AU NOTES
New chapter! ENjoy!
Chapter 27: [Growing Thirst III]
Izuku laid on his provided bed, letting the sound of soft jazz coming from the room speakers (fancy room and all) lull him into a sense of easiness. The vampire idly messed with the red wristband on his right wrist, the metallic thing softly whirling mechanical beeps as it adjusted ever so slightly to the tension on his limb. The hemomancer wondered if he should be writing be writing some sort of apology letter, considering he had managed to wreck a fair bit of Melissa's personal lab with his stunt; the blonde American girl had dissuaded him against said efforts before, but Izuku couldn't exactly help the guilty feeling worming inside his mind.
Sure, he had said before that he took no responsibility for any damages, but that had been mostly a joke. The Shield girl had assured him that the laboratory had been built to withstand a fair bit of experimenting and damages, so he let out a half-power ultimate move at her request. A foolish endeavor – his mind echoed now that he had hindsight – he found himself led by the girl to act out.
The ultimate move had blown the target off, wrecking it and the wall behind it, luckily also blowing all the remaining smoke from the room and allowing the duo to access the damage. A few alarms blared loudly, Melissa already disengaging most of them with her watch, and soon a few security bots rushed over to protect them both. Izuku ignored the machines for a bit, more worried about making a transfer than dealing with a few mid-sized machines.
Melissa waved him off.
"That was my fault for not taking in consideration your strength, Izuku! Don't worry about it, although I would recommend letting me deal with this. Father will be coming over soon to check what happened, and I prefer to explain it by myself."
He tried to argue her point, but the American was having none of it. She shooed him from the lab and send him packing his way back to the hotel, Izuku a bit ashamed to have been run off by the girl.
Now he laid here on his bed, unsure what to do. It was somewhat late in the night, but I-Island seemed to not register that, the hustle and bustle of the man-made island seemingly more present in the late hours of the night than during the day. It made him want to explore, his guilt being the only thing holding him back.
[Locking ourselves away is foolish, master. Exploration will be a much better endeavor to pass time than wallowing in self-pity.]
[If we can't drink some fresh blood, then we might as well just explore the place up. Genius-mate is busy, but the others might not be! A visit upon them sounds delectable right about now]
His head was filled with the chatter of the [Inner Beast], the humming of his blood enticing him to do more than just lay on his bed uselessly. Izuku grunted, neither denying or agreeing with his quirk. Should he go out? It wasn't like it would help Melissa if he were to stay locked up, and the older Shield had yet to show himself up to greet Izuku, so the vampire figured he might as well waste some more time until the next morning. It wasn't like he needed much sleep after all.
Deciding on agreeing with his baser instincts for now, Izuku took a quick shower and threw on some casual clothing. Mei's presents would arrive in the afternoon of the following day, so Izuku had no need to stay in his room. Ten minutes had the vampire out of his room and leaving his keys in the hotel reception, the attendants being different ones, a shift in turn.
The vampire casually left the hotel and sat on the close by fountain, typing a message to check on the classmates that he knew were in the island. Todoroki, Yaoyorozu and Jirou; Bakugou was here too, but the vampire wasn't exactly chummy pals with the ash-blonde, preferring to leave the bomber to whatever it was that he was doing.
The vampire first sent a check-up message to see if they were busy; as he waited for their answers, he checked the night life in I-Island, the advertisement changing to match the time and offers. Just because the place was a marvel of technological advancement, it didn't mean that people were unfeeling robots. Once or twice Izuku managed to spot adds inviting people for more…adult activities, be it booze or otherwise. The vampire opted to avoid looking at the ads, Mei's last stunt stirring some feelings that he wished to remain locked-up for now.
At last one of the ads managed to capture his attention with something more appropriate for his demographic, a lounge café. Sure, it also served alcoholic drinks, but the vampire felt that the cozy atmosphere of the place suited him well enough.
Ping!
His phone notified him of a few answer texts, Izuku immediately searching for a taxi to drive him to the café. Jirou had been the first to answer, surprising Izuku: He would bet on Shoto being the first to answer, but the vampire wasn't exactly complaining.
From Night_Ekon: Anyone free?
From Rock_Punker: Not doing much…Yaomomo is busy attending a socialite party and sort of had to leave me hanging…why?
The ride to the café was quick, the streets of I-Island not having much car traffic. Izuku almost paid the taxi in yen notes, but the man pointed to the white bracelet on Izuku's left wrist. The vampire nodded and approached his arm to the rider's own, two digital interfaces springing up. Izuku quickly accepted the notification, his eyes having done a rapid scan of the contents, the text a mere formality about the payment and receipt.
Izuku left the car and quickly approached the lounge café, scanning the area and nodding proudly to himself for having lucked out in choosing this place. As he scanned out the place, the vampire let his phone fall off his hand, black matter quickly pooling from his shadow and springing to catch the device, typing for him as he entered the café.
From Night_Ekon: I finished the work I was needed for now and had some free time…Want to hang out?
Izuku reached the counter and the barista attended him, taking the vampire's choice and politely pointing him to an appropriate table for Izuku's request. Soon enough the vampire was directed towards one of the tables at the lounge area, the night sky being his ceiling as he sipped from a mug of hot caffe mocha and enjoyed some bite-sized croissants as he waited for the following replies of his friends.
From Rock_Punker:Let me just tell Yaomomo and then I can dip out…truth be told I'm glad you called out, I wasn't sure how long I could hold on here…One minute.
Izuku hummed in comprehension. He himself wasn't one for overly formal reunions and pompous people. It might also have to do with the variety of perfumes that would stink up his nose or the boring topics that reached his ears or the body heat of too many warm bloodbags just waiting for him to drink up…Anyway, all that mattered in the end was that he wasn't a social butterfly and would surely be a boring guest if he were to be invited to such place. He took another sip of his drink and let it warm him up, noting another person texting him up.
From Todoroki_The_Stoic: Hello Midoriya, good evening. I'm currently busy on a trip representing my father and thus cannot attend you. The trip should not last long and I would enjoy an outing with you.
Izuku smirked as he stared at his phone. He types almost like the way he speaks, the vampire mused in his mind as his shadow tendrils typed a response.
From Night_Ekon: I know, I saw your score at one of the trials in I-Island.
From Todoroki_The_Stoic: You are here too?
From Night_Ekon: Yep!
From Todoroki_The_Stoic: Where are you at? I'm attending some reception party, but I'll appreciate a change in scenery.
Izuku was taken a back a minute by the answer from his friend.Todoroki Shoto was willing to play hooky and skip on a party where he was representing his father? Well, it does sound very much like him to do something like this, if only to annoy Endeavor, Izuku immediately sent his location to his classmate.
From Night_Ekon: You want me to order you something before you arrive?
From Todoroki_The_Stoic: Do they have cold soba there?
The vampire almost face palmed at the text.
From Night_Ekon: I'm at a café…
From Todoroki_The_Stoic: your point?
From Night_Ekon: …nevermind…get here and take a look at the menu.
From Todoroki_The_Stoic: On my way…
Izuku sighed, shaking his head in a good-natured manner at the antics of his friend. Soon enough another message pinged his phone to life.
From Punk_Rocker: Ok, I'm game. Told Yaomomo about it too, she will come later.
From Night_Ekon: Sure, I'm sending the location. You want anything?
From Punk_Rocker: Set me up with a sweet pumpkin latte. I'll pick something else to eat when I arrive.
From Night_Ekon: Alright.
With that set up, Izuku ordered the drink on the terminal on his table and waited. There were a few other patrons nearby, some couples and the odd alone costumer much like himself. Not that it bothered the vampire; after all he had the company of his drink and the star-filled night sky. It was a bit hard to properly see the stars seeing as the reflective lights of the buildings did tamper with the sight, but it was still possible to see the odd constellation here and there. There was one last buzz in his phone, Yaoyorozu confirming her arrival as soon as she could leave her party as well as an apology she wanted relayed to Kyouka for putting her friend into a boring event and sidelining her, but the vampire tried to assure the heiress that there was no problem.
He could have teased her over it, however, he opted to do such deed in person instead of over the phone. A squirming Yaoyorozu was a delightful sight to see.
It wasn't surprising to see that Shoto had arrived first. Izuku felt the teen's presence before dual-quirk user entered the lounge area. Todoroki arrival called some attention from the costumers, the teen being quite the sight for the women present. The stoic face and proud presence of the teen was quite calling, the expensive navy-blue suit and slacks reminding Izuku of UA's uniform, the white shit contrasting quite well with the teen's hair.
