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Izuku had always liked to be daring with sunlight. He wakes up in his soft bed with a yawn, knowing it was far, far too early for him to be awake. Night wouldn’t be coming for several hours now and he can feel his eyes drooping, wanting to fall back asleep. But he stubbornly stays up, rubbing his eyes as he shuffles out the door.
His daddy had made sure his room was safe for a young vampire, no windows in his room, or anywhere near his room, even. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any windows in the house at all. Making his way to the living room, he eyes the giant window with light streaming in with a challenging look in his eyes. There’s a little patch of darkness and safety towards the wall that he can inch across, if he’s careful. If he got burnt, his daddy would notice and start locking Izuku in bed until night time. And that just wasn’t fair! He wants to be able to go where he needs to in the house! So, back against the wall, he starts to slowly edge along it, biting his lip when it hits him how close the sun really is to him.
But he’s the bravest little vampire, so he keeps going. Further and further to the other side of the house until he arrives at his destination. Two coffins lay on the floor, both with a beautifully colored wood to them, though one was much more ornately designed than the other. Sneaking along, he tries to silently open the lid of the more ornate one to gently crawl in.
The occupant of the coffin immediately stirs at the creak of wood, stretching an arm out without opening his eyes. Izuku grins happily and cuddles into his daddy’s chest as the coffin closes. He knows he’ll get his own coffin when he’s bigger, but he thinks that he’ll always prefer this.
His daddy sighs. “Izuku, do you want to just start sleeping with me in my coffin? This is the third time this week...I don’t want the summer sun to hurt you when I’m asleep and can’t protect you.”
Izuku shakes his head, yawning sleepily and biting his lip with his little fangs. “No, I’m okay. I like going on adventures!”
His daddy sighs again. “We’ll...talk more about this later tonight.”
Izuku giggles before nodding. “Good night, daddy.”
A gentle kiss to the top of his head. “Good night, Izuku.”
He’s always a deep sleeper when he gets to sleep in his daddy’s coffin with him, he doesn’t stir until the sun’s long since set.
There’s a light rapping on the coffin that startles Izuku awake. His daddy just rolls his eyes, having been awake for a while now and content to just watch Izuku sleep. The coffin opens with a slight movement of his eyes and his uncle yelps as the door whacks him in the face. His daddy snorts and Izuku giggles. There’s an easy grace to his daddy as Izuku’s set down in the coffin while the head vampire gets up to look down on his irritated little brother.
“That’s what you get,” his daddy says with his nose up in the air. Izuku laughs again. “That’s what you get, uncle!”
His uncle, rubbing at his nose, groans. “Betrayed, not only by my own brother but by my own nephew too! Even little Bunnicula has abandoned me...Oh how I languish now in my immortality, bereft from even the slightest of joys in my un-life.”
Izuku blinks, not knowing about half of those words. “That’s...what you get?”
His uncle groans again, louder. He pulls away his hand and Izuku watches as the bruises from the hard wooden door begin to fade and heal. “Big brother, you’re a horrible influence on him.”
Izuku’s picked up and put on his daddy’s hip as the two brothers begin walking to the dining hall. “If that was the case, he would have stopped being a picky eater ages ago. He gets that from you, rat eater.”
Izuku sticks out his tongue and makes a disgusted noise. “Uncle, you eat rats?!” he cries out in horror.
“I haven’t for a very long time, but they were quick and easy food. Just a bite and-” he makes a quick slurping sound that makes Izuku giggle and his daddy gag in disgust.
“Stop, please, before you give him any ideas.”
Although Izuku was the bravest little vampire in all of history, there was one thing he was afraid of more than anything else: drinking human blood.
Oh in theory he’s fine with the idea, but ever since he’d seen humans from a third floor window, servants and food sources for his family and their childer...the idea didn't sit right with him. The little kids running around and laughing looked like they were having fun, and that’s not something Izuku liked to see in his food. He’d been stubbornly avoiding anything that smelt like human blood ever since, no matter how much it made his tummy rumble or his teeth ache. His daddy has been getting worried, taking to trying to sneak in drops of human blood with his new animal blood diet, or outright giving him a sippy cup of human blood and holding it to his mouth until Izuku at least takes a little.
Vampires who don’t drink from humans live a half-starved existence, his uncle told him early one morning as he got his nephew ready for bed. His eyes were so sad when he told Izuku that, which made him feel bad. He didn’t want to make his family sad! But he knows that it’s really, really hard for a vampire to not completely drain their victim when needing to feed, especially when they are truly hungry.
He was scared of hurting someone—or someones—really badly. And that’s why he kept refusing to drink from a fresh source. The warm glasses they had at dinner made him scared that the servants were too close for his instincts and hunger’s liking and that they would overrule his wishes.
