Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ever since he could remember, dolls were something Izuku was fascinated by. He could never explain it, at least for the first five years of his life and no one else could until then. The way they reflected life as closely as possible, some in their appearance, some in their movements but what the child then loved most about them was how, at certain angles, you could almost tell they were alive.

Of course they never are. Just wood and plastic shells and even then there was nothing to fill them at least until he got his quirk.

Before then however, Izuku always wanted them and despite how weird she thought it was, Inko would give him what he wanted. After all it was harmless wasn’t it? At least it should be harmless but ask Izuku’s father, Hisashi, and you’d get a different answer.

He hated the dolls. Maybe it was because it was considered ‘girly’ or maybe it’s because he thought it made the boy ‘soft’ but whether it was or not didn’t excuse how violent he’d get when he’d find Izuku with one. 

It wasn’t as if Izuku was having tea parties or anything like that (though even then that shouldn’t be a problem) he just enjoyed how he could shape them, mould them almost especially the more free jointed ones to look and pose like his favourite heroes.

Endeavour, Ectoplasm, Gang Orca, All Might. Any time one of those heroes made the news, especially All Might, he would pose his dolls like them, move like them as if he was fighting the same villains from their perspective. It was what every kid did and yes there were action figures but they never gave the fluidity of movement like a puppet or doll did. When he made them act like heroes, he wanted it to be exact and when they couldn’t it was like he was restrained.

He enjoys watching heroes fight on his computer and making the puppets twist and turn just like them was something he loved, especially when he can mimic their fighting styles and moves perfectly.

This of course made Hisashi more annoyed. While he would bash tables and shout he’d never hit. Maybe it was because he didn’t have the courage to hit his own child though in hindsight, it was likely because of the fear of any bruises Izuku got being used against him. There were times he came close though. A harsh grasp on his arm, dragging him out of his room down to Inko where the two would shout at each other for what felt like forever, the two parents practically pulling their child apart to get them out of the other's hands.

Izuku hated shouting. He hated arguing. He learned to just be quiet when Hisashi was around and that was often. He didn’t want to say or do anything that might get his dolls taken away again or push the man to finally hit him so he learned to just hide it. But it wasn’t just him he hid his favourite thing from.

Kacchan always made fun of him for liking dolls for the same reason Hisashi hated it. It was annoying; The jeering, the insults and especially when his precious friends get taken from him. He’d give them back but it wasn’t out of kindness more due to Aunt Misuki forcing him to give them back.

Even then it seemed that the only person in Izuku’s small world that didn’t shout at him, hurt him or insult him for his interest was his mother.

Inko hadn’t originally planned to love Izuku as much as she did, though she would never admit that. When she married Hisashi she knew who he was; the leader of an organised crime group called the Dragon’s Roar. She knew how ruthless the man she fell in love with could be and when she became betrothed to him she knew that whatever child she had would follow in his footsteps. 

She knew that whoever she was going to mother into this world would forever be the child of a mafia boss and all the pros and cons with it. She accepted it, she really did until she finally met that child and her whole world came apart.

He looked almost nothing like his father besides the freckles and the fluffy hair. It was almost unbelievable if it wasn’t for the DNA test Hisashi insisted. Inko took it for him. She did a lot of questionable things for him and in retrospect that should’ve told her that you can’t have a happy life with a man like that but what can she say? Love can turn people blind especially if you were estranged from a loveless family.

When she had Izuku and watched the boy grow up to be so kind, so gentle just like her she knew he couldn’t follow in Hisashi’s footsteps. The thought got worse when she watched what should be the time for a child to be, well, childish, instead be about tiptoeing around the house and never talking when it was anyone other than her, Mitsuki or Masaru. Even around her nephew, Izuku always kept quiet as a mouse.

And who could blame him? Hisashi had gotten scarier over the years and it was making her have second thoughts about everything. Except Izuku, never about Izuku. She didn’t even know why he was upset. She knew he had old fashioned values but she thought he’d be able to change for his son. 

And even then it wasn’t as if it was only Izuku. It wasn’t as if she couldn’t have another child (even though she would likely get just as attached), so watching this change in Hisashi, the same Hisashi who was so charming and loving when they first met…

It all started to come to a head on that day.

Izuku was in his room, playing in silence with the newest doll Inko snuck past Hisashi. It was made of plastic and looked like a butler, suit and all. The boy had his computer on, showing him All Might's latest fight where he took down a villain whose quirk made him look like a giant bull.

He was pausing the video constantly, reposing the doll to match the hero's movements, frame by frame, when he got frustrated over a particular move that was too blurry to follow along with exactly. 

“Is that a Texas Smash or a Nebraska Smash?” the boy whispered to himself. He reposed the doll for both and while they were mostly the same, the angle on the arm was different. 

“It doesn’t look like his arm is spinning but then there’s still the wind blast…” he muttered more, getting annoyed when he couldn’t figure out how to have the move mimicked exactly.

“If only you could move on your own…”

The boy’s fingers clamped down on the arm of the figure once more and continued to pull the limb into the right place, always over or under calculating just how far it was. And just when he got it right…

“Izuku!” Hisashi shouted from the stairs as he climbed them. The child snapped out of his state of focus and hurried to hide the doll, straightening it out and running to put it away but he was too slow. Hisashi opened the door and looked in to see Izuku tucking the mini butler behind his dresser, earning the burning ire of his father.

“Give that here!” he yelled, storming over and grabbing Izuku’s arm. 

He yanked him to the side whilst he grasped for the doll, almost knocking over the dresser as he did. He had the poor doll in his hands, nearly crushing it.

Izuku almost crashed onto the floor but was held up only by Hisashi’s painful grip on his forearm. As soon as the man got a look at the doll in his hands, his neck snapped to face his son, his face twisted in anger and frustration.

“What did I tell you about playing with these things?!” he pulled on his arm slightly, lifting Izuku up and no doubt leaving bruises that’d have to be hidden later. 

Izuku said nothing, just looked down and fought violently the urge to cry out, a burning sensation in the back of his throat where the cry was caught. Hisashi glared down at the child, growing more angry with every second there was no response.

He dragged the child out of the room, stumbling but not allowed to stop even when he was bashing against the wooden railing down the stairs. Izuku kept deathly quiet, even through the stinging pain not wanting to upset him even more. Inko was at the foot of the steps and reached for her son to try and pull him away but this time Hisashi has had enough of this back and forth.

He punched her with the hand holding the doll, sending her stumbling, catching the wall with her hands to keep herself up. The yelp was even louder than his footsteps as Hisashi kept going until he reached the kitchen. There, still holding Izuku, he took out a hammer from the cabinet they kept their tools and pulled them both to the dinner table.

Izuku hated this. He really hated this. He just wanted this to stop. He always hated when Hisashi got angry and now he was twice as scared when he saw mama get hit. He was scared it would happen to him. How badly it would hurt if he used that hammer.

At the dinner table Hisashi threw the doll down and forced Izuku to watch as he, with fury and rage in his eyes, winded up to swing down on it.

“If I catch you with these things again Izuku, this is what’ll happen to you!” and he swung, hard and fast, causing the boy to squeak and shut his eyes and desperately think about anything but right now.

He thought of All Might coming in and saving him and his mother. He thought of him beating Hisashi to a pulp. He thought of how he would do it, what moves he would need to do. Surely he would need to do a hundred Detroit Smashes to stop him.

The loud bang of a hammer came down again and again, surely crushing the doll to bits but the boy didn’t want to look because of Hisashi’s threat. He didn’t want to imagine that doll being him or mama. Three bashes in, Hisashi sounded more and more frustrated before a confused sound wormed its way out of his mouth.

“What?” he uttered, then a yell as his grasp on Izuku fell. “Ah! Get off me!”

Izuku opened his eyes fast. Did All Might really come? He immediately turned to his father who was grasping at his face where the doll was now clinging onto, punching the bridge of his nose over and over again just like how Izuku would imagine All Might would.

Hisashi stumbled back, dropping the hammer and grabbing the doll to try and pry it off all the while Izuku watched in awe. After what felt like a minute of struggling the doll was finally off and was thrown to the floor. 

The doll stood up, ready to keep fighting as it crouched down just like All Might and leapt up, its light body launching and delivering a perfect miniature Texas Smash to Hisashi’s face, shattering the doll’s arm and sending him stumbling back a couple steps to the floor.

The doll landed back on the floor, still in a fighting stance for a moment before collapsing to the ground. Inanimate and missing an arm a clear liquid leaking from its stump.

Izuku just stared at the doll, eyes still wide and mouth slightly open. Hisashi scrambled up, bruised nose and hands scraped from crashing on the floor. They both kept their eyes on the doll along with Inko who just now joined them. They were expecting it to come back up and fight more but it just laid there, silent.

The moment lasted for a couple seconds before the sounds of crashing was heard as both adults turned to see Izuku collapsing face first into the floor, his world spinning and dizzying, a painfully loud ringing in his ears that ended with him blacking out entirely.

- - -

Izuku slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a hospital room in the children’s ward. It made him panic for a moment when he couldn’t see anyone until his vision focused and could see Inko draped over his bed, eyes closed and sleeping. He had an IV drip in his arm as well as a monitor with numbers the boy could never guess what for.

Despite this though, he felt alright. 

Inko stirred awake when Izuku shifted his legs and the mother burst into tears as she wrapped her arounds her son and looked him over to see how he was. All the while apologies spilled from her mouth.

“I’m sorry Izuku, I’m sorry baby!” she sobbed, “I’ll make this right. I promise I’ll make this right.”

She was crying so much that Izuku cried too. Her face had a bandage where she was punched all because he couldn’t keep quiet about what he wanted. He couldn’t just listen to Hisashi and be obedient even when he really had nothing else he wanted to do besides watching hero fights all day.

“I’ll leave him. I promise I’ll leave him and we never have to worry about anything again.” she vowed and he understood.

She’s talking about not going back to Hisashi. But will they really be fine if they do this? Izuku’s heard from other kids about something parents do called divorce and it didn’t seem to end well most of the time, at least from what he heard.

But she seemed so sure and determined then it had to be a good thing, right? From what he heard, the problem with divorce is watching your parents come apart but Izuku is fine with that as long as he can stay with mama. As long as he’s with her, and not Hisashi, he won’t have to sneak around, behind his back, anymore.

“Excuse me? Mrs Midoriya?” 

Both Izuku and Inko turned to see a doctor had come into the ward and stepped up to them, closing the curtains to get some privacy in the room. Inko brushed the tears out of her eyes but didn’t leave Izuku’s side, holding his hand tightly but in a good way to the boy.

“Doctor Hino, is Izuku alright?” Inko asked urgently.

The doctor in question was a tall and spindly woman with red skin that made her look really sunburnt. Her face had a neutral expression, clearly keeping professional so as not to concern or promise anything to them with a smile. 

“Yes. For the most part he is fine. He had only experienced quirk exhaustion.” she explained, still keeping the expressionless face she had before.

“Exhaustion?” Inko questioned.

“Yes. We’ve already informed your husband over the phone but it seems Izuku’s quirk has manifested.” she elaborated.

Hisashi had to leave because of some ‘work’ commitments but clearly wanted to stay both for what Inko had also assumed about Izuku’s quirk manifesting but also the fear of the bruises on Izuku’s arm being noticed. Fortunately for him on the latter, it wasn’t.

“Izuku’s quirk seems to allow him to control inanimate objects like they’re puppets by injecting them with his spinal fluid through his fingers. We aren’t sure of the limit but one limit we are sure of is the duration is the more fluid inside them, the longer he can control them.” she explained more. 

“When he uses his quirk it starts to drain his own spinal fluid, most likely in whatever use it is used for. This would normally be extremely detrimental but it appears that a mutation in Izuku’s spine allows him to regenerate this fluid faster than normal.” 

Inko nodded along with the explanation whilst Izuku couldn’t help but be enraptured by it. He has a quirk! And a powerful one, he thinks. After all he hurt Hisashi didn’t he? 

Izuku looked down at his hands, they had certainly changed slightly. It was hard to notice at first but there were tiny hairs on the tips of his fingers that seem to be where the fluid gets pumped out. Ideas began to run through him as he thought more about his new quirk but they were put on pause as the doctor revealed more. 

The doctor continued to explain his quirk more from what he imagined was from another doctor with a quirk that reads other quirks. Apparently the puppeted object cannot act on its own and needs constant input from the user to work, input that can be done remotely. What that meant though needed to be explored. The more the doctor explained, the more excited Izuku got and the more scared Inko got.

Izuku could make his dolls move how he wanted without having to shift them bit by bit. He could just imagine what he wanted and they’d match what he thought. He could clearly make them fight as well and with this he could surely be a hero can’t he? Maybe even one as good as Kacchan.

Inko was panicking in her mind. According to the quirk analysis, Izuku’s limit was going to get stronger as he got older, allowing him more and more control. This quirk is powerful. Very powerful. And Hisashi has likely noticed it. A small doll was able to punch a grown man and send him stumbling back, imagine if something human sized did that? Or something even bigger.

He wasn’t going to let Izuku go, even if she divorced him. He wasn’t going to let him go and maybe even hurt her to get him. She’s already seen him do that. He could easily make her disappear and take Izuku all for himself. All of her second guesses from before had become assurances that she needed to get them as far away from Hisashi as she could and fast too.

As if her greatest fear was realised, the doctor mentioned that Hisashi said he would arrive soon meaning she didn’t have long to come up with a plan. Not only that but Izuku was apparently well enough to be discharged so there was no hiding in the hospital.

Once the doctor left, a nurse came in to help them remove the tubing and monitors. Inko then filed out the paperwork to take Izuku out of the hospital and rushed to the nearest hotel she could find to hide in. Once they got a hotel room, Inko left Izuku there whilst she used a payphone to call the police.

“Hello, Musutafu Police Department?” the voice on the other end asked.

“H-hello? I need to talk to a detective, any one. I need to…” she paused, rethinking whether or not she was really going to risk this. If she were to stay, the one with the biggest risk was Izuku but if she did this, Hisashi was going to want to kill her for going against him. The only way she can avoid that is if…

“Need what, ma’am?” the voice on the other end sounded.

“Um, yes, sorry. I need my son and I to be protected. I have information on the Dragon’s Roar and we need protection from my husband.” she continued, voice shaky but determined.

“Alright ma’am, we’ll redirect you to a detective on that case.” the connection stuttered for a few seconds before a different voice picked it up.

- - -

Tsukauchi had a pretty good day all things considered. Between having to deal with criminal gangs, villains and general emergencies he was normally swamped with work to the point he was tempted to have an IV drip filled with caffeine in him but right now things were calm.

He just wrapped up a case involving a drug bust and was still feeling the high of justice served when he got a call saying that there was someone reaching out to him about the Dragon’s Roar needing witness protection.

The Dragon’s Roar was one of the most massive criminal organisations in Tokyo, mostly due to the absurd amount of members and reach the organisation has. Taking them down was like fighting an actual dragon, or maybe more of a hydra given no matter how many operations they shut down, there’s just more and more.

They mostly dealt with drugs, both the narcotic kind and Trigger. Their structure was very loose, and communication between the higher ups and the grunts was even looser, making any kind of progress on stopping them difficult. The only unifying factor between them all were the mandatory tattoos of a western dragon all members needed to get to show they are a part of them.

Naturally, the Dragon’s Roar case has mostly been one where lucky breaks were needed to get any true progress outside of stomping out their latest expansion. This came mostly in informants or accidents where a higher up just so happened to be present during a bust. But no matter how many dragons they cut down, they’ve found nothing about the real upper crust in their organisation.

So naturally he took the call immediately, grabbing a notepad and pen to write down what he got. 

“Hello?” he asked on the phone, “My name is Detective Tsukauchi, I was told you had some important information on the Dragon’s Roar?”

“Yes.” the voice on the other end said. It was the shaky voice of a woman, who was clearly nervous about talking. “I have crucial information on the Dragon’s Roar but I need help.”

“Of course. Are you in any immediate danger?” he questioned, keeping calm so as not to scare the caller.

“Yes, my husband, if he finds out I’m doing this…” she paused, “We need to be protected, I can’t say more until we’re safe.”

“Okay. Can you at least tell me your name and who you are and who else is with you.” he instructed.

“Inko Midoriya, I’m at the Fujikawa Hotel in Musutafu with my son. My husband is going to arrive here any minute.” she explained but not before a moment of contemplation.

“Alright, Midoriya, we’ll send someone there now. Are you staying in a room there?”

“Yes. Two zero six.” she answered, sure of what he was implying with that question.

“Thank you. Please go to your room and stay there until someone reaches you.” he instructed further, hearing Inko's voice get more relaxed but still stressed.

“Alright. He’s really dangerous.” she warned before hanging up the payphone.

Immediately Tsukauchi checked the time. It was almost ten, meaning that he would be starting work around now. After making sure everything was written down, he grabbed his own phone and called the hero who was likely closest to the hotel right now.

“Aizawa.” Tsukauchi called.

“The night just started Tsukauchi. What is it?” the bland voice on the other end groaned.

“We have someone in need of witness protection, something about the Dragon’s Roar. From what I can tell, it’s urgent.” the detective explained.

“Where is it?” Aizawa questioned, much more attentively now that the word ‘urgent’ was mentioned.

“Fujikawa Hotel. Room two zero six. I’m heading there myself.” he answered, grabbing his beige coat and fedora and heading out the door.

“Do you think this has something to do with someone important in the Dragon’s Roar?” Aizawa guessed.

“Yes. From what I can tell, they’re a mother hiding from her husband with her kid. Husband is expected to be dangerous.”

Tsukauchi drove in his car, siren’s off, towards the hotel. Despite the lack of ‘emergency’ though, he still drove fast going over the speed limit once or twice. Thankfully it was late so the streets were more empty than usual. 

Unfortunately it didn’t matter. Once he arrived, the hotel was engulfed in flames.

As soon as the burning hotel came into view, Tsukauchi wasted no time at all calling emergency services. The fire seemed focused on the second floor where Inko and her child should be. Dread filled him as he looked around hoping to see someone with a child amongst the evacuated crowds but there were no children amongst them.

“Is anyone here Inko Midoriya?!” he shouted, catching everyone’s attention but no one responded to his question, just making things more tense for the man.

The next thing Tsukauchi did was call Aizawa again, hoping they were with him. The call picked up quickly. “Tsukauchi.”

“Have you reached the hotel?” he spoke loudly, the fire crackling like a storm.

“Yes. I’m inside but the fire’s getting worse.” he coughed, the smoke making it hard to breathe. “I found someone. A woman I think, burnt outside of two zero six.”

Fear and stress poured through the phone, “Is she still alive?”

“I don’t think so. I checked the room and couldn’t find a child anywhere. I’m coming out now.” he spoke in fragments, clearly being as succinct as possible so as he could hold his breath more.

Tsukauchi could see as the underground hero Eraserhead, climbed out of the side of the hotel, carrying a black charred body in his arms. The ambulances had just arrived and he hopped down to deliver her to them. 

There was no way she was still alive. Her skin was practically charcoal and you couldn’t even see her eyes. Indeed the paramedics on site confirmed her death and the sick feeling in Tsukauchi’s gut got worse when he knew there had to be a child somewhere in there as well.

Another minute went by before some more heroes arrived. The Water Hoses were here and they both fought to put out the fires whilst everyone was moved away from the hotel. Eventually the flames were tamed but not before some parts of the building collapsed due to the damage. 

Once it was declared safe, the building was checked. Every cupboard, every closet and every room but there was no sign of a child anywhere. Just ash and the smell of burnt flesh.

Tragically, it seemed they were too late.

Chapter Text

“Where are we going mama?” Izuku asked, looking up at his mother who was gently pulling him along by his hand.

They just left the hospital and the whole time the boy was feeling both happy and scared. He just found out he had a quirk. One that seemed to be pretty strong from what he could guess but for some reason Mama didn’t seem to think so. Her face kept smiling but Izuku wasn’t stupid, he knew there was something wrong and it had to be because of Hisashi.

“We’re going on a trip, Izuku.” she answered, trying her best to not reveal how scared she really was.

“Where?” he asked innocently.

“Somewhere far away where we don’t have to worry about your father anymore.” she promised and it was a good promise.

Izuku’s fear was pushed back. They were going to leave Hisashi forever? The boy quietly smiled at the idea even though he shouldn’t. A child shouldn’t be happy to learn they’re getting away from their father but his father was Hisashi and surely that was a good excuse. Mama seemed alright with it so he should be too.

He was pulled along until they reached a small hotel with a few floors. Mama and him went up an elevator until they reached a room where Izuku was put in. 

“Sweetie, stay here and don’t open this door for anyone except for me okay?” she asked gently. He nodded along and watched Mama leave him alone in the room.

It was fun. There were two beds, a tv and a window (except Mama said not to open the curtains). He looked around and opened every drawer and cupboard to see what there was and found some bottles of water he drank from. 

It seemed his quirk made him slightly more thirsty or maybe he didn’t get enough of those fluids from that tube in the hospital. There were some snacks in a cupboard too but a sign said he needs to talk to the people downstairs about it so he’ll wait for Mama to come back first. 

Once he was fully settled, he sat down on the bed and thought about his quirk. How cool was it that he can puppet objects? It must be because of mama’s telekinesis that lets her pull objects to her or at least a part of his quirk comes from there but thinking like that makes him sad because of the other side of the coin with Hisashi. But if Mama’s promise comes true, he’ll never have to think about him again, which he definitely wants.

Taking out a pen from mama’s bag, Izuku found a pamphlet for the hotel and wrote down what the doctor said about his quirk. It had no name yet as it was just identified and needed to be registered so until then he thought of all kinds of cool names it could be. 

Puppeteer was the obvious one but that felt a bit too manipulative for Izuku. Doll Creation sounded a bit misleading. He didn’t create the dolls he controlled them but then calling it Doll Control felt like he could only control dolls which was further from the truth.

‘So many names but they keep sounding like I control people or the wrong thing.’

Quirk names were exact and explained most of what the quirk was in one to three words. Like Explosion or Black Hole. But his quirk was so difficult to explain except of course using words like ‘’manipulate’ or ‘puppet’.  

‘Let’s shelf the name for now and think about something else’ is what the boy decided.

He then flipped the page and started writing down questions he had about his quirk and how it worked. He lost cer-ebro-spin-al flu-id was it? He doesn’t know how to spell that so he tried his best to sound out the word in writing. 

So he lost… that fluid but he could get more back fast? Does that mean people normally get theirs back slowly? Well that’s important to know. What happens if he runs out of that fluid? Does he go to sleep like he did the first time or was that a coincidence? He needed to find out.

Izuku looked around the room for anything and picked up an empty water bottle and held it in his hands. Grasping it, he could feel the near invisible bristles on his fingers brush against the plastic and almost latch on. They didn’t produce anything though, so Izuku closed his eyes and let whatever came to him come.

As soon as he did he opened his eyes to see a clear fluid be poured into the clear bottle from his hands. Is this the fluid in his spine? He stopped immediately and watched the liquid slosh around before it stretched out like a moss and covered the inside of the bottle. 

“Wow.” he whispered and set the bottle down and focused on making it move.

He imagined it rolling, the fluid forcing it along like someone doing a roll would. Heroes needed to do them when they jumped from very high so the boy focused on that motion overlapping with the bottle.

After trying for a moment, the bottle moved slightly and he could feel it shift on its own but he suddenly got dizzier. He stopped, not wanting to pass out again and watched the fluid stop coating the bottle and pool at its bottom, inactive. He was still dizzy though for some reason.

He felt he could still control it he feels but he could also sense that the rolling jostled the fluid a bit and now the connection was weaker. Maybe the fluid is a part of him and when it gets ruffled it gets hurt? The doll that punched Hisashi collapsed after its arm broke and fluids poured out of it, maybe it’s like blood.

There were so many theories running through his little mind and he couldn’t wait to find them all out but before he could he heard mama outside the room. He tucked the bottle away so as not to worry her and waited until she entered the room. But as he sat there, he heard Mama gasp and opened the door quickly to shut behind her.

Mama turned to him and shouted at Izuku to hide and he listened, immediately crawling under the bed because he knew there’s only one reason he would need to hide. She stood by the door and held it before Hisashi started banging against it, shouting her name.

“Open the door Inko! Open it right fucking now!” he demanded, hitting the door hard enough to shake it and mama. “Open it or I’ll burn it down!”

“No! I’ve called the police and they’re almost here!” she yelled back. 

“You little rat! Open this door right now!” he roared, not caring about who heard him.

The bangs had become kicks and the door was starting to crack at the handle. Mama kept holding it shut whilst Izuku curled up more under the bed. He hoped once more for someone to save them, for anyone to save them. 

The kicking stopped and for a moment Izuku thought that maybe his wish came true again but it didn’t. The door blew open with a burst of flames and filled the room with a wave of fire. Izuku sealed his eyes shut and held himself as the sounds of Inko screaming in pain filled the room as fire spread fast along her as she fell to the ground.

“I warned you.” Hisashi growled and he stepped over his Mama, scanning the room for Izuku.

The boy forced his eyes open to see Mama on the floor, burning and flailing whilst Hisashi made his way around the room. He was scared, shaking and crying, a hand holding his mouth quiet like he did during hide and seek with Kacchan but this was scarier than that, far more scary.

Every part of him was sick and he felt like throwing up but he couldn’t. Hisashi would find him and hurt him just like Mama. Izuku wanted to escape, wanted to get away but that would involve leaving behind his Mama and… leaving her to… die.

What can he do? Can he even save her? He wants to be a hero one day so why can’t he save the most important person in his life? Izuku’s eyes were trained on her and he saw through the burns a pair of eyes focus on him, pleading for him to run.

And so he did. He ran away.

Skittering out from under the bed he ran to the door and into the hallway sprinting as far and as fast as he could. He heard Hisashi shout his name behind him but he didn’t look back but he did hear Mama scream gutturally behind him.

“Run Izuku! Run and hide!”

The roar of a fire boomed behind but it didn’t matter, even when a scream came with it. He just ran. Just kept running until he was downstairs. The fire alarm blaring, making the whole world shake for Izuku but he just kept going until he found an exit, pushing through and out of the hotel into an alley.

There was no one around but it didn’t matter, he just ran. Ran from everything. Ran from the world and hoped Hisashi couldn’t find him. Run and hide where he can’t find him. Where no one can find him.

He ran into the dark, hoping to never be found.

- - -

He didn’t know how long it's been since he started. Even though the hotel is long gone and the sounds of cackling flames have long since faded, Izuku hasn’t stopped dipping through alleyways and tumbling through trash cans. He thinks he’s cut himself but he doesn’t bother to check until he collapses onto the grimy floor of an alley.

Izuku heaved as he struggled to pull himself back up but his body didn’t let him. Adrenaline was still there but with every second on the floor he could feel it fade fast and the cuts and scrapes started to weigh on him. After a minute of just breathing he finally looked around and could see that wherever he’s ended up, it isn’t pretty like where he lived.

The buildings around looked old and crumbling, there were no sounds of cars and even some of the street lights didn’t work whilst others flickered. It was dark and he was alone, truly alone and he was terrified. He pulled himself up just barely and saw a hole in the wall of a building that he crawled through.

It was a warehouse. Empty, dusty and very dark. The only reason Izuku could see at all was because of the moon above shining down from skylights. He climbed up some steps just barely to what seemed to have once been an office. It had a window looking over the warehouse floor and into the alleyway he just was in but he didn’t care to look. He just crawled under a barren desk and huddled into a ball.

He was so tired and just wanted to sleep. He didn’t know what to do but it didn’t matter right now because all he needed was to go to sleep. He forced his eyes shut, his damp green curls resting on his face as he gave in and slumbered, hoping this was all a nightmare.

- - -

“Inko Midoriya?” Shouta questioned. 

“That was the name she gave me. We’re still looking into her and hoping to get something soon.” Tsukauchi answered.

The two were at the police station, going over the paperwork and the details of the burning hotel last night. In the end they weren’t able to find out who caused the fire, nor did they find the child who was supposed to be there. Thankfully no one else was hurt but, it was still a failure all around and it was hitting the detective and hero hard. 

“According to the receptionist, the two entered around nine, thirty minutes before Midoriya called me.” Tsukauchi explained. “The fire was noticed around around quarter to ten so there was only about fifteen minutes between the call ending and whoever Miroriya’s husband was attacking her.”

“Is it confirmed it was him?” Shouta queried, wanting to make sure the facts were straight.

“No but the cameras caught a man in front of Midoriya’s room, as well as the kid running from the hotel.” the detective elaborated.

The footage they saw showed a fluffy haired man breathing fire to break the door down. He goes into the room for a few minutes before a boy comes rushing out with a face that makes Shouta’s heart drop. The worst was when the man stepped out of the room ready to chase only for the burning Inko to grab onto his leg, giving the kid a chance to get away.

Of course the man turned around and finished the woman off with a blast of fire from his mouth turning her into that scorched husk the pro hero carried not too long ago.

“We don’t know where the kid went?” Shouta asked, trying to not think too much about it.

“No. Nothing. Once he leaves the hotel, he dives into alleys so we have a few patrols out in the direction he ran hoping they find him.” Tsukauchi replied.

‘This kids going to need some serious therapy. Now he’s out there all alone though’ , Shouta thought.

Musutafu can be a dangerous place, especially in the direction he ran off to. He just hopes at least whoever the villain in the footage was hasn’t already gotten to him. “Is that everything we’ve got?”

“No actually,” Tsukauchi started, “we found this in the room. It was one of the few things to survive.”

He showed an image of a water bottle with some water inside. It had some dirt and soot on it but besides that it appeared unremarkable. Shouta gave a look to the detective, clearly expecting him to explain further.

“It contains spinal fluid,” he says frankly.

“Spinal fluid?” Shouta replied back.

“Yes. We’re testing it now to see if we can find a match for anyone but that might take a while.” Tsukauchi added.

“Any ideas where it could be from?” Shouta asked, pretty sure what the answers were going to be.

“None. Only thing it could be is the work of a quirk.” Tsukauchi theorised.

Shouta slinked back in his chair, resting his eyes. There were many strange quirks out there. Ones that use skin, hair, blood and although Shouta hasn’t been a full time underground hero for two years he hasn’t heard of something using spinal fluid.

The paperwork was finished and the two left the case there until more information came. Right now Shouta needed to go home and collapse onto a warm bed with the cats. He didn’t expect this night to take so long but with the search for who caused the fire, finding the kid and looking over the evidence…

Time just slipped away and it was morning now. The worst part is that Hizashi was probably already away to work and worried sick too. Shouta made sure to send a text saying he was going to be late getting back but neither were expecting this late.

The man made his way back to his apartment and climbed in to find their tuxedo cat called Dot and their ginger cat, Pepper, nuzzling up to him the second he arrived. After grabbing some breakfast made by Hizashi, he ate scrambled eggs and toast to the image of that terrified boy running down that hallway.

He couldn’t imagine the fear in his heart, how terrified he felt and how far he must’ve ran. He looked tiny too. Just a tiny green bean terrified of everything with hopelessness in his eyes. Shouta just hopes they find him soon so they can get him the help he definitely needed and justice to whatever monster did this.

- - -

The light made its way into the room, shining over Izuku’s closed eyelids. They fluttered awake, dull veridian peeping out to the realisation that yesterday wasn’t a dream. The boy pulled himself up, his small body weary and aching from sleeping on the floor, and stood to look around the warehouse some more.

It was mostly sealed. All exits besides the hole he crawled through were either closed or sealed. Trying a few normal doors found them locked tight and doors that weren’t were too rusted to open. All in all it was a box to hide in.

Hiding. The boy thought about what he was going to do. Between having no one to go back to and Hisashi still out there what could he do? Can he trust the police? Maybe but Izuku doesn’t know how to talk to them or find them. He knows he needs a phone but he doesn’t have one.

‘Run Izuku! Run and hide!’ 

The final words of his mother ran through his mind. Maybe she meant not just Hisashi but everyone. Izuku once overheard Hisashi call someone about ‘bribes’. He knew they were bad and it involved making the police or heroes do something illegal. What if Izuku goes to the police and they give him to Hisashi?

But that shouldn’t be reason enough. Surely the odds that he came across someone like that was rare. But the more he thought about it the more he felt afraid of that possibility coming true. It wasn’t just that though but what about after? What if the pro heroes don’t catch Hisashi and he finds Izuku like he found Mama and him?

There were so many things that could go wrong. But here there were four walls, a roof and most of all, no one should know he’s here. It makes sense to just hide and be on his own. It wasn’t that different from before, though he would like somewhere softer to sleep. Maybe he could learn more about his quirk and become strong enough to stop Hisashi if he ever did come after Izuku.

Yes there are a lot of good things that can come by hiding here. First, however, he needs to find something to use his quirk on.

He crawled out of the warehouse and took in the dusty grimy alley around him. There were some dumpsters that weren’t being missed. They did however have a lot of trash. It didn’t smell though meaning it’s been here for a while. He opened it up and with the help of a crate, fished through it. After a tear through he found an anatomical dummy.

The dummy was rotted and torn all over but it was the only thing that looked like it could move properly with his quirk. It had no arms or legs but it does have a neck and the missing limbs could help with one of Izuku’s theories about his quirk. While there were no other ‘dolls’ there were some mannequin arms and legs so he grabbed those and dragged them back into the warehouse along with a small carving knife he spotted.

He set them down and started to shove the mannequin limbs into the dummy. It was simple to do with how the rubber was easy to pierce through. Once he was done, the thing laid there with two arms and two legs.

His first theory is to see if he could mix and match different objects to make one doll. He hopes that when he’d use his quirk, the whole body would move together instead of just the dummy. 

He took his hand, set it on the doll’s chest and felt as fluids sunk into the body. He watched the liquid pool inside the rubber and remain liquid. It looked like blood with how it focused around the rubber heart of the dummy. 

“Ok.” Izuku muttered to himself as he concentrated on moving the doll.

He watched in amazement as the fluid stretched out through the object and linked into the limbs through the plastic veins. Izuku then felt dizzy and weak at the knees as the head of the doll turned. 

He paused and got used to the feeling. It was daunting but after a while he got more used to it. He imagined the doll standing up and watched it turn the arms and legs of the mannequin but they didn’t bend, being one solid piece.

“Ok. It seems they need to be able to turn to work. Maybe if I cut them at the joints they could bend like normal.” he theorised, taking the carving knife and cutting one arm off at the elbow.

He tried it again and this time he watched the liquid shape to act as a joint for the detached arm, turning it like an arm should. Izuku’s eyes gleamed as he watched his creation move and immediately got to work with the other limbs, slicing them off and even the hands and feet for extra flexibility.

He commanded the doll once more to stand up and after some awkward twisting it stood shakily on two legs, spinal fluid dripping out of the joints and some tears in the dummy. He managed to move it a few steps before an arm loses too much of its fluid and falls off, causing liquid to gush from the stump and collapsing the doll.

Izuku however did not collapse, he was dizzy and his world was spinning but he did not fall unconscious. He stood up though and a rushing headache came over him, forcing him back down and waiting a few minutes before trying again. He stumbled over to the doll and moved the pieces back together.

‘I need tape to cover those holes and the joints.’ thought Izuku. 

The liquid was like blood and every open part was a wound that would bleed. If he wanted to not get more headaches then he’d need to limit how much ‘blood’ was lost. Speaking of, it seemed that he got some more understanding on how his quirk works. 

When he collapsed it wasn’t because of control it was because of the recent loss of spinal fluid from activating his quirk. It seemed that it’s fine if the liquid remained in the doll as long as he didn’t give all of it.

‘If I fully seal it up, I can minimize the loss of fluids so I don't have to refill it as much.’ 

The boy scrambled to find some duct tape from outside and used it to practically mummify the doll. Wrapping it over until it looked even more cobbled together than before. He then injected more fluid in, just a tad bit and suddenly he couldn’t feel his legs anymore. 

It was a terrifying sensation, one he could tell was probably temporary but nonetheless scary. Thankfully if he is right, then he doesn’t need legs right now. He puppeted the doll to stand once more and this time no fluids leaked out. In fact it seemed the duct tape was being pulled like skin over the joints by the liquid underneath.

The doll stumbled over to Izuku like a newborn fawn and slowly picked the boy up at his command. Typically, children would be weirded and even scared of an anatomical dummy’s face being right next to theirs but Izuku felt no fear. After all, it was just a doll. His doll.

He commanded said thing to go towards the office and watched it move towards the stairs. A stupid thing but Izuku was a child and while yes he was smart he wasn’t a genius. As it climbed them, no liquid slipped out but Izuku could tell inside the doll, the bumps and knocks from moving were weakening the fluids meaning that eventually he’d need to dose it again.

The doll reached up the steps and Izuku had enough strength to stand on his own, using the wall as support. He glanced out a window looking into the alley he got the dummy from and came up with an idea. Watching from the office he directed the doll to walk down to the alleyway. 

It was a mostly easy task. The main problem was discovering that it was hard to direct the doll if he couldn’t see what they were seeing but once they made it through the hole, he watched it stumble into the alleyway. There the doll was ordered to tip the dumpster over so its contents could spill out and he could see what was inside.

The doll picked apart the junk and while most of it was useless there was one thing that caught Izuku’s green eyes. A styrofoam mattress. Ratty and stained but still a mattress which was better than the cold wood floor he slept on last night. The dummy dragged over the object and barely stuffed it through the hole, getting it up into the office (now bedroom).

Izuku plopped down on it and it felt good. Despite how it looked from afar it was firm and the styrofoam still had some softness to it. Great! So he’s covered sleeping, now he needed water because he was starting to get really thirsty.

He walked downstairs, the doll following and they found a break room with a sink. Water came out of it but Izuku knows that water shouldn’t be that murky. Speaking of utilities, he found a circuit breaker. Not that the boy knew that but nonetheless he noticed some faded labels.

Using the doll to flick one on (he was too small), the warehouse lights switched on, shocking the boy as he rushed to flick on all of them. The building had power except he realised that having the lights on might not be good if he’s trying to hide so he went around every room and turned the lights off with their own individual switches.

He noticed as well on the circuit breaker that one of them was connected to a water filter and so after a few minutes of it on, the water that came out of the tap was clear. He knew he shouldn’t try it yet but he was getting really thirsty. It seemed his quirk does make him thirstier than normal so he took a drink and it tasted alright; would’ve been better with a cup though.

Now he only needed food. That was going to be harder than the other two as he won’t just stumble onto them. With much reluctance and a couple raincoats he found in the dumpsters, he snuck out of the warehouse with the doll and him both wearing the green raincoats, hoods up and heads ducked down.

The two made their way and explored the neighbourhood they were in now that Izuku wasn’t running anymore.

It was a very ugly place, with abandoned buildings and old cars. The place almost looked apocalyptic if it wasn’t for the distant skyscrapers of the rest of Tokyo. He wandered for a while until he came across somewhere more populated, which scared Izuku at first until he took a deep breath and focused on finding food.