The stoic countenance of the teen broke slightly into a small quirk of his lips and eyes, something almost undetectable. He made a beeline for the table, some of the nearby women sighing disappointedly that he already had company; yet their sighs faded rather quickly as they noticed that Todoroki's companion was a male.
Izuku couldn't help the smirk that split his lips, rising from his chair to greet his friend. "Hello there, Todoroki. How do you do?" The vampire's usual greeting made the other teen slowly blink in acknowledgement. He also extended a hand for a shake.
"I wasn't expecting you to be here, Midoriya." Shoto returned his greeting in a formal tone, also extending his hand to grasp at Izuku's. The two sat down, Izuku handing the terminal to his classmate so that the teen could choose something for himself. It took the vampire by surprise when Shoto decided on some boba tea strawberry-flavor.
The vampire raised a brow at his friend's drink of choice, the Todoroki youngster blankly staring back at Izuku.
"What?"
The vampire scratched at his chin. "I wasn't expecting you to ask for something this girly."
Todoroki shrugged his shoulders. "Since there is no cold soba on the menu, so I asked for that. I like to chew on the tapioca bubbles." The half-hot half-cold teen explained matter-of-factly, Izuku nodding along with the simplistic explanation. He wasn't here to judge other people's enjoyment of things after all.
"Fair enough!" The vampire conceded.
Todoroki's eyes inspected Izuku. "I was sure that you had been invited to some party too." The teen stated, head turning about to try and spot a waiter that could inform him of the waiting time on his beverage.
The vampire was kind enough to hold on sipping from his own drink until Shoto's own arrived. "Not really. I lucked out when a scientist and support tech guy decided to have a look at my quirk; one thing led to the other and then bam, I-Island trip." Izuku explained on his end the reason of his stay here, keeping a few details to himself.
Shoto hummed at him, shedding the stuffy looking suit piece and draping it over the arm of his chair. He loosened the tie he was wearing too, the formal vibe of his outfit becoming somewhat more casual for their location. It also attracted a great deal of hushed whispers and coos from the females around, this time the number of female voices echoing from the entirety of the lounge area.
Izuku lightly chuckled at Shoto since the other teen had noticed people were observing them, but confusion painted his face as to why they were so focused on them. "What, you aren't used to your fans?" Izuku teased a bit, wriggling his eyebrows at the other male.
Todoroki turned to stare at the vampire with a confused face. "Since when do I have fans?"
Izuku groaned at him. "Come on, Todoroki! You can't really be serious, right?"
Almost as if divine intervention, a waiter came carrying Todoroki's drink. A less divine intervention event happened as a tall glass of ice cream also was placed on their table, the item clearly something that wasn't normally served for your run-of-the-mill table.
Todoroki called the waiter before the woman could flee from their sight. "Excuse me, miss. I do not recall either my friend or I ordering this one. Maybe you have made a mistake?" Shoto's stoic voice and request made the waiter hide behind her platter, the vampire's ears managing to hear a suppressed giggle from the lady.
A chilling sensation crept up on the vampire's spine.
"No, sir! That is not a mistake. Table 10 sent this to your table as a gift. They said that they totally support you." The staff member spoke words that made Izuku dread looking towards the location as his enhanced hearing picked on the sound of a camera's lenses shuttering as it tried to focus to snap a scandalous picture. He should have guessed something like this ought to happen, especially considering the event that would play tomorrow, there had to be plenty of gossip until the main event.
That didn't mean that Izuku had to like it, or play along with the tomfoolery of the reporters behind this. He was about to send back the item, but he noticed that one of the two spoons that arrived was missing.
The vampire slowly moved his head to gaze at his friend occupying the seat right in front of him, the teen slowly tasting the desert.
Shoto felt the vampire's gaze upon his frame and tilted his head to the side, meeting the vampire's eyes as the hemomancer did the same.
"Shoto?"
"Midoriya?"
Izuku face palmed, a disappointed sigh exhaling from the vampire. "Why did you take it?"
Shoto blinked at Izuku as if the vampire had asked a ridiculous question. "What do you mean? If they gifted out, then I'm going to eat it; it is free food!" The youngest Todoroki stated, his spoon clanking against the tall ice cream glass as he ate another spoonful of the sweet treat.
Izuku huffed at the teen, sipping on his drink to relieve some tension due to his friend's clueless behavior. The vampire could hear the clicking of the shuttering lenses of the camera, the hemomancer clenching his jaw to avoid releasing a pissed off growling sound. His phone pinged to life once more, a shadowy tendril bringing the device to the vampire to allow him to answer the text. Once his eyes lay on the bright screen, a devious smirk split the vampire's lips, Shoto's attention being called to Izuku.
The vampire pocketed his phone and raised his head to glance at the entrance of the lounge area, the sight of Jirou Kyouka's frame in a dress being too much of a delicacy for the vampire to not stare. The rock punker's pink dress oddly matched her aesthetic quite well, the dark navy-blue mid-section bow and top contrasting and making Kyouka lovely on the eye. Finishing the look a black jacket loosely draped from the girl's shoulders, a choker adorning her neck and her hair was lightly done up, a pink-flower hair pin holding the shape.
Jirou noticed her classmates' table and waved at them, heading for the table with light steps.
The whole time Izuku's eyes were glued to the girl's frame, his green eyes slitting up and following every move Kyouka did, almost like a predator stalking prey. When Jirou reached the table, she took the seat closest to Izuku, only then realizing his intense gaze.
"What?" Kyouka asked with a pout. Since Izuku had already ordered the girl's drink a waiter quickly brought it to the table; Kyouka happily took her beverage, taking a strong sip from it and happily sighing at the sweet taste. Once she realized what she had done, the girl tried to put up a tough front for the duo, Shoto busy with his own drink while Izuku merely kept his smug, shit-eating grin at her. "You better cut that out, vampy!"
The blood-drinker shook his head in amusement, picking up his mug and presenting it for a toast. "Hello there! Glad you could make it, Jirou-san." His usual greeting got a light glare from the rock punker, the girl narrowing her eyes at him.
Izuku took her stare in stride, relaxing into his seat and popping another croissant in his maw.
Shoto was content in sipping from his large cup, taking a few seconds to chew on the tapioca balls before he resumed sipping. "Good evening, Jirou-san." Shoto's simple greeting made Kyouka blush a bit in shame at having ignored her classmate for a while due to favoring the vampire's antics.
"H-hey Todoroki! G-good evening." Kyouka stuttered a bit, but managed to compose herself as her eyes settled upon the tall glass of ice cream, confusion painted her expression. Izuku noticed her gaze and held back a sigh and called attention to his right hand, using his thumb to point backwards before pointing back towards the glass.
"Don't question it…" Izuku spoke somewhat sardonically, putting emphasis on the fact he wished for her to forget about it.
"B-but…" Kyouka tried to put some sass in her voice, but the vampire cut her off.
"Don't question it…"
The rocker rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, snatching her drink from the table and angrily sipping from it. All the while Shoto kept on chewing on the tapioca bits from his almost finished drink. Izuku, all the while, merely quirked his lips up as he put another set of orders on the tablet.
"How was the party? You sounded mighty bored over there." The vampire questioned, smoothly changing subjects (or so he hoped).
Jirou was happy to jump at the chance, releasing a rather dramatic groan as she stretched her arms out. She was quick to take one of the remaining croissants, her ear lobes ready to strike at Izuku if he dared to stop her from taking the snack. "Good god, it was boring. I was holding on for Yaomomo, but these things really are not my cup of tea! She was getting surrounded all the time by these suited-up weirdoes, and I swear I heard marriage being mentioned at least twice." Jirou was quick to fill the previous (but comfortable for the two males) silence with light banter. Izuku and Shoto paid rapt attention to her, the girl soaking up a bit their undivided attention.
"Oh, is that so?"
"…go on…"
The rocker was quick to finish her drink, placing her elbows on the table and leaning her head on her hands. "I did try to keep Yaomomo from them for a while, but those guys were relentless! She took the fall herself though, and I was sort of pushed to the sidelines. Did trip one of the assholes trying to be too grabby, so I'll count that as a win!"
The last line perked up the duo. Shoto also finished his drink, taking the time to finish the tapioca bits before he spoke.
"I sort of understand her problem. I haven't being offered that, but my sister was bothered for a while by such offers. My older brother also was had some offering letters; I found a bunch of them stashed at home, but new ones haven't arrived in quite a while. All of them were from heroes…" Todoroki spoke out in his usual tone, the mood being unknowingly brought down by him.
Izuku smiled bitterly, Jirou cringing a bit at the dual-colored haired teen's statement.