So his daddy and uncle brought him fine quality animal blood instead. Nothing as miniscule and rancid as rat blood for their little boy. They made sure he drank much more than them, since he wasn’t getting the full nutrition he needed.
Dinner’s...not very fun. He spends most of it just needing to drink glass after glass while his tummy still rumbles unpleasantly from the taste. Fine quality or not, animal blood is still the stale fast food to vampires. His daddy pets his hair with a concerned look and his uncle tries to cheer him up, to little reaction. He just...doesn’t feel well. And there’s still at least ten more glasses he needs before he can stop.
“Izuku...here, drink some from my cup.” His daddy offers. Izuku instinctively cringes, but a raised hand cuts off his response. “The servants are all down at the grounds, there’s nobody here that you could ever worry about...hurting.” His daddy makes some kind of face at that but continues. “Please, do it for both of us, we don’t want you to get sick. Let yourself eat without fear. If you do...your uncle and I have a surprise for you.”
Curiosity piqued and trusting his daddy’s words, Izuku takes a small sip of the cup before chugging the rest of it, he’s handed another two glasses in quick succession and he frantically downs them in hungry desperation. His daddy and uncle look blatantly relieved at his appetite, with his uncle rubbing the blood he’d gotten on his chin away with a napkin, laughing brightly at Izuku’s disgruntled expression.
“You did a great job, Izuku. We’ll try feeding you more tomorrow, but we don’t want your stomach to be upset by all the animal blood if you drink any more. We’re both so proud of you, little Bunnicula.” His uncle kisses his forehead and Izuku smiles, that twisty feeling of guilt lessened somewhat over no one being hurt and his family seeming happier now.
Maybe they could make this work after all.
Optimism brimming in his heart, he kicks his legs in his seat eagerly. “Can I have my surprise now?”
His daddy smiles, his fangs on full display. “Of course! Tomura will be coming by to visit tomorrow night.”
Izuku lets out a happy gasp at the news. Tomura was easily his favorite of all of his daddy’s childer and though the older vampire was initially taken aback by Izuku’s existence as a rare vampiric child rather than one simply embraced at an early age, he had a strong fondness for the little vampire, always doing his best to look after Izuku and bringing him new and exciting toys whenever he would return. It had been too long since his last visit and Izuku couldn’t wait.
No, really. He couldn’t wait, not even only another minute. “Why don’t we just fly out and meet him? We can all fly back together!”
Unlike other vampires embraced by his daddy who can achieve a type of gliding in midair, Izuku and his family are capable of full flight...by turning into bats. He hadn’t been able to do it in a long time, though, because it took a lot of energy to make the transformation and turn back. His family was afraid he either wouldn’t be able to turn back, or he would die mid-transformation from exertion...but now that he had eaten, everything was okay now!
But the frown on his daddy’s face says otherwise. “No, Izuku. You’re still too weakened from hunger. I don’t want you to waste all your energy you’ve only just begun to replenish. We can wait for Tomura’s arrival and be prepared to greet him when it comes time. For now, and from now on, let us know as soon as you get hungry, we’ll need to make sure you continue learning proper feeding habits.” He looks reproachfully at Izuku’s uncle whose cheeks color from his newly replenished blood supply, even as Izuku’s heart sinks.
He doesn’t think his daddy means just drinking out of a glass.
“Hisashi—” his uncle starts, though he pauses at the sharpened gaze. Even as kin instead of childer, the sway of the head vampire is hard to resist.
But Izuku’s different, he’s the bravest there is amongst vampires. So he stands up in his seat and yells “If you’re going to make me be mean to our servants, I won’t eat at all! I’ll run away from home and eat just rats until I smell so bad you won’t want me anymore!”
He runs out of the room, not slowing down to listen to the shouting adults calling after him. He runs all the way back to his room, the now lit candles casting a warm glow in the house unlike the deadly brightness of the sun. Once his door slams shut behind him, he grabs a pillow and blanket from the bed, along with his favorite stuffed animal his daddy says his mommy had made just for him when he was a little baby, and dives under the bed to watch for any signs of his family following after him.
It takes a minute, but he can make out the shadow cast by someone’s feet through the crack under his door. There’s no attempt to open the door which means...it must be his uncle. His daddy got really impatient with anything that kept him from his family, be that a door or another vampire.
“Bunnicula...hey, can I come in?” his uncle quietly asks. Izuku doesn’t reply. A sad sigh. “I know you’re sad about not being able to see Tomura tonight and you’re upset about what your dad said during dinner. Which: you should be, he was incredibly out of line for saying it like that. Right now, you need to have your blood pool completely filled back up to have a consistent appetite and so you can stay healthy. Everything else can wait for the time being.” Izuku notices that his uncle doesn’t say that he can avoid direct feedings forever with a sharp frown, biting his lip and hissing in surprise as the stale blood he’d only just consumed begins to gently leak from the wound.
