Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

     “Izuku dear,” Inko had called from the front door, already slipping on her shoes as she waited for her son. It wasn’t long before he came running out, a smile on his face, and an All Might toy in hand. His messy curls that he got from his father bounced nonstop with him, as Izuku vibrated where he stood.

     Inko laughed at her son’s excitement, giving him a warm smile, ruffling his hair as she said “Let’s get going, Izu. Time to see what’s going on with that quirk of yours!”

     Izuku’s smile faded for just a moment, before he dramatically shook his head, the smile back on his face, small hands clutching onto the All Might toy even harder.

     “Yeah! I bet I’m gonna have a super cool quirk, that way Kacchan and I can both be heroes together! We’ll be as strong as All Might,” Izuku declared, holding his toy towards the ceiling. 

     “Of course, dear,” Inko replied, sitting Izuku down and handing him his shoes. He got them on, but was far too excited to spend time trying to tie his own laces. So, with a small laugh, Inko sat Izuku down again, and tied his laces for him. 

     Once she was done, she rested her hands on Izuku’s knees for a moment, and then said “Alright, we have a train to catch. Let’s get going, shall we?”

     “Yeah!”

     And with that, the two were out the door, Izuku keeping somewhat close, but always ahead of Inko. He was playing some kind of hero game with his toy, shouting out random catch phrases – some, Inko knew, and others not so much – and the occasional “And that’s one villain down, All Might sir! Another good day of keeping citizens safe!”

     She really needed to go back to monitoring what he was watching, because she could have sworn all he was seeing was All Might videos. The same one on loop, just about every night, as soon as Izuku had finished his dinner. It didn’t even matter if Inko had finished her own dinner or not, because Izuku was up the second he finished eating, tugging her to his room to pull up the video.

     Maybe his friends were trying to keep him interested in other heroes as well?

     It definitely wasn’t Katsuki trying to get Izuku interested in other heroes, not when the boy was just as equally obsessed with All Might. Mitsuki’s son may try to hide it a bit more than Izuku by at least making sure he had things other than All Might merch to wear, but it was well known by anyone who talked to the boy for less than a minute that he too had a fascination with the Symbol of Peace.

     Inko held her bag, which was just hanging on one of her shoulders, tightly between her fingers, looking around on the street they were walking on. 

     It was a quiet day, and that was something Inko was appreciative of. She had a less busy route that she often took whenever she needed to take the train, but with how little was going on today, she and Izuku were taking a slightly quicker route, closer towards the busier streets.

     As she looked ahead again, she noticed Izuku getting further again, smiling as she shook her head. It was getting to be a very common thing that he would run ahead of her, too lost in his daydreams of being a hero, working side by side with his idol.

     For now, though, he would just be running with his toy in hand, and Inko could have some more time to worry just a little bit less about her son, knowing that he was safe at home with her, able to run around with his friends instead of worrying about what villain fight to throw himself into next.

      She did wonder what his quirk would be. Inko wasn’t too sure about how strong it would be, but at least having one would certainly make Izuku feel better.

     “Izuku dear, don’t run too far,” Inko called, her smile faltering as Izuku rounded a corner, already knowing the path to the train by heart. And with such a quiet day, he was sure to be safe. There hadn’t been a single sign of a villain on their path so far, and there had been a few patrolling heroes too.

     Not to mention it was a nice day outside. 

     But it was a mother’s instinct to worry, and Inko often felt she worried more than most. The other mothers she talked to didn’t seem to mind their kids running around without supervision outside, as long as they stuck with their friends if they planned on going far. Inko, on the other hand, hardly ever wanted to let Izuku out of her sights. Especially when he was already accident prone in their own home, tripping over anything that slightly stood out.

      And then there was her worry about if his quirk would be able to help him fulfill his dreams, the ones that had Inko wringing her fingers tightly at the thought of them. She didn’t want his path to be more complicated, hoped he could get something that made it easy. Maybe if it was made easy for him, she could worry less.

     Mitsuki seemed confident that Katsuki’s quirk would be wonderful in the heroics field, and Katsuki seemed to agree wholeheartedly. 

     Inko was then suddenly pulled out of her train of thought at the screeching sound coming from the street Izuku had recently turned onto. She immediately broke into a run, clutching her bag tighter as she turned the corner, dark eyes frantically scanning over the street for her boy.

     And then she saw the head full of green curls, slammed right against the wall that the car had crashed into.

     If there were any other noises outside of the scream she let out as she continued to run to her son, she wasn’t aware of them. She was far too focused on her boy, and the way he slid to the ground, limp, as the car was pushed back.

      Inko hit the ground hard, scraping her knees as she reached for Izuku, pulling him close and checking for his little heartbeat, and signs of breathing.

     There was nothing. 

     She screamed louder, ignoring the hand on her shoulder that was probably trying to tell her they were calling for an ambulance, or trying to give some kind of advice to help her son. All of these things that would feel irrelevant when she knew he had so quickly died.

     Maybe there was some kind of chance for him, someone who could bring him back.

     But nobody had stepped forward to help her. No miracle doctor who was just so happening to walk down the street, and would run to her son’s rescue.

      Between her sobs and the wait for the ambulance, she looked around on the street, not bothering to spare any kind of glance to the driver who had hit her son.

     And then she saw it: the All Might toy, stranded in the middle of the street, just between the skid marks the car’s tires had made.

     Her clumsy boy must have dropped it, didn’t he? He dropped it, and jumped into the street without thinking twice.

     Her sweet, clumsy, and brave child was gone. 

     She didn’t need to wait for the people in the ambulance to tell her that.

     Hospitals smelt far too clean for Inko’s preference. At home, there was always some kind of smell going through the air, but never the cleaners she had used. None of the chemicals she had used to try and make sure the house was clean, despite it only being her and a four year old there.

     Inko and Izuku were often the people going to visit others, guests a rarity in their apartment. But she still liked to keep it clean, especially when she was often home alone. Hisashi has been overseas for work for so long, and Izuku was often with his friends whenever he wasn’t at preschool. 

     Though, whenever she was done cleaning the home, she would either cook or bake something, typically with a smell strong enough that it would cover up the smell of the chemicals.

     Izuku had always seemed to appreciate those cleaning days, enjoying the food that he would come home to, and happily eat.

     Who was she going to share food with now?

     When she and Izuku made it to the hospital, all they did was confirm what she knew, that Izuku was dead. There was nothing they could do.

     It really made her wonder why she was in the hospital for so long now, with the sun already set, and her usual dinnertime having passed nearly an hour ago.

     And now she was waiting, clinging onto the intact All Might toy as if it was her lifeline. Mitsuki and Masaru had insisted on picking her up from the hospital, and that she would be staying with them for a while, until they were sure that she was okay.

     In an attempt to not become a burden to her friend, she had tried to insist over the phone that she would be okay, but the sobs that heaved through her every word gave her away instantly, and there wasn’t much of an argument she could put up against her best friend. Especially when Mitsuki was such a strong minded woman, who would stand firmly on whatever she believed the right course of action would be.

     So Inko was going to be staying with the Bakugos.

     “Inko,” Mitsuki said as she walked up, her voice low as she looked at her friend. Mitsuki frowned at the sight of her friend, expression sympathetic as she continued to walk over, taking a seat next to Inko on the bench the second she was close enough. The green haired woman was pulled into a hug, where her crying picked up once more at the gesture.

     Inko could only imagine how much of a mess she looked like right now, after crying nearly nonstop for the past few hours. 

     Mitsuki slightly rocked the both of them while she held onto the hug, running her fingers through Inko’s hair with the hand closest.

     Once Inko calmed down enough, Mitsuki asked “What all have they said?”

     Inko bit her lip, trying to stop it from quivering, as it had been doing for a while now.

     With a deep inhale, she started trying to explain the situation to her friend, how they were keeping Izuku for another few days, while they finished up their reports. And then she could start planning the funeral.

     The funeral.

     God, she wasn’t ready for that part.

     Then there was also all of the injuries Izuku had gotten, all of them together, ultimately killing her son. She wasn’t ready to say those out loud, really solidify them. But it was a mess of internal and external bleeding, and so many of his little bones, broken.

     “I… I can’t do this,” Inko cried, clinging onto her friend’s shirt. “I thought I’d have so much more time with my boy… t-that I’d g-go first!”

     Mitsuki actually didn’t seem to be able to say anything. A woman so full of words, and all she could bring herself to do was rub soothing circles on Inko’s hands, eyebrows furrowed as she took in the information.

     Inko heaved out a disbelieving laugh, saying “It doesn’t even really f-feel real just y-y-yet… But it hurts so much because t-this has been a worry for so l-long. But this is so s-s-soon.”

      The two fall into silence again, other than the slowing cries from Inko. Once the crying came to a near stop, the blonde woman quietly led her friend outside the building, where they both got into their respective seats in the car, starting their drive back to the Bakugo residence. 

      It was about halfway through their trip that Mitsuki’s fingers drummed against the steering wheel, and she asked “Have you called Hisashi yet?”

     Ah, right, her husband… she did have to tell him, didn’t she? The hospital probably hadn’t thought to call him since she, Izuku’s mother, was already there. 

     The job fell on her, and she wasn’t ready to tell another soul that in the brief moment that Izuku was out of her sight, she lost him. Permanently. 

      So she shakes her head, frowning as she bunched up the hem of her skirt between her shaking fingers.

     “I can call him, if you would like,” Mitsuki offered. When she spared a glance over to Inko, the green haired woman just gave a small nod in response. “Alright, then that’s what I’ll do tonight. It should be about time for Hisashi to get up, anyway. You… you just… get some rest. I’ll bring dinner up to you too.”

     When Mitsuki got home, she did her best to quietly get Inko inside, as well as the suitcase she had put together when they had briefly taken a stop at the Midoriya apartment. It was getting late, so the house was relatively quiet.

     Up until it wasn’t.

     The moment that Mitsuki turned on the entryway light, the sound of someone running around upstairs, and then making their way downstairs was quickly known. Soon enough, Katsuki was there, with Masaru not far back, trying to grab their son, and bring him back to bed.

     Mitsuki spared a glance at Inko, trying to see how her friend was doing. 

     The situation that would usually have Inko at least grinning at Katsuki’s antics had done nothing to lighten up Inko’s mood, instead bringing a slight frown, and those watery eyes back. Mitsuki knew that Katsuki wouldn’t be the best person to bring to Inko so soon, not when their boys were so close.

     “Katsuki,” Mitsuki started, giving her son a disappointing frown. “You’re supposed to be in bed!”

     The boy scowled at his mother before storming his way over to Inko, mouth already opening to ask her something.

     Surprisingly, it was Masaru who grabbed their son, covering his mouth to prevent whatever question it was from coming out. 

     There was a reason Katsuki was supposed to be in bed already. He was sure to ask about Izuku, question where he was, what the doctor had said about Izuku’s quirk, and so much more. There was no way that they wanted Inko to undergo the questioning of a four year old already, especially since Mitsuki and Masaru still had to figure out how to tell Katsuki that Izuku was dead.

     Was there any easy way to break that to a child? That their friend was dead?

     It really didn’t feel like it.

     And then Masaru had dropped Katsuki with a sharp intake of air, his left hand flying to the right, which had been keeping Katsuki from asking anything.

      Damn brat… bit Masaru.

     Now it was Mitsuki’s turn to take care of Katsuki.

     The moment he ran close, she managed to grab him with practiced ease. Times like these were becoming more and more common the longer he had his quirk, and Mitsuki was beginning to get tired of the attitude, and the constant defiance to whatever she said.

     Masaru was the one still trying to be patient with Katsuki though, his patience always beating her own.

     But if Katsuki was lashing out at Masaru already just to ask a question that he thought he couldn’t wait for, Mitsuki was going to step in.

     So she held her son at her hip, and quickly took him back up the stairs. He squirmed in her hold, but being four years old, there wasn’t much he could do. Sure, he had a quirk, but it was a quickly learned lesson to not use it in the house.

     And Katsuki had given that lesson to himself, when he burnt one of his All Might posters a few months ago.

     As soon as they were in his room, Mitsuki gently sat him on his bed, sitting in front of him. She would let him talk first this time, let him get out what he wanted.

     Katsuki seemed to wait for her to talk, but realized pretty quickly what she was doing.

     “Why does Auntie Inko look so upset? And where’s Izuku,” Katsuki asked. Was he really just wanting to check on Inko? That was why he was fighting so hard to get to her? Maybe Izuku was the priority until he saw how Inko looked. 

     “Kiddo…” she really hated trying to think of the best way to describe what was going on, especially when she hadn’t even gotten to talk to Masaru yet. She let out a long sigh, and said “Something happened today… and it’s not something we’re going to tell you when you’re supposed to be asleep. This is a conversation for a well rested child.”

     “But then I’ll be wondering all night,” Katsuki protested.

     “Well you won’t be wondering if you’re sleeping,” Mitsuki retorted. Her son frowned at her, crossing his arms and trying to pull her into a staring contest. She played along with it for a bit, before making him blink by blowing in his face. Katsuki let out an upset shout before softly kicking Mitsuki away. “Hey!”

     “You cheated! You’re not supposed to cheat!”

     “And you’re supposed to be sleeping!” 

     It was the frown that her son gave her that made her feel bad, and the way he hung his head as he turned to tuck himself in. 

     “Auntie Inko is hardly ever sad… and she looks sadder than I’ve ever seen,” Katsuki whispered.

     That was what had Mitsuki ready to break down.

     So she pulled her son into a tight hug, so grateful that she still had her boy. It felt so selfish to think that way, especially when her best friend was downstairs mourning her own son, but she wanted to cling to her son more than ever. It was like a huge slap about just how important he was to her, even if the temper he had developed made it difficult to keep trying to stay close.

     But she was going to do her damn best.

     Her fingers dug into his shirt as she pulled him tight, up until Katsuki was pushing her off, saying “You’re being weird, old hag.”

     Mm, maybe taking herself to bed would have been nice by now.

     “Alright, brat. Off to bed with you.” She ruffled his spiky hair, and then walked out of his room, shutting the door behind her. 

     As she got back downstairs, she could hear Masaru talking. Getting closer to the kitchen, she could hear Inko talking too, her voice quiet and raspy from all of her crying. Once she was in the kitchen, she could see Inko crying again, this time just a steady amount of tears as she made an attempt to eat the dinner that Masaru had heated up.

     “I just don’t want to be a burden on you guys,” Inko had said, replying to something Masaru said, that Mitsuki hadn’t heard while she was walking up.

     But Mitsuki was smart enough to know what she was talking about.

     “Inko, us having you stay with us is no big deal, let alone a burden on us. Our job gives us more money than we need most of the time, and we both know you hardly ask for much anyway. Just let us do this for you while you heal.”

     The green haired woman just went back to solemnly eating her food, eventually letting herself be led to the room that the Masaru had set up for her while Mitsuki went to grab Inko. 

     The All Might toy never left her sights after the hospital, either in her purse, or in her hands. When she was led upstairs, it was clutched tightly in both of her hands, and was only set down when Mitsuki tried to get Inko settled for the night.

     None of the Bakugos saw her emerge much from the room for days after that.

     Katsuki had been difficult to handle the next day, basically demanding answers. The best that Mitsuki and Masaru could manage, with Masaru keeping control over the conversation, being trusted to handle the heavier topics better, had been a “Izuku isn’t coming back from the hospital… and Auntie Inko is really sad about it. So I think it’s for the best that we don’t talk about him much for now, and help her cheer up, okay? But what she needs for now is some space.”

     Their son had reluctantly accepted that explanation, but quickly ran outside, saying something about how he was going to go spend time with his friends. 

     He didn’t come back home until dinner, and didn’t look much better himself.

     Mitsuki wondered what was going on his head, how he had processed the conversation. But if he really wanted to talk about it, he would. If there was anything she could trust her son to be, it would be honest, and open when he knew he needed to be.

     It was on the third day that Inko came running out of the room, phone in hand while she slipped on a jacket, clumsily running to the door as she slipped on her flats that had been sitting in the entrance ever since she had gotten to the Bakugo household.

     Mitsuki quickly pushed herself off of the couch, where she had been watching tv with Masaru, waiting for Inko to come down for lunch so they could head out later to finish up some paperwork at the hospital, and officially start preparing things for the funeral.

     “Inko!? Inko, where are you going?” Mitsuki was beyond concerned as her friend rushed out the door. She would never admit it to Inko, but she was beyond worried to leave the woman alone, especially so soon after she lost the child that had become her entire world. 

     Mitsuki knew Inko before either of them became mothers, and the way Inko had changed when she had Izuku had been one of the sweetest things to Mitsuki, remembering how fond she had been of Katsuki when he was first born too. Soon enough, so many of their conversations were about their children, and neither of them seemed to mind.

     With Katsuki getting older, Mitsuki was trying to give her boy a little bit more space, especially when he was spending time with his friends. She didn’t want to supervise his every action, let him learn from his own mistakes.

     And the way he had insisted on his personal space had definitely helped in that decision.

     But Inko had just about always hovered around Izuku. It was Mitsuki who had to tell Inko that it was okay to let Izuku out of the house without much supervision, that she didn’t need to try to keep some kind of hold on him at all times. It took a while, but soon enough, Inko tried to step back a bit, but always kept a watchful eye out.

     And that watchful eye wasn’t enough this time, and Mitsuki could only imagine the regret Inko was feeling, the way she was beating herself up over it.

     That was exactly why Mitsuki was so nervous when Inko was running off, not a single word about where she was going.

     “Inko,” Mitsuki called again, quickly putting on her slippers and running out the door, chasing her friend, and eventually catching up to her, grabbing the green haired woman by one of her arms.

     Inko twirled around, fingers tightly grasping onto Mitsuki’s arms as she said “The doctors said that Izuku is awake… that his quirk manifested… Izuku… awake.”

     Mitsuki’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. She hadn’t ever heard of a quirk manifestation saving someone like this. When it had already been days after the death.

     What she knew is that she needed answers, and she wasn’t going to let Inko get them on her own.

     She pursed her lips for a moment as she tried to think over what was happening, some other thing that the doctor could have said that had maybe tricked Inko into thinking that Izuku was alive, a poor choice of wording on their end that had provided false hope.

     “Well, you’re definitely not going to be running there. C’mon, let me drive you,” Mitsuki said, tugging her friend back to the house, where Inko practically rushed into the passenger seat, clinging onto her phone tightly as she waited for Mitsuki to get in herself, buckled up and ready to go.

     Neither of them talked during the drive, both too curious about what was going on with Izuku.

     Inko had always wanted to believe that a quirk would be what kept her boy safe. It seemed that the one thing she had wanted to hope for when Izuku was so intent on putting himself in such a risky field had happened, if the call she was given by the doctors said anything.

     He was alive, and even though she didn’t get to see or hear him over the call, she wanted to believe that she truly was okay, that this wasn’t some sick joke.

     She could tell Mitsuki was wondering the same as her, how a quirk manifestation had saved her son from death when he was three days in the door. But Inko wouldn’t question it if she got to hold her child again.

     Well, she’d most likely question it later, when she had made sure that Izuku really was alive and okay.

     Mitsuki’s expression said plenty of her concerns in the frequent glances she gave, things like how Inko shouldn’t get her hopes up too much, how she probably didn’t hear right. Maybe all that Inko heard was that she can take Izuku back, have his body for his funeral.

     Her initial excitement had fallen the longer she was in the car, her frantic need to just run to the hospital. The longer the ride took, and the longer that Mitsuki and Inko stayed quiet, the less she wanted to firmly believe that her boy was alive.

     It had been difficult to come to terms with the fact that he was dead at all. She had mourned the words she’d been told, but to actually believe them, feel that they were true, was a whole other matter. 

     Even though she could hardly believe it, a smile was still so hard for her, especially when in every instance she had made an attempt, she couldn’t help but think about Izuku. She had felt so horrible whenever any of the Bakugos said something that made her smile, and so she would force the smile away.

     Why smile when she felt so guilty about Izuku’s death? If she had called to keep him closer, held his hand on the way to the train, he would have been fine. Their visit to the hospital would have been for an entirely different reason.

     The second the two of them were in the hospital driveway, Inko didn’t even wait for her friend to fully park before she was out the door, rushing towards the entry.

     She didn’t even need to rush to the desk, not when Izuku was right there in the hospital entry, held by one of the doctors, while the other doctor near him just held his hands behind his back, a smile underneath his bushy mustache as he turned towards Inko.

     Izuku turned towards his mother, face tearstained as one hand held onto the big hospital gown and sweater he wore, while the other held onto the coat of the doctor that was holding him.

      He really is alive, Inko thought as she ran over to Izuku, immediately pulling him away from the doctor, and into her own tight embrace. He clung onto her too, but not nearly as tight as she was him. She ran her fingers through his hair when she had held him long enough that she knew this was real, that her boy really was alive, could be brought home.

      “It seems his quirk manifested,” the doctor who was holding Izuku started. “It’s the first of its kind, which is a pretty shocking thing to say, when eighty percent of the world has a quirk.”

     “A resurrection quirk,” the other doctor said. This was the one that she was supposed to meet for Izuku’s appointment a few days ago, Dr. Garaki. “It seems that the appointment is no longer needed. We’ve already filed for it to be put into the quirk registry, and that should be fully processed soon.”

     That was when the doctor who had been holding Izuku leaned closer to Inko, whispering “I’d look out for your son, Mrs. Midoriya. He definitely remembers the crash, woke up screaming and then wouldn’t stop crying until he knew you were on the way.” The doctor placed their hand on Inko’s shoulder, giving it a small squeeze before walking back to Dr. Garaki.

     “We’re not sure of the limits, but it seems that the few days he spent unconscious was his quirk building up energy for a mass healing through his body, make sure he’s in the best condition it’s willing to take him before bringing him back to life,” Dr.Garaki explained. “He still has a few small cuts, but nothing that won’t be fully healed by the end of the week.”

     “Mama,” Izuku started, trying to push his mother off finally. “Squeezing too tight.”

     Inko slightly loosened her hold, but wasn’t fully prepared to let him go. She still kept a hand on his head, continuing to run her fingers through his hair.

     “No more broken bones? He’s not bleeding anywhere anymore,” Inko questioned, finally looking up at the doctors.

     “All of those were fully healed by his quirk,” Dr. Garaki confirmed. “And we’ve already checked on him as much as he needs to be. He’s free to be taken home.”

     Inko doesn’t know when Mitsuki got there, but the blonde woman gently placed her hand on Inko’s shoulder, talking to the doctors as she said “Thank you. We’ll be sure to make sure he stays safe… we don’t exactly want to test the limits of that quirk anytime soon.”

     Once they were back in the car, Inko didn’t go back to the passenger seat. While always keeping some kind of hold on Izuku, she buckled him in the middle of the backseats in the car, and buckled herself up next to him.

     She had to make sure he would stay with her this time. Inko was given another chance, and she wasn’t going to let something happen to him again, something that could take him away.

     Izuku had thought that his mother was strict with how often she was questioning him about where he was going before he got hit by that car… but now he couldn’t go anywhere without her. He usually liked to be around her, and really wanted to stick so close to her after the first week with how scary it had been when the car swerved after seeing him in the road, inevitably just making and worse and crashing into Izuku, but his own friends were getting annoyed whenever his mother was there, starting to say that they were just going to go home.

     Katsuki was frustrated about it too, but he was actually visiting Izuku at his house, the one spot that his mom wasn’t entirely hovering, and Izuku could actually get some time to himself.

     Though, it often felt like Katsuki was visiting because Auntie Mitsuki was constantly coming over, usually with a bunch of snacks to share with the Midoriya household. 

     Auntie Mitsuki was spending more time with Izuku, though, a huge contrast to his friends. And whenever she was over, if she wasn’t around Izuku, she would have Katsuki hanging out with Izuku instead, while she went to talk to his mom.

     Today was a quiet day though. He had holed himself up in his room, holding the toy that he had been worried he would have lost to a car a few weeks ago. He was glad that All Might had made it, but he was frustrated with what happened to make sure it was okay.

     He did try to look at the plus side of the situation, like how he had a quirk! It wasn’t something he could use to help him like Katsuki’s, but he had a quirk! 

     How it would come of use for him, he would figure that out later.

     He jumped off of his bed, walking over to his bookshelf and pulling out the notebook he had started his hero analysis notes on. Though, it was as he was about to sit at his desk that he heard a knock at the front door.

     Izuku quickly ran to the door, beating his mother to the front door since his room was closer than the kitchen, where she had been trying to prepare lunch for the both of them. 

     The only visitors they ever really had were the Bakugos, and detectives for a little while, who would talk to his mom about the accident, and their progress in wrapping everything up. So Izuku was visibly surprised when it was people he didn’t know at all at the door. There were three of them, and all of them were wearing a suit. 

     Though, the woman at the front wore a skirt instead.

     None of them managed to get out a word before Izuku’s mom was suddenly at the door, gently leading Izuku to stand behind her as she stood in the doorway, saying “Uh, hello. Is there anything I can help you with?”

     “Yes, Mrs. Midoriya. I’m the commission president, and these are two of my trusted bodyguards. I was wondering if I could come in, by any chance,” the woman in the front asked.

     His mom seemed to ponder over it for a moment, clasping onto Izuku’s hand as she said “What is it that you want to talk about?”

     “We were hoping to talk to you about your son,” the woman answered. That seemed to frustrate Izuku’s mom, as she said “I’m well aware that the commission is in charge of heroes, and if you’re here to talk about him, this isn’t a topic I’m willing to discuss.”

     “Please, Mrs. Midoriya, we just think that his quirk would work rather well in the heroics field, and we could help him learn. With a quirk with such a rarity, it would be a waste to not give him a chance in the heroics field,” the commission president explained.

     “My son’s quirk is activated with him dying. Because it brings him back from the dead. We have no clue what the limits are, but I won’t be testing it out. Izuku won’t be going into heroics just so he can put himself at risk, I won’t allow it,” his mother argued, her voice final, and she slams the door in the commission president’s face.

     Izuku was told to not go answering the door after that, but he didn’t plan to either. Not when he was too busy holing himself up in his room after hearing her basically say that she didn’t want to allow him to be a hero.

     Eventually, Izuku was back in preschool, where he knew his mother couldn’t be. There were plenty of fun things he had missed too! All of those projects he could have done with his classmates!

     But within all fairness to his mom, dying was a scary thing, and the month at home had been nice for the most part. 

     And apparently, even in a world where there were so many unique powers, people didn’t usually come back from the dead, so they were unsure how to handle Izuku’s situation much anyway.

     He was in the middle of coloring with Katsuki when there was someone at the door. Their teacher had stepped out then after talking in a hushed tone to whoever was out there, before she eventually just stepped out entirely. 

     Immediately, everyone broke out into their own conversations, wondering what was happening. It wasn’t often that their teacher had to leave the room to talk to someone, so they were naturally all nosy.

     And then she came back, scanning the room for a moment before her eyes landed on Izuku, and she said “You’re needed out here, Midoriya.”

     With a frown, Izuku put his crayons down, and walked out the door, ignoring how the whispers only increased. 

     He had learned in his very short time in school that anyone being called out of the classroom wasn’t fun. In fact, it felt embarrassing when it was his turn to be called out of the room. 

     Once he was out of the room, he looked up to see the commission president again, who gave him a smile of her own. Izuku was nervous to see her again after how his mother yelled at her, but he also knew that she came with a promise to help him be a hero, which had been his biggest dream.

     He had always thought he’d be a hero with his mom or dad’s quirk, and was struggling to think about how his own quirk would benefit him. But the commission president had said that she’d figure it out. She could help him use his quirk! Be a hero!

     “Midoriya, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” she started. “If you don’t mind, we would like for you to follow us. We’re just going to talk for a bit, and then you’ll be right back to your class.”

     Izuku looked up at them, thinking it over for a minute, especially thinking about how his mom would react if she found out.

     He didn’t want to tell her though. Not when he remembered how protective she had been lately.

     “Alright,” he said, and the commission president held out her hand, and then led him to another classroom, this one empty. There were two different people with her this time, staying by her side.

     Once they were all seated, she pulled out some paper and crayons, saying “I figured you may want something to do, because our conversation may take a while.”

     “Thank you,” Izuku said with a smile, happily accepting the drawing materials. 

     The commission president and the two people that came with her sat just across from Izuku, at one of the group tables. She sat in the middle, just as Izuku did on his side of the table, where he started trying to draw something.

     It didn’t take long for him to settle on wanting to draw All Might.

     “Now, Midoriya, do you have any idea why we may be talking to you?”

     “Because you want to help me use my quirk to be a hero, right?” He spared a glance up from the start of his drawing before quickly looking back down, scribbling away.

     “You’re a very smart boy. Would you want the commission to help train you? Start getting you prepared for heroics earlier than your friends would be allowed?”

     Izuku looked up at her with a smile before nodding vigorously, saying “I think it’s really really cool that you wanna help! My mom is way too protective over me, and it got even worse after I got hit… and I don’t want to go against mama… but…”

     “But?”

     “But it feels like she doesn’t want to listen to what I want to do anymore…” he stops drawing, instead frowning at the All Might picture. “She doesn’t want to let me watch my favorite All Might video anymore because it’s too scary for her, but she’s hardly ever in the room when I watch it. “

     “Does she? What else has she been doing ever since your quirk developed?”

     Izuku thought about it, about the things she had been doing that had upset him. There were plenty of things that upset him… 

     He turned back to his drawing, trying to draw himself next to All Might as he started with his list of things that had made him upset with his mother. How she refused to let him out of her sight, how his friends were wanting to be around him less and less because of her hovering,  how it felt like she was just ignoring what he wanted to do, and he felt like she just barely let him go to school again.

     By the time he was done, and the commission president had listened the entire time with an occasional question, she said “Alright, we’re done for today. We have what we need. Thank you, Midoriya. We hope to be able to talk to you again soon.”

     And then Izuku was taken back to his classroom, without much of any time left in class. He had no clue just how much things would change after talking to the commission president after that, but he would find out soon enough.

Chapter Text

     Inko could hardly believe the turn of events the past couple of weeks. The past month and a half was something she would hope was a dream, that none of it was real. She wished that she would wake up, and she and Izuku would go to that appointment, coming home finding out he was quirkless, or was just a little late to developing a quirk.

     If he had to have had a quirk, why couldn’t it be something like her’s? Hisashi’s was a little destructive, but if he was here, he could have taught Izuku. Then it wouldn’t have been much of a problem to Inko, and Izuku would still have a quirk.

     Her own quirk though? It seemed like one of the easier options, something she could help Izuku with, and he’d have something that would make him happy.

     All he had wanted was a quirk, no matter how small… but the selfish part of Inko still wished her child just didn’t have one, that way he wouldn’t try to throw himself so hard into a dangerous world that she wanted to keep him from getting hurt in.

     She wished that damned crash never happened. None of this would have happened if that car didn’t swerve in the direction that Izuku was in. If they had just turned their wheel the other way, Izuku would have been fine. Spooked. But fine.

     Inko was a woman who tried to not hold much resentment towards people, but that driver was someone she would never forgive.

     But she had more people that could very easily be added to that list today.

     With a sigh, she tossed another dress into the corner of the room she was once more staying in.

     It was a little frustrating that she only had gotten to stay out of the room that the Bakugos had lent her for a few weeks. She was back to being under their care, and Inko kept trying to think of ways to make it up to them.

     They never let her do much in that department. But they were happy to let her cook alongside them, and help with some of the chores.

     “What’s wrong with that dress,” Mitsuki asked from her spot on the bed.

     “I’m worried it doesn’t make me look good in terms of being a mother,” Inko mutters, digging through the other dresses that Mitsuki had brought in for her. None of Inko’s dresses had exactly seemed fitting for a court setting, but Mitsuki had come in with a box full of outfits that could work.

     “Inko dear, we’re up against the commission. I’m not trying to be a pessimist here, but there’s not much of a chance that having a good outfit is going to change much of what’s going to happen,” Mitsuki retorted. Inko frowned at the box as she dug through it, but not for the fact that she was struggle to find an outfit. No, it was her friend’s reminder that this was the commission.

      The commission, who had been making things difficult for her ever since they first came to her door.

     Mitsuki let out a sudden groan, flopping against the bed as she let out her frustrations.

     “Just who do they think they are, though!? All those shitheads think that they can take custody of a four year old, without a single person actually set to take care of Izuku!? And they’re trying to bring your capabilities as a mother up to the question? Anyone with a fucking brain can tell you’re a great mother.”

      As Mitsuki finished her yelling, she was quick to get up again, making her way over to Inko, digging through the box with her. Eventually, she pulled out a simple button up shirt, a dark coat, and a matching skirt.

     “You’ll probably blend in a bit if you wear this,” Mitsuki suggests. Inko wipes at the tears welling up in her eyes before she nods, gently taking the clothes from her friend.

     And then Mitsuki was back on her venting tangent, though quieter this time, saying “They’re spewing bullshit about how they had enough from statements with Izuku to take him away from you, but all they’ve done now is leave Izuku with the damn police. And now we’ve had police going back and forth for our statements, and the commission coming up to the door to offer you some stupid fucking deals. But none of them end with you with Izuku, and they’re stupid as hell if they think that you’re not getting your kid.

     “The commission wants to spew all their self righteous nonsense, but they’re just going to steal a kid away from an innocent mother? Izuku is four! He’s easy to convince, and all they have to do is dangle being a hero over Izuku’s head like a shiny new All Might toy, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get it. They’re keeping their entire argument based on what a four year old says! There’s no way it’ll carry, not when you haven’t actually done anything wrong. You’ve just been a worried mother, Inko… I’m not sure what I would have done differently in your shoes.”

     “Probably made sure that the school wouldn’t let anyone in to talk to Katsuki behind your back,” Inko sniffled, ready to bury her face in the clean outfit she needed to get changed into.

     “Well there was also the hope that they knew how to listen to ‘no,’” Mitsuki said, gently grabbing her friend’s hands. “And it was his first day back… none of us could have predicted that they’d take the chance the second it was open to them.”

     “I didn’t even realize his school wouldn’t even be a safe place for him to be,” Inko cried. “What would they want with a four year old boy anyway? The only thing his quirk does is keep him from dying, and what good will that do him in a fight, except for letting himself be more prone to accidents!?”

     “I can see how a hero who wouldn’t die would benefit them, but why not wait until he’s older, and had the quirk longer,” Mitsuki questions. “There’s something really suspicious about this, other than this whole stupid fucking custody battle we have today.”

     Inko moves the outfit she was given to one arm, using the other to wipe the tears off of her face, sniffling as she gets up. Mitsuki takes this as her cue to leave the room for a minute, saying “I’ll go and look for some jewelry in my room while you get changed. I’ll be back in a couple minutes.”

     Once the door clicked shut again, Inko didn’t spare much time to stare at the clothes in despair even longer, quickly changing from her sweater and sweatpants into the outfit she’d be wearing to court today, zipping up the skirt and shakily working through all the buttons.

     She had to get this done today, and all she could hope was that she could bring Izuku home.

     The car ride was excruciating. Inko thought that the ride to the hospital when she was told Izuku was alive was bad, or the one to the hospital when the incident happened. But this one felt so much worse. This wasn’t just a short matter where things would be officially said and done.

     Things would of course be said, and things would be official. But not in the same manner as “he’s dead,” and “see, he really is alive!” No, it would be something that she genuinely felt like she could have done so much more to change.

     When was heroics so much more important than family? 

     Mitsuki seemed all too aware that Inko’s thoughts were spiraling as she said “Listen, I really think that they can’t pile enough proof against you today. I’m sure that by the end of today, Izuku will happily be coming over to my house tonight, you and him both, and we’re going to have a great dinner, and the boys will be playing until they knock themselves out because they’re so tired after all the fun they had. You’re a good parent, Inko.”

     Inko knew she had done her best as a parent, that she had done everything she could. But she had such a bad feeling about how today was going to go.

     Being against the people who were basically the government these days made it all the more worrisome for her, especially at the thought that they would find some way to trick people, or pay them off to “prove” that she was a bad mother.

     It did make her wonder what Izuku said, however, that had the police picking him up from her home, keeping him with them while this whole thing went under investigation.

     Naomasa was still relatively new to detective work in comparison to the others that he was working with lately, and sometimes felt like he couldn’t trust his gut instinct as well as the others did, but his gut told him there was something wrong with this case. His coworkers, on the other hand, insisted that everything was okay.

     And then they would act like he didn’t notice random groups of them walking off to whisper about something, or how often he was sent off to look after the boy currently under their car, up until the commission, in their words, “inevitably takes the boy, and then that whole building gets to look after him.”

     At the thought of the little Midoriya, Naomasa turned his chair to face the boy, who was messing with a puzzle that the commission had gifted him just the other day. He had ignored it for a while in favor of the hero coloring book he had been given the day before that, but now was putting all of his little four year old attention onto the puzzle.

     It was some kind of ball, with a smaller ball inside, that would have to be wound along a maze, keeping it on the path, and making an attempt to get to the end. Izuku moved the ball carefully in his little hands, eyes wide and watching the smaller ball closely as he tried to keep it on the difficult path.

     And then there was a soft clatter against the plastic that held it, and Izuku let out a long sigh, setting the ball down at his annoyance.

     “Couldn’t figure it out, kid,” Naomasa asked with a smile.

     “I know what I need to do, but I can’t figure out how to do it… it’s a weird gap part that drops onto another… the drop is hard,” Izuku answers. “It needs to drop just the right way.”

      “What level of it did you get to on that path,” Naomasa asks, leaning forward, placing his elbows on his knees as he laced his fingers together. He was genuinely interested in the kid’s train of thought, what all he had been up to these past couple of weeks while under his care. Izuku had alternated between plenty of different things, most of them gifts from the commission to occupy his time.

     “Twenty,” Izuku replies, frowning at the ball.

     “I’d say that that’s pretty good for a kid your age.”

     “I want to do better, though. If I wanna be a hero, I have to be better at all of these things. I can’t just keep failing.” Izuku grabs the ball again, turning it over in his little hands until the smaller ball reaches the starting point of the path he was trying to complete.

     Naomasa slid off of his chair, scooching to sit next to Izuku on the floor. He had paperwork he needed to continue to look through, but that could wait until later. Today was a big day for Izuku, and it was something that Naomasa needed to make sure that the boy was ready for.

     Though, they still had an hour before Naomasa needed to get Izuku out of the door, where he would drive the boy to court, and they would be waiting in a room together while the trial went on. In whatever direction the trial went, Naomasa would be handing Izuku to whoever was deemed the better caretaker for Izuku.

     Naomasa internally hoped that it was Izuku’s mother. He seemed to be the only one amongst his team to share that sentiment.

     The detective ruffled the boy’s hair, and then asked “I know you’ve probably been asked this a lot, but what are you hoping for after today?”

     “To help be taught how to be as great of a hero as All Might,” Izuku quickly answers, eyes intently watching the smaller ball as he carefully rotates the plastic that keeps it trapped. 

     “But why not wait until you’re older, so you can make sure you have time with your mom? You do realize that being with the commission means you can’t be with your mom anymore, right?” It was already far too late to be asking questions like these, because nothing he or Izuku said right now would change the trial happening. Not with it so close, with all of the investigation Naomasa’s team had supposedly been doing.

     Why was Naomasa the only one taking care of Izuku most of the time anyway? He at first thought it was just because he had the least experience, and was more focused on criminal than domestic cases, but it was a little suspicious that he wasn’t being brought out to help them at all.  

     Naomasa was aware that the kid had a resurrection quirk, but what made him so special that the commission, and anyone they went to, were keen on pulling Izuku Midoriya away from his mother?

     “Because mama doesn’t want to let me be a hero anymore… and she knows it’s my dream,” Izuku answers. That would answer why he wasn’t so upset with the idea of the commission taking him in, but not why everyone else was so willing for Izuku to be taken away from his mom.

     Naomasa wasn’t going to pry much further, worried that he would upset Izuku. Though he did continue to keep a close eye on him, a little closer than he had been.

     And then the time had arrived. The trial that would determine how things would go, all while Naomasa and Izuku hid away in another room while waiting for it to finish.

     “Do you have everything you need to keep you entertained for probably a few hours,” Naomasa double checked with Izuku, to which the boy nodded, his arms already full with the ball puzzle from earlier, a crayon box, a hero coloring book, an All Might toy that he had hardly let go of ever since he was brought to the office, and a couple small books.

     Naomasa wondered if those would really be enough, knowing that children often bounced from wanting to do one thing to the next.

     It furthered his questioning on why the court would probably be using Izuku’s own words against his mother, while being too young to even be in the courtroom himself. 

     Of course, things would be looked into if any child were to say that their parent had hurt them, or that they weren’t being taken care of as well as they should be. But from everything Naomasa had heard from people close to Mrs. Midoriya, she hadn’t actually done anything to harm her child in any way. The closest thing Naomasa could conclude to that would be shutting down the dreams of a four year old. Though, the line of reasoning for what Izuku had been hoping for, and the recent events that had led to Inko shutting down those hopes should be considered reasonable.

     If Naomasa’s sister had gotten a quirk like Izuku’s, and had discovered the quirk as the boy had, Naomasa isn’t too sure how differently he would react, and that was for his sister. Though he may have tried to give the message a little differently, he could understand that it was a little difficult to stay entirely calm when dealing with the commission. And that’s just from hearing about how they often act from the heroes.

     Naomasa can only imagine what it was like for a mother just trying to look out for her child.

     The detective sighed, and then double checked everything in the back of the car, making sure Izuku was fully situated and safe in the back. This involved him checking over the car seat multiple times, hoping it really was secure.

     He really didn’t want anything to happen to the boy while he was under Naomasa’s care.

     “Alright,” Naomasa said under his breath, sighing and triple checking the car seat, before finally making his way to the driver’s seat. Getting himself situated was a much faster process, and it didn’t take long after that to finally get going.

     “Are you nervous,” Naomasa asked, glancing in the rear view mirror to see if he could catch any reaction from Izuku, see how the boy was feeling. What he saw in that moment was Izuku holding onto his toy just a little tighter, and how his face scrunched up. 

     “Kinda,” Izuku muttered.

     “Do you want to talk about it?”

     “Not really…”

     Izuku had been doing a lot of talking lately, telling a bunch of people he didn’t know how he felt about things that he didn’t fully understand. But Izuku was a four year old who had already died once, came back, and had apparently watched as his friends wanted to be around him less and less while his mother clung onto him tighter. 

     And now he’s been pulled away from his home because of the commission taking an interest in the boy’s potential, and apparently uncovering just how poorly Inko had been handling her son ever since his quirk development.

     The ride stayed silent for a long while, up until Izuku said something, just barely loud enough for the detective to hear.

     “Do you think mama is going to be mad at me?”

     Naomasa had yet to meet the woman on his own, never getting to be the detective to talk to her. But he had listened to the questionings, read through every bit of paperwork he could get his hands on for this case, and listened to Izuku talk about his mother intently.

     He wasn’t entirely sure, but he could at least say with some confidence “I don’t think she’s mad… I think she’s worried about you, but she won’t be mad at you for any of this.”

     “She’s always worried though.”

     “That’s just something parents do a lot… I worry for my little sister too,” Naomasa replied, glancing up to the rearview mirror again, this time giving the frowning boy a small smile. “It’s just something that comes with caring for people. Why do you think your mom would be mad at you for this?”

     Izuku didn’t speak up after that, but Naomasa heard him move a bit, probably just giving a small shrug as he returned to silence.

     Nothing had gone well in there. Inko and Mitsuki had walked in thinking there was no way that they could have anything that could actually be used against her, that the only thing they had was the word of a four year old, which was something Mitsuki could easily explain if they didn’t want to hear Inko.

     Seeing one of the doctors who gave her Izuku up there, going against Inko… she would have broken down if it wasn’t for the fact that she had been so carefully trying to hold herself together to the point she could barely process what was going on around her anymore. It wasn’t until everything was being put to a decision, and everyone would be returning once the decision was made, that Inko was suddenly pulled out of her head as Mitsuki lightly shook her.

     Mitsuki had held herself together well, though Inko could tell that there were multiple periods of time that Mitsuki was just about ready to lunge out of her seat and start screaming at whoever had spoken. She probably would have if it weren’t for the fact that it would ruin the chances of Izuku coming home.

     So the two of them sat on a bench inside, Inko fiddling with her skirt while Mitsuki angrily sat in the seat, arms crossed as one of her feet impatiently tapped against the hard wood beneath them. 

     “They must have been paying people off, because what the hell was that,” Mitsuki hissed, her voice much quieter than the sound of her shoe angrily tapping against the floor. “I was at the hospital when you picked Izuku up, and you weren’t intentionally trying to hurt him. I don’t get why they would try to make it sound like that.”

      “They didn’t say that I was trying to hurt him,” Inko said, her reply a whisper.

     “No but they implied it. Enough that they would have needed to specify that you weren’t actually trying to hurt him, and that’s one of the dangers there.” Mitsuki paused for a moment, the tapping of her foot slowly coming to a stop. She then gently placed one of her hands on Inko, and said “I think this whole trial has been rigged… the commission really doesn’t want there to be any chance of Izuku coming home… I just think they wanted to let you pretend like you had a chance up until now, Inks.”

      Inko quickly looked away from her friend, trying to keep herself from crying. She had to keep herself presentable, and she couldn’t go back in with her makeup ruined.

     After, though… she knew her makeup would be a disaster before they even got far.

     Inko was trying to be at least a little hopeful. She hoped that the people who were trusted with heroes, whose one job was to keep the people safe, would at least have some heart, and wouldn’t pull out such cruel measures just to make sure they could keep her child. She didn’t want to think that they would go around, using the extensive amount of money they had, to buy people into their favor.

     All for a little boy who probably couldn’t die.

      Her little boy.

     Mitsuki never brought up any of her hopes to have both of their boys home and playing together after that. Neither of them brought up the boys. They just stayed quiet, waiting and hoping. 

     Inko hoped that Mitsuki was hoping, at least. She hoped her friend hadn’t just already accepted that Izuku wouldn’t be coming home, because there had to be someone who wasn’t entirely siding with the commission in there. Inko had done her best to be a good mom, and she knew that.

     Clenching her fingers tightly into the skirt, she whispered “I’ve been a good mother, and there’s no way they could take care of Izuku better than I have.”

     By the end, it was a loss. The tears Mitsuki had been waiting for and expecting never arrived from Inko, as her best friend’s face went blank. It stayed blank as Mitsuki led her every step out of the building. It was like Inko just wasn’t present anymore, nothing she could really do for herself after the verdict was passed.

     Izuku wasn’t coming home, and there was nothing they could do about it. The commission would be taking Izuku far away from them, and both mothers would be going home to explain to Masaru and Katsuki that they lost.

     Oh, and her poor Katsuki too. He’d be beyond mad about the situation, but Mitsuki knew that he would try to help Inko in his own little Katsuki way… she wasn’t sure how much she could trust that. 

     Masaru, on the other hand, always seemed to know what to do to help Inko. That fact had always been something that made Mitsuki jealous of her husband, but when she saw the similarities in the two, she just came to accept that she was best at keeping her best friend happy when she was already happy, and could cheer Inko up even more after Masaru had helped take care of the bigger part of the issue. 

     Mitsuki needed Masaru’s help for sure this time. She had no clue what to do when her friend looked so… lifeless.

     She felt like Inko just barely managed to buckle her own seatbelt and get back in the car. Mitsuki herself felt like she shouldn’t be driving, but didn’t want to leave her car here to just come back tomorrow, when she would feel a bit better about this whole situation.

     With a deep sigh, she made her way back home, keeping one hand on her friend the entirety of the drive. She made no attempt at conversation, feeling like she would be the only one saying anything, and that Inko would continue her blank look out the window.

     Once home, it didn’t take long for Masaru to run out the door, Katsuki not far behind. The boys waited patiently on the porch for Mitsuki to park, but the second the car was off, they continued their run. 

      Katsuki basically rammed into the car, his fingers clinging to the metal just beneath the window as he jumped up and down, looking for any sign of Izuku. Mitsuki watched as Inko slowly got out of the car, waiting until Inko was out before she even opened her own door.

     Masaru gently reached out to hold Mitsuki’s arm as she got out, but she couldn’t face her husband. She just shook her head, and then held her hand out to Inko, who loosely held onto the outstretched hand.

     “Where’s Izuku,” Katsuki asked, swinging open the door he had been trying to see through, and trying to answer his own question. Masaru briefly let go of Mitsuki as he walked over to Katsuki, holding their son in one arm as he shut the doors with his free hand.

      He was the one who answered, giving their son a sad look as he said “I’m afraid Izuku isn’t coming home… his quirk isn’t saving taking him home this time.”

     Katsuki’s mouth gaped, and his voice very quickly cut the quiet tones that everyone had been keeping for the past while, as he shouted “But that’s not fair! He should be home! This is so stupid!”

     “I know, kiddo, I know,” Masaru said as he pulled Katsuki into a hug. The boy protested against it, squirming, and his hands setting off little sparks.

     Mitsuki continued to walk Inko inside, where she smelt the dinner Masaru had been presumably cooking on their way here. She led Inko to the living room, knowing that wherever she left Inko at, that’s where she was going to be finding Inko for the next while. This had happened when Izuku had died… it’s just, Inko wasn’t so quiet that time.

      She really wished her friend would at least cry. It made her beyond worried to see her friend so still and silent.

      Inko stayed like that for weeks, and the only reason she had gone anywhere was by Mitsuki and Masaru’s lead. Katsuki seemed unsure of how to respond to her stillness, often just staring at her before he would shut himself in his own room.

     Mitsuki and Masaru were both having a hard time trying to figure out how Katsuki felt about the situation, what he was thinking. Every time they made an attempt, he would just get snappy and try to push them out of his room. 

     He would come to them when he was ready. That was what Mitsuki and Masaru told each other, trying to spend their time getting Inko off the couch on her own instead.

     They would just have to hope they were handling the situation well.

     Izuku was just finishing up yet another page in his hero coloring book when the commission president came into the room he and Tsukauchi had been waiting in. She had come in with a smile, her fingers delicately laced together as she crouched down, sitting next to him.

     “I get to go with you to be a hero,” Izuku asks, his eyes wide as he stares up at the woman.

     “Mhmm,” she replies, ruffling his hair as her eyes turn towards his drawings. “Is that what you’ve been doing the whole time? Just drawing?”

     Izuku quickly shakes his head, reaching to grab the ball that he’d been slowly getting further and further on, and says “I’ve been working on this too! And reading! I read more than I thought… it took a while.”

     “Mm, well, things like this often do,” she explains. “Now, are you ready to go to the building you’ll be staying at with me, Midoriya?”

     Izuku nods, a smile lighting up on his face. The commission president holds out her hand, and Izuku excitedly grabs it, and she starts to lead him out of the building.

     But then he stops, turning back to the room as he says “I need to get my stuff.”

     “We’ll be sure to get it for you,” she says, turning to one of the people in suits who were following them, nodding her head in a gesture for him to grab them. He gives his own nod, this one in acknowledgement, before he turned to walk in the direction that Izuku and the commission president were just walking off.

     Tsukauchi had helped pick the things up too, but the commission president didn’t let them stand there long, as she continued to walk herself and Izuku out of the building.

     As Izuku was getting buckled up, a car seat already in the car, he asked “I’ll be able to see mama eventually, right?”

     The commission president was quick with her response as she got into the car from the other side, sitting next to Izuku and buckling herself up since there was already someone in the driver’s seat. “No, I’m afraid not.”

     “But you said that I’d be able to see her, just that I couldn’t stay with her anymore if you were going to help train me,” Izuku said with a frown.

     “I had said ‘probably,’ sweet boy. It’s just, there was more than we thought, and it just wasn’t safe to let her even see you,” she had said with a reassuring smile, reaching to cup Izuku’s face in her hands, trying to comfort him. “It’s just the safest option we have. But, there’s another boy that you can meet, someone else we’ve also been able to take in. You’ll be trained with him, alright?”

     Izuku still couldn’t help but let the tears in his eyes fall, trying to wipe them away before they could get on the commission president.

Chapter Text

     Rude awakenings were far from a foreign concept to Izuku, but they never stopped being annoying, a horrible start to his day, leading to an even worse finish. He had learned over the ten years he had spent in the commission building that if he was being woken up, it wasn’t for anything fun.

     “Midoriya, time to start training,” one of the commission members, Gushika, said. He’d basically been in charge of Izuku’s schedule for the longest time, and was a beyond familiar face. Familiar enough that Izuku was willing to throw some snark the man’s way for his own peace.

     “Ten more minutes, or I’m gonna run off,” Izuku mutters, burying his head deeper into one pillow as he grabs the other, throwing it in the general direction that he heard Gushika’s voice in. 

     “You say the same thing at least once a week,” Gushika drawls. Izuku finally glances up from his pillows, looking at the tired man, holding the tossed pillow in one hand. “Now come on, you need to get started on your training today. There’s another test this afternoon, so you need to get your practice done early.”

      Izuku let out a deep sigh into his pillow, pushing himself up and holding out his hand for the other pillow to be returned to him. It didn’t take long for it to be there, and he quickly tucked it to where it was supposed to be on the bed.

     Gushika finally left as Izuku heaved himself off of the bed, giving him the space he needed to get dressed. Izuku decided to just settle with sweatpants and a t-shirt today, something simple that he was already expecting to need to change later, after he had already brought himself to a sweaty mess. 

     As soon as he opened the door, Gushika was already waiting there, gently placing his hand on Izuku’s shoulder as they walked down the familiar halls. Izuku rubbed tiredly at his eyes, ignoring the aching in his stomach as he thought about the food he was ready to eat. Gushika hadn’t specifically mentioned food, but Izuku knew that he’d be getting some before training.

     “Tired,” Gushika questions, eyebrow raised as he watches Izuku rub at his eyes, stuffing his hands into his coat pockets. “You’ve already gotten a few days of sleep after the last test, and you’ve gotten a couple days of a break since then. You would think you’d be well rested by now?”

     “Hey, you know by now that that rest doesn’t count,” Izuku says, giving the man who usually takes care of him a small glare before starting to walk ahead, fists balled up at his sides.

     Izuku winded down the hallways, taking the stairs he needed to, ignoring most who walked past him, as they had all grown used to just minding their business, ignoring what anyone else was doing. They had their work to do, and Izuku often had some training to get to whenever he was actually out of his room.

     Gushika kept somewhat close, but he still kept the distance that Izuku had established. They both knew that Izuku would go where he needed to, and was well aware of the path that he needed to take. Most of the days he was awake were spent training anyway, often changing through different kinds of training, mainly alternating between training with weapons and without. Lately though, the past few months have been spent trying to integrate the two kinds of training, try to make a fighting style out of them.

     That was the kind of training he had come here for. Something he often wished could have been remembered by the commission president.

     As soon as Izuku got to the training room, Gushika caught up and led Izuku to the corner of the room, where a container with his breakfast was waiting. He sat himself down on the ground, where the mats on the floor didn’t reach, and began to enjoy the still warm omelet that had been prepared. 

     It was only about fifteen minutes later that Izuku’s trainer of the day walked in, the staff that he had been favoring lately already in her hand, softly twirling between her fingers as she waited. 

     Once Izuku finished with his breakfast, Gushika took the empty container, and walked off with it, leaving Izuku with his trainer.

     “Alright, go ahead and get your stretches done, and then we’ll start. I’m assuming that that was enough food to get you started for the day,” she began to ask, already beginning her own stretching routine.

     “Yeah, it was fine,” Izuku answered, imitating what she was doing.

     It was about an hour in that they had switched to no weapons, and Izuku was very quickly reminded about how he had to make sure his own attacks didn’t go against him as his attempt to push the woman down from putting his weight on her shoulders had him twirled off, and slammed onto the mat beneath them. She still had her own staff, though, and used it to hold Izuku to the ground, much to his own frustration. But he had at least learned how to get himself out of this situation, and to be grateful that it was a staff, and not something like a sword.

     Much to his own joy, it was his turn to knock the woman down, smiling in satisfaction as she fell, the shock on her face obvious. Her staff slipped out of her hand in her fall, and Izuku quickly pinned the empty hands behind her back, securing his victory. 

     But his lesson had been learned a few years ago that he wasn’t to let go until the trainer themselves declared that he had won.

     With a deep sigh of her own, his trainer agreed that he had won, and he was quick to let go of her, taking a few steps back as he watched her get up.

     “Alright, alright. I’ll let them know I’m done with you for the day. I’m sure someone will be here soon for more hand-to-hand training though,” she says, brushing herself off as she walks over to her water bottle, which she had left in her corner of the room.

     Sure enough, Izuku’s next trainer of the day didn’t wait long to walk in, presumably already having gotten ready for this already as he gestured for Izuku to come back to the mat to practice. If Izuku frowned… well, it was only fair. He really wanted to get some of his own water. Was the plan to dehydrate him to death now?

     He sure hoped not.

     Man, Izuku really couldn’t stand this trainer most of the time. 

     “Come on now, cutting you in half didn’t kill you, so I’m sure that you won’t die from some simple training,” the man training Izuku taunted, already getting into position for the next round of their fight. “You’re getting good too, even with that downtime. You’re getting close to knocking me down.”

     And wouldn’t that be quite the feat? This guy had managed to stick around as someone to train Izuku for the longest, most eventually running out of things to teach him as he mastered them all. But this guy was difficult to beat, being pure muscle, and always having this solid kind of stance that Izuku could never perfect himself. It was like trying to knock down a solid wall!

     Izuku was really hoping to start consistently winning soon, that way he could just move on from this guy. But it was taking a lot of what he learned from everyone else to win at most once whenever this guy was in charge of Izuku’s training. And eventually, the methods Izuku tried would be caught onto, and was very easily avoided the next time.

      Most villains aren’t repetitive though, Izuku frustratingly thought to himself. It’s typically one fight and done, so they wouldn’t catch on to stuff like this… especially if I go underground.

     Izuku knew that most heroes trained by the commission were expected to go into spotlight heroics, but Izuku was also well aware that they usually had flashy quirks. Lady Nagant and Hawks had been prime examples of people with powerful, flashy quirks. Izuku’s was powerful, but not something flashy, that could easily take down villains given the opportunity.

    No, Izuku’s fighting solely relied on a lot of quirkless fighting, with a backup measure in the event that he didn’t win the fight. But if he died, then that meant the villain got away. Izuku just got to make sure that he was constantly able to go after the villain, and knew what he was getting himself into better for next time.

     But in the meantime, his learning involved trying to be able to take down this trainer multiple times in a row, and the span of time it took for him to come back from certain deaths. With some of the commission president’s discussions lately, it seemed the next idea was to see how long it would take for his body to come back when a lot more damage was done to it, something like cremation. It was, admittedly… a horrifying idea. But he would already be dead before being burnt for the test, see how long it took to come back… so it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

     Then again, he was unsure of how much damage his body could take before it quit. And they had learned over the years that if he has more energy, he can come back a little bit quicker, make things a bit easier. That was why it was pretty important to get as much rest as he could, and why he had spent the past couple days sleeping in.

     Wasting all of that energy on training seemed like a waste, and he would much rather catch up on some more sleep. Maybe he could take a nap after a shower? Try to get some of the rest he lost back.

     With a long sigh, Izuku walked back over to lose again, already having tested out something new for a brief moment of victory. Of course, Izuku had very quickly been thrown off, and it was soon marked as another loss on Izuku’s part.

     “Two years, and you still can’t get rid of me, huh, kid,” the trainer taunted, smiling as if he sensed the thoughts of frustration circling around in Izuku’s head. “How many more people need to teach you something new before you can actually win?”

     “It’s not my fault that there’s a no weapons allowed rule against you,” Izuku complained, frowning at the man. “If I could bring a staff in, I’m sure I could do better.”

     “And if your opponent knocks your weapon out? Midoriya, whether you believe it or not, you’re going to be up against tough opponents, no matter what path of heroics you take. If you can’t win against me, how are you going to do better than any other hero? The commission is having you trained to be better,” the trainer reminded. With how much they talked, Izuku really was wishing that he knew his name. Two years, and the man still avoided sharing his name like the plague, talking about how it wasn’t important when the only thing they were supposed to be doing was training.

     In frustration, Izuku started the next round of their fighting, lashing out with a punch first, quickly finding it unable to hit as the trainer grabbed Izuku’s arm, quickly pulling Izuku up into the air. Izuku made an attempt to make the man put him down by kicking at him, but they weren’t doing much when they were more childish kicks than anything.

     “Kiddo, walking into a fight angry makes you predictable… you’re better at this when you actually try to put some thought into what you’re doing,” the man started.

    “I KNOW,” Izuku shouted, kicking at him again. He was just given a pathetic frown in return, the man’s arm stretching out to keep Izuku a little bit further away, making the kicks even weaker.

     “There were already quite a few ways out of this, and you know it,” the man continued. “If you really want to prove that I made you upset, you’d actually try to win, right?”

     Izuku kicked at him again.

     “If your fighting skills get this bad when you’re frustrated, maybe we should work on getting you some anger management classes so that you can figure out how to use your anger to make you a better fighter? I could bring it up with the commission president?”

     And then the flailing stopped, and Izuku looked away as he mumbled a “You don’t need to tell her anything,” before quickly swinging himself up to latch onto the man’s arm, holding on with his legs so that he could somewhat painfully free his arm.

     “Alright, ready to get back to training?” With a nod from Izuku, he was quickly slammed back onto the mat.

     Well, he was basically asking for that loss there.

     Izuku was exhausted on the ground by the time the door opened again, and Izuku’s current least favorite trainer for the moment gave a small nod in acknowledgement before he stepped back. Izuku turned his head to see who had walked in, face lighting up the moment he saw the bright red feathers, eyes following them to see Keigo walking in with a small bag in hand, a smile held on the hero’s face as well.

     “Keigo,” Izuku called, sitting up as quickly as his tired body would let him.

     “Heyy, there you are,” Keigo greeted. “C’mon, I’ve got your lunch. Finally have some downtime, so I figured I could bring you something as a treat.”

     “Whatever gets me a nap sooner,” Izuku said as he scrambled off of the floor, running up to Keigo and immediately opening the bag more to see what Keigo got. Sure enough, it was a bunch of chicken. He didn’t often share his favorite food with people, but Izuku was often the exception, which he didn’t hesitate to brag about whenever a commission member would walk into whatever room Keigo and Izuku were in, and they longingly looked at the warm food that Keigo had brought in.

     They could go get their own. This was Izuku’s and Keigo’s treat… provided by Keigo.

     “Hey, no digging in the bag yet,” Keigo says with a smile, moving the bag out of Izuku’s reach. “We’re not eating in the training room.”

     “Not my fault you love to get greasy chicken,” Izuku retorted, reaching for the bag. If Keigo being an adult already wasn’t a factor to his height that made his attempts to get the food frustrating, it was even more so annoying that Izuku was already short for his age… curse tall people. This is a very unfair game.

     “It’s not actually that greasy,” Keigo argues, playfully frowning as he turns his head away, using a feather to bring the bag into the air, and out of both of their grasps. “But eat enough, and your hands will be. And I’m sure you don’t want slipping on the mat to be a reason you lose next time.”

     Izuku returned the frown, but quickly ran out of the room, standing in the doorway as he waited for Keigo to follow. The winged hero eyed the room for a second before turning to walk out himself, one of his feathers still holding the bag up in the air. It had to lower itself to get through the doorway, but it continued to follow the both of them as they made their way out of the training rooms.

     “Definitely don’t miss being down here all the time,” Keigo says for the nth time. Every time he had the chance to come grab Izuku with lunch in hand, it was almost like he had to comment about how his training was over.

     At this point, Izuku would like to be sent out on missions, being fourteen or not. He could even be sent into spotlight heroics if it meant he was out of training! At this rate, he was going to have more training sessions that Keigo had villains to take down, and that was with Keigo noticing most villains faster than others with his vantage point in the sky.

     Fighting villains meant that you got out of training since that meant you were strong enough to not need training. And Keigo managed to get out of training so quickly, jumping into the world of heroics the moment he became an adult.

     And Izuku still had four more years to go at least until he could fully jump out of training.

     Maybe he could have gotten out of it sooner if he had as powerful of a quirk as Keigo did, and something that didn’t need as much testing as Keigo’s.

     It was almost as if Keigo could tell that Izuku was thinking of the experiments when he asked “What do you think they’re going to try next with your quirk?”

     “Probably going to see how much of my body they can get rid of and see how long it takes to come back from that… I think I heard someone talking about cremating my body? I dunno… sounds horrifying, but as long as I’m not awake,” Izuku replied. 

     Keigo frowned at the thought of it, his own wings twitching as he thought of the tests done on the limits of his quirk, shuddering as he said “I hate fire… I remember when they burned my feathers to see how long it took for them all to grow back.”

     “Didn’t they have you focus on a lot of physical training in that time, because of how long it took for the feathers to come back,” Izuku questioned, trying to recall the moment right. He had definitely been in the commission at that period of time for Keigo’s training, it had just been a while since that test had happened.

     “Yeah… I wasn’t at my best though, because my back hurt for a while. All the feathers were off when they were burnt, but I was so sore trying to grow them back,” Keigo replied. His wings twitched, and the feathers seemed to get more compact, closer as if that was how they were going to protect themselves from the fire that wasn’t coming. “And I feel all the stuff that happens to my feathers, and fire hurts.”  

     “Got it… just have to hope that they give me some easier way to die first before I get burnt.”

     “Man, that means I won’t be able to see you for a long while,” Keigo starts to complain, letting out a long sigh before saying “I just barely managed to catch you this time too! I tried to pay a visit a few days ago, but they said that you were still dead, working on waking up. What was that last one anyway? They didn’t say what they were doing that time, and I couldn’t catch you beforehand to ask.”

     “Uhh, you remember when they cut me in half to see if I would grow a new torso up, or new legs a few weeks ago,” Izuku started to ask, trying to job Keigo’s memory. The blonde thought about it for a moment, tapping his chin in thought before pointing at Izuku and exclaiming “Right! You didn’t do either, and you just kinda… snapped back together a week later. Caught one of the doctors off guard when your legs suddenly went flying.”

      “Right, yeah! Anyway, they tried it again, but this time a vertical cut… my body still just flew right back to itself. It was a little bit faster this time though, which was nice. So I guess being cut in half vertically makes it a little faster? I dunno, it’s weird.”

     “I still think it would have been funny for there to be either two existing Izuku heads, or four legs,” Keigo says, chuckling to himself before he asks “Have you been writing things down in your notebook as you guys realize them?”

     “Mhm! The notebook is almost full though… the list of ways to die and how quickly I come back, plus the updates on those times to see if my quirk is getting any better, was definitely not a notebook I expected to be filled quite as quickly, nor to get much more than a few pages at all. I thought it would have just been a few pages by the time I was an adult,” Izuku said with a long sigh of his own, shoulders slumping as he started walking up the first flight of stairs to get back to his room.

