Izuku and Toga enjoyed their breakfast that morning. The bento was fulfilling, and Izuku offered his arm to Toga again.

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Toga asked, not exactly ready to accept that this deal they had was reality.

Izuku nodded and she read his written response.

If it really bothers you or makes you uncomfortable, we could see if the hospital or the soup kitchen provides blood bags.

"Really?" Toga said, unfurling from the way she was sitting. Izuku nodded again.

They went through their routine again, and furthered their study of sign language at the library. Izuku completed a drive compiling evidence against a major drug dealer in the area. He told Toga the name the police had given him.

"Really? If they're calling you Crypted that means you're official! They're taking you seriously!"

This made Izuku nervous. What if they started looking deeper? What if they made connections and both he and Toga were caught? Izuku shook his head to stop the thoughts. If he dwelled on them, then the fog may appear, and he wasn't ready to show that to Toga. He didn't want to.

In attempt to diminish her new friend's discomfort, Toga continued. "I think the name is ingenious. I mean, it has techno and local lore elements. From what you tell me, it fits perfectly."

Izuku nodded in agreement.

"I still think Pyua-chan is a better name." Toga said, smiling. Izuku smiled back.

----

When Aizawa woke up, he knew it was not going to be a good day. His back was sore, his body felt heavy, and his alarm was too loud. He ran out of coffee, he was quickly running out of fruit smoothie packets and needed to order more, and Mic had displaced his hairbrush.

Aizawa was not one to let minor inconveniences stop him from doing his job, but a nap break was going to be in order. His main assignment was trying to figure out who this vigilante informant kid was and where he came from. He mostly just wanted the kid to be okay. Crypted had begun to look more and more disheveled as time went on, the exception being last night. Last night, the kid had seemed happier, more put together, as if something had gone right for once. It was a nice sight to see.

If he could somehow make a deal with Crypted, to get them to reveal their identity, then he would have to do way less work. The kid was young and had a lot of potential, meaning that he might take them on as a personal student once he knew their identity.

As for now, he wanted to get Nedzu on this case. If the kid was part of something bigger, it was better to be prepared and well informed.

One grating and confusing phone call later, Nedzu was on the case and Aizawa was getting ready to teach the 2nd years. His very appearance exuded exhaustion, for he was not in the mood to deal with Mirio or Mic's energy.

----

Izuku and Toga had an uneventful afternoon. The soup kitchen did provide blood bags, but they could only afford to give one per day to each person who asked. Toga said that it was okay, she could make it work, but Izuku saw right through her.

They had prepackaged sandwiches for dinner. Izuku settled down under the canopy to try and fix a device he found about a week earlier. It was an old portable CD player, and it was in great condition for being exposed the beach's environment for so long. The only problem he could find with it was some worn away connections on the circuit board. Now that he had researched how to fix the problem, Izuku was ready to try his hand at fixing it.

They were in desperate need for some entertainment. The days that Izuku didn't spend time working out in the afternoon contained more free time than Izuku knew how to deal with. Toga was also in need of some normalcy.

It took Izuku an hour to fix the connections with scrap metal and a heated pole. It ended up being functional once he was done. The only downside was that they would have to charge the batteries at the library.

----

Aizawa both was and was not looking forward to his patrol. He had been in a bad mood all day, and his instincts were telling him something was going to happen. He was just about to leave when Mic called him from the kitchen.

"Wait a sec, I'm almost done with the veggies!" Mic said dipping the last of the tempura battered vegetables into the hot pan of oil. Next to him was another bento box full of rice, tempura fried chicken, and more vegetables. "I'm making another box for the lurking listener!"

Mic had taken to making a bento box for the kid when he made dinner ever since Aizawa had mentioned his concerns over the kid's living conditions. "I hope he's doing better."

"He seemed to be doing really well last night." Aizawa said, pulling on his shoes.

"Do you know why?" Mic asked, placing the last of the veggies and closing the box with a napkin.

Aizawa gave a small sigh as he took the box from Mic. "No, but I hope to have a conversation. Crypted is bound to slip me another hardrive tonight."

Mic smiled. "Tell him I send good feelings. He sounds like a riot for pranks."

"I hope not." Is all Aizawa said before walking out the door.

----

Izuku wanted to have fun tonight. He was due for some errands and he needed to give Eraserhead his hard drive. Not to mention, he was in a good mood. Who knew that having someone to talk to would do wonders for his mental health.

But at the moment, he was having less than fun. It wasn't often he ran into crimes he couldn't de-escalate, nor was it often he got involved in the fight itself. His main tactic was to de-escalate or find a hero, nearly always Eraserhead, nearby.

He wasn't prepared to have to redirect a knife coming his way, and he cut his left hand on the blade. He kicked the attacker away from him and the man behind him, wincing in pain. The noise from the attack alerted Eraserhead to their location, and the hero dropped down from the balcony just above them onto the attacker.

