Izuku had never been tempted to drink before.
He had been offered alcohol by his students a fair few times more than he thought it would, but the nightmares he just had last night had made him reconsider it as he sat next to the toilet since he wasn't sure he would not vomit.
It's not like it would have been illegal, he was technically old enough to drink given Japan's weird laws on the quirkless, getting his hands on it was the problem since most people weren't inclined to let teenagers buy alcohol... his students weren't morally challenged by that though.
Kurogiri had been forthcoming enough for Izuku's unconscious mind to run wild.
Mainly of blinding pain all over as different quirks were forced into his body by a shadowy figure with its arm tightly wrapped around his neck. When he was twisted into something he couldn't even remember Izuku was paraded about as a lifeless zombie fully aware as his body was moving around as someone else's puppet.
And it was quite tempting to have a sip of something mind numbing after all that had been learned, mainly since he had far too much going on in his life that was massively stressing him out to the point that getting black out drunk just for a second so he didn't have to think for little while sounded really tempting.
Before he finished his talk with Kurogiri he did ask about why All For One attacked the Shimura family so viciously and erased Tenko's memory.
The answer was simple as it was crude, revenge.
Kurogiri didn't have all the details but he had enough pieces to get a decent picture of what had happened.
All For One had a brother way back when and his quirk could be passed on to others, and with his brother being opposed to All For One's reign of terror he had kicked off a line of successors that had opposed All For One and kept him from taking over Japan so far.
Shimura Nana was the seventh wielder and the only one to have both a family, as well as a close bond with her successor All Might the eighth.
So, as a petty vindictive man All For One was he had given Tenko the Decay quirk knowing it would be only a matter of time before Tenko killed his family to make All Might think he failed to protect what was left of his mentor's family, only to manipulate Tenko into a villain that would hate everything All Might stood for the emotional gut punch because he really hated the current user.
Izuku hadn't asked any more questions after that because he didn't think he was mentally capable of handling anymore that night and judging by the nightmares he was quite right, but it left him with this unshakeable feeling that he had to do something to rescue both Tenko and Kurogiri from All For One's grasp.
Which was a pretty tall order even for him giving he knew nothing about how to help someone who was brainwashed with a quirk cult style, or how to counter whatever quirk was keeping Kurogiri obedient, Kurogiri hadn't said it but he was clearly "programed" by some quirk to never go against All For One.
Feeling his stomach had calmed down some Izuku stood up and splashed some cold water on his face, the chill settling his nerves some as he fought to calm down, he was getting far too worked up over this and reminded himself it was only because of his stress that this was affecting him the way it was.
He would figure out a way to save them, he would just need to be creative... and it's not like he wasn't already looking into ways to get people out of cults and cult mind-sets.
There was the whole issue going on with Hawks after all.
Hawks had caught his eye with his debut and subsequent raise to #4 in the same year, the news had spent an entire month producing articles on him alone so it would be hard not to be a little curious about this new hero.
And he found nothing.
Most people would brush that off as part of the hero privacy act of '24, a lot of the top ten used the act to keep their family and loved ones away from the public eye, but Izuku wasn't most people, he used to be a rabid hero fan and he found nothing on hawks.
Even with some digging he couldn't find one picture of Hawks trademark red wings in any hero school year books or import papers, which would mean that Hawks would have somehow gotten a hero license without going through the normal system, and he somehow had the same level of competence as heroes who trained for a decade.
And then there was his body, Izuku was very against body shaming but there was nothing healthy about Hawks figure, unless you have a very specific quirk people don't have naturally occurring abs that sharply defined without a super dangerous diet... one known to have almost kill actors, almost as well known for the people it did kill.
Meeting him by chance drooling over rats was a coincidence but confirmed to him a lot of what he thought about Hawks being true, especially the one where he feared that Hawks did have a strong predator quirk and needed to eat meat despite his official accounts claiming he was a vegetarian.