     Keigo didn’t have one here anymore once he pulled together enough money to get an apartment of his own, and already hardly came around once he had his agency. So it was Izuku’s room that they would generally hang out in, since most other rooms weren’t exactly meant for people to just lounge around in, and most people were at work in them. 

     Besides, the commission loved to keep a close eye on Izuku and Keigo, so there was no way that Keigo could take Izuku somewhere out of the building just yet, when not even Keigo was really allowed to leave until he had his hero license, and started getting his training against real villains. 

     If there was training, that was the kind of training Izuku would look forward to. Having a hero training license issued by the commission, while under the commission’s care, meant that they could easily get training with work studies and internships right with the top ten heroes. And if anything, the commission would rather them work under the top ten heroes for their practice whenever they were finally getting to go against real villains rather than their trainers.

     Just under a couple years, and then it would finally be his turn to go and work alongside the top ten. Keigo was already in the top ten ranking too, so Izuku could just stick with familiarity, and work alongside Keigo. If he did that, then he wouldn’t have to worry about explaining his creepy quirk to anyone who hadn’t already heard about it, and wasn’t already used to it. Izuku’s quirk was just something that Keigo and Izuku could have a casual conversation over!

     Izuku had learned that most people were rather uncomfortable with the idea of him dying often, and then coming back from the dead whenever he would get a new trainer, and would try to talk to them whenever they had given him a break. 

     “Well, the commission is picky with their learning. At least they try to make sure your deaths are quick most of the time, and try to make sure you’re already dead for most of the ones that take a longer amount of time to kill,” Keigo tried to reason with a shrug of his own.

     “Other than that time they let me die of some kind of sickness. They brought a villain out of jail to test that,” Izuku exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air in frustration, eyebrows furrowed as he recalled that death a few years ago.

     A few minutes later, the two of them finally reached Izuku’s room, and they both started digging into the chicken, the bucket quickly finding itself losing chicken and holding the bones that remained from Keigo’s favorite food. It wasn’t Izuku’s, but it was still really nice to have, since it usually meant that he and Keigo were spending time together.

     Today, Keigo was talking about some of the missions he had been on the past few weeks, keeping the commission specific ones out of it as he talked about the villains he had taken down. It was with one of Izuku’s many other notebooks that Izuku took notes on the villains that Keigo remembered, and used another for the heroes that Keigo worked with. 

     Izuku really wanted to get out of the commission building for at least a day so that he could go get notes on more heroes, see them in person. 

     “Oh, and then the villain yesterday afternoon didn’t show much of any quirk at all,’ Keigo explained between his next bite of chicken, Izuku holding a chicken leg of his own in his left hand while he quickly wrote down what Keigo was saying with his right. “Or they just, y’know, never got the time to show it off before I took them down. The palm of their hand did start glowing when one of the other heroes were trying to stop them, before I flew in.”

     “Do you think it was some kind of emitter quirk,” Izuku questions before he finally takes a bite of the chicken in his hand. 

     “Maybe… might have actually been strong too, because they were insisting on the whole flight to the station that they would have been able to win if I got closer, stopped keeping distance with my feathers,” Keigo explained.

     “Probably short ranged then, if they weren’t trying to get you on the flight.”

     “Mm, seems right.”

     After a few more minutes, and another very short description of Keigo’s last fight, Izuku put the pencil down between his notebook pages, and asked “Kei, what if they don’t make sure I’m already dead before they try to burn me?”

     Keigo frowned at the question before wiping one of his greasy hands on his pant leg to get as much grease off as he could before ruffling Izuku’s hair, and then saying “If they don’t, then I’m personally going to give them a whole lecture. I don’t think they intentionally try to make sure we’re in pain, and they’ve already learned that being burnt hurts like hell.”

     “And what if getting rid of my body actually kills me? Because we’ve come to the conclusion that my body builds up energy, keeping me ‘dead’ before I suddenly wake up. So what if there’s no body to build up energy, and I just… don’t come back?”

     Keigo’s frown deepens, his eyebrows furrowing. A few moments passed, and Keigo seemed unable to think of a response. There wasn’t much they could do if Izuku was permanently dead, after all… and the proof of his existence would just be a pile of ashes.

     And then Keigo leans forward, pulling Izuku into a one armed hug.

     “You go ahead and take your shower, stinky. And make sure you get some rest too. I’ve got to talk with the pres for a bit, but I’ll try to find you before they have you do anything, ‘kay?”

     Izuku gives Keigo a small smile before he nods, pushing himself off the floor, walking around his room as he gathers a change of clothes. Keigo takes that as his time to leave, bidding his farewells as he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

     Everything Izuku would really need was in his room, other than food. And most of the time, it was brought up to him. So, Izuku really only found himself in his room, up until he was training or testing out his quirk again. That meant that there was nowhere Izuku needed to go when he needed to take a shower, with the bathroom that connected to his room. It was a nice room, but it was far too familiar lately.

     There were only so many ways that the furniture could be rearranged and still feel different.

     As soon as Izuku was done with his shower though, he was quick to collapse onto his bed. Most of the time, a shower could wake him up… but this time, all it did was make him even more exhausted, so it didn’t take long for him to pass out once he laid down.

     Once he woke up, he wasn’t too sure how long it had been. All he knew was that the sun was starting to set, making Izuku wonder why he hadn’t been woken up yet. He usually didn’t nap that long, nor was he usually able to when he was being pulled back to training. After all, without a combat oriented quirk, he had to put twice as much work in at least to make sure he could be one of the best.

     It’s what he’s here for after all, to be one of the best.

     He quickly shot off of his bed, deciding he would make the familiar path to where they usually tested out the different ways he could die and come back, but only started that journey once he had his notebook in hand for these tests. He would need to update it again, after all, and often asked about how the test would go before he was actually killed, that way he could have some notes beforehand, all the things he would need.

     Not to mention, he woke up pretty groggy, and often nearly forgot to update the pages in his notebook when he first woke up.

     It was on his journey that he heard a couple people walking down a connecting hallway, and he quickly stopped walking once he heard his name, backing himself up against the wall as he listened.

     “Burnt alive, I hear,” one of them says.

     “Wouldn’t it work just as well to have him dead already? It would definitely save the kid some pain if they just make sure he’s dead already,” the other replies. “I dunno, I don’t really think that they need to test this many methods. You would think that they already figured out within the first year of these ‘experiments’ that he just keeps coming back. Seems unnecessary at this point.”

     “Hey, I’m just telling you what I hear. And besides, some of the deaths are repeats anyway, to see how quickly he’ll come back that time. Plus, from what I’ve heard, he’s come back days quicker from some of the previous deaths over the years.”

     “Okay, well, that’s been learned. I just think burning him alive is taking it too far.”

     “Well I’m not in charge of him or these tests… if they want to make the kid mad at them because of some unnecessary suffering, it’s their choice, and not me who did it.”

     It was really tempting to think that the commission wouldn’t go that far, burning him alive. Especially if Keigo was here today, and could very possibly serve as a reminder as the last time they used fire against one of them.

     But there was such a deep worry in his head that they actually would do it, say it was some kind of lesson so he could learn the pain of fire, make him know that he didn’t want to get himself stuck in it.

     Was hearing about it from Keigo not enough? Fire already made Izuku nervous after hearing Keigo’s stories, so he can only imagine how Keigo felt after actually feeling fire.

     So Izuku took one step back as the voices continued to get closer, and then another. One more, and then he turned on his heel, running back in the direction he came. Maybe he could try to find Keigo, run to him and try to make sure that the commission actually had some sense?

     No no, it was already late… how much time would Izuku have before he was being dragged off anyway?

     As Izuku ran into his room, still trying to figure out what to do, he ran into Gushika, who was clearly looking around the room for Izuku.

     “There you are, kiddo. I came to get you a couple hours ago, but figured you needed more rest for today’s test,” Gushika explained, missing the horrified expression Izuku held on his face as he realized his time to think of a plan was drastically reduced. Gushika already had gently placed his hand on Izuku’s back, starting to walk the two of them out of the room as he continued to speak. “Hawks already had to leave, but he tried to wait a while for you to wake up.”

      No no no, no, Keigo was gone?

     “But he has to get ready for his next mission, and needed to head back to his agency to get all of that organized,” Gushika continued to explain.

     Izuku eyed his window as he was led out of his room, taking note of the building nearby, where the roof was conveniently rather close to Izuku’s window.

     Izuku needed out.

     So, as they walked out, he put his training into practice as he quickly kicked the man in the back of the knee, his hand leaving Izuku’s back as he kneeled down on the ground, collapsing to it as Izuku delivered another kick, and then quickly turning back into his room before he could see if Gushika was upset or knocked out.

     It definitely seemed, so far, that fighting against his last trainer of the day made taking down Gushika much easier than Izuku would have thought.

     He slammed his door shut, locking it and quickly dragging a chair to sit underneath the handle, and then bolted towards the window. It was funny how he never tried to open it before. But now was the time to do so, and he needed to take the risk.

     It was as he quickly perched himself up on the windowsill that he was suddenly beyond nervous. He wasn’t very close to the ground floor at all, and the longer he stared down, the further the ground seemed. The gap between his window and the roof of the building next to it just looked further and further, but it was too risky to just try to squeeze his eyes shut and make the jump.

     Instead, Izuku just took in a deep, shaky breath of air, and then launched himself off of the windowsill, grateful for the pain he felt shoot through his legs as he landed on the rooftop. 

     But it was still far too close to the commission building. He wasn’t sure how long he had until they busted down his door, or used another nearby room when they realized that Izuku was running off.

     He spent so long grateful for the opportunity he was given, beyond glad that he was being trained next to such powerful individuals to be a hero, the thing he had always wanted to be. But Izuku was scared, and no amount of admiration for heroes or their career was going to make him want to turn around and get burnt alive.

     If it wasn’t the plan before, it almost surely was now, when he had rebelled against them more than he ever had before. He was actively running off, and had done so much more than a few snarky remarks.

     So he continued to run, leaping from building to building.

     No more death tests.

     No more waking up early just to train.

     No more having to prepare for the death to hit, sitting there in anticipation as he waited to be killed again. He never would understand why and how they were thinking of so many different methods. Yes, it had proven useful in notes over the years to see that the quirk improves, but it never stopped hurting.

     It was on that train of thought that he realized he was still tightly holding onto his notebook, and how the cover was already getting scratched up as he clumsily jumped from one rooftop to the next.

     He leapt onto another, and continued to think of the things he wanted to avoid. But really, the deaths were a major part. 

    There were things that felt so freeing right now, though. The thoughts of the freedom he hardly realized he needed, hardly wanting to consider himself trapped in the building that he had spoken himself into. The sacrifices he didn’t know he would make when he was little, and he would pay them back by calling himself trapped? It felt insulting to those sacrifices, in his mind, but he couldn’t help feeling free.

     As he continued to run, the soreness he would surely feel later not catching up to him quite yet, the more enjoyment he found as he leapt from one building to the next.

     He hadn’t been out of the building in so long, and he may feel overwhelmed by all the noises out here, all of the things he’d be unable to predict after growing so used to a near constant schedule. But that didn’t matter right now. It probably wouldn’t matter to him for much of the night.

     At least, that’s what he was thinking until arms suddenly grabbed him from under his armpits, pulling him close to whoever grabbed him, and stopping his retreat from the commission building.

     He had gotten so far, too.

Chapter Text

     Izuku screamed as he was lifted into the air, kicking his feet in the air as his fingers dug into thick sleeves. It was as if his body couldn’t decide if he wanted down cling on for dear life as they got higher and higher, or take the risk and fall back to the ground. He had already done well with one other hard landing, so surely it would be fine again if he hit the ground from… how high was he now?

     “PUT ME DOWN,” he shouted, still clinging onto the sleeved arms even tighter. He stared down at the ground in fear, watching as it got further and further. He hadn’t been this high off the ground for this long, not even when he had to jump to his death to see how long the damage from that may take. It had just been a quick leap, and then things were done.

      This? This was horrifying.

     The speed at which he was flown through the air blew his hair back worse than jumping across buildings did, and his eyes squinted shut at the force of the wind.

     “ PLEASE,” Izuku continued to shout, trying to peel his eyes away from the ground to look up at Keigo instead. “JUST PUT ME DOWN!”

     Finally looking up at Keigo, he watched as the person who he basically saw as a brother continued to look straight, never turning them around to go back in the direction that Izuku came from. He never looked down, but kept a firm grip on Izuku. 

     It wasn’t until a few minutes later that they finally started to descend, landing on a rooftop. The second their feet met the ground, Izuku all but collapsed as soon as they landed, laying down on the solid ground that he was so glad to meet again, without finding himself injured.

     “Sorry,” Keigo started, squatting down next to Izuku and gently placing his hand on Izuku’s headful of green curls. “I’ve learned that most people’s first flight isn’t always the best.”

     Izuku was tempted to say “no shit,” but was too focused on digging his fingers into the rooftop as if he was going to plant himself there.

     “ But, we’re even further from the commission now. And I fly pretty fast, so I don’t think they’ll be finding us here for a while,” Keigo continues, finally fully sitting down to make himself more comfortable. Maybe it became obvious that they weren’t going anywhere anytime soon? 

     When Izuku finally looked up, he saw the small frown Keigo had on his face, before he turned away, placing his chin against the palm of his hand, and then saying “I don’t plan on dragging you back to the commission… you must have your reasons for running off, and would I really be looking out for you if I took you back? Especially when I haven’t heard from you what happened?”

     Izuku, still trying to catch his breath, as if he had been actually doing much other than flailing around and getting plenty of air to breathe up in the air, took it as his turn to look away. He didn’t say anything though, fidgeting with the laces on his shoes, tugging at one end as if he was going to untie them, then pulling at the other end to loosely put it back in place.

     They still eventually came undone anyway.

     The silence between them continued to go on, waiting for one of them to be the one to break it, with neither seeming to open up anytime soon.

     It was Keigo who moved though, shuffling closer until he could pull Izuku into a hug. Izuku definitely wasn’t keeping track of how long that hug lasted, but he had no plans of pulling away from the one person he had been finding so much comfort in over the years.

     “You did a pretty good number on Gushika,” Keigo said with a chuckle, finally breaking the long stretch of quiet. “I was right outside the building, about to fly off when it went over the comms that you were running off… overheard it from the security that was right outside the door. Flew up, and saw Gushika hobbling over to your window.”

     Izuku snorted at the thought of it, and then asked “Didn’t try to chase?”

     “Maybe, maybe not. I dunno, but it looked like he had spent a lot of that time trying to bust down your door,” Keigo replied, pulling Izuku closer into the hug. “I took a little stop to ask about what was going on while others went to try to catch up to you… I stayed behind for a bit though to try to figure out what was going on. Though, they’re telling me that you ‘ran off for no reason at all.’”

     The smile that had been slowly forming on Izuku’s face as Keigo continued to speak suddenly fell, and he looked up at the blonde and said “It wasn’t for no reason.”

     Keigo hummed in agreement, tilting his head to the side in a small nod as he said “I figured. Would you like to be the one to catch me up on what happened after your naptime?”

     Izuku looked away again.

     “Listen, I’m telling you what I know, and will continue to keep telling you. I just need some help on your part, Izu.”

     “They weren’t going to kill me first,” Izuku muttered as he continued to bury his face in Keigo’s jacket. 

     He could feel the flying hero stiffen, going still, even with the lack of much context in Izuku’s words. He didn’t need context, not when it was a conversation that they were already having earlier in the day, something that they were both already worried about.

     “I didn’t want to die like that,” Izuku continued, feeling the tears well up in his eyes. He was already beyond well aware that he cried easily, as was Keigo… but he would still hate to make Keigo’s hero suit all tearstained. So he moved his head to where he was just facing down, that way any tears that may fall wouldn’t just soak up in the jacket.

     Dying was already a horrifying concept in the first place. Being able to come back from the dead, knowing that that was an ability of his, it made it less scary. But it didn’t eliminate all the fear, especially in the anticipation, the wait for the pain to come. The only thing he had been able to do was hope it was brief, but this time wouldn’t have even given him that.

     That seemed to be all Keigo needed to know, a thing he could easily understand, despite the fact that this part of their worlds was one of the most different things in their similar lives, as they had been for the past ten years. 

     It definitely helped that Izuku had gone to Keigo for basically anything over the years, and they had confided in each other about whatever things had been like with the commission lately, because that was basically all they had grown to know, the only thing they could share with one another.

     And then Keigo got to become a pro hero, and he could check on Izuku with more stories to share. 

     “I know, Izu, I know,” Keigo said. He let the hug last a little while longer, before gently placing his hands on Izuku’s shoulders, moving him back as he said “I can’t do much for you tonight, and I’m going to need you to keep yourself safe… but when I figure out more things, I’ll let you know. Just… expect the commission to send a lot of heroes after you. Don’t trust many people, not until I make sure they’re not after you.”

     “You couldn’t figure that out before you flew after me? You fly fast enough that they should have told you something, right,” Izuku quickly questions, the worry quickly showing in his expression. 

     “No, they’re not trusting me with that yet… just… try to hide where you think even I won’t find you. That’s the best way I can think for you to hide well. The roofs may seem safe for now, but as soon as it gets darker, the underground heroes are going to be up here.”

     Izuku nodded as Keigo talked, watching as he pulled his wallet out of his pocket, and handed over some money.

     “It’s not much, but hopefully it’ll get you somewhere to stay tonight. I’ll… I’ll try to find you again soon, that way I can get you some more… please, stay safe, Izu,” Keigo pleaded, grabbing Izuku’s shaky hands and putting the money in them. “No place is really safe, not now that you’ve run off. We know how controlling they can be… so… try to enjoy some freedom. Now run.”

     It didn’t take much more from Keigo for Izuku to start running, trying to get the shakiness down as much as he could so he could safely jump from one building to the next, up until he saw one with a door that he could run through, making his way down and out onto the streets. It felt so open though, and so he hid himself into the alleyways, eyes frantically scanning every building he was able to see in hopes that there was somewhere he could stay.

     Alleys weren’t a permanent hiding place though, and Izuku found himself on the dark streets more often than not. His hands held tight onto his arms, eyes darting in every direction as he tried to make sure that there were no heroes nearby. Keigo had flown him far, but he still had no clue just how many heroes were told to look for him. What if all nearby cities had been told to look for him?

     No place was safe.

      Not a single place was safe.  

     The decision felt so foolish, so stupid. A decision for his own safety, but this worry that he felt over being dragged in just made him feel like he was going to worry himself to death, and then be dragged back to be killed again.

     It was when he was considering just finding some box to hide under for the night that he saw an internet cafe, and a small shop right next to it.

     He looked over the baggy t-shirt and sweatpants he wore, bunching up the hems of his shirt in his shaky fists, before rushing across the street, grateful for the lack of any cars passing as he ran towards the internet cafe first, checking with how much it would cost to stay for a night, before he ran to the nextdoor store, quickly making his way over to some simple, cheap clothes, and putting together some of the extra money to buy something new.

     It wasn’t much, and hardly differed much from what he was already wearing. But it was different enough, and it could make the tiniest difference. It was warm outside, but he needed to be able to hide himself. The hoodie was a need in his mind, and he could just risk overheating if it meant that he could hide his hair, probably the biggest thing that could be used to identify him.

     Not every place was hot either, and he had plenty of plans to go hide, so he could continue walking around with another pair of sweatpants, these ones thinner than the ones he was currently wearing, that were actually supposed to keep him warm.

     Thankfully, the internet cafe was rather cool, and was nice to hide in for tonight. He wouldn’t trust the commission to not check the cameras in as many places as they could, try to track him down the second they found him in one.

     He just had to hope Keigo wouldn’t get caught.

     The internet cafe was definitely on a quiet part of town, and hardly anybody was there. He didn’t know where he was, but he would try to figure it out soon enough. If he got lucky, he had been flown to another city, somewhere that the commission may not have thought he’d reached by now.

     Izuku just had to trust in Keigo.

     He could keep trusting Keigo, right? He had to. Who else could help make sure that things were going to go okay for him out here? It’s not like he could get a job to support himself. He wasn’t old enough, for one thing, and if he tried to register for anything anywhere, he would surely be found quickly.

     Keigo was his only support out here.

     As he tried to get comfortable for the night, he looked at the small amount of money left, counting it and hoping that it would be good enough for a meal in the morning. It didn’t even have to be all that good. As long as it was enough.

     He placed his head in his hands as he mentally berated himself for this stupid idea. 

      This is so stupid, he thought. Why did I run off without any kind of plan at all? Heroes don’t just run. They step right into danger, put themselves at risk for others.

     He felt like a coward… but he tried to tell himself that this was something okay to be afraid of, to want to run away from. Because dying wasn’t doing anything for anyone.  

     Izuku looked at his notebook, the thing that he had hardly remembered holding for most of his escape. He was really starting to wonder how it had stayed with him, despite the fact that he was sure that there were multiple occasions he had put it down, times where he needed both hands, and never remembered picking it up.

     Hesitantly, he reached towards the notebook, sliding it off of the nearby table he had left it on, and turned it in his hands, looking over the item that carried so many important notes from over the years.

     That was when he spotted the small amount of bright red sticking out, and how it carefully went over a few pages before tucking itself between others.

      Keigo. Keigo had made sure that it stuck with him, probably trying to keep check on it after he had lifted Izuku into the air.

     This wasn’t something to just leave lying around, and they both knew it. He would definitely have to thank Keigo for making sure it stuck around with him when he saw him again.

     It was hard to get himself to sleep that night. Nothing really felt comfortable enough, and he spent just about every few minutes quickly opening his eyes to stare out the closest window his eyes could land on. The commission probably didn’t expect him to have any money, so Keigo had probably put him a step ahead… but it didn’t put a stop to the anxiety that they had found him.

     Did they have anything or anyone capable to track him down well? Something that could dig into any cameras and try to find him? What if they already knew he was here, and were just waiting until he was asleep to drag him out?

     He needed sleep though. The nap was enough to keep him awake for a while, but it wasn’t enough to let him last through the night, especially when he knew that he needed to be awake through the day, and find a better spot to hide.

     Somewhere cheap, preferably. Or costing no money at all.

     Were there any good abandoned places in the city? Maybe an area hardly patrolled by heroes?

     A million questions whirred through his mind, and eventually, he had managed to pass out until sometime around lunch. When he had realized the time, he grabbed the notebook, tucking it under his arm as he started to quickly make his way out of the building. 

     He was still pretty tired, and couldn’t help but keep rubbing at his eyes, especially whenever he yawned. 

     Izuku was also hungry… hungry and tired, he quickly learned, was not a great combination.

     He had gotten lucky that the internet cafe he found had some beds, so that had made his night at least a little bit comfier. But a bed to sleep on wasn’t enough to make him feel well rested, so he needed to find something to keep him awake.

     The first thing he had done was take a quick, warm shower. That had only helped a bit, so he went to grab some soda before he bolted out of the building. With the hood over his head, slowly sipping on the soda as he didn’t have anything else to fill his stomach for now, he started to go through the steadily filling streets.

     He had no clue where he was at still, but in a way, it seemed familiar. He hadn’t been anywhere outside of the commission base in ten years, and hardly remembered much before then… but this place had a sense of familiarity.

     Just not enough that he would know where he was going, even with sunlight pouring down.

     Once more, he took to the alleys. They didn’t feel as safe with the sunlight beating down on just about everything, lighting up just about every direction he went in. 

     Nothing was safe.

     That was something he couldn’t stop reminding himself of over and over ever since Keigo told him to trust no one. 

      It was on his walk that his lack of dinner last night, breakfast this morning, and so far, lack of lunch, were catching up to him. Izuku felt so much more aware of every restaurant he passed, the way the smell of the food was something so easy to smell.

     Eventually, he couldn’t help himself, and dug out the last of the money he had, counting it and then peeking out of the alleyway he was currently hiding in in hopes that he could see the price of a meal in one of the nearby ones.

     Just enough… he was really starting to wonder how he would make it through the rest of the day, or however long it would take for him to see Keigo again.

     But Izuku was hungry, and nothing was going to stop him from getting this one meal. He was grateful for the money Keigo had given him, but knew it wasn’t enough. Within all fairness, Keigo wasn’t expecting Izuku to run away, and had just taken out a handful of cash in hopes that it would help.

     So he crossed the street, rushing to the restaurant, and quickly trying to hunt down one of the cheapest meals on the menu. There was already a small line, so he didn’t need to worry about being too quick with his choice. 

     It was much to his own surprise that there were a few things to choose from at the same small price he had come her looking for, and eventually managed to determine which one he wanted best.

     As he waited for his food, all of that walking around made him realize that he really wanted to take a seat. So he did, hoping that the downtime, and being in the small restaurant could lessen his nerves a bit, let him relax before he started looking for somewhere safe again.

     An abandoned building really was the best idea he could think of, but he would have to hope that he wouldn’t draw any attention to it, in case someone like a hero, possibly well aware that nobody should be in it, noticed there was, in fact, someone hiding in it, and then investigated. All it would take is for them to take him to the police station, and the commission would probably be here in minutes.

      He would just have to make sure he didn’t get caught. After all, his only other option right now was to look for a place he could stay in legally, and that would cost money… something he was already just barely getting by with.

     Keigo would find him later today, or sometime tomorrow, right?

     Izuku looked at the last bits of money in his hand, thinking it would be enough for something small tonight, and knew he would really have to appreciate what would probably be his one actual meal of the day.

     His fingers drummed against the table he waited at impatiently, but quietly. He was hungry and tired of waiting, but not enough of either to want to draw attention to himself. Sure, running away felt stupid, but again, he didn’t want to be dragged back.

     Moving on to a quieter task, he started fidgeting with his hoodie, especially the hood, in hopes that it hid his hair enough that it wasn’t something that could be noticed at first sight. He hadn’t seen any heroes down here yet, but it didn’t mean that they didn’t exist at all down here. Not to mention, some of them could just be off duty, but already knew to look for him after hearing about it sometime last night, or even earlier today.

     God, not knowing who can be trusted was so stressful… and so far, being stressed was just making him more hungry.

     Three consistent meals a day, and now he was just betting on the one for today to get him through.

     Well, he had done worse hungrier. That was probably the best train of thought Izuku could lead himself on to make him feel better about his situation.

     And then finally, his food was done! He had happily taken it with a smile before taking his seat again, almost starting to scarf down the entire thing, until he realized halfway through that he should probably start taking his time, that way it feels more filling.

     But of course, things couldn’t continue to go right, could they? Not that there were a series of things going right today, but the food was going to be a good start! 

     No, there just had to be heroes walking in. It was beyond obvious that the two were as well, dressed in their costumes and all. He didn’t recognize either, probably two heroes that had somewhat recently debuted. One was a woman with long blonde hair, her bodysuit mainly purple and white. She walked alongside a man whose costume was wood, or he himself was wood. But the second option was probably the one, considering there were actual clothes that still looked like a costume over all of the wood.

     Izuku kept his head down for the most part, staring intently at his food, and hoping that it wasn’t obvious that he was intentionally avoiding looking at the heroes.

     What didn’t help was that the rest of the restaurant seemed to recognize the heroes, a few eagerly walking over for autographs, while others excitedly whispered about how one of them had debuted today.

     Well, he was right when it came to knowing one of them was new. He wondered how new the other one was…

     Either way, he had figured out one of them was Mount Lady, who was excitedly signing autographs, despite how it hindered her progress in the line. Kamui Woods, the other hero, seemed less eager to sign anything.

     “Come on, it’s fun,” Mount Lady said to the wooden hero. “Don’t be so sour that I took down that giant villain this morning!”

     Kamui Woods just shrugged before he turned back to facing the menu.

     Izuku slowly moved his notebook closer, sliding it off the table, and then putting it on his lap. The chair next to him was definitely an option, but that put it at risk of someone else grabbing it. What someone would do with a regular looking notebook at first glance, he didn’t know. But with how many stories Keigo would tell him with criminals and villains, he had no doubt some people would just do the craziest things for seemingly no reason at first.

     So, the notebook was being kept close.

     The noodles he had ordered were finally starting to cool down a bit more that each bite wasn’t on the verge of being too hot to eat, but it’s not like the heat had really bothered him earlier. Izuku definitely wasn’t going to sit around and wait much longer for it to cool.

     “Are you paying for yourself,” Kamui Woods whispered to Mount Lady, their spot in the line just a couple feet away from where Izuku sat. It took everything in him to not tense up, startled at the realization that the heroes were right there.  

     “Well, uh,” Mount Lady started with a nervous chuckle. “You see, I haven’t really gotten paid yet, and… you know.”

      Kamui Woods sighed, and then said “And here I was thinking I was going to be treated to a late lunch after this morning.”

     “Hey, the situation just looked like it could use a bit of help!”

     “I had it under control,” he muttered, seemingly still upset about whatever villain fight had happened this morning, his voice bitter as he stuffed his hands in his pockets.

     “Okay, okay, you had it under control,” Mount Lady says, her voice light and making an attempt to be cheerful. “You’ll help me with lunch today though, right? I’ll treat you to a good lunch when I get paid!”

     “Fine.”

     The conversation was amusing, but not enough to stop him from the fear he felt with the heroes there. In fact, his eating had returned to being quick, swiftly running out of the building the moment the bowl was completely empty.

     It was as he was leaving that he heard them talking about another villain running around recently, but had missed just which hero was around and taken on the chase for the villain.

     This part of the city was definitely too busy for anywhere to hide. So he had to make his way even further into the city. Maybe towards the edge?

     How would he find the edge? He doesn’t even know where he is.

     Maybe one of the first steps would be to look at the names on buildings for once today? Actually look at the boards and papers put on the walls of buildings, whether they were out in the open or in alleyways? That was probably the best way to figure out where he was since he didn’t plan on talking to anyone else.

     Tucking the notebook under his arm, he turned back into another alleyway, winding down the street, especially now that they were getting busier.

     When he had run out of alleyway to hide in for now, he peeked into one of the buildings that had a tv in the window, the news playing and able to quietly be heard through the window. With the time at the bottom, he realized it was best to assume that people were starting to be let out of school, and that was what was making everything pretty busy right now.

     Well, with the streets this covered in people for now, it was probably the best time to be out in the open, able to hide between everyone and blend in.

     It felt a little bit faster since he wasn’t busy making one turn after the next through alleys, trying to keep himself in them. In fact, he had actually been able to find out that he was in Musutafu, which had immediately brought him some sense of relief. He may not have had many memories of the place, but it definitely explained why it was familiar: it was the city he had spent about the first four and a half years of his life in.

     It didn’t change the fact that he didn’t know how to get through the city anymore, everything familiar but so unrecognizable at the same time.

     He was sure that if he saw something like his old apartment, he would know… but right now, he didn’t see anything like that. It was just a busy street in what was probably near the middle of the city.

     Eventually, he had started to make his way back towards a quieter part of the city, and found himself walking under a bridge, messing with the edges of his notebook as he walked. He finally was managing to keep himself from staring at the floor, trying to get a good look at all of the buildings.

     But of course, luck wasn’t on his side. It made it well aware that there really wasn’t much that would go right today, as soon as the manhole cover started to rattle right behind him. He had already been taught to pay good attention to his surroundings, not just let any minor noise slide, as it could be something major that he had missed in an attempt to pretend like it was nothing.

     He quickly turned to see what it was, knowing there wasn’t any good reason that a manhole cover should be moving. It didn’t clatter against the concrete for long, before it was suddenly tossed into the air by a thick, green sludge. 

     Izuku started to back away, turn to run. But the sludge was fast, already having been on the move for what may have been a long while. Meanwhile, Izuku was still trying to gain speed in the two seconds he had before the sludge suddenly got a hold of him, pulling him back.

     The sludge seemed to pant as it got a hold of Izuku, who was desperately trying to kick it off.

     “A medium sized body… to hide in,” it panted out, before suddenly lunging at Izuku. Despite all of the avoiding he had done against heroes, right now, all he wanted one as he screamed, knowing there was nothing he could do right now against the villain.

     He would survive this, whether he died first or not. Suffocation was one of his least favorite ways he had died, but it was one of the quickest to come back from. Maybe it would be even quicker than last time, since the test for that death had been years prior, and he had already gotten steadily faster at coming back from the dead.

     However, he was also dead on energy, and didn’t have enough food in his system to replace that missing energy. If anything, it may mean that it takes either the same amount of time, or even longer.

     He clawed uselessly at the sludge as he wondered if this was the villain that was being chased earlier. If so, who was the hero taking care of this?  

     “Don’t worry,” the villain started. “I’m just hijacking your body. Calm down.”

      Oh yeah, silly me! I’m so calm right now AS I’M BEING SUFFOCATED, Izuku screamed in his head, glaring at the creepy yellow and red eye that peered at him. He swung at hit, managing to get the sludge off of him just enough that he could get a breath in, trying to cough out some of it as he heard the villain shout in pain.

     And then out a hero came in a huge gust of wind, their large hand grabbing onto Izuku as the sludge was suddenly blown away, splattered in multiple parts under the bridge.

     As Izuku tried to cough out what he could feel still inside his lungs, catching some of the sludge in his hand as he did so, the hero’s hand moved from the arm he wasn’t coughing into to one of his shoulders instead, firmly rested there as the hero crouched down to get to eye level, asking “Young man, are you okay?”

     Izuku’s eyes widened, and all he could think was Well shit… today couldn’t get any worse, could it? Of course All Might had to be here…

Chapter Text

     Izuku’s first thought when he saw the smiling face of the Symbol of Peace was Oh shit, he’s looking for me, isn’t he? The commission must have told him.

     He quickly backed away, before inevitably slipping in the sludge that still surrounded the area under the bridge, falling once more. Izuku winced at the stinging in his elbows from trying to save himself from the fall as he got up, but quickly ended up turning over as he continued to cough, watching as some more of the sludge splattered to the ground.

     All Might’s large hand started to roughly pat Izuku’s back, and it ended up helping to get more sludge out, up until that coughing fit eventually ended.

     With how sore his throat felt, he was really starting to wish it would have actually killed him, that way he could come back feeling fine. The only issue there was the fact that he’d be dead, and all the easier to find and bring in to the commission.

     “Well, you’re definitely alive, young man! I would recommend going to get yourself checked out,” All Might says, smile widening on his face. “Now, excuse me for a minute, but I really must get this villain put together to turn him in.”

     As the blonde man moved to empty his large, full bottles of soda, Izuku moved to start gathering the sludge villain together, scooping it into piles. Or was it puddles? Thick, gooey puddles?

     All Might joined him in scooping up the sludge soon enough, though, handing Izuku one of the empty bottles since he was already helping with the villain. The hero kept close to Izuku as they worked through the sludge, as if he was waiting for Izuku to make an attempt to run away, and be close enough to stop it.

     Izuku started to scoop up the sludge faster, shoving more and more of the unconscious villain into the bottle as quick as he possibly could, cringing as he squished both of the eyes in. As soon as his bottle was as filled as it could be, and All Might was squeezing some of the last of the villain into his own bottle, Izuku twisting the cap tightly onto his own bottle.

     “You did a good job handing that villain,” All Might said, placing his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, making the boy tense up. The other hand slid the large bottle into one of his own large pockets, almost fully covering the bottle. “It was a very brave thing of you to do, and I thank you for your help, young man.”

     Izuku stares up at the hero, hoping that the hand on his shoulder would be lifted any second now, that All Might, with the many other things he could spend his time on, was not informed of Izuku’s disappearance. Especially since, as far as Izuku knew, the symbol of peace had never been involved in the commission’s personal training of people with quirks that they deemed powerful enough to be taken under their wing.

      And then the large hand was off his shoulder, the hand still coated in a thin layer of sludge, other than the occasional larger amount that was grouped together on his palm, and transferred over to Izuku’s hoodie.

     “Now,” All Might started, and made the mistake of looking away from Izuku. If the man was after him, Izuku wouldn’t let himself be caught so easily. 

     So he turned and ran, trying to be quiet as he bolted down the street. He didn’t hear whatever else the hero said, but didn’t care right now.

     With his free hand, he made sure the hoodie was secure over his head again, sure that that was probably the one thing that saved him from being grabbed so quickly. Yes, Izuku’s face was fully on show since the hood definitely didn’t cover that, but it seemed that hiding his hair may work. 

     Because really, why wouldn’t the commission grab the number one hero, now that Izuku was thinking about it? Izuku’s quirk wasn’t physically powerful, useful while in battle, but powerful nonetheless. And when the commission is training people, they’re trained well. Despite not even being done with his training, Izuku was confident that he could at least fight better than a good amount of heroes.

     The hero commission also could have full control over a hero’s schedule, and quickly arrange others to take over the hero’s other plans if that specific hero was needed. Someone could already be doing All Might’s work from him while he hunted down Izuku.

     Musutafu wasn’t a place that All Might frequented, something that Izuku was well aware of. But this city was so clearly close to the commission, considering the flight with Keigo had only lasted a few minutes. So with the hero already out of place, Izuku needed to get out of there.

     If All Might wasn’t after Izuku by some slim chance, he wasn’t going to wait and find out.

     The only reason why All Might may have not just grabbed Izuku and called someone else to deal with the villain was because he needed to get a closer look at Izuku’s face, since a face covered in sludge and then Izuku being hunched over as he coughed it out definitely weren’t the best ways to recognize someone.

     The hood had nearly slipped a few times, but managed to stay on. 

     That must have been the reason All Might was staying close. He was trying to see Izuku’s face to make sure that he was the kid that his busy schedule was interrupted to find. 

     Izuku had learned in his run on the rooftops that he could run pretty far and fast without being out of breath, without his lungs hurting too bad as he grasped for air. But right now, it burned.  

     Though, he couldn’t slow down. Not yet. Izuku needed a place to hide, and he needed to find one fast. A place he could stay and make a home out of would be preferable, but he wasn’t even too picky at the moment. As long as it means that he wouldn’t be so easily seen by the Symbol of Peace.

     Izuku pushed through the pain in his lungs though, tried to ignore the way he was ready to sit down and collapse while he heaved more air into his lungs. But eventually, he realized he was far too tired, that he really needed to take a minute to sit down, and eventually settled for an alleyway that he could easily hide in, hiding between two buildings that managed to keep him just out view from the street, sunlight peeking through the part that did connect to the street.

     He set the bottle down on the ground next to him, and curled up on the ground as he caught his breath, body beyond happy that he was finally done running for now. 

     Knowing All Might was in the city, it made finding a place to hide for a long period of time, safely sleep in, all the more urgent. But it also made it so much more dangerous, because the Symbol of Peace surely knew that some buildings weren’t supposed to have people in them?

     Though, knowing that All Might usually wasn’t in this city made it just a little bit less horrifying, because it wasn’t like the man knew the city. The downside was that Izuku didn’t really know Musutafu anymore either. He couldn’t even remember if his mother had pointed out abandoned buildings. And if she had, what if they weren’t standing anymore?

     But Izuku just had to hope that they existed, that there really was a safe place for him to be. Keigo could have just left Izuku anywhere in an attempt to get him far. But at the same time, it was a hope in the back of Izuku’s head that placing him in Musutafu was intentional.

     Izuku rolled onto his back finally, staring up at the bright blue sky, and then suddenly sat up. He was in Musutafu, the place he had spent the first four, almost five years of his life in. Had Keigo expected Izuku to go back to his mother now that he supposedly had the opportunity?

     Though, he didn’t really have that opportunity. Now that he was out, his mother was sure to be under a close watch, wasn’t she? They would expect Izuku to return home? 

     Was it home anymore? Would he be welcome there, after all of the things he had said? He didn’t mean most of them… at least he’s pretty sure he didn’t. He was four, almost five, and just wanted to be a hero. And all that hope had gotten him was a permanent trip away from his mom, and one death after the next. The knowledge of how many different ways he could die, and how only he could come back from them.

     Would she be mad at him? Would she want to see him anymore?

     No, it wasn’t an idea he could entertain. Trying to see her would not only get him caught, but probably get her in trouble. Her custody over him was completely taken away, and he wasn’t even sure what that would mean for her ability to see him. He hadn’t been old enough to understand what had happened in court that day, what all the adults said. Hell, he didn’t even remember them.

     It’s not like the commission would talk about it any further, after all. He was there to be trained by them, to be taken under their wing, and that was it. 

     If going back to his mom was Keigo’s idea, it wasn’t a smart one. But it was something he was trying to excuse with Izuku’s spur of the moment decision. There wasn’t time to try to put together a good idea.

     He didn’t even have enough money to get himself through a whole day, so how could he have expected either of them to have Izuku in a good place to find shelter in?

     Izuku pushed himself up again, his breathing finally back to normal. He reached down to grab the bottle-

     Wait a minute.

     Izuku nervously looked down at the large bottle in hand, and the supposedly closed eyes of the sludge villain peeking through some of the villain, the half that Izuku had scooped up.

     If All Might wasn’t after Izuku before, he almost certainly was now…

     He needed to find a hero to turn this into, someone that could contact All Might, and quickly. Really, any hero would work.

     Now that he had noticed he had been holding it, it was the last thing Izuku wanted to be doing. In the bottle was half of the villain that had tried to kill Izuku. Not that killing Izuku would actually physically do something permanent, but it did put him at more risk than he had ever hoped for. Because now he had to find a hero, and hope that someone else would have the villain and had contacted All Might before the hero managed to find Izuku again.

     Though, he still held the bottle close, trying to make sure to not look down at the villain.

     He wondered what would happen when the villain woke up, considering half of him was somewhere hopefully completely different. This half seemed like it may be the more important half, with both of the eyes in this bottle. But it must be pretty disorienting to be missing the other half, right?

     If it came down to it, if the villain was able to free itself once it gained consciousness once more, hopefully his disorientation that he would possibly have would give Izuku the small opportunity he needed to guarantee he wasn’t caught in the villains sludge once more.

     To find a hero, Izuku had to put himself right out in the open. He walked quickly, trying to ignore the urge to keep tugging the hood down more and more, prioritizing keeping both hands on the bottle.

     There was just one person after the next on the street, all, for the most part, minding their own business as they walked by. But not a single one was a hero, and it was becoming more and more worrisome about where they may be right now. How Izuku had been walking for so long, and not a single one had made an appearance.

     The panic seemed to be clear on his face as he stopped at a crosswalk with a few other people, impatiently waiting for the light to change, for the cars to have to stop so that he could safely get across. One of the older women who was waiting near Izuku lightly tapped on his shoulder, her face concerned as she said “Are you alright, young man?”

     Do older people just have a habit of calling anyone younger than them “young man?” Because All Might definitely wasn’t young, with how far back his feats were able to be drawn whenever he would try to learn about other heroes and their debuts, and how Izuku was an absolute fan of the man when he was little, watching that video that got the Symbol famous every night before bed. And that was ten years ago, with a video much older than Izuku was.

     So All Might was definitely much older right now, despite how he still hadn’t seemed to slow down once.

     But that wasn’t the point. He really needed to stop thinking about All Might, because that was only stressing him out even more.

     The woman’s head tilted to the side, her eyebrows furrowing as she waited for her response.

     “Oh, uh… yeah, I’m okay,” Izuku starts to respond, holding the bottle close. “Well, for the most part, I guess. Do you know where some heroes may be?”

     “Well I know I’ve seen All Might earlier today, though I’m not sure where he may have gone… it’s been a quiet day today, so there haven’t been too many heroes out patrolling today. There is a police station another few streets down, and then to the right,” the woman explains, giving Izuku a warm smile.

     “Thank you so much,” he replies, trying to give her a smile of his own, only to be a shaky, small one that quickly fell the moment the light changed, and they could cross the street.

     Izuku sped past one person after the next, winding through the steadily building crowd as more and more people made their way onto the street, especially as students tried to make their way home. As he passed each street, he took a mental note of it, chanting it in his head over and over.

      First street, first street, first street, first street… Second street, second street, seco-

     He had been too focused looking at the path ahead of him that he didn’t notice the warning sign of someone just ahead, a can going down the street after being kicked out of the small alley nearby. He missed that warning, and ran right into someone.

     He ran into that person, dressed in a middle school uniform, with their hands stuffed into their pockets as they wore a scowl on their face. He ran into them, and the bottle fell out of his hands, hitting the ground once, then twice. One more time, and it burst open.

     Izuku quickly pushed himself up, fear quickly showing on his face as he started to back up, grabbing into the boy he ran into.

     Now was a bad time for no heroes to be available nearby.

     Toshinori felt as though his day was going as normal as it could. He had woken up early, tried to take a break from heroics for now, knowing that he needed to prepare himself for a life at UA, but this time as a teacher. He had been busy the past week, and wanted some downtime.

     So the first step to this plan was to start his workout, shower, and then go shopping later.

    His breakfast was something simple that he had cooked, trying to relax in just about everything that he was going to be doing. It wasn’t often that he was in Musutafu, but he needed to be closer to UA if he was going to start being there nearly every day of the week. It was calm, for the most part. Even without the city aware that he was here, it definitely seemed to not have too big of a villain problem.

     Of course, there was the one giant villain this morning, but two heroes managed to handle that villain pretty well on their own. By the time he retired, he could trust that Japan would be left with a wonderful generation of heroes.

     However, he needed to leave something with that generation. He needed to find the next holder of One For All, and UA was his best bet at that, especially if he wanted to beat the vision Mirai had seen.

     The idea of not having much time left in their life may be horrifying to most, but Toshinori knew that he had lived a pretty fulfilling life. He had been a hero for about forty years now, and had successfully taken down All For One, his biggest goal ever since the quirk was passed down to him, and he lost Nana. He had become the symbol his country needed, and crime had gone down so much ever since he took the mantle as Symbol of Peace.

     Really, he was ready to go if the time came. There were just some things he wanted to wrap up, guarantee that the quirk he had been trusted with wouldn’t die out with him. It was something too important to the world of quirks, passed down ever since they had shown in the first generation of quirk wielders. 

     Toshinori wouldn’t rush his time, especially if Mirai said that he was going to go out in some great battle… but he could definitely spend some of his time relaxing.

     The workout he did was much simpler compared to what he usually did. Usually he saved the simple routines for the days he planned on being out a lot and doing heroics, but today was an exception.

     He didn’t change forms either, trying to make sure that his weaker form wasn’t too weak. He may not have all of the strength he would like in this form, but it would still be able to throw a strong punch if necessary.

     After the shower, he prepared his lunch. The start of the coughing fit should have been his first sign that things wouldn’t exactly go well, especially when he almost got the blood into his food. But he was determined, and beyond used to coughing up blood after the past five years.

     There were certain foods he definitely missed, but the injury in a stomach was something he was working on seeing more as his sign of victory, that he came out alive against the villain who had haunted their world ever since the dawn of quirks. So if he had to change what he ate, it was a price that was worth it.

     Soda wasn’t exactly on the list of things he should drink, especially not frequently, but he would make an exception for today, indulge in the sweet tooth. He planned on having Tsukauchi over as well for a bit, catch up with one of his dearest friends, especially on this day that he was trying hard to keep everything calm in. It was also something that would get Tsukauchi energy, without the man consuming even more coffee.

     Once his hair was dried, and he had cleaned up his mess from lunch, he got ready to go out and shop for the sodas. 

     Really, he could have just minded his own business. But there wasn’t anyone else around, nobody in pursuit of the villain already. And Toshinori had never been good at standing back when people could be in danger.

     So he went after the sludge villain, following them through the sewers.

     Even while in his buffed up form, the sludge villain was able to wind his way through the corners of the sewers so much easier, keeping just ahead of Toshinori, up until the villain managed to get himself out of view.

     Toshinori paused in front of the two dark paths, trying to figure out where the villain may have gone. He really didn’t want to lose this villain, someone that he knew he needed to try to bring in.

     The commotion to the left is what had Toshinori running in that direction, noticing the trapped boy immediately. He didn’t hesitate to react, pulling the boy out the rest of the way.

     Toshinori wasn’t too late to save the boy, but he wasn’t exactly on time either as he watched the boy cough out the sludge that was already scattered all around the underneath of the bridge they stood under.

     What did worry Toshinori more than the fact that this boy had nearly died from the sludge villain was the fact that the boy seemed to be scared of him. Toshinori, who was the Symbol of Peace, the number one hero, All Might. He wanted to make sure everyone who he came across would feel safe, unless they were a villain. And this boy didn’t seem like a villain.

     But Toshinori knew he should never judge anyone by their appearance. Though, this was a boy, so he was probably just still in need of help from more than the sludge villain, and had no clue how to ask!

     Toshinori was going to ask if there was anything he could do to help the boy, something that he may need as they scooped up the villain, cramming him into bottles, but the boy had run off before he got the opportunity.

     He didn’t even get to thank the boy for the help that he had been given…

     With a sigh, he began to look around for the other bottle, his left hand lightly pressing against the pocket that already held the bottle he had filled. 

     It was really a shame that he had to waste this perfectly good soda that he had just bought, but he knew he could always buy more. And it was really a good thing to have to guarantee that he could safely bring this villain in, that there was a way to keep them detained! There didn’t seem to be much of a solid body on the villain, so quirk removing cuffs didn’t really seem like an option, even if he did have them.

     Wiping the stickiness from the sludge onto his pants, his eyebrows furrowed as he realized that he was having no luck finding the bottle. Only to suddenly remember that the boy never put it down, that he had run away the second that he was out of Toshinori’s view. He had hoped that the boy put the bottle down before he ran off, even taking a peek outside of the small tunnel.

     The boy must have accidentally taken the bottle in his seemingly desperate need to run off.

     Toshinori frowned, but started to quickly make his way away from the bridge, hoping that he could find that boy soon. He was sure that it wasn’t intentional to take the villain away, but that didn’t mean that things would continue to be safe. After all, what if the villain got out, and the boy just ended up putting himself in danger once more, as well as even more people?

     After the villain’s attempt at running away earlier, Toshinori was sure that the villain had no issue with hurting people in his attempt to get away and get what he wanted. Truly, a villain that must be stopped before he could cause more damage.

     But first, he had to find that boy.

     Keigo had expected to be called back to the commission quickly, but hadn’t expected the small amount of sleep he had been granted. He already spent most of the night within the commission, patrolling around while the security that typically watched over the building was instead sent outside to look for Izuku. Last night, Keigo became the security instead, after he returned and said he had no luck finding Izuku, that Izuku had figured out where Keigo may look too well.

     “You boys are close, after all,” the commission president had said as she sat in Izuku’s room last night, legs crossed, hands resting on top of them as she slowly turned Izuku’s desk chair back and forth as she waited. “I should have expected that all those stories you told him would leave some kind of impression, something he could use. I just didn’t expect him to be using them against you. Truly an impressionable boy.”

     They were meeting back up in Izuku’s room once more, something that Keigo still failed to understand the reason for. He had already been flying around all day and most of the night, “looking” for Izuku, and talking to random commission members about where he may have gone. None of them had come up with any results, just as Keigo had hoped.

     The cameras around the city were a measure that none of them had taken yet, as far as Keigo was aware. Now that he was going to see the commission president, he may just be able to get some clearer answers on what all was being done.

     The only way he could think that he wouldn’t learn about what all is actually going on was if they already suspected him of hiding Izuku, something he wasn’t currently doing… technically. Yes, he had flown Izuku further away, but not a single person seemed to be aware of that. Not a single camera or person had spotted him snatching Izuku off of the roof he was running on, and dropping him off somewhere safer.

     Keigo would learn what was going on, and hopefully pass the message on to Izuku himself, once he figured out where the kid had run off to. The only thing he knew was that Izuku may still be in Musutafu, but no idea where else.

     He had made a trip to Izuku’s room more often than not, a room he had frequented just as much if not more than the commission president’s office. Knowing how difficult the training could be with the commission, it had been a concern of his all the time on how Izuku was doing, especially with a quirk as sacrificial as his. It upset him that he didn’t notice things quite as well, actually expect Izuku to reach his breaking point, and so soon.

     If he had known, he would have started putting more things to the side to help the boy he saw as a brother, especially after growing up together the past ten years.

     “Ah, there you are,” the commission president said, standing next to Izuku’s still open window, her fingers laced together in front of her as she gave Keigo a warm smile. 

     “I’m surprised we’re not meeting in your office,” Keigo says, trying to crack a smile of his own, keeping a joking tone with the woman. 

     “Well, I’ve decided to take it upon myself to look around the room for any signs of where he may have gone,” she begins to explain. “He was like a child of my own, if I had one. You are too, Hawks… though I’m surprised I didn’t see this outcome. What may have led to it… but I did notice that there’s a lack of his notebook in here, the one he carries around whenever we test his quirk.”

     She moves to sit on Izuku’s bed, patting a spot next to her to signal for Keigo to sit next to her. He does, careful to keep his wings just out of the way, keep them from hitting the woman.

     Was she… taking an innocent approach in this? As if it wasn’t often her orders for how their quirks were being tested?

     “I tried to be careful with you boys, unlike how my predecessor did with Lady Nagant. She didn’t make it through the work expected of her because my predecessor was careless with who he killed, whether they were hero, vigilante, or villain. He wanted to clear the streets, but didn’t take her into consideration. I’ve tried to care for you boys,” she pauses for a moment, resting one of her hands on Keigo. “But now I’m worried that I didn’t care enough. I’m afraid I may have turned too much attention to you, in hopes that I would catch if the missions got to be too much.”

     “It seems that you were paying attention to the wrong person,” Keigo says, glancing out the window himself.

     “It seems so… I’ve tried to prepare that boy for a lot, but the outside world is not one of them. I was hoping that that was something you could teach him, help make sure that he would know what he would be doing. We did our best to teach you, but I was so sure that you’d be able to help him better than we could in that department.” She sighs, patting Keigo’s hand before she turns to face him. “And now he’s thrown himself out there, and I’m worried that he’ll find himself in much more trouble than he was expecting.”

     “Well, you know him… since he can’t die, he’ll take risks. And I guess he thinks he’ll be in more trouble here than anything that he could get himself into out there,” Keigo tries to reason with her, shrugging. 

     Her grip on his hand gets tighter as she says “If you find him, tell him that he won’t be in trouble. We just want him to come back, that way he’ll be safe, and we’ll work out what made him run off together. We’ll help him train to complete his dream, just as he had hoped when we spoke to him all those years ago.”

     Izuku wouldn’t be in trouble? Keigo almost scoffed at the thought of it, knowing that the commission killed Izuku over and over just because they could. A notebook full of deaths should have been an obvious sign that they had overdone it, but that hadn’t stopped them. The only way that they had been stopped when Lady Nagant came to them so many years ago about her worry that they were overdoing it, that she had killed too many for them, was when she had killed the former commission president.

     Leaving Izuku out of punishment for running away? Him, one of the commission’s projects for the past ten years, that they had dedicated so many of their resources to? Izuku, walking evidence that the commission needed someone to control the power they had over society, and the heroes especially?

     It was almost funny, how he was expected to believe it.

     It was almost funny, how he almost fell for her manipulation up until that point. Almost, because it can take a manipulator to see another more often than not. He was taught how to manipulate people from her, so he could see what she was doing.

     Had she realized that her chances of getting Izuku brought to her by Keigo had significantly gone down, while she played the facade of an innocent woman who tried to fill the role as a mother for both of them? 

     Izuku had run away for a reason. It would go against everything Keigo had hoped to be if he brought Izuku back now.

     “What all are you doing to look for him right now, that way I can try to fill in the other spots,” Keigo asked. He needed this information, wouldn’t let his frustration with her manipulation stop him from trying to relay the message to the kid, figure out how careful the both of them had to be. 

     She looked at him for a while, scanning over him as she tried to figure out what all she should tell.

     “We just have people on the lookout right now. Just continue what you have been doing, and I’ll let you know if we’ve made any progress.” She gives Keigo’s hand a small pat, and then gets up to leave. 

     As the door clicks shut behind her, Keigo looks around the room one last time. He had known that it was a spur of the moment decision from Izuku, so there really wouldn’t have been any kind of hints to find in here… but he wanted to look too. It would be risky to bring Izuku anything from here, especially if it was noticed that the object went missing. Though, Keigo hoped to be able to get away with something small, that would be overlooked and forgotten if it were to suddenly disappear.

     He ended up settling with a couple different outfits, knowing that Izuku had only run off with what he had on, and the notebook. 

     With a sigh, he tucked the folded up clothes into his jacket, and then leapt out the window. He still had to pinpoint the exact point that his feather was at, the one he left with Izuku… but also knew that he tried to keep some distance. Keigo couldn’t go directly to Izuku, not yet. The feather he left with Izuku would help him bring Izuku to wherever Keigo may leave something for the kid, but Keigo was already too high in the hero ranks to just go anywhere.

     Keigo was leaving the commission base with nothing helpful, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t find a way to make sure Izuku would be okay out there. If there was anything true that she had said, it was that Izuku hadn’t been prepared to handle himself outside of the commission at all.

     The commission president was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. Hawks can’t be trusted fully in matters against Midoriya, especially since she knew that they were close. Their closeness was something she could build off of to find Midoriya, whose unsupervised presence outside put everything she’d been working for here. 

     She already knew from the start that Midoriya was a risky piece to pull into her plan, that guaranteed her strength and safety. With the children trained by the commission, the dirty work could be done, making sure Japan stayed the safe place that had taken so much work to make happen, without ruining the image of any other heroes, the morals that they had gone with.

     Most people weren’t willing to kill, especially when all they wanted to do was save, unless it was something they were raised to be ready for. Midoriya’s quirk, already being so closely connected to death, there were a couple ways she had expected things to go with him: for him to use his knowledge and familiarity with death to kill with ease, having experienced death enough that he could grant them as merciful of a kill as he could think of. The quickest way out. 

     Or, he would have wanted to keep someone from being killed. 

     She wasn’t entirely sure what route Midoriya would have taken, even now. He was aware of the missions she would send Hawks on, but he never protested against them. But he never seemed to say anything about how they were okay either. He was still a risky piece in her game, and now things had gotten dangerous.

     She could trust Hawks to not say anything. Lady Nagant has long been unable to say anything, locked away before she could get a word out when she had decided it wasn’t something she was okay with anymore.

     It all came down to how the children were raised, and she couldn’t fail with Midoriya. She needed him back in the commission building, until she knew he was a safe piece to put into play in keeping Japan safe.

     She wasn’t sending multiple heroes after him, no. Instead, she would let Hawks and Midoriya think that she was, watch them squirm until the fear got to Midoriya, and he inevitably came back. If he didn’t come back himself, it would be Hawks’s worry over Midoriya that got them figured out, when she would inevitably see through the news where he was.

     The commission president knew that she had to play a mind game with the boys to get Midoriya back, make them crack and inevitably give up on this pitiful attempt at rebellion. They would quickly realize that there’s not much a fourteen year old can do on his own, find ways to take care of himself without just suffering on loop.

     However, she also knew that the boy would eventually think of something. She had no doubt in that. He was smart, and she had made sure that that intelligence was something he could hone in on. This also made her aware that the longer he was out there, the less of a chance she would have to take him back without some issue popping up, something that would get in the way of keeping all of this under wraps.

     She just had to have faith that both of the boys would crack soon.

Chapter Text

     The way the sludge slowly creeped up was almost a thing of nightmares, and the way the eyes slid into place. It couldn’t loom over them as well as it did earlier, half of the villain gone wherever All Might was, but it was still horrifying. 

     It was even less sludge needed to crawl into their lungs again, after all.

     If Izuku were to die, would his own quirk be able to get the villain out? Or would he be stuck dead until the villain was done puppeteering his corpse? This wasn’t exactly something they had been able to test out, nor was it something he wanted to test out.

     “What the fuck is that,” The blonde that Izuku had run into questioned. Izuku continued to back up, one shaky step after the next. He wanted to run, he wanted to get as far as possible and quickly. But there were so many innocent people around, who had no clue what the villain would do to them, the fact that they all had to run.

     Izuku grabbed onto the dark sleeve of the other boy’s middle school uniform, pulling him back as he continued to walk.

     “You need to run,” Izuku muttered, reaching up with his other hand to tug the hood onto his head better, gripping onto the other boy’s arm tightly.

     “There you aaare, boy,” the sludge villain spat out, voice sinister as he was turning and locking its eyes onto Izuku. Of course the mouth had been crammed into Izuku’s bottle as well, making this all so much worse.

     The other two middle schoolers had already run off, disappearing right back into the alley they were walking out of. That had started the question in Izuku’s head, wondering Am I the reason this other kid hasn’t run off? I shouldn’t have grabbed him… okay I really should let go so he can run off.

     So Izuku did, only to quickly push the kid to the side as the sludge lunged at the both of them, but seemingly more at Izuku than anyone else. Which seemed about right, considering the villain had already directly addressed Izuku.

     Really, why was he calling this other kid “kid?” The two of them were probably the same age, if anything. The boy was taller, but was in a middle school uniform. Izuku, though shorter, knew his own age, and the fact that he would probably still be in middle school too. So, probably the same age!

     However… Izuku still had no clue who this kid was, and blonde was such a common hair color that it didn’t make sense to keep referring to him as such. The kid in the uniform? No… still too many people who could be wearing uniforms, especially with school having let out, and there was already a gathering crowd in the distance. 

     Well, Izuku really had no super unique feature to base the other kid off, so he could just be known as The Kid until then.

     People were quickly backing away, and trying to get a good distance between themselves and the villain, who was eagerly trying to attack anyone who kept too close, with their yellow and red eyes specifically tracking down Izuku’s every move. 

     Izuku was trying to get the other kid closer to the alley again, that way the kid could take that as an escape. The two boys were still awfully close after all, and so the sludge villain could want to go after either one of them, whichever one seemed like the easier target to hide in.

     So Izuku just had to make sure that it was only one that was easier to go after, and that Izuku was the easy one.

     Pulling the kid closer to the alley, he tried to get in front of the kid as he dodged another liquidy lunge from the villain, tried to ignore the way that the crowd already had their cameras out, trying to get some of the best footage to be seen so people would know the latest villain attack.

     But this was so dangerous, and so bad for Izuku. If his face could easily be spotted in any of the videos, things would be over for him, if it wasn’t already after the earlier confrontation with All Might.

     Oh, and All Might was almost certainly on the way anyway! Because if he heard word that the sludge villain was out again, he was certain to be making his way to the chaos. 

     What if the other half of the sludge was trying to get to the current main part of the body too? It would be trying to get out, inevitably putting a slight weight change to the bottle that All Might had as it tried to move. Or it was already out, and All Might was in quick pursuit. 

      Izuku didn’t have much longer to keep messing with the villain like this, and was genuinely considering just letting the sludge just take over for a while so that the villain could get Izuku out of here, when the loud explosion suddenly rang by his side, making the villain quickly back away as the heat got to it.

     And that was when things clicked. Not only did he have a unique feature that he could use to call the kid in his head, he had a nickname that he hadn’t used in a long time, and the real name to go with it.

     Izuku’s hands basically flung to his hood once more, pulling it closer onto his head than it was before, hoping all of his curls were hidden, and that the daylight made the hood shadow his face well enough.

     Katsuki Bakugo of course had to be one of the first familiar faces that Izuku spotted, and at a time when Izuku was the clumsy one here. At a time when Izuku had messed up, and could probably be added to the possibly existing list of things Izuku had done to make things go wrong.

     After all, Katsuki hadn’t always seemed the happiest with Izuku when they first realized he had a quirk. Izuku still didn’t know why, nor would he remember if he was told. But he knew that Katsuki had been upset, even in his attempt to hide it.

     So how upset would he have been when Izuku permanently disappeared?

     Of course, Izuku wouldn’t blame him if he just didn’t care much by that point.

     “Focus,” Katsuki shouted at Izuku. “So you can try to get your ass out of here!”

     Izuku looked around in hopes for a hero to come forward, someone to come in and stop the two boys from being the ones desperately trying to defend themselves. They shouldn’t be doing this alone. Izuku knew he could alone, knew he could keep himself safe now that he knew what he was up against. But there were so many people around, and Katsuki was right there.

     “Only if you get out of here first,” Izuku replied, pulling Katsuki out of the way once more once he recognized the slight sign that the villains was about to move.

     Izuku wanted to make sure nobody else got attacked too. But knowing that it was Katsuki Bakugo here of all people, here where there was danger. He was all too aware that their mothers were friends, so it would surely become news for Mitsuki and Inko that Katsuki had gotten hurt.

     And Izuku would be at fault for this, wouldn’t he? He’d be at fault because he dragged that villain out here and wasn’t careful with it. He would be in trouble because he ran out here in the first place, and had no clue where he was going fast enough. Izuku hadn’t made sure to give the bottle holding the villain to All Might, and now they were all in this mess.

     And then Izuku would be back with the commissioners, or locked up somewhere for running off in the first place. He could be locked up next to Lady Nagant, deep underwater, never to see the sky again, and-

     Another explosion went off.

     “WATCH YOURSELF,” Katsuki shouted as he pulled Izuku out of the way this time, the palm of Katsuki’s hand sweaty, enough that Izuku could feel it through the sleeves.

     They needed some help. They couldn’t legally keep fighting this villain, and the few heroes Izuku had seen in the crowd were just watching as they tried to defend themselves. Yes, this could go down as a self defense case for Katsuki. But the heroes had to step in. It was their job. There were two kids here that needed someone to take down the villain.

     Izuku hadn’t even taken down the villain earlier. He had gotten the villain off of his back for a minute, and then ultimately been saved by All Might. All Izuku would have been good for in that situation was being the one to die so nobody else would.

     WHERE WAS ALL MIGHT?

     As Izuku and Katsuki ran in opposite directions, with the sludge villain skidding towards Izuku, he noticed someone tall in the distance, running through the crowd with hair as bright of a yellow as All Might’s. 

     Was the lack of oxygen getting to Izuku from earlier, or was this person really just looking too similar to All Might? It even looked like they were wearing the same thing…

     And then Izuku paused, because looking at the man’s outfit, the one who finally stopped somewhere towards the middle of the crowd, had a large moving bottle in his pocket. One that was trying to move towards where the villain was already at. The villain who had taken Izuku’s moment of distraction, where Katsuki wasn’t there, to latch onto Izuku’s ankle, and yank the boy to the ground. 

     Izuku hit the concrete with a thud, screaming as he was pulled closer to the villain once more.

     The man who looked too similar to All Might quickly turned away, pushing his way through the crowd, and into the alleyway that was just ahead of the one that Katsuki had come out from.

     If that really was All Might, he was leaving. And if All Might had figured things out, then it would make sense that he would leave Izuku to die, knowing that the villain had Izuku, and would probably be satisfied after this. The villain would have a corpse that would be able to wake up again one day, and all would eventually be fine.

     Izuku hated the way that he could feel the rough concrete leaving one small cut after the next, scraping up any part of his skin that wasn’t covered. He didn’t doubt that it was even scraping up everything underneath that dragged against the concrete, either. 

     The trip from where he had first hit the ground felt far too long, but he knew that it was so short at the same time. He was at least grateful that if there was some chance he could get out of this, that he had hit the ground while face down, that way nothing would hopefully catch his face. Especially since there was already blood dripping down his face, especially from his leaking nose.