He eventually found a convenience store, where outside was a foodbank box where people left food for the unfortunate. Izuku was certainly in that category right now. He wandered over and took a few apples, bread and a cereal box before skittering away, the doll rushing behind him practically mimicking the boy's frantic sprint much to the confusion of passersby.

He kept running until he was safely back in the warehouse where he ate some slices of bread.

‘Now we have food!’ he thought to himself excitedly.

Yes now he had everything. Food, water and shelter, the three things needed to survive and now that he had all of this he was sure he could hide out here for a long time.

Chapter Text

A few days went by with Izuku testing out how his quirk worked some more. He learned that he could be very liberal with how the doll appeared. With more limbs than a normal human should have. Of course for now he’s going to keep Ana (what he’s calling the ana tomical dummy) as close to looking human as possible.

The dumpsters were kind enough to give him Ana but not much else as he soon found out. If he wanted more stuff, he needed to find somewhere where lots of junk gathered. Thankfully the boy stumbled across such a place during his daytime wanders through the alleys with his new friend.

Takoba Municipal Beach Park, a verifiable dump filled with all kinds of leftovers Izuku could scavenge. It already gave him a shopping cart, which he promptly used to store whatever items were semi-functional. Most of the actual heavy lifting was done by Ana who would surely complain the whole time but didn’t have the mouth to voice it.

By the end of a couple trips they had several mannequins, a few knives which Izuku kept for self-defense and a computer of all things, not a monitor though. It was one that seemed to actually work if the glowing light was anything to go by. He didn’t have a monitor yet so that had to be shelved for now.

By the end of the first week, the warehouse was looking quite well. There were some hanging lights put up around the bedroom to light the place up dimly, curtains to block the windows and even some sheets to make the bed more comfortable. It was a nice feeling being able to make your own space.

Despite everything though, there was still one thing Izuku hated about this new arrangement. Sleeping. Yes the mattress was soft enough to work but comfort wasn’t the issue. He keeps getting nightmares. Bad ones about seeing mama again getting burned alive or Hisashi finding him. He tried to ignore them the first night but after he just settled for not sleeping as long as possible and instead read some of the books that he found dumped on a street nearby.

He knew it wasn’t good to stay up past his bedtime. He felt it too but it didn’t stop him. He didn’t want to go to sleep no matter what, at least until he was too tired to move and collapsed onto the mattress in front of Ana who in turn would collapse to the floor.

When he would sleep it would always be nightmares and worse it was ones where he couldn’t break out until the next morning. He’d wake up shaking and constantly checking the building to make sure nothing can get in or out except him and Ana. He didn’t want to be found, not until he knew for sure Hisashi was gone.

That was a problem, certainly, so for now he’s going to work on getting more food and experimenting with his quirk further.

Speaking of, he made a new discovery about his quirk. He managed to find a wilted child’s doll in the dump that he kept and wanted to use his power on it to see how it works with multiple dolls. What came of it was that when Izuku activated his control, it activated it for all of his ‘dolls’ causing Ana to move too. 

So, at least for now, it was better to control one doll and not push it until he was older. Maybe then he could find a way to split his focus on more than one thing.

- - -

“The bottle kept moving on its own?” Shouta asked the detective. 

It’s been a week since the fire and after some tests and some research, they found out enough to warrant a meeting. Both him and Tsukauchi were in the detective’s office for the sake of privacy due to the connections to the Dragon’s Roar this case has.

“According to the analyst, yes. The bottle just started moving on its own.” the detective said, placing out the report from the analyst on the fluid in the bottle they found.

“Any reason why?” the pro hero asked, just as certain as before what the answer to this question would be.

“None, yet. It’s why you’re here.” Tsukauchi stated.

The detective took out a case, where inside, pulled from styrofoam coating, was the bottle in question. It had the same fluid but it had molded or mossed of some kind to almost ‘infect’ the inside of the bottle. The ‘moss’ seemed to twitch like a muscle, moving and clearly trying to shake the bottle given how it seemed to slip in Tsukauchi’s grasp.

“You want to see if it’s a quirk? Shouldn’t it be obvious?” he said in his usual low voice.

“We just need to be sure.” the detective assured.

With that the pro hero's shoulder length black hair floated up from its usual messy droop as his eyes glared red. In an instant it happened, the moss in the bottle flopped back to become liquid again and inanimate. Tsukauchi set it down and they watched as it was now just an unmoving water bottle.

Shouta then dropped his quirk and in a near instant, the water activated and enveloped the bottle once more, causing it to tip over and roll around unpredictably. Tsukauchi immediately grabbed it and put it back inside the case it was brought safely in. Shouta raised an eyebrow at that case, wondering why it needed the cushioning.

“What’s with the padding?”

“Whenever the bottle rolls or bashes into something, the cells in the spinal fluid die so we’ve been trying to preserve as much of it as possible.” the detective explained as he gently set the case down.

“Whose spine did it come from?” the hero asked.

“Izuku Midoriya is who we believe it belongs to. He is the only son of Inko and Hisashi  Midoriya.” Tsukauchi elaborated.

“I’m guessing Hisashi is the ‘husband’ that the victim had mentioned.” Shouta assumed, not that it wasn’t easy.

“He is, and his description matches the man in the security footage. We haven’t been able to locate him though and their residence is deserted.” the detective clarified.

Shouta took a look through some files on the table relating to the man. On the surface, everything looked alright. The documents, birth certificate, license, all of it but from some calls and checks, most of this was forged with exceptions such as his drivers license which was built off the fake documents.

It seemed that whoever Hisashi Midoriya was, was important enough to need to be hidden from the world. That made it all the more important to find him now that he’s been exposed before he squirrelled away again. Someone with this kind of past connected to the Dragon’s Roar had to be someone important.

But despite that threat though, Shouta was feeling more concerned for the boy they still haven’t found. The fear that Hisashi caught him or even killed him like his mother was a fear that he had since he carried the burnt Midoriya out of the fire. He really didn’t want to find a burnt child or any dead child for that matter, he had enough problems sleeping.

“And what about the kid? Anything there?” he asked, hoping for something.

“No but we’re going to release an inquiry to the public if anyone has seen him. Hopefully he’s still out there.” Tsukauchi stated, “Meanwhile there’s a few people we need to look into.”

“Who?”

“The Bakugou family. They live nearby and according to one of them they were good friends with the deceased.” 

“Anything I can do?” Shouta offered.

“Not much besides cracking down more on Dragon’s Roar in case we manage to stumble upon Hisashi.” Tsukauchi gave.

The two talked more about what some newer reports on the Dragon’s Roar had and where some new operations were opening up. Shouta took them and made his leave from the station, doing a short patrol around before settling back home for the night.

Climbing back into the apartment through the living room window, he wiggled past Pepper and Dot to get into the living room where Hizashi was, watching a movie, clearly waiting for him.

“Hey.” Shouta called as he sat down on the couch next to the blond haired man.

“Hey, how was work?” the blond asked tiredly, wrapping an arm around the other man.

“Alright. Still haven’t found that kid.” Shouta lamented, resting into the side of his fiancee.

Hizashi stroked the top of his head, knowing that he’s been thinking about this a lot ever since he saw the footage of the kid running for his life. He knows despite how much he hated talking to people he had a soft spot for children, especially those going through a rough time.

“You’ll find him.” he reassured. “I know you will.”

The two kept like that for a few more minutes until the movie had ended and two went to bed. Shouta could only hope that wherever Izuku Midoriya was, he was safe.

- - -

Today was another day to look for food and Izuku knew where. He and Ana headed to the same convenience store as before and rushed to pick out some stuff. He knew not to take a lot because it's meant to be for everyone not just him so he grabs enough for himself.

Once he picked up what he needed, he scampered back to the warehouse to stash his food and headed back out to fish for more junk. This trip he was hoping for a monitor but what he found instead was something much more interesting.

Underneath a bunch of fried electronics, Izuku found what seemed to be a drone with its remote attached to it. It looked really expensive except for how the propellers were broken. He put it in the trolley Ana was pushing and did some more searching in the electronics pile and found a few batteries he decided to stockpile on.

Of course not all of them might work but as Izuku has found out here, more often than not people throw away things for the slightest of problems. Case and point, he found a fridge that was thrown away, probably whoever owned it got a better one. It still works, even with the light intact. Truly some people were wasteful but Izuku remembered one time a guy said on a show that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure and sure enough he found lots of treasures.

Bringing it all back, sure enough his hideaway was becoming more homey. He has a complete bed with a frame that was only missing a leg, a desk chair with a few cuts on it and satellite dish. He didn’t know how to use the dish but he knew it’s used to get radio waves but it was cool so he brought it with him.

Speaking of knowledge, there was one thing Izuku missed from before besides mama and that was the family computer. It would have so many answers he could use right now but until he found a monitor and somehow connected to the internet, he knew that was far from now.

For now he’d settle with some old dusty books he’d find. Most of them were useless, either instruction manuals for things he didn’t have or novels that only helped to distract him from sleeping but what he did find was a few books about machines. 

Some computer assembly guides and some tech textbooks were useful but only so long as you can understand the words being written. If he wanted to actually put this stuff to use, he needed to fill in the gaps he had in his reading skills.

Which ultimately led him to the library, the only place he could probably get those answers. The problem was going in. Izuku liked having closed walls around him but he didn’t like it with other people. It felt suffocating and risked him being found so how could he even approach?

He couldn’t just take books out, he needed a library card and he didn’t have one, nor did he want to get one. He could read the books inside but that was, again, scary. If only Ana could walk inside and do it for him but he can’t see through her eyes, it was a major drawback about his quirk to see what was going on or he might as well be swinging around in the dark.

That was when an idea popped into the mind of the little boy. He looked for the drone he got from the dump and took apart its camera. It had a wireless connection to the remote and it had a little screen too. After carefully removing the camera, the wires and the battery holders, he checked to see if it still worked and it did.

The video quality was poor and the lens needed cleaning but it was enough to be able to read. Izuku took his carving knife and after apologising to Ann, removed one of her eyes and stuffed in the camera snugly where the socket would be. After giving the camera and the remote the fullest batteries he could find, the doll marched around the warehouse whilst Izuku hid in his bedroom, watching the dolls ‘perspective’.

It was really shaky and the camera would’ve slipped out but the duct tape he used kept it in place and Ana was able to make her first walk on her own. Izuku was happy and proud of his idea. He decided to give Ana some extra batteries and practiced taking them out of the camera and putting new ones in before sending the doll out on an errand.

That errand being to look around the area for a library.

The doll clambered down the street whilst Izuku watched from the remote, the connection getting spotty every now and then from getting too far out of range. It seemed the signal was good for almost a kilometer before it started getting slow. Hopefully he can find something stronger in the future, that way he doesn’t need to risk going outside at all.

Eventually Ana found a library just at the edge of his range and commanded her to wander inside. After struggling with the door for a minute, the doll stumbled inside to a confused looking librarian.

“Excuse me, are you alright?” he whispered, tilting his head to try and see the face of the raincoat wearing doll, hood up and taped on tight.

Ana shook her head slowly and deliberately and just limped past him and into the library. The librarian just looked on, slightly confused but thankfully it seemed he didn’t care enough to look into it further. Despite having been found in a dumpster, the green raincoat covered a lot of Ana up and the accompanying rain boots she had made it easier to pass off as a human. Maybe a drunk one but a human nonetheless.

Izuku's eyes wandered over the books Ana’s eye was showing. He wasn’t sure where to start, so he settled on the most obvious thing to look at. A simple book called Computers Made Easy. Ana set it down and started going through it with Izuku reading through the lens. The problem was that although this is meant to be ‘easy’ he still can’t understand most of the words.

So he had Ana look for something to fix that. Books on katakana, kanji and hiragana that were aimed at children were the easiest he could find. He is a child and that should be natural but Izuku didn’t want Ana to stay in the library for long. He couldn’t check out the books because he needed a library card, one he didn’t have.

He decided to stay there for two hours, making sure to keep an eye on his connection to Ana to know how much spinal fluid she had. Turning pages didn’t lose much but it did when you were also subconsciously ordering her to tap her foot. Over that time he noticed some people giving the doll some strange looks. Her disguise hadn’t fallen but Izuku imagined it was more because the dummy looked like an adult reading a book for children far too intently.

Once Izuku had enough for the day, he put the book back and had Ana leave, the librarian giving the doll a look that read ‘goodbye’ to the boy. Ana made it back safely and though it was a bit awkward looking through the camera, it wasn’t that bad if it meant he didn’t need to leave the safety of the warehouse.

Ultimately, then, the test was a success and Izuku spent the rest of his time practicing what he learnt on the books he had. It was still a struggle but he was a scarily fast learner with a lot of time on his hands.

- - -

After Izuku’s success with the camera, he started to not leave the warehouse at all. Opting to have Ana go outside and handle all of it. It was honestly safer. He was less likely to be found so he continued having her be his hands and feet for a whole other week.

The only real time he needed to leave was to go to the beach to get more junk because it was too far. He looked for a better quality camera with better connections but unfortunately his luck there ran dry. But only for that area, as after a week of scavenging he finally came across one thing he was looking for.

A TV screen. It was old, bulky, small and dirty but Izuku was sure with some cloth it could be cleaned up. Loading it onto the trolley, he picked up a few more interesting looking pieces of junk and the two headed back to the warehouse with their haul.

Overtime, Izuku had noticed that it looked odd for a child to be travelling with someone pushing a trolley filled with junk so, using his small size, he would hide under Ana’s raincoat, using the camera to see out in front of him and guide the two. All in all, it felt like life was going well besides sleep issues. Well there’s one more thing.

Izuku hadn’t talked to a real human being in almost two weeks. He’s talked to Ana, yes, but she never talks back. Not that he expected her to. It was honestly really lonely. But he knew this is what he needed to do if he wanted to escape and maybe one day get revenge on Hisashi.

But he admits that when he sees other kids playing without a care in the world his heart aches a little bit. It’ll just have to be something to outgrow. He’s practically a grown up now with how responsible he was.

Yes so he’ll just have to make do with telling Ana all of his ideas and plans. His secrets and fears. Hopes and dreams. She always nods her head along to everything he says (with his input) so really who needs other people? Izuku barely talked to anyone before so really nothing of value was lost, it just meant he had to be a little more lonelier than usual.

Chapter Text

Tsukauchi wasn’t sure what to expect with the Bakugous. He knew that one of them was close with the deceased Midoriya so he was afraid of being the bearer of bad news so he, in some small part, hoped they already knew from the news report.

Parking outside of their residence, he steps out to spy a small head peeking out from the upstairs window to see him move outside and out of his car. Once Tsukauchi reached the door to knock on it, it opened before he could, thanks to a man with spiky brown hair and glasses greeting him.

“Hello, officer.” the man greeted.

Tsukauchi said hello back. Having already called ahead for a good time to talk, the detective was let in and shown to the living room where a woman with spiky blonde hair and red eyes greeted him as well.

After a short round of introductions, he learned the names of the two as Masaru and Mitsuki respectively. He also got the impression they had a child, given the toys he could see here and there but that wasn’t important, at least for now. Right now he needs to know if they’re aware of the situation.

“Do you know why I’m here?” Tsukauchi asked gently, putting on that voice he does when getting ready to deliver bad news.

“Yes. Inko,” the blonde Bakugou started, pausing for a moment as her throat seemed caught on the words. “She’s gone isn’t she?”

“Unfortunately, yes.” he answered, tone filled with sympathy.

“And Izuku’s missing as well?” she followed up with, voice just as worried.

“We are still searching for him but yes,” he reassured.

Masaru seemed to narrow his eyes, not out of suspicion or disbelief but dread. Mitsuki on the other hand seemed stressed and gripped the couch they were on to the point that her husband held her hand to calm her down.

The three discussed how they knew the Midoriya’s and most of it comes back to Mitsuki and Inko being friends from college. They were close enough to move into the same area and even saw each other as aunts to each of their respective children. The emotions seemed very tender as it was clear the blonde woman was having a hard time saying this out loud.

Masaru just kept reassuring her, taking over for some parts when it became too much for the other and trying to keep it together for the sake of his wife. Eventually the topic of Inko’s relations to them ended and the topic of Hisashi began. Once it did, there was an immediate shift in the two, clearly finding the man upsetting to them.

“I always knew there was something off with that man.” Mitsuki growled, becoming less mournful and more angry than before.

“Can you tell me more about that?” Tsukauchi inquired.

Mitsuki told him how much she never trusted the man, even when he and Inko first started dating. According to her, Midoriya always had a habit of attracting the worst kind of people to her and Hisashi was one of them. She mentioned how he would always come home late, worrying the woman.

Tsukauchi was going to interject there and ask if she knew what he was doing late but Mitsuki kept talking, now turning into a rant so he left it until she was done.

Apparently Midoriya Inko had always been a gentle soul and would rarely ever say ‘no’ unless it would literally hurt her or someone she cared about. It always ended up with him walking all over her and every decision he made was one she had to agree with, for the most part.

She did, however say, that she got a lot more willful when Izuku was born, especially when he started to become more and more like his mother in terms of his gentle heart. She and Hisashi would argue a lot, especially over the dolls Izuku liked but Mitsuki could tell it was less about them for Inko and Hisashi and more about control.

The dolls represented Izuku’s soft nature and anyone could tell that Hisashi didn’t want a gentle child. Inko on the other hand wanted Izuku to like what he wanted and not be forced to change just because someone told him, completely oblivious to the irony of her saying that.

“Would the arguments ever turn violent?” Tsukauchi asked, now that Mitsuki was winding down a little.

“No. At least in terms of punching or slapping. The bastard knew that would push things too far even for Inko.” she said, voice still ringing with frustrations. “And it pretty much was the case.”

“What do you mean?” Tsukauchi asked, making sure that he’s writing all of this down in his pocketbook.

“The day Inko died and Izuku vanished, she called me to say Hisashi hit her.” Mitsuki’s face turned grim. 

She continued to explain that she called to say everything that happened, including the quirk manifestation Izuku went under. She mentioned going to a hospital and Tsukauchi made sure to get the name of it before moving on to his final inquiry.

“Do you know what line of work Hisashi was in?” he asked.

“No and it always made me suspicious, especially the bruises and cuts I’d notice on his knuckles.” she answered.

“Did he ever have a tattoo that looked like this?” and Tsukauchi took out a small photo showing the Dragon’s Roar symbol that all members get.

Mitsuki and Masaru both looked it over, scrambling through their brains for anyway they’d recognise that symbol but none of them recognised it. Tsukauchi thanked them for their time and promised to update them on any developments but before he could leave, the loud voice of a kid filled the room.

“Are you going to find Izuku?”

He looked just like his mother, the red eyes and spiky blond hair. He stood in the doorway looking in and was definitely not a shy kid given how he didn’t seem shy at all. Tsukauchi wasn’t sure what to say. No trace of Izuku had been found yet and they’d only just got the missing child inquiry broadcasted so he can’t say anything for sure.

He admits he wasn’t good with kids. He didn’t not like them but when it came to talking to them on the job, it was always for something not good. He doesn’t know how the blond felt about the kid Midoriya so he kept it vague but hopeful.

“We are still searching for him and trying our best to find him.” he settled on.

The boy’s eyebrows furrowed at that. “You better find him soon. He’s weak and cries a lot.”

It was laced with thinly veiled concern and it was clear there was some dislike in his tone but it seemed that the boy was likely just worried for his friend. At least that's how it seemed to Tsukauchi. 

The detective made his final farewells and left the Bakugou’s residence to head to the hospital and find out more about what happened in more detail.

- - -

Ana had just come back from another library visit and Izuku was starting to understand more and more about what he was reading in the books he'd gathered. He even made a little personal dictionary to help him out and all was going well. 

The warehouse as well was starting to fill up. A lot of the junk was left on the building’s main floor whilst anything useful was moved up to the bedroom that was shaping up to have everything Izuku needed. Right now though, he just wanted to learn more and more.

He realized he had a love for learning new things and couldn’t wait to be able to read properly without the children’s dictionary he had when reading. He’d set up a little place to set his books whilst he didn’t read them and had Ana check any nearby dumpsters for anything interesting. 

Speaking of dumpsters, Izuku realized that he and Ana were starting to look a little worse for wear. Whilst Ana could be excused, Izuku felt really grimy and his clothes were starting to get worn in some places. He even had a hole in the back of his shirt. He didn’t know where that came from.

He wasn’t sure where he could get some clothes though. Most clothes that were tossed out were already worse than what he’s wearing. Honestly he could steal but Izuku knew that was wrong but his morals are wavering the more ratty his clothes got. Ana was fast if needed but faster than a car or a hero was something Izuku didn’t want to test.

Maybe if he checked behind some department stores, there might be some old clothes thrown out he could take. But in all likelihood he was going to have to either find money or get lucky, which would probably still be money in the end.

There could be a third option though. He knows that some people sew clothes. He even saw mama fix some things once or twice but Izuku didn’t know the first thing about making clothes or if he’d even be good at it. 

“Guess we could look in the library. Right Ana?” he said, turning to the doll who nodded at his words.

Izuku had started to forget sometimes that Ana wasn’t real. That she was just an object puppeted by him but he needed the company and it wasn’t as if he was going crazy. He was perfectly fine besides the late nights huddled on the mattress, crying a little at knowing mama was gone forever. 

Everyone dealt with grief. Izuku assured himself he’ll get over it, he knows he’ll get over it. He hopes he gets over it.

A few tears pushed free from his eyes that he quickly rubbed away. He can’t stop to think too much, if he did he’d get sad distracted. Right now he needs new clothes and a bath. 

The latter could be done, there was a bathtub in the junk he’s pulled back, the problem was filling it and emptying it of water. The only source of water he had was the tap in the kitchen. He could attach a hose but then the next issue was somehow making the water warm. While it seemed there was a heater, it didn’t work probably because it was broken. That itself was another concern down the road.

It was Spring right now and while it was chilly it would get warmer but that warmth won’t last. He either needed to find a heater or figure out how to fix the one here. The former seemed to be the easier option.

The boy didn’t know how long he’d need to hide here. Honestly he was starting to feel that he could stay here forever with what he’s turned the place into and it was tempting. What else was there out there that he couldn’t do himself here?

Auntie and Uncle were the only real things he cared about that are still alive but that would be the first place Hisashi would look for him. He’d put them in danger. Also Kacchan was there and while he’d say they were friends, he always felt like the other boy never saw him the same way.

Truly there was nothing the outside world could offer him he couldn't find himself. Except, of course, clothes and heating but he was figuring it out and will probably find a way soon.

- - -

Hizashi was coming back from some clothes shopping for the upcoming warmer months. He needed some new clothes after Pepper tore through his shirts in a crime of passion and was just finished getting what he wanted. He was in his civilian attire, his long blond hair tied back in a messy knot.

He’d paid for a few new shirts as well as a couple things that caught his eyes when he took a step outside the clothing store he was in to hear the sounds of rustling in the alleyway next to the building.

‘Wonder what that is? Maybe a raccoon or cat?’ he thought, moving towards the corner.

Peeking around he saw a person in a long green raincoat rooting around in some dumpsters whilst a tiny figure was standing a bit back, watching. The taller one looked to be an adult but Hizashi couldn’t quite tell because of their hood being up. The smaller one though, looked to be the size of a kid and the raincoat he was wearing looked to be the same as the taller one, just cut off at the bottom so he wouldn’t trip.

The tall one was taking out some old clothes thrown out during clearance and was holding them for the kid to see as if getting his critique but neither of them said anything to each other. Hizashi also noticed that both of them looked a bit dirty, especially the tall one with dirt and grease all over their coat.

‘Are they homeless? No Zashi. Don’t judge, you’re literally planning to marry a man very soon who looks like he sleeps in the gutters.’ 

The blond took a few steps forward, which immediately was spotted by the kid who ran over to the tall one to hide behind. The tall one in question turned to face Hizashi but even then the dark alley made it hard to tell who they were.

“Hey! Hey listeners! Didn’t mean to startle you.” he said, raising up his arms in surrender. He didn’t mean to fall back into his hero persona, it was just how he talked when consoling people.

The kid seemed to have vanished behind the taller one, who didn’t react to Hizashi’s words. 

“I just wanted to check if you’re alright.” he reassured, spotting behind them a shopping trolley that was being filled with clothes.

The tall one stayed still, staring down Hizashi in an almost eerie kind of way. He didn’t feel malicious intent, he didn’t feel any intent coming from the person just a presence. Hizashi knows that normally you should keep to yourself when it comes to things like this and he would if he hadn’t noticed the kid. He wanted to make sure both of them were alright.

“Are you able to speak?” he asked gently, not wanting to spook them anymore.

The tall one shook their head slowly and almost intently. It was admittedly odd how rigid that movement was but Hizashi didn’t question it. He was more focused on learning more about these two.

“Do you know JSL?” he asked and signed. To that the tall one shook their head again, making it clear that this conversation isn’t going to go anywhere unless they find a way to chat.

“Ok then. Then I’ll just ask if you’re alright. Are you?” he questioned. The person seemed to freeze for a moment before nodding a couple times. “And what about the kid with you, are they alright?”

The person nodded again, starting to inch back now at the mention of the kid. Hizashi couldn’t help but get nervous at that and made a step forward which seemed to cause something under the person’s coat to jump.

‘Is he hiding under their coat?’ Hizashi thought, noticing the jump but said nothing.

“Can I get a look at the kid? Just to make sure they’re alright.” he clarified.

A stand off lasted for a few moments before a little head popped out from the taller one’s coat between their legs. He still couldn’t see his face but could see the small glow of two green irises staring at him.

‘He can’t be that old.’ Hizashi thought. The small one really looked like a kid in how he gripped onto the taller one's coat to hide behind. It was a little cute to be honest.

“It’s alright. Can you take off that hood so I can see if you’re alright?” he requested.

Both he and the tall one shook their heads, almost perfectly in sync. Hizashi wasn’t sure how to continue when he heard the tiniest voice speak.

“W-what is t-that?” the child stuttered, not in a shout but more a loud whisper. Like he didn’t want to be overheard.

“What is what?” Hizashi questioned, crouching down to be at eye level with the kid, who stepped back a bit into the tall one’s coat.

“JSL?” he whispered.

Hizashi smiled a little, “It’s something you use to speak without using words or writing.” He moved his arms and hands to show the sign for hello. “This means hello.”

The kid tried to copy the movements along with the tall one, bending both of their fingers to match what Hizashi showed. After a few attempts and Hizashi showing them it a few more times, they eventually managed to get it, much to the kid’s joy.

“See you got it!” he cheered, making a careful step towards them. This one they didn’t notice and so he kept there, waiting for a chance to close in. He didn’t know who they were but he had his suspicions, specifically with the kid.

“H-how do I learn m-more?” he asked, eyes more clear now and blooming with curiosity.

Hizashi kept a cheery smile on. “There’s lots of books on it, but if you want I can teach you some more.”

The kid seemed to light up when he mentioned books but when he said he could teach him, he must’ve realised how close they were and stepped back, the tall one moving with him. Hizashi made no sudden movements as the duo stumbled back, bumping into the trolley.

As they did, the kid seemed to bump into the leg of the tall one and his hood slipped a bit, a few locks of greasy dark green hair poking out. He seemed to panic and put the hood back on but it was enough for Hizashi to confirm who he was looking at.

‘Izuku Midoriya. He’s right here and alright.’ Hizashi couldn’t believe he just stumbled into him on a shopping trip. He didn’t know who the tall one was but he was sure they couldn’t be good. He needed to get the kid away from them.

The problem was how he could do it without risking the kid being taken hostage. He also didn’t like how still and quiet the tall one was. They haven’t made a sound, not even a gasp to breathe but then again, Hizashi’s hearing aids had been acting up a lot recently so maybe he’s just missed it.

He couldn’t say he knew who Midoriya was right away or that might cause something dramatic to happen, so he settled with being the concerned stranger for now.

“Hey kid,” he started, causing Midoriya to look up slightly at him, “Are you feeling safe with that person?”

He turned to the tall one and the kid looked up at them for a moment before nodding his head. The tall one didn’t react at all, unnerving Hizashi even more.

“Okay, well why don’t you both come with me? I can teach you more JSL?” he offered hoping.

Both of them took a step back, suspicion and distrust starting to grow in the boy’s eyes which made Hizashi’s heartache. A child should never have to make a face like that. It seemed the kid really mistrusted him and whether it was his own thoughts or the tall ones influence he wasn’t sure.

The two kept stepping back, ignoring the trolley clearly planning to run so Hizashi decided to try one last time.

“Midoriya, I know it’s you!” he called and it seemed to set off the two.

The tall one grabbed the kid and spun around to sprint, no rather scatter towards the other end of the alley. Hizashi took off after, leaving his shopping behind as he grabbed his phone to call Shouta.

“Sho’!” he yelled into the phone, “I think I found the kid Midoriya, he’s with someone unknown and I’m chasing them right now to Pinato Square.”

He heard his fiancee on the other end stumble, probably from their bed, and spoke back into the phone in a calm but clearly nervous voice. “I’m on my way.”

Hizashi kept chasing the two through alleys. It was almost impressive how they managed to avoid stumbling into as little people as possible. He kept calling after the two, telling them he meant no harm, hoping this was a misunderstanding.

Eventually, they reached a dead end where they were looking around for any way out. Hizashi stopped behind them, and readied for a standoff. He couldn’t use his quirk here or he might hurt Izuku and he didn’t know the state the kid was in under that raincoat. For all he knew he might be hurt.

The duo turned around and Midoriya was still held by the tall one to their chest, almost cradled like a baby. Hizashi made sure to note how the kid wasn’t fighting it but that could be due to stockholm or some kind of quirk. Right now he needed to separate the two.

“Look, just put the kid down and we can work this out.” Hizashi tried to negotiate. The tall one just stood there unmoving but by the shifting of its legs, he could tell they were going to fight. So he took the first initiative.

Hizashi moved in to strike, aiming a kick to try and sweep the feet out from under them but when he struck, he heard a loud clunk. Were they wearing armor? Nevertheless the person stood tall and responded in kind with a shaky swing of their legs which almost hit Hizashi on the chin. The raincoat had flown up and under he could see what he could tell was a bare leg.

This made the hero more determined to get whoever this is away from the child as the two started swinging at each other, parrying legs and just missing the tall ones head. The hood ruffled slightly and under he could spot something shining like a lens. What was more alarming though was how this guy seemed to keep up with him eerily well like he knew what his next move would be.

After a few seconds of being in a stalemate, the pro hero finally got an advantage when a puddle caused the tall one to slip. Using that he pivoted on one foot and delivered a kick to the head of the person. A loud crack was heard and the head came clean off, surprising even Hizashi as the person stumbled back, Midoriya still in their clutches.

The blond was expecting blood but instead he saw… water? Sprayed out from the stump before it seemed to just stop. He lowered his guard for a moment at the sight, thinking that he might’ve accidentally killed this guy when the headless body jumped and slammed their leg down on Hizashi’s shoulder, taking the fight out of the man as he was crushed to the floor with far too much strength for something that thin.

He also heard a crack then and felt water on the back of his head he thought was his blood when the person ran past Hizashi, grabbing their decapitated cranium and taking off. Hizashi was still on the ground, reeling from that last kick when he saw lying next to him was a mangled severed foot. He almost freaked out before he noticed it was made of plastic.

He rose back up and tried to chase after them but it was too late. Midoriya was gone without a trace just like the first time. A few moments later, Shouta hopped down into the alley and immediately ran for him when he saw him holding the back of his head. He checked for blood but it just seemed to be water he thinks.

“Zashi!” he called and he would’ve found it sweet to hear if he wasn’t wrestling with the most painful shoulder pain he’s ever gotten.

“He got away.” Hizashi groaned, now gripping his shoulder. The other man held him slightly to support him.

Shouta asked where they went but Hizashi assured him they were long gone. The speed that guy went, even with a missing foot, was far too quick for a normal human. It must’ve been a quirk of some kind.

“The foot.” Hizashi nodded, the appendage still there on the floor.

Shouta picked it up and looked it over and his eyes widened a little as he looked inside the socket. He must’ve noticed something but whatever it was could wait. After this, he was definitely going to have to see if his shoulder was dislocated, that kick felt far too powerful.

With the help of Shouta, the two made their way out where some police cars had arrived, Tsukauchi rushing out to ask where Midoriya went. Ultimately though, Hizashi felt awful and it was less about the kick and more about the fact he let whoever that was get away with the kid. 

He didn’t like how he failed when Midoriya was right there.

Chapter Text

Izuku was shaking in the arms of Ana as she sprinted down the alleyways. He clutched onto her raincoat whilst he focused on moving her away. Hopping over trash, dodging people having their breaks out the back of their workplaces and cars taking shortcuts through the alleys. 

The blond man was still behind them, keeping up despite the difficult maneuvering. Izuku also noticed he was talking to his phone, probably to tell Hisashi that he found him. Yes this was all just terrible and Izuku needed to get out and back to the warehouse as fast as possible.

He didn’t know where he was going, just hoping that whoever that blond guy was gets tired and stops but a quick peek over Ana’s shoulder and Izuku could see he was still chasing. Thankfully the doll was probably going to outrun him unless he has a quirk that can keep up with her.

That is until Ana almost crashes into a dead end. It was a closed off alley with three buildings together to create a cage that was too high for Ana to climb up. At first Izuku contemplated throwing himself up to a fire escape but he didn't think Ana could reach it.

He was going to have to fight. Well Ana was the one to fight but there was no time to get into the specifics. The dummy turned with Izuku in her arms to face the man who stopped a few metres from them. He didn’t look tired and though he was breathing a bit, he didn’t seem out of breath.

“Look, just put the kid down and we can work this out.” he ordered, he tried to make it sound convincing but Izuku wasn’t stupid.

Ana moved to get ready to fight, Izuku drawing upon all the different fighting styles he’s read heroes use. He knew about some like boxing, karate and judo but he couldn’t tell how this person would fight at a glance.

The blond man rushed in, swinging a kick that surprised Izuku at first but it was clear he didn’t expect Ana to be that sturdy. He had her swing her foot up and attempt to make a kicking uppercut but he just got out of the way. The man jumped back and his stance immediately reminded Izuku of some fighting styles he’s seen some heroes use such as Present Mic and Midnight, mostly being kicks and punches meant to destabilise the opponent.

Ana made sure to parry each kick he could read and avoid the inevitable punches that followed when they were meant to knock her off balance. While maybe at the beginning when he was learning his quirk she’d fall, Izuku had since learned enough control to make her stance more solid.

It was a fast pace back and forth and it was clear the man didn’t want to hurt Izuku, probably so Hisashi can instead, but he seemed to really want to hurt Ana. Maybe because this is the first fight Izuku’s been in so he can actually feel the air between each blow. He makes a mistake though and Ana slips on a puddle. She doesn’t fall but it gives the other man the opportunity to give a harsh winding kick to Ana's head, knocking it off.

The dummy’s head bounced on the floor a few times until it rolled near a bin and Izuku could feel the fluid loss from that. He immediately pressed a hand to her chest and gave more spinal fluid to make up for it before he noticed the man was distracted by the head.

Using that, Izuku told Ana to strike, the doll jumping in the air, winding her leg up high and bringing it down on the man with enough force to disconnect her foot. The man slammed into the ground, yelling in pain and after he didn’t get up or retaliated immediately, Izuku had Ana grab her head and run for it.

He couldn’t risk getting the foot but even without it Ana could move faster than most people. For extra measure though, Izuku made sure to give more fluids, even though he got very dizzy and was about to pass out from the loss.

As they ran, Izuku thought he heard sirens somewhere but his headache was too strong to care so he just kept going until they got back to the warehouse. Once home, Ana brought him to his room and set him down before running to hide the hole with a dumpster, assuring his hiding place remained hidden.

The boy crawled onto the bed, holding onto Ana’s head and just closed his eyes, taking frantic breaths over how he could’ve been taken away then. He didn’t know what that man’s quirk was, but it must’ve been either too destructive to be used precisely or non-combative, otherwise Ana wouldn’t have been able to defeat him.

The fact he could’ve been snatched, back into the hands of Hisashi just made him shake, keeping Ana’s head close and breathing forcefully but the beating in his heart didn’t stop and the headache from quirk use didn’t help. The world felt like it was falling apart.

He felt so strangled that he couldn’t move and squeezed the dummy’s head until he was sure the broken camera inside cut his fingers. He couldn’t stop freaking out, he couldn’t stop spiralling.

He can’t go back outside. He can never go back outside. It was too much. Too risky. It would always have to be Ana now, even if her range is too short. He’ll find a way, he has to, he has to.

Izuku remained balled up until the sun started to set, still awake and shaking he eventually pulled himself up and walked to get some water and drank it. It helped calm down his weakening panic but the resolution from that still remained strong.

He can’t leave. Leaving risks being found. He needs to stay here and get stronger on his own.

- - -

“That was his quirk?” Hizashi said, lying on the couch with Dot, scratching her head.

“According to what we know, it’s likely.” Shouta added, doing the dishes in the kitchen.

The erasure hero had come back from the station after Hizashi had that encounter with kid  Midoriya. They made sure Hizashi’s shoulder got checked for anything lasting but thankfully it wasn’t dislocated, just going to have a nasty bruise that would fade with time much to both of their relief. 

At the station, Tsukauchi explained what he got from the hospital about the Midoriya's visit. Apparently the kid had manifested his quirk which resulted in Hisashi getting a swollen nose and Inko getting a punch to the face (though he didn’t quite believe that last one and neither did the detective).

He also found out what it exactly was and what the cerebrospinal fluid was for. It was used in his quirk and acted like a moss-like muscle to manipulate and control objects, effectively puppeteering them. It was a pretty strange quirk according to the analyst.

It seemed to strengthen a lot of materials, at least when in motion as explained in a report that mentioned a doll sending Hisashi, a grown man, stumbling back. Now that Shouta’s seen, second hand, what the quirk can do it was certainly one that can get stronger the better materials and control were.

“Either that kid had perfect control or his quirk works on autopilot.” the blond commented as he moved his hand away from the cat, earning a death glare.

“There’s a lot that isn’t known about the quirk. They never got a real chance to have a quirk counsellor look at it.” Shouta clarified, finishing up drying.

On top of that, that’s all they got on the kid Midoriya. After Hizashi lost him, the police tried to search for the child but found nothing. At this point either the kid is magical or he’s just incredibly lucky and magic doesn’t exist.

“At least we know the Dragon’s Roar hasn’t found him.” Hizashi stated, looking on the brighter side of things. “But still. I could’ve saved him.”

“You didn’t know he was alone.” Shouta argued gently. He circled around the counter that divided their living room and kitchen and sat down next to his fiancee. Hizashi didn’t reach out for him so Shouta did instead taking his head and pulling it onto his shoulder which the blond let. 

“It’s almost been three weeks, Sho'.” Hizashi stated, “He’s been out there on the streets alone for three weeks and I could’ve pulled him away from it all. Why…”

It was clear why he stopped. Why didn’t the kid just accept the help? Why didn’t he just trust the man in front of him instead of just running and even hurting him. Shouta can’t think of a definite answer but he can take a wild guess.

