Chapter Text
The school building peered down on them. It felt like a horror movie with the way police tape surrounded it, the dark clouds and chilly weather adding to the dark feeling. With a clenched jaw and furrowed brows, the detective made his way into the school. Most of the lights were on, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that he would regret ever getting involved in this case. He stepped inside the school, his men and other policemen not far behind.
His expression soured and he heard some of the people behind him gag and cough. There was a smell in the air. It was horrid and the stench was enough to make bile rise in his throat. He swallowed it back down and let out a small, choked cough. They looked left and right as they walked down the halls, looking for the locker that had police tape on it. It didn’t take long for them to spot it. Without wasting any time, he walked over to it. Pulling on a pair of disposable gloves, he opened the locker. His eyes widened and he had to forcibly swallow down the bile rising in his throat. With a shaky breath, he pulled out the dangy brown bag and cautiously put it into a clear evidence bag, not even bothering to look inside (even though his curiosity ebbed away at him).
The frown on his face deepened when he noticed a note pinned to the wall inside the locker. Being mindful to not tear it and the blood inside the locker, he pulled it out, holding a distance away from his face.
Bag one out of seven.
Have fun finding the rest!
He didn’t mean to groan so loudly. He really didn’t. But he was just so… so done with this shit!
There was another damn sicko on his hands that he had to deal with. Some psychotic ass decided they wanted to play ‘ hide the body parts’ in a damn school. With a low sigh, he handed the note off to another detective on the scene.
To make matters worse, there wasn’t even a clue that would help them find where the next part was hidden. His brows were furrowed and he looked around the halls once more. They’d have to call in a search team to help handle this. Rubbing a hand down his face, he turned around, ready to walk out of the school. But the sight of another locker dripping something red, made him halt. (There was a part of him that wanted to laugh at how quick he found the next one despite the worry he wouldn’t be able to). His frown was replaced with a grimace as he walked over to it, alerting the other people on the scene.
They looked in the direction he was heading, noticing the way he took slow, almost agonizingly slow, steps. When he reached the locker, he had to take a moment to inhale and exhale, preparing himself for what would be greeting him on the inside.
He reached up a hand, opening the locker with well-found caution and reluctance. He didn’t want to be here anymore. The smell was becoming almost suffocating, and the fear that dwelled inside of him at the mere thought of opening that locker made him want to hand this case off to someone else entirely. He didn’t want to spend sleepless nights thinking about what he’s seen and is going to see.
But he knew he couldn’t do that. What kind of detective would he be if he did? The guilt of handing this off to another detective so he wouldn’t have to bear the weight of it would swallow him, and the overwhelming shame of handing it off and now solving it would crush him even more. He was a proud detective for fuck’s sake, and he wouldn’t be walking away from this without answers.
So, with his resolve steeled and his need to solve this egging him on, he opened the locker.
….
……
…..
…..
……..
Detective Tsukauchi really regrets setting foot inside this school.
~~~
Izuku looked down at his phone, reading through the text messages from his friends, never replying.
When he saw the news about what happened with his school, he was instantly filled with worry. It’s only been a day since the incident, but it felt like forever since he’d been back to school and hung out with his friends. He didn’t know what happened exactly, the reporter was being oddly vague about the details, but he knew they must be feeling shaken up. He so badly wanted to call them, check up on them and see how they were all doing, how they were holding up.
But he couldn’t.
Just trying to send a text or reply to their messages made him anxious. He felt like a coward, and he felt so stupid for not answering their calls or responding to them. He felt like a complete jackass. They were all probably worried about him, wondering where he was and what happened.
He knew he should call them, or at least text them back and explain a few things. He knew he should apologize for avoiding and ignoring them, for making them worry. He knew… but he couldn’t.
He just couldn’t. He didn’t think he’d be able to handle speaking about what happened without breaking down. He didn’t want to think about how his mother died, knowing she had died alone. The very thought that he wasn’t there before she passed caused his breath to stutter.
She was alone and he felt like shit for not being there.
