Chapter Text
the bustling sounds of main street musutafu rang in the pairs ears, annoying yet sort of comfortable to hear. street vendors called to the people passing by, attempting to sell goods of all kinds.
nikolai happily skipped alongside fyodor, peering at all the fancy merchandise on display. he was a little annoyed that the majority of it was hero merch, but he found some trinkets that caught his eye. fyodor was set on finding somewhere that looked like it would be of use in their plan preparation. he spotted a small casino at the end of the street they were currently, the sketchy look of it convincing fyodor it was definitely hiding something.
he grabbed nikolai from a nearby stall, pulling on his sleeve and pointing at the casino. "lets check that out, i have a feelig it may be useful in our plans." fyodor suggested, nikolai obviously agreed.
as soon as they walked through the doors of the shoddy casino, it was as if they walked straight through a portal into a new world again. the inside was nothing like the outside, it was clean and fancy whilst the outside looked like it was actively running out of business. the smell of smoke littered the air, waves of it wafting around like a snake slithering through the air.
sounds of casino games and shouts filled the air, losers crying out in despair whilst winners cried out in joy. fyodor scanned the room, looking for anyone who looked to be of use. his eyes landed on a man dressed in purple with grey hair, playing pool with a lit ciggarette in his mouth. "kolya, search for anyone of use to us. i need to go converse with someone, ill find you afterwards." fyodor said, walking over to the prior mentioned man. nikolai sauntered off in a random direction, probably to go completely disregard fyodors words and play games instead.
the man peered at fyodor in the corner of his eyes, too focused on his game of pool to indulge in conversation yet. fyodor just stepped aside, watching the game intently. the person the man was playing against lost, something fyodor was quite pleased about. "may i play with you? i wish to talk about something." fyodor asked the man, to which he agreed with a nod and a grin. the other player handed over the cue stick, a frown settled on their face.
fyodor watched as the balls were arranged into position with curiosity. he had never really indulged in pool before, but theres always room to try new things. when it came to deciding who should make the first move, fyodor gestured for the man to go first with a flick of his wrist. he gladly accepted. the balls scattered across the table with a loud clank, going in all sorts of directions with one falling down a hole. once settled, fyodor took a stance and glanced up at the man. "youre giran, right?" he asked, knocking the white ball into a green one, sending three balls straight into seperate holes. the man, giran, stared in shock.
fyodor smirked smugly. seems he is an expert in pool too, an interesting thing to know. "yeah, i am. whos askin'?" giran inquired, grinning. this kid was interesting, he wanted to know exactly who he was.
"just a nobody. i wanted to know some information about certain people, rumours say youre the guy to go to. is that correct?" fyodor asked, posture steady with an air of confidence around him. seems the vibe of this casino was making him cocky, oh well. "hell yeah im the guy, im the best information broker around these parts! so, whatcha wanna know huh?" giran asked, hitting the ball into a red one and sending it towards fyodors general direction. it didnt go in any holes, giving fyodor another advantage.
"well, id prefer if we talked more after this game. the people i want to know about are quite.. influential. its practically impossible to speak about them in public places, im sire you already know who im talking about." fyodor hinted. he knocked two balls into a hole, the amount of balls on the table slowly dwindling. giran was surprised, this random kid was about to beat his winning streak! he chuckled, knocking a ball down a hole. "i think i get the gist of who youre talkin' about. sure, ill tell you some info. just to be clear though, i cant tell ya oll of it. theyre my highest paying costumers at the moment, so youll either have to beat 'em or be happy with the info i can give ya." giran smirked, leaning against the pool table and taking a drag from his ciggarette.
fyodor chuckled lowly, calculating the best move now. "okay, ill find some way to get all the info." fyodor replied calmly. giran was a bit unsettled, but he just grinned wider so as not to show this kid any weakness. he watched as the boy aimed his cue at the white ball, aiming it in what giran thought was the worse possible direction. there were three balls left, but the kid was aiming at only one. oh well, looks like giran was going to get a won after all.
he shouldve known better than to assume he would win against this kid. the balls clanked together, sending the coloured one towards one of the other balls and just barely grazing it. the first one fell down a hole, according to fyodors plans. the ball it had grazed was now flying towards the edge of the table, slamming into it and hitting the other ball in its path. this caused both coloured balls to go into the same hole, leaving only the white ball on the table.
girans jaw slacked in shock. this kid had just pulled of an impossible move and he didnt even look surprised! he needed to know more about this boy, he just had to!
fyodor placed the cue on the table, leaving it for whoever decided to play next. "so, sha'll we go somewhere more private to converse?" fyodor suggested to giran, who gladly accepted. they found a seat in the bar section if the casino, not many people being there. fyodor did not order anything, he'd rather not get kicked out right as he was about ti get some valuable info. giran ordered a shot of whiskey, fitting for the old guy.
