#riseofthedead🧟‍♂️collab

[missrosegold]

you met me at a perfect time

Synopsis: You’d always hoped that you’d eventually get closer to your attractive next-door neighbor with the shitty box-dye job. You just wished it was under different circumstances. 

Word count: 9K

Paring: Dabi x Reader (fem reader)

Warnings: Zombie!AU so the usual: corse language, death, sickness, violence, blood. So please Minors or Ageless blogs please DNI. This is rated 18+

This is for @medusashima rise of the dead collab event!

This was so much fun to write! I have a soft spot for MHA and zombies, so writing for both was a treat!

As this is a Zombie Apocalypse AU, I’m going to take it one step further and say that no one has quirks in this. That being said: Touya never burnt up and turned into Dabi, but he still uses the name on occasion, and is the implied black sheep of his family. He still has all of his piercings, He’s not losing those.

There isn’t really a happy ending to this, be forewarned.

Not gonna lie: I really do want to write more for tattoo artist!Dabi. He’s so hot.

Likes and reblogs are always apricated! I hope you enjoy <3

The outbreak started on a seemingly average day in May.

The day had started off normally enough. You’d woken up early to go get the mail and do a few things around your apartment, since you knew your roommate was going to be working late that night and you figured you’d utilize your day off to do something productive.

You slipped on your shoes and headed downstairs to your building’s mailbox, taking the stairway to the first floor. You unlocked your unit’s mailbox and gathered up yours and your roommate’s mail, casting a glance to your left so you could see out of your building’s glass entrance. You frowned slightly at the sight of wet concrete and dark skies as you shut your mailbox and locked it.

It was the middle of May but it had been unseasonably rainy so far. You had just moved to the area a few months back and your roommate had assured you that this district’s weather was normally sunny and warm during the spring months, but you had yet to see it.

You were just about to turn around and head back upstairs to drop the mail off, but you saw something that made you pause.

Your neighbor one floor down from you, a kind middle-aged gentleman who lived in unit 312, was standing outside in the parking lot at front of the building, swaying lightly from side to side as he peered down at his reflection in a puddle.

That was odd. Your neighbor, while not overly outgoing, had never acted like that before. He was just… standing there, swaying as if he were drunk or in some sort of trance.

You don’t know why, but something told you to go check on him. It wasn’t like him to act like that. Sighing, you opened the door and stepped outside, slowly making your way towards your neighbor who had yet to acknowledge your presence

“Mr. Takashi?” you called out hesitantly. “Mr. Takashi, are you alright?”

The man said nothing in return as he continued to look down at his distorted reflection in the puddle.

Fuck. You think inwardly. The man might be having some sort of medical emergency. If that was the case, you’d have to call somebody. Just as you were pulling out your phone to punch in the non-emergency number, the man in front of you finally seemed to take notice of you and his head jerked up violently to stare at you.

It took everything in you not to recoil at the sudden movement, but the thing that really has you worried, are his eyes

The skin around them is sunken in and so dark it looks almost black. The whites of his eyes have yellowed and a strange sort of haze seems to be lingering over them, one that you know he didn’t have a few days ago when you had exchanged pleasantries with him in the hallway. The next thing that hits you is the smell.

You can’t tell if it’s his breath or body odor but whatever the hell it is, it hits you like a punch to the gut and you have to fight with yourself to NOT cover your nose and back away in disgust.

It smells like something is rotting. Like a corpse that’s been left out in the sun for far too long-

“Mr. Takashi, are you okay?” You ask him again, urgently this time. He still hasn’t responded to your questions, and now you’re getting seriously worried. You call out to him one more time, and he seems to snap out of the trance he’s in. He blinks and looks around, confused, before his gaze shifts to you, but you notice that the haze hasn’t cleared in his eyes.

“Oh… hello… you’re the girl from floor four, yes?”

“That’s me.” You confirm, still unsure of what to make of his strange behavior. “Are you okay sir? You’ve just been standing out here staring off into space. I’ve been trying to get your attention, but you didn’t answer me. Are you feeling well?”

“Oh… m’fine.” He slurs slightly. “Just haven’t been feeling myself today. But I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure there isn’t someone I can call for you?” you press gently. “Maybe we could call someone to take you to a doctor’s office?”

Your neighbor is silent for a few moments and you realize that he’s staring off into space again. You can’t be sure if it’s just a trick of the light, but it looks like his eyes are cloudier than they were before—

“Mr. Takashi?” you try one more time and his head turns in your direction unnaturally.

“Oh m’fine. Just haven’t been feeling myself today. But I’ll be okay.”

What the fuck is going on with him? You think to yourself. Why is he repeating the same thing again?

Almost as if he can read your thoughts, the older man shakes his head and pushes himself away from you. “I’ve gotta go.” He mutters as he shuffles past you on unsteady legs. “Not feeling good. See you later girl.”

You watch, concerned, as he stumbles back towards the building and disappears inside, still looking like he’s in a fog. Nothing about that whole exchange felt right. Everything about it, from the way he spoke to you, to the way he moved, was wrong, but you can’t place what about the interaction has you so on edge.

Something about your neighbor is very, very wrong. But you don’t know what it is, or who you could even tell. After a moment of silently watching him stumble into the building, you glance back up towards the dark sky and put a hand over your eyes, squinting upwards.

It looks like it’s about to rain. Hard.

The first dop of rain that hits your cheek confirms your theory, and you dart back inside for cover. Once inside, you look around the lobby for your neighbor, but he’s all but disappeared.

Hopefully he’s gone back to his apartment, you think to yourself, as you make the trek back up to your floor. You don’t want to run into him stumbling around the halls. You hope that he’s just incredibly tired for some reason and that’s why he’s acting all out of sorts, but something tells you that’s not what’s bothering him.

The whole exchange has you so preoccupied, that you barely register the door to the unit next to you open, and someone step out to lean heavily against the doorframe.

“You okay there Doll? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

You damn near trip and stumble over your own feet at the sound of a familiar, raspy voice and you quickly right yourself to make eye contact with your next-door neighbor, hoping to god that he didn’t see your blunder. Judging from the playful glint you see in his very blue eyes; you know he did, and suddenly, all your concerns from earlier fly out the window.

Your neighbor next door in unit 401, is an interesting guy to put it mildly.

You don’t know much about him, only that his name is Touya, but he tends to go by Dabi depending on who he’s hanging around, and he works as a popular tattoo artist in the downtown area. Apparently, he’s apparently something of a master with ink and piercings alike. Almost all visible skin on him from the neck down is tattooed, and you know he’s done most of it himself.

You’d be lying if you said that you didn’t harbor something of a crush on the man.

He is unfairly attractive, in the unconventional sort of way that would have made your high-school self swoon. He’s tall and lean, but has a good amount of muscle to him – you’ve stared at the definition in his arms while watching videos of him tattooing clients on his Instagram page long enough to know that. His ears have multiple piercings in them each, and he has quite a few facial piercings. You’ve never found them particularly attractive on people before you met him, but they suit his face nicely.

One fun fact about him that you’ve learned recently, curtesy of your roommate, is he dyes his hair. You used to think his inky spikes were natural, since the shade suited him nicely, but as it turns out that’s not the case according to her. He must do it himself though, because the last couple of times you’ve seen him, his roots have been getting progressively lighter to the point that you can’t ignore it anymore.

You haven’t been able to speak to him much aside from the occasional small talk when you inevitably cross paths in the hallway. You tend to work early to late, while he works late in the afternoon till even later at night then you, so it’s rare for you to meet up like this. He must have the day off too.

“Hey Touya… or, is it Dabi?”

He snorts, sending you a wicked grin as he takes a drag of his cigarette. “Touya’s fine, Doll. I don’t make pretty girls call me Dabi. That’s reserved for clients and my asshole co-workers.”

Right. He’s probably tattooed his fair share of less than pleasant people in his line of work. You probably wouldn’t want them knowing your full name either, if you had his job.

Fuck, did he just call you pretty?

“You know you shouldn’t be smoking in the hallway. Mrs. Honda will have a fit if she catches you again. I heard her screaming at you from down in the lobby last time.” You shudder as you think of your building’s superintendent. For a woman in her mid-sixties who couldn’t be any taller then five feet, she could be really scarry when she wanted to be.

“That old hag won’t do shit to me. I pay my rent on time, which is more then I can say for some fuckers here.” Touya mutters around the cigarette, but he still disappears into his apartment, presumably to put out the cigarette, before returning to lean on the doorframe.

He looks you up and down for a moment, seeming to mull over something in his head, before he juts his chin at you. “What’s your plans for tonight?”

Well, that was new. Touya never asked about your personal life, or if you had anything else going on aside from work before. Was he asking because he was curious, or--?

“I think I’ll be staying close to home tonight. It’s been a while since I took it easy. What about you?”

“Might be going out with some of the guys from work for dinner tonight. Probably won’t be late though.” The hint of a smirk pulls at his lips. “If I get back early enough, you and I should do something.”

Oh. That was unexpected. Unexpected, but not unwelcome.

“You wanna do something with me?” you clarify. He nods, the sly grin never leaving his face.

“Why? I’m not saying no, but we’ve never been able to have an actual conversation up until now. Suddenly you want to do something with me?” You ask and he laughs, shaking his head.

“I’ve had my eye on you since you moved in next door Princess. Not my fault that we work opposite shifts. Besides, I thought for sure you would’ve noticed me checking you out with how often I’ve caught you staring at me.”

You cough and look away, not wanting him to see how flushed his comment had made you. Goddamn it. Had he really been watching you this whole time? How could he be stupidly attractive and preceptive? It wasn’t fair.

“Anyways, I figured it was about time to make a move, since you clearly weren’t going to.” Touya continues with a smirk, caging his arms back behind his head. “I have the day off and it looks like you do too. You should come over later tonight after I get back and do something with me.”

You cross your arms over your chest and shoot him a teasing grin, trying to recover. “Oh? Like what? You gonna let me re-dye your hair or something? I think your roots are starting to show.” You squint at the crown of his head, where you can see the tell-tale signs of lighter coloured hair starting to grow out from underneath the dark, spiky strands.

Touya groans at your observation and runs a hand exasperatedly through his hair, ruffling it. “Don’t remind me. I haven’t had the chance to dye it again.”

“What is your natural colour anyways? I thought it was black. You wear it well.” You tell him honesty. 

Touya shoots you a grin. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

He laughs. “Come over and see for yourself.”

“Maybe I will.” You tease back. “All depends on when you get back from dinner with your friends though. I’m not a two-in-the-morning-visit type of girl, and I know how late you like to stay out.”

It’s not far from the truth. Sometimes you’ve heard him stumbling back into his apartment well into the early hours of the morning. Probably getting back in from drinking at one of the clubs you know he frequents, or doing god knows what else.

He snorts at your comment, but the playful glint in his eyes doesn’t leave. “Shouldn’t be out too late this time. I’m telling you, Princess, if you get lonely tonight, you know where to find me.”

He closes the door to his apartment without another word.

