Chapter Text
Shouta hears a slight whimper down a dim alley and follows it cautiously. There’s a slight flash of movement and he moves closer, only to see a woman standing limp against the alley wall with a man in front of her, face buried in her neck. She’s not even attempting to struggle, so this is likely fully consensual.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
He starts to turn away, but the man’s head jerks up and he stares at him with an ominous expression. Shouta holds up his hands to show he doesn’t mean any harm. “Sorry, I thought something was hurt down here and-”
The man lets go of the woman, who crumples to the ground, but Shouta hardly has time to register that before the man lunges at him and teeth are buried in his neck.
He tries to lift his hands to force the man off, but his body is oddly numb and his quirk isn’t working. Out of options, he manages to twist his head and savagely bite the fucker back, regretting it almost instantly when his mouth fills with blood and he can’t do anything but swallow and the man still isn’t letting go. His vision tunnels and he barely has time to think, ‘Shit, this is how I die’ before everything goes black.
~
When he opens his eyes, it’s dark out and he’s freezing. Grumbling, he gets up and promptly falls off the…bed? No, it’s some sort of metal table. His eyes are adjusting quickly to the dark and he realizes that he’s in a room. Looking around, he spots the thermostat, which is only just above freezing. Holy shit. No wonder he’s cold.
Did the man in the alley kidnap him as food? Because honestly, gross, but he’s heard of worse things.
He lifts a hand to his neck reflexively but only finds half healed marks, still tender but well on their way to being gone, and then notices that his capture scarf is missing. Actually…all his clothes are missing. He’s wearing some sort of paper gown.
The hell?
Then the light flicks on, making him cringe at the brightness and Recovery Girl and Hizashi walk in.
What?
“Shouta! You’re alive!” Hizashi exclaims.
He winces at the loudness. “What? Did you think I was dead?”
Recovery Girl huffs. “Well, technically, you were dead. Or in semi stasis. We weren’t quite sure which. The hero you were interning with found you and a civilian collapsed in an alley. Neither of you lost that much blood, but both of you were apparently dead. We think you were attacked by a rogue vampire, one of the rare types with lethal venom. However, there was blood on your teeth. We weren’t sure if you bit them or if they decided to spare you and fed you enough to turn.”
“I bit him.” Shouta admits. “Must’ve hit a vein though, because I had to swallow a mouthful of blood. I don’t remember anything after that.”
Hizashi makes a pained noise. “Trust you to save your own life without meaning to.”
Recovery Girl snorts. “Since we weren’t sure, we placed you in a cold room to prevent spoilage if you didn’t end up turning. Since, thankfully, you did turn, we’re going to have to do some tests to see exactly how much your biology changed. As the one who bit you had venom, you might as well. If so, you can never feed on a live human. But modern technology is great and there’s blood banks available to supply your meals. Some vampires can handle food, while others can’t digest it, so that’s another thing to test.”
Shouta sighs. “Fine, but can we go somewhere warmer first? I’m freezing.”
“Of course, Shou!” Hizashi replies.
The older woman nods. “That’s fine. And one less test. Some vampires aren’t affected by temperature, but you obviously are. That makes you a warm-blooded vampire. The venom must be slower acting than we thought if you started to turn before it could kill you.”
He thinks about that. “So, I’m a daywalker?”
“That’s what I said.” She says, sounding unnecessarily amused.
“Can I get my clothes back?” He complains, not happy about walking around with his ass barely covered by paper.
“Oh, uh, Shou.” Hizashi hesitates.
“What?” He grouses.
“Your mom kind of claimed your hero costume.” Hizashi says in a rush.
Well, shit. He’s not getting that back. “How did she get ahold of it? Dad has custody.”
“It’s school policy to inform both parents if a student dies, even if only one has custody.” Recovery Girl grumbles. “Just be glad she didn’t have the authority to demand we release your body to her. She was talking about cremating you before you could rise ‘as a monster’.”
Shouta just sighs. Sounds like that bitch. There’s a reason he hasn’t voluntarily talked to the woman since she lost custody when he was ten. Well, reasons. Her overflowing bigotry is only about a third of those reasons. Dad had divorced her and gotten full custody after he’d walked in on her telling Shouta that the only good thing about him is that he’s human.
The fact that she’d tried to use her telekinesis quirk and multiple knives to kill his dad at that announcement and had in fact managed to stab him with one before Shouta stopped her quirk only meant that they both had a restraining order against her and that divorce and custody was granted within mere weeks. It had only taken one social worker supervised visit, where she’d spent most of it telling Shouta about the multiple ways in which he is a horrible disappointment, for visitation rights to be permanently revoked.
She’ll probably put his costume in a closed coffin and pay for a fake funeral to get sympathy from her friends who are still under the impression that she has any amount of empathy for anyone besides herself.