"so," giran started, drinking his drink in one gulp. "whatcha wanna know?" he asked. fyodor sat politely, placing his hands on the table infront of him. "i want to know all there is about the league of villains. i also want to know some info about heroes, but im sure thats not too difficult of a task." fyodor replied. giran chuckled at his bluntness, it sounded more like he was being ordered to do it rather than being asked.
"i can do the hero thing no charge, as a little freebie for beating me in that game. the league however, its gonna cost ya a pretty penny. you sure ya got enough to fit my prices?" he asked, eyeing his casual clothing. to say it bluntly, this kid looked like he hadnt washed that coat or hat in a million years. he felt bad for him, maybe he'd lower his prices just a tad for him. maybe.
fyodor sighed, giran was so clearly judging him right now. "i do. i have to get it from someone first though. how about, you tell me the info and i give you the money after. if i dont, you have my permission to do whatever you usually do to punish people who dont pay up." fyodor offered, crossing his legs. giran laughed out loud at this, sticking out his hand for a handshake. "deal." they shook hands, giran suddenly becoming more relaxed. "so, the league huh.. well, shigiraki is a huge man baby. literally throws temper tantrums whenever he doesnt get his way. huge annoyance. his master, all for one, basically grooms the poor guy. weird situation. hes had him in his care since he was a kid, i dont know how or why but i looked into it and the guy doesnt have any living relatives. his parents and sister died from a quirk accident, im assuming at the hands of shigiraki." giran took a drag from his ciggarette.
"the guys name isnt even shigiraki tomura, its tenko shimura. hes the grandkid of the dead hero who mentored all might. im guessing all for one thought it was a good revenge plot or something, who knows. the little mentor shigiraki has, kurogiri, warp guy. hes actually a nomu himself, made from a dead ua student. freaky shit. theres also this one doctor who helps all for one make the nomus, hes like really old and senile so i wouldnt reccomend talking to him for anything. the rest of the league are new, personally scouted by me! theyre mostly stain fanatics, especially the lizard one. the girl, toga himiko, shes got a blood type quirk and was like discriminated against for it. she ran away after killing a classmate of hers, then joined the league after i found her. the lizard, spinner, hugeee stain fan. literally copied his whole outfit. the magnet lady, magne, shes not very interesting. just got a quirk that makes people magnets for her big stick. twice, full crazy. he doesnt take his mask off in fear he'll "split". super crazy and funny guy. dabi, full emo. he got in this like quirk accident as a kid and burnt himself to death nearly. he has a HUGE grudge against endeavour, im not sure why." giran supplied. fyodor was making mental notes in his head, making sure to remember all the info.
giran sighed, looking over at fyodor. "well, thats pretty much the basics of the league. what heroes did ya wanna know about?" he asked. "what do you know about the ua staff?" fyodor inquired. he needed to know this for his plan. no matter how hard he looked on the web, the ua staffs info was pretty hard to find. hes sure the broker had no issue in that though. "well, nezus some failed experiment lab rat. he secretly hates humans because of it, thinks hes better than everyone too cause of how smart he is. little bastard. eraserhead, hes.. hes tough to find info on. underground hero and allat. hes real close to present mic and midnight, he also hates press and avoids them liek the plague. ive heard he takes mercy on vigilanted too, sometimes even lets 'em run wild if theyre not breaking too many laws. nice guy, one of the better heroes i feel. present mic, hes annoying. hes probably the worst guy to tell a secret to, considering how loud he is and how many communication ways hes got. literally got a whole radio show. hes got a fear of bugs too, if that helps. midnight, shes not that interesting. shes real indecent, but i guess its cause of her quirk. for some reason she doesnt wear a costume fitted to it, deciding to go for skin tight and just rips the armpits off when she needs to use her quirk? i dunno, really wasteful. cementoss is a bit of a tricky one, hes real boring so there isnt much info on him. he can build citys with his quirk though, real cool stuff. ive heard all mights working there too. hes got loads on him.." giran chuckled. fyodor was interested now. did giran know what he knew?
"all might.. he fought all for one a while back. he thought he killed the guy too but, hes still alive obviously. all might is pretty much on the short end of the stick here now though, hes real weak and doesnt do much hero stuff no more. all for one thinks hes got some weakness, but i cant find out what it is. hes got some favouritism goin' on with the green haired kid from ua, acts like his dad and everythin'. aizawa hates him too, its so obvious!" giran laughed, slapping his knee like an old man. "looks like all might will retire or die soon too. sir nighteye, his old subordinate, they randomly seperated a while back for seemingly no reason. but sir nighteyes quirk is to see the future, so im assuming he saw some future where all mights career ends one way or another. guess he didnt like it that much, since they hardly ever interact anymore." giran smirks.