Because of the animal blood running through him like a sludge, his healing factor does not kick in to heal the area.
“No matter what happens, we will always love you. My brother still loved me and cared for me when I was hardly more than a husk, too weakened and frail by rats’ blood to move for myself. If he refused to turn his back on me then, when I was acting every bit the ungrateful and unruly child, he won’t turn his back on his own son who is a child...one with the biggest heart I’ve ever seen in a vampire.” His uncle continues, shame in his voice as he offers those precious few details about his past. “Please don’t threaten to run away, he has so much power at his disposal, but he only has one child in all his thousands of years...you are more valuable and precious to us both than even a never ending fountain of blood. You are the best thing to have ever happened in either of our lives and it would destroy us both if you were to leave us. When you feel up to it...we can talk about the matter. We want you to live and to be happy, first and foremost.” A short pause. “I love you...you don’t have to say it back right now, I know you’re upset.”
“...I love you too, uncle.” Izuku says quietly, knowing his uncle would be able to hear it with the heightened senses well-fed vampires have. “Can you tell daddy I love him too?”
“Yeah, I can. I’ll go tell him right now. Sweet dreams, Bunnicula.” The shadow disappears as Izuku’s uncle walks away. Izuku takes a second before crawling out from under his bed and wiping at his eyes. Maybe it was because he never really had enough blood to spare, but Izuku was the only vampire he knew who didn’t have all fluid in his body replaced by blood. He’s seen blood bead down from Tomura’s forehead as sweat and leak from his uncle’s eyes as tears, but all he ever had was some clear liquid.
It never seemed right, but no one had ever told him he was wrong for being able to do it. So why wasn’t it the same reaction when he didn’t want to really drink from people…?
He’d just have to prove himself, then. If he could, his daddy and uncle would have to realize he was plenty strong and brave with almost no human blood in him. They would have to let it be just a sometimes thing, and one in little doses too.
The easiest and best way he could think of doing this...was to transform into his bat form and go out to find Tomura and guide him back to their home like a good host.
All he has to do is...sneak out.
He bites his lip again when he remembers how he yelled he was going to run away. He...didn’t want them to think he’s leaving them if his family came knocking on his door. Scurrying over to his desk, he pulls a page out of his favorite notebook and writes out a note.
Daddy and Uncle,
I want to in-form you that I’m going to meet Tomura. I’m going to fly over and then we’ll fly back togeth-er. I won’t be long so please don’t worry.
I love you both
Izuku Shigaraki
He puts the note where it could be easily seen and then opens his door. Somber piano music echoes throughout the house and he sighs. His daddy only played piano when he was very upset. Uncle called him dramatic, but Izuku thought it was a good way for him to let them know he was sad.
He just wishes it wasn’t because of him.
But when he comes back with Tomura, his daddy will feel better! He’ll see that he doesn’t have to worry about Izuku at all. So into the night he’ll fly. He walks down the corridor, moving a tapestry of his mother to the side at the end to climb up the hidden staircase.
This had been her hidden spot, he was told. He never got to meet her, really. Not long after he was born, she embraced a little girl who was running away from an evil man and wanted to be safe. The man had ended up using the little girl as bait and ultimately trapped both vampires, watching coldly as they burnt alive from the rising sun.
Ever since, his family had kept him close to their sides and his mother had received a new title. As the late wife of the head vampire she was the Queen of Ash.
After watching his daddy murder one of his childer for saying that name, Izuku knew it wasn’t very nice at all. His uncle only confirmed this by telling Izuku to never say that title aloud.
His mother’s hidden spot is a big room with an open window and so many different books. Some of them were written by humans on child-rearing, while others were old vampiric texts about shapeshifting newborns.
He wonders what books she would have had if she had been around as he’d gotten older.
But right now he can’t linger. He has to be fast, so he won’t worry his family.
He won’t let anyone hurt him like they hurt his mother.
He closes his eyes and imagines a shift inside him. A slight movement, something being clicked into place…
He opens his eyes and makes a happy squeak of excitement. His wings flap vigorously as he takes a moment to enjoy his bat form. It feels so different, but still so fundamentally him.
He’s missed it.
He flies right through the open window, his little stomach growling unhappily at the loss of energy. But it’s okay! It’ll just be a short flight.
He flies over his house, in awe at its size. From up here, it looks much more like a palace than the warm home it is. But he supposes to everyone else it is a true palace, his daddy is a very rich and powerful vampire as the head of their kind.
