Hello everyone! This fic was inspired by min-min-minnie's art on Tumblr of future pro hero Deku. I mean, what a dream boat. Combined with the ideas of your standard flower shop AU, this little fic sprung forth. Enjoy!


We've all had crushes that just couldn't be helped before. Or well, maybe helpless is a better way to put it. You know the kind— they're way out of your league, you've never even spoken to them, and you can't get them out of your brain no matter how many times you try. You've been there before, right? Maybe with that popular guy in your math class or even your favorite celebrity.

But trust me, this is much worse. Why? Well, you try having a crush on the number one pro hero and not go mad.

It was impossible. It was stupid. He was gorgeous and kind and amazing and smart. Asagao hated it.

Maybe it made things worse that literally every other twenty-something in Japan (if not the whole world) also had a thing for Deku. But who wouldn't with those strong arms, bright eyes, and smile that could light up the worst moments of people's lives?

He drew you in. He drew everyone in. There was always some new rumor to be heard: was he dating his high school sweetheart, Uravity? Was his smile a little friendlier than usual toward his new sidekick? He'd gone out to that new boba place with Froppy a few days ago— were they a thing?

The tabloids ate it up, as did the people, present company included.

'Nope, won't do it,' Asa told herself. The magazine on the rack held promises of new salacious details on Deku's secret romance. It was tempting, but not what she came here for.

After staring at the enticing picture for one second too many (how did the photographers always manage to catch him shirtless?), Asagao turned her attention to the wedding magazines section. She picked up the latest ones, stacked them neatly into the crook of her arm, and forced herself to leave. If she stayed any longer, her hand would've picked up the Deku magazine without her realizing it.

As she walked up to the front of the store to pay, more magazines flashed his face all around her. She distracted herself by twirling her brown locks with her finger and looking down at what she'd collected. She flipped open to the pages on flower arrangements, then fought back a groan.

'Why is it always hydrangeas?' she internally grumbled. Hydrangeas were much more finicky than other flowers. All the petals drove her quirk crazier than usual. But alas, she had a reputation to uphold. Her arrangements had become popular because she kept up with the times, not because she fussed over which flowers were harder to make than others.

As the line to the cash register slowly shuffled forward, Asa's mind drifted to her schedule for the day. Her first bride-to-be was coming in at eleven, followed by one on the hour each hour until five. She might have a small break around three, since she knew that appointment was just another double-check on the color schemes, so it shouldn't take as long as the other consultations. She could probably get one of her girls to cover if she needed to take a break. They wouldn't be able to tend to her flowers like she did— they just didn't have the quirk for it. She knew they'd manage, though.

When she finally reached the cashier, Asa's light violet eyes caught sight of the same magazine yet again. She must have stared at it for too long, because she soon heard the sound of the attendant chuckling.

"Haven't read it yet?" they asked.

Asa jumped. "I'm sorry?"

The woman, maybe in her late forties, shook her head in amusement. "Every girl your age has been snatching it up like crazy. Every magazine is 'Deku-this, Deku-that' these days. If you ask me, I think it's all nonsense, but hey, it sells."

Asa nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah…yeah they do."

She missed the almost pitying smile the woman was giving her now. "Ah, but that's celebrities for you— always have everyone chasing after them. That'll be fifteen fifty-two, please."

The flower shop owner handed over her card, and moments later was waving goodbye, her fingers still itching to grab the tabloid as she left.

If there was one word Asa could use to express her feelings about her crush on Deku, it was annoying. She remembered how it first felt— seeing him on the news and being in awe. She was eighteen, and he was twenty. He had just saved at least fifty people from an office building on fire, and instead of stopping to answer the reporter's incessant questions, he'd just smiled and waved before he took off back into the building. She could remember the way her heart swooned like it was yesterday.

