One would think Magne to be disgusted with her lower body, since with how her finances were, getting the surgery was nearly impossible... if she cared to be sliced and pierced by a random joe in a back alley clinic or a clandestine surgeon operating in a storage place.
But no, Magne was fine with her male body. True, when washing up and... having time for herself, or having to choose a bathroom or other thing like this, there was some shame and a degree of disgust.
And yet, she never felt the urge to be corrected. Besides, having her original, if wrong, parts meant that she was free to take a piss whenever the hell she wanted.
And it was such a cathartic way to express her disgruntlement at some random establishment.
Was it juvenile?
Yes.
Was it cathartic?
Absolutely.
And she quite liked her rugged look. Also, she could rock the ball gown and fuzzy pajamas to street fighter.
And also... well, back at the, 'can take a piss everywhere she wanted' that's what she was doing at the moment, under this one bridge almost no one used save for getting rid of shit nobody wanted to find in their garbage bins... since it would get you arrested at the very least. Her reason to be there was very simple.
Magnet fishing.
Yes, go on, laugh all you want about her favourite Hobby matching with her quirk.
Nevertheless, it was way better than just plain fishing.
But at this moment, she was taking a break, her arms were burning and she was close to going home with her loot. Her motorbike called her back.
She was done with emptying her bladder when she heard one of those rare cars go over the bridge. Usually, this would not catch her attention, unless it was an American beast like a Mustang or a Ford... but no, this was just a regular engine.
Then... the car stopped in the middle of the bridge, from the sound of it.
'Hmm... now that's weird. Either they will litter, or it's those fucking Yakuza getting rid of either a gun or a body.'
A gun would be nice, Magne always thought she would look effin' badass cocking one up. A corpse would be just...
Meh... maybe she would drag it out to see if it was anyone with a reward on their head; more money never hurt anyone, especially now.
She could hear the faint buzzing of voice... Suddenly, she could hear someone screaming...
"Mama! Mama No, please, No. Mama, Mama, I'm sorry, I'll be good! No, NO NO NA-" The boy, a teen, let out a blood-curdling scream as his mother did the unthinkable and threw him off the bridge and into the depths below.
It was still relatively shallow, but the currents were strong when it rained and rain was upon them.
Later, when asked why she acted the way she did, Magne would admit that something Heroic spontaneously manifested in her black heart... when it really broke her heart to know that a mother could've done that to her child.
Imagine her surprise when she pulled out of the water the Heroling Deku, the guy who had broken his arms trying, and failing to Save that little whinny bitch, Tomura's obsession and the hero who had apparently defeated Fucking overhaul dangle at the end of her giant magnet,
9she had her second awakening, gender was now not an object for her quirk to work, thank the singularity.) spewing dirty water out and the rather opulent remains of his lunch.
He was wet, traumatized and limbless. Soiled bandages covered his stumps. His eyes were haunted with betrayal and pain.
Still, her surprise was quickly replaced by righteous anger at what had happened to him.
Overhaul had nearly killed Magne; it was only due to Mister Compress's quick thinking that she was still alive.
That, and Dabi having one last favour from Giran, and the broker knew one healer could bring the dreads back to life... but only once.
Still, this had been a very stressful and dreadful moment for Magne and her dear friends and new family, so to learn that Deku, that little shit from back at the summer camp, had splattered the guy hard enough for him to be apprehended and shipped to Tartarus?
Well. Magne considered she had a debt to him... they all did.
And today... was the day she began repaying this kindness.
That, and a certain blue-haired gamer would be over the fucking moon to have Midoriya in their grip.
"C'mon little buddy, let's get you home and dry. Alright?" She asked the now limp kid...
...
Apparently, Izuku had fainted...
Fair enough.
Still , she couldn't wait to see how her friend would react to having Midoriya, helpless and unconscious in their shared flat.
~0~
When Consciousness returned to Izuku, the first thing he felt was how warm and cozy he felt.
Was he back in his bed? Was it all but a terrible dream?
Well... he was still missing his limbs. (Poor Eri didn't have the best of Stamina, especially after keeping her quirk up and rewinding Izuku's body to his previous state of... well... not dying and not blowing up due to his ridonculous quirk. He didn't blame her, and never would blame her, Eri was a sweet innocent child who got screwed over by life.) his stomach felt way too empty, and his bed had been cleaned...
Wait a minute...
this didn't feel like his bed; the sheets were too old. And they smelled like Vanilla and lavender.
Like... real high-end stuff... and...
What was it... shrimp chips? No... Takoyaki?
Yeah! The bed sheets smelled like Takoyaki chips on top of everything else... just slightly, though. And Gatorade.
His mother never would let him eat in his bed. And she was firmly opposed to Gatorade, being more partial to Pocari sweat.