 That night everything went to shit.

Your roommate didn’t come back to the apartment. That was the first thing that tipped you off that something wasn’t right. You knew that she was working late, but it was pushing three hours past her normal end time, and you were starting to worry.

You try to call her several times, but every call went straight to voicemail, so you eventually gave up on that endeavor. Same with texting. All of the texts you send her garnered no response so after a while, you stop that too. You hope she’s with a friend or maybe she decided to go out after work like she sometimes did, but you couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that was building in the pit your stomach.

Trying to distract yourself, you flip on the television and it went right to your local news. The news woman is standing outside of a hospital, reporting about multiple patients all showing similar signs of an infection that seemed to be caused by an unknown pathogen, before she was suddenly shooed away by several firefighters.

As the camera pans away from the woman and flicks back towards the hospital, you remember thinking that the hospital looked vaguely like the one about twenty minutes away from your apartment building, before it suddenly erupts into flames.

An explosion in the distance rattles the windows to your apartment, and you bolt over to the closest one without thinking. The vibrations from the blast are still vibrating through your apartment as you peer outside in shock.

Sure enough, you can see the tell-tale glow of a massive fire in the distance. Several skyscrapers have blocked your view of the actual hospital, but you know it’s ablaze. Suddenly, you’re very thankful that your building isn’t directly in the city and that a large park separates your home from the major core, because you can only imagine how chaotic the downtown is right now.

Shuddering, you rip your eyes away from the window and move back towards the T.V. feeling numb all over. The scene has shifted back to the main news room, where you can see the news anchors trying desperately to figure out what’s going on, and re-establish contact with their fellow reporter and her crew at the hospital.

Inwardly you know it’s hopeless. If they’re not dead, they’re badly injured.

You’re just about to shut the T.V. off and reach for your phone to call your roommate one more time, before you’re interrupted by the sounds of loud, uneven knocking at door leading into your apartment.

For some reason, you feel your blood freeze in your veins at the sound. You pocket your phone into the back pocket of your sleep shorts and move hesitantly towards the door. You approach slowly, making sure you don’t make too much noise as you put your eye up to the peep hole to see who’s at your door.

It’s Mr. Takashi from floor three.

The peep hole doesn’t let you see much aside from his fuzzy figure, but biased on what you can see, he doesn’t look good. You can’t be sure, but you think there may be blood on him—

“Sweetheart? Sweethart are you in there?” the man croaks out, swaying side to side in front of your door. “I need… I need some help… Can you let me in? Please let me in…”

Goddamn it. What the hell was going on tonight? Normally you would have simply called out to him that if he was in need of medical attention, you’d call him an ambulance, but based on what you just witnessed on the T.V. and the explosion outside your window, you don’t think the hospital is an option anymore.

“Mr. Takashi? What’s wrong? What can I help you with? Are you hurt?” you finally manage to call out to him from behind the safety of your door.

“I need help… I feel… I feel really sick… please… you’re the only one that cares enough to ask…”

Fuck sakes.

Your bleeding heart is going to get you killed one day, you’re certain of it.

You suck on your teeth as you weigh your options. You know this is a bad idea, you feel it in your gut. He hasn’t been acting right since you saw him this morning, and you have no idea what seems to be bothering him now. You’re not remotely qualified to deal with what’s currently bothering him, whether it be physically or mentally, but if something awful happens to him, and you could’ve possibly done something to help him, you know that you won’t be able to forgive yourself.

So, you grit your teeth and unlock your front door, allowing your downstairs neighbor to stumble in as you shut the door and lock it behind you.

“Okay, what seems to be the problem—” Your voice dies off as the man slowly turns around to look at you, and you have to fight off the familiar urge to cover your nose and hold back vomit.

You don’t know how, but somehow, he looks even worse than he did earlier. His skin looks like it’s lost all of its parlor and looks almost translucent in the soft lighting of your apartment. His eyes are glassy and the parts of his irises that aren’t milky, are bloodshot. Now that you’re able to get a better look at him, his clothes look like they have splatters of blood strewn across them, but you can’t tell if they’re his or not…

If that wasn’t concerning enough; that foul, rotting stench that was wafting off him earlier is ten-fold now, and it almost brings you to your knees. You try to breathe through your mouth, but it does little to help you as you fight back the gag reflex you feel trying to kick in. You have no idea where the stench is emanating from. You can’t see any open wounds on him, though it does little to explain how the red stains on his clothes – which you’re almost certain is blood – got on him. You already know that whatever’s wrong with him, it’s far out of your capabilities.

“Mr. Takashi? Mr. Takashi, I don’t know if I can help you.” You manage to get out as you watch him shuffle aimlessly around. “Have you tried calling a doctor? Anyone? I don’t think I’m equipped to help you properly—”

“Can’t get through… all busy… I feel so sick.” He mutters, looking at you, but at the same time, looking straight through you, as if you’re just an obstacle in his way.

“I- hold on, what’s all the stuff on you?” you gesture to rust coloured stains covering him. “Is that blood? Is it yours? Are you bleeding somewhere?” You’re not sure if you want to know the answer, but if he’s not going to tell you what’s bothering him, you’ll have to get it out of him some other way.

“Dead, all dead… not for long.”

You’re not sure if you like that answer… if you could even call it that.

“Who’s dead?” you press. “Mr. Takashi? Did you do something?”

But your neighbor isn’t listening to you. You watch, horrified, as his eyes seem to glaze over completely, and suddenly his breathing becomes labored to the point you’re not sure if he can breathe at all.

“Shit.” You groan as you grab his hand without thinking, and drag him through your apartment to you and your roommate’s shared bathroom. You have to force the door open a bit as you drag him in the small bathroom and rip open the medicine cabinet on the wall. The hinges on the door have been getting stuck recently and your landlord has yet to fix them, despite how many times you and your roommate have complained.

You’re not really sure what you’re looking for as you search through your cabinet frantically. Something, to help clear his airways preferably, but neither you nor your roommate are asthmatics, so you know your chances of finding useful medications are slim to none.  

Suddenly a strange croaking growl cuts through the air behind you, and you turn to face your neighbor, only to freeze.

He looks feral. Deranged is a better word for it. His mouth is hanging open, and his limbs are jerking sporadically, but you don’t see any light behind his eyes… what you can see of them anyways. He looks like he’s about to collapse, but something is holding him up, like a puppet on a string. He looks like a corpse that recently died. Maybe he is one, you don’t know.

“Mr. Takashi?” you try once, hesitantly.

His head jerks in your general direction. Then he lunges.

You barely have any time to react, let alone scream for help as he claws at you, groaning unintelligibly as he tries to sink his teeth into your skin. You manage to hook an arm under his jaw, shutting his mouth and driving his face away from yours, as you use your other hand to try and subdue his own, which are trying to find purchase on your body.

Thankfully, he isn’t a big man, and he may even weigh less then you do, so he’s not particularly hard to ward off – especially considering he doesn’t seem to have the best control over his physical faculties at the moment – but you still struggle to hold him off long enough to put some space in between you and him.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?! Get. Off.” You snarl as you shove him to the side hard enough that he falls into your shower tub, bringing your shower curtain down with him. You don’t stop to catch your breath; you bolt out of the bathroom before he can untangle himself and slam the door shut behind you.

You’re suddenly grateful that the bathroom door jams whenever it’s fully closed. You have a hell of a time with it some days, and you’re hoping that it’ll be enough to hold him off for now.

But what if it isn’t enough? What if he comes at you again?

You don’t stick around long enough to entertain the idea. You’re bolting through your apartment, and are out your front door before you know it, slamming it shut behind you, as you press yourself against it, chest heaving as you try to catch your breath.

You look around your hallway and you immediately wish that you hadn’t. The place looks like a war-zone. Several of the overhead pot-lights are flickering ominously above you, there are signs of a possible struggle further down the hall way to your left, and the walls across from you look like they have blood smeared across them.

It’s alarmingly quiet. Too quiet for a place the looks like someone may have been murdered in not long ago.

You strain your ears to see if you can hear any of your other neighbors in their units, but all you’re met with is silence. The abnormal quiet does little to comfort you. Normally, you can always hear some sort of noise from your neighbors out in the hallway, even when they’re in their apartments. You don’t know why it’s so quiet now, but it has you on edge.

How the hell you didn’t notice the chaos that must have been unfolding outside your door is beyond you. You were so wrapped up trying to figure out where your roommate was, that you weren’t paying attention to anything else – now you’re paying for it.

The deathly silence reminds you you’re alone. You’re out in the open and you don’t have anything to protect yourself with. Going back into your apartment is out of the question, and you’re not particularly close enough with any of your neighbors to go pounding on their doors for help. (Something tells you they wouldn’t open their doors for anyone now anyways)

Except for possibly one.

You turn to your right where the door leading to the stairwell is. Across from the stairwell is the last apartment on your floor. Unit 401 – Touya’s apartment.

You wouldn’t call each other close. Hell, the first full conversation you’ve had with him was literally earlier today, but he did invite you over, and if his earlier comments meant anything, he’s had his eye on you for a while now. Maybe he’d be willing to help you—

A distant scream shatters the illusion of relative safety, and makes up your mind for you. You can’t tell where it’s coming from, but you don’t want to find out. You bolt over to Touya’s door and knock frantically on it, trying to be as quiet as possible. “Touya? Touya, are you home? If you are, please let me in, it’s an emergency!” you hiss, throwing a look over your shoulder to make sure that you’re still alone out in the hallway. Thankfully, you don’t see anyone.

Your tattooed neighbor doesn’t open the door. You start to feel a cold sweat break out over your body, and you knock on his door again, a little louder this time. You’re about to call out to him, until you remember he told you that he was going out this with some friends tonight.

Fuck, you don’t even know if he’s back yet. You can’t remember seeing him pull into the parking lot outside the apartment building, or hearing him pass by your door to get to his own. If he’s not home, you’re screwed. You’ve left your apartment and now are standing in the hallway, unarmed, wearing nothing but a loose t-shirt and sleep shorts. Not ideal for running for your life in.

You’re just about to raise your hand to pound on his door one last time, before the door to the staircase is violently ripped open and Touya comes bursting through it, gasping for air. His badly dyed hair is windswept and wet, presumably from the light rain outside. There is something thick and dark dripping from his jacket as he hunches over, panting like he’s run the whole way home, and maybe he has. All you know is the dark substance that’s now dripping onto the floor isn’t water. It looks suspiciously like—

Touya looks up, his blue eyes wild in the dim of the hallway, and meets your own startled ones. He blinks like he can’t believe that you’re standing outside of his door in nothing but your sleepwear, before his face suddenly shifts and he strides over to you.

“What the fuck are you doing out here?” he hisses as he pushes past you to unlock his door and all but drags you inside his apartment, making sure to lock the door behind him before turning to you again. “Have you not seen what the fuck is going on out there?”

“No… I mean… What do you mean, what’s going on out there?” you parrot him, casting another nervous glace to the door behind you. “I’m more concerned about the weird shit that’s happening here.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know Mr. Takeshi? One floor down from us?”