It hadn't taken long for her crush to grow, and it had continued to do so steadily ever since. Asa would admit she had more than a few of his merchandise items, but she only ever wore them in her apartment. After all, it would be a little weird for a twenty two year old business owner to wear a green Deku onesie in her shop.

Yeah, four years was a long time for a heart to chase after something— someone— impossible. She knew she should give it up. That's why she was trying her best to no longer buy all those stupid magazines. The lady at the store was probably right when she said they only contained garbage. For someone so bright in the spotlight, Deku was also rather private. The likelihood that anyone had anything figured out about his love life was next to zero.

Asa shook her head. Great, she was thinking about him. Again. She wanted to curse that first news story that drew her in. Maybe if she hadn't watched it, she wouldn't have wasted time fantasizing so much the last few years.

At least the rest of her walk to the store was peaceful. It was a rather quiet morning for Tokyo. Spring was slowly fading into summer, bringing some much needed warmth. While she could tend to her flowers easily, the extra sunlight was always helpful.

She turned the street corner, and a pastel pink building front popped out on the horizon. A smile made its way onto Asa's face. Work would be good for her today. It would distract her from all these useless thoughts about a man whose beautiful green eyes she would never get to see up close.

'I really am a lost cause,' she groaned.

When she arrived at her shop's doorstep, she was pleasantly surprised to see that the lights had already been turned on. She walked through the door, and the little bell above jingled.

"I'll be with you in a second!" came the call from the back storeroom.

Asa laughed, "It's just me, Akari!"

The college student popped out from behind a door. "Ah! Hi, Asa-san!"

"Morning," the shop owner replied. She set her stuff on the counter, spreading the bridal magazines out for samples. "New stuff to look at. Anyone in so far?"

Akari hopped over, her eyes glittering with excitement (or her quirk, sometimes it was hard to tell). "Oh wow! I love hydrangeas!" she squealed. Asa rolled her eyes, and Akari's cheer suddenly turned to faux disgust. "I mean…ugh, darn, they're so difficult! Oh no!"

Asa couldn't help but snort as she made her way around the counter. "Ha ha, very funny. I'll just have to make time for extra. You have the register?"

The slightly younger woman nodded her head enthusiastically, pink hair flying. "You go do your thing! I'll let you know if I need help."

With a thumbs up, Asa moved toward the back room. As soon as she walked in and shut the door, she sighed happily. All around her were rows and rows of her flowers, each one happily drinking up the sunlight pouring in through the glass ceiling.

"Hello, darlings," Asa greeted. "How is everyone today?" A contented musical hum began to stir through the flowers, making her grin. "Excellent! Glad to hear it. Anyone needing help?"

A sad ping whispered to her from the back of the room. Asa made her way toward it, all the while humming softly. Her music mingled with that of the flowers, caressing each petal gently. She sensed them perk up a bit more.

When Asa arrived at the flower in need, she tsked. "Always you, Miss Daisy," she sighed. "What is it with your petals this year?"

The little flower keened mournfully, almost like a whimper. Asa leaned down and hummed louder. She watched as the daisy's dull yellow center began to brighten, followed quickly by the white petals stretching out toward her. She gave in to the silent request and tickled the flower's stem.

A giggle came from it, and she smiled. "There you go, girl. Better?" She received a flit of warmth in response.

Satisfied with her troublesome daisy (which honestly, it might just have wanted attention and had been feigning illness, wouldn't be the first time), Asa moved on to the rest of the group. She wandered through the greenhouse row by row, humming soothingly and ensuring that all was well. Thirty minutes later, Asa finally exited the greenhouse and went back up to the front. She needed to refuel her quirk, not to mention get ready for her first client of the day.

Akari looked back as soon as she heard the door open behind the counter. "Everyone okay?"

Asa nodded and began to check on the flowers she had on display. "Daisy's throwing a fit again, but she'll be alright. Anyone come in so far?"

"A few orders for next week," Akari shrugged. "Nothing I couldn't handle. I'm gonna miss this place after graduation," she sighed.

