Chapter 3: Pouches of... Jelly

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tw: drugs, gang life, crime, drinking/intoxication mention, homelessness, ed behaviors

Boss: what do you have?
Akira: A knife!
Boss: NO

'text' is JSL
Text is thoughts

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Recovery Girl kept Akira in her office until the end of the school day to monitor their concussion and help raise their body mass with an IV and gummy bears. Overall, new Lichtenburg patterns to trace for a couple of days and bruised ribs weren't the worst injuries to come away with after what happened.

As the school day wrapped up, Koda shyly entered the office and signed something to Recover Girl as she approached. She shrugged and gestured to Akira, who sat up a bit more.

'Sorry I didn't interpret for you,' Koda signed shyly. 'I froze, and I know it hurts to not have a voice.'

Akira blinked in surprise at the apology and reassured, 'I can understand that, especially to All Might. I'm going to request an interpreter for his class, but the teachers are supposed to be fluent. At least that's what the information booklet said.'

Recovery Girl sighed, "He is supposed to be, dearie, but the Commission fast-tracked his employment here. All Might is working on a few of the qualifications that are standard. I'm having dinner with my kids and grandkids tonight, would you like to join us? I can give you a ride there and back to your house if you let your guardians know."

Akira slipped a small smile on their face as they shook their head. 'My family's celebrating my first day tonight. Thank you, though.'

Aizawa, looking as cheery as usual, was waiting for them outside Recovery Girl's office with their backpack. 'Did you want to speak with me or are you waiting on Recovery Girl?' they asked.

Aizawa stared at them a long moment before sighing. 'Next time you need more food, whichever teacher is present will write you a note. Otherwise, I expect you to communicate with the faculty whether you feel the need to or not. If you pull this again, you will be expelled from the Hero Course.'

Akira nodded stiffly and gave a shallow bow before snatching their backpack and hurrying with their cane towards the locker room for their duffle bag. Their pack weighed a little more than it had this morning, but as they hefted it, the extra weight was light enough to probably be from lunch. Akira caught the last bus and train leaving for the warehouse district, grateful that their U.A. ID let them ride the train for free. Very few people were on the train this late, mostly blue-collar workers and people who had little elsewhere to be. While they checked their phones and evening newspapers, Akira pulled out their math homework.

Eventually, Akira got off on the second to last stop with Arata, the local drunk, and made sure he was headed in the right direction before heading towards Blue Fang territory. At least there, they didn't have to worry about being beaten up for sleeping in the wrong warehouse or unintentionally running into troublemakers.

At this point, all the regulars knew Mortis, the one who's getting out. A few of the other unhoused kids teased them about trying to become a hero as Mortis headed to the back of the bar. Slamming the door open, jammed as it had been for years, Mortis rapidly signed, 'Hey Boss! Got any work for tonight? Could use the extra cash if you have more deliveries.'

The chair facing Boss turned around as she grinned, "Perfect timing, Mortis, we do need someone to run a parcel – same drop and pay as usual. This is Dabi, he/him pronouns."


A heavily burn-scarred man with medical staples and familiar blue eyes raised an eyebrow as they appraised Mortis. "You want me to trust this kid to run a deal this large? They don't look a day over ten," Dabi's icy voice drawled.

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