“Should I?”

“Well— it doesn’t matter anymore I guess.” You mutter darkly. “Point is, I think he’s really sick. He’s not acting right and he smells like something died.” Your nose crinkles in disgust as you recall the memory.

“He came pounding on my door out of nowhere and I let him in thinking he needed help, next thing I know, he’s trying to bite me! I got away and locked him in the bathroom, but I didn’t know if the door would hold, so I bolted out of my unit.”

You try and give him a smile. It doesn’t work. “I didn’t know what else to do, so I tried to see if you were home. Thankfully you showed up when you did. The hallway looks like it’s got blood smeared everywhere and I haven’t seen a single person all night-“

“He didn’t bite you, did he?”

“He—what?” you ask, caught off guard by his question.

“The dude in your bathroom, he didn’t bite you, right?” Touya asks impatiently, gesturing towards you. You shake your head.

“No, but he tried to. Why?”

“It’s not just him.” Touya juts his chin towards the front door. “He’s not the only one acting like that. I don’t know what it is, but it’s everywhere. They were downtown too.”

“There’s more people like him?” You groan, fighting the urge to panic at the news. What the hell was going on? Was it some mutant case of rabies, or was it something worse…

“Trust me, you haven’t seen half the shit I’ve seen.” Touya mutters as he crosses over to the windows on the other side of his living room, and pulls back the black-out shades covering them so he can peer out into the darkness. “Downtown is a fucking nightmare. People are biting people and tearing into them, doing all sorts of other nasty shit. It looks like fucking World War III has broken out, but with cannibals instead of nukes”

“The hospital close to here exploded.” You mutter, thinking back to that final news report. “Did you see it?”

“I felt it.” Touya corrects you with a grimace. “I was driving back here and was about two blocks away when it happened. I’m amazed the windows in my car didn’t implode. Shit was loud as hell.”

He lets the drapes fall back into place, plunging the room into darkness again and you hear him fumbling around in the dark for a moment, muttering obscenities under his breath. You hear a small click somewhere to your left and his T.V. turns on. The glare illuminates Touya’s lanky form and you see his brow furrow as he rapidly surfs through T.V. channels – all of them are broadcasting static.

“Shit.” He mutters as he tosses the remote down on the couch, raking a hand through his hair. “No T.V. That was fucking fast. The people on the radio wouldn’t shut the hell up about some viral sickness while I was driving back here, but I lost the channel about a block away. Couldn’t get any other stations to work either.”

“The radio stopped working as well?” Truthfully, if he hadn’t had told you, you wouldn’t have known. You switched to Spotify a while ago and never looked back, but the knowledge that the radio broadcasters have fallen silent, possibly for the last time, is chilling.

“Same as the T.V.” Touya grumbles as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He taps it and lifts the cracked screen to his face, scowling as he holds it out in front of him. “I don’t have any bars, do you?”

You may not have been smart enough to grab a knife from your kitchen before you ran out of your unit, but thank God your phone never leaves your side. You nod and reach into the back pocket of your sleep shorts and pull out your device. You unlock it and shake your head, holding it out so he can see.

“No, I don’t have any service and I can’t access the internet. It must be a provider issue.”

“Fuck sakes.” Touya snarls as he jams his phone back into his pockets. “No T.V., no phones, no radio. You know what this means right?” he looks at you expectantly and you nod, dread pooling in your stomach.

“We’re alone.”

“You got that right.”  Touya is silent for a moment. His gaze falls to his feet and then back to the covered window. He doesn’t look at you as he mutters “My brother works at that fuckn’ hospital.”

“Your brother?” he nods, still not looking at you, but you can see the worry shining in his eyes as he bites at his lip. You can see the outline of his tongue toying with one of the piercings in his cheek. He’s stressed. He doesn’t have to tell you, you know.

“Younger brother. He’s in school to become a doctor. He’s doing his residency there. I can’t remember what shift he’s on right now.”

“I didn’t know you had siblings.” You say. You don’t know how to comfort him, but you know it’s not a wise idea to let him linger on his brother’s whereabouts. Touya nods absentmindedly.

“I’m the oldest of four. My sister’s an elementary school teacher, my younger brother works at the hospital and my youngest brother’s still in high school. He’s supposed to graduate next month.” He frowns. “Haven’t spoken to them in ages aside from Natsu – brother at the hospital. Kinda regretting that now.”

“I’m sure they’re fine.” You tell him quickly, stepping closer to him in an effort to get him to look at you. It works and cerulean blue eyes turn to focus on you. You swallow and continue.

“Don’t assume anything until you get actual answers. Right now, nobody knows anything, but what I do know is that we probably shouldn’t stay here. I have no idea what’s going on out there, but if the downtown is as bad as you say it is, then it probably won’t be long until whatever it is makes its way over here.”

“It’s already here.” Touya mutters. “Didn’t you say one of those fuckers is locked in your bathroom?”

“Yeah.” You turn to eye the wall that separates your units and you swear you hear faint yelling and banging coming from the other side. “I don’t think I can go back over there.”

“No.” Touya agrees with a sigh, and he turns on his heel and disappears down his small hallway to where you assume his bedroom is. He returns a moment later with two backpacks and tosses one at you. “Help me pack some shit and we’ll get the hell out of here.”

“Where?” you ask him as he strides to his kitchen. You hear drawers opening and closing and cutlery being rattled around.

“My family home. It’s out in the country, away from the city. As much as I don’t want to pay my old man a visit, it’s the only other place I can think of that’s remotely safe. I can say hi to my mom at least, siblings too, if they’re at the house.”

“Would they be okay with me tagging along?” you ask hesitantly. You may have been neighbors for the past several months, but this man is still practically a perfect stranger to you. The most you’ve ever talked to him was today. He doesn’t need to do anything for you.

As if he can read your thoughts, Touya’s head peaks around the corner to stare at you, eyebrow quirked and shit: his eyebrows are a hell of a lot lighter than the ends of his hair. How you only noticed it now, is a mystery.

“Well, I’m not just going to leave you here.” He tells you with the hint of a smirk before he ducks back around to keep packing some essentials.

“As far as I know, you might be the only other unaffected person in the building. I might be an asshole, but I’m not that much of an asshole, Princess.”

“You think so?” you ask, peering into the bag, only to see an oversized shirt and a pair of sweatpants staring back at you.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I didn’t see anyone living coming up from the parking lot, but there’s a whole lot of blood in the stairwell and our hallway doesn’t look much better—ah shit.”

You hear him hiss in annoyance and you put your bag down to join him in the kitchen. You round the corner to see him holding his shoulder, wincing slightly. He pulls his hand away after a moment and stares down at his hand.

His palm is covered in red.

He looks up and your eyes meet. “It’s not mine.” He says quickly, but the look on your face tells him that you don’t believe him. He shrugs off his dark leather jacket with a curse and you can see the shoulder of his white t-shirt is stained through with blood.

“It’s not all mine.” He tells you again, making you look up at him. He grimaces. “I got jumped by one of those assholes as I was getting out of my car. She didn’t bite me, but she put up a hell of a struggle.”

He pulls down the collar of his shirt for you to inspect. Sure enough, there is no bite mark, but there are two long angry red gashes that are slowly oozing blood down his inked arm.

“We need to clean that.” You mutter. “I don’t know what this is, or how it’s spread, but you don’t want that getting infected.”

“It might be too late for that.”

Your gaze flicks up to meet his and he looks away. “What?” you ask him quietly. “What did you say?”

Touya only looks away from you. “Forget it. Just… help me get some things together and then we can go.”

You pack in relative silence, the static from the T.V. acting as background noise as Touya directs you on what to pack. You ask about the spare change of clothes in your bag and he shrugs, muttering something about how you probably wouldn’t make it far in what you’re currently wearing.

It almost feels like you’re packing to go on a trip with him. You could almost trick yourself into believing it – if you ignore the muffled banging and inhumane snarls coming from the other side of the wall where your apartment is.

That’s not the only disturbing thing that you’re hearing either. The once quiet hallway outside Touya’s door is starting to come alive with the sounds of low groans filling the air. You swear you hear shuffling footsteps moving past the front door on multiple occasions, but every time you turn your head to look in the direction of the door, there’s nothing there. It does nothing to ease your nerves or help your paranoia.

What you’re really worried about, is Touya himself. His movements are slowing down, and he seems to be slightly uncoordinated as he shoves a set of knives into his pack. You hope it’s just pain from the claw marks on his shoulder that’s making him act strangely, but based on what you’ve already seen-

“I think that’s it.” Touya sighs, casting a look around his messy apartment. He breathes out through his nose, before reaching into his jacket pocket and fishes out his car keys with a small jingle. He looks at them longingly for a moment, before tossing them to you. You barely have time to react before he’s pushing his bag towards you as well.

“Those are the keys to my car. It’s parked near the front entrance. If you move fast and don’t get distracted, you should make it no problem.”

“That’s fantastic, but why are you telling me this?” You press, as you hold his keys back out towards him. “We’re going together. I don’t know where your family home is. If you want me to drive, I’m going to need directions.”

Touya laughs, but it’s not a kind one, as he shoves the keys back to your person. “About that… I don’t think I’m going anywhere Princess.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not going to leave you here—”

Your words die in your throat as Touya aggressively shoves down the front of his shirt so you can see the gory scratch marks on him, and you feel your heart drop into your stomach.

They look so much worse then when he first showed them to you. The skin around them looks like it’s peeling back from the gashes, and seems to be turning black around the edges. It almost looks like the wound is starting to rot, but you don’t know how that’s possible. He only got injured recently. There’s no way that it could’ve gotten infected that quickly-

“Listen to me.” He almost begs you, snapping you out of your reprieve. “I’ve been feeling like shit since that bitch downstairs raked her fucking talons down my arm. I’ve had a fever since it happened and it’s not letting up.”

He points to the worst of the marks. “This happened an hour ago, and I’m already worse. I don’t think it matters if it’s a bite or not – if one of these things manage to get your hands on you, it’s game over.”

No. No, no, this can’t be happening. He can’t possibly be suggesting what you think he is.

He can’t be turning into what Mr. Takashi currently is. he just can’t.

“Touya, I can’t leave without you.” You start, quickly cutting him off as you see him open his mouth to protest. “I just moved here. I don’t have any family in the area, and I don’t know anybody else aside from you and my roommate, and she never came home, so you’re all I have now.”

You hate that your voice cracks at the end, but it’s true: you don’t have anybody else, and if he kicks you out now, then you’ll truly be alone.

You don’t know what’s scarier: the potential horde of crazed lunatics waiting for you outside, or the crushing loneliness of being by yourself in an uncertain world.

You’re not sure if you want to find out.