After humming to a few slightly wilted roses, Asa shook her head. "You know you're always welcome back here. You can even keep up a few shifts if you can't find a job immediately."

The college girl perked up. "You're just the best boss ever, you know that?" she beamed.

The shopkeeper shrugged. "I know it's tough out there, and you've been a hard worker. It's going to be difficult to find someone to replace you once you're gone."

"Who knows, maybe I'll go into business with you?" Akari suggested. "Split it forty-nine, fifty-one so you still have the control. What do you think?"

Asa laughed, "You come up with the capital, and we'll see."

As per usual, the day passed in a flurry of flowers and flustered fiancée's. Asa couldn't complain. Sure, she had a completely useless crush on the number one hero, but that didn't make her bitter about helping other women get ready for their big day. If anything, it was soothing. Using her quirk, something she had thought was rather useless as a child, was therapeutic. Plus, it did help that her quirk made her own of one of the most popular flower shops in Tokyo. Having flowers that lasted longer than anyone else's had its advantages.

It was tiring, however. Keeping her quirk refueled by eating ridiculous amounts of fresh produce was a pain, and when the final bubbly bride-to-be left her shop at six, Asa was exhausted. That break at three hadn't been able to happen— a massive family looking to surprise their mother for her birthday had filed in, each sibling having a request more ridiculous than the other.

Her brain foggy from overusing her quirk, Asa slipped into the back room to grab an apple from her supply. That should hold her over for the walk home, at least, and give her enough energy to lock up the store. Akari had already gone home an hour ago, anyways, so it wasn't like she had much of a choice.

She flopped down on a chair next to a patch of lilies, munching on her apple slowly. 'I just want to go home, eat a salad the size of a bush, and rewatch Deku interviews,' she thought. It took a few moments before she realized where her mind had wound up, and Asa slapped herself lightly. No more dangerous impossible crush thoughts. She had to stop it. It'd been four years. Let. It. Go.

Thankfully, the sound of the bell at the front of the door caught her mind's attention before it could wander again.

"Crap, I forgot to change the sign to closed," she muttered. Better go see who it was— a customer was a customer, after all. It'd be stupid of her to ignore a source of financial income.

Making sure the last bite of her apple had been swallowed, Asa threw the core into a trashcan and wiped her sticky hands on her jeans. Stupid apples and their juice. She'd just have to avoid shaking the customer's hand.

Asa let out a sigh as she stood and made her way to the door. She could do this. Sure she was tired, but she could put on a smile. Just one more customer, and she'd be done for the day.

Determination set in her mind, Asa pushed the door open and—

She swore her heart stopped.

There in the middle of the room, looking far too natural amidst the sea of greenery that was her shop, stood none other than the number one pro hero of her dreams.

Deku was looking around curiously, his eyes flitting around from one arrangement to the next, seemingly regarding them with appreciation. His hands were in the pockets of his pants— light grey slacks that fit him far too well. He was wearing a navy blue sweater, one she instantly recognized as being from the Ingenium apparel line, and red sneakers that featured the all too obvious "R.R." on the sides.

His attention then landed on her, and like the angel she'd always heard he was, he smiled brightly. "Oh, hey there! Are you the owner? I was hoping to buy a bouquet, and I heard this was the best place to come!"

Nope. Nope. This wasn't happening. She wasn't seeing him. She was just tired, her quirk was worn out, and she was imagining things. Nope. Not today.

But then he was wandering over to one of her best arrangements in the corner near the front window, seemingly not bothered by her lack of a response. "I think I like this one a lot. How long would it take to have it made?"

The normalcy of the question seemed to snap Asa out of her daze. "Oh, the chrysanthemums? Just a few minutes. They can be a little temperamental, but I can make it quick."

His smile brightened even more. How was that possible? He was shining like the sun? Is that part of his quirk? Were his eyes sparkling? What was happening?

