Chapter Text
That feeling when hunger twists and turns, shifting into something desperate. Its familiar, in the way she has felt it before; but like this, so pushed beyond. hunger. it cant be called that anymore, there must be some word for more. when it doesn't even ache anymore, when it screams and claws.
She catches a rat, a fat one that's grown slow on city scraps. she whispers her name to it, Himiko Toga. its tiny body is warm, it flails for a moment before falling still, frozen stiff in fear. at least then something will remember her. but she’s so hungry, its hard to think or see. dizzying lack, it makes the world blur for a moment. the rat wriggles out and escapes, back under the closest dumpster.
a lost meal. a gained friend, maybe someone to sit with. maybe the rat will eat her next, after she lays down to die here. she doesn't see the point, the hunger never leaves. it hasn't left in years, always hovering just out of view. coming in and out like tides.
Blood, its the only thing that fends it off, but she cant. she cant or everyone will hate her, she’ll be a monster.
but she knows, everyone already hates her. Himiko’s already a monster. she made it so long but that cute girl in class was too far, she cant go home after that. she was just so hungry. she may aswell die here.
the clank of a door draws her hazy gaze, the dark damp alley lightens when someone steps out. a man with heavy boots, a blur of dark colors. even more hidden by the bright light from the building behind him.
he steps closer and crouches down almost silently. only the sound of his heavy boots following. “you already dead?” the voice is low, almost gravelly. she just blinks the light out of her eyes. the shapes wont come into view. “looks like it.” he flicks her forehead roughly. the sting startling.
she blinks a few more times, trying to fight off the pain. its no use, the smell of smoke follows her into nothingness.
the first thing she feels is cold, then the hard ground below her. she wakes up, the taste of broth still on her tongue. that same shape, leaning over her. silent, just waiting. they move suddenly, and a hand reaches towards her.
a smell seeps in, below the smoke and Tabaco, blood. Fresh blood, sharp and metallic. a heart beats, that hand gets too close and she half sobs reaching up to grab it. she’s not strong enough to pull, but she can hear the heartbeat, she can almost taste it. everything stops for a long moment before the hand slackens, letting her weak grip pull it closer.
her jaws catch between the first finger and the thumb. she bites down and blood floods her mouth, it takes a moment of gulping broken only by gasps of breath, for her to even notice how his hand has gripped her back. unnaturally warm, clawing into her cheek with short harmless nails.
“don't rip at that, you little vermin.” she hazily shifts her gaze at the sound. Bright blue eyes pin her down, openly intrigued, only a short slip from violent. she takes a half gulp, carefully unhooking her teeth and licking the last drips of blood from the wound. “who would have thought, a stray vampire bat. all hungry and alone” scars twist along with the words that carry almost no heat, more and idle comment that anything. like he's talking to himself.
she blinks and things come just a bit more into focus. the man is sitting next to her, lazily sprawled. he drops his hand to splay across one knee, the seem between scar and skin on his hand smelled of blood. it clings to almost all of him, the sharp and distinct pang of open wounds.
“you smell like blood and fire.” she mumbles, still a little dazed. he grins sharp and dangerous.
“you smell like the streets.” he leans closer saying it, tone only a little mean.
she glances around, its a small old room. the walls dark with water damage, a small couch is askew on the opposite side of the room. the only sign of life is a small duffle bag sitting on the seat. there is a thin blanket between her and the concrete below, the kind made more for decoration than for any real heat.
It's cramped and dingy, the kind of place you'd expect to be kidnapped to. The smell of rot and rust fills the room, but she can easily ignore it because the man carries so much smoke on him it floods out everything else. the man smells like danger, thick under the smoke, under the wounds. she doesn't feel scared though, he’s looking at her funny, like he is seeing someone or something else. Something cuter than she must be, dirty and starving. he comes back to the moment, meeting her eyes.
“you feeling more alive, fangs? less starved?” he huffs like he finds himself funny, hiding his grin behind his hand before running it over the scars and piercing's along his cheek. drawing her attention back onto the wound, teeth marks dark on pale skin.
She doesn't have anything to say. The man easily continues. “why don't you give me a name little bat, something to call you by.”