"well, thats all i got for ya kid. now, what about this payment?" girans expression suddenly darkened, he stuck out his hand in expectance. fyodor chuckled, pulling out his phone. "just a moment." he replied, typing on his phone and then putting it back into his pocket and staring at giran. the next second, a briefcase dropped on the table from a yellow portal around 75cm in the sky. giran laughed at the sight, opening the briefcase and humming what fyodor assumed was a noise of delight. giran lifted his head and smiled at fyodor. "pleasure doin' business with ya kid. ill see you around, dont get on the leagues bad side alright? i'd hate to see a genius kid like you die to the hands of some manchild like shigiraki." giran waved goodbye, walking over to a group of ladys and flirting with them. fyodor sighed.
he stood from his seat, making his way over to the actual casino part. he scanned the room, spotting the shock of white hair over by the poker machines. he made his way over to nikolai, mind running through all the info he had been given just now.
as fyodor got into earshot of nikolai, he could hear him conversing with two older men. he peered over and took note of their odd appearances. one had purple, almost blue hair and maroon eyes. the other had blonde hair, with purple eyes and blue irises. they seemed to be deep in conversation about strategies to win, although it looked more like the blonde was lecturing nikolai about his stupidity when playing casino games. the other was silently observing, staying quiet mostly and only chiming in a couple times. everytime he spoke, it sounded like a teacher talking to his student. the blonde won what seemed like yet another game and it only made him cockier. once nikolai noticed fyodor watching, he bid farewell to his new "friends" and happily made his way over to fyodor.
seeing as they were both done here, they exited the casino and mad their way back to ua. being gone too long rose some suspicions and fyodor just did not want to deal with any unnecesarry problems. nikolai stopped him at a street vendour who appeared to be selling jewellery, many bracelets and necklaces hanging from hooks. the owner of the stall was a kind looking old woman, who was currently humming a tune making a new bracelet and.. welding it together with her hands? must be her quirk, fyodor assumed.
"fedya! these bracelets are made out of crystals!" nikolai picks one up and gasps, putting it next to fyodors face. "..what?" fyodor asked, not moving. nikolai had grabbed the other side of his face to hold him still so he could.. do whatever it is he was doing. "this one matches your eyes! such a pretty shade of purple.." nikolai said the last part in a whisper, gazing at the crystal bracelet. fyodor couldnt help the blush dusting the tips of his ears, choosing to stare at the other bracelets instead. he found one that matched the stunning green of nikolais eye, but also matched the soft blue of his other eye when put into the sunlight. he did what nikolai had done earlier, grabbing his face and putting the crystal bracelet next to it, comparing the colours. nikolais eyes widened, then softend as he broke out into giggles.
nikolai grabbed the bracelet from fyodor and payed for them quickly, not even letting fyodor have a chance to tell him otherwise. he slipped the purple bracelet onto his wrist, handing the other over to fyodor. he copied the action, putting it on the opposite wrist so now if they walked beside each other as they are now, the bracelets would be right next to each other.
the walk back to ua was mostly spent with nikolai gazing at his bracelet and giggling to himself, looking at it from every angle possible. fyodor side eyed him at times, mostly just ignoring his antics.
back at ua they walked into the dorms to find quite an odd scene, everyone was sitting in a circle playing what sounded like a game of two truth or dare. nikolai immediately hopped down to join them in playing. fyodor watched for a few seconds longer, before seating himself next to nikolai and joining their game.
"okay, dazai. truth or dare?" nikolai asked, grinnign mischeviously. dazai hummed in thought, grinning back at nikolai as he gave his answer. "truth, just this once." he chuckled. "okay, what is your most irrational fear?" nikolai asked, leaning in like they were talking about some government secret. "my biggest irrational fear?.. hmmm... im not sure?" dazai laughed, shortly cut off by chuuya slapping him on the head and turning to nikolai with a smirk. "its dogs. he absolutely despises the poor little guys, literally eats dog food infront of them to torment them." chuuya answered for dazai, who was now sulking as everyone laughed at him.
kyuusaku wiped tears from their eyes, looking over at dazai. "you fought an eldritch being with a broken arm, yet you fear DOGS of all things?" they said giggling, dazai responded with grumbles of annoyance.
somewhere in the waters of yokohama, a certain entity sneezed in his sleep. "hmm.." he responded to the sneeze, drifting back into deep sleep yet again.