Now fully awake and aware that this was not his room, it was not the flat he'd shared with his mom or even a hospital. Why wasn't he at the hospital...
He pleaded for his mother to stop, his stomach plummeting as he realized what she was about to do. The bridge was so high up over the water, but not high enough that the fall would kill him on impact, meaning that there were no guardrails and no cameras, meaning it was the perfect place to dispose of something as useless as him and his mother was dragging him with difficulty crying and there was nothing he could to when she hoisted him over the barrier and let him go... plummeting down down down in the water...
It was cold, so cold... then numb, then fear...
He was gonna die; he was dying, he was dyinghewasdyinghewas-
A loud gasp shook him out of yet another remembered trauma assaulted him, and his eyes flew open.
Thankfully, the room was rather dim; the only source of light were strings of fairy lights, fancy little lanterns and LED strips. And those were illuminating shelves filled with novels and old video game cases...
And, Because, for some obscure reason, the universe really had it for Izuku and hated him even more then Katsuki apparently, the source of his numerous nightmare was right there.
Shigaraki Tomura, staring and grinning at him as he held another of his damned preserved hands, giggling.
Izuku's first instinct was, of course, to fire up One For All... only to remember that, along with his lack of arms... he was also out of a quirk.
How was he supposed to use All For One when he had nothing to use it whit? It was better for All Might to find another successor.
A better successor... like Mirio-senpai.
So, Izuku did the only thing he could in this situation.
He screamed as he tried to scramble away.
"AAAH, PLEASE...-N-NO, PLEASE... PLEASE not that please, Please... I'm sorry..." His chest heaved as tears flooded his eyes.
He tried waking up, calling his mother, Kacchan, Tsu, Iida, anyone, even All Might!
But nobody came... he would have to face his nightmare alone... and his fertile and fatalistic imagination already knew how it would go.
He was quirkless, limbless, and in the possession of a villain, a terrible villain whose Master's only goal was to take revenge on All Might and all of humanity as a whole, and he was now at his mercy and-
Something frigid splashed his chest and face, forcing him to breathe in and to return to the waking world.
After some time spent catching his breath, Izuku knew who his saviours were...
"T-todoroki... y-you... thank you. Thank- But his gratitude died rather quickly when he realized that Todoroki must still be with Endeavour completing his internship...
And why the hell was Izuku doing in Height Alliance, his mother had pulled him out of UA...
He began to sob again... not caring about his location or the creep staring at him.
'Why?... What have I done to deserve this? To whomever I tortured, bullied, killed and raped in the past. I'm sorry, I won't do it again, I promise... oh God..."
"Oh, God!" He sobbed helplessly. "Oh God..."
Then he felt a cold, wet rag being pressed to his face, cleaning (more like smearing.) the snot and the tears that were still flowing abundantly from his eyes and nose.
"You know, as Flattered as I am that you see me as God. But I'd rather you call me Tenshi instead." Tomura stated drolly before he smirked. "Wow though, talk about a catapult nightmare, thought you would RROD on me, Freckles."
Izuku stared at the second most feared man in Japan, trying to make sense of what he had just heard... and seen.
Also, there was no way this was a dream since being splashed in the face with frigid water would wake him up... and it didn't feel like a dream.
Tomura rolled his eyes. "No, you're not dreaming, Izuku. You really are in my flat space, in my bed, with no arms and legs." he deadpanned. "and the name's Tenshi, Not Tomura." He spat in disgust.
"Ah... ok, Tenshi." Why did Izuku feel his cheeks burning? And why did Tomura choose this very feminine name? Was he like Magne?
"No, I'm not like her... but thank you for noticing, anyway." The Blunette (white at the top, blue at the top, so pretty.) inclined his head with a squinty smile.
Huh... he looked less crazy now.
He laughed as he removed a stray lock of hair from his face, tucking it behind his pierced ears. "Thanks... Still a work in progress though."
...
"I just keep mumbling, don't I?"
"Yes, you tend to do that." Shiga... Tenshi agreed as he lazily leaned back in his… her gamer chair. "I don't really mind, Midoriya. Mumble away, speak! I love the sound of your voice."
This, of course, had the opposite effect, making Izuku clam up...
He hated when people said that... reminded him of High School and this one teacher he had...
Maybe he should just stay quiet, and Shigaraki would leave him alone... but he was getting thirsty and his stomach grumbled in hunger...
He heard Shigaraki's chair creak as the young man rolled it to his mini fridge and fished out a bottle of water and cracked it open, pressing its mouth to Izuku's parched one.
"It's just a water bottle I bought. The water here tastes like Bubble Goop swamp, so... fuck the earth." He cleared his throat. "yeah, so. Just... get your M... just, drink this, alright."
Was it a blush decorating Shigaraki's pale cheeks? And why the hell did it cause a happy heat in Izuku's belly.
