They agreed on a schedule of meeting on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays for the next 6-12 months, assuming there were not technical hick-ups to prolong the process. As annoyed and nervous as she was about having to work with him, she also couldn't deny the sheer excitement. She'd missed the feeling of diving headlong into research, sequestering herself in a lab full of possibilities, pouring over data. She considered having to put up with her lab partner a just payment for this gift from the universe. While daydreaming about her scientific adventure, she toyed with the keychain on her phone, "One favor"… she contemplated.

A knock came at her door, bringing her back to reality. "Um yes, come in."

"You alright in here? I was knocking for a couple minutes there." Dr. Tanaka said from the now open doorway, concern in his features.

"Yeah, I'm great, just zoned out for a little bit. What can I do for you?"

"I think it's more of what I can do for you…" he said sighing, closing the door behind him. "How was your coffee run last Friday?"

She cautioned a glance at him, sliding her burner phone to the side, folding her hands on her desk. "It was fine, thanks for the recommendation."

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Nope."

"I see." They stared at each other a beat, before he realized he'd have to confront this head on. "You know, something strange happened at a construction site nearby after you left. No one knows what happened, but suddenly there were a bunch of nuts where there used to be a giant metal beam. Know anything about that?"

"…"

"Nanami."

"…"

"What happened."

"Ok, ok so I did something really dumb—surprise, surprise! Everyone gets to mess up once in a blue moon, don't they?"

"Knew it. "He said, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "And sure, they do, but they don't usually happen to mess up on yakuza turf." Tanaka rebutted. He was one of the only people who knew the extent of her quirk. For a while, they worked together with him thinking all her quirk could do was clear clots. That is until she'd reassembled a patient whose legs had been shattered beyond repair after being run over by a car. There was no way she could lie about it after he'd witnessed it firsthand, but after a long talk, he understood why it was important to keep her secret.

"How was I supposed to know? I was just minding my business and I saw a guy about to get crushed. I couldn't just ignore it. "

He sighed knowing he would have wanted her to do the same for him if he was in a bind. "Just... be more mindful, ok? No one knows that there was anyone there according to my friends at the police department, and for some reason they also haven't heard any stirring from the yakuza in that area. I don't know what or if you've gotten yourself into anything, but just be careful."

Nanami chewed the inside of her mouth, and nodded her head, knowing he'd probably faint if he knew the extent of what transpired afterwards. "Of course," she showed a small smile, "I appreciate you looking out for me. I'll try my best not to let it be in vain. We good?"

He looked at her a beat longer before responding, knowing there was more to the story, but also wanting to respect his friend, "We're good." He replied, smiling reluctantly as he turned to leave, softly closing the door behind him.

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, her daydream now over.

It felt like she blinked, and it was Wednesday evening. She parked in the same spot as the first time and as she got out, her burner phone vibrated.

"Hello?"

"That spot is too obvious. Park here." He said curtly, texting her an alternate location.

She looked around but didn't see any cameras, How does he know where I am?

"Well, thanks for the heads up. I wasn't aware, being new to doing shady stuff and all."

"Just hurry."He breathed, already sounding annoyed, and the line clicking immediately after.

Rude. She rolled her eyes and parked at the location he'd sent. After walking a few minutes, she arrived at the entrance, Kurono escorting her in. They made their way to the underground labyrinth and headed in the direction of the lab. Before opening the door, Kurono broke the silence, "Good luck." And with that he was gone.

Walking over, she could see Overhaul's figure at the workbenches by the whiteboard, the clicking of her boots echoing through the room until she was standing a safe distance from him.

"Good evening, Dr. Watanabe." He greeted respectfully as though he hadn't just hung up in her face minutes ago.

"Good evening. You're so much more polite in person than on the phone." Was the comment petty and unnecessary? Sure. Did she regret saying it? Absolutely not.

"Did you come to work with me or bicker?"

"I can do both," she responded innocently. His eye twitched in irritation, just as he was about to respond, she finished," but right now I'd like to work with you. Shall we?"

