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The league hadn’t always been cool with her stabbing people. Towards the beginning, it was frowned upon, much like the rest of society. They didn’t understand and she was so sure they weren't ever going to understand. Honestly, she was counting down the days to when it was no longer beneficial to her to work with them.
She’d told Giran as much.
Giran was a lot better about the stabbing.
He only requested she give him a day’s warning so he could make sure he had gauze and antiseptic on him. Or, if she provided her own for his use, a five-minute warning. He always acted surprised, so it wasn’t like anything was spoiled and he bled so well for a man his age.
He told her the secret was to hydrate.
She tried. She really did, but sometimes they were just so cute and she needed to see what they looked like covered in blood. When they were off fighting heroes, it was easy. She could slit a hero's throat and the arterial spray would cover everyone in glorious red.
It was much harder during the downtime between tasks when everyone was cooped up in the bar together.
She couldn’t even get close to stabbing people there. Kurogiri always opened a portal anytime she tried, and it was just terribly frustrating.
She whined to Giran and moved the countdown closer to zero.
“What the hell was that for?” Spinner hissed, hand shoved under the faucet. She wrung her hands, watching as he inspected the wound. The dinner they had been preparing together had been forgotten on the counter.
She didn’t answer; the water going down the sink was fading from a bright reddish to a faint pink. She hadn't stabbed him hard enough to color the running water.
“Toga-” Spinner growled, and she flinched, letting her hands tangle in her sweater.
“I-” The apology caught in her throat; it wasn't that she regretted it. She didn’t feel bad about stabbing him, but she also couldn’t… explain to him why she did it. She’d told the league about her quirk, but it wasn’t like they understood.
She turned and fled, slipping past Dabi as he opened the base door.
It wasn’t hard to slip back into the base. She’d had years of practice with her own family, sneaking out at odd hours and sneaking back in later. Sometimes she even stayed out for days. She was good at being quiet, at being unnoticed.
The base was quiet as she slipped past the kitchen, dishes drying by the sink. There was a note on the small fridge, but she ignored it. She was more concerned with changing into fresh clothes and dumping these into the sink to soak.
The small room she claimed as hers was not as dark as she expected. Once her eyes adjusted, she realized Spinner and Shigaraki were cuddled up on her bed, game systems in hand. Were they… waiting for her?
Shigaraki looked up suddenly like his quirk was sensing people and not destroying things. He elbowed Spinner, who looked up.
“Whoa, whoa- don’t run. I’m not mad.” Spinner quickly explained, no doubt because she was about to do just that. He handed his game to Shigaraki and clambered out of bed, stumbling over his own feet in his haste. The hand she stabbed was bandaged up with just the barest hint of rust bleeding through the white fabric.
“You sounded mad.” Toga said quietly, dropping her gaze to stare at her feet. Despite taking her shoes off at the door, they were still covered in smears of blood. She would need to check the floor and clean up any footprints she left-
“I was startled, and a little angry, but it was more confused? I just… Why did you stab me?” Spinner asked, a lot gentler than she expected. He was always a lot gentler than she expected.
“I…don’t know.” Toga mumbled. One of Spinner’s hands reached out and plucked at her sweater. She took a step back, leaving him rubbing his fingers together. She could see the red smearing between the two.
“Oookay… new question, why are you covered in blood?”
“I just… I needed to. I need to be covered in blood.”
She didn’t look up, and Spinner didn’t say anything for a long, long time. Long enough that she was itching to pull out her knife and solve this entire uncomfortable situation once and for all. She could probably take him. She wasn’t sure about Shigaraki, but without Kurogiri here, he’d be a lot easier to overpower. Plus, she probably still had some of Muscular’s blood. He was a big dude with good reach and a lot of muscles. She could use it to overpower Shiggy no problem, and then flee. She’d miss Big Sis, but…
“It’s a quirk thing, isn’t it?” Spinner finally stated, and her head shot up in surprise. He smiled at her reaction, reaching over and ruffling her hair. She batted his hand away. “Seriously, is it a quirk thing?”
“Yes.” She huffed, “I’ve mentioned my quirk before.”
“I didn’t realize your ‘drink blood’ thing was a compulsion. You could have asked.”
“It’s… not just drinking blood. I…” She paused, chewing on her lip. She didn’t know if he’d-
“Okay. Well. Explain?”
“... Can I changed first? I’m getting crunchy.”