He was... well, he a knew he was demi-Pansexual, but he needed to have a strong connection before... that. But to feel... those feelings toward the young man, a young man he barely even knew.
Hmm... maybe he was wrong about his sexuality... Well, he was a teenager, and hormones ran high.
Still, when Shigaraki had his hand around Izuku's throat, the heat his body generated, the way he moved, and his lips.
Izuku had no idea there was such a thing as dried skin and lips kink... but he was proven wrong before!
Shigaraki whipped his head and stared at Izuku with owlish eyes, his face turning bright red.
He swore it was a quirk; there was no way anybody would mumble like that; it was... embarrassing and creepy.
"I spoke out loud, didn't I?"
"Was I so... cringe as a teen? I don't remember being like this... freckle, is this normal?" he asked as he tried to rub away the redness on his face.
"Ah... as far as my... relatively normal experience goes... yeah... yeah, we're pretty cringey, you should see that cringe Kaminari and Mina get into, and don't let me get started on Iida." Izuku started as he clamped down on the train of speech.
This was still Shigaraki To... Tenshi, a Villain. A villain that had attacked his class twice, that had rained destruction on Hosu and who had no qualm about assaulting him in the middle of a crowded mall.
"Hey... I'm sorry. Alright!" Tomu... Tenshi snapped, hunching over himself as he looked...
Ashamed? Guilty?
What the hell was going on here? And why was he apologizing?
"First of all, I'm a she. (He, she huffed as she scratched his neck... with much less vigour than when Izuku saw it last. " Like, legit she. Second... I'm trying to be better ... like. Not a villain, alright? Reset my game, and I chose another path before I passed the point of no return." he... she kept scowling, and he... she scratched her neck. "Like... I get it; Sensei's a shitty villain. Never loved me, saw me as an opportunity and took me off the street. Fuck this guy, I hate him more then All Might."
"Ok that's... a whole lot of hate for your Sensei." At this point, Izuku knew that his mouth/brain filter was well and truly shot and thus chose to speak out what was on his mind since, seriously, what could he lose?
Everything he had of value was gone.
Shigaraki snorted with a sneer. "yeah well, All Might may not have saved me, but he sure as fuck did not groom and... mod me." he winced. "Whatever, just drink your damn water. And you need a fuking shower, freckle."
"ye-" But Shigaraki did not let him speak anymore, plugging Izuku's mouth with the bottle and lifting the but of it.
As he drank, Izuku realized just how thirsty he had been and how delicious the water was.
'Mama... She would forget to feed me... and I was always thirsty since she never put the straw close enough to my mouth.'
The bottle was removed from his mouth, and he could not help the frown he had from showing.
But before he could slide down, he felt Tomura's... Tenshi's hand on his head.
And... apparently, he was not supposed to die today since he was still whole and nothing had decayed. (a part of his that had been born after he had learned what a suicide was, felt disappointed, why couldn't his suffering end already?) and instead...
Shigaraki gently ruffled his head, scratching his scalp with blunt nails.
"Hey... It's alright, Izuku, you're safe now. Me and Magne will take care of you... you just need to yell to summon us."
Izuku could not help the tears filling his eyes... how many times he had tried to do that when his Mama would get too absorbed in her work, only for her to scold him.
He barely remembered his time at the hospital, just waking up without any limbs, a few hours later, All Might... Yagi Toshinori was present, trying to smile yet failing badly as he asked for One For All Back...
And Izuku knew he had no choice... he had failed.
He could not be a Hero anymore, not without limbs, and getting four prostheses was impossible for a civilian, not the good ones anyway.
And getting an arm transplant... The price of the meds and the physical therapy and the ridiculous chance of failure meant that, in the end, it would not be worth it, especially since his family... His mother had no health insurance on Izuku.
Who, in their right mind, would put an insurgence of any kind on a quirkless, useless Deku, something that was obsolete... something that was not meant to reproduce...
something that was not meant to exist, let alone breath.
Still, his mother had raised him, sheltering him as much as she could from the outside world...
...
What a load of bullshit...
He heard a snort; it was Tenshi.
"Let me guess; she acted as if she cared one moment when she remembered she was supposed to take care of you, but the moment you were out of her sight, you were out of her mind."
"Yeah... Why do I keep mumbling? I don't want to do that, it's annoying and-"
"Your way to cope with stress. Also, I know what she did to you; Magne told me all about it; she's the one who saved you, by the way." Tenshi explained as she (God, that was so weird to call Tomura a She. But Izuku's desire to live was still surprisingly stronger than the sweet allure of death.) got off her rather old and ratty-looking gamer's chair.
"Oh... ah..." really, Izuku had no Idea how to answer that.
Suddenly, Tenshi's strong arms wrapped around him and lifted Izuku off the futon. "Now come, you crybaby, you need a bath.