“I’m not going to tell you again: you need to leave.” Touya urges you as he thrusts the keys back into your hand, closing your fingers around them. “Shizuoka Prefecture, that’s where you need to go. My house is logged into the nav, just follow the directions and you’ll get there. My family will recognize my car. You’ll just need to explain to them why I’m not there—”

“Touya I’m not going.” You tell him firmly, setting his keys down on the counter next to you. “No one was prepared for this to happen. Not you, not me, nobody. Even if I do make it out of the building, I’m not going to last long on my own.”

“If you stay here with me, there’s a good chance that you won’t make it at all.” Touya warns with a breathy laugh, but you can see that he’s fighting back a grimace. His hand moves to cover his wound, but his movements are slow and shaky. If you focus on his eyes, you can just start to make out a familiar haze starting to cover his brilliant blue irises.

Fuck.

He’s sick. Not as sick as Mr. Takashi was, but you’re certain that he’s got whatever he had. Realistically, you know that he’s right and you should leave, put as much distance between yourself and him as you possibly can, but where would you go? Even if you made it to Touya’s childhood home, there’s no guarantee that his family would help you, not that you’d blame them. You’re as good as dead if you leave.

Granted, you might be screwed if you stay here with him, but…

“At least I’m with someone who I know.” You point out gently. “If the world really is going to hell, I’d much rather spend whatever time I have left with someone who isn’t a total stranger.”

Touya falls silent. For once, he doesn’t have a retort for you. Finally, he shrugs in defeat and slides down the wall closest to him, seemingly not having the strength to hold himself up any longer.

You try not to stare at the dark red streak he leaves on the wall behind him.

“If you wanna stay, be my guest, but if I do end up turning into one of those things, do me a favour and put me out of my misery, won’t you, Doll? Wouldn’t wanna rip your pretty face off.”

You want to laugh. The situation is so absurd. You think you may have tried, but a choked sob is the only thing that comes out of your mouth.

You’re dangerously close to the brink of tears, but you don’t want to cry in front of your clearly sick neighbor, knowing that your tears aren’t going to help anything. Touya, despite it all, is still as annoyingly preceptive as ever. He sighs heavily and pats the spot next to him.

“C’mere Princess, sit down before you have an aneurism.”

You cross over and slide down the wall so you’re sitting down next to him. Next thing you know, Touya drapes a heavy arm around you and pulls you into his side. “It’s okay.” He tells you in his gravely voice, even though you know it isn’t. “It ain’t your fault. Just… sit with me for a little bit, yeah?”

Of course, you would, you wouldn’t deny him that. You don’t think you’re in the right to deny him anything right now. You feel oddly indebted to him.

This was the first time that you actually got to hang out with your ridiculously attractive neighbor since moving here, why did it have to be when the world was going to shit?

“It’s not fair.” You mutter into his side, feeling like a small child. “I wish I could have met you at a better time.”

“Naw Doll, you met me at the perfect time.”

This time you can’t stop the tears you feel threatening to overflow, and they pour down your face silently as Touya holds you against him.

You don’t know how long you stay with him like that for, but you gradually hear the hallways outside Touya’s door become louder, as the stagnate air fills with the sounds of the undead. At the same time, you listen as your tattooed companion’s breathing becomes more and more labored with each passing minute.

You know what’s happening. He sounds eerily similar to how Mr. Takashi did in your apartment before he turned on you. You know you should move away from him, but you can’t bring yourself to leave his side.

He hasn’t said anything to you, but judging by the way he’s still tightly gripping onto your side, despite getting progressively weaker as time drags on, your presence is comforting to him.

You want to say something, anything, to bring him some small measure of comfort, but you regretfully don’t know him well enough to do so. Instead, you ask him the question that has been on your mind since your initial conversation with him earlier that afternoon.

“You never did tell me what your natural hair colour is.” You croak. Touya manages to wheeze out a laugh and presses a light kiss to your temple.

“White.” He murmurs softly in your ear. “It’s white.”

His chest rises and falls one more time before stilling, and your neighbor is gone.

You don’t know how long you stay there for. A part of you can’t fully accept that he’s gone, even as the arm around you grows heavy and limp, sliding down your back until it reaches the floor behind you with a muffled thud.

You feel hot, wet tears slide down your cheeks as Touya’s head lolls to the side, exposing the deep, ugly gashes in his shoulder. They’ve grown darker in colour, and the smell of meat on the verge of going rotten fills the air. It’s only when you can’t stand the smell anymore do you finally get up from your spot on the ground, but you don’t move far from him, you can’t. You don’t want to leave him like this, it’s not right.

You know that you shouldn’t stay here. You should grab his keys, and try your luck at reaching his car before your spotted by whatever’s lurking out in the hallways, or worse, before your neighbor potentially comes back as one of those… things.

But you don’t move from your spot. You run over all the possible variables in your head, and you come to the conclusion that regardless of whether you stay or go, you’re fucked.

You have no family close to your location that you could stay with, no friends either. You had let your roommate use your car tonight to get to work, and your doubtful that you’ll ever see it or her again after tonight, and even if you took Touya’s keys and tried to make it down to the ground floor to escape using his car, you have no idea how many of those creatures are out there waiting for you.

By the amount sounds you keep hearing outside the door, you can assume that it’s a lot.

You eye Touya’s keys. They’re still laying in the same spot on his counter, but you don’t make a move for them. What’s the point.

He told you to get to his family’s house in the country, but considering how the phones aren’t working, you’re not sure if his car’s navigation system would work either. Even if it did, and you were somehow able to make it to his car without getting attacked or bitten by the hordes of possibly infected people out there, there’s no guarantee that his family would help you. You wouldn’t blame them if they didn’t.

If you stayed here, you were fucked. If you left, you were definitely fucked.

Either way, you were going to lose, so you might as well pick the slightly less shitty option.

If you were going to die, then you were going to at least chose how, or rather, who was going to take you out.

So, you lean yourself up against the wall opposite to Toyua’s slumped over form, and wait.

You’re not sure how much time has elapsed, but a slight movement from Touya’s hunched over form draws your full attention to him. You watch as his arm, the one that was previously draped around your shoulders, jerks out at an odd angle, his fingers flexing and extending slowly. His legs twitch sporadically, almost as if something is shocking him, and a low growl emits out of his throat, deep and inhuman. Slowly, his head lifts from its crumpled position, and you watch as blurry turquoise eyes slowly lift upwards until they focus on your own.

They’re Touya’s eyes, but there’s no life behind them. He’s gone. This is just a hollow corpse that looks like him.

For a brief moment, you think about the set of knifes that are packed in one of the bags next to you. You contemplate about reaching for them, but you decide against it. You don’t think you could do it anyways, even though you know the creature that’s eyeing you up isn’t Touya.

You watch with silent tears pooling in your eyes, as the creature’s mouth pulls into a snarl, and forces’ himself up off the floor on unsteady legs. He shuffles over to you slowly and for every step he advances, you take one step back, until your back hit’s the opposite wall and there’s nowhere else for you to go.

He reaches for you and you slap his hand away with a sob. This creature may be your death, but you weren’t going to make it easy for him. If he wanted your life, he’d have to earn it.

Suddenly, one of the last things that Touya said to you before he succumbed to the sickness crosses your mind as the creature slowly advances on you. He never wanted to turn into one of these things. Hell, he even asked you to take him out if he turned.

You swallow shakily. You don’t want to. You really don’t want to… but now… you might not have a choice. Regardless of what happened to you, you won’t leave Touya as he was now. You’d honor his last request to you. Even if it ended up costing you your life.

The imposter reaches for you again, this time with both hands, and you shove him back with an angry snarl as fresh tears begin to run down your face.

It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s just not fucking fair.

A glint of light reflecting off the countertop catches your eye. Touya’s car keys are sitting innocently at the end of the countertop near where you’re pressed up against the wall. Due to your earlier hesitation, you won’t be able to grab the knives packed away in the bag before he’s on you, however Touya has numerous keys on his lanyard, some of them look quite sharp…

You twist to the side just as the creature reaches for you again. You duck under his outstretched arms and grab the lanyard, fisting the keys tightly in you hand as you try and keep your distance from the aggressive corpse that Touya has become.

An irritated rumble pulls from the imposters intricately tattooed throat, before he suddenly swings his whole body towards you and slams you up against the closest wall, knocking the wind out of you. He grabs your arms before you can recover, pinning them to your sides with a strength that you didn’t expect from a walking corpse.

You squirm and thrash, trying to claw at him, but in the end, you know it’s futile. You resigned yourself to this fate when you chose to stay with him despite knowing the outcome. At least you’ll die at the hands of someone you know. Not out there, alone and scared.

You cry out in pain as Touya sinks his teeth into the junction of your neck and shoulder, tearing through skin and muscle as his canines sink in deep, locking him to you. You feel blood gush out from the puncture wounds his teeth have made in your shoulder, and run down your torso, staining your shirt crimson. His arms are still pinning yours to your sides, trapping you in some kind of death embrace, as you feel the strength slowly start to leave your body. The sickness that took him, already taking hold inside your body.

You feel your mind start to go fuzzy and your vision start to swim. You can’t tell if it’s from blood loss or the infection itself. In one last ditch effort to bring some measure of comfort to yourself, you weakly raise your arms up so you’re gripping Touya’s biceps in a mock embrace. You feel him growl into your shoulder, and his hold on you relaxes slightly.

You don’t hesitate.

With a strangled scream you rip the arm holding Touya’s keys out of his hold, and drive them into his neck. You hear Touya let out a choked sound of surprise as the keys pierce his jugular, and he retracts his teeth out of your shoulder, tearing the delicate flesh, leaving deep gouges behind in his wake.

He backs away from you, clawing at the keys that are buried deep in his neck, and you swear you see the fog in his eyes clear for a moment as he looks at you, gasping for air as blood fills his lungs. He falls to his knees, one hand extended out towards you, the other still clutching at the keys in his neck, before toppling over. He twitches, once, twice, and then he is still.

You let out a shuddering breath as you cover the gaping wound on your neck with your opposite hand. Blood is still pouring down your arm and chest, and you know that you probably don’t have long to live. You feel tears pool in your eyes as you stare down at Touya’s unmoving form.

“I���m sorry.” You gasp out as you feel the strength in your legs leave you, and you collapse to your knees next to him. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t want to. I’m so sorry!”

You feel your vision start to swim and you gingerly ease yourself onto your side so you’re lying next to him, placing your bloodied hand in his outstretched one. The last thing you remember seeing before the darkness takes you, is Touya’s cloudy turquoise eyes, fixed unblinkingly on your dying form, and then everything fades to black.

                                                        FIN

[emjiroki]

Zombie Apocalypse Au! Touya Todoroki x Reader

WARNINGS: graphic depictions of violence, blood & guts, explicit scenes and language, unprotected sex, mentions of suicide (they don't do it! It's just plan C), Touya has a prince albert piercing

word count: 1.5K

A/N: Hey everyone! I'm back with another collab piece! For the lovely @medusashima and her ☆Rise of the Dead☆ event, thanks for letting me join! (Sorry it was a bit late) This is the first time I've really done any pieces for Touya besides my Heatstroke fic and I had a lot of fun writing for him again; hope everyone enjoys 💚

💚 Likes, comments, and reblogs much appreciated 💚

Your calves and thighs were screaming from the exertion of running, your breath coming in heavy pants as your heart thudded rapidly as the sunlight faded rapidly behind you.