From what Tsukauchi got about the kid’s home life, he probably had to walk on eggshells around his father and as such grew up to be timid and quiet. That, on top of watching his mother die by his hands, the kid is probably terrified of people. In a way he’s like a cat who runs at the first sign of anything bigger than him.

He explained all this to Hizashi and the man just leaned more onto Shouta as he gave a quiet sad chuckle. “So he’s like a stray cat, huh? Even got the scratches to prove it.”

Shouta hummed at that. He just hoped they’d find this stray cat and get him somewhere safe as soon as possible.

- - -

Izuku made one final trip to the beach. His last one hopefully, at least for him personally. He came to pick up something that at the time was too heavy to bring back with a trolley, at least fully.

It was a wide monitor along with a few cameras that were next to it. Most likely what was once a part of a security console if the branding they all shared meant anything. He knew he needed this to replace Ana’s lost ‘eye’. It took the better part of the night. Ducking into alleys and avoiding people as much as possible until he finally got it back to the warehouse. 

The problem was getting it inside. The biggest thing he’s gotten in was a bed frame that just barely made it through the hole by taking it apart. But the monitor was very wide and couldn’t be taken apart, so after some careful movements and a few cracks, they just got it through.

Ana moved it to the bedroom and set it on the desk that was a part of the office. Hooking it up to the power, the monitor came to life but had no input. Thankfully the computer he’d gotten from his first visit could finally be hooked up and the screen finally showed what the computer was.

It looked to be having problems with crashes and stuttering but after Izuku thought back to the ‘Computers Made Easy’ book, it seemed that the computer had gotten a virus. Recalling what he read, he wiped the computer completely and restarted it, the virus gone and whatever was on it before gone too.

After that he had a working computer, there was just the issue with the internet. He knew it was something he needed to go online from how often he’s watched it drop from before. He knew he needed a box but he also knew that he’d need to pay for it. He was going to have to visit the library himself and find out how he can work around this.

A day later Izuku would do just that, opting to go early in the morning on a Monday in hopes of as few people as possible finding him. He didn’t wear his raincoat this time, instead wore a hoodie he’d seen at the dump. It wasn’t pretty, nor was it clean and he’s pretty sure there’s blood on it but it didn’t matter. Once he had what he needed, he didn’t need to worry about clothing for the foreseeable future.

He moved quickly, and intentionally avoided eye contact with the librarian. Indeed the walls felt cramped, especially without Ana. He felt vulnerable and alone and that he couldn't do anything. He could feel his heart start to beat fast.

He quickly looked for the computers here and opted to just search for what he wanted as fast as possible. A few quick lookups and he found what he wanted. While he couldn’t get a provider for his internet, because that needed money, he did find something called ‘Satellite Internet’. He remembered that he had a satellite dish in the junk pile he gathered but wasn’t sure how’d he work that out.

After taking a list of things he needed to do to make the connection work, he left the library quickly, not even stopping when the librarian called out to him. He ran back home and immediately went to work on what to do. He set up the satellite dish and connected it to the computer, linking it to the power and creating a network of haphazard cables that would be a fire hazard if he knew what that second word meant.

However, he knew the biggest problem about this was not the dish, the computer or the power, it was the actual satellites that were the problem. That problem being that they moved. Izuku wrestled with it for a while. He’d need the dish to be facing the satellite in order to connect to the internet but to do that the satellite dish needed to always move.

The boy wracked his mind to find a way to do this but realised he had the perfect solution. On the roof, he set up the satellite (thanks to Ana) and injected the dish with his quirk, feeding it spinal fluid. Then after a moment of testing, Izuku was shifting the dish around at will. He’d need to refill it every now and again but right now, it was perfect.

The boy excitedly checked the computer and after some checks, he opened a browser and boom! He had a weak connection. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to not need the library. That day, Izuku spent it getting more and more information. How to strengthen his connection, how to read better and most importantly, how to make money.

Indeed with all of this, he was going to be able to do a lot of things.

He’d never have to leave the warehouse, he’d never have to risk getting caught, he’d never have to worry about Hisashi or anyone for that matter. Yes here, with this, he was safe. Alone. But safe.

Chapter Text

Shouta was going on a date tonight with Hizashi for the first time in a few months. Underground work, especially the night patrols, makes scheduling a nightmare for stuff like outings or getting drinks with friends. He knows Hizashi has been patient with him and he can’t love the man more than he already does.

He knows as well how down his husband has been about the missing Midoriya case. It’s been six months since the kid was last seen and Hizashi has been blaming himself more and more with every passing week there’s no news about him.

Hisashi’s, or whoever he was, trail has gone cold with no lead in sight, implying that he was likely a higher up in the Dragon’s Roar. Either way, the whole Midoriya case is going cold and soon there’ll be no reason for the police or heroes to keep looking into it. It’s just a sad affair all around really.

So Shouta’s planning to make things better for his blond loudmouth, at least for a night. The place he had gotten a reservation at was one that he had to get a few months in advance and tonight was that night. A night he explicitly made sure he and Hizashi would get off from doing any work.

At least that was the plan, but when he was checking the news that afternoon, he found out that the restaurant in question had a villain attack resulting in it needing to be closed for the next week. He still managed to get his reservation moved to that next week but having their night with just them delayed was a massive headache for the hero.

The two just settled for ordering takeout and watching a few movies. Not bad but that was what they were going to do after the dinner anyway so it could’ve easily been a better night. Shouta had made an order for their food and rested on the couch for twenty or so minutes with Hizashi until they heard their buzzer, asking for someone to be let in.

Letting the delivery driver in, the wonderful smell of fried chicken hit his nose as he opened the door. The covered up person was wearing a motorcycle helmet that had hidden their face but that didn’t concern Shouta. He just took the food and thanked the guy who just nodded back before turning to Hizashi to grace him with the wonderful treat of fried food.

None the wiser to how close Izuku was.

- - -

‘Another delivery done by Ana.’ thought Izuku behind his computer screen. 

‘He’ just completed his fifth delivery of the night and had already accepted a sixth, sending Ana back downstairs to grab her bike and head off to the next food place. Ever since he found a delivery app that didn’t look too closely into who their employees were, Izuku has been delivering food for them for the last three months.

It was rough at the beginning. Learning what routes were best, making sure he was on time and of course the biggest, learning how to ride a bike but he got it. It helped that he wasn’t the one doing the biking and instead Ana was the one running around Musutafu. 

Over the months he figured out how to get his connection stronger so that his video feed was better. He’s even gotten it to a point he subconsciously knew where the right satellites were at the right time. Of course he had to learn to work both Ana and the dish separately, which took longer than he expected but now he doesn’t have to worry.

Frankly things have been great for him. He hasn’t had to leave the warehouse since he got the satellite dish to work (besides going onto the roof to replenish it) and now he was thriving. For the most part.

He still had problems sleeping and would stay up days at a time but honestly, he had so much he could do now, and he was six! He’s much more grown up then he was then. His work arrangement was easy, especially with being able to have a second monitor that he bought with his own money. He was very proud of that one.

He’d also been improving Ana in terms of her body. Yes she was still cobbled together but with nicer parts. 

Izuku had gotten a mannequin torso to replace the anatomical dummy and it was a lot easier to keep fluids inside it. He’d also gotten some new arms, legs and to top it all off, enough tape to fully wrap her so that not a drop can slip out. He still had her head though. He didn’t want to lose it as it made Ana, Ana to him. 

He did clean it up though and even got some new rubber to wrap around to replace the ones that got shredded after the camera inside her head broke. He also didn’t need to worry about finding food banks anymore to feed himself, though he doesn’t really have an appetite in the first place.

It’s fine though, it’s mostly because when Ana isn’t working, Izuku’s learning a lot. He found this online schooling website and has been doing so well. He’s studied really hard and learned a lot. He just wished his mama could see how well he’s doing.

That’s another thing Izuku has been dealing with. He tries hard not to think about Mama because everytime he does, he gets that thing with his heart where it beats really fast and he starts having trouble breathing. But enough of that, how about we talk more about his home?

It’s still the same in terms of the warehouse floor besides a lot more junk in it, courtesy of the beach, but his bedroom has been a lot better. He’d collected a few dolls from some antique stores that Ana spotted and enjoyed using them for practising movements. Ever since that day that guy attacked them, Izuku has been learning how to protect himself if Hisashi ever found him.

He already studied heroes and quirks before so he was excited to pick it back up now that he didn’t have to worry about Hisashi stopping him. He could play with the dolls all he wanted and no one could stop it.

Truly he was happy like this. The only problem was he was now wondering what to do with his growing free time. He wanted to try sewing but he’d need a while to save up enough money to buy a machine. There was that other thing that he couldn’t escape, the one thing that he couldn’t have, no matter what he wanted.

Company.

- - -

Shinsou Hitoshi had just been moved to another home after his last one gave up on him. It wasn’t like he did anything. Literally he did nothing, but with a quirk like his. A villainous one. He couldn’t escape accusations and misconceptions or even downright manipulations some people would do just to hurt him.

What was the excuse this time? It was his fault that another kid hit a different one. Apparently that kid accused Hitoshi of using his quirk on them so now here he was, off to the next temporary stay like he’s a hot potato.

This one was in Musutafu with what he hoped this time would be someone who’d see him for more than his quirk but he couldn’t get his hopes up that high. He knew for the most part this was life for him and would be for a long time. No one wanted a kid who could take over you with just a few words.

Indeed just like that, he was given a bunch of ground rules the second he stepped foot through the door. No asking questions. No speaking without permission (which was never). Not even a sound, be it a sneeze or a cough, could leave his lips. And just like that he was welcomed into a new ‘home’.

At least this one he had to himself and didn’t have to fight with other foster kids pinning the blame on him for every wrong thing that happened. It was a small room he got, a broom closet practically, but at least it was his alone to sleep in.

And of course another school uniform for another school he’s moved to. He was about to start going to elementary school and it was honestly something he was not looking forward to. At least in his current grade, the childish insults actually came from kids. Soon he’d have to deal with people who were actually smart, not to say he was but at least he was wise enough to know how stupid some people could be.

After he'd settled in, he decided to immediately head out to explore. He didn’t like staying in the homes physically because it would always end up with him being blamed for something so he’d rather not make a mountain out of his first day. Musutafu was quite busy despite it being a Tuesday but Hitoshi didn’t mind. It made it easier to hide away and he didn’t mind the crowds.

Though he would mind some elbow room so he drifted to some of the more quieter parts of town. He knew Musutafu was close to the shore so he followed the scent of the ocean hoping to find a beach to just rest at.

What he got instead was a landfill site that was an eyesore to anyone passing by. At least he got a good view of the sun. It was almost October so it was setting faster and faster so he waited for the flaming ball in the sky to set. He didn’t really have much to do and despite the junk-filled surroundings, it was fun to look at and be shocked at what people had thrown away here.

After about an hour of resting, he heard the sound of shaky footsteps make their way towards him. When he turned, he spied a tall person in a green hoodie and grey sweatpants wandering towards him with a wheelbarrow in tow.

He did not like the way they stared at him.

Hitoshi stood up from the curb where he was sitting and eyed the stranger. He was a kid but not a fool. He knew about stranger danger and this stranger was looking right at him. He couldn’t see their face as it was covered with the hoodie and the drawstrings were pulled enough to hide everything but their eyes and they looked empty.

The wheelbarrow they were pushing was full of junk that Hitoshi didn’t know what for but nevertheless kept his guard up. He pushed himself to speak as right now they were in a standoff and the other person clearly wasn’t the talkative type.

“What do you want?” Hitoshi growled, making sure he sounded threatening enough.

The stranger didn’t flinch at his tone and instead moved their arms and hands in a few motions. They looked like they were trying to say something with them but Hitoshi didn’t understand what. After a few seconds of doing that, they stopped and instead reached for something in their pocket.

Hitoshi stepped back immediately, ready to run if this guy tried anything but what came out surprisingly was a notepad and a pencil. The figure brought it up right to the hole in the hoodie and wrote something down. 

‘Are they shortsighted?’ thought Hitoshi but stopped when the figure lowered their arm down to show what they wrote on the notepad.

Do you know JSL (Japanese Sign Language)? 

The writing was neat, almost textbook but it didn’t lower Hitoshi’s guard at all. “No, I don’t know that.” he replied, still keeping his distance.

The figure continued to write again right next to their face and lowered their arm down to show him their new message.

Why are you here?

“Because I wanted to watch the sun set? Oh and also be alone if you don’t mind." The last part came out snappy. Hitoshi still wasn’t sure if this person was a danger or not so didn’t want to get friendly just yet.

The stranger seemed to freeze for a moment before writing once more. When he showed the message though…

I like to be alone too

Hitoshi didn’t know whether to be alarmed or not. He didn’t know what this stranger wanted from him or why they’re talking to him. He stuck around only because it had been a while since he had a conversation with someone where he could speak freely.

“Why are you talking to me?” he queried directly, not wanting to beat around the bush. “Shouldn’t you have something better to do than bothering a kid like me?”

That second rhetorical question was a lot more aggressive and had a bit more emotion than he intended. Again it didn’t seem to scare or even register with the stranger and they just stared at Hitoshi, creeping him out until they started writing again.

I wanted to talk to someone and you seemed lonely like me. Also I’m a kid too!

Hitoshi read the first part of the message and every part of him said to run right now, only stopping just enough to read the second sentence. What did they mean they were a kid too?

“You can’t be a kid! You’re too big!” he argued childishly.

The stranger just stood there a moment, again eerily still, until they reached up to pull their hood back to show a distorted head. It looked vaguely like a woman’s but there was plastic wrap around it and what seemed to be a dome camera buried into the left side of her face. Her eyes were again lifeless and her lips didn’t seem capable of moving.

It looked distorted and disjointed. It was just realistic enough to be recognisable as human at a distance but it was distorted up close. Jilted, disfigured, monstrous. The fact it stood perfectly still like a scarecrow, staring directly at him put some kind of panic in his heart he only got when seeing a bug sneak up on him.

Hitoshi was afraid at what he was looking at and a normal kid would probably run at the sight of whatever this thing is. But for him, he was a bit frozen. The way that glaring camera lens bore down at him was almost pinning, daring him to move. He felt his feet fail to lift and just felt scared in a mind blanking way.

It felt like forever as he watched the stranger write once more. They didn’t write it up to their face, probably to keep an eye on Hitoshi. Once they were done, they showed him the notepad again.

I am controlling this doll

‘Doll? What?’ Hitoshi thought, confused and startled. 

From what this person is trying to say or at least Hitoshi could guess is that they’re controlling this… thing. That they were somehow, probably by a quirk, were puppeteering this thrown together, vaguely human, plastic, rubber and cloth coloured figure. 

But where was the kid? They said they’re the same age but Hitoshi can’t see them. Are they inside it? Are they off to the side watching this from a far? He noticed the camera once more and started to understand what he was looking at a bit more. They were watching him through that.

But that doesn’t prove anything about the stranger being a kid, it just proved what he was looking at wasn’t even the stranger. No this felt very risky and the kind of thing people make urban legends out of. The creepy doll man who snatches children away.

So when he noticed it’s been a while since anyone said anything and watched the ‘doll’ lift up their notebook once more, Hitoshi took the opportunity and ran. Sprinting fully and hoping that the stranger either couldn’t catch up or he was just too quick.

He was expecting to hear fast footsteps behind him. Like he was on the set of a horror movie about to get mauled in the street and left for some poor person to find. He didn’t want to be a victim, especially when he’s lived such a short and shitty life. 

He just kept going and hoping, until he reached someone he could hide behind.

- - -

Izuku didn’t know what he was doing. Maybe not talking with anyone his age for months was getting to him. Maybe not talking to anyone period was getting to him. But when he saw that purple haired kid with hair that looked like it was defying gravity perpetually, he found himself drawn to how downtrodden he looked.

Ana was just coming back from the beach dump with some more random electronics to scavenge when he spotted the kid staring out over the rubbish and trash, towards the sun. While Izuku never stayed outside long enough to watch the sunset, he definitely admitted that the junk, shadowed by the setting sun can actually be quite scenic.

It was just a bit more than that though that made him wander up to the kid who looked to be his age, maybe a bit older (Izuku using his own tiny size as a bad frame of reference). It was how tired his eyes looked, how thin he was and how he was here of all places.

Izuku has been to this beach many times and has seen enough people to match his number of fingers. This area was a deadzone where there were only three types of people. Either here to check out the beach and then immediately leave disappointed, here to dump something, be it old stuff or defective garbage and those who were less fortunate, scavenging the mess like him.

Someone here, enjoying the view willingly wasn’t something people came here for. So of course he had to go up and ask to find out what he was doing here. Curiosity and loneliness was getting the better of him. Ana set off on her way to the boy, pushing a wheelbarrow full of goods.

Ana moved towards the boy and immediately Izuku could see him stand up. That must mean he’s ready for a conversation, right? He said to Ana what it is she wanted so Izuku, after some hesitation, decided he was going to engage with him. Once Ana got close enough, Izuku ordered her to drop the wheelbarrow and start communicating with him. He had her sign ‘Good evening, do you know JSL?’.

Izuku learned JSL when he realised how useful it could be for Ana as communication has been the newer problem the dummy had. He got the idea (annoyingly) from that guy who chased them down months ago though he admits it has been very useful on one or two occasions.

Of course not everyone knows JSL but it’s better to be able to have it in case the opportunity presents itself. That’s why he has the notepad and pencil in Ana’s pocket after all. With it he can practically chat with anyone, not that he wants to.

The purple haired boy didn’t seem to understand when he made the gestures so it’s probably safe to say he didn’t know sign language. Ana reached into her hoodie’s front pocket and pulled out the notepad and small pencil Izuku bought in bulk for his journals. She brought the notepad right up to the camera lens so Izuku could focus on what it was he would be writing.

The fun thing about commanding someone to do things with your mind is that they can do it exactly to your parameters, provided they are capable of it. When Izuku gave the dummy the orders to write down ‘ Do you know JSL (Japanese Sign Language)?’ , it was done at the quality of a textbook example.

Showing that to the boy, he just stood there for a moment before he said that he did not. That dismayed Izuku for a second but it wasn’t an unexpected answer so he took out the notebook and began to write: ‘Why are you here?’

The other kid responded immediately and it would almost sound like he was snapping at Izuku if he hadn’t devolved socially over the last few months of isolation. He said he wanted to be alone and Izuku can understand that totally. He liked being alone because it was the safest thing for him.

He made sure to air this thing they have in common in his next note. ‘I like to be alone too’

The purple haired kid seemed to make a face that Izuku couldn’t read but he could tell he was getting uncomfortable. He must’ve said something wrong but it was his response that seemed to make things make sense when he asked why he was talking to him and that he clearly thought he was talking to an adult.

He wasn’t of course but Izuku could understand why he’d make that mistake. He needed Ana to look like an adult so she could do the delivery job but also because being taller is more advantageous. Biking was easier, you moved faster and she could carry more weight.

He did note though that the purple haired kid almost shouted that out. Which meant he’s probably as scared as he would be if he saw a strange adult talk to him. Heck he was in that state a few months ago. He quickly scrawled down an answer in hopes of comforting him. He doesn’t want to make him feel scared.

I wanted to talk to someone and you seemed lonely like me. Also I’m a kid too!

The other kid read his message and Izuku expected a happier expression than the one he had right now. Why was he getting more upset? Did he not believe him? He clearly didn’t, given how he said it out, stating that Ana was ‘too big’ to be a kid.

So Izuku decided to show instead of tell. Surely he can figure it out once he’s seen Ana’s a doll. He ordered her to draw back her head and suddenly the screen got bright now that it wasn’t looking through a pinhole. The doll shook her head a little in case the hood was still stuck and just looked directly at the kid to see if he understood or not.

Instead he just froze and Izuku thought for a moment that the camera died or the connection stuttered. Once he saw the other kid blink though he was sure he was just stunned. Ana’s beautiful you know? Izuku put a lot of effort into making sure Ana’s head looked as close to human as possible. Sure the camera lens ruined it and maybe he could’ve put more effort into laying the plastic but he couldn’t really melt plastic down… could he?

‘Something to look into later.’ thought Izuku as he quickly opened a tab on the second monitor to add plastic moulds into his to do list.

Just in case though the other kid wasn’t sure, Izuku wrote down in the notebook a clarifying statement. ‘I am controlling this doll’

Once he showed that the other kid seemed to be shook out of whatever thoughts he was having and his eyes started darting around the place. Izuku wasn’t sure what for but given how his face paled, the greenette realised that there might be a misunderstanding forming. Ana lifted up the notebook once more but as he did he watched the purple haired kid run.

Izuku realised that he may have messed up somewhere. He thought for a moment to chase the boy down and solve this misunderstanding, whatever it was, but then he just barely had enough clarity to think that that just might, maybe, make things worse. So he let him go, feeling dejected and sad that his first time talking to someone was a bust. Surely though he would get more chances in the future.

Chapter Text

It’s been a few weeks since Hitoshi talked to that creepy stranger at the beach. He still got creeps every time he saw a doll because it reminded him of that messed up plastic face it had. Thankfully that day it didn’t seem to follow him back to the house and he meant the house.

So far this place has been another, predictable, bust. The two adults haven’t laid a hand on him yet but they have been neglecting him. The only food he gets is dinner and that’s mostly leftovers, which is honestly better than some places so at least he has that going for him. It’s not as if you need three meals a day.

But of course that didn’t mean he didn’t want them! He constantly felt empty and hungry, even if it was a familiar feeling. At least when he goes to school, he might get some better food. It was Hitoshi’s first year in elementary school, not that he was hoping for much. He knew ever since he got this quirk when he was three that the world would always see him a certain way.

It was almost April and the cherry blossoms would be coming out in full force. Hitoshi only hoped that elementary would be different from kindergarten. 

He barely made any friends, both because of his quirk and the fact he kept moving from place to place because of his fostering situation. It honestly reached the point where he didn’t want to bother anymore. Why try when it was all temporary? It wasn’t as if anyone would want to keep him longer than a year.

Maybe he would be lucky though. He was still a kid and that spark of hope all youths had was still within him. These fosters at least didn’t go after him on purpose so here’s hoping he can make it a year because without that hope, Hitoshi doesn’t know what his future would look like.

When the day came that he got his uniform for the school, he could immediately tell that it wasn’t done begrudgingly by his fosters but also not done willingly. Hitoshi guesses that he probably won’t be getting anymore replacements should he lose them. Maybe he could find something at that beach he visited.

No actually, scratch that. Best not to risk stumbling into that creep again. He should just be extra careful with his stuff and hope no one takes his stuff or it breaks ‘mysteriously’. 

The morning of, he changed quickly into his uniform and set out for the school, not bothering to say goodbye because he knew he wasn’t getting a good luck. He didn’t have breakfast so already he was feeling lethargic. At least he got a full seven hours of sleep so that counts for something.

It was a while to Aldera Elementary School or rather the entire Aldera institution itself. The place was a mix of three different schools into one huge complex with elementary, middle and high all being together. It was quite extravagant all things considered but that might just be the idea, Hitoshi will need to see it before he makes any assumptions about the place.

The first day had come and orientation was given. Lining up with all those other kids along with the middle and high school students was something to behold. Hitoshi honestly had never seen so many people in one place so he was feeling intimidated as he was sure everyone else was.

As with all school orientations, there was the usual long winded speech from the principal. A meek looking man with a very obvious toupee on his head. Hitoshi was sure everyone could see it and honestly it would’ve been fine if the man’s toupee wasn’t a different hair colour than his actual hair to the sides of his head.

Maybe he intended that, maybe he didn’t, either way it was at least distracting for the first twenty minutes of the speech. It stopped getting interesting when he actually stopped to hear the man talking about ‘raising the strong of tomorrow for a brighter future tomorrow’.

Now that almost made Hitoshi groan. Anyone who talks like that are always the people to omit that the ‘strong’ are those who are chosen. Hitoshi’s quirk isn’t that strong in raw power but it was definitely dangerous in every other sense. He’s never got a chance to use it fully for longer than ten seconds but that was enough to get how powerful it could be.

Whether that coin landed on the side of good or evil though, was entirely up to public opinion.

When orientation finally ended, thank god, he could finally go inside to homeroom and sit down after an hour of standing. His seating arrangement put him towards the back of the class, something that Hitoshi would soon realise was on purpose.

When the roll call was being done, they had also played a game, one that Hitoshi could already guess was for one purpose. When someone had their name called out, they’d introduce themselves. Saying their name, their favourite colour and, of course, their quirk.

Hitoshi could already tell the faces that would turn when he said the word ‘Brainwashing’ to them. Having a mind control quirk triggered by just answering his questions was already hard enough to explain but also having that label synonymous with so many negative things, it was like he was being written up for failure, which in all honesty he probably was.

When the teacher got through everyone else, she called the class’ attention to him. Hitoshi immediately noticed that unlike everyone else, the teacher’s eyes narrowed at him. Standing up, he could feel her eyes judging to see if he knew his place so Hitoshi acted as calm as possible and just said out what was expected.

“My name is Shinsou Hitoshi. My favourite colour is purple. My quirk is called Brainwashing and I can control people’s minds if they answer my questions.”

- - -

‘That day went wonderfully.’ Hitoshi thought. 

Of course he was being sarcastic, something he had to learn in order to cope better with everything putting him down. Today was definitely one of those. The response to his quirk was as he tragically expected, with suspicion and whispers.

When lunchtime came, he was already alone, no one having talked to him probably out of fear of his quirk. And given how some people who weren’t in his class were giving him looks, that information has spread like wildfire.

The question now is how he will be treated? Will he be ignored by everyone, treated only with a ten foot pole out of fear or will some people mess with him because it’s the right thing to do to someone with a villainous quirk. That didn’t take long, when he was ‘accidentally’ bumped into several times in the playground probably to see how far they could go before he reacted.

They weren’t going to get a rise out of him. Not yet anyway. Even he had his limits but they were longer than most he hoped. At the very least he won’t have to worry for a little while. 

Everyone was still in the data collection portion of the bullying, knowing what’s quiet enough that the teachers won’t care. But given how every shoulder check was met with a glare at him by the teachers, it was clear that it was going to be a lot.

At least he can people watch before it gets worse. Class favourites were already being picked and it seemed that the biggest was a spiky haired blond kid from another class. Bakugou, if Hitoshi remembered right. 

He had an explosion quirk. Something perfect for fighting and defeating villains so Hitoshi can surely expect to meet him in the coming weeks once everyone is settled. Obviously he wasn’t looking forward to it. No one likes to be bullied, no matter what anyone tells you.

When his first day ended, no one had said a word to him but they definitely said words about him. He didn’t know whether to be flattered or depressed that he’ll be on the tip of everyone’s tongues for the next while. Of course it was all bad things. Who’d ever treat him differently outside of a guy with a villainous quirk?

- - -

It only took till Friday for his first incident to arise. He wasn’t sure why it took so long to get there but maybe being older made everyone more cautious than before. Hitoshi definitely knew as the years went on he was going to get more jumpy.

He was sitting against a wall in the playground, hiding in the shade away from everyone when a couple of kids from a different class walked up to him. Hitoshi could already see the shit eating smirks they had, that what was going to happen was nothing short of friendly. But maybe he was just being paranoid. Of course he would soon be corrected.

One kid was plump and had a shaved head along with what looked to be featherless wings coming out of his back. The other was a scrawny looking brat with short grey hair and spikes on his knuckles. If he remembered right, they’re called Tsubasa and Pangaki respectively.

“Hey Shinsou,” Tsubasa started, looking down at the sitting boy, “are you the guy with the villainous quirk?”

He laid it out as innocently as possible but of course couldn’t hold back his smile, clearly already knowing who he was and what his quirk is. Hitoshi knew it was meant to trap him so instead he just did what he always did and was direct with what he thought.

“No. You got the wrong guy.” completely calm but getting more stressed inside.

Tsubasa seemed a bit taken back when Hitoshi said that but didn’t for long. Pangaki decided to step in and make his opinion on Hitoshi’s quirk known. 

“But everyone says that you’ve got one.”

“Then I guess everyone’s wrong.” Hitoshi shot back as calmly as he could.

It was hard keeping up this facade. Again, no one liked being picked on, no matter what they say and while these can all just be ‘innocent questions’ it was all clearly trying to get a reaction out of him. He wasn’t going to let that happen, he wasn’t giving them the satisfaction.

Pangaki didn’t stop, just kept going onwards with his next attack ready. “But isn’t your quirk Brainwashing? That sounds really evil to me.”

He did that while raising his hands in a ‘just my opinion’ kind of way. As if that made it less obvious what he was doing. 

“Only if it’s used that way.” he argued, lifting up from the ground.

Hitoshi wasn’t a small kid despite getting so little food and sleep. His guess has something to do with genetics and someone in his family having a height quirk. He was probably the top three tallest in his entire class so the confident looks on Pangaki and Tsubasa seemed to shake when he stood above them. His wild flowy hair also helped in the intimidation factor even if he didn’t want to look more scary than he already was.

“W-well,” Tsubasa stuttered slightly, “how do we know you don’t use it that way, huh?”

“By maybe trying something called the ‘benefit of the doubt’ and being respectful.” Hitoshi countered, even if it’s wrong for a six year old to have to point that out.

“Why should we respect you when you’ve got a quirk like that?” Pangaki interjected and more aggressively now that it was obvious Hitoshi wasn’t going to let them walk all over him.

“Why should I when you’ve got a face like that.” Hitoshi spat, hoping that would beat him away.

The grey haired brat looked offended by that and scrunched his eyebrows. “Maybe it’d be better if a villain like you just stayed out of school altogether. It isn’t like you’ll need it.”

Pangaki clearly wasn’t putting up his innocent facade anymore if the snarl in his tone was anything to go by. Hitoshi was about to stab back again when they were interrupted by a teacher asking what they were doing. The teacher clearly didn’t care when Tsubasa and Pangaki were goading Hitoshi but when it was clear he wasn’t going to take it lying down, now he had to get involved.

The brats just said they were chatting and Hitoshi nodded along too, just wanting to go back to sitting in the shade. Thankfully the teacher left it there but not before giving the side eye to Hitoshi as he got back to supervising. For the rest of that break, the teacher practically hovered around Hitoshi, looking for an excuse to chastise the boy.

- - -

Things of course got worse as time went on. More taunts were made at him, especially on the way out from school, in hopes of getting him in trouble should he fight back. Soon these taunts turned into kicks in the back of his heel, which then turned to outright shoves in the corridors when the teachers weren’t watching.

Of course sometimes they were but it wasn’t as if they’d actually do something. That was clear to Hitoshi the first time it occurred. He couldn’t do it back, obviously. Second he did, a teacher would be right there with a detention slip and a stern talking to about bullying and not causing trouble.

Hitoshi even got his bag grabbed a few times but with how use to the boy was to such things, he always had at least one hand on his bag so they normally just get stuck between them in a momentary tug of war before they let go and run away like they didn’t just try to take his shit.

Honestly he couldn’t wait for summer break. If not only to be away from everything and everyone and just be by himself. He finally got a moment when a villain attack close to the school left them having to close early for the day, a small blessing for Hitoshi as he rushed home.

He’d put his bag away and tore off his uniform because it was getting far too hot for it. He headed to a small park  just to get some fresh air and isolation because it was all he had going for him in terms of hobbies. Finding little quiet spots like this always made him happy, especially when it looked like anyone rarely went there.

Unfortunately it wasn’t one of those days he could be alone when a group of kids he recognised from class, along with Pangaki and Tsubasa, went for him the second they noticed he was there. 

Hitoshi honestly considered just running, not giving the chance for them to make any remark or possibly grab him. He’s never had a beatdown before but he knew that look in their eyes when they closed in. Hitoshi made sure to stand up right away and stared them down, daring them to come closer than they already were. Thankfully that seemed to make them stop in their tracks but not in their pursuit.

“Hey Shinsou! Nice we ran into each other.” Pangaki called with a wry smile on his lips. 

“What is it?” Hitoshi replied, not even trying to sound polite.

One of the kids scolded at his words. “Rude villain. Doesn’t even know how to greet properly.”

Hitoshi looked over to the one who said that and it was a big kid who seemed to have some kind of white crystal growing out of his shoulders. When his eyes met Hitoshi’s, the kid’s brow seemed to furrow more than it already had.

“I agree, Shiosho," Pangaki agreed. “Honestly Shinsou, maybe people would like you better if you could be a bit more friendly.” 

Of course that last sentence was laced with fake concern, like he actually cared whether or not Hitoshi was friendly. People would always see his quirk first and everything else as secondary and it’s tragic that at an early age he knew he wasn’t going to be treated any differently.

But right now, Hitoshi decided to use their words against them and be polite for now. So with a weak smile and a daring look he responded to Pangaki with strained words. “Well can you please leave me alone? I kind of don’t want to chat right now.”

Pangaki’s smile got annoying wider as the scrawny brat opened his mouth some more in the most condescending way. “There? Was that so hard? Maybe you could avoid being a villain yet if you kept up that attitude.”

Hitoshi swore he was going to cut open his palm with how tightly he was clenching his fist. After a short breath longer than the rest, he just decided to go. It was clear these people weren’t going to leave him alone until they had their fill or Hitoshi left.

And he was doing just that, walking off without a goodbye because he didn’t want to give them the chance to provoke him anymore lest he actually get into an argument. He speedwalked away, where Pangaki called after him and he almost got to the park gate when a painful grasp got hold of his arm.

“We aren’t finished.” the person grabbing him growled. Hitoshi turned to see Shiosho gripping hard as small crystals formed along that arm and softly stabbed Hitoshi through the kid’s palm.

Hitoshi tried to move free of him but the white crystals hurt every time he tried to pull away making it fruitless. Also because of the half day, he didn’t get the school lunch so he was feeling more tired than he usually does.

Pangaki, Tsubasa and the rest of the kids walked after him and this time they didn’t keep back. They closed in and encircled Hitoshi and this is where he seriously considered breaking his vow on not using his quirk until he got into a hero course.

He always wanted to be a hero just like every kid his age did. But while most wanted the glory and reputation heroes got, Hitoshi wanted to be a hero so he could prove the world that told him he was something else. As such, he didn’t want to use his quirk until he could finally use it for good without anyone using it against him. 

But right now he was scared. Still keeping a defiant face but scared. He wasn’t sure how this would end but he knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. Either he used his quirk and they went crying to their parents, saying the mean villain kid hurt them or let the beat down happen. He didn’t want to do either.

But unfortunately, much like everything, life doesn't give you the luxury of choice more often than not.

“That was rude.” Pangaki sneered as he closed in. “Maybe someone needs to show you a villain like you how to behave better. But first, let’s make sure you can’t use that evil quirk of yours.”

He reached out to Tsubasa’s bag on his back and the boy took out… a muzzle. A dog muzzle to be exact. It wouldn’t do much to stop him from talking but it was never about his quirk. He shook a lot, at this point not caring about getting hurt but the other kids just grabbed him and forced his head up so they could strap the thing on.

When he kept struggling more, a kick to his stomach by Shiosho made him almost collapse if the other kids weren’t holding him up. 

Hitoshi was really scared, especially when noticed that this one had a lock so it wasn’t coming off unless they took it off, if they’d even do that. As the straps went around his ears he was ready to scream until someone else did it for him.

“What the hell is that?!” Tsubasa shouted, pointing to something being Hitoshi he couldn’t see.

The other kids turned and paled at whatever it was and let go of Hitoshi to step away. The boy fell to the floor, still feeling the kick, scratching his hands on the pavement and seeing minor cuts in his arm where Shiosho had grabbed him.

Clacking of shoes on pavement ran out behind Hitoshi as he took off the loose muzzle and turned to see the almost limping form of the stranger from a few weeks ago, their hood down and their vaguely human, definitely not, face staring down at the kids.

“What are you?!” cried Pangaki as he hid behind the rest of the kids.

The stranger stood there for a moment, probably whoever was behind that camera thinking about their next move. Hitoshi watched in utter, skin crawling horror as the stranger hunched down on all fours, twisted their back and crawled towards the brats far faster than it should’ve.

The kids screeched and ran, the stranger going after them before stopping once they were satisfied they were gone. Hitoshi was still on the floor in pain from his earlier scuffle and stared at the ‘doll’ wearily as they approached normally.

‘So this is how I go? Snatched away by a creepy doll monster. Guess it could’ve been worse.’ Hitoshi thought as he struggled to get up.

The stranger had already closed in on Hitoshi and he was ready to accept his fate when the thing showed its upturned hand towards him in a gesture to help. Hitoshi wasn’t sure what they were trying but he was already sure he couldn’t do much. His quirk wouldn’t work here because in all likelihood the person controlling them wasn’t here so he was truly at the mercy of whoever was watching him.

He took the hand and was lifted up to his feet and he would’ve ran just like that when he noticed the stranger hadn’t let go of his hand. The grip was tight; it didn’t hurt but it was clear he wasn’t getting away. 

The stranger moved their arm to look at his and saw the softly bleeding punctures Shiosho had made and dragged the boy away. They threw up their hoods to hide their face. Passing by a few people, Hitoshi wanted to yell out for help but he didn’t have the courage to but he was scared that if he tried, the stranger would hurt him.

They eventually arrived at a convenience store where they paid for something and sat Hitoshi outside on a bench where they finally let go to open their bag of stuff. Hitoshi looked around, hoping anyone would notice his scared face when a stinging pain came over him and he looked to see the stranger dabbing a cotton swab on his cuts before pasting a plaster over them.

Hitoshi watched in near awe as the stranger did this for everything, even the scruffs he had on his palms from when he fell. 

‘Are they… are they helping me?’ the boy thought confused. 

Once they finished, they put the stuff into the plastic bag they bought the stuff in and took out their notepad. On it was a message that had seemingly been prewritten and pushed it towards Hitoshi whilst looking around as if he was shoving over illegal documents.

Hi! My name is Izuku! My favourite color is green! My quirk is called Puppeteer and I can control inanimate objects!

Chapter Text

Ever since that day with the purple haired kid, Izuku didn’t want to try again with anyone else. He understood that in retrospect approaching him without preparing how to talk was a massive blunder on his part. As such he made sure that for future reference, Ana would have a page in the notepad with his name and stuff.

Of course he knew that was dangerous. If Ana ever got hurt and couldn’t move, that information would be up for the taking which is why she only had it when she was out looking for a friend. Specifically the friend he tried to make that day.

However he couldn’t find him, try as she might, but he did realise that the start of the school year was now and Izuku remembered it would be his first day of elementary school. At least, it would be if mama hadn’t died.

Not that he blamed her! Hisashi was the monster and always will be. He would always blame him for her death. Of course, he’d sometimes put himself alongside the people who caused Mama to die. He knew that the reason Hisashi got worse was because of him. The whole reason Mama died was solely because of him but there’s no need to think about that now.

That was future Izuku’s problem.

Right now though, he had just saved that friend from some bullies who tried to muzzle him. Seriously? Why would they even do that? He scared them off by trying something he saw in a horror movie trailer and honestly it was quite fun watching them run away screaming. 