Surprisingly enough, the idea of being submerged in the water again was as alluring as All Might in a speedo.
(some were rather thirsty for this rare and practically unseen piece of merch... Izuku had the unfortunate chance of seeing small might in one... yikes!)
"Oh... um."
"I'll be honest, Izuku. You fucking stink like one of the homeless I know. You need a fucking shower, and theirs nothing you can do about it.
... He... She was right.
...
~0~
Apparently, being bathed by the aspiring symbol of fear, whose hands could and would decay anything it touches and whose temperament was about the same as Bakugou when he was six, was...
Not what Izuku expected.
She had been very gentle with him, checking the water temperature often and asking Izuku his opinion about it. When Izuku told him... her that he liked his bath on the cooler side, Shiga... Tenshi had...
Well, it was weird, it sounded like an Argument, but at the same time, his... her concern was still evident.
"Freckles, I felt you back, you're stiffer than a PS1 animation and cold water will make it worse... you still want that?"
Well, she had a point.
"How hot?"
"I don't know." His mother just gave him a lukewarm bath, not wanting to either scald or freeze him.
"How 'bout this. I run you a cold bath, put you in, then I let the hot water run a bit and let the bath go as hot as you can handle to relax all of your muscles; how does it sound?"
Izuku thought for a bit... and nodded. "Yeah... sounds good." Tenshi's gentle smile then graced him.
It had nothing to do with Tomura's maddened grins and smirks. It was ... soft and affectionate.
And it made Izuku's empty stomach... fill up with butterflies.
Soon, the Ofuro was getting filled, and Tenshi went to the linen drawer to get some clean towels and some bottles of shampoo and body cream.
"Alright. I don't like your fav fragrance or brand; it must be something like All Might's American Pie or Alaskan Stream... it smells like shit, and it's the cheapest soap ever, but-"
"I... how do you know those were my two favourite soap smells?" Izuku asked owlishly.
"... lucky guess." She rasped with a blush and a few light scratches to her neck. "Now... I got plenty of no fragrance shampoo and shit. Also, vanilla and lavender, if you don't mind smelling like... a girl." Tenshi said as she showed the bottle to Izuku.
The teen squinted... and then his eyes grew large as he recognized the R-rated Hero's brand of soap and cosmetics.
"Hey, I know that. Midnight Sensei soap made specifically for sensitive skin; it's hypoallergenic, Cruelty-free-"
"Vegan and made of natural ingredients despite being sold on a large scale, and all profits are given to Midnight's Garden, a place where anyone who's suffered from Sexual abuse can get relief and help." Shiga... Tenshi picked up with the same enthusiasm Izuku had. "I used to hate her at first, strolling around like a prostitute, being overly risque all the time and all that..."
"Oh, that's because her quirk is more effective on those who are attracted to her, like up to fifty percent faster in some cases."
"Meaning the pervier the villain is."
"Faster it works."
"Nice." Man, how he wished he had his notebook to add more to Midnight-sensei's entry...
And just like that, his mood plummeted.
He would never be able to do that again.
"Hey, Chin up freckle when I have the credit, I'll get you a decent phone with a recording app so you may ramble on about quirk just like Tortimer did in A Mario Story," Tenshi assured Izuku as she kneeled in front of him. "Now... gotta get those briefs off... you want to take a piss? A dump?"
This caused Izuku to go beet red with shame. "No... I'm-"
"You know what? I'll assume you need it, don't want to have ya get locked up. That's like, the worst." the trans(?) woman spoke as if from experience...
And she had a point.
After this... erm...
Yes, so he did have to use the facility, and Tenshi commented on absolutely nothing on Izuku's body, not his size, not his numerous scars... not even his body hair nor his... size.
She did what was needed without any inappropriate touch or gagging... which was more than he could say about his mother's care...
And then, Tenshi did pass a comment.
"Say... the last one who washed you... they did a piss poor job."
Izuku wanted to protest since he'd been the one burdening his mother but...
Well...
He was way past the point of forgiving her for her shortcomings.
Yes, she had tried her best but...
Did she have to reject the hospital's offer for a personal nurse, paid by All Might's near unlimited coffers? Or how about Mitsuki, who had experience in caregiving?
Izuku knew she had her pride, but...
but when it had gotten too much, when she kept forgetting to feed him, when she made him wear diapers for days on end since she couldn't be bothered with lugging him to and from the bathroom, when she neglected to wash his unders because it was too gross for her...
Why did she choose to throw him away instead of taking the help of literally everyone Izuku knew? He could've had a dedicated nurse, paid by UA to take care of his every need, a live-in nurse that had no problem living in their spare room. And the moment Izuku would be legal, Nedzu had set him to live in a nice bungalow in the Caribbean in a gated community of heroes who could not take care of themselves due to old age or injuries.
