Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The world is a cruel place to those that don’t fit the mold of “normal”. Normal doesn’t exist anymore in a society with quirks, but that doesn’t stop the hate and vitriol towards those who people view as “not normal” or an “other” of some kind. Typically, people think of heteromorphs and the quirkless when you hear about quirk discrimination. That’s due to the Creature Rejection Clan and the disdain for the quirkless due to being “unevolved” or seen as weak due to not having some ability. Next, people’s thoughts would be “villainous” quirks, which is a stupid thought to begin with as there is no such thing, since people look down on quirks that are viewed as such either out of fear or hate. They discriminate against those people and end up creating a self-fulfilling prophecy where said “villainous” person becomes a villain due to ostracization, rage at the system, or simply to find somewhere where people won’t hate them. While all of those are true, there is another group that is subject to quirk discrimination, although no one thinks of it as such.

Izuku falls into this group, a group treated as predators who everyone thinks is always looking for a meal. He’s used to it by now, but he still hates getting side-eyed by almost everyone as he walks down the halls at school. It’s all either wary glances or disgusted sneers from the ones that acknowledge his presence or look at him. Luckily, he’s not the only one in school that has to deal with this, as there was a girl with a heteromorph spider quirk that suffered from the same glances. He probably shouldn’t think of that situation as “lucky”, but it was someone that understood. They got each other in a way that Katsuki couldn’t help him and they helped each other deal with the scorn and sometimes injuries if someone decided that one of them looked at someone “hungrily”.

The glares and glances felt especially scathing today, considering that he had eaten that morning. He felt like, somehow, everyone who looked at him knew that he had eaten. It’s not like he had to hunt, the Japanese government had allowed the sale and purchasing of specialty needs online sometime during the rise of Pro Heroes. His mom made sure to keep stocked up on what he needs so that way he never has to go hungry or have to look for food himself. She makes sure that he never has to become the monster people think he is just because he has to eat. The glares still hurt and the whispers still reach his ears, though.

Izuku does his best to ignore it and takes his seat in the back of class, sitting in the rear corner closest to the windows so he’s far enough away from everyone else that no one has to worry about what he’ll do. The seat to his right is an empty seat by design so there’s a buffer between him and the rest of the row of seats. The seat in front of him is, as always, already occupied by Katsuki, since the boy shows up at school right as the gates open. Izuku sighs at the blonde’s antics and takes his seat behind the blonde.

“Morning Kacchan.” Izuku mumbles as he sits down, sitting his backpack on the floor to the left side of his desk. As he opens his bag and starts digging around for his school notebooks, hair on the back of his neck stands up and a feeling of being watched washes over his body. As he places his notebooks and a pencil on his desk, he spots Katsuki facing him with an intense and searching stare.

“Who’s ass do I need to kick? Do I need to go find Fujii?” Katsuki asks in a low growl as small pops go off in his hands. Izuku goes rigid in his seat and starts frantically waving his hands in front of him.

“You don’t need to do that! No one did anything. And if I needed to see Asami, I would’ve texted her.” Izuku stammered out quickly as he waved his hands. With a small sigh, he dropped his hands onto his desk and averted his gaze away from Katsuki and down towards his desk. “It’s just the looks, that's all.” Katsuki stayed quiet for a few seconds, likely putting the pieces together, before a small grunt escaped his throat. 

“Well, I’ll let Fujii know you’ll be on the roof during lunch. I know you won’t hang around the cafeteria today, or want me up there for the conversation. If anyone starts shit though, I’ll handle them.” Katsuki growled out the threat before spinning around in his seat and pulling out his phone. Izuku let out a small huff and nodded silently as got ready for the day. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too bad. 

Okay, today was going a little rougher than normal. It had started during homeroom when the teacher had made a show of people needing to finalize their university selections but saying that everyone likely wanted to go to hero schools. Everyone in class started showing off except for Izuku and Katsuki. He didn’t want people to turn on him and he figured Katsuki simply didn’t want to be involved in the scene. The teacher then pointed out that Katsuki wanted to attend U.A. and the class started calling out how hard it was to go. Katsuki, in his infinite wisdom, growled and stood on his desk while creating a few small pops and proclaimed that he’s already aced the mock exams and he’s practically guaranteed a spot in. The teacher then pointed out how Izuku wanted to go too and the class went dead quiet. Even if no one said it, their looks all told Izuku one thing.

‘A hunter is never going to make it as a hero.’

Katsuki’s pops grew in size to small explosions as he stared at the teacher with what must’ve felt like murderous intent. Izuku wanted to hunch in on himself slightly but reached forward anyways to tap on the back of Katsuki’s leg. Katsuki twisted himself to look at Izuku, his explosions stopping and the glare disappearing. Izuku shook his head and motioned for Katsuki to leave it alone, which the boy did after a few seconds with a huff. The class seemed to finally turn away from what was happening and return their gaze to the teacher, who moved on with the day like nothing just happened. 

After that, even though no one said anything, Izuku could feel everyone in class aside from Katsuki judging him, condemning his dream of being a hero. It made his stomach twist into knots and almost made him lose his meal. He can’t spare to do that, his mom dealt with enough because of him. She didn’t need to prepare another meal for him so soon just because he couldn’t deal with other people. 

Now though, he sat on the roof of Aldera High, away from everyone else, waiting for  Asami since Katsuki told her that he’d be up here. Honestly, Katsuki was a little pushy about him talking about things that bother him with someone who understands, but his friend just wanted to make sure he was okay. It was endearing in a way that only Katsuki could manage. The door opening behind him caused Izuku to jump and spin around in fear to see who was there. When he was met by the sight of Asami with a small smile on her face.

Asami was a third year in Aldera, the same as Izuku, but rose above most people due to her quirk, Zephyrarchaea. She was similar in appearance to some depictions of Arachne in Greek mythology, a large spider body making up her lower body with a human upper body coming out of the spot the spider’s head should be. Her spider lower half, like her quirk’s name would suggest, is based off of a kind of pelican spider, specifically a genus found in western Australia. Her spider abdomen was a soft brown and bulbous in appearance with several ridges that almost looked like spikes coming off of it. The hairs coming off of her abdomen were black and added a streaking look to her abdomen that Izuku thought looked really cool. Her legs were longer than you’d expect on a spider and often caused her to look like she was crouched but never was. The coloration and hair from her abdomen follow along to her legs as well. The frontmost pair of legs are angled ahead of her, reminiscent of a pair of weapons poised to strike, which is how it works with the spider her quirk is based off of. Her human half, contrasting the spider half, is lithe and unassuming. You’d never assume that her upper half was just as strong, if not stronger, than her lower half, but that’s thanks to her mutations. Her long black hair is tied up in a ponytail that still falls down to the small of her back and her  gray eyes pierce through anything they look at, studying everything. However, those eyes soften when they land on him.

“Hey there Izuku.” Asami called out from the door, her voice low and soft as she walked out of the door and across the rooftop, her legs tapping against the concrete as she walked. Izuki gave her an awkward smile as he sat back down on the edge of the roof with his feet dangling over the edge. Some might think he’d be scared sitting on an edge like this, but a fall from this height wasn’t too much of a worry like it would be for more.

“Hey Asami.” Izuku called out quietly as he looked back at her from his spot on the edge of the roof. “Sorry if Kacchan said anything mean or improper to get you to come see me. I didn’t want that happening today, but you know how he is.” He let out a small sigh of mock defeat and turned back to look out over Musutafu from his spot on the school roof. The tapping of Asami’s legs made their way up to his left side before it stopped and he saw four legs hang off the roof next to him.

“He didn’t say anything other than, and I quote, ‘The dumbass nerd’s having a shit day from you know what, I’ll tell him to be on the roof so you two can talk about it’.” Asami let out a small laugh after the quote while Izuku groaned at his friend’s antics. Asami set a hand on his shoulder and gave him an understanding look that seemed to pierce through his soul. “You okay?” Izuku sighs and shakes his head, willing himself not to start the waterworks.

“N-no, not really. It feels like everyone knows and I can’t escape it. I can’t change the fact I have to eat it, it’s something I have to do, I just w-wish that I could stop getting all the looks everyone gives me.” A small sniffle rang out as Izuku pulled his legs off the edge, holding them up against his chest. “I wish that I d-didn’t get treated like a monster, even if no one outright says it most days because they’re a-afraid of Kacchan.” He whispered as tears started to fall, which he tried to hide by putting his face against his knees. A hand finds itself on his back, rubbing small circles just beneath his shoulder blades in a comforting manner. The tears start picking up in pace as silent sobs start to wrack through his body, Midoriya waterworks now in full force.

“It’s okay, Izuku. I know it’s hard on you, you’re too sweet to not let something like this bother you. I’m here for you, though, just like you’re here for me. Us hunters have to stick together, y’know? No matter what we deal with, as long as we stick together, we’ll make it through.” Asami mused as the hand rubbing circles in Izuku’s back pulled him into a side hug. Izuku leaned against Asami, crying into his knees as he tried to calm himself down. A small nod is spared for his friend’s statement though, because she was right. They had to stick together because almost no one else would help them and no one else would truly understand. Besides, what’s a little camaraderie between two hunters in a place that hates them? No one was there to see Izuku’s normal green irises turn red anyway during his crying. 

No one that’d call him a cannibal, anyway.

Chapter Text

Izuku kept quiet for the rest of the day, trying not to bother anyone else in class so he didn’t draw attention to himself and gain any possible ire. His talk with Asami on the roof did quite a bit to make him feel better, but it didn’t change the fact that everyone but her and Katsuki judged, feared, or disliked him for existing. He wished he could just escape from all of this already, get away from this school and away from everyone that makes his life miserable in their own ways. The only saving grace was that nothing physical happened today, but that was due to the fact Katsuki had acted like a feral guard dog since they had all come back to class from lunch. Everyone knew not to mess with him or Katsuki when the explosive blonde was like this because it’d only end painfully for them after school. 

Thanks to that, Izuku was able to pack up at the end of the day in peace before ducking out a side door of the school building and hopping over the wall in one bound to end up in an alley behind the school. No one ever came this way when they left the school, so it was a safe place for him to use as a way to start his trek home. Usually, he’d stick around Katsuki and Asami then the three of them would head out to a park to hang out or the library to get a start on their homework together, but today he wanted to walk home and clear his head before he got home. His mom would be able to tell that something was up if he didn’t mentally deal with it before he walked in the apartment and fret over him in a way that she likely thought he didn’t realize, but he did. It was really sweet and he appreciated it a lot, but he didn't like it when she did that for something that couldn’t be helped because all it did was make her worry with no way to alleviate it. That was if she was home at all, but she tended to be at least right when he got back from school. She had enough to worry about with work and trying to keep the two of them afloat. Luckily, they didn’t have much of a grocery cost, but things still piled up with a hiked up rent, normal utilities, and his mom’s student loans that she was still trying to pay off.

The walk out of the alley behind the school was nice and easy like always and it allowed for him to seamlessly slip into the crowd of passersby and random people walking around at this time of day. In the crowd, they were just a high schooler on the commute back home instead of the threat that everyone at school saw them as. It was refreshing in an odd way, being able to simply melt into a crowd instead of standing out for something, whether it was good or bad. There was no pressure or judgment when you were in a crowd, you simply existed alongside other people and went about your business in peace. It felt safe in a very odd way, so long as no one knew what he was.

Izuku politely weaved his way through the crowd while his mind tried to sort through his day and bury the bad away in a place he could deal with it later. Burying or suppressing things like that probably wasn’t healthy, but there wasn’t a therapist out there that they could afford that accepted hunters as patients due to the ‘high risk nature’ of dealing with hunters. He’ll either deal with it later or ignore it until it simply isn’t a problem anymore. That was all he really could do, at least here in a crowd. Maybe he’ll get out of the apartment tonight and head out into the woods to where he and Katsuki practice their quirks. That’d be a great time, actually.

After weaving through the crowd came to be more of a nuisance than a form of escape, Izuku ducked out of the herd of people and strode down one of the many side paths that he knew and practically memorized over the years. It was easier to take all the side streets and alleys during the day so he didn't get wrapped up in some sort of villain attack or stumble upon a fight happening. He’d done that enough when he was younger to learn that getting the information in person wasn’t worth it in the long run. 

The path Izuku was on now, he knew, would end up taking him underneath a somewhat run down footbridge if he kept following it and end up at the meeting back up with the mainroad near one of the larger parks in town. The footbridge itself was still usable, but it wasn’t taken care of at all, be it the infrastructure of the bridge or the cleanliness of the path on top of it. Due to those facts, people usually didn’t bother being around this bridge, both walking on it or underneath it, which meant it was a perfect place to sit and think for a while without having to face other people or having someone walk by while he was potentially muttering. He really didn’t want to explain himself to a stranger or get weird looks for doing that. 

Once he stepped under the footbridge, Izuku let out a loud sigh, slipped his backpack off and set it on the ground next to him as he sat down. Was it really so far-fetched for them to want to become a hero? Was the prejudice so bad that people couldn’t even possibly conceive the idea of a hunter as a hero? Maybe it was just like that here because he’d heard online that it wasn’t as bad in other countries as it was in Japan, but there were also places where it was worse than it was here. Still, it shouldn’t be this out of the world or insane concept, someone like him becoming a hero. It’s not like he was a villain or trying to hurt people, he just wanted to help people. But no, all the people here saw was a hunter and immediately decided his value to and place in society. He’s questioned many times over the years if he should even try or if he should simply give up and stop hoping, and here he was doing it again. Yeah, Katsuki would be pissed at him for a while and Asami might be a little disappointed in him, but maybe the fact there wasn’t a hunter hero yet was a sign. The Commission already kept tabs on them, maybe they didn’t want one to be a hero or work for them in any way. 

A sudden and rapid sloshing sound interrupted his mental conundrum due to the fact it wasn’t the normal sound of running water that went through the sewers near here. This sound was like something semi-solid but still liquid in nature moving around, like how water sloshes around in a water balloon but without the sound of rubber. Whatever it was, it sounded big though, which meant it was likely some sort of liquid bodied person. Unfortunately, the sounds weren’t enough for him to get a guess as to what they were made of. The sloshing sound stopped beneath the grate nearby before slamming into it and blasting the grate away. Izuku quickly scrambled to his feet and reached for his bag, hoping to get away from whatever was coming as it obviously wasn’t friendly. The sloshing sound escaped from the sewers below and was now arranging itself on the ground as he slid his backpack over his shoulders.

“Ah, just what I needed, a fresh meatsuit to hide in. C’mere kid!” A voice called out, presumably what the sloshing sound had been, but Izuku wasn’t waiting around to find out. Izuku jumped away from the spot he was standing in, just avoiding a tendril of ugly green slime that had lashed out to try and grab him from where he'd been before. He hadn’t been ready for a second one though, this one vaguely in the shape of a hand, to come straight out of the slime and wrap him up entirely. The slime let out a laugh that was warbled by the fact the person was slime, but it was obvious the laugh was meant to be malicious. Izuku tried to struggle against the slime holding him in place as he was being dragged towards the slime, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t make his way through it.

“Stop struggling, kid, you aren’t getting out of there. It’s better if you just let it happen, it’ll be less painful and futile.” The slime managed to say between laughs as it watched Izuku struggle. Once he’d been pulled close enough, the slime lunged at him and began submerging his body in its own while it tried to force his mouth open. Izuku frantically shook his head as he clenched his jaw shut, trying to do anything to keep the villain from doing whatever it was trying to do to him. A raise and then a slam against the ground caused Izuku to wheeze in pain, which was quickly interrupted by a choking noise as the villain quickly took advantage of his open mouth and pushed itself inside.

A funny thing happens when people are faced with fear and potential death, they tend to have a primal response to that fear. There were several reactions to it, the most common being fight, flight, freeze, flop, or fawn. These five reactions are some of how people deal with danger or perceived threats, fighting it, running away, freezing up, fainting, or attempting to appease the source of the danger. These responses simply happen when a person’s in danger so they can handle the threat. When a person is attempting to strangle you by shoving their body in your throat, there’s not much that can really happen aside from fight or freeze. When a cannibal is put in a situation like this, there’s only really one response to the danger and how to escape it.

Izuku quickly bit down on the slime, forcing his jaw to close, and swallowed it.

The slime tasted vile, like rancid meat that's been marinated in grey water, but it wasn’t the same kind of response that’d come from eating something he shouldn’t. That was good, at least Izuku wouldn’t get that sick from this. The slime villain let out a scream of pain and thrusted him out of its body, which Izuku took as his opportunity to bolt. The second his feet touched the concrete, he ran as hard as he could out from under the footbridge and towards the mainroad. The screams of pain quickly faded into the background as he sped down the path and eventually skid to a stop just before the mainroad.

No one could see him from where he was, but he was close enough that he’d be out in the crowd in a few seconds if he saw whatever it was that just attacked him. This was a good spot to catch his breath and try to clean whatever that person was off of his uniform. He involuntarily gagged at the thought of the villain while he brushed globs of slime off of his uniform, the taste still stuck on his tongue and feeling like it was coating the roof of his mouth. Once he got the last bit of the villain off of himself, Izuku put all the collected slime in a nearby trash can and leaned against it to collect himself. He couldn’t believe that he’d been attacked and the one response he had to it in the end was to eat what was being used to try and kill him. Sure, it was self defense, but still, he kind of proved a point to everyone that doubted him. He still ended up attacking someone and taking a bite out of them. God, he was going to get people looking for him for that. Fuck, that wasn’t good. What should he do now? Where does he go to try and stay away from the investigators? 

An explosion down the street rings out through the air and Izuku almost jumps out of his skin at that. His ringtone going off in his pocket set’s his mind into panic mode as he pulls it out and sees that Asami’s calling him. Izuku answers his phone and puts it up to his ears before pulling it away at the sound of fire and people panicking around her.

“-ku, you’ve got to get over here! Bakugou’s being attacked and I can’t get in there to help him. Heroes are-” Was all he was able to hear over the sounds in the background of the call, but it was enough to have Izuku sprinting in the direction the explosion had come from.

“I’m coming!” He yelled into his phone before hanging up the call as he ran down the road. The explosion wasn’t too far away from where he’d been standing, so it shouldn’t take long to get there. He had to push himself though, because Katsuki was definitely in danger if the sound of that explosion had been anything to go off of.

A crowd of people and the sight of Backdraft and Kamui Woods was his signifier that he’d found where Katsuki was being attacked, and as Izuku came to a stop just outside of the crowd, he understood why his best friend was still stuck. The villain attacking Katsuki was the one that Izuku had just managed to escape from a few minutes ago and this time, it seemed to be having much better luck than it had when he was attacked. Katsuki was stuck deep into the slime of the villain’s body, only his legs, part of his head, and a hand were free and thrashing about. The hand was trying to claw the slime out of and away from his mouth while his legs futilely kicked out to try and wrench themselves free. Asami stood nearby the scene, holding herself up on a wall to stay away from all the fire surrounding the scene. No one was actually helping Katsuki, Kamui Woods was simply keeping the civilians away from the scene, Backdraft was attempting to put out the fires, and Death Arms was on comms trying to call for help from “someone with a proper quirk”. No one was helping because they didn’t have a “proper quirk”? There’s no such thing, heroes are supposed to try and help! They weren’t supposed to stand by and wait for someone else to do their job just because they thought they couldn’t. They found a fucking way.

Izuku let out some noise between a scream and a sob as he pushed his way into the crowd, which started quickly parting around him once they looked at him. He was probably terrifying to look at with a fire in his eyes which had likely already changed to their black and red state and teeth clenched so tight that they felt like they might crack. He ducked under Kamui Woods’ arm, tuning out the yelled call thrown his way from the hero as he ran down the alley towards his friend.

“Kacchan!” Izuku yelled out as the back of his uniform ripped open near his waist and a pair of blood red tendrils sprouted from his back, covered in what looked like reptile scales with a ridge down the back of each one. Izuku leapt forwards towards the villain holding his friend as he whipped one of his tendril’s into the side of the thing’s eye. The villain yelped in pain, his body slacking slightly from the blow, which was just enough for Izuku to send the other tendril piercing through the slime to wrap around Katsuki’s body and yank. It wasn’t a soft pull, but Katsuki didn’t seem to complain as he was dislodged from the villain and then tossed down the alley towards the heroes.

“Gah, that hurts! Wait a second, it’s you! You little rat, you’ll pay for that.” The villain yelled once he could properly see again before forming a large hand out of his slime and swinging it down towards Izuku. Izuku grimaced as he quickly leapt away from the blow, landing to the right of where he had been. He knew he had to stay engaged with the villain right now so it wouldn't target anyone else or try to run because then it might chase after him and hurt someone else in the process. Besides, if he got hurt, he could deal with it. The hand to his left slid across the ground towards him in a sweep attack, which Izuku simply jumped over before sticking his tendrils into the walls on either side of the alley and hanging in place. 

“Ahaha, so this is where you went! Sorry I couldn’t arrive sooner, this guy gave me quite the slip.” An easily recognizable booming voice rang out through the crowd as a large figure in white and green stepped through the blockade Kamui Woods had up. All Might stood just past the wood blockade, his signature smile plastered on his face as he stared at the villain at the end of the alley. Izuku could see a quick glance from the Number One come in both his and Asami’s direction before the blonde nodded and rushed. In a blur, All Might was suddenly right in front of the villain with a fist already cocked back.

“Detroit Smash!” All Might yelled before throwing his fist forward and causing the slime villain to burst apart from the sheer wind pressure created by the punch thrown his way. Backdraft quickly came in behind him, spraying down the fires littering the alley to ensure that it couldn’t spread anymore and was put out. Izuku let out a sigh of relief as he saw the situation being handled before the realization that he was publicly involved in a villain incident hit him. He quickly pulled the tendril spreading to his left out of the wall it was in before using it to climb onto a nearby roof, the fact it was the roof to the building Asami was clung to was a nice bonus.