"Come on, don't slow down, they're right on our ass" Touya shouted, wrapping his hand around your forearm and tugging you forward to run halfway in front of him. He was right, the rotting ghouls closing in faster and faster as you both tried desperately not to slow any. It felt like your body was on fire, like your veins were scorched and you could taste blood. The convenience store sign that bloomed over the tops of the trees had your hope soaring. 

"Touya! Through the parking lot, doors are probably unlocked" you said breathlessly. He must have seen exactly what you had, his boots thumping the pavement harder as you raced across the parking lot's asphalt. Touya rammed his shoulder against the door, it opening with a soft chime of the bell, before dragging you inside and shutting it behind him, keeping the doors closed from the onslaught of zombies piling against it as you finally got the deadbolt turned. 

"Fuck, find something I can jam against the door for more secur-". He was interrupted by the glass shattering around the grotesque hand punched through, the flesh in taters and oozing sticky blackened blood. The dead man's fingertips were split to the bone and shredded down to the base of his hand as he fisted the thick glass to tear it away, attempting to shove his face through the hole to snap at you two as you backed away; stomachs twisting at the sight of his cheeks ripping and separating from his jaw bone to showcase cracked and rotting teeth. Touya produced the spiked bat from the makeshift leather carrier he had hand stitched, a piece of bone that had been lodged into the thick wood from the last encounter you two had had with a pair of unsavory characters falling out onto the floor as cracked the weapon down against the zombie's head, it’s skull busting open to leak soupy brains onto the linoleum. The violence only seemed to send the remaining four into a frenzy, their tattered fists banging against the glass. 

"This door won't hold much longer, get behind the counter" Touya instructed, pressing a hand against the door handle with the other on the lock, "gonna take these fuckers out". You went to grab your handgun but thought better of it, only having four bullets left. Touya always told you to keep two in case of emergencies, one for you and one for him; it was always plan c and thankfully with you two working together you rarely ever had to resort to plan b. You quickly looked beneath the counter, joy shooting through you at seeing the shotgun still held in a small mounted gun rack. Touya turned the lock and stepped back from the door the moment you mounted the gun against your shoulder, your cheek smoothing along the stock as you lined your eye up with the sight and planted your feet. The shot rang out and rattled your teeth when you pulled the trigger, buckshot ripping through the first zombie that came barreling through the door. Your ears were still ringing as you racked the next shot, waiting with a pounding heart as Touya smashed through two of the others, sticky blood splattering across the shelves next to the entrance and coating the nails embedded into the surface of the bat; you heard a handful of the deadly ends breaking off and falling to the floor and knew that bat wasn’t going to hold up much longer. The last ghoul had ahold of him, its teeth snapping and desperate to get at any flesh it could as he held it off, a heavy grunt spilling past his lips at the effort of keeping the creature off of him. 

“Touya, sweep its leg! I'm ready!” You shouted, the barrel aiming for its head. Touya didn’t think twice before stomping his boot against its tibia and splintering the bone before shoving it to the ground. The last shot wasn’t near as deafening as the first even though the gore was multiplied, brain matter and sludge smeared across the floor. You both were breathing heavily, hearts pounding as adrenaline broke sweat out across your skin. Touya dropped his bat to the floor with a clank, coming around the counter to you as you set the shotgun to the side. You frantically checked him over, shifting his jacket around to check his arms and his throat. 

"Are you okay? Did it bite you?" You asked.

"I'm fine"

"Are you sure? It didn't scratch-"

"Doll," He said, cutting you off with firm hands against your cheeks, looking you in the eyes, "I'm fine, quit worrying and kiss me". You didn't have to be told twice, the adrenaline sizzling through your bloodstream surging you forward as Touya groaned against your lips, his tongue breaking through the seal to match with yours in fervency. He pressed you back against the counter, caging you in with his hips as you felt him hard through his jeans. You smirked a little against the kiss, Touya pulling back for a moment to nuzzle his nose against your cheek and murmur,

"It's the adrenaline, need to feel you". He moved his hands down to grip your ass and thighs, lifting you up swiftly to set you against the counter. His long fingers quickly undid the buttons to your jeans and tugged them down to your ankles but never all the way off in case the need for a quick escape arises. Touya groaned at the feel of your wetness seeping through your panties, all for him and he was always so greedy. He pressed the fingers damp with your essence against his tongue and the growling whimper that escaped him had your toes curling and breath hitching in your throat; how could he be so perfect and not know it? He wasted no time pulling his hard cock from the confine of his jeans, piercing still proudly shining just like the day you had held his hand to get it even if he denied actually needing the support. The head was flushed a pretty red as it wept a pearly drop that dripped and ran its way down the expanse of his shaft, his own breath catching as you traced the shining line with your thumb and rolled the piercing delicately. 

“No time for teasing,” he chided positioning the head at your entrance and sliding it along your slit, “Wanna fuck you through this rush, clear this place of everything, and hit the road”. 

“T-Touya, fuck!” you exclaimed as he bottomed out in one fluid motion, the feeling of his piercing rub against your walls making your mind numb and pleasure race up your spine, your nails digging into his arms braced on either side of you. He was acting so coy with his lips barely brushing against yours, his pretty smirk shaking you to the core as he pretended to lean in and connect your lips only to pull away at the last second to leave you chasing him until finally, you tugged him by his hair down to your mouth. The bite you gave against his lip only seemed to spur him on, a soft chuckle warming your tongue as he thrust harder into you, your arousal slickening his cock and gathering creamy at the base.

“Pussy so pretty for me feels so fucking good” He moaned, his forehead leaning down to your shoulder so that you were moaning and sighing almost directly into his ear, nails dragging crescents against his pale skin as he fucked you with pure abandon. You could feel your body heating as he nudged that pleasurable spot deep inside, feeling like his cock nearly reached your throat.

“Touya I-I’m-” a deep groan cut you off, your legs beginning to shake.

“Cum for me, be my good girl” He growled, hissing into the flesh of your neck as you tightened around him with a shout, cumming so hard you nearly forced him out. That last convulsion of your walls gripping around him was his undoing, pulling his dick from your soaked walls and splattering his cum across your legs though he hated the waste, his fist shaky as he squeezed the last few drops against your puffy clit and rubbed it around until you were trying to jerk away in overstimulation. You grabbed an old discarded shop rag next to the register and wiped away the mess, Touya helping you pull your underwear and pants back up before lifting you from the counter and setting you on your feet. 

“Let's get these fuckers moved against the door so we can head out the back” He suggested, kicking one of the bodies with a disgusted grimace. 

“I agree, let's grab everything we can too, bet there's an extra bag around here somewhere to pack up”. Touya nodded in agreement, looking around at the stocked shelves. 

“There better still be some jerky and chocolate left”.

[undermine-the-instinct]

When We Begin Again

Bakugou x Sniper!Reader Chapter One

《 No Quirks Zombie AU》

Chapter one of my riseofthedeadcollab, by @medusashima is here!! Took me long enough

Warnings: Foul language, world typical injuries. Wc: 7.4 K

About: Japan has fallen under the weight of the apocalypse, but three prestigious colleges remain as sanctuaries, trying to take back the world they once knew. But something strange is happening in the depths of the city, and Bakugou doesn't know what this could spell. He has enough to deal with Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu's powerplays. But he at least knows (hopes) you're strong enough to protect yourself.

It's a fucking shitshow out there.

It's a fucking shitshow everywhere else too really, but fuck this really takes the cake.

Across from him, hiding behind a wall, Kirishima meets his eyes. A horde of those nasty motherfuckers were in the corridor ahead of them, standing in between them and the plexiglass holding all the medicines that they needed. Either they run, and they could outrun these shits, the exit isn't too far off and Sero still has the car still running, or they take a chance and start blasting.

And they really need this fucking medicine, so there's really only one answer.

In sync, they raise their guns, take aim and start shooting.

______

"We just grabbed as much as we could carry, we made sure we got you that asthma pump and your damn allergy medicine too, so here." Kirishima finished pulling out all the bags they brought and filled, and Sero got out of the car to lean against its side, lit cigarette in hand. Bakugou wrinkled his nose.

"Put that shit away man. Your teeth are already too fucking long, you trying dye them shits yellow now too?"

"Fuck off man," Sero chuckled, tapping the cigarette off so the ashes fell to the ground.

"You know these aren't allowed in the compound, so let me de-stress for a minute."

"Like you were the one fighting off hordes of zombies?" Kirishima grinned, canine sharp. The early morning sun was just cresting, bright and gold and warm. The light slipped over buildings and between the cracks of buildings, and Bakugou noticed how they made all his scars shine softly.

"There's a reason I'm the driver between us three. You keep bumping into shit and fucking up the car, and anger issues over here keeps trying to run over zombies."

"If I see one of those fucks I'm gonna kill it."

"You don't swerve and speed down a highway just to kill one or two. We need to conserve gas, it's a limited resource."

"It's always been stupid."

"Well, I'm still fucking awesome. I was driving and shooting down the ones that were chasing ya, like a movie. If that ain't badass I don't know what is."

Bakugou grinned, and held up his fist for Sero to pound it.

"Yeah, you came in clutch there."

One of the residents got in the car and honked, and Sero pushed himself off so they could start driving the car back to the garage, to check for any damages.

"You think Jiro and her team got back yet?"

"They left before us, and we've been gone for a couple of days, let's go check."

As soon as they step inside they strip down to their briefs in the corridor, and the cleaning unit takes their clothes to be washed and disinfected. Paramedics check their bodies for any wounds, namely scratches or bites, and when they've been cleared, they're disinfected and given new clothing, they head straight to the shower stalls.

Bakugou is done in ten minutes, and he waits outside for the other two to hurry the hell up, toweling his wet hair.

After that, they make their way over to their captain's quarters, knock, and they are let inside.

Aizawa Shouta is an imposing man, dark hair and one blood red eye. With his eye patch and prosthetic leg and slight stubble he looks like a man that takes no shit. And he is.

Which is exactly why Bakugou respects him, even before he got those injuries and before he was his captain, and just his professor.

"How did it go?" He doesn't look up from all the forms and papers on his desk but they respond all the same.

"We visited all the pharmacies on the West coast of the city, I believe we have more than enough to hold us down sir."

"All the pharmacies?"

"Most were already ransacked, probably by the other camps or sanctuaries," Kirishima explained.

"The only ones that were still mainly full and intact were closer downtown, towards the inner city. These had plexiglass we had to break to get in."

"Downtown is more infested, though we've managed to quell it some. How many zombies were there?" They shared a look at one another, and returned to their salute.

"Mainly four or five in each, sir. We left before more could arrive due to the sound of the gunshots.The last one however had at least fifteen, and a couple crawlers." Only now did he pause, and put down his pen, stare them down with all the exhaustion in his remaining eye.