Maybe that will be enough that she quits sending him hate mail? He sure hopes so.
“Shou?”
“Hm?”
“Are you okay? You weren’t answering.” Hizashi says in concern.
“I’m fine. Just thinking about the bitch who birthed me.” Shouta admits. The warmer temperature is starting to thaw him out, which means he’s starting to shiver.
A funny expression crosses Hizashi’s face. Concern? Ah, right, he hasn’t told his friends about his ‘mother’, has he?
He pats Hizashi’s arm awkwardly. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve always known what she’s like. There’s a reason Dad and I have restraining orders against her. She shouldn’t have been able to even get on campus.”
“She didn’t. But she did camp at the front gate and tell everyone her sob story until Nedzu hit on the idea of sacrificing your costume to get her to go away.” Recovery Girl tells him. “Knowing him, now that you’ve risen, he’ll find a way to put ‘attempted murder’ on her record.”
Shouta snorts in amusement. “Serves her right if he does. She’s already served time for attempting t-to murd-der D-Dad.”
Hizashi looks horrified now.
“Indeed.” Recovery Girl agrees. “Your teeth are starting to chatter, so let’s get you into a hot shower. Once you warm up enough, we can do those tests.”
“S-S-Sounds-s-s g-good.” He replies, trying to avoid biting his tongue off in the process. Chattering teeth suck.
~
He gets hug-piled by his friends on the first class he’s attended since his internship gone horribly wrong.
Tensei holds him by the shoulders. “Shouta. Are you going to be okay with being a vampire? It’s not like we know anyone else in the supernatural community.”
Shouta scowls at him. “What are you talking about? We know Hizashi, Nemuri and Nedzu. That idiot Kan, too.”
“What!?” Oboro half shrieks. He turns disappointed looks on Hizashi and Nemuri. “How come you never told us? Aren’t we friends? How come Shouta knows and we didn’t? And Nedzu? I thought he was a quirked animal. What is Kan?”
Tensei looks like he’s bluescreening.
Hizashi scratches the back of his neck. “Ah, haha. I didn’t know you knew, Shou. You never said anything. And, uh, Nedzu’s at least half shifter and I do not want to know how that came about, to be honest. Whatever they did in that lab was downright sick. Kan’s a dhampir.”
Nemuri laughs lightly. “It’s standard practice not to tell humans. Of course we’re friends. Shouta’s just observant.”
“Like it’s hard to tell?” Shouta asks irritably. “Nemuri’s obviously a succubus. And I don’t know what Hizashi is, but he’s definitely not human.”
Hizashi winces slightly. “Wow, I didn’t realize we were hiding it that badly. I’m kind of your bargain store Heinz 57 mix of this and that. I actually do have a quirk, though. The only thing magical about me is an extended lifespan. Assuming that heroics doesn’t kill me young, that is.”
“Don’t joke about that.” Nemuri scolds and slaps his arm. “We’ve already come way too close to losing both Oboro and Shouta.”
“Sorry.” Hizashi mutters, abashed.
“Hey, Aizawa. What are you doing here? Aren’t you a scourge of the night who burns in daylight now?” A classmate he doesn’t remember the name of asks rudely.
Shouta grins at her maliciously, showing off his new fangs. “Sorry to disappoint, but I’m a daywalker. Also, did you not pay attention in class again? Only rogues are the ‘scourge of the night’. Blood banks exist, you know.”
She huffs at the slap at her ego, but it’s pretty obvious that she can’t refute it. The girl tends to daydream at the worst times. How she plans to be a hero with an attention span like hers, Shouta will never know, but he supposes limelighters tend to be airheads anyways.
The bell rings to begin class and everyone scurries to their own desks.
Nedzu, their homeroom teacher, watches in mild amusement.
“Aizawa, see me after lunch. Well, class, we’ll be reviewing the supernatural section this week, in case anyone has forgotten pertinent laws and protocol, due to the recent incident with your classmate. I trust you will keep open minds and do your best to be kind to Aizawa as he adjusts to new senses and instincts. Bigotry is never the answer, now is it?” Nedzu’s smile is borderline sadistic and half the class shudders.
This is why he gets along with this teacher.
~
“You wanted to see me, sir?” Shouta asks.
“Yes. Walk with me to my office. This is a discussion that should stay private.” Nedzu orders.
Shouta complies silently, having nothing to say and hoping this won’t be about something bad. He sits in the chair Nedzu offers.
Nedzu busies himself making tea and then pours them each a cup. “As you know, Recovery Girl did a number of tests on you. I asked her to let me tell you the results, given that I have ties in the supernatural community and can explain a few things that she probably does not know about.”
“Okay.”
