Not a lot of reasons led to why Shouto’s Quirk going haywire. His fire eliminated most illnesses before they could really take hold, and if anything did like when he was younger, he’d be fine in a day or two. Yet he hadn’t gotten sick since school.
That left only one thing for him sweating only to have his teeth chatter a moment later.
His rut was around the corner and he lamented it. Due to his duality, he didn’t have a set rut cycle. Those with an ice-Quirk of some kind would usually have their cycle in the winter months or spring. It sounded cliche but biologically it made sense, because otherwise they would overheat. Quirks based around fire or hot temperatures would experience their cycles during summer or autumn.
People like Shouto’s parents never had overlapping heat/rut cycles because of all of that. It was way more common for Quirks not temperature-based to have overlapping cycles.
His? It could hit him anytime between January to April, or it would slam him around July through September. He was an unlucky bastard who often had two in a year instead of one.
Thank god as an adult with his own Agency, Shouto was able to call up Tiriel and ask her to cancel everything for a week and take the time off set aside for this situation in particular. Unless it was a life or death emergency, he wasn’t to be called to work.
Still...the biggest reason he was sour about it hitting right now was because he had kept track of the calendar. An old high school friend, Kurai, had move back to these parts of town according to Kirishima who’d been keeping tabs on the vampire boy for him for two years. It sounded creepy, but as the only one of their friend group who did mostly night shifts and lived in a district closest to Kurai’s old location, it had made the most sense.
Rummaging through his medicine cabinet, Shouto growled to himself. Where were his goddamn suppressants?!
A phone call. It was Fuyumi. “Shouto! I have the cake done!” she cooed on the other end when he picked up, “It’s ready for you whenever!”
“Fuyumi, I hate to ask, but are there extra suppressants at the house or can you get some for me?” Shouto grit his teeth, his head pounding. He wiped at his neck and smacked his cabinet closed, running water in the faucet so he could cool himself with some water.
A pause. “You shouldn’t be seeing Kurai-kun if you’re hitting your cycle, Sho. That’s dangerous. If you have to give him the cake and plan for next week.”
“I can’t do that!” Shouto snapped, only to groan and put his face in his hand.
“I’m sorry, onee-san.” He muttered, “I...I haven’t seen Kurai in a long time. I want to spend time with him. That’s why I’m asking for suppressants. Just one day. One day is all I need.”
Fuyumi’s sigh could be heard clearly, “I’ll ask Natsuo to bring a bottle from the hospital on his break.”
Shouto gulped and nodded though she couldn’t see it, “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Fuyumi. I’ll be over in a little bit to get the cake. I’m grateful you made it for me.”
“Of course. You talked about him nearly as often as you talked about Izuku-kun and Kirishima-kun. Be careful, see you soon!”
When she hung up, Shouto dialed Kurai and headed out the door in some loose, breezy clothes. He didn’t care how cold it was outside with how hot he felt, and if he needed it he had his jacket on his arm. “Hey, Kurai,” he did his best not to let his voice put when Kurai answered and he heard that kind voice that made him feel fuzzy, “I’ll be running a little late, but I still have your address you gave me. I’ll let you know when I’m there, alright?”
"Geh–?!" Naturally he's surprised but he's quick to compose himself. "Ahh, crap...!" Even if NOT to greet the other like he usually does, but in fact to focus back on his thoughts, frantically look over the place he'd been staring and make a quick, desperate lunge for it. He ends up rolling right into a wall after that, but most notably, when he sat back up, there appears to be a writhing mouse tail poking out from his mouth.
Every once in a while, Midoriya would notice how this one guy in particular would often keep to himself, even around other students that were literally right next to him. Actually, it.. looked more like he just wasn’t being noticed by anyone at all. He’s.. pretty sure he wasn’t catching glimpses of a ghost here. At least, he.. really hoped that was the case... But, that’s besides the point. What’s more concerning was how lonesome it felt just seeing the guy there. It sort of reminded him of himself, really, back when he tried avoiding as much attention brought onto himself as possible...
“Uhm, hey there...!” Well, hopefully this student wasn’t more antisocial than asocial. Somehow, he just had this feeling that the poor guy was experiencing a similar sense of loneliness that he knew himself.
“I, uh-- couldn’t help but notice you all by yourself here. I’m Midoriya Izuku, what’s your name?”
His tail thumps the floor behind him in what can only be described as frustrated but not unhappy. A dichotomy, but it was about as accurate as it could be. Ojiro was starting to get frustrated at being unable to reach his prize, but it was hard to be truly mad about it when just the smell coming off of the thing made his body tingle.
“Not...entirely...sure,” he responds, distracted, as he strains to reach just a little bit further.
And then, Kurai says something that absolutely blows his mind.
“..Uhm, excuse me..”
She coulda swore she saw someone like him among Deku and his classmates at some point. For some strange reason, his diminished presence was what got her to notice in the first place, its peculiarity leaving a notable impression on the child. She couldn’t quite get the memory of when she saw him clear to herself, though...
“6:30.” Shouto nodded firmly. There was a nervous fluttering in his stomach but he smiled anyway, “I’ll be there.”
XSceneSkipX
No one could ever say Shouto wasn’t punctual.
After he knocked and Kurai shyly opened the door, he stepped past the threshold and made a soft ‘oooh’ sound under his breath as he looked around. Black bedding, black out curtains, black chairs, a black dresser. and a black computer desk. Funny, how in spite of so much black there was so much light. ‘Blacklight’ to be specific. Purple and blue glowed from absolutely everywhere. Above the windows, from the posters that had an almost cyberpunk aesthetic, the planet-like mobile above the bed, the nightstand next to the black couch with purple throw pillows.
Even the elongated small fishtank sitting on a shelf glowed.
“For being dark it’s surprisingly bright in here. I can see everything perfectly fine.” He assured Kurai, walking further in. He held up the bag he was holding, “I know you said you’d cook, but I brought drinks and some snacks. Since you told me during lunch that one day you like trying new things, I just grabbed what I liked to see if you’d like them, too. There’s also energy drinks. One strawberry flavored, for you.”
After the disaster of the last date, Shouto had been really hesitant to even request another day out from the teachers. Today, however, he had the perfect excuse and had gotten two slips with little to no trouble. This weekend. This weekend would be great, he’d make sure of it.
They were in the dorms now and Shouto spotted his target in the kitchen,
“Hey, Kurai!” he called to the fluffy head of white and came up beside him, holding up the slip in front of the other’s face, “Look what I got.”
“Kurai,” Shouto’s voice was firm, but not rude. His heterochromia eyes were steady, albeit pained, but he’d dealt with worse, “What do you need from me? Tell me. We need to get out of here. Do you need me to watch your back? I can do that no matter how you carry me.” Honestly thank fuck for a Quirk on both sides of his body, he would be able to protect them both from any oncoming trouble no matter what. He tested weight to see if he could at least get himself into a standing position but he hissed as pain shot through him. Damn it, he had landed weird, too. Nothing felt broken, so it had to be twisted muscle and a sprain, but he was just going to be dead weight like this.