This time the boy also seemed to stay but Izuku didn’t want a repeat of last time so he had Ana hold his hand and took him to get patched up. He didn’t know much about healing people but that’s what the second monitor is for. After a quick search, Izuku found out what he needed and bought what he could.

After he was done and the purple haired boy seemed to calm a little, maybe, he took out the notepad and showed him the message. A simple one that hopefully broke the ice between them.

The boy’s eyes seemed to widen as he read the message but didn’t say anything until Izuku flipped the page over to show another message mentioning he’s six. A look of disbelief grew on the boy’s face and he looked ready to say something when Ana flipped over another page to explain that he either could trust him and be his friend or run away again.

A few moments petered by before the purple haired kid finally spoke. “So.. are you really six?”

They nodded and flipped a new page to quickly write, pulling the notepad to their face as usual to see what they were writing. 

Yep! One year younger than you!

The kid seemed to raise an eyebrow at that. “I’m also six.”

The ‘doll’ seemed to stop for a moment, digesting that information before they frantically wrote some more and turned the pad around keenly.

But you’re so much taller than me!

“Maybe you’re just shorter than everyone.” the kid said in an almost teasing manner, even if it was accidental.

Izuku was not short! Yes he had problems reaching stuff without Ana’s help but he was still a growing kid! Maybe he needs to start measuring his height to see if he’s gotten any taller recently. Besides that though, Izuku quickly made sure to clarify this to the boy.

I’m not short! You’re probably just super tall.

The other boy seemed to smile a little, something Izuku hadn’t seen before. It was a smile that used all his teeth to show and if Izuku wasn’t enjoying talking to someone when he hasn’t in months, he would think he’s messing with him.

“Nope. You’re probably just tiny. I’m pretty average for my class.”

- - -

Of course that was a lie. Hitoshi was taller than average but it was fun teasing this person. After the initial shock and fear of the doll had worn off, he realised that this stranger probably was a kid if their flustered writing and childish responses had anything to say about it and man it felt good.

He wasn’t sure why this person was here or who Izuku was but he could tell by now that if they wanted to hurt him, they would’ve done so already. Though the fact that, despite the flustered words they exchanged about whether Hitoshi was taller than most kids his age, the doll still moved eerily mechanical.

Before it wasn’t clear to Hitoshi that they were an object under that hood. He just thought at the time they were just stilted or had a bad back but with the knowledge now he just couldn’t unsee it. Not that it mattered right now when they’d gotten to talking about other kids' heights.

Their conversation went on for a while before Hitoshi’s stomach growled and made it clear he was hungry. Izuku seemed to notice this and wrote a message addressing it.

Hey, are you hungry? Did you miss lunch?

“Oh, uh yeah. I was meant to have the schools but they had to close for the day.” Hitoshi explained.

Stay here. I’ll get you something.

The ‘doll’ stood up and went back into the convenience store and Hitoshi wasn’t sure if he should take this chance to leave or not. He still couldn’t fully trust the other person as they might still be bad but then he remembered his own words he said a few days ago.

‘Maybe I should just give them the benefit of the doubt.’ he thought.

He felt that maybe he acted a bit rash and, dare he say, hypocritical. For all he knew Izuku really was a kid like him and had a quirk that was also slightly odd. Puppeteer and Brainwashing both didn’t sound like pleasant things so maybe he should practice what he preached and give the other person a chance.

It didn’t take long for Izuku to come out with a bento box and a bottle of water, handing both to Hitoshi. He honestly tried to tell him he was fine but another grumble and he couldn’t defend himself anymore. The food actually tasted quite good, or maybe it was the hunger talking. He hadn’t eaten since dinner last night and told Izuku as such in a passing remark.

Do you often not have breakfast?

“Y-yeah. I tend to just skip it.” Hitoshi answered between bites.

He didn’t want to say anything about his fostering situation. He’s had it before where kids made fun of him for it and didn’t want Izuku to do the same. The other one seemed to not want to drop it as was obvious with their next sentence.

Why?

“Because I’m normally too busy getting up. I have trouble sleeping.” he said carefully, not sure if his face whilst saying that was too little or too much.

Hitoshi always had insomnia problems ever since he was in the foster system. He’d sleep with one eye open for any kids who’d tried to take his stuff and would forgo it all together just to avoid tomorrow as much as possible. In the end it made him find it hard to sleep even if he did want to. It was annoying but he’s learned to accept it even when he really shouldn’t.

Izuku, or Ana, was it? Seemed to contemplate that for a moment before writing down a response.

I also have problems sleeping. If you want I can bring you breakfast every morning on your way to school.

Hitoshi didn’t know how to respond to that. He didn’t expect for Izuku to have that common ground. The offer for a free breakfast was tempting and honestly he was enjoying talking to him. 

“Sure!” he said a bit too eagerly. “I go to Aldera and normally go through that street towards the mall when I head to school.”

The doll seemed to nod along with what he said. Hitoshi then realised whether or not Izuku had a problem with that seeing as he was also a kid and probably goes to school too. 

“What school do you go to?” he asked. The doll seemed to snap back into being in control again and wrote down a simple message.

I don’t. I’m homeschooled.

- - -

I mean, Izuku wasn’t technically lying. The warehouse is his home and he was learning in it. Making it his school. He had registered online to a homeschooling application and was learning at a faster pace than the class intended so it’s not as if not going to traditional school was a problem. Yeah it was a bit lonely but Izuku was always lonely. 

He didn’t know if that was better or not but imagining himself in a small room with a bunch of other loud kids in person without Ana was nightmare fuel for him. So honestly this was the infinitely better option for the boy.

The other kid seemed to accept that and was finishing up his food. It was then that Izuku realised he hadn’t actually gotten his name yet and wrote down so to ask him for it.

I don’t know your name

The other kid put the bento box away and nodded towards Ana. “Shinsou Hitoshi.”

“Hi Shinsou…” Izuku whispered quietly in his room, smiling stupid.

It wasn’t a friend but it was an acquaintance. Probably Izuku’s first since Kacchan. He didn’t want to rush being friends right away in case he, Shinsou, wasn’t as friendly as he thought but honestly he didn’t look mean to him. 

The two kept chatting all the way to the sunsetting. From favourite food, favourite types of music to even learning that Shinsou always wanted a cat. Izuku never really thought about pets but always knew that they’d probably be difficult to keep. He was already feeding himself and now he was feeding Shinsou…

Does that mean he’s a cat?

Pushing that ridiculous thought out of his head, Izuku made sure to ask him about his quirk. The boy seemed to tense his shoulders at being asked that but Izuku didn’t notice. Eventually after a few seconds of silence, he opened his mouth slowly to speak.

“It’s called Brainwashing. I can control people if I ask them a question and they respond.” he said with a slight wince.

Izuku was amazed at such a thing. He can control people with just a question and answer? Imagine all of the ways he could do that. Imagine the amount of the possibilities that could be made with a quirk like? Negotiations would be a landslide, hostage situations would be easily done and any violent criminals too strong to be taken down can be defeated with just one wrong word!

Izuku wrote this all down in his notebook and showed it to Shinsou who just seemed to stare at it in awe. He blinked his eyes rapidly, as if he was in disbelief but why would he?

Then he slowed down and remembered what those bullies were saying earlier. Because of Izuku’s quirk not having a name, he looked up a bunch of ones online that were also about control. Most of them weren’t flattering and mainly referred to malicious or ominous meanings more often than not.

Even for heroes there were fewer still that mind controlled people so Izuku immediately realised what a quirk name like Brainwashing can do. Puppeteer also sounded nefarious but honestly Izuku didn’t really care when he named it that. When he was younger he did but after thinking about it, it sounded cooler than going with Object Control or Animate Object.

Shinsou seemed to smile at the words and look up to Ana eye’s, directly at Izuku. 

“Thank you.” he uttered in a way that made Izuku smile back.

- - -

Over the next few days, Izuku did what he said and gave Hitoshi breakfast every day, thirty minutes before he went into class. They’d normally chat a lot about what they liked and what new heroes were debuting and the likes. 

Izuku kept talking about Shinsou’s quirk and asking more and more about the specifics of it. The first thing he learned was that it didn’t work through technology so Izuku was, albeit a bit rude, thankful that he couldn’t get controlled. This was especially after Hitoshi said that the only way a person can be woken out of the state they had to be hurt.

The greenette can’t imagine what he’d do if he was frozen in his own room, unable to do anything. He wouldn’t have any way to break out unless someone happened to find him. Fortunately even if such a thing were to happen, Shinsou could only keep control of someone for thirty seconds at best.

Not that would’ve stopped him from hanging out with Shinsou. Well, maybe. But not because his quirk was villainous or anything! It’s just that he must always, always prioritize keeping himself hidden and safe over everything else. 

Except he was technically not prioritising that. Izuku told Shinsou his real name. Not his family name but still a name that could be followed. Not only that but his quirk is pretty unique so a thorough enough look can find Izuku and his missing poster with his face on it online.

For a while Izuku actually considered going to the police about those missing posters and telling them that he’s fine. After all, he's read online about the foster care system and how it doesn’t treat kids with strange quirks well. He also didn’t like the idea of one day Hisashi showing up like he did at the hotel and burning everything down around him. Izuku was a danger to others so he needed to hide away for the sake of everyone else. He didn’t want anyone to burn again.

But enough about that. Shinsou seemed to not want to dig further into Izuku’s past and it’s honestly the best for both of them. They are alone in their own right and have found comfort in talking to each other, not just before but after school too!

Izuku even helped Shinsou with his homework a lot. It also helped with him knowing where he should be in terms of his own education. So pretty much they were helping each other by doing this.

“Ugh!” Shinsou groaned, throwing down his pencil onto a worksheet. “I can’t get any of this. Why is it so hard to remember words!”

They were at the park where they usually did his homework. The same one they first properly met. This particular park was empty most of the time which made it perfect for doing something like studying or reading. Ana shifted her arms and wrote in her notepad, giving it to Shinsou.

Learning to read and write can be difficult at first but that doesn’t mean you should give up. We’ll get there I know it!

“You’re right…” Shinsou groaned, “...but how can you remember all these letters?”

The doll wrote. I normally have a system for remembering stuff.

“Gifted child.” Shinsou grumbled in a well meaning way.

The doll wrote again. How is that bad?

Shinsou threw himself back and closed his eyes. After taking a few breaths he lowered his head and spoke to him. “Okay. Can you show me how you do it then?”

Ana nodded and the two spent the afternoon that day going over a small system to remember the many strokes and lines of a few hiragana characters. Some more grunts of frustration came as they tested Shinsou’s memory but after a lot of tries and notepad pages, he finally managed to learn them all off by heart, at least until he’s tested again tomorrow.

They decided that was enough for today. Or rather Shinsou decided that that was enough for today and the boy and doll started to clean up after themselves. As Ana walked around and picked up some discarded notepad pages from when he was teaching Shinsou, the boy spoke up.

“Hey so I just wanted to ask but is there any way we can talk to each other quicker?” he asked.

Ana snapped around to look at him and the boy shivered a little. Izuku could tell that Shinsou (for whatever reason) still felt intimidated by the dummy. Even though he has gotten more used to its presence over time. Izuku had Ana write in her notepad a new message and handed it over to Shinsou.

There’s this thing called JSL. Japanese Sign Language. You use your hands and arms to convey messages quickly without speaking. It can be faster and easier than writing if you learn it.

“Is that what you asked me about when we met?” Shinsou recalled.

Ana nodded, writing once more and showing the paper to Shinsou.

I can teach you. According to many sources on education and languages, people pick up new languages better as children than when they’re adults.

“Oh. Okay then.” Shinsou agreed. “So how does it work?”

The two boys, with the medium of Ana, spent the rest of their time together that day teaching the other about JSL. It wasn’t as pressured as the earlier work as it wasn’t as if they couldn’t communicate without it. Shinsou seemed to enjoy it a lot which made Izuku smile behind the screen and a part of him aches at that for a different reason.

- - -

Hitoshi has been doing well in school for once surprisingly. Pre school didn’t prove a challenge but then pre school isn’t meant to, but when he spent the first few days in elementary he could tell he was going to struggle. Not because the curriculum was hard, no, but you tend to struggle a lot when your teacher doesn’t answer your questions or outright chastises you for ‘speaking out of term’.

Thankfully though, Izuku was a good teacher. Even though Hitoshi had his suspicions of him lying about being a kid, over time he can see the little things. Sometimes Izuku's writing would get messier from its more textbook perfect way. His word choice would always be more kid-like, always writing informally besides continuing to use Hitoshi’s family name to address him.

Not only that but Hitoshi started to understand ‘Ana’ more. Even though the doll had no moving face and moved very stilted due to Izuku’s control, Hitoshi started to notice the ways ‘she’d’ reflect what Izuku was feeling.

Such as when Hitoshi told a joke, he knew it was a good one when the doll just stood there, immobile. The first time Hitoshi thought the opposite but Izuku would write how much he loved that. Something similar would happen when the doll was focused.

‘Her’ writing would be faster and ‘she’ would lean in, as if eagerly listening to Hitoshi’s every word. Honestly it was fun trying to read ‘her’. But all of this just made Hitoshi want to learn more about the person behind the camera.

He knew Izuku was short, if his reaction from when they first met was anything to go by and he knew he was homeschooled so there’s that. Hitoshi also knew he probably didn’t have a normal schedule. At times when school went out for an emergency, Izuku was always around meaning he didn’t have a normal period time table like him.

Of course Hitoshi could tell Izuku didn’t want to talk about himself. Every time he’d try to bring something up the doll froze for a moment before it wrote out saying it would rather talk about something else. A crude topic change but Hitoshi learned not to prod. He didn’t want to lose his only friend.

Soon enough, the boy had given the other permission to call him Hitoshi and if the doll shifting back is anything to go by, Izuku was shocked but happy. That day they didn’t do any studying and took a walk by the beach dump, Izuku signing to him about the crazy stuff he’s found there as practice.

Speaking of, Hitoshi has been getting good at JSL. Not as good as Izuku, that guy seemed to be a master at it from his perspective but they could have a conversation without needing the notepad. All in all, life was good. Really good. Except maybe one thing.

Teachers didn’t like how smart Hitoshi was, especially when it came to tests. He didn’t know why, precisely, that’s the case but given how the word ‘cheating’ was always muttered when he got his tests back it was obvious what they expected of him.

Hitoshi noticed it even got to a point where he was given a spelling test that seemed to purposefully be more difficult than the rest of the class. Thankfully, Izuku was a better teacher than them and still passed despite it, earning him a call to the principal’s office along with his foster parents to discuss this.

Most of it was his fosters eyeing him annoyingly as if he was at fault for doing well. Like they actually believed he was cheating instead of the better prospect that he was genuinely smart. The principal, that same man with the obvious toupee, explained to his fosters how unlikely it was Hitoshi could ever get these answers right. 

After what felt like ten minutes of him breaking down how Hitoshi was surely too stupid for this (not exactly that but it certainly felt like it), the meek man finally asked the boy himself about some of the questions on the test. 

Hitoshi did what he said and answered every question himself. It was a math test so Hitoshi made sure to explain his working out too for extra effect. It was clear at the end to the adults that he was smart but that didn’t matter because their minds were already made up long before the meeting took place.

So Hitoshi told the truth further and said that he was being tutored by someone. This made not just the teacher and principal’s head turn but the fosters too. 

“What do you mean Shinsou?” his foster mom, Chiyo, asked in disbelief.

‘Didn’t you notice how often I’m gone?’ Hitoshi thought but didn’t say.

“I go to a tutor after school and they always help me understand my schoolwork.” he answered truthfully and as innocently as he could, knowing it would rile them up more.

“Shinsou, we don’t have the money for that.” Ken, his foster father, had said, sounding almost like an argument.

“They do it for free.” Hitoshi said back, keeping his voice low and soft.

More questions were thrown at him about this mystery tutor and Hitoshi just kept answering. When they asked where he was taught, he said at the park where he met them. When they told him that he shouldn’t talk to strange adults, Hitoshi said they were his age. When they outright said they don’t believe him, he immediately answered that they can invite them over for dinner and they’d accept.

This left his foster parents and the teachers more and more frustrated with the boy, because no matter how they tried to argue against this, for some reason, he had the perfect answer to stop them in their tracks. Eventually by the end, they left with Hitoshi, telling him to go home himself and stopped talking about Izuku altogether.

However while his fosters may continue to be (thankfully) neglectful, the principal and teachers were far from that.

Chapter Text

It was like an arms race. Teachers would make tests more often and more difficult. At first it was once a week, a simple spelling test or math test. Then it grew to being every couple days, where pop quizzes seemed to just be aimed at ‘catching’ him cheating or doing whatever they thought he was doing.

Some tests were even done on the same day but those stopped quickly when they must’ve realised that it hurt the entire class more than just Hitoshi. Honestly it was impressive how much they wanted and downright desired to stop Hitoshi from thriving. But no matter how the effort they put in for that, they couldn’t stop him.

And a lot of that was thanks to his ‘tutor’. Izuku had helped Hitoshi a lot with keeping up with this ever evolving attempt to make him look dumb. The boy doesn’t even think they know why they’re doing it anymore besides maybe getting a one up over a six year old.

Over the next few months, it’s just been fun for the two boys as they discussed what is likely on the next test that they’ll be throwing at Hitoshi. Izuku also had fun learning ahead in case they decided to start using higher grade tests but given how that’d mean the rest of the class failed is something that was unlikely.

But of course there comes a point when you reach the end of your wits and they can’t keep up with you anymore so they just abuse what little authority they have. Because they were aware that Hitoshi’s ‘tutor’ was after school, they held him back. Gave him detention. Anything to stop their sessions.

It was getting frustrating for both of them. One because Hitoshi hated being in school longer than a minute past what’s legally allowed and two, Izuku didn’t like waiting on Hitoshi. It filled him with some anxiety not having anyone to talk to especially when you spend the next sixteen hours alone with your own thoughts.

Of course their studies were fine. It never really stopped because no matter what, the two were always going to spend every chance and every day they got together but that’s exactly why things came to a head as they did.

Because once the targeted bullying began, the gloves were soon coming off.

- - -

It began with messages on his desk Hitoshi would find. Scrawled in about him being a villain and how that’s all he will ever be. They hurt, yes, but it was manageable for him until they started getting more aggressive. 

Mind Control Freak

Cheater

Evil Villain

No one cares about you

That last one hurt because it wasn’t wrong. Izuku was the only one who cared and that’s it. Not his foster parents. Not anyone in school. Not even his real mom and dad who gave him up when his quirk manifested. He was abandoned by everyone but at least there was Izuku and no one can take that from him.

Hitoshi didn’t know if the teachers were encouraging it or the other kids just noticed they didn’t stop them but they soon started getting more violent with Hitoshi. Bumps in the corridor turned into bashes. Prods transformed into shoves. And it all started to mount up more and more that Hitoshi could tell at some point, someone was going to throw a punch and he wouldn’t be able to stop it.

He kept this all hidden from Izuku of course. He didn’t want him to see him any differently. Not because his friend would leave him no, Hitoshi was sure Izuku wanted to be his friend but he didn’t want to be pitied. Izuku was already doing so much with tutoring him, talking to him, buying him breakfast and sometimes even clothes and dinner. He was a good friend and Hitoshi didn’t want to lose him because he wasn’t a leech.

But he was kinda. 

He couldn’t help but feel like he was taking advantage of Izuku’s kindness and even loneliness. He could tell just by how he’s always there on time, never a second late that he also didn’t have anyone. He was scared one day his friend would wake up and realise that he hasn’t given him anything back but company, leaving him alone forever. Hitoshi didn’t want that. He had nightmares about that.

‘I don’t want to be a burden on you…’ Hitoshi thought whilst he and Ana watched some pigeons eat bread they threw.

The park had become a sacred spot for them so he and Izuku were almost always there talking about their (mostly Hitoshi’s) day using JSL. It was truly the most important time of his day in his life and if he lost it he didn’t know what to do.

Though he hasn’t learned much about Izuku besides the fact that he loves talking about heroes, mostly their fighting styles and moves seemingly remembering them off by heart, he had come to see the faceless boy as a friend. One he didn’t want to lose despite how scary the medium they used to talk with.

“What’s wrong?” Ana signed, turning her head and body to face Hitoshi.

“I just… nothing.” the boy said quietly.

Ana stared at him intently and Hitoshi could see the camera lens shift as if it’s trying to read his face. Izuku seemed to have a hard time reading people from what he’s found so the fact they’ve noticed something's off with him means he was really looking bad.

He tried to avoid mirrors but he could see the bags under his eyes had gotten worse and his hair, normally fluffy and floaty, was ruffled in a bad way when a kid knocked him to the ground in the playground. He kept his hands in his sleeves as much as possible to hide the scratches and cuts from being knocked around.

The doll stared him down some more before signing. “Do you want some ice cream? I have money left over from a delivery.”

“Thanks.” Hitoshi said back and the two walked to the convenience store. 

Normally they’d just get a packaged lolly but Izuku got a whole tub of ice cream and gave it to the boy. It just made him feel worse because this is another thing he owes him for and it’s starting to make him really feel like a villain.

The two sat down at the chairs outside the convenience store and Hitoshi ate the food graciously before putting the tub away in the recycling. He then watched the doll stare off into space whilst he built up some courage to speak up.

“Hey,” he said nervously. “So, am I a good friend?”

Izuku seemed to be taken aback if by how quickly the doll’s head turned to him was any inclination. It took a moment for response but then they signed.

“Yeah. Of course you are. You always listen to me talk about stuff I know you don’t care about.”

Of course that's all it takes to be a good friend in Izuku’s books. He could tell the other kid didn’t get out much and there was a good chance he was as much his only friend as Izuku was to him. Didn’t make it any better with how much they gave and how little he gave back.

“Even when you’ve given me so much?” Hitoshi uttered, hoping that Izuku had already thought about this and he hadn’t just given him the realisation that he was a leech.

“Only because you’ve given me so much back.” the doll signed and Hitoshi just felt worse. He really hasn’t.

“But…” he stuttered but then stopped. 

He didn’t want to say more and couldn’t. He already was fine with this, at least for another week but a friendship like this never ended well where one person leaned on the other. Hitoshi knew what boundaries are and he knew that he had to be crossing them.

The two decided to go off on their own way after that. Izuku didn’t ask why, which meant he could probably tell Hitoshi was tired and just wanted to be alone. Walking off back to a home that didn’t want him there, the boy just felt heavy with how much was weighing on him and how much guilt sat on his shoulders.

- - -

Izuku watched Hitoshi walk off from the convenience store after saying goodbye and the boy wasn’t sure what to say about that. He knew his best friend was feeling down about something but he couldn’t tell what. It had to be something to do with school.

He knew the world bended to whoever had what quirk and Hitoshi was someone with a quirk most deemed to be ‘villainous’. Whilst Izuku could argue for hours to these people on online forums about what makes a person ‘villainous’ he knew he couldn’t change everyone.

Hitoshi’s teachers for example, who seemed dead set on setting his friend up to fail only so they could be proven right when they say that he will become a villain. After all, who wouldn’t turn bad when the whole world seems to work against you.

So Izuku decided to expand his skillset that day. He would learn how to get into those computers so he could find out what it was they were doing to Hitoshi behind closed doors and how he can help his friend get better. He knew he couldn’t change the people, but he could certainly make them leave Hitoshi alone.

Over the next month, Izuku worked to learn about cracking through security systems and breaking down firewalls so he could get into Aldera’s network and find out what it was they were doing.

He realised at some point he might be smarter than he previously thought but then again, when you have so much free time, the energy of a child and the determination to help your friend, you could do anything. And Izuku had the whole world’s knowledge at his fingertips.

After managing to trick a receptionist into giving him her username and password over an email pretending to be their IT teacher, he started to root around their files and made many discoveries about the inner workings of this school.

One was that Hitoshi kept getting detentions for unproven and sometimes fabricated reasons. Izuku knew he was late to meet with them but the boy always said it was because he was doing some after school activity. As well as that, Izuku watched through cameras and could see just how his friend was treated. Between shoved, bumped and hurt all while teachers watched and sometimes even smirked at his plight.

It made Izuku go silent, his mind going quiet as it started to go somewhere dark watching the way his friend was treated. He didn’t trust the police to help him if he sent this because why would they? If the teachers didn’t care why should they?

That’s when Izuku noticed something in the files about his friend. That he was in the foster care system and had been moved a bunch of times due to being ‘problematic’. The boy’s eyes got dull and his face near doll-like as he stared down the documents and thought many things.

Without anyone there to help Izuku, having no role model besides heroes he never truly met and a life spent constantly scared, the boy’s mind began to drift to ways of getting back at these people. If they were going to shove his best friend, he was going to shove them back.

Except shoving is a normal response for a child maybe, but right now Izuku was not that. He had so much pent up fury and stress in his heart that even he isn’t aware just how much it can get out of hand. 

‘No wonder his ‘parents’ aren’t helping him. They just aren’t.’

They didn’t care about Hitoshi and were just there for the paycheck they got for keeping him. At least they weren’t abusive like some of these people Izuku’s seen on his file. Seeing that though made him so much angrier. He’s gone through so much just like him and maybe that made him feel like this was personal.

Maybe some of that untapped fury was seeping into this ‘shove’ in his mind which is becoming more than.

The only question now was what he should do to stop them harassing him. He couldn’t just threaten them, that’d just be proving them right. He could blackmail them but then with what? If all these adults didn’t care about Hitoshi then surely none of them would so…

Then Izuku saw it. The addresses of every teacher who’s employed at that school. A still smile crept up on Izuku’s face and if someone was watching they’d swear Izuku looked like a creepy doll ready to curse you with something horrifying.

And maybe… that wasn’t far off from the truth.

- - - 

“Hitoshi…” Ana signed.

The boy turned his head to look up into the camera nestled away in the hoodie. He slurped up some of the convenience store ramen Izuku bought because his fosters had forgotten dinner again.

“Yeah.” he coughed out.

“What do you consider scary?” the doll signed, the boy on the other end ready to write down his thoughts.

The boy seemed to think through his answer carefully before he answered with a careful smile. “Ana is pretty scary.”

Izuku’s face dropped in confusion. How is Ana scary? Izuku made her appear as human as possible so no one could bother her. Yes she had to hide behind a hood but that was only because she didn’t blink and the camera embedded in her face would give her away. Maybe she’s uncomfortable to look at but Izuku never meant for her to be scary.

He even used an online picture of a woman to model after once he remade her with better materials. Even though most of the plastic scraps laid over had to be stapled on he was pretty sure in the right angle she looked alright. Maybe even cute as Izuku intended.

“Ana isn’t scary! She was made to look human!” the doll frantically signed back, showing the flustered person behind the camera.

Hitoshi just humphed and put his noodles down on the table where they sat. “She does not look normal. Either that or your definition of normal is weird.”

‘Ah’ Izuku thought but Hitoshi continued.

“She moves like a creepy doll, her head turning always makes me jump when it’s sudden and her face looks like someone strapped a melted halloween mask over a skull.” he criticised, leaving Izuku stunned.

He stared at his book he had there with him where he intended to write down his notes and was just left blank faced.

“Why are you asking?” Hitoshi asked, looking a bit unsure due to Ana not moving for a few seconds longer than usual.

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and answered immediately. “Because I wanted to make a scary doll.”

“Please never show me that.” the boy pleaded. “If Ana is ‘normal’ to you, I don’t want to find out what looks scary in your world.”

‘Ah’  the boy thought again, once more taken back by Hitoshi’s brutal honesty.

“I didn’t mean too! I didn’t mean for Ana to be scary!" The doll signed again with a lot more emotion than before as they frantically moved their hands to convey what they wanted as fast as possible.

“Izuku, I had nightmares about you after we first met.” Hitoshi admitted comfortably.

Ana began to sign frantically. “I didn’t mean to do that, I was just trying to make a doll that was as human as possible for the purpose of making it easier to talk to people. I didn’t realise that anyone would’ve seen her as creepy or anything like that though in hindsight maybe I should’ve had Ana reveal herself so I could test to see what people thought of her appearance and then worked more on that instead of just assuming…”

The dolls arms flung wildly as they projected Izuku’s thoughts to the smiling boy in front of him, clearly finding this rambling funny but completely lost on what it is the other person is saying. Eventually the doll moves so fast, one of the thumbs fly off, causing a squirt of spinal fluid to come from the finger.

Ana dove to retrieve it and stick it back on with some duct tape she keeps on hand at all times for any on field repairs. Hitoshi just continued to watch the now much more emotive doll as they frantically stuffed the thumb back into place without accidentally putting it on backwards.

“Why do you want to scare people?” questioned Hitoshi, who shivered a bit when he saw the plastic thumb get twisted back on.

After securing said appendage back into place and testing it, Ana signed Izuku’s response. “I just want to scare someone who’s been annoying. I won’t say who.”

Hitoshi narrowed his eyes a little at that answer but seemed to accept it. “Well spiders are a pretty common fear. Oh! And I once heard someone say that ‘atmosphere’ is important too when scaring someone! Big things are scary and big teeth are scary too…”

The two boys spent that evening going through what scared them and what could be scary. Izuku made sure to write down everything Hitoshi said and even his recommendation to watch something called ‘horror’ movies, which were movies that had a lot of scary things in it.

That conversation about fear though made, not Izuku but Hitoshi realise that his friend seemed to be really scared of fire. He of course couldn’t know why but it was noticeable enough that he kept a mental note of it.

The day ended with both kids parting and Izuku excitedly starting to draw crude pictures and designs of what would be the most scary things, to show those teachers what happens when you mess with his friend.

- - - 

The next few days were a mix of researching horror movies, drawing up bad sketches of monsters and collecting the parts he needed to make the monster doll. It was honestly pretty fun for the boy as he seemed to absorb all the knowledge pretty well compared to most other things.

The horror movies especially were pretty fun, he went with a lot of the ones from the pre-quirk times when the world was more mundane. Even though they got a bit difficult to understand at times and other times there were scenes that felt were too inappropriate for him (not the blood and gore but the gratuitous sex), he found plenty of material to work with and be inspired by.

At least he assumed it was inspiring. Despite how Hitoshi said these movies are meant to be scary, none of them are, especially when compared to Hisashi. Maybe he’s right about Izuku being weird.

Of course there were moments he did get scared. The second a movie started to talk about fire or a fire related death scene, he turned it off immediately. He couldn’t see that again without his mind going back to Mama and how she looked and sounded when… she died.

It reminded him of how helpless he was and how he was so scared, always.

Anyway, after finding the right materials at the dump or buying them cheap online, he finally made his monster and he was really excited to show it to Hitoshi.

He laid it out on the floor of the warehouse, sprawled out so he could see it fully.

Its size was small, at least in motion but when sprawled out like a spider it was bigger than a double door and almost eight feet tall. It had a chunky torso and long spindly limbs that were made longer by Izuku attaching them to each other.

The limbs in question totaled to six. Two legs and four arms, and all were made out of bleached wood. Wooden mannequin limbs were harder to find and normally more expensive so Izuku had to look a lot for them but it works far better than the glossy black and white most department store mannequins were. 

The arms were arranged as one would expect with two on the lower torso and two where you’d expect to find arms on a person but these arms were long, extended by the mentioned sticking an extra set on, allowing it to touch it’s toes without bending. At the end of these elongated arms were sharpened knives acting like claws, both to scare and climb better.

The torso was misshapen driftwood from the beach, carved crudely with a knife to give it a more upside down pear shape. Izuku made sure the legs had enough room so the doll could do the splits for the sake of being flexible which he learned was something people found discomforting.

The whole thing was pasted with alabaster white paint  and given a glossy finish to make the creature look almost like a pale fleshy corpse. One you’d find from a morgue. It also didn’t help when some of the paint cracked making the thing appear like a broken, disfigured and diseased human but the best by far for Izuku was the head and face. Or rather heads.

From the stump of its neck, Izuku used two arms which split to hold two different heads. One was a mannequin wearing a mop head for hair and a styrofoam mask painted to look like a woman, beauty mark and all. That one had the camera inside, nestled behind the mask in its eye, a small red glow coming through the sockets of the face covering.

The other was borrowed from a thrown out playground rocking horse, hollowed out with the intent of fitting something inside. Not only that but its jaw was segmented so that it could be opened and after spending an alarming amount of money on it, a speaker set to play any sound effect he had on a soundboard.

As a final flair to it all, the creature wore a ratty green dress which covered the torso completely but left enough room to be shown if it moved fast enough. All in all Izuku was proud of his creation.

Of course the main problem now was waking it up and hoping it doesn’t fall apart. There was also the issue of how he would control Ana and this… Behemoth. It took Izuku a while to be able to control Ana and the dish separately. Even then sometimes he’d struggle if Ana was doing something strenuous like riding a bike.

“It’d probably be best if we locked you somewhere while I control them.” Izuku said to Ana, who was watching him go through the final touches.

Izuku sat down next to the chest of the doll, right next to where its heart would be if it were alive and stuck it with the tiny pricks on the tips of his fingers. He filled it with fluid and immediately got that sudden headache and weakness he felt when he lost a lot of spinal fluid.

By the end he almost passed out, needing Ana to be his legs and arms as she carried him back to see how his creation came out.

The spinal fluid acted fast, spreading through the driftwood and seeking out the limbs as the white duct tape covered joints inflated and pulled back to fit properly. Izuku saw the limbs and fingers twitch as he tested to see if it moved how he expected it to and observed as it stumbled to push itself up.

In preparation for this, Izuku looked up how six limbed, two headed and long limbed heroes moved and although no one had all three of those, he combined his studies of their fights and moves so he could better understand how to operate the doll. 

It took the better part of thirty minutes of Izuku focusing solely on moving the doll to get up. At first he was worried the weight might’ve been too much but he realised the problem was that the heads brought it off balance. So he tried something he saw a two headed hero do and had them hunch forward together to try and balance the weight.

This seemed to work and, with the support of the lower arms acting like a second set of legs, the doll was upright.

Whilst Ana held Izuku, that same dark smile came over his otherwise adorable childish face. Once he had managed to properly work out how to move the Behemoth, someone was going to have a terrible, terrible night.

Chapter Text

Tajima was coming back from work at school as an elementary teacher for Aldera Elementary School. She was a bit tired, what with today being Friday and a whole week's exhaustion weighing on her. She also needed to get a head start on marking tests for her first year class.

She didn’t like her job much. And she means job, there was no passion from the woman when it comes to teaching but did that really matter? She was getting paid so why would she give more than what she needed.

Though she didn’t hate teaching much, she did have many moments where she thought it was worth going into this career. Ever since she was young, she was taught that quirks meant everything and hers was perfect for being a teacher, or at least that’s what she’s been told.

It’s called Omniview and it makes it so she can see in all directions at any moment, making her literally have eyes in the back of her head. Not sure if a saying is enough to justify going into a career where you have to care for the lives you’re shaping but that didn’t matter to Tajima.

What did matter was making sure the right kids got the right education whilst the wrong kids with the wrong quirks didn’t. At first she thought it was strange when she first heard it in the breakroom during her first day. Teachers were talking about a kid in their class that had a quirk that made them able to spit poison and made their head look snake-like. 

They had said it was for the best that they slacked on her teaching as it wouldn’t matter when it was clear someone who looked like a snake and spat poison was going to be a villain. Tajima, the naive fool, disagreed at the time but after the wisdom of the years had washed over her she realised this is the best course of action.

Anyone with these quirks, villainous quirks, were already destined to end up villains just like she was destined to end up a teacher.

And honestly it was easy to do it. A lot of villainous kids were ignored or sometimes abused by their parents so it was fine if they also got ignored by her. Made work easier with one less person to grade properly. Not only that but when these kids did become villains, they’d wouldn’t have a good education so honestly she was doing the world a favour.

Even when she turned a blind eye constantly to the physical shoves and pushes other kids would give them. She’s never, in her twenty years of teaching, been punished for this so it had to be the right thing.

But then the new year started and that brat entered her class. A purple haired punk who had the truly evil power of controlling people. At first she did what she always did, ignore him whilst she smiled to herself knowing she was doing good work but when she graded his spelling test and found out he got the highest score in the class, it spooked her.

She thought it had to be a fluke but after the second and third she realised that the boy was actually learning. Getting smarter and she couldn’t let that happen. If the kid was competent intellectually then he was going to be dangerous in the future and she had to stop that.

So one day she tested him, just to see how smart he was. It was a math problem months from where they were and he managed to get it right. It was then that she knew he had to be cheating, he just had to and took him to the principal’s office to talk with his parents about this.

Thankfully his foster parents were on the same page with her. But after they interrogated the little shit they found out he had a tutor that his fosters didn’t even know about. And one his age too?

That’s ridiculous, no. He had to be cheating. So she made the tests more frequent and at some point, more difficult until she was in trouble with some parents when their kid came home crying saying their test was too hard. Now the brat was affecting her job.

So she began with giving him detentions. Hoping that whoever this tutor was, if they were real, wouldn’t get enough time with him to learn for the tests and then she could use it as proof he was cheating. But he just kept improving and it was driving her mad.

At times she’d even considered following the brat to see who his tutor was. She didn’t know what she was going to do with that information as apparently they’re homeschooled, but that was why it was only considered.

Anyway, that brat was a headache and Tajima was considering getting his fosters involved again or getting one of the other students in her class to hurt the villain in hopes he retaliates so she could finally suspend him and be proven right.

Right now though she just wanted to get home, finish the grading and have dinner. Probably watch some TV too. She parked in the driveway of her home and got out of the car and  grabbed her stuff.

It was almost summer and despite it being almost seven the sun was out but was currently setting, only a few minutes from night. Tajima loved summer. It meant not having to work as much and she only had to prepare her lessons for the rest of the school year. The gate to her driveway was locked behind her as she made the trip up to her front door.

On the way she locked her car with a beep. And after she reached the door she heard another beep.

It sounded identical to her car unlocking so she turned to see if it was but it wasn’t. The mirrors automatically pulled in when it was locked.

‘Must’ve misheard it.’ she waved away in her mind and stepped into the building. Once in she locked the door and threw her keys on the sofa.

She got to work on her grading. A lot of these kids had good strong quirks so naturally when they got things a little wrong she made sure to give them valuable feedback, complete with stickers. Others though, had to make do with her vague criticism. 

Once done, she left the stack of pages on her dining room table and went to make dinner. She lived alone, not that she minded. This was a good neighbourhood so it wasn’t as if she was in danger. She made some soba, putting the noodles into a slowly boiling pot when she heard something fall in the dining room.

The layout of her house made it so that you could see her dining room, living room and kitchen whilst standing in any of them. It was a very open plan where the ‘rooms’ were separated by a sofa and the kitchen counter. So when she turned, she could see the whole room and saw that her papers had fallen off the table and were scattered on the floor.

‘Did I leave a window open?’ Tajima thought, collecting her pages before taking a look around the house.