Once his shoes hit the concrete, he drew his quirk back into his body began pacing back and forth as he tried to figure out where to go from here. They’d definitely be looking for him now, if they weren't already going to for what he did before once it was reported. He couldn’t go home and let his mom get roped into this too. She dealt with enough as is, she didn’t need to get investigators showing up at the apartment thanks to him. That’d happen if he went home, because they’d know he was there and that’d be the first place they’d look. So, where did he go from here? He could simply not go home. They might pester his mom a little, trying to figure out where he was if he wasn’t there when they showed up, but they wouldn’t get in her business about this if he was gone. Where would he go, though? Katsuki, Auntie, and Uncle never had to deal with the Doves before and he certainly didn’t want them having to meet them. Asami’s house? No, he didn’t want to pull them in this way more than they already would be since Asami was here. Well, it seemed like he'd have to be on the street for a while, at least until this blew over or the Doves found him and questioned him about this. Yeah, that’s it.

Asami gently tapped him on the shoulder, which caused him to spin in place to look towards her. Her face was a practiced sort of blank, a skill that she’d apparently been able to master over the years, as she looked down at him and held him in place so he’d stop pacing. She looked like she was about to say something, but Izuku beat her to the punch.

“I’m going out on the streets for a bit, I don't want my mom getting hounded by Doves. I’ll be fine, don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. I gotta go, though, tell Katsuki I’m sorry.” Izuku rambled out before clenching the straps on his backpack and pulling his shoulder out of Asami’s grip. Before she could try and say anything to dissuade him, Izuku bolted towards the edge of the roof before leaping off and landing on the next with a tumble. The tumble didn’t stop him, though, he wouldn’t let it, he simply stood back up and kept on going. He didn’t know where he was going to end up, but he knew it’d likely work out. 

After running for a few minutes, Izuku realized he should probably tell his mom what happened, but covertly in case they asked for phone records or the sort. He stopped on whatever roof he was on, one belonging to an apartment building if he had to guess, and pulled out his phone to send a quick text.

‘Hey, I’ll be out for a few days, hanging out with some friends to train. I’ll be safe. I’ll tell you about it when I come home.’

Hopefully she understood.

Chapter Text

This was probably one of Izuku’s worst and stupidest ideas, at least when it came to its execution, because he had no idea what he was doing. Actually, he had a few, but those ideas included places he’d go only if he absolutely had to. His mom and dad had stressed that enough when they told him about them when he was a little younger. However, that meant that, for the past few days while he’s tried his best to avoid other people at all cost so they don’t recognize him, he’s been hiding and sleeping in alleys while desperately looking for somewhere safer to stay. Of course, he could’ve gone to a homeless shelter, but the Doves would likely look for him there. They already knew he wasn't at home, if the vague text he got from his mom on the day he ran away was any indicator, so the first places they’d look would have been homeless shelters in Musutafu and the rest of Shizuoka prefecture. From there, he had no idea what lengths they’d go to try and find him, however if he didn’t find somewhere before they realized he hadn’t gone to any and started looking elsewhere for him. 

That was why he was currently sneaking around one of the warehouses in the industrial section of town, trying to spot an easy way inside. Down here on the ground, all the doors had been locked up with thick chains and padlocks to try and keep anyone from getting inside. Sure, Izuku might be able to get a door open with enough effort, but that’d also give away the fact someone had broken in and was staying there. A quiet aggravated noise escaped his lips as he stared at the warehouse in annoyance before kicking the wall with no real force behind it. If he couldn’t get in from down here, he’d have to go in from above. The familiar surge of muscles sprouted from his back as his quirk manifested before he poked both tendrils against the ground. The second he leaped upwards towards the roof of the warehouse, he added the force of his quirk pushing off the ground to aid in his jump and launch himself into his air. 

His feet hit the roof of the warehouse with a loud clang, causing him to flinch at the sound and drop to lay down flat. Hopefully no one saw him or came to investigate the sound, otherwise he’d probably be in trouble. After waiting for what felt like half an hour but was more like two or three minutes, Izuku slowly and carefully stood up and took a look around to ensure they were fine. It didn’t seem like there was anyone investigating the noise he had caused, or in the area in general, so he was good to go. He was incredibly lucky this was a warehouse with a few skylights in the roof, otherwise this whole endeavor would’ve been worthless. However, since it did, he could quietly pull one open and slip down inside without anyone knowing he’d ever been there. 

As his shoes crunched against the concrete flooring of the warehouse, Izuku took a look around to see if this place would be decent enough to stay in. He figured that this place would either be disorganized with whatever was left over from what this warehouse was used for previously and slight dilapidation, but he was surprised to find the place almost completely open. All of the material he was expecting to be strewn about was all pushed into the very back of the area, including a pair of decent sized pallets filled with what looked like some sort of boxed merchandise. What took up the space instead was what was essentially the start of a homeless camp, or at least someone trying to live here already. There was a sleeping bag rolled out on top of a few old looking comforters with a medium sized camping cooler nearby with a pair of smaller red coolers with slide open white tops. A little ways away was what seemed to be a small fire pit made out of a ring of cinder blocks with a grill grate sitting on top of it, likely just above where the fire would be once it was lit. The last thing of note about the small “camp” was a few pairs of clothes strewn about near the sleeping bag, one of which seemed to be some sort of girl’s school uniform and the other was a pair of what looked like it might be athletic wear. There was also a worn out tan cardigan sitting nearby with a few holes already appearing in the article of clothing. It was safe to say that whoever lived here wasn’t holding up the best, but she(?) seemed to be doing alright enough.

Izuku felt a little bad about breaking into somewhere someone else was already using, especially since they seemed like they were in a shitty situation going by what was around the makeshift home. Hopefully he could just slip back outside and no one would know better. He’d go on his way and hopefully find somewhere to stay while whoever was currently living here wouldn’t find out someone had been in their home. Nice and easy.

He wasn't that lucky, though.

A quiet crunch and a small clicking sound were the only warnings Izuku got that something was amiss before he had a pair of arms wrapping around him. One arm was trying to hold him in place by the shoulders and chest while the second held something up by his neck. A quick glance down without moving allowed him to see that what was being held towards his neck was a box cutter with a blade already extended out. Izuku froze, knowing that, even with his regeneration, this was an extremely non-ideal situation. 

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” His captor hissed out into his ear as she pressed the blade up against his neck instead of holding it nearby. He decided it definitely was a she, now that he could hear the person’s voice. A soft tone forced you’d find in a “proper lady” laced with enough venom that it could likely take down an elephant if she were a serpent or a spider. There was something else there that Izuku couldn’t quite place, but he could tell that it was dangerous in some sort of instinctual way.

“I’m just someone looking for somewhere to stay. I didn’t know this place was already taken.” He replied quietly while making as little movement as possible so he hopefully wouldn’t get stabbed in the throat. He really didn’t feel like pushing his regeneration to see if he could make it through this. Probably, but it’d also been a little bit since he ate and he was trying to save as much of that meal as he could. His captor seemed to accept that answer though and pulled the knife away from his neck, though kept it close to him so he knew it was still a possibility.

“That still doesn’t tell me who you are, y’know.” She replied the same way she started the conversation, though there was also a hint of annoyed sarcasm in her voice. Izuku let out a small amused huff and gave the smallest nod he could while keeping it noticable.

“You can call me Izuku.” There was no way he was telling her his family name. Sure, he wasn’t the only Midoriya, but there was very little of his dad’s side of the family still alive. There was only his dad, who wasn’t even in the country right now, and a mystery uncle out there somewhere that was still around on that side of the family. Other than those two, only he and his mom had the last name Midoriya, as far as he knew. It was safer to share his first instead, even if it wasn’t exactly common either. “Hope that’s enough for you because that’s all you’re getting.” 

His captor let out a small giggle at that, though if it was genuine humor or if it was something else, he couldn’t tell. It was enough for her to let him go, though, which he gratefully accepted by walking just a little bit away and stretching his arms up above his head. As he stretched out, he spun around to try and have a look at who’s camp he accidentally stumbled upon and was met with an interesting sight. 

Before him was a shorter woman, somewhere around 160 cm if he had to guess, with long ash blonde hair pulled into a pair of messy buns that clung to each side of her head while letting strands of hair fly around them. She was dressed in a plain white long sleeved shirt with odd stains dotting around the collar and a pair of black leggings that stopped just short of a pair of beat up slip on sneakers. In her right hand was the box knife that she had previously been threatening him with, although now the blade had thankfully been put away. Her eyes are probably the most eye-catching, pun not intended, part of her though. They were a color that reminded him of a heliodor with slitted pupils, likely a vestigial cat mutation from somewhere in her family tree. As she giggled, her left hand was held over her mouth but her eyes portrayed the amusement she felt in that moment. 

“I like you. A little bit of snark with a knife held to your neck caught me off guard.” The girl exclaimed in a chipper tone as she brought her left hand away from her mouth. She wore a small smile on her face, one that caused the corners of her mouth to barely move upwards, but it was a smile nonetheless. “You can call me Himiko then.” She mused as she walked over to her little sleeping area on nearly silent feet and set her knife on the ground by all the comforters. Izuku paused at the implication of her statement. Why was she telling him her name while also saying she liked his attitude? Was she trying to say that he could stay here? He wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth or anything if that’s what it was, but maybe she was just being polite.

Another giggle cut into Izuku’s thoughts and he felt his face heat up at the realization he’d been mumbling. “Yes, I’ll let you stay here with me. You seem interesting~.” He shivered at the way she finished that statement, especially with a glint in her eyes that was probably interest or intrigue but also was oddly familiar. “But there’s going to be some rules. One, get your own stuff. We can share the little fire pit, but other than that, you’re on your own for food, clothes, and sleeping stuff. Two, don’t touch my stuff without my permission. That one should be self-explanatory, but I’ll say it anyway. Three, we don’t rat each other out. I think it’s safe to say that we’re both hiding or running from something. You’re still in your torn school uniform and mine’s over in my stuff, afterall.” Izuku awkwardly fidgeted at that statement but nodded anyway, letting Himiko know he was still listening. “And last but not least, don’t push me for info. You can ask or I might tell you something, but don’t go searching for or trying to get extra info. It’ll be the same for you. Understood?” Izuku nodded again, though this time with a bit more force than before. If that was all it took to have somewhere to stay, he’d gladly follow it.

Besides, maybe living with someone would help keep the paranoia at bay. 

“Now, anything you wanna get off your chest, Izuku?” Himiko asked, a playful grin spread out across her face.

“Uh, yeah, actually. You, uh, you w-won’t have to worry about me using the fire pit. Or, well, you probably w-won’t want me too and thankfully it works out that I don’t require my food to be cooked.” Izuku explained nervously as he wrung his hands together. Himiko stared at him with a bewildered look on her face, seemingly not understanding what he was getting at. Gah, he hated having to explain this to someone. It’s not exactly easy to explain you eat other people’s body parts, even if what he had was either from people with regenerative quirks hoping to make a quick buck or from people who donated their bodies to a “meat shop” to be doled out and sold. 

“Well, uh.. You know what, let me just show you.” Izuku mumbled as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, which still had a decent chunk of yen in it thankfully, and pulled out one of his IDs, his government one. On it was the typical things you’d find on an ID, name, age, date of birth, sex, but on the bottom of it, there was a solitary and circled H with a printed picture of an Oriental turtle dove next to it while the bird looked at the H. He took a moment to make sure he could cover up his last name with his thumb before he walked over and showed the ID to Himiko. He watched as her eyes widened slightly, but not fear or disgust like he’d usually seen once someone knew what he was. The look in her eyes was more esoteric than that, it was something that he couldn’t quite describe. The closest he could get was a mess of realization, anger not directed at him as far as he could tell, and desperation.

“A-ah, I see. Well, that won’t be an issue, we can set you up your own fire pit if you want it…” Himiko trailed off as she walked over to her bedding and plopped down in the middle of it with a far away look in her eyes. Izuku nodded awkwardly and set his backpack down on the ground. Thankfully, he had at least grabbed some of his bedding when he decided to go on the run, so he wasn't completely out of luck. Although, it would have to just be the start. These floors would not be comfortable with just a single comforter to lay on and a pillow. He’ll make it work, though, somehow. He had to. 

Hopefully things went okay here with Himiko.

Chapter Text

Living in the warehouse with Himiko was odd to say the least. Neither of them dug into what was up with the other, but Izuku was starting to notice a few odd patterns after almost a full two weeks. It seemed like every three days, she’d disappear for a while and come back absolutely full of energy and almost bouncing around the warehouse. The first two times it happened, he figured she had just had a good day or something, but when she came back the last time with a weird stain on her cardigan, Izuku had begun to think something was definitely going on. It didn’t help that she also smelled like blood when she came back. Hopefully he wasn’t living with a serial killer or something, that’d be.. awkward to say the least. What made it more awkward was that this disappearing act caused Izuku’s appetite to flare up. He couldn’t help it that the scent of human blood in that concentration caused him to salivate, it just happened. It took a lot of his willpower to keep the hunger down and keep himself acting like normal. It’d been rough the other day, but at least it was manageable. However, he didn’t know if he could make it through another day of Himiko smelling like that if he didn’t eat soon, and it just so happened that she had disappeared earlier that morning.

Izuku couldn’t risk attacking his roommate(?) like that, so he had to get something to eat. Unfortunately, that meant he’d have to go to one of those places his parents had told him about in case of emergencies. He didn’t like the thought of going there, but he had to so he didn’t end up doing something he’d regret more than this. With a sigh, he got up from his makeshift cot of his comforter from home and his pillow, grabbed his wallet out of his backpack, and made his way to one of the doors. Himiko had managed to pick the lock holding the chain to one of the doors the other day and, after having borrowed some money from him, took it to a locksmith and said that she simply lost the key and wanted to make a pair of new ones. Now the pair had a way out instead of using the spotlight, because they kept the chain just loose enough they could fit an arm out and squeeze the key into the padlock. Of course, to get inside they still used the spotlight, but that was because it was hard to put the padlock on the chain while your arm was barely sticking out of the door. He pushed on the door as open as it could get right now and opened the padlock before he stepped out of the door fully. Once he was out, he closed the door and carefully redid the chain and padlock so it was just the way it needed to be so they could open the door from within before taking off towards the border between Musutafu’s bar district and its slums.

The place Izuku was looking for was one of three “safe” places to go for someone like him looking for help. These three places also happened to be meeting spots for the underground of Musutafu, hence his hesitation to go to any of them, but he needed to if he was going to stay on the run. He’d just have to learn how to navigate around the seedy people he didn’t need to see and which he did need to see so he could get what he needed. It’d be a tough balancing act to manage, but it was an unfortunate necessity right now. The place he was looking for specifically was the one his parents had said was supposedly better than the other two, but that had also been years ago and things can change in that span of time. It was part of a chain of bars that dotted around Japan, apparently, that catered to normal customers while the “special” customers tended to conduct business with each other or one of their “special services” in the darker parts of the bar. The name was something that Izuku thought brought maybe a bit too much attention, but apparently it was fine because their locations never shut down.

It was a good hour-long walk from the warehouse to the general area they were looking for and another three minutes to find the specific place they were looking for, The Underworld. The outside was pretty unassuming, just a dark colored building with the building’s sign hanging up to note where it was. Izuku had to do a double take when he first saw it, because he had to try and remember that that was in fact the place he was looking for because he tried walking past the first time. Thankfully, there was no one at the door or anything, so he could just walk tight in while he tried to look like he belonged there. Thank god he wasn’t still in his school uniform, otherwise he’d have probably gotten so many looks as he walked through the building towards the far edge of the bar. The inside was a rather nice looking place, all things considered, with a long bar that seemed to be made of cedar and plenty of stools. There were tables out and about in an order that Izuku couldn’t make sense of but surely were arranged in some manner, along with booths around the walls at the edges of the room. He didn’t notice much else though, because he was trying to remember the way he was supposed to do this. He knew that you were supposed to go to the far edge of the bar and do something, but he couldn’t exactly remember what. Maybe he just had to wait until someone noticed he was there?

Well, no time like the present to try and figure it out, because Izuku was already there and awkwardly sitting in the stool that sat at the very end. He pulled his wallet out to get ahold of his ID and held it tight in his right palm while he waited for anything to happen. Thankfully, it was only a two minute wait before a bartender walked over to him, lavender hair hanging down in front of her right eye and the lavender eye seemingly sizing him up. Izuku fidgeted nervously before setting his ID on the counter and slowly sliding it across the bar so she could look at it. He watched her glance down at the ID before looking up at him and seemingly giving him another once over. After she seemed to be satisfied with her investigation, she looked around him and motioned towards someone before giving him a small nod and walling off. Izuku, baffled by what just happened, just grabbed his ID and slid it back in his wallet before someone else arrived. It was a man, likely somewhere in his thirties with short grey hair and pink eyes behind a pair of rounded glasses, dressed in some sort of purple business attire with a white undershirt and a beige scarf around his neck. The lit cigarette in his mouth let off a trail of smoke as the man sat next to him and flashed him a full smile, which gave Izuku a good look at the tooth the man was missing. This was definitely someone that he would describe as seedy, but it seemed this man was a necessary piece of his life for the moment. 

“Hello there, you can call me Giran.”— Izuku had heard that name before, but only vaguely. He was apparently an underground information broker that sold to whoever needed his info for the proper price. He didn’t just deal in information, apparently, but that’s what Izuku had heard about him. He was technically considered a C-Rank villain, but the heroes that used his services would never arrest him because his information was always good. —”What’s a kid like you doin’ in a place like this?” Giran took a drag off of his cigarette and ashed into a nearby ashtray while Izuku pondered how to answer. It’d likely be best if he was straight forward about what he needed, but it'd also likely draw unwanted attention from someone that might be listening. He’d have to try and be covert about this.

“Th-there’s something I need to get my hands on and I heard th-this was somewhere to meet someone that could get it.” Izuku attempted to answer carefully while his point hopefully came across. Giran gave a small nod at the answer as he pulled out his phone and seemed to check something on it. It was a few minutes of Izuku awkwardly sitting there while Giran checked his phone, but he soon got his answer.

“I’m sure I can help ya’ out. It’ll cost you though. You sure you got enough?” Giran asked while he gave Izuku an inquisitive look over his glasses. Izuku shrugged and pulled out wallet so he could grab all the yen he still had left. He discreetly set it down on the counter and slid it to Giran.

“Does that have enough?” Izuku asked nervously as he watched Giran pick up the stack of bills and scan through it. After doing his scan, Giran stuck a thumb in the stack and separated what he probably needed from the rest before handing what was left back. Izuku scanned the now small stack, finding that he only had about 800 yen left, not counting the few coins he had sitting in his wallet.

“There, I’ve got what I need. C’mon, let’s go get what you need.” Giran stood up from the stool he sat on with Izuku quickly following his lead. The man took another drag from his cigarette before walking off and through a side door that Izuku had assumed was a door towards the bathrooms but evidently wasn’t. As Isuku walked through the door behind Giran, he was hit with the smell of blood all around. A shiver involuntarily ran down his spine at the heavy scent around him which was followed by a heavy and shaky breath as Izuku fought to keep himself calm. Giran let out a small chuckle at the sound and turned around to face him as he continued to walk, now walking backwards.

“You’ve never been to one of these, have you?” Giran asked in a somewhat teasing tone as he stared at Izuku. Izuku shook his head, not trusting himself at the moment to say anything. Giran chuckled again at the reaction before turning back around. “I figured. Lot’s of first timers have a similar reaction to walking in here.” Giren flocked the ashes off his cigarette just down into the hall as they passed by a room. Izuku looked inside briefly and spotted what seemed to be a feeding room, where someone was latched onto someone else by the neck. Given that there weren’t any wounds visible on the person or any sounds of eating, Izuku assumed it was a vampire feeding. “It’s like the smell drives you guys nuts the first time it hits you. You’ve kept yourself surprisingly calm, if I’m being honest.” Giran called out as they continued walking. Izuku nodded wordlessly, not even caring that Giran couldn’t see it. 

Their walk ended at another room, a plain one like the other feeding room they had passed by, with a woman almost nude already inside. Giran walked in first while he pulled out the money he’d taken from Izuku, passing on a portion of it to the person before walking out of the room. He patted Izuku on the shoulder before turning to the door.  He called out behind himself as he walked off, turning his head around to look at Izuku as he did.

“She’s all yours! Don’t worry, Miyagawa has a quirk that’s supposed to keep her perfectly symmetrical. Just stick to one side and her quirk will keep her fixed up.” With his piece said and now thoroughly out the door, Giran closed the door and left Izuku in the room with the now named Miyagawa. She seemed a little uneasy about what was about to happen, but he didn’t know if that was because she didn’t want to be here or because she didn’t know what Izuku would do to eat. He took a deep breath and gave her an awkward look but started scanning over her to see what he’d like to take from. 

Obviously, Izuku was going to leave the torso alone so he didn’t accidentally cause any permanent harm by taking a bite out of somewhere and crossing Miyagawa’s line of symmetry. That left him with her arms and legs to eat, and, even if he didn’t like the thought, he thought her legs would end up providing the most food for the money he spent. They also just looked so tasty. Miyagawa had plenty on her when it came to her legs, and it all looked so tender. Izuku took another deep breath and finally let his hunger take over. He knew the moment his eyes changed because Miyagawa’s eyes widened in shock, but he didn’t mind her reaction at all as he dove towards her and pushed her to the ground. She let out a startled yelp as she tumbled to the ground before it shifted to a scream of pain as Izuku’s teeth dug into her left thigh. As his teeth tore through flesh and meat and blood flooded into his mouth, he almost let out a satisfied sigh that in that moment likely would’ve come out as a growl. Fresh meat directly from someone was so different from what was sold for cannibals to eat. The mix of the meat being fresh and the taste of blood mixing with the meat was just fantastic.

