Chapter 1 The Bartender and a Student

Izuku Midoryia was currently in a unique position looking up from his notes and textbook to look at the bartender behind the counter. It was Kurogiri of the League of Villain's, and currently, Izuku was studying in their main hideout. The mist villain noticed his stare and asked him, "Hm is there something you need Midoriya-san?"

"Um, a glass of water, please," Izuku responded before looking back down to his homework and gave off a soft sigh. The mellow tunes flowed out of the jukebox, and the booth's soft leather seat completely lifted any stress-borne weight off his shoulders. Kurogiri then came by sitting a tall clear glass of ice water next to him and, Izuku happily paid for the drink thanking the villain civilly.

Now some are probably wondering how this came to pass and, surprisingly, it isn't founded in any form of betrayal. It all started with a loud day at the A-1 dorm or better put another thunderous day at the dorm. It might have been how some of his classmates handled the high-stress homework and courses or the fact that not everyone got along, and this made it hard to study for Izuku.

He wasn't particularly picky about where to study; it just needed to be peaceful and quiet. It seemed the world had a completely different idea of what he needed with how hectic most days tended to be between; Kacchan picking fights with Shoto or any other person when he was finally at wit's end or Kaminari saying something that causes a huge misunderstanding that somehow dragged the whole class into a mess. Sometimes there didn't seem to be a reason it was just loud and chaotic, a bit of a shock when you think it's a school for aspiring heroes.

So after giving up there, he headed out to find a place off-campus to study. It seemed that was also going to be an absolute pain in the rear because due to the sports festival and him just being A-1 meant people wouldn't leave him alone. Even in the nearby library, he had people assuming he was way smarter, trying to drag him into doing tutoring sessions. Others were asking for autographs from one of the tops in upcoming heroes.

An entire two hours of a free day had been wasted on this hunt and, right when he was going to give up, he found himself in front of a bar. Its exterior was slightly dirty looking and ultimately gave off a tacky look but, it didn't have any signs warning minors away, so with a sigh, he thought, "I'll take anything at this point, just let me study in peace."

When he entered the bar, it was empty, but more shockingly, the atmosphere was perfect. Not just was it clean to perfection and looked better than photos of some five-star establishments, but it had a jukebox running through calming instrumental tracks, with a sweet osmanthus aroma floating through the air. Something told him the place should seem familiar to him, but he ignored it while heading to sit his stuff down at a booth while waiting for whoever was working.

"Hm, none of you should have returned ye..." When Izuku's eyes met the bartender's who had come out of an all too familiar black portal carrying a case of fresh cups, a drop of sweat ran down his forehead. Kurogiri himself had silenced his words before taking a moment to sit down the small box and told the boy, "Welcome, if you need anything to drink, just ask but, I won't be serving you any alcohol. heroic PTSD or not."

That made the boy blink in surprise before asking cautiously, "Yo...your not going to attack me?" Some people would think Kurogiri would have taken offense to such an accusation, but he figured it was more logical than anything else.

"You're certainly not dressed like you're looking for a fight young Midoriya, and, if I wanted you gone, you couldn't stop me from dropping you into the middle of the ocean." Kurogiri pointed that out while he unpacked the new cups thinking, "I hope Shigeraki doesn't come down and ruin this for me."

It was fair enough in Izuku's mind, and, honestly, he did think that he would take anything at this point. So, he sat down in the booth, his back sinking into the seat comfortably, making him give a small sigh of relief. Pulling out the materials for his classes tomorrow, he quickly lost himself in his studies.

About an hour and a half passed before the boy looked up, asking, "Um..err," he didn't know what to call Kurogiri and, the mist villain quickly noticed the problem. Kurogiri spoke up, saying, "anything is fine so long as it isn't an insult."

"Um, well, alright, uh Kurogiri-san, could you get me a glass of ice water, please?" Izuku was very nervous speaking with the warp gate villain, and even more so confused about asking anything of the evil villain.

"It will be a small moment Midoriya-san," Kurogiri responded while taking a cup into his hand and getting a nod of understanding from Izuku; he went to work. Diving back into his studies, he didn't even notice when the villain sat the drink down and the fact that he had taken several sips of it in the process.

He didn't even feel any threat from the lingering presence that was Kurogiri, hanging over his shoulder, analyzing the current material. This strange scene only was interrupted when the mist villain leaned in further, pointing at one of the questions on the practice sheet he asked the teacher for saying, "This one seems to be off by a fair bit," Izuku looked up at him in surprise as Kurogiri continued, if you would like I could take a small break and assist you?"

"Um..sure?" it came out as more of a question, as the boy did his best not to gape like a dying fish. Kurogiri gave his version of a curt nod, took a seat next to him, and began helping him. Another few hours pass by; nothing seems to be able to breach the focused and serene world the two have crafted. Not Midoryia's phone buzzing nor the small ticking of the clock was neatly placed above the bar counter and, certainly not weakest cries of caution about being near an enemy.

Finally, upon closing his book for the day and noticing the time, Izuku realizes how long he's been out. "Crap, the others are going to have my head for this one!" Not just had he completely ignore his phone; he had about an hour or so before lights out, and he has to try to come up with an excuse for where he was, though his mind followed up with, "Though you already have to make up an excuse to your classmates especially Kacchan."

"Hm, it seems your running low on time," Kurogiri noted before turning to the boy who was messily gathering his things into his bag. He continued, "Well, this is partially my fault getting lost in my appreciation for education in general, so why don't I drop you about 15 minutes from the school gates...yes, that should do fine."

Creating a dark portal, he had no problems ushering the boy through and went to sink back to the bar wordlessly; however, Izuku quickly turned. He handed him money before bolting off, calling out with a wave, "That's for the drink any over can be a tip, and thanks for the ride!"

"Do come again, young Midoryia; I enjoy having a polite patron come about time from time," he responded calmly and never to confirm if he did return the wave with his small, restrained one.

When Izuku returned, he didn't even give his classmates time to question his whereabouts crashing to his room and having the best sleep he had in some time. The next morning he kept it at, he had found a quiet place to study, and it was his secret spot that he wouldn't let get ruined.

Equally Kurogiri that night was in a chipper mood, so much so that he was audibly humming to the soothing melodies of the jukebox. When Shigeraki came down from his room noticing along with some of the Vanguard members, he questioned the humming mist and, the response he got was, "Nothing much, just some new cups came in is all."

"God you and your china," Shigeraki grumbled, unable to understand the mundane values that Kurogiri had. There was one other person who discerned something strange, Toga, who had decided to dive into her favorite leather seated booth, noticing something that made her nose twitch.

She thought with a small flush to her face, "This is Izu-Kun's scent," her nose wriggled as she enjoyed the mixture of her crush's scent and, the fruity osmanthus candles that she recommended to Kurogiri before another thought came to mind, "Why is Izu-Kun's scent here not that I'm complaining, it just makes me so...thirsty...mmm I want Izu-Kun's wonderful blood."

Chapter 1