     The only thing that would give him away, especially to Katsuki, was if his notebook got away from him. It was a good thing that he had managed to hold his notebook up until now.

     Only to realize that he hadn’t had his notebook. It wasn’t even directly in front of him, where he had landed. Which could only mean he lost it much earlier, and someone could already have it. Katsuki could already have it, should he be curious enough and have noticed Izuku dropped it.

     Izuku tried to look and see where the blonde was, even as the sludge blocked most of his view as it lunged down.

     Maybe if he had his notebook, he could have tried to weaponize it as those eyes got nearly in hitting range. Though, it seemed to have learned from earlier, and tried to make sure that Izuku couldn’t reach the only weak point that this villain had.

     Well, at least it didn’t get Katsuki.

     It was as an explosion went off again, and at the moment that he could feel a large hand wrap around his arm once more, that the sludge was blown away, flying in multiple different directions. A powerful force of wind came from one direction, and the heat from the explosion, and the wind from that came in another.

     Izuku was pulled close to the Symbol of Peace, who kept a firm grip on Izuku as he chuckled, and said “Have no fear, for I am here.”

     The man leaned down to Izuku, pulling Izuku up a bit as he said “You did a good job holding your own. Now just sit down for a minute so that the nearby heroes can check up on you, and I can give the report.”

     Izuku, despite knowing he had no plans to just sit around, gave a small nod that he wasn’t even sure could be seen well from the back of his head, with the hood over it and all. But he still ended up being sat down on the ground, All Might’s large hand resting on Izuku’s head for just a moment before he found himself swarmed with reporters that had already been waiting in the crowd.

     All the attention was on All Might, and it gave Izuku an opening.

     But getting that notebook was first on Izuku’s priorities.

     He shook from the pain that still flared up in his joints, everything that had hit and been dragged against the ground. But he knew where that notebook was, saw it held loosely in Katsuki’s explosive hands. He had to get to Katsuki before they were both swarmed by heroes looking to check on the both of them.

     Izuku had already gotten too much attention put on himself today. He had put the whole ability to stay hidden in Musutafu at risk, and everything would definitely go downhill if he stayed any longer.

     So he forced himself up, and ran up to Katsuki, snatching the notebook and running through the alley before Katsuki was even able to process what had just happened, and inevitably shout at Izuku.

     Izuku had escaped, without a single hero seemingly in pursuit. Once more, he could run off, and try to find someplace to stay before it got dark outside.

     Katsuki’s day had been pretty average, as far as his days went. 

     It started with getting up early, as he usually did, and starting to get ready for school. He went to bed earlier, and woke up earlier than all of the adults in the house. He had a set time to go to bed, and was often up before the sun even rose.

     Everyone else in the house, of course, went to bed when they felt tired enough, and woke up just as their alarms would when sunlight was already creeping through their windows. Not that Katsuki minded. He wasn’t in charge of their sleep schedule, and they were already much older than him anyway, knew how to handle their sleep with what they could handle. And Katsuki knew his.

     Though, one of the biggest benefits to getting up so early is that he had a complete say over breakfast. It wasn’t that his opinion was ignored when it came to every other meal, just that everyone else was awake and would also have opinions on later meals. With Katsuki up in the morning, he made whatever he wanted, and would sometimes cook for the others if he figured he had the time, and that whatever he was eating, he knew could be eaten later by others as well. Something easy to make for more than himself too.

     Today was one of those days that he was going to make something for the others in the house, make sure that they had something that they didn’t pull out of the fridge or cabinets at the last second, before they would rush off to do whatever they needed to do.

     Once that was done, he grabbed his bag for school, already packed and put together last night, left just next to his bedroom door to make leaving all that much quicker. Despite how much better he was doing than everyone else in that school, how much he knew he stood out from everyone, how his quirk was going to get him into UA, the praises that his teachers had tossed on him ever since his quirk developed, he still would hate to be late.

     UA wouldn’t want to see him with a record of being late, would they? And really, what was the point of intentionally showing up late anyway? Some of the extras who stood near him all the time were rather insistent on being late, that they didn’t see the point to being on time, or early.  

     It was times like those that it felt obvious to Katsuki why he was doing better than them academically. They had, in general, shown a general disinterest in what was going on every time a teacher spoke, especially if it wasn’t about heroics.

     Heroics, the center of attention for just about anyone lately. It was the thing that just about everyone looked to in society, and he had been no different ever since he was little. Katsuki had even known that he was going to be part of heroics. He wasn’t just going to be another person standing by.

     And then the reasons for wanting to be a hero grew when he was five, that reasoning continuing to feel more and more important the more he learned about how heroics was run, even from the vague explanations that the teachers could give. After all, heroics wasn’t an actual lesson for any of these teachers unless they were actually in a school meant for heroics, so it wasn’t a subject they could discuss for very long. Just enough that more kids would look in the direction of the hero schools, bring in more of a name for that shitty middle school.

     Katsuki wasn’t going to complain too much about it though. It was the closest school he had to home, which made it all that much easier to get home and prepare to get into UA.

     The school year was still really early on, so discussing their futures, with this being their final year of middle school and all that shit, was an obvious subject. Another opening to discuss heroics, for the teacher to look in the direction of Katsuki, who was used to being a general target for the expectations of getting into the heroics pathway.

     And he knew he was going to get in. All of these extras, who hardly bothered to put in much effort for anything, wouldn’t be able to keep up with him. Katsuki was going to excel, and outshine everyone in this stupid building.

     There wasn’t anything to stick around for after school, not when he could just go home and work on homework, rush that to be done before he would continue to exercise. Heroics was more than just quirks, after all. He needed to be able to physically fight should it come down to an event that he couldn’t use his quirk, and he would make sure that he had the strength to back up his punches.

     The better Katsuki got, the more sure that he was going to be a high ranked hero. He was going to be a high ranked hero, and nothing was going to stop him. The higher he got in the ranks, the closet he got to the commission. The more access he had to it, and the more he did to the answers he needed. Those answers wouldn’t only be for him, after all.

     Two of the extras followed close behind him, talking about more of the stupid shit that they wanted to do that could get the three of them in trouble. In frustration, Katsuki kicked a can down the alleyway, only to promptly run into some dumbass who wasn’t looking where he was going, had missed the obvious sign that someone was walking through the alleyway.

     Katsuki was having a pretty average day. 

     Up until that point.

     Up until the point that some dumbass who was carrying something that they shouldn’t be ran into him. Some person who had the hood on their head pulled so far over that it was suspicious, and whose panic seemed to settle in the moment that the green sludge started to move and make a horrifying shape of itself.

     The extras were gone in a flash, and Katsuki had almost decided to turn and leave himself, knowing that using his quirk in a case like this was, so far, illegal. It wouldn’t even be self defense for him to attack now, and would ruin his chances.

     And then the shithead who was carrying the stupid villain had latched onto Katsuki’s arm as they backed up, and for a moment, Katsuki wondered if they were about to toss him to the villain as some kind of stupid sacrifice thing, or if these two abnormalities in his consistent days were working together.

     Those theories were quickly wiped away when Katsuki asked what the fuck that villain was, with the maniac smile it held on its face as it watched the other person intently, whose curls just barely peeked out of the hoodie.

     And then Katsuki noticed how the hand that tightly gripped onto his arm shook, heard how the dumbass said something about how Katsuki needed to run, as if it wasn’t this other person that the villain was very obviously looking at.

     But then Katsuki was the one being pushed from one direction to the next, where the other person’s reflexes were just about as quick as Katsuki’s, if not faster. They took one leap after the next, keeping out of the way, when Katsuki’s arm was eventually released close to the alleyway.

     This person had given Katsuki the opening to run.

     Well he definitely wasn’t going to do that. Not when this person was so obviously starting to zone out.

     The explosions seemed to make the zoning out worse, and Katsuki was finally able to step in as legally as possible, getting the dumbass who was carrying the villain in the first place out of the way.

     Then things were over in a large gust of wind. Katsuki’s last explosion had been basically for nothing, and the kid who had gotten himself snatched up by the villain, was safe. All Might had gotten here, and things were going to be taken care of.

     And then there was that notebook on the ground. One that must have been dropped much earlier on in the fight. Katsuki picked it up, flipping the notebook over in his hand as he looked at both sides of the notebook. It wasn’t labeled or anything, no name right on the cover.

     He had almost gone to open it out of curiosity, wondering if maybe he could get a name to the shithead that had gotten them in this mess, only for it to be so quickly snatched out of his hands.

     “HEY,” Katsuki shouted as the figure disappeared into the alley that Katsuki had been walking out of earlier. 

     Sure, it wasn’t his notebook. But Katsuki had already gotten curious, and now that curiosity would just have to continue to investigate, wait for the article to be released that may drop the name of whoever it was that dropped that villain.

     He didn’t even really know why it was suddenly so important to him to get a name… maybe to tell the story better when he got home? As if he didn’t use nicknames for just about everyone he talked about that wasn’t his family. Maybe it was because that person seemed to care so much about hiding their identity, even from total strangers.

     With how many cameras there were filming, and the sheer amount of reporters that swarmed All Might, Katsuki knew he had to get home. He was uninjured, but knew that there were three people at home that would worry over him anyway, annoyingly check over him and make sure that he really was unharmed, that there was actually something one of the many cameras missed.

     Katsuki wasn’t wrong, as it was Inko who ran in first, tears already welled up in her eyes as she basically skid into the entryway. His mother followed close behind, though her worry was significantly more subtle. His father, on the other hand, his expression was somewhere in the middle of both women’s worry, though he didn’t run in like the others. He instead had walked over, standing back as Inko and Katsuki’s mother fretted over him, checking him over and looking for any kind of injury.

     “Really, I’m okay,” Katsuki snapped, snatching one of his arms out of Mitsuki’s hold, though gently taking his arm away from Inko. The green haired woman quickly wiped at her worried tears, looking over Katsuki one more time. “What did the news say? I’m sure they made that shit worse than it actually was.”

     “Just that a villain that was being chased by All Might earlier today was spotted again, and that two middle school aged boys were fighting for their life, until one of them got caught, before eventually being freed by All Might,” Mitsuki said, giving Katsuki a strained, exhausted smile. “You had us worried sick!”

     “We’re just glad you came straight home,” Masaru said, walking over and pulling Katsuki into a hug of his own.

     “Alright, alright, off of me,” Katsuki muttered, lightly pushing his father off. “I didn’t get grabbed at all, had things handled. That other kid kept trying to get me out of the way too, but I would have been able to move out of the way anyway.”

     “Why didn’t you try to run off sooner,” Inko asked, her wide, green eyes that looked about ready to cry, looking over Katsuki as if she could get an answer before he even spoke.

     Inko had often worried over him like she was his parent too, which she practically was at this point. She was as trusted to take him out of school and to anything he needed to go to as much as any of his parents, and fretted over him in a way that any mother would their child. 

     She had been in the Bakugo household for almost ten years already, having been with them ever since Izuku was taken away from her. Inko hadn’t taken well to the incident, having completely shut down for a good month. Getting her to eat was a challenge for days, until that was one of the few things that she had fit into her schedule of going between the couch and her bed, hardly changing unless Mitsuki had gone in and basically done it for Inko.

     The house had been in a somber mood for a while, and even Katsuki, who was only five and was constantly full of energy, no longer came home yelling about what had occurred in the day. It was like walking on eggshells for a long while, everyone nervous to say much of anything out of fear of making things worse.

     But it wasn’t like she was responding to much anyway. It was as if Inko had left with Izuku, but left her body behind.

     Katsuki, with his limited understanding of the world as little as he had been, had immediately turned his blame to the only place that felt right: Izuku. From what he had heard, the commission had come to ask if Izuku had wanted to be a hero, and Izuku didn’t agree with what his mom had said for him. Izuku had said things that made things worse.

     They were probably the things that Izuku had vented to him about too, things that used to make sense before he saw how much it destroyed Inko.

     The commission felt like someone to blame too, but it’s not like Katsuki had ever seen them. He knew Izuku and Inko, though, and was left to watch as Inko tried to pick up the pieces of herself that left when her son did.

     Eventually, she had picked herself back up, and Katsuki grew. He grew wiser, taller, understood more. But Izuku wasn’t a topic for any of them to bring up. Inko is, after all, an emotional woman who they don’t want to set off, not after seeing just how poor of a state she had gone in.

     This many years later, and Izuku wasn’t even mentioned by the Bakugos when they were out of the home, when Inko wasn’t going along with them, having decided to stay home.

     Katsuki still wanted to have answers though. He wanted more, in hopes it would stop the long burning anger that he had felt against whatever Izuku had said. Whatever made Izuku feel like he had to go rush being a hero, and that Katsuki wasn’t good enough to train next to.

     Katsuki would prove that he didn’t need the stupid fucking commission to be the best, and he would be even better than whatever Izuku came out of that building to be.

     “Because the other person there was so stuck in their own head that I didn’t trust them to take care of their own selves,” Katsuki answered, shrugging as he stuffed his hands into his pockets. 

     They fell into a silence for a brief moment, before Mitsuki sighs, and says “Katsuki, want to come help me make some spicy curry?”

     “As long as I get to put as much spice as I want to into the whole thing,” Katsuki replied, already making his way to the kitchen. He usually liked to help in the kitchen anyway, whether he was getting his way with the spices or not. It was good to know how to cook for himself, and it would be a good distraction from the stupidity of the day.

     Neither of his parents or Inko were going to hear much more from him about everything that happened in the day. They knew that he was okay, and that was all they needed. The sludge villain hadn’t gotten a hold onto Katsuki once, and he would count that as a pretty successful day on his part, and a pathetic attempt on the villain’s. 

     His day got much better when a majority of the people at the table had to get up and get themselves a cup of milk to go with the curry, and he got to laugh about it.

     With the completion of dinner, there was also a promise from his mother that he wouldn’t be putting spices in the shared food anymore, and would only be making his own servings this spicy.

     Izuku was still tired and in pain, unable to make himself run any further. In fact, he felt much slower than he was before, as he slowly worked his way through the streets of Musutafu. The adrenaline from his earlier panic had worn off so quickly, and all of the ache from his injuries and all of the earlier running had settled in.

     He just had to hope that he was far enough now that All Might would no longer be able to find him. There was no reason to hunt Izuku down anymore, if All Might somehow hadn’t figured out who Izuku was, and was actively trying to bring Izuku back to the commission.

     Izuku messed with the edges of his notebook, quietly flipping the pages in just the corner over and over.

     With the sun setting, the air was much cooler than it was earlier in the day. That had at least made things a little easier, especially when it came to still wearing the hoodie and sweatpants.

     It was as he started looking for somewhere he could just sit down for a minute that there was a large gust of wind that flew by him, nearly blowing the notebook out of his hands. He held onto the notebook tightly, not wanting it to slip out of hands yet again today, not wanting to risk it getting into someone else’s hands. This was his notebook, with way too much information about his quirk, and an easy way to draw too much attention to himself.

     Once the wind slowed down, Izuku looked up, taking note of the large silhouette that blocked out a good portion of the setting sun. A silhouette that looked exactly like All Might, with its hands on its hips, and a smile so bright that Izuku could actually see it.

     And then the person in front of him deflated, looking exactly like the other person Izuku had seen earlier when the sludge had gotten a hold on him. 

     Was that person… really All Might? All the signs pointed to the man in front of Izuku being All Might, but it felt so odd to think that the number one hero could look so drastically different. It was like he was looking at someone who was trying to poorly cosplay the man, make some kind of alternate universe for the number one hero.

     Yeah, this person had to be All Might, but that thought still felt so odd.

     “Sorry,” All Might said as he started to cough, some drops of blood splattering onto the narrow road that they stood on. He wiped the blood he had coughed into his hand onto his greens shorts, before starting to say whatever it was he had tried to find Izuku for. “I wanted to tell you that I admired the effort you put into keeping yourself and that other boy safe.”

     “And I want to let you know that I realized you were that kid the commission is after right now, so, good job, but I have to take you in now. Good job making yourself even more tired than you were before, to make this all so much easier. Really, did you think you could get away from All Might,” Izuku had expected to hear next. 

     Really, Izuku couldn’t think of an answer for the man right now, still waiting for the hero to continue. Izuku just slowly blinked, already just about ready to be dragged back to the commission, especially now that he knew All Might’s secret.

     “You know, my quirk has been a thing of mystery ever since I got famous as a hero,” All Might continued.

     “Not named either,” Izuku muttered, rubbing at his eyes, ignoring the way that the small stretching of his skin hurt the scrapes on his face. “People have been trying to guess.”

     Where was this going?

     Oh god, is All Might about to make sure that he has no chance of getting out of the commission’s building by knowing too many secrets? And then it’ll be too dangerous to let him out!? He’ll know too much!

     Is this the Symbol of Peace’s version of revenge after Izuku ran off so much today?

     “At this point just go ahead and take me back,” Izuku said, at the same time that All Might said “I wanted to know if you would accept my power.”

     “What,” both of them said at the same time, expressions going blank as they stared at one another.

      That silence lasted for a while, up until All Might cleared his throat, and said “My quirk… has been something passed down from generation to generation. After seeing the way you, a boy who looked to protect a complete stranger-” well, not a stranger halfway into the fight… but go off “-when the villain you had just been attacked by was after you again… you not only looked out for your own life, but the life of others, and did so successfully. And the way you were willing to put yourself on the line if it meant others were safe, I wondered what was going through your head then?”

     “Well, I just kinda knew that it was more after me anyw- wait what’s going on here?”

     “Young man, I wanted to know if you would like to inherit my quirk! A quirk meant to destroy the evil of this world: One For All!”

     Once more, a silence went between the two of them, before Izuku just started to nervously laugh.

     “See, I’m going to assume I’m just way too tired right now, and have heard things completely wrong here. But uh, if anything went along the lines of ‘Would you like to inherit my quirk,’ my answer is… uh… no!” Was this some kind of way to trick Izuku into thinking he’d be safe with All Might? THAT HE’D BE TRAINED BY ALL MIGHT? Ohh, he can’t even beat that one guy, and he doesn’t even have as much muscle as All Might… Oh god, he couldn’t handle starting to lose that hard. “But y’know what, I really should go.”

     With newfound energy, Izuku started to run off, holding his notebook even tighter as he waved back at All Might, saying “Don’t worry, my lips are sealed! Whatever you may or may not have said, I swear that information is going nowhere!”

     And Izuku left a confused All Might in the middle of the street, the tall and lanky man looking smaller and smaller as Izuku got further and further, turning the corner onto another street.

     Well, clearly it was much harder to get All Might off of his trail than he had hoped.

Chapter Text

     Izuku continued to desperately run through one street after the next, keeping to the alleyways as best as he could. In his desperate attempt to finally get away, turning had become increasingly difficult and more frustrating, as he often found himself running into a building, or skidding a little too far from where he was hoping to turn to.

    But at some point, he couldn’t bring himself to run anymore. It had become too much again, and he quickly found himself laying on the ground in an alley, but just close enough to an opening to the street that he could still peer into the empty, and oddly silent street.

    And then his wheezing was interrupting that silence, as he curled in on himself as he continued to cough for one minute after the next. Everything was hurting badly, but he couldn’t let himself be out in the open like this. It was too dangerous with All Might in the city, and if Izuku couldn’t find somewhere to hide so that he could rest, he wouldn’t even be able to fight back when he was inevitably dragged back to the commission by a hero.

     The coughing fit had gone on for so long that Izuku’s eyes watered, a few tears already having fallen, but he still shakily tried to stand himself back up. Izuku had to be able to find somewhere, and there was one building, just across the street, that had started to look promising.

     It was risky, after how much noise he knew he had been making when it was already so quiet over here. But it was the fact that it was so quiet that gave him hope that he had finally found somewhere perfect to hide. 

     The sun had finally set, and a few street lamps lit up. Others seemed completely out of order, while a couple others flickered as they made an attempt to still do their job. It would probably have been creepy if it wasn’t for the fact that it had hinted towards being an abandoned street, somewhere that Izuku could most likely find some place to safely hide in.

     After being able to take a few minutes to make an attempt to catch his breath again, the few minutes he spent on the ground, finally hardly moving at all, made things a bit easier to move. He couldn’t stop the way everything shook, but he could work with it.

     There was an apartment building that he had his eyes on, where not a single light was on. From the outside, the condition of it didn’t seem to be too poor. The inside would have to wait until Izuku got there.

      Making sure that there was nobody out on the street first, he walked as quickly as he could manage, crossing the road and making his way to the apartments. Once he had reached the building, he let himself start to move slower. Most of his energy was about to go to the stairs, after all, in hopes that he could find more safety further away from the ground.

     Working his way up the stairs almost felt like torture with the way it made every muscle in his leg burn. But he was making himself go through it for a reason, and it was him keeping himself reminded of that fact that kept him from just passing out on the stairs. 

     It was on the third floor that he started testing the doors, finding most of them unlocked. None of them felt like the safest place, however. They seemed to be places that most other people would think to check, to be nosy and look into themselves.

     So he kept going, eyes already set on a certain door, somewhere between the end and middle of this floor, where there was almost no reason to check them due to the lack of stairs at that end.

      Once he reached it, he quickly made his way in, shutting the door behind him, and letting his eyes adjust to the darker space. 

     The apartment was dimly lit by the moonlight that poured through the windows, lighting everything as best as it could. The layout, from what Izuku could see, reminded him of the apartment that he had lived in with his mom. He may not remember most of the years in it, but he remembered enough of that brief period to at least have memorized the layout.

     Trudging his way into one of the bedrooms, he began to test the light switch, and finding that it didn’t work, much as he had expected it to. He moved to test other things in the apartment, trying to see what all functioned, and what didn’t.

     The water, much to his own shock, worked. He didn’t necessarily trust it, but it was hopefully a good sign, something that would work in his favor later.

     It wasn’t much. But for now, it was the absolute perfect place for him to hide. 

     There was some abandoned furniture in the building he had taken up, and he hoped that other buildings may have more, that way he could try to at least make an attempt at turning this into something comfortable to stay in. It wasn’t like he had money to work with, so he had to work with what he could find. Comfort wasn’t on the top of his list of things to get, but it would be nice.

     And if it came free, he didn’t see why he should have too much of an issue.

     Though, like he didn’t trust the water, he didn’t entirely trust the building either. He wasn’t aware of how long this building had been abandoned, or even why. And if the whole street was as abandoned as it looked, there must have been a good reason nobody was living in it.

     Izuku couldn’t complain, though. Not when he finally had someplace safe, no matter how many health concerns it may provide. 

     Then the common train of thought over the past twenty four hours came back to practically crash onto him again: he had no plan. He had basically no money left, nothing he could survive off of. And even if he did have money, the lack of power meant that there was no place to store any food that was actually good for him. There was no place to keep it cool, nor did he have something that could warm it when he was ready to eat it.

     Speaking of food, all of that running had made it feel like he hadn’t eaten anything. His stomach continuously growled at him, and had quickly become the only noise Izuku could hear in the silence, other than his own breathing, and the way his feet slid against the ground with each step, too tired to lift them much further.

    Izuku held his notebook close to his chest, warily eyeing the feather that laid between the pages. It was a sign that he still had Keigo in his corner, that his closest friend would still have some sort of way to find him. It would be dangerous for Keigo to come here, dangerous for the both of them, abandoned or not, so Izuku didn’t have his hopes up too high that Keigo would suddenly fly in, in hopes of getting his hands on the feather that he had left with Izuku, and able to hand over even more cash.

     Money that would hopefully last Izuku a week, that time. If that time comes.

     But there was nobody else that Izuku could think to turn to right now. There was no other safe option for him, so he had top hope for the best. He had to hope that the painful grumbling in his stomach, and the way that it made him feel almost sick, would be able to come to an end soon. He had to hope that Keigo would come flying in, able to help Izuku in the ways he needed most.

     He trudged back towards one of the bedrooms, leaning against the wall, and slowly sliding down. The moment he was sitting on the floor, he could already feel sleep taking over, and how he basically passed out the moment he rested his head on his knees.

     The way he had been woken up hadn’t exactly been the best method. In fact, it was more annoying than anything. 

     It was still beyond dark out, and the high pitched screaming was not the wakeup call he had been hoping for.

     He rubbed at his tired eyes, somewhat taking note of how warm his face felt. But he chalked that up to the fact that he had been sleeping with his head against his knees, and had basically buried his face.

     Izuku’s neck was taking its turn to cramp, and his knees and back weren’t too happy at his attempt to sleep in a way that made him a little more comfortable mentally, that way he knew he wasn’t entirely on a dirty floor. There was a huge difference between just sitting on it, and then letting his face be so close to it.

     If he could get his hands on some cleaner, he would probably find himself emptying the entirety of the bottle, and still wondering if the floor was clean enough to lay on. 

     He groggily pushed himself off of the floor, fingers gripping tightly onto the nearby windowsill. As he got up, he peered through the window, just barely being able to catch a woman running down the street, holding her purse close to her chest as she ran. She kept looking back to see just how far her pursuer was, but Izuku knew that that would probably get whoever it was closer to her at a much faster rate than they may have. The person in pursuit only had one direction to face, after all, and she couldn’t keep to a good pace if she was looking over her shoulder over and over.

     And then Izuku turned to see who was chasing after her. A man with a knife in hand, who seemed to have put much more muscle to his arms than he did his legs. The chase was probably going on for a while, as they both looked pretty tired.

     Really, what was his reason for chasing her that long? What was he so desperately after that he would exhaust the both of them? He wouldn’t be able to get far if he was tired as well, and that was something Izuku had really been able to learn over the past twenty four hours. 

     Izuku really thought he knew what exhaustion had felt like before… clearly he wasn’t trained as hard as he could have been. 

     The woman screamed again, glancing back once more as Izuku continued to watch out the window.

     Really, what was he doing still standing here? Hadn’t he been trained to deal with criminals? And if something like murder were to happen on the street, or the woman’s things were stolen and the heroes and police came to investigate, see if they could find the thief with her missing things in one of the abandoned buildings? After all, this could be the perfect place for the man to hide, and a perfect place to investigate if the woman didn’t mention that she was chased onto the street.

     Though, there was also the thought that not only was everything still in pain, and his entire body practically screaming at him to just go to bed, but what if police and heroes investigated just because they heard that someone had basically come out of nowhere, and took down the villain?

     Vigilante cases were something that Izuku had been briefly taught about, and they used to be taken very seriously. The rules had slacked a bit lately, around the time that Lady Nagant was locked away, but was still a crime, and would be investigated nonetheless. 

     Izuku letting himself get started in vigilantism so close to where he was trying to rest would be beyond risky, especially after literally every moment with the sludge villain… but he would feel worse if something happened to the woman.

     With a sigh, he started to make his way out of the apartment, already trying to think of the best way to handle the situation, the best route to catch up to the two people running as quickly as possible, but with as little effort as he possibly could.

     Really, there weren’t many routes he could take without exhausting himself all over again.

     Despite how every muscle screamed in protest, he started to run, keeping himself on the other side of the buildings, that way he couldn’t be seen coming, and could better the chances of him being able to get away with this. 

     The woman’s often scream for help kept him knowing just how close he was getting, even without being able to see her.

     It was at the moment that all he needed to do was turn the corner, and he could be just a slight ways ahead of them that he heard the scream of terror, and the victorious shout from what Izuku was very quickly assuming to be the villain in this situation.

     Well, it had looked it from the start, but Izuku wasn’t just going to immediately assume… even if his initial plan had been to stop the man. With how desperately the man was chasing the woman, Izuku was partially assuming that she was the thief, and he was just trying to get something important back.

     Then again, the knife being held in the man’s hand should have been an obvious sign. 

     Now that he thought about it, the chase had probably only been going on for so long because the man’s face was completely uncovered, and there was a possibility that the woman could have given an accurate description to get him arrested. Which only led to the fact that he was most likely going to kill her once he got his hands on whatever he wanted in the bag.

     Izuku had given himself the element of surprise in the situation, though not as ideally as he had hoped. He had hoped that they were still on their feet, running, that way Izuku could just quickly take down the man as he tried to run past the alleyway. But that wasn’t how it had worked, and Izuku needed to be quick to get the man off of the woman, and quickly take the knife out of his hand.

     The knife was easy enough, with the arm raised and all. Even with Izuku almost certainly running well within the man’s peripheral vision, he hadn’t reacted quick enough to stop Izuku, far too focused on trying to stab the woman. 

     All it took was a quick grab and twist of the hand, and then a hard kick to the man’s chin to release the knife from the formerly tight grip, and to make the man scramble backwards just a bit. 

     Izuku held the knife tightly, and watched through his peripheral vision as the woman tried to get more distance between herself and the man. Though Izuku knew he couldn’t spend much time focused on her. If he had learned anything in his training, he knew that once he had the upper hand, he couldn’t hesitate, couldn’t let there be any given opening. Standing here and giving the man a second to process what had happened wasn’t something he was going to let himself do, especially not in the state he was in.

     If he died here, there was no way that he could just lay here and hope to recover, because surely someone would be reporting things.

     So Izuku moved quickly, and kicked the man in the head again. He kicked hard, until he knew the man was knocked out.

     He was worried for a minute that he would have gone too far, but the woman who still had yet to run off was already reaching for her purse, where she would presumably have a phone. 

     Still scared, she eyed Izuku warily as she continued to back up, trying to take deep breaths after all the running Izuku had assumed she was doing, probably hoping that Izuku was only here to stop the villain from chasing her, not try to rob her like the other villain was. He didn’t blame her for constantly backing up, as he probably would have if he was in her shoes. 

     So he took a step back, which seemed to help a bit, as she finally stopped backing up, but still frantically dug through her purse.

     “You can call in for a villain attack, right,” Izuku asked, turning to sit next to the villain, make sure he really was knocked out, and not just waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack Izuku and win.

     The woman nodded, finally finding her phone now that she had calmed down enough to properly look. She was quick to open her phone, tapping away for a few moments, before Izuku heard the sound of the phone waiting to be picked up on the other end.

     While he waited, not willing to just leave her here by herself, not until he knew that there would be help on the way, he looked over the villain, trying to see if there was any other threat to him. Trying to see if there was anything else, as well. Because would it really hurt to steal from a thief? Sure, that would mean he was stealing too… but in a way, it was more karma to the villain who started it anyway.

     And that was when he realized that he had already gotten himself started on a path towards vigilantism, and was very closely toeing the line between that and villainy.

     But within all fairness, he was fourteen, and didn’t have any way to get money, nor get food tomorrow. Food, something that he genuinely needed, especially after all of the energy he had wasted just in the past day alone. Surely a small act of thievery from someone who’s already being called in as a villain won’t be too much of an issue?

     Then the phone was answered, and the woman spoke quickly. “Ah, hello… yes, um, I was being chased by a villain, trying to steal my purse… Ah, yes, they were armed… no, I’m not sure if he was using a quirk… yes, I think I’m okay now. There was a boy that came in and stopped the villain when he was trying to stab me… the name of the boy?”

     Well shit, he didn’t expect that. Legally and everything, it made sense… and he wouldn’t technically be in trouble for this, especially since it was a one time thing. Sure, there might be a small lecture about how he shouldn’t do it, with what all he had been taught about the legality of citizens taking the job of heroes and police into their own hands… but that would mean he’d be close to the commission again. His name could officially go down as someone who had been here, and he couldn’t have that.

     “What’s your name,” the woman asks, holding her hand to her phone as she looks up at him.

     “Oh, uh,” he panics, trying to think of something quick. “Bob.”

     Shit, something believable would have been better.

     “Bob… Nakamura,” Izuku quickly rushed out. Maybe it would be more believable with the combination of names, that way he could maybe just seem like he had an American parent who named him, or something.

     The woman looks at him skeptically for a moment, before repeating the name into her phone, and then giving her own.

     Izuku then takes that moment, looking away from her in shame of the poor lie, and spots the wallet in the villain’s back pocket.

     “The street name? Uhh,” the woman looks around, as does Izuku, who points as he says “Looks like the closest sign is at the end of the street.”

     If she gets up to go look, walks away from Izuku and the villain, he can get away, and she won’t see where he went. He could just keep an eye out from the apartment, make sure everything really does go okay. Sure, the direction he pointed her in was in the direction of the apartments, but he can take his time walking there this time, and then she won’t spot him when she inevitable comes back once he’s worked his way between the buildings once more, keeping to the opposing side of the street they were on.

     And then she did get up, walking past the both of them as she went to look at the street sign.

     Izuku acted quickly, opening the wallet as quickly as he could, and taking out a large portion of the cash. He wasn’t going to take all of it, that way it wouldn’t look entirely suspicious. And if he left the wallet, then there would be a way to identify the man.

     Not taking the entire wallet left him at risk of being found stealing, but he could act quickly, and take the necessary risk for his own sake. After all, the street sign was still a good deal away. And if she wanted to make sure that she got the name right, didn’t make an attempt to read it and hope she got it right when it was so important to give the correct street, then she would have to be much closer.

     Izuku quickly closed the wallet, and placed it back in the man’s pocket. He even checked around for other weapons, that way he could leave the knife with the villain as proof… except for the fact that his fingerprints were definitely on it now too. And when they searched for a Bob Nakamura and found nothing, fingerprints would probably be one of the things they quickly searched for if the woman mentioned that Izuku had held the knife too.

     Well… it was coming with him. 

     There were no other weapons.

     He spared one quick glance in the woman’s direction, relieved that she was still walking towards the sign, before he turned and ran back to go along the path he came here with. Izuku didn’t run for long, starting to walk the rest of the way as he pocketed the knife and money he had quickly grabbed.

     Izuku didn’t bother to check what all he was grabbing, but he would have to hope that this was enough for another meal at least. More than that if he got lucky. After all, a thief could either be holding a lot of money, or hardly any. People usually didn’t just steal for no reason, after all.

     He heard the woman on the other street, still talking on the phone as she said “Yes, the kid ran away… no, I didn’t see where he went… The villain is still there, yes.”

     Police at a minimum would be here soon, if a hero didn’t quickly swoop in to make sure the woman stayed safe, already having taken late night patrols to guarantee that even the citizens at night would stay safe. This was the hour of underground heroes, and they especially could be trusted to deal with just about any issue, when they were doing this job solely because they wanted to be a hero, and not the fame. The fame that they often hid from.

     At the thought of it, and the powerful underground heroes he had heard of in some of his heroics lessons, he walked just a little bit faster.

     Getting back into the building, when he knew that the woman was probably still looking in hopes of spotting him for whoever she was on the phone with, it made getting back into the building a little more difficult, and a lot more exhausting.

      He was sure the apartments weren’t as creepy when it wasn’t dark, and there was sunlight pouring through all the windows… but he did have to climb on each balcony, getting a good view into each dark apartment, and hope that there weren’t other people hiding in them, as he slowly climbed to the third floor.

     Izuku had done training with climbing things quickly, as it was already known that he was looking into underground heroics, and one of their biggest things with being stealthy and hidden was to stay on the rooftops. But he was slow tonight, as every single limb was just about ready to give up on him.

     His arms, that thankfully hadn’t been doing too much over the past twenty four hours, really were carrying him to the top, as his legs all but screamed at him. But he reached the third floor, right at the apartment he had been staying in, and quietly made his way into the building. Izuku quickly walked the the bedroom he had been staying in, peering out of it to try and see the villain and woman.

     The villain continued to lay on the ground, unmoving other than his breathing. The woman continued to keep her distance, clutching her purse close to her chest. He couldn’t hear anything from where he was, and trusted that he could finally let out the coughs that his throat had been waiting for.

     With how badly they were starting to hurt, he couldn’t help but almost fully curl up on the ground again.

     Despite hardly exerting himself this time, it was just hurting worse. The painful coughing had, in general, just been getting worse through the day. He had assumed at first that it was from being out of breath for so long… but he was starting to wonder if it was the sludge villain. 

     He buried his face into the crook of his elbow, hoping that it would muffle it enough just in case he could be hear. After all, he wasn’t too aware of how well the sound would travel through the very silent street. Izuku had heard the woman’s screaming, after all, and had been loud enough to wake him up.

     By the time he crawled back over to the windowsill, he saw what looked to be a hero already standing next to the woman, checking on her while he fully apprehended the villain. There was someone there, and the woman was safe.

     It was too dark to check the money he had collected, so he knew that it would have to wait until the morning. For now, all he wanted to do was sleep. But he had to keep an ear out at least for when the hero would be gone, and he would trust it to be safer for him to get the sleep he wanted so badly.

     A few minutes later, he heard a car driving down the street, and peered out the window to see that it was the police car he had been waiting to see.

     There were a few words exchanged between the hero and officer that stepped out of the car, before the hero went to take what seemed to be his capture weapon off of the villain, while the officer replaced the capture scarf with handcuffs, and then stuffed the villain into the car.

     Another few minutes later, and the hero was walking the woman home, Izuku would hope, and the officer returned to his car to drive off.

     The street returned to complete silence once more, and Izuku let himself all but collapse onto the ground.

     Everything just felt too heavy, and it really was about time he got that sleep he wanted.

     Waking up, everything felt so much worse. His lungs were burning, and everything continued to feel just as heavy as they did before he went to sleep, if not worse. The only moving he could bring himself to do for a long while was rolling over, so that he could comfortably cough into his arm once more.

     The blood that he had coughed up wasn’t helping him feel any bit more secure about the day.

     He didn’t even bother to check the money in his pocket yet, as he quickly started to come down the face that he was sick. It was most likely the sludge still remaining in his lungs, all the stuff he couldn’t cough up. And he was beyond hungry too, but probably wouldn’t even be able to walk himself to the door, let alone to someplace open and cheap. 

     He would be sitting on the floor, hungry and probably dying for days. He didn’t know just how sick someone could get with things stuck in their lungs, but blood definitely wasn’t a sign of anything good.

     Really, if he was dying anyway, he could only think of one solution to fix things for now. And overall, fix them with less suffering.

     He crawled over to his notebook, breathing raspy as he tried to bite back a cough this time, flipping through some of the earlier pages in his notebook. The handwriting was much messier, as expected of a younger child. All of these were back when his deaths were simpler, when the adults would come in and help him with his notes, let him look over their own so that he could copy them down for his own use.

     This whole notebook was supposed to be his future reference for when he got into the world of heroics, and would start to distance himself from the commission, other than to often report back to them for secret missions, as Keigo had been.

     He wasn’t supposed to be needing it this early.

     And then he had found what he needed, and was suddenly beyond grateful that he kept the knife that the villain had held. He had to make sure he was at least a little hidden though, that way he could guarantee that nobody just briefly peering into the apartments could see him. 

     So Izuku crawled into the closet, holding the knife in his right hand as tightly as he could manage. His notebook was also held close, and he shakily grabbed all of the money that he had stuffed into his pockets, hiding it between the pages. 

     Keigo’s feather still sat there too, so bright against all of the dull colors in the apartment.

     Izuku forced himself up for a moment, to put the notebook on the shelf in the closet, before he let himself fall to the ground once more. 

     He tossed the hoodie up there as best as he could, grateful that it had at least landed on the shelf halfway. 

     If this was his only set of clothes he could safely wear for now, he couldn’t let it be a bloody mess. Not when he would need to go out and get some food when he woke up from this.

     There were the clothes he ran away in, should the mess be too bad. But if anything, the hoodie had to survive.

     He buried himself deeper into the closet, closing the door as he kept one hand right on the artery he needed in the opposing arm. He continued to hold the knife in said hand, before he took in a deep breath, and cut right where he had been holding it.

     It didn’t take long to die, as he had hoped. Things faded quickly, and he could trust he would be awake again soon enough. He would be awake, and the only pressing issue by that point would be hunger.

     Even then, it wouldn’t be bad enough by the time he woke up, because his quirk would fight that too. He had been starved to death before, after all.

      It really had been an excruciating time for that one, but he knew that he would at least wake up and be able to move enough to get food.

     Sure enough, he woke up just about as he expected to: hungry, though less hungry than before, but a bloody mess. After cutting such a vital artery, where it could kill him as quickly as it did, it was only expected that it left a pool of blood.

     The sweatpants were beyond saving, so he already expected to need to change into the pair that he had run away in. The shirt, on the other hand, was okay.

     He felt significantly better, and knew he could come back later and fulfill the extra sleep he wanted, after his quirk had already put in the effort to use a good deal of energy to bring him back from the dead.

     Izuku would also start sleeping in the other room, until he could get the things he needed to clean the puddle of blood. He could get most of it with the already ruined sweatpants, but it wouldn’t pick up all of it. He just hoped that it would be picked up enough that it didn’t start drawing in a lot of bugs or something, if the apartment didn’t already have them.

     The apartment felt a lot more peaceful with the light leaking through the windows, and he knew he would actually want to start looking into the other apartments, and see what all he could find.

     He picked himself up off the ground, picking up the knife with him, and setting it on the shelf that his notebook and hoodie had been quickly placed on.

     It had most likely been days since his death, but hopefully no more than three. He couldn’t have Keigo worrying too much, in case he was actually out there looking for Izuku, taking a risk to make sure that Izuku would have something to take care of himself.

     As Izuku picked up his notebook, leaving the notebook on the shelf for now. He also realized, getting a better look at the shelf, that he didn’t keep his old clothes. Between sickness and absolute exhaustion, he had put too much hope in himself for trying to think of a way to get around the death he needed to just get done and over with.

     He might as well just make sure that they’re entirely covered in blood, that way they’re entirely red, and he could get away with it a bit better, with a little less suspicion.

     On the other hand, that meant food would have to wait longer, while he let the pants dry as much as they could.

     Izuku had really set himself up, hadn’t he? It would already be bad enough to walk out in what would look like pajamas, draw some attention to him… but to be covered in blood?

     He was destined to continue to be hungry.

     He grumbled to himself in frustration, before he flipped through the pages of his notebook, pulling out the money he had collected, and starting to count it out. Much to his surprise, he had grabbed enough for a good few meals, and could even sacrifice a meal for a change of pants, if he managed to find something big enough for cheap.

     Maybe the borderline for vigilantism and villainy was really the best way to survive… he wouldn’t willingly keep thinking of it being borderline villainly, but he would definitely accept it as vigilantism. His key to survival right now, especially if it was going to start getting him enough meals for the day, and a bit extra to sacrifice. 

     It took a long while, but soon enough, his pants were dry enough, and didn’t look too suspicious. His stomach was growling over and over, but he could finally go out and find someplace to fix that.

     The feather in his notebook moved occasionally, and Izuku took that as his sign to look for Keigo on his way around outside too. 

     Things may not have been going too well lately, but he could at least see that the way he was going to try to continuously survive was looking better. He could finally see how long of a streak he could get of living, see how much he could survive when the commission wasn’t keeping him in waiting for the next death. 

     Izuku could hopefully find a general peace out here, as soon as he knew that he could continue to keep out of the commission’s annoying radar.

Chapter Text

     Keigo had been trying to keep things going as normal as possible lately. As in, avoiding most of the investigating towards Izuku’s “disappearance.” In fact, he had been more dedicated to basically any other work, while still trying to take random flights at night so it wouldn’t be too obvious that he was intentionally avoiding looking for Izuku.

     After all, the commission had eyes everywhere. It was rather difficult to do anything without being noticed.

     Getting Izuku into Musutafu had already been a big enough risk, but he was well aware that it wasn’t nearly far enough. There were less commissioners stationed there, but there weer heroes.

     Though, knowing that the commission wasn’t exactly sending heroes in Izuku’s direction yet, other than Keigo himself, had proven to help relax. 

     Up until he realized that Izuku hadn’t been moving for a while, or the notebook hadn’t, at least. He had tried to move the notebook around, even taking a risk to move the feather out from between the pages, finding that he was just stuck in a small, cramped space. Wherever it was, Keigo just had to hope that it was some kind of place Izuku could stay safe in.

     Once another day had passed, he took the risk to fly into Musutafu. There still hadn’t been any movement, and it hadn’t made Keigo any less nervous. 

     He started trying to stick around places that he often enjoyed sitting around at when his patrol would lead into Musutafu, hoping that Izuku would be able to find them, thinking that they would be good spots to find Keigo at. There was still just the hope that the notebook was sitting somewhere for safe keeping, that way it wouldn’t be put to much risk.

     It was that hope that kept him from just going to find the feather, busting down whatever doors he needed to in the process. Besides, he wasn’t sure how much money he had given Izuku, but he doubted that the boy was able to get much, and would surely be starting to get hungry.

     Then there was the moment that he had walked into the commission president’s office, as she and a few other commission members were looking over things. They had stopped talking quickly, that way the commission president could talk to Keigo about what it was he had come to report, but not quick enough that he hadn’t heard the “There was an incident in Musutafu earlier… I don’t want to believe he got that far, but it’s worth looking into,” before Keigo had opened the door.

     It was after that that he started looking into whatever the Musutafu incident was, and had basically slammed his head onto his desk at his agency when he looked up Musutafu incidents from the past couple days. Of course it was an incident where All Might was involved, with one of the kids that was caught in the videos and pictures from the surrounding crowd looking like Izuku.

     There was no real way to confirm it, with all footage being too blurry, or missing out on Izuku’s face entirely, but Keigo just had a feeling. It didn’t help that most of the footage was of the kid in the hoodie trying to protect the other, dragging them out of the way of the sludge villain.

     And then All Might had stepped in, and most of the footage ended. If the commission couldn’t figure it out, then Izuku would have gotten extremely lucky.

     Though, this made any attempts to try to get to Izuku all the more difficult. The commission could be turning their eyes to the city, sending more of the security in the building, who was already sent to look for him, on their way to start searching any possible place that a kid without money could be hiding. Despite how Keigo was doing his best to help, there was really only so much a fourteen year old kid could do for himself.

     He had thought at first that Izuku may find his way back to his mother, but realized the next day that Izuku was too smart to make a choice like that, would expect the commission to think he would do that. 

     Keigo couldn’t personally check, as he had no clue where the Midoriyas had lived before, or if Izuku’s mother was even living in the same apartment anymore… but with the fact that the commission hadn’t found Izuku yet, it was safe to bet that he hadn’t gone to either place.

     More time had passed, and the commission president herself had even asked Keigo to start shifting his patrols further into Musutafu. This meant that she would definitely be keeping a closer eye on him while he was in the city, and that risks were all the more difficult to take. They were definitely suspecting Izuku to be here, and Keigo couldn’t just let things be obvious.

     Eventually, when his shifts for patrol were over, he made sure to hide as many feathers as he could, keeping a good amount hidden in his jacket, before going to the bank to draw out some more money. It would be known that he was here by the people who worked at the bank that night, but there would be significantly less people who would recognize him, which meant less chances that the commission would know in time.

     He walked out with an envelope full of money, stuffing it safely into one of his jacket pockets, which he always made sure could zip up so he didn’t run the risk of losing anything, and made his way to his bed for the night.

     Then it was the next morning, and Keigo was once more on an adventure to find Izuku. Not for the commission. Never for the commission. He needed to find Izuku for Izuku’s sake.

     It was sometime in the afternoon, on the other end of the city, with Keigo’s continuous focus on the one feather he hadn’t had in days, that Keigo could feel the feather finally move. It had been taken out from between the notebook’s pages, and was moving somewhere. Keigo couldn’t hunt it down quite yet, because he had to finish his patrol route in Musutafu first. Then it could be an easy excuse to go on a lunch break, to go fly away from his usual course. The route he was taking to “find Izuku” had to be finished though.

     Keigo would just have to keep tabs on where the feather went until then.

     As Keigo finished up his route, the feather hadn’t strayed too far, but also didn’t stay at any place for too long. When the feather seemed to go into a building, it just quickly went from place to place, before making its way out. It didn’t go to too many places. 

     And then the final one was somewhere that the feather seemed to stay at, and just in time for Keigo to have finished his route, which he had slightly broken in an attempt to be at least a bit closer. If anyone was keeping their eyes on him, it would hopefully look less obvious that he had a specific area that was now only about halfway across the city.

     Of course, if it still seemed that way, hopefully whoever was looking would assume that he just had a very specific restaurant in mind.

     Keigo flew as past as he could without looking too suspicious, that way he could hopefully catch Izuku before he went anywhere, if it really was Izuku with the feather, and not someone who had just found Izuku’s notebook and decided to take the feather out of curiosity. Much to Keigo’s relief, it was a restaurant. How Izuku went so long with whatever money Keigo had handed him, Keigo wouldn’t know… but he would hopefully be able to get some answers.

     But if he didn’t, he would at least make sure Izuku got the good amount of money that Keigo had been putting together the past few days. It would hopefully last Izuku a while, seeing as Kiego often enjoyed getting to indulge himself in a luxury every so often, and found himself at fancy restaurants more often than not for commission business. So if all of those hardly felt like a dent in Keigo’s bank account as a top ten ranked hero, then this amount would surely last Izuku a long while for necessities.

     Not to mention, Keigo had hopes to give Izuku more money every week, find a way to discreetly meet, or find somewhere that he could leave the money safely for Izuku to grab later.

     It was a small restaurant, with everything cheaply priced, but still coming in pretty good portions. Whatever this place was, it was quiet, and was a really good spot for Izuku to find to guarantee he could get some food.

     It didn’t take him long to find Izuku, who was just sitting in a corner, knees to his chest as he looked out a window, hopefully waiting on some food to come to him. If not, Keigo would definitely order food for him on the spot.

     Keigo had come in from the other direction, where Izuku wasn’t looking, so it didn’t seem like Izuku had noticed him yet, up until Keigo had the feather in Izuku’s pocket fly right back to his wings, once more joining the many feathers that he controlled at will. Izuku quickly turned in the direction the the feather had flown, before his face lit up as he saw Keigo.

     Well, it was a relief that Izuku wasn’t upset at him after taking so long to get to him. With nobody else in the restaurant, other than who Keigo would assume to be the cooks, who were hidden in the kitchen, Keigo gave Izuku a small wave and smile, before continuing his path to the counter.

     Once he reached it, it didn’t take long for someone to come out with a smile of their own, their customer service face ready before it shifted to genuine shock as they exclaimed “Hawks!? Oh, it’s a pleasure to have you here! We’re not used to such major heroes making their way all the way out here.”

     Keigo chuckled in amusement, before he said “What can I say? I’m just curious and fly wherever my wings take me. I like to give everything a chance.”

     “Well we’re honored to have you here,” they reply. “What can we get you today?”

     Keigo took a look at the menu, looking for whatever was the most complicated, and could buy him the most time, let his and Izuku’s discussion be as private as possible. As soon as he determined what would take the longest to cook, he made his request for the meal, to which the person tried to give him an estimated time for the meal, before retreating back into the kitchen to prepare it.

     And with that, once the doors were shut, Keigo basically bolted over to Izuku’s table as he said “Kid, we have to be quick with this. Did you find somewhere, and have you been safe?”

     Izuku spoke quickly in response, slightly faster than what Keigo had. If it wasn’t for the fact that Keigo had listened to Izuku’s mumbling rambles over and over over the years, he probably would have had some difficulty separating the words. But he very clearly was able to hear the “Yes and no. Well, technically yes to both lately, because I’m fine now.”

     Keigo’s eyebrow raised, waiting for Izuku to continue in the couple of seconds that Keigo had been given to process the reply and possibly summon a response.

     “Okay, so honestly, the money didn’t last long, but I did manage to get somewhere to stay for day one, as well as a change of clothes. The next day, I managed to get one meal… but everything was going wrong. There was this sludge villain-”

     “So it was you.”

     “I hate that you know about it, but you told me to be quick about this. So, quiet. Anyway, I got attacked by it, and it tried to take over my body or something. But then All Might came to save me, and I panicked, cause you said to trust nobody, and I didn’t know if he recognized me or not. So I panicked and accidentally took half of the sludge, and then ran into someone I knew in my childhood. God, I hope he didn’t recognize me. But then the sludge got out, and went after both of us. You probably know how that went if you know about it.

     “All Might found me again, and I still don’t know if he recognized me or not. By that point, it was time for dinner, and I was all out of money, so there was no way I could get food.”

     “You’re in a change of clothes from the footage I saw in the sludge incident though? And the clothes you ran away in? You’re here too? How-”

     “ Shush. I’m about to explain it. Okay, anyway, I kept running until I was ready to collapse, and then I found something. I tried to sleep, some villain chasing someone woke me up, I got away with some… uh… some minor vigilantism… and stole some money.”

     “You what?” Keigo’s jaw dropped in shock as he stared at the kid so dedicated to heroics, who was confessing to doing two of the things that the commission seemed to hate the most.

     Keigo had expected Izuku to have some kind of rebellion against the commission eventually, but not like that.

     “I had to,” Izuku whisper-shouted. “And it was from the villain, who was trying to steal anyway. Just consider it karma to the villain. 

     “Then I went back to bed, and woke up realizing I was actually really sick. Like, I was coughing up blood, sick. I don’t think I had coughed up all the sludge at that point, so it just quickly made things make a turn for the worse. So before you ask, I killed myself to get it out of my system, get over the sickness. I stole a knife from the villain too… it was the best bet I had so I wouldn’t go hungry while dying of sickness.”

     “I’d be more disturbed by that if I didn’t know that your big thing is to keep coming back from the dead. But you have that whole notebook full of ways to die, and you couldn’t find something to take less time? You made sure it was something quick, right? That way your body didn’t need as much energy?”

     “Kei, I basically had zero energy at that point. I was exhausted, and spent so much of it running, while also running off of one meal. I don’t even know how long I was out, but I know that it would have taken less time if I had actually gotten good sleep, and enough food in my system. I woke up today…”

     “Okay, well, you weren’t out too long, for having that little amount of saved up energy. I know when you stopped going anywhere, at least. And you know that you were only gone from the commission for about a day before you died. Now, why did you get more clothes with the stolen money, instead of saving it for more food?”

     “Well… I forgot I didn’t keep my old clothes, and made a really bloody mess out of my pants… I actually needed something new.”

     And then the kitchen doors opened, with a different person coming out to hand Izuku his plate of food. It wasn’t much, especially if this was really Izuku’s first meal in days. Sure, it would be a start… so Izuku turned towards the person, and said “Could you get another one for him? I’ll pay for it.”

     “Of course,” they replied with a smile, before retreating back into the kitchen.

     When Keigo looked back towards Izuku, the boy was already quickly eating what he had, despite how steam was still very visibly coming off of the food. It was only when he was about halfway through that he looked back up at Keigo, before he said through a mouthful of food “What? I’m hungry. I’ve been awake for hours, waiting for those stupid pants to dry.”

     Keigo just shook his head, before shrugging as he said “How’s the place you found?”

     Izuku took that as his turn to shrug, saying “Not the worst. There’s running water, but I don’t really trust it. I think some of the commission’s lessons in what I thought were some of the most random things for the fact I was going into heroics could help me set up something… because I would like to get some of the things, like a fridge working again. But uh, I need money for that.”

     The boy didn’t even need to look at Keigo long, clearly with the hope that Keigo had come with something for him.

     If Izuku keeps up with the cheap meals on the menu, this money could probably last Izuku a good month, if he was determined to work on the place he found with the money he was given. It was almost a little too like Izuku to start looking into things that didn’t benefit his health first.

     The commission’s tests definitely didn’t help with the behavior.

     Keigo was quick to pull the envelope out of his pocket, handing to Izuku as he said “Just be careful with it. It should last you a while, but I’ll try to give you more next week. I’m trying to make sure we see each other as little as possible.”

     Izuku just gave a disappointed nod in understanding as he quickly put the envelope in his own pocket. Keigo was really the only person that Izuku could definitely trust right now, and that was something Keigo wished he could fix right now, especially since Keigo wasn’t even that safe right now to be around. If it wasn’t the commission already keeping an eye out on him, it would be the mass amount of people who knew him, especially for his placement in the top ten ranks.

     The interactions here at the restaurant had already proven that.

     “Speaking of seeing people, from what I’ve been told by the commission, they’re not sending a lot of heroes after you. So far, it’s just commission members, and me. I don’t know if it’s changed much, because they’re only suggesting patrol routes right now. The commission president is hardly giving me the time of day right now, especially ever since I last tried to ask her about any leads she may have on you,” Keigo explained.

     “So, still don’t trust much of anyone,” Izuku asked, turning back towards his food.

     “Right… sorry, kid.”

     “It’s… fine I guess. I’ll just find some way to waste time… the apartment is a good start, get it all cleaned up so I’m not worried about getting sick again, but by just falling asleep on the floor.”

     And then finally, Keigo’s food had come out, being placed right in front of him with a warm smile.

     They didn’t talk too much more past that point. As Keigo was finishing up with his own food, and Izuku starting on his second serving, Keigo ruffled Izuku’s hair, and then said “When you find some way to store food safely, make sure that you’re not just getting junk food. I know full control over your meals may be exciting, but take care of yourself.”

     “I’ll try,” Izuku replies, before taking another mouthful of food.

     Keigo already had his doubts that Izuku wouldn’t get a bunch of junk food. But if he did, Keigo wouldn’t entirely blame the boy. After all, it was easy to store, usually not needing to be kept cool, or warmed up when ready to be eaten. And coming in something tightly sealed in what Keigo was assuming to be abandoned apartments was an easy, safe thing to bet on.

     As long as Izuku made sure to get something good for him every so often, with all the money he had been handed, Keigo wouldn’t mind too much.

     This was probably the last time for a long time that the two would be able to talk like this for a long while, something that they both were well aware of. Keigo just hoped that they had covered everything they needed to, and cleared up as much as needed.

     Now, Keigo had to make sure to get the commission off of Izuku’s trail, and get into the know with just what leads they may have.

     As Keigo prepared to get up and leave, he asked “Why didn’t you just go bleed out in the bathroom? That way you could let it all fall into the tub?”

      Izuku’s eyes widened, before slowly turning to look at Keigo. He thought about it for a second, trying to think of something to justify the pants he ruined, and then said “I hadn’t been the bathroom yet, so I had no clue how dirty it was. Not to mention… I was sick and could barely stand… so… no crawling across the apartment.”

     Keigo chuckled, and then finally left.

     Izuku really hadn’t expected Keigo to get to him so quickly, the moment he had taken the feather out of the notebook and made his way out of the apartment. It hadn’t been quick quick, but it was still much faster than Izuku had expected; within the hour. 

     It had been difficult to find a clothing shop nearby that kept things as cheap as Izuku had hoped, but he had eventually managed to find something before he went to go get food, willing to spare enough money for a second outfit as well. He hadn’t been sure how long he was going to have to survive off of that small amount, after all.

     But now he had seen Keigo. Things would definitely go better from here on out, especially if Keigo could keep to his promise. 

     If he couldn’t, well, Izuku wouldn’t entirely blame him. Running away had been Izuku’s impulsive choice, and he didn’t want to force Keigo into his reckless choices. He was grateful for the help, hoped it could continue… but he wouldn’t blame Keigo if it were to have to take a sudden stop.

     With nobody else out in the main part of the restaurant yet, and Izuku’s lunch completely eaten, Izuku quickly pulled the envelope out of his pocket, looking to see what all Keigo had given him. He had already been able to tell that it was rather thick, but opening it was a whole new matter.

     As he looked through it all, his jaw dropped as he processed just how much money he had been given. Every store he had stopped to see seemed cheap with how much he had been handed, especially if this was going to be a weekly thing.

    God, now he hoped Keigo would never stop with the money. Because if he got too used to this much money, he wasn’t sure how he would go back.

     No, he just had to be careful with it. Continue to buy things carefully, as if he doesn’t have much.

     But for the sake of the apartment, he really may need to splurge with it, make sure he already has things prepared for a while. He could check some things with it, make sure he could spend less money than he was anticipating… then again, he had no clue just how much he’d need in case there was no way to get electricity in the building again. 

     Despite being cooped up in the commission building for so long, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that electricity wasn’t cheap to come around. Not to mention, it would be difficult enough to get someone to help him bring power to one building out of an entire abandoned street.

     Izuku was really dreading the idea of possibly figuring out why a whole street was abandoned.

     Hopefully just the lack of activity, and then building owners selling it in hopes of going somewhere they could benefit better. Or something along those lines. Whatever meant that it wasn’t too much of a hazard.

     Whoever the movers were for that street, they didn’t do the best job, and that’s what Izuku was going to stick with to ignore the train of thought that everyone was probably leaving in a hurry, and didn’t really care that they had lost some furniture at that point.

      The apartment isn’t creepy, the apartment isn’t creepy, the apartm-

     Izuku shook his head, and then quickly stuffed the envelope back into his pocket once more, before quickly making his way back to the apartments. Before he started to worry too much about power and how he would work around the lack of it for food’s sake, he had to at least make sure there was a way to turn it back on.

     Once Izuku got back to the building, he hadn’t been roaming around the building for long when he found the breaker for it, testing flipping the switches before slipping into the closest apartment on the first floor. 

     Much to his relief, it had worked. That was one major thing off of his list of worries.

     Now he just had to find ways to make sure nobody would notice.

     If the whole street was essentially abandoned, then it shouldn’t be too much of an issue when it came to keeping it hidden. The biggest obstacle would be the underground heroes, who may know that the street isn’t used, and would get suspicious of one of the buildings suddenly having power, and someone clearly taking up residence in an apartment.

     With that issue settled, he quickly worked his way back up to the apartment he had chosen, making sure that everything he hoped would work was working. Sure enough, things were finally taking a turn for the better, especially with the fridge working.

     Now the list of things he could take back to make sure he could prepare food had significantly increased, and he could already look forward to making sure he spent less, as he wouldn’t be going out to eat every night for some warm food.

     When it finally came to going shopping, he knew he had to go much further for this shopping trip. Not only was he going out for food, but he needed to get cleaners, the tools to actually clean, and hopefully a good wagon, because he already expected to grab a lot, seeing as he was starting with nothing. And he had already stolen once, and didn’t want to steal again for a while, which would include shopping carts from wherever he may go.

     A wagon would be a need to get things everywhere he needed to get them, and with ease. He wasn’t going to steal a shopping cart, and that was official. He wouldn’t want to add that to the small list of things that could get him locked up if the commission was upset enough at him.

     It had taken a while, but soon enough, Izuku had stumbled across a big general store. It had taken him a while to find a wagon, as those definitely weren’t something bought as much. But once he did, he took to looking for other things, going for heavier objects first.

     By the time he was done in the store, he had the wagon, a large package with multiple bottles of water, cleaners, other small necessities, a bunch of food that would last a while, and even some more clothes. If he was going to be able to successfully go into hiding, he had to at least make sure he had different things to wear, that way he wouldn’t be too repetitive.

     Izuku also didn’t want to stink… or wear the same thing over and over. 

     Before he went to go and pay for everything, he went down another aisle, and then started collecting blankets and pillows.

     This would definitely put a dent in all of the money Keigo had given him, but considering that Izuku was starting this with nothing, he thought he was doing a pretty good job.

    Though, he would have to be careful when he went back to the apartment, and when it came to carrying everything up. The wagon wasn’t exactly big, and Izuku was sure things could topple out if he wasn’t careful. 

     The stacked blankets and pillows were definitely a risk.

     He would just take them out of their packaging, and then wrap them around everything, with the heavier items holding them down. He would still need to be careful, but now quite as much.

     Once he figured he had enough to start off with, he made his way to get all of the items, and started his way back to the apartment.

     Every time he had to cross the road, he would warily watch the wagon as he stepped off of sidewalks, and especially watch for any cars. He was used to it just being him speeding across the street, but he definitely didn’t want to risk the wagon that trailed behind him.

     As he got back to the apartment, he stared at the stairs for a good long minute, before trying to rearrange everything in the wagon, and making sure everything was securely carried by the blankets, before he made his way up the stairs.

     It was a very slow process, but he didn’t expect this to be something normal. Hopefully even just a one time thing, with all of his future trips just being to nearby stores, and just for the small things. 

     As he got into the apartment, there were some things that he immediately pulled out, and got to work with, including putting locks on things, and trying to make himself a key, that way the front door could be locked. That had taken some time in itself, but once it was done, and he had figured it out, prepared to do it again in case his makeshift key failed, he was rather satisfied with his work.

     Then it came to cleaning the fridge, that way he would be sure that his food would still be good once it was put in there. He wanted to already have the food placed in there, knowing it had already been out of the cold longer than it probably should have, but the locks were something he had wanted to figure out quickly. And cleaning was important too! Getting sick wasn’t any fun.

      As one paper towel after the next got dirty, he threw them into one of the many trashbags he had bought. When the fridge was done, and all of the refrigerated items were put away, he got to quick work on everything else. 

     It wasn’t as dirty as it could have been, and there weren’t any bugs, much to his surprise, as far as he could tell. In fact, it mainly seemed to be dirty due to abandonment.

     Izuku would eventually look into the street, and figure out why the whole thing was empty. But that was a much later issue, when he could actually get his hands on a computer.

     After about an hour, with all of his food put away, it came to sweeping and mopping everything.

     He hadn’t often had to do chores, as most of his time in the commission was spent with training. But when he was little, he had loved to try to help his mother, and stuck close to her whenever he was home. While he wasn’t always helping, since he had been four and under, he had always watched, looking between his mother and whatever else he was doing. So it wasn’t like he didn’t have some kind of idea what he was doing.

     Some things had taken longer than others, but by the time the sun had gone down, he was finally as done as he hoped to be. There were some things he had wished he had gotten, but so far, he was feeling much better about the apartment. It wasn’t too deep of a cleaning, but it had been enough that he felt comfortable just sitting on the floor, as he went through all of the clothes.

     There had been just enough to get him through the week, as well as a couple of pairs of pajamas. Though, the outfit that was the most important to him right now was the tiny things he had started to collect for a vigilante outfit. Things that could make hiding himself easier, as well as safer when it came down to fighting and jumping from place to place.

     He didn’t really have any of his preferred weapons from his training, but the knife he had for now, and all of the more physical combat training he had, would come in handy.

     Izuku knew he had managed to keep himself busy tonight, but it wasn’t like this was something he could consistently keep up with. There was only so much cleaning he could do before the apartment was beyond clean. After all, it wasn’t like there was much of a mess he would be making as one person with a huge lack of many personal belongings.

     He had forgotten hangers while he was out, so he just settled with leaving them neatly folded up in the wagon, which he had stuffed into the closet that he had been very carefully cleaning after the blood incident.

     The bathroom was gross earlier, and he probably would have been a little stingy, even as exhausted as he was, if he had chosen to die in there. But Keigo had had a point when he had mentioned that Izuku could have chosen a better place to die, as to make less of a mess.

     But if Izuku woke up with all of the dirt from that floor on his hands, after crawling through as much of the apartment as he would have had to a couple days ago, he would have just perished all over again.

     Eventually, when all of his clothes were put away, and he had set up a little bed for himself with all of the blankets and pillows, he turned to the last of the things he had bought: a small safe, just big enough for his notebook to be slid into vertically. And with his notebook, he placed the envelope full of the money Keigo had given him in as well. It was still full of about half of the money, as Izuku had tried to find most things as cheap as he could, but it was enough money spent in one day that Izuku was hoping he wouldn’t have to do it again for a while. 