"A couple crawlers? How many did you kill?"

Bakugou spoke up. "Around six, at least. Only one managed to escape and that was because we were focused on escape sir. Sero ran over it over though so it shouldn't be able to move much to do anymore shit."

"They only arrived after we killed all the regulars and had the bags mostly full. Bakugou held them off while I finished packing, then we hauled ass and ran to the van. That's when we used the shotguns to kill off the ones chasing, while Sero drove."

Aizawa stared them down over his stapled hands, and they stood still in their little line, backs and shoulders straight.

"....You ransacked the place?"

"No. Bakugou left some supplies scattered around." Three pairs of eyes turned to him, and he had to fight the urge to scoff.

"Not everyone lives in a compound or wants to join one. Doesn't mean we need to hog all the shit to ourselves." Aizawa's face didn't change but there was an approval there.

He sighed and unclasped his hands, back to his papers.

"What else do you have to report?"

"Nothing, sir. The number of zombies seems to be the same, with numbers increasing the more you go downtown. We noticed more Shiketsu markers though, they've expanded their territory." Aizawa sighed, and nodded.

"Yes, Jiro's team noticed that as well. They're growing, and fast too. Commander Nedzu had scheduled a meeting with them in your absence, and it's today at five. It would be good to attend."

"A meeting? What for?"

"Hopefully, an alliance." Three pairs of eyebrows rose in astonishment.

"Those Shiketsu bastards are stingy as fuck. Do you really think that they'd agree to an alliance?"

"They're small, but only in territory. And Ketsubutsu is in the same position, so they might ally with one another instead. They are just as, if not more desperate for shelter and food and medicine as we are. It's a good chance they'll be open to it, with Yuuei, with all the people and resources we have. There are strong fighters there too, and they'll do well within our ranks."

"Strong fighters yeah, until they decide not to cooperate or pick a fight or somethin'. What do we get out of that then?" His eye flashed, and the guys flinched back into position.

"They are humans, just like us. They're trying to survive any way they can, and with the way the world has fallen to ruins, it would do good for you to remember that we are not very different. We need to band together to survive. Now if that's all you have to report, I'll see you at five." They nodded their heads, and left the room without a word.

The compound was huge, and always near bustling, at least away from the captains quarters. People were on schedule, and followed it religiously; maybe having something to do constantly took their minds off the horror the world had turned into.

The cafeteria was decently full, and they immediately spotted Jiro's team in the far corner. Denki and Mina waved excitedly when they caught sight, and Jiro raised her half a bagel with a nod. Bakugou immediately zeroed in on the black bruise around Mina's eye, and the way that Jiro tilted her head, so her bangs could hide her cheek, and probably a bruise. They took a tray, got in line, and flashed their cards for authentication.

"Man, doesn't this remind you of highschool?" Bakugou gave Mina a look as she cut him off before he could say anything, and she swirled her spoon in her little yogurt, a fond smile on her face when the boys sat down at their table.

"No, not really. It's the asscrack of Dawn and you were always late, so we never had breakfast together."

"We did sometimes." Mina pouted at Sero.

"Once in a blue moon you mean."

"What time did you guys get back?" Kirishima asked, a mouthful of food.

"Like, an hour or two ago. We would've gotten back quicker but the van ran out of gas."

"Oh shit, what did you do?"

"Had to go to a gas station and fill up the gallon. Only a couple stragglers there so we were able to kill 'em' and get back. Not many zombies on the highway, you know?" Denki shrugged. His hands were bandaged, and there was a scrape on his cheek. They all looked a little fucked up.

"You look like you got socked in the face pinky." Mina huffed at him but it was true. Her normal complexion, dark but kinda pinkish and warm, was pale, like she was an undead, and she had the nastiest ringer around her right eye. She immediately scowled.

"That's because I was."

"What, do the zombies know how to box now?" Sero chuckled.

"No, but that Shiketsu bitch I found going through our supplies does." The smile fell from his face, and that immediately had their attention.

"What?"

Mina sighed, and moved to tell the story.

"We were all fucking exhausted so we stopped to get sleep. Denki and I went to kill any zombies around and Jiro was setting up the traps and making sure we still had connection to contact the compound. I get back first and find this blondish bitch going through our shit so I immediately call her out, you know?" They nodded along and she continued.

"Anyways, she tried to run but I tackled her and we ended up fighting. I guess her teammates thought she was being attacked by zombies because they came running, and Jiro and Denki came running too and we all got in a fight. They ran but they still took like, two bags of supplies."

"And you're sure they were Shiketsu?"

Denki nodded.

"Yeah. After I punched a guy I saw those button things they wear. They all had one. It was dark so we couldn't really see their faces, but we saw those things."

Sero clicked his tongue, and stabbed his fork through his scrambled eggs.

"And we're supposed to meet these guys for an alliance?"

"What meeting? Alliance?"

"Shiketsu has been slowly expanding its territory. Commander Nedzu thinks it'll be good to join and combine what we got."

"It's not that bad an idea." Jiro shrugged, her gangly earrings swishing with her hair.

"More territory means we have more space for compounds or gardens or livestock. Make routes and expand human territory. Shiketsu got some hard hitters too, obviously, so we could go on more missions."

"And raids." The table looked at Kirishima, who didn't look up from his plate.

"Kirishima…"

"Even I'm not that suicidal sharkteeth."

"But it's viable. Slowly, we can get more ground, maybe even join other compounds. Take the city back."

"That shits not gonna happen. Not in our lifetime at least."

"Listen man," Kirishima put down his fork, a little forcefully.

"All I'm saying is that there is a chance, and I'm gonna believe in it. Gotta have some kinda hope in this fuckfest. Otherwise, what's the point of going on?"

No one really had a reply to that. They all looked at each other, haggard and tired, and continued eating.

Denki gathered the trays and bowls and utensils from everyone, and Bakugou was too tired to even protest, like he would usually do. He just nodded his thanks and Denki smiled wanly.

"Oh, did you hear if Izuku's team is back yet?"

"Hatsume received a message from them, they should be back by noon."

"They left before us, what took them so long?" Kirishima asked.

"We'll see when they get here."

With that, they separated. Men and women were split, even those with private dorms, and they each went to their respective sides, ready to catch some sleep before chores. Bakugou however made a detour, and walked the steps to the highest floor. From there he flashed his card, authority granted, and stepped outside to the roof.

It was like those rooms that castles would have for their archers, to shoot mainly unseen in case of attack. It was like that now, but with snipers instead of archers, no ceilings.

From this high up he could see plenty of the compound, the farmers starting to work in the gardens and fields and take care of the livestock, or people running to and fro carrying cargo. He was willing to bet a good chunk was what he and his team brought, and Jiro's. The sky was clear and the sun was bright, the wind crisp and choppy. But that wasn't what he was here for.

The compound had three snipers per wall. Each sniper was trained, best of the best, and took shifts watching the wall and shooting stray zombies, alerting the compound if there was a horde approaching. It was also their job to hold them off as long as they can in this case.

Bakugou walked over, quiet, careful to not disturb the other two snipers at the ends of the wall. This early in the morning all sound was echoing and loud, his breath the hiss of smoke after explosion.

He kneeled down, and gazed through the tall, vertical window.

She didn't move from her position, hands still and eyes steady. Her breathing was rhythmic and she made no sign to acknowledge his presence.

"...Theres one of those fucks right there." A blink from her wide eyed stare was the only acknowledgment. She probably already knew. One second, two, three, while the zombie approached the wall, and a bang! The thing fell dead.

She rolled her shoulder from the recoil, and went back to her gun.

"What's the score?"

"...Timothy has eight, Matthew's got twelve."

"And you?"

"Fourteen."

"That's my girl." Bakugou held out a granola bar, one of the soft ones, and she moved her head to take a bite. Bakugou brushed her hair out the way.

"How long have you been here?"

"I've been taking the deadman shift along with my normal ones." He felt a tick in his jaw.

"Fuck, you're gonna wear yourself ragged."

"I was worried about you."

She probably was. She probably watched their van leave too, from her post all the way here, and probably waited to watch them come back.

"Couldn't sleep?"

"No." Bakigou sighed and adjusted himself on his haunches, muscles aching.

"How did it go?"

"We had to travel farther into town, since most of the pharmacies were already ransacked. We got what we needed and then some, and came back."

"Got into any trouble with anybody?"

"You heard what happened with Jiro's team?"

"Nah," and now a smile spread across her face.

"Mina and Denki came out yelling and hollering as soon as they came out of the van, cause Momo was the one to come and greet them. Jiro was the only one not looking to get babied."

"Momo must've shit herself out of worry." Her lips pursed.

"Crude. Wouldn't you be worried if your lovers came back bruised and limping?"

"Jiro and Denki looked fine to me, and Mina only had a ringer. Who was limping?"

"Jiro was limping some but not too bad, I think it was just some swelling."

"Okay." They stood in the silence, feeling the morning sun's rays and the wind through their hair. She clicked her tongue and adjusted her rifle.

"What is it?"

"The wind's choppy. Its fucking up my aim, I gotta adjust constantly."

"You got that one bitch good." Already the body was being taken away by people in hazmat suits, leaving only a trail of blood that would soon to be washed away. She smirked.

"'Cause I'm just that good."

"Course you are." Bakugou held out the bar and she ate from it, eyes in front but head turned to him. When she finished he brushed his hand over her mouth, wiping away the crumbs. She kissed his thumb as he drew it back.

"What time does your shift end?"

She smiled bitterly.

"I still got an hour and some change. I'll meet you at your dorm so get outta here." Bakugou sighed, but he was tired. He stood up, and dusted himself off.

"Fine. I checked your schedule, you also got kitchen duty today, at three, so don't forget that, pistol. Hurry up so you can sleep." She smiled at the familiar nickname. This entire time, her eyes never left the distance.

"I won't baby. Get some sleep, I'll be there."

Bakugou trudged his way back to his private dorm, his body suddenly weighing twice it normally did. Which didn't say much since he could easily lift twice his body weight but he just wanted to get to bed, okay?

Sleeping in car seats or the back of a van these last couple of days, wary of zombies or stray packs of humans that could try to attack, it left him tired. He could've groaned at the softness of his bed, the clean, warm sheets and all the extra pillows that Pistol always hogged. In minutes, he was out.

He only woke up seemingly a few minutes later, by hands reaching around him, familiar and calloused. Blindly he reached, and pulled her to his side, and she latched on to him. He groaned at the warmth, but held tighter when she tried to move back.

"Oh sorry, are you in pain?"

"No, just get back here woman." She let him pull her back, but her hands skittered where his shirt had ridden up.

"You got a couple bruises. You can go to the nurses later."

"Hm."

"Get an ice pack or compress or something."

"Mmhm."

"...I was worried, y'know?" He rubs her shoulder, and she lets out this little sigh, one of those little sounds he won't stop thinking about for days afterwards. The kind of sounds he replays in his mind in every raid, every mission, every night you're not in his arms. It keeps him calm.

