Stain's assumption that, with the van, Curious would be forced to change tactics was soon proven wrong.

They were all cramped in the van at the moment, except for Stain, and the air inside the vehicle was hot and stale. The city outside was alive with the sounds of people and cars, the sun shining on the van and threatening to cook them all alive inside. Shoto's ice could only do so much for them without risking the poor kid actually passing out from overuse of his quirk but even with the van moving and the windows rolled down, they all felt like they were being suffocated with plastic bags.

Spinner was driving around town to pass the time until their meeting with Stain, Dabi sitting next to him with his coat off. He needed the fresh air the most out of all of them, and so they all just let him sit there with the window half-open if only to hide them a little. Shoto was sitting on the floor in the back, his body emanating a weak amount of frost that did almost nothing for them. Izuku himself felt like he was about to pass out from heatstroke, and Toga was curled up on the opposite end of the van in silence.

Izuku blinked a few times, a knot forming on his stomach. He looked around like the awkward, introverted teen he really was, somehow trying to find some support for the things bothering him at the moment.

Well, no. Not things. More like a person in particular.

Toga's eyes landed on his for a second and Izuku fumbled to produce a smile. He expected to be met with gleaming fangs and flushed cheeks, as per usual, but Toga only started at him as if he was something she'd never seen before. Her eyes flickered in the light, her pupils abnormally dilated and the skin under her eyes pale. She looked at Izuku intently for what felt like an eternity but before he could say anything, she turned away from him. She gripped the sleeves of her sweater with enough strength to start trembling and Izuku felt the lump inside him grow even heavier.

He'd never had friends before this, and so social interactions were relatively new to him. He'd grown used to Toga's clingy nature by pure necessity, but he didn't know just what this meant. The first few days in the van had been normal enough, all things considered, if a little cramped and frustrating.

They'd made it to another city by noon after getting the van, a moving time that Izuku and Stain were definitely not used to but weren't complaining about. They were slightly optimistic as they parked the van behind some random building, all of them ready to get back to their hunting routine, but not ten minutes into their rooftop jumping, the unmistakable sound of a drone reached them all. That first afternoon they only dared taking down a single target and they were out of town before the sun even set.

That had been only the beginning.

It'd been a little over two weeks since then and the technological barrage showed no signs of stopping any time soon; in fact, it had gotten worse. Two times now the drones had been bold enough to drop upon the moving car while on the highway in a way that reminded Izuku of kamikaze pilots, both times coming close to causing a crash.

For two days they attempted to carry on their work, as usual, Dabi and Spinner even starting to count how many drones each of them took down but impatience and frustration soon started getting the better of everyone. Sleep schedules got even more interrupted than before and the van became more their home than a means of transportation, which meant they were all trapped in a tiny space most of the time.

By day five of being locked in the car, Dabi wasn't the only one getting car sick. The smell of sweat and just six bodies all pressed together became unbearable most of the time and Izuku missed showers now more than ever. But it was undeniable that fewer drones managed to find them when they were in the car, and so they all put up with it as best as they could.

A mere six days after getting the van, with only two targets hit thus far, Stain asked Izuku for his opinion on the matter. Stain didn't want them all to split as they used to before, but targets had to be taken down more often or the Hero Killer's pattern so far would risk not getting properly recognized. Izuku had wondered if maybe Stain by himself could get things done faster, and that had led to their newest agreement.

During the day, Stain would leave the rest of them in the van and go hunt himself. He was by far the fastest when it came to locating and striking down targets, and he was confident that if he set his mind to it, he would be able to take all four heroes that needed to be taken down on his own. Three hours after he left, three hours that would be spent driving in no particular direction, Spinner would reach an agreed meeting point to pick Stain up after his hunt. They would then drive him somewhere else and he would get off in the new location, and things would start all over again. Without all the time spent walking from one place to another, the Hero Killer was effectively taking down people all on his own much faster than before.

Spinner would stop at different gas stations ever so often to allow everyone to use the public bathrooms and get some food, and once they hit the highway they would risk a few pit stops here and there. But that was it. They were basically trapped until they could either figure out who the hell Curious was, or until she showed herself. But neither option was likely to come to fruition anytime soon.

All of that was annoying but manageable. With Spinner and Stain driving a few hours each, things went by slow but acceptable. They were all on edge and tired and irritated, but they could all mostly adapt. All but one.

With no chances to go hunting herself, Toga had depended on Izuku's blood ever since they had gotten the van. Stain had strictly prohibited any of them from leaving on their own, and attacking a random civilian for their blood, even if it didn't involve the person dying, was out of the question.