Checking every window on the first floor showed nothing but climbing the dark stairs to the next floor, she looked down a hallway at the top of the stairs to clearly see a window at the end of the hall. Wide open and curtains billowing a little with the wind coming in.

She doesn’t recall opening that. Oh well, it’s not as if someone could climb in; the climb was too high. She went to close the window but as she did, she noticed some scratches on the sill.

They were small but definitely weren’t something old. It didn’t look like it was a cat or bird but something larger and more sharper. Tajima took a single step back as she realised this and started to wonder carefully if this is something bad or she’s overreacting. 

Like seriously, who would want to break into her home? It wasn’t as if she had anything majorly valuable that you can’t find in other neighbourhoods. She got this cold tingling down her spine as she hastily made her way back to the stairs.

She slowly made it back down the steps and back to the kitchen. There was nothing suspicious on the way down until she looked in the pot she was still boiling. It was now bubbling as the soba became less rigid. 

Inside the pot though was something new that immediately caught the teacher’s eye. She walked over to it and looked in, noticing immediately what was wrong.

The water was red. Blood red. 

Tajima immediately used her quirk to see her blindspots and that is when her blood, unlike the pot, ran ice cold. Towards her stairs, peeking out from around a corner was a small pale face with long grey ragged hair, staring directly at her. Above it, a little ways up was a metal head with sharp teeth and something glossy down its mangled thin throat.

She couldn’t see anything more but it was enough to get the woman’s heart above hundred beats. There was someone in her house. There was something in her house. It was watching her and if she did anything wrong she might die. Oh god, she’s going to die.

Thankfully Tajima was a calm woman who pretended she couldn’t see them and just turned the pot off. She knows her front door is locked, her back door too. The keys were probably still on the couch, but when she looked over with her quirk they were gone. 

Her phone. It should be in the bag and it doesn’t seem like it was touched so she turned around after psyching herself up, watching the thing hide away right when she would see it with her own eyes and immediately went for her bag. She fished out her phone and dialed the police, hoping they wouldn’t attack and thinking she’s still in the dark about it being there.

“This is one one zero, what is your emergency?” the responder asked in a calm voice.

“Hi Shiba, just wanted to let you know I got home safe.” Tajima said into the phone. She saw this a few times on TV where you’d pretend to be having a different conversation on the phone during an emergency.

“Ma’am, this the emergency police phone line, is there a problem?” he said, clearly unsure but checking anyway.

“Oh, yes I know.” she replied with a nod.

“Are you in danger, ma’am?” he questioned, already getting what’s going on.

“Yes. That’s true.” she answered, a bit shakily.

“Are they there with you?” they asked.

“Correct.”

“Can you leave the building?”

She shook her head no. “Probably not.”

“Can you tell me where you live? Just the local area, any landmarks.” he continued to ask, keeping a calm face that is helping Tajima a lot.

“Yeah. Aldera Elementary has been good. Summer holiday is on the 20th.” referring to her block number.

The sounds of typing could be heard on the other end as, presumably, the responder was writing down her information. “Okay, ma’am. We need you to stay on the phone so we can track you. Don’t hang up, a hero should be there shortly.”

Relief washed over Tajima at those words. “Sure. I can talk for longe-.” 

The lights flicked off as the power was knocked out, throwing the room into near darkness, leaving the teacher to enter into a wide blown panic. She knew the circuit breaker was in the basement though, so she ran for the stairs and sprinted up them. If that thing was in the basement, she could get upstairs faster than it can reach her.

She almost slipped on the floor as she ran, heart beating out of her chest as a blurry ‘hello’ came through the phone. She thought maybe she’d make it until something happened that made her scream.

Halfway up the steps a harsh grasp on her ankle caused her to fall forward with a yelp. A stinging stab could be felt as she used her Omniview to see the pale head staring at her around a corner and a disgustingly long arm grasping her leg entirely. She had dropped her phone, the panicked operator on the other end but she didn’t have time to pick it up.

With a whelping kick, she swung into an elbow in the long arm, causing it to let go long enough for her to scurry upstairs, using her hands and feet. There, in the now dark corridor due to nightfall, she entered a full feral sprint as she heard rapid footsteps just behind her of what had to be several limbs.

She reached the bathroom, opening the door and slamming it closed, locking and barricading it with a cabinet before climbing into the bathtub. Her heart threatened to break free from her chest and her mind was imagining a will she can’t write as she accepted she just might die.

She didn’t want to die. She still had so many things to do. She also wanted to say goodbye to her mom, dad and even her annoying brother. But she can’t and she’s brought to tears with how much she doesn’t want her life to end in what had to be a brutal and horrific way.

She began to plead to whatever god was listening to save her because she can’t see any way this night won’t end with her showing up in the news next day.

A few dozen shaky seconds of torturous silence went by but for Tajima it felt like eternity. There were no windows in the bathroom so she was stuck, hoping that there really was a hero on the way. Just when she thought about everything she wanted to do if she did live, a man’s voice called out.

“Hello?! Is anyone here?! This is pro hero Eraserhead!” he yelled.

Tajima's heart beated quicker as she climbed out of the tub and shrieked out. “Yes! Up here in the bathroom!”

Frantic footsteps were heard climbing up the steps to her door where the man’s voice was closer. He tried to open it but it was still locked so Tajima went to unlock it for him.

- - - 

Shouta had just started his work for the night and was jumping between buildings, patrolling. He had a house move happening soon so he had been trying to get earlier nights so he wasn’t a complete wreck when the day finally came. Hizashi and him were moving to an actual house instead of an apartment and they’ve finally found a good enough place thanks to Nemuri, a dear friend he’s known all the way back in middle school.

Shouta was involved in the house hunting at the start but was kicked out by the other two when he picked out a single bedroom, no garden, single floored house. It wasn’t as if he didn’t want a proper home, it’s just that he didn’t see the reason to have any of those extra things if they weren’t going to use them. 

They weren’t planning to have children anytime soon, he thinks.

But he’s a victim. That blond cockatoo has his talons deep into Shouta and he couldn’t back out now, not that he would ever want to. So when his husband whined about them needing at least something big enough so that Nemuri and Tensei could stay over a night, he relented and got a place with two guest rooms.

First, though, he needed to fix his sleep schedule, at least for moving day. Long enough to not want to crawl into a sleeping bag mid packing to have a power nap or get tired halfway setting up the bed and needing to take a few dozen coffee breaks. That’s why he’s having his patrols earlier and earlier so his nights end sooner and sooner.

Speaking of, he had just gotten a call about a potential break in happening not too far from where he was. Apparently the woman was pretending to be phoning someone else whilst on the line. The call dropped though so the chances that he’s walking onto a murder, a kidnapping or a hostage situation was quite high.

He didn’t like to think that but so far in his career he’s seen enough to know to prepare yourself for the worse.

Reaching the residence, the first thing Shouta noticed was that the front door was wide open. Dreading the worst, he charged in, scanning around alert for anyone. There were papers scattered on the floor and a pot of boiled soba in the kitchen. He also noticed at the foot of the steps was a phone that was probably what she called with.

Shouta didn’t want to yell in case it gave away his position but time was of the essence clearly and he couldn’t wait. “Hello?! Is anyone here?! This is pro hero Eraserhead!” he shouted.

He heard a sound from upstairs and immediately ran up, clutching his capture weapon to strike out at any culprit should they attack. He saw the bathroom door was closed and ran up, reaching to open the door.

- - -

The man on the other end of the door tried to open it again so Tajima told him to wait as she got up out of the tub.

She was going to be fine! She was safe! She didn’t know what that thing was but with a pro hero here now, they’ve probably run off. Why did they even attack in the first place she did not know but then again how could she know what goes on in the mind of a villain? As she turned the lock on the door and opened it, she prepared herself to see a man on the other end but what she got…

…Was a pale face.

It had lipstick on and eyeliner but had no eyes and its expression was lifeless. The raggedy hair that hung off its unseen scalp looked grey and dirty as the head twisted like a dog does when curious. Its long thin neck was pale too and looked almost porcelain with how it glistened.

It drew its head back and she could see the whole thing there, crouched in her small hallway, as this huge monster loomed over her. It had two heads balanced on freakishly long pale necks. One was the pale face and the other was a fucked up horses head made of metal, covered in grime and rust.

It wore a sickly green dress that was torn at the edges and stretched to accommodate the ugly long torso it had that seemed misshapen and inhuman. Its limbs were the same bone pale and were thin with small cracks through them that made the creature look dollish. The arms were disproportionately longer than normal and bore sharp claws on its fingers, scratching the walls around it as it hunkered down to fit in the hallway.

Tajima’s mouth opened to scream but an arm reached to grab her throat and lift her up on her tiptoes. She grabbed at the arms, scrambling as she desperately sought escape but the grasp of this thing was iron and her mind started to accept that she was going to die here.

The sharp claws came dangerously close to her face as a quiet childish voice sang out of the horse’s head.

“ Mistreat any child again and the bogeyman will come back to hurt you~ ” 

And the horse's head let out a guttural high pitched screech right in the teacher’s face, causing her eyes to widen, her heart to scream and her actual ones to die in her throat.

Everything went black as she fainted.

- - -

Shouta broke down the door and rushed in to see a woman on the floor, unconscious and foaming at the mouth. He urgently knelt down next to her and looked the victim over, making sure she was alright and didn’t choke on her own saliva.

She was mostly unharmed it seemed besides the cuts on her neck and leg where something must have grabbed her if the accompanying bruise was anything to go by.

Soon, sirens rang out as the police quickly rushed into the building too, Shouta calling to them. Paramedics checked the woman and confirmed she had just fainted and wasn’t in any physical danger. The pro hero let out a sigh of relief at that and helped the police search the building.

They didn’t find anything. Their perpetrator was already gone, having accomplished whatever they were doing.

But little did the pro hero know then that this wasn’t the only call that night.

Over the course of eight hours, several break ins were reported at different addresses. All of them were adults who could only scream when their attacker entered their home and now were either unconscious or were hiding away in bathrooms and locked bedrooms, hyperventilating, panicking about some monster.

In total there were twelve victims. Nine of them were unconscious from stress and three of them looked like they just saw a horror movie that shook them to the core. The worst thing was they couldn’t keep up. No matter how fast they responded, the ‘monster’ was always gone by the time he, or any other hero, got there.

They were truly a boogeyman and sometimes some calls were only phoned in because a neighbour heard an ear piercing screech coming from the ‘monster’. Shouta didn’t know what the link between these people were yet but he did know there had to be a link given the message the thing gave to each of them.

By morning, the media had caught news of it and were dubbing this night of fear and terror ‘Fright Night’ and the named monster who did this?

The Behemoth.

Chapter Text

Izuku trembled with excitement watching the faces of the people who’ve hurt Hitoshi turn in horror. He didn’t want to hurt any of them. He didn’t want to become an actual monster, just enough of one that everytime they hurt, not just Hitoshi, but any child, the boogeyman would come knocking again.

He hadn’t told Hitoshi yet what he had done, nor did he know whether or not he should. He knows he’s broken a lot of laws. Quirk usage in public, trespassing on private property and of course the hacking he did to get all of their information in the first place. His friend wanted to be a hero so he probably would turn Izuku in.

Which is also why he’ll probably never reveal himself to him, at least not fully. He knows he has to leave the warehouse eventually. Well actually, that’s still up to debate but yeah there may come a time where he has to go and he’ll have to find somewhere else to hide.

Izuku watched from his bedroom as the monster came back, using the skylight to climb in thanks to its claws. It’s mostly alright. Some scratches and dirt, but mostly alright. The biggest incidents were when the monster had to leave whilst the person was still conscious which felt awkward for the monster but to the person was proof that they were being spared.

He knows the police and even some heroes showed up at the places he visited. Tajima’s house having been the closest. When he pretended to be Eraserhead, he never expected the real one to appear downstairs. 

Having to scramble out the upstairs hallway window to get away left his heart beating even though he wasn’t even there. Thankfully he was more focused on the bathroom so the monster managed to slip away.

On the monster though, Izuku was starting to get tired of calling it ‘the monster’. He wasn’t sure what name to give yet but the ‘boogeyman’ felt too long for a name. From what he researched, monster names were always quick and snappy. Thankfully, the news gave him a pretty good name thanks to a vividly accurate description of the monster.

Behemoth.

Because of the hulking form, cracked skin and brutal methods of instilling fear that was what the media decided to call it, on top of that the many witness reports that described it as such. It was certainly more distinct and unique than the boogeyman and it fit the monster perfectly.

Anyway, enough on that and more on the news, it seemed that Hitoshi’s entire year will have to close for a few days because of it and get substitute teachers until all of the actual teachers recovered from the night. Izuku just hopes that they’ll be better than the others or at least heed the warning of the Behemoth.

His message that he sent through Behemoth was also being plastered in a lot of local news sources. It led to a lot of speculation online about what the message meant and it didn’t take long for it to all link back to Aldera.

Honestly Izuku didn’t mean for it to get this much attention but it seems that people enjoy a good mystery. He just hopes it doesn’t get traced back to him, or worse, hurts Hitoshi in any way. He knew it was important to stay hidden but if his friend was ever in danger… wait.

Would he actually reveal himself to help Hitoshi?

He’s known him for a few months, yes, but is that worth risking exposure and Hisashi finding him? He has built a friendship he doesn’t think he even had with Kacchan from before but is it enough to risk getting burned to death like Mama over?

No. He really doesn’t think so.

In that case why is he risking everything for him? What purpose does it serve other than helping him and solely him? Maybe it's more than helping him. Maybe Izuku is so lonely that he really is turning into a monster and maybe he actually enjoyed those terrified faces in more ways than just justice. 

The more he thinks like that though the more scared he becomes of himself so he buried it down and hoped it just isn’t true and he’s just over thinking things.

Now then, where was he? Yes. Showing Hitoshi Behemoth. It was certainly something he could do but now that he’s thought it through, ignorance is bliss. Having Hitoshi in the dark not only protects Izuku but him if he ever gets caught by the police.

With those thoughts away, he can move onto the more important things. Things related to the last word of that last paragraph. He almost had a fight with the heroes and police.

Again, Tajima was the closest out of all of them. He didn’t realise how well Omniview worked, otherwise he would’ve gotten her without the police getting involved but still he failed in that. Behemoth was hard to pilot, especially stealthy. That’s probably a design flaw he should fix but for now, he should focus on finding out what they think of Behemoth.

Izuku’s already got the police’s attention, so what’s the problem with a little bit of infiltration into their network?

- - -

Shouta had just entered Tsukauchi’s office where the man was looking through some case notes. They were most likely on the ‘Behemoth’ as it had been dubbed. There were still some classification issues on whether they should be classified as a villain or not but that will come to light after they’ve investigated why these attacks happened.

“Aizawa, did you see the summary of the interviews with the victims of the ‘Behemoth’ case?” he asked, turning his head up from the documents.

He looked tired. Well both of them are. A long night of running from house to house, trying to calm down panicking people all the while attempting to catch up to whatever was doing this made what should’ve been a short night long and arduous. Even now, a day after all has been said and done he was still tired.

“Yeah, most of it. Do we have someone making a sketch of this thing?” he questioned.

“Yes, we’re hoping that it’ll give us any clues on what attacked.” Tsukauchi answered, placing his files on his desk and taking a seat. Shouta sat across from him.

“What about the teachers? Any reason why Aldera might be involved?” the pro hero inquired. There was an undeniable fact that all of the victims were adults who worked in the teaching staff at Aldera Elementary. How that matters was yet to be figured out.

The detective took a drink of coffee and grabbed one of the documents on his desk and showed it to him. “We aren’t sure of an exact link but most likely it’s connected to the students in some way.”

“Maybe it is a student?” Shouta theorised.

“Maybe. But given how much they knew about the victims in terms of their address, it could also be a parent.” Tsukauchi countered, showing a list of parents for several classes run by the teachers involved. “I can’t see a kid having the intelligence or access to pull this off.”

They all had a different array of responsibilities, some teaching mostly math, others japanese. It all seemed to point towards there being someone who, or maybe their child, have all of these teachers teaching them. But try as he might to solve this, there was still an elephant in the room that needed to be addressed.

“Have we figured out what the message meant?” he asked the detective, who seemed to have been thinking the same.

“I might. When I was collecting these documents at the school, I noticed that the principal was looking stressed. More than he should be. I asked him about it and he said that he was worried about who was going to replace the teachers.” Tsukauchi recalled. “That came back as a lie.”

“So he might have an idea on why they were targeted.” Shouta stated, turning an eyebrow up at that. 

“And he’s scared he might be next.” Tsukauchi assumed partially.

It was certainly likely that the ‘Behemoth’ would attack again. If not to finish it’s message but because of the fame they’ve gotten. The pro hero has seen many people like that. They start off doing the right thing but once they’ve got an actual name and fame, they stray fast. 

People are still up in the air about what exactly this ‘monster’ is but that’s likely to come from what they find here in their investigation. “Maybe we should ask some students.” Shouta suggested. 

It might be a bit difficult interrogating children, especially elementary schoolers, but if there is something wrong with the staff at Aldera, then they’re the best lead. Especially seeing as it’s them who are affected if the monster’s message had any truth.

“That’ll be difficult.” Tsukauchi predictably said. “We wouldn’t be able to have them sit down without their parents.”

“Why would that be a problem?” Shouta asked, not completely sure why.

“We don’t know what is being hidden from us. For all we know, the children might be hushed or scared. There’s a lot of unknown here.” Tsukauchi explained. “We can do them, just maybe it might not be enough. We also have a long list to go through.”

“You have a long list to go through.” the hero corrected.

“Yes.” the detective sighed, knowing full well that Shouta was not suited for interpersonal work like interviews.

The scruffy faced man let a small amused huff at that. They really didn’t have much to go on unless they call in heroes more suited for investigation such as Seer or dare he say that devil in rats skin. But right now they should do the interviews first. 

“I’ll keep an eye on the principal. In case his fears are true and he is a target for the  ‘Behemoth’.” Shouta said, earning a nod of approval from the detective as they finished their chat.

He left the room and back out into the city, making sure to grab the information he needed for the new patrol. He knows Tsukauchi will make sure to inform the principal so there was no misunderstanding but then he’s sure that if the faculty of Aldera is doing wrong, he might think something else.

‘This is going to be a long few days.’ Shouta groaned in his mind.

- - - 

Izuku was waiting at the park for Hitoshi to arrive back from his first day at school with the substitutes. They had talked a lot between them, mostly making speculations about what they’ll be like. Izuku did some prodding around and from what he could see, it seemed most of them were good eggs. Then again, Aldera’s are ‘good eggs’ on paper so they might be rotten.

At the park, Ana waited patiently whilst Izuku went online to read more about the public's thoughts on Behemoth. It seems it’s mostly negative, at least in the local news, but there’s a more split opinion on forums. It all comes down to what the teachers had done to deserve being attacked and whilst Izuku would love to show them, the principal had deleted all footage from the school the day after of any signs of their abuse.

‘Note to self. Always copy data, even if it looks like no one will touch it.’ Izuku noted to himself.

Speaking of the slimy man, Izuku has been fighting on whether or not he should go after him too. He’s the principal of the entire elementary school so surely he would be just as evil as the rest of them. Not just to the elementary school but all of them. The middle school didn’t look any better, same for the high school.

Of course Izuku can’t scare all of them. The school would close down then, and Hitoshi would have to go somewhere else and Izuku didn’t want to have to find him again. Neither of them had phones but Izuku was working on that.

Recently he’s been trying to look into more lucrative lines of work but with very little of them needing to see the face of the one they’re hiring, he’s been stuck. 

‘Hopefully I’ll find something soon.’ the boy wished.

It was then he noticed his friend coming up to him at the park and sitting down. He seemed alright, at least at an initial glance.

“So…” Ana signed, “...how were the new teachers?”

“They were good!” he said, a smile on his face as he took out his work for today.

“Great.” Ana signed back enthusiastically.

“Yeah. My homeroom teacher didn’t seem to care about my quirk. They even told Tsubasa off when he pushed me!” the boy said excitedly. 

Izuku smiled as he saw his friends smile, feeling like that night of torment was worth it. At least for the moment. He doesn't know if the teachers will turn once things get more comfortable but he can only hope that they are as good as the people they are in their files.

The two spent their time continuing their studies and Izuku tutoring Hitoshi. Halfway through it though, the boy seemed to have a burning question on his tongue. He noticed it when he caught Hitoshi looking at Ana longer than he should with his mouth open. He thought maybe he needed to sneeze but after the third time it was clear he was trying to say something.

“What’s wrong?” Ana signed, stopping the boy from continuing his work.

“N-nothing. Why?” he stuttered.

The doll tilted its head slightly. “You want to say something to me.” 

Hitoshi set down his pencil and looked up at the doll. Right into the glare under the hood that the lens was and spoke with clear reservation. “Am I a bad friend?”

What? Why does Hitoshi think that? He’s a great friend. He keeps Izuku company, makes him laugh and is pretty much the only person he cares about right now. 

Ana shook her head a few times and signed hurriedly. “No! Why would you say that! You’re my best friend!”

The boy seemed to be a bit flustered at that but it wasn’t clear why to Izuku. “It’s just… You do so much for me and I don’t do a lot in return.”

“But… you do do a lot.” Izuku argued with his voice then with Ana. 

“Compared to how much you’ve fed me, helped me learn and been the only person nice enough to not see my quirk first?” he countered, his eyes getting a bit wet.

Izuku sat up on his chair and thought through how much he has done for Hitoshi. He really has done far more than he ever intended to do when he first set out to talk to someone. Was Hitoshi really feeling this bad?

“It’s fine, Hitoshi. I like helping you and you keep me company.” Ana signed.

“But I can’t help you. Or if you even need help. I don’t know what I could do for you so I don’t feel bad.” the boy rambled, tears starting to spill as he looked down.

“Hitoshi…” Izuku whispered.

“I know you don’t need help. But I want to do something so I can feel like your friend and not just a leech. I don’t like owing you so much.” he confessed.

Ana reached out and held the boy tightly in a hug. It was a moment like this that Izuku really wanted to be there in person, out of this warehouse, out of his comfort zone. He never realised how much Hitoshi felt a burden, even though he’s not.

Izuku thought through some things that Hitoshi could do that Izuku can’t and honestly there wasn’t a lot. Except… maybe.

Ana pulled away from Hitoshi to free her arms and lifted the boy’s head to see what she was signing. “My birthday. It’s coming up in a couple weeks. July fifteenth. I didn’t get to celebrate it last year for… reasons. I’d love to have you celebrate it with me.”

The boy looked up at the camera and sniffled. “You mean, in person?” 

Izuku went silent. So far he’s spent over a year hiding away. Scared to come out into the open. Scared of Hisashi finding him. Maybe that fear has gotten weaker but a new one has taken its place. People. Izuku was scared of people. Whenever he’d hear someone pass by the warehouse, near the hole in the wall, he’d freeze up. Terrified of them finding his safe place.

Maybe… maybe he could let Hitoshi in. Or maybe that would just get him hurt. He’d know where Izuku was and if Hisashi found that information out, he could hurt Hitoshi. This is his problem to deal with and he doesn’t want his friend to ever get hurt because of him. 

“No.” she signed, and for a moment Hitoshi looked down. “But… maybe… I can call?”

Izuku had Behemoth’s mic. He could probably buy a cheap speaker and have Ana carry it. Maybe then they could finally talk using words. That’s when an idea went through the boy’s mind and he came to a decision.

“Yeah. I can call.” Izuku affirmed.

That seemed to make a smile crawl on his friend's face as he pushed away the unshed tears. “I can’t wait to find you a gift.”

- - -

Hitoshi had been spending the last few days trying to come up with a gift for Izuku. He knew he wanted a card and had made it in arts and crafts. It was a pretty green one, where it said happy seventh birthday to him. He didn’t just want that though. He wanted to get Izuku a proper gift. One he’d get himself without needing Izuku’s or anyone’s help.

But what exactly? Hitoshi knew that Izuku had some liking for dolls, that much was obvious from their conversations but he checked how much dolls cost and well, he’s a kid. A neglected one so of course he could never match those price tags with that financial profile.

Then he thought about what else Izuku liked. He knew he loved katsudon, his favourite colour was green, he likes watching hero fights and he enjoyed horror movies. All of that was wildly different and not a lot of overlap, at least for two of those. And again, without money, he couldn’t get what he wanted even if he managed to find something that overlapped all of that.

‘What about art?’ Hitoshi thought.

While Ana was a terrifying freak, Izuku seemed really proud of her. Maybe Hitoshi could get some paints and he could make something nicer looking. Not saying Ana was bad just that she was a horrifying sight without her hood. 

Hitoshi was really not looking forward to seeing this scary doll.

Izuku told him about it when he was asking questions about what was scary. Hitoshi doesn’t want to know what monster his friend would make but if Izuku could make something as weird and as uncanny as Ana, doing something actually scary was going to be pure nightmare fuel.

Now that he thought about it more, paint really is a good gift for Izuku. A paint set would be nice enough and maybe doable. That’s a maybe but he doubts there’s going to be dumpsters full of complete paint sets. At least he’d try.

And that was how things went during the weekend before Izuku’s birthday. He checked mostly the mall for any paints that were looking to be thrown out but couldn’t find anything that he’d like. 

The boy let out a sigh as he looked in through the storefront window at a particular set of paints that included brushes too. He didn’t want to admit defeat but it looks like he’ll have to. He can’t waste anymore time trying to find a gift when it’s so close to the day. Maybe he could get a cake? Izuku wouldn’t be able to eat it there but he could take it home, wherever that was.

“Hey, little listener. Why so glum?” a cheery voice asked.

Hitoshi turned to see a tall lean man wearing black jeans and a yellow shirt. He had long blond hair tied up in a bun and seemed to be about to head into the store that the boy was looking at. 

He didn’t know what to say at first, a bit unsure why this guy asked him that but he was tired out from walking all day so he just answered.

“I’m trying to find a gift for my friend.” he said, turning back to look at the paint set. “It’s his birthday soon.”

“Totally cool! Does he like to paint?” the man asked.

“I don’t know. I was going to get a doll instead but the prices were too much for me.” he glummed.

The man looked at the paint set before deciding to continue. “How much do you have?”

“Nothing.” Hitoshi mused.

The man looked at him shocked in a bit too dramatic of a way. “Doesn’t your parents give you an allowance?”

“No… my foster parents don’t really care about me.” he replied sadly. “I don’t think they even know I’m here.”

Something in the man’s heart seemed to break as he heard that but didn’t let it show. “Does your friend mean a lot to you?” 

“They’re my only one. And they help me with my schoolwork and even buy food for me when I don't get breakfast.”

He swore he heard a sniffle come from the man but didn’t see it well because of his glasses. The man just smiled at him. “How about we make a deal?”

“What deal?” Hitoshi questioned shuffling back a little.

“I buy those paints for you to give to your friend and you can pay me back by helping me with my shopping today and next week on the same day. How does that sound?” he proposed.

It didn’t sound like a bad deal, as long as he didn’t need to get into any cars. He knows that you should never get into a car with a stranger so as long as he doesn't do that, he won’t get in trouble. This man also seemed to be alright. He didn’t look like someone bad but then again he could just be that way.

Even if something bad were to happen the mall was populated enough and on top of all that, all he had to do was ask ‘where are we going?’ and he could get away with his quirk. Honestly there weren't any red flags right now and even if there were, it wasn’t as if he couldn’t handle himself.

Hitoshi looked at the paints once more, imagining what he imagined was Izuku’s voice, thanking him for the gift and he pushed aside his fears and turned to the man.

“Deal.” he said confidently and pointed his hand up to the man to shake.

The blond chuckled to himself a bit as he took it. “Deal, little listener. By the way, my name’s Yamada Hizashi, but you can call me Hizashi.”

“Shinsou Hitoshi.” he replied back.

Hizashi, as agreed, went into the store and bought the set. Packaging it and making sure Hitoshi could handle it. Thankfully it came in a little case with a handle so it was easy to move.

And on Hitoshi’s end of the bargain, he helped Hizashi with his shopping that day and would help next week and the week after that. Even though it was just a lot of running around and carrying bags, Hitoshi felt he was being useful and wasn’t just taking advantage of someone’s kindness like he does with Izuku.

Of course he was alert the entire time. He still didn’t know what his man’s deal was. No one should be this chipper in public, it must be some kind of quirk he has. But he seemed alright and never did anything Hitoshi would deem weird besides the always happy and maybe a little too loud part.

They parted ways and Hitoshi went home not feeling like he was trading one debt with another. He doesn’t want to owe anything to anyone. He especially didn’t want anyone to worry about him, especially Izuku.

That’s why when the boy told him his birthday was a couple weeks away, he failed to mention that it was actually his birthday today, that day.

Chapter Text

Hizashi had just gotten home after a slightly longer shopping trip than usual. He found the most adorable little kid at the mall looking for a gift for his friend and made a deal that he would buy it if he helped with his shopping for next week.

He didn’t need the help. Actually he wasn’t even planning on going to that mall next week but seeing that little face with those sad but hopeful eyes melted the blond’s heart. It didn’t help that when Hizashi bought the paint set, he smiled just like Shouta does.

Honestly he just wanted to scoop up that purple cat and bring him home. Actually, on that he said he was a foster child and a neglected one at that. Maybe if Hizashi could build his trust somewhat and find out more, he could see if he really is being mistreated. He can’t stand by and watch a child get hurt, even if it's through neglect.

The blond sauntered on through his apartment and entered the kitchen to put away groceries. He was humming away with glee over everything when Shouta passed by with Dot by his side, most likely looking for food after hearing Hizashi come back.

“What happened,” he stated. Something had to have occurred.

“Sho’ I just met the most wonderful kid today.” he chirped. “He looked seven and he was at the mall looking for a birthday gift for his friend.”

“Ok, so? I’m sure a lot of kids do that.” Shota deadpanned, stopping Dot from hopping onto the counter to look in the bags.

Hizashi huffed. “You didn’t see him Sho’. He was there alone and didn’t have any money!”

“Please don’t tell me you just gave him cash. I don’t want to have a husband that can get swindled by a child.” Shouta groaned.

“He didn’t trick me! We made a deal. I’d get him the gift, he’d help me shop today and next week.” Hizashi explained, finishing putting away most things and turning to Shouta.

The erasure hero let out a long drawn out sigh. “You can’t just make deals with random kids ‘Zashi.”

“He wouldn’t accept it otherwise. He says he’s getting the gift to pay back his friend. His only one Sho’. What was I supposed to do?!” he cried dramatically.

“Did you even get this kid's name?” Shouta asked.

“Yep! Little Shinsou Hitoshi! He’s also a foster kid from what he said.” 

Shouta’s nose seemed to scrunch up a little at that, something he only does when he’s made a connection or he has the cold. It was summer so it clearly wasn’t the latter.

“What’s wrong, Sho’? Name sound familiar?” He questioned.

Shouta seemed to be thinking through something when he left to go to his office. “I think I recognise that name from somewhere.”

Hizashi went after him, Dot stayed behind to hunt for the cat food some more. He arrived at his door, to see him looking at a relatively fresh looking file. He took a moment to flick through it before Hizashi saw his eyes flicker with realisation.

“Does he look like this?” and Shouta showed a picture of the same boy, slightly younger but with the same floaty purple hair and gloomy eyes.

“Yeah he does! Wait, why is he on your desk? Is he in trouble?” Hizashi said, alarmed, his mind briefly flashing back to Izuku all those months ago.

“No, he’s one of the kids Tsukauchi is going to be interviewing. The case of the Behemoth.” Shouta explained.

Hizashi heard about that one in the news. Some scary doll monster scaring a bunch of teachers so bad they had to be out of commission for a few days. A lot of people were wondering aloud about what the monster was and why it was related to the school. It got leaked that all of the victims were given the same warning to not hurt children.

He didn’t know what to make of rumors like that but he did have a rule he followed anytime he hears rumors. Being a radio show host, he hears rumors all the time and about seventy percent of them are always false so whenever he hears one, he doesn’t believe it, not until he can disprove or confirm it himself.

He knows Shouta’s been working on that case but Hizashi hasn’t been told much as he likes to keep his three personas as a hero, a radio host and Hizashi separate. 

“According to this, he has been having problems at school from… ‘disregarding authority’.” Shouta explained.

Hizashi was in disbelief. “He was the nicest kid when he was with me.”

“His quirk is called Brainwashing and it allows him to control people.” he elaborated in a tone lower than before.

“Ah.” Hizashi gasped as all the pieces fit together. 

He knew quirk discrimination was a thing, especially for those with quirks deemed ‘villainous’. Shouta also had those problems in his youth. Apparently having a quirk that erases others is scary enough to a lot of people to cry monster about. 

It was then he remembered again about the kid saying he only had one friend and Hizashi’s heart was breaking all over again. Not only was the kid in the foster system being neglected, but he was also a social outcast.

The blond wanted to get back out there right now and find him, give him the biggest hug he could and maybe… consider finding out how to become a foster parent. He says maybe because they’re moving into a new house with extra rooms… Ah! How does he solve this dilemma! 

“Hizashi…” Shouta warned, clearly able to read what he’s thinking.

“I know Sho’. But the kid says he’s being neglected and the school he’s going to is possibly sketchy too!” he argued.

Shouta just shook his head and put down the case file, walking up and grabbing his arms. “After the move, we can talk more about it. For now, just see if the kid’s alright. He might be fine on his own.”

“No one’s fine on their own.” Hizashi argued, not aggressively but more in a statement. He knows Shouta’s right, he can’t just make rash decisions.

His husband hugged him, humming in agreement as the two swayed a little as a way to comfort the other. For both of them, this issue hits them close to home. What with both of them being in that kind of situation when they were younger but he’d rather not think about that now.

“If it makes you feel better, I’ll talk with him during the first round of interviews.” he said into Hizashi’s ear.

“Thank you.”

A loud bang in the kitchen was heard as the two men rushed in to see Dot having thrown his food bowl around, Pepper watching, as the two were expecting food now.

- - -

Hitoshi spent the next few days up to Izuku’s birthday studying with him and deciding what they were going to do for the summer break. According to him, Izuku doesn’t have one but that’s mostly because he has a very loose schedule. 

They decided on clearing out the beach, both so Izuku could find more parts but also so Hitoshi could start his training to become a hero, or at least start getting the strength for it. It was really icky at first wading through junk, especially without gloves but after getting used to it and learning what to and what not to touch, it got quite fun.

Okay maybe not fun, it was back breaking work, but it was satisfying seeing the beach become clearer. You could actually see the waves wash on the sand instead of plastic. It was also fun just being around Izuku/Ana. Though they couldn’t really talk while moving stuff, the company was good. It all felt good.

Not to mention there was so much weird stuff here, Izuku was right when he said people threw out things that should still work. He managed to find a generator that was perfectly fine, a go kart that only needed oil changed (according to Izuku) and a bunch of stuffed toys rotting in a box. Izuku took the stuffed toys because he said he likes those things whilst Hitoshi wondered if his foster parents would notice if he somehow got a kart into his room.

He didn’t know what he was going to do with it if he did but he just thought it would be cool and funny if he could pull that off somehow.

Before any more of that happened though, Izuku’s birthday was here and he couldn’t wait to show him the paint set. He had to hide it under his bed so his fosters didn’t accuse him of stealing. He’s certainly had that happened to him in the past and he wasn’t going to let it happen again.

On the day, they decided to meet at the beach during the sunset so they could watch it together. Hitoshi lugged the case around along with the card in his pocket and sat down on the steps leading down to the beach.

It seemed that Ana wasn’t there yet so he thought about everything that’s happened to him over the last couple months. 

It had been only a short time since he met Izuku at the start of the school year. He honestly never expected to find a friend when he moved to Musutafu, let alone one outside of school. Even though the time had been so short, he already feels somewhat close to his friend, or at least they to him.

Maybe he’s moving too fast and that he doesn’t feel the same way and it’s just Hitoshi being starved of attention, positive attention. Maybe that’s why he feels this closeness and shouldn’t get too attached, if not for Izuku but for himself. He wasn’t going to stay here forever.

He always left. He always moved onto the next home either because he was ‘too much to handle’ or ‘too expensive’. Apparently affording a school uniform and three meals a day for a kid was ‘too expensive’, as if they weren’t taking the idea of caring for a kid seriously.

But then again, maybe that’s twisted his way of seeing himself. That maybe he is actually too much or too expensive to be around. Izuku’s certainly bought enough food for him to be in the hundreds, he thinks. 

He just hoped he could try to pay that back.

His thoughts were stopped when he saw Ana in the distance, looking around for him most likely.

“Hey!” Hitoshi called, the doll's head snapping in his direction.

The doll waved and immediately turned to the box Hitoshi was carrying. “What is that?” they signed as they walked over.

“Your birthday present. Bet you can’t tell what’s inside!” he giggled.

The doll tilted their head like a puppy as they approached the boy and sat down on the steps where he was, staring at the box and clearly thinking of what they thought it was inside. Hitoshi kept the card hidden behind his back and set the box down, ready to present the card.

“Here!” he chirped, shoving the card to Ana. “Happy Birthday!”

The doll took the card and brought it to its hooded face, much like they did when they first met, writing in their notebook words for him to read. It opened the card and read inside. Hitoshi recalled the message he put in and he hoped his care was felt by Izuku.

-

To Izuku.

Happy Birthday!

Thank you for being my best friend. I hope you know how much you mean to me, even if we haven’t seen each other that long. I hope we can keep being friends so one day we can finally meet face to face.

From, Hitoshi.

-

It had a bunch of decorations at the end, with stars and glitter decorating the edges. Hitoshi was scared it might look stupid and was waiting with bated breath to find out if his friend liked it or not. Eventually the doll put the card down and signed out.

“Thank you Hitoshi. This means a lot to me.” and the doll pulled him in for a hug. They held it for a few moments, before they let go. Hitoshi grabbing the case.

It’s at times like this that the purple haired boy hated how he couldn’t see his friend’s face. He couldn’t tell if they were being nice or not. But he pushed through that doubt, moving on.

“And here’s your actual present! I didn’t know what exactly you wanted. I thought maybe you’d like a doll but they were too expensive for me to get so I found something else I think you might like.” he explained, handing the case over to the doll.

They opened it and inside were two dozen different paints, brushes and other utensils that can be used in painting. The doll seemed to freeze when it looked at them and once more Hitoshi was left scared if the gift was good or not.

The doll closed the case and locked it. Putting it to the side next to them as they signed. “Thank you so much Hitoshi. I love it! I wanted to do some painting!” He could tell it was enthusiastic by how the doll shook all over a little as they signed.

“You're welcome!” Hitoshi replied beaming, it seemed his doubt was for nothing. “I know you like making stuff like Ana and that scary doll you mentioned a bit ago. I wanted to get you something to make more stuff as well!”

The boy was happy. Really happy. He can’t tell exactly how much his gift meant to Izuku but he knew that at the very least he got this on his own and not by relying on anyone else. Next week he was going to do his best to help Hizashi with his shopping so that his debt there was repaid.

