ACQUIRING ACQUAINTANCES

Don't be scared

You'll be saved

The Night Angel will fight all hell

And take you on a flight as if inside a spell

- "Angel of the Night" by Fun N' Voces, hit song of a popular pioneering rock band

Izuku Midoriya

"No one's coming." A woman's voice?

"Yet." Wait, there's two of them?

"Maybe we'll be safe here. No need to move-"

"Miu, they have a teleporter. Who is to say they would not just appear on top of us, out of nowhere, like two nights ago?" Miu? Is that a name? An alias?

"You're right. Of course you're right. So, what's the plan, Sora?" Another name! "It doesn't look like these two are waking up any time soon, so..." Two… Am I one of them? Who's the other-

"Shut up! Shut up! So noisy, damn it! I'm trying to sleep here!" Kacchan?!

"Wow. You seem awfully energetic for someone who looks like he went through hell."

I try opening my eyes, but the lids feel so heavy it barely budges at first. More forceful this time, I tried again. It opens. Slowly. Very slowly.

Everything is blurry, just a violent mixture of browns and greens and darkness. Then, my surroundings materialized bit by bit. First, I noticed the thick leaves and branches almost covering the waning moon above me, then, I felt the thin blanket covering me. Under that blanket...

I- I'm naked?!

No, no. Just shirtless. Calm down, Deku.

"Oy! Wake up, shitty Deku!" It's Kacchan again. How could he be so energetic while I'm struggling to just get to my senses. Have I been more injured than I initially thought?

"Mma wk." I tried to speak. Seems like my lips are too tired to even form two simple words. Maybe I should try a different part of my body instead. So, I tried to sit up, pushing off of the makeshift bed of leaves beneath me. Thankfully, I was able to lift myself a little to notice how I am actually in a small clearing with thick, tall trees guarding us from all directions. Halfway through my attempt at sitting up, I felt a blinding pain on my abdomen, stopping me from going any further.

"Hey, hey. Don't move, Green. You might tear my beautiful stitch work." This voice. This sweet voice. She was the first one I heard. What's her name again? M… Mi...

The voice's owner, a masked brunette with shoulder-length hair, leans over me to, I assume, check on my injuries, particularly the ones on my bare torso. Obeying her, I stayed at my current position, propping both elbows beneath me so that I won't lie back down.

She's so close!, I can't help but think.

Discreetly, or at least I hope so, I scanned through her face- what I could see of it anyway (which was not a lot). With a mask covering the lower half of her face, all I could really see were her eyes; dark red eyes framed by thick dark lashes. Suddenly, those eyes met my green ones and I think I choked on something.

Eyes smiling, she says, "You're quick to recover, huh? Everything looks fine except for this darn stab on your, erm, stomach. Anyway, glad you're awake- Unless you're the enemy… Are you? An enemy, I mean." Her sweet voice suddenly sounded hesitant.

To assure her, I forced myself to speak. "He… ro…" I'm not sure if she even understood that. I'm afraid my dry throat makes it hard to comprehend.

"Give the idiot water, for god's sake!" I hear Kacchan order. I snapped my head to his direction (which was not a good idea) and see that unlike me, he's able to sit up, albeit weakly.

Another masked brunette, with bangs and long hair this time, brings a flask over and hands it to the woman nursing me.

Finally, I noticed their mutations. I guess I didn't notice it earlier because I was too busy staring at her (hidden) face. Those eyes.

Now that I notice though, it's not something that you would miss. Poking out of their backs and their matching red utility jackets are bat wings as black as charcoal. They weren't as huge as Hawk's Fierce Wings, but they certainly look as intimidating to me.

Their wings trigger a memory in me. It was a quick flash of my childhood, when Kacchan was bullying me with his friends, or should I say underlings. When I was still quirkless and just following Kacchan everywhere because I thought he was so awesome. It wasn't clear, but a pair of wings, more dragon-like than bat-like, appeared in my mind's eye. Then, it was gone before I could even recall that kid's name.

Pulling me out from my random thoughts, the woman beside me brings the flask close to my mouth. "Here, drink some." I obey. I'm so obedient. Maybe it's her voice. No, no. I'm just really thirsty.

While gulping down the water, trying to keep my eyes off of her face, I watch as the other woman pushes Kacchan down. Brave of her.

"You have some serious attitude issues, man," she mumbles while checking the injuries of my fighting (but weakly) friend… comrade?... colleague? Our relationship still confuses me a lot.

"Get your hands off of me, bit- Ow!" Kacchan's sentence stops short when the woman presses on a particularly deep cut near his shoulder. "Shut up. We are trying to help you."

"Thank you," I was finally able to say, my voice now clearer. "And, uh, sorry about him. He's just like that but I'm sure he's grateful, too. Uhm... If you don't mind, may I know your names?"

My- I mean, the short-haired brunette almost replies, but her, I don't know, friend? partner? sister? The other one hushes her and addresses us. "Tell us your names first. We saved you so I think you owe us that."

