Izuku didn't like ties.
The first time he wore a tie, it was at a funeral for a family friend when he was about three.
It was lost not long after he and his mother returned home.
(His father couldn't make it, from what he could remember.)
The next time was the 'graduation' ceremony for his class in grade school.
That was a clip-on, to save his mother time from his fuss over his desire not to wear it.
(His father was out of town for that event as well.)
The next time was on his first day of junior high.
He had made the knot of his uniform's tie too big and his mother fixed it for him, they'd had a laugh about it after that.
(His parents had just begun divorce proceedings at that point. His mother sent his father a ton of pictures of him from her phone.)
Since that day, he had practiced tying his tie every day.
Sometimes, the knot was too big.
Sometimes, it was uneven.
Other times, it was just right.
As he peered at his reflection, Izuku concluded that the state of the knot that day was-
"Are you really so vain that you would stare at your reflection for five whole minutes?"
The greenette discreetly shot the devil in the backseat a dirty look.
It was something he'd only gotten better in the month that they had spent together.
That, and ignoring the transparent spectator's calls for blood every time they passed what it speculated to be another devil's feeding grounds.
You could always point one out if you knew what to look for.
That being the pungent scent of blood and rot of at least several corpses, typically.
It bothered him sometimes, how the recollection of those smells came to him more easily than his father's face.
Oh right, I should deposit that check before I get home. That's about 40,000 off of the sum.
The envelope had come in before he left that morning, postcard attached and everything.
Apparently, his father was still in California.
To be completely honest, it didn't matter to Izuku, so long as his money ended up in Japan.
"How mercenary."
Leave me be.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
"Wa-!"
Izuku felt his body jump and rock, confined only by the seat belt around his waist as the car he was in lurched violently.
"Damn potholes. Sorry about that, Midoriya-kun!"
The gruff man in the driver's seat looked over at the greenette, offering him a sheepish smile that Izuku felt didn't quite fit his face.
"I-it's fine, Namimaru-san. I-I mean Senpai!"
Namimaru laughed.
"Don't worry about stuff like that with me. We're gonna be watching each other's backs soon enough, so formalities can go shove it as far as I'm concerned."
"Um, okay… Namimaru-san."
He honestly didn't know what to make of the man.
He looked intimidating, and in such close proximity, smelled like tobacco and… dogs(?), but in the two meetings that Izuku had had with him, he'd been congenial.
When Izuku showed up at Public Safety Headquarters that morning, Nanimaru had been waiting for him at the front entrance and showed him inside.
The guy was even taking over his training for his first week!
Izuku couldn't remember the last time anyone other than his mother had gone to such lengths just to be kind to him and while he wasn't going to say no such kindness, he also wasn't going to pretend that he wasn't out of his depth.
He wanted to ask what the older man's angle was, and what he wanted from Izuku.
But even after constructing the sentence in his mind over and over again, the words were lost in transit before leaving his lips, creating a thick quiet in the car that was only perforated by the low drone of the radio and the light, methodical tapping of the older man's finger on the steering wheel.
The Execution Devil was quiet again.
He couldn't decide if that was a blessing or a curse.
As sure of himself as he had been on the phone days before, he certainly wasn't feeling that sense of confidence in the passenger seat that morning.
Eventually though, the quiet was broken.
Not by the greenette with questions on the flat of his tongue, but by the older man whose tongue was only too loose.
Eyes glued to the road, his words were clear and his words were amicable.
"Alright, kid, here's the deal. If this were a normal training period, we'd be spending the majority of it at the office, getting you up to speed on devils. What are they, how they feed, where they come from. But, I've got the strange feeling you already know all that. Am I right?"
The Execution Devil scoffed.
"I would hope so."
Izuku wished that he would stop offering commentary that was not asked of him.
"I do."
"Well, then we won't have to do any of that, then. Not quite sure if you've caught it quite yet, but I'm not exactly the lecturin' type."
Namimaru smiled wolfishly.