     What if there was something scarily expensive that he needed one day? Something to fix up the apartment, or get him out of something?

     He would really need to be careful with the money. The mere thought of it made Izuku sigh as he closed the safe.

     Izuku almost would have gone to bed if it wasn’t for the fact that he still wanted to do something. He had spent days on the closet floor, after all, dead. He didn’t remember them, as the days he missed were basically nonexistent to him, but knew that he definitely wanted to find ways to make up for the lost time.

     Besides, it would be a good start to testing out the vigilantism thing, and how safe he could stay doing it.

     Though, first he had to get himself some dinner… that could just be some cereal. He really didn’t feel like putting much else together at the moment, after all of the other work he had been putting into things throughout the day.

     He really hadn’t planned on staying out for too long. Maybe just an hour. 

     The time would say otherwise.

     It was nearly two in the morning, and Izuku still felt like he could keep going with this. In fact, it had been the most exciting part of his day, had been making him feel so much better. It was something that he could put all those years of training into, a way for him to not completely abandon. Yes, it was the more illegal version of his childhood dream, but he was avoiding dying while doing it.

     Not to mention, he had been fighting against people who had been trained for so long, able to become his mentors. Now, he was actually feeling good with his progress as he beat one villain after the next. The thrill of winning over and over, instead of just winning once or twice before the next trainer came in, ready to provide a more difficult challenge, kept Izuku from wanting to stop.

     Taking down villains was exciting, and had reminded him just why he had fought so hard to be able to be a hero. 

     Izuku kept to the lower buildings as he leapt from one rooftop to the next. He wasn’t keen to take too many more risks today, and he wasn’t about to play with his life with this yet, out of the worry that his first night leaping from one roof to the next would end with him splatting onto the ground.

     If there were underground heroes nearby, Izuku had either been doing a good job avoiding them, or they were just great at hiding. Of course, Izuku knew it wasn’t as common of a path to take in heroics, so running into them while constantly moving around would be rare enough.

     It was another couple of minutes of running around that he heard some more commotion, but nothing too big. Just people aggressively making an attempt to whisper to each other, clearly hoping to not draw much attention. That, of course, made Izuku nosy. 

     He laid down on the rooftop he was on, barely looking over the edge as he looked into the alleyway that the two were bickering in.

     “I told you to have the money tonight,” one of them whispered, shoving the other against the wall of the building.

     “And I told you that there was a family emergency,” the other person whispered back in a panic. 

     “You think those drugs come cheap,” Angry hissed. “Believe it or not, I don’t get rich, because I have to buy them to get them to you. And you think this can keep going if you keep going on without paying me?”

     “N-no,” Panicky replied, holding their hands up in defence.

     Panicky clearly was in trouble… but were they both criminals at this point, if what Izuku had heard was true? Of course, he felt bad if the family matters were true, but why get invested in whatever drug it was if he was willing to drop just about everything to look after them?

     Something more personal, Izuku supposed… maybe he could just… leave Panicky alone? Would some kind of quick talk work after taking down Angry? If the personal dealing the drugs was out of the picture, maybe it would find some kind of way to work Panicky out of going for the drugs?

     Izuku didn’t even know what kind of drug they were talking about… it could be Trigger for all he knew. He specifically remembered one of his teachers at the commission mentioning how they were getting more and more popular as people looked for more power faster, and that even heroes were falling for it at times.

     With heroes in the public eye, they were quickly caught in the end, and their licenses were always either revoked or suspended, mainly depending on the hero’s popularity, and the amount they had and used.

     It was as Angry raised a fist, thick needles sliding out of his knuckles as he threatened Panicky, that Izuku knew he finally needed to step in.

     He quickly moved his hands to hold onto the edge of the building, quickly raising himself into a handstand before he let himself fall off of the edge. He wasn’t going to lie and say he wasn’t trying to have some fun with this, even if the more important thing of the night was to deal with criminals and villains.

     As he fell, his feet eventually planted onto the villain’s shoulders, so he shifted his weight just enough that Angry fell back in their initial shock, the breath being knocked out of them as they hit the ground.

     Izuku adjusted the cap on his head a bit, making sure it was still securely on, hiding his hair as best as he could manage to make it.

     Panicky let out a yelp, backing themselves into the wall.

     With a sigh, Izuku knocked Angry out before they could get up, and then turned to Panicky as he said “There, he’s dealt with.”

     “P-p-please! Please leave me alone,” Panicky pleaded.

     Oh, wait, Izuku could have fun with this too. If he was currently frightening Panicky and all.

     “I will,” Izuku replied, smiling underneath the mask he wore. “As long as I don’t see you doing anything like this again. Though if you could do me a favor and call this guy in to the heroes, everything will go okay.”

     “Of course! Of course,” Panicky replied in… well… a panic. They scrambled for their phone, dialing in the necessary numbers. Izuku took this as his cue to run off, as he had been trying to avoid any situation like the second night he had been outside of the commission from happening again. 

     Panicky could come up with their own excuse.

     And it was with that that he decided to be done for the night, to go home and get some rest. He messed with the makeshift key in his jacket pocket, pulling it out the moment he reached the apartments. 

     Once he got in, he locked the door, and made his way to what he had established as his bedroom. With his pajamas already set out, he took to tossing the hoodie in the corner, as well as the cap that he had been using to hide his hair, the mask for his face, the fingerless gloves so he could protect his palms on slightly rougher landings while still doing most other things with the ease that most gloves he saw wouldn’t provide, and the kneepads to protect his rough landings as well. 

     He would definitely find some place he could shower at in the morning, and maybe use a bit more money for laundry, so that his pajamas wouldn’t stink after changing into them right after a night of running around.

     But for now, he could call it a night, and finally get some sleep. Much more comfortable sleep, mind you.

     The day had definitely been worth it this time.

Chapter Text

     In all of the time that Izuku had been running around last night as he made his many successful attempts in taking down villains, he hadn’t actually kept to the passing thought to start taking money from them. Between the general laws and morals he had been breaking, he had also wanted to get away from most of his fights as quickly as possible, worried about any possible underground heroes nearby.

     Now, Izuku had full faith in his fighting capabilities so far when putting himself up against most of the villains he had, taking them down with ease as he put one fighting lesson after the next to use. But to test them against a hero? He would really rather not run that risk.

     So he had kept everything quick, only lingering enough to make sure that he could get someone to call in the villain attack, before he made his way out of wherever it was he had taken down a villain at.

     Despite the stress of it, all the worry that he’d get caught or get himself put against someone too strong for him to handle, it had overall been wonderful, a great way for him to waste his time. All those years of training hadn’t been for nothing, and he actually felt like he was doing well.

     He wondered just how much better he could have been doing, had he actually gone through the training until the end.

     And that was with the fact that he was often quite literally dead to the world for days on end as each test with his deaths got more and more complicated. 

     So he planned to continue with the vigilantism. It wasn’t like he had anything much better to do, and it was, in his opinion, the perfect way to pass the days. Sure, he was putting himself at risk, whether it came to his physical being or being caught by the commission, but it made him some of the happiest he had been in a while, taking down one villain after the next.

     Besides, Keigo had always said that the best practice he had gotten was from actually being out there, learning the differences between the trainers, and all of the villains. Really, with Izuku’s chances of becoming a hero dropping to just about zero, this was what he had to work with.

     And if he did get dragged back to the commission, hopefully he’d at least have something worthwhile to show, that way he possibly wouldn’t be in as much trouble.

      No, he’s not going to get caught. Izuku wasn’t going to let himself get caught on that train of thought, not when he had been trying to hard to keep things safe for him.

     From that point on, Izuku started to make the vigilantism a nightly thing, finding someplace he could frequent for showers, and then making his way home as quick as possible, while it was still dark out. It was close enough to the apartments that he never had to work up a sweat getting there, and run the risk of making the shower for nothing. He could safely walk quickly, along a path that was steadily growing familiar to him.

     Tonight would be another one of those nights, as he packed away the pajamas he would change into later, after his extremely early morning shower, just before he would make his way home. He had taken out some more of the money for a backpack, that way things could be easier for him when it came to him taking something away from the villains, or just to store his personal things.

     Grabbing the cap, he put it on his head in hopes of covering up as much hair as possible, before he put the hood of his hoodie over it. With those being the last things he needed to do with the poor attempt at a costume so far, he quickly made his way out of the apartment, locking it behind him, and stuffing the key into a smaller compartment of the backpack.

     And then Izuku started another night of vigilantism.

     It had been a quieter night, all in all. He hadn’t even been out for long, with how quickly he had gotten bored. But he did spend a good deal of his time sitting on top of a building. It wasn’t really tall, but it wasn’t the small ones he was growing used to jumping around on either. It gave a nice view of the city for a good couple of streets, and especially the one beneath his feet, as he let them dangle over the edge.

     With the first night rather dull, he was making his way back to the apartments when he had heard some commotion. Another person trying to steal from someone, having pulled the person’s wallet out of their pocket, and making a break for it. The person who was robbed tried to make a run for the thief, and Izuku was quick to follow.

     After resting through a good portion of the day, he had plenty of energy to keep up, as the person who tried to keep chase on the thief seemed to not have. It was getting close to midnight, after all, and that person was probably on their way home to get the rest they would need.

     Izuku kept chase from up on the buildings, before jumping off and landing on the thief, something that he had been having a little too much fun with lately. He had tried to make sure he wasn’t jumping at them from too high of a building, and keeping himself close enough that he wasn’t going to give anyone too severe of damage. These people may be making villains out of themselves, but Izuku wasn’t on a mission to hospitalize anyone who acted like a criminal.

     Sure enough, the villain was down for the count pretty quickly, and Izuku made sure to hand the wallet back to the person who had it stolen from them. He adjusted the hood on his head as he asked for that person to call in the villain, making a mental note for himself that he really needed to find some way around this, get a better method rather than relying on the people he was trying to save to call these in for him.

      Of course, he was starting to consider learning the routes of nearby heroes, and trying to leave unconscious villains for them to find, leave a little note for a list of things they had done. But that came with plenty of cons, such as getting awfully close to heroes, who could start looking for him when they realized what he was doing, and figuring out Izuku’s possible route (something he had yet to establish, considering he was just jumping around wherever, and going to where he heard the nearest commotion.) There was also a chance that nothing he said would be believed in a note, and the villain would just be out and about all over again.

     While getting people to call in the villains was inconvenient, it was also his best course of action. If the person who was attacked or something was calling it in, the random vigilante that put a stop to the crime wouldn’t be the bigger issue there.

     At least, Izuku hoped he wouldn’t be the bigger issue. But knowing how much the commission seems to hate vigilantes, he’d probably be a big issue for them later.

     Though, they had already taken a lot of fun out of his life. He was going to have this, up until he was dragged back.

     It was as he was clambering back onto a rooftop that he quietly laughed to himself, thinking of a scenario where they sent Keigo to go get rid of the vigilante in Musutafu, Izuku, and then Keigo “coincidentally” couldn’t find the villain and successfully take them down, just as he had been “unable” to find Izuku.

     If Keigo was sent after the vigilante persona that Izuku was building up, he was sure they would both get a laugh out of it, and then they would probably go their separate ways, or just get a quick snack together first. And then Keigo would continue his route, and Izuku would continue just running in random directions in Musutafu.

     With that night of vigilantism done, Izuku took his shower, stuffed the starting idea for his costume in his bag, and walked home in his pajamas. Within a few minutes, he was walking back up the stairs, and opening the door to the apartment, locking it tightly behind him, before collapsing onto the bed he made for himself.

     He didn’t actually get up for a long while, since there really wasn’t much he could do with his day. Izuku had grown so used to a set schedule, his entire day being determined by others. And now he had a choice, and had no clue what he could do.

     Izuku had considered learning to cook, try to make something other than microwave meals, sandwiches, and bowls of cereal… but he was worried he’d just be wasting food for now, and it didn’t sound like the most entertaining thing for now. Not to mention that he hadn’t really bought any ingredients, so his options were already limited.

     When he eventually got off the bed to make himself lunch, he grabbed the notebook filled with all of his deaths, and then started doodling in the corners of it as he ate one of the two sandwiches he had just made.

     Another night of vigilantism, and he had gone to the rooftop again, and the night after that too. It had become a generally peaceful place for him, where the only concern was that he would run into a hero. And though he had only spent a few nights going to the rooftop to wind down a bit before returning to the apartments, he thought he had been pretty lucky, and that it at least didn’t seem to be a place frequented by heroes.

     Though, there had been a random gust of wind a couple of those nights, brief and going away nearly as quickly as it had come. 

     The next night, he had nabbed some money from a thief, as the person who had been attacked ran off, and Izuku was left to find another method to call the villain in. So he had dug through the villain’s pockets in hopes of finding a phone, but had found the wallet first.

     Really, he wasn’t hoping to build up too big of a criminal record before he even reached adulthood, and he knew that he still had a decent amount of money stored up… but he had to be mentally prepared in case there was no way he and Keigo would be able to find some way to talk again, or at least some way for Izuku to get his hands on some money. And a thief being stolen from? It just felt right in a way…

     Izuku had considered just letting that be the punishment for the villain, but that train of thought occurred right as he found the phone.

     He looked between the unconscious villain, and the phone he loosely held in one hand, weighing the options. If he called the villain in, it was double the punishment for them, for something they hadn’t even been successful with. But at the same time, Izuku was the one calling this villain in, and wouldn’t be willing to stick around until the end. So if he just left the villain be after this one, the villain could just wake up and realize a large portion of their money was missing, and hopefully accept that as some kind of karma.

     But after being killed one time after the next, by people who were basically in charge of Japan, with how they ran the entire hero industry… his hopes weren’t the highest. For all he knew, this wasn’t even the thief’s first attempt at stealing, and could have possibly been successful before. 

     And what if the villain tried to get Izuku in trouble? Call in that someone else had stolen from them?

     With a sigh, Izuku called the villain in, and then made a break for it.

     He did get himself a couple of snacks before he went home, however, using the money he had stolen from the thief. The rest of it quickly went into the little safe.

     Another couple of nights, and Izuku started looking around, wondering what it was. It didn’t seem like any natural gust of wind, and Izuku was supposed to be keeping himself safe, away from getting caught.

     Izuku hadn’t seen anything.

     Nervous, he adjusted the cap on his head, and pulled the hood over it more. 

     And then he noticed the wings a few streets ahead of him. Despite how few lights were up here, it wasn’t hard to miss the bright red wings when they weren’t going anywhere.

     He relaxed upon seeing his closest friend, waving in hopes that Keigo had seen him. And then his smile widened under the mask when he could see the wave returned in the distance.

     It didn’t take long for one of the feathers to quickly fly over, as Keigo himself took off. They still needed to keep their distance, after all. It was too soon ever since Izuku’s escape to take anymore major risks to try to see each other, so it made sense for Keigo to not linger around in one spot.

     Hell, it was a surprise that Keigo was even still in Musutafu. He wondered when Keigo would eventually be done patrolling around the city for the commission. It would hopefully be before all of the public noticed that one of the top ten heroes, who usually wasn’t in their city, was here.

     On another hopeful train of thought, All Might was probably drawing more attention away from Keigo, much to both Izuku and Keigo’s benefit. If the number one hero was still in Musutafu, it made things just slightly easier in the risk taking department.

     It was probably All Might’s presence, and everyone preferring to look for the Symbol of Peace that Keigo also being in Musutafu hadn’t been as big of a deal. Nobody was really looking for Hawks, just All Might.

     The feather span in circles around Izuku for a couple of moments, before darting away to one of the nearby connecting buildings, taller than the one that Izuku had been staying on. It tapped on the brick wall as Izuku walked up, quickly taking note of the loose brick.

     Keigo’s feather seemed to be trying to point towards the loose brick, with Izuku’s guess being confirmed, as the tapping stopped once Izuku went to move the brick, setting the heavy object on the ground next to him, making a light thud as it was placed next to his feet.

     And then the feather was darting away again, joining all of Keigo’s other feathers.

     Izuku looked back to the new hole in the wall, though not deep. Inside was another envelope, which Izuku eagerly took out, quickly opening it to look at the contents. It was when he took out a note that he took a seat on the ground, crossing his legs as he read over it.

      You’ve got to be more careful if you’re going to start frequenting places, especially as a vigilante. It didn’t take me long to notice you there, so be careful of the underground heroes who are used to all of those rooftops.

     Just asking that you try to make the times you’re here less obvious, if you want to keep coming up here, especially since I plan on leaving money for you here more often. I’d estimate another envelope every week.

     Now I know, I know, you totally want another letter every week from me, but I’m just far too busy :( All of these fans (so clearly the commission) keeping an eye on me, that I barely managed to get this letter done. 

     Just be careful, and keep looking for the money here. If you find a better option, that’ll be your turn to leave a letter to tell me. I don’t think anyone checks behind these bricks after all-

     We better hope not.

     THAT COUNTS ON YOU NOT BEING NOTICED!!!!

-Keigo

     Izuku quietly laughed to himself as he read the letter, pocketing it before he moved to put the brick back into its rightful place, leaving it just loose enough that he would be able to slip the brick out. It would most likely be Keigo to move it first, who would be able to use a feather to move it with more ease, but he would leave it like that just in case he went to check first, or if Keigo put the brick back the exact same.

     He decided to call it a night then, going to take his shower, and then make his way back to the apartment, with the plan to go out and get some more things with the new money. He still had most of his necessities, but knew it wouldn’t hurt to get some more, and maybe get a few more things for himself.

     Izuku wasn’t sure of many ways to keep himself entertained in all of his free time, filling it in with sleeping, cleaning, and his quick meals before he would go out for the night… but he should go back to figuring out ways to fix that boredom. 

     He could definitely look into grabbing some furniture to put together himself, get them little by little, using the wagon to get them from the store to the apartment. He didn’t really want to use the wagon again, especially after he had been using it for organization in the closet… shelves should probably be one of the first things he goes for.

     Ah well, that was a tomorrow Izuku problem.

     And a problem it had become.

     Waking up, one of the first things Izuku did was consider just rolling over and passing back out. But with the window in the other direction, and his stomach already grumbling, he decided to get up and start the day.

     He hadn’t gotten a clock just yet, so any idea he had of time was entirely reliant on what he could figure out with the sun. And after mainly going out at night for about a week now, refusing to take the risk of being seen by the daylight heroes, he had been keeping to the apartment all through the day. 

     So time had been irrelevant, and he just ate whenever he felt hungry, keeping to a couple meals a day, as he wasn’t actually that hungry now that he was just grabbing whatever he wanted and relaxing through most of the day.

      Relaxing felt weird, and he often couldn’t wait until it was nighttime. The only issue was that he had been lacking a challenge.

     He could probably start looking into some of the basic exercises he remembered, anything that he could just do at the apartment, that way he wasn’t sleeping as much. He had been extremely tired at first, as his quirk used energy to bring him back from the dead. But now that he hadn’t died in a little over a week, and hadn’t been doing much to top it off, constant sleep wasn’t going to come as easily soon enough.

     He’d find some kind of way to keep himself entertained soon enough, or at least give him something to focus on. Which led to the problem: figuring out just how late or early it was so he could figure out if this was a reasonable time for a fourteen year old to be out at the store alone, and buying furniture.

     Sure, a grocery run was a common enough occurrence. Kids coming home from school going to get a snack, or heading out somewhere to spend time with their friends. But that begged another question: was it still within school hours? Was it even a school day?

     Izuku genuinely hadn’t been able to keep track of the days of the week yet.

     Maybe a clock and a calendar would be a good investment. Or a clock that had the time on the screen. 

     Either way, he was going to get something to keep track of the days.

     Making his way into the kitchen, he decided to settle with some simple ramen, try to settle with something warm to start the day, especially since he was planning on hauling at least one box to the apartments, and then up the stairs. Then he was going to continue to waste more of his time by putting it together.

     Once all of the noodles were carefully put in a bowl, he made his way over to his room, and frowned as he looked in the closet, eyeing the wagon that had been holding his stuff. He knew he was planning on getting some kind of shelving, but he hated the idea of messing up what he had already neatened, and tried to consistently keep neat since he had nothing better to do with most of his time.

     But he had time to waste, considering his food was cooling down. So he took to starting to get everything out once he had pulled the wagon out of the closet, carefully putting everything on the floor that he remembered scrubbing for at least half an hour once he had gotten all of those cleaning materials. 

     Once that was done, he took to eating his warm ramen, cooled down just enough that he could eat it without burning his tongue. Before long, he was done eating that too, and was just about to leave, before he remembered that he needed to change too. Despite how plain and boring pajamas could be, they were an attention grabber when everyone else was dressed in clothes that weren’t pajamas.

     He would rather not grab much of any attention, especially when he was already going to be hauling a wagon behind him at some unknown hour of the day.

     Izuku decided to try and work around the hoodie today, knowing how warm it was getting, and not wanting to make himself ready to collapse the moment he got the wagon and new furniture up the stairs.

     He genuinely wasn’t planning on going out for much, just enough to fill up the room he had claimed as his own. Izuku was used to having a whole building around him, after all, and just having one room halfway to himself. The rules on decorating it had been strict, but it was his own little space.

     It’d feel too weird to start considering the rest of the apartment as something he had called dibs on as well, despite the fact he definitely went between the kitchen and bathroom as well.

     So he just decided to go with some shorts, a t-shirt, and the cap he usually wore for vigilante activities. The hood covered most of it at night, and it was a pretty plain cap. Not to mention, he was always wearing it at night, where totally different heroes were out on the streets.

     Izuku considered the outfit pretty safe, and a good enough way to avoid most of the cameras that were placed above him whenever he walked near buildings. He would rather not give himself a heatstroke with the hoodie or something, so this was his best bet to keep himself in a good enough condition, something he had been hoping for when he ran away.

     Carefully taking the wagon down the stairs, trying to make as little noise as possible, he finally managed to start his journey to find some furniture that he could put together.

     As he walked down the streets, all of the built up anxiety he had for the trip, about the cap not being enough, and that someone would recognize him and drag him back to the commission, he couldn’t help but notice that there weren’t any students on the streets. And knowing he didn’t put himself back to sleep, and got up the first time, he doubted that it was actually late enough in the afternoon for everyone to be home.

     Izuku wanted to convince himself that it just wasn’t a school day, but there was, in general, a lack of anyone his age or younger walking around.

     The streets were quiet, but significantly noisier than what he had gotten himself accustomed to at night. It was somewhat comforting, but it also made him wonder how all the spotlight heroes were able to get to things so quickly, make it to where there was almost always more than one hero at the scene. Then again, the sheer amount of them was most likely a major contributor to it, as well as the fact that there were more people walking around, and who could grab the attention of said heroes.

      Soon enough, Izuku finally stumbled across a store that would have what he was looking for, making his way in, and starting to look for anything that he could take home with ease.

     It didn’t take long to find something, which he quickly put in the wagon, and dragged all the way up to the registers so he could pay for it. He was beyond ready to get it home and start working on it, as he took out the envelope from Keigo, and handed the cash to the person who was checking the shelves out for him.

     “Are you sure you’ll be able to get that home, kid” the person asked, looking between Izuku and the big box. Izuku just gave a firm nod, saying “Yep! I’ll be able to get it home fine.”

      Sure enough, Izuku was halfway a liar in that statement. Because once he got to the apartments, it came to the most dreaded part: the stairs.

     With a sigh, he moved the wagon just out of view of anyone who could possibly pass by, and resorted to trying to carry the box up himself. While the last time he hauled the wagon up the stairs had had things in it, it had been multiple things, and Izuku did not want to take one trip after the next up the stairs just to get everything up. But he didn’t want to run the risk of the stairs making it more difficult with the heavy box.

     And after nearly ten years being trained by the commission, with one tough trainer after the next, Izuku knew how to carry heavy things and get them from one place to the next. He had more energy than he needed, and could do something as simple as this.

     It came with some back pain, but it was all well worth it once the box was quickly slid into his room. Then the wagon went up, this time so much easier than the last time he had brought it up.

     It was as Izuku was about to get to work on the shelves, looking at the instructions, that the eager smile quickly faded to a frown, as he realized there were some tools he needed. Izuku needed to go outside again, and he needed to go out for either the only stated tools on the instructions, or play it safe for any further projects, and just get a whole toolbox.

     The toolbox, he determined, would be the better option. Just a small one should do, nothing too big.

     So he took some more of the money out of the envelope, deciding to not carry the whole thing with him this time as he unlocked the safe, carefully placing the rest of the money in it before he closed it once more.

     Izuku was quickly growing familiar with Musutafu again, as he quickly found another store with just what he needed. He was in, and then out, just as he had hoped. There had been another worried or suspicious glance from that cashier too (Izuku genuinely couldn’t tell at that moment, not when he was rocking on his heels, ready to get back to the apartment), but Izuku paid them no mind. It wasn’t like he had any plans to be back too soon, make him being here during what may be school hours any more suspicious.

     It was as he was headed back to the apartment that students did start to fill the streets. So Izuku hurried back, and then made himself comfortable on his bedroom floor once more, looking over the instructions as he figured out the first step, starting to get the shelving put together.

     If there was one thing Izuku had realized while patrolling around random streets in Musutafu, it was that there were a lot of thieves in the city. Most of the villains that Iuzku went to fight had a quirk just convenient enough to make stealing easier, probably not wanting to do anything much riskier. 

     But at the end of the day, stealing was still a crime, and there were people that the money rightfully belonged to. The thieves had made to be rather boring opponents, and Izuku’s advantage from the rooftops made things all that much easier, as he fell onto them and knocked them onto the ground. Really, he was perfecting that move.

     Though the major reason for his want in heroics had been to save people, he had to admit, these villains weren’t putting up much of a challenge… it was rather boring. He knew he was doing the right thing, other than the fact that what he was doing was technically illegal itself, but he had hoped to have a little more fun for now, especially since he was so sure his path towards getting a license in heroics was over.

     All the good stuff, that required much more thought, was surely left to the heroes. Izuku would just need to look deeper for that kind of thing.

     Then again, All Might’s presence had reduced a lot of crime. That was a lesson constantly given to him, and how the Symbol of Peace’s presence was sure to bring one thing: peace. Izuku wasn’t entirely sure how small thieves were peace, but Izuku just reasoned that there were much worse villains before Izuku had even existed.

     Izuku just had to look harder. The Symbol of Peace was a daylight hero, after all, which meant that there were sure to be criminals in the shadows, if the constant thieves at night said anything. Surely, if Izuku put the work into it, he would find that there were worse things hidden even deeper in those shadows.

     That was what had led Izuku to just watching as someone suspiciously walked closer and close to a man that was just minding his business, a bag from a nearby gaming store in one gloved hand, while the other was stuffed into his pocket. The suspicious person’s fingers twitched in anticipation as they got closer, before they started to break out into a run.

     The person with the bag quickly turned around, a hand outstretched, probably to try to hold the thief back, if that’s what they were. But Izuku had stopped the thief before they could get close enough that the man had to try and hold the thief back with one hand.

     Though, it very easily could have been a quirk.

     Well, whatever would save someone from illegal public quirk usage! Izuku could just make sure that there was only one criminal here (he doesn’t count).

     Izuku looked at the man, who lowered his hand, stuffing it back into his pocket. With the hand out of the way, Izuku could see the deep scowl on the chapped lips, before they turned to walk away.

     “Oh, uh, do you think that you could call them in for me,” Izuku called. He wasn’t given a response, as the person continued to walk off.

     It was then that Izuku saw his first underground hero, who sprung down from a building themselves.

     “You wouldn’t happen to have a license for this, now would you,” the hero quickly asked, gesturing towards the villain on the ground.

     “You wouldn’t happen to be telling a kid who was minding his own business on his family’s rooftop to just ignore someone in trouble, would you,” Izuku asked, eyebrows raised as he looked at the hero. He didn’t recognize them, but it wasn’t like that was uncommon with underground heroes.

     And it wasn’t like Izuku recognized most heroes anymore lately anyway. He knew the top ten, and the heroes he had grown up with. Most of the newer heroes, he hadn’t really gotten a chance to look into, when he had basically no internet access, except for when Keigo and Izuku would scroll through the hero’s phone together.

     “The little cafe that has nothing else to it is your family’s rooftop,” the hero asked, their voice tired, but slightly amused.

     “Yep! Haven’t you noticed the clothing rack back there? The cafe really is a nice place to live in,” Izuku replied, pointing up to the rooftop. The hero looked up, and Izuku wasted no time in turning on his heel, making a run for it.

     There wasn’t a clothing rack… it was just one of the first things Izuku had thought of. He was surprised that the hero had even looked up in the first place, but he wasn’t really going to be complaining too hard right now, not when he was sure that he was getting away.

     He didn’t spare a glance back, not for a while. But when he figured he had been running enough, he slipped into an alleyway, looked around, and then let himself collapse on the ground for a moment.

Chapter Text

     It was as if the villains knew Izuku had been bored of the same kind of routine every night, with how quickly Izuku stumbled across something bigger. Or, at least, the realization that he could look into something bigger.

     Trigger wasn’t a foreign concept to Izuku, after hearing the commission president talk about it nonstop, how much of a bother it was to her, and all of the other commission staff. And he had taken down a villain distributing it before. He had taken a minute to realize that that was what it was, but he had figured it out in the end.

     Then, it was just his luck to run into another Trigger deal, merely a couple days after Izuku had hoped to have something bigger to look into.

     It had been what Izuku was going to assume to be another boring night, when he had been peering over a rooftop, spotting two people walking by, hoods pulled over the heads, with their hands stuffed deeply into their hoodie pockets. Izuku almost dismissed it, until he saw the way two people just across the street beckoned the two into an alley.

     Izuku had to be careful when it came to getting across the street, knowing that he couldn’t let them see or hear him coming if he wanted to listen in, see just what was going on. It could just be that they were accidentally looking suspicious, but Izuku figured it was best to be safe than sorry. Not to mention, he had a gut feeling to look into it, and Izuku’s teachers said to always look into gut feelings, especially once he would get more familiar with heroics, and the typical pattern of villains.

     So, Izuku listened to his gut, and then went to listen to the four people who very well may be villains. His path to get across the street took some time, but with how he was getting more and more familiar with the Musutafu rooftops, it didn’t take him too long to get across the street, and then creep over to listen to the people in the alleyway.

     “Listen, just mind your business. It doesn’t matter what we need this for,” Suspicious Guy Number One said.

     “Well it matters when my business is starting to catch a lot of attention,” Hoodie Guy Number One argued. “I can’t have them looking into where all of these people are getting quirk enhancing drugs from.”

     “The heroes? The heroes hardly care to look too deeply into this, just take down whoever makes too big of a show. These are more… backup measures, just in case if something actually goes wrong,” Suspicious Guy Number Two replies.

     Hoodie Guy Number One sighs, punching the bridge of his nose as he says “How… public are you planning to go?”

     “Why are you asking so much,” Suspicious Guy Number Two snaps. “You aren’t trying to get in the way of it, take it for yourself, are you?”

     “How can we do that, if we don’t even know what you’re doing,” Hoodie Guy Number Two questions.

     “That’s why you’re digging for the information,” Suspicious Guy Number Two replies, jabbing a finger into Hoodie Guy Number Two’s chest.

     Izuku supposed that this would be a good time to assume that they were villains. But he wasn’t just going to jump in as he usually did, not if he was going to try to deal with the bigger issue of this: the people in hoodies have a whole business out of trigger, and the two suspicious guys who set this alley up as the meeting place had something bigger planned.

     To make it easier to handle the two issues, without the two groups being aware that something was entirely wrong, Izuku would have to hope to be able to hear what the group trying to buy the Trigger were planning to do with it, that way Izuku could track down the Trigger group first, and then go find the buyers, beat them to whatever they were planning, and bring a stop to the issue.

     “As we said, it’s because we have to make sure that the business stays safe, otherwise, this can’t continue. If we’re taken down, then we can’t give this to anyone else, or continue with our easier means to get it to Japan in the first place. This is the better trigger,” Hoodie Guy Number One says, finally pulling a hand out of his pocket, a small red vial held gently between his fingers. 

     Only for his grip to quickly tighten as Suspicious Guy Number Two makes a lunge for the vial. With the slight twist of his hand, Izuku took note of the small blue label on the vial, knowing he didn’t hear about that often. It could be a sign that those were being shipped in.

     “Ah ah ah,” Hoodie Guy Number One taunts, holding the vial above his head. The fact that he was slightly taller than the other gave him a slight advantage, as Suspicious Guy Number Two reaches for it, only to quickly be dragged back by Suspicious Guy Number One. “If you want it, you have to work with us here. We have to trust that we won’t have to move again, because our buyers were too careless.”

     Suspicious Guy Number Two’s frown deepens as he eyes the vial, only to quickly turn to the other suspicious man, who says “Fine. We’re a group full of weak stealth quirks, and we need them stronger for a bigger goal.”

     “See? That’s better already. And while we can have much more faith in your mission going well, if you really are a bunch of stealth quirks, we really would like a bit more.”

     Izuku would like to hear a bit more too.

     He leans a little closer, just enough that the moonlight coming in from the other direction couldn’t put a shadow over the alley just yet, relieved that the villains hadn’t looked up.

     “The bank on the other end of the city, the one that is rumored to have sent people into bankruptcy ten years ago. Its security isn’t even that good anyway, because they’re so reliant on their security’s quirks,” Suspicious Guy Number One mutters, stuffing his own hands into his pockets. “We just want to sneak in and grab some money from them. Any of the workers who put their money there.”

     Hoodie Guy Number One seems to think it over, tapping on his chin for a minute, before handing the vial over to Suspicious Guy Number One. Suspicious Guy Number Two makes a lunge for the vial, only for his friend to be the one to keep him from getting his hands on the vial this time, with Number One putting it into his own pocket.

     “Thank you,” he says.

      And thank you, Izuku thinks to himself, smiling as he slowly crawled out of the alleyway’s view. His listened to where each set of footsteps went, going on opposite ends of the alleyway. Peeking over another edge, Izuku figured out which direction the dealers had went, and which way that the future bank robbers were.

     After thinking it over for a moment, what was the best direction to take things, he decided on what to do. Izuku quickly decided on which duo he should follow, and took to leaping from one rooftop to the next, managing to keep himself quiet after all of his practice. Once he was sure the other group was far enough, and that it would be safe enough for Izuku to go after them, without another underground hero stumbling across him again, he leapt down.

     Izuku didn’t go with his usual move of jumping onto the villain, while he actually jumped down into another alleyway just ahead of the villains. He readied himself to grab them, arms lunging out the moment they came into view, successfully dragging Hoodie Guy Number Two into the alleyway.

     The palms of the villain’s hands started to glow, so Izuku quickly stomped down on the other arm, while his hands grabbed the raised arm, twisting it back and down just enough that he could hold it down with the other leg.

     As Hoodie Guy Number One came running in, already reaching back into his pocket, Izuku quickly turned, kicking Hoodie Guy Number Two’s head in the process, all while Izuku prepares to dodge the first hoodie guy, whose hand came out of the pocket with a knife tightly held in its grip.

     It was one of the first lessons Izuku had received in his defensive training, to learn how to dodge a knife, or any small weapon coming at him, really. So it didn’t take much effort to quickly move the arm out of the way, and then twist it enough that the knife clattered to the ground.

     Izuku grabbed the small weapon before Hoodie Guy Number Two could, another unsuccessful attempt at lunging at something for these people. 

     Maybe it was the fact that Izuku had labeled the guys as “Number Two” that made them so bad at grabbing things, unable to reach it before someone else did, or hid it away. But it was amusing, the way the villain got so frustrated, though clearly with a twinge of nervousness, as they eyed the knife. Their hands lightly glowed once more, so Izuku pointed the knife in their direction, all while Hoodie Guy Number One whined about his arm.

     Izuku couldn’t help but want to roll his eyes at the whining, knowing he hadn’t broken it. He had more self control than most of his trainers would give him credit for.

     “So, where are you getting the Trigger from,” Izuku asks Hoodie Guy Number Two. “I already know it’s not from here, so how are you getting it in?”

     “If you want some Trigger, it’s best not to assault us, and then ask for it. Listen, kid, we don’t have all day for this, and should get back to report things. Don’t make us hurt you,” Hoodie Guy Number One hisses through clenched teeth, massaging his arm.

     “Well, technically, it’s night. And I figured nighttime was the best time to not do much of anything. After all, shouldn’t we all be asleep right now,” Izuku asks with a grin, shrugging before he continues. “Now, if you don’t say anything, I’ll just have to call the heroes over here to take you in.”

     “You say that as if you actually think you can win against us.”

     Izuku’s face twists up in a way to silently ask “Really,” before he just looked between the two villains, and said “I think I am winning.”

     “You’re one cocky kid. Listen, you’re not going to win against the two of us. We have Trigger, and you don’t. So go home, and mind your business, before we take you down ourselves. We don’t want to kill kids, but we will if you make us.”

     “Listen, if I somehow lost tonight, I’ll just look to find you again. And again. And then maybe again. If I haven’t won by then, then really, I’ve gotta figure out what I’m doing wrong here.”

     “You can’t come after us if you’re dead, kid.”

     “Who said you could kill me?”

     And then the fight starts up again, though this time just between Hoodie Guy Number One and Izuku, as the vigilante had already been quick to knock the other villain back with another kick, leaving the villain dazed and clutching their head.

     Izuku, ever so consistent with damage to the villain’s heads, twists the villain’s arm once more with one hand, while smacking the villain’s face into the wall just behind him in the process. The villain slumped to the ground, and Hoodie Guy Number Two tried to push himself up, hands glowing, and making the ground beneath him as well, just where the palm of his hands had been.

     Izuku still had to look closer, figure out more about the quirk, but he would find it rather funny if it was just some intimidation thing the villain was trying, to make it seem like he was about to use some powerful quirk, but it was all just a bluff to cover up a much simpler, more mundane quirk.

     Maybe some kind of quirk that emits some kind of paint through the pores? These villains weren’t the ones with quirks to hide themselves, but it didn’t mean that there was no chance at all for villains in other groups to have similar concepts of quirks.

     But if it was something genuinely good to protect them, wouldn’t they have lunged at Izuku by now?

     Izuku didn’t even point the knife in the villain’s direction as he asked “So, do you want to actually answer this time?”

     Hoodie Guy Number Two looked between Izuku and his fallen friend, and then firmly said “I’m not telling you any more than he has.”

     With a tired sigh, Izuku took to quickly knocking out the villain, and then got to work. He was going to end up doing thing anyway, because it’s not like he had much time to waste, and couldn’t risk letting two villains out on the loose to alert their group. He was going to knock them out, just as he was going to quickly look through their pockets in hope that there was a phone between all the Trigger vials.

     And with luck on his side tonight, he found a phone. With a fingerprint lock on it, Izuku took Hoodie Guy Number One’s hand, and quickly got into the phone. First, he quickly scrolled through the contact in hope of finding some kind of hint as to where the villains kept their base.

     Everything seemed to be in a kind of code, with a hint of obviousness that what Izuku was looking for was hidden in the messages. It was coded, but not well enough that it just seemed like a casual conversation. It was like two people saying random fruits in front of each other out of nowhere, then coming back an hour later with some kind of intricate planned completed.

     So that seemed to be where Izuku’s major luck ended, but there was still a last portion of his night planned out, before he would further look into the whole Trigger group going on over the course of however long it took to get a good enough plan to take them down.

     And frankly, that would have to be quick, considering the risk he took to go after these villains in the first place. It wouldn’t take long for the group to at least consider that these two were caught, or at least disappeared with the Trigger, right? These two had already mentioned going into hiding elsewhere, so they liked to keep themselves safe, clearly.

     But if these vials were special, and Izuku already knew that they were being brought into Japan from outside countries, then he could already start to get ideas where to look, even if just for a whisper, with the vials giving themselves away through the blue label.

     Izuku called in the two suspicious guys from earlier, telling the officer on the phone everything that he had heard – definitely not from spying on these guys, not at all – while confirming that he had seen the villains with at least one vial of trigger.

     Izuku didn’t know the exact banks the villains were talking about, but it wasn’t like he could take the time to research it, when he didn’t even have a phone of his own. He was entirely reliant on the phones he temporarily got his hands on in the moments he did. So he hoped that the conversation between the villain groups would be enough of a giveaway to the police, who may have had to investigate that in the first place.

     With the officer on the other end thanking Izuku for reporting it, Izuku quickly said “Oh, and uh, two of the people who were handing out Trigger are very conveniently knocked out in an alleyway.” And with that, Izuku quickly looks for which street he was on, double checking it in case he had it wrong, and then giving the name to the officer.

     And then Izuku hung up, hoping that things would go well.

     The bank incident would have to be something Izuku specifically tried to listen out for, but he hoped it wouldn’t make its way to the news, that nobody would know that the attack happened in the first place. Because if it never makes it to the news, then that means that heroes and police did a good enough job of making sure it was kept safe, no matter the possibility of a corrupt history for the building.

     Izuku spent the next few weeks looking for more and more hints to where the Trigger dealing group may be, venturing out further than he was used to. He listened in closer and closer for just where the villains may be, hoping to hear anything about the dealings. He hadn’t figured out where they were hiding, but he was slowly getting closer and closer to just where they may be getting the imported Trigger from.

     Izuku had held onto one of the vials from when he first started investigating, using it to compare to any of the others he stumbled across. Most of the other dealings he had seen had just been with the regular ones, so it wasn’t something Izuku had found himself too interested in. No, this imported Trigger was his to look into, and so that’s what he was keeping himself occupied with.

     Soon enough, it was right at the docks of a trash piled beach that Izuku saw a group of people waiting, as a boat rowed its way over, moving through the trash that floated around with what looked to be a practiced ease.

     Further in the ocean were bigger ships, that seemed to still be going somewhere else in the country. Izuku knew that there were docks down there, but it wasn’t a place he found himself frequenting. He had spent about a week lingering around it, only to find himself worried that these guys may not even be stationed in Musutafu, only coming down here when it involved selling the Trigger to people.

     Izuku had considered just reporting it to the heroes, or just going to wait, up until he had finally heard the whispers he had hoped to. There had been another Trigger deal going on, and Izuku had just let it happen that time. He had needed to follow the guy who was handing it out, and was beyond relieved when the guy didn’t even hop into a car.

     After seeing the glint of blue on the red vial, Izuku had been sure that this was the guy he needed to follow if he wanted any sort of hint.

     He followed from the rooftops, leaping from one building to the next, keeping a close eye on the villain.

     Izuku wasn’t sure he was actually that good at leaping quietly from all these buildings, as he was far too aware of any noise he made, even his breathing. There was always the worry that he could be heard, but he tried to convince himself that it was just him being too worried about it in the first place that brought it to his attention, that he was intentionally listening for it.

     After all, it would be really weird if none of these villains heard him if he was actually really noisy.

     Maybe all the times he had tried and often successfully stolen a snack from one of the commission worker’s offices had been pretty useful, even if he hadn’t even been leaping across buildings then, just creeping through the halls instead.

     It was following that villain that led Izuku to the beach, where he had to actually get down from the rooftops to continue his pursuit.

     Moving through all of the trash had just made him much more worried than the rooftop jumping did, as all of the trash was piled together, and he was so worried about making anything topple over.

     But hey, maybe the villains would just think it was a gust of wind? 

     Probably not, though… not if they had somehow managed to get away with the Trigger dealings so well.

     So Izuku continued to watch the interactions through the trash, wishing he had some pair of binoculars to make it all so much more easier to watch, where he could feel more secure about his hiding spot.

     And though Izuku couldn’t hear what they were saying, he could see the large box handed over, that was pried open to reveal what was inside. The soft red glow told Izuku all he needed to know, as he slightly pulled the stolen vial out of his own pockets just enough to see that one glowing, just as it had always been doing. It wasn’t something that he had really noticed at first, as it had been a single vial. But with so many together, the glow had become plenty obvious.

     Now Izuku had seen where they were coming in from… but lacked a further plan. He still had to figure out where the base was, because that had become his main issue.

     It turned out to be an easier thing to figure out than he had expected, especially as he had stumbled across a familiar face, from previous nights of vigilantism and taking down villains. Izuku hadn’t expected to see the person he specifically remembered trying to pull out of a Trigger deal, making it all the more shocking when he saw them handing out the new stuff.

     Safe to say, Izuku was quickly able to get answers out of them, as the person looked just about ready to wet themselves upon not only being caught, but recognized.

     With the villain’s reaction, Izuku decided to take a risk, and let them drive off. 

     From that point, Izuku knew he needed to hurry. It was a risk to let the villain go back, but he wasn’t willing to make it worse by waiting.

     The longest wait by the time he got to the base was trying to figure out a way to safely get in. With the cars parked in front of the warehouse, Izuku guessed that there was probably a good deal of people. And with him essentially fighting quirkless, Izuku knew that he had to play it safe. Just because he could technically survive through anything didn’t mean he wanted to take risks that could get him hurt.

     It was as he was starting to get closer to the warehouse that he heard the commotion inside, his eyes widening once the screaming started.

     Something big was happening, and Izuku had to figure out if he was willing to see just what the dangers were in there.

    Well… maybe Izuku wasn’t so big on the self preservation thing. Ah well, as the saying goes, “Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.” And Izuku can come back!

     He’s really just contradicting himself at this point.

     Izuku quickened the pace he was walking at, spotting some of the windows higher up on the warehouse. One of them was open, just a little ways away from another one of the nearby buildings. It wasn’t easily within jumping distance, so Izuku was wondering if there was a higher platform inside near the window, or someone had either flown or jumped in.

     Izuku quickly climbed the nearby building, all of the practice over the past month making it beyond easy. Soon enough, he was high enough that he could easily look into the windows, pulling himself up onto the ledge, just big enough for him to balance, sitting there.

     It didn’t take him long to figure out just what was going on in there. At first, it had just seemed like a bunch of people running around the building, shouting and jumping over anyone who had fallen. Some clambered up to the platform that Izuku had guessed was there, but most didn’t make it far before falling themselves.

     There was one person that had seemed to be up on the platform a while, shaking as they tried to crawl to the window.

     It hadn’t taken Izuku long to see all the bright red feathers flying around, dealing with the group of villains. Keigo was standing next to a bunch of boxes, all looking just like the ones Izuku had seen at the beach.

     It was Keigo against everyone in there, and as the commission had hoped for out of all those years of training, Keigo was winning by a landslide. 

     Izuku almost decided to just turn and leave, knowing that the situation was being dealt with. But when the villain who had been up on the platform for a while was moving towards the window, and it was them trying to stand up that drew Keigo’s attention towards the window. He had been glaring up until that point, spotting Izuku quickly, eyes widening as he stared in shock. The feathers froze for a moment, before Izuku just gave him a nervous wave.

     The villain clambering towards the window was trying to take advantage of Keigo’s distraction, already halfway out the window. With Izuku right next to that window, he just quickly let himself drop down, holding onto the windowsill, and kicking the villain back in. He was well aware that he was sending the villain back to a commission determined death sentence, but it was plenty risky to be jumping down from that point on the warehouse.

     Izuku was already taking enough of a risk with that move.

     But after he had swung his legs for the kick, he let them latch onto the open window’s windowsill, and pulled himself up and into the building.

     Keigo was up on the platform by that point, feathers quickly joining back together on his wings, as he worriedly looked at Izuku. It wasn’t a pretty sight to walk in on, of course, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t heard about the missions before. Keigo tried to not talk about them often, but the commission president already had it well established that killing the groups that they couldn’t keep under control, all of the villains who put the country at risk, had to be dealt with.

     Keigo helped Izuku get in the rest of the way, even though Izuku knew he had it, but appreciated the gesture nonetheless. 

     “What are you doing here,” Keigo started to question, worryingly resting his hands on Izuku’s shoulders, with the last villain watching the interaction nervously. That had been the same one that Izuku had run into earlier, the one that Izuku had run into, handing out the Trigger, and gotten the base’s location out of. “How did you find this place? The commission has been looking into this privately for a while, it shouldn’t have gotten out.”

     Izuku looked past Keigo, at all of the bodies just ahead of them, all scattered on the ground. He just looked towards Keigo, then shrugged as he quietly said “I got bored… and ran into some Trigger deals. I started looking into it a few weeks ago, and finally heard about this place today.”

     Keigo stayed silent for a minute, before sighing and ruffling Izuku’s hair, saying “I wish you would have stuck out of this one, kiddo.”

     “I mean, it’s not like I expected the commission to look into it too,” Izuku replied. That was when Keigo stepped back into Izuku’s line of vision, blocking off the view of all of the bodies.

     “Groups like these have always been the commission’s biggest aggravation, so of course a group as big as this one would be something they looked into.” Izuku finally looked back up at Keigo, before digging in his pockets, and handing Keigo the vial. “Thanks… you didn’t get hurt at all, or grab anymore of these while looking for these guys, did you?”

     Izuku shakes his head, and says “No… this was the only one I kept, and I was watching for the most part, trying to hear where they might be. It was just the first guys I ran into, and-”

     That was when they could hear the cars turning down the street, with Keigo’s eyes widening, as he quickly pushed Izuku out of the window’s view.

     “You need to get out. The commission is finally here to clean things up, so you need to be so careful,” Keigo says in a hushed, panicked tone. Izuku tried to glance out the window, see just where the cars were, but Keigo quickly made Izuku duck down, ducking down with him, and guiding him to the other side of the platform, where more windows were at. 

     Izuku eventually just started quickly going that way on his own, Keigo stopping about halfway there on the platform, as the one surviving villain continued to look between Keigo and the oncoming cars.

    “You gotta deal with him too,” Izuku says, sparing one last glance to Keigo. His friend gives him a solemn look, and then looks back towards the villain. Izuku wasn’t encouraging Keigo to kill people, but this person was someone they couldn’t trust to keep Izuku being here quiet. He would probably panic, and then mention the vigilante he came across. “It’s… risky… to let him get away, or try to just put him in jail.”

     Keigo just gave a small nod, before quickly ruffling Izuku’s hair, and then said “I know… I’m sorry that you saw this. I’ll make it up to you later, I promise.”

     Izuku gave Keigo a small smile, and then said “Just don’t worry about it.”

     And with that, Izuku rushed off, jumping through a window, and taking to the rooftops one more time. But it was in his escape that he heard Panicky’s scream, pleading for Keigo to leave him be, that he would be quiet. Then he was quiet, and the building was returned to silence.

     As Izuku ran off, he spared one last glance to the building, looking at all of the commission cars that had built up just in front of it. One person in suits after the next went out of the cars, and they quickly disappeared into the warehouse.

     Izuku could have sworn one of those people were his trainers.

     But he didn’t get a close enough look, as he was much more focused on getting out of there, before any of them saw him. He had managed to go weeks without Keigo mentioning anything about the commission being on his trail, so he wasn’t going to let that change anytime soon.

     Keigo had kept to his word to make it up to Izuku, even though Izuku had said that it wasn’t something to worry about. He already knew that if he stayed with the commission, he most likely would have just been a trained killer anyway. All of his own deaths were starting to desensitize him to the topic, in a way.

     Seeing other people die had been worse than he expected, but it didn’t make him feel as bad as it probably would others. 

     The longer he thought about it though, the worse he felt for Keigo. He hadn’t gotten away, and he couldn’t get away. He had too much of a name to him, and wouldn’t blend in as well, unless he constantly focused on hiding his quirk. But even then, his face was known. He was forever stuck as the executioner once the commission passed the guilty sentence, and the villains would die without anybody getting to know.

     Izuku would always wonder how they handled the aftermath of the villains, especially if they had families left behind. Did they tell them the truth, and they pay for their silence? Did they come up with some kind of lie, and just hope that they believed them?

     Izuku hoped he wouldn’t have to figure that out.

     It was another night of the same thing he was used to: taking down whatever villains made themselves known, and then either having whoever they were after calling the police, or snatching a phone off of the villain to call them in.

    He was going to go to the rooftop for the night, appreciate the view for the first time that week, and check behind the brick, when he suddenly saw those bright red wings again. Those things that would never let Keigo hide well.

     Izuku just figured he was here early, and remembered what Keigo had said about the risk of them being seen next to each other, how risky it was, even if they thought they were safe. So he quickly backed up, hiding behind one of the nearby buildings, when he heard “Hey, I’m waiting here for a reason.”

     He peeked around the building again, adjusting the cap on his head as he saw Keigo looking in his direction. 

     “Trying to be safe,” Izuku muttered, before jumping onto his favorite rooftop, and then stuffing his hands in his pockets as he walked up. Keigo chuckled, and then said “It’s been over a month, I’m sure you can take a little risk for now.”

     “Heyyy, you’re the one who keeps insisting I stay safe in all your notes,” Izuku jokingly argues, taking a seat next to Keigo.

     “I’ve given you one letter a week to keep you updating on the stupid stuff, and if the commission says anything about any clues they have on you, and you’re listening to what… four, five letters,” Keigo asks, bursting out into laughter.

     Izuku gave Keigo a light shove as he said “Okay, sure, it’s funny that I listen to the one person I can trust, and basically everything he says. What are you doing up here anyway?”

     That’s when Keigo revealed the little box on the other side of him, handing it over, with the usual envelope held between it and his thumb.

     “I, little easily bored child, am here to cure your boredom,” Keigo says, placing the box on Izuku’s lap. “It’s a portable blu-ray player! I gave you a little extra this week, so you can go get some movies for it.”

     “Oh, I didn’t need extra,” Izuku replies, smiling at the gift. “I still have plenty of money saved up. But, thank you.”

     “What are you even spending it on anyway? It’s enough for food, right? And anything else you need for where you’re staying?”

     “Kei, it’s seriously way more than I need,” Izuku replies, eyebrows raised as he holds his hands up to stop the questioning. “I keep all the extra for emergencies.”

     “What kind of emergency are you expecting?”

     “Being evicted out of my free apartment… What if I need to actually find somewhere to pay for where I’m staying? I’m fourteen! How can I get away with that? The commission may treat me like an adult, but every time I go to a restaurant or store, they all look ready to baby me!”

     “Probably cause you basically are!”

     “Nuh uh… fourteen is four years away from adulthood, and then… like… thirteen years away from being a baby. And you’re like, six years older than me!”

     “No, yeah, you’re totally a baby. A baby who needs something to stop him from getting bored. Gotta dangle the entertaining things in front of you, keep you from getting into things you’re not supposed to.”

     Izuku crossed his arms, turning away as he said “That says nothing.”

     “It says a lot,” Keigo says with a smirk. “Seriously though, what all have you been doing to waste time? Are you getting yourself anything to occult your time? Instead of running around as a vigilante, in a silly getup every night?”

      “Okay, hold on now, this is so much more normal that a good… seventy percent of the hero costumes I’ve seen. And, it’s easy to blend in with this.”

     “And most people who stop crime have like… this signature look. I hear about a vigilante who was running around in an All Might hoodie, and that was kinda his thing. Then there’s this really buff vigilante for a while, who I heard had this cool getup. Either way, you’ve gotta have something that feels like you. Didn’t you have a list of hero costumes that you had started ideas for?”

     Izuku sighed, placing the box and envelope next to him before bringing his knees to his chest, and then saying “I guess… but I always had the idea that it would all be custom made, that others would help me bring that idea to life, make a good costume out of it. All of those ideas, I just kinda… have to make something up from what I can find in stores. And they always sell stuff that’s really casual, or what’s in fashion. I don’t think… most of my costume ideas can be found in stores.”

     “Well, even if you’re supposed to be keeping things quiet as a vigilante and all, I still think it would be cool if you had this… like… signature thing. Let all the villains know that they’re about to get their asses kicked, and all. You have been doing well fighting and all, right?”

     “Oh, yeah, definitely,” Izuku said, laughing to himself for a moment, smiling at the ground as he said “They’re all too easy. It’s another reason I was looking for something bigger, to challenge myself. What if I start losing all those lessons because I got too used to fighting easy guys?”

     “I think all that training is going to be more muscle memory at this point.” That was when Keigo started to stand up, brushing off his pants, and starting to walk off. “I think it’s about time I head out then. I think I’ve put this whole plan at risk long enough, right?”

     Izuku quickly lunged up from his spot, then wrapped his arms around Keigo as he said “Just stay safe, alright? And whatever happens… just blame it all on the commission. Maybe that’ll make things feel better.”

     Keigo laughed before he returned the hug, and then flew off a few moments later.

     Izuku stood there on the rooftop for a bit longer, the loneliness settling in as he realized he really wasn’t talking to anyone anymore. He didn’t count the few words exchanged between him and the villains, police, and random civilians he had saved. Izuku hadn’t had anyone to have a genuine conversation with in a while…

     He knew there weren’t really good opportunities to find someone to talk to, and nobody else felt safe enough. What if someone wanted to go to his place, and he had to keep coming up with excuses for why they couldn’t? What if someone started to get suspicious of him?

     There were plenty of risks Izuku was willing to make, and plenty that he wasn’t. Getting close to other people was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. Not yet.

     After Izuku woke up the next morning, he changed into some casual clothes, and put together some breakfast before he headed out. He had already checked to make sure he knew how the blu-ray player worked, and tried to get some idea of what he may want to watch with it.

     But really, he knew he had no clue what he wanted. The only thing he really remembered watching when he was little, and really enjoyed watching, was hero documentaries. So if he was going to get his mind off of saving the city for a bit, it was probably best to look into something… not documentary related.

     So his trip had begun, and he eventually managed to find a little shop filled with movies and games. He sat on the floor in front of sections for a while, trying to figure out what all he may want. With how much money Keigo usually gave him, and knowing he had extra this week, he knew he wouldn’t have to limit himself to only a couple of movies. He had his groceries, and still had plenty locked up in the safe. Things would be fine.

     After all, he had bought plenty with just the tiny amount of money alone, all to take care of the apartment. The movies would hardly feel like much.

     Any summary that caught his interest on the cases, he started to leave in a stack next to him, carefully moving it with him when he went to look at another section.

     It was as he was close to the gaming section, and about ready to leave with his stack of blu-rays, that a slightly familiar face walked by, looking over the games. Who that person was clicked very quickly in Izuku’s head, as his expression lit up with shock, and he started to say “Oh, you’re-” one of those people who were almost attacked, and you looked just about ready to defend yourself. It would be so cool to know what kind of quirk you have, and it’s nice to see you’re okay. Did me leaving you there to call in that villain go okay?  

     Izuku cleared his throat, the person’s red gaze already on him. He was glaring, clearly not happy to be bothered.

     “You’re… going to the games. Do you need me to move or something,” Izuku quickly asked, trying to save himself. 

     “No. There’s plenty of room,” the person quickly replied, reaching up to scratch at their neck.

     “Ah, alright. Good luck finding what you’re looking for, then,” Izuku said, grabbing his stack of movies, and then quickly making his way to the register. 

     Izuku was doing a little too well at getting himself nearly caught with something lately… whether it be where he is for the commission to hear about, or almost giving away the fact that he’s a vigilante.

     So, because of all the risks he had been taking… he was going to go lock himself in the apartment for a bit, not worry about trying to do something special with his vigilante costume, and keep watching movies until he was sure he could keep his lips sealed and start being careful again.

     Yeah, that was definitely his best course of action, he had eventually decided, as he ran out with his bag of movies in hand. At least now he could occupy his time with something other than cleaning and sleeping when he wasn’t out there, technically breaking laws.

     He should probably be glad that he was a vigilante in the post-Nagant era… because that last commission president definitely had some major issues with vigilantes. It would be funny if he just had a constant issue with vigilantes solving everything he had wanted to solve.

     Ah well, he would rather not think of the guy who started the whole “training kids with powerful quirks to be trained assassins.” He had time to waste now!

Chapter Text

     Naomasa had grown beyond used to working at night. He would come in in the afternoons, as he was needed, and then prepare to work his usual lengths of time at night. He was always essentially ready to be called in, as his quirk had made things easier for everybody. And sometimes, they were just too impatient.

     Today was one of those days, but there wasn’t quite enough time left before his usual shift for him to deem himself willing to go home, or somewhere else for the next hour. So he was sitting in his office, done with his interrogation with one of the people taken into custody earlier in the day. With the relief that there was finally someone innocent that he was talking to, he had taken to looking into some of the extra paperwork that had made its way to his desk.

     It was one case after the next, but each one was important. Most of his work lately had been for the underground heroes, preparing them for undercover missions, and things they would rather keep as quiet investigations. There had been the occasional thing that he would pick up for All Might, but those had gone down significantly, ever since All For One’s death.

     Lately, it was Aizawa’s cases that took up most of his time, and he hadn’t put much of his focus into anything else, not finding much interest in cases for him to personally work on. And really, the time for him to personally work on something was so small, seeing as how he was dragged from place to place to interrogate people.

     So he relied on everyone else to help him in the office, to help tie together investigations while Naomasa personally worked close to heroes most of the time.

     It sometimes felt shocking to know he had gotten this far, especially when he remembered how it wasn’t even ten years ago that, though his quirk had been proving to be useful, he wasn’t as well respected in the field as he had been before. The cases he had received had been filtered through by someone else, before being handed over to him. It was now Naomasa who decided what he worked on, and it had often made him wonder how many cases could have gone differently, had he been allowed to work on them.

     And Naomasa had chosen to turn his attention towards a vigilante case that had been popping up for around a month at this point, with the key thing that had been reported by nearly every villain that was dragged in, or by a civilian that was rescued and calling the villain in, was that the vigilante was often jumping off of rooftops, and quickly taking down villains.

     Aizawa had actually been trying to see if he could spot any sign of the vigilante on the rooftops, after hearing whispers of it. But because Naomasa knew how many personal cases the hero was looking into, Naomasa didn’t add the vigilante case to his plate, instead choosing to keep most of the details to himself.

     There had been multiple occasions that the vigilante themselves had called in the villain they had taken down, especially when it came to things that didn’t seem to have any victims in them, like a drug deal in a darkened alleyway.

     Those were clips Naomasa listened to often, whenever he started to open the vigilante case every few days, in hopes that he would somehow recognize the voice, or maybe even grow familiar enough that he could have some kind of recognition of it, in the event that he somehow stumbled across the vigilante.

     It was on those times that he had determined a couple of things: the vigilante is young, and they seem to find amusement in what they’re doing. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was at least something.

     He was opening up the folder that he compiled the villains’ records in, all villains that the vigilante had taken down. Naomasa had stared at the dates, times, and locations over and over, but there had been no real pattern. It just seemed as if they were running around on rooftops, and somehow had amazing luck when it came to finding these villains. There was no route, no set time to be in places. There were just villains taken down in a similar manner, and all without any kind of pattern to them. No connections.

     The chances of them talking to a villain who had more to say other than “He just came down, and then I was here,” had been beyond slim, but there had been the occasional villain who had managed to put up a bit of a fight, not taken down in such an easy manner as some of the others. But those villains said that they had still lost badly, as the kid seemed to have plenty of fighting experience under his belt.

     Naomasa almost chalked it up to the kid just fighting enough villains that he basically knew what he was doing, but it didn’t add up when there seemed to be a lot of one move “fights.” The practice came from somewhere, so Naomasa suspected he would start to need to look into the history of kids’ after school clubs, whatever kind of fighting thing that they had gotten themselves into.

      There were plenty of kids that came into the station, after trying to take down villains they had seen nearby. Being kids, they generally got off with a warning, and a reminder that vigilantism was illegal, and that while what they had done was good, it could have been risky. 

     Those files, where kids had been brought in over the past month, had been the next thing Naomasa started digging through, and had been working on when Kayama walked in, a smile on her face, and a hand on her hip. Once she reached his desk, she placed the free hand on it, putting her weight into the hand as she scanned over the paperwork he had.

     “Ohh, vigilante cases? What’s this one? I haven’t seen a vigilante case in need of investigation in a while,” Kayama questions, nudging at some of the paperwork near her fingers, bringing it closer so she could look at them easier. “Don’t most vigilantes get caught pretty quickly lately?”

     “They do,” Naomasa replied, grabbing another file from just last week, when a middle schooler had stopped a gas station robbery while he was getting a snack on his way home from school. That file was quickly tossed down when he saw nothing that indicated that the kid may have fighting experience. “But whoever this kid is, they at least have some kind of idea on what they’re doing.”

     “But not enough of an idea that they’re not actively engaging in vigilantism… wait did you say kid?”

     Naomasa chuckles at the woman’s bafflement, before he says “I did. All of the reports, and the audio I have, all signifies that this vigilante is a kid.”

     Kayama’s jaw drops, before she shakes her head and says “There’s no way… going a month without being caught by heroes-”

     “Or spotted.”

     “OR SPOTTED? Well that makes it worse. But as I was saying: He’s gone a month without being spotted by heroes, and is a kid, and had somehow managed to last longer than most vigilantes do these days?”

     “Well, it definitely doesn’t help that most ‘vigilante’ instances are one time instances. If it’s more than that, it’s usually just that a civilian runs to wherever they hear trouble, but I wouldn’t say they’re directly looking for the villains.”

     “You know what, I’m stopping you there, and getting us a coffee. I need to be more awake if I’m going to listen to this, and you need to have more energy if you’re going to explain this to me,” Nemuri says, already turning to walk out the door, a finger pointed at Naomasa up until she walks out. 

     Naomasa takes the few minutes of quiet to turn back to the paperwork, shuffling through them in hopes of finding something. But as all of his previous searches turned up, he ended up finding nothing that connected quite as well as he had hoped. Everything that he had in front of him would be a far reach to connect, and Naomasa just needed something clear.

     He tiredly rubbed at his eyes as he returned some more paperwork to its file, just in time for Kayama to make her way back in the room, two mugs in hand.

     “I seriously don’t know how you do all these late nights, because I’m about ready to go home,” she says, taking a seat just on the other side of Naomasa’s desk, moving the chair so it was directly across from him, and placing the mugs in front of their designated person. “You and Aizawa, I swear. I can see why you two keep working close. Speaking of, is he working on the vigilante case? Nighttime patrols are kinda his thing.”

     Naomasa took a sip of his coffee first, ignoring how hot it was in favor of having caffeine in his system. It was when he set the mug carefully back down that he said “I’m not taking him into this one. If he sees the vigilante, I’m not going to stop him from going after them… but he’s not a fan of the commission, doesn’t trust them. And commission history shows that they put great… care into vigilante cases.”

     “Don’t want to accidentally team him up with them,” Kayama asks, carefully blowing at her coffee.

     “Right.”

     With that, the two fall into what Naomasa assumes to be a comfortable silence, as he continues to go through more files, not expecting much out of them anymore. He knew he should have expected that this wasn’t going to be easy, that there was no easy route to take to get to the bottom of this, but he had hope that there was at least one occasion that had been caught, and sparked this kid’s interest in vigilantism.

     After all, if they’re as young as some villains have hinted at, why not wait until they could get into a hero school? It just felt like it made sense to see a kid who just fit perfectly to the story that he was trying to build up.

