Down the Rabbit Hole
Blood in the Water
"Did your Quirk evolve?" Izuku asks, emerald eyes glistening in mirth as he walks through the doors of her agency.
It's a comforting sight, seeing him nearly every day, usually with her coffee order and a bagel for the others. And if she enjoys seeing him in different civilian outfits, sue her. It's worth it.
"Come again?" She asks, reaching out for her coffee.
He slides up close, one hand around her waist, drawing dangerously close as he murmurs, "Because you take my breath away every time I see you."
She blushes, because damn him, he's intoxicating to be around. It's the warmth in her chest as he slides in close, to press of fabric as her fingers curl into his shirt (green today- like his eyes) instead of around her coffee cup.
She wants to bite back something witty, but she fumbles, instead grabbing her coffee out of his hand and stomping back to her office.
"Good morning Rabbit!" Her sidekicks, Slicer and Moonshot chorus. "Bagels?" Moonshot adds.
"Blueberry today." He replies, and if there's a hint of laughter in it, she ignores it.
She huffs, "Don't flirt with my sidekicks," storming into her office and around her desk.
He ambles in, leaning against the door frame like liquid sin. "There's only one person I flirt with, and I think we both know it's just you."
She wants to not blush.
If she could change her Quirk out for one that prevented her from doing so, in the moment, she'd take it. But instead, her cheeks color, and she's not sure her face can get any hotter.
He laughs, and she glares at him.
It's casual. It's normal. It's not at all the interactions a hero and a villain are supposed to be having. But he's hanging around her agency, greeting the heroes that swing by with the same fanboyish attitude of awe and glee even as they glare at him in suspicion.
"What brings you in today- Ribbit?" Tsuyu asks, rising from her chair and stretching, cracking her back and neck. She came in early today, which gave Uraraka time to gather her thoughts instead of open the agency.
"Going to be gone for the next couple weeks." He informs, holding out the plastic bag the bagels had been in. He orders Tsu a breakfast sandwich, though if there's a hidden joke behind it, none of them voice it to her. She takes it, setting it aside before dropping back into her chair.
"Where?" Uraraka asks, taking a sip of her coffee and- oh he got her favorite creamer- before pulling up her email.
She doesn't need to look up to feel the grin spreading across his lips. "Why do you ask? Concerned? I promise I'll be safe."
She huffs, rolling her eyes. "Izuku, you're an internationally wanted villain/vigilante. I think it would be more concerning if I didn't want to know where you'd be going."
"When did you shift to first name basis?" Tsu asks. "Before or after the gravity kiss?"
"Before. Midoriya was too impersonal, and Rabbit could get us in trouble in public." Izuku responses where she faults, too embarrassed to know how to respond.
She grounds herself by glaring at him, pointedly ignoring how his lips peel back to reveal those white teeth, that sharp smile. It sends a shiver down her spine now, thinking how two weeks ago she'd kissed him, and since then, two more times, all in private, and all heated and impulsive and-
"Uraraka love,"
And the nicknames.
She glares at him, and he winks. "Business. The type you don't approve of. But if I'm going to stay in well with my clients, then I need to play more than just one side of the fence. I promise, it won't be anything catastrophic." He assures.
"Mafia?" She guesses.
He winks. "Now I never said that now did I?" Then he's easing out the door, and she's following him. Through the bullpen, half desperate to squeeze him for information and half desperate for something else.
"Wait-" she catches him at the door, grabs his sleeve. "How long?"
He hesitates, and how he avoids her gaze makes her worry. "Depends, but I'll be back."
"And you'll come back here?" She presses, something in her making her desperate.
He nods, running a hand through his unruly green hair. She remembers how soft it is, how thick and wonderful it feels to tangle her fingers through it as he's nibbing at her ja-
Case. Villain. Criminal. Those thoughts later.
Maybe.
She grits her teeth and fixes him with a look. "And you'll-"
"I don't think safe is in my vocabulary anymore." He says, bending down, one hand cupping her cheek. "But I'll do my best." He promises, kissing her cheek, soft and sweet and restrained. And it still makes her lean into it, still makes her fingers flex, wanting to grab him, wanting to pull him close in a hug or a kiss or – anything to stop him from leaving.
But he does anyway, slips out the door and disappears, leaving her standing in front of the door, uncertain and scared.
It's unfair how he affects her. How he's spilled into her life and upended everything, pushing uncertainty into her steadiness. Putting fear into her daily operation.
She groans, combing her fingers through her hair as she heads back. "Moonshot, I'm taking your patrol, please."
"Anything, just tell me where I can get a guy like that." Her sidekick replies.
"On the most wanted list apparently." She bites out as she picks up her gear.