Spinner flustered, nodded and passed her by. Shigaraki continued to sit on her bed, looking vaguely interested in the proceedings.
“Shiggy, I need to change.”
“Okay?”
Spinner skidded back into the room, practically picking Shigaraki up. His face went through a range of emotions before settling on second-hand embarrassment.
“We’ll be in the kitchen. I saved you some dinner.” Spinner said and hauled Shigaraki and himself out of the room.
After that night and the impromptu league meeting, it was like a switch had been flipped. It was… Freeing. Granted, not everyone was on board with it.
Spinner was the most understanding, somehow. He was like Giran. He just wanted a bit of warning. He’d even ask if she had a preference. His was always the arms; Upper arms, lower arms, shoulders, he didn’t mind since they all caused ‘badass scars he could talk about later’.
She saw though. Saw the scars he was hoping to cover up with new ones. Ones he could brag about. She thought those were brag-worthy. She said as much and Spinner flustered and refuted her statement. It just meant she had to be more insistent. All scars were brag-worthy. All scars meant you survived something.
Although Shigaraki pointed out that sometimes that ‘something’ was just stupidity and pointed to a scar on his shin.
It worked, though. The resulting story had cheered Spinner up.
The others took longer to warm up to the thought, especially Mister Compress. He didn’t get why she thought blood was pretty and why sometimes, it just needed to be on the outside. He was the first to let her drink from him, though. She loved him for that, loved becoming him. Loved the way her hair shifted to curl like his. Being him was exciting and he was almost delighted having a duplicate of himself around.
She knew not to mimic Twice. Not where he could see it. He was already having so much trouble and she didn’t want him to hurt. He was the closest thing to a brother and best friend she had and, for once, she loved someone too much to become them.
He still offered her his blood, though, and she loved Jin so much. He was insistent that she not suppress her quirk; that she didn’t hide any part of herself.
So she didn’t.
Cuddles on the couch would usually end up with her painting his nails, and while one hand was drying, she’d open the palm on his other hand, dabbing a pinky in and daintily licking it off. She’d narrate what it tasted like to her, and he would laugh and tease (lovingly) about what had caused the changes, goad her into guessing what prompted the change. She could tell how often he was smoking. His blood tasted the way Dabi smelled, and that caused everyone to laugh.
Which was good, because not everyone was comfortable with how she took blood from people. Laughter meant they weren't going to ostracize her for it. At worst, she assumed no one would engage. She was pleasantly wrong.
Spinner wanted her to be sanitary, so she used syringes and glass jars with him. He wasn’t comfortable with her licking blood off of him (or watching her lick blood off of Magne or Compress), which, she kinda understood. She also teased him mercilessly, since she was pretty sure he was drawing other comparisons. Maybe she wasn’t the only one with a blood kink here; Spinner did love Stain like she did.
Mister insisted he get tested before she even stabbed him, politely handing a clean bill of health to her. He spluttered at her laughter, and then gave her a lecture afterward (She later explained that her quirk let her digest most infections. She’d yet to find a blood-borne disease that could survive her stomach and her quirk. Mister still said she needed to be careful; otherwise, she’d end up sick and he’d worry so much his hair would turn gray. They couldn’t have that now, could they? She laughed as he emphasized how bad he'd look with gray hair.)
Big Sis was the most stringent in repeated and renewed consent. Apparently, big sis had a vampire phase when she was younger, and, much to her delight, big sis promised to take Toga to a vampire club when she came of age. Magne did, however, repeat Misters’ blood-test lecture with her.
Shigaraki was ODD. For the longest time, he left bottles of his blood for her, but wouldn’t let her come within ten feet of him. It was sweet, but still hurt.
He was a bundle of issues, though. She and Spinner talked about it. How he was, at best, touch-starved and terrified of his own quirk.
That was easier to fix. One of her friends had a touch-based quirk in school and she wore fingerless gloves so her palms wouldn’t touch things (it wasn’t good when that happened; most people didn’t find the sensation pleasant). She assumed Shiggy needed something similar.
After the gloves, he got a lot more interested in physical contact. Were it Spinner, she’d tease him about it, but Shigaraki was just… adorably sincere and innocent about it? He needed the softest of touches and to be eased into things.
That wasn’t hard to fix either.
She’d had a friend (a different one) who was similar, and it took months for that friend to feel comfortable enough to hug her.