“You'll remember it?” She slowly shifts to lay on her side, curling up tighter, she peeks up at the man. He tilts his head in question. “You'll remember me if I die? It won't just be rats?”
“Heh, yeah I'll remember it.” his grin turns shaper again, like he’s trying to scare her off. “Promise.” like that isn't exactly what she was asking from him. He's wierd.
“Himiko.” she spots a bowl of soup, only just hidden behind his knee. She cant taste the broth anymore hidden by blood and metal, but she had tasted it. He hums lazily, thinking the name over.
“First name basis already.” he leans all the way back on his arms, staring up into the ceiling. “Himiko.” he lets her name play out in his mouth, getting a feel for it.
“You can call me Touya.” He doesn't look back at her for a long time after that.
Living with Touya is easy and hard. She quickly finds out that he's not actually all that old, he refuses to tell her his actual age but he can't be more than 18 or 19. He was living in one of the upper floors of the same abandoned apartment building. He works a lot, always coming home smelling of ash and fire, his hands are always shaky after work.
A few days into her living with him he reads a news line, its about her. something about how shes wanted for attempted murder, how she’s a deranged individual still at large. He laughs so hard a staple pops on his cheek. “Little bat, you’re on the run.” The blood dripping down his face doesn't seem to phase him. “We have more in common than i thought Himiko.”
He does that a lot, saying something that sounds like a comic book villain. He tries to scare her with words or scary looks. He cooks for her though and he lent her some clothes so he could wash her dirty uniform that first night. he’s always doing quietly nice stuff like that, she likes him even though he's weird.
And sometimes when that hunger starts to creep in, he’ll give her his hand, so she can eat, so she doesn't feel that pain again. He looks at her sometimes, like he knows what true hunger feels like. like he knows what it looks like on someone else.
“i feel better.” she looks over at him one night, its been a week or so since he first helped her. the long hours while he’s working have gotten frustrating, now that she actually has the energy to get up. he had a short job that morning but they have been sitting around on their phones since. He doesn't react to her words. “what now?”
He lifts his gaze, slouched across from her on the couch. “what do you want to do?” he says it easily, like she could just stay here forever and do nothing, like she could just get up and do anything.
“what i want to do?” she hasn't ever let herself dream of that. Of living how she wants. “I want more blood.” It's simple, she never wants to be hungry again. she wants to do what she wants, not what anyone else wants her to do. She wants to live differently, freely.
He grins a puff of smoke slipping through his teeth in a almost silent hiss. “That tracks vamp.” he slumps back, further into the couch, dropping his phone. “i can't be your only bloodbank.”
She knows that, he isn't sick but it wouldn't take much for him to turn that corner. And he needs that extra blood. He's pretty much always bleeding a little somewhere. He cant afford to share most of the time. “let's make friends. I'll bite them instead.” she knows her tone dips into something creepy, but he doesn't even blink, he snorts but nods along easily enough. She knows it's not that simple but Touya is smart, he gets what he wants. if she asks, he might get her what she wants too.
“I know a guy, but they can't come here.” He looks over at her eyes sharp in consideration. They cant know where we live goes unsaid. “There's a bar, shady but not the worst place to hang around for a drink.. or a bite.” he gives her a long look like he wants to say something more.
“Okay!” she happily goes back to fiddling on her phone. it must be somewhere work related, he only gets that pinched look when she asks about work. He’s funny, by now she knows he isn't doing anything legal. legal work doesn't give you that look, like something is following you home, something you cant forget.
It's a few days later when Touya wakes her up. “Fangs. Its time.” She blinks the sleep from her eyes, its dark out, late. Really late.
She groans and does her best to get ready using the flash from her phone, Touya is lounging waiting for her while seemingly texting someone. The lack of electricity is the worst at night, when its hard to see and harder to remember where you are.
“You can't call me Touya. Not while we're there.” he doesn't look up from his phone. “Dabi is what I use normally. Just assume that’s what people know me by.” He carefully keeps his eyes locked on his phone. That's one of Touya’s biggest tells, if he wants you to not think or look deeper into something, he’ll get all casually avoidant, like he cant even care enough to look up.
