Down the Rabbit Hole
Follow up
Research hasn't been and likely never will be Uraraka's favorite or preferred line of hero work. It's a back and forth between files and the computer screen, peering through police reports and cluttered camera data, searching for snippets of information contained in hundreds of words and hours of film when all that is required is three seconds or a half dozen letters.
Quirkless.
So, nine letters respectively.
Two syllables.
Thousands of things missing.
She had started with confirmed facts. Whereabouts detailed and catalogued over the past three years of his operations, and suspected operations going back as far as seven years ago.
When she had first gotten into UA.
Which meant, assuming he was her same age, then he was around fifteen at the time of his first operation.
Fifteen.
She leaned back in her office chair with a huff, rubbing her eyes and blinking them back to full openness as she glanced at her screen.
A dozen windows were opened, running facial recognition software through enterance exam videos from the past either years.
Had been for hours now. That had been her first move. But…
If he was Quirkless, what were the chances he even applied for an entrance exam? Low. Almost non-existent. He probably had been denied outright if he even applied. She groaned, letting her eyes drift down to the clock in the bottom right.
1:17.
0117
An hour past midnight.
She gets up, stretching as she meanders her way around her desk and out of her and Tsu's shared office to the main room.
Their shared agency had been a bit spur of the moment. Planned, but spur of the moment. With growing popularity, and income from work, they'd taken a leap of faith and gone in together on it. They did small work, teaming up with the other girls too, some that came here specifically looking for others, most often Pinky, given that she came by nearly every day.
The building was quaint, shoehorned in between a shopping mall and an upscale Thai restaurant that had a boom in business from two specific customers ever since Uraraka and Tsuyu moved in next door.
Wasn't their fault the Pad Thai was so good.
But now, even the Thai place was closed, and Tsu, their sidekicks, and anyone else with any sense had taken off, leaving her combing over what little information she could get on The Rabbit.
Which again. Is next to, if not, nothing.
Uraraka groans, glad that she'd chosen to swap her hero boots for her pajama slippers early on in the day. She shuffles them along the tile floor, around the desks of her sidekicks, only two of which are occupied in the day, and none at night, to the coffeemaker.
She pours herself a cup, staring down into the black slug that she'd brewed especially for herself.
Idly she wonders if it will kill her, drinking this much in one night. She had a cup when Tsu left. Another an hour after that. Did she have one when her Slicer left or no?
She couldn't remember.
She swallows, glancing from the cup to the mini fridge below. Dozens of creamers lay within, all tempting her, but none her favorite.
She'd run out of her favorite days ago, but refused to replace it under the guise of cost savings. Defnitely not because it ws extra sugar and she was staring to notice an extra tightness to her suit.
Definitely not that.
No creamer then.
She stalks back to her desk, setting her mug of fresh brain fuel next to her computer as she clicks through the videos. She shuts them off individually, giving up on identifying him from enterance exams.
It's a lost cause and she knows it.
She sits idly for a while, watching the steam wisp off her coffee and disappear. Their databases had nothing on Rabbit. Nothing at all that could help lead her to a solid identity.
She groans, drumming her fingers on her desk.
Well.
She has one lead.
With a huff and a monumental effort, she sits back up in her chair, fumbling through the drawers of her desk in search of the card he'd given her. Pencils and pens go wide, tossed aside because no one that does anything actually keeps business cards organized.
That's what she tells herself anyway when it takes three emptied drawers and half a fourth to find it- hidden under a casefile Tsu must have dumped on her desk.
Rabbit
Izuku Midoriya
He'd bothered to correct the name, give her a number that she could call if she needed anything. That was more than most. And even if it was an alias, she might still be able to pull something off of it.
Eagerly, she types it into the search engine. She is decidedly not ready with after only a minute, it pings, pulling up a thin file.
It's small, and she clicks it with some hesitation.
A school file. Elementary. Middle school. Child medical records. It's all recorded so neatly in front of her, it gives her pause.
There's no highschool records linked. No college inclinations. The file was last updated seven years ago, one final document capping off the life of one Izuku Midoriya neatly.
A death certificate.
She clicks it.
It's brief. Almost none-descript in it's recount of finding the boy alone, tucked in a back alley with injuries congruent with fall trauma. It's bare bones, if even a full skeleton, and there's nothing there that tells her a how, a why, or even if the fall was by choice, accident, or anything.
The investigation had concluded it was not a homicide, and devoted resources elsewhere.
She combs back through his medical records, searching for the one detail that would cinches it. And she finds it listed neat and tidy under the both.
