Switches & Spices

Chapter Thirty Two

TW: Blood, Injury

A/N: Sorry for the delay, everyone! It's a doozy to make up for it though. Love you guys, I'll try to make future chapters shorter so they'll hit more frequently. Key word - try.

It was gonna be a loooooong shift...

Turns out, time flew by. Maybe because I was having fun talking back and forth with Izuku, nerding out to the next degree. He had figured out my blood control decently enough with the use of my support items, but when I mentioned that emotions became a factor - how I gained control - his eyes lit up like crazy in fascination. Stars hardly shone as bright.

I even had an opportunity to demonstrate it to him. Simple purse snatcher, but he was incredibly fluid in his movements, along with contortionism on his side. Slipped right out of a water net I formed, spitting out a slew of curses as he fled once more that made me roll my eyes, shrugging back to the hidden away Izuku. Shooting off after the perp within the alley, I finally sliced his arm and gained control. Dude had an insanely weak mind, so it was only a couple of seconds before he stopped moving, and Izuku dropped down.

The look on the thief's face was priceless as Izuku landed next to me. Apparently, the guy wasn't even aware of the Number One being in the area. I was naturally curious about that, considering the network that the troublemakers have, but tossed it aside, giggling as Izuku beamed, barely keeping his questions inside until the small-time criminal was driven off by police. Even then, I cut him off and made him wait until we were back in the sky away from people that could hear, a calm tone as I voiced the all-clear into the communicator to the guys, handing the woman back her purse before taking off.

It settled in - after Izuku talked my ear off about that emotional connection I formed with my Quirk of course - that I reflexively acted to detain the man without slicing my fingers open initially. It hadn't been the first time of course, but there was clear intent, instinct, to try and shield myself from being harmed. The insight passed quick enough, distracted with another question of Izuku's that made me laugh.

He parted from me long enough for me to do my rounds without distraction, though when I'd touch down again, he'd either have a different food for me to try from the Festival below, or a new batch of questions. It was fascinating to experience his thought processes as he jumped from observation to observation, the particulars he'd figure out, with myself and other Heroes that he detailed out when I asked questions in turn.

I admit, I was feeling like I was under a microscope, though it wasn't that disgusting sensation I'd experienced with the Commission. There wasn't an ulterior motive in his perceptive gaze; it was true, raw fascination, sating his own unending hunger for knowledge. I adored him. Super easy to talk to. It made me feel slightly less 'odd' for how my own mind jumped through invisible hoops to reach realizations.

It was refreshing to be drilled into about my Quirk without any negativity behind it - even if some of his questions were blunt and calculated. I was easily able to laugh it off after his panicked reaction to his own brusque points toward the end of the night, catching his flailing hands with a couple of strands of chilled water and reinforcing that everything was fine. Seems like I wasn't the only one that worked myself into a tizzy - at least he seemed to be able to bounce back easily.

Shift wrapped up for the night and meeting up with Tamaki and Tai once more without any issues on their end, I was dragged into the Agency by my Butterfly, stealing the moment of peace with a needy kiss while the other two lingered a short while outside. I was an absolutely flustered mess, unable to even catch a breath to whisper out his nickname, tingling with loving warmth and at the delightful mercy of his passionate kisses as he pinned me against the wall. It seemed the hunger and pride he had in me through events in the night had evolved and deepened the entire time he tried to calm down, and it overflowed as soon as he saw me.