52

Chapter 52: Cold Blood, Warm HandsNotes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"It's getting late," Izuku stated, knowing that his daughter's curfew was getting closer. "We should get you back to your room, Eri." 

They had been playing for a while after dinner, and the kid wasn't the only one who had lost track of time. Izuku had to take the ungrateful role of being the one who had to make everybody remember that it was still a school night. Mondays weren't forgiving, and Aizawa, as much as he could relate, had no mercy for tired students. 

"Already?" The little girl—comfortably seated on Mina's legs—looked in his direction with her big eyes, seemingly surprised by the fast passage of time. 

"Uh, is it already that late?" Toru asked, looking at the clock with just as much astonishment. 

"Sure didn't feel like it," Setsuna tsked, huffing at the prospect of being interrupted a few turns from the game's end—especially after the effort it had taken her to keep Eri in the lead, to the other players' detriment. Denki, Itsuka, and Pony had discovered her plan too late, and had ended up obliterated, their points sacrificed at the altar of the little goddess.

"We've been here all day, haven't we? It's already dark outside," he chuckled while pointing to the nearest window and making the girl look away.

As she was distracted, he sent a gaze to the students seated all around the common room that clearly said "don't fight me on this or we'll be here until tomorrow." Thankfully they got the message loud and clear.

"Guess it's time to hit the hay," Denki commented, stretching his back lazily after being seated for too long.

"Right! We played a lot," Pony agreed before faking a yawn. 

"Mm," Eri nodded before turning sadly towards the board game before her. "But it was fun..." 

"Yeah, time sure flies when you're having fun," Eijiro said to her, making Mina hum along. 

"Sure does! But we can always play again next time!" the pinkette proposed, ruffling the kid's hair a bit. "What do you say, Horn Buddy, wanna play next time too?" 

"Y-Yes," Eri stuttered before nodding energetically. 

"Then let's get you to bed, so that next time will come sooner, okay?" Izuku added, thanking Mina with a wink that she happily reciprocated. 

The little girl hummed in approval, starting to raise her arms to be carried—as she wouldn't be able to walk all the way back—before stopping and asking an unexpected question. "C-Can Set come with us? Can she read me that story about the di- dino-" 

"Dinosaur," the other greenette answered with way too much passion, smiling as wide as she could. "I'd be happy to come too, Smallest Green," she replied, bopping the girl's nose and making her giggle before taking her into her arms. 

The sight tugged Izuku's heart's strings the same way a harp's are shifted by a musician. Knowing that he couldn't rightfully deny Eri's wish after that little exhibition, he decided to go with the flow despite the possible problem the little playful act could make happen. He wasn't supposed to know yet—or at all.

- Fuck, where is Neito when I need him to be the voice of reason? - he mentally lamented. He still had to talk to him and get the group started...

- I should probably get to it as soon as tomorrow morning, - he reasoned before going back to the terrible problem they were opening themselves up to.

Though he could be there in theory, finding him so early in the night wasn't as likely as it would have been later. Izuku would cross his fingers and hope that nothing would go wrong. 

Yeah, something was bound to go wrong anyway, wasn't it? 

"Sure, she can come too if she wants to, but we can't stay too late, okay?" he said, pushing down the sensation that fate was going to fuck with him soon enough. 

Eri nodded again, just happy for her wish to have been granted. 

"Cool! Let's go get that book!" the lizard girl said before rushing up the stairs with the child giggling on her shoulders.

"Where does she find the energy to run like that after a day like this, I'll never know," Itsuka sighed, shaking her head lightly. 

Ochaco giggled before responding with a "Come on, it's not so ba-" and promptly getting interrupted by a very real yawn of her own making.

The rest of the group chuckled, but everybody agreed that the day had been long enough already. They finished putting everything back in its rightful place in time for the green-haired duo to come back with a handful of books, because of course she would end up bringing more than one. Recognizing a few titles on the volumes' spines, Izuku hoped that Setsuna only meant to read the ones meant for children and leave the ancient history tomes for another day.

He separated from the rest of the students and wished them a good night as the little girl said her goodbyes, and soon the trio was on the road towards the teacher's building. The walk wasn't a long one, but actually walking there instead of flying made things go a bit slower... Which he didn't dislike, given the unique situation. The girls chatted the minutes away, and he only chimed in with the occasional comment when necessary to keep the conversation smooth. After all, Setsuna was the dinosaur expert, and his knowledge was only a derivative of her own. 