So after that chance meeting Izuku got the Vespas to dig up everything they could find on the young hero, and they found next to nothing which was, majorly concerning that the Vespas couldn't find anything on the man expect for a few really old documents, and when he did get his hands on a copy of those papers Izuku couldn't help losing any shred of respect he had left for the H.P.S.C. as a whole.
And that was why after finished his work in Kumamoto he stood in front of Ammi's texting his friends as he waited for the blonde hero to show up, it seems that Takami had taken Izuku last minute comment from their second meeting seriously and had met with him at Ammi's every Tuesday.
"Zuri!" Takami called getting his attention and Izuku saw Takami practically bouncing over to him with the biggest grin on his face under his mask, he couldn't help smiling back and accepting the hug and face nuzzles Takami had started giving him.
Takami had been looking better since he was eating meat regularly, more color in his cheeks and his fans were blowing up the internet with before and after pictures comparing his wings proclaiming how much glossier and vibrant his wings were now, it was just a relief that Takami was getting healthier.
"Hey Tweety, got your wallet today?" Izuku teased quickly putting his phone away, and Takami pouted at him and crossed his arms.
"That was one time Zuri, and yes I do have money on me. And I plan to get me a rabbit this time." Takami huffily told him poking his chest before turning his eyes on to the rabbit on a poster, eyes narrowed in determination.
Izuku couldn't say he was surprised by Takami's choice or his insistence given Raijin had gone on to constantly jump Takami on his route to keep Takami away from finding anything on him or discovering something he shouldn't, which was probably really frustrating for Takami once he considered it.
Izuku sighed rolled his eyes and just grabbed Takami's arm and began pulling him inside "Well, don't stand there Tweety. Those wabbits ain't going to hunt themselves you cockatoo." Izuku joked.
Takami scoffed shaking his head, not making any move to get away from Izuku.
Their conversation falling into the normal rhythm, Izuku would talk about helping his students learn anything from math to a bit of science, careful to not let on more than he had to, and it was easy since he had tons of small insignificant ones to share that wouldn't tip Takami off to his shadier business.
Takami would chime in asking about a thing here or a comment there but was otherwise content letting Izuku carry most of the conversation, Izuku really hoped it was because Takami liked to just listen to him talking and not because Takami didn't have a life outside of being a hero.
He knew it was the latter though, he could still hope it was both.
The shopping was over quite quickly and Izuku was talking about the time he brought the children in the South Side to the aquarium while Takami was eating his rabbit, leaving out certain details of course but Takami was pretty into it, most likely because he's never been to one in his life.
But once he finished the story Takami asked one of his few unprompted questions "Hey, I never asked but who is your favorite hero Zuri?"
Izuku blinked slightly taken aback, he never would have thought Takami would have turned the focus to heroics but he was willing to roll with it he just needed a minute to think.
"Oh, um geeze. My favorite is an underground hero so you probably haven't heard of them but they're called Eraserhead, Gang Orca is a close second though." Izuku told him rubbing the back of his neck.
Takami's eyes widened "You know Eraserhead? That's cool, did h- they rescue you before or something?" Takami asked nearly slipping on using the correct gender.
Izuku chuckled waving his hands dismissively "Nah, nothing exciting like that Tweety. I dreamed of becoming a hero like most kids and just looking for a hero like me, Eraserhead was the closest thing and seemed really cool so they just sort of became my favorite." Izuku explained, with a half-truth.
Eraserhead hadn't become his favorite hero until after the SSI, and Eraserhead had completely earned his respect because it was one thing for the man to actively patrol a red-light like Yaizu, but when Masao-San told him that he had dropped everything to save his classmates at the mall attack Izuku couldn't help loving the hero even more.
Takami gave a soft nod of understanding "Oh I get it, so you have some kind of quirk-neutralizing thing too then?" Takami guessed taking Izuku by surprise for a second time.
"What? No. I'm a two-toes Tweety." Izuku corrected automatically.