Izuku couldn’t stop himself from absolutely devouring the leg sitting in front of him, the sound of Miyagawa’s screams not stopping his feast. He could see now why, during the Dawn of Quirks, the hunter based attacks were at an astronomical high. The only options they had back then were direct from the source instead of handled beforehand and shipped to you. If this was how it was like for them, it was understandable. 

Izuku tore and ate his way through one side of the leg he was feasting on, making it all the way down to the bone before he pulled back long enough to look at what he’d done. A brief flash of guilt jolted through his system as he looked at Miyagawa obviously in pain but it was quickly beaten with a metaphorical stick as he watched her leg begin rapidly sewing itself back together before his eyes. The curious side of his mind was fascinated by how a quirk like this could work, both in the regeneration and the mechanics behind the quirk as a whole. The instinctual predator side of his brain could only think of one thing when he saw, infinite food. Izuku could feel the twisted feral smile, likely stained pink from what they’d been doing, as he waited for the regeneration to finish. The second it did, he dug right back into the leg, teeth rending pieces off of Miyagawa as he devoured the meat before him. The screams from the leg’s owner started up again as he had started eating again, but he couldn’t comprehend it. 

The second thigh was eaten with gusto, though this time it was the whole thing instead of just one side of it. A twisted part of his mind wanted to see if she could regenerate from even worse. Could she even go from bone? It might be worth it to see. Maybe he could just tear a limb off and see if it came back while he stripped the dismembered limb down of all its delicious meat.

Woah, that thought was a bit much.. Maybe he should stop there. Apologize for putting Miyagawa for making her go through what he did and scurry out of the bar before anything else could happen.

But maybe he should say fuck it and gorge himself on the limitless supply of food in front of him. Maybe he should rip a few limbs off to take as a to-go order so he had a snack for later. 

NO! No. He couldn’t do that, shouldn’t do that. Fuck, what got into him? 

Izuku stumbled to his feet and mumbled a rushed apology for what he’d done before he rushed out of the room, making sure to close the door behind him so Miyagawa had some privacy. He practically sprinted out of the special service area and then out of the bar, getting odd looks from some of the patrons as he bolted past. 

He had to get home and disappear from everyone, otherwise he didn’t know what he’d do.

Himiko was having a rough day. The day started out by her waking up thirsty, and not the normal kind. That’s been happening a lot more recently, ever since she ran away, really. Maybe it’s because she stopped suppressing her need for that sweet, delectable nectar of the gods that she loved to drink. However, she was worried that her new roommate was starting to question what was going on. She was sure that he’d noticed her suddenly leaving without a word, but it’s not like that was enough to be suspicious of anyone. What was suspicious, though, is showing up with stains on her sweater. It wasn’t her fault things got a little messy! Other people are a pain to work with. He seemed to be acting off the rest of the day once she got back though. She didn’t know what was up with him, but she thought that maybe he’d been able to tell something was up. 

She had been trying to be extra careful when it came to getting her drink today, but the person she found ended up not liking the idea and tried to fight back. Whoever it was happened to be really good at fighting back, which led to a long, drawn out tussle that may or may not have ended with Himiko driving the box cutter knife she had into the person’s side. The blonde boy that she’d attacked pushed himself away from her and knelt against the alley wall behind him, his tail hitting against it with a loud fleshy whack. Himiko leapt at him while he was preoccupied and against the wall and latched her hands onto his shoulders. She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face as she looked at the boy held in her grasp, wondering how his blood would taste. Hopefully it was delicious, because at least it’d make the fight with him worth the hassle. 

She leaned forward and sunk her fangs into the area where the boy’s neck met his shoulder with a satisfied hum from her and a small grunt of pain from the boy. She began to lap up the blood that erupted from around her fangs with glee, greedily drinking it up as soon as it appeared. It wasn’t the best blood that she’d ever had, but it was at least decent. The fight wasn’t worth it though, so maybe she’d just kill the boy after she was done. He’d seen her too, so there was the risk of him saying something to the police and them finding her and sending her back to the wretches she called her parents. Ah, something to decide once she was finished! First, she had to get all the pretty pretty blood out of him first and drink it up! Her greedy drinking must've been doing something to the boy, because he was suddenly falling towards the ground as his legs seemed to give out. Himiko wasn’t about to let go of her treat, so she fell down with him and continued to intake the drink of the gods, at least in her opinion. 

It didn’t take long for him to pass out from exsanguination, which meant Himiko was done with her meal. With a small sigh, she pulled away from the boy and looked down at him with disappointment.

“I wish you tasted better…” She muttered to herself as she knelt down next to him and withdrew the knife that had been planted in his side. She flicked her tongue across the flat section of the blade to collect the bits of blood on it before she stood with it held out. “Well, time for me to deal with you.” Himiko then extended the blade on the box cutter a bit more and dug it into the side of his neck. With a quick slice, the blade drew through the boy’s neck and through both in interior and exterior jugular veins. The spurt of blood that shot out of his neck was quite enticing, but she had to resist the urge to lick it all up. She had to get out of her before anyone walked by and saw what would soon be a body.

After quickly taking what had been in the boy’s wallet and adding it to her own funds, she now had just enough to get a ticket back to Musutafu from Tokyo. Yay! If she hadn’t, it would’ve been a nightmare to try and get back to the warehouse. Hopefully, Izuku had some money left she could borrow to get some food, because man she needed a snack and didn’t want to dip into her actual food supply just for something quick. 

The train ride passed by quickly and soon enough, Himiko was back in town and slinking her way through all the back alleys to make it home. A smile was plastered on her face as she entered the industrial district and was able to venture around a bit more freely. People here tended to mind their own business unless there was something immediately dangerous to them, which meant that Himiko didn’t register to most people when she spilled out of an alley onto a road before finding another alley to slip into a bit closer to home. Her smile eventually grew from the closed smile she had to one showing off her teeth, fangs included, when she got in the same block the warehouse was in. All she had to do now was just round this corner!

Something was wrong. Himiko skidded to a stop as she saw the chain that held the door they liked to use to get out of the warehouse was broken and thrown away. It wasn’t a clean break, like something cut through it with bolt cutters, but a rather forceful snap like someone had pulled it apart with enough strength to shatter a link in the chain into a few pieces. The lock was still on the chain too, closed and locked like it should be. The door was closed, at least, but that could mean there was some sort of trap waiting inside. 

Himiko’s knife that had been hidden in her sleeve slipped down into her hand as she creeped up to the door. Her thumb opened the blade before she grabbed the handle and slowly opened the door, hoping the noise of the door opening wasn’t loud enough for whatever was inside to hear. As she pushed the door open, Himiko was forced to kneel down and roll inside as she had to dodge some sort of red tendril that had attempted to skewer her. The tendril quickly withdrew itself from the door but hung in the air, ready to lash out again. Himiko, given a few seconds to get her bearing, followed the tendril back to its source with her eyes and held in the gasp that almost escaped her lips.

Izuku was standing there near the door, the tendril that had tried to skewer her coming from somewhere on his back while a second one hung near him. He was a mess, his shirt rumpled and stained red while shifting up and down due to his heaving breaths. His lower face was stained red as well, thick streaks of what was probably blood coming away from his mouth. His teeth were stained pink as well, the blood likely having done that. His eyes, though, were what gave her pause. She was met with black and bright red instead of the normal emerald that Izuku’s eyes were supposed to be, and they were trained on her like a cornered animal staring at the predator closing in on them. 

“Izuku, it’s me, it’s Himiko.” She called out to him and watched as, like he was a puppet that had his strings cut, Izuku collapsed onto his knees and hung his torso forward and above the rest of himself. The tendril that tried to stab her slid back to Izuku and hung next to him like the other did, still poised and ready for their master’s command.

“Oh, o-okay.” Izuku whispered without looking at her, his gaze glued to his hands, which Himiko just noticed were drenched in crimson. “Y-you should go.” He whispered again, his eyes not leaving his hands. Himiko hesitated at how distraught he sounded, almost listening to him, but she couldn’t just leave him like this. She slowly walked over to where Izuku was knelt and knelt beside him, setting one of her hands on his and pushing them down. 

“Don’t look at those, it’ll only make you feel worse.” She spoke softly as she kept his hands pushed down. He nodded at the statement before looking up at her with a distant look. His eyes slowly came to focus on her and once they did, tears started spilling from them in a silent cry. Himiko internally frowned at the sight, she didn’t like that look on anyone, but especially someone that she was coming around to. The hand not holding his hands down came up to his face and started to brush the tears away with her thumb. She let a few words slip out of her mouth in a whisper, but she knew he heard them because he let a small strangled sob escaped from him as she continued to try and wipe his tears away.

“You’ll be okay.”

Chapter Text

After everything calmed down and Izuku finished his rather embarrassing meltdown, he forced himself to his feet on wobbly legs. Himiko tried to protest, telling him that he should probably head to bed, but he shook his head and carefully walked over to the warehouse door. He’d been rather careless, both with getting home and how he handled Himiko walking in the door, so he was going to see what he might’ve broken. He walked over to the door in silence, his eyes scanning over the surface of the metal door to see if there were any punctures or dents in it. Thankfully, he hadn’t actually hit the door when he had struck out towards who, at the time, was a mystery person wandering into the warehouse. He let out a small affirmative noise before he shuffled out of the door and over to where he had thrown the chain to in his panicked fervor. As he picked the chain off the ground, he could easily see that it wouldn’t be usable anymore since he snapped a whole link in it when he was pulling the thing away from the wall and the door. They probably couldn’t afford to get a replacement, either, since he only had a few hundred yen left and he didn’t know how much Himiko had on her. In other words, the door itself was fine, but their cover of a locked up warehouse was fucked. 

“Well I fucked up..” Izuku muttered to himself as he chucked the chain off into the distance as hard as he could. He watched as the two pieces of chain flew off into the distance, rattling through the air as they traveled. He let out a long sigh before shuffling back into the warehouse and closing the door behind him. He could feel Himiko staring at him in worry, but he ignored it as he walked over to his makeshift cot and fell into it.

“Talk ‘bout it tomorrow.” Izuku mumbled as he pulled a section of his comforter up over himself as he laid on the rest of it and set his head on his pillow.

“Okay.” Himiko whispered from her own makeshift cot. Izuku felt his gut twist in guilt at how subdued the normally energetic girl sounded. He felt bad for dismissing her like that, but he wanted to sleep more than he wanted to spare his own feelings. He wanted to just be done with the day now that he thought no one was going to come after him. Sleep practically lunged on him once he closed his eyes to try and sleep, dragging him into its depths. 

Morning came much too quick for Izuku’s liking, but there was no arguing with the light streaming in from the skylights above him. From the sound of back and forth footfalls, Himiko was already awake too and she was pacing. Izuku let out a groan as he threw his comforter off of himself and stood up from his bedding. He could hear Himiko’s pacing stop as he stretched to help himself wake up. After he finished stretching, Izuku shifted his comforter around so he had somewhere comfortable to sit and took a seat, vaguely motioning in Himiko’s direction for her to do the same. He watched her quickly scurry over to her bedding and sit down cross-legged on her sleeping bag, staring at him with an intense look, her yellow eyes feeling like they were piercing right through him.

“I’ll share anything you want to know. I think you deserve it after I almost skewered you yesterday. All you have to do is ask and I’ll answer.” Izuku stated as he stared back at Himiko, watching her shuffle slightly under the pressure of such a statement. The rules said that they’d share what they wanted, but there was no digging into each other to get more information. However, here he was, willingly opening his whole story up for her to ask about. It could be a lot.

“What happened yesterday? I mean, it’s obvious you went and ate, but why were you so distraught?” Himiko asked carefully as she averted her gaze down to his hands, then her own, before looking back up at his face. Izuku merely nodded as he kept a sigh from bubbling up. 

“I.. I went to what some people call a ‘blind’, like a hunting blind, but I just know it as a safe space for hunters. They offer feeding services for hunters that, for one reason or another, decide to go there. They’re also typically found in gathering spots for the underground, since we’re not supposed to actually eat from live people. All the types of cannibals are supposed to buy the meat sold online from regnegrators or body’s donated to ‘butchers’, vampires are supposed to buy from blood banks, and succubi, which is the term for anyone needing that, not just women, are only allowed one person they can feed from that’s called a ‘provider’. That person is typically the succubus’ romantic partner.” Izuku watched as Himiko nervously shifted in place, but her eyes were slowly widening at all the information being thrown at her. It was a lot to take in at once, but Izuku said that he’d explain everything. “I went, not just because I was hungry, but because I was.. worried that I’d attack you if you came back with blood on you again. I don’t know what you do when you disappear, but I have a theory I won’t ask about. But, when you came back last time with that stain on your cardigan and smelling of blood, it drove me crazy. I was worried, yesterday, when you left that you could come back like that again and I might.. pounce. So I went to The Underground, a ‘blind’ here in Musutafu that's also a bar to try and keep myself from doing that. I paid for a meal and was put in a room with someone that could regenerate. I took one bite from that girl and.. started to lose myself. There was something about having fresh meat like that for the first time that woke up something in me. I wanted to just eat and eat and eat.” Izuku let out a small spiteful chuckle as he continued. “I even thought about ripping one of her arms off to bring it home as a snack. I got scared when I realized what I was thinking and ran out of the place back here. I was worried that someone might see me and report me to the police or the Doves that I drove myself crazy worrying about it. Then someone started coming through the door and I panicked.” 

Izuku watched Himiko to try and see her reaction, but he wasn’t ready for it. Plastered on her face was a look that he couldn’t describe again, which wasn’t new when it came to his roommate, but this look specifically was. From what he could piece out of its components, it was a mix of thought, guilt, apprehension, and realization. There were a lot more complexities to the look she had, but those were the things he could easily pick out of it. That and the way her slitted eyes were avoiding him while they began to wet with unshed tears. Izuku, with her hands in his lap, pinched himself on the leg for how he explained things and dropped it all like that. He should’ve walked through it all instead of one drop after another like that. Why did he even talk about his theory about her?! It’s not like he could prove she was a vampire! Well, unless he followed her, but that’d be breaking one of their rules. He didn’t want to do that, Himiko was nice and even treated him normally after finding out he was a hunter and he’d feel like shit for breaking her trust like that. Maybe he scared her by saying he almost attacked her. That’s what it was you goddamn-

“Wh-what do you mean ‘Doves’?” Himiko’s voice broke through his mental berating and brought him back to the moment. That was a pretty serious question, one that he thought everyone knew the answer to. Wait, he used their nickname, not the official name. Maybe that’s why she was confused. Yeah, that sounded right.

“Doves is a nickname us hunters gave to the Hunter Investigation Bureau, or HIB, agents. All the hidden ones have a dove sewn into their clothes somewhere and the overt agents have dove shaped pins, so we call them Doves. Their official job is to help hunters with their needs and integrate into society. They also try to deal with quirk discrimination towards hunters, not that it works. For their official jobs, they’re like the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. Unofficially, they also keep track of us to try and ensure that we don’t turn into a villain, since a lot of our natural mutations and our quirks would make us scary villains. Plus, if we became a villain, we’d have to hunt for our food again, since the HIB manages the sites and official places to buy what we need.” Izuku took a deep breath to try and keep himself calm. He didn’t like explaining the Doves, because they honestly terrified him. “They watch police and hero reports, because they have detectives and heroes working for them, for names of registered hunters and investigate them if a name even appears. It doesn’t matter if they were the victim, a bystander, or the perpetrator, we’re investigated and interrogated like we’re villains. If they think you’re starting down the path or have become a villain, they have authority from the HPSC to have you dealt with if they think it’s necessary. Usually, it’s arrests, but being dealt with isn’t entirely unheard of. They also investigate attacks that could be hunters looking for food, because it could be someone turning to the underground or it could be someone that was somehow unregistered getting their food.” Izuku stopped explaining as he grit his teeth. He hated talking about them, he hated even thinking about them. Why did something like this have to exist? Why did the government decide that hunters needed to be handled like this? He took a deep breath as he stared at Himiko, who seemed to be just as freaked out as he was.

“Himiko.” Izuku stated with as much of a commanding tone he could muster. Himiko jumped in place, startled, before her heliodore eyes landed on him. “If you see anyone that you think could even remotely be a Dove around here, you need to run. Even if my theory about you isn’t right, they’ll get on your case too for ‘harboring a fugitive’. If my theory is right, I don’t even know what they’d do to you. I’ve never heard stories of what they did to unregistered hunters that they found, especially ones that have hunted. That’s why you need to run as far away from here as possible if you think they’re around. I don’t want you to get wrapped up in them.” Himiko froze at his request, her eyes still planted on him as she visibly stilled. He couldn't even tell if she was breathing, honestly, that was how still she went. He went to stand up and walk across the warehouse over to her when she unfroze and shook her head. He stopped mid-stride as he saw her shake her head and waited.

“I’m not going to just leave you to ‘em.” Himiko whispered as she looked down at her hands. Now sitting in one of them was the box knife that she had used when she threatened him after finding the warehouse. He didn’t know where it came from, but it sure surprised him that it was suddenly there. “If they’ll really treat you like a villain, I’m not going to just let you get caught, Izuku. You don’t deserve that, I can tell you’re a good person.” Himiko then flashed him a sad smile, but it was a real smile instead of the closed lipped one she would usually give him. His eyes immediately honed in on her fangs, which seemed to shine from the sunlight coming in from the skylights. Her smile ended quickly, but it was worth seeing so he could confirm his theory, unless those were due to her odd cat mutations. “Just to prove that you’re a good person, I’ll ask this. Why are you on the run?” Izuku shook his head in exasperation and sighed before he answered.

“A few days before I showed up here, I was wrapped up in an incident. Well, two, actually, but still. The first one, I was attacked by a villain and was able to make my escape from it by kinda, sorta eating a bit of it. To be fair, though, his body was made of slime and he was trying to strangle me by forcing himself in my throat.” Izuku paused as he heard a little giggle escape from Himiko as he told that part of his story. He gave her a soft-hearted glare before he continued. “A little bit later, I got a call from a friend that one of our other friends was being attacked by a villain so I rushed over and saw it was the slime villain again. The heroes there weren’t doing anything, so I stepped in because I couldn’t stand to see my friend being hurt like that. I ended up using my quirk to do it too, so everyone there knows I’m a hunter. I knew I’d be tracked down and questioned about it, especially if they asked the villain about the first time we saw each other, so I ran. I didn’t want my mom to go through being fully questioned too, since I’m still seventeen.”

“See, you’re a good person.” Himiko stated, motioning her hands at him like she was showing something off. “I can’t let them be all mean to you because of that! I won’t leave if they show up, I’ll just go in with you. I promise.” Izuku sputtered at Himiko’s statement, his eyes instantly watering with tears that he’d refuse to shed right now.

“Well then, I guess we’re stuck together. If that’s how it is, help yourself to my blood, so we can manage your thirst.” Izuku casually mentioned as he turned around to head back to his bedding. He was quickly stopped by a pair of arms wrapping around him in a hug. He let out a small, worn out chuckle at the situation and set a hand on one of the arms as Himiko’s head laid against his back. The two stood there like that for a few minutes until Himiko released him and went back to where she slept. He did the same, almost falling into it when he reached it. “Anything else you wanna know?”

“Yeah, actually. What’s your quirk? I saw it last night, but I don’t think you ever described it.” Himiko questioned with a tilt of her head. Izuku nodded and, with a familiar flex of muscles, brought two tendrils out of his back from around the waist. He brought them to warp around him and lay on his lap, the scaled looking tendrils laying with the ridge along them facing upwards.

“It’s called Spined Reptile, though there is no reptile heteromorph ancestry in where I got my quirk. This kind of Ghoul quirk sometimes looks like it has a scaled appearance, like mine. It’s a copy of my dad’s, just stronger. He can only get about two out, while I can manifest a max of four right now, but apparently it can grow even further. I have full motor control over them-” Izuku twisted his tendrils together in a swirl, which he held for a few seconds, before separating them and laying them back in his lap. “-and can put them away at will. I can also harden it for protection or for offensive capabilities. There’s also a mess of mutations that come with this kind of quirk, like enhanced strength, speed, agility, durability, sight, hearing, and even a regeneration factor.” He then willed his tendrils to return into his back, which they swiftly did. “Now, I have a question for you, but you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Do you know why you aren’t registered as a hunter?”

Chapter Text

“Do you know why you aren’t registered as a hunter?”

Izuku thought that it’d be a rather simple question after everything else they had just talked about, but after he saw Himiko tense nearly to the point of freezing up, he immediately realized he shouldn’t have asked. 

“You know what? Don’t worry about it. It’s not a big thing anyway. I’m uh. I’m going to try and wash all this off me and then I can probably take you out to The Underworld. It’ll be good for you to know about the place and I need to check in to make sure everything’s.. Okay after my scene yesterday.” Izuku placated as he started digging around for the metal water bottle he found a few days ago that hopefully still had some water in it from the last time he refilled it. Himiko let out a small affirmative hum to his statement as he grabbed the bottle and shook it, his ears being met with the sound of liquid splashing around inside as it shook. With his water acquired, Izuku grabbed a new shirt from his bag and went off behind all the boxes pushed in the corner of the warehouse. He didn’t want to risk going out anywhere that had a public restroom to try and get cleaned up because, obviously, they’d ask about the blood or just immediately call the cops, but he also didn’t want to just pull his shirt off in front of Himiko, so behind all the boxes it was.

He screwed off the lid to the bottle and started by pouring the water on the hand not holding the bottle. He then set the bottle down and started scrubbing away at both hands, trying to get all the dried blood off of them. It was a process that wasn’t exactly going well, because once the dried blood got hit with the water and he started scrubbing, it’d started smearing on him instead of completely cleaning off. He also couldn’t use his current shirt to wipe his hands off because that’d just make it worse, the other shirt be brought along because it’d stain that one, or the pants he wore because he was hoping to keep those clean enough to go out in again. With a sigh, he basically smashed open the top of one of the boxes near him and started going through whatever was inside to see if there was anything he could use. He was quite surprised to see that the contents of this box was long discontinued Midnight merch, although it made sense once he realized it was original Midnight merch from her time working with His Purple Majesty and a little after her debut as an independent Pro.