Quirk: N/A
If Rabbit is telling the truth. Then his real name was Izuku Midoriya.
The death certificate is likely fabricated. She can easily check back with the school and ask about previous incidents around that time. And it ties up one more loose end as well.
How Rabbit knows Bakugo.
They shared the same school. Same childhood home. Same neighborhood.
She pulls out her cell, checking the card on her desk as she puts each number in. It rings twice, before a groggy voice answer it.
"Sunshine," his voice is sluggish and muffled, and she can nearly picture him rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "I know I said call me, but it's a bit late, and I have to work early and-"
"Izuku Midoriya."
He goes quiet on the other end, and there's another groan and the sound of a bed creaking, the phone shifting from one ear to the other.
"Not like I didn't tell you that."
"Didn't jump off a roof did you?"
"Oh no. I did." She flinches, fear burning through her sleep-deprived system like a fresh shot of expresso. She blinks, then jumps back to the computer, opening back up the file detailing it.
"But you-"
"Fabricated the report. Yes." He informs, and she slumps back in her chair with another huff. "Could we talk about this when I'm more awake?"
"Agency has coffee." She snips back.
"Is that permission?" He yawns back.
"Rabbit."
"I think I like my name coming off your lips a lot better." He murmurs, and she can hear him shuffling around. "I guess I'll start early today. I'll be by in thirty minutes."
She bites her bottom lip, closing her eyes to concentrate on her tone because she did not need to think about his first comment. "How do you take your coffee then?"
"Black, two sugars."
She waits to make his cup, impatiently watching the clock tick over from 1:21 to 1:45 before she gets up from her desk. She's already finished her own cup, so she grabs Tsu's mug, her own and meanders into the main area again.
She refills both mugs, adding sugar to his before walking back to her office.
It occurs to her that the door is lock, has been for the last six hours, and that she should probably have the courtesy to unlock it. She sits back down in her chair, sliding it up to her desk.
But what kind of villain would he be if he couldn't get past a simple locked door?
The answer comes shortly, as the door opens anyway a few minutes later, and her reason for staying late, being utterly frazzled, and her recent bout of absolute insanity, walks in looking unfairly put together.
She'd blame it on the jeans, dark washed and pulled over brown boots. But she knows it's the white Henley, the top button popped to show a hint of skin and a hair's breadth of a scar on his collar.
He hums as he walks in, perusing the agency with a casual glaze but no doubt a critical eye.
Then those emerald eyes fall on her, just as he walks into her office.
And all of a sudden her office, shared with Tsu, both desks tucked carefully inside to maximize space, is far too small. He walks in and she's suddenly aware of just how little space is between the door and her desk.
She's even more aware of it as he steps up to it, one long graceful stride as he closes the distance, reaching across the desk. She's transfixed, hampered by sleep depravity, her own thoughts, and the blasted thoughts of how soft his lips had been. It has her flinching when his fingers curl around the cup of coffee she'd poured for him.
It has her following the mug up, watching him take a small sip before setting it back down, her own eyes lingering on his lip as he licks it.
"Should I have put on more layers or fewer?" He's voice is a casual rumble and it both breaks her out of her trance and sends her spiraling into a tizzy.
She jumps up from her chair, nearly toppling it over as she jumps up, steadying herself on the desk.
"I-you-I wasn'-" She cuts herself off, huffing and peeling her gaze off that smug smirk. "Izuku." She states, because his name is grounding, tasting the same on her tongue as a villain name.
"That's my name." He hums into his coffee, a soulful sigh leaving his lips as he walks around the desk. "I see you found my school file."
"You gave me the lead on purpose."
"I did." He agreed easily, reaching across from her and taking the mouse, double clicking the file.
There's a lag that wasn't there the first time she clicked it. And then an error, stating the file wasn't available.
She watches the smug smirk trickle over Rabbit-Midori-Izuku's features. She settles on his first name. Izuku. Midoriya sounds too formal for everything. Too impersonal for the suave villain.
"Hope you made a copy." He hums, leaning back and taking another drink.
She slaps his chest, growling and taking the half-step that puts her into his space, nearly chest to chest.
He gags, narrowly avoiding spilling coffee all over the both of them, but she refuses to back down. She's been tugged around by him, played one mission after the other, and enough is enough.
"What did you do?" She hisses.
He reaches out, long arms affording him the ability to keep his body still, eyes locked on hers as he sets the coffee down on her desk. "You didn't think I'd leave that file out there without a little trap on it. Did you?"
"You deleted it."
"If it's accessed twice by the same computer IP, it automatically erases all digital data of Izuku Midoriya from the records." He hums. "And before you ask, the physical copies are long gone."