Izuku was more than willing to be Toga's source for blood, but he knew that he couldn't give her blood as often as she needed, much less in the quantities required. The first four days she'd managed to keep it mostly together, bitting Izuku in the same wrist and taking small drinks. But she had barely had a good meal in days already, and by the end of the first week on the move, it was obvious that she was struggling. One morning, about eleven days into their trek, she'd taken the usual amount of blood, but by noon the heat was enough to knock out Izuku. He had been pale and drowsy and when he'd awoken, the shift had been impossible to ignore.

Toga had barely touched him since that day. For five days now she'd slept on the opposite end of the van, her body squished by the wheel hump as if she had nowhere else to go. She kept her coat tightly pressed around her shoulders even when the temperature inside the van threatened to kill them all, and she shook from time to time.

They'd told Stain none of it, but it was obvious the man knew something was wrong. Everyone knew just by looking at her.

She was pale and sweaty, pupils huge and breathing shallow. Her nails had all been bitten down all the way to the base. Her usual blush was nowhere to be seen, and that was honestly what worried Izuku the most.

But she refused to accept any of his blood, no matter how much he offered. Shoto had even gone as far as to offer his own at one point, but Toga had only stared at him without a word. Dabi made sure that his brother never offered himself up like that again.

She had once told him that she needed -truly needed- blood every ten days or so. They were well past that point by now, and Izuku was starting to get worried enough to not sleep. None of this was right, things had to change urgently.

The van stopped, the back door opening. Stain climbed in, his red eyes immediately locking on Toga's meek figure, and Izuku felt part of his resolve crumbling away. How was he even supposed to approach the situation? How much would his mentor be willing to risk for this girl he didn't really care about in the end? Would Toga even accept help from someone that wasn't him?

Izuku attempted to come up with a plan as Spinner drove away towards the east, heading downtown. Usually, Izuku would have hours of driving before Stain took down his next target and required another pickup and by then, usually, he would have some sort of idea of what to do but the van thwarted his plans yet again. No, not the van. Stain. Stain had been staring at Izuku since the moment he got in the van, had noticed the odd behavior, and had had enough.

"Park behind that." The man instructed a mere ten minutes into their drive, the sun still high in the sky. They were in a rundown part of town, a small house to their left. Spinner did as told without question, but Izuku was caught off guard.

"Why?"

"We need to vent this damn thing," Stain explained plainly, but the look he gave Izuku was anything but friendly. The teen swallowed.

The van was still moving when Dabi kicked open his door to escape the suffocating iron casket. Spinner yelled at him, but Dabi just flipped him off. They all spilled out of the van one by one and Izuku offered his hand to Toga with a hopeful expression. The girl held it on instinct but as soon as she did her eyes widened. She squeezed his hand with so much strength that it was hard for him to not flinch, but an instant later she let go as if she'd been burnt. She disappeared inside the broken-down house a moment later, moving faster than she had in days.

Izuku sighed desperately. Stain leaned in close, his eyes cold and merciless.

"You have twenty minutes to get her to calm down before we move again."

"Stain, I-"

"I don't care. I didn't sign up to take care of a blood addict in withdrawal."

Izuku huffed, a thousand insults at the tip of his tongue that he had to physically bite back. He tensed, inhaled deeply, and then exhaled with as much patience as he could muster. He spun on his heels and headed for the house, everyone looking at him as if he was a prisoner on death row.

The inside of the house was bare, not even a hint of someone living inside in at least a few months. The absurd amount of dirt and dust made him cough, but he was easily able to tell where Toga had gone. He followed the footprints all the way to a rickety staircase that led up into what might have been an attic in some better house, but here it just looked like a tiny second floor. Izuku climbed the stairs, Toga's shaky figure visible in a corner. He swallowed.

"Toga?"

The girl trembled and Izuku felt like he'd done something terrible already.

"Toga," He tried again, climbing the few steps he had left. Wide yellow eyes landed on him and he froze.

"Don't. Just leave me alone." She hissed weakly.

"You know I can't do that," Izuku said softly, sitting on the last step. He didn't want to push her too quickly.

"Why? Cause Stain told you too?"

"Because I care about you." Toga's eyes widened even more. "I'm worried, Toga. I just-"

"Stop,"

"I want you to be okay."

"No. Shut up. Leave." Toga demanded, shaky hands covering her ears in a futile attempt to drown him out. She was shaking even harder now and Izuku just couldn't hold back.

