Izuku was frustrated. He wanted to reach out, to grab it, to slap it, to bite it, but she wouldn't allow it. He watched it sway and quiver with the temperature of the room while Gentle and La Brava watched, staring hungrily at it. Finally it grew to be too much for his self control and he looked her in the eyes and asked.
"How much longer?"
Hana smiled, it was thin and beautiful as she watched him squirm.
"Just a few more minutes and then you can have it."
He had enough and pointed to it with his eyes blazing.
"Jello doesn't take this long to firm up, I should know considering I'm the one who bought the package."
She laughed a bit at his outburst while the dessert was brought to the dining table where everyone was now situated.
"I'm the one making it mister, so you just relax and enjoy alright? You cook for us almost everyday and I think it's about time I show you what I know."
Izuku pouted a bit, but he soon found himself smiling at the blue haired girl. Hana hadn't been a member of the team for long, only four weeks to be accurate, yet her effect was assuredly felt by everyone, Izuku most of all. She was a strangely calm person who never really said much, not in the predatory way Himiko had been where you could tell the danger and pain she was capable of by looking into her eyes at times, but more in a relaxed, unbothered way that one who enjoyed deep inner thought did.
It wasn't all that hard to convince Gentle and La Brava to allow her to stay since she had been quite the homemaker by how she managed to render everything spotless without being asked, granted La Brava seemed mildly upset at this, but nothing ever came of it. Though for Izuku, his opinion was becoming more uncertain of what he should do in regards to this girl. He had only known her for little less than a month, and still he began to question why she made him feel this way or if he should even feel this way.
She made his heart skip a beat and there was only one other person who could do that and she absolutely messed him up. Hana certainly was a far cry from Himiko in terms of...everything, but there was both this lingering fear and guilt whenever he pictured making a move on her. It was a fear of him ruining her peace of mind with his own messed up brain, not to mention the hell in store for them both if Himiko ever found out and a guilt because of said crazy girl.
Try as he might, Izuku still thought about her and she seemed to have rooted herself in his head as the best damn thing since ever and the most...third most horrifying person he encountered. The mark across his palm was still there and always would be, constantly reminding him of an oath he made and was technically valid. Those sharp fangs dancing along his neck, teasing him as she kissed along the length and slowly sinking into his skin was something he hated to remember and longed to experience again.
He wanted his old life back as a cartel prince, as the left hand man to the Symbol of Evil, hell he just wanted to sit down at the bar again and talk about history with Kurogiri or debate tactics with Mustard or listen to Tomura bitch about whatever copy paste fps he bought or just...get back what he knew.
That could never happen, even if he went back the same cycle would continue, only All For One wouldn't be so forgiving.
His fingers twitched suddenly with the spoon being smashed to his palm. The urges were coming back. Izuku looked up from his plate and saw Hana staring expectantly at him, eager to see his reaction to her creation. A slight pain from his shoulder throbbed like a separate heart, demanding his attention.
No, it wasn't real. Just let it pass and eat. He took a spoonful of the food, careful to scoop up a bit of the peaches inside the blue gel. As he ate, his mind became oddly analytical much in the same way it did with quirks. Moonfish had told him it was a good talent during their cooking sessions, but right now he wanted to be able to figure out how to politely speak. The jello wasn't bad, but it was kind of hard to make it bad, the fruit tasted a little old and that was a given with how their pantry looked.
Hana's expression was one of biting anticipation (If only) as he chewed. Izuku shrugged, going in to get another helping after everyone else had their fill.
"Well?"
He gave her a sideways glance while he downed a sip of tea, which paired nicely to the cold sweet.
"It's good, not the absolute best thing I've had, but that might have more to do with how I was trained by a five star chef."
Disappointment dipped on her face for a moment before she took a bite of her creation.
"Then that means I can still improve until I get that good."
Gentle gave her a thumbs up in agreement.
"That's the spirit, one set back shouldn't be a reason to give up on anything."
Hana nodded meekly, still a bit put off by the older man's eccentricity.
"Thanks boss, I appreciate the support, but Izuku I have to ask, where exactly did you learn to cook? Did you learn it at UA or somewhere else?"
Izuku pondered the question, shoveling small bites into his mouth in the meantime.
"I had a teacher who was a fantastic cook and a horrible person."
She placed her spoon down, barely noticing the treat as her focus shifted to the teen.