He sighed, "Let's. First, we need to begin taking blood samples." He motioned to a cart that had already been prepared with sterile syringes and tubes.

"Agreed. I'll take yours first."

He sat down, taking off his jacket and neatly rolling up his sleeve. She grabbed some fresh gloves and pulled up a chair and the cart, sitting next to him. Not wanting to trigger his mysophobia, she reconfirmed it was ok to touch him, "May I?" He cautioned her a glance before offering his forearm, before quickly looking away. "Just get it over with."

Wait, is he scared of needles?

Refocusing she gently took his arm and fastened the tourniquet from the cart securely around the base of his bicep. As she was sterilizing the area, she noticed it was hard to keep her hand steady and looked down to see his knee bouncing nervously. He really is afraid of needles… Nanami thought incredulously. It was interesting to see someone so fearless get worked up over something so small, but she guessed there was probably a good reason for it. Either way, it would be impossible to get a sample if he didn't sit still. He might kill her for asking this, but it was the only way.

"Hey," she began quietly, Overhaul still fixing his eyes on a wall that was suddenly very interesting, "could you do me a favor?"

"Already acting like you've won before the experiment even begins. Aren't you presumptuous?" He taunted her coolly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"No, not that favor-just a small one." She cleared her throat before continuing," Could you hum for me?"

"Do what?" Now his head was turned, and he was looking directly at her.

"It doesn't have to be a song, just a note." She quickly clarified.

"Do I look like a child to you?"

"Absolutely not. You're much less cute." She shot back, but her face held a small smile.

"That's definitely not a widely-held belief. And the answer is no." He replied with a specific brand of arrogance.

"Please?" she pleaded, reflexively clutching his arm closer to her chest, the closeness startling him. "I can't get a clean insertion if you're fidgeting like that. Just try it for 5 seconds— it'll be like meditation." She reasoned.

Realizing she wasn't going to give up, he relented. Giving her an exasperated look, he turned away, focused on the wall and hummed. It came as a hesitant, low rumbling and lasted exactly 5 seconds, though Nanami found herself wishing it had lasted just a little bit longer. Afterwards, he rolled his eyes, annoyed she was taking so long.

"Could you hurry up and get this over wit—"

He stopped, watching her place a small, pink band aid with little strawberries on it over the bend of his arm.

"All done." She said confidently.

"What the hell is this?"

"Evidence of my expertise. Also, you didn't have any regular band aids so I had to use my own. You're welcome." She smiled as he returned a glare.

Rolling down his sleeve in a huff, he impatiently demanded her arm, "Give me your arm."

Realizing she was skating on thin ice, she decided to spare him a retort and cooperated. He was firm, but not rough and quickly extracted her blood sample. It was clean and clinical. His eyes trained on her arm, he put out his hand in front of her expectantly. What is he.. oh! Not wanting to waste the golden opportunity of seeing him have to do this, she promptly handed him another band aid from her bag. Placing it firmly on the wound, the deed was done, and she did her best to stifle a smile at his mild embarrassment.

Clearing his throat, he rose from his chair and went to the whiteboard. They refocused and decided on the specific day-to-day schedule as well as how they would log and test the samples most efficiently. They needed control samples to test against and, as though it was normal to have a fridge full of mysterious blood, Overhaul nonchalantly offered his stash. Knowing better than to even ask where the samples came from, they began, quickly forming a routine.

A month of work passed by and the routine became more natural to Nanami. What was first a nerve-wracking trip to a yakuza hideout simply became a less-conventional commute to her side-project. What began as leers from the other yakuza, turned from indifference to casual hellos and then small talk. But most surprisingly, what began as a contentious partnership had evolved into pleasant tolerance.

For all his faults, Overhaul was an ideal lab partner. He was meticulous, tidy, and prompt. Even his usually grumpy disposition was dulled while they worked as she could tell he truly enjoyed burying himself deep into lab work. Comparatively, her day job was taxing and finding colleagues who hadn't been jaded by the day-to-day seemed impossible. Coming to this lab every week was a breath of fresh air.