     “I want to help you on this case,” Kayama eventually said, making Naomasa quickly look up from another file, eyebrows raised in question. “I haven’t gotten much investigation work lately, and I’m sure it would help to have someone that can actually go out more and investigate.”

     “I… I guess that would help. But this vigilante isn’t an easy catch, and I’m sure they’ll be wary of you if they recognize you, with your quirk and all,” Naomasa replies, setting down the file. “But since you’re offering…”

     “My afternoons have been so free lately… not even villains really want to do much in the afternoon, so all I’ve been doing lately is teaching,” Kayama says with a sigh, leaning into her chair. “Besides, I can bother Aizawa at night too! He thinks he’s free of me after school, and our weekly dinners, but little does he know. A case I’ve beaten him to in his own specialization!”

     “Kayama… I’m really going to need you to take this case seriously,” Naomasa muttered with a slight frown.

     “I will, I will! Just thinking of the fun I can probably get out of it too… but the kid takes top priority. If a kid is sneaking out at the hours I’m seeing,” she gestures to the corkboard set up in the room, with the highlighted times and locations for villain takedowns. “Then that may be another topic of concern to look into, with living conditions and all that.”

     Naomasa sighs as he says “Let’s just hope that this kid is just as good at sneaking out of his home as he is with avoiding heroes.”

     “Mm, I hope so too.” Kayama takes another sip of her coffee, before she starts looking over the files with Naomasa, digging through in hopes that the two of them could find some kind of lead faster.

     Nemuri wasn’t much of a hero for investigating things on her own. Investigations were best led to underground heroes, who weren’t as well known as the limelight heroes. And that’s what Nemuri was: a limelight hero. She partnered with brands, had a preference for daytime when it came to fighting villains, as she was paid for her popularity, and she worked closely with the next generation of heroes, keeping her identity more public.

     Aizawa had seemed to separate himself and Eraserhead when he was working at UA, and had to make his public appearances. Everyone who talked to him at the school, whether hero student or parent, referred to him as Aizawa, and was never given the connection to Eraserhead.

     If Nemuri hadn’t been a hero herself, and a close friend of Aizawa’s, she was sure she would be left just as clueless as everyone else, as Aizawa found comfort in working at night, where there would be significantly less people.

     Underground heroes never necessarily had to work at night, but doing so made it easier to keep their identities hidden, especially when they had to go undercover. They hardly even had to play as a rogue hero in those cases.

     And nighttime was Aizawa’s element. Hearing that not even he had seen the vigilante had made Nemuri nervous when she offered to help take on the case, but she also found comfort in the quiet that the dark streets of Musutafu gave. 

     Of course, this was also a great time for villains to be active, so it wasn’t exactly the safest thing. But that’s what the heroes were here for, taking on all of the villains that lurked in the dark, and thought they could venture out of their hiding spots just because the sun was no longer lighting up every bit of the city.

     And underground heroes were clearly good at their job, taking down villains quickly, before anything could get too big, and disturb the sleep of anyone else, who wouldn’t even know that there were things going on just outside. There was a sense of beauty in that fact, in the obliviousness that these people could have at night, when they weren’t directly looking out for other heroes, and villains to record.

     Limelight heroes had a preference for the daytime for a reason.

     Nemuri had run into a few underground heroes while she started to roam the streets at night, ignoring the offers from Aizawa and Yamada over the past couple weeks, in favor of looking for the vigilante. She really had been having just as much luck as Tsukauchi had in that department: none.

     When Tsukauchi got a call pertaining to an incident in which the vigilante was there, Nemuri was the first person he contacted, and she would run in that general direction, climbing to the rooftops in hope that she could get some trace of the vigilante.

     There had been one time she nearly ran into Aizawa, who didn’t notice her as she wore a rather large trenchcoat that night, trying to keep herself comfortable in the hours of walking she had been doing.

     Part of her regretted the offer, but she had gotten what she had hoped for: something other than schoolwork. And it wasn’t like she was doing much paperwork for this anyway, so it was even better.

     But Aizawa hadn’t noticed her as he tossed an unconscious villain into a police car, frowning before he turned to the rooftops once more, looking for more issues to solve at night.

     Nemuri really wondered how there was still so much to do at night.

     There didn’t seem to be quite as many problems in other cities with villains as of late, despite Musutafu’s influx of villains. The amount that they were taking down or bringing in was getting to be suspicious, and a topic of concern that Nemuri was just about ready to mention to Tsukauchi, in hopes that he could provide an answer to this issue.

     Nemuri had found that there genuinely was no pattern in the vigilante aftermaths she had run to, as they would often be in different parts of the vigilante’s section of Musutafu that they had kept themselves in. If she were to find him, it would genuinely be by some sheer luck.

     She just hoped that this streak of bad luck with finding them would eventually flip over, repay her for all of it. There just had to be a moment where her luck turned over, and she could finally get some kind of lead.

     But it wasn’t really a lead she had gotten. No, she had become far luckier.

     Nemuri could proudly say that she was the first hero to run into the little vigilante, as he stood in an alleyway, seemingly unsure of what to say for a minute. It was as she was sure that he was about to ask her to call in his recently taken down villain that his eyes widened to nearly twice their size, and he scaled the building at an impressive speed, poking his head out just from the top.

     It was, of course, in that moment that he nervously said “You uh… wouldn’t mind bringing that villain in, would you?”

     “Mm, why not ask me to call him in,” Nemuri asks, a hand on her hip as she looks up at the vigilante. She wasn’t even dressed in her hero costume, which apparently was a necessity to most to even be capable of recognizing a hero. Or they just weren’t cool enough to talk to once they were out of costume…

     “Well, you’re a hero, so I don’t really think you need to call them in, and bring out some help,” the vigilante says, clearly on the verge of starting to run off again.

     “Wait, hold on,” she quickly calls, her eyebrows furrowed as she lets her hand fall. The head peeks back over the building once more, and she says “I’m not… here to turn you in. I just have a few questions.”

     The kid seems to think it over for a minute, lifting their head to glance around them, try to see if there was anyone else near them on the rooftops.

     Nemuri couldn’t blame him. She’d probably wonder what the hell was going on if she had seen a generally limelight hero, always working in the day, suddenly out at night, and ready to ask her questions.

     “I can’t promise to answer,” the kid eventually replies, their grip on the edge of the building tightening.

     She lets out a sigh of relief, and then says “First off, shouldn’t you be in bed right now, getting ready for school, kid?”

     The vigilante seems to smile under their mask, before they cheerfully say “Nope!”

     Well… she and Tsukauchi would just have to look into what that could imply together later.

     “Okay, well… why don’t you just call in the villains yourself?”

     “Can’t. Besides, what if you all managed to track me down if I could call in all the villains I stop?”

     “Fair point. You seem young though, so why not just wait until you can go to a hero school, before you get yourself caught, and then can’t do anything to stop these villains? It would be better to stop them legally, no?”

     “I mean… yeah, it would be nice to legally take care of villains… but… you’re prying too much.” And then the head disappeared once more, leaving Nemuri with the villain, who had yet to stir.

     It hadn’t gone as well as she had hoped, but she had a lead now. She had seen the vigilante, and managed to see them. There would finally be another perspective, other than a villain or panicked civilian, who would recount what they had seen.

     Progress! Just as she had hoped for when she first talked to Tsukauchi.

     When Nemuri had gone to pay a visit to Tsukauchi, he had been busy putting things together on the corkboard, holding a pin with thread tied to it, with the other end already connected to a piece of paper, trying to figure out where to put the end he was holding. His foot tapped against the ground, with this corkboard clearly named for the vigilante that he and Nemuri had been working to find.

     There was another corkboard on the other end of his office, where other cases that he needed to work on were sitting.

     “Tsukauchi, I come bearing good news,” she declares with a wide smile, tossing her hands up into the air in celebration. 

     He turns away from the corkboard, an eyebrow raised in question. 

     “I’ve finally run into the vigilante,” she says. “I doubt it’ll help much with the investigation, but I can say that the kid knows his heroes. He also definitely seems like a kid, so the villains were right on that track.”

     Tsukauchi quickly walked over to his desk, taking a seat, and gesturing for Nemuri to as well. She was quick to oblige, making herself comfortable as Tsukauchi asked “Did you learn anything that may help? How did you find him?”

     “I heard some commotion, and went towards it. That’s where the kid was. He seems to know his heroes well, because as soon as he recognized me, he started trying to run off, but stayed just long enough to answer a few questions from the rooftops,” Nemuri replies.

     “He was willing to answer?”

     “Two of them. I asked if he should be at home, getting some rest for school, but he seemed quite confident that he didn’t need the rest. Then I asked him about why he didn’t just call in the villains himself, and he said that he can’t. But he’s also cautious about it, saying that he wouldn’t want to let us catch him by tracking him down.”

     “That’s… already more than I thought, for someone who has been doing so well at hiding. Is there anything else?”

     “He stopped answering when I asked why he didn’t just join a hero school, said that I was prying too much.”

     “Okay, so as expected, the more personal questions are a no-go. The villain that he took down, which villain was that one, so I can add them together?” Nemuri answered, and he quickly rushed over to his computer, tapping away at the keys, up until the printer went off. That paper went into a specific stack, to be determined if it would fit the corkboard later. “Alright… let’s hope you can find him again, and some more questions answered… let’s try to figure out possible questions real quick.”

     And so they did. 

     From then on, Nemuri was more eager to be out and about at night. She kept her outfits different, styled her hair differently in hopes that she would just blend in as a regular civilian, even randomizing where she went, just as the vigilante did. 

     Tsukauchi, the poor soul, had been completely missing out on one detail, however, while trying to make heads and tails of the vigilante, and it was that there was a small, set area that things seemed to happen with them around midnight. That was the time that they were assuming the vigilante’s spontaneous route started. It was a small pattern, one that had vanished after the first week, probably when villains determined that the area wasn’t safe to meet at, but the duo knew was worth giving a shot.

     Nemuri had tried to keep some distance from that spot after the initial meeting, hoping that she could find the kid on her own again, get lucky by some chance. She didn’t want the kid to realize that they had figured out more than he may have thought, so they wanted to be slow with it. Keeping up to walking around in random spots had been part of it.

     Now Nemuri wasn’t the luckiest person out there, and has had her own fair share of struggles. But when it came to getting hero work done, she at least felt somewhat lucky in that department. Her own quirk had kept her safe for so long, and spending as much time as she did with Aizawa, his remarks in the things he was looking into were beginning to rub off on her. Him and Tsukauchi were genuinely rubbing off on her with this investigation stuff.

     She was considering just giving it to Aizawa, because denying fun wasn’t something she usually did. She was beyond dedicated to helping Tsukauchi, and with every day that passed, this was quickly becoming one of their longer standing vigilante cases. It wasn’t a record breaker, but it was rare for vigilantes to last more than a couple instances.

     And lasting was something this kid was doing well.

     Knowing that they were a kid made Nemuri all so much more dedicated to this, because the kid seemed to be even younger than her students. If there was a kid out here, fighting crime through the late hours of the night, then she would get to the bottom of this, because really, she couldn’t think of many good reasons as to why a kid would be out, actively being a vigilante, knowing that they run the risk of being arrested themselves.

     But it was in this concern that she had been denying her visits to see Aizawa and Yamada. She had laughed off their invites, saying that she was sure that the two of them would surely love to spend time together, not having her basically third wheel everything in their home.

     She never really felt like she was third wheeling whenever she spent time with them, but it was fun to joke about nonetheless. 

     Aizawa and Yamada didn’t seem to fall for her excuses though, and she had realized after the first couple weeks of using it that of all people who would come up with an excuse like that, she wasn’t one of them. In fact, she had specifically remembered being the one to make the final push in getting those two to realize just how much they loved each other.

     Nemuri was beyond invested in what was going on with them, and she had just made herself too suspicious, trying to put all of her rational thoughts into the vigilante search.

     It wasn’t like they could figure out what she was actually doing, however. She gave no hint to that, but they definitely knew that she was up to something.

     Rooftops weren’t ever really Nemuri’s thing, with the outfits she constantly wore. At home, she loved to lounge in sweaters and sweatpants, with hair hair messily tossed in a bun while she relaxed, or tried to clean things up. But on other occasions, every time she went out, she was constantly wearing things that either tore too easily for all of that jumping and hoping for the best, or she was in a dress or skirt. 

     Not to mention, heels weren’t the best idea for rooftop jumping.

     So she kept her patrols to ground level, trying to appear as casual as possible, while actively looking everywhere.  

     It was finally midnight, and she had ignored another dinner get-together that night in favor of taking a nap before heading out, making sure to get a quick microwave dinner before she actually left her apartment. It was almost surely time for Yamada to be asleep by now, but she was well aware that this would be deemed a time suspiciously early for Aizawa to be asleep.

     If he was asleep at this hour, not only was he actually taking a break from work, but he had been tired enough that he actually had a reasonable time to sleep. 

     It was safe to say that those occasions were rare.

     Nemuri had full faith that Aizawa would be out and about tonight, and that he would be one of the first people to recognize her through the coat, button up shirt, skirt, flats, and the neat bun she had put her hair in. She had forgone her usual glasses, replacing them with contacts in hope that that would throw people off for just a moment longer, giving her the perfect opportunity to catch a villain or vigilante.

     She had even made sure to decorate herself with cheap jewelry that looked expensive, just in case she had to take the drastic measure of pretending to be a civilian and pretend like she couldn’t take care of herself long enough in hopes that the vigilante came in to “save” her.

     Finding herself in a situation that she was putting herself at risk near an actual villain had been something she was not looking forward to, however. In fact, she wanted to avoid it at basically all costs. It would be a last resort if she couldn’t find the vigilante quick enough.

     Nemuri had decided to take one villain situation into her own hands that night, after not spotting anybody nearby. She had just let the purple gas emit from right under her sleeve, nudging the fabric just enough that it could come out quick enough to deal with the villain.

      Her attention had been quickly drawn to it after the high pitched scream just a few buildings ahead of her, in a small alley that connected to the next street, between one building that had reached up to five floors, while the other only went up two. The woman who was nearly attacked was safe, sputtering out about how shocked she had been, grateful that Nemuri was so close by.

     After the woman answered a few more questions, Nemuri let the woman run off to continue whatever she was doing that required her to be out so late, and then she turned to the villain, already pulling out her phone.

     That was when Aizawa jumped into the alleyway, a phone loosely held in his hand. He had jumped down from the shorter building, sticking his landing as he said “I already called them in for you. But last I checked, nighttime patrols aren’t usually your thing. They’re not really any limelight hero’s thing.”

     His eyebrow raised, especially with the knowledge that the times he had been working in the day had been with other limelight heroes, who were determined to get their villain raids done early on in the day.

     Nemuri nervously laughed at his bluntness, already setting herself up to look so much more suspicious. But she was quick to play it off, turning it into more genuine laughter as she rested a hand on his shoulder, and then said “Well, what can I say? I’m a girl who likes to stay out late!”

     Aizawa slowly blinks at her, raising an eyebrow as he asked “You really want me to believe you’re out here to just be out here?”

     “Hey, I’m not even dressed in a hero costume,” she replied, resting the hand that she had formerly placed on Aizawa’s shoulder on her hip instead, putting her weight into one foot. 

     “So you’ve taken on an investigation? How long have you been at it?”

     He really was too good at knowing things. They had been in the heroics field for just about the same amount of time, and the logical details were something he had always been quickest at picking up on. He read between the lines of everybody’s words. 

     Nemuri knew she was good at reading the emotional details on people best, but sometimes she wished that she and Aizawa could trade talents, that way she could get away with things better.

     “Prying so much into a woman’s business… strangely rude of you, Aizawa,” she says, in one final attempt to keep him from digging. It was as she looked up in indignation that she saw the head poking over the taller building, only for it to quickly retreat.

      There. That had been him, the vigilante. She was absolutely sure of it.

     Nemuri knew she wouldn’t have caught up to him in the first place, so she tried to not draw much attention to it. But she expected the quick change in her facial expression to get Aizawa’s attention as well, seeing as he turned in that direction.

     He hummed in question, and Nemuri quickly waved him off, before she said “Don’t worry about it. You wouldn’t happen to have any advice for patrolling at night though, would you?”

     “Kayama, you’re not helping your case.”

     “Well do you want me to investigate, or not?”

     “Fine, but you’re going to make time to visit me and ‘Zashi, before he goes insane knowing you haven’t visited in nearly a month now.” Aizawa was already tapping away at his phone, with their group calendar clearly in view. “I can’t have him wailing about how he’s worried about you, and then disturbing the neighbors.”

     The neighbors that she very clearly remembered being tired of the two heroes, seeing as one sometimes lost control of his quirk whenever his emotions got too strong, a common trait for nearly anybody with a quirk. The other was always out and about late, so the light sleepers could sometimes hear him going in and out of the apartment, especially on the nights he returned with heavy feet, exhaustion creeping onto him as he went to get a few hours of sleep, before being up early for his other job.

     A notification pinged on her phone, with one of their usual dinner hangouts planned for the end of the week.

     Well… she could work with it. It was probably best to take a little break from this quickly growing schedule.

     “Now, I’m letting you know that patrolling at day and night are nearly two completely different things. Some hours have entirely different crimes, considering so many places are closed, and their registers are emptied. This is the time you’ll find building robberies to be less likely, so you have to look out for people on the street. This also means that-” and he went on and on, explaining some of the key differences in what she would be looking for as quickly as he could.

     Had she been someone he cared for any less, he definitely wouldn’t be talking for as long as he did, especially when he was ready to get back to work. But she was sure that the fact she was intently listening helped to keep him explaining more.

     Knowing what crimes to look out for, and the typical places she may find them, could help her try to find more places that the vigilante may be at. He definitely seemed to run to where he heard trouble, if the fact he had showed up here at all said anything.

     Nemuri needed to start beating the kid to some of these spots, and this first lesson from Aizawa was going to be one of the most helpful things in this task.

     The listening paid off, as she started to stumble across more and more villains at night. The kid seemed to have the same kind of understanding as Aizawa, and now she, had, seeing as the kid was almost always just arriving, or making a quick run for it whenever Nemuri was walking up. He often left the villains for her, after beating her to it, more familiar with patrols at night, especially if this was the only time he was out.

     If somebody said that Nemuri was a little upset that a kid was beating her to crimes, and leaving her to clean them up, she would try to deny it all… but it was the truth, sadly. Not to mention she hadn’t been able to ask any of the questions she and Tsukauchi were so carefully preparing.

     Though, to be fair, she should have expected the kid to be nervous, especially if she was starting to find him so well. But every time she was near, she could go back to Tsukauchi with accurate information about how long a crime took to be stopped by the vigilante, and just how quickly he would run off once he knew a hero was there.

     Sometimes, she was about ready to ask Aizawa to tag along with her on a patrol, if it wasn’t for the fact that the man appreciated the rooftops, and that she only had this investigation because Tsukauchi wanted to give one of his most trusted heroes a break.

Chapter Text

     Izuku was frustrated. In fact, frustrated enough that he had actually been digging through the safe, and pulling out money to put together an entirely new outfit, in hopes of throwing Midnight off of his trail.

     Having a spotlight hero starting to find him with ease had really set him off, but he knew it was plenty dangerous to try to change the habits he had built up, think too hard into where he’d be. Because admittedly, he had no set place. There was the starting point, and then where he’d branch out from there.

     Being seen so often was just getting plain out embarrassing. He had avoided the underground heroes so often, but a limelight hero was spotting him? Consistently? 

     Izuku needed at least some kind of plan, even though a change to his route wasn’t the best option. If he actually tried to establish a route, it couldn’t accidentally get tied into the patrolling hero’s schedules at night. Not having a route was what he thought was best for him, but somehow, Midnight knew where to find him.

     Maybe it was the fact that she ran towards danger too.

     Izuku knew he had a small way to keep himself entertained, but vigilantism gave him purpose. He wasn’t sure how to fill that void if he were to give up vigilantism, just because a hero with a quirk that could so easily knock him out and have him brought into custody was getting in the way.

     No, Izuku was going to continue with his vigilantism, and he would start with trying to put together a new costume. It could be the perfect opportunity to try to put together something that looked more like a hero costume, rather than some incognito celebrity.

     He wasn’t sure how to fashionably work around the hoodie and mask though, because he already knew that the full head masks were difficult enough with his mess of curls.

     And he wasn’t looking to go bald anytime soon, thank you very much.

     This meant that Izuku was going to have to go out in the day once more, and he figured it would be a good opportunity to stop trying to teach himself how to cook, and to get something that he didn’t poorly attempt to cook. Restaurant food had been something he hadn’t treated himself to as much, now that he found himself able to stand on his own two feet… with Keigo’s great help. It was just something he got for himself whenever he went out for a rare grocery run.

     And with only two months of being out on his own, treating himself like he would today was definitely a rarity.

     He could look for some more movies too.

     His trip out was pretty uneventful, a surprise for what he had been growing accustomed to. There were no sudden villain attacks, no Hawks run-ins, and no sudden hero encounters. No heroes that he recognized out of costume, anyway.

     After saving every week, he was willing to let himself look in more expensive stores for the sake of variety. He wasn’t looking for anything too fancy… in fact, nothing fancy at all. He had gotten a variety of things he liked, just in case, and even grabbed a simple utility belt with a pouch in the back, that way he could change up his silhouette even more by leaving his backpack behind.

     This also meant that he had to start carrying less and less, but could use the belt to keep things within easier access. He wouldn’t have to dig around for the weapons he had stolen.

     He carefully arranged all the bags on his arms as he made his way back to the apartment, sometimes shifting them around on his arm when the bag handles just started to feel like they were digging in too much.

     As usual, the walk up the stairs when he was carrying things wasn’t the best, but he was plenty relieved to have made it back. He kicked his shoes off at the door, letting all the bags slide off of his arms, before he dragged them into his room.

     It really was becoming the only place he stayed in the apartment, and he had slowly but surely putting more and more work into making it more comfortable, grabbing at least one thing for it every week when Keigo gave him money, and before Izuku stashed it away.

     In face, Izuku would admit with much shame that he was making a pretty big blanket and pillow collection every week, always getting more to add for comfort. 

     When he wasn’t going many places, and didn’t have much to do around the apartment, he just turned to making every inch cozy, that way when he got restless and decided he had been laying one way too long, or in one spot, he could just roll to the other end of the room and still find himself comfortable.

     All in all, his room was nice, and he set all the rules for it. Including that he could eat whatever he wanted in it… though he was always careful of the blankets and pillows.

     And this week? This week, he was starting to gather squishmallows in hope of putting a minor halt to the blanket hauls especially. He already knew he would be plenty warm by the time winter rolled around, and would find plenty of comfort on the floor.

     There were two shelves he set up, one filled with cubby holders to hold his clothes, and hide some of the weapons he wasn’t using, as well as the other things he had collected for investigation while he was out being a vigilante.

     Some of the stuff were things he genuinely wanted to turn in, but he hadn’t exactly figured out how to safely do that yet… especially when he knew he had grabbed them, and was worried about his fingerprints being found. After all, who knew what all kinds of quirks were in the police force, and what sidekicks had what. They could easily have a quirk that detects and traces fingerprints for all he knew.

     Being careful was beyond important.

     Tossing the bags onto one of the mounds of blankets, he started to go through all of them, tossing the few small squishmallows to where he had been sleeping, before he went through the most important things: the clothes.

     Izuku knew summer was getting extremely close, if the heat didn’t say anything. So he wanted to try to find some way to keep at least a little bit cooler while still hiding his identity.

    The hat had been something Izuku was really attached to when it came to hiding his hair, but he was trying to remind himself that he was out of view of any cameras most of the time, as none of them looked at high as he was running, most outdoor cameras positioned to be looking at their building’s door. It would be dark too, so any future incidents that he may be spotted in would probably have people struggling to figure out his hair color.

     It wasn’t a bright green, after all. It could be relatively difficult to figure out in the dark, so he could probably relax a little and keep to a hood.

     And lucky for him, he found a mostly normal shirt, that had a hood on the back, considering his favorite jacket that he had found didn’t have one. He could easily put those two together.

     See, what made the new jacket his favorite was that it had pockets inside the jacket, while also cutting off right at his waist, with the sleeves cutting off at the elbow. 

     The entirety of the outfit was still in greys and blacks, that way he could blend in better at night. But the changes to the costume, despite looking relatively similar and still plain, would do the job Izuku needed them to do… hopefully. There were small things he was leaving behind, and small changes he could make.

     Even better, without the backpack on his bag, he could probably start moving faster.

     The pants were loose capris, that went in at the end. He kept the tennis shoes, seeing as they were the most comfortable option, and sue him, but he liked them!

     The mask and fingerless gloves definitely weren’t changing, and Izuku could hide the knee guards under the pants, while the ones at his elbows could be half hidden by the jacket’s sleeves. 

     With the outfit put together in front of him, Izuku smiled to himself, before collecting all of it, walking on his knees over to the cubby shelf, tossing the old costume out of a cubby and onto the floor, then replacing what was in the cubby with the new costume.

     Then it came to looking through his weapons.

     Knives were a thing he had collected a lot of, seeing as that’s what a lot of villains were carrying around at night if they weren’t reliant on their quirk. With heroes going around all the time, villains had to learn to be sneaky, and guns definitely weren’t the way to go if they wanted to keep from being caught for as long as possible.

    So Izuku had one gun collected, a little pistol, that he had no intention of using. It was just one of those villain items he couldn’t turn in, but figured could exist for emergencies.

     Vigilante emergencies, when he wasn’t anywhere near the street. He would hate to draw attention to it after about two months of peace.

     He spared a glance at the calendar he had hung up, with a clock resting right on the cubby shelf in front of Izuku. He had been keeping up with the dates well, crossing out the old days as knew ones came around. 

     It made him proud, knowing how long he was lasting out here, with only one death on his part, and the lack of any commissioner being spotted by him.

     But Midnight.

     With a loud groan, he buried his face into his hands, and let himself collapse backwards, landing with a soft thud onto his pillows and blankets.

     Izuku really hoped to be able to throw her off of his trail, that way he could go back to being mostly relaxed, without constantly looking over his shoulder out of worry that the hero was right around the corner, prepared to knock him out and drag him back to the commission.

     It was in this frustration that Izuku decided to do something for himself, make his room even more comfortable.

     Izuku was going to make a pillow fort, and it was going to be the best one he could ever think of. This blanket and pillow collection existed for a reason, and Izuku knew they would provide more comfort than just being something he could lay on. 

     There weren’t too many heavy things in Izuku’s room, but by using the shelves and the windowsill, Izuku was able to figure out where all the blankets would be propped up at, and how to make a stable blanket roof over his head.

     The clock was a good way to prop up one corner, weighing enough to hold up a couple thin blankets. Then there were some boxes that he had been meaning to get rid of, that he instead filled with the cleaners he had bought, making them heavy enough to hold up corners of the pillow fort as well.

     Once Izuku was done and crawling inside, he knew that this was definitely something he wanted to keep up for a while, considering going to buy some soft lights to light it up. But with his grocery runs already done for the day, and the sun not having set long enough for Izuku to go out and start his vigilantism, he dragged the movie player in, and selected one of his new movies to start wasting his time with.

     If he paused that movie later on to drag a snack in, nobody else saw it. Izuku made his own rules, and he could break them. They were his, after all, and there was nobody else with him to follow them.

     Izuku took longer to actually want to go out that night, really enjoying the pillow fort, and watching two movies instead of one. He almost considered just sleeping early, skipping a day. But Musutafu was suspiciously busy with villains, and Izuku wanted to make sure that things were taken care of. 

     It wouldn’t go well for him if they were to try to go where he was hiding, and he was suddenly losing his apartment, or being found just because heroes were hunting down those villains, or the villains were too noisy. No, Izuku felt as if he needed to take care of these villains each night, at least until their activity went down.

     For the fact that All Might was in the city, they sure were being bold. 

     It probably didn’t help that All Might only seemed to be active in the day these days, and didn’t actually appear too much. The villains all probably thought that the chances of All Might himself catching them were really slim, and were just trying to get all of their business done in the hours that he wasn’t a threat.

     As if the heroes who had shifts at night weren’t on their own level of dangerous as well.

     Well, if Izuku hadn’t officially been caught, then the villains were probably just taking risks like Izuku was. And he was catching them!

     He’d probably just stay in the apartment for a while if he genuinely just was having no luck keeping Midnight away from him… that would definitely throw her off, and then maybe he could get some peace for a bit. Up until she noticed that he was out turning in villains again, of course.
    Today was finally a day to test out the new costume, and he was eager to see just how well he could confuse Midnight.

     The final touch when he was getting everything on was just to throw the hood over his head, nervously eyeing the cap he had still sitting in the corner of the room. It felt weird to not put it on when he knew that he was about to head out, the outfit feeling so incomplete. Not to mention the lack of weight on his back, with the backpack still open and tossed in another corner of the room, this time hidden away in the pillow fort. He had grabbed what he needed and wanted, stuffing anything small he may need and that wasn’t a weapon into the pouch on the back of his belt.

     He at least trusted that this absence of things would make it easier for him to jump from building to building, make himself at least a bit faster. So if it came down to running from Midnight, he could do that a bit better, make a little less noise as well.

     Izuku usually liked to start around the street, make sure there was nobody hiding nearby. But he was worried that if he kept up with finding villains so close, then at least Midnight would come looking, and probably find suspicion in the empty street and what all was around it.

     So he was going to start further. That was the most he was willing to mess with what he usually did (knowing he would get anxious and check around the empty street the next day if not later at night).

     It was when he was about twenty minutes out from his usual spot that he actually started to attentively look and wait in some spots for any kind of crime. It didn’t take him too long, only about an hour, to find the first crime.

     The crime had looked to be the usual exchange between villains, with a harddrive in the hand of one of the larger villains’ hands. The villain had so much muscle on him that the harddrive looked so small, almost to the point that Izuku wouldn’t have noticed it if it weren’t for the other villain bringing it up while he tried to reach for it.

     There wasn’t much time between the villains arguing to the point of time that they started fighting, bringing it to the middle of the street. Izuku almost wished he had popcorn, as he sat on the rooftop watching. Whoever won the fight was going to be who Izuku went after, and was honestly just a little surprised that the smaller villain was going as long as they were.

     The smaller villain made plenty of close calls in the fight, but they eventually pulled out a weapon that Izuku had, very surprisingly, not noticed. For the fact it was one of his favorites to train with, he was surprised he hadn’t taken note of it.

     Probably because the villain hadn’t been using it… quite stupidly.

     Though, their show with the staff proved why they wouldn’t be. Their lack of understanding how to actually using it, just trying to jab at and clumsily whack the larger villain.

     Izuku almost died of embarrassment right on the spot from how it was being used.

     Especially once the larger villain grabbed ahold of the staff, promptly ending the fight as he tossed the villain and staff down the street.

     Sparing a quick glance down the street to make sure there weren’t any other people nearby, especially no heroes, Izuku took the moment that the villain who was still standing was quietly gloating over their victory to themselves, tossing the harddrive every few seconds, quick to catch it the moment it got close to his hand.

     Izuku was quick to bolt towards the downed villain, already happy with the idea of using a staff against an opponent who probably thought Izuku would be just as easy as the other villain, have a complete lack of knowledge to what it was he was doing. 

    And again, Izuku found himself grateful for the training he had received, and the opponents that were chosen for him. It didn’t take him long to win, with a few practiced moves with the staff. but he knew by that point that he really wanted to get out of the middle of the street. Street lamps existed, and so did cameras. He was right where both could be a problem for him, and where he was still uncertain of where Midnight could be.

     Seeing someone else perched up on a building, just landing on the edge, Izuku pointed at the harddrive with the edge of the staff, all while he tugged the hood further over his head, hoping to hide as much of his hair and face as possible.

     When the person showed sign of moving, Izuku made a run for it in the opposite direction, relieved that it at least wasn’t Midnight who stumbled across him. Who this other person was, he had no clue, and had no intention of looking too much into it. 

     He had to get himself a little far, after all, and find out just where he could put the staff on his outfit, without it being a hindrance in his ability to run and leap across rooftops. He was keeping this weapon, whether the villains or that possible her liked it or not.

     Naomasa was, admittedly, hoping that there were some more useful things that Kayama could come to him with regarding the vigilante. She had started to visit often, often to make sure where all the vigilante had been, and see where all he had been that she hadn’t. They managed to make a general area for where all his activity had taken him, making a somewhat large radius on Naomasa’s Musutafu map.

     It was another hero that had called in the vigilante today, finally a hero that wasn’t Nemuri. But the issue was that their description didn’t match what Nemuri usually relayed to him. It seemed as though he had another vigilante case in hand for a moment, especially when he learned that the vigilante had been fighting in the middle of the street, and didn’t come jumping down.

     Of course, that was based off of the hero’s assumption, since they hadn’t been able to look for long, arriving just at the end of the fight.

     The only reason that Naomasa figured that the two were one in the same was because the hero had reported it to be a child, roughly around the age of fourteen. Though, Naomasa was also entertaining the idea that the first vigilante had a friend, who was more weapon oriented, and fought with a staff, and now the two were out being vigilantes together.

     The vigilante wasn’t really public knowledge, after all, being kept well under wraps. So it wouldn’t make sense for the vigilante to just go out and inspire another fourteen year old.

     And now Naomasa had a harddrive to look into, see what all was put into it. Then he had cameras to look into as well, that way he could actually get a picture, and possibly a fighting style of this vigilante, put onto the board. 

     It was then that Kayama came in, quickly taking her usual seat with a sigh.

     Ah, perfect. If the two were connected, as Naomasa suspected, he could send her out to go and get the footage, while he looked into the harddrive, which may just be a little more important than this vigilante case that he had taken upon himself to investigate.

     But, that request would have to wait until after he heard what was making Kayama walk into the office in the sour mood she had come with.

     “No sign of the kid today,” she exclaimed, tossing her hands into the air before she basically slammed her head on the desk. “Not a single peep! I thought I was doing so well getting to him! Please tell me there were no suspicious call-ins today.”

     With his hand that wasn’t holding the harddrive now held between Kayama’s hands, he went to pat her hands with the harddrive carefully held between his fingers, solemnly shaking his head as he said “There were two calls today… one of them was definitely the kid.”

     She slowly looked up, a frown deep in her face as she asked “Then why specify two?”

     Naomasa then gave the woman a tired smile, reaching for his coffee, taking a quick sip, and then saying “So glad you asked.”

     “Oh no… ‘Kauchi, I just started visiting the lovebirds again. I can’t start chasing after more than one person!”

     “There’s no guarantee that it’s two,” he starts. “But I have good reason to highly suspect it’s two… though I don’t want to believe it. We already know that the kid has fighting experience… and I’m trying to figure out if this is someone who is working with him, or is him.”

     “So I could be hunting down two kids?”

     “Well if they’re working together, then their villain targeting patterns may very well be the same, and you could just as easily go with what all you’ve learned over the past couple weeks to hunt down this other kid.”

     “Can I just say that I hate the fact they’re both kids? Out here fighting crime?”

     “I hate it too… which is why I’m hoping to get answers out of both of them if it’s two. If not, we still just have the one kid.” It would definitely be nice if the kid didn’t know that it was Kayama who was keeping up with him, or any hero really. Though Naomasa was sure that the questioning would give it away, he was really looking for answers more than anything.

     He had no full intention of actually bringing the kid in for investigation.

     But he was willing to play a slow game to get answers, let the kid start to realize that Kayama wasn’t going to be using her quirk, and that she didn’t have intentions of bringing him in either. He would be as safe as possible, and would just have a few somewhat personal things asked.

     It took a moment, but eventually Kayama said “Alright, alright, I’ll go check out that footage, see what I find.”

     “Thank you,” Naomasa says, giving the woman a soft smile before she turns to leave, and handing her the paperwork he had been filing out for the incident, that way she could find just where it had taken place.

     Now to wait, and go over the footage with her.

     Nemuri really hated trying to request to see buildings’ footage without any clear paperwork that showed that she had a purpose for it. She would explain the situation, and made sure to wait until morning, when everyone would be awake and have their stores open. But she knew she had to be quick too, as some stores cleared previous day footage faster than others, depending on what kind of security camera they had.

     She already knew that Tsukauchi was probably hoping for her to get the footage when she went out, but a quick visit down the street gave her enough sign that most of the stores were closed for the night anyway, and there would be nobody for her to request anything from.

     So now Nemuri was finally going between the nearby buildings, trying to figure out which ones may have seen the possibly new vigilante last night. The first store that let her in and take a look at what they had didn’t get a good enough view, only able to see the feet of the people fighting just up in the corner. 

     The next couple seemed unwilling to let her look through them, even when she presented her hero license. She just figured she would come back a little later, in case if the footage in another building didn’t work for this, just like the first one.

     After another couple buildings, she finally had one that gave her a good view of the entirety of the fight, though the villains and vigilante were too small to make any of the clear details that they may need.

     She quickly got a copy of that one, and then went back to the buildings between the one that didn’t have any worthwhile footage, and the one that she had actually been able to work with, making one final request. 

     Once more, her request was rejected, and she eventually accepted her defeat, and made her way back to her apartment. It was a Sunday, so she had the day off from work, and could finally take some free time to herself.

     The harddrive with the footage was left right next to where she left her keys in the entryway, seeing as she didn’t plan on dressing up much to do anything. Her focus on the vigilante would be through discussion with Tsukauchi, and then she could just go walking around again tomorrow. 

     Her feet could genuinely use a break after all those hours of walking around late at night, and then also walking around the school.

     She could understand why Aizawa was always so tired at this point, and she had only been at it for about a month. Years worth of this would probably send her collapsing to the floor and sending in a resignation to at least one of her jobs.

     Nemuri was sure that Tsukauchi could understand her taking this one day off from actively looking for the vigilante, and preferring to try to look for some kind of pattern, and connecting the kid and the vigilante from last night.

     Throwing on an oversized sweater and shorts, and then throwing her hair into a messy bun, she got to work on cleaning her apartment.

     In all honesty, she didn’t do much before she took a long nap on the couch, her phone left on the end table in case of an emergency.

     Thankfully, nobody had needed her or called her in the duration of her nap. She woke up on her own, made herself some lunch, and then got back to cleaning. It was as she finished that there was a knock at the door, and she quickly made her way over.

     Nemuri didn’t remember making any plans, so she doubted that there was any reason for her to change into anything else. Besides, her outfit was plenty covering, especially in comparison to her old costume. And it was comfortable. Whoever was at the door wouldn’t have a problem.

     Tiredly making her way over to the door, still trying to get the last of the naptime exhaustion off of her, she opened the door, only to find herself face to face with Yamada… oh… wait, she did have plans. Plans that she tiredly agreed to over dinner with Aizawa and Yamada.

     She had agreed to a general glam day with Yamada, with him trying to do her makeup and nails (though he had been admittedly getting really good at it), while she did his own. But first was always the spa day portion, which they spent a good couple hours on. This was a nearly all day dedication, something she was always looking forward to.

     But with plans for the night… well, she was sure Yamada would understand.

     Nemuri definitely wasn’t skipping out on the spa day portion though. If she was going to be so busy, she was going to be busy with clear skin, and a lack of eye bags.

     “You sure look… a little rough,” Yamada said, as Nemuri stepped out of the way to let him in. Though, he was saying that as if he didn’t see her a few days ago. Had she really gotten worse over just a few days?

    Then again, being in a completely different outfit, something more relaxed compared to her usual, semi formal outfits while on patrol, could be a major factor in how she looked.

     “Sho told me that you were doing hero work at night… but that’s definitely… different, especially since most of our hero work while teaching is just specially requested missions while we’re teaching. And Nems… you may really need to consider going back to the normal schedule,” Yamada said, shutting the door behind him before taking Nemuri’s hand, and taking her to her couch, where he made sure she immediately took a seat. He walked off, returning with her case full of their spa day kit stuff.

     There was a period of time that all of them were calling each other by their first names, but after getting to used to being around students so often, and trying to not give much of a hint to the public that they were all friends, or think she and Yamada were dating (because they were both limelight heroes), she had taken to calling them Yamada and Aizawa again out of habit.

     Yamada was much better than her at keeping between calling her Kayama and Nemuri, probably already beyond used to when to switch between names while on his show.

     “I swear I’ll be fine,” she says once he’s sitting down on the couch next to her, already arranging everything to go in their set order on the coffee table. “There’s just this important case lasting longer than I thought.”

     “What is it,” Yamada asked, already interested in what the case was that was keeping her working late. But Nemuri had to be sure of something first.

     “You won’t tell Aizawa? Because Tsukauchi is trying to keep him a little less busy right now, especially since this isn’t even really an official thing, more of a private investigation that he took interest in,” Nemuri vaguely explains, resting her hands on Yamada’s shoulders.

     He raises an eyebrow in suspicion, but agrees anyway. He knows just as well as Nemuri that Aizawa needs a break, and he would probably try to help her keep the secret of whatever it was that she was looking into.

     “Okay, so there’s a kid… and this kid…” Her words trail off. She and her friends had always been protective over kids, but Yamada and Aizawa especially. Already mentioning that it was a kid seemed to make her friend nervous, and Nemuri was sure she would see Aizawa mirroring that expression if he was here too. And for a man that didn’t show much through his constantly tired look, it would break her heart to see that much worry. 

     She takes in a deep breath, and then says “This kid is a vigilante, and he’s been running around for a good couple of months now. Tsukauchi doesn’t seem to want him turned in, but is more investigating out of curiosity’s sake.”

     “And since he’s constantly busy behind a desk, he’s asked you to personally look into it, hasn’t he,” Yamada asks, to which Nemuri nods her head in response.

     “But now there’s possibly another vigilante, but from what I’ve seen, I think that it’s the same kid, but he was hoping to trick me. I couldn’t get anything too close, but it seems like the kid… with weapons and an outfit change, of course,” Nemuri explains, putting headbands on herself and Yamada to get all of their hair out of the way.

     “So I’m assuming you have plans tonight,” Yamada asks, reaching for the first item of their usual spa day routine.

     “Mhm… so I think we gotta skip out on the makeup and nails tonight. But I don’t think we have anything with the heroics students tomorrow. Well, I don’t. So we can do our nails tomorrow, maybe,” Nemuri offers. That was when Yamada confirmed his mostly empty afternoon schedule, and they agreed on the plan.

     After that, it was just time to relax and take care of themselves.

     Naomasa had been a little surprised when Kayama only came in with one final. And whether he expected to see her with none at all, or more than that, he couldn’t fully decide. But he was beyond grateful for the footage they did have. This was the most that they had both gotten to see of the vigilante yet, despite how any hint towards who he may be was completely absent.

     He printed out a picture of the vigilante, even though he could only manage to get a clear picture of their back, right as they had finished up their fight with the villain. He had been too quick, and his attacks made any view of his face impossible, even if the camera had been closer. But it was a picture, and was something better than the note in the middle that read “The Vigilante Kid.”

     “Okay,” Naomasa started, pressing his chin into three fingers, while his index rested against his chin. He sighed as he backed away from the board, tapping his foot on the ground as he said “So you’ve confirmed that there’s a really high chance that this is the same kid, which works well for us. One less vigilante to worry about that could grab attention. But what we know now is that this kid has experience past how to easily knock out a villain and less weapon oriented fighting. He knows weapons too.”

     “Would this make the search simpler,” Kayama asks, her chair pulled much closer so she could get a look at the board too.

     “In a way, yes. However, it also makes it more frustrating to find a kid that matches for both. It’s like trying to find someone with a combination of common names: it feels like it’ll be easy, until there’s never the perfect fit, and it just makes it so much more… tiresome.”

     “But once they stick out, they stick out,” Kayama adds, carefully looking over the board herself. “At least now we know to add that villain incident to where the kid has been.”

     “That we do,” Naomasa confirms, turning to his desk to dig out the file from one of his drawers, pinning it on the board, and making a note that says “First Weapon Display.”

     “It looks like he carries other weapons too,” Kayama says, getting up to point at the belt. If Naomasa squinted, he could make out the couple of different knives on the belt. “Those may just be more for emergencies though.”

     Naomasa nods along, making another sticky note note to place right on that paper as well, writing down what Kayama mentioned.

     It wasn’t like this footage would be the biggest connecting piece that would make everything click, so Naomasa thought, but it was one of their biggest steps in progress towards finding this vigilante, who had done so well avoiding cameras up until this point.

     Though, he supposed there wasn’t much the kid could do when the weapon clearly looked too good to take, and it would have most likely been difficult to lure that last villain away.

     Keigo hated meetings more than anything, especially when he had to be an active participant in the discussion. Though, in typical commission president fashion, the woman had taken over almost the entirety of the conversation, as she went over her progress towards finding Izuku with the rest of the board.

     And frankly, it was a little amusing how they hadn’t gotten a single sighting, and it was all just one theory after the next.

     But with it already having been two months since Izuku had run away, really, Keigo had tried to see this meeting more as an opportunity.

     “Our searches in the city have been proving to not have been of much use, and neither has the search in surrounding cities,” the commission president explained, gesturing towards the board of where all their search patrols had been, and the general vicinity of which they had really been searching. “Hawks having his eyes in the sky hasn’t even turned up anything.”

     “Well,” Keigo started, leaning forward, putting his weight into the hands he rested on the long table as he said “I think it would be best if we started to leave it be. He’s not returning to his mother, none of the police stations have heard a word from him about anything related to you, nor anything about him at all, and he’s clearly a little too good at hiding.”

     “I knew we should have trained him for limelight heroics, rather than teaching him how to sneak around,” one of Izuku’s trainers said, the one who never disclosed his name, and provided a constant challenge. “It’s backfiring against us now.”

     “It’s not our fault that there was perfectly sound logic to send him into underground heroics,” the commission president lightly snapped, massaging her temple as she said “Neither did we expect him to run off like this. Not to mention, it would best benefit the mission we’ve had with the children nearly since we took them in. A hero not being in the public eye makes our more… intense missions all the more easier to keep under wraps.”

     This one was really going to hurt the break Keigo had been trying to take, but he had to try to let up on the slight pressure that the commission had been putting to try to find Izuku. So he said “Which brings me to another point! I haven’t been able to do most of my usual work since you have me patrolling in multiple cities, especially Musutafu, so we haven’t been able to set up any of the missions you want done.”

     He watches as it clearly puts everyone in thought. Keigo wasn’t going to let them ignore his proposed idea. In fact, he would just bring up one point after the next on why the search should stop.

     “And did I mention that since he was raised here, it makes it all so much harder to find him, because the methods we use, we’ve been drilling into him as well, so-”

     Keigo was quickly cut off, as the commission president held up her hand and then said “I suppose it’s about time we actually put our concern into more pressing matters. We’ll continue to keep tabs on the reports that come in, as well as an occasional check on the Bakugo household. But other than that, I suppose we might as well return to normal. That doesn’t change the fact that you all need to keep an eye out.”

     With that, the meeting began to end, and everyone started making their way out of the room. It was as Keigo was taking his turn to leave that the commission president said “Hawks.”

     “Hm?”

     “I hope you know that trying to protect Midoriya won’t do you well. You brought up valid points, but just know he puts you in danger as well while he’s out there. Don’t test my kindness.”

Chapter Text

     Izuku had managed to go a couple of nights without running into Midnight, and that had honestly been one of the most relieving things in the week. He was wondering if his plan really was working, and that he could actually get away with it, have a little more freedom in his usual patrols without the worry of Midnight.

     Tonight was a night to relax a bit, especially since it was that time of the week to visit his usual rooftop, and take a peek behind the brick for a new envelope. His path towards the building was getting to be beyond familiar at this point, taking one leap after the next onto different buildings, up until he finally clambered onto the one that he had been particularly enjoying.

     As soon as he landed on the rooftop, he quickly walked over to the building that was always hiding the money, and moved the brick out of the way, placing it down at his feet for a moment while he pulled the envelope out. 

     Izuku didn’t waste much time in putting it in the little bag on his belt, before quickly starting to make his way back to his apartment. 

     One of his concerns at first, when he had first started to leave the backpack behind, was that he wouldn’t have a change of clothes anymore when it came to taking a shower before he got home. But he had taken a risk with the water, hoping he could just get that issue out of the way, glad when he found out that the water was actually perfectly fine, and he had been concerned for probably no reason.

     Though, it did once more make him wonder why the whole street was empty. The power was fine, the water was fine, there didn’t seem to be a bug or pest issue, and Izuku hadn’t noticed any real issue with the apartment at all. He’d been living in the apartment for over two months, and the fact that nothing in the apartment seemed to have an actual issue made for plenty of curiosity.

    But Izuku was seriously trying to not think too hard about it, especially when he was perfectly happy and comfortable in the apartment. Things had been going as well as they could in it for the past couple months, and Izuku had only died once every since he ran away, and that was just at the beginning. 

    This had become the longest period of time between his deaths, and it truly made running away worth it. All the stress of trying to not be caught, and it all washed away once he was comfortable in the apartment, covered in blankets while he watched movies. And now, even better, in a pillow fort!

     Getting into the apartment, Izuku quickly shut and locked the door behind him, then kicked off his shoes before making his way into his room, and grabbing the change of clothes he already had set out. But before he went to the bathroom to take a shower, he started taking off some of the layers of clothes, like the jacket, fingerless gloves, shoulder and knee pads, and belt.

    He also made sure to get the envelope out, looking into it to set some money out to go and buy some more food tomorrow. That was when he noticed the letter in it as well, sticking out between the money.

     Izuku quickly pulled it out, ignoring the money as he set the envelope on one of the shelves he got, flipping open the folded paper as he read what Keigo had written.

     I’ve got news! And to celebrate the news (in case if you were panicking, even though I clearly put an exclamation mark there for excitement, and not to make you panic. If I wanted you to panic, it would be like “I’VE GOT NEWS!!!!! D:” Very big difference), you should meet me at the place we first ran into eachother at!

-Keigo

     Izuku couldn’t help but snicker at the note. Sure, he had been a little worried about what news Keigo may have, at first, but if he said it was good, then Izuku was going to trust it.

     Just under Keigo’s quickly written signature was a date for Izuku to meet Keigo at, and Izuku quickly wrote it down on the calendar. It was only a couple of days away, and Izuku would probably have remembered… but he wasn’t going to take any chances. It was best to have the reminder there anyway.

     It wasn’t difficult for Izuku to figure out what place Keigo was talking about, seeing as the literal first place that they met was the commission building, and Izuku was avoiding that building like his life depended on it (it did). So the obvious answer was that small restaurant that Izuku had gone to while on a mission to get something cheap and good to eat.

     Izuku appreciated how Keigo continued to try to keep everything vague, just in case if anyone found the note and money. Because if someone were to find the envelopes somehow, nobody would actually know where the two of them were meeting, which was for the best, since the only people who may find the envelope would be the commissioners that had been keeping too close of an eye on the hero.

     But if a stranger were to find it, they’d be even more clueless, seeing as nobody but Izuku and the commissioners knew Hawks’s actual name. He really was just Hawks to everybody else, so a stranger would have no clue where to start when it came to looking for this mystery location.

     Though, nobody had found the letter except for Izuku, and he had been doing pretty good keeping everything hidden so far, in his opinion.

     With all of that done, Izuku finally went to grab the money he would need for tomorrow, then put the rest in the safe. And then he was finally able to go take his shower, emerging a while later in a baggy t-shirt and sweatpants. 

     To call it a night, Izuku crawled into the pillow fort, tossed a few blankets over himself, and promptly passed out in it.

     He’d have his movie night tomorrow, before he went on his patrol. He was genuinely a little too tired to continue with his plan to watch a movie after patrol, like he had halfway planned in the morning.

     When Izuku woke up in the morning, the day that he was going to see Keigo, the plan was entirely just to roll over and fall back asleep. But the alarm had other plans, as it went off just about five seconds after Izuku had woken up. 

     With a groan, he pulled the blankets over his head, flipping one of his pillows over his head as well, only to realize it wasn’t doing much to combat the nearby beeping.

     So Izuku sat up, and then reached for the alarm, turning it off before letting himself collapse back against his pillows with a sigh. He had already sat up, and done more than just roll over. He was awake, and that wasn’t going to change. Neither was the fact that he only had so much time to actually get ready to go.

     There was no actual set time to see Keigo, but it was always best for him to be there early. It was a bad idea to leave Keigo as the one waiting, the one out of the two of them that would draw in the most attention, something that they both desperately needed to avoid.

     Despite the fact that Keigo said that it was nothing bad that Izuku was going to be updated on, the fact that it needed to be in person was enough to make Izuku worry, especially when he had a whole day and a couple nights to think longer about what they could possibly need to talk about.

      But it’s good news, is what Izuku would chant in his head over and over, that way he could bury that worry, especially when he was trying to focus on finding criminals, as well as trying to get himself to sleep.

     Waiting was miserable, but within all fairness to Keigo, he probably didn’t know if Izuku would be able to immediately get to the envelope, or may have had to put it behind the brick at an earlier time. He probably just wanted to be sure that Izuku would be able to see it on time.

     Izuku slowly crawled his way out of the pillow fort, making his way to his cubbies to start looking for something to wear. He honestly hadn’t changed out of his pajamas much, since he was always going between his vigilante outfit and his pajamas. He hadn’t been confident enough to actually start going around the city in the day, so he genuinely hadn’t seen much of a purpose to changing out of his pajamas.

     Which made him all so much more nervous about today.

     Shopping runs just felt so different compared to sitting still in one place for an unknown amount of time.

     Izuku wasn’t going to leave the cap behind today, knowing it wasn’t going to completely cover his hair, but was still a significantly better option than a hoodie and multiple layers. It wasn’t like he was the only person in the world to have curly green hair either. As long as he kept his head down, he should be fine.

     And the cap was more just something that made him feel a little bit safer anyway.

     He hadn’t gotten himself any other shoes, so he settled with his usual tennis shoes, a plain, big t-shirt, and some black cargo pants to go out in. It was daytime now, after all, and 

     Grabbing his makeshift key and the money he set out, Izuku finally went to leave, locking the door behind him, and then putting the key and money in one of his pockets. From that point on, he just kept his hands in his pockets, keeping himself just between speed walking and his normal pace as he walked down the street. The restaurant wasn’t far, but he was still going to be there for an unknown amount of time.

     So, he decided he needed to distract himself with something while he was there, slipping into one of the shops he had been meaning to for a while. 

     In some of Izuku’s free time, he had tried to continue to work on one of his hobbies from when he was little: hero and quirk analysis. He didn’t have all the time in the world to do it, but it had been fun, especially when he got to see so much more into heroes and what all they did. As a result, he had been trying to draw them as well at the bottom of the pages that he dedicated to the heroes.

     So if he was going into a small art shop, and walking out with a sketchbook and a new pack of pencils to occupy his time with, nobody but him would know.

     Well, except for Keigo.

     But that’s fine.

     Izuku liked talking to Keigo anyway.

     As Izuku had hoped for, the restaurant was almost entirely empty, other than the people quietly working there. He had been happily greeted by the woman waiting at the counters, quickly making her way to ask Izuku if there was anything he wanted, and he just asked for the same thing as last time, happily and quietly waiting for his food once she ran off.
    He was about halfway done with his food, and had a few doodles quickly done in his new sketchbook by the time the door opened again.

     Izuku almost found it funny that he had been the one worried about overheating in the near summer air, and had forgone a jacket to save himself, but Keigo was the one walking in with one. A few feathers still stuck out, able to be noticed if someone was actually looking for them, or just staring for too long, but it was clear that Keigo was keeping all of them flat on his back.

     Which meant his wings were all probably just missing every last feather so that they didn’t stick out under the jacket that he wore.

     But like Izuku, Keigo had put on a cap as well, and even kept from putting on his usual eyeliner for the visit.

     Of course, it didn’t take Keigo long at all to spot Izuku, quickly taking his seat. And just like he did last time, he made sure to ask for a meal that would take a long time to order, before he quickly turned all of his attention towards Izuku, confirming that it was good news that he came with by the way he smiled and immediately stuck his nose into what it was Izuku was doing.

     “Kid, I give you money every week, and you’re still going for the cheaper things? Ohh, hey, you’re drawing again! Looks nice,” Keigo said, not giving Izuku much time to reply to anything, before the hero ruffled Izuku’s hair, and then tried to lean over the table, tilting his head to get a better view of Izuku’s doodles. “While nobody is out here, and this is something I can’t exactly hide well in question without sounding suspicious, how’s the vigilante thing going?”

     Izuku frowned at Keigo, before carefully looking around the building himself, just to make sure that there really wasn’t anyone else sitting around the main area of the restaurant. Seeing nobody else there, even though he didn’t really doubt Keigo in the matter, with how well the man was able to quickly scan and process things, Izuku said “It’s going okay, I guess? I think I’ve thrown this one hero off my trail for a bit.”

     That’s when Keigo seemed worried, quickly asking “Do you know which hero? Underground heroes typically aren’t easy to actually get off anybody’s trail. They just let you think you’re safe… do you need me to help you find somewhere else to stay? You could be being watched.”

     Izuku, after taking another bite of his food, shrugged and said “It’s just Midnight, but I think she’s having some kind of beginner’s luck… in a way.”

     “Midnight? Are you sure? She doesn’t… work at night?”

      “Yeah, I know. Which is why I found it so weird at first… but she started walking around at night, not even in costume, and has all but actually said she’s been trying to find me, if trying to question me says anything,” Izuku replies, leaning back into his chair, and crossing his arms. As he starts to slide down the seat, he uses Keigo’s seat to keep him from going any further, resting his feet on the legs of the chair.

     “What do you mean by she’s got ‘beginner’s luck’ though,” Keigo asked with a soft chuckle. The worry quickly seemed to fade once he knew Izuku wasn’t being hunted down by an underground hero, or at least a specific underground hero. 

     Izuku remembered that there was one in particular that was called in for a lot of cases, and was particularly strong, really great at working at night, but almost entirely unknown to villains. Even heroes never seemed to speak of him much, and his presence online had been basically nothing. And that was what Izuku had heard from the commission, back when they were helping wrap up one of the larger cases with heroes, where some actually had to be sent undercover.

     Izuku was only ten at the time, so he could only imagine how much stronger that hero had gotten, if he was still around.

     But was he a Musutafu hero?

     Maybe Izuku should put a little more caution into his patrols…

     “I dunno, she just keeps finding me. Changes up the whole outfit though, and I haven’t seen her since, so I guess it may be working,” Izuku explains. “The outfit is still pretty plain though… but I think it’s better.”

     “Well, while I don’t recommend hero merch on actual hero costumes, have you considered some pins? Might make it a little more fun for you, considering you’re the one out of the two of us who actually nerds out on heroes.” Keigo holds a teasing smile on his face at the suggestion, and Izuku quickly returns to frowning at him. “I mean, despite how I’m clearly the best role model, and have every reason to be your favorite,” he holds his hands in the air, smile widening as he continues to mess with Izuku, saying “I can help you get some merch that isn’t me, that could look good with whatever it is you’ve put together for a costume. After all, can’t let by greatness as your basically brother and closest friend give you away, can I? You’re going to need to confuse them even more by making it seem like you’re just some average hero faaaan.”

     “I have a lot of money saved up though,” Izuku starts to explain. “I could just get some myself… you could suggest some places that I could go to too?”

     “Nuh uh, I’m definitely getting you some now. No objecting.” Izuku would have objected, had that not been the moment that Keigo’s food came out, gently placed just in front of him.

     After thanking the woman for the food, he quickly went to take a bite of his still hot food, quickly forgetting just how hot it would be coming out, as he quickly went to fan his face in an attempt to cool the food he was already actively trying to chew.

     Once Keigo had finally swallowed the dangerous bite, Izuku leaned forward again, starting to doodle again, he asked “So, what was the good news?”

     With the woman sitting around in the room once more, and Keigo saying that the last conversation was one that he couldn’t manage to vaguely describe and disguise, Izuku knew the conversation had to change, and it was this one that he was here for in the first place.

     “Right, right,” Keigo starts, gulping down some of the water to completely cool his mouth. Setting the glass on the table, he then says “They’re going to relax on their search.”

     Izuku’s eyes widen, knowing exactly who Keigo was talking about, because really, who else could it be? “Huh? Why?”

     “Managed to convince them that it wasn’t as much of a priority, and that just getting back to our usual business would benefit us more,” Keigo said, the smile returning on his face once more. “It’s still a ‘If you see, report,’ kind of situation, but it’s not an active search. Of course, I’m not going to be in Musutafu as much… but trust me, that’s so much better for you. Mm, but also, her house is still being watched carefully. Well, not too careful, but still a every once in a while.”

     Not much thought needed to figure out who the “her” was… his mother was a clear enough answer. 

     “Buuut, Musutafu should be much better now for you. I’m still going to make sure to give you those envelopes and that hero merch though. I’ll find some way to sneak them over to you,” Keigo promises. “Though, if you need anything from me, I’ll leave my office window unlocked. It’s a bit of a long walk, sure, but I’m sure you could get on a train… unless you somehow find out how to spend all that money, if you’re saving as much as you’re implying you do…”

     “I’ll definitely be able to pay for a train ticket…”

     “Okay, cool, there we go! One final thing though.”

     “Hm?”

     “We’re going back to code.” Keigo quickly digs in his pocket, handing Izuku a carefully put together piece of paper, with the random symbols they had been to code random notes in between each other when they were little. It had just been a thing between the two of them, but to see it end up being useful? Izuku was about ready to thank his and Keigo’s younger selves for making something that they thought was just silly at the time. “Since I’m not actually going to be in Musutafu much anymore, if I get spotted and need to leave a letter, they won’t figure it out. This way, you can leave stuff for me too.”

      Izuku quickly takes the cheat sheet from Keigo, looking over all of the little symbols, all looking vastly different that the original letters that they were based off of. Nothing too complicated for the sake of them still needing to write it, but still detailed.

     “Letters work both ways you know,” Keigo says with a fake pout. “I can’t be the only one talking here. I’m gonna start thinking at some point that you’re only talking to me to get some money.”

     Izuku playfully kicks Keigo’s leg as he pockets the paper, saying “Hey, not my fault that I’m always worried about them finding out.”

     “Well now you’ve gotta be less worried,” Keigo replies, the fake pout quickly turning to a smile just before Keigo quickly stands up as he says “I’ve gotta go now though. Get home safe, alright?”

     “Alright… you stay safe too, okay?”

     “Hey now, I’m one hundred times more safe than you, and you hardly go out.”

     “... Go home.”

     “Already on it.”

     One of Nemuri’s favorite parts of the week was definitely whenever she would get to have dinner with Yamada and Aizawa. The dinners that they prepared together always tasted so much better than what she would cook alone, or the takeout she would order after a particularly tiring day, with those tiring days feeling so much more frequent (she definitely knew why, but it wasn’t like she had any definite plans to be stopping soon).

     Most of her better casual clothes had been worn lately in an attempt to find the vigilante, so and the last of those outfits was sitting out, waiting for her to wear when she started walking around again, with the hope of finding the kid again. So it had turned to a mental war of figuring out if she just already wear it, and keep herself from going home to change, or just wearing some really casual casual clothes, then come back to change so that she wouldn’t be seen in the outfit early.

     They had a general idea of when the kid went out to be a vigilante, but she had no clue if the kid was going to leave early.

     To try and make the final decision, Nemuri pulled out the really casual outfit she was considering, putting the two outfits side-by-side, crossing her arms while her foot tapped on the ground as she scanned over the outfits, deciding which would be best for dinner.

     Eventually, she decided on the outfit she was planning to wear later anyway, especially so she could avoid a questioning from Aizawa about how tired she looked. Because apparently dressing like she was two steps away from going to bed made people concerned, and Yamada and Aizawa seemed to share a braincell when it came to worrying.

     They just expressed it differently.

     Throwing on the outfit, she bolted towards the door, already knowing she would be late. She slung her purse over her shoulder, and then grabbed the keys off of the hook right next to the door, before she quickly made her way out of her own apartment, locking it behind herself, and then stuffing the keys into her purse. 

     The trip to the apartment was a beyond familiar walk, but she was speed walking the whole way, glad that she had enough sense in her to wear flats with the outfit instead of heels. If she was going to be walking a lot more than she usually did, despite wearing heels in her hero costume, she had already been wearing that for half the day. They could stay at home for the night.

     This was a time she wasn’t going to be alerting the whole street she was there, after all, especially with how much heavier her feet hit the ground with how she was speed walking.

     Nemuri could proudly say, however, that she had mastered keeping her heels quiet if she were to be walking at a normal pace.

     Once she reached Aizawa and Yamada’s apartment, she didn’t even get to knock, because Yamada was already swinging open the door with a wide smile on his face.

    “You’ve gotta stop watching out the guest room window when I’m five minutes late,” Nemuri jokes, stepping into the apartment the moment that Yamada stepped out of the way enough for her to do so, and then slipped off her flats, replacing them with the slippers she had been leaving here a couple months after the two moved into it.

     And that was years ago.

     “You’re thirteen minutes late this time, actually,” Aizawa says from his spot on the couch, his feet propped up on the coffee table as his laptop sat on his lap. A coffee was held up in his left hand, while he scrolled through whatever he was looking at with his right, making a few notes here and there on the document.

     Nemuri walked over to see what he was working on, leaning on the back of the couch as she peered over her friend’s shoulder before asking “Schoolwork? I thought you expelled the whole class?”

     “Nezu is giving some of them the option to come back,” Aizawa explained. “It’s still going to be held on them, but apparently the whole class a week in was giving me too much of a break.”

     “Or Nezu was just tired of all of the parents complaining this year,” Yamada joked as he walked by, laughing at his own comment while he made his way to the kitchen.

     “Mm, that too,” Aizawa mutters, and then takes another sip of his coffee. “Nezu is still figuring out if he should just re-enroll them this year, and keep them on their toes dealing with me again, let me judge enough to see if they’ve changed enough to actually survive out there, or if he’s going to wait until next school year, where they have a lot of catching up to do.”

     “The only question is to decide whether or not you’ve suffering with them,” Nemuri comments. “So, now you’re either preparing what all you’ll be catching them up on this year, or preparing a bunch of work for their second year teachers, including what all they’ll need to learn their second year. It looks like you’re not getting out of much suffering either way.”

     “Yeah yeah yeah, go ahead and laugh it up. But if they go to the second year instead of starting in the first year, they’re not my problem.”

     Yep, that was a quick way to make it not so funny, thinking about all of the catching-up she’d have to do with those kids if they didn’t come back this school year.

     “Fun sucker,” Nemuri pouts, crossing her arms as she goes to join Yamada in the kitchen, who had busied himself with getting out all of the dinner ingredients.

     While Yamada and Nemuri busied themselves with cooking, Aizawa returned to making more assignments and lessons for the kids he had expelled this year. Soon enough, there was enough noise that Nemuri was sure she could get away with a whispered conversation with Yamada to update him on the event that interrupted their spa day.