Happily, it didn’t take Shiggy months.
He was actually very touchy once he was sure he wasn’t going to break them. An arm around a shoulder, picking her up by her sweater; he even kicked at her legs. It was like having a brother and she thrived under the attention. She’d always wanted a brother, even a stinky, bratty one like Tomura.
He also instigated play fights with her.
The kind where he stabbed her back.
Tomura looked so pretty when they were done. His pale hair turned bright red; then it faded to a rust-red, and then finally a red-brown or a reddish black. He looked younger and sweeter with darker hair.
And when he washed the blood off?
It still left its marks.
His hair was faintly pinkish for days afterward, and Toga never realized how much she craved seeing it.
It was intoxicating.
She didn’t know if Hawks was going to be okay with her stabbing him.
She wanted to ask, but every time she got close, Dabi would glare at her and intercept.
She wasn’t sure if he was being territorial or if the Traitor Hero wasn’t as safe as he seemed.
She was going to ask him.
She didn’t knock on the door to Dabi’s room; if Dabi wanted her out, he would have locked it. Since they, including Dabi, were staying at the PLF mansion, they actually had locking doors now.
She didn't expect the flames he lashed out with, but she was very quick when she needed to be. She managed to dodge most of them, although she was going to need to fix this sweater. Or bully Skeptic into buying her a new one. Thank gods it wasn’t her coat.
“Dabi! That was mean!”
“Knock you little gremlin!” Dabi snarled, a blanket wrapped around him. She cocked her head, looking him over. Dabi… didn’t get cold.
She grinned, feeling her fangs brush her lips as she smiled. It was the smile Spinner liked to call 'demented'. But fondly. She liked the way he said it. It felt like a friendly tease.
“Daaaabiiii.” She sang and inched closer. “What’cha doing?”
“Getting ready to roast you.” Dabi hissed, trying to wrangle his arm out of the blanket-turned-robe, giving her a glimpse of something delightful (sadly, not him shirtless; she had a bet with Spinner that Dabi was ripped and he refused to believe it, calling Dabi a ‘beanpole scarecrow’).
She cooed and dove for him. If there was one thing her play fighting with Shigaraki and her training with Spinner had taught her, it was how to use her sleight weight to her advantage.
It also taught her how to pin someone bigger than her.
“You look so cute!” She purred, plucking at the fabric over his chest. The low-cut neck of the dress showed off his chest, with his cute little tits and the scars that extended far lower than she expected. It was saved from being completely lurid by the ample application of fishnet panels. Then again, the rest of the dress was of a sleek satin and didn't really hide much, despite the cut of the dress not being tailored for his beanpole frame.
“If this is your new costume, I love it. It does need to be taken in, though. Does it come with a petticoat?” She asked. Not waiting for an answer, she twisted around to flip up the bottom of the short dress.
With her focus off of him, Dabi flipped her off, scrambling backward and, for the first time since they’d been allies, looking actually flustered.
Apparently, there was enough healthy skin in his face for him to blush.
That was so cute.
“What the fucking hell Toga?” Dabi hissed, hands shoved on top of his skirt - as if she could lift it from where she’d been thrown. Dabi was stronger than he looked.
“I wanted to see if you had a petticoat or were freeballing it.” She answered honestly. He gave a very Spinner-like flustered response, which was mostly huffing and muttered swearing. “What? You’re wearing boxers. They’re cute.”
They were cute. They had seals on them.
She wanted to ask if he’d stolen them from Hawks. She and Spinner had a bet on that, too.
“Why-”
“Just assume I have a bet with Spinner.”
“I’m going to kill him.” Dabi muttered. Toga squeaked in alarm.
“No! Don’t be like that!” Toga said and righted herself. She crawled across the floor, plopping down in front of Dabi. “Seriously, the dress is cute. Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why the dress. I’m assuming you have a reason. Is it a date? Do you have a hot date?”
The blush returned in full force.
Interesting.
“No, I do not have a- This is a prototype.”
“A prototype for a new costume?”
Dabi gave a short jerky nod.
“So you’re-”
“I’m not wearing a dress into battle. This was the only prototype Weaversun had with the fabric properties I requested.” Dabi interrupted. Weaversun… That was a familiar name.
“Wait, the cute little brunette who’s got the….” She gestured to the side of her face. The woman she was referencing had scars creeping up one side of her face, and there were more beneath her hair, and Toga suspected, under her clothes. She wasn’t sure what kind of scars, but they sort of looked like Dabi’s.