It set the greenette back on guard immediately, for some reason his tie felt too tight and his muscles all tensed.
He could only hope that the tension in his body wasn't too apparent to the outside observer.
Anxiety ran in his family tree, and if he wasn't careful, it was going to run him out of a moving car and into oncoming traffic.
The absolute last thing he needed was to get hit by a truck.
He fiddled with his tie subtly, trying to loosen it just a bit.
If Namimaru noticed his discomfort, he either didn't care enough to mention it or didn't want to risk making it worse by trying to alleviate it.
Instead, he pressed on.
"I'm a much more practical guy, y'see. So I figure, since you know the basics, it couldn't hurt to get you on the street and acclimated to the area. And I wanna get the dogs familiar with your face before we lock 'em up for the weekend."
That sounds… kinda reasonable, I guess.
He could feel his tension lessen.
It wasn't a lot, but enough for him to feel like he wasn't going bolt out of instinct.
But then he thought about what he had just heard again.
"Wait… dogs?"
"Yup, Hunting Dogs. They're handy for the work we do, seeing as we don't always have enough people to cover a patrol area. Figure they oughta see your face before heading home, since you'll be one of the people holding their leashes when the training period ends."
At the explanation, only one word came to Izuku's mind.
Huh?
They parked in an empty lot in a financial district that Izuku was certain he'd never had any business in.
The blocky, black kei car that they arrived in certainly looked out of place amongst the coupes and sedans out on the wider street.
Like a puffy Ragdoll among a clowder of Russian Blues.
Namimaru was out of the car in seconds.
His movements weren't hasty, but certainly purposeful, with a certain confidence that a person couldn't practice or fake.
A direct contrast to Izuku, whose hands fumbled with the buckle as he tried and failed to unfasten his seatbelt on his first try.
He could see The Execution Devil blankly staring at him from outside the window.
It was easy enough to ignore, the spectral devil looked at him like that at least ten times a day in the several weeks that they had lived with each other.
He tried and failed again.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
A light rap of knuckles against the window drew his attention.
"Everything alright in there?"
Namimaru called to him from outside.
"Uh, yeah, just having some-" he tried again "-trouble with-" he failed again "the buckle."
Namimaru hummed.
"Press down on the foremost part of the button."
Izuku did as he was told.
Click!
He got it and scrambled out of the comfortable chill of the car into the muggy air of the outside.
The man with the sideburns offered him yet another sheepish smile.
It still didn't look quite right to Izuku.
"Sorry about that, Midoriya-kun. The seatbelts in that model are a bit faulty. Got so used to it that I didn't even think to tell you."
"It's no problem, really."
A minor inconvenience, likely to be the least of his worries if his first two encounters with devils were to signify anything.
Namimaru seemed to want to speak on it further, but he ultimately decided not to.
"Well, alright. If you say so. What say we get your first day started then?"
"Alright."
According to what he was being told, Izuku had quite a bit of responsibility on his hands as a devil hunter for Public Safety.
He had been assigned a sector to patrol, that sector being the financial district, Anoto.
There were other senior devil hunters assigned to the same sector, but it was unlikely that he'd meet them on patrol.
"Oh, and the boss is gonna assign you a buddy, but it'll hafta wait till after the training period's over, there's a case that needs as many hands on it as possible, so you're stuck with me till then."
Well that sounds ominous.
"It sounds like a particularly evil devil. Let's inquire."
Let's not.
The police were aware of devils.
It was surprising to Izuku, but it definitely made sense.
Having men on the block would devil hunters' jobs just a bit simpler, in regards to keeping civilians out of danger by blocking off certain areas and giving them information that only they could have.
"Memorize where the police boxes and kōban are around here. Push comes to shove, the cops are our best friends, no matter how much the hero-crazy folks make fun of 'em."
"There's always the Police Force. They do good work, even if most people don't pay much attention to them."
Izuku felt himself twitch slightly, but still nodded all the same.