Instead, his mother had blown them all off, saying that Izuku was her son and it was her duty as his mother to look after him.
But... How much of this was pride?
Hell, Inko had even turned his school friends away when they visited him!
Was she feeling shame over her failures? Over Izuku?
"Izuku?"
"I hate her..."
The next thing he knew, he felt Tomura hugging him, tucking his matted head under her chin.
"Just let it go, she did... what she could. And she was shitty at it. but trust me, it could've been worse."
Izuku snorted; what an understatement.
"But you can't let her control your life. She threw you away; then you have the right to do the same... don't let this grudge eat you up; it won't make it better. Trust me. But you have the right to have emotions about it; I won't stop you, far from it."
"Emotions?" Izuku asked, bewildered by what Tenshi (Shigaraki Tomura.) had just told him. "You mean me being a cry baby about it?"
"Hey, Crying with good reason's healthy, I had to have that drilled in my head every week." She grumbled. "I think the tub's full... aw crap, I forgot my bathing suit..." she hastily turned to Izuku. "But yeah, your feelings are valid, Izuku. The anger, the betrayal and the sadness you feel from the situations you've been through, especially the latest one, have the right to get out. So you better start bawling your heart out soon or I'm siccing my psychologist on you sorry ass... what's left of it!"
"Hey! I still have some leg stump left!" Izuku protested as he wiggled his... ham stick for emphasis.
And Tenshi turned an interesting shade of red before she practically ran out the room... and it took enough time for Izuku to remember that he was completely naked save for a towel Tenshi had given him to preserve whatever modesty he'd left...
Said modesty now being zero.
'OoH no... God, if you exist-" But before he could finish his prayer, Tenshi came back... and Izuku could only stare.
Now, at this point in his life. Izuku had seen Shigaraki for a total of three-time, and every time, he was fully dressed.
Now... He... she wore a bikini top, you know, those triangles that were usually not covering much cus the girl's boobage had their own gravitational pull? You know the ones.
But for Tenshi... they fitted perfectly well on her small breast.
Well... small. She wasn't completely flat, but Izuku knew that she had nothing compared to the flattest girl in his class...
It was...
He liked it...
and he so hoped he didn't mumble that, or he would die out of sheer embarrassment.
She wore a pair of black, blue and grey swimming trunks, giving her the look of a surfer girl.
Also... dang, she was muscular. And, she could use a few pounds too.
"Yeah, I know," Tenshi spoke as she stooped to lift Izuku, straining a bit but otherwise...
"I spoke aloud again."
"No, not this time... just how you ogled me was loud enough." She smirked as she sat Izuku in the shower on top of an old towel. "But yeah, I need to pack up some more pounds... I just had no reasons to." She admitted.
The 'until now' was heavily implied.
Leaning Izuku on her legs as she sat on the stool, keeping him upright as she began to gently wet his hair and body with the spray head...
It was so gentle.
From this point on, Izuku, despite being in the presence of a fearsome villainess, closed his eyes. The water temperature was perfect, just cold enough to cool him without being painful.
The soap was very lightly scented, and it wasn't this artificial fragrance either. It was soothing, rich and decadent, and to Izuku, who had been an ardent believer in all Might, American Dream Shower Gels (TM)...
Well, he may have to readjust his view on it.
But what was truly astounding was how good Tomu... Tenshi's fingers felt on his scalp.
It was gentle yet firm. Her goal was to relax him while getting rid of all the grim, mud, sweat and whatever else that had managed to get in there.. and what his mother had missed.
True, those same fingers could turn him into dust in a moment... but to be very honest, with how he was at the moment, it may be for the best...
Maybe his mother had been right in throwing him off this bridge.
"Fuck that hoe," Tenshi suddenly cussed. "Listen to me, Bunny," she said as she grabbed his face in her deadly hands. "I don't care how many limbs you've lost, I don't want you dead." She grumbled. "You... saved my life..." she suddenly revealed. "In my heart... you're already a Hero, Izuku... the best of them."
Tenshi had to hold him steady as he cried a twin pair of water jets.
Thank God, whomever he is, to have been in the shower.
~0~
the rest of Izuku's shower and subsequent soak whit Tenshi (if someone ever doubted his self-control, he had it, and he'd managed to keep it down... for the most part.) happened in near silence, both because there was nothing Izuku could say after Tenshi's declaration and because...
Well, he was wondering if this was a dream or if this was real since… Come on, this was Shigaraki Tomura, a villain and the groomed weapon of the symbol of fear! Not a whole personality at all! And yet, there he...she was... a woman, not a man, whose eyes held sanity and not this insatiable thirst for destruction and video game terms.
It was, honestly, quite disconcerting to the quadriplegic.
Not only that but there was also the implication that Tenshi may or may not have been stalking Izuku since she seemed to know more about him then she should.