The orders the vampire had asked arrived just in time to break the downwards mood. Izuku did change the flavors of the drinks to mix things up, getting Shoto a large cup of mango milk tea and Kyouka an iced chocolate mint latte, while he placed a large order of iced Mazagran coffee.
Kyouka eyed his cup with a curious gaze. She was itching for an excuse to change the subject and Izuku's order seemed to be as good as any to use.
"Should you be drinking that much coffee this late at night? I know my sleeping habits are nothing to talk about, but that seems a bit too much." The rocker pointed out with one of her ear jacks, her hands busy wrapped around her drink.
Shoto nodded, curiosity managing to make a dent in his stoic face to make it change slightly.
Izuku shrugged his shoulders, discarding the straw that decorated his cut and taking a swig of his cup. The strong smell and taste of coffee brought a wave of pleasantness washing down the vampire's throat, the slight afterburning sensation that remained in his gullet only adding to the pleasure.
"Not really. I'm not much of a sleeper anyways, and while coffee does affect me, this much is just fine. This one is tasty too." Izuku smacked his lips, his expressions becoming somewhat more relaxed. Kyouka frowned a bit at the looser expression of the vampire, but she didn't comment on it and opted to enjoy the moment. Shoto also stared at Izuku's face, the teen's own painted in amazement and awe at Izuku's current expression.
The evening went by at a comfortable pace, the trio talking the night away. Well, it was more accurate to say Kyouka did most of the group's share of talking, with Shoto adding a few grunts, nods and the once-in-a-while one-word answer; all the while Izuku mostly kept to himself, a somewhat silly smile planted on his lips as he added some comentary, his teasing antics surprisingly tamed for being…Izuku when close to Jirou. The rocker was a bit tensed up, wondering if at any moment the vampire would do something that would make the girl embarrass herself here. Nothing seemed wrong so far, but Izuku was crafty if nothing else; she would not drop her guard around him.
The vampire's and Kyouka's phones buzzed at the same time, the girl quickly glancing at the screen of her device while Izuku was a big more sluggish to get his own, his emerald green slitted eyes lazily scanning the screen for the contents that had appeared. It was a message from Yaoyorozu, the rich heiress finally managing to free herself from the clutches of her party suitors and now being able to make her way towards their spot. She would arrive in a few minutes, and asked if they could get her something.
Kyouka imputed an order on the tablet on the table and showed the device to Izuku, the vampire nodding along to the order. It was a high class chocolate-and-caramel frapuccino that had the entire group salivating at the mere illustrative image on the menu. Izuku poured his remaining beverage in his gullet, sighing in satisfaction as he finished it.
Shoto was about to order another cup of boba tea, but his phone lit up to life with a constant ping of messages. The dual quirk user looked at the screen of his phone and released an irritated huff, quickly typing a one-note answer and roughly shoving his phone back into his pocket.
Izuku's slight grinning smile dropped into a serious look, his droopy eyes regaining all their usual seriousness. "What's wrong, Todoroki?"
"The party I was at is finishing up and my fath-…Endeavor wants me to put in some last-minute words for the press and other influential people. I'm sorry, but I'll have to go."
Kyouka frowned. "You sure? I mean, it is not like it is going to kill him if you don't suck up to those busybodies." It was clear that the rock punker didn't want Shoto to go away from the group as they were having fun.
Shoto shook his head, a small smile sprouting on his lips. "I didn't think I would be doing anything other than attending these events, so this is meeting has already been much better than anything else I'd be doing here."
Izuku suppressed a growl in his throat and stood up from his seat, offering a hand to the youngest Todoroki. "If you really want to go, then we won't take more of your time. However, if you change your mind then you can give me a call." The two shook hands and Shoto waved at Kyouka, making his way out the lounge.
Izuku got back into his seat and stared at Kyouka, the girl answering a few texts before her eyes found the vampire's orbs fixed on her frame.
"What?"
Izuku smirked and let the loopy smile from previously return to his lips. "Nothing much…"
The rocker rolled her eyes at his less-than-helpful answer and placed her phone on the table, staring back at the hemomancer.
"I know that the dress doesn't really fit me, but you don't have to stare at it. I feel weird enough already…" Kyouka commented, puffing her cheeks and tilting her gaze to the size.
Izuku raised a brow at her statement. "You look lovely though." His comment made Jirou's cheeks burn with a light, dusting blush the girl groaning to push attention away from herself.
"Yeah, yeah Casanova, don't waste your breath blowing wind under this fire." There was a sarcasm undertone mixed in Kyouka's voice, but the most that Izuku could pick up was the hints of shame and embarrassment in the rocker's tone. Had he tripped into some sort of sensitive personal field or somehow had offended her?
When in doubt, use humor, or so was the strategy that Izuku employed the most when faced with these types of situations. He pulled lightly on his quirk, letting the roots of his hair darken to a black color that spread in random patterns over his hair, his brows also blackening so as to give the vampire a different appearance than usual; his jaw squared a bit with slight popping sounds and his voice lowered a degree or two, becoming rougher and adult-like while his iris also followed suit and became onyx-like stones. One could say the aesthetic was Darker than black.
"I think that this matches more the Casanova style than my previous appearance. What do you think?" He tried to keep his voice leveled, but the vampire could not keep the amusement out of his tone, making him feel like he was a predator playing about with food. It was an idea that his logical mind immediately squashed, but the [Inner Beast] had already taken upon itself to taunt him in the deep recesses of his mind.
Jirou was taken aback by his quick and sudden change of appearance, the dark hair and pupils suiting the slightly more angular face of the vampire to an astonishing degree. Her eyes couldn't help but focus on the 'new' Izuku in front of her. It was a nice look, but if she were to say she very much preferred the 'original' image of the vampire. Her face heated up at the thoughts swimming in her head, quickly turning away from Izuku.
"Jerk!" She exclaimed, noticing that another waiter was approaching their table with another round of drinks. Before the staff member could even place the drinks on the table the rocker snatched one of the cups, the drink being the one that she had seen Izuku drink before. It was a bit of petty revenge on her part, but she couldn't let him win every time. Kyouka took the drink and held the plastic straw in place while she sucked in a big sip from the beverage.
It was a nice drink for sure, the distinguishing taste of the iced coffee blending very well with the lemon and mint present in the drink, but there was a finishing aftertaste that burned lightly at her throat and she was sure that it wasn't the ice.
Kyouka's pupils widened as she noticed that the drink was alcoholic. How on earth had the barista failed to notice they were still minors or how booze (rum if the sweetness was anything to go by) had managed to get into their drinks was anyone's guess. It wasn't Kyouka's first dance with alcohol (don't question it…), but she was worried for Izuku. He might be a vampire that had complete control over his blood and whatever other bs he could do these days, but she was sure this was a first for him.
Jirou slowly settled the large glass on the table, observing the shadowy matter that exited from Izuku's shadow and crawled – almost like a living being – towards the drink almost like a living blob of inky darkness. She observed the vampire's reactions, seeing that he was mostly normal. There was a tint of red over his face, but so far the vampire seemed to be holding himself together well enough.
"Izuku, you doing alright there?" Kyouka slowly asked.
The hemomancer took another sip from his drink and smacked his lips again, wetting them and making them shine. It was quite a sight to see... Bad Kyouka, bad! The girl chastised herself, wondering how long it would take Momo to reach here already. Izuku was already quite fond of teasing her in his normal state, she really wasn't looking forward to see if he the booze in his drink upped his courage or not.
…
…
Or are you?
…
…
"Doing just fine, Kyouka. Doing just fine…" Izuku muttered, his features slowly turning back to their standard form. There was a bit of a slur to his speech, but the vampire was still conscious enough to remain respectful.
The rocker bit the corner her lower lip and slowly moved one of her extended lobes to try to get the drink away from Izuku, but it was clear that he was caught up to her moves. Her left lobe carefully wrapped around the glass, but a small tug revealed that her quarry was stuck. Or more accurately, the hemomancer had very fine shadow matter clinging at the bottom of his drink, very much unwilling to part away from his beverage.
"How about you get some water and then you can get more of your happy juice here…" The punk girl wished to avoid something akin to her first time trying the stu-…anyway, she wanted to avoid a troublesome situation from happening. The first step towards that was getting the vampire to hydrate a bit.
Izuku seemed confused as to why Kyouka was suggesting this. He was feeling warmth different from anything else, a comfortable sort of warm that coiled around his gut and warmed his insides. Which, now that he stopped to think about it, shouldn't be the case since he was on his second cup of Mazagran iced coffee; while he wasn't supposed to be cold, he shouldn't be feeling this toasty.