"Oh, how so? I mean if they worked for UA then shouldn't they have been a bit nicer?"
"I didn't learn it from UA, I kinda was talked into it by a man I cared a lot about who had problems atop problems. Long story short I took care of someone with schizophrenia who turned out to be a cooking wizard and he wanted to pay me back for getting him his pills."
"So how did you meet this person?"
"I'd rather not say."
Hana eyed him in a concerned look, Izuku had made it clear that he wasn't one to budge when it came to his past or how he managed to be here in one of the more rundown slums of the nation when he was supposed to be a rising superstar hero that nearly won the famed UA sports festival. She had so many questions and hardly got any answers. He hadn't even told her how he got that scar across his face, not that she was rude enough to ask given how self conscious anyone would be if they had a massive visible slash wound. Although he didn't really seem to mind it or even notice it. Strange, but a lot was strange about him. She had seen him in the sports festival on television before and his actual mannerisms clashed with the persona she built for him. He had some of the heroic qualities she believed him to have, while at the same time he was morbidly humorous and enjoyed fighting to a sadistic degree from the little information she gathered from his stories. There was always this horrible smile when he thought back to his past, yet at the same point she could see pain, fear and regret under that grin.
She never knew just how far he had fallen or if he was ever truly the hero the public thought him to be and frankly Hana was getting the impression it was better to leave that a mystery. However she did love a good crime novel and right now this might be the closest she ever came to living in one, she just hoped she could be the detective for once and not the victim.
They had grown not close, but to the point that he didn't freeze up completely when she tried to pry into his past. Another bite of gelatin passed her lips, the taste melting on her tongue. It was a slow process and right now she had all the time in the world since her old life died the second she ran out that door as a bottle nearly smashed on her head when she left.
The fact that she was alone in this world didn't bother her as much as one would think, but that was because she was always alone even before she left. Her mother was practically nonexistent ever since the divorce that took place after her fifth birthday and her father only acknowledged her in his fits of rage and as for friends, she had only one and he was traumatized beyond repair to ever be the same person she had grown to admire. So it was little wonder why the dangers of the vagabond seemed minor when compared to the hardships she had to endure for most of her life.
That was turning out to be a better choice then she would have dared to hope for, now that she was a part of this group of outcasts. It was safe, comfortable and filled with interest. Still she wanted to figure out what was bouncing around Izuku's skull so badly it hurt. He had lived a life full of promise and adventure, yet he was here with her in the gutter of society while his eyes grew distant at times and he picked at something under his clothes until either he snapped himself out of the trance or La Brava managed to walk in before he started to dig into his skin.
That was another thing she wondered about, he always without fail inched his fingers closer to that one spot near his neck or staring at a scar across the palm of his hand when he thought everyone else was asleep. What happened to make him so reverent towards those things? Ah, more questions and no answers again.
She lifted the final piece of Jello to her lips and reached to take the empty plate when La Brava snatched it away. The short woman had retreated into the kitchenette and was scrubbing away at the dish, leaving the three to each other.
Gentle patted his mouth with a handkerchief as he took stock of the two youths sorted in front of him.
"That was quite a treat if I may say. Props to you my dear, anyhow, I believe it is time for us to assess our next move."
Izuku raised an eyebrow at his elder in mock curiosity.
"You can't be serious about recording more stuff."
A harsh glance was thrown his way by the criminal.
"No, that shall no longer be our modus operandi with how much unwanted attention that has earned us, but we have to come up with something before the end of the month."
Hana cringed inwardly at the statement as memories of her father's rage came roaring back. Izuku was free of such inhibition and answered back.
"So the rent is almost due. I can work with that."
Gentle met his expression with his own hesitant one.
"Care to explain your plan, because I'm dying for ideas at the moment."
The boy cast a look to his meager belongings tucked away in one corner of the living room that lasted for too long and weighed his words inside his mind.
"...I was going to say that I know a way to make good money in a single afternoon, but on further inspection it isn't such a good idea, considering the hazards. Maybe we could try hiring ourselves out as bodyguards?"
Gentle tugged at his beard, then moved a hand over his mouth in frustration.
"No we aren't doing anything of that nature and we need to keep a low profile, so right now we all need to start looking for work. As loath as I am to say it, you two will have to go in search of it by yourselves until tonight while I go do the more risky options I know of. La Brava will stay here and use her skill as best she can."
