Beep Beep Beep
is a My Hero Academia AU fanfic written by izupie and published on Archive of Our Own between 2018 and 2019, with an epilogue in 2021. The story is a romance set in the modern day with no sci-fi elements, focusing on paramedic Izuku Midoriya and barista Ochako Uraraka, who live in an apartment building one floor apart. The two are brought together one morning by a broken alarm clock.
Beep Beep Beep provides examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: After Ochako finally comes clean to Izuku about the real reason she was outside his apartment the morning they met, both start going out of their way to apologise for letting things get to this point, until Ochako starts Holding in Laughter at the realisation that this is exactly how she'd predicted/hoped the conversation would go: "that they were just going to end up apologising back and forth like idiots". In turn, Izuku starts to have the same reaction, causing Ochako to lose control.Ochako: [barely managing to speak between giggles] We are… so weird… I can’t believe… we’ve found each other.
Izuku burst out with a force of laughter at that and Ochako couldn’t hold her own in any longer. They laughed until they were both gasping for breath. Ochako waved her hands frantically in the air as she tried to get her breath back, while Izuku clutched his stomach and wheezed, the sound was loud and raucous and full of joy and something deeper than affection and friendship.
Izuku: I-I think we might be perfect for each other. - Adaptational Mundanity: This is a normal modern world with no quirks or superheroes, though quite a few easter egg references to canon quirks are sprinkled throughout.
- Age Lift: The main cast are employed adults rather than teenage students.
- The Cameo: A few supporting characters from the manga appear in slightly oblique cameos, one case being the driver of the grape juice truck that caused Ochako's accident, an obvious reference to Minoru Mineta.
- Coffee Shop AU: Downplayed: Ochako works in a coffee shop, but she doesn't meet Izuku there, and he only visits the shop once during the climax to ask her out.
- Contrived Coincidence: Chapter 3 has Izuku and Denki responding to an emergency call at a school and meeting Momo, who not only turns out to be a friend of Ochako, but has a framed photo including on her desk, which Izuku notices.
- Crush Blush: Ochako and Izuku are both prone to it.
- Doctor Jerk: Katsuki Bakugo and Enji Todoroki, for largely similar reasons to canon.
- The Ghost:
- Toru Hagakure is mentioned to be part of Ochako's Dungeons & Dragons group, but she doesn't make an appearance.
Mina' Oh, nearly forgot, Toru’s going to be a no-show again tonight.
Ochako: Again? I swear I never get to see her anymore.- The unseen owner of Mina and Ochako's coffee shop is all but stated to be Anan Kurose, the main clue we get being that she's opened thirteen cafes before, at least one of which is space-themed.
- Kitschy Themed Restaurant: Mina and Ochako work in a space-themed cafe called Zero Gravity. Mina's uniform is alien-themed, while Ochako's makes her look like an astronaut.
- Meet Cute: The story is kicked off when Ochako is woken up at 5am one too many times by Izuku's obnoxiously loud alarm clock and walks downstairs to confront him over it, only to get knocked over by him suddenly opening his door. Izuku insists on bringing her inside to take care of her twisted ankle, an act of kindness that deflates Ochako's anger and prevents her from bringing up the clock. Mina later describes this as "like something out of a cheesy romance novel".
- Meet the In-Laws: The epilogue chapter has Izuku traveling to Ochako's hometown to meet her parents, complete with her mother asking about how they met.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed, but Izuku really feels guilty when he finds out just how much he was unwittingly hurting Ochako by not replacing his clock as soon as he knew the volume control was broken.
- Nepotism: Shouto Todoroki is the hospital's Chief of Surgery, obviously thanks to his father, and no one hates this fact more than he does.
- Non Sequitur, *Thud*: Ochako briefly wakes up after her accident, sees Izuku standing there and mentions needing to tell him about an alarm, before falling unconscious again. Of course, in context, it isn't quite a non sequitur, but Izuku doesn't know that yet.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Shortly after their Relationship Upgrade, Izuku mentions how lucky he feels that Ochako was sleepwalking by his door that morning, reminding Ochako that she still needs to tell him the truth about that.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Izuku using a bag of frozen peas as a makeshift icepack on Ochako's ankle comes up several times, mostly because of his own embarrassment about not having an actual icepack on hand despite being a paramedic.
- Right Behind Me: Mina stops by Ochako's apartment to ask her how things went with her "cute paramedic", before interpreting her reaction as distress about being stood up. It's only when she walks into the room and notices a green-haired, green-eyed man sitting at her table in a paramedic uniform that she gets it.
- Selective Obliviousness: Izuku had been failing to notice how painfully loud his alarm was because he only ever heard it while he was waking up. When it goes off while he's completely awake and alert, he starts to worry about whether the noise may be travelling through the walls and disturbing his neighbours, which of course Ochako later confirms for him.
- Shipper on Deck: Mina for Izuku and Ochako, to the point of helping Izuku arrange a late-night meeting with her at the cafe so he can ask her out properly.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: After Ochako starts tearing up while apologising for not being honest earlier, Izuku leans forward and kisses her on the lips.
- Sleep Deprivation: Between her being The Night Owl and Izuku's early morning alarm, Ochako has been suffering badly from this by the time the story starts.
- Smash Cut: Chapter 5 ends abruptly in mid-word, as Ochako, going for an early morning jog intending to surprise Izuku at the gym, ends up in a serious accident.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: When Izuku makes an offhand comment in a text message about how his coworkers would react "if they knew I’d nearly knocked out a sleepwalker with my front door", Ochako realises that this is how he's rationalised her appearing outside his apartment, and chooses not to correct him.
- This Explains So Much: Izuku's reaction when Ochako comes clean about his alarm clock. "That’s why you looked like you’d just got out of bed that morning… Why you didn’t tell me why you were there… Why you slept so long in the hospital after your concussion… Why you’ve come back from your hometown looking so much better, because you’ve been getting enough sleep… You’ve been carrying this around with you…"
- Waking Up Elsewhere: After her accident, Ochako wakes up in hospital in Chapter 7 with very little memory of it.
- We Used to Be Friends: Toshinori Yagi and Enji Todoroki were friends up until the hospital's Director retired and offered Toshinori the job. Toshinori declined because he wanted to stick to being a paramedic, but Enji never forgave him for being her first choice.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Nurse Shuzenji calls out both Izuku and Katsuki for an extremely petty and unprofessional argument in the middle of the hospital waiting room.
