Don't Judge a Book

and attend to know understanding

"Izuku, darling, I found this for you and thought you might like it," Inko, Izuku's host mother that he'd recently found out about by accident, rushed through the door to the house and held out a box. Dabi, the nendoroid version, was in her hands. "I thought he was cute and he reminded me of your little demon crush you were talking about a while ago," she smiled, holding it out to him eagerly. 

"Oh, thank you?" Izuku wasn't sure how to react. He didn't know what a nendoroid was. He was still trying to understand what a host mother was. Apparently God had all her children via human parents. She just up and made them pregnant without any real notice. Inko was one of those unlucky people, but she was such an angel she thought of Izuku as her own. Shouto and Izuku were looking for a place to stay when they stumbled upon her grocery shopping. She burst out into tears and explained how long she was looking for him. Host mothers apparently enter a deep sleep right after birth that can last thousands of years. They rarely awaken, and if they do, it's usually so God can possess them to have another child. In this case, Inko had no idea why she woke up. 

"It's surprisingly accurate," Shouto pointed out. That's because I'm real. Dabi wanted to scream but he kept his mouth shut. "You can usually change their faces and take off their limbs to change their poses." 

"That's very violent. I don't think I will ever do that," Izuku shuddered at the thought. Dabi breathed a sigh of relief. 

"Do you like him? Isn't he cute?" Inko beamed holy mother radiance. 

"He is very cute, thank you," Izuku replied. Shouto took a step back. The purity of the two of them was making his demon half cringe. 

"Thank you again for letting us stay with you," Izuku bowed. 

"It's fine! You don't have to do that! I really do want to get to know you!" she waved her hands around frantically. "Oh! I have to start cooking!" she ran into the kitchen to get her apron. Shouto and Izuku wandered upstairs to the room they'd been given to sleep in. This place was fairly large for someone living alone. She did mention that she'd awoken about ten years ago, but still. What happened in those ten years?

"He is incredibly cute," Izuku opened the box and took the small Dabi out. He held him in his hands and patted his head. "Very lifelike. I don't think this is plastic," he pet Dabi's head, it felt like real hair (because it was). 

Shouto sat down on the bed next to Izuku. "You still like him, don't you?" 

Izuku flinched at the question. Well, of course he wasn't over him yet. That was a long time commitment. He'd been invested in the guy for thousands of years without realizing his feelings! "I still like him, yes, but feelings are fluid. I don't think I have romantic inclinations anymore. I'm still not entirely sure what romantic feelings are," Izuku explained, placing Dabi on the nightstand. He hopped off of the bed and knelt down, eye-level with the 'doll' and poked his hair some more. 

"I like you, Shouto," Izuku glanced towards him. "You've become the center of my thoughts recently but I just...I don't want to get your hopes up. I know how I feel, in a sense, but I don't know, you know?" 

"I understand," Shouto nodded. From this angle, all Izuku could see was the red half of his head. Questions he didn't think before about started to form. He was a curious one. So he asked them without another thought. 

"Have you ever tried to alter your appearance? To make it look like you were just a demon? That would keep you off the radar," he stood up immediately, forgetting about the tiny Dabi, and circled around to stare Shouto in the face. Front and center. 

"Angels can't alter their appearance. I can change the demon half of me to suit the angel side, but the angel side will always stay the angel side," Shouto demonstrated. His scar and his red hair masked themselves. Pure white.