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Izuku pulls a small pot out of one of the lower cupboards in his kitchen. His instant ramen lies unopened beside the (permanently crusty) oven as he fills the pot with water. Its such a normal situation but Izuku can’t help but be happy about the simplicity of just making instant ramen in his apartment. It’s so different compared to before. He doesn’t miss his old life. Yes, he may be a 15-year-old living alone in a rinky dink apartment that’s so old it should probably be condemned for how horribly unstable it is, and okay, fair, but its far better than living in a stable apartment with a women that acted like he wasn’t even there. It's better than stealing money from her purse just so he could eat. Better than the streets she left him on. It’s hard to miss something like that.
Izuku dumps his (now done) ramen into a bowl. He knows instant ramen isn’t the healthiest of lunch choices but he’s 15, he’s practically an adult already, he can make these kinds of decisions dang it!
“No, you’re not. Ask Dabi, he knows all about still being a child despite his age” came out of absolutely nowhere.
“MOTHER OF NEDZU!” Izuku’s chopstick, now imbedded in the wall 6 inches from the intruder’s right bicep should show how surprised skilled Izuku was at the sudden appearance. Giran, that bastard, is non pulsed by the utensil turned weapon still wobbling in its dry wall prison.
“Giran! Knock next time, I could have taken your head of!” Izuku walks passed the stupid jerk to pull his chopstick from the wall, ignoring the other holes, dents, and scraps that prove that this isn’t a one-time annoyance.
“I did. It’s not my fault you were too busy muttering to yourself to hear me,” The smokey bastard pats Izuku’s black curls “So kid, what’chya up to?”
Izuku grumbles under his breath but makes no move to take off the hand that still rests on top of his head. Giran may be a sleazy old bastard but that doesn’t mean Izuku doesn’t enjoy his company (even though he’s one of the most annoying sleazy bastards to ever walk this quirk filled earth). “I’m up to eating a bowl of ramen, thank you very much,” Izuku knows he sounded like an indignant child. He did it on purpose. Izuku is going to eat his ramen than he can help Giran with his little project, but only aft-
“Nope!” Ugh. Izuku knows that smile, it’s his “I’m about to be really annoying but you’re going to appreciate it anyways because I’m such a nice guy” smile, and Izuku doesn’t like that he’s smiling like that while picking up his ramen. “Growing boys like you need real food. Business first than we can go get some real food after,” Izuku watches as the old man dumps his ramen into the sink.
“Hey! I was ea-“
“Business first, food after,” Giran interrupts quickly
“You’re horrible,” Izuku crosses his arms and (only slightly) pouts. “Ugh, Fine, come on,” izuku turns and heads toward the back room at the end of the hallway, “So, what’s up? It’s not a Friday and you barely gave me any information over the phone yesterday. “I wanna try to cash in a favor” is not helpful,” Izuku grumbled that last part out but Giran obviously heard it his mischievous little smirk proved that. They walked through into what Izuku dubbed his “Business Room”. It isn’t all that professional, a giant beanbag large enough for 3 people lays in the corner in all ratty purple glory. A couch lines the wall across from the door and beside the beanbag and the matching loveseat lines the adjacent wall making the beanbag area like a nest. The couches are a horrendous green with a darker horrendous green making a zigzag patter. Izuku loves it. A desk fills what used to be a closet. His laptop, notebooks, and other “business” items are kept in this desk. He removed the closet doors when he moved in. The giant hole in one of them and the dent in the other wasn’t really doing anything for Izuku. A black rolley chair is pushed into its place in front of the desk, it fit like a glove. Izuku pulled the chair out and spun it around to face Giran who sat on the small couch. Izuku sat down and leaned to rest his arms on his legs.
“Well, Izuku. There’s no point in beating around the bush. So, I have a question for ya, have you ever heard of the League of Villains?”
“The League of Villains? Of course I’ve heard of them! There the villain group that attacked U.A!” How exiting! Izuku remembers watching the news reports on the incident. It was fascinating! They reported that one of the villains had an extremely powerful teleportation quirk. A teleportation quirk! Those are so rare! Izuku was flipping through a notebook before he even realized he had retrieved it from the desk behind him. He landed on a page full of questions with no answers. It irritated Izuku to no end that he couldn’t get answers. Why does a random villains in hiding have to have all the cool quirks! Its not just the warping villain, Kurogiri if he remembers correctly, but also his companion! Shigaraki Tomura had a devastating 5 point activation quirk. Its exact specifications weren’t stated in the reports, only that it was extremely dangerous. Izuku wants to know everything about them, their quirks, their fighting styles and tactics, how the think, how they-
Snapping fingers put an end to his train of thought and stilled his pen (did he grab it with the notebook? He didn’t even notice).