The two talked for a bit on the paints, Ana going through them and testing them. Some red paint was mushed on Hitoshi’s face making the boy giggle as he stole a brush and did it back to the doll on theirs, giving them a red nose. It made them more creepy but honestly, Hitoshi was getting over it.

“You know Hitoshi.” the doll signed. “All of my birthday gifts were normally given to me quietly.”

“Really?” Hitoshi asked.

The doll nodded. “My mama would have to sneak them past Hi- my father, because a lot of them he didn’t approve of.”

“What were they?” he asked.

“Dolls. I always liked them. I read it might have something to do with my quirk but I liked the way they looked and felt. It felt comforting playing with them and posing them and making them act like heroes. I know there’s action figures for that but none of them were as flexible or as pretty as the dolls.” Izuku explained. “Does that… make me weird?”

“No!” Hitoshi retorted. “It doesn’t. Your dad’s probably just a dumbass for not trying to understand you.”

“But it’s still weird though… right? Boys shouldn’t really be playing with those.” the doll signed slowly.

“Who said that? Your dad?” Hitoshi said, almost sounding like an argument.

The doll’s head looked away from him. “No. My friend… old one. Said it made me weak. And he was the strongest kid I know.”

“Well he’s stupid and not your friend. You’re not weak Izuku. It doesn’t matter if you like something everyone else says is weird, you like it for you.” Hitoshi countered. 

- - -

That line made something in the boy’s heart shake a little. There was so much to digest in that sentence in more ways than one.

One, the idea that Ka…cchan was stupid was nothing to simply say. He was always smarter than Izuku. When they’d go out to the forest, he’d always be the one leading and he’d always follow. But now he doesn’t follow anyone and he’s still fine.

Two, that he’s not weak. He is though, he really is. He’s hiding away from the world because he’s not strong enough to fight it himself. He cowers and slithers away into the dark. He does things with Ana through a screen tens of miles away. He’s scared of even stepping out of the warehouse, just the thought made him start to hyperventilate. But that’s okay, even though he’s not strong, he’s still fine.

And finally, the last thing he said. That he should like things for him and not let anyone else's opinion mess with that. He wasn’t sure what to say to that. Arguably he’s never let anyone’s opinions change him, even when Hisashi shouted at Mama he still wanted more dolls to play with. 

He was never truly sure why but he just did. Even right now, where he’s trapped himself in this warehouse, he does so because he wants to. He wanted to stay here and be here and live here. He doesn’t even see himself leaving because that was the smarter thing to do. So he’s fine.

Truly.

It doesn’t matter if someone says otherwise.

- - -

The doll sat in silence, probably digesting what he said. Hitoshi waited for them to speak back but after a moment he decided to move the topic on. “Is your dad still around?”

The doll’s head seemed to shake at that, not in a ‘no’ but more as a shiver. “No. He isn't. Mama isn’t either.”

“Wait, then where are you living?” Hitoshi asked, getting slightly concerned.

“I… live alone.” Izuku confessed.

“A-alone?! H-how? Are you safe!” Hitoshi panicked.

Izuku lived alone? But wasn’t he his age? If he’s alone then he must be living on the streets. How has he been surviving then? He knows he has money, so maybe he got some kind of inheritance from them? But that doesn’t make sense, he should have someone helping him.

“I am safe!” Izuku replied immediately. “I’m fine. I promise. I just like to be alone so don’t worry about me.”

“How can I not worry?” Hitoshi argued goodnaturedly.

“Look. I’m fine. Please don’t ask more.” Izuku worded forcefully.

“Okay.” Hitoshi dropped it, at least for now. He needed to know if Izuku was safe and not in danger.

The two left that topic alone for now and talked about some more stuff, such as Hitoshi’s new teachers still being good if not a bit stricter for a first year elementary class. The two were laughing about something they heard in the news when the sun finally hit the horizon and the golden hour began.

Hitoshi couldn’t stay for long as he had dinner but Izuku stopped him by having Ana grab his arm.

“Hitoshi. Before you go. I have a gift for you.” the doll motioned.

Those signed words immediately made his face drop. Why was he getting a gift? He just finished repaying Izuku back for his help, why was he being given something else? He didn’t want a gift. This was Izuku’s birthday, not his so…

The doll let go of his arm and inched down to his hand, clutching it tightly. Hitoshi was beyond worried he was going to be getting something really good just like always and it was going to make him feel awful and…

“Here.” they signed and handed over a cell phone. It was an older model but still a cell phone. That sight made the boy’s heart drop and every insecurity he had spiked back up after it was just put away.

It was something good. Something so much better than some stupid card and a box of paints he didn’t even buy with his own money. It was far better than anything he could ever get. Better than anything he could ever deserve.

“Izuku… I can’t accept this, I can’t!” Hitoshi cried. He didn’t want to owe him anything, he was just finally paying his kindness back.

“This is more a gift for me than for you.” the doll promised.

Hitoshi started to feel flustered as he felt upset about Izuku doing something for him when… “It’s your birthday! Not mine!”

“Not today. But it was a couple weeks ago.” Hitoshi froze. “I wanted to give you one a couple days later but I didn't want to up the bar.” the doll signed, emotions unreadable.

‘You already have.’ Hitoshi thought, mind a mess.

He turned around and held the doll’s hand tightly, tears welling up as he faced the setting sun. “I wanted this to be just for you. You’ve done so much for me and it feels like I can’t do much back. You’ve fed me, taught me and made me no longer feel lonely. It feels like I owe you so much and with everything you give me it feels like my debt gets higher and higher.”

“I’m an awful friend Izuku. I don’t deserve someone as nice as you.” he finished.

Hitoshi was tempted to leave but the doll's hands grabbed his shoulders, holding them tightly as the phone was set on his lap unwillingly. He looked into the glaring eyes of the doll, the camera staring back and he could almost swear he could feel the sadness in them.

Neither made a move. The doll didn’t seem to let go and Hitoshi was about to say another word when he felt his lap vibrate and he looked down to see the phone ringing. There was a moment of confusion before he remembered what was said two weeks ago when it was his own birthday. The wish he inadvertently made.

It didn’t show who it was but he could take a wild guess as the doll let go and allowed the boy to pick it up and answer.

“Hello? Izuku?” he said. Not too sure what to expect. It was the first time he would hear his voice, after months of speaking through the doll and pondering what kind of person would be on the other end. How’d they sound?

The other end was quiet for a few moments outside of some quiet humming of a fan. Hitoshi thought maybe it was the wrong number when he heard the faintest of voices on the other end.

“H-h-hi.” it whispered like it was unsure if it even wanted to be heard.

“Izuku… is that really you?” Hitoshi replied, not sure if he should whisper too or not.

It was silent once more before the voice sounded out in a warble.

“H-happy B-birthday, Hitoshi!”

It was a stuttering mess and as quiet as a mouse but hearing the voice of his friend who clearly has put a lot of effort into talking with him, he couldn’t help but let go of all the woe and self loathing. 

A teary smile grew on his face and he replied...

“Happy Birthday, Izuku.”

Chapter Text

Kashi had gotten more and more stressed ever since that night. Receiving twelve calls nearly all at once, telling that many of his teachers were attacked and couldn’t come back to school for a while, creeped him out alone. Then hearing about what exactly this ‘Behemoth’ reason behind its attacks was to do with the children.

But what issue? How can there be an issue? He has run Aldera Elementary exactly how he’s been advised by the overall superintendent of the three Alderas. He wasn’t even the harshest! The middle school and especially the high school were cruller than him so why go after him?

On top of all that, now there were police investigating the reason behind those attacks. He had to delete all of the footage and any evidence with a trace of their discipline on the student body. Now though, they’re asking to interview the students? He can’t stop them unless he wants to basically admit there is something there.

It’s not like there is. Not really. It doesn’t matter if a few kids get bullied for their quirks, that’s life! If anything he’s doing them a favour by getting them ready for the real world. Not only that but given how there’s always villains around wouldn’t it make sense that there’s some in his classes? Of course there are, it’s a statistical inevitability. 

Then again, Aldera has never had a future hero graduate from their school. No, that's ridiculous, that’s just a coincidence. When Kashi was teaching there were countless kids who surely grew up to be villains like that kid who could control darkness or that girl who could spit poison. 

Speaking of villainous brats, he’s sure one of them has something to do with this. He doesn’t know which one but he’ll find them and make sure they cough up what the ‘Behemoth’ is so he can finally get some proper sleep.

- - -

Tsukauchi had gone through his sixtieth interview of what is a list of eighty-four kids. He had to split his focus between different years and trying to convince parents to let their kid get interviewed was a monumental task. Most parents don't like it when their kids get talked to by a police officer, even more so if they start asking if there’s any problems with their school.

Especially if they have an idea there is something wrong with their school.

Over the last two weeks it’s been nothing but talking with parents and kids and Tsukauchi was honestly starting to break down. He has never broken down but being hounded at by some parents about their precious kid being treated like a criminal, even though there was never even any mention was something that, was driving the man up the wall.

At least he’s gotten a few things. 

He’s figured out that there’s definitely some kind of bullying problem going on in the school. To what extent is to be figured out but given how many kids are afraid of authority figures, especially at such a young age implies there's some negligence on the teachers' parts.

Whether or not that’s enough to warrant them being traumatised is up to how much they chose to ignore.

Speaking of those teachers, many of them are going to therapy as recommended by their doctors. Tsukauchi knows this because he’s been trying to interview them more on the monster and why they think it did this but none of them are having it and have shut up. Meaning either they’re too scared to speak up or are admitting that there’s a lot more than bullying problems going on.

He’s also tried talking to the principal again but he’s been ‘busy’ with a lot of his work getting new substitutes. Of course his quirk went off on that but he’s keeping that fact, and his quirk, in the bag until he’s gotten through these interviews.

On that, there’s one he’s been dreading for a while ever since he saw their name. The Bakugous. Apparently they go to this school too and their son's homeroom teacher, Tajima, was the first victim of that night and the only one who managed to contact the police about it.

The reason he wasn’t looking forward to it wasn’t because the Bakugou’s were bad or annoying, if anything given their last visit they might be more amicable than most parents. No, the problem was that they were going to ask that inevitable question.

“Have you found Izuku yet?” Mitsuki asked with a mix of fear and sadness. She was sitting next to her son, Katsuki, on the sofa in their living room. Masaru, her husband, was at work and couldn’t be there, leaving just the two of them to conduct the interview.

“Unfortunately, we have not found much from our investigations,” he admitted. And he hated it.

The trail was ice cold on Izuku. When he popped up for a brief moment when Present Mic in civilian attire found him, he thought that maybe more would come but it’s been over a year since then and not even a report of the boy has popped up. 

They tried seeing if they could get something on that doll, his quirk, but either something has happened to the poor kid or he has gotten incredibly good at hiding. Given the unlikeliness of the latter, the former is probably what has happened.

Of course that doesn't mean he’s given up. Keyword being ‘he’ because the case is on the verge of becoming cold with the odds being that Izuku is going to be declared dead if he doesn’t find proof that he’s still out there, even through his quirk.

Saying the news of Izuku’s continued disappearance seemed to make the mother in front of him sadder and the kid on her right growl with furrowed eyes. He knows they’re both likely going to resent him as time goes on but hopefully that can hold until the end of this interview.

“Please let me know if you find anything.” Mitsuki begged.

He gave back a curt nod. “We will. But an update isn’t why I’m here today as I told you over the phone.”

“Yes, you wanted to ask my son some questions?” the mother recalled.

“That is correct. I wanted to ask him some questions about his school.” the detective clarified. 

The young Bakugou seemed to be focusing more after that whilst the older one widened her eyes. “Is there something wrong with Aldera?”

“That’s what I’m trying to find out.” Tsukauchi explained. “Before that though, considering this is an interview and not an inquiry, I’d like to inform you of my quirk. It allows me to be able to detect when I am being lied to. I’m not expecting either of you to lie but it’s imperative that I tell you this before any interview can begin.”

The two Bakugou’s seemed a bit taken back when he explained his quirk. They always do. Learning that you can’t lie to someone tends to make people anxious and constantly second guess every sentence they say to you even if they have nothing to hide. Same thing tends to happen whenever you put someone on a polygraph but this one is much more accurate.

After a few beats, Mitsuki agreed to this interview and Katsuki seemed to be fine with it as well. 

“So then Bakugou Katsuki. How have your classes been?” the detective asked, saying his full name for the recording.

The kid huffed. “It’s been fine for me. Except the extras not shutting up.”

“Oi, Katsuki. What did we say about respect?” the mother growled as her face turned to scolding the boy.

“Well they are! They keep hanging around because of my quirk!” he shouted.

“Just the students? Does anyone else think the same?” Tsukauchi asked out of curiosity, though he’s been having his theories.

The kid turned to him, still growling at his mother. “Yeah. Teachers kept gushing about how great my quirk is. Which is damn right!”

Tsukauchi wrote down what was said into a small notepad, mostly for his own sake. Okay. Let's see where this line of inquiry takes us. 

“Do they all say you have a great quirk? Do they do anything else besides praise?” the detective inquired.

Mitsuki looked at him, clearly confused by what he was trying to get out of that question. Thankfully, Katsuki was kind enough to spell it out with his answer.

“Yeah! They say I’m going to be a great hero so they give me extra help and more time in P.E.!” he gloated proudly, a part of him peeking at his mom to see her reaction.

Right. So they favour children with good quirks. Let’s see if the opposite is true. Tsukauchi thought. “What about those who don’t have good quirks?”

“Pfft. I don’t know. Those extras just get ignored.” the kid said.

“By the teachers too?” asked the detective.

“Yeah. Especially the weak ones.” 

“Like who?” the detective follows up with.

The kid then lists off a bunch of kids in his class that are subject to being ignored. Making sure each name was recorded so that he can ask them later. A few of them were kids he’s already talked to and have admitted, either consciously or unconsciously, that they are picked on more than they should. 

It would be awkward to have a follow up questioning with some of these kids, mostly because of parents and scheduling but thankfully there’s a couple of these ‘weak quirked’ kids that he hasn’t questioned and are already scheduled for a chat. 

What’s most disturbing about all of this kid here, Bakugou Katsuki, and how much the teachers seem to praise him over just having a quirk that’s strong or good for heroics. It’s a bad mentality that will end with the kid getting a rude awakening should he ever come up against someone stronger than him, or even weaker and yet capable of beating him. Aizawa is certainly someone who comes to mind as someone who’s beaten a lot of types who were once this kid, arrogant and looking down on everyone.

Thankfully the kid is young, so there’s still time to make him someone better than what Tsukauchi’s experience tells him, he hopes.

The rest of the interview was mostly follow up questions. Getting specific names of teachers who were a part of this and it wasn’t a surprise at all when they all just so happened to be the ones targeted by the Behemoth. Before the proper end of the interview though, Tsukauchi had to check out a theory that has been itching in his mind since the start of this whole process.

“Thank you, Bakugou Katsuki. I’ve almost finished this interview but there is just one more question I need to ask.” the detective stated.

“What?” the kid said brashily.

“Has any of your teachers encouraged bullying of certain kids?”

It was a very direct question but it’s one that can’t really be asked without possibly being leading or giving an out for the kid from Lie Detector. He’s hoping that given the kid’s favoritism by the teachers…

He waited for the kid to answer and for the first time he seemed to not respond instantly like he always did. With that his mother looked down at her son, eyes shaking at that because anyone like him who would be stumped at such a question, surely was admitting a lot more than he could say.

Eventually the boy did let out an answer, albeit keeping his angry demeanor. “They never said but… they didn’t stop when some of the kids shoved and pushed and insulted.”

That was plenty. Enough to warrant taking this investigation further than it could. It proved there was a good reason behind the Behemoth’s attack. How close they are to getting to whatever truth behind Aldera’s ‘teaching methods’ is certainly becoming closer with this new revelation, and hopefully, by proxy, the Behemoth themself.

He wasn’t going to ask if the young Bakugou was also one of the kids encouraged, nor was he going to ask if he followed through. The silence afterwards made it clear that, given his attitude, he must’ve followed through on some of those encouragements. He had enough and could use this to force an interrogation with the teachers once he’s finished with the children.

“Thank you. Both of you for this interview. In case you're worried, you aren’t in trouble.” he said to the boy. “But someone is and we’ll be making sure they get what is coming to them.”

“Thank you, Detective Tsukauchi.” Mitsuki said, nodding. “You too, Katsuki.”

The boy seemed to hesitate before he spoke. “Thank you detective.” It was muted and it’s clear that admitting out loud what he’s been doing has certainly shooken the kid in some way. Whether that will last is something hard to say.

- - -

Over the last few days, Izuku has been fighting more and more on whether he should go after the principal. He was certainly a part of this to some extent and knowing that was bothering him. The problem was that he wasn't sure how he could get him. Heroes are surely watching him now so it would be a lot harder to catch him.

The only reason he couldn’t get the man the first time around was because he was too far away from the other teachers to make a reasonable path to. If he were close, Izuku would’ve made sure to get him. 

The boy stopped himself there at that thought process. ‘Get him’. What did he mean by that? He was enjoying this too much which is something he might admit to himself if he wasn’t constantly running away from his problems by pushing them back further and further into his mind. 

It wasn’t as if he could get therapy. Not that he would of his own accord. He was fine. Just a bit excited at the prospect of causing more fear in the ones who hurt his friend, now more than ever after his birthday.

Yes. With this line of thinking he probably will attack the principal. How was a different issue. He could wait for things to die down but Izuku wasn’t a patient child. Every time he’d go into the school files and look at this guy he became more and more determined to scare him. The whole school really.

It seemed to get worse as the years went up with kids Hitoshi and weaker quirked kids getting bullied viscously with no end in sight. He can’t imagine himself ever being in that situation but he can imagine the fear and helplessness those kids probably experience. He was always afraid of being found because of Hisashi finding him and those students probably feel the same way about their bullies.

Nevermind the later years though, right now he needed a plan. He didn’t know if there were heroes monitoring the principal but there had to be someone. It made perfect sense that the principal would be a target too.

Izuku sat in front of his computer and began to work his way through the police network. He has been trying to find a safe way in for a while but hasn’t noticed any holes yet. 

“If I can’t find one then maybe I can make one.” he muttered to himself. “If I can slip some malware into their system and make a password request, I can…”

After a few hours of researching the Musutafu police force, he’s found someone he could maybe go after. An officer in his sixties who didn’t seem very good at computers if what he’s said on social media was any hint. There’s also a chance he has a weak password too.

Finding his work email account on the Musutafu Police website, he sent in a simple email from a fake email address pretending to be IT support saying he needs to change his password urgently. Asking to confirm his password first before entering a new one.

Sure enough a day later, it worked and Izuku immediately took over his account, changing his password to match the one he sent in and having free reign of the police internal network. From there he found the case involving him and Aldera, and as he confirmed there was a pro hero watching the principal. Eraserhead.

His quirk was certainly dangerous, mostly because Izuku doesn’t know what it would do to his doll. If the erasure needed to be done on him or the doll to erase their quirk was something he needed to find out. But he had a theory.

Given his spinal fluid is still a part of him, there is a decent chance erasure would work as long as that fluid is exposed. He needed to make sure that the monster had nothing exposing the mossy fluid underneath.

After a while of making these changes to the monster, Izuku still needed to think of how he’s going to get around the pro hero. Just because he couldn’t erase the monster doesn’t mean he can’t beat it to pieces. He needed another weakness, a hole.

One that he could certainly make.

- - -

Shouta had been watching Kashi for almost three weeks now and it was getting a bit tiring. It seemed like the Behemoth wasn’t going to make another appearance, at least not yet. He wasn’t even sure what this thing looked like outside of the scared descriptions from the victims. 

He didn’t know its strength, speed or even its quirk. For all he knew it could be some kind of invisibility and the thing could slip past him. 

“Hah.” he sighed from the roof of Kashi’s house.

He really just wanted to go back to patrolling and not babysitting this guy. As far as what Tsukauchi had told him, the victims aren’t the most innocent people, meaning this guy is probably the worst but he’s a hero first and needed to do his job. He just hopes he doesn’t have to spend another night watching nothing happen.

That was when his comms sprang to life. 

“Eraserhead? Come in…” a slightly robotic voice came in on the other end.

“Eraserhead here. What is it?” he responded fast and professionally.

The voice was indeed kind of robotic sounding but for all he knew that might be someone’s quirk or even just whatever hardware they’re using speaking. 

“There’s an emergency over at block twenty three. A hero down.” they explained.

The voice didn’t need to say more before he was off. Block twenty three wasn’t far from here and if there’s a hero down he needed to move fast. He took off, using his capture weapon to hop from building to building, taking about five minutes to reach where he needed to.

Soon enough he was there. After heading down a few alleyways and checking some houses there didn’t seem to be anything wrong.

“I can’t find anything here.” he said into comms but the other side was silent. “Hello?”

After a couple minutes of trying he eventually heard someone over the comms in his ear, but it wasn’t the robotic voice from before. “Hello? What’s wrong?”

“Someone told me there was an issue at the twenty third block.”

There were a few presses of a keyboard and what he heard was a few people talking in the background before he got a response that sent a cold shiver down his spine. “None of us said anything was wrong with the twenty third block.”

He was immediately on his way, swinging back to the house as fast as he possibly could. Yelling into the microphone of his earpiece to send police to the Kashi residence. 

‘I’ve been duped. Completely damn it!’ he thought frantically, making sure he didn’t swing into a wall.

Shouta was panicking inside. He had spent the last three weeks watching this guy and the first time something interesting happened and he’s been lured away like he’s on a leash. He just hopes the guys are still there when he gets back.

As soon as the house was in eyeshot, he could see all of the lights were off in the house when they weren’t when he left. Swinging from a lamp post, he launched himself over a house and glided off some shingles until he heard something that made his heart jump back slightly.

An ear piercing screech. Not one of someone screaming in fear but a monster letting out a roar. He landed on the house a few seconds later and crashed in through a window, not caring about property damage. He was in the master bedroom where Kashi should be sleeping but he wasn’t there, the room being a mess and the door wide open.

The pro hero quickly ran down the stairs where he found the man in a closet under the stairs, unconscious, the door ripped open and tears wetting the corners of the man’s eyes. The hero looked around, after checking the man was still alive, and noticed that the back door was open. 

Knowing that the police were on their way and that Kashi was already gotten, he chased out into the night hoping to catch up with this thing. Scanning the rooftops, he couldn’t see anything at first until he caught the slightest of movements towards where some apartment blocks were.

Not taking any chances he chased, hopping from building to building and quickly catching up to whatever he was chasing. He watched a weirdly shaped figure crawl quickly down the side of the building into a few alleyways and leapt after it.

Soon enough he was on this thing’s trail, but after a few corners he lost it at a dead end. Or at least that’s what he thought. A large claw swung at him, causing him to dive back in a flip as a long twisting arm with sharp blades on its fingers pulled back to a creature far bigger than what he was chasing earlier.

It had a misshapen body with four arms, two longer than the rest and two heads. One was a pale mask of a woman and the other seemed like a mangled mechanical horse. The whole thing twisted as the heads seemed to stare down at the man almost curiously.

He says almost because right now this thing, in the dark, looked like something from a horror movie.

“Look pal, come quietly and we can talk about why you’re doing this.” he commanded, keeping a straight face so as not to appear disturbed or scared.

The thing just stared at him and the mannerisms were almost birdlike in how it tilted its heads. The two were silent for a moment before the far too calm voice of a little girl sounded through the horse head.

“We are scaring the bad people. The people who deserve it.”

He did not like that voice. It spoke like a child and it creeped him out. He’d always had a sadistic side to him and he did not like to be at the other end of that so this just made him shift and almost attack the thing right then and there.

“You could explain to us why they’re bad people. Just come with me and we can figure this out.” he reasoned.

“...No.” the monster said sinisterly.

An arm swung forth fast and the pro hero had to duck out of the way, hopping over a second arm as the creature dashed forward. Its lower arms reached to try and grasp at the hero but a kick forced them back as the thing now encircled him.

As the two large arms swung to scoop him up into a hug, he hopped up and bounced off the arms and onto the necks of the creature. He was about to take a swing at the masked one when the horse let out a painful scream that sounded far too close to a childs.

It caused him to freeze for a moment, giving the creature a chance to grasp him by his scarf and throw him into a wall. Shouta was stunned for a moment at the force of the throw and he sputtered a little bit when the wind got knocked out of him. He was still a hero though, so he recovered fast. Still hurt like hell though.

The hero pulled himself up, ready for a strike when the creature was gone. Shouta looked around, shaking a little at this thing before he looked up in time to dodge the creature falling on top of him.

In that he used his quirk, trying to erase whatever this thing had but nothing seemed to happen. 

‘It has to be mutagenic.’ he guessed as he threw his capture weapon and had it wrap around one of the creature’s arms. 

He pulled, throwing it off balance and immediately doing a kick into its chest, the sound of something cracking clear under the ratty green dress it wore. Another screech ran out and if he didn’t live with a cockatoo for a husband, it would’ve shaken him more but he jumped up in time to avoid the other arms striking at him.

With another twist of his scarf, he now had the other long arm wrapped and was now ducking under to try and wrap this thing up. He managed and soon this thing was writhing under the grey cloth, struggling to break out. All of its arms were wrapped up and pinned to the side of its body, unable to break free.

Soon enough he made another kick, this time to the horse head, intending to knock it out, and the sound of bending metal made the creature stumble and fall against the alley wall. The other head drooped and the thing seemed to fall unconscious as Shouta stood there, holding onto his capture weapon in case it was faking it.

The man let out a heavy breath as he relaxed somewhat now that the creature was stopped. He immediately reached for his earpiece and called in the capture. “Eraserhead here. I’ve captured the Behemoth. Please send transport to my position.”

He got silence on the other end and he was about to speak again when he heard the same robotic voice speak through that tricked him earlier. 

“I didn’t mean to hurt you.” was what it said.

Shouta blinked and looked over at the monster who was seemingly still unconscious. “That isn’t you is it?”

“No.” it replied immediately.

“Who are you?” he asked in an almost demand.

“It doesn’t matter. The man has learned his lesson.” 

“Sorry but nearly giving people heart attacks isn’t the lesson you think it is.” the pro hero argued.

There was a pause for a few seconds. “There’s a lot of evil in Aldera.” 

“And we’ll deal with it within the confines of the law.” he shot back.

Shouta kept his senses alert. He didn’t know where this guy was and he certainly wasn’t going to lower his guard around the monster. Looking at it now it seemed almost like an object. A bunch of wooden arms and limbs cobbled together. Especially the heads which look like they were stuff on the end of two mannequin arms.

His focus though, came when he noticed something oozing out of the horse’s head he kicked. A clear liquid. A mossy one that made the man immediately think back to almost a year ago.

“Midoriya?” he uttered, and his focus slacked for a moment before the creature moved far too quickly than it should.

It closed the distance fast and soon enough he had no time to react before the whole thing crashed into him, still wrapped up. Shouta tried to push back but whatever strength it had before, it was clearly holding back as he was rammed into a wall, cracking some bricks and surely him.

The thing then ripped through the bindings by twisting its arms inhumanly out and ran for it, Shouta laid on the floor still reeling from the attack. He stumbled up to try and chase it but the thing was gone and his bones were protesting keeping up.

He felt battered and bruised and just decided to slide down the wall as he heard the distant sound of sirens falling on his position.

He looked at his chest and noticed the staining of some liquid, probably what was coming from the thing’s head. On the comms there was a simple apology muttered through by the robotic voice before the sudden rush of people from the police trying to reach him.

Chapter Text

A few hours in the hospital did a lot of good for the cracked ribs, at least that’s what he’s been trying to convince the nurses of for the last half hour. Of course they weren’t but he never liked being stuck in hospitals even if it’s for his own good.

Unfortunately Hizashi is there to stop him from actually sneaking out unless he wants to have the ire of his husband.

“Sho’ we have a move soon. I don’t want you collapsing after picking up a few boxes!” he argued quietly, making sure his quirk didn't ring out but still charged with care and annoyance.

“Hah.” the hero sighed, knowing that he won’t be able to leave here until the promised time of tomorrow. At least he has Hizashi here to keep him company.

Of course that and the fact that it’s possible he’s just confirmed another sighting of Midoriya Izuku. It would honestly make more sense if he was the now, non-monstrous, Behemoth. His quirk fits perfectly into controlling the messed up doll that was that thing.

He wasn’t going to tell Hizashi though, not yet. When they were still searching for him, he was the last one to see him and it left him almost depressed for a few weeks at the fact he could’ve been the last person to see the boy alive. He didn’t want to put his husband through that on a possible fluke.

It’s why he’s having the liquid he got from the alley and his jumpsuit checked for any DNA trace. With the help of Tsukuachi of course.

As for Kashi, the principal, he indeed was put out of commission due to having fainted and will likely, if not already, have woken up as a shaking mess much like his coworkers. This’ll probably not help with those people too as this confirms that the Behemoth is still out there on the prowl.

Shouta leaned back in the hospital bed he was lying in and just thought about it all and how if this is Izuku, how he’s been surviving for the last year. According to his record, he should be seven now and if that fact doesn’t break his heart then he doesn’t have an ounce of empathy in him.

A few knocks on the door happen before it is opened to a nurse guiding in a tired but definitely determined Tsukauchi, him waving the medical staff member off once he’s there. Clearly meaning that Shouta’s guess was right.

“The test won’t be done till tomorrow but they’ve confirmed that it is spinal fluid.” he stated, practically confirming that the odds of this being the kid is practically there.

“What? What does that mean? What spinal fluid?” questioned Hizashi, trying to piece together what the detective was saying.

Shouta shifted in the bed to sit up more. “It means that the odds of the Behemoth being Midoriya Izuku are high.”

At that, the blond whipped his head to face his partner with a shocked expression. “Midoriya?! You mean that little kid with the green hair?”

One curt nod from both the hero and the detective affirms that guess and there is almost a sigh of relief that leaves the blond man’s mouth. Even though Hizashi had gotten ‘over’ it a while ago, there was obviously still some fear over the fate of that child.

“So what are we doing?” he asked.

“Not much, ‘Zashi.” Shouta responded. “He’s already gotten what he wanted, we think. Unless he chooses to, we won’t see him again.”

“Is there no way we can trace his movements?” the blond man suggested.

“If we were more prepared, maybe.” the detective presented.

The bun-haired man fell back in the chair and sat next to his partner, head lolling back a little as his thoughts went through him. “So the kid just jumped back into our lives and now jumps back out.”

“And given what he’s done, probably worse for wear.” the detective said.

The two, well one really at the moment, pro heroes looked at him, wondering what he meant by that even though it was obvious what he was implying. Irrelevant of his age, Midoriya had still technically used his quirk illegally and though he hasn’t hurt anyone, physically, he still meets under the peripheral as being called a villain.

Of course that could be proven wrong and he would be marked as a vigilante instead but only if the investigation into the teachers comes out with anything worth someone going to jail for. Or rather can go to jail for. If not then the kid will be in much more trouble.

“You made sure the kid doesn’t go to Aldera, right?” Shouta questioned. 

The detective nodded. “I double checked when you asked just in case he was under a different name but no, no one in Aldera matches Mirodirya’s description.”

Then the question remains unsaid and unanswered about how the kid would know about what is going on in Aldera. The only possible reason being that he knows someone who goes to the school, which seems more likely now.

“I’m guessing if you’ve checked the roster then you’ve checked to see if all these teachers taught the same class.” Shouta assumed.

“Yes. All of the victims, barring the principal, teach a variety of different classes but all of them at least teach first year elementary. Same age range Midoriya would be.” the detective said sure of what the pro was implying.

“How many have you questioned?” Shouta wondered.

“A fair amount. They’re harder to schedule because of how young they are so about half the year is left.” he explained.

The pro and the detective talked more about what time those interviews could be done by the mention of one of the kid’s parents being hard to reach, explaining that they are foster parents and might have a lot of kids to look after. That being said, Shouta, having known him for so long, noticed that Hizashi was thinking deeply about something.

“What’s wrong?” the hero asked the other, knowing that he is bothered by something.

The loud blond pursed his lips, clearly thinking over everything when he turned to Tsukauchi. “By chance is one of those kids called Shinsou Hitoshi?”

The man’s eyes widened at his guess and nodded. “Yes there is. I haven’t seen him yet, but I’m hoping to drop by for a visit. Why?”

“The kid mentioned he had a friend. His only one. Might be a long shot but I’m due to have him help me with groceries this weekend. Maybe I can ask him to see?” 

Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow at that and the man had to explain how exactly he met Shinsou and their deal. The detective seems to agree to let Hizashi talk to him first to see if there’s any chance that he is the link to Midoriya they think he is.

“I’ll keep looking into the school in the meantime. I have enough to force a conversation with the teachers so I’ll update you when I’m through with that.” Tsukauchi explained.

And so the detective made his exit and Shouta was left with more of his husband fighting him from getting up. If only the cats were here then maybe he’d be able to sleep better but with his husband deciding to stay the night, he thinks he might just be able to make do.

- - -

It was a terrifying night last night for Izuku. He just fought a hero and won, technically. He did have to run away but that doesn’t stop the fact that he managed to beat him back. It was honestly thrilling as much as it was scary when he realised that he’d have to fight. 

Before the attack, he made sure to research Eraserhead and his fighting style. There wasn’t much online due to the hero being underground but there were a few camera captures of the hero in action by some people. He knew it would be a hard fight on top of the monster not being built for it. Maybe he should look into that.

Speaking of the beast, it had collapsed on its way back to the warehouse and so Izuku had to send Ana out to collect it. Thankfully it didn’t seem that the pro hero or the police chased after so they were pretty much in the home clear back to the warehouse.

The problem now was what the hero said when the monster was tied up. His name. When that was said, Izuku almost went stone quiet and could feel his heart about to rip out of him. He didn’t know they were still searching for him. He hadn’t even looked at his case file but after that he decided to.

The boy knew Hisashi wouldn’t have been caught but seeing it on a report just made him feel even more sure of his decision to hide. What was weird though was seeing his own face on a missing poster that was probably broadcasted a while ago. 

Sure maybe now the heroes could protect him but would they? Izuku knows what he did was right but that doesn’t mean the law agreed. He was a vigilante now, one that the police knew the identity of so what if he gets arrested and sent to prison? He doesn’t want that.

Not just that but he didn’t feel safe anywhere but between these four walls. Imagining himself outside of them made him itchy and light headed. He didn’t want to leave and probably won’t. He’s fine with that (he’s not) and no one can convince him otherwise.

They can’t track him. Especially now that he has taken the monster back. One of his fears is them finding the camera inside and using it to trace his location. Something that he’ll have to work on masking in the future. Thankfully he’s cruising his way through his online classes so he has time to look into some cybersecurity.

The question is what to do now on the Behemoth front. He has done what he needed to. So does he even need to rebuild the monster? The reason for it was accomplished so there was no purpose to putting it back together. All of the teachers who messed with Hitoshi have been scared away.

Sure there are higher years but does he seriously want to risk exposure just for the sake of helping people out? Maybe. But the police are looking into the school and there’s a decent chance they can deal with it themselves. He can trust them enough to do that. As for Behemoth, of course he’ll keep the parts but…

“The heroes might come for me one day. I need some kind of protection…” he muttered to himself.

He was right. He needed a contingency if he ever needed to escape. Maybe not building the monster the exact same, there were some changes that needed to be done but definitely something to protect him. Ana is alright and all but she is not combat ready in the slightest. He could use all of Behemoth’s parts to make something bigger and stronger.

But never mind that now, today was going to be a fun day for him and his friend. Izuku had saved up a lot of money from his delivery job. Naturally seeing as how he has no expenses or bills to pay so he is going to take him (or rather Ana) and Hitoshi out to a cat cafe for the first time.

The doll waited at their usual spot in the park where she saw the young purple haired boy walk up to her, waving. “Hey Izuku, are we ready to go now?”

The doll nodded and signed in agreement as the two walked across Musutafu to the cat cafe in question. Despite having a phone, Izuku still opted to speak through Ana, finding using his voice to be tiring and never working as well as signing. The two have been texting a lot though which can sometimes be problematic as Izuku has to remind himself that Hitoshi has a school life.

The two kids traveled the city, using the train to make their way around. Ana made sure to be extra covered up this time with long socks, a big hoodie tightened up and a hat for extra measure. Though it was arguably more eye-catching than just a hood it wasn’t as if anyone was going to walk up and question her.

On the ride over, the pair noticed a couple teens riding the train as well, in a school uniform, belonging to UA. It was the last day of school before the official summer break and the two were probably chatting about that.

Hitoshi felt a rumble in his pocket as he checked his phone to see what Izuku was saying.

CursedDoll: think any of them are in the hero course

TrollDoll: Maybe

TrollDoll: Do you ever want to go to UA?

CursedDoll: I don’t know. Probably.

TrollDoll: I do. They’re the best heroing

school in Japan. 

CursedDoll: Do you want help training

for them then?

Hitoshi looked up at the doll, who was completely static, jostling a little as the train moved.

TrollDoll: Yeah, if it’s fine with you

CursedDoll: Perfectly fine. I can’t wait

The two kept texting about UA and what they’ve heard about it, including how all their heroes are teachers and how the principal is a rat, mouse, bear creature. When the train halted and the two got off, they paused their conversation until they got to the cafe.

They were shaking, well Hitoshi was, as they spotted the clearly cat themed place up ahead and entered to immediately see a bunch of furry critters running up to greet them. Neither of them have ever had a pet so they were extremely careful to not touch them until they sat down in fear of accidentally hurting them.

They plopped down on a couple of beanbags where they were immediately swarmed by a couple cats, well Hitoshi was. Some of the cats got a feel of Ana and immediately backed off for some reason, making Izuku scared he might’ve frightened them somehow.

“Cat’s like heat.” Hitoshi commented as he was amused watching the doll stare down a few of the cats.

The doll looked up at him and the purple haired boy could feel the jealousy behind that glaring camera. Meanwhile he was basking in a half dozen cats and was careful to not move in case he hurt them. 

The two stayed like that for a while until Ana went up to the counter to get some food for his friend and something to bring home for himself. There were a lot of tasty treats available, most were probably selected so that cats won’t be tempted to eat them. 

Getting a sandwich for Hitoshi and some cake for both of them, Izuku gave the two and watched his friend enjoy the cats and food. 

“Couldn’t have gotten some coffee?” Hitoshi wondered.

The doll signed a response. “We’re in a cafe. I doubt they’d let a kid as young as you drink coffee publicly.”

“You say that like you aren’t five.” Hitoshi uttered.

That comment got Ana to sign furiously. “I told you I’m your age!”

“And yet, according to you, you’re about as small as these kittens.” he joked.

“I’m not that small!” the doll responded.

“Sure. When we meet, I’ll be sure to be looking down in case I step on you.” he smirked.

Izuku only said that one time he thought Hitoshi was older because he was so much taller than him. Sure it seemed now that most kids his age are actually taller than him but there’s no evidence that that’s true. It doesn’t matter that he actually bought a measuring tape for himself, compared it with his friend's height and immediately vowed to never reveal the results.

