jida | (no subject)

Daku is someone that, by nature, wants to know everything. About a person, about their Quirk, about a place and it's history and its environment... This desire is only reinforced by the knowledge that going into situations blind has, historically, ended poorly for him. It's already bad enough that all they know about this murderer is his choice of target. Showing up to a fresh murder scene without even knowing the name of his new partner is just an extra layer of nerve-racking on top of anything else.

And yet... there's something kind of invigorating about it. Like walking into his first day of class and not knowing who his teachers or classmates will be, but now he has more experience, more confidence, and more of a reason to believe he won't completely wreck his own arms and legs trying to use One For All to accomplish the most basic of tasks. He's a (rookie) Pro Hero now, debuting right after his high school graduation alongside people with amazing Quirks he'd never thought he'd measure up to - people like Iida and Bakugou and Ochako from his own school and certain others from different districts.

So as he arrives at the crime scene he's feeling confident. He confers briefly with the lead detective, ensures that someone is in the process of seeing to the victim's family, and gets a rundown of what they already know before he's directed towards the alleyway in question. He rounds the corner, ready to get to work, and-

"Shotan?!"

-calls one of the most promising rookies of the year by a silly childhood nickname in front of a bunch of strangers.

Nailed it.

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By all accounts, Todoroki should not be in the middle of a filthy alley bending down to examine the latest victim in a series of serial murders. He should be out in the city, catching villains the old fashioned way. Should be climbing the ranks. But all of that was what his father wanted him to do, and Todoroki thinks his dad is full of shit. To be honest, he doesn't know exactly what he wants to do besides save people (and he does want that, wants to be a hero, the same as All Might), but when someone mentioned offhandedly that he'd be good at detective work too, since he's thorough and bright, Todoroki thought there might be an opportunity there.

His father was furious, of course, but Todoroki had long gotten used to that, so he enlisted in the force right after he graduated. He did so well in basic training it was no wonder they sent him to get field experience ASAP, on this string of murder cases everyone's been talking about. Nothing outside of what he expected, really.

What he absolutely did not expect was to hear that nickname. There is only one person in the entire world who calls him Shotan, and he hadn't seen that person since grade school.

"...Izuku?"

The name's out of his mouth before he can really stop it and choose something more professional, but that is most definitely Midoriya Izuku in front of him. Like he'd ever forget that messy hair and freckles. ...maybe they shouldn't be having this conversation over a corpse, though, so Todoroki stands and moves towards Midoriya so they could talk.

"I didn't know you were a part of the force."

Right. Stopping to chat over a corpse probably isn't the best way to handle this situation but... well, leave it to Todoroki to be moving to fix a problem before Deku has even settled on a solution. Still, he's made at least a little bit of progress he can be proud of: he doesn't even blanch when his gaze flicks to the corpse. It may even be obvious to Todoroki as well, given how Deku holds himself with more confidence and isn't fidgeting near as much as he had during his childhood.

It might seem more immediately vital to get right to work, but Deku has long since learned the importance of making sure he knows as much about his partners as possible before he gets to work. There's no immediate danger right now so he can take a moment to get acquainted with Todoroki - or in this case, get reacquainted with him. He's not even sure where to start, however. Between All Might, the slime Villain that had targeted Bakugou, his admittance to U.A., and all the friends he'd made trials he'd gone through while attending it feels like there's too much.

Once again, it's surprise that Todoroki gets to the point before Deku can even decide where to start. He makes his observation and Deku blinks, standing a little straighter and shaking his head in response.

"No, I'm..." a Hero, now, he intends to finish, until he remembers that suddenly developing a Quirk well-past the cutoff point is a hell of a thing to have to explain to someone that hasn't seen him in years. It had been weirdly brush it off when Bakugou first confronted him, but for whatever reason it's not quite so easy with Todoroki. He kind of hopes Todoroki might already know, given the scrutiny that the U.A. students end up under, but he just as quickly tells himself to not hope for a chance to dodge responsibility. "--uh, just being asked to help out with this case!" Not a lie, but not totally true. "But-- what about you?" It's not like Deku has missed the fact that Todoroki wasn't in U.A. despite being well-qualified, so it doesn't feel quite so awkward to add: "I thought for sure you would have debuted right after graduation..."

"...are you a consultant?"

It's baffling that Midoriya seems to imply he's only here for this particular case. That usually means someone has some kind of expertise the rest of the police force does not, but Todoroki doesn't know what specialized knowledge someone the same age as him has already. Then again, even as a child Midoriya was astoundingly meticulous, and had a breadth of knowledge about heroes, and maybe that's what they want.

Then again, Todoroki had heard some rumors. He's not stupid; he knows Midoriya went to UA, and if he was there, then his quirk had manifested. Todoroki had no idea how, if it was some kind of mutation (less likely) or someone pulling the strings (more likely) but if Midoriya's not being upfront about it, there's no way a simple question is going to get the answer out of him. Besides, what use is it delving into that right now when there's the important matter of a serial killer to deal with?

"I could have, but I wanted to come work here for a while." He leaves off the part about to spite my shitty father, but that kind of always goes unspoken.

Todoroki doesn't explain, but he doesn't exactly need to. Deku had been pretty young when the two parted ways, but even as a child with limited contact with the man it had been hard to miss how... intense... Endeavor could be about most things, and how comparatively lukewarm Todoroki had seemed on his father.

So yeah, it goes without saying but that doesn't mean Deku is blind to the other side of the coin, either. Despite the situation he gives Todoroki a bright smile.

"I bet you'll be really good at this stuff!" It's not like Deku is unaware of his own merits when it comes to analysis - for a long time that was his only merit - but even here and no he thinks of himself as being more suited to forensics than detective work. Todoroki, though... even as a kid he'd been cool and collected and smart and - right, now Deku is being asked a question. He considers dodging it again, but in the end... "Ah... I'm actually a Hero now!" Crazy, right? "They asked me to help out for a while. It's part of a movement to encourage further cooperation between the police force and Pro Heroes."