     She quickly leaned over to whisper in his ear while the water on the stove started boiling, and said “So it’s still just one kid, but apparently the kid knows how to use weapons too.”

     Yamada spared her a quick glance, eyebrows raised and eyes widened. “Never used them before?”

     “Not seen or reported until then. But we’re assuming the change was to throw me off.”

     “Well it seems to have worked for a bit,” Yamada says, this time with a smile. And that earned him a quick kick to the back of his leg, making him back away a bit as he started laughing.

     Aizawa, forever minding his own business (as far as they were aware… he could be the nosiest man alive for all they knew, just so he would be in the know for things, but just preferred to not say anything as to not be dragged into a conversation he wasn’t ready to be part of), didn’t question the sudden laughter from his husband. 

     “Gotta go out again tonight though. Hoping to really confirm it. But we think the same on the situation,” Nemuri continues to quietly explain, with Yamada quietly nodding along.

     But that was when Aizawa finally spoke up from the living room, saying “If you two are done whispering in there, it sounds like the water is nearly ready to boil over.”

     The two quickly turned their attention to the pot that they had been standing in front of, which, as Aizawa said, was starting to boil a little bit too hard. The noodles in Yamada’s hand, which had been hovering just above the pot the whole time, were quickly dropped in before the man quickly lowered the temperature, all while Nemuri quickly turned to continue cutting up vegetables.

     Tonight was a night worth some risks, that way she could find the kid again. She was already covered from head to toe, despite how the summer air was starting to heat up. The only skin that could be seen were the top of her feet, considering she was wearing flats, and then her face. Her hands had been stuffed into the pockets of her coat, but she was heavily considering just taking them out in hopes that exposing her hands to the air would help her cool down a bit.

     After about twenty minutes of walking around, she decided that that option really was for the best. She would stuff her hands right back into her pockets if she were to see any sign of the kid, but in the meantime, she was going to make sure she didn’t die from the heat.

     Taking a note out of the vigilante’s book, Nemuri had packed a cap into her purse, putting it on her head once her hair was pulled into a low ponytail. Hopefully this would throw the kid off for just a bit, just like he had almost certainly tried with her and Tsukauchi.

     Nemuri held onto her purse tightly as she walked down the streets, listening carefully for any sounds that indicated villains nearby.

     There was one time she thought she’d find someone, only to see a cat in the alleyway she quickly poked her head into. It had accidentally knocked down a stack of cans, and seemed to have startled itself, hissing at both Nemuri and the cans as it backed itself against a wall, tail puffed out.

     It was safe to say that she didn’t stick around that sight for too long.

     Aizawa would definitely have quietly shamed her for not adopting the cat then and there, and giving it all of the love and affection any and all cats deserve. Because really, how dare she let that poor cat defend itself, and not risk herself to its poor little claws?

     It was probably a good thing that this area of Musutafu wasn’t Aizawa’s general patrol area, otherwise she would have been really worried about him catching her in the act of leaving a cat there.

     It was nearly another hour later, when she was about ready to go home and call it a night, that she heard a fight starting to happen in a nearby alley. Listening in, it was definitely two villains starting to fight with each other, nothing for her to concern herself with yet.

     But the kid stepped into villain fights, so she just had to hope that the kid would make an appearance.

     So she continued to walk as if she had no clue what was going on, pretending to look through her purse for something just in case the kid was there, and had noticed her walking in the general direction. She even pretended to talk to herself, wordlessly spewing random things at random as she got closer.

     It was as she was walking past, and the villains noticed her, about to go and make an attempt to grab her just for being there, and distracting them from their fight (no witnesses, after all. That’s now most of these villains went), that the kid made his appearance, quickly taking down the villain furthest from her in his usual style, the villain hitting the ground with a thud.

     That action had quickly drawn the attention of the other villain, who turned in the kid’s direction, already ready to make an attack themselves. But with a quick step out of the way, and then a few quick moves that blended together well, as if continuously practiced for a long time, the last villain was taken down.

     And sure enough, Nemuri was right about this being the same kid, but in a different outfit.

     “I can go ahead and call the villains in for you, kiddo,” Nemuri says with a smile.

     The kid quickly takes a few steps back, stumbling over his words for a minute before landing on “I’m not a kid!”

      Nemuri raises an eyebrow, one of her hands already shuffling through her purse, genuinely, this time, as she hunted down her phone.

     He nervously stands there for a moment, clearly waiting for her to call him out on that lie.

     She decides to let him think that he could get away with the lie for now, not call him out on it. Instead, she says “No need to be so nervous. There’s not much I can do with my quirk with this little amount of skin showing. You’ll be long gone by the time I’m a threat for you.”

     He actually seems to relax a bit at that, curiosity piqued. 

     “So your quirk really does rely on the amount of skin showing? What if you built it up under your clothes? Do you restrict your quirk more by wearing such a skintight costume? Why didn’t the support department just make it to where the fabric will let your quirk go through, rather than making it easy to tear? It just sounds like that makes more work for them in the end, doesn’t it,” the kid starts to ask, one question after the next quickly rolling out.

     Well, not what she had expected, but it was working in her favor. He wasn’t running away immediately, and it made more room for her to take a turn with asking him things.

     She just had to be open herself, and then maybe she could get a couple answers.

     “I suppose I could build it up, but it would still just go through any opening at some point. It wouldn’t be as fast, however, which is why it’s best to have more skin showing,” she starts to explain, hoping to answer all the questions as best as she could. She had to build some trust here. “So at the end of the day, I’m best in close range combat, or catching people entirely by surprise. I suppose the support departments could have given me better fabric, but why make a more complicated fabric when hero costumes are already known to take constant damage?”

     He lets out a quiet “Oh, I guess that makes a bit of sense,” while Nemuri continues to talk.

     “Besides, tearing off some fabric already fits my theme,” she quickly says. “But if they’re making more work for themselves by this choice, I suppose it could just be because they want to see me more! I’m not too bad of company, which you may realize if you stop running off so quickly.”

     “Hey now, I haven’t run off yet,” the kid quickly says, seeming to hold an offended face under the mask, all while he rests a hand on his hip.

     “Which I’m grateful for! Now what about you? What kind of quirk do you have? Something that lets you know the best way to land on someone to take them out,” she jokingly asks, while also directly trying to ask about his quirk.

     Hopefully a way to narrow down the search even easier.

     It was a dangerous question, and definitely not something on the list of questions that she should be asking, and approved by Tsukauchi… but tonight was still a night of risks, and not just when it came to walking past villains. Besides, she could get lucky, and the kid would just answer without thinking too hard on it, under the idea that it was a fair information exchange.

     And much to her hopes, he actually seemed to think on it, thinking on an answer. She figured it was an answer, at least, because despite looking nervous, he wasn’t looking around for an escape. He was looking at the ground, nervously shuffling where he stood.

     Another moment later, and he said “I’m uh… quirkless. Yeah…”

     Well… that still left things complicated! Damn…

     But she got her answer!

     Oh, and now the kid is gone again. Maybe she shouldn’t have stood there shocked at the answer for as long as she did.

     When one of the villains started stirring on the ground, she quickly rolled up her sleeve, and knocked the villain out once more, letting her quirk lightly pour out from her skin, before she finally called in the villains.

     Tonight would be fuuuun to explain to Tsukauchi.

Chapter Text

     Izuku knew that he was going to go see Keigo again, but there hadn’t been any set date. Up until there suddenly was a plan, with Izuku accidentally meeting up with Keigo again when trying to go get the money for the week. 

     The vigilante work of the night had been quiet, and Izuku wasn’t getting any luck finding anything. It was actually a night without crime that he could find, a rarity as of late. The world of quirks had definitely made it so much more prominent, so a night without it felt weird.

     The best Izuku could do to make himself feel better about not finding anything was the fact that he was only patrolling a section of Musutafu, and there were still heroes who were patrolling, whether Izuku saw them or not. 

     Izuku hadn’t even seen Midnight, which he couldn’t figure out if that was a win or not. Sure, he hadn’t been successful in fooling her for long, but seeing her broke things from being the same, no matter how much of a risk it was to be seen by her as much as he was.

     Not even if it frustrated him to be nearly caught so often, he hadn’t even heard any sign of her making her way over.

     Then again, with no villains to take down, he was sure that it was just the fact that there was no fight to draw her to when it came to finding him.

     So he took a quick trip to a nearby gas station that was open, and got himself a small bag of chips and a soda, taking to the rooftops once more. Once he got to the rooftop, a good hour earlier than his usual time, Izuku decided to sit at the edge of the rooftop, letting his legs swing while he snacked on the chips.

     The soda would have to wait a bit… he wasn’t about to open it after knowing how shaken it got on the way up here.

     Watching the occasional person walk past was something that provided at least a little interest, but Izuku preoccupied most of his time glancing around him, making sure that there were no heroes actually making their way to his rooftop to question him. In between each time he checked, he would let himself get lost in thought, trying to think of things to do in his free time.

     There wasn’t much he could actually think of, even with Keigo saying that the commission was going to start to put some slack on trying to find him. After so many years of not knowing what else he could do, his sole focus being on working to become a hero, the amount of things he knew to do to have fun were so slim.

     It definitely didn’t help that all the fun he remembered having as a kid was with childish games. Games that needed friends, with the way that the games of pretend worked.

     But things were so real now, and had been real ever since he was five.

     It was as he was about to turn to check the brick that Keigo suddenly landed on the rooftop.

     “Hey now, you’re early,” Keigo quickly said with a smile, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

     “And you’re late,” Izuku replied, placing his hands on his hips as he quickly stood up, walking further away from the ledge while he sent a joking judgemental look towards the hero.

     “You don’t even know what time I usually get here.” Keigo’s eyebrows raised as he placed his hands on his hips too.

     “Well if this is my designated time to be here, and I’ve only seen you once because you intentionally waited, then you are late.” Izuku took that as his turn to send a smile in Keigo’s direction, wondering if Keigo was going to try to find another way out of this one. Izuku was right, and they both knew it.

     Keigo’s smile finally fell into a frown, before he rolled his eyes and said “Now I already told you I was going to be more busy. But since you are here, I don’t have to worry about the letter.”

     And with that final comment, he took the envelope out of his pocket, and quickly opened it up to pull out the small slip of paper, stuffing it back into his pocket.

     Izuku’s head tilted in question, hoping for an answer as to what it was going to be about. He was sure he was already going to get an explanation if the letter was just going to be discarded, but he still wanted to know sooner.

     It wasn’t until the envelope full of money was put in Izuku’s hands that the winged hero said “You should meet me at the park a few streets down from here tomorrow, change the scenery a bit before anyone catches on.”

     “Why though? Can’t you just tell me everything here? There’s nobody around… I’ve been sure of it for the past hour.”

     “See, that’s the thing: I can’t tell you about things, and they’ll magically be given to you. I promised to get you some hero merch to decorate with, so I’m gonna give em to you!”

     Izuku’s expression quickly changed from confusion to surprise as he said “I told you I could try to get them myself.”

     “And I told you I was going to get them for you anyway. Could have sworn there was some kind of mental agreement that I won there,” Keigo replied with a laugh. “Anyway, really, meet me tomorrow afternoon, a little after lunch so that there’s less people, and I’ll give you the stuff. Now you go to bed. It’s getting late.”

     With that, Keigo was off, flying back in the direction that Izuku was sure his agency was in.

     It was definitely great that Keigo could fly so fast, considering Keigo had wanted to keep himself far from the commission in hopes that he’d be needed less.

    Safe to say that didn’t work, with the speeds that Keigo could fly at.

     It was also safe to say that Izuku wished Keigo had stayed down on the rooftop for a second longer just so he could say “Well you better be going to bed too, then.”

     Ah well, he probably was going to bed anyway. Izuku was already too familiar with the fact that Keigo was often needed during many points of time in the day, so he genuinely had to get some sleep at night.

     Another morning, and another time for Izuku to get up early. Or at least earlier than he was used to.

     Crawling out of the pillow fort again, he made his way to the bathroom, where he brushed his teeth, and then made a poor attempt to take care of his hair. He remembered everything that the random commission workers had told him to take care of his hair, and how Keigo would come back with advice for his curls, talking about how he had asked one of his new sidekicks how they managed their own.

     But Izuku really couldn’t bring himself to care to put in as much effort, especially when he was up as early as he was. 

     Checking the clock in his room one more time, he slowly made his way over to the cubbies, pulling out another simple outfit to change into. He didn’t plan on being out too long anyway. Just long enough that Keigo could give him the hero merch.

     Then he was just considering going right back to bed. There wasn’t much left to do anyway, and getting to sleep whenever he wanted was really nice. No strict schedule, other than the one he had made for himself.

     There was still plenty of time before he had to go and try to find the park that Keigo had mentioned. Izuku knew the general area, and had most likely seen it at some point, especially if it was only a few streets away from where he hung out about once a week.

     The only issue there was that he’d have to find it ground level, instead of jumping from one building to the next. 

     Izuku was sure he could find it though. He was already planning on heading out an hour early anyway, just to be sure that he could find it on time. But there was still some time before that, so he could just get a little bit more shut-eye. Izuku’s alarm still had yet to go off anyway.

     Crawling back into the pillowfort, he crawled between some of the plushes he had gotten, and then tossed the blanket over his head with a sigh, enjoying some more of the time to himself before he had to brave the Musutafu streets in the daytime again.

     Just to help himself feel a little bit better about it, despite the fact that the cap had abandoned for vigilante activities, it would continue to stick with him in the daytime still. It didn’t matter that the commission was going to start reeling back on trying to find him, because they would still want to find him. And if he was seen, it would be reported, or he would be chased after up until he was caught.

     Izuku would prefer to avoid both instances.

     Once the alarm started loudly beeping, Izuku was quick to lunge out of the pillow fort, turning it off. He then actually put the cap on his head, and then reached into another cubby, the one that now held his sketchbook. After all, if he managed to find the park on time, he would rather have something to do while he waited for Keigo.

     He finally started making his way out of the apartment, locking the door behind him before tucking the sketchbook under his arm, and speed walking through the streets. He went between alleyways in an attempt to find the park faster, relieved once he recognized the street he had looked over once a week. The only issue at that point was to find out just which direction was “a few streets away.”

     It was at that moment that Izuku really wished that he could have had Keigo’s quirk, or anything to do with flight, really. It would make looking for the park so much easier, and he could probably come up with a good reason to be up there if he were to get caught up there.

     Having just a regular flight quirk would even mean that he wouldn’t have been taken in by the commission either…

     Having a different quirk probably meant that he would have been able to keep all of his friends as well. But that wasn’t something he could change, so he had just accepted that this was his situation, and it was something that he had been able to get used to.

     But trying to get around the poor directions Keigo had given was annoying.

     Was it really so hard to give better directions? Or for Izuku to think to ask which direction to go?
    No, wait. Izuku wasn’t blaming himself here. Keigo had been quick to fly off, not giving Izuku much time to ask about anything.

     Izuku walked a bit faster once he had already walked a few streets to the left of the one he usually hung out on, turning right around and trying to find it that way.

     He was sure he was at least a few minutes late by the time he eventually found the park, but it was nice enough there that he was able to make himself comfortable on a bench, crossing his legs and setting the sketchbook on his lap while he waited.

     The sketched at first started with heroes, and then faded to him trying to work in his hero costume ideas, the things that he probably wouldn’t actually be able to see. But that was something he could accept, something he had to keep reminding himself about anytime he started to get upset about all the sacrifices made just to get him on the path to heroics.

     Izuku wasn’t dying a lot anymore, and had actually been able to give himself a break in the pain department. He was able to find some fun in all of this, even if he was constantly worried about getting caught. But he couldn’t pretend that he wasn’t heavily contributing to the possibility of getting caught.

     Vigilantism wasn’t something he thought he could get rid of though.

     Some chirping birds in the distance, and he turned his head away from the sketchbook, watching as a few birds flew around. He was watching them for a good minute, up until Keigo made his appearance, walking up from behind, and standing right next to the bench Izuku sat on.

     Izuku, however, made no move to acknowledge Keigo yet. Not when he was still busy watching the birds, who seemed to have no direction they were going yet, not finding another spot to land. They just flew around each other, no direct path or clear intention. They didn’t seem to be fighting or anything as they flew around each other, but just kept to their small section of the sky.

     And then Keigo sat down, and the birds finally flew off, landing at some distant part of the park that Izuku couldn’t see.

     As Izuku turned to look at Keigo, the bird hero was quick to place quite a few bags on Izuku’s lap, and he immediately knew that it wasn’t just some stuff to decorate his costume with.

     “This is… a lot,” Izuku muttered, eyes widening as he opened one of the bags that seemed to stand out, quickly taking note of what looked to be figures. “And more than you said.”

     He quickly pulled out one of the first figurines he saw, a smile quickly spreading on his face when he saw the All Might figurine. Despite the time that he was certain that he was being chased by All Might, All Might was still All Might, and one of Izuku’s favorite heroes, if Keigo hadn’t already taken first.

     “Thank you,” Izuku quietly said, just loud enough for Keigo to hear. Izuku saw him smile in his peripheral vision, just before Keigo reached forward to ruffle Izuku’s hair.

     “No problem, kiddo. Figured you may want to decorate a bit too,” Keigo replied. “There’s quite a few heroes in there, though. Just a couple more All Might things than others, because if I remember correctlyyy, he’s one of your favorites.”

     “He is,” Izuku quickly confirmed, continuing to look through the bags. There was one pin and figurine after the next, and even a little book full of small posters of the current top ten heroes. There wasn’t much merch of Keigo himself, but that was something Izuku would just have to pick himself.

     Despite how much Keigo joked about it, he wasn’t exactly going to be showing off, and getting a whole bunch of his own merch. If Izuku wanted it, Izuku was just going to have to specifically ask for it, or go and get it himself.

     Though he would prefer to go get it himself.

     “What do you think,” Keigo asked, looking at the merch as Izuku pulled them out.

     “They’re wonderful,” Izuku replied while looking over a Miruko pin. He was already figuring out which pins he wanted to already start to decorate his jacket with, and which ones he could rotate them to by the next week.

     “Glad you think so!” Keigo reached for one of the other figurines, saying “This one was actually a rare find, apparently. The shop I went to and saw this one at said that it took them a while to get their hands on it, and that they never really sell well since nobody knows them. But if anyone knows heroes, we do. So, quiz time! Which hero is that one?”

     Izuku pulled out the figurine that Keigo had tapped on, looking over the box as he tried to figure it out. 

     It didn’t take much for Izuku to figure it out, especially when he had been so worried about finding said hero. So with a sigh, he said “Eraserhead.”

     “Ah, all the things you’ve told me about him over the past few years, with the commission president starting to use him as an example for you,” Keigo said. “And a reminder of just who to be on the lookout for while you continue to risk yourself every night!”

     Izuku shot a quick frown towards Keigo, while going back to admiring the figurine. If it was already a rare find, Izuku wouldn’t care that this was a hero that he actually had to be afraid of for the most part. Eraserhead was genuinely a really impressive hero, from all the missions that Izuku had heard about him being sent on, and just how much the hero had been needed for.

     Such a needed hero lately, but he still managed to keep just about everything about himself off of the internet.

     It was probably only because of the fact that he often had to work with limelight heroes that he was known in the first place.

     And now one of the rare pieces of merch that could actually be found of him was in Izuku’s hands.

     “This is going in the center of the display,” Izuku said, already trying ti mentally picture how he’d put everything together. Keigo chuckled at that comment.

     After looking through the bags just a bit more, with Keigo still quizzing Izuku on a few more of the heroes while they ate a few sandwiches for lunch, Izuku finally made his way back to the apartment.

     Despite the fact that Izuku had told himself that he was just going to go to bed once he got home, he found that he was having more fun trying to put up all the hero merch. It was just more things that he was cramming into the small room, but he figured he could actually look to start decorating more parts of the apartment. But with the fact that he hardly left the bedroom for much else than anything that he needed to do in the bathroom or kitchen, the bedroom had essentially been where he had kept himself.

     So he would rather have all the new stuff around him anyway, finding places for everything in the cubbies. He had to move some things around, and put others around the shelves where he usually kept his clothes, but he managed to make it work.

     Only a few pins were kept out, but all of the others were left with his vigilante costume, that way he could rotate between them. 

     Izuku, despite how he was trying to deny them at first, was genuinely happy with the hero merch as gifts. They definitely felt better as gifts, than things he was trying to find himself.

     With everything decorated, and Izuku no longer as tired as he had been earlier, he quickly made his way to the kitchen to make some popcorn, and then crawled back into his pillow fort to watch another movie.

     It was halfway through that the excitement of the early afternoon started to fade, and the loneliness started to settle in once more. He moved closer to the plushes, holding them close while he continued to watch the movie.

     He was definitely going back to bed after this movie.

     Actually, Izuku thought about it longer. He wasn’t actually too happy with the thrill of seeing Midnight and wondering whether or not that would be the night she would go after him. And he wanted a break, that way he wasn’t worried about any heroes for a bit.

     So Izuku just rolled right back over that night, and went to sleep. It was definitely better that way. It was nighttime, and he was going to sleep at night, just like any normal person would.

    Ignoring the fact that he probably would have worked these hours anyway, had he actually managed to bring himself to stay long enough to go through the commission’s training.

    Within all fairness, the training itself wasn’t bad. It was just like any average training, but slightly more intense, and going through more fighting styles than he would probably need. But it worked to help him blend things together, and make something unique in hopes of keeping himself from being predictable. Options were great.

     But the commission having a list of options on how to kill him… well that definitely wasn’t great. But Izuku was free of it now! 

     And he actually wanted a break this time.

     He could probably throw off Midnight a bit as well, if he were to just not show up for at least a few days. It was slightly better to grant him more time a better chance of not finding her, especially if the costume change didn’t work.

     Izuku had gone to bed with the full intention to wake up at night, make himself some dinner, and then get changed into his vigilante costume, attaching a few of the new pins to it. But when he had woken up around the time the sun started setting, Izuku realized he really didn’t feel up to it.

     It could be because all of the hiding meant that there was nobody he could talk to, and so not only was he hiding in his apartment all the time, but he had to specifically try to ignore everybody when he was outside. Midnight seemed friendly enough, but Izuku knew he had to avoid her. He had to avoid her for his own safety.

     And the safest option was to just be at home, and keep watching movies. All the movies where characters had friends. And whether or not something happened to those friends, all the characters still had at least some friends by the end.

     Then again, Izuku didn’t really want to watch depressing movies either.

     Looking at the figurines, he figured he could maybe hunt down some hero documentaries. Those would probably feel a bit better than most of the other things he could watch, other than the fact that they would keep reminding him about the path towards being a hero that he tried so long to stick to.

     With a groan, be buried himself under his blankets and pillows. He really was having a hard time trying to win in this situation.

     Animal documentaries should get popular again in this day and age, that way he’d still have something. If they got popular again, maybe he could even hunt down some disks to watch.

     Then again, he didn’t think he would be quite as well entertained.

     So the best option was to just go right back to sleep. There could be no issue there, and his dreams would find some way to entertain him. 

     It was safe to say that he didn’t stay asleep for long, and eventually just got up to go make himself some dinner.

     He had been doing okay teaching himself how to cook, relying on one of the simple cookbooks he had gotten, that way he could try to get himself into another hobby, find himself able to take care of himself. 

     But he still didn’t want to make anything too complicated, so it was just small things that he taught himself.

     Finishing up with his dinner for the night, he cleaned up everything, then crawled back into his pillowfort, accepting the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to get much more sleep after this. He’d need to tucker himself out again, after how long he had stuck to the schedule of staying up late.

     The biggest issue was that he was going to need to risk having the lights on at night, where a single glowing window on a dead street would be sure to draw the attention of anyone. He would need to run that risk because all of his ideas had to do with needing light, especially drawing.

      But it was better than just sitting around. At least he could make himself do something still.

     The second day of staying at home, it was around midday, and Izuku had taken himself to the bathroom floor with a pair of scissors in hand, and a hand mirror to help him. He had realized earlier on in the day that his hair was getting longer, and it was due for a trim.

     But he had actually been sitting on the bathroom floor for nearly thirty minutes trying to figure out if he really should be doing this himself.

     There were too many risky options in everything these days, no matter how hard Izuku was just trying to relax. He would relax from one thing, and then another thing would pop up, and he’d have to debate which option was the better one over and over. He hated that his hair had become one of those things.

     It was as he decided that cutting his hair was the best choice, about to take the first snip against the curls, that he heard the sound of a car’s wheels slowly making their way down the road.

     It was definitely for the best that it was still light out, if someone was driving down here at all, that way one of his lights wouldn’t give him away.

     And since he was staying home, he was working on flipping his sleep schedule around for a bit, that way he could keep the lights out for his own safety.

     Izuku quietly put the scissors down on the sink when he heard the car slow to a stop, and then crept closer to the other bedroom’s window, cracking it open just enough that he could hear outside better, but closed enough that people wouldn’t immediately be able to tell the window was open.

     With the apartment on a higher floor, Izuku would have thought he’d struggle to hear what was being said, only to find that the two men who stepped out of the cars talked loudly, and their voices only projected even more when the entirety of the street was quiet, and nearly no other sounds around.

     In fact, most noises Izuku heard through the day were typically from the nearby streets, but they didn’t always reach too well.

     The men, however, talked loudly, as they walked down the quiet street. One of them walked ahead, smoothing over the little hair he had on his large bald spot before putting his hands on his hips as he said “It’s all perfect here, isn’t it?”

     “I dunno, kinda gives me the creeps, actually,” the other answered, fidgeting with his hands.

     “That’s just because it’s all so quiet here… and the history,” Bald Spot replied, shrugging as he stopped awfully close to where Izuku’s apartment was. He was a good few floors up, but the man was still nearly directly across. But he did have Izuku’s attention. “But there’s so much potential here! We could really get this street going again, have everybody finally move on from something years ago.”

     “Well, I mean-”

     “You mean that it’s glorious, yes?”

     “I just think nobody will move on quite so quickly, and fancy new shops won’t do much to cover it up. People will still know… it hasn’t actually been that long.”

     “And it’s already been a few years! Everything was dealt with.”

     “But I heard-”

     “If you want to ignore all this greatness in front of you, then fine. Your loss. But let me at least show you a bit more,” Bald Spot said, jerking his head to indicate for Fidgety to follow. So he did, and the two continued to get out of earshot.

     Within all honesty, their conversation had frustrated Izuku. It made him more curious about the one thing he never remembered to look into, and he had been so close to getting an explanation on whatever it was. And not only that, but it also presented the idea that Izuku may have to move last minute, hope he could get lucky and hunt down another abandoned spot to live.

     Yeah, he could start doing that tomorrow. It would definitely be difficult moving everything, but he could figure it out. He may have a few days, should people actually try to move into the street, but it would definitely interfere with his vigilante time, considering most people started working in the morning, and that included construction. So if anything was going to be redone on the buildings, then Izuku would get some time to move everything back and forth, should he find someplace new nearby.

     That was what made him start to really think about one of the biggest flaws in where he was staying: though nice for a while, it was still a whole street. Anything he did could stand out. So under the threat that more people could start wandering around the apartment, that the street could start having people again, even Izuku leaving a light on could give him away. Anyone could see him and then get curious.

     Which made finding other options so much more important. He supposed he just got his hopes up too high when it came to the apartment, and how convenient it was having a whole street.

     At least, if he managed to find a building on an already busy street (though he doubted they would be as functional as this one), then it wouldn’t stand out quite as much to anybody, even the heroes.

     Yeah, he would start looking soon… probably not tomorrow. He knew he was already telling himself to go tomorrow, but thinking about it harder, he really didn’t want to. He was trying to relax.

     If anything, he was just going to push trying to cut his hair until tomorrow, finding himself too frsutrated to actually trust himself with his own hair.

     The next few days went by quietly, and Izuku actually considered the haircut he had given himself not bad at all. He had trimmed it, so it wasn’t anything too noticeable, but Izuku was satisfied with it. There wasn’t any hair drastically different lengths, and the fact that his hair curled probably helped to hide it in the event that he actually had done a poor job somewhere.

     Izuku, determined to make his day go better than the last, despite the fact that nothing had gone wrong the previous day, decided that his lunch could be ice cream, just because he felt like it. He even tried to move out of the pillow fort, taking his sketchbook to the livingroom while he ate the ice cream.

     He hadn’t move don from trying to draw heroes at all, and the figurines from Keigo had made him want to draw them so much more. They weren’t the best, but Izuku was proud of them, especially now that he was able to practice so much more. He had considered just making a notebook out of all of the skeches, start writing down even more with what he knew about heroes, keeping the little notes he would make so much neater… but he was enjoying not thinking about notebooks for a while, and all the important notes in each page.

     It wasn’t always the hero notebooks that he would think about. His mind often went back to the one he kept somewhat hidden, just to the point that he couldn’t immediately see it. Were he to squint and look carefully at his shelves, he could surely find the notebook if he knew what he was looking for… but he wasn’t looking for it! Out of sight, out of mind.

     Izuku was still avoiding the movies for a bit, but putting more practice into his sketches had become something that he was actually able to spend hours focusing on. And by the time he went back to his room, there was still just enough time before dinner that it didn’t feel right to get it started, so he took to rearranging some things inside the pillow fort, just to make it feel a little different, change up his scenery, even slightly.

     Once all of the pillows, blankets, and plushes were arranged as he would have wanted, he quickly moved over to the kitchen, where he got started on his dinner. It was just some ramen, but it was still something that he could put some effort into, help him feel like he had actually done something in the day, even if it was only for himself.

     While he idly stirred the noodles, he was considering starting to look into something to investigate, in hopes that it wasn’t something the commission personally wanted to investigate again. It was in that moment, he recalled, that he was extremely grateful for the fact that Keigo wanted to help him, and that it was only Keigo there out of all the people working under the commission president.

     But getting back into vigilantism, it would definitely prove to be interesting to actually get to investigate something again. Though more difficult without anything to do his research on when it came to villain appearances, he was sure he could do it. Just take some notes on what he finds, and then try to connect the dots.

     Once Izuku had poured the ramen into a bowl, he started to hear some commotion outside again, though this time not from the front of the house. No, it was close. It was so close that Izuku was sure that they were nearly right outside from his balcony, which was connected directly to the kitchen and living room.

     “My streeeeet,” a distorted voice says. Izuku quickly turned towards the door to the small balcony, a glass one that he never got anything for to properly cover it. It lit up the two rooms well, but it was still oncovered.

     Eyes warily scanning the area, Izuku’s relief was brief when he realized that whoever was speaking, they weren’t in the door yet.

     “My streeeet,” Izuku heard again. He cautiously started to take a step back, prepared to bolt towards the bathroom. “I smell food. Hello?”

     And with that, Izuku bolted. He didn’t like the way that each word oozed from whoever it was out there, and he definitely didn’t want to be discovered, no matter who it was. And for them to be trying to claim possession over the street, the same one Izuku had been staying in for months now… he didn’t want to stick around.

     Making sure everything was really turned off, he made his way towards the bathroom, shutting the door as quietly as he could, despite the rush he was in. He curled up on the bathroom floor, locking himself in the darkness.

     He could hear when the balcony door slid open, and the voice oozed out another “Helloooo?”

     Wet footsteps continued through the apartment, stopping in front of the bathroom. The doorknob started rattling, before stopping for a moment. When that moment had ended, the lock had clicked open once more, and the door slowly opened, revealing a face that had some kind of slime dripping down their face. In fact, even their hair seemed like slime. But the black, void-like eyes that stared at Izuku was what had him frozen in place, clinging onto his knees while the person who had broken into Izuku’s apartment stared right back.

Chapter Text

     The void-like eyes stared at Izuku for a long while, before they slowly inched closer. Their skin seemed to be made out of sludge, similar to the sludge villain from a couple months ago, but their body took a clear form of a young man. 

     Izuku wasn’t surprised by mutations that came with quirks. They were a beyond common thing, and things that used to be creepy before were a little less so. And with someone who looked so close to the stereotypical human, most would say that there really wasn’t much of a reason to be afraid of this person.

     It was just the way that they spoke, the eyes that weren’t just black, but seemed almost like an actual void… and the fact that they just came into Izuku’s apartment. Sure, it wasn’t legally his… but it was his! And this person had come in… and sludge had technically killed Izuku before. That was a death that hadn’t been planned, something he could mentally prepare for. It was the second time that he had died without already expecting it.

     Though he had been the one to deal the final blow that time to prevent a relatively slow death, it was still very far from planned.

     He tried to tell himself he shouldn’t be scared, and that this person was genuinely just someone looking for food. They could have been something like Izuku, just scared and looking for shelter and food. 

     It wasn’t until Izuku saw the prison suit that he realized his fear may have very well been justified.

     But he could do his best to get out of this in one piece the whole time. 

     The sludge person continued to slowly inch into the room, their muttering having come to a stop, up until they whispered “Food?”

     Izuku could do this. He fought villains regularly, and would probably have to learn how to play nice with them anyway, considering he wanted to go into underground heroics. And that department in the hero world was often send on undercover work, so this was a lesson that Izuku would have to learn eventually.

     “I… I can get you some? I have plenty to make,” Izuku suggested, slowly pushing himself off of the floor. The sludge person stood up straighter, and the sludge that slowly dripped down their face seemed to tilt upwards.

     “That would be so nice… very nice,” they reply, starting to back their way out of the bathroom, but their fingers still holding onto the door tightly.

     Izuku could just get them some food, and then hopefully send them on their way. Adding to his list of hopes, he was also hoping that they would understand when he would make an attempt to explain that only he could be here for now, that it was a risk to let more than one person stay in the apartment.

     He would leave out the detail that he was worried that an escaped criminal would get Izuku caught, drawing heroes and police to the abandoned street. Izuku hadn’t gotten the opportunity to look for a new place to stay quite yet, after all, so it was beyond risky to let someone else stay.

     Especially if they were also on the run. There was room for only one runaway here!

     “Alright then,” Izuku said, trying to put a smile on his face and hide the way that his voice shook.

     Everything felt so different now, especially since he wasn’t actively looking for villains at the moment. This wasn’t the time that he was willing to put his own life at risk. He had just wanted to stay home and relax for a bit.

     Izuku hated feeling scared. He had tried not to be afraid for a long while, knowing that death wasn’t really a concern of his. He tried to only be scared when it came to others, because things were usually worse for them.

     So many things could go wrong today, and Izuku had to be so careful to not break the already fragile peace he had built.

     When Izuku had reached the door, the sludge person slowly stepped out of the way, seemingly watching Izuku’s every step closely. He even followed close behind as Izuku made his way towards the kitchen, and then offered the lunch he had been working on for himself.

     Izuku could just make another one later. If this person was hungry, Izuku was going to feed them. The food having originally having been intended for himself wasn’t going to stop him from feeding his new… guest.

     Hopefully the fact that the ramen was still hot would mean that there would be enough time to get the small pot boiling again, and the ramen finished for himself.

     But much to his dismay, sludge person didn’t seem to mind the fact that the noodles were still steaming, and quickly started slurping all of them down, gulping down the last of the broth by the time the water was finally boiling.

     They held out the bowl as they asked “More,” staring at Izuku as they waited for an answer.

     So Izuku told them that it would just be a few more minutes before the next thing of ramen was done, much to their agitation. Their eyes narrowed, so Izuku quickly went to grab the bag of chips in a panic, hoping that now that there was some food in the supposed villain’s stomach, they would actually be willing to take their time with their food.

     He was beyond wrong. The villain continued to eat one thing after the next so quickly the moment Izuku’s back was turned, and grew more and more impatient anytime they heard the idea of having to wait.

     It didn’t take long before there was nothing for Izuku to make quickly, and filler food to take up the time it took to cook other things. Not to mention he still hadn’t gotten to eat, and the villain got protective over whatever they held.

     Izuku had only asked for a chip once, before he quickly learned to just not bother asking for whatever was in the villain’s hands.

     But by some luck, the villain finally seemed to take a break from eating. It was as Izuku was cooking yet another ramen packet that the villain’s distorted voice suddenly filled the room as they said “Thank you so much… for all this food. I tried to ask my neighbors to feed me all the time. Mama ran out of food eventually, and I just kept getting hungrier. It got mad when it wasn’t fed. Hungrier and hungrier every year.”

     Whatever “it” was, the mention of it made Izuku nervous.

     The villain continued, as they said “Neighbors turned me away for a while… then I was eventually fed by someone else. Always so hungry… nobody seems to understand.”

     The best quick explanation that Izuku could think of was that it was related to their quirk. Something about it made them constantly hungry. It was what they said next that really made Izuku nervous. He was so ready to just turn and leave, if not for the fact that he felt more frozen in place than anything.

     “It’s so abandoned here… home is abandoned. Everyone disappeared. My fault though… my fault. Everyone was just so mean. Looked at me weird. They were mean, and turned me away. Made me scared. So I made them scared… and then I wasn’t as hungry.”

     “They just started letting you in after that,” Izuku nervously asked, hoping that they weren’t implying what Izuku was worried that they were implying. But the idea of just what the quirk was willing to eat when hungry was basically solidified when the villain went quiet, and just stared up at Izuku for a long while.

     At least Izuku had gotten his answer as to why the street was abandoned, why nobody wanted to return. There had been a villain going from door to door until someone could actually report them, presumably going up and down the street in search of more food.

     It made sense that nobody really wanted to return. Especially if that villain had broken free recently.

     If it was known that the villain went in search for food, the street was probably one of the last places that people would think to look. There should be a near entire absence of food here, whether this was the villain’s former home or not. He was led by food, not his need for the comfort of home.

     Though, he may have gone looking for comfort, and just accidentally found some food on the way.

     The villain probably never intended to stay here this long.

     It was as Izuku finished cooking the last ramen pack, and carefully put it into a bowl, that the villain quickly snatched it away, slurping it down just as quickly as the first. They didn’t seem to mind this time that Izuku was watching, and looked back up in anticipation for more.

     Izuku was beyond nervous at this point to admit he had nothing left to feed them. Their patience wouldn’t last for Izuku to cook anything else.

     He should have run for it. He really should have.

     Izuku nervously looked away from the villain, keeping them in his peripheral vision as he admitted “I… I uh… don’t have any more food. B-but maybe you could come back tomorrow! I could have a lot more.”

    He was so willing to dig into his savings for this, whether it be for more food, or to start buying a bunch of things to stay in another abandoned building. 

      “NO!” The villain’s shout startled Izuku, who backed into the counter in hopes to get some more distance between himself and the villain. “Hungry now! Want more now! Nowhere else near!”

     There was… literally another street nearby… on the other side of buildings.

     But that was when Izuku knew for certain that there was no easy way for him to get out of this.

     “It’s just that y-you’ve eaten all of the food I could have ready for you,” Izuku tried to argue, turning back to fully face the villain. “I can just get some more, and I swear you can come back tomorrow!”

     “NOW!”

     Izuku continued to try to insist that the villain just come back the next day, especially since there was no safe route out of the kitchen. Both of his exits had the villain between them, and Izuku didn’t trust that he would be safe, whether the villain had no weapon or not.

     That worry was only concerned when the sludge started to thicken and ooze out, dripping to cover the entirety of their body, while their face stretched out from the bridge of their nose to the chin, with the mouth taking the lead in the mass, sharp teeth presenting themselves.

     Izuku was screwed, and that was something he knew for certain when the villain suddenly lunged at him.

     He tried to get out of the way, make a break for the balcony door. But he had slipped on some of the sludge, and was quickly grabbed and dragged towards the villain. Though that action had at least confirmed for Izuku that there was a solid body underneath all of the sludge, especially since he had already had an encounter with an entirely sludge-like person. There was a solid body underneath, with the sludge acting more as a protective and hungry shield, if the change in appearance said anything. 

     That meant that Izuku at least had something he could use.

     He probably should have grabbed a knife before trying to run off, though, that way he could have stood a chance at survival, especially with how tightly the villain’s hand was wrapped around Izuku’s leg as it dragged him closer. 

     It wasn’t long before he was right at the sludge covered jaws, and watching in horror as the villain’s mouth opened wide.

     Izuku was going to die hungry… how fun. He tried to find himself more annoyed over the fact that he was going to have to deal with how much longer it could take to come back since he hadn’t gotten any food in his stomach for the day, but after the first bite, that annoyance quickly went back to fear.

     Two months of going without being killed or drastically injured really didn’t do much of any good for his pain tolerance. In fact, it hurt like hell.

     Sometimes death was like a dream, but not in the way that it was nice. It was more like how you know at first what it’s like in the dream, what it is that you were in while your eyes were closed. Then they open, and you very quickly forget everything. 

     Izuku knew that he didn’t just die, and then come right, through his mind’s perspective. He knew that there was somewhere he waited, where time passed just as quickly as it would in a dream. It was like a brief period of peace after dying, but quickly forgotten once he had to try to find his own peace in the real world.

     He at least knew that it wasn’t going to be a time that he could just relax after waking up this time. There was no time to slowly get up, especially when he had no clue where the villain actually was.

     Izuku was alert the minute his eyes flew open, his gaze darting around the room while he looked to see just what his surroundings were like. He was so scared that he’d wake up in a morgue or the commission, depending on if his body was identified or not. 

     There was a brief period of relief when he realized he was looking up at the apartment’s ceiling.

     That relief quickly faded once he saw the villain curled up in the corner on the other end of the room. They weren’t facing Izuku, which felt like some kind of mercy, especially after how painful being eaten alive was, all while trying to find some way out, only to find his fingers quickly slipping against the sludge in that effort.

     He sat up as quietly as possible, nearly slipping in the still partially wet blood that was pooled around him. But he managed to get up without much of any noise, and thankfully, not enough to alert the villain.

     So he took another risk, one that would probably save him this time around, and reached for one of the knives, taking it out slowly, to keep the blade from making any noise.

     “So hungryyy,” the villain complained, as they rocked on their heels, burying their head in their knees. “Good hiding place. So good. But no food anymore. Full for a while. Hungry again.”

     Izuku shuddered, but gripped onto the knife even tighter this time around, trying to ignore the way his body just kept shaking. 

     He shouldn’t be so scared. Izuku knew that he could just keep coming back. But dying that way had been horrifying, and gave an understanding as to why nobody wanted to come back to the street, if that’s how people were dying. He didn’t want to die again. He was so tired of dying.

     Izuku carefully took one step after the next, keeping the knife behind his back just in case if the villain were to suddenly turn around, a precaution that he was glad he took, seeing as his lack of time in the living room made him entirely unaware of just what floorboards creaked, and where the quietest possible steps he could have taken would be at.

     The villain’s head swung around, confirming for Izuku that they were back to how Izuku recalled first seeing them. He wasn’t sure how long that would last, seeing as the villain was muttering about how hungry they were, but Izuku could have his hopes that it would last long enough. 

     Their eyes seemed to scan over Izuku somehow, turning their torso enough to reach one of their hands towards Izuku, their fingers slowly curling up to point at Izuku as they said “Never happened before… so sorry, but so hungry. So relieved you came back.”

     Izuku was relieved to be back too. Though his relief at seeing the villains till here was nonexistent.

     “So sorry, but you being back means I get to be less hungry. Really must hide. You hide too, no,” the villain questions, taking a slow step closer.

     “Yeah, I hide here,” Izuku replies, watching as they get closer, watching their face and the sludge on their body carefully, watching and waiting for any sign that they were going to change into the stronger, more deadly form sometime soon. “I thought it would only me hiding here, to be honest.”

     “Nobody looks here… safest I’ve been in a while.”

     “I want to be safe here too.” Izuku clutches the knife behind his back tighter, keeping in place while he watched the villain, who carefully moved their other hand to slowly crawl closer.. 

     “You took weeks to come back,” the villain mutters. “You’re still scared? Do you keep coming back?”

     “Yeah, while dying sucks,” Izuku snapped. He continued to stand his ground, ignoring every part of his mind and body that insisted he turn and run in the opposite direction, hope that he could outrun the villain. It was still so bright outside too, so he could probably find someone to help him if he outran the villain long enough.

     He didn’t appreciate how long it took to come back, however. It had been that long, and nobody had come to check down here? Izuku was grateful that it meant his body wasn’t found, but he had been partially hoping to wake up, and not have a villain who had killed him in the home he made for himself. 

     As long as he would have been able to grab whatever was in the safe, he’d make a break for it, and find somewhere new, not knowing if the villain was arrested again or not.

     Izuku wanted to make sure that there was no way for this villain to get out and kill people again.

     Murder was illegal… but Izuku could safely argue that it was self defense, and that he had already been killed. All it would take was a quick call to the commission to confirm that he could do that, and then things would be fine!

     Except for the fact that the commission would know.

     He just told himself that he would have to find some way to make it not obvious that it was him. And with a body made of sludge, it wasn’t like Izuku would leave much on the villain as proof.

     It was a horrible idea, to try to murder someone. But they had killed Izuku.

      But I wouldn’t do this to the commissioners, a small voice in the back of Izuku’s head. The people who had killed him over and over, and he wouldn’t think to kill them. 

     Though, they were also the same people who raised Keigo up to be a trained killer. Izuku was sure that his training would have eventually been no different. The commission would have asked him to kill villains that were hard to keep under control, that had caused too much of a disturbance, but they wanted to keep under wraps.

     Surely, this villain would have been one of them, right?

     The sympathetic part of Izuku’s brain still hated the idea, fought against it, when he saw how the villain hopefully looked up at him.

     But they looked up at him in hopes of him being more easy food, and Izuku really couldn’t have that. He wasn’t going to be out of commission for weeks again, missing even more patrols than before. So much more than intended.

     The heroes would certainly be drawn here if he waited any longer, right?

     The villain suddenly moved quickly, their mouth opening as they lunged forward, the sludge already becoming thicker. Izuku reacted quicker, stepping to the side, and taking a quick stab to whatever he could.

     Much to his luck, it had been right at the villain’s neck.

     The sludge seemed to stop expanding as a slimy hand reached towards their neck, trying to cover it as blood built up, and began to pour out. 

     But it didn’t seem to stop them entirely as Izuku had hoped. They lunged even quicker that time, launching themselves at Izuku and knocking them both to the ground. Their hands were quick to wrap around Izuku’s arms, keeping the knife just barely away from their own face.

     And then the face continued to expand again, and Izuku let out a desperate sob as he fearfully watched them get bigger and bigger.

     It was as their face continued to expand that their grip weakened just enough, and Izuku was able to plunge the knife into the villain’s throat once more, just barely working up enough power behind the swing as it went through the thick layers of sludge.

     But it made the damage that it needed to, and the villain fell towards the ground, most of the excess sludge falling off, and leaving the thin layer that was usually on the villain. More blood poured onto the floor, starting to mix with the sludge.

     Izuku himself was covered in sludge, and desperately crawled backwards, setting the knife down as he tried to wipe as much sludge off of himself as possible.

     He was covered in sludge and blood, something he was far too aware of, especially when he was backed up against one of the kitchen counters, and tried to curl up. The tears were quick to start pouring down his face as he continued to stare at the dead villain, trying to figure out some kind of way to get the villain out of here without being caught, all between the panic of him actually killing someone, and nearly dying himself.

     He had so much more to clean up than a blood puddle this time. He wasn’t sure he could keep doing this on his own.

     His fingernails dug into his legs as he stayed curled up, eyes continuing to dart around the room, trying to figure out what he needed to do. It was all so beyond overwhelming, especially as he tried to process the fact that someone was dead through his own hands. It was so different seeing Keigo kill someone, doing something he had been trained to do.

     Izuku could understand why Keigo was so apologetic about Izuku walking in on that mess now.

     He had no clue how much time had eventually passed before he slowly stood up, still shaking from head to toe, and nervous to leave the villain just sitting around in his living room. But he needed to get some clothes, seeing as the villain couldn’t just be left here.

     His path towards his bedroom started with a lot of walking backward, eyeing the villain and waiting to see if they would start breathing again anytime soon. Had he even seen them breathing before? Did they just not breathe? Did the sludge have a mind of its own? Would it move the moment that Izuku turned his back again?

    But he took the risk to retreat in his room for a moment, quick to put on some sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. He knew he couldn’t shower yet, not with the body still in the apartment. He had to get it out, and could just try to scrub it all off later.

     It was so much though. He felt drenched in the sludge and blood, could feel the way it stuck to his skin.

     With his clothes on, he pulled the wagon out of his closet as quick as possible, starting to accidentally knock down the pillow fort on the way. But that brought his attention to the fact that he needed a blanket as well if he was going to carry through with the only plan he was able to muster. So with the already fallen fort, he snatched one of the blankets off it, and then considered making another lunge for his closet for the safe.

     But it had been weeks. He may have no clue what Keigo had been up to, but he could check for the money to get to where he was hoping to go. 

     Knowing he was gone for weeks was a steadily worse train of thought to find himself on.

     This was the only place he could stay without much risk, but he didn’t want to be here anymore. He had to get out of here for a while, and had a set destination. He knew where he wanted to be, and he was going to get there before the sun was up.

     His steps back towards the kitchen and livingroom were taken cautiously, with the wagon being wheeled just behind him. 

     Much to his relief, the villain hadn’t moved. They still seemed dead on the floor, his blood and sludge pooled around him. They hadn’t moved an inch, and the eyes seemed more dead than even before.

     Izuku felt sick to his stomach as he hoisted them into the wagon, picking up a majority of the sludge as best as he could to put it in the wagon with the villain. It left his sleeves feeling disgusting, but that was a concern that could wait for later, just like how all of the sludge and blood stuck to his skin could wait.

     And the apartment could wait even longer, should he actually return to it.

     Tossing the blanket over the villain, and tucking it under them and the sludge as much as possible, Izuku was finally able to make his way out of the apartment. It was an endeavor trying to get them down the apartment stairs while also not dumping all of the wagon’s contents on himself, but after a lot of time, he managed it. And he did so without making more of a mess of himself.

     Walking through the streets with a wagon behind him, holding a body of the person he killed, he was beyond nervous. It was dark out by this point, a sign to how long Izuku had been curled up on the floor, though he had no idea how that much time had managed to pass. But it had passed, and it gave a good opportunity when it came to getting rid of the body.

     He pulled the hood over his head, keeping his head low as he worked through the streets of Musutafu. 

     The funny thing about Midnight catching onto his patterns was that he was catching onto hers as well. Though he often missed her and the signs of her presence when he found himself too focused on taking down villains, there were things that commonly happened. And one of the most common things was that she followed noise.

    So Izuku would do the same, and hope that despite his weeks of absence, she still kept her patrol.

     It was beyond obvious, after all, that she patrolled to get to Izuku. He just had to hope that she wasn’t under the assumption that he finally quit or something. It had only been a couple weeks, and heroes weren’t known to quit so easily, so he had hope.

     He was walking around much longer than he would have liked. The panic didn’t fade, and only felt worse the longer he walked around with the body. Izuku wasn’t on the rooftops, as he found himself comfortable with, so he felt so much more open being down on the street. It would be the easiest way to find Midnight, but it was still so… horrifying.

     At some point, he had considered just leaving the wagon in an alleyway, and then hoping for the best. But he also didn’t want to leave it for someone who was just minding their business to find, and have to call it in in a panic.

     Izuku was even willing to settle with just about any other hero.

     Then he had heard a lot of noise. His feet moved quickly, despite the exhaustion and hunger that was slowing him down. As he headed towards the alleyway that the noise was coming from, he watched as someone was quickly tossed out, hitting the ground a few times before they would skid to a stop.

     Then, in the distance, he saw a figure speed walking closer. It was difficult to focus on them, with all of the commotion around Izuku, but he eventually realized that it was just who he needed. So he quickly put the wagon ahead of him, then gave it a push towards all of the commotion. Midnight would surely see it.

     With that done, he turned and then bolted towards one of the nearby buildings behind him, scaling it as quickly as possible, and then making his way towards what tall buildings he found familiar, ones that he had seen often. Those few landmarks were enough to help him find the building that Keigo always left money for him at.

     It was frustrating, how even back in his comfort zone, he couldn’t stop shaking. It made it so much more difficult to move the brick out of the way, but he had at least managed to move it, and take the money out of the envelope.

     With the blood dried to his hands at this point, it didn’t leave anything on the envelope, which made it so much easier to just put the cash where it was needed without much worry.

     He had no clue what time it was, but all he knew was that he needed to hurry. It was already dark, and Midnight was out, which meant that the time to catch a train was already slim. Izuku hadn’t even taken the time to look through buildings in hopes of finding a clock, not until he actually got to the train station, which, much to his relief, was empty, and had one last train going just where he needed it to. He had made it just before midnight.

    Quickly paying so that he could get on it, he darted onto the train in just enough time, taking a seat while he waited to get to his stop. 

     Izuku had managed to cover up most of the blood with his outfit, but his hands were still stained so red, so he knew that he actually had to hide his hands, should the train take another stop on the way. He had no clue what his face looked like, seeing as he hadn’t looked in a mirror ever since he had been right about to try to cut his hair again, but he would just hope that it wasn’t anything that brought concern to people.

     Just in case, however, he continued to keep his head ducked low, and his hands buried deep into his pockets, one of his hands fidgeting with the envelope, while one of his legs bounced impatiently on the way to Fukuoka.

     Being able to see all of the bloodstains, and the way the fabric was darkened where the sludge still clung to it, under the bright light that the train provided, did nothing to stop the shaking. Every time he let himself notice them, he just felt disgusting and horrible all over again, constantly reminded of the fact that he had actually killed someone, and could possibly find himself in so much trouble.

     He did his best to ignore it.

     Nobody, much to his relief, boarded the train, nor were there any stops. It was just a direct path.

     But once Izuku was there, he realized just how lost he was. He hadn’t explored outside of Musutafu, and had only heard of Fukuoka through Keigo.

     At least Keigo’s agency should be tall, considering that one of his big things was flight, and would probably need a good landing and launch point, without it getting buried between all of the other buildings surrounding it.

     So he continued his path, hoping to calm his nerves down, and trying to find at least some form of comfort in the rooftops.

     It really just wasn’t working.

     So many events over the past couple of months had made Keigo nervous, especially when it came to his concerns over Izuku. And without seeing Izuku much, trying to keep the kid safe, the best he could do when things were different was jump to assumptions. Sure, he’d try to actually look and see if there were things to confirm what he had concluded, but it wasn’t always easy.

     And Keigo had been worried. Sure, it had only been a couple of weeks, but Izuku had never been late when it came to grabbing the money. He had put the new envelope in nearly a week ago, and was planning on checking again tomorrow. 

     Keigo just genuinely hoped that it was just some time that Izuku lost track of, and had missed grabbing the money over the week. He wanted to get rid of the bad feeling, and try to stop jumping to conclusions. But after spending so long worried about the kid and trying to keep him safe, a slip up in their pattern of things brought plenty of worry.

     Especially under the concern that Izuku did get caught, and the commission was just not letting Keigo know. They already seemed to be suspicious of him, and they were going right back to sending Keigo on one mission after the next.

     Then again, with the prison break in Musutafu a few weeks ago, it made sense to send him out. He tried to think that it was more that they needed to get the villains caught and back under arrest more than it was the commission trying to distract him from the fact that they got Izuku back.

    But with a few villains loose in Musutafu, that had made him worried as well. Villains were called villains for a reason, and not just some criminals. There was a clear distinguish between the both lately, with one causing so much more harm to people than the other. Criminals was what Izuku usually caught, as well as people in the easy-to-catch stages of Trigger and other drug deals. The escaped villains should have nothing to do with Izuku.

     Unless Izuku chased after them, and tried to take them down himself. Sure, Izuku had a lot of skill, and worked hard, since his quirk didn’t help in combat, just the aftermath. The commission had been sure that he had plenty of fighting experience, needing to learn so much faster than Keigo, so he’d be plenty comfortable with fighting before he even became an adult. But Keigo wasn’t sure just how much it would work against villains who had no qualms with going for the kill.

    Izuku had only gotten to fight trainers, after all, and they didn’t start running at him with the want to draw blood.

    Which meant that the lack of any sign of Izuku just made things more worrisome.

    But he still had a job to do, and had to keep flying around in search of the villains. There was just one missing, one that Keigo was informed should never actually have been kept in the regular Musutafu prisons. With their list of crimes, Tartarus was the better option.

    They were sure to be sent there once they were eventually caught, though.

    If it wasn’t Keigo who got to them first, though. Keigo was under a direct order to kill the villains that had escaped, should he catch them, with the reasoning being that they were dangerous, and ran the risk of another escape.

    The kill order was only established after a couple deaths within the first few days of their escape. 

     Musutafu wasn’t safe. But Keigo wanted it to be. And more than anything, he wanted it to be safe so that Izuku could find the peace that he had run away for.

     With Keigo’s patrol done for the night, he tiredly worked his way back into his agency, with most of his sidekicks having turned in for the night. He usually had them home before the sun went down anyway, especially since most of his work at night were things that all of the sidekicks had been taught to avoid in school.

     It was a big reason why getting sidekicks was such a rarity for him.

     That, and the fact that he hadn’t actually been a public hero for that long. Even if he had been a hero for so many more years, he still didn’t hold any plans to have more sidekicks. He genuinely didn’t need that much help out on the field, but sidekicks were nice to have for cleanup purposes.

     There was just one left in the building when he returned, and they were lounging on the first floor, changed into their casual clothes, with their hero costume stuffed into a duffle bag, and the strap held on their shoulder.

     “Have a good night,” they said as they walked by, holding their hand up in a small wave before walking out the door. Keigo had given them a small nod as he had walked by as well, making his way up the stairs so that he could go wrap some things up on his laptop.

     It was so late, and he was so ready to be home. He really didn’t get how Izuku kept up so late with his patrols.

     Then again, it was safe to assume that Izuku could actually sleep a lot in the day. That would be his plan too, at least for tonight. He was going to take so much of the morning to himself just to sleep. The commission could wait.

     He had money to deliver tomorrow as well, something he was relieved he could keep up with. It didn’t matter whether or not Izuku was saving it, and insisting that it was a lot (it really wasn’t, compared to how much Keigo got paid, especially on the times that he had to go pull out his part-time assassin job), because he was going to make sure Izuku had plenty in the event of an emergency.

     Keigo wished that more things were actually open at this hour, because he could really use a bucket of chicken right now. It was a tiring night of finding nothing, and getting himself something to snack on would have made it so worth it.

     Finally, he reached his office, opening the door to find the window open, with someone’s palm having left a clear mark on the glass. There were smudges from where the fingers has been as well.

     Keigo moved slowly, taking a long feather off of his wing as he looked around the room. There weren’t many places to hide, so one of the first spots to look would definitely be under his desk. It was an obvious spot to check, but it was also one of the few places that could actually fit and somewhat hide someone, up until they were on the other side.

     The feather was mainly being held as a threat, because he wasn’t just going to recklessly kill people. Not like how the last commission president had. And he especially wasn’t going to recklessly kill in his own agency.

     One slow step after the next, despite the fact that whoever was in here definitely knew that someone was in the room, he eventually reached his desk, quickly leaning over it to see who was there. It was in that moment that whoever was under there jumped, hitting their head and quickly curling up more while they brought their hands to cover where they had hit the desk.

     It didn’t take long to figure out it was Izuku, and all of that caution flew out the open window. No, that caution was replaced with a deep worry, to find Izuku here, so far from Musutafu, and actually in Keigo’s agency. A risk that he never thought he’d see Izuku take.

     “Izuku? Hey hey, what’s going on,” Keigo asked as he ran over to Izuku, taking a seat on the ground while he looked over the kid. Izuku didn’t look the best at all. He was clearly alive, a feat that he could seem to accomplish no matter what, so that wasn’t a worry. But the worry was what had led to the clear panic that Izuku held, and what had led to so much blood on Izuku. And that was just from what Keigo could see.

     Izuku’s hands were all but entirely covered in the dark red stains of blood, while his face only had a few splatters. But it was already red enough on its own, from how much Izuku seemed to have been crying.

     The way that Izuku shook was what made Keigo immediately let go of any remaining guard he may have still had up, pulling him into a tight hug.

     “Hey, you’re okay… you’re okay. I’m right here, I promise. Just you and me,” Keigo reassured. He could hear Izuku start crying again, while Izuku’s fingers clung tightly onto Keigo’s jacket. They were both clinging onto each other tightly at some point, with Izuku half out from under the desk.

     That hug lasted up until Izuku’s sobbing finally went down, and he tried to lean away. Keigo didn’t fail to notice how Izuku almost went to wipe away the tears on his face, only to take note of the dark stains on his sleeves, and the blood all over his hands, before letting them fall once more. 

     So Keigo took it upon himself to wipe the tears off of Izuku’s face.

     “Building’s empty if you want to go use the showers real quick,” Keigo tried to suggest. He was curious about what happened to make Izuku risk everything so suddenly, but he figured he wouldn’t get many answers with Izuku still covered in the aftermath of whatever had happened. “I should have some spare clothes sitting around too… they’ll be a bit big, but they’ll be a change.”

     Izuku just nodded to give his answer, so Keigo gave a small nod in return, carefully helping to pick Izuku up from the floor, while sending one of his feathers to close the window while he slowly guided Izuku through the agency’s halls, and to the showers. 

     Once there, he told Izuku to sit there for just a minute, while he ran to go get a change of clothes. It was a challenge to find something small enough to fit him, but the sweatpants and big shirt should be enough, especially since he could just tighten the sweatpants basically as much as he needed.

     Rushing back to the bathrooms, with Izuku still an absolute nervous wreck, Keigo handed the clothes over, and pointed Izuku towards the showers.

     When Izuku was clean of all the blood and whatever green thing had stained his skin, now just red from the heat of the shower, his dirty clothes were held in his arms, loose and ready to just be dropped wherever. He just didn’t seem to want to be holding them.

     Keigo was quick to offer to trash them, but Izuku asked if there was any possible way they could just be washed, only to take it back a minute later.

     They were both one hundred percent willing to burn them later.

     Knowing neither of them were going to be asleep for a while, Keigo had went to prepare some hot chocolate for both of them. It was in the time that they were waiting for it, with Izuku nervously fidgeting with his mug, that Keigo heard the kid’s stomach growl. It didn’t even have the kindness to be quiet, bringing Keigo’s concern immediately to the last time Izuku had eaten.

     Digging through the cabinets, he found a large bag of chips, and tossed it towards Izuku, and said “Something to hold you over while I make something. Probably won’t mix the best with the hot chocolate, but I can get you some water beforehand.”

     “Thank you,” Izuku quietly said, taking the chips with a small smile. It was progress, and the shaking had gone down significantly. The fact it was still there at all was probably from the fact that he was here at all, somewhere so open, and that could be visited by a sidekick who forgot something at any moment.

     Looking through the minifridge, Keigo found some of the microwave meals, all labeled for one of his sidekicks. 

     Ah well, Keigo could just buy them another.

     Or a couple others. This one little package probably wouldn’t do to get enough food in Izuku’s system.

     Eventually, they were seated in Keigo’s office, lounging on the couch, with their mugs of hot chocolate sitting on the coffee table in front of them so it wouldn’t scald their tongues, with the chips, an extra heated up microwave meal, and a cup of water nearby. The first one was currently in Izuku’s hands, quickly being eaten.

     Keigo was going to let Izuku finish eating before trying to ask anything. 

     And soon enough, with only the bag of chips having anything left in it, and Keigo and Izuku having moved to the floor between the couch and coffee table, Keigo was finally able to ask.

     “What happened,” he asked, trying to keep it simple, let Izuku explain what he wanted. There was a clear timeframe that Keigo wanted, but he wanted to leave things open for Izuku to explain what he wanted.

     But Izuku at least seemed willing to explain it all, placing the now empty mug in front of him as he slowly said “I uh… the apartment I found seemed to have a really bad history. I kinda figured out why it was abandoned in the first place a couple weeks ago, when a villain broke in. N-not like I can take much claim to it anyway, but uh, they broke in. Tried to hide at first, but I didn’t hide well.” He quietly laughed at his own actions, fidgeting with the strings on the sweatpants. 

     Keigo already had a very clear idea of who Izuku could be talking about, based on what he knew about the villain he had been looking for.

     As the recap of events continued, making Keigo nervous hearing it himself, the story ended with Izuku held close once more, tears threatening to fall from his eyes at any moment. But Keigo found himself relieved that Izuku was here, and not letting himself keep holed up in his apartment, trying to clean the large mess that must have been left behind, if the state of Izuku and his clothes said anything.

     Based on the explanation of the villain, it was close enough to confirming that that was the last of the villains, and they were dead, their body hopefully caught and turned in. He would have to check the hero network for it, to double check that the villain was genuinely turned in, but that could wait until he eventually had Izuku getting some genuine sleep, other than what his temporary deaths provided.

     He did, however, look up the villain, and the story behind them to get some genuine confirmation from Izuku that that was who he had seen, despite how cruel it may be to show the face of the villain. Though Izuku would be able to get out of any kind of legal confirmation, Keigo just needed to be sure himself, so that when he checked on the hero network, he would know for sure that it was that villain, and not some random one who was similar, and wasn’t actually found.

     Or if the villain he was supposed to find was still on the loose.

     Pulling up the article, it was quick confirmation that that was the villain, which sent relief and worry over Keigo. He had remembered being disturbed about the villain when he was being given a rundown of their backstory, so the fact Izuku had a genuine confrontation with them… Keigo was just glad that Izuku was probably one of the only people who could survive such a thing, despite how hurt it left him afterwards.

     It added to more reasons why he hated that Izuku was constantly alone now. Even Keigo, who wanted to be alone sometimes, more than anything, had people that he could safely surround himself with, or who would keep him company.

     He wanted to find some way to safely fix that for Izuku.

     But they couldn’t fix that here, not when people came in and out. They’d need to get Izuku back home, and Keigo could only be that ride back at night, especially while all trains were done for the night. It would be a much longer flight that before, and Keigo would have to hold on carefully with how fast they would be going… but the two of them would manage.

    Looking back at his phone one more time while Izuku went back to snacking on the chips, he looked over the article on the villain, scrolling through.

     It’s a wonder what a quirk’s instinct could do to someone, how it could twist them into someone horrible. And it was a shame that Izuku had become a victim of a quirk’s instinct.

     These powers really would be the doom of humanity, wouldn’t they?

Chapter Text

     It was getting a little too close to morning, and Keigo knew that he and Izuku needed to get out of the building. It had been a long night with them talking over multiple things, looking over the articles on the villain, and watching the hero network together, waiting for any kind of update on the villain.

     The villain had taken a while to be filed in, but after about an hour, it was reported that the last of the escaped villains were found, and that the one that had attacked Izuku was dead. None of them seemed to know about any other attack, and that they’d need to do an autopsy to look for anything deeper.

     Knowing how the last look for anything in the villain had gone, their quirk got rid of whatever they ate fast, leaving that constant feeling of emptiness, and the need to eat so that it could be filled. After a couple weeks, Izuku’s body was sure to have left the villain’s system, and there should be no direct connection.

