PROMETHIUM (mha)

seven

He can feel her staring at him as he dresses. He wants to crack a joke, a small comment to make her smile. Maybe, if he's lucky, a small string of laughter will spill out from her skin lips. A sound more akin to a pig than anything, but from someone so cold and unfeeling like Izumi is a reward.

Instead, Keigo observes her via the government issued mirror on his government issued dresser. Despite Izumi owning the same one, her eyes trail along the mirrors edges. Looking at the small keepsakes Keigo has collected over their collective time in the HPSC apartments. Telling herself the reason she's drawn to that particular corner of the room is the mirror, not the boy.

"You should shower." Keigo wants to kick himself. Getting Izumi bandaged, and back to the apartments was hard enough. Great job. Scare her away once you just got her back.

"I will." Izumi dazedly says, curling into herself further. She's entangled in his comforter, sheets kicked around her feet which at her actions ensnare further. Instead of apologizing, which their relationship echos naturally through every action, Izumi asks, "How'd you find me?"

Keigo sighs. Walking over to the bed to lay next to her. Ignoring the following glaring and more pressing factors; the press conference he's got to go to, the commissioner, and the fact Izumi's missing school without the permission of her jailer.

He buries his head into the crook of her neck, breathing in the scent of his degenerate (She's wearing his bright red t-shirt, though really she's worn it more than he has) and her ever lingering scent of blood.

She's smelled like that ever since he met her. Four years ago, when she was ten and he eleven. She was covered in blood head to toe, the copper scent making her seem all the more unnatural beyond the ruby red-beneath the moonlight. From then on, it's all Keigo can smell on her skin. It's almost as if no matter how hard Izumi scrubs, the result of her sins will never truly disappear.

"Patrol." He murmurs, though his fingers travel down her arm where old Iv scars remain His index gently fiddles with the stick beneath Izumi's akin to show what he really means. Tracker, commission work.

"I'm missing school." Do they know I'm here?

"Well I hate to tell you but don't you know your sicker than a dog?" Probably. But not enough to watch us.

Keigo feels her head rest atop his. Hair cascading down the base of his neck, lightly tickling his shoulder blades. He can't help that grin that forms.

"Is my face that bad?" Izumi frowns. If she misses too much school she'll be useless. Another abandoned object like Nezu's old inventions. What will become of the monster he tamed if she becomes frail?

"No." He's quick to assure, fingers tapping code down her arm. "You'll be back on your feet soon enough. Minor blood loss, malnutrition, lack of sleep and well—"

"My quirk." Izumi finishes. She's not supposed to have this quirk. Not supposed to be Spiderman. Not only is she not worthy, she's a sham. A fluke. Natural talent injected into a nobody. From her peripheries she watches his face turn gaunt, grin slipping off his face like melting ice cream in summer.

"I'll be alright." Izumi assures, forcing the corner of her lips to go up. It's her first smile in eight months, since the last time she saw Keigo, and it's fake. Izumi's insides turn. She's vile.

Whatever. It seems to work. The simple act pulling Keigo out of the bed as he grabs his tossed coat from the floor. "Stay in bed." He commands like he always does. He knows she won't listen. Keigo's voice goes thin with a beg,"I'll see you later." He knows he won't. Izumi will disappear out of seemingly thin air.

His clothes will be washed, folded and put away. Apartment floors scrubbed clean without any hint of blood or dirt. Izumi will do as she usually does, preserving through pain and disappearing like moonlight. The only thing tying her back to him will be the lingering copper scent within his sheets.

—
unedited pls be kind
Hawks is aged way down! This is mainly for the sake of parallels between him and Izumi!