He stole a few glances, loving how happy they both looked. Their smiles warmed him in the crisp chill of the night. 

It hadn't even been three weeks, yet most of their friends were convinced that Setsuna would give an arm and a leg for the little girl. Sure, everybody liked Eri, but nobody else really understood what had brought the sudden interest. Setsuna may have joked a few times about how she adored her "Smallest Green" because of their shared hair color, something the others "just couldn't get," but he knew better. Of course, the lizard girl would have liked the girl for that reason alone, but she had more important things to bond over. Izuku had only spoken of Eri's Quirk—how its complexity made it terribly hard for her to understand it, how she couldn't use it without becoming a danger to or scaring off everybody else—in passing, but it had been enough to make Set incredibly protective. A tentative smile and a grateful hug had done the rest.

He may have been the one to "blame" for the newfound connection, but it wasn't like Izuku had just pushed the child on her either—or at least that's what he liked to think. Setsuna had been the first to ask him if the kid would be coming back to the dorm and when, and her enthusiasm outshined even Mina's. He had just opened a possibility, and the lizard girl had taken it... because Eri could be important to the apparently free-spirited girl in a way that nobody else could hope to approach.

Past

Izuku opened his eyes to rays of reddish dusk light, telling him that his unscheduled nap had lasted longer than expected. He could feel the softness all around him, the green weighted blanket being as comfortable as ever and the culprit for his prolonged slumber. Two tiny hands were holding onto his arm, and the back of his hand was brushing Eri's soft cheek. He only heard the sound of careful strokes, a hand softly caressing the little girl's hair as she snoozed. A touch caressed his other hand before squeezing it just a little.

He met Setsuna's gaze, seeing that her dark green iris shined of a quiet joy. She loved to identify the color as Lindworm Green, and it suited her, especially whenever it was accosted to the Royal Purple of her pillows.

She greeted him with a mischievous grin and a whispered "Hey." 

"Hey," he answered, pushing down some of the grogginess. 

"Had a nice nap?" She inclined her head just a bit, moving her hair to give him a better look. 

"Yeah... Didn't expect to go out like that." 

"Happens when it's this comfy and warm," she lightly chuckled, her shoulder shifting under the blanket. "All good though, you needed the rest... And it's not like we had much else to do anyway."

Smarts and a good homework schedule granted them a nice amount of free time, but they didn't always spend it running around.

Her gaze shifted to look at the child comfortably resting between them. "She's adorable when she sleeps."

He raised a knowing eyebrow. "Isn't she always?" 

"Touché," she let out a content sigh and smiled, keeping up the soothing brushing. 

Izuku felt her fingers slowly start to draw circles and lines on his palm. He let his hand be her canvas as he bathed in the homely warmth of the moment, moving only his thumb to brush her digits whenever they moved close in a little game they kept playing and which they both won. The slow sounds of brushing and breathing made the silence incomplete, but they weren't loud enough to interrupt the child's sleep.

Setsuna was once again the one to break the stillness. She liked expressing herself, and there was only so much silence she would endure when she knew there was somebody that loved to listen to her ramblings. 

"I've been thinking, you know?" she said, not taking her eyes away from the kid's hair. 

He raised an eyebrow, unsure as to what she meant. Knowing Setsuna, it could have been anything and everything. He'd learned to just ask without making random suppositions by now. "About what?" 

"This," she gestured with a finger to them and the sleeping child before going back to the constant movement. "Us. Her. How we're practically being her parents, and how she seems to love every second of it..." 

- Oh, so it's that kind of talk. - 

He hummed. "You think it's weird, don't you?" 

"Oh, it's weird as hell," she snorted, shaking her head lightly. "Two sixteen-year-olds taking care of a six-year-old girl who somehow ended up liking them more than any other adult that could have been there instead, all while going to the most prestigious and 'supposedly strict' Hero Academy of the nation... Yeah, it's weird." 

"She still spends most of her time with the teachers though," he pointed out, not refusing her very valid point. 

"You say that as if she didn't ask to come find us as soon as our lessons were over," she snorted once more, smirking. "Nah, it's weird, no two ways around it..." 

"I sense a 'but' in there," he commented, still curious and hopeful. 