Himiko leans over the back of the couch, peeking at his phone from over his shoulder. Someone named Twice is checking that they have the time right. “Okay Dabi.” she crinkles her nose a little. It’s so grim sounding, not cute at all. She sighs collapsing to lean more on him than the couch between them. “that's weird, is it cause of your quirk? Fire, so you picked cremation?”
Dabi glances at her before shifting back to his texting. “How do you know my quirk has to do with fire?” His tone veers close to an almost pout.
“Cuz’ you always smell like fire, ‘specially after you get home from work. Fire and cooked meat.” She leans closer to bury her face in his slightly greasy hair. Pointedly taking a loud huff. He swats her away roughly, she rolls with is slumping to the side easily, leaning across the back of the couch. she lazily gestures to all of him. “you always smell a little like cooked meat though. plus when you’re happy you huff out smoke like a dragon.”
He shoots her a slightly nasty look. Ignoring her jibe at his scars easily, as she makes quiet dragon sounds in the background. she always expects him to be more sensitive about them, but he doesn't seem to care beyond annoyance at how they limit him. they must be old, she cant really imagine him without the scars. even the way he moves is calculated and practiced like he’s spent a lifetime preventing further injury to the worst of them. he must have gotten them pretty young. the thought makes her nose sting, like she might cry, so she tries to focus back on what's happening.
he opens his mouth to speak, probably to ask something about her quirk. he must fail at coming up with a way to do it while seeming aloof, cause he gives up with a passive huff. clicking send on the message he was typing and roughly tucking his phone away. “lets go.” he pushes up to stand, glancing at her pointedly.
She bounces around the couch to follow closely behind him, only just not underfoot. she studies the apartment on their way down to the ground floor, it seems like the bottom few units are being used as storage. He must have carried her up multiple stories that first night, when she was out cold.
they step out onto the small side street the building leads off to, its got a few other fairly large apartment buildings all of them pretty run down, low income. the small side street dumps into a larger busy area, she sticks close, not wanting to get lost in the crowd.
the closer they get to the bar, the more tense Touya gets. His shoulders stiffen, pressed back in a confidant curve. suddenly he lightly tugs her down an alley. at the end of the alley there's a small led bar light. it looks skeevy, dumpsters piled high just a few feet from what must be the front door. not the kind of place anybody in their right mind would drop into impulsively.
They step up to the door and he gives her one last considering look before he pushes it open, stepping in first. she follows closely behind, burning with curiosity. she’s never been inside a proper bar before!
it has a small scattering of patrons, all in clicky groups, chatting quietly in hushed tones. the tv drowning out most of the quiet conversation. the people generally look suspicious, they have that glint that tells of readiness for violence. Touya walks her over to the bar itself.
the Bartender is a tall and buff woman, her hair is long and pin straight dipping well below the bar. she looks Himiko over, expression amused. “Dabi, taking minors into my establishment. how rebellious. What would the authority's think.” Her tone is teasing but there's a real question there.
Himiko hops up onto one of the bar stools, leaning over to peek behind the bar. “the authority's would have a field day with a lot more than just underaged drinking here.” Dabi drawls from her side. Himiko finds herself nodding in agreement, eye catching on what looks like a shotgun, tucked behind the bar.
“hmm, still, i hope you don't expect me to serve this one anything fun.” She winks at Himiko teasingly, hands already busy making something. “so what's the name girl scout?”
“I’m Toga.” Himiko pipes in agreeably. the woman smiles, sticking her tongue out at Dabi. she pours what she was making into a glass and tosses in a straw. Sliding it to Toga with a glinting look. Its chocolate milk.
Dabi subtly rolls out his shoulders, silently communicating with the bartender. Toga spots three or four people giving them looks from their spots in the booths. quickly glancing away when Dabi lazily drags his attention across the room. He clicks his tongue, ticked off by the eyes.
“c’mon.” Dabi pats her shoulder roughly turning to start to walk back through the bar. she stands and eagerly follows still only a half step behind him, chocolate milk in hand.
he takes his place in the furthest booth from the door, way back in the corner. Himiko slides in beside him easily, mostly to be annoying by sitting just a little too close. she sips her chocolate milk, eyes watching the door steadily for whoever this Twice will end up being.