Okay, he probably knew too much about heroes if he knew that call back.

It made sense why this stuff was just sitting around in an abandoned warehouse since several costume laws had to be changed because of that ‘outfit’ she wore. A lot of people would throw a fit if this was sold commercially, even the shirts that just referenced the costume by having the over the top glasses behind her hero name on it. Well, now there was a possible way for him and Himiko to make some money, should he find the right people to get this merch to. Surely there were some people out there who would love to have this, whether they be Midnight fans, Midnight ‘fans’, or rare hero merch collectors. That’d be for later, though, right now he needed to clean himself up. And maybe take a few things for himself, but that was for only him and Himiko to know about, and Himiko would only know because she’d see him take it. 

Izuku grabbed hold of a shirt inside the crate next to him and started using it to help scrub off his hands to marginally more success than just scrubbing his hands off with his other, still blood coated hand. Once his hands were free of evident blood, though still tinged a little red, he tossed that thoroughly ruined shirt on the ground and grabbed another shirt to help with his face. This time, he dozed the shirt in water from the bottle to get it wet and then used the wet shirt to scrub at his face from the mouth down. That was also relatively successful, at least as far as he could tell just from feeling around his face, so all that was left was simply changing his shirt, which was done swiftly and left on the floor along with the ruined Midnight shirts. 

Now that he had washed up as best as he could, he made his way out from behind the crates to find Himiko awkwardly rocking back and forth on her feet by the door with an anxious smile. Well, at least she seemed somewhat excited to be seeing somewhere where they were accepted.

“Ready to go? It’s a bit of a walk.” Himiko stilled while she thought before quickly darting off to her cot space and grabbing her clutch. “I’d say bring your ID, but since it isn’t marked, I’m not sure how much it’ll help.” Izuku remarked offhandedly as he stood near the door and waited. Himiko gave a small nod and made sure her ID was in her clutch before returning to the door. She gave him one final nod and a small smile before he opened the door and began to lead the way to The Underworld. 

As the pair walked the streets, they received a few side glances, considering that a pair of young adults were walking around the industrial section of town and heading towards the seedier areas of town. No one bothered them, though, people around here stayed in their own lane and kept to themselves. They knew that things could be ugly for a lot of people and most of the time, if you were out here in the industrial, bar, or slum districts, it wasn’t because you wanted to be. They understood that some things you simply don’t poke your nose into, one of those being the people you see walking around alongside you while you’re out and about. Because of that, other than some sideways glances from people briefly looking at them while they walked by, the walk out to the edge of the bar district was uneventful. Himiko walked to his right and slightly behind him the whole time, humming a soft tone that Izuku vaguely knew but couldn’t quite place while he led the way. 

The outside of The Underworld was unchanged from when he dropped by yesterday, except now there was someone that could pass as a bouncer as long as you didn’t see the pistol grip peeking out of his waistband and not completely hidden by his jacket. Izuku gave the man a curt nod, which was returned as he walked in the door, Himiko following behind a bit quicker than what felt normal. The inside looked the same as it had the day before too, even the same bartender that had been there the day before was behind the counter, pouring someone a drink. When she either heard the door open or saw the light spill in, the bartender turned to see who had come in and her uncovered lavender eye met Izuku’s own emerald eyes quickly. He watched as recognition flashed through the uncovered eye before anger took its place. Izuku flinched at the heat in the girl’s gaze as it turned into a glare, but kept moving towards the counter with Himiko tailing him.

“Do you know the amount of trouble that you could’ve caused yesterday? Had the right people been around, you could’ve fucked everything up.” The bartender angrily muttered as Izuku took a seat and Himiko sat down next to him. Izuku flinched again and nodded guiltily. The bartender huffed in annoyance and stared him down. “I don’t think you really do. Sure, you might know who the boss is, but you have no clue what all goes on here. It’s not just the Bureau that would’ve come down on us, it would’ve been heroes and the Commission too. Fuck, you could’ve ruined a whole bit of the underground by taking Giran out of the picture.I can’t believe that you tired to waltz back in here like nothing fucking happened-” The bartender ranted until a hand came down on the counter near the trio. Izuku spun to look at the person attached to it and found Giran himself standing there with a half grin and a lit cigarette in his mouth.

“Now, now, Touka, don’t berate the kid too much. I’m sure he already realizes that yesterday was something he shouldn’t let happen again,” Giran turned to look at him, the half grin still on his face but his eyes openly threatening Izuku to challenge him. “Right?” He nodded quickly in an attempt to get past the issue and not make an enemy out of anyone that worked here, especially Giran. The man could easily turn anyone that worked or came here in to the right hero and they’d be dealt with, or he could probably use his underground contacts to make someone disappear. “Good, glad you understand that. Now, what brings you in?” Giran questioned as he sat down next to Izuku and on the side opposite Himiko.

“W-well, one reason was to apologize for yesterday. Something came over me and I started panicking. I’m really sorry about whatever trouble I did cause you, and please tell Miyagawa I’m sorry too.” Izuku glanced at Giran and the now named Touka, Giran nodding slightly and Touka’s anger seeming to simmer some. At least she wasn’t outright glaring at him anymore, but he could tell by the bartender’s body language that she was still pretty pissed. “Second, I have a friend that’s.. Off the grid and doesn’t know about places like this. I brought her along so she might get acquainted with somewhere that she’ll benefit from.” At that, Himiko gave the two a small wave and a big smile, one that prominently showed off her fangs to the pair of bar workers. Giran let out a boisterous laugh at that while Touka let out an exasperated sigh and gave her boss the side eye. Both Izuku and Himiko raised an eyebrow at the display but didn’t press it.

“I’m sorry, it’s just a little funny to find someone in this situation. You’re really off the grid?” Giran questioned as he flicked the ash of his cigarette into an ashtray that Touka had slid over to him.

“Yeah, I am. Not by my choice, either.” Himiko answered, her voice dripping with venomous spite. Izuku could tell by her body language it wasn’t a topic that should be pursued because it’d only make her angry or upset, depending on how the explanation went. That’s why she wouldn’t say anything earlier either, he realized a second after he clued himself in on what her body language meant. 

“Ah, that kind of situation. Well, it’s a thing thing you’ve got a friend that at least knows a little bit about how things work to get you a foot in the door, eh? I’m gonna hazard a guess that you don’t need anything today–” Giran pulled his cigarette out of his mouth and put it out in the ashtray while giving Himiko a smirk that all but told Izuku that he somehow knew what she had done. It was a knowing smirk filled with amusement, like he knew and could let it slip but would keep it under wraps as long as she played along. “–But I can definitely help you familiarize yourself with our operation. And maybe get you both some yen along the way, if you’re up to the task that is.” With that said, Giran stood up and began walking off towards the door into the back area Izuku had been in the day before. He took hold of Himiko’s arm and scrambled out of his seat, pulling her along as he followed after Giran. 

Once the trio passed into the back, Himiko pulled her arm free of Izuku’s grip and wrapped them around herself. He didn’t blame her for it, he was doing something similar by forcing his hands in his pockets and fighting to keep them there. Giran glanced back at them, an amused glint in his eye as he saw Himiko fighting overtly and Izuku fighting a bit more subtle, but still having to keep calm. Izuku huffed indignantly at the look but kept following behind the man while trying to keep an eye on Himiko.

“This specific part of The Underworld is a feeding area for hunters that, for one reason or another, either can’t or won’t legally buy what they need. You have to pass through the bar to get here, normally, because we won’t let anyone in here from the other side of this place. Speaking of, the other side of this whole place is a sort of ‘hub’ for the hunters that know about this place, and there’s an entrance from the alley behind the building. It’s got resources for work, both above and below the board since not many people will hire you guys, it’s also got a few people that offer various clothing and food services for homeless hunters.” Giran gave the two another glance as they continued to walk down the hallway of the feeding area. This one wasn’t amused, challenging, or inquisitive like his looks tended to be from what Izuku had seen over the past two days. This look was sympathetic, not out of pity but a glimmer of understanding, like he at least somewhat understood where they were coming from. It was, frankly, an easy guess to say they were homeless, especially with their age and the fact they were both hunters, so it didn’t surprise Izuku that he figured that out. It did surprise him though that he understood. It was nice, in a way. 

“There’s also a group of older hunters that stay here and act kind of like an old guard or knowledgable elders for all you hellions that come through here. I think you guys would benefit from talkin’ with them. It’d be good for both of you, though the girl especially since she hasn’t had anyone to really tell her about the things that one or both of your parents probably told you, Broccoli Boy.” Giran let out a small chuckle to himself at the impromptu nickname, which Izuku let out a small amused huff. It was at least better than some of the things he’s been called when Katsuki hadn’t been around and people were brave enough to say something. “Think that’s ‘bout it. If you want to hang out in The Underworld, I recommend coming in the back entrance and staying there. Unless you have business in the bar or need food, you should stay out of it. Some underground heroes like to go there for sleuthing, meeting an informant, or meeting with me. They might jump on you for being in a bar since you’re underage.” As he finished his spiel, Giran unlocked and opened a door that they had walked up to seemingly at the end of the feeding area. 

The door opened up into a large area that looked kind of like a meeting hall. There were tables situated all around the room with people of varying ages sitting around and doing one thing or another. Along the walls, there were a few boards here and there with what seemed to be postings up on them. A few of the boards were labeled ‘Jobs’ while the rest were simply labeled ‘Resources’. In the middle of the room sat the ‘old guard’ as Giran put it, or so Izuku assumed, since the assembled group all looked like they were old enough to be Izuku’s grandparents or great-grandparents. A group of kids sat in a sem-circle in front of the group, listening intently to whatever the older folks were telling them. None of the kinds were younger than four, and the oldest was well into their teen years. Izuku gawked at the scene with a jaw fallen open while Himiko had a sad smile plastered on her face and eyes glistening with tears as she watched the kids enthralled by the storytellers. 

“Now, before I let you two off the hook.” Giran’s voice brought the duo out of their shared awe and back to the present. “I wanted to talk with you both about the job I wanted to offer you. It’s not entirely legal, so take this with a grain of salt. I don’t need an answer right away, but at least before you leave. There’s a gang forming in the slums that’s causing issues in the neighborhood. They’re stepping on a lot of toes that they definitely shouldn’t be stepping on and they’re gonna get themselves in serious trouble eventually. I’ll spare the details, but they’re looking for recruits to work as dealers for something they’re pedalling on the streets. I want you two to get in with this gang and get as much info as you can. Members, hideouts, suppliers, that sort of stuff. From there, I can pass it on to someone that’ll handle these guys before a bigger fish takes them out. Think about it and let me know.” With that, Giran flashed a smirk and walked back the way he came. 

Izuku and Himiko shared a look, telling each other that they should definitely talk about it, but they had other things to do before they could talk. Izuku nodded and waved the girl off, and she gave a small grin in return before she ran off to meet the elders. Izuku went off towards one of the Resources boards to try and get a feel for what might help them. If the pair were serious about staying in the warehouse together, he should at least put in the effort to make sure they were taken care of.

Maybe the job should be taken, even if it felt wrong to do..

Kagero kept a smirk on his face as walked through the feeding area and back towards the bar. Those two kids were a breath of fresh air for the information broker. He was used to dealing with people jaded by the horrors and issues society dealt them, but those two seemed to be doin’ alright. He didn't know the girl’s situation even if he had suspicions, but he made sure to look into the boy once he got his name from Touka. Midoriya Izuku, age seventeen, student at Aldera High School and the son of Midoriya Inko and Midoriya Hisashi. He had the same quirk as his dad and uncle, Spined Reptile, but stronger than both of them. Kid had no legal record but he’s had a number of run-ins with the Doves. It was always because he’d been observing hero fights and gotten a little too close so the heroes had to put him in their reports. What he could see of Midoriya’s school file from his source in MEXT made him seem both like a model student and a delinquent, which made him see that the file was obviously tampered with. He had also already submitted his application for U.A. University. Kid was set for being a hero, and he wouldn’t be good out here on the streets, at least for long. Whatever reason the kid was out here instead of at home, Kagero should figure it out and get it sorted. 

As he exited the feeding area and sat back at the bar, Touka came up and served him an umeshu tonic, which he gratefully accepted with a full blown smirk instead of the half-smirk he tended to have. She rolled her eyes at the display but he could tell that it wasn’t negative. He’d spent enough time with his bartender to know her tendencies. 

“So, what did you do about the kids?” Touka asked quietly as she leaned against the bar across from him.

“Ah, I showed ‘em to the center and offered them the Dregs jobs. I’ll be hearing back about that before they leave.” Kagero answered smoothly as he took a swig of his drink. Touka raised an eyebrow at him in surprise.

“The Dregs job? Really? Why?” That was a fair question. Why would he offer a job to a pair of barely adults that he’d basically just met? Well, it was simple, really.

“They’re new in the area, which means none of the Dregs will suspect that they’re a plant of any kind. Plus, that Midoriya kid is aiming to be a hero. I figured he’d jump on the chance to take down dealers and thugs.” Kagero shrugged with a lazy grin on his face as Touka looked at him incredulously. He let out a dramatic sigh and took another swig of his drink.

“I get the logistics of it, but why are you actually doing this?” Ah, she saw through his bullshit. He should really up her paycheck, or maybe her meat allowance. Probably both, actually. That sounded like a good choice.

“I don’t know about the girl, but I know the boy doesn’t deserve to be out here. He’s too good to be scraping elbows with the likes of us. If I can help him get his foot in the door, maybe I can rope in the Dove I know will work with me to get those kids out of here.” He then downed his drink and set the glass back on the bar without a touch of his usual demeanor. “They’ve got a chance to get out and I wanna help ‘em. Not everything is about profit with me.”

Touka gave him another look, this one he couldn’t quite read, but she seemed to accept the answer and take it well. She nodded and walked off to another customer flagging her down. He sat there and idly wondered if the old woman would actually help these kids get out of whatever mess they were in and if he should use his last favor with her to help them out.

He’ll have to wait and see how these kids do.

Chapter Text

As it stands, The Dregs were lucky that they were still around. Izuku and Himiko had been around them for about an hour and they could already tell this was a very shoddy operation. They had accepted the job the day before and decided to go looking for them as soon as possible. That had taken around ten minutes once they got in the slums, since The Dregs had people openly standing around peddling anything they had on them, from weed to cocaine to Trigger. How in the world they’d survived this long, Izuku had no idea, but the first impression continued to get worse from there. They’d asked the first guy they saw dealing if they could be taken to see the boss to join up and he agreed immediately. No questions, no second guessing, just acceptance. If Izuku and Himiko were actually hoping to join a competent gang, that’d probably have turned them away, but it’d work in their favor for the time being. The walk through their ‘territory’ hadn’t made things look any better for the gang, and it was needlessly long, as the person guiding them had to ‘make sure they weren’t being followed’. Once they finally made it to the rather shitty building that The Dregs had ‘taken over’ for their base, Izuku and Himiko then had to sit and wait for some reason.

That’s where they were now as he reflected back on everything that happened so far. Giran hadn’t been wrong when he said these guys were going to be in trouble eventually. If it was this bad but they were still getting in the way of bigger and more serious players anyways, then in the long run, he and Himiko were doing the right thing. Getting in here and getting everything they could on these guys so they got arrested but off the streets was a much better thought than letting them get killed in a gang conflict or just murdered. 

“The boss will see you now.” The voice of the person that led Izuku and Himiko rang out as he stepped out of the door he went through to go speak with whoever led this gang. Izuku scrambled to his feet while Himiko stood and stretched similar to how a cat might before the pair followed the man through the door he came through. He led the pair down a series of hallways in what had to be an apartment complex until ending on a door with all the previous numbers ripped off and had them replaced by ‘01’. The man guiding the pair pushed the door open and stood aside while he motioned for the pair to enter before closing the door behind them once they did.

The inside of the room was surprisingly clean when compared to the state of the rest of the building. Instead of chipped paint and somewhat dusty floors, the walls had obviously been repainted sometime recently as there were still paint supplies sitting out and the apartment overall was freshly cleaned. In the living room was a rather boring looking leather couch with someone sitting in the middle of it. He sat leaned forward over the coffee table in front of him, sorting through stacks of yen to count them and what looked like bags and vials of various different kinds of drugs. 

‘Wow, he’s a bit of an idiot. Really, just going to leave all that sitting out, especially with people you don’t know coming?’ Izuku thought to himself as he and Himiko awkwardly stood across the table from the man who was probably the head of the gang. He was a relatively normal man, if taller than average and muscular, aside from his bronze hair that hung around his head in a mullet and silver eyes that seemed locked onto their faces. Izuku shifted under the man’s gaze, uncomfortable at the intensity he was staring at the pair. Himiko stood beside him, rocking back and forth on her feet with a closed mouth smile. The dealer that brought them into the room quickly made his way out now that he’d done what he needed to. 

“So, Kurihara tells me there’s two people that want in on this and when I ask him to bring them in, I find two people that I’ve never seen around the district but one of you looks like someone else I know. What’s the deal here?” The man before them questioned in a quiet baritone that was drenched in suspicion. Izuku raised an eyebrow in confusion because why would he look like someone this dude knows but also at the fact that apparently this man knew everyone in the slums. Before he could say anything, Himiko plowed ahead, a smile still on her face.

“Well, mister, I don’t know what’s up with my friend looking like someone else, but the two of us are homeless and looking for a way to make some money. We heard about your gang and decided that maybe we could get in with you guys and help take care of ourselves.” Himiko explained in a sweet tone and Izuku could tell from knowing her that it was fake. He was also shocked that she was willing to get so close to the truth for the story of wanting to join up. It made him a little uncomfortable but it wasn’t entirely wrong. Sure, Giran might pay them for this, but that was likely depending on the information they got. However, working with the gang would probably get them enough money to at least cover Himiko’s food situation and maybe feedings for him back at Underworld. He’d supply Himiko with blood if he could, so that should keep costs down when they made trips there.

The man hums in a non committal manner before leaning back in his seat and spreading his arms across the back of the couch. “I can believe that.” He stated, then turned his gaze to stare at Izuku. “Still doesn’t explain why the kid over here looks like Keiji.” Izuku stills, his body freezing in place as he can feel his heart start to pound against his ribs. He has to fight the emotional response of being called out like that. He may have never met the man that name belonged to, but he definitely knew who it was. Why did this man know him while Izuku didn’t? He was even on a given name basis with him, unless the guy was saying the name in an attempt to rattle him. Judging by the smirk the man now wore though, Izuku had to guess he was being messed with. 

“Th-that’s my uncle. I’ve never met him though.” Izuku quietly explained, his eyes not leaving the gang leader’s as he practically laid out his identity before the man. He didn’t like it, not at all, but if he was going to have things like this thrown at him, he’d have to get used to it. Besides, heroes probably have to deal with things they don’t like all the time, and this was good practice. The man nodded in acceptance and stopped staring at him, which allowed Izuku to let out a breath he’d begun holding at some point. He turned to look at Himiko warily, but he was thankfully only met with confusion. At least she didn’t know who his uncle was too. Not being able to know while others did was weird.

“Ah, that explains it. That’s why I clocked you as so familiar. Him and his brother must look pretty similar if you clocked close enough to him to confuse me for a second.” The leader explained vaguely. Izuku’s brows furrowed as he looked back at the leader, but he gave nothing else away. His quirk must have something to do with faces or appearances, judging from everything that’d been said so far. That’s the only way he could not only recognize everyone in the district but also recognize Izuku based on his uncle. Was it some sort of Chameleon thing, where he can disguise himself as people he’s seen, so he remembers, even vaguely, what they look like? That’s a possibility, but probably not. “Now, so long as you aren’t bullshitting me and you two actually need the money, I’m happy to bring you in. I’ll need names before I send you out, but I’ll have you working with Kurihara. He brought you in, so he’ll be the one to get you started. Once you help him move all his product, you’ll be able to go on your own.” 

“You already kn-”

“I’m Himiko, and he’s Izuku! That’s all we use out here.” Himiko’s smile stretched further across her face, into something almost uncomfortable to look at, but it also portrayed the message she was trying to send, ‘You might know it, but you won’t be using his family name or you’ll regret it’. The leader shrugged in what was probably acceptance before he stood up and held a hand out to shake.

“Fine. I’m Suzuki. You won’t give up your last names, you don’t get my given name. Seems like a fair trade.” The now named Suzuki stated as Izuku and Himiko took turns shaking tha man’s hand. “Now that you’re in, ground rules. Aside from the obvious stuff of not ratting us out, turning on us, or stealing from us, there’s no fighting another member unless you’re in the ring with them. Shifts are whenever the fuck you want to pick up product to whenever the fuck you want to go home. You come back here with whatever money you made and any possible product you still have left so we can account for everything. Pay is 75/25 split in my favor on whatever you manage to sell. If you work with someone, that 25 is then split between you and whoever you worked with. We don’t care who you sell to, so long as you do sell.” Izuku bit the inside of his lip in frustration at hearing that, but held himself back. This would be good information, hopefully. Figure out how The Dregs work and who all is in it. It was all for the job. He just had to think of it like undercover work. 

Once Suzuki finished explaining the rules, he let out a sharp whistle and Kurihara rushed back in. Once the two worked out everything about the new members of The Dregs, Kurihara led Izuku and Himiko out of the room and back to the area out on the streets where they met him. He gave a quick rundown on prices and ‘dealer’s etiquette’ which really was simply not asking any info from the person besides figuring out what they need, before splitting what he had left between the three of them all and sending Izuku and Himiko on their way. With a heavy sigh and a small smile, Izuku parted from Himiko and Kurihara and found his own spot on the block to set up.