"But I like 'weird,'" she replied, finally meeting his eyes again. "As fucked up as it is that she sees us like that, I don't think I would have it any other way. I don't know, it just feels... right." 

He let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding and all the tension intertwined with it. 

Izuku couldn't remember the last time when he had been so relieved by a few words. Scaring her off was the last thing he wanted, but he would have understood if that had been the case. He should have known that he was worrying for nothing... but it didn't mean that he wouldn't panic over it. 

"Gave you a scare, eh?" Setsuna teasingly grinned. 

- Damn her perceptive streak. - 

He simply sighed, making her chuckle on her small victory. She knew that, for him, this was a thousand times more stressful than any "don't lose your head" trick or "floating hands" jump scare. 

Setsuna squeezed his hand a bit more. "Don't worry, Izu. I'm not going anywhere," she spoke, her tone equally mellow and serious. "This... This thing we've got… I like it. And Eri… I feel like it's the chance I would have liked at her age."

He listened, keeping his silence. 

Quirks were strange. Some were easy to discover and to use, almost coming naturally to their users, as easy as breathing. Some were harder to understand and explore, but tamable with time and effort. Some were nightmarish, secretive little gremlins that could bite back if one overreached. 

And then there was [Lizard Tail Splitter]. 

It laughed at mass and energy conservation. It flicked off Neito's attempts at fully comprehending it. It snarled at a world that terrified it. It screamed against Setsuna's desire to keep it at bay, and made her pay the price for its every instinct.

It was safe to say that nobody could truly understand what Setsuna had gone through. Izuku's own pain in the ass came pretty damn close in a different way, but it wasn't the same. The vestiges weren't constantly trying to make him question if he was still Izuku, for one.

Eri's [Rewind] wasn't the same kind of terrible either, but the way she treated her Quirk felt all too familiar. Who else but Setsuna could understand what living with a "Curse" meant? 

"I can help her through what I had to face by myself, what Grannie couldn't save me from..." she whispered, her voice carrying a subtle determination despite being barely a step away from trembling. "It almost makes it all worth it, ya know?"

Izuku returned the squeezing, hoping to convey as much love as he could muster. He couldn't find the right words to do his feelings justice. 

"I ain't ever gonna see her suffer like I did," she stated. She seemed more likely to be trying to convince herself than him. "Never again. Yeah. Not on my watch."

"If anyone can do it, it's you, Set," he replied, believing every word. "Eri's lucky to have you." 

Setsuna sniffed, but he was more taken with the way her lips wobbled for a moment, tugging at the edges of her smile. His mind could only offer the word "breathtaking." 

"And you aren't?" she asked, a sly grin returning on her visage as her hand moved to ruffle the tips of his hair. 

"The luckiest," he agreed without missing a beat, letting her play before kissing her digits.

"Nuh-uh, you're number two," she chided mockingly." Can't take Eri's place."

The little girl chose that moment to stir awake, as if calling her name that final time had been enough to recall her from dreamland. She stretched, slowly rolling on the side, one hand letting go of Izuku's arm to end up on the other girl's. Her eyes opened as she faced Setsuna, and Izuku could see the smile growing on the child's face.

"Good morning, mama." 

They didn't know who had taught her the word, but it had almost given Setsuna a heart attack the first time she had used it. Now it only made her grin wider. 

"Hi, Eri," Setsuna chuckled at the kid's habit of confusing greetings. "It's a bit late, so it's 'good evening,' even if you have just woken up, okay?" She moved a finger to bop the girl's nose, making her giggle. 

"M'kay," she answered after defending herself from the lizard girl's playful touch. Eri turned her head towards him, still smiling.

"Good evening, papa," she spoke, trying to sound a bit more formal, as she had seen most grown-ups do. 

"Good evening, Eri," he replied in the same tone and with a light bow of his head, making Setsuna sputter at their dorkiness.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, feeling his own stomach being on the empty side. 

The girl thought for a second before shaking her head. "N-No. Can we read more?" she asked with pleading eyes, switching between the two teens for maximum effect. 

"Sure we can," Set grinned, "but I'd grab a bite. It's almost dinner time!"

She turned her eyes to him, and he knew what she meant. 

"I'll see what I can do," he offered, sliding out from under the covers and putting his jumper—or was it hers now?—back on. 