A serious expression painted Izuku's face, the vampire taking a deep breath to access the situation. His eyes focused back on Kyouka, his powerful and hypnotic gaze pinning the girl in place.
"Did…" The hemomancer was about to ask a question out loud, but he stopped himself short. He quickly fished out his phone from his pocket and sent a quick text to Shoto, taking another deep breath when he noticed his eye lids growing a bit heavy. Pulling on his quirk he heated his body temperature, speeding up his metabolism and getting his body to work hard on whatever had entered his system.
The hemomancer pocketed his device and rolled his head, working a few kinks out of his neck (and also getting a discreet look around the lounge), but no person seemed to be suspicious so far. The slow jazz that had been playing finished and it was followed up by something similar, yet different.
Blues began to play, the music having a bit more of a pep than the previous smooth and slow jazz. A perfect set for a slow dance, and some discreet conversation with less chance of curious ears
…slightly hang over… …slightly hang over you…
…slightly hang over…
…slightly hang over you…
He stood from his chair and fixed his shirt, combing his hair back with his hands and presenting one hand to Jirou.
"Grant me the honor of this dance?" He asked with a suave tone to his voice, Kyouka watching him with an apprehensive gaze. It wasn't that she truly wanted to avoid this, but she wasn't sure of what state the vampire was at the moment.
"I swear that I'm going to kill you if anyone hears about this." Kyouka spat under her breath, feeling a bit hot under the collar; she either was crazy or the drink she had was working its magic.
Izuku scoffed at her threat, grasping the hand she offered. "It will be our little secret…" He whispered by her ear, causing a small shiver to run over the girl. They walked to a more spacious part of the lounge, separated from the serving tables, but small enough that the duo could still be spotted from the entrance of the lounge.
The vampire had dragged Kyouka over, but he was somewhat concerned. He wasn't exactly a dancer, but this was the best excuse he could come up with to try and have a private chat.
Jirou squirmed a bit, but she soldiered herself and faced him.
"So…how do we do this? I'm not exactly great at dancing…" The last past was whispered under her breath, but Izuku had heard it just fine. He supposed that this worked out well, since neither had experience at this sort of thing; that being said, he wasn't keen on getting mocked for his lack of skill in this (be either by the girl herself or by the onlookers).
"We go at it slow, just follow the beat and go at it step by step." He muttered whatever sounded good in his head, suppressing the annoying giggle of the [Inner Beast]. "Now, I'm going to place one hand at your hips, are you cool with that?" He could feel the tension that filled the rocker, but considering that he was acting bolder than normal after his drink, then maybe the girl would be under the same effect too. It would help out both if they sweated whatever it was out of their system too.
"Just watch where you are putting those hands. I'm sure I can stab you with these faster than you can catch them!" Her jacks were pointed at Izuku like coiled snakes ready to strike. He nodded, slowly moving his right hand towards the girl's lower back. Slowly, the vampire lowered his limb until it touched over the smooth skin of the rocker's back, her dress being the only barrier between the two.
One of her hands grasped at his shoulder while the other firmly held his hand. The vampire let a hum echo from his throat, lowering his head to guide the girl at their first dancing bout.
"Just follow me and don't be afraid to mess up. Whenever I leave an empty space, you fill it up. Easy does it…" Izuku slowly began to move, being sure to guide vocally Kyouka on what he thought could be called dancing. He wasn't exactly graceful himself, but they weren't stepping on each other's toes, so he would count that as a point to himself.
As the blues song continued playing, the duo managed to keep their slow dance properly, some space between them so as to avoid being too intimate.
Kyouka wondered how she managed to get herself roped into this dance. She sighed, blowing some air at the vampire.
"Miss grumpy, is anything not up to your satisfaction?" Izuku teased, feeling much more responsive.
The rocker missed purposefully, stepping on Izuku's shoes and grinding a bit before she corrected her step. "Ha ha, very funny vampy…" As the song neared its end, Izuku tried something a bit fancy: He put some distance between them, only holding Kyouka by one hand; as they reached the maximum distance without separating their hands, the vampire pulled them together with a spin.
It looked good enough for a pair of at-best amateurs, but also brought them to a closeness that they only had once before. The two stood awkwardly still for a few moments, unsure of what to really do in their closeness. A muffled grumble died down in Izuku's throat as the vampire held himself in and separated from Kyouka, trying to avoid anything more embarrassing.
The girl coughed, gathering his attention towards her back.
"How about we go back to our table? I just got a message from Yaomomo and she is close by…" Jirou sort of mumbled the last part of her sentence, Izuku nodding and following along. They returned to their seats and remained in a quiet mood, unsure of the need of more words for now.
Izuku felt his blood working on expelling the – now recognizable – alcohol that was in his system. He wondered if his drink had been spiked or if the barista had mistakenly given him an adult drink; the vampire was unsure if he should feel elated that people thought of him as an adult or not. In the end he opted to let his body deal with the light buzz of the drink, his blood and metabolism further speeding up to deal with the alcohol. He could already smell some of the liquid being expelled along his sweat, so for now Izuku contended with no further drinks.
The rocker seemed to want to question the vampire on something, but in the end remained silent as the duo waited for their incoming guest.
This is awkward…Kyouka mused in her mind, playing with one of her jacks by swirling it around her right pointer finger. She could feel the light aftertaste of Izuku's drink still lingering in the back of her throat, the coffee and rum mixing rather well; the rocker wondered if the alcohol had had the effect on the vampire, but she pushed the thought aside. Izuku was quiet and reserved, but he could turn into a lil' shit when he wanted too, especially if it was to tease her.
She shivered when she remembered the light static that he had used on her back in the 1-A's and 1-B's first joint training, the small spark that teased at her jacks and embarrassed her. She couldn't help but wonder what sort of relationship this was. It certainly was way past the friendship-stage (the friendzone was something she didn't really want to think about right now), but it hadn't reached other, more well defined stages. The punk girl let her thoughts wander at the short, but somewhat hectic beginning of school year at UA. Not long ago their school had been invaded, they had been attacked by villains and then there was the incident with the Hero Killer. Quite the busy schedule for a couple of fresh, wet-behind-the-ears hero trainees; and it wasn't even the middle of their school year yet.
Is this what it is being in the hero work? Seldom having a true moment for yourself, always on the lookout for the next training session or the next villain attack? I wish there was more I could do… Doubts sprouted in the girl's mind, old things that had taken root ever since her decision to not follow the family's line of music work and instead aim for hero work. She would ponder more, yet a shadowy tendril was right in front of her nose, the black mass splitting into two ends: one close to touching her nose while the other held a 100-yen coin.
"A penny for your thoughts?" Izuku tried to break the ice once more, his liberal use of his quirk factors bringing the rocker from her deep thoughts.
Kyouka rolled her eyes at Izuku and scoffed, the shadow tendrils retreating back inside the vampire's sleeves as he toyed with the coin in his hands.
"I never got the results of your match. How did you do?" The vampire brought forth another subject.
Jirou groaned and laid her arms on the table, setting her head over her limbs. "Iida and I passed, if only the skin off our teeth. Planing and teamwork with him was easy enough, even when he complained about some pain in his arms, but facing Power Loader was too troublesome. He negated any speed advantage that Iida brought, and honestly it was too troublesome to deal with that exo-suit he had." The rocker explained, her earlobe jacks moving about. "…I never want to hear about dig-dug or anything related to it ever again in my life." She complained to the wind.
Izuku raised a brow, waiting for the girl to continue.
"It honestly was a nightmare. Even when we could detect him, he would emerge from underground like some sort of hellish metal mole and then proceed to wreck everything around him, that's including us. It was hell…" Kyouka murmured and released a sigh. "I managed to weaken his suit with a high frequency vibration that I sent from my support equipment; fried the things beyond repair, so the sups are making me brand new ones. Your pill helped me a ton by the way – vampy – busted eardrums are not fun at all. After that, Iida taxi'd us out of there and we passed."
The vampire chuckled. "Quite the summary to your test." Izuku joked.
Jirou let her jacks point at the hemomancer in accusatory tone. "How about you, huh? As far as I heard from Yaomomo, you both had quite the battle against All Might. Do please explain to me how the heck you have managed to win against him!"
Izuku hmm'ed. He crossed his arms and put on his best wise-guy expression. "Indeed, it was quite the challenge to face All Might." He baited the girl, seeing her lean forward on her seat to hear his tale. "However, I think that having my partner here will make telling the story that much easier." The green-haired teen smirked at Kyouka's groan of frustration, noticing the vampire point his chin towards the entrance of the lounge area.