"Toga please, let me help you."

"No! I don't want you here!"

"It's been days, you're not well. I can take it." He reached for the bandage on his wrist and Toga flattened herself against the wall.

"No!" She shrieked. She was moving her head around, but her eyes stayed perfectly focused on him. She seemed to be fighting against something.

"Please, I… I don't know if I did something wrong by fainting but it won't happen again. I promise." Izuku said hopefully. His expression fell instantly when he realized Toga was crying, her blunt nails digging into her own face in an absolute panic. She looked about ready to pass out and Izuku raised his hands in a pacific gesture. He needed to get to her, he had absolutely no other ideas.

"Toga, just look at me." He started crawling closer, inch by painful inch.

"D-don't come any closer!" Toga pleaded. She reached for her knife and held it out in front of her, the action seeming to bring her physical pain. The wood of the attic floor cracked beneath her.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," Izuku assured softly. He smiled a little. "Toga, I would never hurt y-"

His words died in his throat. Toga was as fast as lightning, her movement animalistic and unplanned. She tackled him, pinned him against the floor, and growled in a deeply unsettling way. Her blade was sticking out of Izuku's shoulder, though the shock helped mitigate the pain for the moment.

Izuku was in the perfect position to use his legs to kick her over, to send her flying down the steps of the attic and get her off him. But he couldn't move. He was frozen.

Her eyes were so wide that it looked painful. Her yellow irises glowed with absolute bloodlust and murderous intent, her pupils dilating and contracting as if she were having a light flashing in front of her face. Her mouth was open, fangs mere millimeters away from Izuku's skin. She was pressed up against him but she was also somewhere very far, somewhere Izuku didn't know how to reach.

A low laugh started bubbling out of her throat, the knife twisting a little.

"You're so cute like this, Izuku. Hurt and confusion look so pretty on your face. I wonder how much more beautiful you'd look dead."

Izuku hissed, his hand resting on Toga's to try and pull the knife away. She reeled back as if she'd been electrocuted, her gaze confused and panicked. Even more tears started cascading from her eyes and she quickly tossed her knife aside before crawling back into her corner. Izuku blinked, his hand on his wounded shoulder.

"Wha-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please leave, please," Toga mumbled quickly. Izuku sat up slowly, the movement scaring Toga.

"Toga, breathe. I'm fine."

"No, you're not! I… you… I could've killed you!"

"Toga you would neve-"

"Yes, I would! I just tried!" She hissed. She gave him the most hopeless look he'd ever seen in his life. "You keep tempting me and I've wanted to stab you for days now!"

Her words hung heavy in the air. She shook and held onto herself like a child and Izuku could only stare at her.

"I… tempt you?" He asked dumbly.

Toga let out a pitiful sound, her eyes glazed over.

"Yes! I… I can hear your heartbeat all the time, even when the others are talking. Even when the van is moving, and normally I can hold myself back but… now I keep imagining what you would look like dead. How much blood I would have for myself. How good it would be… I want to cut open every scar in your body." Toga smiled as she spoke, but her expression cracked into one of despair soon enough.

"You're so different from everyone else, I've never felt like this before but at the end of the day all I see is something I want to take and destroy and consume. And I want to break you so badly, Izuku. I can't hold back anymore."

Izuku looked at her in silence, his fist tightening around his wound. Toga took his silence as a bad sign and started crying harder.

"I want to hurt you myself! I want it so bad! I… I want to just kill you so that I don't hear that heartbeat anymore because the sound just haunts me day in and day out and I feel so happy when I imagine you bleeding… I…"

Izuku reached out for Toga's hands despite the voice in his head telling him to run. No, he refused to run from someone who needed him. She choked momentarily, her body tensing with panic. She tried to pull away, but he held her hands firmly. He massaged her trembling palms with his fingers, a sad smile on his face.

"I'm really sorry. I should have noticed before, just how bad you were feeling."

"I…" She sounded both furious and confused. "But I just… I tried to hurt you! I tried to kill you!"

"But you didn't. You held on for days in silence, dealing with it all on your own. You must be so tired."

Toga sobbed and Izuku smiled a little.

"I thought we agreed you would tell me when it got too bad. I would have helped you earlier."

"H-help me?… But… I…" Yellow eyes met green. Toga looked too confused to even be real and Izuku rubbed her cheek.

"I promised you I would, didn't I?"

Toga looked completely dumbfounded and Izuku half expected her to just outright slap him. But instead, she just kept on crying. She was no longer trying to pull away from him and her breathing was more even, so Izuku decided to take a small chance. His plan was improvised and miscalculated and to be honest he wasn't fully comfortable with it, but it was all he had.