"Good boy," the girl chuckled as she shuffled things around to comfortably sit on Eri's side, the book resting on her legs to read together. "Now, where were we...? Ah, here!"

He left the room with a smile, the words of the tale being muffled by the closing door. 

"'It seems to me,' said Mummy Dinosaur, 'that you need to take a few big breaths. You're like that big volcano over there. The hotter you get, the more you're bubbling over! If you can close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, you'll be able to cool down..." 

Present

"The Little T-Rex closed his eyes and relaxed his angry face. Already he felt a bit better." 

Setsuna moved her finger to trace the image of the red scaled—dammit!—dinosaur with blue back plates—double dammit!—and, apparently, opposable thumbs—triple fucking dammit! 

- Really should have checked if the images matched the cover, - she thought, keeping herself from grunting. 

At least the bedtime story was nice enough, and the kid seemed to like it a lot, judging from her complete focus and captured expression. She supposed that she could forgive a book for kids for scientific inconsistencies... but she'd also have to make up for them sooner or later. At least she'd left something more accurate for the kid to go through on her own, or with her later on. Even if she couldn't read her scientific tomes, she could at least look at some realistic pictures of what the big lizards were supposed to look like. 

Putting aside the thought of starting a crusade against the book's artist or its publisher, Setsuna kept telling the story to its end. 

"... And now that he felt better, he could go back out to play! " The little girl giggled as she played out the last line with zest before closing the small volume. 

"Can you read another one?" the kid asked, eyeing the book pile, her excitement making Setsuna realize that the bedtime story hadn't done the "bedtime" part of its job right. 

Okay, maybe she had overplayed her part a bit, but could you blame her? 

She turned to meet Midoriya's gaze, noticing a hint of sad longing before he could sigh and lightly shake his head. 

Getting the message, she relayed it to the girl. "I think that's all for tonight's performance, Smallest Green. You're welcome to book another whenever," she said with a wink.

"O-Okay," the other nodded before adding a grateful "Thank you."

"You're welcome," she chuckled, ruffling the kid's hair. After the treatment it had gotten in the girls' bath it felt nice to the touch and it smelled great. Though the kid had insisted on cleaning her horns herself, they had come out nice and shiny as ever. Their combined effort had really born fruit.

"Time for sleep," Midoriya said after reaching the bed, tucking in the kid with a smile. 

Eri, now comfortably snug under the covers, but still seemingly wide awake, hummed before asking a question. "Can you make the light?" 

Setsuna raised an eyebrow, not understanding if it was a strange way of asking for a night light. Her surprise didn't lessen after Midoriya's immediate "Of course," and his movement to turn the bedside lamp off. The room hadn't turned dark for a second before twirling flashes of green lighted it again, bouncing on mirrors and painting the walls and ceiling with constantly shifting strokes of color. The light was also soft, so as to not disturb the child's finally closing eyes, and she stopped herself from whistling for that same reason. She had to admit that it was a surprisingly nice sight.

A quick "Good night" later from all three, and a short wait to be sure that the kid would drift off, the two teens left the room, the door gently clicking behind them. They remained silent until they had left the building, just to be sure not to cause unwanted noises for their teachers. 

"Dude, nice light trick you did in there," she snickered as they began their walk back. 

"It's nothing much," he brushed off the compliment. 

"Come ooon, don't downplay it! I think it was cool. Flashy, but not in a gaudy way, ya know?" She poked at his side with her elbow. "How'd you come up with it anyway?" 

"Oh, Eri just saw my Quirk in action once and liked the effect a lot... And she's been asking to see more of it ever since," he chuckled while rubbing the back of his head. 

"Eh, I bet," she copied the short laugh. "Really nice of you to keep doing that though." 

The boy showed that melancholic smile again before shaking his head with a chuckle. "It's nothing much, and it makes her happy. If she thinks that it's pretty, who am I to say no?" 

True, the small thing was really hard to say not to, but Midoriya was almost overly nice in every way, it seemed.

Which she already knew, given how he hadn't looked the slightest bit disgusted when he had first seen [Lizard Tail Splitter] in action. The fact that he'd looked amazed instead—asking questions and offering to analyze it with so much passion—made him an outlier in her life's first meetings, being only the second person in her memory to have a totally positive reaction to it. Her grandpa had been first, but his sense of humor was peculiar, and having autotomy and self-regeneration himself it wasn't that weird for him. To see Midoriya wear that same look of wonder and enthusiasm at watching her split right before him had been... well... a surprise to say the least. 