"Could you hand me a pipet?" He asked, stirring her from her thoughts.

"Oh yes, of course. Here." She promptly handed it to him, resuming her work, but she could still feel his gaze.

"You seem distracted today." He noted, turning back to continue his work.

She was a taken aback by the observation. They had made small talk before, but largely worked in comfortable silence. "Hm. I suppose I am." She could feel him staring at her again and she looked up to see him raising a brow as though he was waiting for her to elaborate. "Well, I was just thinking it hasn't been as awful as I expected… working with you here."

"Oh?"

"I mean, it definitely wouldn't be my first choice, but coming here… it's been nice. I've stifled my quirk for such a long time, it's just odd being able to openly discuss it, much less study it."

He stared at her a beat before asking, "What caused it?"

"What?"

"What caused you to repress it?" he clarified, continuing to work. After a bit of silence, he looked over to see her open her mouth to answer then close it when the words seemed like they wouldn't come out. Whatever the answer was, she was struggling with it in earnest. "You don't have to answer that."

She was shocked and appreciative of the consideration he was seemingly giving her, but didn't want to waste the opportunity. She'd never talked about it with anyone—she couldn't. But if anyone would understand, it would be him and she wasn't going to pass up the chance.

"I killed someone." She whispered gravely, staring straight down. From the corner of her eye she could see him turn to stare for a beat before resuming his task. Biting her lip, she added," it was only temporary, but still, I killed someone." Already feeling a portion of the weight coming off her chest at the simple admission, she continued," I was twelve and my quirk had already manifested years before, but we didn't know the extent of it. I had just assumed I could manipulate and reform little things, and only on non-organic matter. I mean I'd never tried it because who in the world would think to disassemble a living creature like that?" At this he gave her a look, raising his brows, "Well, at least I didn't think to do something like that." She corrected before continuing, the both of them working while she talked. "A boy moved next door to us and he had a quirk that manifested physically causing him to have these beautiful scales, like a dragon straight out of a fairytale. It was a bright, summer day and we were playing together in the park and I remember the scales shining and reflecting in the sunlight. I was hypnotized. I found myself wondering 'What could they possibly be made of?' The next thing I knew I was reaching out and the second my fingertip made contact I—I …" she was now shaking at the memory of it, gripping the pipet so tightly it might break. Suddenly, she felt a gloved hand gently place itself on top of hers while another coaxed her fist to open, releasing the now-dented tool. Clearing her throat she tried steadying her breath and met his gaze. It was placid and if she didn't know any better, soft. He slowly removed his hand from hers, putting the pipet to the side to fix later.

"Continue." He instructed as he replaced his gloves, but she could hear a sliver of encouragement in his tone.

"… I disassembled him. There was blood everywhere and I panicked. All I could think about was how badly I needed to put him back together and then... it happened. He was back in front of me, fully formed as though nothing had happened… But something had happened, and nothing would be able to change that. He ran home screaming that I was a freak. A monster. I never saw him again and my parents decided it was best to limit me and rebrand my quirk as simple 'object manipulation'~. The rest is…history." I said it. She thought sighing a breath of relief. Even if he thought less of her for it, she knew she would be alright, at least having been able to speak about it once. She'd accept the consequences and ridicule, whatever they were.

"You made a mistake. It's over now." He said matter-of-factly as he continued working like she hadn't just shared one of her darkest secrets.

Staring at him in shock, she realized this was his way of comforting her. Was it sociopathic and a little too dismissive of adolescent homicide? Sure. But she couldn't deny how nice it was to not be judged for the first time. Here in this lab with him, it was just a small piece of her past, a piece of data for their research. Here, she was more than just that incident and for that, she would forever be grateful.

She felt tears well up but didn't let them fall. Instead she picked up the pipet and some tools to fix it, before simply replying "Thank you."

He nodded and they continued to work, the silence a little more comfortable than before.