She growls, one hand curling around those buttons that teased at his collar only a moment before.
"Why are you doing this?"
He hums and smiles, leaning down so they're nose to nose. "Well. I figured it only cordial to let the person you're courting know your name."
It takes a moment.
It takes a long moment. Long enough she can physically feel the blood rushing up to her cheeks, her snarl morph into a slackjaw-ed look. Her fingers are already sliding free as he squeezes in just a hair closer, chest to check as he wraps one arm around her.
She can't breathe.
He's too close.
Eyes too fierce, smirk too wild as his hand tightens on her hip.
Her own hands fumble, palms flat against his chest, then shoulders as they slide up, unable to determine if she wants to grab them and push or pull.
She fumbles with the idea, but every thought process grinds to a halt as he stops, lips not quite on hers. His eyes are peering into hers, and there's something in between them, something thick that pulls at her gut and makes her slowly suck her bottom lip in, biting the edge of it.
"Uraraka." He whispers. "I'd like to know if I can kiss you. Seems rude to not ask after leaving you so flustered with the first."
Rude.
He's concerned about rude?
The weight in her chest turns into heat as her hands finally function, sliding down and pushing him back.
He stumbles, back one step, then two as she pushes him again. And again.
Him!
Rude!
She huffs, cheeks burning as she shoves the fumbling green-haired man back once more, to the wall. She takes the last step in, hands grasping his shirt collar, not enough to stretch the fabric, but enough for him to know he should stay.
"You!" She huffs, putting voice to thought. "You just!- UGhhh!"
She catches the wry smile that graces his lips and it only makes her chest burn and ache more. "You just bumbled into my life! Some international criminal I should be taking to jail, and I can't nail you with anything!"
He cocks one eyebrow at her, and she can see the quip on the edge of his tongue, so she plants one of her fingers over them, shushing him.
"No. My turn." She insists sharply. "You ruin Eraser's stake out, mess up my whole morning, get me coffee, turn my simple drug raid into an absolute disaster, and then turn around, persuade my partner to get me to go out on a date! Not to mention my cellphone!"
"Tsu said tha-"
"I don't care what Tsu says!" Uraraka barks. "You! This is you! I don't need you swinging by every couple days, or weeks, like some phantom tease! Make up your mind! Villain or vigilante! But no! You play both! Run a drug trade! Help the mafia! Take out a gang! Stop human trafficking!" She groans, and the man she's pinned to the wall seems too confused to know what to reply with.
She slaps his arm, stealing his gravity.
He floats up to their ceiling, captive by her Quirk.
"And then!" Her voice has risen to shouting, but it's so damn it's impossible for anyone to hear her. "You give me- ME! Some fresh start hero your name! Not a codename or a callsign, your name! Real! Actual!" She lets out another cry of frustration, "Give me everything I need to track you down, come here for coffee, and then just," She snaps her fingers, and he drops back to the ground on his knees.
"Take it away."
He eases back up to his feet, eyebrows furrowed as he examines her.
"I'm so-"
And then she's pressed him back against the wall, claiming his lips because damn him! Damn him for being so -just- ugh!
He kisses her back, and this time, the ache in her chest eases as his fingers slide around her waist, pulling her gently into his chest.
Vaguely she realizes her Quirk is active.
Vaguely she realizes their feet are not on the ground.
But that vague thought is swallowed up by the feel of his lips, moving slowly and softly against hers. It's gentle.
Not demanding for more, but satisfied with what's there.
And oh-oh is it so much more different than anything else she's ever done.
Different than her awkward dates with Iida at UA. Different that her irritable outing with Bakugo.
Different than her dreams of meeting the perfect guy who would just know everything she wanted.
Izuku's teeth nibble on her lower lip, lips falling to track her jaw, and suddenly the tables have turned. It's no longer her that's in control, but him. He's pulled her closer, one hand on her back, the other tangled in her short hair, his lips slowly working their way up her jaw and-
Oh.
Oh.
She gasps, soft and breathless as he nips at her earlobe.
It's heated. It's soft. It's intimate. It's-
The lights to her office flick on, and with a yelp, she cancels her Quirk.
They narrowly miss both desks, instead landing in the spare chair, toppling it over and snapping the legs off of it all in one go. Izuku's hands have pulled tight around her, and she's crushed against his broad chest and the soft white shirt.
For a moment, she ponders if she could get used to this.
But that thought is ruined by a slow "Morning Rabbit- Ribbit."
Damn it Tsu.
Thank you Tsu.
Damn it Tsu.