The rocker turned her head to check out what he had pointed towards, finding the impressive sight of Yaoyorozu Momo slowly walking up to them, her steps a measured gait full of elegance and class. The rich heiress was dressed in a simple light green dress with a featureless sash wrapped around her wait; the girl's hair was done in a more elaborate ponytail that only served to improve the raven-haired girl's beauty exponentially.
The duo had their attention focused on the incoming beauty, the heiress only noticing their stares when she closed most of the distance. A dusting blush colored Momo's face as she became aware of the attention from her friends.
Kyouka wolf-whistled at Momo, making sure to drag the noise for as long as possible, earning a greater blush from the Heiress. Izuku, on the other hand, did a slow clapping motion, shadow matter spilling from his sleeves once more and faux-shaping itself as a second set of arms, following the motion of his flesh arms. At this point it was fair so say that Yaoyorozu was doing her best impression of a tomato.
"I know we were together in that party, but being with this dunce made me forget your charms; thanks for relighting my fire." Jirou jokingly teased, wiggling her eyebrows at Momo and putting on a naughty smile.
The vampire, on his end, merely kept his dual clapping for as long as he could, the smirk splitting his lips proof that he was getting every bit of enjoyment possible out of this.
Momo pouted, her blush still painting her face and only adding to the heiress's charm. "Mouh, could both of you please stop this foolishness?" The raven-haired girl took a seat, placing an order of her own in the device at the table and finally managing to settle her blush down.
The vampire let a final smirk split his lips before he settled into a more neutral countenance. "Hello there Yaoyorozu-san, good night!" He greeted kindly.
The girl responded with a small smile of her own. "Good night to you too, Midoriya-san. I take that you are enjoying the late evening marvels of I-Island too."
Izuku quickly checked his phone as a message pinged on it. "Indeed I am. It has been quite the experience; I take it that you have enjoyed your party too?" He asked, basing his assumptions on Kyouka's earlier rant. He could see the slight annoyance that flashed in the heiress's eyes before the girl composed herself.
"It has been most auspicious so far." Momo's answer had Jirou snorting, the punker rolling her eyes.
"Yaomomo!" The warning from the rocker got the rich girl to flinch a bit, her head turning to glance at her friend in a silent request for some mercy. Kyouka offered none, turning to the vampire.
"She tends to try to hide bullshit behind flowery speech. That party sucked ass!" Kyouka's crass words had the heiress astonished, her eyes widening as she tried to silence the rocker. Her attempts failed, the rocker now riled up due to the interruption. "You better buckle up vampy, I have the best blackmail material on Yaomomo here. Just listen to this…"
"Kyouka!" Momo tried another intervention, but Jirou's ear lobe jacks were primed up and ready to strike.
"Don't you 'Kyouka!' me, Yaomomo! Oi, Izuku, there was this guy back at the party…" Jirou lightly chastised her friend and began telling the "tall tales" of the Yaoyorozu, the raven-haired girl trying her very best to shine a light on the situations that the rocker described, failing at every opportunity as the punker shot all of Momo's arguments down.
The vampire kept glancing from Kyouka to Momo, his lips once more splitting into a smug smirk that teased the heiress.
"Is that so…" He teased. The trio had their fun until the late hours of the night, Izuku feeling a quite some joy at finding people that enjoyed his presence as much as this.
[Very soon, master. Our mates shall recognize their needs and we shall be there to fulfill them.]
Izuku ignored the remark in his head. If anything, he was the one that needed to get some control over his growing wild side.
[XXX]
[XXX]
Their outing lasted until the late hours of the night until Momo announced that she had to retire for the night. Considering that Kyouka had come here together with the raven-haired heiress, the rocker followed suit with the heiress, both girls bidding Izuku good night before they left. He didn't linger for long on the cafe, finishing his drink (yes, it was enjoyable, don't question it!) and taking another taxi back to his hotel. It wasn't long before he took to bed and had a surprisingly easy time falling asleep.
The next morning the vampire woke early - as always - and he took his time doing a few exercices. Breakfast was a quick endeavor, the hotel's cafeteria having quite the selection of foodstuff for him to choose from. They didn't have blood available to him, but he could make due with normal food. After his meal, the vampire took a quick shower and dressed in casual attire to meet once more with Melissa.
She had texted him during his outing with his classmates, the contents of the message simply implying that they hadn't gotten in trouble for blowing up some equipment in Melissa's personal lab. She told him that her father would finally have some free time in his schedule to check over their data from yesterday, so today hopefully they would get something going. The vampire was looking forward to the genius inventor's insight when looking at [True Ancestor].
He texted Melissa to know if she was awake and ready for the day, considering that they would have to hurry due to the event later at the night. Her response was to tell him to hurry up. He smirked and followed the directions from yesterday, reaching the tower that housed The Shields' personal labs. At the base someone was waiting for him; the person was an elder-looking man, dressed in a butler suit and looking very much the part.
"I take it that you are Izuku Midoriya?" The man spoke in a stoic manner, his face a mask of ice that betrayed no expressions whatsoever. The vampire nodded to his question, the man immediately turning around and making his way back to the tower. "Very well, follow me then. Mister David took time from his busy schedule, so we can't waste any more time." While the man's voice did not change in pitch, the vampire was feeling some sort of hidden antagonism against him. Izuku took a deep breath to calm the stirring [Inner Beast], the slight growling staying in his mind instead of reaching his throat.
With the calming air that came into his lungs, there was also a sour smell that clung to the butler. Izuku maintained a fair distance from the man, following him at a steady pace and calmly observing his surroundings. They reached the elevators, the butler quickly inputting a special sequence that Izuku memorized with a quick glance, and soon they were ascending to the David's personal lab.
When they reached the floor, the elevator doors revealed something even more impressive than Melissa's lab. If Izuku was impressed with the equipment and the computers from before, now his jaw had figuratively touched the floor. Rows upon rows of monitors displayed various researches, there were a multitude of blueprints scattered over a few tables and the place looked to be an inventor's haven. Had Izuku brought Mei here, he was sure that the girl would only leave if she was pulled by heavy-duty machinery.
It was among one of the many monitors that Izuku found Melissa. She was already busy, overlooking some of the data they had collected yesterday; but now there was someone standing behind the girl, pointing at specific points of the intel. Light brown hair that was a bit disheveled, the man sported a stylized goatee and glasses; it was clear that he was almost leaving behind his golden years, age catching up and leaving expression lines all over his face. Yet, even then the man looked ready to spend countless nights pouring over miniscule data in the faint hope of achieving a breakthrough. All Might's 'first' partner and support tech man, David Shield.
Izuku was humbled merely by being in this man's presence.
The butler coughed lightly to gather attention, making the duo of father and daughter move their attention away from the wall of text they were looking at. Seeing Izuku, Melissa immediately displayed a bright smile and stood from her seat, leaving her father a bit behind in her enthusiasm. Not that Izuku was complaining about it, seeing a pretty girl happy with your presence would always be nice, but he was unsure as to what he had done to garner this much excitement from the girl.
If anything, shouldn't she be angry at him because of his destruction? Whatever the case, Melissa stopped right in front of the vampire and grasped his hand, dragging him close to her father in a hurry. The vampire let himself be dragged away, waving one hand back to the butler to thank him for bringing him here.
"Sam, thank you so much for fetching Izuku!" Melissa said while hurriedly dragging the vampire close to the current monitor that was displaying data about [True Ancestor]. "Here, papa! Here is the star of the show!" The American blonde seemed to be doing her best impression of a puppy doped up in caffeine, her smile stretching until it almost seemed to hurt.
Her father chuckled in amusement, clearly finding the situation to be funny. Izuku took the chance to bow his head, presenting himself.
"Good morning sir, my name is Midoriya Izuku! It is quite the pleasure to be here today." The vampire formally greeted the inventor, making sure to present his best manners.
David smiled courteously, presenting a hand to greet the vampire. "Hello, son! There is no need for formalities; we are fellow researchers after all. I'm David Shield, and you've already met this bundle of sunshine, my little Melissa." The girl preened under the compliment of her father, happy to be around and research such important thing so close to her father. "Thank you for bringing him here, Sam!" The man thanked his butler, the elder merely bowing at the waist and exiting the research suite, leaving the trio to their work.
Melissa quickly brought a chair for Izuku to sit down, pointing the vampire to the screen where a DNA sequence of Izuku was displayed together with a bunch of commentaries and notes. "Come on, enough with the chit-chat! Father and I were looking over the results from yesterday, and he has already figured something out!" Melissa spoke with such giddiness and excitement one would swear it was a personal discovery made by the girl.