"Listen to me, Stain is going to take out at least one more person today. I'll go with him, take your blood gear and take the blood you need, okay?"

Toga had the sense to look scared.

"He'll say no. H-he won't let you."

"He'll have to tie me down inside the van if he wants to stop me," Izuku chuckled lightly. He moved some hair out of Toga's face softly. "So either he takes me with him or I sneak out on my own."

"You would do that?" The surprise in Toga's voice was palpable. Izuku laughed awkwardly, a hint of doubt invading his mind. Would he really defy his mentor in such a blatant way? Would he really be capable of such disrespect?

Toga looked at him as if he were made of gold, her hands still trembling slightly, and Izuku nodded reassuringly. He had a feeling it wouldn't come to that, but he also knew that if one of their companions really needed something to function then he would definitely help them get it no matter what. These people were his friends, his responsibility, and to be honest…

"I just wanna see you smile again." Izuku murmured that last part, the words long gone before he even realized what he'd said. Both teens' expressions shifted, proportionally opposite from each other. Toga's face wrinkled from how wide she smiled while Izuku's eyes lost focus, his blush taking over his entire head.

"A-a-anyways! I, um… I have to talk to Stain, you know and… um… Y-you should probably take some of the blood from my wound so you can last the ride, I mean not that I don't think you can handle yourself for a little while longer! B-but-"

He stumbled for an excuse, for something to say, but Toga just started giggling. She leaned forward hesitantly, giggling even more when Izuku deliberately looked somewhere else to avoid embarrassing himself even more. He expected to feel her sucking on his wound, but instead, he only felt her breathing on his neck. Then she growled briefly before shoving him aside and going straight for the stairs.

"T-Toga?!"

She smiled at him, but the paleness of her skin reminded him of how sick she felt.

"You really are the most wonderful person in the world, Izuku. I want to be you so bad, but… I want you by my side even more."

And with that, she was gone. Izuku stayed in the attic by himself until Spinner was sent to look for him five minutes later and his blush was still partially there when he met the others.

The moment he stepped outside, Stain focused on him. Red eyes glanced between the pale girl curled up next to the van and the frazzled looking green-haired teen and with every passing second his expression seemed to want to shift into something new. With each step Izuku took towards his mentor, the boy could feel his nerves growing. Spinner hadn't asked about the blood on his shirt, probably assuming that Izuku had managed to convince Toga to drink some of his blood, but Stain might ask unwanted questions. What the hell was he supposed to say? If he knew what had happened, Toga would be dead before he could try and explain things to his teacher.

Stain pointed to the side with his chin and Izuku followed him wordlessly. He wanted to look as normal as possible but it was easier said than done. They moved out of sight from the others and, after an uncharacteristically dramatic sigh from Stain, their eyes met. Immediately Stain looked up at the sky and Izuku swallowed.

"So…" Stain let the word hang in the air and Izuku shifted on his feet. It somehow felt like they hadn't seen each other in years, or maybe like they'd just met for the first time.

"Uh, I wanted to talk to you about something," Izuku started. "Ask you for something, actually."

"About what, exactly?"

"About Toga. Listen, she… uh…" Izuku faltered when Stain desperately avoided his eyes. His teacher went as far as to turn the other way, his hand on his head as if he felt ill. "Stain?"

"Yeah, I'm listening." Stain half-choked but before Izuku could speak, Stain signaled for the teen to be quiet. Izuku gave his elder a confused look, but Stain was adamantly looking anywhere else. The man murmured something, walked away and back twice and, eventually, he sighed deeply. When his eyes landed on Izuku, the teen had the odd urge to crawl under a rock.

"Listen kid," Another look of discomfort followed by another sigh. "Izuku… I… You know you can tell me anything, right?"

"Of course." The words were out of his mouth in a second, no hesitance on his part. Stain seemed almost taken aback by how sure Izuku sounded and he looked away for a second. Something flashed in his eyes, but it was gone before Izuku could fully identify it.

"You… you know I… intend to keep you safe, right?"

Izuku nodded, some doubt starting to show on his face. Stain didn't open up easily, much less without a reason, not to mention the stuttering that did not belong to the Hero Killer. Had something happened? Stain swallowed, his hands resting on Izuku's shoulders for half a second. He looked at the blood on the teen's shirt and that same unidentified emotion flashed behind his eyes. Was it worry? Anger? Whatever it was, it looked painful.