Adding in the words from the other girls and what she'd seen over the past weeks... 

Couldn't fault her for being a bit interested in the guy, right? 

Then an idea came to her, making her grin mischievously. Being alone and away from prying eyes like this wasn't something that happened often (if ever), making this a unique chance to test the waters. After all, she still didn't know how the freckled boy would react to a bit of teasing... Would he be an easy target, or be as imperturbable as Yui was? This opportunity was too good to miss, and curiosity simply got the better of her. 

"Eh, I get it. I mean, I sure wouldn't mind getting to fall asleep looking at that... The green would also fit nicely with the stuff in my room," she spoke, deliberately open to interpretation. 

There was a slight alteration to his step that she didn't miss. 

"Well, green and purple are your colors, right?" he replied, still showing that easy smile, though she noticed how his eyes were a touch more focused on her. 

"Yup. Love them both... but green is my favorite." She let her grin grow a bit, steering the conversation onwards. She wasn't gonna let him deviate that easily. "My rug, blinds, and pillows are all purple... But everything else is green. Chairs, table, shelves, drawer, even my bed's green..." 

She thought for a moment, looking for a good way to strike, something daring, but that wouldn't scare him off outright if it resulted in being too much... She crossed off "Wanna see what else is green?" and "Wanna enter the collection?" off the list—too much, too soon—before settling on her choice. 

She inched a bit closer, letting her arm touch his. "So, wanna see how that trick of yours looks on my ceiling?" she whispered. 

- Got him, - she thought as she saw him tense, his eyes and mouth opening wider. 

Setsuna expected an answer—a shocked sputter, an equally brash offer, or anything else in between really, the guy was still mostly a mystery—but she didn't receive one. The boy took one step forward and slightly to the side, as if putting himself on her path. She questioned why he'd do so instead of speaking for a whole second before her wandering train of thoughts got interrupted by the voice she least expected and wanted to hear, making it derail into less-than-pleasant fields and crash against the wall of insurmountable terror.

"Midoriya. Tokage." 

Him.

Eraser Head.

She froze, tonic immobility taking full control of her body as her fear got the better of her. Fucking pity that this wasn't a predator that relied on movement, nor would he be thrown off by something so stupid. There wasn't a Shishida to hide behind, and she was already on his radar. The "conserving energy" part wouldn't do her much good if—heaven fucking forbid—the dreaded scenario happened. 

The surprise of having the encounter happen when she was completely unfocused—the terrifying thoughts surfacing and hitting her out of nowhere—made her heart beat like a drum. She could almost feel it hitting her chest like a battering ram. The fact that her mind was filled by an echoing chorus of increasingly louder noes also didn't fucking help. 

"I assume you brought Eri back?" the man asked after a second that seemed to last an eternity.

Eraser Head's tone might not have sounded more tired than threatening to an outside listener, but to the girl the second option was the only conceivable one. 

Her fingers clenched as she shivered. 

"Of course," Midoriya answered, a smile in his voice and raising an arm to rub the back of his head, "she tried to keep us there, and it sort of worked for a while, but the curfew was coming, so..." 

She realized that the arm was directly between her and the man's line of vision as he hummed. The relief was minimal, but it was there. He wasn't looking at her directly anymore. Could she risk him looking again if it made him go away faster? 

- Make him leave. Now. - 

She managed to nod along, letting out a hopefully convincing "Yeah, had to get her to sleep."

The teacher grunted, bringing a hand to his eyes to rub them. Another moment of safety. 

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow in class," Eraser Head said, a farewell and a threat all in one, before beginning to walk away on the path they had come from. 

She stood still for a moment more as she heard Midoriya say his goodbyes and the man moving farther with each step. As soon as her legs allowed it, she began to take her own. Each seemed to weigh more than the last, and she was as unsteady as a rocking boat. 

- Run. -

Was she safe? Was she? She had to be… No. No, she didn't feel it. She wasn't yet. She had to get further away. Away. Fast. Faster. Faster! 

"-ge." 

Something brushed her, but she paid it no mind—she had no time. The walk became a run, then her feet left the ground. She was a good sprinter, but flying was faster, and it made less noise. Maybe it would be enough to disappear before he could turn, if he ever got the sudden idea to. She couldn't take the chance. Not now, not ever. 