Like what were his two favourite All Might soaps scents. and how drying they were. (His mother would get him the knock-off, and another little thing like how he didn't have to have Katsuki punch his wall at four AM when he knew Izuku suffered from Insomnia and nightmares.
All in all... Tenshi sounded like a stalker... a stalker who cared about him.
but a stalker nonetheless.
Still, Izuku... didn't know much about Tenshi, to be honest. Not even when she was called Shigaraki.
Was Shigaraki always a woman? Well, she had breasts, but Izuku could not remember if he saw them at the USJ or during the Kamino incident...
But he had noted how soft his hands were, despite looking about as dry as sandpaper.
And she smelled... Well, this had been something Izuku had kept from himself, but... he, embarrassingly enough, liked how Shigaraki smelled, and that was without any type of anti-sweat.
Yes, Izuku was a creep, and yes, sometimes he would fantasize about finding Shigaraki's dirty cloth hamper and raid the thing.
... teenager's hormones were a bitch to deal with, especially when you had a pan with a type, and you were someone who didn't mind any gender... or identity.
Then he heard something fall on the ground... and Shigaraki was staring at him with a beet-red face.
"... Hate me yet?" No, Izuku had no idea where this mouth came from.
Maybe it was to hide how suicidal he felt right now.
Right... and Tenshi had plopped him down on a very fluffy comforter with plenty of pillows; she had dressed him in one of her oversized graphic tees... a Zelda one, of course.
Shigaraki gently bent over, picking up her dropped game console (Oh god, Izuku dearly hoped it didn't break, Shigaraki... Tenshi seemed to be the type of person to kill for a broken game, he knew Kacchan almost did once, just because he forgot to plug it in.) and then she disappeared in the bathroom/ laundry room.
For his part, Izuku cursed his lack of limbs... since he could not run away from the pain that would surely come.
Being weird meant pain; it was the rule.
Suddenly, there was an avalanche of fabric falling on him...
and then, after breathing in, he realized that this was the contents of Shiga... of Tenshi's hamper of dirty clothes.
Needless to say, the smell was... something. Almost overpowering.
And yet, the weight on him and Tenshi's natural aroma made whatever anxiety Izuku felt melt like a single snowflake in a blazing fire.
Despite himself, he dozed off, still feeling tired from his previous ordeal.
~0~
Tenshi watched fondly as her Izuku fell asleep in her pile of dirty laundry, unfazed at how this was all it took to calm her handsomely cute bundle of nerves.
She could not help the smile stretching from her lips... talk about luck.
'Extremely lucky, Tenshi. If Magne had not gone fishing...' A sob tried to bubble out of her throat, but the blunette expertly squashed it.
Her Izuku was safe; he was alive and well… or as well as he could be in his current situation.
And she would make sure he would remain as such until he was old, grey and prune-like.
'yes... My Izucuttie deserves that. A nice, long, happy life.' She thought fondly as she made her way to the kitchen.
Midnight-sensei had taught her how to cook, and it was pretty easy once you realized that recipes were just walkthroughs for a delicious meal.
It was fun, especially when she found video game recipes.
But today, she would do something simpler than that; she would make congee for Izuku.
He was so thin and weak... yes, Izuku's body had gone weak.
Who wouldn't after all he went through?
'Oh, my Izuku... is this what it means to be a hero? To lose all limbs and even your life for us?' She wondered as moisture gathered at the corner of her eyes.
She quickly whipped it off; salty water and dried skin never were the best combo.
Besides, she needed to make her Izuku a hearty meal... since he looked like he hadn't eaten for the past six months or so...maybe more.
Which would match the amount of time he had been on radio silence. She knew he had been back home but... the moment his mother closed the door, her spycam ran out of battery.
She frowned as she made her way to her small kitchenette she would sometimes share with Magne. What had happened to her Heroling over the past... What was it, six months? no... eight?
Yeah, the year was almost over, and in a few months, she would do a ceremony for Shigaraki Tomura, her old self.
She turned to the now snoring pile of laundry in the middle of the room. If Magne were to come back, she would have a fit.
Oh well, she was at her other home, dealing with her client; Tenshi only had to keep her base in operating order and not filled with garbage and other crap.
Not that Tenshi could handle those things anymore. Sure, she was not the cleanest woman out there, but between the filth in the bar, living on the streets and dealing with Chisaki's obsessive cleanliness, Tenshi thought she had reached a happy middle.
She shook her head; this was in the past. She would write it in her diary and bring it up to her councillor.
She gathered the ingredients and smacked herself on the forehead.
She forgot to ask what Izuku liked in his Congee.
"Oh, Cooking Mama, please give me your guidance." Tenshi prayed to the ultimate cook as she elected to steam a few vegetables instead since she wasn't fond of meat.