David placed one hand atop Melissa's golden hair, patting it and trying to quench the girl's happiness. "Calm down, sun shine! You will end up scaring poor Izuku over there. How about we start with something small and then work up to what you want to show him?" He offered in his usual good-manner, looking at Izuku and expecting to find the vampire a bit lost by all the data around him.
To David's surprise, Izuku was not lost. David became surprised alright, but it was due to such unexpected development as Izuku had already grabbed a nearby notebook and had begun to unravel one of the walls of text that was being displayed by one of the computers, green slit eyes rapidly scanning the screen and speeding through the contents in a manner that the inventor had seldom seen.
He turned to Melissa, astonished, but merely found the girl to be grinning at him, content at showing her father that she had not been joking with him when she told him that Izuku was as helpful for the data gathering as he had been. Now that I-Island (and more importantly, his personal supercomputers) had made sense of the data and was giving him detailed explanations of what to expected from such a quirk as [True Ancestor], all that remained was reading through all of it and begin trials based on the available data, selecting the most important bits and fine-combing all the useful intel.
Izuku stopped his speed-reading when he noticed David's eyes fully focused on his frame, [Hunter Instincts] alerting the vampire to the stare of the human.
"Sir?" He asked, hoping to not have scared the man.
David's lips bloomed into a smile, the man sitting in between his daughter and the vampire, pulling one of the monitors to himself and pointing at one of the data caches. "I was hoping we could focus efforts on safely duplicating the effect of your healing. You told me you have managed to acquire an ability that allows you to share your healing powers, so I was hoping you could walk me through that!"
Izuku let a smile split his own lips, the vampire pulling his chair closer to the scientist. "Right now sir!"
…
…
…
"...since your healing repairs tissue with rapid stem cell reposition, this resembles advanced gene therapy, don't you think so?" David pointed out to a white board filled with quickly scribbled notes and theories.
Izuku hummed, attention split between a data pad and a thick book. Melissa was by his side, also skimming through the contents of a book in advanced quirk theory.
"Papa, how about we try to simulate the effects with a combination of nanites and Izuku's quirk factor?"
…
…
…
"…serk cells could cause mutation or simply have no effect. I can't exactly proclaim that all will go well!" Izuku pointed out, rolling three blood pills in his right hand, his left one messing with a terminal that was displaying a simulation of a gene pool that had been mixed with his own.
David looked at the simulation with focused eyes, searching for something that could hammer down the results that he was looking for. It was an incredible display of focus and attention, how nothing seemed to escape the attentive eyes of the inventor. Melissa was busy overlooking other computer-run sequences, her blue eyes in wonder at the adaptability of Izuku's quirk. It was impressive to see how his DNA code could compartmentalize and process quirk factors to incorporate the genetic information inside itself in a manner unique to the user.
In most cases it was a replication of the quirk factor, resulting in a lesser version of the acquired factor, but a few could be improved until it was as if the vampire had truly acquired a new quirk. That had been the case with the [Warp] quirk that Izuku had taken from the Black Mist villain, or Kurogiri; Uraraka's quirk also went through something similar, as instead of replicating the effect of her [Zero Gravity] by granting Izuku some sort of levitation or a lesser version of the brunette's quirk, [True Ancestor] had yet to fully integrate the quirk-factor into itself. It had granted Izuku some makeshift power that the vampire had yet to fully figure it out, but they were all working hard to develop the hemomancer further.
…
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…
By the time Sam returned to the research room, the afternoon was nearing its last hours, the entirety of the manmade island being bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun. The annual event would soon begin, and it was his job as a butler to fetch and make sure that David (as the CEO and most well-known figure in the scientific development) and Melissa (his daughter and 'heiress' to the Shield's legacy) were rested enough to be present at the event without embarrassing themselves. Normally this task would be fairly easy to accomplish, but with the combo of father and daughter maniacally glued to the monitors of their personal research room as they toiled away in their efforts to understand a bit more about the monstrous vampire teen and his quirk, the butler had to check in on their progress as well as get them to vacate the room already.
The butler opened the bulky blast doors (deceptively designed to resemble simple doors) and found the trio in a sort of maniacal trance. The group was intensely staring at a glass box, the only thing inside it being a couple of metallic red pills, seven in total. If one were to simply glance at the trinkets, they would imagine it to be no more than normal marbles or glass beads; how wrong of an assumption that would be was proved by the intense gaze of the trio at them, countless monitors around the group flashing a green warning of [Trial N.117 is Successful!].
"We actually managed it…" Izuku stated, sounding doubtful even with the proof right in his eye sight.
Melissa was holding in a squeal of joy, her hands firmly grasping at her note pad.
David calmly took of his glasses and massaged his eyelids, a sort of tired smile painting his wearied countenance. He wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt, his eyes wet with a sheen of unshed tears. "I know it is merely a prototype, and that we need to run a gauntlet of tests on it…but that we managed to isolate and recreate even a fraction of your healing power like this…" Words escaped the scientist, the man turning to Izuku and lowering his head. "Thank you, Izuku!"
The vampire immediately stood from his chair and touched David's right shoulder, pulling the older man's frame into a proper form.
"Sir, there is no need to lower your head. We all did this together! I'd never be able to do this on my own; to know that I can help people with this dark power of mine…" The gratitude in the teen's voice could be felt by all in the room. Melissa stood from her seat and tackled the duo into a hug.
"What is it with you two, getting all sappy?! This is supposed to be a moment of celebration! We have actually managed to accomplish an immense breakthrough today! Who knows what we will manage to discover next time?" Melissa's tone of happiness was shared among the trio, the group truly appreciative of their discovery.
The vampire also noticed the silent figure in the room, waiting for the opportunity to speak. The teen's gaze also attracted the other two, the trio finally spotting the butler.
Sam seemed to have no qualms about only being noticed now. He gave the group a salvo of slow, measured claps before he approached them. "Good Evening, all of you. It is most auspicious that you have found success in your task; however, further inquiries and celebration must wait. You all have to attend the grand event and must be properly presentable! I insist that you all begin your preparations. Mister Midoriya, I shall accompany you to your hotel." The elder maintained a professional tone in his mannerism, leaving the group no grounds for further discussion.
David chuckled weakly, aware that his butler was merely doing his job.
Melissa, on the other hand, seemed to have other plans.
Which began by firmly grasping Izuku's left arm and bringing him close to herself; unknowingly settling his limb right in between her chest. "No! Izuku is not going anywhere! There is plenty of room here that he can borrow to prepare for anything that he may need! He stays!" The aggressiveness of Melissa's resolve took the older adults back in surprise. She was never a girl to complain or be overly whiny, always understanding the seriousness behind any and everything.
David took it in stride, but Sam seemed to be truly surprised by the girl's outburst.
The vampire glanced away from the girl, trying to tug his arm away from her grasp and failing as any tut or movement only made the American tug the limb harder. "I understand, Sam-san; my clothes also are back at the hotel, Melissa, so I have to get them! I'll come back as soon as I can." He tried to strike a deal with the girl. Izuku didn't enjoy being a nuisance - and his nose cringed in disgust at the smell that heavily clung to the elder butler. It was something he knew for certain, but could not truly place it under a name.
Sam nodded his head in agreement, expecting the proposal from the teen himself to have worked on the girl. Contrary to his expectations, Melissa shook her head and pulled her phone out of her pants' pocket. A few quick taps on the screen and she sighed in self-satisfaction.
"No need! I can have my workshop tailor something perfect for you! Literally made to perfectly fit you! Any color scheme or fancy tidbit you will need, we can make it before you finish bathing!"
David raised a brow at his daughter's behavior. Well, it was true that they had the facilities (and drones) to quickly whip up something that would put brand clothes to shame – both in quality and style – but it was more of a personal pet project for David than something that he wanted to share. It was where he would make All Might the outfits that had been the hero's trademark for years. Melissa always had had full access to it, but she had never demonstrated any wish to have anything tailor made for anyone. Is this some sort of crush? I mean, she dated a couple of boys back in America, but no one grasped her attention like this!
Sam, seeing that there would be no getting around the girl in her current mindset, merely nodded.
"Very well then. Shall we get going, Mr. Shield? We need to get you properly set for tonight! You shall give a speech close to All Might, after all." The butler relented and began pushing the scientist out with a calm demeanor that only a professional butler could.
After the two adult males left the room, it became somewhat silent. Izuku wondered what was he to say at a moment like this, but the vampire ran short of witty answers or anything clever.
"That was something, alright." He spoke in what he hoped to be a civil tone.