     Izuku had also been under the hope that Midnight hadn’t recognized him, since he wasn’t even wearing his usual outfit, and had run off instead of at least trying to take down the villains. That hope had been caused by a deeper worry once it was confirmed that Midnight found the body, and turned in multiple other villains.

     According to Izuku, Midnight is the only person who has the closest idea of what he looks like, but not even she seemed to have been able to figure it out, or get a close enough look. Izuku had been awfully close to her on multiple occasions, but never close enough for anything to be clear, especially with his face covered by the shadow from his hood, and the mask he wore to cover the bottom half of his face.

     All they could do was hope that everything would go okay.

     But now they had to leave, before the streets got busy with people who worked early, and especially before the sun came up. Keigo may not be in the top ranks just yet, but he knew he was close, if lounging around with the commission said anything, as they whispered about how the next ranking would go.

     Keigo was just glad that it was based on public opinion, in addition with the fact of arrests and such. Their general help towards the nation was a great factor.

     Reaching forward to ruffle Izuku’s hair, he said “Alright, kiddo, we’ve gotta get going. Do you have any other place you can think we can drop you off at tonight?”

     Izuku was quick to shake his head, saying “The apartment’s all I’ve got. I haven’t gotten the opportunity to look for something new… and I don’t want to risk anything I could actually pay for…”

     Keigo just solemnly nodded along before saying “Then you’re gonna need to help me get to the apartment, kiddo.”

     He wasn’t sure why Izuku would want to stay in the place, but if he had managed to stay in the commission for as many years as he did, and managed to walk into the room where they killed him over and over, he could see why Izuku was insistent on keeping the apartment.

     Keigo would just make sure to cleanup whatever mess there may be, just as the commissioners did whenever they killed him. It wasn’t something Izuku should have had to clean at all.

     “Alright, c’mere,” Keigo said, holding his arms out for Izuku to walk into. “We’re taking a much safer attempt at flying this time than what happened last time.”

     Izuku seemed really relieved at that fact.

     “Since we’re going fast so I can get you back in time, arms around my shoulders real quick,” Izuku followed the instruction, and then Keigo quickly hoisted Izuku up, and Izuku tightly wrapped his legs around Keigo too. “You’re going to need to hold on tight… just not tight enough that you could kill me.”

     He seemed to find himself amused at the last remark, something relieving for Keigo, who had been working hard through the night to calm Izuku down fully. 

     Keigo was sure that Izuku would be more comfortable on Keigo’s back, but with his wings back there, it would make things really restricting. So instead, Keigo got to hold Izuku like parents would with their tired toddler.

     Except Izuku wasn’t a toddler, nor tired enough to fall asleep, and Keigo was sure that he would have to issue a few reminders to loosen his grip just a bit for the sake of keeping them from crashing just because Keigo lost his air supply.

     He just hoped that Izuku wouldn’t freak out too bad this time, especially with how much faster they were about to go.

     And with that, the two of them finally set off.

     The flight had felt easier every time he went back to Musutafu, but for this being Izuku’s first trip this way, and not used to flying at all, he was constantly asking how close they were, just barely lifting his head to ask the question, and try to get a brief look himself.

     When they finally reached the apartment, Izuku looked nervous, his hand hovering over the doorknob, before taking in a deep breath of air, and just walking in.

     “You really should get a key for this place,” Keigo suggested, worried about anyone else just walking into what Izuku had put together.

     In the time that Keigo had been waiting for Izuku to open the door, he had gotten a good look around the street, and it had definitely felt creepy, with the context he knew of it. The fact Izuku hadn’t known was probably what made Izuku comfortable here at all, so Keigo would just have to wait and see if that would change, since the culprit towards the creepy air was now dead.

     Chances were that Izuku would continue to stay, however, and Keigo had every intention of making the place comfortable again.

     Once Keigo was in the apartment, he noticed Izuku looking at him with a frown, before he finally said “I do have a key. Made it myself. I just forgot to lock the door after dragging that body out of here. I was a little too focused on figuring out how to get them down the stairs.”

     “Alright, alright,” Keigo replies, holding his hands up in surrender, before turning to lock the door behind them. “Now, do you have anywhere you’ll be fine staying for a bit? I’m just going to look around.”

     He hadn’t exactly disclosed his idea to clean the apartment just yet, but Izuku was sure to figure it out once the cleaning started, and hopefully would get the implication that he would rather Izuku keep himself in the comfortable space until it was all clean.

     Izuku looked around for a minute, frowning in the direction that Keigo could see lead to the kitchen. 

    Keigo didn’t need to look for long to understand why that area upset him, based on the sludge and blood he could already see.

     But then Izuku turned to the room just next to them, and said “My room is fine…”

     Keigo peeked in, taking note of the mess that had been made of it, with the blankets scattered around, and everything making way for something to have barreled through what used to be in the closet. The way some of the blankets were still clinging onto the furniture, Keigo could only assume that a pillow fort used to be there.

     Looking around a little longer, he noticed all of the merch around the room that Keigo had gotten for Izuku, the scattered movies, and the blue-ray player that just barely could be seen through the mass of blankets.

     Izuku made his way into the room, crouching down while he tried to fix up all of the comfortable items around the room, adjust everything to how they were before yesterday’s events.

     Which left the perfect opportunity for Keigo to go clean.

     Finally in the kitchen, he could see why it was avoided. While the blood was mainly kept to the kitchen, two large puddles of it in different spots, with one much more dried than the other. That one would take some work to get off of the wooden floor, but Keigo would do his best.

     The sludge, on the other hand, was scattered around so much of the two rooms, trailing from the kitchen to the living room, and then making another path back towards the kitchen, to a huge mass of it, which stayed around the puddle of blood, keeping it from spreading any further.

     He stepped carefully, trying to avoid slipping on anything, while he looked in the cabinets. The counters were covered in one empty package after the next, everything cleaned out from the food that used to be there. There was an obvious effort to have kept the villain fed, but had proved to not be worth it in the end.

     After looking through a few cabinets, he finally found the cleaning supplies, and found the mop not much time after. His cleaning was finally able to get started, and he was going to try to be as quick as possible with it.

     Getting all of the sludge and blood off the floor wasn’t as easy as he had hoped, and he especially didn’t enjoy when he had to actually grab the chunks of sludge that couldn’t be convinced to move by cleaners and the mop, but he had done it.

     The thing that took a lot of scrubbing, however, was definitely the older blood puddle, considering the wood had been eager to absorb it after two weeks of it sitting there. While the sludge had taken a while to clean, especially to get the feeling of it off of the floor, the blood wanted to be seen. It was a clear sign of what had happened.

     But Keigo was determined to have it gone, so that was what he did.

     By the time he was done, he wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but Keigo was finally satisfied with his work. The floor both looked and felt fine, and the only thing that would be left of the incident were the memories.

     Keigo made his way back to Izuku’s room, where he saw Izuku just sitting on the floor, blankets held tightly in his fisted hands. While Keigo was looking at Izuku’s back, he could tell that the kid was frustrated, and that the reason would probably go to the fact that he was shaky again. 

     Keigo wasn’t going anywhere to restock the food until he was sure that Izuku was feeling better again.

     A creak on the floorboards from Keigo’s step, and Izuku quickly turned, startled by the noise, but quickly relieved once he saw Keigo. He turned back to the blankets in hand, and stood up to try to hang them up once more.

     Only for them to fall once his hand accidentally knocked over one of the things supporting the blankets, and keeping them up in the first place. And that only made him more frustrated, which did nothing to help his case.

     So Keigo walked over, and was quick to start helping on the other end, carefully putting everything in place. He kept his distance from Izuku, that way it wouldn’t seem like he was about to takeover everything, and make Izuku feel worse, and incapable of putting up his own pillow fort.

     Soon enough, it was finally up, and Izuku was quick to retreat into it. Keigo crouched down, seeing how their effort had looked on the inside, before carefully trying to crawl in himself, leaving most of his feathers right at the entrance, that way there was hardly a risk at all with them messing it up.

     Izuku had already curled up in one of the corners, surrounded by his multiple plushes, blankets, and pillows, while also looking through his movies, and putting down the ones that Keigo assumed that Izuku didn’t want to watch.

     After a couple of minutes, Izuku leaned closer to Keigo, three movies in his hand as he said “Pick one.”

     Keigo looked over the movies carefully, none of them ones that he had watched. Taking them into his hands, he looked over the movie’s descriptions on the back, before he eventually put one down, and said “We’re going on the cartoon route today.”

     Izuku’s face seemed to light up at the suggestion, before jumping towards the corner that the blue-ray player sat in, and pulling it closer to the two of them as he put the disk in.

     Despite the fact that his original plan had just been to help cleanup and to take a grocery run later for Izuku, he figured he could spend the day at the apartment. There wasn’t much that he actually had to do, and it would be a good opportunity for his sidekicks. Today was a day to make sure Izuku was okay, and his grocery run could wait.

     But seeing as Izuku’s quirk was prone to making him tired, and he had already been fighting off that exhaustion for a while, most likely, it didn’t take long for him to pass out the moment he was relaxed. 

     Keigo had been sure to cover him up in his blankets, carefully placing him in the biggest lump of pillows and plushes, before looking around in the cubbies in an attempt to find some spare paper and pencils, in the event that Izuku somehow actually managed to wake up before Keigo got back.

     With a note made to let Izuku know where he went, he used one of the boxes in the cubbies that had Izuku’s clothes and stuff to hold onto the paper, letting it hang from that spot.

     Crawling out of the pillow fort, and leaving all of his feathers on the ground, he took note of the calendar, and all of the days that had been crossed off, and what hadn’t been. Izuku had just barely missed the end of June, but probably didn’t even know just how many days he had actually been out, with Keigo just giving the general estimate of two weeks.

     Really, it had only been a day extra, so he had been out cold for about fifteen days, but had a sixteenth to mark off, with a new day having started.

     So Keigo took to crossing all of the days out for Izuku, and then made his way out. Using one of the feathers that he could easily hide in his shirt, he decided to try locking the door with it, something that he didn’t particularly like the feeling of, but something that was possible. He knew now that Izuku had a key, but he wasn’t just going to take it, in case Izuku actually did wake up, and wanted to go somewhere himself.

     Locking the doors had become significantly more important.

     Used to using his feathers on the days that he went out to get plenty of groceries, he had to ignore that habit when he had finished the grocery run. He wasn’t actually supposed to be in Musutafu at the moment, and he couldn’t risk getting caught.

     He couldn’t risk letting the commission know.

     Keigo hadn’t gotten a lot of groceries in the end, for the sake of trying to not hurt his arms more than straps on the bag were already doing, but it was good enough to last Izuku a long while, especially since he was using some of the bigger bags.

     So much easier for storing everything, instead of grabbing a bunch of plastic bags that could just tear and give up on him at any moment.

     And then he made one more trip. This one would be his biggest surprise, something that would hopefully work so much better for cheering Izuku up.

     Getting back to the apartment, he was quick to peek into the pillow fort while the groceries still sat on his arm, and while he carefully held the thing from his last trip. Izuku was still asleep, which gave him plenty of time to get all of the groceries put away.

     He had no clue where Izuku usually kept things, but they could always be rearranged sooner. The snack items, however, he didn’t put away. Instead, he took them back to Izuku’s room with him, in the event that Izuku didn’t want to go back to the kitchen anytime soon. This way, there would at least be some food for Izuku to put in his system.

     Putting the snacks into the mostly empty cubbies as quietly as possible, he took his gift into the pillow fort, with many paper towels in hand. He would have to wake Izuku up before the food got cold, but he was sure it wouldn’t take much for Izuku to just fall right back asleep.

     The grocery trip had taken longer than Keigo thought it would have too, while he ran back and forth around the store in an attempt to remember what all Izuku may want or need. Then there were other stores he had to go to, that way he could get other things to complete meals, or to fill up the cabinets.

     All in all, he had been out for a couple of hours.

     He shook Izuku awake, with Izuku quickly turning to bury his face in his pillows, already reaching for one of the plushes to toss at Keigo.

     Never keen to be woken up, especially when he was sleeping after his quirk had needed to activated itself. 

      “Hey, I have food in here,” Keigo quickly said, holding his own hand out to keep the plush from being thrown. 

     Izuku paused, before tiredly muttering “Heyy, no food in the fort. Just popcorn… for movies. No other food. Don’t want dirty blankets.”

     “Would a bucket of chicken for you and me to share be an exception? We can put a movie on again too, if that’s what makes food an exception.”

     That was what got Izuku’s attention, with all of their chicken days being a fond memory between the two of them, a treat Keigo was always happy to bring to the commission. It had been a while since the last time they had gotten to have one of those days. And with Keigo already taking the day off, he didn’t see why there should be a problem with it.

      Izuku slowly sat up, eyes on the chicken before he lunged for one, the one that he clearly wouldn’t have gotten should Keigo have went for the chicken first, as he usually did. Today… today he supposed he would be fine with losing the best chicken in the bucket, while Izuku victoriously laughed before eating his first chicken.

     Izuku had only been up for about another hour, before getting all of the chicken grease off of his fingers, and knocking himself out once more.

     It was only when Izuku was sure to be asleep that Keigo stepped out of the room for a minute, calling one of his most trusted sidekicks, as he let them know that he wouldn’t be coming in for the day, and would need their help with making sure everything ran smoothly.

     Murder cases were frustrating to deal with, in all of Naomasa’s investigative experience. While helping loved ones reach the conclusion of the murder on the deceased made things feel worth it, and the satisfaction to seeing the villain locked behind bars, he was never fond of trying to find all of the definitive clues, especially when it felt like there was nothing. It made things even harder when there wasn’t anyone with a connection to the victim, which led to no knowledge on who could have had a thing against the victim.

     Investigating the death of a villain was never easy.

     When there had been a villain breakout, Naomasa had been on the edge of his seat for weeks, trying to get his team on the look, while also specifically asking for Kayama and Aizawa’s help. The two of them had been of great help, and the commission itself had even informed him of when other villains were taken into custody.

     That had made it easier, when it came to narrowing down who was left.

     Within a week, all but one of the villains had been turned in, and the last one had been of greatest concern. The fact that he was still hiding was what made things so much more stressful, because there should have been some kind of clue.

     The original case was something Naomasa had been happy hadn’t found its way to his desk, since it was years old, and Naomasa hadn’t been too involved in murder cases yet. Especially not mass murder.

     But tracking down villains was his thing, and he had to look into it.

     Another week later, and the villain had been found dead, covered in a blanket and laid in a wheelbarrow. The sludge had gotten rid of most of the evidence they could have found to discover who the murderer may be, and to check on that person. Chances were that it was self defense, knowing the villain’s habits, and the fact that there hadn’t been any reported mutilated bodies. The villain had to have been hungry.

     They couldn’t find anything in the stomach either. If the villain had eaten, they had eaten before the day that he died. Days before. Which meant that there was probably some body that they had yet to find.

      While some of the others had wanted to just forget about the search for who killed the villain, with all under the understanding that it had almost certainly been self defense, murder was still wrong, and they at least had to get it on record. There were chances that the person could avoid getting into any trouble, but they still had to know who. Especially when there were still so many unanswered questions.

     So he continued to work at his desk, staring at the autopsy reports while he waited for Kayama to get to the office, that way he could run over with her what happened again, in the event that there was something he missed when she had last been here a few days prior, and turned in the body.

     She had been relieved knowing that the search was over, but whether you hated someone or not, running into a body was never an easy thing. Being a hero hardly ever made it easier.

     Naomasa had been sure to give her days off from having to do anything like this, asking her to relax, especially while she had already been stressed over the lack of vigilante sightings. He had disappeared at about the same time that the villains escaped, and on the day she found the body, she had especially been worried that the body they were looking for would be the kid’s.

      He had tried to come up with reasons for it to not be the vigilante, but it had been a concern of his as well. Naomasa would really hate to have to find the body of a kid, and for that to be the way they find the identity of their local illegal crime fighter.

      Another glance at his clock, as he finished looking over the autopsy report for the tenth time. Kayama was supposed to be here in another ten minutes.

     Nemuri had been a nervous wreck for weeks now. She had tried to not think the worst for the kid, but it was rare to not see him for this long. She tried to blame it on the fact that she had been looking for villains instead of the vigilante, but the kid was like a magnet to trouble.

     She couldn’t help herself, when it came to telling Hizashi about the things happening with the kid. But she had ended up making Hizashi worried as well, despite the fact that he had never met the kid. He was just protective over everybody, and kids especially. He had always wanted to make sure that they were okay, and a kid missing around the time of a villain escape didn’t bode well.

     Keeping her hands in her pockets, she quickly made her way to the station, plenty of her own questions on the tip of her tongue, for the minute she finished telling Tsukauchi about what happened with the last villain. It hadn’t been an expected find the other night, but it was a find nonetheless, and she was now stuck in the middle of the investigation.

     The path up to Tsukauchi’s office had grown beyond familiar to her by now, as were all of the officers that she would pass on the way. She tried to give them small greetings on the way, but couldn’t put much energy into them at the moment. It was hard to put energy into it when she was too focused on wondering where the vigilante was, and hoping to get the sickening image of the body out of her head.

     Hopefully bringing an end to this investigation would help her. Especially if it meant that the kid wasn’t involved, and was safe out there.

     Who knows, maybe he could have just been staying home, and waiting out the runaway villain incident? He must surely know where his limits lie, and what would be the most dangerous for him?

     She could just hope.

     Opening Tsukauchi’s door, she found him idly slightly spinning in his chair, tapping his chin with the pen in hand while he looked over the papers on his desk. It took him a second to notice the door opening and Nemuri walking in, so he startled, quickly straightening up the papers on his desk before saying “Thank you for coming here, Kayama.”

     She just gave a soft hum, sitting in her usual seat while she looks at what all the papers say so far, attention grabbed the minute she saw the picture of the villain she had been looking for for the past couple weeks.

     “Any clues,” she asks.

     Tsukauchi shakes his head before he says “I was hoping we could get some kind of lead by talking to you… you mentioned that someone had been holding the wagon before, right? Ran off once they saw you?”

     “I…” she thinks of the hooded figure that had stood there for a moment, seeming to try to figure out who she was before they ran off. “I did. I just couldn’t tell if they ran off because they recognized me, or because they were worried that somebody else was going to join the fight that was going on.

     “Oh, those villains… did they have anything to do with it? They’ve been questioned?”

     “The villains were questioned, and they hardly even saw the wagon person themselves. They were too invested in their own fight. It seemed more like an opportunity to leave the body there in the chaos…”

     “You have an idea why?”

     “I think… I think that the body was left there in an attempt to turn it in, hoping that a hero would be drawn to all the noise. And I don’t want to jump to that conclusion… because the amount of people with a method like that is limited.” Tsukauchi sighed, resting his head in his hands, his fingers pressing hard against his forehead.

     “I don’t want to think it was the kid,” Nemuri quickly says, leaning back into her chair, crossing her arms as she looks at the edge of the desk. “The kid always calls things in, or… or leaves them for me when he knows I’m nearby.”

     She hates that Tsukauchi has a point. A point she had hoped to ignore.

     “Questioning him has become so much more important than before,” Tsukauchi says, his hands dragging down his face. “But I didn’t want to do that until we had a more definite idea, because we really have no clue if it was the kid or not.”

     “And the kid doesn’t drag his finished job around,” Nemuri adds, trying to put in hope that it wasn’t the vigilante. “While they could have been turning in the body, the options are already limited when someone is worried about getting charged with murder, whether in self defense or not… and admittedly, it’s better than just dumping the body somewhere where we can’t find it.”

     “Sure, yeah, it helped… and whether or not they’re charged with something, at the end of the day, the villain is dead.” He paused for a minute, looking down at the paperwork once more. “Are you sure there was nothing recognizable about the person with the wagon?”

     “Street was too dark… I couldn’t make out anything, especially not between all those villains. I’d be surprised if I was actually able to be recognized through them as well.”

     “The sludge has made looking for evidence almost impossible,” Tsukauchi groaned. He rested his head on his desk, seemingly ready to give up on this.

     Knowing him, he wouldn’t be giving up. But he was going to mutter about how he should over and over, especially whenever he’ll find himself busy in whatever Aizawa or All Might have gotten themselves into next.

     The two of them sat in silence for moment, trying to think things over on their own, figure out the next kind of way to determine the killer. While this was something the commission would be quick to say to just forget about, as they had already done with one of the other villains who had been reported dead, and taken to the commission building, this was something Tsukauchi and Nemuri were now looking into.

     This was something the two of them would most likely keep looking into, even when the commission inevitably just said to forget about it, considering it was a villain’s death and all.

     Some would argue that there really was no need to look into this as hard as they were.

     But eventually, their thinking had to come to an end on this already tiring night. With another long sigh, Tsukauchi said “Really… thank you for coming here, but I think this is all we can do for the night. Go ahead and go home for a few days… I’ll figure something out.”

     Nemuri nods, standing up and starting to make her way to the door. But she pauses, her hand on the handle as she turns to ask “Have you gotten any calls that sound like the kid?”

     He takes a long pause, and then says “I’m afraid not… I’ll let you know if I hear anything though. Just go ahead and keep out of the vigilante hunt until then, take it easy.”

     She should probably do that… before she draws too much concern from Aizawa, Yamada, and all of the staff at UA. They were too closely knit to let herself fall into this deep of a noticeable worry.

     Naomasa had been having a very tiring past couple weeks. In fact, his past couple of months could have been considered tiring. But all that tiredness led to one thing: coffee.

     Any person with a job that demanded regularly average hours and effort would probably consider sleep, and insist that he himself get some sleep. But working as a detective, especially when it was almost necessary for him to always be available for multiple heroes and investigations, sleep wasn’t really much of an option. So his best bet was coffee, and that was something that he and Aizawa could surely get along with on.

     They sometimes even shared nearby coffee places, as they went through the effort of determining which ones were the fastests, and gave the best coffees. 

     But wanting to take a little bit of time before he went back into the office, with it a fresh, new day, and the sky still dim from the early light, he decided to go to one of the more comfortable coffee shops. There was genuinely no rush, other than the demand of his personal investigations. And after last night, he could really do with comfort.

     The woman behind the counter greeted him, as she usually did, and got to work on his usual order. Whether or not he came here less, it was always well known what he wanted.

     It was a small, family owned place, where he and Aizawa were probably bringing in most of the money. But with one spot after the next to just relax for a minute, take a necessary breather, Naomasa had determined that there was no spot that could beat it. 

     Even the extra time they put into the coffee made it so much more worth it. He could feel the energy pouring into him with every sip, every cup so lovingly made.

     Call him a coffee addict, but he knows just what is best for him, especially depending on the investigation.

     He would just have to convince All Might to bring in coffee more often, despite the Symbol’s insistence that Naomasa should try to eat and drink healthier, because those too, are ways to get some energy back.

     Naomasa frowned at the thought of All Might’s attempt for him to be healthier. Just because All Might had to make a healthier eating schedule after his fight with All For One didn’t mean Naomasa was going to change up his energizing beverages and meals. He was wrapping up All Might’s paperwork a lot anyway… if anyone was going to be giving advice, then it should be Naomasa telling All Might to stop being so worried about sidekicks figuring him out, and to just get them so that paperwork could be easier.

     And actually done.

     Most fast paced heroes usually had their sidekicks helping out with paperwork! And then if the sidekick became a hero, then they were usually filling out their own paperwork well, knowing the importance, or continuing the trend of passing it onto their sidekicks.

     Naomasa was half convinced that he should just start playing middle-man in something other than an investigation, and try to get Sir. Nighteye and All Might reconnected, despite their difference in opinion on how All Might should be taking care of himself.

     It was around the time that his coffee would usually be done that he suddenly heard commotion across the street, with his head quickly turning in the direction, trying to figure out just what was going on.

     Sure enough, there was a villain attack at the small movie shop, known for selling older movies on discs, something not too common anymore with everything online. So it was a cherished shop for many movie lovers.

     Naomasa refused to let anything too bad happen to it.

     Or well… there actually wasn’t too much he could do, being a detective and all, and anything to do with quirks usually being left up to the heroes. Naomasa hadn’t actually been involved in too many raids, and most of them had him standing back, interrogating anyone that they could.

     But he did have a gun on his belt, and that should surely do enough up until a hero got there, if the villain didn’t immediately surrender.

     “I’ll be back in a moment,” Tsukauchi says to the woman behind the counter, giving a small wave as he runs out the door.

     There was a loud crash, with the villain fully inside the shop. It sounded almost as if a shelf had entirely toppled over, which it probably did. He continued to run, pulling out his gun so that it would immediately be ready. He would hope heroes were already being called in, considering that there were a few people outside the shop, phones out and held to their ears.

     He rushed in, and saw in just enough time the villain slamming against the ground, an arm held behind their back, which had a foot firmly planted on it. They groaned in pain, struggling to get up, fallen right next to the toppled shelf.

     Naomasa relaxed, letting his hands fall closer to his legs, gun still held in hand, but not nearly as firmly.

     Holding the villain down was someone who could be no older than probably thirteen, fourteen if he was pushing it. But he would probably have to push it, considering how well that the boy managed to keep the villain down. 

      Their wide, yet tired, green eyes watched Naomasa closely, before they eventually said “Uh… you wouldn’t happen to be able to arrest them, would you?”

     “Right, right,” Naomasa said under his breath, quickly walking up and pulling out the emergency handcuffs he carried around, in the incident that he actually got to make an arrest. Getting the other arm behind the villain’s back was easy, and soon enough, they were in cuffs. The kid continued to stand there for a moment, their attention on the villain, as if watching to make sure that they wouldn’t make any other sudden movements.

     Then the kid noticed Naomasa watching him in turn, quickly becoming nervous as he said “Uh, if it… if it makes things seem any better, I swear I didn’t attack them out of the blue… The uh… the shelf almost fell on me… which could be considered an attack on me, right? So self defense was the right thing?”

     Naomasa’s quirk pinged in his head, the kid truthful through every statement.

     “It would be, yes. But I’m afraid I’m going to need to take you to the station for a moment, get everything down on paperwork, if you don’t mind. It makes turning these villains in easier, and I’m sure you may have a much more accurate account on the events, compared to what I may have?” Naomasa’s suggestion seems to just make the kid so much more nervous, his shoulders visibly tensing up, before he looks back down at the villain.

     Something about this kid felt familiar… Naomasa just couldn’t put his finger on it. Not yet, anyway.

     “Oh, yeah, sure,” they eventually said. “I’ve just gotta get some of my stuff from the counter. Left it there before I went to grab another movie I saw. Couldn’t resist getting it too, y’know?”

     The kid had given basically no time for Naomasa to promise the buzz in his head to indicate a lie, let alone the opportunity, with Naomasa firmly holding onto the villain, to go get them. There was nothing at the counter, other than all of the things that could be sold propped up and on display, and the kid was making a run for the door after making an attempt to seemingly calmly walk past Naomasa.

     Frowning as he watched the kid run off, watching the green haired boy disappear down the street, it suddenly clicked for him. He had figured out just where he had seen the kid before.

     Getting the villain turned in hadn’t been too much of a hassle, especially once the heroes got there, and took the villain in for him. So with his coffee in hand, he began to make his way to the office. There was a little more urgency now, and he managed to get the cashier in for questioning on just what had happened, that way it could all be filed and put into incident reports.

     There wasn’t much to be said about the incident, given how short it was. The cashier and Naomasa’s own quirk confirmed that the kid had acted only once the shelf had been knocked over, and with all technicality, it had been self defense when the villain was taken down.

     Another thing on his plate where the person who had taken down the villain had made a run for it. And though it would be convenient to have them in for questioning, and leave no loose ends… Naomasa had no idea where to start with finding these people.

     Well, except for the fact that the kid from today seemed familiar.

     With all the paperwork done, he started to go through the older files on his computer, things that he would have trashed as physical copies years ago. They wouldn’t have been needed by this point, so it would have felt like there was no real reason to keep them. All cases that had been completed as well.

     It was a good thing that everything stayed in the system. Any incident could be found, should he know how to find it.

     It took a while to get the names right, and he had eventually resorted to going through months from ten years ago. After nearly an hour, he got the right thing, reading through the file to confirm it was it, just as he had done with the others to make sure they weren’t it.

     The pictures of the people involved in the case had been just about enough to confirm it, but just to jog his memory, he read through it.

     While he hadn’t seen the kid long earlier in the day, it was nearly unmistakable that this was the same person. And it really had been almost exactly ten years, seeing as the little boy in the pictures was nearly five. Looking at the registered birthday, the kid’s birthday was close as well. Just another couple of weeks.

     But the kid should be with the commission, right? And that was in another city… just nextdoor, but another city, nonetheless. And Naoamsa would have assumed that because custody was completely taken away from the kid’s mother, Musutafu was one of the last places that they would want to let Midoriya go.

     But Midoriya had been in Musutafu.

     Hunting through his computer, there were no further records, nothing to made Naomasa absolutely certain that it was the same kid.

     With a sigh, he leaned into his chair, knowing this was about to become another personal investigation, and another kid to make sure was okay.

     Izuku was really tired of risks. Especially big ones. And frankly, taking down the villain had been a big one, and completely on him.

     But he hadn’t expected an off-the-clock hero, officer, detective, or something-or-the-other to have been so close! Sure, he knew that the villain would have to have been turned in, but he was just planning on knocking the villain out, and then asking someone nearby if they had anything that could temporarily apprehend the villain.

     He had also held the high hope that he wouldn’t be needed to help fill out any paperwork, especially for an incident that had hardly lasted more than a couple minutes.

     But Izuku was proven wrong, and was walking back to the apartment with nothing in hand. 

     Izuku was just so tired… so tired of things going wrong. So tired of the things that brought him comfort feeling risky. So tired of having to keep adjusting.

     So tired of wondering if turning himself into the commission would be for the best. 

     Keigo had put so much effort into taking care of Izuku out here though, so he didn’t just want to suddenly give it up, and then ultimately be asked how he had been able to take care of himself for two months on his own. He honestly had no good answer for it, so he figured it was best that he kept trying to make it out here.

     That he kept fighting the urge to just go back to the life that seemed slightly easier.

     It would probably keep flipping around on which was easier, should he have actually gone back.

     Keigo had managed to avoid all work all yesterday, and stayed with Izuku another night, keeping him company, much to Izuku’s relief. He had really missed being around people for long periods of time, and able to find himself comfortable around them. It was nice to spend time with Keigo again, no matter how risky it was for Keigo to have gone off the grid as long as he was.

     But he had decided to just stay at the apartment a bit longer, before Izuku would ultimately have to be on his own again, and try to pick himself back up.

     The meer thought of it just made him want to not to even more than before. He just wanted to bundle up in his blankets, and then never pick himself up.

     He could survive it… no matter how uncomfortable it would be for a while. But then he’d be fine again, and it would go on loop.

     Except for the fact that he didn’t want to keep dying, and would inevitably get up and try to at least get some food and something to drink in his system.

     Even feeling as bad as he did, he knew his own habits, and the habits that he had developed with all those years in the commission, and how he had needed to take care of himself so that he would be at his best during training.

     At least training had proven useful in taking down yet another villain quickly, and this time without jumping onto them, and avoiding a fight entirely.

     Getting back to the apartment, he carefully unlocked the door, and started to make his way to his room after locking the door behind him. He was quick to crawl into the pillow fort, and then collapse onto his pillows.

     “No new movies,” Keigo asks, softly nudging Izuku’s back, considering Izuku’s face was buried in the pillows.

     “Never going there again,” Izuku replies, his voice muffled. Keigo hums in question, so Izuku adds “Stupid villains keep messing stuff up… narrowly avoided some officer or something asking for a questioning.”

     “And that’s… that’s nearly a guarantee that the commission will have it confirmed you’re in Musutafu,” Keigo worriedly mutters.

     Izuku just nods, before suddenly sitting up, deciding to try to enjoy these last few hours with Keigo before he basically disappears again, other than the letters he leaves hidden, and then says “But I can always rewatch stuff. I’ll try to look for some other place tomorrow… or next week. I dunno.”

Chapter Text

     With his many connections with heroes, especially some of the best in their categories, Naomasa had been able to lessen some of his large workload by asking heroes to help investigate. Aizawa was an easy option for investigation assistance, as one of the best underground heroes, and as a not well known face. Yagi was an easy option for when the investigation was done, and things needed to be taken care of.

     But despite being close to those heroes, he still would take certain cases on almost entirely himself. Like him, they all had plenty of their own work, and he wouldn’t keep getting them to help him. And he knew that Nemuri needed a break. So despite the fact she was probably already interested in the case for the villain’s body, and just what had led to the murder, he wasn’t going to send her off to investigate for him.

     No, this was for him. She was already invested in the vigilante case, and that could just be what he had her working on in case she came in ready to look into it. He was hardly even asking her to anymore. Nemuri just found the time in her busy schedule to do it, and Naomasa was still trying to figure out if it was because she was getting attached, or was disappointed in the lack of questions answered towards the investigation.

     It probably didn’t help either of their cases that the kid was good at staying just far enough to keep out of the way of Nemuri’s quirk, should she actually use it.

     But since it was a kid, Naomasa hadn’t been too keen to make it something really public… despite how much attention the kid was starting to get the more he saved people, and they went to talk about it. It wasn’t often that a vigilante was out this long too.

     It only put so much more attention onto the vigilante. 

     And all that attention led to so much more pressure to the heroes and detectives, because sure enough, the commission would want to get involved. They had never seemed to fond of picking up the work that everyone else was struggling with.

     Naomasa sometimes wondered why they didn’t just do everything themselves, if they were so effective with their investigations and such.

     In a way, it was almost like they were doing things themselves now, with Hawks quickly climbing through the hero ranks.

     He wondered how that kid was doing, Midoriya. It had been ten years now, and it made Naomasa wonder if they were finally starting to send the kid out. It also made him wonder if the kid had gotten in any kind of trouble for the villain incident yesterday.

     But that case wasn’t his problem right now. His problem was the murder of a villain, who had been left out for a hero to find. He had to find out who was behind that, and hope that it wasn’t the vigilante. It would make it necessary for him and Nemuri to put more action than talk into trying to talk to the kid, and it never felt great, to Naomasa, to have to bring in kids.

     So he went to investigate himself, taking his camera, notepad, and a couple pens with him. This was his investigation, and he would get to the bottom of it. 

     Walking out of his office and the building, he bid quick farewells to his coworkers, and then stepped out on the Musutafu streets. 

     It wasn’t often that he went out to investigate at night. But it was best to get this done with less people around. Trying to investigate a murder scene, or at least the area where the villain was left, in hopes that he could find the murder scene. But if not, he would hope that there was at least something left behind.

     Villains were often unpredictable. There were habits that they thought that they could pick up, but sometimes, villains did just the opposite. So Naomasa’s plans also involved looking in the exact opposite of where most investigations had gone, especially since the villain hadn’t been found before their death.

     Should there be no leads, Naomasa knew just where he wanted to look.

     It had already been a couple of days, and with Musutafu often being busy, both kids and adults roaming around the streets through the day, chances were that there wasn’t much left. Naomasa doubted that there would be any leads, and that he had gotten as much out of the area as possible.

     But it was worth a shot.

     As expected when he got to where Nemuri had found the villain, there wasn’t anything to find, other than the remnants of the fight between the villains. One of the buildings was still largely destroyed, but it left nothing to do with the murder, especially since the body had been brought in with a wagon.

     Walking along the direction that the person had to have gone, there was no kind of trail either, whether of blood or sludge. It was entirely a dead end over at that location, and Naomasa had to take his bet.

     So many signs from the villain, within all actuality, could have led to the belief that the villain would have gone to the spot. The muttering sprees he had gone into had shown signs of him missing home, of some kind of regret over something he had such a hard time controlling. It was the lack of control that led to their investigation route.

     And with the villain dead, nobody wanted to investigate further, relieved that there was nobody else reported dead. 

     Naomasa didn’t entirely trust that there was nobody else dead. 

     That was what led him to the empty street, the place that nobody wanted, and probably wouldn’t want even more now that the villain had gotten out. While there was nobody reported dead from the villain’s actions, the way they killed was enough to leave people’s own fears, whether they’re just unsettled or nervous of something paranormal. 

     Naomasa himself hardly wanted to be on the street, knowing the history. All it took was knowing, and the chances of a business opening here wouldn’t do well. There would be word that something opened, and if it reached someone who knew the history, nearly everyone would know the history. 

     The chance of anything lasting down here was rare.

     Even Naomasa himself was about ready to turn around. 

     But he had an investigation, and he was going to look through the entirety of the place, and see just how things would go. Loosely holding his camera, he walked into the first building on the street, looking for any sign of the villain’s presence. 

     That pattern continued, one building after the next. There had been nothing in each, other than the feeling of fear that was left, and the things that had been left behind in the rush to leave the general area.

     The apartment building was something Naomasa had just considered leaving for last, considering that it was so big, and had so much to it. But he was on a mission to go in order, so that was what he would do. He’d look through each one, and keep an eye out.

     It, of course, actually involved going into each individual apartment, and looking through the rooms.

     Lucky enough for him, none of the apartment were actually too big, and it would at most just take him going from the front door to the back door, and then vice versa. There would also be a quick peek into the bedrooms and bathrooms, but that would be it.

     However, knowing that there was the possibility of finding a body here, or the aftermath of the villain’s murder, it made the trip through the building all that much more worrisome. Even moreso if there was someone alive here, who would panic and lash out, had they already met the villain.

     Though, the best Naomasa could do was hope that he could get some answers, and stay safe. With his phone in one pocket, he could call someone, should he find anything. On the other side, connected to his belt, the gun he had brought for self defense. It wouldn’t have been too smart to go without it, considering someone else was already dead.

     Naomasa wasn’t a fan of carrying it around. It was another reason to leave him to interrogate villains as they were taken into custody, dragged out of the fight in raids. But out here on his own, for his own personal investigation, it was a necessary precaution with all the former events as known as they were.

     Which, safe to say, wasn’t much. Naomasa was going in here nearly blind, with his only knowledge being that the villain was killed with a couple stabs to their throat, and that there was nothing recent to be found in the villain’s digestive system, which would have had to been something within the past couple of days.

     Using the balcony on one of the apartments, he went into the other apartment. All of them had been left unlocked, which made getting through all of this so much easier for him. 

     There was nothing to be seen in that one either, so he went out the front door, and turned to go to the one right next to it.

     Now, Naomasa had expected it to just be like all the other apartments, and this whole building would end up being another bust. He figured he was just going through it all to make sure that there was no part of his mind that wondered if there really would be something in a spot just because he didn’t check there.

     He hadn’t expected to actually end up with a sign that there was somebody.

     Reaching to turn the handle, he was quick to realize that it was locked. He had even tried rattling the knob, trying to turn it harder in case if it was just a stubborn doorknob. 

     This was finally a locked door.

     Though, at the time, that hadn’t meant that there was somebody actually inside, or that lived there illegally.

     He went back into the apartment that he had been in just before, and tried to go into the other apartment through the balcony again. That door had been locked as well, and he was able to see the locked doorknob just on the other side. 

     Both locks… he would need to figure out two of them.

     It was a good thing that Aizawa had been sure to teach Naomasa how to pick locks, something he deemed absolutely necessary, especially since Naomasa is a detective.

     Remembering seeing some hairpins a few apartments back, he used the balconies once more to go through them, going to grab a few of the small objects, and then deciding to go through the front door, seeing as that was what was closest at the time. He would also do less of risking himself if he just went down the path he actually should when it came to going through these apartments.

     He wouldn’t want to fall off…

     And he needed to be at the front door of that apartment anyway.

     Crouching down, and adjusting the hairpins as needed, he got to work, carefully twisting the small objects around until he heard the first click. He was quick to move to the next one, quickly opening the door once he heard the second click.

     He stepped in with his hand already hovering over his gun, just in case there was someone hiding away in the apartment, ready to attack him for breaking into the place that they were hiding in. Though it wasn’t legal, Naomasa wouldn’t fault anyone for trying to make sure they had a roof over their heads at least, if there was nowehere else to go.

     It didn’t change the fact that Naomasa could be attacked, though. Especially if that person could have already killed someone in a panic for their own lives, probably still on edge after the past couple of days, if the villain had actually gone here, and eventually found the possible person.

     Locking the door behind him after not hearing any sign of someone coming after him, he started to look through the apartment. It very quickly became obvious that someone lived there, the second he looked in one of the bedrooms, especially in comparison to all of the other apartments.

     He slowly crept over to the pillow fort, nervous to stick his head in, in case someone was anxiously waiting. Naomasa looked into it as much as he could from a distance, taking to trying to look around the room as best as he could, while keeping the pillow fort in his peripheral vision.

     Naomasa was about to start backing towards the room’s exit when he heard the front door quickly start to click unlocked, much faster than it had when he had successfully picked it open with the hairpins.

     Someone must have had or made an effective enough key.

     He quickly backed out of the view of the room’s doorframe, backing up enough that there should be a good enough distance between himself and whoever just got to the apartment. Comparing it to the other room, which was empty, this one had to be the one that this person stayed in. And that probably meant that this was right where they were going.

     The lock clicked shut again, and footsteps could be heard making their way to the room, as expected.

     Even in the darkness, Naomasa coudl recognize the vigilante costume that he had been staring at for weeks, trying to figure out just who it could be based on that one picture alone. Though, it was safe to say that that answer was easily given, as the vigilante’s hood was down, and their hat was held in hand.

     Naomasa quickly cleared his throat to get the vigilante’s attention, and found himself rather glad that there was a flight response from the vigilante, seeing how quickly they moved backwards, letting out a loud, yet short scream, backing into one of the shelves.

     After giving himself all of the time he did to adjust to the dark, and after staring at his computer and notes as long as he had, it was obvious that in front of him was probably the answer to what he thought would be three cases at once, considering Izuku Midoriya, the boy who could come back from the dead, was very visibly frightened in front of him, and dressed in the exact vigilante outfit that Naomasa had become extremely familiar with.

     It felt like so much more of a headache than he had expected. 

     Midoriya kept a good amount of distance from Naomasa, eyes darting around on Naomasa as he tried to make sure that he wouldn’t do anything. In hopes of trying to calm the kid down, actually get some kind of conversation, Naomasa held his hands in the air, keeping a good amount of distance between his hands and the gun.

     “I’m just here to talk, alright,” Naomasa started. Being here initially probably wasn’t doing any good to keep Midoriya calm in the first place… but if he had been attacked by the villain, he probably was feeling so much worse about having someone breaking into the place that he had clearly been staying in for a while.

     But whether or not these theories Naomasa had summoned were true or not, it was something for him to get to the bottom of. 

     He just had to make sure that Midoriya wasn’t about to hit him over the head with the nearest object, and then make a break for it. The kid seemed to have a specialty for knocking people out for lengthy periods of time, enough that police or heroes could bring in the villains he had taken down, and then have them brought in.

     Naomasa figured that he might as well consider it a miracle that he wasn’t already knocked out. 

     Waiting a moment, trying to give Midoriya more a of a chance to calm down, process the situation, make sure he was entirely here, Naomasa took in a deep breath, and then said “I’m Detective Tsukauchi. I’m here because I was looking for any evidence towards one of the recently escaped and then killed villains. You wouldn’t happen to know anything, would you?”

     The panicked look was sign enough for Naomasa that Midoriya knew what he was talking about. But the way Midoriya looked anywhere but Naomasa was enough to let the detective know that the kid wasn’t willing to talk much on it, or at least truthfully.

     Naomasa had to earn a bit more trust first.

     “I sent Midnight to look for you,” he started. This at least had Midoriya looking at him again. “I also asked for her to get answers before taking action, something you’ve been good at avoiding.”

     “And if I were to give you your answers to your questions? What comes after,” Midoriya asks.

     “I’ll admit, I hadn’t really thought that far,” Naomasa replies with a chuckle. “But if it makes you feel better, it hardly crossed my mind to lock you up or anything. Usually with kids, I just give them a lecture on why taking down criminals is bad, explain how vigilantism is illegal, and then send them off on their way, hoping I won’t see them again. You, of course, are a frequent sight. However, this is our first time meeting, and that I can give you this vigilantism warning.”

     “What if we had to have this talk again?”

     “Are you implying that I can’t get you to stop? Why keep up with this vigilantism, if the commission has been training you to be a hero anyway?”

     That was what made Midoriya freeze entirely. There were no eyes darting around the room while trying to see if Naomasa was going to make a move, all while looking for his escape routes. There was no turn away. In fact, there was hardly any breathing in the moments that Midoriya stood there.

     This was something that Midoriya hadn’t expected to be known at all. It was also sign enough that he didn’t remember Naomasa, something that the detective couldn’t fault him for, considering how little the kid had been, and how insignificant Naomasa must have seemed in those moments.

      “I- How did- Kei- …. Someone told me that nobody outside the commission knew. How do you know about the commission? Did they secretly go up to you and ask you to find me,” the kid questioned, face twisted in confusion and frustration now that it had left its frozen shock. The frustration seemed to slowly go down as he looked over Naomasa’s own confused expression.

     An expression that he genuinely felt. While he could say he had no idea what the kid was talking about, it was sounding awfully close to the kid having run away.

     Assumptions lately had been able to get Naomasa far. But with his possibility for answers right here, he wasn’t about to give up and try to put his assumptions down as anything official. He was finally face-to-face with the answer to possibly all three of his bigger cases in his mind, and he wasn’t about to back down so easily.

     He just had to be careful with how he approached everything, especially as he seemed on the verge of sending Midoriya into a panic.

     “I don’t know anything about the commission asking for something,” Naomasa quickly said. “I just happened to recognize you yesterday, at the movie store. The trial… I had helped look over you in the time between deciding who would ultimately have custody over you. I saw when you were handed over to the commission ten years ago.”

     There was still no recognition, something that he wasn’t entirely asking for here, but there was at least some kind of relaxation from the boy.

     “My main goal tonight has just been to get some answers,” Naomasa continues to explain.” That sludge villain that escaped, that probably won’t get much care. The commission itself got involved, which meant that it was at the point that they didn’t care what state the villains were brought in in. As long as they were off the streets. You running around as a vigilante? That has been mine and Midnight’s personal investigation for a long while now. If the commission wants to go after you as a vigilante or yourself, that’s something I’m not aware of. But I haven’t heard much about you actively being hunted down yet, though I’m not sure how much longer that’ll last, if you keep getting attention on the internet and all.”

     “I am?” Midoriya continued to avoid the idea of answering questions, and instead leaning on one of the last things Naoamsa had mentioned.

     But Naomasa wasn’t one to back down from the kid’s questions. Maybe if he kept answering the ones that changed the subject, then the kid would eventually be comfortable enough to share something of his own. Naomasa was sure that anything at this point would be useful.

     Naomasa went to slowly sit on the ground, hoping that trying to relax a bit instead of awkwardly standing across the room from each other would help the situation a bit.

     “You are,” Naomasa replied, giving the kid a small smile. “It’s all good, with people here in Musutafu talking about how they were rescued by a vigilante. Nobody can decide on what to call you, especially since they’ve hardly gotten the chance to name a vigilante, considering how quickly they’ve been shut down… but you’re already building up a good name for yourself.”

     There was the slightest upturn in the kid’s face, sign enough that the proof that he was actually helping other people making him feel a little happy, despite the fact that he was right across from someone who could turn him in.

     Midoriya finally took his own seat on the ground.

     “Now,” Naomasa started. “Did you have an encounter with that villain? And before you answer, I will let you know that I have a lie detection quirk. While you can keep avoiding telling the truth, I’ll at least know when you aren’t honest.”

     “Oh, a lie detection quirk? That must be really nice for detective work and all, especially since…” he quickly begins to trail off when he sees Naomasa’s raised eyebrow, and then mutters out a quick apology. “I um… I did run into that villain.”

     That was the truth, an answer to something Naomasa had already heavily suspected. The vigilante had run into the villain… something that didn’t look to good with a body currently being looked over.

     “How did your interaction go with the villain,” Naomasa asks. It was a risky question to ask so quickly, considering he had finally gotten the kid talking. But starting it off like this would probably be the best way to get to the other questions that Naomasa had.

     The kid looks to the ground once more, bringing his knees to his chest, and resting his chin on his knee. He takes in a deep breath before he said “He had uh… let himself in. I was trying to make myself some lunch, and he had smelled it.”

     So the interaction had taken place here, the place just about everyone was avoiding going to. After all, legally, nobody was supposed to have been here, especially not long enough to have become the villain’s next victim.

     Anyone left out in the open, especially over the course of the past couple weeks, would have eventually been found by patrolling heroes, considering most people were only on this street when they were on a run or trying to find a route to get to where they were trying to go.

     “I tried to feed him… fed him just about everything I had,” the kid continued to explain. That was when he finally asked a question of his own, and it all started to click for how the rest of the story was going to go when he asked “You do remember my quirk, right?”

     So the story continued, with the kid explaining how the villain, still hungry, had eaten Midoriya, who was out cold for a couple weeks. The villain had waited it out in the apartment, despite not knowing that Midoriya would be back from the dead. He just hadn’t wanted to be locked up again, and was willing to fight his own hunger.

     But when Midoriya was back from the dead, there was another murder attempt from the villain, which was what led to Midoriya’s kill against the villain.

     One truthful comment after the next provided one ding after another in Naomasa’s head. 

     It had all been well within self defense. It wasn’t just a murder for the sake of killing someone, not like Naomasa would have expected that from Midoriya anyway, just through the little he knew of the kid. And with this being something nobody wanted to put any care into? There was no reason to start making any official documents with what the kid had told him.

     It was more just a way to ease Naomasa’s mind, and give him the answers he had waited for.

     “Midnight was the only hero I knew I could predict when I needed to get the body out of here… is she alright?”

     The concern for the hero after hearing all of that story, with all of Naomasa’s concern having gone to the kid, it had caught him off guard. But he wasn’t going to withhold the answer.

     “She’s doing as alright as she can be… but she’s worried that you… or well, your vigilante persona… she’s worried that you’re hurt, and that one of these villains got to you. She seems a little shaken by the body, but this hasn’t been a first. She has someone to talk to about that… but Midnight’s main concern seems to be towards you.”

     “Why though? All I do is just run off from her… I don’t see why she would be worried?”

     “Because a hero’s job is to save, something I’m sure you know,” Naomasa begins. “Her knowing that a kid had all this free time to run around every night, fight crime in the late hours; that all had made her concerned. Midnight’s a little amused by how well you avoid her too. I personally think she’s gotten a little attached.”

     That had at least seemed amusing to Midoriya.

     With all of his answers about the villain answered, it was time to turn to the more vigilante side of things. He didn’t want all the details of it, more just why Midoriya was out here in the first place as a vigilante.

     So that was what he went to ask about, ready to change the subject from death.

     At least, he hoped that it could shift it away from death. But knowing the kid’s quirk, and that it had been the leading factor in drawing the commission to him, it probably wouldn’t be easy to entirely avoid that subject.

     “Why are you out illegally fighting crime anyway? Or… out here in general?” Midoriya’s expression returned to the one Naomasa had quickly recognized as the kid trying to figure out if the story was worth it. But with the kid from the commission, it was easy enough to try to narrow down the list of questions and assumptions he could get to in order to try to get the kid to open up.

     He had been a detective for plenty of years now, and worked through so many cases. This wasn’t something new to him. Naomasa had to be careful with his questions, and anything that he was to ask to get someone to talk more, that was a direction that needed to be tread with even more caution. 

     “The commission? Did they do something?” Naomasa asked, taking his risk with the questions. But it seemed to have worked in his favor, if Midoriya’s slight turn back to Naomasa said anything. “If it helps, I’ve never been too fond of them, especially not since the trial against your mom.”

     Bringing her up probably hadn’t led him in the right direction, with how Midoriya seemed to be frustrated again at his final comment. Naomasa could have completely shut down his ability to ask anymore questions, and get anymore answers. 

     But probably just finding a shared frustration from ten years ago, Midoriya said “They kept killing me over and over. It was to test my quirk, see just how long it would take to come back, and in what conditions… but their last test was something I would have rather avoided.”

     “So you ran away,” Naomasa asks. Midoriya gives a small nod. “How have you managed to hide from them this long?”

     “I have… some help with keeping them away. They’re also apparently putting some slack on finding me since it’s been so long… but I’ve been here this whole time.”

     “Why not try to stay with the person who has been helping you this long? That way you have somewhere to legally stay?” Even if the kid was getting enough money to take care of himself, and get all the food and comforts that he had gotten, the idea of a kid getting a place on their own was beyond concerning for anyone, and it was sure to draw attention. He wasn’t even going to bother to ask if the kid could stay somewhere on his own.

     “I probably wouldn’t even be able to last a week if I stayed with him,” Midoriya replies, crossing his arms as he leans against one of the shelves.

     Naomasa’s quirk dinged in his head.

     He was a little surprised he had gotten complete honesty out of the kid, especially after how long it took to even get this far. Then again, the reason for their lack of answers had been because the kid was entirely avoiding answering their questions. And the only lie so far had been about his quirk, which was something Naomasa hadn’t even been able to confirm.

     So far, that looked to be the only lie that he had heard.

     Midoriya was honest, and that was something that made trying to make the right decision difficult. Legally, there were things he should do. But there were the things he would prefer to do, the steps that felt better to his conscious. 

     He already knew which one he was going to listen.

     “Your vigilant act,” Naomasa starts, gesturing to Midoriya’s vigilante outfit. The kid quickly looks down at his own outfit, as if forgetting he was still in it. He goes to fidget with the shirt, while Naomasa says “How long have you been keeping up with it?”

     “Oh uh… it started pretty quickly after I ran off,” Midoriya explains. “I meant to pick it up again today… I couldn’t bring myself to stay out long. So I just did a bit of shopping.” He gestures to the bags. “I still want to try again eventually… if that’s your next question.”

     “Even despite the warning that it’s illegal to keep up with this?”

     “It’s the best thing I have to feel like those ten years weren’t a waste. It’s boring too… just hiding here all the time.”

     Naomasa lets out a deep sigh, and then says “Well if you’re going to keep up with it, then we should at least find some way to draw less attention for you… which means we need to find an easier way for you to turn in criminals. Do you have a phone?” A quick shake of Midoriya’s head to answer the question. “I could get you a phone? You could directly contact me, and I’ll send nearby heroes to you?”

     “I don’t want to risk anything with a phone at all,” Midoriya replies. “I don’t really know how easy it is to track them…”

     Whether that worry for tracking was just directed towards the commission, or his lack of entire trust in Naomasa, it was a fair enough concern, something Naomasa wouldn’t press on. He had to earn the kid’s trust, and trying to pressure a phone on him after his worry towards being tracked was a sure way to demolish any of the trust that he had built up between now and then.

     Most of Naomasa’s ideas involved some kind of tracker… so he kept himself from voicing any more of them.

     So Naomasa slowly stood up, and then said “Then I’ll leave my window open. Any cases you find that you don’t think you can personally handle, just leave something for me to find them, alright?”

     Midoriya watched Naomasa carefully before he asked “The Musutafu police department? Or somewhere else?”

     Naomasa gave the exact location to find his office, especially putting emphasis on the window, knowing how often the kid was on the rooftops. It was good, in a way, that the kid had picked up that habit. It was probably the safest and most discreet way to get to the window in the first place.

     “I don’t usually have people walking in and out, if that helps,” Naomasa adds. He really had to try to make sure the kid knew that he wasn’t laying out some kind of trap, or had any plans to send heroes to the apartment. “I’ll go ahead and keep out of your hair now… just let me know if you need anything, alright? Stay safe, kid.”

     And with that, Naomasa finally made his way out of the apartment, hearing Midoriya quickly lock the door behind him. 

     It was on the walk back to his office that he realized that he would have to figure out some way to explain this to Nemuri. He had his conclusion, and couldn’t keep sending her everywhere. But at the same time, it would just be suspicious for him to get her to suddenly stop, all while bringing his own investigation to a close as well.

     He had to think of some way to bring this to a close, with minimal suspicion. Naomasa didn’t want to lure anyone over to Midoriya. His plan was just entirely to leave the kid be until he needed something, and decided that he could trust Naomasa enough.

     But he still had to show enough interest in the vigilante case, especially after he had been invested in it for so long. He couldn’t just lose interest without having found something.

     Naomasa had to take every step carefully from now on. This was a secret just between him and the kid, and that he couldn’t get a hero involved in on. After all, not even Naomasa knew whether or not the commission would start recruiting heroes to find him, let alone if he could fully trust the heroes.

     Even Aizawa was a risk he wasn’t willing to take. The man hadn’t gotten his reputation by sparing people once he got their story. If he felt someone was in danger, he would do whatever it took to stop that danger.

     It was also just risky to leave Midoriya with heroes at all, not knowing just how close of tabs the commission was keeping on everything.

     It was sad that the best option was abandoned areas, where the kid would just have to hope that nobody would find him. And he had come awfully close to being caught, if Naomasa wasn’t counted.

     Then he got up to his office, where Nemuri was waiting. Her foot anxiously tapped on the ground, and she was quick to get up once Naomasa walked in.

     “Where have you been? You’re usually here all the time,” she started, worry on her face. 

     “Didn’t I ask you to take a couple days off,” Naomasa asks with a smile, trying to ease Nemuri’s worries down.

     “I tried! But there’s a kid out there, and I still haven’t seen him.” Ah, so Midoriya’s run out in the night, an attempt to getting back to his schedule, only for it to become a grocery run, had kept him from being spotted by Nemuri still. “I genuinely think something happened to him. He has to be hurt or something.”

     “I’m sure the kid is just continuing to wait this whole thing out. Give him a week or so, when he’s sure that the villains are off the streets, and I’m sure he’ll come back,” Naomasa tries to reassure.

     Nemuri didn’t seem satisfied with the answer, but moved on anyway, as she returned to her initial question. “Seriously, where were you?”

     “I was looking to wrap up that villain’s murder,” Naomasa begins to explain. “So I went on a little trip around the city. How long have you been here?”

     The hero looks away at his question before she says “Hours. You really could try to not be gone so long… it’s rude to keep a woman waiting. Especially at your usual meeting time.”

     “Then I apologize.”

     “Did you find anything out there?”

     This was when Naomasa would have to figure out just what kind of lie to go with. He could use the story he had come up with on his walk, or just say that he hadn’t found anything. The only issue in that decision lied in whether or not to try to give Nemuri closure on the situation.

     But he knew what he would prefer to do, seeing how nervous she got.

     Naomasa had studied faces long enough to figure out when a person was lying, even without his quirk giving any kind of indication. The little facial twitches that could give people away. He had learned how to keep his face as calm as possible, that way there should be no easy way to determine whether or not he was being honest.

     But since he generally told the truth, he wasn’t often suspected as a liar. So when he needed to lie, he had to make sure he could keep his story straight.

     “It seemed the villain tried to hold out for a while. But eventually, they got hungry, and broke into someone’s apartment, while they were going home. The man was just going back to his apartment, where his two grandchildren were waiting, and had been attacked on his way in the door. He’s in the hospital now, on a quick road to recovery. But one of the grandkids had a flight response, and the other had a fight.”

     “So… the fight response kid took down the villain?”

     “Yep… the kids are a little shaken, but they’ll be fine. That same kid was the one who left the body for you, because they were looking for a nearby hero. Didn’t have their phone, and the other kid was trying to get their grandfather to the hospital… that was their best idea. Not actually the best… especially since they panicked once they ran into the villains… but it worked.”

     Nemuri skeptically looked over him for a minute, but finally seemed to accept it as the truth. Hopefully. That’s when she finally manages a small laugh, and then says “That really was such a bad idea. At least nobody seemed to have been killed.” That was when her smile quickly faded, and she asked “But how did the villain not have anything in his system? You said his digestion takes a couple of days.”

     Shit.

     He needed to think, and quick. 

     Naomasa tried to hide any panic on his face, and then said “Because the villain never actually got a bite. The grandkid made sure of it. Their grandfather got hurt after being knocked down, and broke some bones. That’s why he’s in the hospital.”

     Nemuri just slowly nodded along, before saying “Oh… alright. Well… if that’s wrapped up, I should go home for the night.”

     Naomasa took that as his turn to nod as he said “Stay safe out there. Please try to relax this time.”

     “I’ll try.”

     And with her out of his office, the door shut behind her, Naomasa immediately slumped against his desk, hoping that the lie actually worked, and that he had made it believable enough. He really just needed to make sure that everybody was going to be okay, and kept apart from each other as much as possible.

     Izuku spent the next week on edge, hardly bringing himself to be able to exit his room at all, other than to rush out to the kitchen or bathroom. All of the food he had been eating hadn’t even been things that he needed to prepare in there, wanting to keep his trips to the kitchen brief.

     He wanted to think that there was somebody new to trust, but he couldn’t do it. He had been so overly honest that he was scared it was all going to be used against him. But he tried to lean on the things that Tsukauchi had told him, and about how he hadn’t liked the commission ever since the custody trial… though an hour after the detective left, Izuku found himself worried that it was a lie just to get Izuku to be honest.

     Izuku was technically a criminal, after all, breaking laws to fight villains at night. The detective had even admitted to having to often deal with vigilantes.

     He had considered trying to find somewhere new to go, but he couldn’t bring himself to put a single foot out the door. So he instead sat close to his cracked window, listening closely to every sound that happened on the street, waiting to see if the detective was going to send a bunch of heroes and officers after him.

     After a week, however, Izuku tried to tell himself that it wasn’t too big of a concern anymore. Tsukauchi was sure to know Izuku’s quirk, and would know that it wouldn’t do much to make him a major threat towards so many officers and heroes. If the detective wanted Izuku turned in by now, surely, he would have done so already? It shouldn’t take much to get a few heroes and officers to take down one person, right?

     So he eventually went right back to sleeping, instead of sitting under the windowsill, and his sleep only coming to him by accident.

     For the fact that Izuku had been so against just being in one spot, and wanted to get up and do things, time passed weirdly quickly for the fact that he was hardly moving at all. He hadn’t even bothered with his calendar anymore, losing track of the days, and how much time was beginning to pass. 

     He was just so tired of being stressed over everything. Izuku wanted a chance to relax so badly, but it felt impossible at this point. Even when he told himself that there was nobody that seemed to be actively looking for something on the street, the fear of Tsukauchi sending someone never went away.

     But he tried not to care, as he wrapped himself in blankets, despite the summer heat just outside the apartment. 

     Izuku was getting so tired of trusting nobody… he missed when he could talk to people without worry. But even that was a memory so far back, that the concept of trusting people easily seemed like such an outlandish idea.

     It was just Keigo he could trust, and Keigo he could talk to freely. But Keigo was also supposed to keep his distance.

     That was why Izuku was beyond confused when a feather slipped through his barely open window, and unlocked the door. Knowing it was Keigo, however, he just buried himself in the blankets once more.

     He didn’t think he could do much talking, especially after the stories he had had to tell. There were so many more words said than he had expected in either situation, and truthfully, he didn’t have much to talk about past that. 

     Especially after he had just kept himself in his room as long as he had.

     Izuku listened as Keigo’s footsteps got closer, before stopping just in front of the pillow fort, right when Keigo started to crawl in.

     The hero poked Izuku’s shoulder repetitively as he said “You left the money out for a couple weeks again… last time that happened, you were a little bit dead… you’re gonna scare me to death if you don’t at least try to pick up the money.”

     Izuku continued to not reply, which got a sigh out of Keigo.

     “I went on a grocery run for you too,” Keigo added, rustling the plastic so that Izuku could hear that they really were there. Keigo went to nudge Izuku again, and said “Hey… you can’t hide in there forever.”

     Izuku peeked out from under the blankets, looking towards the bags and envelopes. He let one of his arms slip out from the comforting warmth, and then reached to dig into the bag. It was about time he ate something anyway.

     He tried to not look up at Keigo too often, especially after seeing his worried expression… Izuku hated to be the reason for someone being worried. 

     “Hey, are you okay,” Keigo asked, his head tilting in an attempt to match Izuku’s, who was laying against a few plushes and pillows. “Did something happen?”

     Izuku looked up at Keigo once more, trying to figure out just how he would answer. Within all honesty, he would prefer to just say that nothing happened at all. He was just feeling horrible. He also wasn’t even entirely sure why he felt this bad, especially after things had happened. Sure, he had felt afraid in those moments, wanted out of them as quick as possible… but now, he hardly found himself with any energy for anything at all.

     And if Izuku were to tell Keigo about Tsukauchi, Keigo would probably insist that they start trying to find someplace else for Izuku to stay, something that Izuku wouldn’t have the energy for.

     “Nope,” Izuku eventually replies, turning back to the darkness in his blankets as he dragged a box of poptarts under them.

     Then it was Keigo’s turn to be silent for a long moment, up until he eventually said “I’ll be back tomorrow, okay? Let me just go get this stuff put away, and I’ll see you soon enough.”

     Well, if he really did come back tomorrow… that time would probably pass much quicker than expected.

     So with Keigo out the door once more, and Izuku carefully trying to eat the packet in his hands without making a mess, he eventually went right back to sleep.

     And then it went as promised, with Keigo coming right back the next day. However, the unexpected moment was when he quickly went into the pillow fort, and then grabbed Izuku and the blankets that he had covered himself in, pulling them out.

     Izuku let out a yelp at the sudden movement, grabbing the box of poptarts that was nearly left behind. He almost didn’t get them, just barely getting a grasp on one of the small flaps of cardboard.

     Keigo walked down the hall, taking Izuku to the kitchen. And before Izuku could really let himself get lost in thought while staring at the spot he very specifically remembered seeing his own large pool of blood in, Keigo set Izuku down near the counters, and then said “It’s your birthday, so we’ve gotta do something special!”

     Was it? Had it really become the fifteenth already?

     “I’ve decided we’re going to make a cake together,” Keigo began to explain. “And I’ve already bought everything, so no protesting. I don’t know how long you’ve been in those blankets, but we’re getting you out of them today, you hear me? You’re getting out of them, and helping me make your cake! Or at least eating the cake! Out of all of those blankets.”

     Izuku just looked up at Keigo with a confused expression for a minute, before asking “Then why did you drag me out with all the blankets?”

     “... So you could do it yourself.” Right… that was definitely the answer. And definitely not that Keigo’s first and only plan at that moment was to get Izuku out of the room. “I mean, I can get all of those blankets off and drag them to the room if that’s what we’re going for?”

     “I’m good,” Izuku replied, before reaching into the poptart box to grab another.

     “Alrighty then! Time to get baking!”

     So that was what they did. 

     Izuku had managed to stay in the blankets for a while, with random things being handed to him to work on when it came to baking. But once it just got frustrating with the blankets in the way, he shrugged them off and returned to whatever the task was that he was on.

     By the time that they were done with most of the work, Keigo and Izuku were sitting in front of the oven, watching and waiting for the cake to be done.

     Then, once the cake had been baked and set out to cool for a while, it was finally time to ice it, something that the both of them kept messing up as they tried to carefully get it smoothly across the entirety of the cake.

