after they left us, closing the door behind them, i sat back down on my office chair again, sighing. i was a bit worn out from all the piled up work i had, but a part of me was excited to do this particular interview. the big three each took a seat in front of my desk, looking at me as i took out my pens and notebooks to start writing.

"i can't believe i'm actually meeting you three," i fangirled a bit, "you're all everyone's been talking about here in the office. your work's very impressive."

"well i don't know about that," lemillion said as he scratched the back of his neck, flattered, "we're just normal people like the rest of you who do what we think is right. that's all."

i began a light yet fulfilling conversation with both togata and hado, taking notes on their behavior and how well they got along. though suneater was a different story. he'd either avert his gaze down at his feet or look away, staring off into the distance outside the windows. and when his friends tried to make him join the conversation, amajiki would answer in the most simple words possible to avoid talking.

"so how will this work exactly, ms.(l/n)?" hado asked.

"i'll be asking you a bunch of questions about yourselves separately," i explained, "about your jobs and your relationships with other heroes; including between yourselves as the big three."

lemillion and Miss Surge looked at each other, nodding. but suneater was still too shy to speak up or even look at me. so i tried my best to make him feel included.

"suneater," i called out, "i've heard you're a bit reticent when it comes to talking about yourself, or talking about yourself at all. but just know this is a safe place, and it's just going to be you and i talking."

i smiled kindly, trying to be approachable.

"i know it'll be a pleasure working with you," i added.

both of his friends looked at me with dumbfounded expressions while amajiki's eyes locked with mine for the first time since he came inside, parting his trembling lips so he could speak up.

"y-yeah," he agreed, "i-i think so, too..."

~ ❦ ~

after interviewing togata and hado, i waited patiently for suneater to come into my office. it wasn't until a few minutes after lemillion left that he showed up, and when he did, amajiki forcefully dragged his feet against the floor as he sat down on the chair in front of my desk, sluggish.

"hello again, suneater. i hope i didn't keep you waiting too long," i informed, "i got sidetracked with mirio's-"

i paused, refraining myself from finishing my sentence.

"lemillion's," i corrected myself, "and miss surge's interviews."

amajiki kept his head down, staring down at what i assumed were his feet.

"anyways," i said as i cleared my throat, "let's start this meeting, shall we?"

i made sure to be as forthcoming with suneater as possible so he'd be comfortable around me. so i tried my best to be as serene as possible even though i wasn't as calm and collected as i appeared to be. amajiki slowly raised his head and forced himself to look at me in the eye, taking a few glances at a time.

"w-what do you want to know, ms.(l/n)?"

"i don't know," i shrugged, "anything you want to tell me, really. what you like to do in your free time, for instance. or perhaps your experiences in previous missions that you consider to be memorable. things like that."

for the longest time, suneater remained as quiet as a mouse. but i knew he was thinking of what to say because of the way he kept gawking at the ground so intensely.

"i... can't remember any at the moment," was all he said, "S-sorry..."

i flinched, compelling myself to stay calm.

"t-that's all right," i reassured, "there's no rush, mr. amajiki."

"w-wait," he paused, thinking, "n-now that i think about it, this one time i went to fend off these underground villains with fatgum and red riot... a-and they had these really dangerous quirks... a-and, um... i-i..."

i was ready to write all of that on my notes, but when suneater stopped talking i raised my look up to see what was wrong. and amajiki was shaking like a leaf; so much so that i could visibly see his anxiety overwhelm him.

"o-oh no. i-i'm sorry. i-i'm mumbling again, aren't I?" he apologized right away, "i-it's all my fault. i-i'm wasting your time, ms. (l/n)... m-my life's just boring..."

"no, no. don't say that," i cheered up, "don't worry, suneater. take your time. we have all of the time in the world for your interview."

i smiled in a friendly manner as amajiki went out of focus again, anxious. even though that was a blatant lie, i tried my best to keep things going. My boss wanted those notes passed digitally by tomorrow morning, so i heavily counted on suneater to keep me from losing my job.

"i-i just... can't put much of what i think into words," he explained, "i-i can't even form full sentences most of the time. t-that's why i tend to stay quiet so i don't waste anyone's time with my mutters..."

suneater looked up at me for the second time, and slowly, i was getting through to him.

"y-you're being really patient with me, even though my anxiety's taking over, ms. (l/n). m-most people would get annoyed at me for mumbling too much..."

amajiki winced in place, clenching his own hands tightly.

"o-oh, no. i-i'm doing it again, aren't I? i-i'm sorry..."

i shook my head, relaxing my arms over my desk after i placed my pens and notes down.