The teens nodded in agreement since neither were alien to the concept of pulling their own weight, yet before they could leave Gentle pulled Izuku aside into another room and returned with a grim expression riding on the normally cheerful man's face. Izuku walked to the entrance in his old long coat with a cloth mask hiding his features while Hana tagged along behind him, free of such things.
"I expect you both back by eight o'clock sharp, understand?"
Izuku signaled to his elder with a thumbs up as the man bounced away from the apartment stairway, dressed in all black, heading to somewhere they could only guess at. The two walked in one random direction, hoping to find some way to make money somehow. Hana for her part was dying to ask Izuku what he meant, but knew that was pointless judging by his reaction to his own idea. The teen on the other hand seemed relaxed, more so then she had thought possible for one so supposedly used to danger. Not a word left his mouth as they passed building upon building, pausing only slightly to examine a piece of graffiti sprayed to some wall. He recoiled at the sight and moved on while Hana made to memorize the crude picture of a red grinning mouth contained within a gold border. They continued passing stores and empty lots filled with the usual riffraff of lower society until a booming voice stopped them in their tracks.
"And it is your right as human beings to have a world worth smiling for, no matter where you came from or who you may be, so long as you live righteously and provide for your fellow man, then that world is one step closer with each passing day. No hardship is too great as long as there are others who will pick you back up when the weight of hardship lays you low, for are we all not plagued by the same ills? Are we all not suffering from the very same plights that had bewildered our ancestors millennia ago? The answer is yes, my friends and the only way to overcome such things is to band together and rise above both the trials of this world and our own pettiness."
A crowd had gathered around one of three individuals draped in immaculate white robes that had been standing on top of a milkcrate while the other two were handing out flyers to any who would take them and surprisingly many did from what they could make out from the back of the mob. The lead speaker was a handsome man with blond hair that went down to the small of his back and piercing blue eyes that added to his chiseled jawline. The other two was a man around the same height with greenish skin and what seemed to be gills on the sides of his neck and eyes that had a second membrane, along with a short, pudgy, black haired, red eyed woman who went as high as either of the men's chest and had a deep scar running along her right side cheek.
The crowd wasn't massive by any means, but it was neither small, roughly fifty people in total from a guess. Izuku tapped Hana on the shoulder and moved to leave the scene before even more time was wasted, when the exact opposite happened.
"My friend are you certain you wish to leave so soon when you've only just arrived? Surely you might find some solace in our message."
Izuku turned to the preacher with more ire in his soul then he had held in a long time and spoke as he slowly backed away from the multitude of eyes that had focused on him and Hana.
"Sorry pal, but we got better things to do, like finding a job, so if you'll excuse us."
"Then perhaps we can help with that. Our-"
Izuku quickly began to walk away with Hana in tow as the man looked solely on them. They expected that to be the end of it, but the man somehow appeared in front of them in a blinding flash of light.
"Please listen, I understand how it may seem, but I swear we are here to help and finding people work is one of the ways we do it."
The man fished a business card out of the sleeve of his robe and handed it to Izuku, who was one wrong move away from cracking the creep across the face. He looked down at the cardboard that read "Smiling Saints Charity" in heavy gold font along with a few addresses and operating hours. Again he eyed the robed man, prepared to write him off when Hana spoke up.
"Thank you kind sir, we'll be sure to look into it."
A warm smile fixed itself on the blond's mouth as he regarded the pair.
"Wonderful, the quickest way to get there is ten blocks away to the west, look for a building with a gold wooden sign and you should have it. Ask for Holly, she'll get you looked after before the day is out, I promise you that."
Hana nodded politely to the man as she dragged Izuku along with her towards the direction she was given and a few minutes later they were free of that gathering of lunatics.
"That was nuts, bunch of insane holier than thou assholes just wandering the streets."
"They were just trying to help."
"Yeah, well people don't offer help without expecting something in return and I refuse to trust some guy who walks around in an oversized bathrobe, saying he has the recipe for happiness."
"Is that what they taught you at UA, because you sure don't sound like a hero right now."
He stopped marching suddenly and rubbed his temples.
"Don't start this right now, let's just focus on finding some cash and worry about ethics when it matters."
Hana meekly pulled up the card in between her fingers.
"We could try this place."
"You can't be serious, that sounds like where people go to get their organs harvested."