Okay, he might be a little underdeveloped but late bloomer and all that.

His friend was halfway through his sandwich when he set it down and spoke. “You know, it would be more fun if you were here.”

The doll's head zeroed in on his eyes and could see the immediate regret in saying that. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to pressure you or anything.”

“I can understand, but I don’t really want to come out.” The doll signed calmly but was immediately replaced by frantic hands as he realised that could be misinterpreted. “That isn’t because of you or anything!”

Hitoshi smirked a little at the doll's fast moving hands. He always likes it when Izuku gets flustered because a little of that comes through the doll and for a moment he’s sure that his friend is there with him. If only he could actually see his face and know what he looks like.

When the doll calmed down after Hitoshi said that he understood he didn’t mean any offense by that statement, he continued to push. He didn’t want to force Izuku to reveal himself to him but he has long been able to tell that his friend was scared of people. That much was clear when he said he lived alone.

“But I mean it. I really want to see your face someday. And not through Ana.”

The face he gave was determined and Izuku couldn’t help but feel a little guilty at that declaration. A part of him really did want to talk to Hitoshi face to face, nothing in between them but he can’t allow anything that could risk him being found. He was a criminal and Hitoshi had a ‘villain’s’ quirk. He didn’t want him getting in trouble by association.

“Hitoshi, I-”

“You don’t have to tell me where you live,” he promised. “It could be at the park, like always, or at the beach where we first met.”

Hitoshi knew he was risking scaring him away but he knew that at some point this conversation was going to be had and it’s better now with summer arriving than never. 

Izuku was about to sign again but Hitoshi was still speaking. “You don’t even have to appear properly. It can be you in disguise like Ana. I just want to know… you’re alright.”

Ever since getting this phone from Izuku, Hitoshi could tell that he was just as much an insomniac as him. The birthday night alone, they spent all night texting each other and chatting about cats, Izuku’s paints and the latest hero news. He also knew he lived alone and he wouldn’t be an aspiring hero if he didn’t worry for his only friend.

“I’m fine, Hitoshi.” the doll signed shakily. “I promise you, I’m okay.”

“Then it should be fine to see you,” he countered.

Izuku can’t argue that, at least not without having to explain everything to Hitoshi. How his mom is dead, how his father tried to take him and how he just recently terrorised his entire school teaching staff.

“It’s alright Hitoshi, I’m just scared of being outside is all.” he admitted.

The purple haired boy’s eyes focus in. “Can I ask why?” 

“No, just that I’m scared.”

“Then I’ll protect you,” he vowed. “I’ll make sure whatever scares you doesn’t happen.”

Hearing that vow over the microphone, those purple eyes staring through the screen with such promise. Izuku couldn’t help but feel his fear vanish a little, something in him caving slightly at that. For a moment he might’ve believed he could if he didn’t remember he was also a kid.

He’s known Hitoshi for a while now. Almost half a year at this point and this boy has been more a friend to him than Kacchan ever was. He’s never made fun of him, bad naturedly, never told him he was weak and despite knowing how Ana could be maybe seen as creepy (Izuku’s still not sold on that) he still wanted to be his friend.

The doll felt a tugging at her leg and she broke eye contact to look down to see a kitten playing with Ana’s pants, tugging. She picked it up and held it where it placed a paw through the hood and onto the rubber nose of the dummy. Little mews bleeding from its mouth.

How would it feel to be here to witness this? Be here with Hitoshi? He wondered how the warmth of this kitten’s paw would feel on his nose. How much sweeter the kitten’s cries were not digitised by a microphone and speaker, to eat the cake laid out in front of him not just alone in his room where it was silent besides the whirring of a computer and an air conditioner.

When was the last time he felt anything but that.

He thought about how’d it feel to be able to hear Hitoshi too. To see him from his perspective and not from Ana’s. They’ve established, reluctantly, that he was taller and for once Izuku would have to look up at him and not down.

There was so much that could happen, both good and bad, if he were to step out into the open.

He could be taken by Hisashi or found out by the heroes but at the same time nothing could happen and he could just be with his friend if only once. It was something that he would have to take a risk on and in truth, it’s probably a safer bet to just go and see Hitoshi finally.

“Maybe.” the doll signed.

Hitoshi’s focus dropped and a smile came over him. He had made some progress with his friend and he hoped that someday that ‘maybe’ would be a ‘yes’. Either way he was proud that Izuku was at least considering it.

Little did he know though that the boy’s mind was already made up. He was going to see Hitoshi, as a surprise, but mostly so no one would be ready when he re-emerged.

Chapter Text

Hizashi was driving his way to the mall for groceries and shopping that week, at least that’s the excuse he’s going to give to one kid. He didn’t realise it last week when he helped that random kid but there’s a good chance that he’s connected to Izuku, or rather that’s what his wishful thinking hoped.

It doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have done it either way. He still remembers that purple haired kid who looked so determined to pay him back, even though a kid his age shouldn’t even have to think about paying anyone back. 

On top of that the kid was clearly being neglected. Both by his own admission and the fact that he was at the mall alone. Who lets their seven year old kid go to the mall alone, even if the place was safe?

Once parked, the man headed in and waited at the hobby shop he found the kid before. They said they’d meet at ten and Hizashi made sure to arrive early to not keep the little guy waiting. Once the time came, he was afraid that the kid wasn’t coming until around a couple minutes later he could see the fluffy purple haired child head up to him.

Hizashi waved and the kid seemed unsure what to do and just did a small wave back. “Hey little listener! Ready to fulfil your end of the deal and help me with my shopping?”

“Yeah.” he nodded, not enthusiastically but more determined. He was clearly in a better mood than last time he saw him.

The two went around the mall, gathering food and a couple other things Hizashi needed for the house. He didn’t want to jump right into questioning, he’s learned that from Izuku, so he decided to ask a few questions here and there that are mostly used to fill the air and get more information from him.

“Hey, so did your friend like the gift?” Hizashi said, putting some eggs in the shopping cart at the in mall grocer.

Shinsou seemed to light up a little at being asked that. “Yeah! He’s planning to use it on something new he’s building.”

“Great to hear! Guess you got a good gift after all.” he smiled.

Shinsou looked a bit down after him saying that. “Hey what’s wrong? Did I say something?”

“No! No.” the kid shook his head, purple hair swooshing. “It’s just he also got me something as well.”

“Oh why? Thought it was his birthday.”

“Yeah but, I had mines a few weeks ago and he wanted to get me something then but didn’t have the chance.” he explained.

“What’d he get you?” the blond wondered.

“A cell phone.”

“A cell phone?!” Hizashi squawked and he had to immediately cover his mouth as his quirk just slipped out slightly. The boy clutched his ears slightly and there were a good few people looking over at him.

Hizashi bumbled a little. “Uh, let’s go to the vegetable section.”

On the way Shinsou looked confused so Hizashi explained his quirk to him a little and the kid seemed to get it. After that he decided to ask about that later and instead focus on keeping the kid comfortable and not feeling like he’s being interrogated.

‘But still, a cell phone? Is his friend really Midoriya? I can’t imagine him being able to afford that… unless he stole it.’ the pro hero thought, not liking his theory.

After the groceries were done, they moved onto some window shopping. Hizashi didn’t say he was doing that but he really didn’t have anything left to get, at least until he actually spotted something he wanted. A funky looking cat tower that hung upside down.

When he went to look at it and consider buying it, Shinsou spoke up. “Do you have cats?”

“Oh yeah!” the blond exclaimed. “Two! A black and white called Dot and a ginger called Pepper.”

The kid’s eyes sparkled at that and Hizashi had to bite his tongue to fight a squeal at how adorable that looked. He has always considered having kids, maybe much later down the line if Shouta ever warmed up to the idea but this kid was making him reconsider that. He should really look into fostering.

“Here. Want to see some pictures I have of them?” and the man took out his phone to find some pictures of his cats, including that time Shouta had to come back from a patrol early because Pepper had hidden away in his scarf somehow.

Shinsou looked at them and seemed to love the pictures as much as he did. With even a few ‘awws’ to accompany them. 

“Hey, do you want me to send some to you?” Hizashi offered.

The kid looked up at him smiling and alarmingly oblivious. “Sure!”

And just like that, Hizashi now had the kids phone number. In case the kid really was connected to Midoriya and he needed to arrange another meeting so that the two could talk more and of course for the kid in general. Hizashi was worried about him and having his number in case he needed help gave him peace of mind.

The two spent some more time window shopping before deciding to stop by the food court, Hizashi convincing the kid to have lunch as a bonus for how good of a job he did. He almost immediately regretted it when the boy asked for coffee. He knows what caffeine addiction does to a man, and though he loves said man in question he knows that coffee is too much for a child his age.

Though now that he thought about it, Shinsou’s eyes always looked heavy and he was definitely slighter thinner than a kid his age should be. It only helps to encourage him to look into foster care and get this kid away from what is probably a bad home. He knows he shouldn’t judge when he hasn’t seen it all but by god he’s going to do it.

“Have trouble sleeping?” he asked.

“No, but it’s alright. My friend always buys me coffee before school.” the boy clarified.

Okay it seems this kid is already a lost cause. And also how much money does this friend have? If it is Izuku then whatever he is doing to survive must be good enough to support someone else’s kid.

“Does your friend do a lot for you?” Hizashi questioned, keeping his tone casual.

Shinsou seemed a bit taken back by that question. He didn’t look shocked in the way he was accused of something bad but more like he was surprised someone knew something about him he hadn’t said yet. There was a moment of thought going on behind his eyes before he spoke.

The boy nodded. “He’s done a lot. He buys me breakfast and even dinner sometimes. He’s also helped a lot with school.”

“Are you having a hard time with school?” Hizashi asked innocently, aware that there’s something wrong with Aldera.

“Mmm.” he agreed. “I had a hard time at the start. All of the teachers didn’t like me or how smart he made me.”

“Is your friend a teacher?” Hizashi wondered.

“No. He’s my age.” Shinsou clarified.

Hizashi took a drink of some delicious tasting lemon soda. “So why did the teachers not like you?”

The kid seemed to go quiet at that and Hizashi knew why. He checked his file and found out that his quirk was one a lot of people would call ‘villainous’, the name certainly didn’t help. He wanted to hear it from the kid though.

“Y-yeah. It’s because of my quirk.” he admitted. “It’s called Brainwashing and I can take control of people’s minds if they answer my q-question.”

The poor thing wasn’t looking up at him, probably scared of Hizashi being weirded out or frightened or even angry. He wasn’t though. “Sounds to me they aren’t good teachers.”

Quirk discrimination is something that Hizashi is all too knowledgeable of, both his own experiences and his husband’s. When he was born, his parents gave him up for adoption, not wanting to deal with a kid who could shake the foundations of the house every time he got hungry or had a tantrum.

Thankfully he never had to experience the difficult hell that was the fostering system as he was adopted fast by a nice couple, one of which, his mom, had a quirk that made a room soundproof. It was certainly lucky but that didn’t stop as he got older and kids kept away from him because he was too noisy.

Eventually he became mute for a while, just so he could hang out with other people even though they didn’t like that he was too quiet. Same for teachers too. It wasn’t until UA and he met Shouta for the first time that he could finally come out of his shell and not be afraid of speaking anymore.

Shouta on the other hand was a different story. His quirk is a lot more special with how it can cancel out other quirks so he’s always been feared on the playground. When you have a society that looks down on others for having weak quirks, someone who leveled the playing field was treated like a rule breaker from the get go.

It didn't help that Shouta never hesitated to punch another kid when seeing someone get treated wrongly over their own quirk. According to Nemuri, who knew him vaguely in middle school, he always got into fights and almost couldn’t go to UA in the first place because of his record. Thankfully, the UA Sports Festival made it possible for him to be a hero.

Of course with the help of a certain teacher, now principal.

Though he can’t say he relates to Shinsou’s own life exactly, he can certainly say that theirs rhymes.

“Why would they not like you over that?” Hizashi asked casually, pretending not to know.

The kid looked up at him and almost sputtered but kept calm. “B-because it’s a villain’s quirk. I could brainwash you!”

“Kid, you asked me questions about my cats. Did you use your quirk on me once?” he asked.

“No…” he answered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Then I guess it’s not a villain’s quirk.” he said with a shrug.

Shinsou just looked at him or maybe up. The way he saw him right now made him almost think that this kid has never had someone say this to him in his entire life and it was making Hizashi want more and more to just take this kid home with him right now.

He opened his mouth to speak but before he could, Hizashi intervened. “Does your friend not like your quirk?”

“N-no!” he countered, maybe a bit too loudly. He shrunk a little when he noticed some people were looking at him. “He said it can be amazing for hero work.”

Hizashi gave a gentle smile at that last sentence. “Do you want to be a hero when you grow up?”

Shinsou nodded slowly, as if it was something he wasn’t allowed to admit. “He said it can help a lot of people.”

“It certainly can! Do you have anyone to help train for the entrance exam? I know it’s early but it’s never too early to prepare!” the blond said with a smile.

“My friend said he was going to help me, even though he’s already done so much.” he said a bit glumly.

“You feel bad about that, don’t you?” Hizashi guessed.

Shinsou nodded once more, but this time it was something that was more shameful than scared. “He’s given me so much and I haven’t really given him much back. I can’t help but feel like…”

‘A burden.’ Hizashi thought.

The boy never finished that line but Hizashi got it. It can be hard to have a friend who does so much for you and you can’t do anything back. It makes you feel useless. Whilst Hizashi can’t relate he can say he sort of got the feeling. All the way up to middle school, he got sad whenever his mom had to use her quirk in his room. He knew it made her more tired and he couldn’t help feeling responsible for that.

Every time her birthday or mother’s day would come around, he’d try his best to go above and beyond for her. Now that he thinks about it, maybe that’s why he approached Shinsou in the first place. He saw the boy staring hopefully but worried through the glass window of the shop and saw the times he did that.

If he could tell himself then what he knew now, he’d say…

“Shinsou, you can never be a burden. A kid like you shouldn’t be.” he stated.

“But he’s a kid too and he has so much going on as well!” he bursted, clearly having held it in for a while.

“Like what?” Hizashi wondered, still keeping things from feeling interrogative.

“He lives alone, he doesn’t go to school and I don’t think he even leaves his house.” the kid listed.

Hizashi cringed a little. It seemed more and more likely this friend was Izuku, but that wasn’t his focus right now. His attention was on making Shinsou feel better because a hero always prioritises helping who they can immediately.

“I think you do a lot more for him than you think.” Hizashi stated and before the kid could counter or ask he continued. “It sounds to me he’s lonely and probably needs a friend, someone he can talk to and who will listen. Seeing how much you’ve told me about him, it sounds like you listen a lot.”

Shinsou just looked at him, mouth open slightly as if he wants to speak but Hizashi doesn’t let him. 

“If you want to pay your friend back, give him something only you can. Your friendship. ‘Cause it sounds to me, he values it a lot.”

The boy’s eyes teared a little and Hizashi was quick to grab a napkin and offer it to the kid. He took it and wiped his eyes before giving the most teariest smile he’s ever seen. “Okay.” 

It was so low and quiet but it sounded like the boy needed to say it. Hizashi just smiled back, waiting for him to finish before they started talking again.

“What’s the name of your friend? Out of curiosity?” Hizashi questioned.

The boy sniffled. “Izuku.”

Hizashi smiled. “Well Izuku is lucky to have you as a friend.”

- - -

The two wrapped up their shopping trip and parted at the entrance to the mall. He offered a ride but the kid said he could make it back on his own. Hizashi understood, it was light out enough that he didn’t want to argue anyway and risk his… the kid, running away.

‘Not yet Hizashi. Not yet.’ 

On the drive home, he just kept thinking about Shinsou, at least for a little while longer until his mind tackled the confirmation of Izuku being his friend. He really wanted to just take that kid and give him a home where he doesn’t have to worry about being treated differently or like he’s a villain or anything of that nature.

He knows Shouta would like him, heck he even has that same cheshire smile the two have. It’s practically a match made in heaven. On top of that the kid wanting to be a hero was something both adults could get behind. Shouta and him recently got an offer from Nedzu to teach at their old highschool, UA, and were expected to start teaching next year, so helping this kid learn would also help themselves.

Hizashi let out a sigh. 

Now there was Midoriya. A kid probably in a similar situation to Shinsou. He didn’t know him well enough but given his mom was gone and his dad is a known murderer and criminal, he’ll probably be put into the same system as Shinsou, or maybe even something like juvenile detention seeing as he committed vigilantism at the very least. He wasn’t sure how things would go down should they ever catch him but, here’s hoping.

Once home, Hizashi told all of this to Shouta, who was waiting on him getting back as he too was hoping that Shinsou and Midoriya had a connection. When he gave the good news, Shouta let out a sigh of relief, then when Hizashi said about his determination to become fosters for Shinsou, his response was lukewarm.

After he told him about what he’s facing, the man seemed to agree somewhat that they should look into his foster parents and see if there’s a problem with them, which is good enough for him for now. He’ll wear down his husband with pictures of the kid and he’s sure just one chat would be enough to convince him that Shinsou is a good kid.

“So Midoriya and him are friends, and close enough to share their birthdays.” Shouta summarised.

“Yeah but it doesn’t seem like they talk in person, from what he was saying.” Hizashi stated.

The black haired man slumped down on the sofa where Dot immediately hopped on to cuddle with his scruffy face. “Must be using his quirk, just like when you last saw him.” 

“Maybe we can shadow Shinsou and whatever he is meeting with and follow that back to Midoriya.” the blond suggested.

“That sounds good. But it’s summer now. The kid won’t have a normal schedule until nearly September.” the man commented.

The blond sat next to his spouse, who was still slumped down and turned his body to face him as they spoke. “Should we wait then? ‘Cause I don’t want to.”

“Wasn’t planning on it. You have his number right? Maybe you can arrange a meet up. Offer to help him and his friend train to be heroes.” Shouta offered.

“That doesn’t sound bad. What if Izuku refuses to meet with me?” Hizashi worried.

“If it comes to that, we can always attach a tracker to the kid’s phone and see where he frequents.” Shouta responded and after seeing his husband’s face furrow at that he added, “It’s logical.”

Hizashi was a bit conflicted on that. He didn’t want to put a tracker on a kids phone but given how high a priority it is to find Izuku and get him safe and off the streets, it was something he’s going to have to compromise on.

“Alright. I’ll ask him and see if he accepts.” he hoped as he leaned into his husband, scratching Dot’s ears. He didn’t know where Pepper was but that was something expected from that cat. 

“What’s wrong?” he asked, not in his usual deadpan but in a softer tone, knowing something was eating at Hizashi.

“Shinsou said he thinks Midoriya never leaves his house.” Hizashi uttered. “I can’t help but think I might be the reason behind that.”

Last time Hizashi saw Izuku, he thought he was with someone else. He didn’t realise he was alone until after so he can’t help but feel that when he ran it was entirely his decision and almost entirely Hizashi’s fault. Especially when he saw how spooked that kid was, like he was going to hurt him.

The fact no one has heard of him till now, probably because he has not left whatever hiding spot he’s curled away in, Hizashi can’t help but continue to blame himself. He wants to make it up to the kid but he doesn’t want to try himself in case he just makes things worse again.

Shouta knew all about this, Hizashi confessed it, and the two have been thinking about how he could’ve done things differently. Maybe his husband was right and it would be nice to have kids if only to make sure they were safe and not in danger. He certainly knew Midoriya’s power was dangerous, his ribs still creak a little from a couple nights ago.

Shouta wrapped an arm around Hizashi and pulled the man close. He wasn’t sure about having kids mostly because he didn’t think he’d make a good dad but also because he just didn’t like them in general. He says this as he’s set to teach a class next year but maybe Hizashi was right about this being a way he can learn to be more friendly with children.

The two men cuddle with their black and white cat. The little feline lapping up the heat as they both think about what could happen should they ever find Izuku and foster Shinsou.

Chapter Text

Izuku was in the warehouse, sorting through some junk with Ana as he thought about how he’d make the new doll. He was planning to meet Shinsou at some point and he’d rather have something to protect him than Ana. He knew they needed to be more flexible than the long armed monster but still as stealthy so it could hide away.

He also wanted it to be able to take a few hits. He was planning to have Hitoshi use it as a practice dummy to train on and having it be capable of surviving punches was important.

Eraserhead’s kicks were deadly. The one in the chest nearly shattered the driftwood whilst the one to the head almost snapped it off and the camera inside. He needed harder material than wood and it needed to be easy to get.

Izuku tried a few different materials to see how they react to his quirk and there were certainly some important things to realise. Firstly, anything organic, besides wood and fibres, didn’t accept his quirk well. While it did animate it, it was nowhere near as good as moving other materials. 

He did want to try it on a living thing but, well, you know it's kind of hard to do that in his state. Speaking of, he had been getting weaker. He’s been having a hard time moving and needing Ana more and more to carry him. He didn’t mind it, it's not as if he’s going anywhere but it is messing with his mind.

He looked it up and apparently it’s a byproduct of not eating enough but honestly, Izuku’s fine. It’s not as if he needs to move much, all he needs is his hands and to move and everything is alright. Ana can handle everything else.

Despite that though he was still getting more and more terrified at what was happening to him.

Away from that and back to the important task at hand, he decided that he would have a mix of metal and plastic be whatever his combat doll was. He needed a weapon for it, probably sharp to scare anyone away, and needed to be able to mask itself like Ana.

It was certainly a lot but he was going to try. He has plenty of cash saved up and if this comes out right, maybe he could have it take over deliveries for Ana or maybe even participate in some fighting rings. He read about those online when he first started looking into different ways of getting cash but went with the delivery work as it was safer at the time.

After some research he decided on something close to a mechanical endoskeleton typically used for robots. It would be expensive but that’s only with the wires and stuff included and for Izuku, he needed none of that to get it moving. 

It would still be expensive though so he looked for the best one as it needed to be strong enough to resist blows but also flexible enough to dodge and hide. He eventually discovered one that was skeletal and had a nice sheen to it that made it look nice.

Next he needed to plate it with something. He had a lot of scrap metal so he could weld it on with the help of Ana but that too was going to take from his coffers. So maybe that’ll be hard but what he did have was hammers and a tireless doll, so with a lot of persistence he hammered the metal into a shape that could be drilled on with a hand drill which is much cheaper. Maybe down the line he could weld it on for better durability but that was for later. 

The ‘claws’ of Behemoth, the knives, were salvaged and broken apart to make them shorter and less clunky. He put them on the hands and even the feet for more grip when climbing and fighting. As for a proper weapon, Izuku was split between something blunt or sharp and in the end he found a simple pole would be good enough.

It wasn’t likely to be used much, the fists of this thing being good enough to crack concrete after an attempt but it’s always good to have a backup.

Finally for the head, he made sure the metal was shaped properly to make it a proper dome and had enough room inside to hold a camera and the speaker. He wasn’t sure what he was going to use that soundbox for but he wasn’t planning on giving it to Ana anytime soon so it would go with the new doll for now.

Once all was said and done, he painted the whole thing using Hitoshi’s gifted paints. He wanted to make the metal doll look more intimidating so whoever threatened Izuku might possibly run instead of fight. He used red on the metal teeth and eye holes so they’d appear almost visceral and used black to make tears that almost made the thing look like it was bleeding oil all over it.

All in all, the thing looked like a deformed tin toy, with sharp hands, rustic twisted flesh and a skull like head. 

Unlike the Behemoth and Ana though, it took days to fill it with enough fluid for it to move comfortably. The weight was a lot but with the amount of duct tape he has keeping the fluid in, it should be able to do a lot better than the monster.

Speaking of fighting better, Izuku had gone over the Eraserhead fight multiple times in his head. How he moved, how he struck, how he pivoted his feet. It was honestly fascinating to get a direct perspective on a fight with a hero, despite how terrified he was. Of course this fighting doll wasn’t going to be able to move like him so Izuku looked into other heroes to draw inspiration from. 

All Might was his first thought seeing as how they had the same body structure but he knew immediately that the doll wouldn’t be able to move as fast as him. It had heavy slow punches and would likely use a lot of grabbing and throwing. It wasn’t ferocious and needed to be ruthlessly efficient with its attacks.

‘Gang Orca’ Izuku realised.

The hero was a brawler and used a lot of punches and swings to fight and though he used his quirked sonic blasts, the combat doll could get a close second by screeching. Izuku spent time between filling up the doll, researching the pro hero and every fight he’s been in, tracing the attacks with Ana and using some dolls to practice some of his moves.

Once he was done, he raised the doll and it moved rigidly but it almost looked more human that way. Ana’s arms moved fast and still but the combat dolls arms were moving, like it breathed, the sounds of metal creaking sounding like growls.

“Now, let’s test you out.” the boy whispered.

- - -

In a distant alley, a man stood in front of a door. He was tall, almost six four and was broad. The typical bouncer in every sense of the word. He didn’t even seem phased at all when he watched the lumbering, over seven foot creature, move towards him accompanied by a smaller figure, more human sized. They donned huge black cloaks that covered every inch that seemed to have been once the bedsheet of a queen sized mattress.

They stopped in front of the man and the two held their ground, until the bouncer spoke. “What are you doing here?”

There was a silence for a moment, before the cladded giant spoke in a rough mechanical voice. “I am here to fight.”

“Is this your first time?” the bouncer asked. The giant nodded slowly and intently.

The man looked the cloaked thing up and down. “Do you know the rules here?” Another nod from the giant.

“Then let me tell you, so there’s no excuse if I have to kick you out. No violence that isn’t allowed by the Theatre. No asking questions if no one wants to answer them. No saying anything about this place, the people you see inside or the things that happen. Violate any of that and you’ll never see the inside of the Theatre again, got me?” he explained.

“Yes.” the giant answered.

“Great. Welcome to the Darkest Theatre.” and the door opened to a corridor which stretched downwards with no stairs, instead being a slope.

The giant bent down to fit through the door and walked in, head just barely avoiding the roof. The other figure stepped in after, with the door shutting behind once they were confidently inside. The hallway had wooden panelling for its walls and the floor was an unclean checkered marble that reminded Izuku of those fancy old theatres.

Soon enough, that is the sight he comes across, or at least a part of it as the theatre was dishevelled and crumbling but despite its state it certainly wasn’t abandoned. There were all kinds of people around the place. Some wearing hoods, others not really caring who sees them, confident that no one would risk angering the most neutral of neutral territories. 

The Darkest Theatre is an underworld hotspot, where info brokers were reached from, arms sellers found buyers and thieves pawned off stolen goods. Underground heroes only knew of this place of course, and kept it that way due to how valuable it is as a source of information. It also had a fighting ring which is exactly where Izuku was heading towards.

He knew his options for fights were going to be limited. He couldn’t exactly have the doll remove the metal if armor wasn’t allowed but he made sure to check if there were some fights where it didn’t matter what you had. Indeed there was, and it was mainly meant for those with physical quirks or mutagenic ones, making it perfect for testing the doll.

Of course he didn’t send the combat doll alone. Ana was with it and though it was risky sending her here, he needed someone to collect the combat doll should they fail their test. It was hard controlling two dolls at once, like counting to ten whilst clicking your fingers off beat. It was a lesson in multitasking.

As the duo made their way deeper in, some eyes were following them, especially the giant. Whether to eye them up or simply acknowledge that they were here, Izuku didn’t have the people skills to tell. They found a desk where a plain looking man in a suit sat at, seemingly unperturbed by who was approaching him.

“You’re new.” he said. He was reading a newspaper and hadn’t even looked up yet.

The machine voice came through. “I am looking to make money.”

“Jobs?”

“Fighting.”

The man finally looked up from his reading and looked the giant and Ana up and down. “Quirked fights are in an hour. What’s your names?”

- - -

Both Ana and the giant sat down near a wall table and kept glancing around the room. Obviously neither needed to communicate so there wasn’t any conversation to be had, at least to the other patrons of the Theatre. There were many people coming in, Izuku even recognised some of the underground heroes from the police files. Especially one that almost made him jump out of his chair when he saw him.

“Eraserhead.” the boy muttered behind the screen.

It seemed he was after information if the conversation between him and the plain man was any inclination. Maybe it was for him or maybe it was for a different case he had, either way there wasn’t any fear of exposure unless he watched the fight.

Suddenly a different man approached their table and dragged a chair to sit up with them. He looked sleazy with short silver hair, stubble and a missing front tooth. He had a smile which made Izuku shift even though he wasn’t even there.

“Hello there! Couldn’t help noticing you’re new. Just arrived in the neighbourhood or?” he trailed off, waiting for them to respond.

“Arrived.” the giant answered, feeding false information.

“I see. Wait, where are my manners? I am Giran.” he said with a short bow from where he was sitting. “And you both are?”

“She is Zoe.” the giant pointed to Ana. “I’m Brutus.”

“Well, definitely foreign with those names.” Giran noted. “Mind telling me what brings you here?”

The whole conversation, Ana made sure not to lose sight of Eraserhead, the fun perk of having two sets of eyes.  

The giant stated. “I am here to fight.”

“I see. Quirked or quirkless?”

“Quirked.”

“I guess that makes sense. Can’t see under that… cloak you’ve got but I can tell you’re not normal looking.” he mused.

The three sat there, quiet for a moment until the man smiled. “I have to say as well, that’s an interesting voice. Trying to hide something?”

“Neither of us can speak without a speaker.” Brutus clarified truthfully.

“Oh so you’re both mute. Well if-”

“Why are you still talking to us?” the giant said aggressively, the robotic voice sounding more threatening somehow.

Giran’s smile fell a little before creasing back up. “I like to check out any new arrivals and let them know if they need anything, support items, information, anything like that then to come through me.”

“Support items?” the cloaked doll uttered.

“Yes, one of the few blackmarket makers in Tokyo,” he explained. “And I’ve got them on speed dial so if you need anything, be sure to reach out.”

At that point the time was drawing near for the fight. “We have to get ready.”

“Oh sure, sure. I’ll leave you be. I’d love to see how you fight.” Giran said with that still sleazy smile.

The man stood up and left the two there. Meanwhile Erasaerhead had sat down at one of the Theatre’s bar room tables and was waiting. That put Izuku on edge. If, no, when Brutus gets injured and he notices the ‘blood’, he’ll know it’s him. He knows the two dolls are safe here by the rules of the establishment but he’d rather not reveal himself at all if he can help it.

They could be followed out of the building and back home where Izuku could do nothing to stop him. It was a fear he needed to take into account now that he’s hurt a hero, especially this one. He still didn’t know how his quirk would react to him and he didn’t want to find out on the field.

Soon it really was time to fight and both dolls stood up to head down to the ring to prepare better for it. It was a cage naturally, but despite how that might obscure things, the holes in it were quite open, giving plenty of room to peer in and see the action. 

There were a few fighters set up there already, a lot of them looking to be quite experienced if their scars are anything to go by. Izuku was starting to feel pretty nervous. What if the doll collapses on the first strike? What if something leaks out of a crack? Actually he had an answer to that. Ana had a little doll repairing tool kit he put together for her to use if Brutus ever got injured.

Still, even with all that preparation he was still second guessing coming here. It hadn’t even been an hour and someone possibly quite influential was already checking him out and every second of that felt like he was exposing himself. Hopefully once he’s started to fight proper he might get some confidence in his work back.

When Brutus’ name was called out as the first fight, Izuku almost jumped right there in his chair. He was hoping to watch a few first before he went in but it seemed he was going in the deep end.

As the doll clambered up and entered the cage, on the other end was a thin, lithe but undeniably muscular man. His skin was grey and stony and he had a cocky grin on his face which worked in making Izuku feel afraid for his doll.

“Big fellas like you always tend to be full of air the second you get punched.” he mocked as the two waited for the bell to ring.

Brutus made no reply back, just waiting to act under Izuku’s orders which seemed to stir the other man a little. “Nothing to say? Guess I’ll beat some noise out of you.”

The bell rang and the man darted forward fast and swung a fist into the stomach of the giant before Izuku could react. The metal clanged and the man shrunk back, nursing his knuckles.

“What the hell? Are you wearing body armor under there?” says the man with a stone hardening quirk.

He dove in again to land more hits, this time to the face but now Izuku was ready. In a swipe the doll grabbed the man’s arm with one hand whilst the other immediately went for his throat, grasping them, his metal nails digging into flesh.

The man croaked and struggled in the grasp, punching at the giant’s face to no effect, even cutting his knuckles on some of the jagged skin. He even tried to kick the groin but of course that did nothing either. The doll was unfeeling and emotionless, holding the man up easily.

“What the hell are you made of?!” he shouted, his thrashing getting more severe.

The doll then let go of his arm, held the man up by the neck and threw him into the wall of the cage, earning a groan as the metal bent a little. The crowd cheered a little at that and Izuku was starting to feel a rush of adrenaline now that he could see that Brutus was more durable than expected.

The man began to pull himself up but was grabbed like a kitten by the back of his neck and lifted up on his feet only to be punched in the stomach by Brutus. The man’s eyes widened and Izuku was sure he heard countless cracking of bones and stone as his face paled and he keeled over, coughing red on the floor.

A small smile curled on Izuku’s lips whilst watching this, a small bit of glee at clearly winning and grabbed the man again, except this time hoisting him up and preparing to throw him. The audience cheered at that and gazed in wonder as Izuku launched the man onto the other side of the ring effortlessly.

The man was struggling to get up from the ground so Izuku helped him by hoisting him up again by the neck and holding him there, his feet dangling. The man’s eyes were desperate and full of fear, his nose bloody from the last throw and a large red bruise now forming where the giant punched him.

“P-please,” he choked.

As Izuku stared into his eyes through the screen a part of him had this crawling excitement at seeing someone else be afraid and scared. He always had that level of sadism with Behemoth in him but right now a part of that was egging him on to push it further, to break this man. The claw around his neck tightens ever so slightly and the man’s face blanches further, almost to the point of tears.

There was a moment where everyone watching held their breath just like the man lost his. His desperate face turned from white, to blue and then purple. Everyone was expecting something. A crack or a punch or maybe even another throw because for a moment the audience was convinced that the man was going to die.

But something in Izuku let the man go.

With just enough willpower to hold himself back from doing something actually evil, he drops the man to the ground but not before letting out a screech in his face to make sure he wouldn’t dare get back up. The crowd was silent at that but then thundered into cheers and shouts whilst the man sputtered and gasped on the floor, helpless and trembling.

The fight was declared over and the giant walked off, the other man helped by some people. Now that Izuku could focus less on one doll, Ana looked around and noticed that Eraserhead was indeed watching the fight. Whether or not he saw anything was something he couldn’t tell yet.

The two were paid for the fight and it was a sizable amount. Much more than a week at working deliveries. Ana looked over Brutus for any leaks and there didn’t look to be any, the metal held up really well and it seemed that there wasn’t much loss of fluids during the fight.

Honestly, it seemed Brutus could fight more and Izuku wanted to but that moment when the man’s face went purple was sticking in his mind longer than expected. He didn’t understand why but that image made him no longer want to fight. He didn’t want to see something like that, not until he calmed down a little.

The two were about to head back up to the main foyer when they were stopped by Giran.

“A great fight there! Not that I had any doubts.” he said like he knew for sure Brutus would win. “Let me guess. A pain nulling quirk? A durability one? Oh, maybe even a voice quirk?” 

The dolls didn’t respond, merely staring at the man.

“Alright, alright. Keep your secrets. I’ll figure it out sooner or later.” he chuckled as he left, knowing where there was no conversation.

The two made their way to the exit. Sure they could fight more but Izuku didn’t want to stick around with Eraserhead here… which he lost track of.

“Hey.” a low voice said behind the two.

Both dolls swung around to see the man he was fearing standing before them. Face half covered by his scarf and two black eyes trained on both of them.

“What.” Brutus said in an almost demand due to the tone of the mechanical voice.

The man’s eyes narrowed at the giant. “That scream you did. It sounded familiar.”

‘Oh’ Izuku thought as he realised that the screech he used on the man was the same one he used on Eraserhead when he attacked Behemoth.

“So?” the giant responded crassly, trying to sound more intimidating.

“Do you know anyone by the name of Midoriya Izuku?” he questioned and every part of the boy shrunk a little when he heard his name said.

“Never heard of someone like that.” the giant responded fast, maybe faster than he should’ve.

The man kept his eyes trained on the giant and Izuku was almost sure he was going to attack out of instinct until the man just sighed and shrugged. 

“Sorry. Must’ve misheard it. Thanks anyway.” he said with a sigh before he walked off.

The boy too sighed as the man really did leave, the two dolls not spending a moment more there before commanding them to leave. Once out they double checked every corner to make sure they weren’t followed all the way until they went home. The whole time, Izuku’s heart nearly beating out of his chest.

Chapter Text

Shouta didn’t like going to the Theatre often. Even though it was quiet most of the time it was noisy in other aspects. From the eyes that watch you, both from the patrons and the staff. The suffocating sense that everyone around you has probably done awful things and there’s nothing you can do about it. The feeling that one wrong move and the whole building goes red and you’ll have to run for your life.

But he needed to go there for a lot of things. Police networks weren’t always capable of getting the information needed and pro heroes know this. It’s why a place like the Darkest Theatre remains untouched even though it’s a hotbed of criminal activity. It knew it too. A symbiotic relationship in a short way it is.

Tonight he was there to look for anything on Midoriya. He knows it’s unlikely, which is why he chased after the Behemoth name instead, hoping anyone would bite and know. Even a sighting could be useful in finding out where the kid was. Unfortunately there’s nothing, either meaning no one was telling or the kid was just that good at keeping in the dark. Seeing as how it’s been a year since anyone’s gotten hide or hair of him, he’d say the latter is true.

It doesn’t help that the kid's quirk basically made it so he never had to leave his comfort zone. It allowed him to send out whatever he wished and never have to risk himself getting caught except maybe if someone followed his monsters back home. 

He really needs to find this kid. He can’t imagine what’s going on with him and if what Shinsou, the kid whose Midoriya’s friend, was right, his life was on the verge of becoming a complete shut-in; if not already. 

Whilst he was at the Theatre though, someone caught his eye. A duo who seemed to be new if that info broker chatting to them was any proof. One was normal size and the other was tall, both wearing cloaks. He couldn’t see their faces but he got the feeling the entire time that they were watching him, and not in the ‘checking out’ way but like they were cautious of him.

People didn’t know Eraserhead much. He was still only a few years on the job and an underground hero to boot so he hadn’t built up anything much in these circles so it was all the more off-putting when he got the feeling they were staring at him. Then they went down into the cage and that was when things got stranger.

The big guy, Brutus as the announcer said, dominated his fight. There’s no denying that. He didn’t flinch no matter what the other guy did and was practically playing with his food with how much he tossed him around. Shouta almost thought he was going to execute, not kill, execute the man there but they dropped him, screaming in his face.

The smaller one though was more interesting. The entire time he expected them to be as excited as the crowd but they just stood there like a statue. Staring at the cage. Shouta almost thought they were dead but once the giant left the ring they sprung back to life. 