"I know. I'm always gonna come back though. Just gotta do what needs to be done, y'know?"

"I know."

Silence creeped back in, slow like molasses, but you've never been one for sweet.

"I'm kinda tired of just doing that though, you know. Just what needs to be done."

"The fuck you mean?" Katsuki cracked an eye open, and lifted his head a little to look down.

"No, no, it's just….is this all there's gonna be?"

"It's an apocalypse baby. Compared to the rest of the world, we're living in paradise right now. We got food, medicine, shelter, animals, clean water, weapons–"

"I know, I know!" You shoot up, till you're sitting up and staring down at him.

"I've just been….it just that, I'm …." You fumble with the words, stumbling over your tongue like two left feet on a dancefloor.

"....I'm just so tired Katsuki." Yeah, he's not having that. He pulls you up and over and sits up himself, leaning over till his forehead rests against yours.

"You've been taking too many shifts. You're burnt out."

"No, I'm–"

"Yes, you are. Or you're going to be. You've been taking the deadman shift, youre regular shift, and then breakfast duty every day since I left. On top of all the other jobs you got assigned too."

"It's easier to sleep that way. Too tired to worry."

"You do that anyway baby." He shakes his head against yours, and that makes you giggle. "I'm gonna walk you over to Granny Chiyo when we get up, get you checked up. Get you to stop asking for so many shifts."

"You're such a hypocrite Katsuki." But you bury your face in his shoulder, so he knows you're gonna give in.

"I'll get some patches too, alright? And some pain relief. Ugh. Nagging woman, is that good enough for you?"

"Yes, this will appease me for now," You chuckle. He feels the rumble through his skin.

"For now? Greedy little bugger." He mushes your face away while you laugh and try to press closer, straining your arms to reach him while he keeps you at bay. The smile on his face is delighted and sharp, and the corners twitch with every rise and snort of your laughter.

Finally, exhausted, you just grab his hand and fall back into the sheets, pressing the back of it against your cheek. You sigh again. Like a cat stretching, content and languid, like it came from somewhere deep in your chest. He feels something unwind in him.

"...I'm so glad you came back to me. Don't leave me, okay Katsuki?"

"I won't." He answers too fast, but you smile, press your mouth to his palm and mutter the words again.

"I don't know what I'd do if you left. Probably throw myself into a horde of undead or something."

"Don't fucking joke about shit like that." He grabs your face, gently of course, and turns your face to his. But you keep your eyes closed and keep smiling.

"You know Achilles and Patroclus? From the iliad? And the rewritten take? When Patroclus died Achilles gathered his ashes in an urn, which was usually the wife's job, and said to mix their ashes when he dies, so that they'll never be apart. Isn't that so romantic?"

Bakugou doesn't speak, he just watches you. You're slipping into sleep, and your breaths are slowing. You hold his wrist and rub small circles into his pulse point.

"....I'll wake you up in an hour." He'll actually wake you up in two; the mumbo jumbo coming out your mouth is proof you need it.

You don't reply, already gone. Bakugou picks you up so your head is on the right side of the bed, and follows you to sleep.

He doesn't think any urn would be enough to hold the both of you.

▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎▪︎

He's not surprised to see how many people are here.

The captains are here automatically. Captain Aizawa, Captain Sekijiro Kan, and Captain Nemuri Kayama. They're spread around the room but he doesn't fail to notice how close they are to the windows, to Commander Nedzu. Who, in question, is preparing tea with a blasé smile on his face. His dark hair doesn't even gleam under the lights, and his eyes are purposefully kind but blank. Creepy.

Todoroki is here, and so is Ochako. Jiro. Deku is here too. Including him, it's the main team leaders.

Todoroki nods at him when he walks in, and Ochako barely does the same, steel focused and rubbing her wrists raw. Jiro smacks her hands away. It's Deku who comes up to him and pats his shoulder.

"Hey, I heard you went further downtown on your raid. Met a couple of crawlers."

"Yeah, we killed most of them before we had to abandon the place."

"Got what you needed?"

"Do you even need to ask, stupid Deku?" And he smiles, wan.

"We could've bumped into each other sometime. My team and I were downtown too."

"Why would you need to go downtown?" Deku looked tired. He couldn't have been back that long because the standard soap and disinfectant scent still clung fresh unto him. His hair was as wild as ever and bandages disappeared beneath the sleeve of his shirt. His face was pale, freckles standing stark against the pallor.

"Oi? You got hurt?"

Deku smiles, tired but reassuring.

"Just a tumble down a hill. Gravel, and stuff." Bakugou smells bullshit, but he sees the way Izuku closes himself off. He backs off.

Coincidentally, that's when Captain Hizashi walks in, with their guests in tow. It's only one adult, a lady with a bandana and mint green hair, and three others, a girl and two guys around his age. Less people than what he was suspecting.

"Shouta, how ya been! Long time no see, huh?" Captain Aizawa narrows his one remaining eye at the woman.

"Fukukado. I didn't expect you to be here."

"I came to propose my hand in marriage! Aizawa Shouta, will you-"

"No."

"Aw, not even a chance?"

"No." She deflates, but brightens up not two seconds earlier. Bakugou stands where he is, and takes in the other 'guests'.

A blonde chick, with a too deep neckline. Another blonde guy, but like, sandy blonde, with shaggy hair and somber eyes. The other…..looks like he could be Deku's older brother, or him himself, if he was taller with no freckles, and black hair. Deku 2.0 catches his eye and grins at him.

He doesn't like him.

"We expected to be entertaining Shiketsu, but it seems Ketsubutsu decided to join us." The room turns to the Commander, whose fingers tap, one by one on the tea pot, tap tap tap tap.

"Well, the more the merrier I say. Please sit! Let's start this meeting." The table is soon filled, and Bakugou is sat next to Jiro and Todoroki.

"First off, thank you for trekking all the way here for this meeting. You've shown your cooperation."

"So it was a test?" Nedzu looks at Deku 2.0, eyes gleaming.

"Yes. Your name?"

"Yo Shindo from Ketsubutsu. Head ranger."

"Pleased to meet you. And you two?"

"Camie Utsushimi! Team leader and part of communications. Shiketsu." He doesn't know where she got it or how she smuggled it in, but she blows a bubble and pops it, bright pink like her mouth.

"Nagamasa Mora. Team leader and assistant director. Shiketsu."

"And me! Captain Emi Fukukado, and Shouta's future wifey~From Ketsubutsu of course." She winks at Aizawa, who doesn't even roll his eyes, like when he catches any one of them acting stupid. It's clear they share history.

"The trek here wasn't anything arduous."

"Well, of course it wasn't." Utsushimi cuts Nagamasa off, elbows on the table.

"You didn't catch them trekking us from when we passed central?" The room quiets, and Nagamasa clears his throat.

"Yes, but I was being polite, Camie."

"But there's no need to be so stiff now, yeah?"

"It's called having tact, Camie…"

"I'd prefer if we simply got to the point of this meeting." Fukukado cuts in, spreading her hands on top of the table. Her body language was open, but less playful.

"Of course, but we were supposed to discuss an alliance with Shiketsu, and not Ketsubutsu," Captain Sekijiro grumbles. "Frankly, this meeting doesn't concern you as you shouldn't be here."

"But it does, which I'd like to bring up. But first, a proposal." This kid must've tried going for a business major, because Deku 2.0 reeks of cockiness and self importance. He even adjusts his collar for fucks sake.

"Which is?"

"Ketsubutsu and Shiketsu have decided to join together. We've decided to extend the offer to Yuuei, proposing an alliance, as well as a sort of joint mission between us three." He smiles, swarmy.

"Just to see how well we work together. A trial run, if you will."

Yuuei is stunned into silence and exchanges looks amongst one another.

Yuuei, Shiketsu, and Ketsubutsu were the top three schools in the country. Heavily endorsed, large grounds and campuses and funding for extracurriculars. Always rivaling one another, but Yuuei was always at the top. It's why so many people fled here when the virus spread.

First, the students and staff and their families. People in the immediate vicinity. Pets. Then Yuuei needed to strategize. They were just accepting everyone even if they have a limited food source. So they needed a plan. Yuuei was backed by water, and they built filters so they had a reliable water source.

They turned the sports fields into farms and accepted priority people; people with useful skills like plumbing or gardening or mechanics. Deku had protested. Bakugou had protested louder. "The idea of priority puts people on the scale of worth and value. All people deserved to be saved," Deku had said. "All people are worth the same. All people bring value."

What Bakugou never told him was that he saw the logic. It was an apocalypse. They needed to be smart. "All people are valued at the same worth." No, they weren't. But all people are worthy and are owed the chance to be saved. That's what he believed. Some people just saved more people than others, that's all.

Eventually, after a couple months, they were able to import a couple cows and pigs and goats, from a family who lived in the open countryside. A team had gotten lost, stranded on a scouting mission out of the city, checking radio towers, and found the family. There were only two families left there, the others were infected and they had killed them and they couldn't take care of the rest of the animals by themselves. It was a lucky break and now, nearly three years later, they have a good sized amount of cattle.

People needed a balanced diet, and vitamins could only go so far. Milk, cheese, eggs, meat–compared to other shelters having these items made them a sanctuary.

Literally. Japan's government, when they got over their collective pants shitting, started sending out the military. They declared the three schools sanctuaries. They provided weapons, and some training, and tasked them all with expanding their territory, and taking back the city and open land. A task far easier said than done, especially when the crawlers started appearing. Regular zombies could die with enough blood loss or a severed brainstem.

Crawlers needed a couple bullets to the brain, at second best. They could still come back. Only a completely severed head could make a crawler stay dead. Hard as fuck for one or two, but more than that? Essentially impossible without insane luck, skill and aim.

'I bet Pistol could do it.' Bakugou thought.

"Ketsubutsu and Shiketsu are allied? When did this happen?"

"Around a month ago." Fukukado smiled at Captain Nemuri.

"Guess your intelligence isn't up to speed." Hizashi's mouth twitched in a grimace but he smothered it. Jiro's grimace however was not as well hidden.

"...Midoriya." The man startled when Commander Nedzu spoke in that warm, calm voice. His hands were steepled over his cup, tea which he hadn't offered the guests.

"Yes, Commander?"

"You've only just returned from your mission. I'd like to hear your report now."

"Yes sir." Deku stood, and placed his hands behind his back, shoulders straight.

"Five days ago, my team, Mineta, Hagakure, Shoji, Aoyama, Tsuyu, and I were sent on a mission to update the markers and communication wires further downtown. It was a delicate mission, checking the wires and shelters along the way, avoiding undead hotspots." The captains nodded along as he spoke. They probably already heard all this.

"We reached the wires and spent the next few days checking and repairing the ones that were damaged. Which ones exactly are in the written report. Two days ago we upset a previously unknown undead Hotspot. Most of them were crawlers." The room tensed, and the guests who were lax and listening, tensed and straightened.