Her councillor had suggested the most stupid thing to help whit her rage and hatred; turning to vegetarian/veganism.
Why the fuck would she do that? She was Japanese; fish, chicken, beef and pork were the second most important staple of her diet, right behind sugary cereal and ice cream, of course. She didn't...
Long story short, she gave it a week...
Seriously, why the fuck are people eating dead animals, made the brain all mad and shit, made climate change worst and wasn't even legal now due to the previous statement.
Seriously, fuck Sensei. Fuck him with an excavation drill.
Nevertheless, veggies it was, and she would have to go and get more pseudo eggs and mock fish for breakfast... would she be able to pay for the lab-grown stuff, though? Would Izuku eat that?
She sighed; it had been so much easier when she was alone... but then, she had been lonely.
"So, the game's sacrifice based... alright game, let's play then."
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.
"Oi, Tenshi-chan. Baby sister, everything's alright here?" Came the loud and booming voice of her neighbour and dear friend.
A brother, despite him being old enough to be her Grandfather...
He was called Kurobuta; he was a retired quirked wrestler.
A gentle giant, if not an extremely intimidating man who would sometimes knock on your door at arse oh clock with some sticky buns... turning arse oh clock to Beans o'clock.
And sometimes, it was muffins, and it would be closer to breakfast.
Needless to say, Tenshi, after sending a look at her congee and making sure the fire was low enough not to scorch it. (Never. Again.) quickly went to the front door and, peering through the peep-hole, let the monster of a sweet man lumber in her flat.
He was huge, his pot belly barely fitting through the door.
He wore black shorts custom made to fight his meaty ties, a white shirt that failed to cover his prominent belly, a black vest on top, a pair of goggles on his eyes (prescription glasses rumoured to be indestructible.) and a horned hat sitting on the top of his balding head.
No, he was not a pretty man... and he did have some bad habits.
But he was by no means a bad person, not at all.
He was very sweet and mostly unobtrusive.
"Hey, Porco... what's up?" He asked as he let the broad man waddle in, leading him to his old, broken couch. "I can't smell any baked goods. so, what gives?"
"I can smell a man here..." He grunted. " You never had a man here before... 'cpet Magne."
"Shit, dude... forget you can smell better than any of us." Tenshi rubbed the back of her head as she went to fetch Buta a glass of water and the last pack of american oreos. "Yeah, there's a kid here..."
"A kid?" Kurobuta snorted. "He smells of fear, illness, hormones, and sadness... What happened to him?" he asked as he took a sip of water but didn't touch the super sugary cookies.
Tenshi plopped down on her beanbag and stretched her arms back, appreciating the feeling of her vertebra stretching and popping. "Honestly... I would ask Magne, but... from what I know... something happened... I guessed almost a year ago... I think he may have gotten his limbs blown apart by... this mother fucking Yakuza."
"oh yeah... that fucker."
"Total bitch assed weirdo. didn't even own a phone." Tenshi groused. "But yeah... that's what I think happened, but until I can get to this particular dialogue tree with Izuku, and the relationship points to get his back story... that's it."
Buta grunted as he let his beady eyes linger on the pile of dirty clothes in the middle of the room and the body parts that poked out of it.
" Izuku likes how I smell," Tenshi spoke fondly. "He... Magne told me his... incubator yeeted him off from a bridge... you know, the Harakiri bridge."
"Fuck, you meant the rainbow bridge of death, the one the go'v didn't bother putting cam's there?" Buta asked, his beady little pig eyes growing uncomfortably wide.
"the best shagging spot too... and the best place to get rid of a body." Tenshi finished darkly.
Anyone who had anything to do with the underworld had heard of this bridge.
"Big sis told me she was fishing here." She continued as she stretched over to grab the untouched cookies, and, of course, Buta looked disappointed at that. "She got a fish, alright."
(She did a test, she once left the cookie plate alone, and the guy just walked away for them... all. The. Damn. Time. So fuck him, she liked Oreos.)
"It was quiet at first, had to get a bum off the ground... she fished there and..."
"And?"
"And she told me a car stopped on top. Then she heard Izu... Deku screams and pleads and begs and... basically, his mother threw him off the bridge." Tenshi finished lamely as she snagged yet another cookie. "Fuck... those are way too sweet."
"Fucking hell." Kurobuta let out air through his snout as he rubbed his eyes. "I swear, baby sister, this fucking quirk culture's toxic... like who the fuck does that? He's missing his limbs; he saved us all from this maniac... he lost his limb by sacrificing his everything to stop this Over-ass-hauling bastard, and what did he get!" The pig-like man raised his voice... only for Tenshi to roughly fill his mouth with a handful of Cookies.
He made a face, and he swallowed the over sweetened batch of American Oreo. He leered at the baby-blue-haired woman, who instead directed his eyes and ears towards the dirty laundry decorating the floor like a piece of postmodern art.