The backpack Kurihara had given him felt like it was full of osmium instead of what he was supposed to be selling. It weighed heavy on him, knowing that he’d have to peddle it off to get the information that Giran needed, but it was for the greater good. Right? If he and Himiko got info about The Dregs, then Giran or likely a hero or someone in the police can round them all up and cart them off to jail. This was way better than them getting gunned down in a gang war or ‘disappearing’. This way, not only was it getting dealers and some drugs off the street, it was saving people from a worse fate. It felt so wrong in the moment, though. He was selling right alongside these people, getting this stuff out on the street so it could mess up people’s lives. Sure, he could rationalize that ‘the ends justify the means’, but those means were horrible and he wasn’t sure they were justifiable by the end result in his mind.

He’ll have to have a moral quandary later, someone had caught sight of him and realized why he must’ve been out there. ‘My first customer’ he darkly joked as he slung the bag off his shoulder and got to business. 

After dealing for a day, Izuku was already tired of this job. He didn’t like slinging, hated being the one to give out the substance that someone was likely dependent on and willing to do anything to get again. At least, that’s what some of the drugs were for. The Trigger was something even worse, and he was frankly glad that no one had come to him for any. He didn’t want to sell any of that so someone could go out and use it to commit some sort of crime. He didn’t know if he could sell it in a moral sense, but if someone ever came to him for it, he’d have to give it up to maintain his cover in The Dregs. When he met up with Kurihara and Himiko to round up all the money they had, he could tell, at least vaguely, that she felt something similar. She seemed to give up the money and backpack a little too quickly and answer Kurihara’s question with short and quick replies. Talking with Suzuki wasn’t any easier, because it also meant walking through what sales they’d done and what product was left. Since there was still some left of what Kurigara had started with, Izuku and Himiko would be working with him again tomorrow to try and get rid of the rest before moving on to work on their own. Once everything was said and done, though, with the money the group got split 50/50 since Izuku and Himiko lived together and they didn’t want to fuck over Kurihara, the group left the aparetment building that the fang was using as a base of operation and started heading back towards home.

The walk home was as silent as the night should be, save for the steps of people walking around and Himiko’s quiet humming. It was a rather subdued tune, which somewhat clued Izuku in on how his roommate was feeling. She probably dislikes the job too, maybe not as much as he does, but enough. He didn’t bother interrupting her, as her humming seemed to be something soothing to the girl, or maybe it was merely a traveling habit she picked up at some point, but he didn’t want her to stop. He rather liked having something to distract his mind right now so he didn’t have to deal with the moral issue he’d been pushing aside to deal with later. He didn’t want now to be the ‘later’ he’d been talking about. This continued all the way up to the street that the door for the warehouse was on, as they’d decided to simply use it if they had no way to ensure it stayed locked up. Something was wrong though, very wrong.

The door to the warehouse was already open. It wasn't more than a sliver crack, but it was open nonetheless. Izuku looked over at Himiko, a grim expression plastered on his face as he watched her slide the boxcutter out of her sleeve. He took a deep breath, willed his quirk to pull itself out of his back, and carefully approached the door. As he drew closer, he could hear breathing inside the building and knew that they were in for something. He pressed his hand against the door and, without a warning, threw it open. Before he could pull his hand away, something like bone reached out of the dark and pierced through his forearm. Izuku barely suppressed a scream before he ripped his arm straight down with the knowledge his regeneration would deal with the now massive gouge in his arm. A laugh echoed out from the inside of the warehouse as whoever attacked them stepped into the door and out into the moonlight. The first thing he noticed was the spear-like bone extending out of his torn palm, blood dripping down his palm. The second was the large dove symbol sewn into his trenchcoat.

“There’s the little hunter I’ve been looking for! You’ve been quite elusive, Mr. Midoriya~” The man stated in a light playful tone as he smiled at the pair. As Izuku fought to keep himself relatively calm, he made sure to study the man before him. He had pearl hair that hung down past his shoulders in a tight ponytail and seafoam green eyes that seemed to stare at him with an odd sense of glee. Most of his figure was hidden under a plain gray suit and trenchcoat that he wore over the top of it with his Oriental dove symbol sewn right into where a breast pocket might be. “I was hoping that I might’ve found you when I investigated this warehouse to see if anyone was living here. Lo and behold, look what the cat dragged in.” The Dove motioned the hand with the bone still sticking out of it at Izuku and Himiko, as if they were nothing more than trash that someone had left on the ground. “Not to mention, it seems like someone’s been busy~.” The investigator then held up the bloody shirt that Izuku had worn the other day when he’d gone to Underworld for the first time. He flinched at the implication the agent left with that statement and let his quartet of tendrils droop towards the ground. The agent smiled, a large, toothy grin that Izuku could tell was more than a bit unhinged, at the sight and, with the hand holding the bloody shirt, pulled the bone currently sticking out of his hand and held it before himself like a sword.

Before Izuku or the agent could truly do anything else, a pair of neon lines zipped from beside Izuku and up behind the agent. The twin glowing dots quickly settled behind the agent as a blade slashed across the right side of the man’s face. The agent let out a huff and attempted to lash out at his aggressor with the sharpened bone, but the glowing orbs moved again, leaving behind another pair of neon streaks that ended at the owner’s new location, which happened to be hanging off a nearby fire escape.

“You’re not touching him!” Himiko yelled from her spot on the fire escape, her heliodor eyes glowing in the dark like a street light shining from within her. The agent let out a loud laugh that shocked both Izuku and Himiko, which was evident by the fact her flinch left a very small trail from the movement of her head.

“And you’re staying here with a vampire! What a riot! Here, I was simply hoping to close out a case that’s been on my desk for a bit, but I get a three for one deal, since she’s likely unregistered if no one’s been informed of another hunter investigation in the area. Well, well, this has truly turned out to be a splendid evening! Unfortunately for you, you both seem ‘combative’. I’m sure no one would even bat an eye at what I’m going to do next.” The agent stated as several more bones seemed to pierce out of his skin, the hand wielding a bone blade dropping it to have both hands shoot another sharpened bone out of it, while another sharpened bone exited both of his elbows to act as extra blades. At each exit point for a bone, the man’s flesh ripped and tore to let the weaponized bone exit , causing him to bleed profusely and for the skin to loosely hang in place. It was a cacophony of temptation that Izuku was forcing himself to ignore ro try and figure some way out. Himiko seemed to be having just as much of a hard time with it, so they’d have to figure this out together. All he knew though was that they had to leave. Now.

Izuku, with every shred of will he could muster, threw himself off the ground and up to the fire escape that Himiko was clinging herself to. Without saying a word while hoping she’d understand, he pulled her off the fire escape, up against him by wrapping an arm around her, and pushing himself off the fire escape and onto a nearby roof. He watched the glowing trail left behind by Himiko’s eyes, but couldn’t bother worrying that it might give them away as he ran. He ran as fast as his legs could carry, sprinting across rooftops and leaping across most gaps with ease. Himiko tried to fight against it, but he simply ignored his roommate out of fear of the agent and for her own safety. 

They just had to get away and be safe. They couldn’t get taken away by the HIB, or stay anywhere near that agent. He was one of the bad ones. One of the ones that wanted to kill hunters. And he apparently had the means to back it up.

The easiest way to stay safe was simply to run.

Chapter Text

Fear is a very powerful motivator. It drives people to do crazy things sometimes, and when the fear is potent enough and from certain circumstances, it can push people to do very irrational things. Maybe that’s why Izuku didn’t pay any attention to where he was going as he ran with Himiko in his grip. Maybe his brain was too fogged by his own fear to truly register what he was seeing until he’d stopped at the very edge of Musutafu and almost spilled out into the road leading off towards Shizuoka proper. The only reason he stopped then, though, was because Himiko had finally managed to squirm out of his grasp and move away from him. She didn’t go far, just to the other side of the roof, but it was far enough that she’d at least see him move towards her to try and grab her if he did try. He realized why she did it, he could easily tell even through the fog of fear.

“Himiko, wh-what are you doing? We need to go.” Izuku called out across the roof, his tone desperate and erratic as he watched his roommate stare at him with her eyes still glowing bright. The twin neon glows of yellow seemed to be judging him, but not in a snide sense. They were trying to take stock of his capabilities at the moment, whether or not he could be trusted at the moment. The cold, calculating gaze made a chill run down his spine, particularly his mind finally realized that he couldn’t. He was stuck in a fear response, he shouldn’t be in charge right now if there was someone who was at least level-headed.

“I think we’re far enough away, Izuku. He hasn’t been following us and we can’t just skip town.” Himiko explained carefully as she watched him, her eyes feeling like they were piercing into his soul, but with the instinctual fear ebbing out of his system and being replaced not just by the feeling of judgement, but fatigue, he couldn’t be bothered to worry. He let out a clipped noise in the affirmative and stepped away from the edge of the building and slumped down to sit on his knees. Once he was ‘comfortably’ sitting on the roof, he shifted his position to be sitting down completely with his legs stretched out ahead of him, his hands behind him to hold him up, and his head turned up to the light polluted sky. There was a star here and there that was especially bright that the light pollution couldn’t hide, but for the most part, he looked up into a relatively bright and vaguely purple sky. 

“Sorry.” Izuku mumbled into the sky, hoping that Himiko would understand that this was meant for her. “I didn’t mean for you to get wrapped up in my bullshit. Or for your first run-in with a Dove to be a M-Mourning Dove. That gotta be like.. the worst f-first impression.” Izuku let out a bitter laugh, attempting to let the last of his fear drain away as he tried to talk. “I’m sorry that you’ll pr-probably have a file with the HIB now, and it’ll h-have a black mark. Guess mine will too, now, even though I didn’t do anything.” Another bitter laugh escaped his lips, though he felt like he wanted to cry. Maybe the laughing was his body channeling those emotions elsewhere so he didn’t have to cry in front of Himiko again. 

“How about instead of sitting there and feeling bad, we figure out where to stay. And maybe warn everyone else about the ‘Mourning Dove’ in the area.” Even though he couldn’t see it, Izuku could hear Himiko’s use of air quotes by the way she exaggerated the words. He then heard her mumble something just under her breath, but he still caught it anyway. He’d hoped she remembered that he had excellent hearing, and maybe she did and did it on purpose, but he heard anyway. “Maybe he’ll show back up and I can have at him.” Izuku let out a small sigh and nodded as he pushed himself to his feet. Once he was on his feet and ready to go, he and Himiko took off in the vague direction of The Underworld.

Saying that Touka was surprised to see the two newest misfits come almost barreling through the door to the hub, both looking disheveled and with their eye transformations active would be an understatement. She’d just slipped back here on break when the duo came barging in, though still somehow aware of themselves enough to keep the commotion outside discreet. A sigh makes its way out involuntarily as she finds herself walking up to the pair of hellions. As she drew closer, she could start seeing the bodily tells that at least Izuku was scared and maybe a little paranoid while Himiko seemed to put on a calm face while something angry brewed underneath. Whatever caused them to come barreling in must’ve been something serious.

“What’s got you two up in a tizzy?” Touka asked incredulously as she looked the pair over. She watched them both take a deep breath before Izuku stepped forward while wringing his hands together.

“Some serious shit. We were trying to head home after hitting up the gang for Giran’s job when there was a ‘Mourning Dove’, whatever that means, waiting for Izuku.” Touka stiffened as Himiko said the nickname, her body language losing all of its attitude, both fake and real. “He tried to fight us but we ran off. Figured we should come around and warn people, if a ‘Mourning Dove’ is supposed to be something special.” Himiko shrugged as she slid a boxcutter out of her sleeve and opened it to lick blood off the blade. Touka watched her retch, apparently not finding the taste of the Dove’s blood appealing, and giggled quietly at the sight. Himiko sent her a glare then rushed off to one of the side rooms coming off the main hall, the storage closet specifically and stayed within for a couple minutes before coming out looking like someone else entirely. Touka stared at her curiously and, from the corner of her eye, she could see Izuku also staring at Himiko, though it was in fear. “Dude looked like this. Never gave a name, but if you see him around, he’s trouble.” Touka sputtered as she realized just who she was looking at, even if it was Himiko underneath it all.

“You guys met Oonuki?! And he tried to attack you?! What the fuck?” Touka questioned incredulously as she stared at Himiko wearing Oonuki like a change of clothes. Himiko simply shrugged at the question, and Izuku just nodded in confused affirmation. Touka let out a deep sigh filled with every ounce of annoyance and dread she could muster, which was quite a bit in her opinion. “That’s like the Mourning Dove for Musutafu. Sure, there’s a few others stationed out here, but he’s the worst of ‘em.” Izuku froze in shock, the color draining from his face after he processed the information Touka just dumped on them. Himiko just shrugged again and walked back into the storage closet. A few minutes later, she walked back out of the closet as her again.

“Oh my god, how the hell did we get away with that?” Izuku murmured breathlessly as Touka facepalmed at the reaction. 

“Well, if he’s that bad, why didn’t you let me stab him a little?” Himiko asked in a sweet and slightly deranged tone while wearing a small pout, at least that's how it sounded to Touka. Apparently, that was just normal though, as Izuku didn't at all seem shocked.

“Because then you'll be marked as a kill on sight target for killing a Dove.” Izuku murmured in response, shifting his gaze to look at the still pouting Himiko. “And I really don’t want to see that happen to you.”

“Okay, before this gets all mushy,” Touka interjected, “thank you for coming and telling us he was in the area at the moment. I’ll pass the word along. You two go figure out what you’re gonna do for a place to stay.” Touka waved the two away in a dismissive manner as she walked away from them. She heard the two start talking but quickly tuned it out as she speedwalked towards the door that went into the feeding area. Giran was still around, since he didn’t have any meetings for a few hours, so she had to tell him first so he could pass it around. And maybe figure out why the hell Oonuki was assigned to a case like whatever the hell was up with these kids. 

“God, I can already tell those two are gonna be headaches..” Touka mumbled as she walked down the hallway. She was glad that all this barely affected her anymore, given how often she walked these halls to deal with something in the bar or the meeting room. Since she was the only hunter that worked for Giran at the bar itself, she was a sort of de facto leader to the community that Giran cultivated and allowed to live here. She didn’t like being the leader, she didn’t belong in a role like that, but she was still trying her best for everyone else. That’s all she could do while still adjusting from her more… passive aggressive disposition from a few years ago that ruined her chances in Tokyo. That coffee shop had been nice, but she couldn’t handle all the dipshits that moved into town thinking they could try and run things by taking it over. She showed them real quick that wouldn’t work, but it also brought the HIB and the heroes down on Tokyo once a ‘gang war’ broke out. It’s a shame that place had to close, the people there were great, if a bit annoying.

As she emerged from the feeding area and back into the bar, Touka shot a pointed glance at Giran, who was sitting at his usual booth and had turned to see who came through the door when it opened. She saw one of his eyebrows raise past his sunglasses and she nodded her head towards the bar in response. A nod met her demand, which let her just walk to the bar and take her place behind it. Giran lazily made his way out of his booth and up to the stool directly in front of her, plopping himself down on it with a small sigh.

“What’s goin’ on?” Giran bluntly questioned as Touka began making his umeshu tonic. She rolled her eyes playfully at his directness and sighed at the fact she had to tell him about this.

“Kids showed up around back. Apparently Oonuki’s got a case for one of them and he ambushed them when they were heading home from The Dregs. Dunno how they managed to get away, but they did, and they came here to warn us. They didn’t know it was him until I told them, though, just that there was a Mourning Dove in town.” Touka explained in a hushed tone as she went through the process of making her boss his drink. A loud sigh exited Giran’s mouth as she did, which caused her to let out a small amused snort. “But yeah, figured you should know that he’s in town and apparently looking for one of them. Or probably both now, since they ran away.” Touka finished up making Giran his drink and placed it down on the bar in front of him. She watched him take a large swig of it as soon as he could get his hands on it before almost slamming it down on the bar. “I’ll admit, I’m also curious as to why he was assigned whatever case he’s on.”

“Well, thanks for letting me know. I’ll see what I can dig up. I’ll get the word out he’s in town, though, just keep an eye out.”

Chapter Text

The hunt for a place to stay sucked, especially when it was interrupted by ‘work’. Izuku still hated thinking about it like that, hated working for drug dealers and having to deal himself, but it had to be for Giran’s job. Thankfully, though, at least Himiko and him could go out on their own and had been for about two weeks now. Kurihara’s product had been easy to sell once Izuku found the right spot. He simply had to place himself on the edge of The Dregs’ territory and sell the Trigger to anyone passing by that seemed like they needed it. That was mostly to the next group over, a small-time gang that dealt in ‘protection’ to their area. He didn’t know what those gang members ever did with that Trigger, and he didn’t ever want to know. He didn’t think his conscience could ever come to terms with the fact he facilitated that. But after that, he and Himiko had been able to go out on their own or with anyone else in the gang that they wanted. Izuku had since then learned about a few of the people in the gang, and a bit more about Kurihara. He now knew that Kurihara had a quirk that allowed him to cause slight tremors in anything he touched so long as it was non-living. That was very good info to have, since the police had access to the quirk registry and could properly find out who Kurihara was now. Unfortunately, aside from Kurihara, all Izuku had was family names for the other dealers, which unfortunately wasn’t enough. However, the look for a home kept his mind from going down that rabbit hole fully for the moment.

The place they were currently scoping out was a building that was recently abandoned on the decent side of town. It was a four story apartment complex that was condemned after a villain attack happened on the street it was on and left the area a wreck. The building itself was all together, but it was condemned due to a structural integrity risk. Contractors had looked at the building and they all came to the same conclusion. Everything seemed fine, but there was a risk that something could happen to a support and the whole building would come down on itself due to the stress it had been under during the fighting. Because of that, everyone quickly moved out and the building was empty and, hopefully, no one would be poking around. That made it a great place to stay, as long as they were the only ones dumb brave enough to try this. That’s why they were both on a nearby rooftop, late at night, scoping the place out. They were waiting to see or hear if someone was going to go in or come out of the building.

Well, would have, had the sound of nearly silent footsteps on concrete up near them alerted Izuku to the fact that someone was coming. He let out a tired and annoyed huff as he pulled the makeshift full head mask made out of a shirt wrapped around his head tighter to try and obscure his identity while motioning for Himiko to do the same. Izuku turned around just as the person up here with them landed down on the rooftop they were on and was greeted by the sight of Ms. Joke. Izuku would’ve been fanboying at the sight of her long guessed at underground costume that was just like her normal costume with the orange and green replaced by much darker versions of the colors, but he was frankly shocked that not only was she in town, but it was Ms. Joke. She was one of two heroes that publicly supported hunters, the other one being Midnight, even though she wasn’t one herself, and raised awareness about issues they faced. He had to admit that she was a big reason that he still wanted to be a hero after years and years of bullying and the treatment he received at Aldera. So seeing her was a big shock to him like meeting All Might might be to other people.

“What’s goin’ on up here?” Ms. Joke questioned in an almost teasing tone. Izuku stilled as he realized just how suspicious this all looked. Two presumably adult people crouched on a rooftop with face coverings, both showing their eyes and one showing their ears as well, while they stared at a building. Well, shit. At least she wasn’t a Dove.

“Oh, nothing, just uh. Checking out the sights?” Izuku replied while mentally berating himself for the stupid answer. He could feel Himiko’s exasperated glare boring into the side of his head as he watched Ms. Joke put her hands on her hips in an almost disappointed look.

“Oh, really?” She asked, still using the teasing tone she started with and now had the barest hint of a smile. Izuku could feel his heartbeat pick up at the sight. It might seem like it’s just a hero teasing someone that they were questioning, but he knew what was actually happening. He’d studied Ms. Joke enough to know how she fought and how her quirk worked, at least in her public fights. Her quirk worked through a combination of facial and vocal activation, and here she was starting to set it up. All she had to do was smile and crack a joke according to her own humor and then anyone that both saw the smile and heard the joke would be under the effects of Outburst. Since she was getting ready to use her quirk, Izuku had to think of something quick. She obviously didn’t believe him so far, so maybe he should just come out and tell her. She’d probably be cool about it, but it’d also mean they wouldn’t be able to stay here. No, they need that building, there was nowhere else in town they’d be safe, minus Dregs territory. That wasn’t an option for long though, at least hopefully.

“Well, yeah. It looks gr-great up here.” Izuku lamely answered as he shifted his gaze down to look at the roof beneath him. Himiko sighed beside him and facepalmed.

“You’re really not making things better here!” Himiko hissed at him under her breath and he slumped at the statement. He knew that already, but he’s trying to get out of this without giving away what was actually going on here! A hero wouldn’t just let them stay there, both because it’d be trespassing and because they morally wouldn’t let someone staying in a condemned building. 

“Well, if you like the sights so much, what’s with the face mask thingies?” Ms. Joke asked, her teasing tone gone and it was quickly replaced by suspicion. Izuku wanted to scream at the sound, but it at least meant that she wasn’t about to crack a joke, hopefully. 

“You know, that’s a great question.” Himiko started, causing Izuku to whip his head and look at her with wide eyes. She was looking at him out of the corner of her eye with a mischievous glint. “But unfortunately, you won’t hear an answer.” With that, Himiko stood up and quickly bolted. Izuku let out a string of curses in English and quickly stood up to do the same. He heard Ms. Joke laugh at the actions but decided he should focus on staying on Himiko’s trail than to try and keep track of what the hero that was now likely chasing them was doing. Besides, they’d likely lose her soon anyway. Yeah, she was great at parkour as a Twilight hero, but she couldn’t keep up with the pure speed and agility that he and Himiko had as hunters. 

Izuku followed Himiko for a few blocks before she finally seemed to decide they’d gone far enough and plopped down onto the edge of a roof. Izuku walked over and sat down next to her, giving the girl a look that he hoped conveyed just how done he was tonight. Judging from the slightly manic giggle coming from her, he got it right. The mania aside, it seemed like Himiko was doing alright. She didn’t seem upset about probably losing out on a place to stay thanks to getting spotted by a hero, and really, that was his fault. He should’ve known that a hero would be around the area, considering there had been a recent attack. Petty criminals and really small-time Villains like to flock to areas like that, hoping that with everything that happened, they could make quick or easy scores and get away with it. Underground and Twilight heroes were quick to notice that though, and would decide to patrol near places like that for a while to try and catch anyone that’d think they could take advantage of the situation. Really, being so obvious was all on him, so Himiko could blame him all she wanted for what just happened. He was glad she wasn’t, but that might also be the mania talking. He should help her take care of that.

