skin hunger

Chapter 1

He suspected it the moment Shouto took his hand off his shoulder to walk over to his dad. Because almost instantly, the cold of the impending night crept through his costume directly onto his skin and deep into his bones. Something about the intensity of that feeling also made him realize that it wouldn't be over anytime soon. The euphoria that made his cheeks and eyes glow subsided until only an uncomfortable tingling sensation remained on his face. He glanced at his hands, his fingers, and lifted his gaze the moment the villain was shoved against the police car with a rough push. The black lips twisted into a knowing smile, confirming Izuku's hunch: he had been hit (again) by a Quirk. He didn't know when, but the way his body was acting would have been confirmation enough in a couple of hours.

Swearing impatiently, Katsuki yanked open the car door, cursed again, and kicked the young man into the back seat.

"Good teamwork." Static rustled in his ear, "You guys are getting better."

"What was his Quirk?" he asked anxiously, his eyes fixed on the car that was now slowly pulling out of the alley and onto the main road. He watched as Kacchan across the street tapped his ear twice, then the latter's growling voice sounded right in his ear.

"Tch, it would have taken me less than three minutes on my own."

Their eyes met, Kacchan still next to the cops, Izuku on the sidewalk in front of the store that had just been robbed. Black Whip had left the storefront intact, and had shielded the broken storefront from overzealous thieves.
But when you got right down to it, his Quirk had a range of almost 10 meters by now, and would have definitely reached the thief as he fled. Ergo, he probably would have solved this incident more quickly on his own, too.

But nevertheless, the interior of the store had been too small and full of glass display cases to free Black Whip immediately upon confrontation, and never would he have expected the powerful kick right in his face that had catapulted him through the glass like a missile. Kacchan reacted immediately, as always fully driven by his instincts. While Izuku was still flying through the shattering glass, he had already set off two mid-range explosions inside the store in a flash, in pursuit of the thief who had fled through the revolving door. Shards of glass and jewelry flew through the air, dust swirled into the street, and the entire building was shaken to its foundations by the next explosion.
Of course, Izuku had stayed behind to preserve the statics and protect the surrounding civilians and cars from falling debris. But just as naturally, Kacchan looked challengingly at him from 4 meters away because of it.

"I prefer teamwork" he replied flippantly "even if it takes longer."

"Sneaky little-"

"What was his Quirk?" he repeated his question, drowning out Kacchan's jibes.

"ZCT," chimed in the short reply, "Zero Contact Torture, the report on that is in your office." Aizawa seemed to be waiting for a response, but Izuku just nodded, "In case you're not feeling well, Recovery Girl is still in the hospital until tonight."

"Thank you, sensei, but it's nothing."

"Deku-"

"Deku over and out."

On the way home, two stops before his final stop to be exact, he pulled the copied report out of his backpack one more time. The buttons of his shirt were already unbuttoned, his collar wet - but he was freezing as if all the windows of the subway were open. The fact that he had actually been caught by this sloppy villain was quite a bruise on his ego. And possibly the main reason he was sitting right here and not on a hospital bed.

"Twelve hours," he muttered stubbornly against his fingers, "unpleasant physical effects, but no fatal courses." His train paused. For the next twelve hours, his body would suffer the deficiency effects of the lack of physical contact. But he had survived worse, he thought stubbornly. "I can do this." He got out and fanned himself, "Somehow."