Melissa released his arm and laughed a bit awkwardly. "Tehehe! I'm sorry Izuku, I don't really know what overcame me." She played with one loose bang of her golden hair, blue eyes shyly trying to avoid his frame, but always coming back to it. She once more pulled her phone and displayed the screen to him. "Since I promised, I'd better deliver something super for you. What is your taste, huh? Go on, big boy, tell me what sort of fancy suits you want!" The blonde girl tried to play the nervous and somewhat awkward mood off by pretending the event hadn't happened.
That got a chuckle out of Izuku. Sure, he could play by her rules. "Right on, then! Blow me away with your selection, Miss Shield!" Or he could tease her a bit.
Melissa groaned at his words. "Oh god, don't call me that! It makes me sound super old!" She tapped a few times on her device and suddenly a holographic display popped up, displaying an impressive number of pre-formed matching suit-pieces. Izuku had his eyes drawn to a few pieces, tilting his head forward in his interest.
Melissa expected Izuku to pick something tacky, considering he had told her about his childhood infatuation with All Might before he mellowed out and diversified his tastes in…well, everything. Her Uncle Might surely would pick out the most attention-calling, bizarre combination that would make a stylist scream in terror, yet somehow the piece would still fit in with him, in a sort of strange uniqueness that could not be replicated.
Instead of that, the vampire had quite the taste while he checked out individual parts, making sure to match any and everything. From shoes, pants, belt, inner shirt, blazer, watch and then the suit itself, the vampire was careful in his selection, sticking to darker themed colors and matching everything. She was captured by the seriousness he displayed while working on this task. So entranced by his hidden talent, words spilled out of her mouth before she could think on them.
"Might as well let you pick out my clothes too. If we go out there matching, the event might not be so boring after all."
Izuku glanced back at her with a small glint in his eyes, the glowing tint of crimson light telling her without words of his amusement. She couldn't help the blush this time.
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…
/Backdoor Access: [Granted]
-Ghostdrive found!
/Deleting records of external access by *******
/:Request for permanent removal of all the files pertaining to Izuku_Midoriya from the base system: [Denied]!
/:Request for permanent removal of all the files pertaining to {Project_Ambrosia} from the base system: [Denied]!
-Izuku_Midoriya_files and sub-files: [Protected by master-code and VVIP clearance]
/: Alternative methods being presented. Compiling data. Scanning data miner. Hacker foun…– ….system is clean of threats!
/: Alternative methods found! Data pertaining individual: {Izuku_Midoriya} can be copied and shared via Ghostdrive.
0%…
…54%
88%… …99%
100%
/Data sharing is complete!
/Deleting data_cache pertaining {Backdoor Access}
"What truly impressive quirk. It will be such delight when I take it from you!"
[XXX]
[XXX]
"Are you sure that this suits me?" Melissa asked nervously, staring at herself in front of a full-body mirror. The duo had moved to the living quarters of the tower, Melissa guiding Izuku to a guest room right beside her own personal room. He had borrowed a towel and after some time for personal hygiene and waiting for his suit to be finished, he emerged from the room finishing up buttoning his shirt and fixing his (borrowed) watch. The vampire then knocked on the girl's door, receiving permission to enter.
After he entered the room, Izuku was treated – quite literally – to the sight to Melissa in front of the mirror as she spun around, checking her dress. She had another dress over her bed, a blue piece with a white skirt; her current attire was a black-piano colored one piece that tightly hugged her frame and seemed to glitter in the light of her room. It pushed her large assets up and made the girl look even beautiful than usual. The vampire had to look away for a moment, imagining Mei in Melissa's place and feeling a rumble build up in the back of his throat, the [Inner Beast] growling in approval, Izuku unable to disagree with his baser instincts.
A scrunchie held her previously loose hair into a ponytail, her current pieces of jewelry simple, yet not subtracting her beauty at all. She had ditched her glasses, probably using contact lenses; there was also a decorated choker on her neck, the vampire having trouble knowing where to look; her perfume was a sweet, lightly citric thing (he guessed it was a combination of Japanese Cypress and turmeric) that tickled at his senses and it made Izuku want to bury his nose into the crook of her neck. He restrained himself, taking a deep breath to calm his senses – and inhaling more of the girl's perfume – that did very little to actually help him.
Melissa turned to him, her chest lightly bouncing, and examined him from head to toe. She let out a surprised noise, his current appearance truly astonishing.
The black dress shoes were tipped with metal, more for aesthetics than for anything else. Izuku was sporting dark gray slacks and a detailed red long sleeved shirt that suited him to a tee, contrasting exceptionally well with the black blazer he wore and the dark moss-green tie. Finally, the black suit fitted over everything like a well-worn glove. He had a fancy watch on his left wrist, his right one decorated with a red bracelet oddly familiar to Melissa.
She would question why he had the Full Gauntlet on, considering they were going to a fancy social party, but her question remained unspoken as she took notice of his face. He had managed to cut his hair, trimming down the sides almost like an undercut, except he had hair gel slicking the remaining top part of hair back and making Izuku seem almost like another person altogether.
They stared at each other for a few moments, words missing their mouths. It took the buzzing of Izuku's phone to break the spell over the two of them. Melissa turned back to glance at her bed, unsure if she should say anything; Izuku, on his part, busied himself answering the messages, his pupils focused on the screen (to avoid looking anywhere else).
After he finished typing his replies, he pocketed his phone and took another deep breath. Ignoring the lingering scent of cypress and turmeric in his nostrils, Izuku turned to Melissa and gave the girl his best smile.
"Fancy meeting you here, Ms. Shield! Might this servant be granted the pleasure of accompanying you on the incoming grand event of this evening?" Izuku granted his voice a bit of a deeper tone, his hair becoming a mix of dark green and black as he pulled on Toga's quirk factor.
The girl turned back to meet him, mirth in her eyes. There was light makeup done on by the girl, enhancing her beauty without calling too much attention.
"Black does suit you, Melissa!" He complimented, the girl approaching him and messing a bit with his suit, 'fixing' creases on it.
"You also dress up nicely in a suit, Mr. Vampire." She joined in his joking tone. "But, yes, you can chaperone me in this grand event. Uncle Might may be a bit jealous though, so watch your six."
Izuku chuckled. "I'm the spooky vampire here, he should be the one watching his back." Izuku jokingly said, offering his arm for the girl. Melissa lightly smacked at him, but still wrapped her arm around his, guiding him as they exited the Shield's personal tower to go towards the grand event of the night.
The vampire found it a bit weird that they weren't being guided by Sam or any other security staff, considering Melissa was David's daughter. Sure, I-Island was under constant technological surveillance and had top-of-the-line everything, but nothing was ever so perfect that determined enough people wouldn't find a loophole in it. He mentally shrugged; maybe the lack of protection was due to the fact that she was with him, the recently famous Monster of UA. His reputation might not be that grand, but it was known by the public that he could (and would) resort to extreme use of force if the need be. His encounter with Stain and the noumu back in Hosu had shown that to the world.
The vampire let his somber thoughts sink to the deep recesses of his mind, enjoying the presence of Melissa as they slowly walked towards the exit of the building's lobby to catch a cab to reach the main event.
Melissa drew in all sorts of attention, the girl blushing a bit under all the stares. He raised a brow at her, wondering if she wasn't used to the attention. She looked back at him, a bit of a pout in her lips.
"What?"
"…nothing." She hmph'ed at him. He smirked back at her. "Let's get going then."
He nodded at her suggestion, managing to quickly find a taxi. They both entered the vehicle and waited until they arrived at the main tower where the event would be held. Izuku and Melissa made small talk as the car drove them, yet the vampire couldn't help but notice the staring eyes of the driver through the mirror.
The car also seemed to be taking its sweet time to reach the building; the trip should have taken no more than seven minutes, but fifteen had already passed and they weren't in the lobby yet.
Melissa leaned on his shoulder with a sleepy look in her eyes, her blue orbs sporting this glassy look that made Izuku began to get worried. Was she that tired from their (maniacal) research? Or…
[Master, the air tastes strange! This male blood bag is giving us constant looks, and we aren't going to tolerate this anymore!]
[Something is amiss here!]
[Let's find out! Let's drink all his blood and leave his carcass to rot!]
The vampire took a deep breath, agreeing with some of his inner tenant's ramblings. The air inside the vehicle was bothering his throat a bit, and now that the vampire focused further on the man, his mind began blaring alarms at him. The man had the same stench that so heavily clung to Sam the butler, but his disgusting smell was worse than that of the old butler.
The vampire allowed Melissa to lean on his shoulder, his head turning to fully focus on the rear-view mirror that was allowing the driver sight to the teens.
"Having a good date there, sport?" The man – in his middle twenties by Izuku's guess – asked in a friendly tone, one hand on the steering wheel while the other was out of view.