“Here.” Izuku stated as he pulled the makeshift face covering off and pulled his shirt away from his shoulder. Before she could even question, he pushed forward with the explanation. “I could hear it in your giggle. It could’ve just been adrenaline or something, but it sounded like your hunger induced kind.” After that, Himiko didn’t argue. She let out a small sigh that didn’t sound disappointed in the slightest before practically ripping her face cover off, leaning against him, and latching onto his shoulder. He let out a quiet grunt at the fangs piercing his skin, but knew that it was necessary, given the first time they had tried, he’d regenerated pretty much immediately after she had cut him. So, in order to properly feed off of him, she had to stay latched on and hope that he bled quickly so she wasn’t stuck there long. 

Now they just had to hope that the effects were less this time.

Something interesting that they found out was that hunters respond.. oddly to ‘cannibalism’. By that, there were odd effects a person had happen when they fed from another hunter like Himiko was doing now. The first time it happened, she had subconsciously activated her quirk, transformed into him, and continued to feed like she was completely starved while utilizing his own strength to try and keep him subdued while almost obsessing over the blood. Last time, she had managed to keep from activating her quirk, but had instead fallen into a feeding craze even worse than what had happened the first time and he had to force her off him as she was pushing his regeneration to its limits. This time, she seemed to immediately transform into him but hadn’t grown more rabid with her feeding. It seems that if she forced herself into one option, it would negate the other but amplify what was done. That was made obvious when, suddenly, she was overpowering him and pinning him to the rooftop as she fed. Maybe she was able to add her own physique and strength onto what his body had in order to do that. 

“Easy, Himiko, I know you’re trying not to go rabid, but that doesn't mean you should push yourself in a direction that could be dangerous.” Izuku carefully chastised, and all he got back was a short hum of acknowledgement. As long as she heard him and understood, that was fine. She wouldn’t be hungry for a bit at least, but they should really get back to The Underworld for food. Especially since this house hunting trip was likely a bust.

Man, they really needed more work.

Okay, he really shouldn’t have said anything about work, this shit sucked. Since he did so well the first time with Trigger, Suzuki decided that he’d only sell it with this new batch they had. He hadn’t said anything, just nodded when he was given what he needed to sell, but now he was regretting ever taking the job from Giran. Maybe Himiko qas having a better time than he was, but he hated it. He hated having to sell this shit just to try and get info on the gang. He couldn’t just tell himself he had to do it anymore to try and keep the guilt away, it dug into him no matter what he did. He had to keep going though, if not for Giran then for himself and Himiko. They needed this money so that way they could get some proper feedings. Izuku was running low after letting Himiko feed off of him the night before and Himiko needs something better than ‘cannibalism’. He noticed this morning that it was affecting her more than simply during feedings. She was definitely a bit more “silly” as she put it than normal and seemed to be like she was on edge more than was necessary for the shady alley they had slept in. If there was some sort of psychological effect to it, they had to get ahead of the curve and curb it before it got bad. To do that, they’d have to sell some serious stuff for The Dregs and get what money they could to afford her trips to Underworld two or three times a week. They also had to make sure there was enough of a cushion to afford actual food for her, drinks for the both of them, and trips of his own to Underworld, though that’d likely only be about once, maybe twice a month.

“Ugh, this shit better at least sell well if I have to do it.” Izuku muttered to himself as he readjusted the backpack on his back while he walked towards the border between The Dregs and the next group over. Hopefully they took this stuff off his hands like they did last time. He didn’t know why they wanted it, didn’t know what they used it for, what he did know was that they had bought it and he needed the money. That was a really bad way to look at it, he knew, but it was the reality of the situation. Reality didn’t make the pit in his stomach diminish though.

As Izuku rounded a corner to the spot he’d been in before, there were people already there, seemingly waiting for someone to show up as he watched them all keep looking around almost frantically. At least one of the guys there was someone that had come and bought from him the last time he was out here selling, so he must’ve brought some other guys with him this time. That was fine, it just meant more customers and more sales ‘keep telling yourself that’. He hefted the backpack off his shoulder as one of the guys finally noticed him walking up and started shoving the other four standing there and pointing at him. Once he’d been spotted, the group fervently descended on him like a pack of vultures on carrion. He barely had time to start unzipping the backpack before he was being bombarded by voices and hands trying to sneak in and grab the vials within. Izuku easily utilized his enhanced strength to pull himself and the bag away from the group as he glared at them all.

“Quiet!” He yelled at the group, who all seemed to freeze at the sound. Izuku let out a sigh as he held the bag close and looked at the guy he recognized out of the five of them. “Now, what do you guys need?”

“We’re getting in some shit, man.” The man muttered with a far away look in his eyes. “There’s some hero that’s come into the area to try and root us out. A few of our guys have gotten caught already, we can’t hold a candle to what the hero’s got. At least, not without help.” He started fumbling around with his pockets, looking for something, until he pulled out what could only be described as a thoroughly stuffed wallet. “We’re willing to buy whatever you've got on hand, just, we need it. Some a bit more than others…” The man likely meant it in a way that alluded to weaker quirks, but Izuku’s mind also ‘helpfully’ grasped onto the idea that some were already hooked on the stuff. Izuku let out a quiet sigh as he zipped the bag up and held it out in one hand.

“I’ve got thirty vials here, and you know we’re running 10,000 yen a vial. You do the math there.” Izuku stated plainly as he held the bag in a tight grip so no one tried to take it before paying up. The man nodded eagerly and then pulled out the cash from the wallet he was holding. He quickly counted out the money, as did Izuku since he could see the denominations on the notes, and handed it over with a small smile. Izuku took the money with an extremely fake smile and handed the bag over to the group, who all seemed to look at it like it was a divine blessing. 

Well, with his business concluded, Izuku made an effort to disappear as quickly as he could. Who knew who had seen what had just happened, so he had to book it out of there. Or, he would have, had the sound of a panicked yelp and a scream erupted in the air. Izuku turned around, only to be met with the sight of Slugger erupting from an alleyway to stand over the man he just knocked over with a pitch He was a local hero in Musutafu with a quirk that allowed him to mentally create perfect trajectories for anything he could throw. He’d decided to supplement that by becoming something like a superpowered pitcher with the pneumatic gauntlet he wore on his dominant hand to enhance the strength of his throws to levels that even durability quirks had a hard time dealing with without any bruising. Sure, that only happened when his gauntlet was at full power and he could only do that three times from full before he had to reload the gas canister in his gauntlet, but it could still prove dangerous.

Izuku skidded to a halt at the sight and watched as four of the five guys he just sold to reached into the bag and all grabbed a vial of Trigger. He cursed at the situation and dipped into a side alley to get away from Slugger’s line of sight before leaping onto a nearby fire escape and swiftly climbing it to the roof of the building. Now looking down on the fight from above, he could take in the sights of what Trigger truly did so he can ingrain the image in his mind forever. The thugs that were still up were all now cackling like madmen while their quirks seemed to activate on their own. The guy holding the bag had apparently already swung it onto his back and ran into an alley nearby. He came back with a bat that he watched grow to double its size. He’d apparently left it nearby and went to grab it, and whatever his quirk was caused it to grow in size, which was then made to grow more thanks to the Trigger. Another had what seemed to be a quirk that allowed him to turn his fingers into knives, probably something like a pocket knife blade but was now closer to something like a dirk or a hunting knife in size and shape. The third member of the group had no obvious signs of quirk use, but Izuku had to guess it was a minor muscle augmentation or manipulation quirk as he could see the skin of his arms start shifting around frantically. The last guy was a mystery though, as he didn’t seem to have any sort of quirk showing. However, he was looking up at him, so maybe it was something sight based. Why look at him and not Slugger, then?

Izuku hunkered down on the edge of the roof to watch the fight that was sure to go down and maybe figure this mystery quirk out, but quickly found himself knelt on a sidewalk as he looked down at the shoes Slugger wore. He let out a shocked noise as he looked back up at the spot he’d been in just moments ago to see the man that’d been looking at him standing there with a feral grin. So it was sight based teleportation that only worked when there was another person to swap with. And given that the guy used him and not someone else down the street, it was likely that he didn’t have that much of a range. Well, fuck him too, he’s never selling to these assholes again! Hopefully Slugger will deal with them and he’ll be able to go.

That thought was swiftly put to rest as one of the hero’s baseballs, which Izuku was now learning firsthand were pure steel balls designed to look like baseballs, collided square with his chest. He couldn’t stop from wheezing as the air was knocked out of him as he clutched his chest.

“F-fuck.” He mumbled once he caught his breath from the blow. Thank god he had a regeneration factor, otherwise that would’ve been a really nasty bruise later on. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately in the case of not having proof, it took care of any bruises and abrasions that he could possibly get as long as he could regenerate. Now, if only it kept him from feeling pain, that’d be fantastic.

Thankfully, Slugger didn’t seem to continue battering him with baseballs, since he was now being barraged by the three gang members that had stayed to fight and were still on their feet. The one with the bad kept swinging wildly at the hero with his enlarged bat while the one with knife fingers kept swiping at the man with reckless abandon. The other guy was trying to circle around to Slugger’s back and get the drop on him, his arms bulging slightly from his quirk. Izuku rushed towards the fighting and, even though the man tried to swing out and hit him when he got close, Izuku kicked the man behind Slugger and caused him to tumble down the alley behind the hero. Izuku didn’t have a chance to collect himself before Slugger’s pneumatic hand clasped down on his shoulder and, with a full force throw that Izuku could hear used the last of the gas cartridge loaded in, tossed him away from the fighting and into a wall. 

Izuku was wheezing again as the air was knocked out of him for the second time in the span of probably a minute, maybe two. Why the hell was Slugger such an asshole? He was just trying to help, but no, the man had to fucking throw him into a wall! Some people had no gratitude! Okay, it probably did look really suspicious that he was charging at a hero like that, but c’mon, a wall was not a necessary reaction!

Once Izuku had caught his breath again, he stood up and watched the fight not making any true progress, with Slugger barely able to keep the two people trying to fight him from landing any hits and unable to retaliate safely with hand to hand or his quirk. Izuku let out a sigh at the sight and willed his quirk to slide out of his back. Much to his chagrin, he was able to only summon a single tendril. He was just glad he could muster anything with how hungry he was, though, so he’ll take it. Using his quirk, Izuku quickly whipped it around himself and towards the pair of people attacking Slugger in the hopes he could wrap them up and pull them away. He was only able to get around one before the one with the bat before Knife Fingers saw it and ducked the incoming grab. Izuku wasn’t going to try and fight it or risk getting into anything else with Slugger, so he simply reeled his quirk in and pulled the guy with the bat away from the fight and over to where he was. 

Slugger apparently didn’t like that, because now that he could create a little breathing room to reload the canister in his gauntlet by simply grabbing ahold of Knife Fingers, he threw the thug at him and the guy with the bat. Izuku was barely able to move himself and the guy he was holding out of the way of the incoming body flying at them, and that was enough for Izuku to decide he needed to get out. If Slugger really wanted to keep trying to mess with him even though he was only trying to help, he'll just ditch. Fuck this bullshit. 

Izuku dropped the man he was holding, a displeased and pained noise coming from said man as he hit the ground, and started deciding on how to get away. Obviously, he’ll have to run, but where? If he just booked it down the street, Slugger was free to pelt him as he ran and run down his regeneration to nothing. That was no good, because then he’d be starved and he didn’t want that at all. Rooftops would be safer, but he doubted he could make it up there at the moment before Slugger landed a solid shot on him and he fell. Fuck, he was screwed either way. He needed to eat, that was all there was to it…

Fuck it, he had to do this, conscience be damned. Izuku leaned down and grabbed onto one of Bat Man’s arms to hold it straight. Once it was, Izuku muttered a quiet apology and sunk his teeth into the flesh before him. He did his best to mentally ignore the delicious taste and swallowed it whole.

Then the world went red.

Chapter Text

Himiko was having a mixed day. Sure, her sales were good, but she was tired of doing this job and, probably worst of all in her opinion, bored out of her mind. It took so long for anyone out where she sold to actually come around and buy anything, but she couldn’t exactly leave in case someone else came, so she had to just stand around and wait. It wasn’t like she had a working phone on her either, since they still hadn’t found a place to stay or any sort of electricity to use minus the ‘community center’, so there wasn’t anything to keep her mind occupied. Maybe she should leave, just to get some different customers and maybe some less downtime. Besides, the people around here were starting to properly recognize her, so she should probably bounce. Didn’t need anyone to point fingers at her if they got caught, or for her to be connected to The Dregs when the gang went down.

A sigh slipped out as she shook the more logical ‘reasoning’ from her head. She couldn’t lie to herself, the real reason she wanted to move was so she could hang out with Izuku. Things were boring without him around. He’s the only one she knew well that actually understood, at least to a degree. It wasn’t the same, of course, but he still understood. Plus, he was helping her, trying to keep her from ‘going crazy’ due to her cravings. What, a girl can't be a little silly anymore? Gosh, maybe she should’ve just kicked him out when they met. A short bout of giggles escaped at the thought and light mental tease of her friend. She couldn’t go back to living alone or without the true knowledge of what she was. Sure, maybe the things her parents said about her being a monster were a little true, but it was natural! It wasn’t normal, otherwise society wouldn’t hate Hunters, but at least she wasn’t some unnatural beast that replaced their daughter. She was just her, and who she happened to be was a vampire. 

Still though, she was totally getting out of here. Himiko knew that Izuku sold out by the border between The Dregs and the gang next door when he had Trigger, so he’d probably be out there. With her mind made up, Himiko pulled the bag on her back tight against her and began to skip towards the vague area she figured Izuku would be in. She got a few odd looks, probably because it was odd for someone out in the slums to be smiling like she was and skipping around, but those people weren’t important. At least the weird looks were because she was acting weird when where she was currently was taken into consideration. She knew she was a bit weird, but at least it made sense now. Bonus points, y’know?

The closer that Himiko got to the general area that she figured Izuku was in, the more hurried everything got. People went from casually walking out where she had started her trek to now speedwalking or straight up running away from the direction she was heading. That was… worrying, to say the least. She had to see what was going on, make sure that her friend was okay. Himiko’s pace went from a friendly skip to a jog, at least by Hunter standards. It was more like a sprint to anyone else watching her. If something was going on up ahead, she had to see what it was. She had to make sure that Izuku got out of whatever it was that was happening. Had to make sure he got to be a hero. Had to make sure Izuku was fine, that he was alive. She couldn’t lose her first actual friend.

Himiko burst out of an alleyway onto a main road and finally got to see what the commotion was. She understood why people were running away now, because even she was a little scared.

Right in the middle of the street was a rather animated fight between some Pro that seemed to be calling for backup and Izuku of all people. It was incredibly wrong though. Not only would Izuku never want to fight a Pro, but he’d said he’d only been able to manifest four tendrils with his quirk, but she could count six whipping around in a frenzy. He was standing hunched over, his posture low like he was ready to pounce, and she could see blood dripping from his mouth. His eyes, fully transformed, looked crazed as they were locked on the hero, occasionally darting around to seemingly try and find something. The Pro was keeping someone injured behind him while readying something in a heavy duty gauntlet. The man behind the hero seemed like he was terrified, clutching an arm to his chest that Himiko could smell had a large injury that was gushing beautiful sanguine liquid. There were two other guys, both unconscious and sitting in an alley nearby while being guarded by a couple of civilians, likely temporary until the hero’s backup showed up. This was bad, very bad. She didn’t know what at all happened, but she knew where this was going from the stories she heard. The hero had already reported this when he called for backup, so the HPSC and the HIB would be able to pick it up quickly. From there, a Diamond Dove, a hero that worked for HIB in some capacity, or some sort of other Dove would come out and deal with the situation. Knowing their luck, it’d be Oonuki again. That meant they needed out of all their troubles now, before they got taken out. 

First things first, Himiko had to get Izuku out of there and figure out what was going on with him. How could she do that without making things worse? He didn’t seem like he was completely there, so maybe it was something like when she was really hungry? If that was true, then he needed something to eat and it was affecting his mental state while he was looking for any possible source of food. Okay, that made sense, kind of. It didn’t explain why he had done this in the middle of the street or there’s a guy that seems like he attacked to feed from. There was also the fact that Izuku’s quirk seemed more powerful than it… should be… Oh.

Himiko sped over to the guy that Slugger was keeping separated from Izuku and kneeled next to him. He jumped at her appearance and almost screamed, but a hand over his mouth kept him from making a scene. Himiko smiled at him, the kind of smile that promised danger if something went wrong. She was glad she learned how to make this kind of smile during the time she’s been homeless. He seemed to get the message, if the fear in his eyes was any indicator, so she slowly removed her hand from his mouth.

“Goodie, you’re smart. Now tell me what happened here.” Himiko demanded in a sickly sweet tone as she smiled at the man. She could see, now that she was up close, that the man was missing a big chunk out of the side of his arm, blood absolutely pouring out while she thought she could see bone. That’s much more than just a bite.

“M-me and some guys were buying off the green guy and just finished the deal wh-when the hero showed up. We hit up to take care of the hero. Katou must’ve used his quirk to ditch us, because suddenly the green guy was with us and being attacked. One thing led to another and suddenly he’s biting my arm. He seemed to go crazy after that and just kept eating. Slugger got the rest of the guys away then got him off me. Now it’s what you see. Please don’t hurt me!” The man explained rapidly, his voice cracking with terror as he replayed the events as fast as possible, likely to try and get out of the situation he thought he’d be in. Himiko nodded, the final piece of the puzzle finally properly clicking in place. Izuku had accidentally gotten himself dosed with Trigger, that’s why he was going haywire with his quirk. Did Trigger cause something like intense hunger for Hunters? If it did, it likely compounded on his already small supply and exacerbated things. This wasn’t good at all. How do you deal with someone on Trigger in a reasonable manner? 

A heavy crashing sound caused Himiko to look away from the man and find a full on fight now happening between Izuku and the backup the hero had called in. It was Airjet, if she remembered correctly, and she only knew that because Izuku pointed him out as a Diamond Dove when he went and fully explained the concept. Looking at him now, she could easily spot the classic dove symbol engraved into the side of the cannon looking support items he wore. That’s great, just fantastic. Fuck it, she had to do something drastic. She felt the warmth of her quirk well up from her body, covering her in the transformative clay that made her quirk possible. She made sure to copy the sample completely, her clothes getting absorbed by the clay as well as her body to bring out Izuku. She looked almost exactly like he did now with the addition of the makeshift shirt mask, which she quickly ripped off and threw away. 

With her transformation complete, Himiko let out a sigh and launched herself straight at Airjet from behind. She sent a kick out towards the hero’s jetpack while she leapt, the blow easily connecting and sending the man toppling over. Himiko rolled over the man so she could land, spinning around and bringing herself to a crouch that faced the hero so she could be prepared. In the corner of her eye, she saw Izuku’s gaze sweep over her with confusion before realization hit and he smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile like he probably intended, it was crazed and stained red from blood that wasn’t his own. She shuttered slightly at the sight, but kept herself focused on the hero in front of them. The other hero was busy escorting the gang members that he was originally going to catch somewhere safe while Airjet was left to deal with them.

“You guys don’t have to make this hard on yourselves, y’know? If you stop, I can bring you guys in and we can get this all sorted out.” Airjet tried to reason, his voice a forced calm that he was using to try and take control of the situation. Himiko doubted that this could be ‘sorted out’ like the hero was implying, because why would something like this be fine.

“No can do, Mr. Hero! I’ll be taking care of my friend instead.” Himiko called out, her overly chipper tone sounding somewhat odd in Izuku’s voice, but she was using what she had to work with. Airjet’s features dropped at that answer, the kind that said he was disappointed in that answer but not angry. The man let out a small huff and raised his cannons to point at the pair.

“Well, then I guess I’ll just have to bring you in myself.” Airjet called out in a tone that showed how much he didn’t want to do this, but he was still a hero so he had to handle this. Himiko grabbed ahold of Izuku’s arm, wincing as one of his tendrils wrapped around the appendage with a vice like grip, and tried to take off while pulling the greenette along with her. It was a fight to get him to come with, mostly with the other five tendrils that weren’t holding onto her, but she was able to brute force it. Airjet let out a squawk at them just running, but she could hear the air fire through his pack and get it running. Soon, the sounds of running footsteps and thrashing quirk created tendrils were met with the sound of a hoverpack, not actually a jetpack, and a yelling hero. Himiko had to dodge to the side when the sound of one of his cannons ‘firing’ rang out and a blast of condensed air tried to hit her from behind.

“Can you try and get him off our tail?” Himiko called out to Izuku, who laughed and started using his tendrils to pull bricks out from the walls around them or trashcans from nearby and start throwing them at the hero.

“So long as I can get a bite of him afterwards!” Izuku called out with a cackle as he watched Airjet get clobbered with what sounded like a trashcan. Himiko rolled her eyes, realized that that’s somewhat what he sounded like in a starved state, and promptly mentally apologized for being irked by what he had said. 

“Won’t happen, but thanks anyway.” Himiko muttered under her breath, knowing that Izuku would hear anyway but hoping that not letting Airjet hear her would lead to him trying to stay back so he didn’t get attacked like that. It sounded like it worked, as the sounds of Airjet’s pack began to slowly fall further and further behind her. She didn’t know if it was because of the eating comment, because she was slowly pulling ahead now that Izuku’s quirk was focused on an actual task, or because he was slowing down to keep himself from quirk exhaustion, but she was going to take advantage of it. She slipped down another alley, pulling Izuku in behind her, then down the next one she saw, followed by another near instant switch to a different alley. Hopefully the maze of alleys would catch the hero off guard enough that they could get away.