“Yes. She’s also working on Twice’s uniform.” Dabi said, glancing over at the bed where several other outfits were laid out. Toga perked up, scrambling to her feet. Dabi let out a swear and tried to grab her.
“Oh my gods, is this-”
“Another prototype, will you just-”
“Oh my gods, this coat is so cute! It’s red though, and I didn’t think red was your color…” She shot him a sly look before sorting through the pile again. “Oooh, slinky dress, adorable suit, boring, boring, disco-ball, boring, and-”
She paused, holding up the outfit.
“You have to try this on.” She stated.
“Do a little spin.” Toga demanded for the third time that night. The first outfit she forced him into was literally Twice’s costume, but, as Dabi pointed out, a prototype Weaversun was having him test. Ostensibly by setting it on fire.
He really was a beanpole scarecrow, but Toga was definitely going to win the bet because Dabi wasn’t like, super ripped like Tomura was now, but he was pretty ripped. Like, surprisingly so. She was going to have to get all the boys to line up and flex so she could rank them. Mister Compress was probably going to be last. She might grab some of the others to help her rank them, though, but-
“Are you finished?” Dabi said, interrupting her thoughts. Toga gave his dress a once-over. It was the cute little a-line that had a short hem and stars sewn all over it. The chain was nice, although she wasn’t sure why the costume person gave this to him to try on.
Maybe Weaversun just liked to oggle. She could respect that. Dabi looked hella cute.
“Yes, do the leather-daddy one next.”
“Please don’t use that term.” Dabi grumbled, turning his back to her. She didn’t get why he did. It wasn’t like she gave a shit, and he was wearing boxers, anyway.
“That’s what Magne would call leather outfits.”
“Toga…” Dabi heaved a sigh. “There is a difference between a leather outfit and a leather daddy costume. One is… more than the other.”
“Like, more leather?”
“Yeeeaaaaaa… no. Not really. How about this, ask Spinner. Or Compress.”
Toga grinned. “Will it unsettle them?”
“Yes.”
Toga cackled, and Dabi turned around. The outfit was mostly black leather, with a few tasteful pockets here and there. The entire jacket, pants, and boots were covered in untasteful and embroidered flames. It... It was super tacky and she loved it.
“I hate this.”
“It’s fun!”
“I look like Endeavor.”
She cringed and looked over the outfit. That wasn’t quite true, though. “The only thing similar is the fire motif. Besides, Fire-fuck is like, sixty-percent painted on spandex and thirty-five percent padding.”
“What’s the other five percent?”
“Hot air.”
Dabi… laughed. Not a big laugh, but a cute little huff. It didn’t last long, but she had gotten him to laugh, and it made something in her glow with warmth.
Her fingers also itched for her knife.
Dabi laughing and bloody…
Maybe…
“Is there a reason you crashed into my room?” Dabi asked, pulling on his usual white shirt.
“I was going to ask, why aren’t you letting us near Hawks?”
“I’m not doing that.” Dabi countered, turning away from her. Her brows raised as she watched. Liar.
“You are too! Every time I go talk to him, you like. Glare. And pull him off to some dark corner to have your way with him.”
Dabi whirled, looking baffled and flustered. “I do not! Fucking hell Toga, what sort of shit are you imagining? We’re not-”
“I want to ask him if I can stab him.”
“What.”
“What?” She replied, blinking innocently at him.
“Why do you-”
“Because he’d look cute! And I want to borrow his wings! And just.. He looks fun-shaped.” She said. As she talked, Dabi’s mouth twisted, like he’d sucked on a lemon.
Before she could ask about his peculiar reaction, there was a knock on the door. Neither she nor Dabi got a chance to answer the door before it opened, showing Weaversun with a measuring tape and a notebook. Behind her lurked Hawks, who perked up at the sight of Dabi, and looked positively inquisitive upon seeing her.
“Toga! It’s nice seein-” Hawks was interrupted by the costume-designer smacking him with her notebook.
“Toga. How’s the upgraded gear?” She asked.
While Toga answered, she watched Dabi and Hawks carefully, noting how Hawks was not so subtly looking over the clothing on Dabi’s bed. Meanwhile, Dabi was glaring at Hawks, like he was daring the man to say anything.
They were either fucking, or wanted to be fucking.