"-okage." 

How could she have forgotten that he also lived in the teacher's building? How had she mindlessly walked outside during the dark, when he operated best? How could she have been so careless as to walk directly into the lion's den? 

She crossed the path that separated her from the dorm as quickly as her shaking body would allow her. She had to reach her room, or at least the door before going down. At least turn the corner. At least- 

"Tokage!" 

She was startled out of her stupor by the sound coming right into her ear, stopping and recomposing herself in an instant on solid ground. If it had to happen, she would try and be all in one piece. Feel it all in place one last time.

But it was green eyes that met hers, not red ones.

"Tokage," Midoriya—she had forgotten him in her run, completely disregarded him, dammit—repeated as his feet stopped overing, touching the ground slowly. "Sorry for startling you, but you weren't stopping and..." He stopped, shaking his head. "Doesn't matter. Here, I think you've lost this," he said with a small smile. 

She blamed the poor lighting around the dorm buildings for not noticing what was held between the other greenette's hands before he could offer it. 

A hand. Her hand. 

Her body went through the motions independently. She could feel—move—all ten of her hands' fingers. Then everything else. Arms. Shoulders. Neck. Head. Chest. Belly. Legs. Feet. Toes. It was all there. 

Which meant that [Lizard Tail Splitter] had lost a piece and replaced it as she panicked. 

She felt a lump getting stuck in her throat. Her breathing was getting shallower. 

It was too soon. Nobody was supposed to see it yet. She had yet to have a big incident during training. This wasn't supposed to happen. Why did it have to happen?

Midoriya tilted his head slightly as he saw her remain frozen in place, his eyes darting to her sides and taking in the fully healed arms, letting out a small "Oh" of surprise. 

- There it is, the first step, - she thought as she sealed her eyes shut. 

Now the word would spread. The girls wouldn't have anything to do with something as disgusting as her. The whole class would know, then the whole U.A., and then... 

- Puzzle. Spare parts. Test dummy. Meat bag. Floating dead. Cadaver. Pieces. Chunks. Freak. Freak. Frea- - 

"I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd regrow it that fast. It was my fault for trying to hold onto it as you ran," came Midoriya's voice, sounding deeply apologetic. 

She opened her eyes, not believing her ears. 

Midoriya had his head down, lightly bowing. He was still holding onto the piece of meat—dead, a dead hand—that had been hers. He didn't look disturbed in the least. 

"All that analysis and I didn't think of it..." he continued. "I'm really sorry, Tokage, I should-" 

"W-Wait!" Setsuna managed to raise a hand, catching the wrist holding what had been a part of her, and locking her gaze on his. She didn't find a gram of fear in there, just a momentary surprise, probably due to her sudden movement, which had now completely turned into a sorry but placid expression.

"How... How can you be so calm? I-It's a fucking dead hand you're holding there!" she began, letting the questions and exclamations flow from her tongue without a filter. She was lucky that she didn't have enough strength to properly shout, or she'd wake up the entire school. "Why aren't you disgusted?! Why don't you scream?! Why aren't you babbling, or shouting, or crying, or calling me names, or-?!" 

Her words were interrupted as he stepped closer, the boy gently resting his free hand over hers. 

"Because I'm not disgusted or scared, and because I'd never do any of that," he stated with an honesty that could only leave her more baffled, his tone making it clear how absurd he found the notion. 

"B-But it's disgusting," she muttered. "To leave those things around to regenerate is disgusting." 

- Everyone said so. I'm a dead-meat dispenser. Once they know, it's always written on their faces. - 

He let out a breath, his expression turning a bit sadder as he shook his head. "No, it's not. It's just a hand, Tokage. A product of your amazing Quirk, just like Mina's acid, Togaru's blades, or Pony's horns are products of theirs." His tone was sympathetic, but still firm. 

- No. Not as bad. Not as foul. - 

"I-It's not the same thing. Those weren't alive before. Not like this," she countered, somehow reduced to playing advocate against herself by using the worst they'd thrown at her. "My Quirk... it's disgusting. And I'm a freak, a freak who leaves dead hands around and is always in pieces and-"

"That's not true," he interjected. She felt his hand grip tighter around hers, with care. "Your Quirk is amazing, and so are you for being able to use it so well. Everything you can do with it is incredible. I don't know how many would manage any of that, but you do. Every day you push yourself to control more, for longer, and never give up on it, no matter how hard it may be. You're exceptional, Set."