“First, you are a daywalker, which you already knew. This means that while you appeared dead, you never actually died and your body simply almost shut down normal functions entirely to facilitate the process of turning. A form of semi-stasis if you will. What it does mean for you, besides being a daywalker is that you are now highly resistant to poisons in general and more or less immune to the one your ‘sire’ has.” Nedzu explains. “You can also sire children in the traditional, human way, unlike nightwalkers.”
“Like fucking Kan.” Shouta mutters. The dhampir drives him up the wall. Seriously. No one needs more Sekijiro Kans in this world.
Nedzu freezes. “I didn’t realize that you had an issue with dhampirs.”
“No, just Kan. He’s annoying.” Shouta explains, feeling a little ashamed that he’s inadvertently come across as bigoted.
“I see. Yes, his little rivalry with class A.” Nedzu reflects. “At any rate. Your body basically does all the things a human’s does, just at a lower level. So, you will find that you need less blood than nightwalkers. However, you may find yourself more sluggish in the daytime. That is fairly common among daywalkers.”
He nods in understanding.
“Second, you do have venom, but it’s only a temporary immobilization one, not lethal. Which means that you can feed on others in an emergency or if you are given permission.” Nedzu continues.
That’s a relief. Not that he plans to feed on anyone, but it’s good that his venom isn’t lethal, considering his bite reflex is exacerbated by his vampire biology.
“You may even find it useful for stopping villains that get too up close and personal.” Nedzu adds cheerfully. “Third, and most important, you tested positive for additional magic. As your father is currently out of the country, I will be taking you in his stead to an occult shop. We will be looking for a key to an occult library that responds to you. It’s by far the simplest method of finding out what affinity or affinities of magic you may have. Possessing a key will also give you guaranteed access to the information needed to master your magics enough to keep them under control.”
“Oh.” Shouta wonders how that works.
“And lastly, you will find you now have faster reflexes, improved hearing and sight, enhanced sense of smell, strengthened predatorial instincts and enhanced strength. Most of those will simply have an adjustment period where you learn to cope with the changes. However, I must ask you to be very aware that you could accidentally break your classmates if you don’t hold back. Please do not break your classmates, even if they trigger your instincts.” Nedzu says seriously.
Shouta winces. “Okay.”
“Now then.” Nedzu claps his hands. “Shall we go?”
“Go?” He asks suspiciously.
“To the occult store. Today is convenient for me and I can easily drive you home afterwards.” Nedzu says cheerfully.
“Oh, yay. Shopping.” Shouta deadpans, making his teacher laugh. “Fine. It’s probably easier to do it now than try to coordinate a time later.”
“Indeed!” Nedzu agrees.
As if he had any doubts as to Shouta’s agreement.
~
Notes Section:
Um, so. This isn’t the sequel I mentioned. I did want to briefly touch on Shouta being turned, but I didn’t mean to turn it into an entire chapter. So, this is a prequel with a bit more serious/traumatic tone. It’ll have at least one more chapter, so it may earn a crack tag yet.
Shouta: Goes to help ‘an injured animal’, finds what looks like a pair of people making out, tries to back off, gets attacked, bites the shit out of his attacker for lack of options and proceeds to almost die.
(Happens to everyone, am I right?)
Shouta: Wakes up in a temporary ‘cold room’ and promptly wonders if his attacker is a kidnapper and cannibal.
Shouta: Finds out his gear is missing and he’s wearing a paper gown: “WTF???”
Hizashi: You lived!
Shouta: You had any doubt?
Hizashi: Well yeah. Don’t scare me like that.
RCG: Ahem. Speaking of death and doubts…your mom showed up.
Shouta: …
RCG: She wanted to cremate you.
Shouta: Well, sucks to be her. Thanks for not letting her.
RCG: Also, venom could be an issue.
Shouta’s attacker had a two-part venom. The fast-acting part paralyzes victims and interferes with quirk usage. The slow acting part slows down the system to the point of death before being lethal. It was too late for the woman by the time the hero Shouta was interning with found them, but Shouta having inadvertently swallowed the vampire’s blood was like getting a shot of anti-venom immediately. But they couldn’t tell if he got enough or not without invasive procedures which could have tipped the scales in the wrong direction and outright killed him.
The vampire who attacked him is a rogue nightwalker. They’ll probably have to call in some vampires to deal with him.
Shouta’s dad is a great guy who loves his son a lot.
Shouta’s mom…whoo boy. What a piece of work. As far as Shouta’s dad is concerned, the only good thing about his ex is that she produced Shouta. Weirdly she was fine until he was about 8, when she randomly joined a quirkest group who also happened to be human purists. She wasn’t coerced or anything, she just joined for the hell of it and decided that their beliefs really vibed with her. The group got looked into after she tried to kill Shouta’s dad, because Shouta was a smart kid who pinpointed her change of attitude as coinciding with her joining the group. They are now on multiple watchlists.