"Oh, of course. I'm De-"

"Shut your mouth, dumbass. Tell us where we are first," Kacchan challenges the one with the bangs, already sitting up again. She responds by raising one eyebrow, folding her arms, and squinting her, now I notice, light red eyes. Kacchan does the same.

"Hey hey. No need for hostility, guys! Blondie, we'll tell you where we are and who we are, if you tell us who you guys are and where you're from. Deal?" The one beside me tries to cut the tension that was brewing.

"Good idea!" I agreed. We can't pick a fight if we can't fight! I try to communicate with Kacchan with my eyes. He gives me a side look and huffs. I thought he wouldn't follow me, but he mumbles, "Whatever. I'm tired, so you do all the talking."

I tried to sit up again and this time I succeeded with sheer determination. The pain is still there. I just ignored it for the time being.

The two women sat down beside the campfire near the makeshift beds and prepared to listen.

"You won't remove your masks?" I ask and they respond with a stern look, so I just decided to start with, "Anyway, I'm Deku. He's Kacch- Dynamight. We're pro-heroes so you might have heard of us before."

The two women look visibly confused, judging from their eyes and eyebrows anyway.

Idiot! Why would they have heard of you? Are you famous?

I panic. Flailing my arms and blushing, I tried taking it back. "Or not! It's not like we're famous or anything. We're just rookies... Anyway, so we came from… Well… We were on the battlefield and then next thing we knew, we're here. With you. I don't remember anything. Dynamight, do you?" Kacchan grunts and I take that as a no.

The short-haired one jumps up from her seat and starts talking excitedly "So, you're pro-heroes! Amazing! I've never seen one! I'm Miu. This is Sora. We're-"

"That's a damn boring hero name," Kacchan comments.

"Hero name? Oh, we don't have that. Yet. We're not yet licensed, you see."

"Miu, stop talking!" The other woman manages to interject.

Miu.

Her name is Miu.

Why am I thinking it's cute?

"They're heroes and we saved them from falling to their deaths, so they won't arrest us. Right, uhm, Deku?" Miu asks me innocently, making the one called Sora sigh out of frustration.

Not licensed. Don't remember anything. Middle of a forest. Out of reach from everything? Forget the sweet voice! Could they be-

I sent a quick look at Kacchan.

We both tense up and prepare to use our quirks, defending ourselves.

"Sorry, I'm getting confused. You're not licensed?" I ask hesitantly.

Miu excitedly answers, "Yeah, well. As I said, not yet. As a lot of us are. Vigilantes. Imagine calling people who help others that. It's a little bit offensive. Well, for me at least. By the way, you might have heard of us. People call us the Night Angel!"

Kacchan doesn't let his guard down, but he still asks, "Night Angel? Like in the song?"

"What song?" I ask, not understanding.

"Idiot! That song! Angel of the Night. It's a classic!"

"Oh, that! That's a very old song," I note, remembering it from somewhere. I just can't pinpoint- "Ah! It's your favorite song, right, Kacch- Dynamight?"

Kacchan was about to reply, but Sora spoke. "Do not change the subject." She's now guarded, too. Did she notice that we were bracing ourselves? "Who are you really? Why are you preparing to attack us?"

Unlike her, it seems like Miu didn't notice until now. She looks confused, hurt, surprised. For a moment, I felt guilty for preparing to attack her. In a small voice, she says, "Why?"

"Miu!" Sora shouts just as Kacchan calls out, "Deku!"

I jumped on my feet, silencing all the shouts of complaint in my head. My body is aching, but I have to fight.

Since the two women flew and decided to take the battle up in the air, I decided to use Nana Shimura's Float.

Huh?

I tried flying again, but my feet stayed glued to the ground.

HUH?

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Kacchan screams beside me. I glance at him and see him trying to blast his way up, but nothing is coming out of his palms.

"Why are you attacking us?! We saved you!" Miu yells from the air, keeping a safe distance from us. "I know we're not licensed, but we don't mean any harm. We're the Night Angel! We save people!"

Huh? Why does it look like they're the one defending themselves? Why does it look like we're the one attacking first?

Forget that! You're just being influenced by those… those eyes...

"Then tell us..." I started, completely changing my approach from the polite man to a menacing and intimidating hero. "What did you do to us? Why can't we use our quirks?"

**~A/N [05/10/2021]~** Hey! Loooong (at least in my opinion) Deku POV. Relish it 'cause it might be some time before I write in his POV again. Keyword: might. Also, there's a song mentioned in the chapter called "Angel of the Night" by Fun N' Voces. I'm pretty sure you can guess which band I based it off of, so I just wanted to share what I imagine it would sound like. Here's the peg: "Rocket Queen" by Guns N' Roses. Check it out if you want. Oh, and it's Bakugo's POV next chapter! Pray for my soul as I try to write it. Here's to hoping it won't be in ALL CAPS, but knowing Bakugo… Just joking! I swear I'll make it fun to read. By the way, feedback/ reviews/ comments/ violent reactions/ corrections/ questions are all welcome and greatly appreciated. Thanks! XX