Again, she was stunned. That part of her that believed in who she was—in her talent, in her brain, in her courage, in herself—resurfaced from under the thick mud of fear that had submerged it. She felt the lump coming back, holding her from repeating the terrible things she had been showered with in the past.

"Hug?" she heard him ask a moment later, before responding with a nod and moving closer. Her free hand rose and latched onto his sweater, while the other didn't let go of his wrist. His free arm circled around her, and she leaned into it. She could have let go at any moment, or even refused, but she decided to give in to the comforting offer to take it for everything it was worth.

He was warm. Though she knew that she didn't share a lizard's ectothermic cold blood, she reveled on that contact that made the night's chill recede.

They remained just like that, in silence, for whatever length a good hug takes, curfew be damned. 

He let go when she moved, returning to facing her with a kind and honest smile. "Feeling better?" 

"A bit, yeah," she sniffed—it seemed like her eyes had gotten wet—before taking a handkerchief he was offering with a chuckle. Always ready for any eventuality, was he? 

"Glad to hear it." He turned his head towards the front of the building, still a few steps away. "Care to go inside, Tokage? We're lucky it's getting warmer lately," he joked. 

She'd been comfortable enough in that hug, but she wouldn't deny that the night's breeze was starting to get to her. But it was time to amend one little thing. He'd started it too, hadn't he? 

"Yeah," she agreed, "but call me Setsuna. Seems to me like we're a bit past surnames, right?" 

His eyebrows rose in surprise, but his expression quickly turned back to his appreciative, smiley one. 

"Sure, I'd be happy to," he nodded as they began walking the last stretch. "Then I'm just Izuku." 

She looked up as if in thought. "'Just Izuku,' uh? Mm, it might grow on me, Parsley." 

He chuckled, noticing that he was still holding the hand—the wrong one, if you asked her opinion now. "Oh, can't forget this. We should get this to your red bin and-" 

Another phrase, another shock for her. "Y-You know about the bins too?" she asked, wondering where the limits of his knowledge on Quirks laid. 

He hummed. "I've read a lot. Like, really a lot. I'm sure a few of our classmates used them as well."

"You don't say... Alright, Izuku, how about..."

A whispered chat about abstruse stuff even history books often forgot made the small walk through the halls of the dorm and an elevator ride last far shorter than she'd wished for. 

And even if their goodbye for the night had been a simple one, she also knew that she didn't need fireworks or more incredible gestures to come to her conclusion. 

She would have to think about how to approach the subject with him... and with the others. 

Oh well, that was a problem for tomorrow's Setsuna. This Setsuna could just enjoy the new sensation in her chest and the luck to have avoided the worst possible outcome.

What went unnoticed from tonight's Setsuna, instead, was someone who had watched most of the scene, first from her window, then from her door.

"Ribbit."

- "Do not use your Quirk now. Please." Why? - Shota asked himself, repeating in his mind the words he'd seen the not-a-kid mimic with his mouth. 

- Was there something wrong with his own or something? Or with Tokage's? - 

He had started to rely less and less of [Erasure] since his first "real" talk with Midoriya, limiting its use to moments when it was needed for safety reasons. Apparently, silencing rowdy students by glaring at them with it didn't count, so he'd kept it off for the most part. Thankfully for his ears and brain, his glares were still enough to keep his students in check. 

Still, he wondered if Midoriya didn't have any other reasons to suggest he stop "abusing" his Quirk for trifling matters... And if he should begin by investigating from that night's unexpected encounter.

Notes:

Nothing excessively romantical may have happened in the present side, but take that new tag as a declaration of intent. It's been my favorite Izuku/1-B girl pairing since I read "Our New Roommate" more than a year ago, and it's staying there. We need more Setsuna content out there.

At this point, it's safe to say that (some of) FalseSeraph's characters have taken residence into my brain in the same section that hold this story's canon. Hard to refuse good ideas like that, even when I want to give my own spin to them. I shall continue thanking him and promoting his fics, because I haven't found that many that can keep me entertained as those do (and honestly, finding good 1-B content is really damn hard).