She met his gaze, not backing down under his annoyance.
"It's the only lead we have right now and there's just three weeks left before the end of the month. I know it's risky, but we have to take a leap here because we need the money or we'll be in even worse situations and I know you don't want any of us to go through that."
Izuku stared at her for a moment and gave in when he picked up the card.
"Alright, but we bounce at the first sign of trouble."
They soon ended up in front of a relatively clean one storey building that had a wooden sign hanging over the entrance with the same name as the business card in faded gold paint. The air inside was stuffy and slightly scented with cinnamon as yellowing lights flickered around stuffed chairs centered around a single tiny desk where an older woman sat typing away at some computer as they approached her.
"Welcome to the Smiling Saints, darlings, what can we do for you today?"
Hana spoke up with a tone that was artificially sweet to the core.
"Hello there, um..we've come here today in search of some work and we were told to ask for Holly since-"
The woman clapped her hands together fondly at the name.
"Oh, you mean ol' lover girl? I'm guessing Romeo sent you folks over, well she'll get you all set up. Just fill out these forms for me and then you can get to it as soon as you like."
She handed them both forms that, upon further inspection, had very little to be filled out since most of the information slots were labeled as optional and out right said that if the applicant could not, then it would not be asked why unless certain positions were to be given. So Izuku filled out his paper with so many wrong answers that Kaminari would have been impressed and handed it in to the woman, who ushered them into a back room that resembled a break room more than anything. It was a vacant save for one soul that was oblivious to them, it was a young woman in her early twenties dressed in the same robes as the street preachers, only her appearance was far more unsettling. Be it the grey skin or the complete white of her eyes, Izuku couldn't help but be outputted. She was situated in a cafe chair with a cup of yogurt in one hand and a very well used CD player set on the table that was hooked up to a pair of earphones the girl was currently wearing.
Her head did turn towards them rather quickly and she gave them a smile as the receptionist left them to return to her work. Izuku may as well have been made of stone for how awkward he was feeling, he hadn't thought he'd ever need to get a real job since starting at UA and now here he was without a single word to say. Thankfully Hana was far more silver tongued and introduced them both to the girl, who shook both of their hands and began the interview process.
"So I assume Romeo sent you two my way. Well, I'm easy enough to get along with and our only real mission is to help those in need. Now with that being said, you'll both have to understand that while we are accepting of lots of folks and don't generally look into someone's past unless it relates certain jobs, we do expect professionalism at all times when dealing with the public and if you can't maintain that standard then that'll be bad for us all."
Hana nodded pleasantly at her.
"Completely understandable, we'll be happy to take any job you can give, but out of curiosity what would our pay rate be?"
Holly shrugged nonchalantly at this.
"Minimum wage for basic labor, we do offer insurance and benefits to all our employees out of pocket and do have some pull with various housing complexes so you could get in easier without too much hassle. Though we do have chances for job training where people can learn trades if that interests you.
A light flashed behind the quirkless girl's eyes when she heard those words.
"Do you have any need for a skilled chef?"
The mutant pondered the question and found an answer.
"Yes, but mainly for our soup kitchens, though I think that would be a bit much for right now. I think I can set you both up as bell tollers for the moment until we find a role you're more suited for."
Izuku spoke at last as his mind tried to make sense of what he heard.
"Excuse me ma'am, but what is a bell toller?"
Holly smiled at him in a patient, "I know it sounds weird" expression.
"You'll essentially be trying to recruit more people to join and just bring our message of hope to communities in need. We might also have you help with food drives, festival setups, community service, that sort of thing."
"And we'll get paid for it?"
Hana gave him a look that made him clam up instantly, but Holly chuckled all the same.
"I assure you we will, now it'll take about a week to get you both processed in, maybe sooner if possible, but show here tomorrow at around seven AM on the dot if you can and we'll sort the rest out, ok?"
"We promise that we'll be on time come tomorrow, thank you for having us."
"No problem, we'll be looking forward to having you both aboard."
The two women exchanged the last of the pleasantries and allowed Izuku to slink away with Hana following after him.
"See? These people aren't bad."
"If you say so."
She tried to say more, but Izuku couldn't help but think about the strange sensation he got when he entered the place. It wasn't danger or anything like that, no, it was a sense that there was much more to that group then meets the eye and right now he couldn't shake the feeling that it would be apparent sooner then he would like.