Izuku nodded to him, averting his eyes from the glass of the mirror and taking a deep breath.
"Yes, I am." Izuku calmly replied. There were a few seconds of silence with the hum of the car's engine being the only noise echoing. Then, in a sudden rush, the man tried to point a pistol back at Izuku, the vampire calling upon [Shadow Control] to emerge from his shadow and immediately immobilize the driver, various tendrils latching on the man and on the steering wheel, guaranteeing the safety of everyone inside. The vampire used his shadow matter to guide the car to a parking lot, the bound man trying to scream at him and break free from his shadowy grip, failing at both.
Izuku carefully laid Melissa to rest on the back seats while he exited the car and dragged the man away from the driver's seat. The vampire slammed the squirming man on the ground a few times, the struggling grunts stopping after the fifth slam. The male dropped his gun and Izuku picked the weapon and examined it, finding the pistol to be chambered not with real bullets, but with some strange injection bullet. Whoever just tried to kidnap them was keen on keeping them alive.
Izuku's eyes became floodlights as he turned to the failed kidnapper, the man staring back at him with a fierce expression.
"I know you won't talk, and in all honesty, I don't really need you to. All the answers I need I can get them either from your mind or from your blood." The vampire stated, his shadow tendrils reeling back and dragging the man close to Izuku. His crimson slits stared into the Caucasian's muddy brown pupils, but instead of carefully teasing the answers out of the man's mind, Izuku began forcefully rummaging through the man's mind, pushing [Mesmerize] and the man's mind to its absolute limits.
The man proved to be a professional in his business, considering that the vampire could not glimpse anything truly useful from the man's mind. Short moments and a few unimportant names were all that Izuku got for his efforts, the vampire growling in frustration at his lack of development regarding the mind aspect of his quirk.
[This blood bag is being rather cheeky, for a grunt that doesn't know its place!]
[Shall we drain his blood?! Let us feast in his life force!]
[It has been a while since our last truly fulfilling meal!]
[Master! His mind might not open to us, but there is something that can't refuse us!]
[We are masters when it comes to the rivers of life! It cannot lie to us, for we are its lord! We are Bloodborne!]
Well, he was getting kinda [Thirsty] anyways. With all the testing and all the excitement, Izuku had yet to have a proper drink, and while his kidnapper didn't look appetizing, Izuku could make do. A growl left his throat and Izuku reeled the man closer.
"Very well! Since you refuse to open the gates of your mind, I shall cease my efforts there." The vampire said, not waiting for a reply from the man. He grasped the adult male's shirt with his hands, his sharp claws digging into the clothing and finding the cloth rather hard to pierce in his half-hearted effort. Things weren't adding up, and Izuku hated to be left without answers.
"Sir!" He called the man's attention. "I will now read your mind." He stated, the man frowning his brow. "By drinking all your blood." Izuku refused to elaborate further, letting the wide-eyed man stew in his confusion as the vampire sank his fangs into his neck, the pained grunt suppressed by the shadow tendrils that gagged and bound him.
(The Thirst · Olivier Deriviere)
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Melissa stirred awake not a few minutes later, her head pounding a bit. She confusedly scanned her surroundings, finding herself to be laying down on the backseat of a car. More specifically, the taxi she had entered with Izuku. When had she fallen asleep?
She exited the vehicle and found Izuku to be sitting on the hood of the car, typing on his phone with an extremely serious look on his face. It suits him well, she let the thought swim in her mind before she coughed to gather his attention. Her sleep-addled mind failed to register the fact that the driver was missing, the girl content on approaching the vampire and sending him her best glare/questioning gaze.
When he didn't fall into his usual antics, Melissa's mind began to speed up.
"Izuku? What's wrong?"
He didn't answer, merely presenting his phone back to her, one of his fingers pointing to a specific part of the screen. The reception bars were blocked, no signal being received on the device. Which was strange, since I-Island had the best access to internet in the whole world, with 10G connection that was unmatched. Was his phone broken?
She glanced down to her own watch, ready to fix any software errors in his phone when she noticed that her own device was cut off from the network. She furrowed her brow and began messing with her settings, sure that there was nothing wrong with her device itself.
The vampire then pulled out a gun from his suit and placed it by his side, the magazine for the ammunition by the weapon too.
"Our driver tried to shoot me with one of these. Can't say what they are, but they are definitively not real bullets, or sleeping darts for that matter. They smell strange, I can't exactly put it into words, but I know that these things are dangerous." He explained, making sure to keep the second gun a secret to himself. It was another pistol, this one was chambered with real, live rounds; chambered in 9mm parabelum rounds, the blocky and square design was unmistakable: a Glock.
Melissa's mind really sped up after the news.
"What is going on?" She asked, her tone slipping up a bit.
Izuku approached her slowly, not wanting to scare the girl further. She noticed his approach, also noticing the slight stain of a viscous fluid at the left corner of his mouth. She tried to slow her breathing, her watch beeping to life.
{Emergency Broadcast! Emergency Broadcast!}
{Please, calmly follow the instructions and procure shelter.}
Izuku turned his head to find a few security bots approaching them from the parking lot entrance, Melissa also turning and spotting the robots. Her expression displayed clear confusion.
"These protocols are wrong, Izuku! We don't dispatch security bots to act on emergencies. Besides, our network would never be down, we have weather control apparatus around the island that pacify weather phenomenon up to 30 kilometers before it reaches the coast, net should never be down. Forget the outflow; I can't communicate even with the inner system!" It was clear that there was something very wrong happening here.
Melissa still seemed to be somewhat composed, but Izuku preferred to keep the bulk of his acquired information to himself. It was best that he give her what was necessary without dumping unneeded information on her.
I-Island was under a terrorist attack. There were people aiming for David and All Might, the mercenaries strangely confident that they could keep the top hero of Japan at bay. They tried to kidnap Melissa to user her as leverage just in case things went sour for them, and netting Izuku with them was a bonus, since supposedly there was a bounty for him among the criminals and the underworld of crime in the world.
Someone was after him…or more specifically, someone was after [True Ancestor].
The vampire took a deep breath and primed a [Blood Spear] on his right arm, pointing it at the incoming security bots. The crimson javelin shot up with incredible speed, piecing the head monitor of the leader of the bots before it began to glow up. It exploded in a shower of hardened shrapnel and explosive bits, destroying the entire group that intended in corralling them.
Melissa yelped at the action, not expecting it. Izuku couldn't blame her. He sighed, the taste of blood in his mouth not alleviating the worry in his mind.
The blood that the vampire had taken in replenished what he had spent earlier during the experiments with David and Melissa, but he was already burning some of that to analyze the quirk factor of his kidnapper; so far it was going rather efficiently and rapidly, but the more answers his own blood gave him, the more the worrisome feeling in his gut grew.
Alex Summerville. Regular man from New York turned mercenary. Twenty-seven years old.
Quirks: [Enhanced Mind] and [Electromagnetic Vision].
Yes, quirks. As in, more than one.
Izuku licked his itchy fangs, hiding his current expression from Melissa by turning back and avoiding her sight, the girl much too busy trying to establish any form of communication with the Island's own systems. The smile that split his lips was dangerous, something that belonged more on a villain than a student.
More powers, more quirk-factors for him. It was quite the high to drink blood rich in quirk factors, the information feedback highly stimulating.
Melissa smelled wonderful too just about now.
He felt his fangs itch even more.
[XXX]
To be Continued
AU END NOTES
Another chapter, finally huh?
Things are only going to escalate further and further, so prepare thy asses for the future to come.
I didn't enjoy that much the new recent chapters in the manga, but they fit. I particularly wanted Izuku to kick 1-A's ass, but I do understand why horikoshi-sensei went the route he did. Doesn't mean I will follow that, because we don't mess around with [True Ancestor], especially since I want to do revive a certain character. Yes, you read it right. Revive!
Crazy shit is bound to happen in the future for this story, so stay tuned. I promise that our vampire boy is going to become quite the powerhouse, but with Melissa, shit is about to go super! Tech won't surpass quirks, but it will certainly reach the same level. I picture Melissa in the future as an active support type person; and if I develope the romance right, then she will be one scary girl. Imagine what she and Izuku will accomplish by mixing her intellect and his OP quirk! I have shit that could become truly overpowered, but let's see first how do we do this!
Remember that one time when I said I wanted Izuku (in the future) to be able to perform Chibaku Tensei (Planetary Devastation)? Yeah, that was with quirks alone.
This shit that I have cooking in my head with Izuku and Melissa (quirks and tech)? Potential to be even more op than creating a planetoid.