He saw a few heroes on patrol, or maybe sidekicks, seeing as Izuku didn't recognize them from any debuts or hero merch or anything.
A couple of them, when they crossed paths, offered polite nods and some knowing looks to the suited pair, but there was nothing aside from that.
It struck Izuku as a bit odd, so he asked Namimaru what it was all about.
"Oh that? Eh, it's nothing much. Public Safety has something of a give-and-take relationship with Hero Public Safety. A lot of heroes work with us by covering damage done by devils and such with news about villain attacks and the like. You likely remember what happened after the incident with The Drill."
"Oh, ya didn't hear? Big villain attack last night, tore up the whole damn street before Water Hose took 'im down."
"A huge villain came outta nowhere and blasted the street apart. I heard it was crazy."
"Some villain came outta nowhere and wrecked this whole street. Good thing the dumbass decided to attack the street right next to Water Hose's agency or things might've been worse."
Ah, I see. So that's what happened.
"A good number of heroes make their debuts like that, and every hero that comes out of a hero school knows what's up with these things."
That… made sense.
Everyone involved with law enforcement was part of the secret club.
Being on the other side of the curtain really put some perspective on things.
"Oh, speaking of hero schools, have you put any thought into which one you want to go to?"
Izuku blinked.
Oh right, I completely forgot.
"…What's the other offer?"
Namimaru gave the boy another grin.
"Well, when we were looking into you, we happened to come across some future plans of yours. Namely, your plans for after Junior High."
Izuku kept his mouth shut, but couldn't help but brace for the ridicule.
Or worse, the pity.
"'Hero course, school undecided.' It's ambitious to say the least."
"It's… my dream. I… wanna be the hero that saves everyone with a smile. A hero that makes everyone smile with him…"
He trailed off and looked to the side.
It sounded kinda cringy to him when he said it out loud to adults that weren't related to him.
But it was how he felt.
"Ah, like All Might then?"
His eyes snapped back to the Public Safety trio.
That wasn't an answer he was expecting.
And it was an answer that came from someone that he wasn't expecting.
His gaze locked onto the man on Namimaru's left.
"Yeah, that's a good dream, I think."
The man said his peace and went back to sipping his tea.
Namimaru continued, "I think so too, which is why I've come with an offer from two very grateful parents. That offer being a recommendation to any hero school of your choice."
Izuku almost choked on his spit.
It was a big deal to him at that moment, and a major part of why he spent so long considering the internship offer instead of refusing outright, but his mother's condition made him forget all about it.
"I haven't, actually. Sorry."
"No worries, you've got a year and some change. Take your time."
Izuku nodded, wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.
The air itself was sweltering and the suit wasn't helping.
GRRRRRRRRR!
He also really regretted being too nervous to eat breakfast that morning.
Namimaru took a look at his phone.
"Alright, you've seen most of the area. What do you say we go grab a late lunch and then go pick up some treats for the dogs? I'll buy."
"Okay."
His answer was immediate, and his opinion of his superior was raised instantly as well.
At that moment, Izuku decided that he liked Namimaru.
"It's just here around the corner, Midoriya-kun."
"Got it."
After he and Namimaru stopped in for ramen, they grabbed some things at the convenience store.
Namimaru bought Izuku a melon soda and grabbed himself some cigarettes.
After that, he grabbed a basket and walked the shelves.
Anpan, cheesesticks, and beer?
They struck Izuku as strange treats for dogs, but then again, was there anything about his current situation that wasn't strange?
Maybe some kind of dog devils?
People were scared of dogs, it made sense.
Or maybe the beers were for the handlers.
There was likely a reasonable explanation for it.
"Alright Dogs, meet the newbie. Midoriya-kun, meet the dogs."
There was not a canine in sight.
Just four men in gray jumpsuits and cuffs that looked ready to tear into the bags that the newly arrived pair had in their hands.
Izuku decided immediately that this was not reasonable at all.
"Well, this is interesting."
Of course you'd say that.