     “How do people even do this,” Izuku asked, butter knife in hand as he frustratingly stared at the bit of icing he had just been working on, with crumbs now mixed into the icing, and able to clearly be seen. 

     He had been trying to cover it up again for a while.

     “Godlike powers, I swear,” Keigo replied, continuing to try to smoothen out the sides of the cake, and putting more icing in the area he was working in. “It’ll probably taste good though.”

     “At least I’ll technically live if you poison the both of us with this.”

     “Hey now, I had you working on it too!”

     “I didn’t sign up to be a technical assistant in murder.”

     And then their cake was done, with far too much for the both of them to eat in one day, especially for the two of them. But it had been made, and Keigo had been quick to get out a couple of plates, and put two big pieces on each.

     “Have a little more icing too,” Keigo said, grabbing the butter knives that they had left to the side, and scraping the remnants onto Izuku’s plate.

     “At some point, I think this is an icing overload,” Izuku said, tilting his head to the side as he looked at the cake to icing ratio on his slice.

     “Eh, we’ll be fine,” Keigo replied, taking a big bite of his own slice.

     It wasn’t until they were halfway through that Keigo suddenly jumped up, and started digging in his plastic bags as he muttered “Shit, I can’t believe I forgot this. How the hell did I forget?”

     When Izuku was about ready to ask what he was looking for, Keigo held his hands in the air, triumphantly showing the pack of candles and lighter he had bought.

     “Time to light these so you can make your birthday wish,” Keigo declared, opening the pack of candles fast enough that he had to try to catch them all, and keep them from falling to the floor. With his reflexes, he was successful… but it was amusing to at least see Keigo struggling a bit.

     But then the candles were in the cake, all carefully lit. Keigo was quick to start singing the birthday song, a moment that Izuku could only assume was awkward for the both of them, with Izuku sitting around and wondering what he should be doing, and Keigo probably feeling awkward being the only person singing it.

     It was a relieving moment for the both of them when Izuku blew out the candles, and they both quickly returned to their slices of cake.

     He hadn’t put much thought into his birthday wish… so it was just a general wish for all of this to end up well in the end. It was an easy one, and something he could hope for.

     When Keigo finally had to leave, taking a couple, more average sized, slices of cake with him, he stayed in the doorway for a moment to say “Just try to get out again, alright? It might help a bit… vigilantism or not. I think it would just do you some good to get out of the apartment.”

    And then he left, leaving Izuku to lock the door behind him. He looked at his room for a minute, before making his way over to the cubby he had stuffed his vigilante outfit into a couple weeks prior. 

     Maybe Keigo had a point…

     Inko was a woman of habit. She knew she was predictable all the time, but it was never something she minded. It wasn’t like it put her in any immediate danger. Habits could be what kept people safe, after all. Being predictable could be what would get her out of trouble one day, should something occur.

     But this small habit wasn’t anything dangerous. At least, she didn’t think so. Mitsuki would probably tell her it was just a habit that hurt her in the long run, but Inko didn’t mind this habit. It was just something that was more of a reminder, something small compared to the grand effort she wished to put into the day.

     Her son’s birthday was something she never stopped celebrating, even if it was just a quiet moment in the kitchen, with the small baked good she had tried to make, and the candles that she would have to blow out herself, like she had to do when Izuku was much younger, and unable to get enough air to blow them out, or focus enough.

     Izuku was still her child, no matter what, and she refused to spend the day doing nothing. 

     With everyone else in the house in bed, Inko made her way to the kitchen, and started pulling out one ingredient after the next, putting herself to work. She was just going to make a small cake, just big enough to not be considered a cupcake. The candles were already set to the side and waiting to carefully be placed on it.

     In a way, it was relieving to be making the cake as late as she was, where she would have to wonder whether or not she would still have it finished before the sixteenth came around. But without fail, every year, she managed to get it done so close to the time Izuku was born at. 

     Her boy, who was born late at night, keeping her up at a time she had usually wanted to be asleep. But even when she had seen that night through, and watched as the clocks changed to the next day, nothing could beat the motivation she had to stay awake that late, with her little son who she wanted to cherish every day. It had felt like a miracle the moment he was in her arms.

     He couldn’t be in her arms now, but she dreamed of the day she could. The day she could wrap her arms around him as he blew out his birthday candles, right after he had made his wish for the year. 

     So she leaned forward, once everything was done, and the candles had been lit, and blew them out for him for yet another year.

     Inko couldn’t wait until she could say that it was the last year she had tried to celebrate his birthday for him.

Chapter Text

     Nemuri had been doing her best to waste time, and do as Tsukauchi had asked her. In the weeks that passed, she had tried to focus on the classwork she would be handing out, and then tried to spend time with Yamada and Aizawa, in hopes of making up for all the time she had missed with them over the months that she had poured into finding the vigilante.

     At least Tsukauchi had promised to let her know when the kid would call in, or the moment he had been spotted.

     Chances were that they’d hear him calling in a villain first though, should he actually come back, and if he was safe.

     Her worry for him had intensified when she found out he was quirkless, but it had, in equal part, made her quite impressed. He seemed to be doing pretty well… but she also knew how much more risk it could put him in should he end up getting himself involved in anything bigger.

     Though she also often found herself worried that Tsukauchi wasn’t being entirely honest with her, and was just nervous to share what he had learned about the vigilante, out of some kind of worry that it would get out, or she wouldn’t react to what he deemed appropriate. 

      Truthfully, as long as she was able to find out the kid was okay, and continue her search, she would be happy. He could cover up what he needed to, but only as long as she eventually knew that the kid was okay.

     Frankly, she felt like two weeks was beginning to be too much, ever since she found out the outcome of the villain’s death, how it had apparently happened. It hadn’t been a wonderful story, but she supposed that sometimes the wildest things could be true. And Tsukauchi wasn’t really the kind of person to lie, let alone be good at it.

     If he had, he usually had a reason.

     She just hoped that it wasn’t some way to cover up that the kid was actually dead, and he was afraid to just let her know, after spending close to three months looking for him.

     Nemuri went along with the hope that if something bad had happened to the kid, she would have at least been completely shut down on the look for him. The fact that she had been told to go on a break from looking for him had been enough to worry her, especially knowing that Tsukauchi had gone to look for any kind of answers on the villain’s death… and then had come back with answers.

     Two weeks now, and her break still continued.

     It had been four weeks since the kid basically entirely disappeared. 

     And after all of those weeks of stressing herself out, it was time for a Yamada ordered spa day. A late one, at that, considering Yamada was stressed out about his husband’s late patrols as well.

     This spa day was really going to be the best for the both of them.

     They were already used to having their spa days after dinner, but they had met up close to midnight at Yamada’s house, trying to destress closer to the time that they were usually stressing themselves out lately.

     Nemuri had also just ended up getting used to being up this late anyway.

     She and Yamada were laying down on the floor, his phone blasting out music while they let their face masks sit on their faces. Nemuri had her feet propped up on the coffee table, looking at her freshly painted toenails, and waiting for them to dry, all while slightly rocking them side to side. Yamada, on the other hand, was just laying there, not wanting to paint his nails tonight, despite Nemuri’s insistence.

     And Nemuri had also been talking about the whole thing with Tsukauchi and the vigilante, talking to the one person she actually could about all of this.

     Yamada thought about his answer for a while, before eventually saying “Tsukauchi just seems to be a little secretive lately, but I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing… I mean, you were brought into this because Tsukauchi wanted to give Sho a bit of a break, even without knowing how long this would take. So he’s being secretive because he’s trying to look out for Sho. I think he’s just doing the same for you… but I can agree that some of the stuff is suspicious… but maybe not in a bad way, like you may be thinking.”

     “It’s just,” Nemuri starts, laying her right hand over her left, resting both of them on her stomach after slightly tossing her hands in the air out of indignation, and then continuing. “I want to trust him, but it’s been so long! He hasn’t suddenly dragged you into this, has he? I swear, he’s going to go through all of us once he’s decided one of us ‘needs a break.’”

     That was something that got a small laugh out of Yamada, before eventually saying “I’m sure I wouldn’t tell you if he had! But nooo… this is just a genuine break from the vigilante case.”

     “I wish you would just say ‘yes,’ that way I’d have some hope that the kid is okay,” Nemuri huffed. 

     “Well I am just being honest with you,” Yamada replies. “Seriously though, relax! When Tsukauchi wanted to get Sho some rest time, that was what he had managed to get, even if it was only for a couple days, before he got all invested in some other investigation. But the point is that he got to relax, and you’re hardly even trying! We’re trying to have a spa day.”

     A small pillow was very quickly grabbed from the couch by Yamada, and lightly tossed in Nemuri’s direction. In retaliation, she quickly grabbed it, and hit him harder with the pillow.

     “I’m tryiiing,” she fusses. “But this is someone else’s life we’re talking about!”

     “You are one of my very dearest friends, and as nicely as possible, I think you may be overthinking this… Tsukauchi already confirmed that the villain hadn’t eaten anyone else, and that the people who were attacked at all were okay.”

     “But there’s no way to confirm that the villain actually didn’t eat at all in the few days before! He’s always hungry, so it’s hard to tell what sort of level! He could have eaten someone on the first day out of excitement to be out or something…”

     “Girl… if you don’t relax, I’m changing the music to Sho’s playlist.”

     “I think you’re on a mission to kill me…”

     “I will be if you keep disturbing the peace we’re trying to make here,” Yamada jokingly replies.

     It was after that that the two of them went back to zoning in on the music, up until it was finally time to get the face masks off. 

     Nemuri had actually been about halfway through with getting her own off when her phone suddenly started ringing. And it was one of the ringtones that she had made sure to make different from the general ringtone… so she was quick to abandon getting the mask off, and instead rushing over to where she had left the small device. 

     “Hello,” she quickly said, the moment she had answered the call and put the phone to her ear. 

     She would deal with the soaps and such left on her screen later.

     “Musutafu’s local vigilante is officially back out,” Tsukauchi told her, his own amusement in getting to tell her clear in his voice. 

     “No shit, really? Like, seriously? You’re sure,” Kayama quickly questions, her mouth gaped open. It was a call she had been waiting for, words she had hoped to hear… but believing it after what she had convinced herself of over the past couple of weeks was something entirely different.

     Yamada peeked out from the bathroom, his eyebrows furrowed as he tried to listen in. 

     Nemuri decided to put the phone on speaker for him.

     “Yeah, yeah. It was a call directly from the vigilante on one of the villain’s phones,” Tsukauchi replied. “I confirmed it with the villains he took down today too. The style that they were knocked out in fits the bill.”

     Nemuri couldn’t bring herself to say anything else in her excitement and relief, instead only able to stare at the phone she tightly held.

     And then she was getting up, just a mere moment later, up until Tsukauchi said “Though I’m going to ask that you give him time to get back into this, and we can try to make sure he’s really back. Maybe give him a week? And we’ll see if this continues. But I told you that I’d let you know if he popped up again, so here’s me letting you know.”

     Nemuri stuttered over her words for a minute, something she hardly ever did, constantly speaking with a confidence that left the people around her wondering just how she was able to do it. To be lost for words was something almost new to her at this point. Eventually, however, she managed to get out a “Thank you! Okay, okay, just keep me updated through the week! Then I’ll get right back to that patrol if he keeps showing up.”

     “Will do. Alright, you get back to relaxing, or whatever it is you’re doing. I’m afraid your late working times may pick up again,” Tsukauchi said with a chuckle. “Alright, good night, Kayama.”

     “Good night, Tsukauchi,” Nemuri replies with a smile, quick to hang up her phone, and rushing back to the bathroom.

     “Told you that the kid was okay,” Yamada quickly said, the moment that Nemuri had returned. That had, of course, earned him a quick whack to the back of his head.

     But now she finally knew that the kid was okay, and she would instead spend her next week excited, rather than drowning in her own worries.

     Plans had been made very quickly after that call. The only thing that had probably kept Nemuri sane in that week was that she had someone to talk to about it, even if they had to be secretive. 

     Well, there were two people she could talk to about her excitement, yet only one that she was actively making plans with. 

     Tsukauchi was going to keep to his office, as usual, while Nemuri and Yamada made their way out onto the streets once she got the call that the vigilante had consistently been out for the past week.

     The few updates she had gotten had made her comfortable enough to assume that she would get to go out again, especially when the one day that the kid hadn’t shown at all was a day Tsukauchi reported to have been quiet anyway, with all of the villains coming in having been from other parts of Musutafu, where the kid didn’t have his usual patrols.

     Then the week mark finally came around, and Nemuri was quickly making her way towards Yamada and Aizawa’s apartment, leaving her own just a little bit before Aizawa should be setting out for his own patrol. It would give her friend time to actually be on his patrol, and some ways away from his own apartment, that way he wouldn’t catch her going there. Of course, she could probably come up with a good enough lie on the spot for why she was going over so late, but she would really rather not right now. Not when she was so excited.

     It had been enough of a mental war just to let Yamada accompany her tonight anyway, when she had been so eager to just go on her own, in hopes that the kid would be more willing to see her that way.

     But Yamada had been her emotional support, in a way, over the past few weeks. He at least deserved to be able to go with her on her first patrol around the kid’s usual area.

     Nemuri just hoped that she would still be able to spot him, despite her extra company.

     Yamada would hopefully be easier to disguise, especially with his hair down for once, and keeping his sunglasses off for the night. It was night, after all, and it would just be weird to be wearing sunglasses by that point. Wearing them would surely just make him more suspicious.

     And within all fairness towards Yamada, he did more between his hero costume, and his casual clothes, especially when it came to styling his hair. Nemuri usually just changed between her costume and casual clothes, and would often change her own pair of glasses.

     Her hair could probably have been a dead giveaway.

     Though, Nemuri was never sure just how well the kid could recognize heroes. With how quickly he had recognized her, and knew to keep his distance should he want to avoid her quirk, she didn’t doubt that he would be able to figure out Yamada fast enough, especially if she was near him.

     And the plan was to stick close to each other while looking for the vigilante, with Yamada following her on her usual patrol route. There was a very small chance of them actually separating on this patrol that Yamada had very persistently volunteered for, especially after Nemuri’s relief and excitement had rubbed off on him, with his many “I told you he was okay”s following after.

     Then she had gotten to the apartment, knocking on the door, and hardly waiting for long, before it was suddenly thrown open, revealing Yamada, dressed in his casual clothes, and ready to go. His hair was entirely down too, sure to throw some people who may recognize him off for a bit.

     “Anything you need to grab before we go,” Yamada asks, while still standing in the doorway. The only way she was getting into that apartment at the moment was if there was something she had forgotten to grab, and that Aizawa and Yamada were likely to have.

     But there wasn’t anything. So she shook her head while she said “Nope. Are you ready to go?”

     “Been ready ever since a few minutes after Sho left,” Yamada excitedly replied, grabbing his keys off of the little cat shaped hooks that they had next to their doorway. He stepped out of the apartment, locking it behind him before turning back to Nemuri as he gestured to the stairs, and asked “Ready to go?”

     “You best believe it!”

     And then their patrol started, with Yamada and Nemuri quietly chatting along the way, at first. They tried to keep quiet in hopes of not scaring the kid off, or bringing some unwanted attention their way. The both of them were heroes, but one of them especially would get complaints for all the noise they’d be making at this time of night.

     There was a really good reason her friend was a spotlight hero, and kept to working in the day.

     But, with the two of them as they were, and both rather talkative people, they were less than an hour into their patrol when they were confronted by Aizawa, who cleared his throat from up on one of the nearby rooftops.

     Oops…

     The two of them didn’t have any plans to be out long, considering Yamada wasn’t used to being up too late, often falling asleep in the time he had been waiting for Aizawa pretty early on. And working all of his jobs in the daytime, it was often necessary for him to get his rest in the night, that way he could function throughout the day, and not have to worry about getting any energy drinks, or taking naps in the middle of the day.

     Those were two things about his husband that he refused to let rub off on him.

     But despite the fact that all of them were on summer break, and Yamada was temporarily down one job, he had broken that little ideal of his just slightly, and gotten himself a cup of coffee.

     Aizawa and Nemuri knew good and well that it was for the best that Yamada had sworn off the drink… and now they were paying the consequences for their equal hyperness. 

     Yamada was definitely winning though, if being the most hyper was a competition.

     But that very thing was what had Aizawa leaping down from the spot he had perched on, adjusting his scarf a bit as he made his way over to the two of them. As he got closer, Nemuri could see the raised eyebrow, and the face pulled into one of suspicion and curiosity as he looked over the two of them, trying to figure out what was going on, and what could possibly have the two of them out this late in the first place.

     Though, this was something that she and Yamada had at least prepared for. And she had already gotten a good look of their surroundings, summoning up a good enough excuse to try to get them out of this.

     “What are you two doing out here? I didn’t know that there were any plans,” Aizawa immediately starts to question the moment he came to a stop a couple feet away from them.

     “Last minute ones,” Nemuri replied with a smile. “Yamada’s challenging himself to stay up, that way he can greet you in the morning! But since we’re seeing you now, and it’s already past midnight, I guess we’ve already done that!”
    “Nems was here to make sure that I stay awake this time,” Yamada added. “We’re on break, so we might as well have some fun with it. Right, Sho?”

     Aizawa sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he muttered something about how he didn’t know what to do with them. But to them, he said “Walking around doesn’t seem like the best way to stay awake? Sounds more like letting go of that energy…”

     “I need to get him to walk out some of the energy from his cup of coffee,” Nemuri retorted. “Besides, some people would say that going on a walk feels energizing… or refreshing at least. And sitting around all the time can just as easily make people more tired.”

     “Okay… so do you have any plans while you’re out here, or are you just walking around at night? During the quieter hours? I would recommend going home…”

     “We’re actually out to get some snacks,” Nemuri eventually says, before gesturing to a nearby small bakery. Aizawa turns to look at the building himself, before shrugging and saying “You two be careful then. Streets have been busier at night lately than they should.”

     “We’ll be safe,” Yamada said with a smile, closing the couple of steps between him and his husband to give him a hug. “You stay safe too. Love you.”

     “Love you too,” Aizawa quietly replied, already awkward being in front of Nemuri, but even more so since they were out in the middle of the street, where cameras could catch them. Their relationship had been a big secret from the public, after all, and they didn’t want something like this to be what made it public.

     “Alright lovebirds, break it up,” Nemuri jokingly said, before grabbing Yamada’s arm. “I have snacks I want, and you two are holding me away from them!”

     And with that, the two of them were finally separated, and Aizawa was on his way to go look for some villains. 

     The two of them had very successfully gotten away with a lie against Aizawa, and that was a definite win in Nemuri’s books.

     Though, the mention of the sweets was enough to make Nemuri actually want some. So she dragged Yamada towards the building, glad that this was a place actually open as late as it was, and then getting her and Yamada some cakepops, as well as a few bags of small cookies.

     Then they were on their way once more, continuing their patrol down the much quieter than expected streets.

     Of course, Nemuri had just put more sugar in Yamada’s system… but at least it wasn’t a coffee. 

     If she had grabbed one for herself though, that was between her and Yamada.

     And whoever else she had suddenly heard from behind, another hour into their short patrol, when her coffee was almost gone, and cool, despite the warm weather.

     With Yamada walking a little ways ahead of her, she was quick to turn around, trying to see if she could spot whatever or whoever made the sound. She paused where she stood, looking up on the rooftops, and actually managing to spot the kid there.

     She smiled up at him before digging into her bag, and revealing one of the small bags of cookies. Stepping just a little bit closer, that way she would be more certain of her toss, she threw it up to the kid, who quickly reached forward to grab it, the bag almost slipping through his fingers.

     Nemuri looked in his direction just long enough to see him curiously looking into the bag. From where she was, and the distance between the two of them with the kid perched on the smaller building, it looked like she could see his eyes shine happily at the sight of the sweets.

     And with that, she gave him a small wave – something she hadn’t expected to see be returned, but had been – before turning back to go catch up with her friend, who had only just realized that she had been behind. It was probably the crinkling of the paper bag that had caught his attention, and he had finally processed just how far back he heard it from.

     He looked in the direction that he had most likely caught a glimpse of Nemuri looking towards, with his own mouth gaping open as he lazily pointed in the general direction, his own pair of bright green eyes watching as the kid seemed to run off, if the way that her friend’s eyes slowly moved to the side said anything.

     “That was him,” Yamada asks, a question to which Nemuri responded with a nod. 

     “That was him,” she said with a smile, putting her hands behind her back, feeling all of the leftover tension from the incident rolling off her shoulders. The kid was okay, and he had stuck around long enough for her to toss up cookies, something she was already surprised that he trusted her enough to do, and then got a wave.

     She figured that that would be enough for her to finally comfortably get the two of them back to the apartment, where they could at least try to stay awake for the night to keep the goal that they had had to lie to Aizawa about in the end. Their hope to avoid him had been missed, but they had at least met the goal of seeing the kid.

     Nemuri could finally feel a little bit at peace, and try to keep a few more tabs on the young vigilante. Even if those tabs were checking which snacks he would accept from her, should she keep continuing to find him, and get close enough to give him snacks in the first place.

     “What a successful night,” Yamada declared once they got back to the apartment, quickly running over to the couch, cake pops in hand, and turned on the tv, ready to watch a movie in attempt to keep them awake.

     They didn’t actually manage to stay awake at all for Aizawa that night. He had come home to the two of them knocked out after the sugar and energy rush.

     Keigo had been right about getting out again. The first attempt had been overwhelming after going out so close to when he had been killed by the villain, and then he had gotten the encounter with the detective. Tsukauchi, if he remembered correctly.

     All he had wanted to do was stay in hiding after that. But with Keigo making sure he was out of bed, and no sign of anybody on the way to get him… well, Izuku decided to listen about getting out of the house after the sudden birthday party he had. 

     Of course, that in itself had taken another day of trying to motivate himself for it, but with another slice of cake to motivate him and get him ready to go, he had made his way out for a relatively quiet vigilante night.

     A week later, and he was finally seeing Midnight again. It had been weird with how happy she seemed to see him, and when she tossed up a snack… then she kept up with it. He still put some effort into avoiding her, but whenever they were close, she’d give him another snack.

     Then he thought about his and Tsukauchi’s conversation, and risked letting himself get closer more often. He didn’t really say much of anything since Tsukauchi had said that they were looking for answers, and also because he wanted to make sure that the detective really wasn’t sharing what he had found out when he found Izuku.

     He was still really regretting sharing all that he had. But things at least seemed to be playing out okay.

     But it didn’t mean that he wouldn’t be taking further precautions. In fact, Izuku made sure to follow the instructions to Tsukauchi’s office, and taking a trip to watch through the window. He had made sure he was well hidden from the rooftop he was sitting on, not directly in front of Tsukauchi’s window, but close enough that he could look into it well, and see when the detective was there.

     It was when Tsukauchi was gone about a week into Izuku’s trips to the office, a trip he would only take once he felt satisfied with his patrols, that he went into Tsukauchi’s office himself, going through the unlocked window.

     Izuku didn’t know if the detective just always left it unlocked (a rather unsafe option, if you were to ask Izuku), or if it was just unlocked because of all of the things the detective said he would do, especially when it came down to making investigations easier for Tsukauchi, if there was something Izuku found and didn’t think he could take care of on his own.

     Really, the goal in that situation had just been for Tsukauchi to find an easier way to get to all of the villains that Izuku called in, but with no fast way to do that, this was the best he could manage.

     Though, Izuku still wasn’t ready to entirely trust the detective. Not until he got a look around.

     So with Tsukauchi out of the office for an unknown amount of time, he got to looking, looking through whatever was out and accessible.

      With a window on the door, he knew he had to be careful, no matter how small it may be. That was what had led to him being crouched close to the desk, a folder in hand labeled “Musutafu Vigilante.” It was a whole bunch of guesses and attempts at connections, but nothing definite. There were even some new notes, these ones leading further in the wrong direction after they heavily played along with Izuku’s “confession” to being quirkless. It had made the search more difficult for them, and Tsukauchi was letting it stay in that direction.

      That in of itself had been pretty relieving to Izuku, who put it carefully back in its place, and instead started to look and see what all was on the boards behind the desk, even looking on the other side to look for anything interesting. 

      Izuku did eventually find the board that had the connections that he could only assume Tsukauchi and Midnight were trying to make, but it was getting a little behind on what all was in the folder that Izuku had read.

     At least he got a better view on the pictures that they had managed to get while investigating.

     Before Izuku left, he did at least know what he wanted to help Tsukauchi with, and try to find what info he could dig out from one of the other investigations, the one that seemed to be in use, considering how close the board for it seemed to be to the desk, with pins sticking each paper to it, and threads messily trying to connect things, with some just barely reaching and others too long, clearly in an attempt to be connected elsewhere.

     It was really a memorization game for Izuku there, but he at least had an idea on where to start. He may even come back with something useful, considering that he didn’t exactly move around with warrants for anything in the first place. Izuku just investigated what he pleased.

     So with that, after the first week of keeping an eye on Tsukauchi’s office instead of sulking in his room in the hope that he wasn’t about to be arrested, he could confidently say that he was safe. Those notes, after all, had weeks to change, and Midnight’s questions continued to be as clueless as ever, asking things that Izuku knew he had already told Tsukauchi sometimes.

      If he were to give her any kind of answers, he would at least try to keep it on a similar path to the wrong direction that she and Tsukauchi had taken on paper.

     There was no definite proof that Midnight hadn’t been told in person… but Izuku at least wanted to trust that he had figured out her genuine emotions. And genuinely… she seemed confused.

     So for another week, Izuku let himself get closer to Tsukauchi’s window on the closer rooftop, this one close enough that, if he listened closely, and if the streets below were quiet enough, he could hear what all Tsukauchi was saying, and to whoever else was in the room. None of it had been anything big for him, and the conversations with Midnight just confirmed the trust he could have in the both of them.

     He honestly wasn’t too sure how to feel about Midnight worrying about and gushing over him… Izuku really didn’t think that accepting her snacks was much, but she was acting like some kind of proud mom who got their kid to eat a food that they had outright rejected for years by that point. 

     With the end of that week finally around the corner, and Izuku having gotten his envelope of money from Keigo already, he took a quick trip before his visit to Tsukauchi’s window.

     Well, it took two trips for what he wanted to get, with almost everything closed this late, after all.

     It took a lot of Izuku trying to be careful to get to the window once Tsukauchi left the room. But he was determined to get his gift to that window, as a way to thank the detective for not telling on him, and letting him continue to take over an abandoned spot as his own. Izuku hadn’t expected to run into another person that he could trust, despite needing to be just as careful around the detective as he was Keigo. So he had to find some kind of way to repay that kindness.

     And that kindness came in a very careful attempt to climb to the window, and eventually managing to get enough balance after using a windowsill on the nearby building, something he had to scale down with much more care than he had expected to need on most occasions, he reached Tsukauchi’s office.

     The first trips, where he had nothing in hand, were definitely much easier than this.

     But he had managed!

     Sliding the window open, Izuku crawled in with one hand, considering the other was busy holding the gifts, and trying to not tilt over at all. But he eventually reached the desk, and made sure to put the little bag full of donuts (it was a thing for officers and detectives to like them, right?) and the cup full of still warm coffee on the desk. Finally, he took one of the sticky notes, and managed to write a little “thank you” in just enough time, because once he doodled a small smiley face at the end, he could hear Tsukauchi nearby, coming back to his office.

     Izuku jumped out the window, leaving it open in his haste to climb back up the nearby building. That one, at least, had all of the lights off, the building probably just closed at this time of night.

     Once he got to the top, he listened to what Tsukauchi was saying to himself, something he could hear much easier with the window open.

     “Huh? Wait…” It was almost funny to Izuku that the detective’s confusion had been audible, up until the detective quickly poked his head out the window, his confusion quickly changing to a small smile once he saw Izuku peeking over the building. Tsukauchi gave Izuku a small wave, something Izuku returned before bolting back towards his apartment for the night.

     All of that climbing around while trying to balance a coffee was much more tiring than he wanted it to be. The stress it gave him made it enough of a task to compete with the exhaustion that fighting groups of villains gave him.

     After spending some of his money to get Tsukauchi something, Izuku figured it was about time he took another step towards getting out of the apartment. He couldn’t stand being in it all the time, and the only times he ever left usually involved risking himself. The shopping trips were different, but they weren’t frequent, and there wasn’t any enjoyment that he would hope to get now that he was away from the commission.

     Musutafu being close to the commission had been enough to make it not so fun, worried that he could run into someone he knew any minute.

     So, after deciding to not put the envelope into the safe for the night, Izuku decided to get out and do something. Especially to celebrate not being at risk of being arrested by Tsukauchi! He figured it would probably be good for him as well, considering that surrounding himself by the same things all the time wasn’t doing any good for him.

     No, Izuku was going to take a little trip, somewhere that felt safer in comparison to Musutafu, where he could run into commission members, heroes who may suddenly recognize him, or his mother. 

     Izuku would love to see her, actually, but he didn’t know how closely or often she was followed, and was scared to see her at all in the first place. He had no clue if she was upset at him still, and he had no clue where to start his apology off at.

     So it could probably be narrowed down to guilt and fear that kept him hoping to avoid her, and have fun somewhere else. Not the streets that the two of them had walked along when he was little, having fun wherever they felt like going, and the places where they could find All Might merch at.

     He wondered if she still had the small merch collection that they had started, ever since he had looked at All Might and found himself able to express his high interest in the hero.

     Besides, Izuku had already run into Katsuki once in his time in Musutafu. Though it hadn’t happened again ever since Izuku first ran off, he didn’t want to ever run the risk of it happening again. Running around at night and during school hours had probably been his best way to avoid another encounter like that.

     Waking up the next day, he was quick to grab his backpack, putting the envelope into it, leaving it carefully tucked in one of the smaller pouches inside the bag, in hopes of keeping it safe from falling out, or someone trying to quickly go through his bag and steal something.

     He had been fighting enough thieving villains at night to know that he wanted to try to set up at least a few precautions, no matter how small. Whatever could at least give him some reaction time.

     Izuku made sure to change into something comfortable, but still presentable enough to the point that he didn’t look like he was just waking up and trying to take a quick trip. He was leaving the city, after all, trying to go to whatever looked the most tempting once he got to the train station. He at least needed to make sure to look presentable.

     Wearing jeans instead of sweatpants was a definite step in the right direction for that… ignoring that he still wore one of the t-shirts he often wore to bed… as if he didn’t spend a lot of time sleeping lately.

     He had to change that too! A trip somewhere out of the apartment meant that he didn’t have his bed, and would have to be awake again! 

     Izuku just hoped that sleeping as much as he had meant that he would just have a bunch of stored up energy, no matter how much was wasted after his recent death, and not that he would find himself tired much sooner, and ready to collapse in bed any minute.
    Logic, however, told him that the option he was hoping against would be the winner.

     But that wouldn’t stop the fun Izuku would have in the day. He would make the most of his trip out, as he finally stepped out of the apartment, locking it behind him, and tucking the key in the same spot as his money.

     The trip to the train station hadn’t been too bad, despite the fact that he felt like he could be seen at any minute by someone he hoped wouldn’t see him. Considering it was summer, he had grabbed his hat, and that could at least keep him safe long enough to make a run for it, should he be recognized. But he couldn’t layer anything else on, not willing to try to put a fight up against the summer heat just for his own temporary mental comfort, between all of the anxiety he felt in the crowded train station.

     Besides, he was going somewhere that he should be safe for the most part anyway! Where nobody should recognize him, should he choose his destination well.

     Looking at his options, and how soon each of the trains would be leaving or arriving, he eventually decided on where he wanted to go, and made sure to pay for the ticket so that he could get there in the first place.

     The trip to Hosu had been nice. The train remained slightly crowded, but not enough that Izuku didn’t have some space to himself where he sat. Everyone was quiet, and it had been nice to see everything blur by, and the sights of what was far enough that he could take his time looking at them. 

     Izuku didn’t really remember getting an opportunity like this, considering he and his mother had kept themselves in Musutafu through all his memories, and the commission had kept him in one building up until he ran off. The train was a whole new experience, and it was nice, once he got over the anxiety from the people around him.

     He probably should stop secluding himself more often…

     Izuku wouldn’t deny that he was a little disappointed once they finally reached Hosu, and he had to get himself off the train. Of course, he could finally walk around and see the new sights closer… but it had been so cool to watch things move by with the train.

     He figured he could probably just find some of the Hosu sights even cooler, if he tried.

     Taking his first steps out of the train station, Izuku didn’t know where exactly he wanted to go. Things seemed a little normal from this part of the city, despite the fact that the little shops that were new to him looking relatively tempting. He had no clue how much there was to Hosu, but he knew that he wanted to try to have some fun here at the least. 

     Fun, with a much safer feeling than everything else did in Musutafu.

     His first stop had actually been to an arcade, something he didn’t expect to find at all, considering how outdated he knew they were getting by this point. But they had all sorts of eras for games, something that he ended up getting the most out of in the hour he spent there.

     Then he kept walking, and eventually ended up getting himself some lunch at a cat cafe he stumbled across. He spent a while there too, enjoying the time he spent there, eating food and then eventually getting to spend some time with a couple of the cats. 

     Not all of them had warmed up to him, which definitely got in the way of him being some kind of supernatural being who can befriend ever cat he comes across… but he had two! Those two were going to continue to be his favorites, should he ever come back.

     All of those traitor cats… for shame… for shame.

     They were still cute though.

     Fed and happy from his time with the cats, he continued walking around, up until he finally stumbled across a mall. 

     From what he remembered about the Musutafu mall, malls were basically the jackpot to find multiple things to collect. They were also the best place for merch!

     Izuku didn’t know when his need to collect things for the apartment would end… but he couldn’t be blamed, considering how bland his room had been for ten years.

     There were so many nearby and different options the moment he stepped foot in the mall, and he had no idea where to even start.

     His adventure eventually started with some clothes, all because he had been tempted the moment he saw some shirts that were vaguely themed like heroes. A whole bunch of hidden design choices that could be recognized if you were familiar with the hero.

     Izuku had been quite happy the moment he found some Hawks merch, considering Keigo hadn’t actually been a debuted hero for too long, and the shop wasn’t just set for hero merch. But Keigo had made it to the shop, and Izuku was getting the shirt.

     And wearing it the next time there was a planned visit with Keigo.

     He had made sure to get a couple things that weren’t themed after heroes there as well, just for the sake of not running around in hero merch all the time.

     For the next few shops, he managed to keep himself from buying anything, considering he was still trying to save for somewhere to stay for the night, tiredness already felt behind his eyes as he continued to walk around.

     By some point, he didn’t know how long he had been there, or how long he had been in Hosu… but he eventually stumbled across a really nice hero merch shop.

     All self restraint flew out the window the moment he saw some really cool merch.

     The only thing that had kept him from quite a few of them were the prices… so he settled with some simpler things, and finally made his way out of the shop.

     For his final stop, before inevitably getting lost and hoping to find an apartment or something for the night, he got himself a small dinner and some snacks from a shop in the mall, surrounded by others that were closing for the day.

     The sun was starting to set, after all, and people were sure to be ready to get their rest. Not all stores could stay open for forever.

     And then he was on the streets of Hosu once more, legs tired from walking around so much, hardly taking a break to sit, and finding himself exhausted in general. But he kept going, because that was what he needed to do. Izuku wasn’t going to let himself fall asleep on the streets.

     He eventually managed to find a cheap motel, something that didn’t put a big dent in the money he had left. Looking into that envelope, actually, Izuku would like to think he did a pretty good job with saving most of it, considering how expensive of a trip this could have been made into, especially considering all he had done in the day.

     Izuku could have tried to find the train station… but he had no clue where he was, and would rather have the daytime to look for it, when he wasn’t so worried about the idea of running out of time, with the last train having gone for the day, and then still needing to find himself somewhere to sleep.

      He was also worried that he ran the risk of falling asleep on the train.

      Getting to his room for the night, he quickly found himself heading towards the bed the moment he kicked his shoes off. His bag dragged behind him, and Izuku at least managed to get himself into some sweatpants for the night, All Might themed ones that he had found while shopping.

     The t-shirt… he just didn’t care. He already slept in it enough anyway.

     At least, until he remembered how hot it had been, and how he didn’t want to be going to bed after working himself to a sweat going through the streets. Sure, he had felt better after being in air conditioned places, and it hadn’t been too bad once it got later… but he was playing it safe, and jumping into the shower with all of his newfound energy.

     He was even changing his shirt tonight… first time wearing the Hawks merch for him! 

     All that was left with that was to hope that Keigo didn’t suddenly show up before Izuku managed to go and get his clothes washed.

     Especially now that Keigo had proven he was willing to take risks and go to Izuku’s apartment now that the hero knew where it was. 

     Izuku just had to make sure that there was no reason to be worried for him in the meanwhile. That meant that Keigo would visit…

     He could always just ignore the money and hide in his apartment again for a couple weeks, should he get impatient about showing off the shirt.

     It might be funny to see Keigo fly over all worried, with Izuku just waiting to show off a shirt.

     The thought of it made Izuku chuckle as he finished up with his shower.

     Finally, he went to the bed, collapsing on the big mattress, and trying to make himself comfortable. To be honest… it was weird. Izuku had gotten so used to sleeping on all of the blankets and pillows that he had made into a bed, that trying to get to sleep on something as cushioned as the mattress felt off.

     Comfortable, but off.

     Eventually, however, Izuku managed to get some sleep, and woke up early enough that he wouldn’t be a bother to any of the cleaning staff that were just trying to get things done early.

     It was on his trip to the train station, after managing to ask for some basic instructions from the woman at the desk that morning, that he ended up stumbling across a fight between a villain and hero. People were crowded around on the path that Izuku was trying to take… a path he wasn’t willing to venture off of out of fear that he’d lose it.

     He tried to work his way through the crowd, but eventually found himself watching in interest too, as Ingenium landed the final kick on the villain, knocking them in the opposite direction of where Izuku was going down the street. People cheered for Ingenium, who gave a few polite waves, before eventually turning to the police that had made their way there, ready to help the hero wrap up the events.

     And Izuku continued his path to the train station.

     It took a while, considering how far he had walked yesterday. But he eventually made it, and still had an hour to spare before the next train to Musutafu. So he decided to look at the nearby streets a bit better than he did yesterday, but only after checking to see just how much money he had left in the envelope.

     Enough to get himself plenty of snacks and movies, but he kept those relatively minimal, as he went back to the train station with a few movies and snacks stuffed into his bag after their purchase.

     The train ride back had less people, and was still just as comforting to him as the first one. 

     Once he was finally home, he crawled back into his pillow fort, and tried to stay awake a bit longer, make an attempt to break his constant schedule of sleeping through the day. He had already been up since morning, and could spare at least a few more hours to watch a movie or two that he had gotten.

     Maybe stay up a bit longer to work on his hero notebook… But then he would have to take a little nap before vigilante work for the night.

     The commission had really made him a creature of habit… risk or not, and even with the want to change things up, Izuku would still run out at night for vigilante work.

     At least last night, a night he hadn’t committed himself to vigilantism, had been spent happily relaxing, rather than sulking in his room and trying to hide from Midnight just to throw her off.

     He also didn’t want to make her that worried again, if the worry she had expressed to Tsukauchi was all genuine.

Chapter Text

     There were plenty of steps that Izuku would try to take in doing better, especially after his birthday celebration with Keigo. In fact, he thinks he’s done a lot of improving. But one thing that he was sure to say no to was staying in the kitchen for long periods of time.

     He would stay up all day if that was what was an option, compared to just sitting around in there for more than a microwave meal. He was looking over his shoulder too often to think that he could handle it in there. It was best to make his trips there brief, only ever making something that he didn’t have to focus on too intently.

     Even then, he hardly wanted to be in there at all, and had taken to just taking as many things as possible into his room.

     Izuku’s time in the kitchen hadn’t even allowed him the right mental space to try and make it more secure, especially when it came to the balcony door. He just kept it locked, and had no plans to ever leave it unlocked again… but the glass barrier between the outside and the apartment wasn’t enough. 

     Sometimes he could swear that he still saw the villain in the corner of the room, the sludge pouring down its body to make them appear larger, as it made a shield out of the sludge. The way that the void of their eyes somehow became deeper, and so much more menacing.

     So Izuku started to make sure that he wasn’t getting anything that couldn’t just store in his room. There hadn’t been much in that department that wasn’t snack food, so Izuku had to manage by pulling out more money than he had initially planned, and trying to get himself out of the house more than he thought he would just to get some good warm food. 

     He had become a frequent visitor to the cheapest nearby restaurants that he could find. Izuku tried to keep some variety in where he went, that way he wouldn’t run the chance of being recognized by some point. Even with that, he tried to make sure that he wasn’t going out every day.

     It didn’t seem like his best way to save money, depending on how long this went on. And he wanted to have a lot in case of an emergency. Even just one meal every other day was adding up, and he knew it was, the more he dragged money out of the envelopes. 

     He really wanted to try and think of some other kind of solution, but it was really hard to come up with one that didn’t involve spending a good deal of money, or spending so much more time in the kitchen. 

     Izuku was just so tired of trying to think of ways to fix everything, even if that was what a hero was supposed to do. It all just felt so different when it came down to trying to think of solutions for him.

     But the food had only been one of his problems.

     On Izuku’s many list of problems he had been having in the world lately, trying to calm down his nerves at all had been one of them. The slightest of sounds were enough to make him go completely silent, stopping everything that he was doing just to make sure that things were okay. Whether the noise sounded like it was outside or inside, everything had to come to a stop while he double checked.

     Izuku was starting to just keep almost everything he did at all relatively quiet. 

     Taking a shower was one of the worst moments with the constant anxiety of someone being just outside plaguing him. He half considered just going to some public shower again, had it not been for the fact he was so much more comfortable with the smaller bag, that made leaping from buildings so much easier. He also wasn’t going to let himself wait about showers after his vigilante runs.

     Not with how many blankets and pillows he slept on. He didn’t want to have all of those washed, alongside the clothes he wore. That was so much more work! And time!

     And he didn’t have a washing machine or dryer… he had to go out for those things.

     Izuku’s showers often involved turning the water on and off whenever he thought he heard something outside the bathroom, things that he probably only heard because he was so nervous and made himself think he was hearing things other than the shower. But whether it was in his head, the building itself making noise, or someone or something genuinely nearby, Izuku wasn’t running the risk of not trying to at least listen out for a bit.

     It was also safe to say that he started carrying one of the knives he had stolen everywhere with him. There was going to be a constant way to defend himself, that way he wouldn’t have to just die and then hope he could fix things again the next time.

     Izuku could die all the time, but he hated fearing the way that he could die. When things were more predictable, and when it was in the middle of a fight, Izuku could prepare for it, or the possibility. Someone suddenly being there was one of the worst ideas for Izuku, because there had only been two moments before that it had come unexpectedly. And that was when he discovered his quirk, and when the sludge villain had killed him a while ago. It was about two months since that point, and it made Izuku hate the sudden death all so much more.

     Vigilantism often at least let him predict what was going to happen, something he was sure could be better provided in legal heroics. Especially once it came down to being sent out on missions, with villains that people had already kept an eye on, or encountered before. 

     Izuku wished that he could have just gone about heroics like just about everyone else did, and wait until he actually got to go to a school for it. But at five years old, he was a ball of ambition, ready to do whatever it took to make his way into heroics, do be as amazing of a hero as All Might.

     But he was fine if this was where he was stuck at. He could manage it. At least, he figured he could, if he had already been able to go all of these months with this life. He was managing, and that was all he figured that he needed. A lonely life full of the fear of risks, and a struggle to meet all of the goals he had hoped for, but he thought he was finally getting to talk to people again, no matter how much they were all putting on the line just to talk to him.

     Izuku at least appreciated the effort, especially when it broke the general silence.

     Maybe when he’s older, he figured that he could finally get a place on his own, get a job and try to make some kind of fake identity. Or save up enough money to move far away, that way he didn’t need to go through the struggle and risk of a fake identity. He could get himself out of the country, and that would help him stay out of areas where the commission actually had any ability to go after him.

     With heroes all over Japan, they really had control throughout the entirety of the country… it was so hard to find anywhere that was actually safe from them, somewhere he could actually safely meet people and do things.

     All he knew was that he needed to get out, whether it was just out of the apartment for a bit, or trying to get out of the country altogether.

     That was what led to him venturing out further into Musutafu, something he often tried to avoid, out of fear that he’d see Katsuki again, or stumble across his mother. He hadn’t known just where in Musutafu he had been when he found Katsuki, but he knew that he didn’t want it to happen again. It was why he stayed in what he had determined to be the safe area.

     But he was bored, and wanted to try to see if he could find anywhere else to eat, not wanting to make himself too tired of the same food over and over. He didn’t want to grow too familiar with the cheaper restaurants, and then hate going there too.

     Izuku had no idea how long he would want to entirely avoid the kitchen, after all.

     With his sketchbook and pencils in hand, he was working on memorizing which street was what, though trying to keep his path mostly in a straight line, that way he could still get back to the street in the event that he actually forgot where to go.

     At least he was familiar with a whole section of Musutafu, and could find his way back the moment he recognized where he was.

     The part of Musutafu that Izuku walked through was busier than the part he usually walked in, which at least provided some comfort towards being able to blend in with the crowd better.

     He looked at every restaurant carefully, looking for one that wasn’t too busy, and one that at least seemed to have some reasonably cheap prices. He wasn’t carrying around his bag, so he just had some of the money tucked into his pocket, his hand shoved into the pocket that the money was held in so that he would be sure he didn’t lose it.

     Eventually, Izuku managed to stumble across a small restaurant that he actually wanted to check out. It was a little bit over what he was originally planning on spending, but it still looked so nice, and so quiet… it was definitely a place he wanted to check out, especially after making the whole walk there.

     He thought it over for a few more minutes, before deciding that that was definitely where he wanted to go now. So he took the last few steps that he needed to to get into the building, and was quickly able to take a seat.

     It didn’t take long for his food to already be ordered, and to have a glass of water next to him while he waited, sketching one of the heroes he had seen running around the other night. They weren’t someone Izuku recognized, so he found it pretty nice to have seen them at all, and wanting to sketch them down before he forgot what they looked like.

     He was sure that a few of the details on the costume would already be forgotten by the time he started sketching… especially when he realized that the sketch felt a little off. Izuku leaned into his seat, the glass of water in hand while he drank from it through the straw, trying to figure out just what he could be missing.

     This is what he got for not immediately trying to sketch them down.

     Izuku didn’t even know if they were an underground hero or not…

     It was as he remembered one of the details he had seen through the darkness, that he lunged forward, setting the glass down and taking the pencil back in hand. In the time that he was sketching down those details, the door to the restaurant opened, letting in two people who walked close.

     Their seat was just behind Izuku, one of them excitedly talking to the other, while Izuku kept his head down as he finalized the detail he remembered. He tried to zone out of their conversation, but one of them was particularly loud. Not to mention that his voice was traveling right in Izuku’s direction.

     Lifting his head up once he was done, he couldn’t help but listen in. There wasn’t much to listen in on, seeing as the two people behind him were talking about their cat for a while, and the one they babysat for a friend. Nemuri was the name of the friend, if Izuku had heard correctly.

     But their conversation went well, and Izuku eventually zoned out of it, focused once more on the drawing in front of him, and the water that he was almost out of.

     Then Izuku’s food had finally made it, and he turned as the person walked up with his food. That was when he noticed the two people, got a better look at them, especially the blonde that was facing in Izuku’s direction. He had seen that man before.

     That was who was walking around with Midnight on her patrol a week after Izuku had jumped back into vigilantism.

     Considering that Midnight is a hero, it was a safe assumption that the blonde man at least was a hero as well, and the outfit he had been in that night, as well as the one he was in now, was just his casual clothes that kept him from being recognized.

     Izuku didn’t look for long, quickly turning away to avoid suspicion. The hero just behind him was someone who could get him in trouble for two things: vigilantism, or being a runaway from the commission. And both led to Izuku being in trouble for taking residence in abandoned buildings.

     Though, avoiding being suspicious when he was already so nervous was a challenge in itself. He just had to hope that he wouldn’t be noticed by a hero, and that the hero’s full attention was on the man who was face-to-face with him.

     Izuku scarfed down his food, not even letting himself draw anymore at that point. He just needed out of the building, that way he could make his way back to the apartment, and try to calm down with his encounter with the hero.

     Which hero, Izuku hadn’t been sure. That was, until he was directly listening into their conversation by that point, trying to be certain that it wouldn’t lead to him or the hero’s suspicions.

     “I’ve actually managed to convince Kamui Woods to go on the radio show with me tonight,” the blonde man said between his bites of food, clearly trying to talk through a mouthful. “He was a little difficult to find a time on, but he was actually free about an hour before you need to leave for work.”

     The man directly behind Izuku hummed as he took another bite, giving some kind of acknowledgement to the hero. 

     There weren’t too many heroes with radio shows, especially who worked in Musutafu. And to convince heroes to come onto a show on what sounded like short notice? The options were very quickly narrowed down for Izuku on just which hero was behind him.

     Present Mic.

     Izuku would rather not deal with the man yelling, using his quirk to try to stop Izuku, and inevitably shouting something that Izuku would rather not be known to an entire street and then some.

     The food was gone so quickly, and Izuku paid for it even quicker, before gathering his things together, and bolting out of the building. 

     At least he had a good meal, no matter how quickly he had eaten it! He just wished he had gotten to appreciate it better, and enjoy his time somewhere new.

     Sometimes Izuku really hated how common it was to stumble across heroes, something only able to happen because of how many people wanted to be them. One person after the next become inspired – with Izuku being no exception – and inevitably made more heroes. Each generation’s amount of legal heroes just continued to grow.

     Vigilantes were just the common thing at the beginning of the quirk era, before there were legalities put into place, and society managed to accept quirks as a normal part of life. 

     Izuku smiled to himself on his run home, thinking about how he had been able to keep vigilantism a little alive.

     It would probably be pretty nice to run into another vigilante, despite knowing the statistics of one being able to last long. A fact that made Izuku a little bit proud, actually, knowing that he had managed to be an outlier in the current day. It almost made him want to see just how long he could keep it going.

     Tossing a glance over his shoulder once every so often, and relieved to see that he hadn’t been followed, Izuku finally reached his street, and quickly bolted into his apartment, locking the door behind him, and disappearing into his pillow fort once more. 

     Well, at least Izuku had managed to figure out another spot to avoid. He wasn’t going to run the risk of figuring out if Present Mic was a regular at that restaurant or not, especially when he had no idea if the man had been able to recognize Izuku at all, or even gotten a good enough look in the first place for the possibility of some kind of familiarity. 

     Sleep hadn’t been an easy thing to come by after that, so he instead kept himself half out of the pillow fort, trying to color the hero as best as he could with some colored pencils he had recently bought. They weren’t anything too special, but they got the job done.

     The hard part about coloring the hero, however, had been trying to figure out the exact colors, considering how dark everything had been when Izuku first ran into him.

     If only things could go by easily…

     And his now frequent visits to the detective’s office didn’t count. Nor did the time things seemed to go over smoothly once the detective had broken into Izuku’s apartment. 

     Really, anything with the detective just didn’t count, because those were horrifying moments initially.

     Though, thinking about the difficulty of things and the choices he made in those moments, he was really going to have to figure out where the line was for the risks he was going to take. Things were starting to feel a little scattered in that department. He was definitely relieved that there was nobody who would actually get to know about all those random choices he made, and the risks that seemed much… well… riskier that the other ones he had elected to not take.

     Hizashi wanted to get in just a bit more time with Shota before they had to go back to work, and a lunch date before their shopping trip was the perfect thing, if you were to ask Hizashi. He had picked a cute, quiet place in the middle of the city, and things were certain to go perfect.

     And they did. All of the time he wanted to spend with Shota was well spent during their lunch, and there wasn’t any reason for concern about their conversations. They had even had a moment between themselves where Hizashi was amused, despite the minor amount of suspicion that Shota held. That suspicion was quickly changed to a similar amusement once Hizashi got to explaining why he would rather look into the thing without a lot of overthinking.

     It was all when a kid just in front of them seemed to get all jumpy, rushing out the moment that his food was gone and paid for.

     “Think he recognized one of us,” Hizashi asked with a light chuckle, before going to take another bite of his food as the chime above the door finished its ringing. 

     “You, probably,” Shota replied, with a slight bit of disinterest or tiredness in his voice (it was sometimes hard to tell the difference, especially with him tired so often. A full night’s worth of sleep was really quite a challenge for him, or at least a full eight hours.) “Don’t really get how anyone would recognize me.”

     “Aww man, but this outfit has been working so well for me,” Hizashi sighed, playfully groaning as he rested his head on his hand for just a moment, lifting it as to avoid letting his hair get too close to the food. “Think is was the radio show talk?”

     “Definitely.”

     “But I could have just been any average radio show host.” Hizashi gave his husband a small frown, watching as he took a bite of his food. “Eh, some kids are just too good at recognizing heroes… big hero fanatics.”

     “I’d say you’d be winning that, considering you interview anyone you can.” Shota’s words were met with a shocked gasp, Hizashi quickly putting the palm of his hand against his chest, eyebrows furrowed as his mouth gaped. 

     “You could also say I talk to them for all of the fans,” Hizashi countered, the shock quickly fading as he took to leaning forward, an eyebrow raised towards his husband. “I do wonders for the hero fan community.”

     “While also fulfilling your own inner fanboy.” Shota took that as his turn to tilt his head, an eyebrow quirked up on his own face. “It’s not too hard to admit it.

     “I do think that it could be more than a fanboy thing. The kid looked scared… if he recognized you as a hero, don’t you at least think of it as a little suspicious that he got scared?”

     “Sho dear, I think you’re just thinking a little too hard into it. I’ve seen all sorts of reactions from fans, and some of them just get really nervous when it comes to meeting heroes. Kids are just weird.”

     “I don’t think I was that weird.”

     “You definitely were.”

     “I mean, I think I was relatively normal-”

     “-Ly weird. Remind me who here picked up tap dancing on a whim again?”

     “...I don’t know why I agreed to lunch with you.”

     “Because you love me!”

     “Don’t know how that happened either.”

     “Cause someone here needed someone who could match their weirdness, and I just so happen to fit that perfectly! We’re quite a wonderful duo, if you ask me.” That alone was enough to get Shota to smile, something that Hizashi knew he didn’t see often enough, and was always happy to be able to get to make happen on his husband’s face. Every time Shota smiled, Hizashi smiled even wider.

     Their lunch continued peacefully after that, the worry about the kid’s reaction and how Hizashi or Shota could have been recognized now behind them. It was just right back to their average conversations, enjoyed alongside their warm food.

     Anyone who knew Shota knew that the man was in need of more than the quick microwave meals and jelly pouches that he ate all the time anyway. So getting something that neither of them needed to cook, and could be at more peace with? This was a win for Hizashi.

     But don’t get him wrong, the both of them enjoyed cooking, Hizashi especially. Hizashi enjoyed collecting some hobbies in the little bit of free time he had. Though, that being said, the two of them hardly had much of any free time, with people wanting Shota to go on missions so much more than the average hero. Shota was nearly as needed as top ranked heroes.

     And with Hizashi working three jobs? The two of them were hardly home, let alone at the same time.

     They would forever be grateful to Lunch Rush for making sure that everybody was fed amazing food, and not just the students. The staff stuck together, especially since they were all working at least two jobs. It was just common knowledge that they needed to be there for each other.

     Lunch eventually passed, and then the two of them were going to the store for some simple things. Their bigger grocery runs were coming to a close again as the school year prepared to start up again, and they knew that they needed to stock up on the microwave meals again, that way there would be something to eat before they moved onto the next job in a hurry.

     The two of them would at least try to get a few ingredients for dinners to cook, at least, in hopes that one of them would have enough free time to make something, and then they could save whatever was left for whoever was or wasn’t home at the time.

     It was as they were about halfway done with their list that Shota suddenly started up a conversation that Hizashi hadn’t been expecting. A conversation that had successfully been avoided for weeks now, and that Hizashi had suspected to have been forgotten.

     Though, it wasn’t like Shota to forget things. No, he just remembered them and then used those memories at moments when the person he was going to target them with least expected it. It had been his best method to tell when someone was lying or not, when the panic settled in at the questioning.

     It was one reason that he waited so long with Hizashi, since Hizashi knew good and well about his tactic.

     After all, Shota couldn’t always rely on Tsukauchi. Honestly, too many people relied on Tsukauchi as is.

     “Nemuri has been acting weird lately,” Shota started. “These nighttime patrols were weird enough… I don’t see her often since she walks around mostly away from my usual patrol routes. But that isn’t all. She has been consistently keeping up with this in the school year. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

     There was no way for Hizashi to hide the panic that suddenly bubbled up in his voice as he quickly said “Oh, yeah. It’s really weird. She looks really tired lately too… I think our spa days have been helping her a bit though! Gets her tired enough to actually get to bed.”

     “And when you two were patrolling together a couple weeks ago?”

     “Our quick shopping trip?”

     “You didn’t go home after that one.”

     “Okay okay, so it was a patrol together. She just, well… I told her I’d keep her some company, maybe help lighten her load! I wanted to see why she thought it was so important to go on all those patrols!”

     “So you’ve known about them for a while?”

     “I mean… well…”

     “Alright, alright,” Shota trails off, resting one of his hands on Hizashi’s shoulder as they continued to walk down one of the aisles. 

     Hizashi was a whole bundle of nerves, trying to keep the secret for Nemuri and Tsukauchi. He had never been the best at secrets, especially once it came to his husband. To Shota. Lying to Shota just felt so wrong!

     Not to mention how hard it was to come up with something believable anyway, with how perceptive Shota was and all. The man knew what was predictable Hizashi behavior, and what wasn’t. That was something that Hizashi could admit with much shame, how predictable he had become to one person especially.

     Hizashi really was just weak for Shota.

     You would think that he would be able to lie well and come up with something quickly, being a radio show host. Especially when there was no kind of script with the random callers he would talk to on the show. 

     But those were strangers. Shota was someone else entirely, who knew everything about him, just as Hizashi knew just about everything about Shota.

     “If you think that you need to keep whatever this is a secret from me, then I’ll leave it be. I would appreciate getting to know what’s going on,” Shota started, trailing off and letting his arm fall to his side as he sighed. “But you keep secrets for a reason. If anything gets to be too much though, and you need some help figuring out these nighttime patrols, let me know. I’m just asking that you don’t let them be too frequent for you. You’ve got enough work to do as is.”

     “Only one of us can wear the eyebags,” Hizashi jokes, flashing a smile to Shota. It was relieving to see a small one in turn.

     “Just stay safe.”

     “We will.” Hizashi figured it was easy enough to stay safe when Nemuri was constantly around, and walking towards the aftermath of whatever fight the vigilante had gotten himself into. The kid was pretty friendly too, for someone who snuck around on rooftops.

     Hizashi had yet to see the kid himself, missing him in the two times he had patrolled with Nemuri. But everything he heard about the kid through Nemuri? He could trust that their nighttime patrols would be relatively safe.

     “Should I go out more for my patrols though? Is nobody doing a good enough job in that part,” Shota suddenly asked, his eyebrows furrowed as he thought it over. 

     Thought over overworking himself even more, that is. Nope! Not if Hizashi could help it!

     “Sho? Darling? My amazing and beloved husband? Dearest? Have you considered that you already patrol long enough, and that venturing out further would extend your hours? How about you keep letting all the other heroes who work at night work on that section,” Hizashi very quickly said, stopping in his tracks, and grabbing Shota by the shoulders. “You’re only going to have zero students for so long, and you can’t afford to lose anymore hours of sleep. In face, I think a nap would be great once we get home. I will nap too.”

     A nap definitely wasn’t Hizashi’s worst idea, with their next few hours free. Hizashi had plans with Nemuri again, after all, and he wasn’t going to let it become another exhausting portion of the day.

     The plan was official, in Hizashi’s head. Naptime with Shota the moment they got home and had everything put away.

     But seeing as Shota wasn’t done nearly giving Hizashi heart attacks yet, Shota said “But we are all eating dinner together tomorrow night. It’s been a few weeks since she last came over again.”

     Oh, so Hizashi had to try to explain that Shota was suspicious of them quickly. Maybe Nemuri could come up with some better way to cover it up? Tsukauchi still didn’t seem all into the idea of letting Shota in on anything yet, and was ready to keep it that way for a long while. 

     Hizashi was really getting tired of being left to his own devices to cover things up, because he was doing no better at covering it up than a toddler trying to hide the plate they broke in the three second span before their parent would be running in to check on things.

     He needed some help from Nemuri, and quickly.

     Hizashi had just barely been able to give Nemuri a heads up about what was going on, in the middle of her excitement to patrol with him again. When she realized that she was basically required to join them for dinner, and that Shota was prepared to run at her with a lecture about how she needed to take care of herself if she didn’t show.

     A conversation that Nemuri would very easily be able to turn onto him, but the confrontation would happen anyway. And while most people were sure to be someone that Nemuri would ignore on their requests, and keep up with them out of spite, Shota was someone she would listen to sooner than later.

     It was funny what could happen when it came down to a stranger versus someone close to you requesting something, or asking for something to change.

     Not to mention, Shota was often right, no matter how much Nemuri and Hizashi often wanted to deny it. Sometimes Hizashi was convinced that Shota was just possessed by a super old soul with a lot of wisdom, and that was why he always wanted to sleep. Because he had seem too much of the world already, and was beyond tired of it.

     There was too much wisdom in someone the same age as Hizashi and Nemuri. 

     At least there was always sure to be someone saying something super smart and rational in their friend group, considering Hizashi was especially guilty of blurting out whatever he felt like. His mouth was just sometimes (often) ahead of his brain.

     But eventually, their dinner rolled around, and had all three of them working on one of the dinners that they had gone shopping for yesterday. Hizashi hadn’t been expecting to get to cook it so soon, but it was nice to know that they were, and would all be able to eat it together.

     Their cat wound between everybody’s legs, purring as she tried to use her cuteness to get some drops of food. Hizashi would joke that that was one of the more dog-like qualities about her, only for Shota to quickly take offense (Hizashi had yet to figure out of that offense was real or not), and insist that any animal can want to hope for the taste of human food.

     Shota was definitely guilty of feeding that cat some of his food, with the large soft spot he had for the tiny animals. Hizashi had done it a couple times when they first got a cat. But at the time, Shota had been insistent that they needed to see just how okay it was for a cat to eat it, and how poorly it may affect her in the long run.

     Hizashi was convinced that Shota stopped caring at some point, or had conveniently decided to not share the list of pros and cons towards feeding the cat some of their food, while they still continued to get her some of the best cat food, including soft food nearly every night, when they were both free and remembered.

     That had to be one of the most spoiled cats ever, Hizashi was sure of.

     But that was their cat. That fact would never stop Hizashi from blaming Shota though.

     Conversations managed to avoid the patrols the entirety of the time, with Hizashi and Nemuri even avoiding asking Shota about his own, so it didn’t become a conversation they decided to mutually share. No, that was all for them to keep private.

     Well, for Hizashi and Nemuri to share, and to keep from Shota.

     There would most likely be a day that his husband found out about the kid and how they had been trying to trail after him for months now… but that day was probably far off, and Shota would surely understand, once they could reveal the truth in its entirety.

     That would be a peaceful day.

     In the mean time, Hizashi would just be continuously ready to pull out all of his hair until the moment that he would be able to relax.

     He was just worried about what that moment would mean for the kid. No matter how much he just wanted to be honest with Shota, he had enough of an understanding on what that could mean against the kid. And frankly, Hizashi could keep waiting if it meant that the kid was okay.

     There was still a whole mystery that they had to figure out about what a kid was doing as a vigilante anyway, and how they hadn’t been caught.

     Maybe Hizashi could go visit Tsukauchi with Nemuri at some point, and Hizashi could be completely caught up on the details. Maybe then, he could keep an eye out, and try to help everybody a little bit better, despite how Shota and Hizashi both knew good and well that trying to get into another job was a horrible idea for Hizashi, who had managed to keep his heroics work only to whatever had specifically requested him, or what he ran into on the street when going to and from the apartment, or going on errand runs.

     That was what most of the staff did. Shota had just been a little special… it was understandable why he was so tired. 

     Nemuri… Sometimes Hizashi wondered why she took up the case in the first place.

     She was often worried about her appearance, and how approachable she would look. It was what had helped her through her hero career. And Hizashi was certain that walking around with bad eyebags wasn’t going to help her in the slightest.

     More spa days were a guaranteed.

     Eventually, however, they were all seated at the table, eating the big dinner that they had prepared together, all happily talking about random things (with Hizashi and Nemuri carrying most of the conversations, as usual), shifting from one conversation to the next. Though, most of them centered around the gossip at the school.

     That was something that Hizashi and Nemuri would never not talk about. The drama just seemed funnier and funnier every year, and fun to try to relate to their own school years.

     It was even better when Shota would come in and start something that he had overheard while half asleep, or pretending to be asleep.

     Hizashi supposed it was fitting for a bunch of kids about to be under a constant spotlight to have some drama going on already. Fame, no matter how small, was basically a guarantee for drama.

     “We should invite Tsukauchi sometime,” Shota suddenly said, in the middle of Hizashi trying to think of another thing that students had said lately. Hizashi nearly spat out his food, hand flying to his mouth to keep everything in.

     This, of course, earned a suspicious look from Shota.

     “Well uh,” Nemuri started, shooting a glance towards Hizashi, swallowing down her bite of food as she said “Why not Tensei? It’s been a while since we’ve seen him too.”

     “He’s been busy in Hosu,” Shota replied, taking a small bite of his food, that way he could get some more food in his system, and then quickly be able to get back to explaining. “It’s nothing big, but he’s been investigating, and trying to help prepare Tenya for UA.”

     “Little Tenya is still planning on getting in through the regular exams? Hm, I guess it fits him to not go for recommendations,” Nemuri replied while poking at her food, shrugging before picking the bite up, and tossing it into her mouth.

     “He seems really dedicated to trying to get in like most other students,” Shota explained. “He doesn’t entirely want a headstart through his brother’s name, and figured he could prove himself as an equal or something if he takes the regular exam.”

     “Can’t wait to see him in that exam hall next year,” Hizashi says with a smile. “Ohh, and then we all get to teach him! Think we can get him to pass notes to Tensei for us, just to bother Tensei?”

     “I think he would immediately have something to say against us about being ‘unprofessional,’ if we start handing him stupid notes to take home the moment Tensei reads the first one in front of him,” Shota countered, much to Hizashi’s dismay. 

     “Aw man,” Hizashi sighed. “Don’t know how that kid got so tensed up…”

     “Pressure to be as great as his family,” Nemuri and Shota replied together. Nemuri shot a quick glance to Shota, who was dead focused on his food, all while Hizashi’s shoulders dramatically slumped.