Nedzu already has a replacement costume ordered for Shouta. It will make him look a little less like a hobo, though, to his dismay and his friends’ delight.
Tensei: You’re the only supernatural we know, will you be okay without any support from that community?
Shouta: Say what now? I have Hizashi, Nemuri and Nedzu. That’s plenty of support.
Most people haven’t picked up on Vlad being a dhampir, because his blood-based quirk and his ‘vampire schtick’. It can be hard to tell dhampirs apart from humans.
Nightwalkers: Non-functional in bright daylight. Sunburn like hell if they do get caught out. Toughest, strongest and fastest vampires. Most vampires with venom, particularly lethal venoms, are nightwalkers. Many of them are asocial, but modernly they have more options to just drive up to the blood bank during twilight hours and get blood that allows them to avoid further ‘human interaction’. Nightwalkers are where most myths about vampires originated among humans. Functionally immortal unless killed or they commit suicide. Can be harmed by holy items wielded by ‘true believers’ of more or less any sort, but not so much in a ‘this will kill you outright’ way as in a ‘this will slow you down, make you hurt and slow your healing down’ kind of way.
Daywalkers: Functional any time of the day, however, they can be sluggish during the day. Technically never died, so they aren’t ‘undead’ so much as ‘otherly alive’. Don’t really sunburn more than regular humans. Faster, stronger and tougher than dhampirs, but less so than nightwalkers. Some of them do train enough to keep up with nightwalkers. Generally, they retain their ‘pre-turning’ personalities, though many of them get more private about personal details. Can sire/give birth to dhampirs. Can also ‘turn’ people the vampire way. They need less blood than nightwalkers because they do produce their own blood, however, they do like using blood banks for the most part, though some will use donors. The majority of vampires are daywalkers. Mostly to entirely immune to holy items. Some of them have venom, but very rarely is it a lethal type and when it is, it’s usually because their ‘vampire sire’ had lethal type venom as well.
Dhampirs: The offspring of humans and daywalkers. Faster, stronger and tougher than the average human, but less so than daywalkers. Some train themselves enough to keep up with daywalkers or some even with nightwalkers. They only need blood now and then, or in small, regular amounts like someone with a blood-based quirk would need. They can use blood banks (most do) or donors. No more sensitive to sunlight than humans. Unaffected by holy items. Very rarely they have sedative type venoms. Dhampir heritage breeds out after 3-4 generations.
Nedzu: Let’s talk.
Nedzu: You know most of this. You’re not lethal, but you can paralyze temporarily. You’re a predator, but so are humans, so just be careful. Do try not to break too many bones or rip someone in half. There’s only so much damage ‘being a newbie’ lets you get away with.
Nedzu: Now, let’s talk about the occult. You need a library.
Shouta: A…library?
Nedzu: Exactly!
Shouta: You’re not going to explain further, are you?
Nedzu: My explanation was thorough enough.
Shouta: Thought so.
Kan (Vlad King) quits antagonizing Shouta as much after he turns. Largely because his vampire mom threatened to kick his ass if he didn’t back off the newbie vampire and let him adjust.
The occult shops/stores cater to the supernatural in general, not just witches and vampires. They also sell to sensitive humans, humans in general need and the occasional delusional human who didn’t get distracted by the flashier faux occult stores. It’s hard to find them if you don’t need them. Some quirk doctors know about them and can recommend them.
Sometimes usable occult things can be found in faux occult stores, because some things are too generalized to only be recognizable/usable by the supernaturals. The real ones have references that aren’t filled with mistakes, though.
Not everyone who visits an occult store for usable references needs an occult library! The stores carry plenty of viable references. The occult library keys tend to only resonate with people with a deep need or interest in delving deep into topics. Most supernatural people will only look for library keys as a last resort because there are a lot of accurate, available texts/books/grimoires. So, the keys section tends to be fairly small. Nedzu actually has a key to the same library that Shouta and later Izuku have, but he’s not the librarian.
The library itself has some interesting magic on it. It appears rather small and it’s not hard to walk to the section you’re looking for to begin with, but it’s actually quite large because it’s a rare universal library and getting to some of the more esoteric sections can be a very long walk. It’s not quite sentient, but it can tell more or less what you’re looking for and open the appropriate sections. Unless the librarian tells it to not do so. Which they can if they think someone’s not ready or shouldn’t have access to that particular topic. Like, for instance, Izuku can’t look up vampire magics if he’s trying to learn magics he can use, but Shouta might let him have access if he’s just curious about what vampires might be able to do.
Incidentally, because it’s a universal library, getting the key does not narrow down what Shouta’s affinity might be. What do you think it might be?