"no. not at all. my job is to listen to other people talk about their lives. Besides..."

i rested my chin on the palm of my hand and smiled at amajiki.

"out of the big three, you're the one who i wanted to interview the most, suneater."

his eyes widened a bit before his cheeks turned bright red, barely noticeable.

"r-really? s-surely you don't mean that..."

"really," i asserted.

suneater quickly looked down once more to avert my gaze afterwards, but i didn't pay any mind to his nervous antics. i simply clicked my blue pen and waited for him to speak again, patient this time.

"now then. Tell me everything about you, mr. amajiki."

suneater twiddled his thumbs around.

"e-everything?"

"everything~" i nodded.

my answer seemed to surprise him, because amajiki stared at me for a bit with a surprised expression until i caught him looking. he was silent for a while, unable to say anything before he suddenly signaled me as if he had remembered something.

"i-i recall," he informed, "the villains from that time tried to rob a bank. t-they carried a lot of money sacks. they tried to escape the police. a-and that was when we intervened... s-so fatgum and i targeted the villains while red riot helped other injured civilians get to safety, a-and..."

i started writing all of that down, but for some reason, amajiki stopped yet again.

"n-no. i-i shouldn't keep talking... i-it's not that interesting, anyways..."

suneater closed his eyes shut, giving up on himself already.

"no, no," i announced, "please, suneater. you seem enthusiastic about it. i'm sure that mission was anything but boring. tell me all about it."

amajiki turned to me, still sitting on the chair as he finally made himself comfortable.

"d-do you really want to know, Ms.(l/n)?"

"of course. i'm all ears~"

my statement threw him off as suneater blankly looked at me with an unamused expression before mumbling.

"w-was that an attempt to point out my long ears?" he trembled, "t-they're weird, aren't they? o-oh God..."

our dynamic was pretty much the same; suneater would freeze on the spot or get nervous, and i'd try to put him at ease. we spent a few minutes like this as i tried my hardest to get information out of amajiki. but eventually i finished asking all of my questions (with barely any details), and i walked with him on his way to the door when we finished.

"thank you for everything, suneater. you and your friends have been a great help for my article."

amajiki glanced at me before turning the knob, opening the door in front of him in the process.

"y-you're welcome, ms.(l/n). i-i hope i was helpful to you even though i kept messing up."

i giggled softly, trying to hide my laughter from him.

"and please," i added, "If we meet again, don't call me ms.(l/n). it's really inconvenient, and i'm not really into formalities."

i scratched the back of my neck, hoping my boss couldn't hear me.

"o-oh, then," suneater inquired, "w-what's your name?"

my smile made me close my eyes, trying to appear as kind as possible.

"(y/n)."

and when i reopened them, amajiki was already looking down, and his cheeks turned bright red again.

"(y/n)," he repeated, "t-then... c-call me by my name, too."

i didn't expect suneater to be casual with me back. i was hesitant to say his name at first, but i gave in.

"tamaki..." i paused, thinking, "it's got a nice ring to it. i like it."

though when i thought amajiki was about to leave, he pulled himself inside again with his hand still clinging on the door.

"m-ms.(y/n)?" he stuttered, "e-even though our time together here was short, um..."

suneater gripped the door firmly and his face got all wrinkly as if he was forcing himself to speak up.

"i-is it possible that you and i could..."

but he stopped himself from finishing.

"n-nevermind. g-goodbye, ms.(y/n)."

i knew amajiki wanted to say something, but his visible anxiety prevented him from expressing himself like he wanted to. so before he was able to leave, i pulled the door open.

"hey, tamaki. are you free tomorrow morning?" i asked, "how about we grab some coffee so we can get to know each other better? my treat~"

suneater looked up, and i saw a faint glimmer light up within his indigo orbs when i offered him to go out. and that really seemed to brighten up his spirits, and his entire face. for the first time, i was able to see amajiki's facial features and noticed right away how attractive he was up close. If it wasn't for his shyness making suneater look down all the time, then others would definitely see how strangely captivating he was. i was completely mesmerized and baffled at the same time.

"y-you really think so?"

i snapped out of my own trance and quickly nodded, smiling at tamaki one last time before he left. My heart started beating a bit faster when we locked eyes, and i couldn't understand why. i had only met suneater for the time that day, and somehow he had charmed me with his good looks! but even when amajiki walked outside the room, he kept looking directly at me, and i tried my best to hide my own jitters.

"see you tomorrow, tamaki."

"y-yeah. s-see you," he mumbled, "(y/n)..."