Well, it took a bit, but eventually they lost Airjet and made it somewhere the duo could lay low for a little bit to get their bearings. Well, so Himiko could get her bearings, Izuku was still off in his hunger-filled world and eyeing her like she was a possible next meal. She morbidly thought for a second that maybe the material of her quirk would ward off any serious biting, but quickly defenestrated that thought from her mind. Even if it did work, that’d still be a bite taken out of her. Plus, she was cutting it close on her transformation and damaging it might push it over the edge and leave her in her birthday suit. She really didn’t feel like doing that in the middle of somewhere she didn’t know and with Izuku looking at her like she tasted good. Well, they weren’t far from the ‘community center’ if her mental map was right, so if the two hurried there, she could probably get clothes and hide somewhere before the transformation ran out. She’d just have to figure out what to do about Izuku. And talk to Giran about getting whatever help the man had planned for them going. He’d let it slip the last time they all met that he had some way to help them out so they could go home and get proper lives figured out, at least hopefully. He also said it was only after their job, so Himiko had to get the notebook she stole found for Izuku to keep notes about The Dregs in and hand it over to Giran while convincing him that it was the best they could get.

With their steps forward decided, Himiko grabbed Izuku’s arm again, feeling a single tendril grip it just like last time, and pulled Izuku out of their hiding stop so they could head back to Underworld.

Kagero was having a pretty swell day, all things considered. He had all his meetings so far without any issues, didn’t have any new heroes trying to poke into his business, no Doves hanging around to see if they could bust an ‘illegal Hunter den’, and both parts of his bar were having a good day in sales already. He really should’ve known something was going to happen to fuck it up. The first sign was the chatter from Slugger over a dispatch radio he kept in his office tuned into local hero networks. It started with a drug deal he was dealing with, then to a fight and a call for backup on a code 10-57QH. That’s a combination code that heroes picked up from the American police system. The original 10-57 was for a firearm going off, but it’s since had an addition of Q followed by an E, T, M, or H. The Q was for a quirk being let off, with the secondary letter describing what kind it was. He let out a tired sigh as Airjet almost immediately responded to it and that he’d be there. Kagero knew that was going to happen as soon as the call went out since Airjet was on active patrol at the time. He just had to hope that he wouldn’t get roped into all this somehow. Although, if he knew the universe, it’d make it his problem before long. He should probably get ahead of it and bum a couple of drinks off of Enji. The guy was a little eccentric, but Touka had vouched for him since they met at her old job and said he’d be able to handle things when she wasn’t around. Kagero had decided to see if she was right and he couldn’t regret that choice anytime soon. Both of his bartenders were great, even if they both had their… personality quirks.

The bar was blissfully quiet as he had a couple umeshu tonics and waited to see what the universe would throw at him for the day. It, thankfully, hadn’t taken too long, but he was incredibly surprised by the fact it was two Midoriyas coming through the bar door, one basically holding the other in something close to a chokehold while the one being held seemed to have questionable control of his quirk in trying to get the other off of him. Kagero raised an eyebrow at the display but received no answers aside from a notebook thrown at him from somewhere. He let out a sigh and picked up the notebook as he watched the pair of Midoriyas fall into a booth, the one holding the other switching to an actual chokehold to incapacitate him. Thankfully, the notebook seemed much more informative, as it was plainly labeled ‘Dregs Evidence and Information’. Deciding that this was probably a better use of his time right now than worrying about the two people currently fighting in a booth, he opened the notebook and started scanning the contents. He knew some of the stuff the notes talked about already, but it was truly extensive for what the kids had. They had the last names of every gang member they could find, even a quirk here and there that they’d spotted or heard about in the case of one guy. There was also a list of known places the gang was working out of, which included their ‘headquarters’ in a run down apartment building, a list of what products they pushed, and, somehow, the location of an old office building that was closed down that they were using to prep some of their product. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any supplier that the duo could find, but with what was here, it was enough to launch a raid on them if he got the information to the police. He couldn’t help the smirk that came over his face at the thought that those kids actually did it.

“Hey bossman,” One of the Izuku’s called out to Kagero, now standing in front of him. He chanced a quick look at the booth they had been fighting in and found the other one laying there unconscious. Fun. “We got you everything we could, but there was a complication and I don’t think we can stay out there.” The Izuku standing before him, who he could now spot as Himiko, explained as she motioned towards Izuku. 

“That call Slugger put out earlier was because of one of you, wasn’t it?” Kagero questioned in a tired tone. He was having such a good day before now. Himiko shot him a glare but nodded anyway.

“Yeah, but I think he accidentally dosed himself with Trigger. It looked like he’d bit and tried to eat off someone and when I asked the guy, he said he’d been on Trigger. He probably tried to eat because he was already rather hungry, then Slugger showed up to bust a deal and made things worse.” Himiko explained quietly as she turned back to look at Izuku’s unconscious form. 

“Ah, I see. Well, a deal’s a deal. You got me enough info to at least stage a raid on that apartment building they’re staying in and the office building they’re using. I’ll get in contact with that person I talked about and see if we can’t get y’all on the right side of the law.” Kagero explained as he closed the notebook and offered Himiko a genuine smile, even if it was only a small upturn of his lips. “I’ll pay you too, of course, but I know you’re more worried about the Doves right now.”

Himiko let out a small stressed giggle and nodded at that before walking back to the booth she dumped Izuku in and heaving him up to a standing position. He watched the girl, still in Izuku’s form, haul her friend through the bar and out the door, likely heading around back to get into the community center. Kagero waited until she was gone to move back into his office and slap the notebook down onto his desk. He was glad that job was over. He’d been hearing whispers that The Dregs were really getting a bad rep with whoever their suppliers were and, rumor has it, their Trigger supplier was getting very tired of how they were doing business. This mysterious Trigger supplier was the end goal of all this, at least in his mind, but getting the idiots off the street before they got taken out was a plus. He didn’t like death, even if his work ended up in quite a bit of it indirectly through his actions, but it also ended in a not insignificant number of people getting saved from the streets before they got in serious trouble they couldn’t exactly walk away from. He’d have to pass this notebook onto the police as soon as possible. 

First though, he had some other business to handle. He took a seat in his chair and opened a drawer full of phones. It was a series of burner phones that he used for business so that way he didn’t have just one number for some heroes to try and use to keep track of him. However, right now, there was a specific phone in the drawer that he was looking for, tucked all the way in the back. It was different from all the others, this one was actually personalized with a white phone case and had Granny scrawled on the back of the case while all the others simply had a sticker with their phone number on the back. He pulled the phone out of the drawer, which he closed after he fished the phone out, unlocked it, and dialed the only number in this phone’s contact list. The phone rang a couple times before the person on the other end answered.

“Why in the world are you calling me?” Came the annoyed voice of an older woman. Kagero let out a chuckle at the statement.

“What, I can’t call my Granny just to see how she’s doing?” He replied with a smirk and an amused tone. He heard a scoff come through the phone.

“First off, I’ve been telling you for years to quit calling me that. I don’t take care of you anymore. Second, you don’t call unless you need something from me, so spit it out.” He squawked at his Granny, holding a hand to his chest in mock hurt.

“You wound me, Granny!” He paused as he heard a chuckle from the other end of the call. “But you’re right, I do need your help. Not personally, but there’s a pair of kids that come around my spot, both on the run because of circumstances and being hunted down. It’s bad, they somehow have a Mourning after them.” Granny let out an indignant huff and a string of curses under her breath at that info. “Regardless, I did some digging and I know one of them wants to get in U.A.’s hero course, though I’m not sure what the other wants to do yet. However, they both ended up helping me with an investigation that I’m going to turn into the police after this talk. I was hoping that you could work some of your magic to get them out of trouble.” 

“Damnit, Kagero. I knew you had a soft spot, but I don’t know what all I can do here. Maybe convince the Bureau that they’re fine since they helped with a criminal investigation as informants, although I don’t know how well that’ll hold up.” He thought so. He knew this was a big gamble, but it was probably the best chance those kids were going to get. “I’ll see what I can do. Give me their names.”

“Thank you so much Granny. Their names are Midoriya Izuku and Toga Himiko, at least I’m fairly certain the girl is Toga Himiko."

Chapter Text

The next few days were spent in a haze. Ingesting Trigger like he accidentally did proved to be an absolutely terrible decision. With it broken down in his stomach alongside food instead of put through his bloodstream like Tigger normally would, the chemical compound was throwing his whole body off. He wasn’t in a feeding frenzy, the lack of a migraine and the mental impairment that came with it non-existent, but his body felt weak, like it was completely lacking nutrients and starving. He knew he wasn’t, Himiko made him eat after he came back to his senses, but his body wasn’t working with him. He hated it, it made him feel defenseless, and that was the worst thing to be in their current predicament. Arijet was likely still after him for the whole thing with Slugger, and he could bet that Oonuki was looking for him too. Then there was likely the police that they’d have to look out for, as the leader of The Dregs knew his full name. Him being, or even just feeling, defenseless was the worst thing for his freedom and/or survival. Honestly, he was just waiting for something to go wrong, which wasn’t a healthy thing to do, but given his and Himiko’s luck, it wasn’t bad to be prepared. It’s just a shame he could barely walk around on his own without support and Himiko wasn’t around. They’d been staying in the community center ever since his run in with Slugger and Airjet, and she’d been leaving really frequently. The first couple times, she had shown back up with some of their stuff, until it was all in one spot, surrounding him while he sat in a corner of the place. Every time past that, he had no idea where she was going. It scared him, because Oonuki was still out there, and the man knew Himiko was a vampire along with being associated with him. 

He hadn’t heard anything from Giran yet, either. He knew that Himiko had given up all the information on The Dregs they had, so the deal Giran was supposed to set up to get them back to a relatively normal life should be happening. However, without any sort of news from the man, Izuku was left internally questioning if things would ever turn around. Maybe he’d just screwed up so bad with that whole Slugger thing that Giran couldn’t get him out of trouble. Maybe that’s where Himiko kept going, she was setting herself up with a better life now that she’s able to be safe from the HIB, living the life she should’ve had instead of apparently going crazy from hunger and living on the streets. It’d make sense, since all she had to worry about was the fact she wasn’t registered and had Oonuki after her due to that run in at the warehouse. She’d have a much easier time to get out of trouble than him, so maybe that’s all Giran did and left it at that. It was good that she was taken care of in that case, but the idea had Izuku upset that Giran wouldn’t just tell him or try and get him help like he said he would. 

He should really stop thinking like that, but it was hard to not let his mind wander when he was basically stuck sitting in a corner with his and Himiko’s things while he waited for her to get back and/or news from Giran on getting safe. Why did he have to bite that fucking guy? A sigh slipped out of his lips as he weakly shuffled in place to try and keep from going stiff. He really wished he could get up and just do something, that way he wasn’t just sitting here with his own thoughts.

“Is there something wrong, Midoriya?” A voice calls out, one of the old guard that hangs around the community center all the time slowly walking his way, his cane tapping on the floor as he walked. Izuku gives him a small nod of greeting, and then a shrug to answer the question.

“N-not really, just in my head, Mr. Fujita.” Izuku replies quietly, watching the older gentleman sit down just outside the ring of belongings Himiko had made for them, pulling his cane into his lap and holding onto it gently.

“Ah, I see. I suppose there’s not much else to do when you’re stuck here.” Fujita mused with a small thoughtful smile as he stroked his chin. Izuku chuckled quietly at the sight. He might not've known Fujita for long, but he already knew the man liked to kid around to diffuse tense or emotional moments people were having that he thought he could help with. In this case, it was pretending to stroke a non-existent beard on his chin and think. “Maybe I could convince the kids to move over here for story time so I can get help from a ‘special assistant’.” Fujita said as he lightly poked Izuku in the leg with his leg. Izuku let out a small humored huff at the action and barely batted the cane away.

“You don’t have to do that, Mr. Fujita. I’m sure that- I’m sure Himiko will be back soon, then we can hopefully get up to something.” Izuku replied with a small smile. He appreciated the offer, he really did, but he didn’t think there was any need for Fujita to do all that just for his sake. He and the kids already had a routine, there was no reason to mess with it now. 

“If you say so, kid. I’m sure they’d appreciate hearing about the ‘normal’ life though. Hear about what it’s like to live somewhere where you could actually make a life for yourself instead of being stuck in the slums or the seedy parts of town.” Fujita mused as he carefully picked himself up off the floor and leaned on his cane. He gave Izuku a once over, checking over him, before nodding to himself. “Just a thought. Be easier on yourself, Midoriya. I don’t know what’s on your mind, but I can tell it’s a storm. Find the eye and calm yourself.” Fujita stated in a caring tone before turning around and walking back towards where he came from, with Kushio, a kind draconic looking woman covered in scales that looked black on the surface but glowed a faint orange-ish red under the surface and through small gaps in the scales, and Machi, a surprisingly young looking gentleman who had an avian head that was covered in dull green metallic feathers, sported a beak of the same material, had taloned feet, and a pair of metallic wings that matched the feathers of his head furled out behind him, waving Fujita back over. Izuku carefully watched the older man walk back over to the rest of the people he was spending his day with today and nodded when he got back to his spot. He idly wondered what Machi’s quirk was supposed to be based off of, since he’d never seen metallic feathers like that except in the old pre-Quirk comics of a group of heroes that essentially had Quirks before they became an actual thing. 

His musing was cut off as a blur of blonde and beige came into his field of view and practically crashed into him with an excited squeal.

“Izukuuuu!” Himiko yelled as she collided with him, almost sending the pair sprawling out on the floor. “Okay, so I know I’ve been gone a lot but it was for a reason because Giran was having me double check all those locations we had in the notebook for the police and heroes. But now that that’s all done, Giran said that the person he called for us is on her way here to help us get everything sorted out and we’d be good to go!” Himiko rapid fire said as she clung onto Izuku to keep him from falling after she crashed into him and shook with excitement. Izuku blinked at her, taking a moment to try and absorb what she’d said. Once it finally clicked, Izuku’s look of vague bewilderment morphed into ecstatic relief.

“That’s- That’s great! Oh my god, I can’t- Wow.” Izuku excitedly stammered, feeling himself wobbling around from Himiko’s shaking. He flashed a smile and willed his quirk out to gently plant it on the floor and hold them steady. Thankfully, he only needed two to keep them from falling, but Himiko was definitely putting in work. “I can finally get to see mom and Kacchan and Asami again and I can have you meet them. My mom and Asami are like me, well Asami’s a spider heteromorph and not like me, but she’s a cannibal too. Kacchan’s not a hunter but he knows we’re fine. Oh, and we can even all hang out together.” Izuku paused as he realized that Himiko had stopped shaking him and merely held onto his shoulders tightly. He quickly scanned her face and spotted the mask of neutrality that she threw up in the moments he’d started gushing about his life. He’d never really heard about Himiko’s, had he? Sure, she’d said some things about why she’d run away, but it was only ever about the specific event that caused it all. She’d seen a classmate she had a crush on covered in blood after having a crush on him for a while, and her vampire instincts at that point had twisted with her quirk’s nature to become others and she saw it as drinking the blood of those she loved and becoming them. So, as he bled from whatever fight he’d been in, she went wild and attacked him with a boxcutter before drinking his blood and bolting when someone found her standing over him. She never said anything other than that about her life beforehand, and Izuku had let it go as she simply did not want to share that much about herself. Now, though, he was questioning if there was more going on, especially with the stuff about her not being registered not being her choice.

“You don’t want to go home, do you?” Izuku asked quietly as he looked at her with what he hoped was obvious care. Himiko’s mask held firm, but she looked away from his face and nodded. Izuku let out a small hum as he accepted that fact. It was easy for her not to do so, she was a legal adult after all, but he was still worried about what was going to happen to her going forward. He had an idea, though. It wasn’t a good one, not by a long shot, but it could work out. “Well, we can figure something out for you, then. I’m sure there’s an apartment open in the building me and mom live in. Worst case scenario, maybe you just stay around here and I’ll visit when I can or you can come by when you want. It’ll get weird if I get into U.A. though. I didn’t think about that.” Izuku explained before it died into a murmur at the end. Once he was in U.A., he wouldn’t have as much time to hang around Himiko, even if he didn’t participate in anything afterschool. He’d still have later days than normal and possibly even push his day longer with extra training.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.” Himiko responded quietly and Izuku’s remaining excitement practically evaporated. He’d heard about her issue with heroes, and that was only compounded by what he’d told her and she learned from around the community center about Diamond Doves and the HPSC in general. He’d hoped that maybe she’d eased up on that by now, but with what happened recently, it might’ve only made things worse. Maybe he should be as jaded about it as her or everyone else in the center when it came to heroes, but he wasn’t, because he wanted to be one and make things better. He’d been hoping they could do it together, a pair of hunters, a cannibal and a vampire, proving they could be heroes instead of nothing but predators. She’d seemed really into the whole thing while they were doing The Dregs job, and for the past couple of days she’d apparently been checking out locations, but maybe that was just so she could have blood, food, and a clean slate once it was over. There goes that idea. 

“Yeah, I guess.” Izuku muttered, shifting his gaze away from Himiko and to his own stuff around them. “Well, I guess that- I guess I should make sure my stuff’s ready. If the person Giran called in is coming here, then surely they’ll have things sorted out for the most part already.” Himiko nodded and crawled off him as he leaned towards his half-packed backpack. In the bottom of it was just clothes, some of it was from recycle shops, or gifts from people around the community center, but there was one torn out he had run away with and a couple of the Midnight t-shirts that he’d taken from the warehouse they used to stay in after they went to get their stuff. On top of the clothes were his favorite red hightops, since he was wearing a spare pair of shoes they’d also gotten from a recycle shop. Finishing off the pile was a phone charger he’d gotten that still worked, wrapped around the charging block he was using it with. He’d just have to pack the pillow and comforter he’d had with him, and he was set. The pillow he just crammed into the backpack, followed by a rolled up comforter. With all his things gathered up, he zipped his backpack up and leaned it against the wall nearby. He could see Himiko doing something similar out of the side of his eye as he packed up, but he wasn’t paying much attention. 

That felt wrong. He shouldn’t just ignore her because his own delusion of them being heroes together crumbled. It wasn’t her fault he’d thought it in the first place when he knew she didn’t like heroes. Really, he was an idiot for even thinking about it, so treating her like that was not only rude, but incredibly stupid and childish. It was happening though, some part of his brain overriding the mentally pointed out flaw in the logic behind his actions and ignoring it. Why couldn’t he be normal about things? Why couldn’t he move past the situation after realizing it was doomed before it even started? God, he was terrible sometimes.

He should really stop thinking like that, it wasn’t good or healthy to do so. Admittedly, it was hard after years of people hating him for existing as he did, but he’d think that at least Katsuki and Asami would’ve evened it out before, and add Himiko to that now that she was around to make it a better situation. But no, he wasn’t that lucky. Not only did he have to have shit luck and paranoia, at least while living out here, but he also had to have a shitty voice in his head that sometimes made him feel like he wasn’t worth even the dirt he walked on. Why couldn’t he just get in his own brain and kick its ass?

Izuku shook his head almost violently to dislodge his trains of thought, both the negative self-talk and the thought about metaphorically beating himself up. Instead, he should focus on the better part of everything going on, the fact he’ll be heading home soon. He should let his mom know, that way he wasn’t just reappearing after being gone for however long he’d been gone. Honestly, he lost track of how long he’d been living with Himiko after they had that run-in with Oonuki. Was it almost a month? Just over? Two months? No, that feels too long. Whatever, the point was that he should text her and let her know what was going to go down soon. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, opened up his texts with his mom, and paused. What could he say? ‘Hey, I know I disappeared for a bit and you might’ve seen me on the news, but I’m gonna be home soon because the guy that owns The Underworld somehow knew someone that could help me not be in trouble, surprise!’ 

You

Hey, I think I’m going to be able to make it home soon. I’m sorry for taking off like I did. I love you.

There’s someone I met while I was out that I want you to meet. She’s a good friend, but she doesn’t know about what our life’s like outside of living on the streets. I’ll explain more when we see each other.

That would have to be good enough. Izuku let out a small breath to try and ease his mind as he closed his phone and slid it back into his pocket. Hopefully that will go over well, but he had a feeling a lot of tears would be involved the second he walked into the apartment. If he could walk, that is. Speaking of, he should try and see if he can. He was close the last time, but his legs weren’t quite up for it yet. This time was going to be the one, though, he could feel it, and with Himiko back, she could catch him if he stumbled or fell. Sure, someone else around could as well, but he didn’t want to bother them with this. He quickly glanced at Himiko, seeing that she seemed to be finished gathering up the stuff she’d managed to salvage from the warehouse as well as grabbed between then and now and seemed to be watching him. Why she was bothering to watch him, he didn’t know, but it was a plus. Now that he knew she was watching, he carefully shifted himself into a position where he’d first have to get up from his knees into a kneel that was on one knee. He steadied himself with his hands before slowly and carefully pushing himself up off his knee and into a full standing position. He wouldn’t lie, it was hard, but he could actually stand on his own. He smiled, even that small victory felt so sweet. Now he just had to see if he could walk. 

Before he could, the door to the community center opened and the people closest to the door froze. One of them activated their quirk with a growl, a shimmering effect overtaking their body and shifting them to look like they truly should, a winged woman with glowing blue eyes, large fangs peeking out of her mouth, clawed hands, and a pair of ungulate legs, one of which was furred and the other seemingly made of pure metal. Whoever stood in the door didn’t seem to mind the person that was essentially threatening them, as they walked inside and closed the door behind them. 

