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How would you know you’re in love?
Izuku thought about the question Shoto asked him long ago. Living so long, the memories tend to all blend together unless they were particularly significant, and yet, that particular question stuck with him all these centuries.
He watched the rhythmic rise and fall of Mina’s chest, still not sure of the point of pretending. He remembered that she told him not too long ago about how she liked to do it because it made her feel alive when nothing–and no one–else did.
“How would you know if you were in love, huh?” Izuku muttered to himself, quietly as possible as to not wake Mina. He’d never thought about it before— love . His kind usually created bonds to establish clans if they weren’t born into one, and their bonds were a matter of duty and survival, not love.
Mina stirred in her sleep, and Izuku instinctively watched her. The moonlight complimented her unnaturally pink, patchy skin well; she looked soft despite all the scars, stitches, and staples. Izuku wanted to touch her, and before he could convince himself otherwise, he reached out and stroked her cheek.
Mina leaned into the touch, content, and unconsciously reached towards Izuku.
Izuku stilled, his body reacting in ways previously unheard of: he took in a short breath, his face began to feel hot, and the most alarming of all–his heart beat.
It took everything in Izuku to not jump up from the bed in a startle.
What was that? Izuku thought, frantic. His mind raced with potential explanations that led him to try and recreate what just happened. He stroked Mina’s cheek once again, but she didn’t react, so he began to stroke her hair. It was surprisingly soft, just like her skin. Soon, Izuku became entranced.
“Beautiful…” Izuku muttered with a soft smile. He felt his chest constrict and then flutter wildly in a way that made him feel short of breath. Izuku struggled to get a hold of himself, unused to the feeling of…being alive, he supposed.
He never knew that he could do this. He had heard rumors once upon a time of vampires that preferred to live amongst humans developing methods to blend in more easily, but he thought that was all they were– rumors .
“Izuku?” Mina mumbled, and Izuku couldn’t tell if she was still asleep or half-awake. He hummed in response anyways. “You okay? You seem distressed,”
Izuku opened his mouth to say he was fine, but that’s not exactly what came out. “I’m in love,”
“That’s nice…” Mina chuckled, and Izuku was now certain that she was half-asleep. Mina buried herself into the pillows and drifted back off to sleep.
Izuku, on the other hand, brought a hand to his chest and felt the wild rhythms of his heart that only escalated the closer Mina cuddled to him.