It was moving and whimpering.
"Oh... umm..."
"Listen, Porco; I totally feel the same way you do about that, for fuck sake, if I still... If I didn't run from Deika city like a little bitch-"
" You didn't run away from this shit hole, Baby-sis. You got evacuated to safety. nuance."
"Then I would have my army to raze the whole place down and bring everyone who hurt my Izuku to face true justice... but..." She sight. "The point is... right now, I need to take care of him. I can't run the risk of being captured and thrown in Tartarus or worse... with the other THOT, if I want him to be taken care of." She whispered harshly. "His mother abandoned him; his teachers didn't teach him shit, the school nurse is a bitter incel and the principal an animal... a smart animal, but still a fucking animal. Right now...
Right now... I want him to have something better than that…"
~0~
under the pile of dirty clothing, Izuku listened to Tomu... to Tenshi's words spoken to her friend.
That was... a lot. (also. OMG! That was Pork Rind the Phantom Pig, world-renowned heavy-weight wrestling champion and winner of many belts. The WWE just wished he'd gone with them and not the WWMWA (World Wide Mutant Wrestling Association.) His favourite wrestles that... oh, fuck it, All might would never beat him, not after his Injuries... ok, he would, but Izuku would consider it a prelude to Pork Rind's eventual triumph over him.
Still... he had thought he would get to witness Shigaraki's true colours, and instead...
Wow... just...
How was he supposed to react!?
"I know I'm not much and... and that I have the fucking back story, but... fuck, Magne dropped him here, what else am I supposed to do with him? Wrap him in a gift basket and drop him off at the nearest police station?" She scoffed. "He would be back with his Mama... and next time, it's a vorpal pillow to the face."
Izuku shuddered... remembered the few times he'd seen his sweet mother take a pillow and... stand beside his bed as she chewed her lips raw with indecision before she would put the pillow under his head, patting his head wordlessly.
Yeah... there had been so many close calls. But... his mama...
His mama... she loved him, she had to... right?
Still, the bitter taste of betrayal made him wonder if it had been true... or if something had been going on with his mother.
He heard Kurobuta let out a huff. "Yeah... can't chance it... Imma pass by again with a bean casserole."
"Awesome, won't say no to some more health recovery items, especially your casserole."
"Rock on, girl. If you... or your beau need anything, and I do mean anything under the fucking sun-"
"Yes, yes. Thank you, Porco; I'll keep you posted."
And with that, Tenshi closed her door... and walked toward Izuku's pile of cloth.
Did Izuku ever say how terrifying it was to hear and feel the most dangerous woman in Japan walking toward him?
Not that it wasn't hot as hell, but... geez, this was way too intense for him.
She crouched in front of Izuku. Obviously, Tomura... Tenshi was still learning how to act as a woman... since no girls Izuku knew would ever dare crouching like that... in front of a boy.
'dang... I never thought I would see this much.' Izuku swallowed thickly at the sight presented in front of him.
"So... how was your nap?" Tenshi asked, seemingly unaware that she was... presenting.
"Y-Y-Yeah it-was am... it..." Izuku was making a fool of himself, and nothing could stop him.
"Too close?"
He rapidly nodded, feeling like his fast would spontaneously combust.
"Right." Tenshi moved back a bit... and Izuku could finally breathe.
She (man, that was still weird.) kneeled beside him, closing her gate to the forbidden city. "Better now?"
"Y-Yeah." Izuku nodded.
"Like... head wise also?"
...
Well, this would take some time for him to process, but...
"I'm fine." Was always the right answer; he was fine, he was good.
It was in the past; he didn't have to think of it again.
Nope.
Not at all.
He would not let it.
"You're lying... you don't have to feel fine around me, be as shitty and broken as you want; I don't care." The ... retired (villainess) said as she made an aborted movement to ruffle Izuku's hair. "But you do have to eat something. I'm sure your Mana and HP are pretty low."
Ah, there it was... something Izuku could recognize.
Not that he'd hung out with Tomura all that often, only twice, and it was only the second time that he'd managed to have an actual conversation.
But this one... Tenshi...
She looked like Tomura, with the same voice and movement but...
She was... softer? Kinder?
Stable, that was the word.
"Oh, Thank you, lots of XP and training went into my rehab," Tenshi informed the quadriplegic. "Still not a hundred percent, but if... that leaky asshole were to break out of prison, I'd be the first one on his murder quest." She spoke darkly. "But enough about me, you need to eat."
Well, Izuku could not really argue with that, even if he had no real appetite.
But, as they say, appetites come with eating, and while the congee was... rather bland and a little burnt, somehow... It was the best food Izuku had eaten in his short, pathetic life.
And maybe... maybe it was because Tenshi had been the one feeding him so gently.
Maybe... he could get used to that.