They only had each other, no one to fall back on, and when the struggle to pay rent and provide food increased, Izuku took it upon himself to help lighten his mother’s load. Inko, of course, was against it at first, but she knew as well as he did that she wouldn’t be able to work for much longer. He tried to work as much as he could, wanting to earn money and take his mind away from his mom’s health that was slowly deteriorating throughout the years.
He remembered the way she would smile and ruffle his hair whenever he managed to buy her a gift—the way she would always smile that small smile when he brought snacks from his job, or when he would buy a book by her favorite author and give it to her. It would always make him feel relieved.
But she’s gone now.
No longer able to smile at him, no longer able to soothe him whenever he went to her about his worries.
So the very thought of having to tell his friends about what has been going on…
It made his heart ache.
He didn’t want to think of how their faces might look when he told them. Hell, the only people that even knew about her death were him, Dabi, and the people at the hospital. Not even Inko’s ex-friend knew.
But he knew he had to tell them. If not that, then at least something to let them know he was okay (as okay as he could be at the moment) and that he was doing fine.
He looked down at his phone again, fingers clenching and unclenching as he made up his mind.
He wouldn’t call them, no. At least, not yet.
He would just send them a text to let them know he was at least alive. That was the very least he could do.
Letting out a small sigh, he opened up their group chat. His thumbs hovered over the letters on the keyboard. He didn’t know what to say. What should he say?
‘Hi, um… yea, so I’m not dead, so just uh… don’t worry about me?’ Yeah, no, that seemed a bit insensitive and too vague. Of course they would still worry; for all he knew, they probably thought he got murdered or something. And that text would probably only make them worry more.
He chewed on his bottom lip as he ran texts after texts of what he could send through his head.
After spending a few minutes of trying and failing to think of a text that wouldn’t cause more worry than relief, he closed his eyes and rested his head on the arm of the couch.
“Quit overthinking it.”
The sound of Dabi’s voice suddenly coming from behind him made him jump. With wide eyes, he looked behind him, ready to throw his phone at him for scaring him. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
Dabi only shrugged before walking around the couch to sit beside him. “Did I?”
Izuku looked at him with a deadpan face and said, “Yes. Yes you did.”
Again, Dabi only shrugged, deciding to snatch Izuku’s phone out of his hand, gaining a shout of protest in return. “Seriously though, don’t overthink it. Just tell them that you’re staying at a friend’s place because your home got flooded or some shit.”
Izuku looked at him with his head tilted, his brows furrowed slightly. “A friend’s place?”
A small smirk appeared on Dabi’s face. “Would you rather we be something more?” he asked, tilting his head as well.
Izuku blushed lightly, lips turning up in a pout. He didn’t know how to answer that. He didn’t know what he wanted right now. With the discovery that he has another soulmate and that demons existed, he was left pretty confused. Aside from the suggestive jokes Dabi would make and the occasional cuddling, Dabi made no further moves on him as far as Izuku could tell. It was hard for him to grasp where they stood. So instead, he brought the subject back to his inability to send a proper text. “I don’t want to lie to them though…” he said with a grimace. Saying that left a bad taste in his mouth; he’s such a damn hypocrite. “They deserve at least a smidge of the truth.”
Dabi sighed. “Fine. Then just tell them you got kidnapped by some loon dressed as Willy Wonka.”
Izuku whacked him upside his head with a pillow. “I’m being serious!” he said in exasperation, pout growing bigger.
Dabi had to suppress his snicker. Izuku was just so easy to rile up, and the sight of his large eyes and angry pout just made him look oh so innocent. And Dabi wanted to taint him right then and there.
“Okay okay, tell them—” He held up his hands in a placating manner when he saw Izuku begin to raise the couch pillow. “—tell them you were in no condition to go to school.” he said, giving Izuku his phone back before he rose from the couch. He ignored the way Izuku’s eyes drifted to the floor for a moment.
Humans are such fragile beings, he mused to himself while walking out of the living room.
Izuku was left to sit alone.
Turning his phone on, he hesitated for a few minutes before finally sending them a message.
—Can we all meet up at my job in two days?
It’s better I explain in person.—
He turned his phone off, inhaled, then exhaled, and made his way to his room.
He didn’t wait for any replies.
He didn’t need to.