"Mineta and Aoyama are some of the best marksmen we have. They held them back while Shoji cut the ones that got past. Tsuyu and I rushed to replace the wire we were on, and then we joined the others and brought down the pack. Hagakure held down the van."

"Hah? Really? You guys took down a pack of crawlers?" Yo Shindo laughed, staring down Deku like a kid telling a tall tale. Bakugou sneered.

"It takes our captains a hard time with a couple of crawlers, and I bet yours too. But a group of dropout college students somehow took down a pack? Stop the bullshit," He laughed.

Deku stared at him, and yeah, the resemblance was fucking creepy. Without a word or preamble, he took off his shirt, and the muscle tee underneath.

He had plenty of scars, they all did, but what caught Bakugou's attention was the bruise patches all along his back and ribs, the bandages wrapped around his waist, blood peeking through. He unwrapped the one on his left bicep, and a gasp hissed through his teeth.

"A crawler bit me. Tsuyu cut the flesh away and disinfected it as fast as she could. I got proper treatment when we got back."

The wound was closed, the stitches were precise and uniform, but red and deep and angry, it would leave a deep dark scar. The kind with ridges and bumps and dips and edges that looked shiny in the light. It looked vicious.

Tsuyu didn't have to just cut the flesh away. She had to dig, and carve below the infected flesh just to make sure she got it all. He could've died from crawler, or regular infection, shock, bloodloss. Or even hitting his head wring tumbling down a hill.

Deku's green eyes, bright and uncanny, met Shindo's.

"Of course, we all wore our body cams too so we have footage, though that's confidential. You'll need to be a part of support and communications, or fill out a form to see them." Shindo kept eye contact, but his jaw ticked when he swallowed. Ochako stood and helped rebandage the wound with a soft glare, and Deku met his eyes when he redressed.

"I did fall down a hill. I just forgot to tell you it was with a crawler biting into me."

"If an undead doesn't kill you Izuku I fucking will." He seethed, soft under his breath. Deku's face folds into that wan smile again. He looks like Auntie Inko.

"Yeah, I know."

"Bakugou's team also ran into some crawlers at a downtown pharmacy, so Aizawa told me," Commander Nedzu says.

"The front was already raided, so they moved further to the back, where they were. Crawlers prefer places long abandoned. Old apartment buildings, department stores and the like. The rise of crawlers in these recently raided, inhabited, or otherwise open spaces is odd. I'm sure you both have your concerns as well.

"Does this joint mission address these concerns?" Before Fukukado went on he asked,

"Does anyone in your alliance have the skills to take down a crawler? A pack of crawlers, if the situation should ever arise, again? Can any one of you deal with a crawler bite immediately? Intelligence tells me that neither of you have been going out on raids often." The Commander cut a look towards Fukukado.

"We've been finalizing the terms and conditions of our alliance," Nagamasa supplied.

"Yeah. And we thought we could set up a communicative wire in between Shiketsu and Yuuei actually. We're building one between Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu now." Utsushimi lolls her head.

"Even if we don't align, communication would still be ideal."

"Eradicating a couple known undead hotspots would also do some good, we could see how well we'd all work together." Fukukado waved her hands. What a clown.

"Nagamasa, yes? That folder you brought, what is it?" Captain Nemuri smiles encouragingly.

"Potential teams we could make, highlighting certain strengths and attributes."

"Hand it over, please?" He did, and Captain Hizashi moved to read over her shoulder.

"...How did you know Yaoyorozu and Jiro were in Communications?" Heads snapped up, and they shrugged.

"I was a traveling Substitute teacher, remember Shouta? I can guess how you utilized your kids." For the first time Shouta's face fell into irritation, and his eyes burned into Fukukado, who just smiled. Her eyes were sharp like knives, which Bakugou was sure she had hidden on her. Knives don't always have to be metal. They just had to be sharp.

"It's not like the kids are all complete strangers. Before the bullshit people would go places and meet people, like the central mall, or the parks, internships, regular ol' jobs, that sort of stuff. It's easy enough to guess."

It was a plausible enough excuse. Even he knew a couple people from the two schools. Bakugou turned his head, and caught Jiro, sitting stock still.

She was staring holes into the Utsushimi girl's skull, hands fisted under the table. The girl met her eyes, mildly confused, and they were in a sort of stare off.

Suddenly her eyes widened, and she smiled, slow. She blew a bubble, big and slow, and popped it, swiping her tongue out to collect it back into her mouth. It set off his anger meter, petty bubblegum cheerleader chicks like this one always did, and he scowled as she just smiled at Jiro. He had a guess to who she was.

"Yeah, you, we met before. You remember me. You were the one caught stealing from our van."

"Well, I am a team leader. I had to take an initiative and go for it. Make an example of myself, you know?" She didn't even try to deny it.

"Couldn't get your own shit? Had to be a thief and steal?"

"Aren't you technically stealing from everyone by taking from all these stores and pharmacies?" The girl huffed, her pout fading and something more genuine crossing her face. Irritation.

"I know you allow shelters in your territory for the people who don't want to align, but how much do you really give them? You raid and hog everything so people are forced to depend on you. I was just tipping the scales a little." That bubblegum fake smile was put back in place, and she waved her painted fingers at jiro.

"Be grateful your friend only got a black eye. And you, you only got a little bruise on your cheek! My team could have shot you, thinking you were undead."

"But that's not true, right?" Todoroki spoke for the first time, dual eyes zeroed in on the chick.

"You probably scouted them for a while and waited for them to run surveillance. Otherwise you all would have approached cautiously with weapons on hand.

"If you weren't sure if the van had undead, then that's what you would have done. If you did suspect and still went alone, that's just plain idiocy. Your team could have lost their leader." Todoroki looked her over, evaluating.

"And I don't think you're that dumb. You don't look stupid."

"Like you can tell." Bakugou muttered under his breath.

"I can. And she's not it." He still was staring her down with his two colored eyes.

"She saw the emblem on the van. She tracked them and waited to attack. She chose her steps carefully. It was all premeditated."

Utsushimi whistled and clasped her hands together, eyes lighting up.

"Wow, you're so smart! And you're like, super duper gorgeous, like, super model gorgeous. Wanna go on a date?"

"No."

"You're sure? I can make it worth your while…"

"Anyways," Captain Aizawa cut her off, the resemblance to another woman in the room probably made him antsy.

"Ketsubutsu and Shiketsu have made an alliance, and wish to extend the offer to Yuuei. Is that right?"

"Exactly." The four spoke at once, like it was rehearsed. Bakugou couldn't keep the sneer off his face, he was sure he looked like an asshole, but fuck that.

"You worry about our skill, but of course we have members that are skilled enough to deal with crawlers. Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu were not that far apart in terms of prestige." Nagamasa supplied.

"All three schools after all had elite students and faculty, so it's to be expected."

"Expected, but not assured. But that was before the apocalypse." Commander Nedzu spoke as he leaned forward, smile and clasped hands and all.

"Of course, we all had our fair share of exceptional students and teachers in our facilities. Our little rivalry was going strong, and for good reason. But this is the apocalypse and we are not students and teachers anymore." His eyes flashed, dangerous, soft.

"We are Captains. Lieutenants. Leaders. Rangers, scouts, foragers, doctors and cooks and nurses and stable hands and Commanders." Finally he unclasped his hands and raised his cup to his mouth. He frowned a hint, before dropping two sugar cubes in the tea.

"And I'm sure you both have your fair share of those, especially after merging together, so I'll leave you two to figure those sorts of things out on your own. To get yourselves situated." He shrugged. He was a small man, but there was nothing small about the way his smile stayed, but the warm (and fake) geniality faded with each word from his lips.

"After all, this meeting was for a discussion between my captains and team leaders and Shiketsu, and not a jokester and a couple of college dropouts and a thief. So if you may, I'd prefer someone more competent in the next meeting, which I will send a date for. I'll let Ketsubutsu attend next time if I'm feeling gracious. This meeting is adjourned."

Yuuei, Captains and leaders, immediately sprung up into salute, and Captain Hizashi immediately walked around the table to escort the four guests out.

Only the Utsushimi girl looked unaffected, poping her bubble with her arms above her head. Fukukado just pouted, while the guys grumbled and glared, with their hurt pride. Utsushimi shot a wink at Todoroki before she left, and there was an obvious release of tension once they left the room.

Captain Kan scoffed.

"What kind of power play was that? If they were going to try something so stupid they should have sent their Captains instead of children." He huffed.

"You seem to know that woman, Fukukado, right Aizawa?" Captain Aizawa sighed and rubbed his temples.

"We went to the same community college before we transferred to separate universities."

"She seems to have a crush on you huh-"

"Don't start Nemuri." Todoroki came up to his elbow. He didn't speak but he had that blank, expectant look on his face like he expected Bakugou to just read his mind.

"The fuck is it icyhot?" He tilts his head for him to follow, and he does, but not without grumbling.

Icyhot turns to him when they reach a private corner of the room.

"If this is about the blonde chick I don't want to hear it."

"What? No, I'm not talking about her. It's about the raids you and Midoriya went on. The crawlers."

"What about them?"

"My team and Ochako's noticed a few weeks back that people have been going missing from the unaffiliated camps around the borders. We couldn't check Shiketsu much less Ketsubutsu, but they looked dwindled too. I think…I think the disappearance of these people, and the hotspots has something to do with the crawlers."

"...Well fuck Icyhot, that's a crazy conclusion to come up to. You told the captains?"

"Told them, but they said that it's just a far-fetched theory. Hatsume in research and development said that it makes sense though." He sighs. "But she's been crazy since before the break."

"Why the hell are you telling me this?"

"Because most likely you're the one who'll be sent when Yuuei reaches out to Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu again," Todoroki grit his teeth.

"Deku is injured and Ochako and Jiro are on mandatory leave. And you know my Father doesn't want to send me out with all this...activity." he grit out.

Enji Todoroki, a long lasting politician. A ruthless man who was pushing his children to join the military and rise the ranks. His wife was institutionalized before the break, and her hospital was overrun by zombies. The eldest son, Touya, rushed in to try and save her, but his body was never recovered. Neither of them were.

"He thinks he's protecting me. Now," he scoffed,"now after all these years…"

"At least he's trying. Making shitty amends for how he raised you lot growing up, yeah? Better now then never. Late paternal instincts I guess."

"How is what he's doing to us any different than what he did to my mother?" His voice was so stone cold Bakugou almost expected mist to come from his breath. Bakugou shrugged. He didn't know. He was just sick of this meeting already. He still had work to do.

"Hell if I know icyhot. But if you go along with his shit, at least for now, he might ease up or somethin'. He's one of our main benefactors so we can't lose his support." He pats his shoulder, kind of awkward, but Todoroki showed no sign of acknowledgement. He started to walk away.

"I'll fight to be put on the roster, but there's no guarantee. Enji has been trying to transfer me permanently to support and management."

"Stay on point, Bakugou." He smirked.

"When do I never?"

[sunkingwrites]

Here's the header I made for @medusashima's Rise of the Dead collab- feel free to use it with credit! <3

(i made this with canva, btw!)