RENEGADE [Izuku Midoriya x OC]

Chapter 1 - Bone

Izuku Midoriya woke up knowing that something was different.

    Maybe it was the rusty, copper taste of blood in his mouth, lingering from his last fight the night before. Maybe it was his phone on the mattress, speakers screaming his alarm straight into his ear at full blast. Maybe it was the gray light seeping in through his floor-to-ceiling windows, overcast skies swollen with rain and problems.

    Or maybe it wasn't any of that.

    Maybe it was the dream, rolling away like fog in the dawn, where he'd failed to save someone important to him. Someone he hadn't thought about in a long time. Her name stuck to his teeth like the blood he found there, coming out a whisper against the emptiness of his apartment.

Noriko.

    Midoriya groaned and sat up in bed, rubbing his eyes and switching off his alarm. Distracting himself from the hazy dream, from her phantom, he scrolled his notifications, mostly tags in news reports from the night previous and calls from news stations asking for interviews; one text waited from Todoroki, reminding him not to bother trying to come in on his day off because he wouldn't be allowed to do hero work anyway.

Four hours of sleep, Midoriya realized as he saw the time. Possibly a new record. Yawning, he swung out of bed and dragged himself to the shower, barely cognizant of the blood that circled the drain - probably not his - or the deep blackish bruises that peppered his skin, then to his closet for comfortable clothes, and finally the kitchen for sustenance of some kind.

    Upon opening the fridge and inspecting the bread box, all Midoriya could find was a moldy cinnamon raisin bagel, expired yogurt, and a couple of soft apples. Definitely not breakfast material. He sighed at the freezer options - mostly family-sized dinners or appetizers for when he had friends over - and frowned. Nothing even sounded good. But the sticky note on the front of his fridge yelled EAT FOOD! at him in Ochaco's handwriting, a tiny heart doodled in the corner with a smiley face.

    A fuzzy thought buzzed in the back of his mind, waking him up a little. Running a sleepy hand through his messy emerald hair, he glanced at the coffee pot, and the thought coalesced into a full-fledged idea. His classmate, Rikido Sato, had opened a bakery or something recently that he hadn't had time to stop at yet... maybe it was time.

    Midoriya sprinted back to his room and put on nicer clothes, throwing his wallet and keys into his pockets. He nearly forgot shoes on his way out the door, but doubled back before it could lock, laughing at his tired, spacy brain. Who forgets to wear shoes?

    Maybe this was what was different, the inevitable break in his routine.

    Or maybe it was the beginning of something ugly, looking for cracks in Deku's armor, chips in his bones, softness in his impenetrable emotional walls.

    Something festering.

    Something dark.

-

    Noriko Ikeda's day started like any other.

    She woke before her alarm - alone - and took a quick shower, ate a slice of homemade bread with apple butter she'd made herself, poured a full thermos of plain coffee, and got dressed in all black. Because it was a Wednesday, she watered the plants in her windowsill, murmuring praise and compliments to the basil and the rosemary in particular. Her keys jingled in the lock before the sun cracked the sky, bootheels echoing in the empty hall as she slung her backpack over her shoulder and made her way toward work.

    Ice clung to tree branches, dripping in sharp stalactites from every store awning, slick and nearly invisible on the sidewalk as Noriko trudged into the depths of downtown Musutafu. She knew the cold, preferred it really, and continued her pace, changing her gait just slightly to better distribute her weight over the glare. Thankful for the empty streets, Noriko didn't think it necessary to look over her shoulder or keep her guard up too much, not like she usually did; Even so, she clutched her thermos for warmth in one hand and her keys for protection in the other, keeping the toothy metal between her fingers in a makeshift claw. Just in case.