"That'd be perfect!" Deku said. "I like these colors as they are, unless you have any other options you could show me."

He was walking toward the counter now, the bouquet in hand. Was her heart racing? Was it hot in here? Was she even breathing? Oh gosh, he was right in front of her.

Deku laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. "I don't really know much about flowers, so I'll take the expert's advice."

She blinked. Right. Her. That was her. She was the expert. He was the customer. Okay. Right. Yes. Nope. Nope this was still weird.

Asa swore she could hear all the flowers around her snickering. It seemed to do the trick to bring her back to reality.

"Well, that color combination is really popular for this time of year, but I can always do anything else you like."

Wow, how was her voice so steady?

Asa reached for a binder beneath the counter, bringing it up and flipping to the page featuring chrysanthemums. "I have all of these colors available, and I can add anything else you see in the book and just calculate the cost from there."

Was this happening? Was she really speaking with Deku, the number one pro hero, about flowers? Seriously?

Why yes she was, as evident by how he was now humming and tapping a finger to his mouth. "I like the pink ones…maybe do those instead of the orange, so then it's the yellow and the pink. What do you have that's green that we could add?"

An amused laugh slipped out before she could stop it. "There are green chrysanthemums, too—" she pointed. "Right there, bottom of the page."

"Whoops, didn't see that," Deku chuckled. Were his cheeks a little flushed? Maybe it was warm in here. She should go check the thermostat.

He stared at the page for at least another minute in silence (the loudest silence Asa had ever heard in her life, what with all her flowers taunting her) before he looked up and grinned awkwardly. "May I defer to your opinion again?"

"Mm, hypericum berries come in green," she suggested, and wow this was really happening like she was flipping through to another page to show Deku (Deku!) her greenery selection and this was totally normal yup normal, normal as normal could be.

"Those are perfect!" he nodded excitedly. "Those, let's do those."

With the numbers for pricing already running through her head, Asa snapped the binder shut and started back toward the greenhouse. "I'll go put it together— feel free to look around! I'll be back in about five minutes."

Deku smiled. She swore she was going to go blind. "Thanks!"

Asa smiled back politely, walked through the door, and immediately fell back against the wall.

Nope. Nu-huh. This wasn't happening. Things like this didn't happen. She was about to put together a flower arrangement. For Deku. Deku. Deku.

'Breathe,' she told herself. 'Just get it done. Get the flowers. Make them pretty. Get the money. Go home. Eat. Fall asleep. Pretend this didn't happen.'

Yeah, yeah she could do that.

Asa set about her work in a daze, ignoring all the teasing from her flowers as she walked by. They clearly knew something was up— it was obvious by the weird, out of tune song she was humming. But she ignored them all, gathering the very best of her chrysanthemums and hypericum berries into her prettiest paper wrapping because of course she was going to choose the very best and no she was not going to charge him extra for it.

Once a silk ribbon had been tied around the neck of the flowers, Asa huffed out a breath. Go back in there. Give him the flowers. Be done for the day. She could do this. She was a capable adult human being.

Asa stared at the door. Crap this was hard.

After one more deep breath, she passed through to the shop.

He was still there. This time, he was investigating a different, much more complex arrangement filled with orchids and baby's-breath. She also noted that he had set the original bouquet back in its proper place.

The sound of the back room door got his attention, though, and he looked over at her with those stupidly stunning green eyes again. Her heart skipped a beat.

"Oh wow!" he laughed breathlessly, practically running up to the counter. "It's beautiful! Thank you so much, it's perfect!"

What were words? She didn't know. She didn't have any right now.

Asa started to hand the flowers over, but froze the second before his fingers brushed the paper. "Wait! Oh, sorry, forgot the last step—"

This was it. She needed to do it now, or else she knew what would happen. The moment the flowers passed from her care to someone else's, the life force between them began to fade. She had to give them one final push.

She'd never felt so embarrassed to do her job in her entire career.