Takami blinked his head falling to the side slightly "A, two toes?" Takami repeated and Izuku supposed he should have known Takami wouldn't know the term himself since the H.P.S.C. likely wasn't invested in the quirkless community, much less tell Takami of it if they did.
"Yeah, ya know. Quirkless, though we prefer the term two-toes since it feels less like we're missing something." Izuku answered then brought up his shoe to show it off "See look, I'm even wearing primordial shoes." Izuku pointed out, bringing up one of his feet to further make his point.
Takami stared at him then his eyes went down to his offered shoe before returning to Izuku's face, it took another minute before it finally seemed to sink in for Takami "Oh." he muttered clearly struggling to figure out what he should say and looking quite conflicted.
Izuku's heart twinged but forced it aside and he stood up grabbing his bags "It's okay, I understand. I won't bother you anymore Tweety." Izuku promised turning to walk away.
Takami's response to learning he was quirkless hurt, he would never say it but yes it had. He had thought Takami wouldn't be that judgmental especially after spending some time together one-on-one, he was certain that Takami was at least a little fond of him but that was fine.
He'd continue his plans to free Takami of course but if he didn't want to be friends with Izuku then that was his choice and Izuku would respect it.
Someone suddenly grabbed Izuku's arm and he was forcefully turned back to a panicked looking Takami "No! Don't leave. You don't bother me!" Takami pleaded shocking Izuku greatly.
Izuku's mouth opened to question Takami for his sudden outburst before something clicked in Izuku's mind.
Takami had an avian quirk, avian quirked people while social were known to be oddly territorial of friends and family, the same way parrots got super attached to their owners.
And Izuku was most likely the only person Takami had to talk with outside of uniform and his persona that wasn't a part of the commission, and depending on how traumatized Takami was it was entirely possible he was now super attached to Izuku.
"Okay, Tweety I won't leave. But could you let go of my arm please?" Izuku calmly requested taking a step closer so Takami himself could be reassured he wasn't leaving.
Takami blinked then his eyes went down to the hand still tightly gripping Izuku's upper-arm and promptly his face lost all color as he stared at his hand terrified.
"No, no, no, no!" Takami whisper yelled as his free hand quickly began trying to rip his fingers off but his panic kept them firm and when his grip was to the point of snapping the bone Izuku stepped in, placing a hand on the beanie causing a momentary lapse in Takami's attempts as he flinched at the contact.
"Tweety look at me." Izuku told him and Takami reluctantly met his eyes "This is fine, we are fine. You're just rapting, it's completely normal and expected for people that have avian quirks, I've had plenty of kids do this before and I know we'll both be completely fine." he said slipping into Deku-Sensei mood and gently stroked Takami's head.
Takami was still very stiff so Izuku slowly guided him to sit on the bench again and made sure to use all his talents to gently coax Takami, eventually he had calmed the blond down enough with a breathing exercise so that he could remove his hand from Izuku's arm without forcing the fingers back.
"There, see? No harm done, Tweety." Izuku assured by flexing his arm despite how it ached when he did, he'd need to grab some hero grade makeup to cover the bruise so none of his students wouldn't freak out if he took off his shirt.
Deeply mortified Takami pulled away from Izuku and looked like he wanted to just disappear as he avoided looking at him "Y-yeah, thanks for letting me ah, wait it out Zuri." Takami mumbled hugging himself.
Izuku's hands clenched tightly into fists at the sight, because he knew this exaggerated reaction to something so normal had to be because of the commission's doing, Izuku would need to do something about them but he hardly had the time free even with Kurogiri's portal travel.
At the least he could ask the Vespas to dig up everything they could for him to use later when he had more time.
Looking down Izuku saw the rabbit Takami had been eating and he pointed at it "Are you going to finish that?" Izuku asked diverted to his forgotten meal.
"Oh, right." Takami muttered flustered quickly picking up the half-eaten body and continued to eat, nibbling on an arm.
Izuku furthered took his attention from what had just happened and proceeded to tell him about some facts he relearned about ants for one of his students.