She needs to make a call first, meet someone else. Meet multiple someone elses. Because if there's anyone who would know what to do with him, it would be one of them.
Maybe both, or neither, but surely one of them out somewhat know.
"I already know you're dating him." Aizawa murmurs into the phone.
She nearly stumbles, missing the jump to the next rooftop. As it is, she has to activate her quirk and float the extra foot or so across before stumbling forward.
"Wh-how-when did you know?" She asks.
"Pft." He huffs. "The kid is anything but informal. I got an email after the stakeout, asking me if I would allow him to see you. Personally, not professionally. As if he's some sort of suitor." She hears him groan into the phone again, then another huff.
She's probably exhausting his emotional drama capacity for the day, but her life issues are slightly more pressing at the moment.
"And?" She insists, taking her focus from the phone to the street.
The coast is clear for the moment, nothing out of the ordinary in her district. There had been one mugging, but nothing that wasn't easily stopped floating the would-be mugger fifty feet up while she waited for the police to arrive.
"And I think you need to be careful." He responds. "Whether you like him or not, you have to remember he's still involved in a completely different world than you are. Even if you get seriously involved with each other, he's a villain Ochaco. At best he's a vigilante that helps the mob. Still a crime. Still cause for a lot of hurt in the world."
She bites her lip, sucking that information in as her own teeth sink into it. Another nervous habit she knew she had. Another tick that told her the unsettling feeling in her stomach was more than just anxiety.
"What if…" She started.
"He got out?" Aizawa- perceptive as always- beat her to the punch. "Unlikely. He's made this his career for seven years. And to back out of it for a hero, even if he likes you, doesn't seem to match his character."
The revelation is grounding, but it makes her chest hurt. Cold and hard, like swallowing freshly poured concrete. She sighs, taking a seat on the edge of the rooftop.
"Then I guess…" she trails off, both unwilling and unsure if she can voice the words.
Because that would make them real. Real like the kisses he'd given her. Real like all the flowers he'd just delivered to her office, with a smile and a cheesy line about how beautiful she was. She groaned.
"You're in bad for him aren't you?"
She sighs, "Is it that obvious?"
Aizawa snorts, and she can imagine the ridiculous smile on his lips. "Oh please. The easiest money I've ever made was betting on who would date who in your class."
"How much did you win?" She asks, because it's an easy topic change, even if a touch uncomfortable.
"More than my Christmas bonus." And she grimaces, wondering if it's really that bad. Then again. Todoroki had pinned after Yaomomo for so long… She let out a long-suffering sigh.
"I'll call you back when I've made a decision." She murmurs into the receiver. "Sorry to wake you up."
"Got class in a couple minute anyway." He grumbles, and she can hear the zipper of his sleeping bag. "Let me know. Talk to Yagi. I know he's your next call."
She sighs, and hangs up, dialing the next number as she gets up.
It rings for a while, and she gets voicemail, but that's not unusual at this point. Yagi never answers on the first call. So she dials it again, and has to wait for it to ring three more times before it connects.
She hesitates, and instead she hears him hum into the phone and a tentative, "Uraraka?"
And that's all it takes for her to blurt it all out. "I think-I'm-dating-a-villain-but-I-don't-know-if-he's-a-villain-and-I-think-he-might-be-a-good-guy-but-then-there's-the-fact-he-works-with-the-mob-and-he's kinda hot."
There's a long pause on the other end, and she can't tell if it's because she just word vomited all over him, or if he's actually trying to process what she said.
Apparently he does, because his reply is, "Well is he a nice boy?"
"I think so?" Her reply is meek, tentative at best and fearful at worst.
"Do you like him?"
Like him?
She bit her lip, groaning softly as she considered. Sunflowers on her desk. Her favorite coffee AND creamer. Bagels for her sidekicks. An easy relationship with Tsuyu, and a working understanding she had to work nights or mornings some days. Plus it wasn't like he was bad to look at either.
But she can't come off as completely over the moon for him. "Froppy and Eraserhead say I'm in deep."
"Would he keep you safe?"
She hesitates, but she's not sure why. He's Quirkless. He's vulnerable, fragile even without that ability. He's… perfectly human. Absolutely normal.
And the only thing standing in between him, and death is skill, technique, and whatever trick he has up his sleeve.
"I… I'm not sure…" She hesitates, swallowing before murmuring. "It's Rabbit. He's Quirkless."
There's a long pause, a deep huff before Yagi's reply. "When does your patrol end? We have a lot to talk about if it concerns Rabbit."
She checks her watch, 0934. "I can swap out with Froppy at noon. Meet you for lunch?"