Deku was blinking at her curiously, but he stepped back to give her space. She managed probably the most awkward smile of her life before she lifted her hand. Asa let her fingers trail gently over each petal, humming softly to herself as she did. Her face felt bright red— she suddenly remembered how uncomfortable it used to make her the first few times she did this in front of customers. She'd gotten over that quickly, but now, with Deku's eyes on her, suddenly her quirk felt incredibly silly.

When Asa was finished, she didn't dare look at him, opting to hand the bouquet over as quickly as possible and immediately turn her attention to the register. "Those will last as is for about two weeks, give or take a few days based on the conditions they're in," she told him like he was just any other customer, which he was, but no he wasn't. "It'll be forty-five twenty-eight."

She forced herself to look up at him and watched as he fumbled around with the bouquet, tucking it in the crook of his arm as he reached into his pocket for his wallet. Asa made sure their fingers didn't touch when he handed over a credit card. She didn't think her heart could take it, especially with how Deku was looking at her with his head tilted curiously.

"So I'm guessing some sort of gardening quirk?" he asked. When Asa blinked at him, he put his hands up. "I-I mean, you don't have to tell me, I just like studying different quirks a lot, and I haven't really run into anyone with yours before. Well, there was this one girl in school with vines for hair, but I don't remember her having any powers related to flowers."

Asa blinked again. Wow, so he really was like that. She'd read about how much Deku loved quirks— she even knew about some of the research he'd assisted in at I-Island. Still, it was…well she didn't know what it was like to be on the receiving end of it. Honestly she still wasn't even sure if she was breathing.

"It's called Flower Talk," she found herself replying as she ran the transaction. "It's one of those quirks that kinda seems useless at first, but starting this business is really the best thing I could've ever asked for." Along with you walking in here.

Deku grinned and shook his head. "I don't think it's useless at all! Every quirk is good for something, and it's awesome that you're using it like this! I'm sure you get to make so many people happy with your flowers, and that's really something special."

…how was she not on the floor right now?

Maybe he sensed how overwhelmed his compliment had made her, because he took his credit card back from her frozen hand and chuckled awkwardly. "Anyways, sorry to bother you right as the store was about to close. I really appreciate it."

"I-It's no problem!" Asa stammered. "No problem at all, really! I'd be an idiot if I turned away the number one pro hero."

CRAP.

DANG IT.

NO.

She'd let it slip. She'd let it slip, and now she looked like a total fangirl. Which, yes, she was, and yes, he probably also assumed that everybody recognized him, but uggghhhh she'd wanted this to be normal! As normal as normal could be!

Asa didn't know what she expected— for him to frown, walk out without another word, sigh, something.

But no, he didn't do any of those things. Instead, Deku just smiled even more. "You didn't know it was me when I walked in, though, so I still appreciate it, ah…Nakano-san, is it?"

Hearing her name come from his lips made her jump. How did he—? Right. The sign out front. Her shop was named after her. Get it together, Asagao.

Asa managed a nod. "Nakano Asagao. Nice to meet you."

He bowed a little. "Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you, too, Nakano-san!"

"Yeah, I kinda know who you are," she blurted before she could stop herself.

"Yeah, I figured," Deku laughed, and he was scratching the back of his head again. Did he not realize how cute it was when he did that? Are they still talking? Why are they still talking? "But it'd be rude of me to not introduce myself," he shrugged.

He was moving away from her now, heading toward the exit. Deku stopped just before the door and turned back to wave. "Thank you again!" he called out with that never ending smile. "The flowers are just what I needed!"

And with the tinkling of the shop bell, he was gone.

Asa wasn't sure how long she stood there. She only remembers whispering to an empty room, "...what the crap?"


Hope you liked it! I do have this planned out for more chapters, so there will be plenty of fluff, fangirl angst, and appearances from your favorite BNHA characters along the way. Leave a review, if you please!