He can see the servants in their homes outside of the gate, the warm lights of their homes combined with the movement of their shadows makes his stomach grumble unhappily again. He gives a displeased squeak at it before flapping off further into the night.
Izuku tries to sniff out Tomura’s scent but he doesn’t have enough food in his stomach to really find it so he picks a direction and keeps to it, squeaking out loud greetings to his friend. No one but a vampire would be able to tell what he’s saying, even the other bats he passes in the night respond with squeaks of confusion and concern at one so young being alone in the night.
But Izuku didn’t need anyone right now, he was brave enough for it.
Bravery kept him going even when his stomach started growling louder and more frequently. Maybe Tomura had some food he could share? The thought keeps him going as he flies on, trees turning into towns and then fading back into the trees.
Still no Tomura.
His eyes begin to itch slightly at a certain point and he has to fight back the urge to yawn several times. His wings begin to feel heavy as his energy further flags. He looks around for a good place to catch his breath and pauses.
Everything seems...a bit brighter than it should be.
He looks at the horizon in horror as the first hints of daylight slowly begin to show.
All the trees here had large gaps in their branches that would lead to the illumination of any hiding spot he had. He looks frantically around for the direction that his home is in and sees no sign of it. How far had he flown, exactly?
He tries to gently land on the ground and ends up plummeting. Turning back to a human would be too risky, more area for the sun to hit and it would further strain his energy.
So he just had to sit here and wait. And hope.
Hope that he won't burn to death just like his mother.
It’s that terrifying thought that leads the brave little vampire to start crying.
His distressed squeaks hit a high frequency as he calls for help, that he wants to go home.
But above all else…
Daddy, please save me!
The rise of dawn feels excruciatingly fast as the area becomes more and more illuminated. He doesn’t have much longer as his skin begins to warm, right now it just feels like a warm bath but he knows it will quickly worsen.
His wails pick up in intensity, an endless plea even as his cries grow hoarse.
Until…
A black cloak is thrown over him, protecting him from the sun’s intensity. Holding the cloak is his daddy, his cheeks pink from sunburn already.
“Come here, Izuku.” his daddy holds out a hand and the little bat gratefully climbs onto it, the two snuggling close. His daddy’s shaking as he holds him. “I thought...I thought I was going to lose you when I couldn’t find you. First that note, and then your cries...I was sure the last sound I would hear from you is you screaming for me to help you.”
Izuku squeaks in sorrow and apology, he never wanted to make his daddy worry, he just wanted to find Tomura!
“My little baby...you were flying in the completely opposite direction.” His dad confesses with a teary smile.
Wait, tears?
Izuku climbs on his daddy’s clothes to put his little snout close to his face to see for sure but...his eyes were right.
The head vampire, most powerful and ancient among their kind, cried clear tears just like Izuku rather than the blood of the rest of their species.
“Don’t think this gets you out of trouble just because you’re so cute right now.” Daddy warns, a stern finger pointed at him. “I think I aged another thousand years when I found out you were gone.”
Izuku sees that finger pointed at him as all the stress of the night catches up and his bat instincts get the best of him. He rubs his head along it, wanting to be groomed and kept warm and safe.
Hisashi laughs, rubbing his finger and hand all over his little baby bat, reassuring both of them that Izuku is safe and alright. He can feel Izuku’s stomach gurgle sadly from the energy his son had wasted and sighs. Tomura would just have to be welcomed with another feast on top of the one already planned for his favorite childer.
Once his baby has been cleaned and re-scented to smell like his father, he takes off in the dawn. Izuku is soundly asleep in his hand, safe and sound.
He runs into Yoichi upon his return, his little brother distracted as he paces and scowls until he looks up at the familiar scent of kin and gasps at the burns on his brother. But any injury is worthwhile if it means his little Izuku stays safe. Burns are temporary and his love for his son is eternal.
He gently moves his unscathed hand to show his brother the sleeping bat, so small and frail, especially after refusing human blood for so long. It was like dealing with a younger version of his brother all over again, almost.
Hisashi stumbles in a distinctly undignified way to his coffin. He stares at the lid in trepidation, prepared for his healing injuries to tear and worsen at the effort it would take to open the lid. His head hurt too much for telekinesis, as easy as it would be, and he didn’t want to risk slamming the lid and waking up Izuku.
“Here, let me.” Yoichi gently opens the lid for his brother to climb in. Hisashi nods in tired gratitude.
“Goodnight, big brother. Good night, Bunnicula.” Yoichi gently closes the coffin and Hisashi is safe in blessed darkness.
He puts his baby boy to his chest holding him gently as if he’ll crumble to ash if he clings too tightly.
A gentle kiss to the little bat’s head and a whispered “I love you, Izuku” and father and son sleep the day away, once again sharing the same coffin.