Eraserhead cuffed the attacker, called in to the police, and got the victims info before turning to Izuku. "Are you hurt? I thought I heard something."

Izuku shook his head, but his rapidly bleeding hand gave him away.

"Lier. Don't worry about being taken to the hospital. I have an emergency kit right here." Aizawa said, grabbing Izuku's wrist and pulling him away from the scene before pulling a small box from his belt. He pulled a sanitary wipe from the box and tore it open with his teeth. He wiped down Izuku's injured hand and it stung, but Izuku settled for flexing his other hand in lieu of hissing. The hero inspected the wound.

"This will need a couple stitches. Sit down." Izuku did as he was told, and Eraserhead pulled a surgical needle, thread, and a roll of bandages from his box. The man prepared the needle. "This is going to hurt. Are you ready?"

Izuku nodded, and he started stitching. He was right. It did hurt. It was taking all of Izuku's energy to keep his calm while Eraserhead sewed the slice in his hand shut. Once the hero was done, he started wrapping Izuku's hand in bandages. "You need to keep your hand clean and check it for infection. Come to me if it looks wrong. It should heal in about a week or two. I suggest not using it during that time or it might open the stitches."

Izuku nodded, bowed in thanks, and started to leave before Eraserhead called out to him. "Wait, Crypted, I have something for you." The man grabbed his capture weapon and sent it to the roof above them. It came back down with a bento box looped through the napkin tied around it. "Mic wanted me to give this too you. He sends good feelings."

Izuku grabbed the box off of the scarf and bowed again. Then he remembered his harddrive and dug it from out of his pocket. He handed the harddrive to Eraserhead, who nodded his thanks before using his scarf to fling himself away. Feeling his energy sapped, Izuku left for the beach.

----

Aizawa finished his route and headed home. He made sure the door was locked before he hung up his scarf and started undoing the clasps on his boots.

Mic came with a milkshake in hand. "I saw your text earlier. Are you okay? Was he okay?" He handed the glass to his husband.

Aizawa took a sip before answering. "I'm okay. The kid got a cut on his hand. If all goes well, the most he'll have is a scar."

Mic gave him a knowing look. "You didn't think he would want to go to the hospital?"

"You could see it in his face. He was trying to hide the fact he had injury too." Aizawa said as he walked and sat on the couch.

Mic gave him a small smile. "You are trying your best. He'll come around eventually." He left for bed, leaving Aizawa on the couch.

Aizawa sighed and ran a hand over his face. It had been a long day.

----

The next morning, Izuku had to reassure Toga that no his hand was not going to be lost forever. It would probably just add to the plethora of scars he already had. It didn't stop her from basically spoon feeding him his portion of the bento and denying Izuku's blood offering when he noticed her stomach growling.

Needless to say, Izuku was grateful that he fixed the CD player because trying to do any computer work would take forever with one hand and learning new signs was much more difficult. Besides checking to see if Toga was doing the signs correctly, he mostly watched DVDs while Toga read her horror stories.

The soup kitchen was serving miso soup and garlic butter rolls. Toga declared it to be her favorite meal besides blood. They checked his stitches and got over the counter pain medication so Izuku could sleep.

Back at the beach, Toga picked up more scrap and let Izuku make dinner once he expressed his need for something to do. They ate instant Ramen with green onions and pre-boiled eggs for dinner. Izuku decided to skip his patrol and they settled down to sleep.

As they were lying there, Toga started to speak.

"You might just be the kindest person I ever met." She said looking out to the water. The slowly appearing stars were reflected in the gentle waves. "You are the only person to not immediately be disgusted and afraid of my quirk." She sighed.

"My parents told me to ignore it, hide it, lock it away, but I would always feel hungry. The feeling kept growing, day after day, until I couldn't take it anymore. I could smell him, and he smelled sweet, delicious, and I was starving. I couldn't control myself and I attacked him. I don't remember much after." She turned to Izuku.

"You've given me a chance to live without that feeling interrupting my life. Thank you."

Izuku looked sheepish. He pulled out his notebook to write.

You're welcome. I have to say that you are the closest friend that I have ever had since kindergarten. I think it's fair that I tell you what I'm okay with sharing.

Our stories are both the same and very different. My family cared for me and I them. The reason I'm here is because while your quirk built up, mine released without warning.

We've both hurt people, and I think it's fair to not judge. I just hope we can continue to be friends no matter what happens.

"Yeah." With a smile, Toga rolled over on the bed and fell asleep. Izuku listened to her soft snores and fell into thought.

What would happen if he told Toga about his quirk? How long would he be able to hide it? Would she judge him for not having it earlier? For not having control?

She might not judge him for not having control because it was something she also lacked, but would she deem him a danger?

He didn't even know what it did, just that it caused him to become some sort of rabid destructive force and it was triggered by his emotions.

Would she miss him if he was gone?

With pain in his hand and toxin in his thoughts, Izuku slept fitfully.