“Alright. Dabi. Assume the position.” Weaversun stated, prompting a giggle from Toga. Dabi’s face did that stone-rigid thing when he was displeased, but Hawks… Hawks had a fascinating reaction.
Oh, she needed to go make plans.
“Have fun Dabi-kun! Oh, and Hawksie-” She hooked her arm into his, dragging him out of the room. Hawks went willingly enough, “I have a question I need to ask you.”
Dabi was glaring at her.
He was glaring at her a lot.
Which, honestly, was his fault. If he hadn’t played keep-away with this sweet little parakeet, she wouldn’t be such a brat about it.
Besides, it wasn't like Hawks was really denying her.
Which was a tad alarming, since even the league would pump the brakes after a certain point. It contributed to a theory she had about the bird and the commission.
She did find out that he liked blood.
Not as much as she did, but enough that she was fairly convinced he and Spinner viewed it in a similar manner.
As in, they wouldn't let her drink from them or lick the blood off their cuts.
If he ever bled too much, he'd just lick it off, pressing his tongue to the wound to coax it to clot, not unlike how she would. He didn't use cloth like the other members of the PLF who let her bleed them, and only rarely used the sink.
The only time he used the sink was when he let her slice open his arm. He’d let the blood well up enough for her to drag her fingers through the mess and draw patterns on his arm or her own.
He'd even let her collect it in her jars. He didn't like that though. Didn't like her collecting his blood and would try to coax her into drinking it asap. He'd try to tease her into showing off her impression of him. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. Sometimes she used her syringe instead of a jar. She could take more without him noticing then.
She needed his blood. She needed lots of his blood.
She had a theory and she needed to test it, and to do that, she needed blood and to piss Dabi off enough that he’d monopolize the birds’ time long enough for her to do her secret mission.
If she managed it right, it would end with two happy boys and some answers.
Toga had found out a few things:
One, she could coerce Dabi into letting her bleed him.
Two, she shouldn’t be able to do that, and she told the rest of the league. They were currently coming up with a game plan to address this. Her job was to keep Dabi put. Which she was absolutely doing by cuddling him and testing his scars.
Three, his scars didn’t get much in the way of feeling. Nor did they get much in the way of blood flow, and she was concerned. Enough that she was definitely going to be bringing this to the PLF doctor. She liked the PLF doctor. She was a no-nonsense lion-morph who mothered the mutants, which was adorable, and frankly, people like Spinner needed the positive reinforcement.
Four, Dabi bled from his eye-scars. There was one dripping down his face now and it was… entrancing. She was pretty sure this was a stress response. She heard drom one of the others that he would bleed from the eye-scars when he was ‘feeling’ things, but she didn’t see why this would be causing feelings. She was just cuddling-
Oh.
Oh dear.
He was like Tomura.
She snuggled against his side, grabbing a hand with both of hers, rubbing her thumb over his knuckles over and over. Her friends did this whenever she cried and it was a very grounding, sweet gesture. She hoped Dabi saw it the same way.
Her eyes strayed back to the blood slowly trickling down his face.
She wanted to lick it.
She knew that was probably way too intimate and Dabi would flip if she did it, but..
She really wanted to lick it.
Maybe one day she’d get a pretty boyfriend or girlfriend, or both and they’d let her cut up their chubby cheeks and lick the blood clean.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw red and tawny.
Hawks had entered the room. He wasn’t his usual cheery self. Part of her thrilled at it. No mask, just pure, predatory focus. She could see his attention fluctuating between herself and Dabi. She bet he was also looking at the blood-tear.
She grinned, watching as his feathers bristled. Slowly, she twisted in her seat, reached up and swiped the blood off of Dabi’s cheek. Dabi froze, warily watching Toga. She winked at him, and made eye contact with Hawks, slowly licking the blood off of her fingers.
“So, why can’t we have a talk with Dabi about his concerning behavior?” Spinner asked. Toga grinned, reaching up and making grabby hands. Spinner sighed, but reached back, taking her hands and pulling her to her feet.
“Because I gave them a little push.”
“Them?”
“Dabi and Hawks.” Toga said with a giggle. She would tell Spinner later that there was another who shared their interest in blood. And maybe an oral fixation too. Who knows.
Spinner sighed, but didn’t seem too upset. “So does this mean we do plan B?”
Toga nodded, pulling out several vials of Hawks’ blood.
“Let's go break into some files.”