“While I can applaud the bravery, thinking to try and protect people, I’m not here to cause issues. The man out in the bar asked for me to come get some ‘kids’. He made a deal to get them out of trouble and I’m here to help it happen. Now please move.” The stranger, who had been swiftly revealed as Recovery Girl, exasperatedly told the person who’d growled at her. The woman quickly put her Quirk back up, transforming back into an ordinary looking woman without the claws or the ungulate legs. Recovery Girl let out an appreciative hum and walked past the woman, her syringe-shaped cane tapping against the floor as she walked. The crowd between the hero and him and Himiko parted to stay out of the hero’s way and guide her to the people she was likely looking for. The hero was at least polite enough to quickly make her way through the crowd and up to the pair of young adults, well soon to be young adults in Izuku’s case. “Midoriya and Toga, I assume?” Recovery Girl asked, her genuinely sweet tone a fast but appreciated change from the exasperated tone she had earlier. Izuku nodded, his eyes wide in shock, both at the fact she knew his last name and at the fact Himiko was a Toga. The Toga’s were a family of some renown thanks to Toga Ichika. She was a socialite and recently started trying to dip her toes into politics. From what Izuku had seen last, she seemed to fit in with the DPFP crowd. Toga Akito, her husband, was a board member of Feel Good Inc., a well respected tech company, and a frequent sight at his wife’s events. They weren’t huge by any means, but he knew them thanks to some of the stances Toga Ichika had on Hunters. In that regard, she was almost as bad as the time the CRC tried to parade itself as a political party. It made everything about Himiko and her story make sense. 

“Yes, that’s us.” Himiko replied in a blank tone before Izuku could get past the Toga thing in his mind to answer Recovery Girl. He simply nods along with her statement, hoping that was enough for the hero. 

“Well, it’s nice to meet you two. If you don’t know me, I’m the hero Recovery Girl, but you can just call me Shuzenji right now.” Recovery Girl stated with a small smile. Izuku and Himiko both nodded, Izuku with a dopey grin on his face from meeting a hero in person and it not being in a negative connotation and Himiko with the blank mask she put on after Recovery Girl called her by her last name. “Now, if we could head somewhere and talk about why I’m here, that’d be swell.” Recovery Girl turned around and began walking off to one of the rooms branching off the main hall, the one she was heading to Izuku knew was a sort of makeshift study space/office. Izuku carefully pushed himself to follow after her, his steps wobbly and slow, but enough to carry him after the hero. Himiko walked beside him, her mask temporarily replaced with concern as she held an arm out just behind him in case she had to help him. Thankfully, he made it all the way to the room and the small table Recovery Girl had picked out to have whatever talk they were going to have. He carefully sat down in the chair directly across from the hero, with Himiko sitting down next to him.

“Before we start, I feel like I have to ask. What’s wrong, Midoriya? I was watching you walk for a bit and I’m a bit concerned. What could happen to you to hurt you past your regeneration like that?” Recovery Girl questioned as she raised her cane and pointed it at him, the syringe’s needle aimed directly at his face. Izuku gulped at the sight, not sure if she should feel threatened or not.

“I don’t kn-know why exactly, but I had accidentally ingested Trigger a couple days ago and you… you saw. My body’s been weak ever since. Giran said it was likely something about what’s used to make Trigger having a bad reaction to being ingested rather than injected.” Izuku explained sheepishly, wringing his hands together as he expected Recovery Girl to get on his case. Why wouldn’t a hero get upset at him for something like that? Instead, he received a kiss to the side of his face. He immediately started feeling better. Not much better, but he could feel some of his strength start returning to him. 

“My quirk’s not great with toxins, but it’ll at least help speed up the recovery process by working alongside your own regeneration factor.” Recovery Girl gently explained as she withdrew her extended lips. Izuku flashed a grateful smile at the hero, who smiled back and lowered her cane. “Well, onto business.” Izuku and Himiko both froze in anticipation, the realization that this was both really happening and incredibly serious. “Thanks to what you guys were able to dig up about that gang Giran had you investigating, I was able to convince some others within the HIB—” Izuku tensed at the mere mention of the agency and at the knowledge that the hero sitting across the table was apparently part of it. “—that you guys aren’t criminal or villain risks thanks to the fact that you worked as undercover informants. You’re both safe to head home and are acquitted for any criminal or villainous actions that happened during the time since you two took Giran’s job.” Recovery Girl explained with a grin. Izuku practically collapsed onto the table in relief, a stressed chuckle escaping his mouth as he did. Himiko seemed to finally calm down enough that she didn’t metaphorically look like a feral cat backed into a corner because of a hand. 

“I was also able to get them to throw out the Sludge Villain incidents from the HIB as self defense the first time and a formal police warning for the second. The incident with one Ikesue Saito from the police was also thrown out once I heard you weren’t registered and found your case. Your attack has been labeled as a bout of starvation-induced mental instability so there will be no police trouble for what happened. None of those incidents will be held against either of you.” Izuku and Himiko both brightened up at that, Izuku watching Himiko collapse against the table in relief as tears welled up in her eyes. Recovery Girl shifted her focus onto Himiko as she proceeded gently. “Your quirk isn’t properly in the registry yet, but it has at least been marked properly in the system, so you can receive what you need. You won’t have to starve again, not if I can help it.” Himiko’s tears couldn’t be held back after that, the girl quietly crying as quietly muttered one ‘thank you’ after another. Izuku reached over and patted her back gently, attempting to be a supportive presence. The meeting had to go on though.

“S-so that means we’re scott free, right?” Izuku asked hopefully, praying that this was really happening and it wasn’t just a dream trying to convince him it was real.

“I wouldn’t say that, as there will be increased scrutiny on both of you from the HIB, as well as likely increased surveillance. I wouldn’t worry about it though, considering you want to be a hero, Midoriya.” Recovery Girl explained calmly as she tapped her cane on the floor a few times. “However, you’re definitely able to go back home, or find somewhere to stay in Toga’s case, and continue on like normal. I’m sure your mom’s missing you, young man.” Recovery Girl said, taking up a mock scolding tone at the end as she waggled her cane at Izuku. He let out a wet laugh and nodded. He missed her too, especially since he didn’t actually get to see her before he left. 

“Definitely.” Izuku said as he slowly stood up and bowed to the hero in thanks. Himiko quickly scrambled out of her seat and did the same, her happy crying still making its way through the room. 

“Oh, you two quit. I’m just doing what’s right. You two seem like good kids, you were just dealing with what you thought you had to. I’m just making sure that you’re able to turn around and make it back to the right path. You two take care.” Recovery Girl smiled and stood from her seat with the help of her cane to leave. At the door, she turned around and looked directly at Izuku, “Midoriya, I hope to see you at U.A. next year. I’ll be waiting for you. Toga, I hope you make the best out of the life that you should've had to begin with. Whatever you do, I wish you good luck, too.” With that, Recovery Girl walked out the door and left the community center surprisingly quickly given her age and size. Izuku and Himiko shared a look before they gave each other a quick hug and walked out of the room. They both made their way over to their belongings and picked up their bags. Izuku carefully slung his bag onto his shoulders while Himiko hung hers off a single shoulder.

“Well, if we’re leaving, I want to ask you something.” Izuku stated quietly, glancing at Himiko out of the corner of his eye. He watched her tilt her head curiously and let out a small hum that he took as a question. “I wanted to know if you wanted to meet my mom. She’s, y’know, like me, but she’s a lot better at all of this. I just didn’t want you to be out there all alone.” Izuku asked awkwardly, scratching at the back of his neck as he did. Himiko let out a little giggle and nodded.

“Yeah, I’d love to meet her! If she’s as good as I’ve heard, then I’m sure we’ll hit it off.” Himiko said excitedly as she bounced in place. Izuku let out an awkward chuckle and nodded.

“Let’s go then.”

Chapter Text

The trip out of the bar district and into the more residential areas of Musutafu was thankfully a short one, and one that Izuku was relishing in. It meant that all the insanity he’d been dealing with since the Sludge Villain incident was finally over, he was safe from the Bureau, and he could finally go home. He felt almost giddy at the idea that he could simply head home again instead of that warehouse at the start, whatever abandoned building they’d found to stay in for a day or so, or the shelter in The Underworld. Himiko behind him seemed to be in a much better mood than what she was in earlier as they walked through the city. She wasn’t really cheery, but she was definitely in better spirits after they moved past everything from earlier and started walking. He was glad that she was doing better, especially after having her past aired out like that and their little awkward exchange. Hopefully, things went down better at home. He had gotten a text back already from his mom that she’d be home to meet him and his friend and that they could talk about what happened when they were face to face, so they at least wouldn’t have to wait for her to show up and things could progress relatively quickly through what was bound to be a very emotional reunion followed by an enthusiastic meet and greet. Hopefully his mom didn’t cause any water damage from all the crying he could see coming, they really didn’t need to cause any more issues in the building. 

“I knew you lived in town, but were we really like an hour walk away from your place?” Himiko asked in an exasperated manner as Izuku led them towards a dingy apartment building that looked maintained enough to not be an eyesore in the lower-middle class neighborhood, but clearly needed some work. He chuckled at her question with an added nod and weaved through the crowded parking lot as he walked towards the door to the building.

“Yeah, we were, but I didn’t want to go home and drag my mom into all this mess, especially since I thought I was in trouble. At least we’re not in the slums though. Mom makes enough to help cover day to day stuff while the money dad sends over helps make sure we can stay afloat in the long term.” Izuku answered with a simple cheery smile as he reached the door and pushed it open. He held it open as Himiko walked through and let it close behind him as he walked in after her. “We’re on the third floor, room 303.” He explained as he walked past Himiko and into the stairwell. He took the stairs up two at a time, not quite running up them but definitely taking them at a quicker pace than most would and he probably should given the state of his body. He heard a giggle from behind him ring out, but given that he heard Himiko taking the stairs just as quickly, she had zero room to talk. He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly as he hit the third floor landing and stepped out into the hall, Himiko quickly joining him as they stood there. He could feel her watching him as he stood there, looking down the hall at the door to his and his mom’s apartment. It was right there, his mom and home were just a few steps down the hall, but for some reason, he couldn’t move a muscle. He wanted to so badly, but his body betrayed him, refusing to budge even a millimeter as he stared ahead of himself at the door. Why? Why couldn’t he just walk up to a goddamn door and go back home? Why couldn’t he walk maybe fiftern fucking steps and move past everything and back to his normal life? 

‘Because your life might not include Himiko.’ A quiet part of his brain told him. ‘You’ve become attached. Living with her and depending on each other to survive has made you not want to give her up. You want your stupid, desperate dream of facing the world as a hero to show the world that what’s wrong isn’t you, but them to have her included as well. But you know that if you step through that door, you might have to give that dream up.’ It whispered to him, laying everything bare in his own mind. He wanted to refuse, vehemently argue that that’s not at all what was going on, but it was himself telling hom what was happening. How could he argue with his own mind when it already knew? He just didn’t want to admit it was right. He didn’t want to say that ‘Yes, I don’t want to give up on Himiko because she deserves a much better life than what she ever got and I could save her from it, but I only think I can do so by being there for her so she doesn’t fall back where I found her.’ He couldn’t admit that ‘I don’t think I can do this alone, I don’t think I could stand being a lone catalyst that ends up getting torn apart to bring about change.’ How could he ever say ‘I don’t want to challenge the world by myself, I’m too weak. I need someone’s help to do this’?

A small shove forced Izuku’s body forward, stumbling over himself to try and catch his footing. He spun to get a look at who could’ve pushed him and saw Himiko standing there staring at him with an upset glare. She jerked her head down the hall, telling him without a word that he should get going. He hesitated for a second before nodding and making his way to the apartment door, Himimo trailing behind him as he went. A single knock was all he was able to do before the door swung open and he felt his mom collide with his chest and wrap her arms around him. From the slightly damp feeling already forming in his shirt, she was already starting to cry. He could feel tears coming to his own eyes already as he wrapped his arms around her to return the hug.

“Oh baby, you’re finally home. I’m so glad you’re safe.” His mom said with her face still buried in his chest. Izuku felt his chest tighten with guilt that he worried his mom. He knew he did, of course he would, especially after the HIB agents showed up here looking for him and he was gone, but he hadn’t realized it was enough to make her cry as soon as she saw him. His arms wrapped tighter around his mom as he held her to his chest and let her cry. His shirt would be drenched after this, but that was fine with him, she needed to let out everything after all this. He gently turned the pair of them around so he was the one with his back to the apartment and carefully started backing into their home and towards the couch in the living room. He used his quick to carefully navigate himself by feeling around behind himself to see if there was anything in the way until he felt his legs hit the couch. At that point, he carefully sat himself down, pulling his mom with him onto the worn out piece of furniture. She sat down beside him as she finally let go and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. As his mom composed himself, he looked over at Himiko and beckoned with a head jerk for her to come in. She quickly scrambled into the apartment, pulling the door closed behind her as she did. He didn’t see what she did after that, because his mom cupped his face in her hands and pulled him to look directly at her.

“Don’t you ever do that to me again, Izuku. I know why you think you had to, but I was so scared, especially when it was actual agents that showed up here and not heroes.” His mom murmured as she stared at him, the dull green of her eyes meeting the deep green of his own, rimmed red from crying. Hers were filled with concern with a small sharp edge that tried to show she meant business when she said he better not do it again. He was sure his own were filled with guilt, because that’s all he felt swirling in his chest as he looked at his mom. He replied with a small meaningful nod, unable to voice what he was feeling at the moment. She returned it and then hugged him again, this one with significantly less tears but with a heaping amount of love replacing it. He returned it as he set his head on her shoulder, basking in the warmth of not just his mom but his home. 

“Before we get into what happened, how about you introduce your friend?” Izuku’s mom asked as she pulled away from the hug after a few minutes. Izuku felt a grin split his face as he nodded and spun on the couch to look back at Himiko, who was sitting on the floor awkwardly with her backpack sitting next to her.

“Well, mom, this is my friend, Himiko.” Izuku said as he motioned towards Himiko, who flashed a smile, but not her fang-filled one, her practiced one that made sure to show it was a smile but not show off anything that she was told not to show anyone. He let a small frown cross his features for a second before it went away and he looked back at his mom. She had one eyebrow raised in question and he couldn’t tell it was mischievous or genuine curiosity, so he simply shrugged in response. She shook her head fondly and turned back to Himiko with a large, warm, welcoming smile on her face.

“It’s nice to meet you, Himiko. I’m Midoriya Inko, but you can call me Mrs. Midoriya, or Inko if you prefer,” His mom stated as she continued smiling at Himiko. Izuku watched her nervously shift in place, and his mom must’ve seen the same since she gave Himiko a knowing look and pressed on, “Any friend of my son’s is good in my book. People don’t tend to like us, so anyone that decides he’s someone to stick around with tends to be a keeper.” 

That seemed to let Himiko relax, as Izuku watched her shifting stop and her hands leave her lap to sit beside her on the floor. Her smile stretched a bit, just enough for her mouth to open and her fangs to peek out and show themselves. He took that as a good sign and decided to let his mom and Himiko get to know each other a little bit on their own. While they did that, he could unpack and try to get things back to normal. Deciding to try and do this as quickly as he could to escape his mom’s would be mock wrath at leaving while they were talking, Izuku rolled himself over the arm of the couch and hit the floor with a thud that he felt go through his whole body. He took a second to collect himself and make sure he was okay before he scrambled across the floor, crawling as quickly as he could towards his room. He was stopped only feet away from his door by a large blood red stinger that collided with the floor right in front of him, the curved sting stabbed in the floor before it met with what would be a venom gland if this were from an actual scorpion quirk and not a facsimile of a scorpion stinger created by a different kind of quirk.

“And where do you think you’re going, mister?” His mom called out in the kind of questioning tone parents have somehow perfected to convey they weren’t actually questioning but demanding so they knew where to go from there. Izuku let out a nervous chuckle as he backed away from the stinger in front of him. He followed it back to the couch where his mom was sitting, leaning over the arm of the couch and staring directly at him with a soft glare while her quirk went over the top of the couch to reach where it was in front of him. That glare was bad enough on its own, but when it was paired with the black sclera and red eyes from using her quirk.

“I was going to get unpacked while you two got to know each other and be right back.” Izuku answered innocently as he gave his mom an awkward smile. She raised an eyebrow at that, continuing to softly glare as she stared at him. He withered under the glare but didn’t turn away or start making his way back to the couch, making his stance on the matter known. The only tell he got was that his mom's quirk withdrew from the floor and snaked its way back over the back of the couch and away while her eyes returned to normal. Izuku let out a grateful sigh as he stood up from where he was on the floor and made his way into his bedroom while ignoring the giggling that was coming from the living room of the apartment. He just didn’t want to deal with that as he unpacked. 

His room looked odd without his comforter or his pillow on his bed, he decided as he walked into it. A few hero posters dotted the walls and the occasional figurine sat on whatever space of his desk or shelf felt the most fitting for the pose it was made in. Most people would probably think his room was an All Might shrine, and it admittedly used to be, but he had sold off most of his All Might merch over the last two years for extra money, keeping only the rarest pieces he had for his personal collection. That happened to include not only a limited edition poster from his time in the US, but also a figurine from a few years ago that only had a thousand made and distributed to random merch stores across the country that was made after his fight with Toxic Chainsaw. The rest of his hero merch collection was more mundane Midnight stuff, some Ms. Joke here and there, a figurine each and maybe a poster from the rest of the Top Ten, and a custom matching Eraserhead poster and figurine that he had ordered from someone that had an online homemade merch store that also made custom orders. It was of a pose that he’d seen from one of the grainy phone footage fights he’d found of the man online, the man descending down a wall from a rooftop while using whatever scarf weapon he had like a rappel line as the other end flew out towards whatever villains he was fighting. Above his desk sat a shelf solely dedicated to his analysis notebooks, studying heroes in action for their fighting styles, where they excelled and where they fell short, strengths they should expand on and weaknesses they could easily shore up, ways to possibly help himself in the future. The laptop sitting on his desk under that shelf was an older model, one that was struggling to cling to life, but it still worked so he kept using it. 

Izuku tossed his bag onto his bed and unzipped it, pulling his pillow and comforter out and tossing them onto his bed. He’d fix them later once he had everything out. After that was his phone charger, which he plugged into the outlet behind his bedstand, and his favorite high tops, which he set next to his bedroom door so he could move them out next to the apartment door once he was done. All that was left was the clothes he had in the bag, which he put in the clothes hamper in his room since they hadn’t had a good wash in a while, Midnight t-shirt included. Once everything was out of the backpack, he pulled it off his bed and quickly made his bed now that it had his pillow and comforter again.

Satisfied that everything was now unpacked and put away, minus his hightops, Izuku grabbed said shoes and walked out his bedroom, only to be met with quiet sniffles and hushed reassurances. He’d missed whatever conversation they’d been having while he was unpacking, not paying attention to their conversation as he unpacked rather than not actually hearing them, so he had no context for what was happening, but he was sure that things were fine. His mom had that sort of effect on people, especially when she could spot an issue from a simple conversation. He and his mom may be criers, but she was also really good at figuring out what people needed to hear and causing them to cry from whatever emotion her prodding happened to cause. He tiptoed past the couch and up to the door, doing his best not to bother the ladies in the living room as he set his hightops by the other pair of shoes he had brought worn here. He turned around to head into the living room and spotted his mom sitting on the floor next to Himiko as she held the blonde close and murmured reassurances. 

He didn’t want to bother them or listen in on something that wasn’t meant for him to hear, so he did his best to tune them out as he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a kettle. He filled it with water and turned a burner on the oven on, which he quickly put the kettle on to let it heat up. With that done, he grabbed a trio of mugs and three packets of the hibiscus tea he knows his mom hides in the back of the cabinet and acts like she doesn’t have since she thought he’d drink it all if he knew. She was right, he would if he was supposed to know it was there, but since it wasn’t supposed to be public, he kept out of it. Right now, though, it seemed like the perfect time to bring it out. He set a bag in each of the mugs and, once the kettle began to whistle, poured the water in each mug before making his way over to the sink. He made sure to give the kettle a deep clean as he waited for the tea to steep. Once he finished there and the tea was steeped to his and his mom’s liking, he pulled the teabags out of the mugs and threw them away. He picked up his and his mom’s mugs in one hand and Himiko’s in the other before walking back into the living room. When he got out there, his mom was back on the couch and Himiko was collecting herself, but the small smile on his friend’s face showed him that things were going well enough. 

“I’ve got tea for us. Hope you like hibiscus, Himiko, because that’s what I made.” Izuku stated as he set Himiko’s mug on the table in front of him and ignored his mom’s scandalized gasp. He wore a smug grin as he set his mom’s mug down in front of her and sat down while holding his own and taking a sip. His mom let out a huff at his smug expression and grabbed her own mug, taking a sip with a pleased hum. Himiko nodded, her red-rimmed eyes darting to him in a silent show of gratitude before grabbing the mug in front of her and taking a drink. They all seemed to have decided that the tea meant a full on break in the conversation, so Izuku took it in stride and made sure to enjoy his mug. It was one of his few comforts when it came to drinks, so he made sure to enjoy every bit of it he could when it was around. The only other comfort he had was coffee, but he didn’t drink that much either. If he spoiled himself with it, then it wouldn’t be special anymore. 

“Well, Izuku, how about you tell me about your time away and how you met Himiko?” His mom eventually broke the silence as she set her mug on the coffee table. Izuku nodded and, after setting his own mug down, began to animatedly explain everything that went down since he left for school the morning of the Sludge Villain incident. Himiko jumped in when she could, explaining things from her perspective or elaborating on things about herself that happened around the same time as things in his storytelling. His mom listened intently to the tale being told, almost crying a few times, or gasping when something happened, or even flashing Izuku a warning look at the mention of the old Midnight merch he’d found. He’d laughed at that and kept on telling the stories anyway. Really, it wasn’t the story that mattered here, but the fact he could truly talk with someone that wasn’t Himiko about it and the fact it was his mom he was talking to. With Himiko’s help, they managed to get through everything until the return here, and Himiko just had to add in the fact she had to nudge him down the hall. Both she and his mom burst out in giggles and his face flushed red at the teasing.

It all almost felt like family.