"I can manage that." He replies. "Somewhere close by though, my stomach can't handle eating and walking too far these days." And instantly she regrets the offer.
All Might's retirement had hit them hard, but in six years since then, his health had hit them all harder. And even if he continued to help them, using his contacts and friends to get their foot in the door of different agencies, he himself wasn't doing well.
"No no I can-"
"I can make a two-block walk for lunch. That sandwich shop?" He suggests. "They make a wonderful soup."
"O-okay." She agrees. "I'll see you then."
She hangs up, tentative and hesitant as she starts back on her patrol route. There's something hidden there. Something between Rabbit and Yagi, something that's painful and frank and… She wonders if one let the other down.
But that thought has to wait, because even if she's going through a crisis, she's still a hero. And any robbery isn't going to happen on her watch.
And even though she'd much rather call Tsu and get her to come early, rush forward with a brunch instead of lunch with Yagi-sensei, she instead leaps into action, floating across the street to the opposite side.
She cancels her Quirk, dropping down into the alleyway, right in the middle of a scene.
Two muggers, dressed in suitable fashion, and a young woman, clutching her purse.
But the purse is forgotten as the two men turn towards her, forgetting their supposed mark as they ease back further into the alley.
She clicks her headset. "Mugging on Market. Side alley next to trophy shop." She murmurs.
There's a pause, and in it she approaches the two men. The alley dead ends, and it makes her wonder where these guys think they're going.
Going turns out to be the wrong word.
Doing is a better one.
The wall behind her shifts, folding in to block her off. Another section folds in to block her from jumping and floating off. And the result is she's trapped in with two thugs that she suddenly realizes she doesn't know either of their actual quirks.
One she can assume is building manipulation.
The other she can only guess.
"Trapped in with them. One moved the buildings." She mutters into the comm. She reaches behind her, slowly pulling out one of her support items. It's a simple baton, but it adds reach and damage to her attacks, and lets her get in close enough to use her quirk.
"Where is he?"
She pauses, considering them. One looks like a brickhouse, skin red and plastered with mortar, just like an actual wall. The other was thinner, reminding her of a scarecrow.
"He who?" She replies, bringing the baton up and settling into a tentative stance.
Scarecrow edges forward, fingers flexing carefully. There didn't block the ceiling above them, and it makes her wonder if they assumed, she'd run.
Unlikely.
She was a hero. Not a coward.
Scarecrow flicks his fingers out, and it take a moment for her to understand why. She feels the prickles, and then she understands, needles. He flicked needles at her.
She readjusts her visor, locking it in place before charging in. Distance can't help her, and even if Bricks interferes, he has to have a limit.
"Rabbit."
She leaps for Needles, and he dances away, and a swath of the wall leaps out of the building. Narrowly she twists, avoiding the worst of the damage as they graze her, and she spills onto the floor.
Needles leaps forward, pressing both heels to her palms. He stomps on her hand, and she yelps, letting her baton fall out of her hands.
"What do you want with The Rabbit?" She asks.
A needle digs into her shoulder, and she flinches, ignoring the pain to instead focus on Bricks. The man hasn't moved, and instead seems to be looking around. Her gaze lowers to Bricks feet. They're sunken into the ground, integrated with it.
"He's got a deal for us, but hasn't shown. You've been around him lately. He playing for the heroes now?" Bricks answers, and his voice matches the nickname, deep and rocky.
"We don't talk business." She replies. "What'd he do? Piss off your seller?"
"Papa Dimajio isn't just a seller." Needles snarks.
Papa Dimajio.
Good to know.
She twists, leveraging her body to buck Needles off, sending him to the floor. She tags him as he falls, and with a yelp, she sends him into the brick ceiling.
Bricks is slow to start, and the bricks he summons from the wall are slower to defend. She weaves through them, tagging him before herself. She jumps, clearing the entrapment easily and landing on the top of the building. She peers down at them, where Bricks has not yet floated away, his feet still engrained in the floor.
"Update: Two mob perps in the alleyway." She chips into her comm. "They might have information on Rabbit if we're lucky."
She reaches around, grimacing as she fumbles for the needle in her back. She gets it, plucking it out and examining it. A singular drop of blood glistens on the tip.
"What are you up to Izuku?"
And the drop falls, tumbling down through the air before it lands in the alleyway. Bricks looks up, smiles at her, and she realizes that the building she's on is still his territory.
She ques her comm. "Needles and Bricks," She informs, "Needle thrower is incapacitated but I'll need someone stronger to help out with Bricks!" And she jumps away from the building, starting the second round of the fight.
"On our way." And she blessedly recognizes the voice as Kirishima. Red Riot versus a brick wall.
She smiles and supposes the media will finally get an answer to that joke.