“Glad to have you back, kid!” Giran chuckled as he stood back up, a soft smile resting on his face. “It’s good to know your informed! That makes this much easier!” he continues as he sits back down on Izuku’s loveseat. “If I remember right, you and little Himiko got caught up in their attack on Hosu a couple days ago. Didn’t take you two as the vigilante type but that’s none of my business,” the embraced blush warming Izuku’s cheeks caused Giran to replace his soft smile with his stupid little sleazy smirk. Goodness gracious, why does he have to be so annoying.
“For your information we didn’t do it on purpose! She dragged me to see her crush against my will! Its not my fault Toga stabbed the guy!” Izuku conveniently left out the part where he himself also stabbed the Hero Killer: Stain. Izuku doesn’t really do the whole murder thing, that’s Himi-chan’s cup of tea. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t upset about what happened to Ingenium, and it defiantly doesn’t mean he’s not allowed to stab someone.
“Yeah, okay, sure,” Giran said flippantly as he shakes his hand in a dismissive gesture. It almost sounds like Giran doesn’t believe him! That’s so rude! “Back on track though,” Izuku quickly snapped back into the original conversation. “I’ve been acquainted with the leader of the group for many years, he may be a villain, but Sensei knows good business better than most. I’ve been asked to gather a handful of, let’s call them special, individuals to join his group. I already spoke with Himiko, as you can imagine she said yes. Very loudly. And with a knife, might I add” Izuku couldn’t help the small chuckle that bubbled out at that. Yeah, that’s sounds like their Himi-chan. “Don’t laugh! She almost stabbed me!” Giran squawked with faox offence. A breath pushed through Izuku’s lips, his chuckle intensifying into bright laughter. Izuku attempted to muffle it behind a hand, but it did nothing to smother him. “You also almost stabbed me! Kids these days are so disrespectful! Hasn’t anyone ever told you to respect your elders! Remind me, Izuku, of why I keep all you brats around?”
Izuku struggled to get a response through laughs and breaths. Although a few small chuckles escaped him he was able to force out a “Oh, you know you love us,” he said it while wiping a fake tear off his cheek. “attempted murder and all!” He slowly began to compose himself. A comfortable silence settled over them as Izuku took in deep, calming breaths, Giran had a self-satisfied grin as he watched Izuku finally settled down. After one final and full breath Izuku began “So what you’re saying, and correct me if I’m wrong, is that you want to cash in a favor by having me join the League of Villains?” Izuku lifted a single eyebrow.
“I’m not saying you have to join them; all you have to do is meet them. It’s your choice whether you join or not, I don’t really care,” Giran shrugs. “The meeting is tomorrow evening at the train station. I’m introducing potential recruits in groups of two or three so don’t be surprised if it’s just you and Himiko,” his tone was all business, not quite serious but defiantly professional. The silence that followed wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t the same silence as before. Still, that’s how Izuku would describe it, deep yet calm.
“Okay” Izuku agreed. If someone told Izuku that he would so easily agree to meet a group of villains two years ago he would have thought you were joking, he would have never believed you were telling the truth (he probably would have cried at the insinuation that he would ever be willing to be a villain). But that Deku had a rough life, Deku didn’t know what was waiting for him, he didn’t know his life could get any worse than it already was. Naïve and hopeful. Deku should have known better. Hindsight is 20/20, huh?
“Alrighty then! That was far easier than I thought it would be considering how much of a cheeky brat you are but maybe your too hungry to sass me this fine evening,” Just had to kill the mood didn’t you Giran. Giran, now on his feet, sauntered out of the room like a spoiled cat. “Come on, kid! Let’s go get that late lunch I promised ya!” he shouted from the hall. Izuku stood up and quickly pushed his chair back into its spot in the desk.
“I’m comin’! I’m comin’! Old men like you shouldn’t move so fast! You might wanna slow down there, grandpa. Don’t want you blowing out a hip, now do we!” The offended gasp from down the hallway was absolutely hilarious. Izuku walked down the hallway to see Giran waiting, shoes on and hand on the doorknob. Izuku quickly slipped on his own shoes, bright red high-tops, an eyesore but thats one of the reason he loves them. “Alright, I’m ready. Let’s go, Grandpa”
“You’re such a little snot, you know that?” Giran said as flung his arm around Izuku’s shoulders. Izuku responded with a smile with as much sass as he could muster.
No, Izuku doesn’t miss his old life one bit.