"Stain what's wrong?" The teen asked. He hoped that the man couldn't tell that Izuku had been wounded too badly, that he would assume Toga had simply bitten him as she usually did.

Stain looked down, squared his shoulders, and then pulled back. The cloudy emotions in his eyes were there, but unreadable.

"I'm the adult in this situation. I make the decisions here and anything you do I will eventually find out about, okay? You get that, right?"

Izuku was at a complete loss. He looked behind him as if expecting the others to jump out in some sort of prank but nothing happened. Stain visibly deflated at Izuku's reaction and the teen started feeling on edge even more than before.

"Yeeeeah? I know that. That's why I wanted to ask yo-"

"You're only what… 16?"

"I think so, yeah… why?"

"Listen," Stain hurried as if he couldn't get this over with fast enough. "I get it, okay? You're… getting older and you think you know better and she's… uh, you know. And that's fine, I guess. No , actually… Agh. I get that you like her, okay? But you can't let that distract you from our mission."

Izuku frowned, dread crawling up his throat. This was not the conversation he had been expecting.

"Stain… What…"

"And I definitely shouldn't have sent you alone with her because of course you would agree to what she wanted and clearly something happened, but kid you have to be careful abou-"

"Wait." Izuku held up his hands defensively. Had Stain noticed the stab? "Waitwaitwait! Nothing happened, she didn't hurt me! She's going through a rough time and I-"

"You don't need to explain! But still, as your… mentor, I still have to make sure you're… being safe… I… Jesus, why me? Listen you're both still really young and I don't want either of you to do something you could regret later, okay?"

For what felt like an eternity, they both just stared at one another. With each passing second, Izuku frows furrowed more and more and Stain looked about ready to just ditch him there and never come back. Izuku took a deep breath, attempting to make sense of what was happening.

"Stain, she needs blood."

"Of course she does. They always do."

"No, like, now. Today. We need to get her blood from someone that's not me."

A short silence, a thousand thoughts flashing behind Stain's eyes.

"Wait… what?"

"That's what I talked to her about, that's why my shirt is bloody. But she didn't take any blood cause we both know it's probably not healthy for me to keep giving her more and more. We need to go get her a target of her own, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

Izuku explained it slowly to leave no place for misunderstanding. He was more than ready to defend Toga when it came to his wound but to his surprise, Stain didn't explode with fury. Instead, the man blinked and exhaled loudly, his shoulders sagging with relief.

"Oh, thank God. It's just that."

"Just what?" Izuku asked. "W-what did you think happened?"

Stain gave him a panicked look and the blush started returning to Izuku's face. Immediately the teen wanted the ground to swallow him whole and never spit him back out.

"Wait- what- NO! W-w-why would you ever! WHAT THE-"

"Listen, Izuku,"

"NO! Stain, Jesus fucking Christ!" Izuku covered his ears. He wondered if bleaching his brain would be enough to make him forget about the last five minutes of his life. No, bleach wouldn't be enough. Fire? He could ask Dabi or Shoto to just burn him away into ash, that would certainly do something. "OH GOD HOW DO I UNLISTEN TO THAT?!"

"You think I wanted to have that conversation, you little shit?!" Stain hissed.

"THEN WHY DID YOU TRY?!"

"BECAUSE I THOUGHT YOU WERE F-"

"STAIN, DON'T YOU DARE!"

They both stopped screaming at the same time, wide eyes and flustered expressions giving away all their panic. Neither of them could play it cool or serious and for the first time in weeks, both student and teacher felt as if their emotions and thoughts were transparent as water. They were both tense, panicky, both of them unable to even try and handle the subject at hand. No, they definitely did not want to talk about this. Ever.

They both turned away from one another, each of them attempting to regain even a fraction of composure. It was a solid minute, but eventually they both willingly turned back around to face one another. Their eyes were focused on different things, but they spoke in each other's general direction.

"So she needs a target's blood."

"Yup."

"Today."

"Yeah."

"Okay. That can be done."

"Good."

"Great."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

With that, they both mechanically walked away from their hiding spot and back towards the others. They got odd looks that ranged from confused to outright mocking, but no one was stupid enough to ask what the hell had happened. Stain got in the driver's seat wordlessly, slamming the door with far more strength than necessary. Everyone else piled into the vehicle, Izuku sitting at the very back of the van with his arms tense at his side. No one said anything as they started driving. The teen ignored all of the eyes on him as best as he could, instead trying to focus on the world outside the window. It was a long, silent drive.