And then there was the scream. It sounded exactly like the one Behemoth made. It wasn’t too long ago since he heard it so it was still fresh in his mind and it was identical to when it screamed at him. That’s when he knew he needed to check out who they were, just in the off chance that they were more of Midoriya’s puppets.

He didn’t know the extent of the kid’s quirk, no one did except him so there probably is a chance he was controlling both of them. The only way to find out though was to check.

After they ‘chatted’ with the broker again, he stopped them and talked. Asked them if they knew Midoriya and the way they responded was clearly by some kind of AI text-to-speech voice. Just like the one Midoriya probably used when speaking through the monster and his earpiece.

What caught his eye more though was the small stray drop of a clear liquid that fell from the big guy. It could’ve been sweat, but then again he didn’t seem to break any during that fight so…

It had to be Midoriya, maybe, but the odds were there. He doesn’t know why they just showed up to the Theatre now but he didn’t want to think too much about that now. He could have thrown the hood off, seeing if they were just a mindless puppet but he also could be wrong and gotten beaten up and kicked out.

Either way, he needed to play it safe. If it was the kid, he needed to learn more and knowing where they’re going to be was useful.

He made sure to get their names from Giran. At a small price of course but he needed the names for next time. Zoe and Brutus. Foreign sounding and out of towners too according to what they said but for a kid, Midoriya seemed smart. Had to be if he’s survived on his own for this long.

He couldn’t tail them tonight. Too difficult, so he’ll do it once they’ve settled. Because by god he wasn’t going to sit back and watch a kid blindly walk down the path to villainy.

- - -

Hitoshi’s home life was still much the same, even though school has been much better since the ‘Fright Night’. The substitute teachers don’t seem to care about quirks and just get their jobs done. Maybe there’s a bit less enthusiasm but honestly it wasn’t as if that passion was meant for him.

Not only that but they gave him compliments on his test! He’s never had that done before except by Izuku. The other kids were still annoying though. They still shoved him in the corridors and even kicked him in the back of the leg once. He didn’t want to risk disturbing this new found peace though so he hasn’t reported it. Maybe if they actually punch him he would.

Izuku, though, has been helping him with that. During the weekend he started working on doing runs with Ana. Even though the doll didn’t need exercise it helped encourage him to go further beyond his limits. 

His friend has already set up a full training regimen for him though it'll be difficult seeing as he can’t really control his diet. He’s also planning to show Hitoshi that new doll he made, the scary one, to train with. He still wasn’t sure how scary Izuku’s ‘scary’ was but he knew that when he becomes a hero, he’ll have to face monstrous villains every day.

Besides that he’s also gotten something else from his newer friend(?) Yamada. He wasn’t afraid of Hitoshi’s quirk and even offered to train him and Izuku! Even though his friend can’t really show up in person. He’s still working on that.

YamadaHizashi: Hey there lil’ listener! I wanted

to let you know I’m free on the Sunday at two!

ShinsouHitoshi: Okay, I haven’t told my friend

yet so I'll ask him soon.

YamadaHizashi: *thumbs up*

…

TrollDoll: Hey Izuku, are you free on Sunday at 

2?

CursedDoll: Sorry! I’m busy that day. Have 

need to test out the doll one more time.

TrollDoll: lol what are you testing it on?

CursedDoll: Swinging, running, jumping, blocking.

TrollDoll: Ok

…

ShinsouHitoshi: Can’t make it. He’s busy with 

something

YamadaHizashi: Alright then! Where do you want

to meet up?

ShinsouHitoshi: There’s a park me and my friend

frequent. Zanawa Park.

YamadaHizashi: Got it! See you then!

…

With those arrangements done, truly everything was going well for Hitoshi. So good he can’t remember when he felt this safe. Yeah his foster parents were still neglectful, they even stopped getting him dinner but he hasn’t told Izuku that, it was better than them being abusive in the physical sense.

The rest of the weekdays with Izuku went well with the two heading all over the place doing a bunch of stuff Hitoshi never thought he could ever do. He’s gone to the cinema, more cat cafes and today he was going to the arcade!

Of course Izuku paid for all of it but after that chat with Yamada, he realises that he doesn’t have to feel guilty. Okay, he still does but he knows there’s a lot he’s doing for his friend, especially as he gets to know him more and more.

Case in point, he knew that Izuku didn’t eat much even though he had no reason not to. Hitoshi doesn’t know why but he doesn’t want to question him in case it was a touchy subject, even if it felt like it wasn’t. He didn’t want to make his friend uncomfortable, especially when they’re currently on the train going to the more techy side of Tokyo.

On the way, they even spotted a distant hero fight. It was a giant villain who got taken down by a guy who could sprout trees from his body.

“Do you ever want to be a hero Izuku?” Hitoshi said to the doll as he watched the fight finish up. The train wasn’t crowded today so they didn’t feel insecure about talking/signing aloud.

The doll seemed to contemplate that answer before signing. “Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve always liked heroes and yeah I’ve always wanted to be one but I’m not sure I…”

“You what?”

The doll shook her head. “Nevermind. Our stop is here.”

Izuku always changes the topic every time he gets asked questions like that. Not being a hero but the future in general. He wasn’t sure except maybe his friend doesn’t know what he’s doing. He can only hope that he does want to become a hero, after all it means they could go to UA together when they’re older!

Indeed though it was their stop and the two got out to head to where they were planning to go. They could’ve gone to any old arcade but the one Izuku was taking Hitoshi to was super popular. Apparently the owner has a quirk that makes projections and makes the games pop out of the screen like they were real.

It was hard getting there though. Both him and Izuku hated mingling with people. Hitoshi was a natural introvert whilst his friend didn’t want his doll to be exposed because that’ll cause complications for him. Thankfully they didn’t have to rub shoulders for long as they finally reached the building. 

It was massive and colourful and everything inside was just as Izuku said it would be. Though they did get some looks, well Ana got some looks, when the two were playing together but they probably chucked it up to a big sibling treating their younger brother at the arcade.

There were all kinds of games. Shooters, car driving and even a built in bumper car ride that the two rode in. Honestly it was the time of his life and it seemed it was the same for Izuku too. He ate some chocolate that was bought at a convenience store and had some melon soda that was just perfect.

They even won at a bunch of claw machines, Ana always going for the cat ones that both of them adore. His friend tried to give them all to Hitoshi but he insisted that any prizes he won, Izuku could take home with him. It was kind of adorable seeing them hold this yellow dog plush they got in her hoodie, head poking up from under the doll’s chin.

He was at the pinball machines, watching Izuku try and get a high score, when he realised he needed the bathroom badly and headed there, letting his friend know he wasn’t going to take too long.

After he was done he stepped out of the toilets and on his way back he bumped into the last people he wanted to see today. Pangaki, Tsubasa, Shiosho with the salt crystals on their shoulders and a kid he remembered seeing in the other class. Bakugou.

The blond haired boy was the one who he bumped into and the flare in his eyes made every ounce of joy Hitoshi had five seconds ago completely evaporate. 

“Watch where you’re going, freaky hair!” Bakugou yelled.

“Hey wait! It’s Shinsou! That guy we told you about!” Tsubasa pointed out.

Hitoshi felt compelled to run at that moment but Shiosho must’ve noticed that and had already grabbed him, painful crystals from their quirk digging into him. “You’re not running this time, villain.”

As he thought of ways maybe he could break out the blond kid got angry. “Why the hell should I care about him?”

“Because we told you, his quirk is bad. Not to mention he hangs out with that weird monster.” Pangaki explained.

Hitoshi knew that the other kids saw  Ana. When school was on she walked him up every morning with the same outfit she wore from when she first scared them away. It helped stop the bullies from following him to the park as they didn’t want to go anywhere near that ‘freak face’.

“Monster?” Bakugou said and the kid nodded back in response. “I don’t care.”

The blond brat really didn’t seem to care much about him and just walked off, leaving his friends behind with Hitoshi. The boy hoped that would get them to go away but it didn’t as the trio still smiled a sickly grin and began to drag the boy further into the arcade despite his protests.

He couldn’t make noise due to the building’s ambience and because he was taken all the way to a room of the place where not a lot of people go, with a bunch of broken machines lying around. He was thrown to the tile floor as the other kids stood above him, leering down. 

“What the hell does a villain loser like you think you’re doing here? You don’t deserve to be in a place this good.” Pangaki spat. 

“Yeah! Someone like you shouldn’t get the good places when all you’ll be is a villain with a creepy quirk.” Tsubasa added, wings flapping.

Hitoshi felt afraid. Very afraid as all the kids, except for Bakugou, just insulted him and inched closer. He just wanted it to stop somehow, he hoped at least they wouldn’t start hurting him. But of course, if he was hurt already….

Shiosho with a smile said, “A freak like you should know your place.” 

They raised their hand up, small salt spikes growing in their palm as they grasped Hitoshi’s arm and the pain was instant. The stinging pains and the salt digging into wounds as he let out a pained shout. The flesh almost sizzled slightly as the brat pressed harder before they let go, Hitoshi immediately nursed his arm as he slinked back and layed under a broken arcade machine.

The viscous grins they gave made the boy feel even more like screaming and he almost did but he didn’t want to give them anything. He didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of making him truly scared.

So to push down his fear, he did what he always did when he was afraid. He deflected and pretended he was fine. That he was stronger than he looked. That he really was the bad guy who wasn’t phased by anything.

“Y-you know. Heroes don’t typically t-torture villains.” Hitoshi said shakily.

“Heh.” Pangaki chuckled. “What does a loser villain like you know about heroes?”

“N-not a lot but apparently more than you, y-you fucking bully!” Hitoshi sneered and it seemed to make the kid more angry at him as he gave a kick to Shinsou’s leg.

“Shiosho, pick him up.” Pangaki commanded and the tall kid grasped Hitoshi by the arm, then by the back of his neck as they pulled him up.

Hitoshi could swear he could taste the salt, as small crystals pierced his skin and stun like acid as he grasped the other boy's hand to try and pry it off with little success. Meanwhile, Tsubasa was giggling and Pangaki got close to look him in the eyes.

“I want you to listen here and listen once,” he snarled, “‘cause from now you’re going to get taught through pain just what you’ll always be. A loser villain. Someone who will just do bad and get beaten up by heroes because that’s all you’ll ever be with that quirk. No matter what.”

Tears started to brim in his eyes from the pain and the words that both stung more than anything. But he didn’t want to give in. 

“I won’t be a villain. I’ll become a hero and when I do, I’ll make sure to put guys like you in jail!” he growled, trying desperately to not break down.

Pangaki gave a little chuckle before he just punched Hitoshi in the stomach, winding the boy and causing his legs to go weak as he struggled to keep up, only aided by Shiosho’s grasp.

“You really think you could be a hero?” Pangaki laughed. “You’ll never be anything! Except a lonely,” a punch, “freaky,” punch, “villain,” punch, “for the rest of your life!”

Hitoshi felt like he was going to throw up. Every punch felt harsher than the last and he so badly just wanted to cry already. He wanted to, he really did. And maybe he would’ve a few months ago. He would’ve begged for someone to come over and save him because he didn’t have the courage to stand on his own fully but now…

Yamada thought he could be a hero. Izuku knew he could be a hero. And most of all…

“You’re wrong…” Hitoshi groaned. “Because… because…”

He took a breath.

“I will become a hero no matter what anyone tells me!”

And before anyone could react, he stretched his arm over ripped a salt crystal off of Shiosho’s shoulder, crushed it and then threw the salt into the kid’s eyes. He let out a yelp and dropped Shinsou who charged towards Pangaki and punched him hard in the face, sending the boy to the floor where he screeched.

He ran past a panicking Tsubasa and out to the rest of the arcade where he limped to where he last saw Ana. She wasn’t there so he kept running until he stumbled upon her at a whack-a-mole game and grabbed her leg immediately. He held on tightly as he heard the kids shout behind him.

Ana turned to look at him and saw his state and looked to the kids who were chasing. Pangaki had a bloody nose that he was nursing and Shiosho’s eyes were red from the stinging salt. Tsubasa was behind them, blundering as they caught up to the kid.

Ana pulled Hitoshi behind her as she crouched into a stance, Izuku on the other end probably seething as the kids immediately stopped upon seeing her, their faces blanching.

His friend didn’t need to know what was going on. He just saw his clearly hurt friend running from some kids so of course he was going to stop them from getting to him. The doll raised her arms and Izuku stared down the brats through the lens so hard he swore they felt it and they backed away immediately.

“T-this isn’t over mindfreak! I’ll tell my mom and everyone about what you did!” Pangaki shouted as he and his friends scurried away, leaving the doll and the boy alone.

Hitoshi relaxed immediately when they ran and the adrenaline was now starting to crash down and the pain along with it, his stomach aching and his limbs in pain from salt scratches and a kick respectively. He looked up at the doll, who was still staring out in case they came back but once Hitoshi’s grip slackened Ana immediately looked down at him with a snap.

She immediately scooped him up and carried him out of the arcade, taking him to a small pharmacy where she bought some stuff to help his bruises and cuts. 

They hadn’t said anything but that’s probably because of the urgent matter of making sure he’s safe before anything else. Thankfully Hitoshi had a lot to think about.

He fought back. He never fought back at least with violence and he even didn’t need to use his quirk! He did it all on his own, without Izuku, his quirk or anyone whatsoever. He stood up for himself and for once in a long time he was proud of himself. 

He picked up his phone and texted Izuku, too pained to speak without his stomach hurting. 

TrollDoll: they punched me in the stomach 

and burned my arm. But I punched them back! 

CursedDoll: why?

TrollDoll: they’re from my school. They were

the same guys who were bullying me the day

we properly met.

CursedDoll: did you punch that grey haired 

guy in the face?

TrollDoll: hell yeah

The doll looked at him and he could feel the smile behind the camera, no doubt just as proud of his friend as he was. He couldn’t help but give that cheshire smile of his back as his friend kept tending to his wounds. Apparently the spikes on Pangaki’s knuckles pierced his belly a bit and there was some blood seeping out hidden by his black shirt.

It hurt but with some painkillers it faded slightly and the doll made sure to bandage the cuts after sterilising them with alcohol swabs. His phone began to vibrate again.

CursedDoll: i can carry you home if you want.

TrollDoll: please

The doll knelt down, intending to give Hitoshi a piggyback ride as the two took off. Not wanting to hang around anymore seeing how bad Hitoshi was hurt. They headed to the train station and then back home. 

All the while Hitoshi was beaming. Yes he was beaten and battered, yes he was hurt. But he stood up for himself and what he wanted to be. No one was going to stop him from being a hero, he’d like to see the world try.

Chapter Text

Izuku was still thinking about what happened at the arcade on the way home. Not what happened to Hitoshi. Okay yes that was one of them but there was also something else that caught his eye.

- - -

‘Almost there…’ thought Izuku as Ana continued to play away on the pinball machine.

He almost had the highest score on the machine and his adrenaline was going up because of it. One wrong move and all that progress was going to be gone so he was fully locked in. He didn’t even want to check Hitoshi because literally every second looking away could mean losing.

The small metal balls that danced around the set banged off the bouncers as after a tense moment of silence except the flicking of flippers and the dazzling dings from the machine he managed to get over the score and won.

“Yes!” Izuku cheered. He let the game end on its own, now satisfied and entered the name for the score as simply ‘ANA’. 

‘I know you don’t like taking credit Ana but honestly it was all you.’ he giggled.

The doll turned to look for his friend, he expected him to be just as excited as he was but he just wasn’t there. At all. 

‘Oh, right, he needed the toilet.’ Izuku recalled.

He contemplated waiting for him a minute so he could show his high score and leaned against a wall, keeping out of the way of other people moving through the arcade. Ever since he was determined to reveal himself to Hitoshi he’s been getting more and more excited to be spending time with him in places like this. 

Okay maybe not here. It was loud and noisy, even through the screen and Izuku can’t imagine standing there for five seconds without having a freakout. Other places though, like the cat cafe would be fun. He’s never petted a cat so it’ll probably feel like the softest thing ever.

Not to mention he’d finally be able to see the boy he’s been the friend of for the first time with his own two eyes. A part of him was scared though because the boy could see him back. Izuku was a bit self conscious about how he looked. He knew he needed a haircut and that he was maybe a bit too pale than someone should be but Hitoshi hopefully won’t judge him on that too much.

Watching a bunch of kids run around Izuku also got thinking about a lot of other stuff. Like what school is like. He didn’t want to be in a classroom, nope. Not at all but he’s wondered, maybe with the wall that is Ana or another doll, what the atmosphere was like. The energy of learning or a bunch of kids his age having fun.

It was then he thought more about him. Kacchan, and how he might be doing around now. He’s probably forgotten about… him…

As if the world wanted to give him an answer, he saw the small blond spiky haired kid with red angry eyes pass by Ana. He was slightly taller, not by much but enough to know he would be taller than Izuku, but then again who isn’t?

Watching the boy walk past, Izuku couldn’t not stare. He almost called out, even though it wouldn’t be heard by anyone but himself. He knew there was a chance, one day, he might accidentally stumble into him but he never thought it would be today.

The doll wandered after him, careful not to look like they’re stalking (because they are) and followed the boy back to a small restaurant in the arcade where people can eat. The doll didn’t go into it but instead stood a distance away. Both because they didn’t want to be seated but also because of who else he saw there.

Chatting with a few other parents was Auntie Mitsuki. She looked alright and when Kacchan approached she seemed to keep her smile up when the boy sat down at the table with them. He wasn’t sure what they were talking about but the sight made Izuku tear up a little.

Some part of him wondered whether they would remember him should he ever come back. Hell, would they even recognise him? He knows how different he looks now and how much he’s changed. 

He never liked Kacchan that much, not fully, but there was a familiarity there that he can’t help but find comfort in, even at a distance. Like seeing an old photograph and getting all of the experiences captured in it, good and bad. 

He wondered what would’ve happened if he ran to Auntie that night. How much would his life change? Would she let Izuku do what he wants and not fear having to hide away? Or would it just end like mama. The Bakugou residence set ablaze and everyone left from his old life turned to ashes.

Probably the second one. Or at least he couldn’t risk the second one especially when he could just as easily be by himself, no matter how hard that was. No matter how difficult it was.

No matter how lonely he was.

Tears began to hit the keyboard as Izuku realised just how silent everything was in the warehouse. How it suddenly felt like a tomb he couldn’t break out of and that he was going to die there. He couldn’t help the climbing tightness in his throat and the screaming in his head that he’s stuck here and trapped and every day here was another he lost a part of himself from time wasted.

His breathing hastened, his eyes bled tears and every part of him shook as he felt awful. How everything felt awful. How tired he was, how numb he felt and how cold everything was.

He just… he just…

He just doesn’t want to be alone!

And once more the world answered with someone grabbing Ana’s leg. The senses translated through his quirk and the doll’s head snapped so fast he was sure something broke there in her neck.

It was his friend. His only friend. With fluffy purple hair he hopes to one day see with his own eyes, staring up at the doll with a frantic look just as freaked out as his. The sound of kids shouting made him turn up to see a bloody nose, red eyes and three confused children looking up at Ana. 

And that’s when the bleeding arm of Hitoshi, his limping leg and the stomach he was nursing all snapped Izuku out of his panic and immediately thought to protect his friend.

- - -

It was a lot to think about. But now more than ever it made him sure that he trusted Hitoshi because, well, he had no one else. No one in the whole world he could put his faith in except for the boy. And he was going to help him with anything he wanted. If he was going to be a hero, Izuku was going to make him one. 

Izuku had decided then on the walk home that tomorrow was going to be the day he showed himself to Hitoshi. His friend. He told him that he was going to be doing something with finishing the combat doll by having it do another fight but that wasn’t the case anymore.

He was going to show up at the park where Hitoshi should be training alone and finally see him face to face.

- - -

Hizashi was preparing some stuff for tomorrow’s training with Shinsou. Just some simple stuff to see where the kid was at in terms of physical ability. Some jump rope, chalk to draw boundaries and a bunch of other stuff used to measure how he’s doing.

He knows he and Izuku were doing some stuff on their own and Hizashi was happy to see them take the initiative on becoming heroes even though he wasn’t sure what Izuku’s stance was on that. He hoped that when he sent that message to Hitoshi that the kid would come, despite how far off that may be.

Anyway, he did learn something new and really important. Apparently the park he will be heading to was somewhere the two frequented so if necessary, Shouta could watch the place and wait for Izuku to show up, probably as a doll, and follow him back to where he’s hiding.

He’s going to get that kid the clear help he needs and there was nothing anyone was going to do to stop it. He whistled cheerily as he put all of this stuff into a duffle bag so he can just grab it for tomorrow. He had to wrestle Pepper a few times as for some reason the cat kept trying to get inside it to suffocate himself surely.

“Pepper, stop that!” he said as he picked the cat up again to sit on the other side of the room, racing back to zip up the bag. 

The cat was faster though and every time he got back to the bag, he was already there, staring up at him in probable triumph if those eyes are anything to go by. Thankfully he had another set of hands in the room as he picked up the cat again, to a protesting meow, and carried the little furball over to his husband who took the cat.

“You could’ve done that from the start.” Shouta smirked, having watched the whole thing.

“If I did that then I’d be admitting defeat!” Hizashi explained, properly zipping up the bag.

Pepper let out a sad meow as he watched the bag was sealed and just slumped in the black haired man’s arms. “You still did it though.” he said.

“I know!” Hizashi whined. “But next time, I’ll be ready. I’ll be faster!”

The blond went over to the ginger cat and booped it on the nose as he said that, getting a little growl from it. Not a big one but one that sounded like the cat was accepting the challenge.

“Speaking of lost cats. Are you still thinking about the fostering?” Shouta asked.

Hizashi nodded. He was very much still on that and wanted to take Shinsou in. He knew doing something like that was irresponsible and impulsive but he saw so much of himself in that kid and Shouta too when he was in high school. Hell he even saw some of his husband now.

“Well. I’m still a little on the fence about it.” Shouta admitted.

“Mind me asking?” he questioned. Not in an aggressive tone but in one that his husband knew meant he was listening to everything he was saying.

“I don’t feel ready. Maybe you do, or maybe you are but I don’t know how to handle kids well. My underground work barely sees any.” he explained.

“You’re planning to teach next year though?” Hizashi countered passively.

Shouta sighed. “Yeah but that’s going to be different. I’ll only see the students throughout the day but a kid I’ll be there always. I’ll be raising him, not teaching. I don’t want to mess up.”  

“Aw Sho’...” the blond cooed as he sat down next to him. He pulled him into a hug, Pepper getting the chance to slip out and check the bag again. “You’ll do great. I know it.”

“Where do you keep getting that energy?” the black haired man mumbled.

“Well, not constantly drinking coffee helps.” Hizashi chuckled.

The man just groaned a sound of protest and he pushed gently free from the embrace, still sitting next to him. It was at times like these that the blond felt so special. Shouta was always confident and calm in an apathetic sort of way. He kept his cool no matter the situation, even to their friends like Nemuri but with Hizashi he lowered his guard. Let him see just how worried the man always was about making mistakes he can’t take back.

“Hey Sho’.” Hizashi said. The man looked to him to listen. “Do you want to come with me tomorrow? Just to see Shinsou and maybe give him some pointers?”

- - -

Shouta sat there next to Hizashi as he heard his suggestion. 

He really didn’t have much experience with kids. The best he had was his own personal experiences being one. High school was easier, after all they were more mature and also could take his criticisms better but little children were something else. They were more emotional, less controlled and unlike students he’d have to be around them always and he was scared that he wouldn’t be good at dealing with that.

People were already exhausting to him. His hero work too and having a kid on top of that he was afraid he might not do them justice, especially a kid like Shinsou who probably had a bad life from being in the foster system. He already knew he was neglected because of his quirk.

Maybe when he was older and wiser he might but now, at twenty four felt too soon. But maybe with Hizashi’s suggestion he might be able to find out if his worries were real or not. It was a risk. He knew how badly being dismissed was, he dealt with it when he was younger. Where he’d make a new friend only for them to leave him once they learned of his quirk.

He’d never do that to Shinsou, or anyone for that matter but in case he couldn’t handle being a mentor or a dad or whatever, he didn’t want to make the kid feel like that. It was one of his greatest fears of becoming someone who was that shallow.

But he trusted Hizashi, more than anyone, so maybe he could give this a chance. For him and himself.

- - -

“Sure.” he said, keeping his favoured deadpan.

Hizashi had his biggest smile and his husband squinted at the brightness he gave off. “Thanks Sho’!”

- - -

Hitoshi was excited for tomorrow. He knew he was in pain from the punches but they didn’t feel as bad after Izuku gave him that pain killer. He knew he’d ask about the wounds but he didn’t want to postpone this day. He didn’t know who Yamada was, fully, but he looked athletic and even more wanted to help Hitoshi.

He didn’t know his schedule but for all he knew if he did cancel it due to his wounds, he might have to wait a whole week for his help to begin. Izuku was helping him but he was also a kid and he knew he didn’t have the experience with training so having someone who might was something he was looking forward to.

The boy shifted in his bed, smiling. Maybe he’ll say they’re from training with Izuku. But then that might make him suspicious of his friend and he didn’t want that. He could just tell the truth but then he might report it to the school and he could get in trouble for fighting back. He’s certainly had that happened before.

His phone buzzed a little and he picked it up to see a text from Yamada. It was only eight so he rightly assumed he was still awake.

YamadaHizashi: Hey lil’ listener! Just wanted

to ask if it’s alright I bring someone along. He’s

much better than me at hand to hand combat. 

You don’t have to say yes, I’ll still help you.

Someone else? Hitoshi wasn’t sure of it but when he read that they were better at fighting he was now mixed. He didn’t know who this guy was but if he could help Hitoshi become a hero then he’s going to take that chance. It’s not as if Hizashi had ever steered him wrong so far.

ShinsouHitoshi: Ok, as long as he’s not weird

about my quirk.

YamadaHizashi: Don’t worry. His quirk is also

one that gets treated poorly. Not to mention I

think you two will have a lot in common.

He also has a villainous quirk? Hitoshi was almost tempted to ask what it was but he knew from experience that he’d rather ask the guy himself. He only wished that Izuku was going to be with him, maybe he’d feel even better. He already said he had something to do so there wasn’t much he could do there.

Another text came in, heralded by the buzzing of his phone.

YamadaHizashi: By the way, seeing as how

he’s coming now, we’ll have to move the 

meet up to ten. Is that alright with you? I 

can make you lunch.

ShinsouHitoshi: Ok, that’s alright. I’m fine

for lunch. My friend sends me something 

every day.

YamadaHizashi: *thumbs up*

Yeah. He should go to, or try to, go to sleep now. His body needed the rest for tomorrow and he didn’t want to feel tired.

Surprisingly, Hitoshi fell asleep rather quickly that night. Dreaming about a lot of things. Him being a hero and Izuku being there in whatever shape he imagined the friend to be in, cheering him on. He can’t wait for morning to come.

Chapter Text

Hitoshi left the house early to make it to the park. He didn’t want to be late in the slightest so he put on his gym uniform, took his phone and filled his reusable water bottle and was out the door. Once he got there, he was half an hour early so he just stretched a bit and did a short jog around the park to get warmed up before he heard a car coming through the area.

Cars rarely came through this place at all so he knew that it had to be Yamada and whoever was with him so he jogged over and sure enough he saw the blond man there with the same careless smile he seemed to wear always. Getting out of the car with him though had to be the other person Yamada mentioned.

He had long black hair that messily gathered on his shoulders, a scruffy face with tired eyes and a ridiculous large scarf that looked more like a neck brace of bandages than anything. As soon as Yamada saw him, he waved, calling out and taking a duffle bag out of their back seat.

“Hey, lil’ listener! Great to see you here already!”

Hitoshi nodded and headed up to the two. “Hi, Yamada.”

“Oh please, call me Hizashi!” he insisted. Hitoshi wasn’t sure if to oblige or not but when he later called him Yamada again, the blond once more insisted so he just relented. 

The loud blond motioned over the tired man and introduced him. “So this is the guy I told you about! Shinsou meets Aizawa Shouta!”

“Hey.” Aizawa said lowly.

“Hey.” the boy said back with just a bit more energy than he did.

Hizashi just looked between the two and smiled as he carried the bag further along. “So Shinsou, you’ve had breakfast?”

No he hadn’t but he wasn’t sure if that’s alright so he was going to say no. “Yeah I ha-” But the bad timing of his stomach stopped that lie in its tracks. Both men just looked at the kid and he felt both mortified and embarrassed whilst Hitoshi immediately reached to scratch the back of his head and looked away.

“Kid, you can’t just skip meals.” Aizawa pointed out and maybe it was stating the obvious but right now he wouldn’t comment that.

“I didn’t have a lot of time.” he lied again. Izuku wasn’t there to give him breakfast today so he hasn’t had anything since last night when he gave him that convenience store ramen. 

“Well here.” the man said, handing over a granola bar. “This’ll do you for a while. We’ll get you a proper lunch later.”

Neither man seemed to ask why Hitoshi didn’t have breakfast and it definitely wasn’t because he fibbed well. It made him a bit anxious but then he remembered he had told Hizashi that his friend would buy him breakfast so they probably realised that he must’ve not been around. Wait, does that mean that Hizashi told Aizawa about him?

Pushing that line of thinking away, the trio got to a nice clearing in the park and they began setting up some stuff. The park’s lawn was recently trimmed so the grass wasn’t getting in the way and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky so there’s likely going to be nothing that’ll stop them from doing the training.

As Hizashi took out some stuff, he pointed over to Aizawa. “Sho’, mind telling little Shinsou here what we’ll be doing today?”

The man himself seemed to be squinting a little in the light and walked over to the shade where Shinsou followed too. He didn’t know who Aizawa was or what he did but given how also fit he was he must've exercised a lot too. He didn’t look like the kind of guy with that mentality though so he thought that maybe…

No, that was probably unlikely. Yes he was wearing that weird scarf but for all he knew that might’ve some kind of quirk. There’s no way he was going to be trained by a hero, that was impossible.

“We’ll be doing a series of tests to find out where you are physically. Seeing how your quirk is a mental one, you’ll have to sharpen your skills when someone doesn’t respond to your questions.” Aizawa explained.

‘So he knows what my quirk is?’ Hitoshi noted.

The man didn’t seem afraid of him at all but he did also look a bit impassive so maybe he just doesn’t show it. Then again he’s friends with Hizashi so maybe he also thinks that Hitoshi’s quirk is good for hero work. It’d be nice to have another person who believed in him.

Either way, he needed to be sure. “What will the tests be?” he questioned.

“A ball throw, toes touches, sits up, side steps…” the man listed the activities off without hesitating, responding to him despite knowing what his quirk was.

Normally when people first learn how it’s activated they stop a bit before speaking because they are scared of being brainwashed but he didn’t seem to care at all. Guess Hitoshi has found another person who sees his dream as possible and not just ridiculous.

“By the way. What happened to your arm and leg?” he asked.

“I tripped during training yesterday and got scratched up. My friend patched me up though.” Hitoshi recited from his rehearsed lie.

The man gave a slight look of disbelief before he zeroed in on one part of his lie, the truth that is. “Your friend?”

“Yeah Izuku. He’s really good at patching me up.” he said.

“So this has happened before?”

Hitoshi stopped at that, not realising his little slip there. Technically it was one other time, that being when he and Izuku first met. Okay maybe there were a couple other smaller times, like when he got pushed bad enough to slip and fall but those were only scrapes. Still he didn’t want to turn this into something big so he just lied again.

“Yeah, I trip a lot.”

The man just sighed and Hitoshi was afraid he said something wrong. “Kid, you don’t have to lie. I can take a guess and say school isn’t treating you right.”

“N-not really.” the boy hurried to clarify. “It’s only pushing at school.”

“Then where’d you get that? And the stomach wound I can see you nursing too.” the man inquired as well, making Hitoshi feel like he can’t lie to this man.

Hitoshi tried to think through some excuse before he just gave up and decided to speak honestly. “I got it yesterday. Some kids from school grabbed me at the arcade and beat me up a little.”

Aizawa seemed quiet at that, his face a bit unreadable. 

“But don’t worry. I fought back. Punched one in the face hard enough that his nose bled.” Hitoshi bragged slightly with an uneasy grin. He was still proud of that punch.

The man’s face was hidden by the scarf slightly but Hitoshi could’ve sworn he saw a slight smirk underneath. “Good.” He didn’t ask anything more on that which he was thankful for and the two just stood in comfortable silence as they watched Hizashi finish setting things up.

Once it was all ready, Hitoshi did a few of the tests. He threw a ball about forty metres, got through the grip test with an average score his age would get and even did well on the sprints but that’s mostly because of his long legs. Halfway through, he was slightly tired. That granola bar didn’t do much and he was feeling tired. 

“Here kid.” Aizawa offered a thermos of something warm.

Hizashi’s eyes widened a little as the thermos was given “Wait Sho’! Don’t give him coffee! He’s a-” 

“Thanks.” Hitoshi said and gulped it down, much to the blond’s lament.

It was black, and had the faintest taste of cinnamon, but that didn’t matter to him as he drank it all down in one gulp, the liquid going through him like lightning. He felt his energy returning as he got ready for the next few tests.

“Your right ‘Zashi. I do like the kid.” Aizawa commented, causing a mix of emotions to wash over the blond’s face over a matter of seconds.

After the last set of tests, Hitoshi was thoroughly tired. He hasn’t moved about this hard ever and the summer heat wasn’t helping him feeling less bad. Thankfully Hizashi had tons of water, cold water not like his plastic water bottle which was now lukewarm from the heat. The blond even offered to get him a proper water bottle and bring it next time they train.

'Next time…' the kid noted.

“Alright! Seems you’re in good shape, if not a little weak at strength exercises but we can work on that.” Hizashi commented, going through his phone where he kept the scores. “Next we can have a small spar. Sho’?”

The black haired man took a step out of the shade where he’s not left since the start of the tests and walked out into the light. Squinting once more until he pulled down these yellow goggles he had nestled in his scarf.

“I want to know how good you are fighting, kid. I’m not expecting much so don’t worry if you get knocked down a few times.” Aizawa said as he did a few simple stretches. “Just try your best.”

Hitoshi stood a few feet away from him, unsure of what to do, so he just raised his hands as Hizashi said go. He got knocked off his feet near instantly and the man was standing overhead. He didn’t even think his hands had left his pockets.

“Okay, first things first. You need to have proper form.” the man noted as he took a step away whilst Hitoshi scrambled to his feet.

“Don’t have your legs too close together, that makes your center of balance weak. Spread them out like this and make sure to pivot your feet.” he instructed, getting into a stance that the boy tries to copy.

“No. You’re too spread out. I can kick your feet out with no effort. You need them close enough to not slip easily but far enough to keep your center of balance low.”

The man corrected Hitoshi’s posture with a few gentle kicks to the feet, angling his foot right whilst making sure he wasn’t slouching. “Great. Keep it like that. See how you’re more stable?” he said, giving the boy a light push.

The two spent the next while getting Hitoshi’s form right. Moving and being able to take light hits without it breaking. Despite how unbothered the man was at first, he seemed to really care about him getting things right. The boy almost forgot he’s only met this man a few hours ago and already he felt like he’s trained with him forever with how well they worked.

“It’s okay to wince when you get hit but don’t let your enemy see it. If villains know their attacks hurt you, they’ll keep coming harder. The best thing to do in a fight is act like you can keep going all day.” he explained and Hitoshi more and more started to lean further into the hope that this man might really be a hero, if not, one who trained them.

Once the getting hit part was done, they moved on to him throwing his own punches. 

“Great. You’re a bit slow between swings though. Remember you could be up against anyone with any kind of quirk, you need to be at least faster than them.” 

All in all, Hitoshi felt like he was learning a lot. Aizawa was a good teacher and he could feel himself getting better with every bit of advice he gave. However the man could tell Hitoshi was getting sluggish and tired so he called it there for a bit.

It was around lunch now and the three had decided to have a picnic there. Hitoshi never had something like that before, unless you count the times he and Izuku (not really) ate at the park benches. It was a lot different, with a nice sheet they threw out in the shade and bag filled with food for him to have.

It was at this point Hitoshi got that feeling again. The same one with Izuku where he felt like he was getting more than he deserved. He knew he couldn’t just deny it but he can’t help but ask the question that’s been itching in his mind.

“Why are you doing so much for me?” he asked and he honestly wished he hadn’t said it.

The two men turned to him. Hizashi with a look of concern for the boy and Aizawa with near indifference besides that small focus in his eye. 

Hitoshi continued. “You haven’t even known me that long. So why are you doing so much?”

“Well… kid…” Hizashi started, but Hitoshi wasn’t finished.

“Please don’t tell me it’s pity.”

He did not want to be looked down on. Ever. He hated it, especially pity, he didn’t want to be seen as someone you had to help because you felt guilty.

“No! Not at all!” Hizashi rebuked, hands in the air waving. “I wanted to help you Shinsou because… well…”

The blond didn’t seem to know how to word his next sentence, so the other man spoke for him. “We know you’re a foster kid. You told us. We also know school isn’t great right now for you. You told us that too, but we also know that from reading your record.”

“My record?” Hitoshi was puzzled, not sure what that meant.

Hizashi gave Aizawa an unsure look but the man didn’t return it, instead he kept going. “Your school record. We have it and have been looking at it for a bit.”

Hitoshi was even more confused, his mind trying to figure out if this is good or bad but the man just kept going. Wanting to make sure there were no misunderstandings going on in his head.

- - -

Aizawa wasn’t sure where he was going with this. When he came here he wasn’t sure what to expect from this kid. Hizashi said that the two had a lot in common but he thought he might’ve been exaggerating but no, they really did. There was a lot of him he could see in Shinsou.

Not just in their tastes or general vibe but their life too. The kid was clearly scrappy like he was, even if not as much. When he talked about where he got those wounds, he couldn’t help but remember all the times he had to punch another kid in the face over something they said.

So what? Call him barbaric. Nemuri thought he was a little hellraiser and yeah he kinda was. He already knew he wanted to be a hero when he grew up and seeing some kids get pushed around and hurt because of their quirks made him do what a hero should. 

It did end with him not being able to go to the hero course initially because of his record but he won his way back in when he got first in the UA Sports Festival and the attention of the staff there. Having a particularly supportive rat on staff too also helped a lot in getting them to look past his record.

Okay. Maybe Hizashi’s illogical idea about fostering might not be so illogical anymore. Maybe it’d be nice to have a kid. Of course though he didn’t know the kid on many other fronts. There were so many spinning plates in both of their lives.

For one both Hizashi and him were heroes and he didn’t know what the kid would think of that except maybe a bit of excitement. Another thought was Izuku and how the kid is probably in the dark about everything he’s doing. At least he hopes. There’s always a chance he wasn’t which might be a problem.

Then there was Hizashi’s radio show, Shouta’s underground work, not to mention their teaching job coming up and the fact they’re married. He was scared he’d neglect him like his current fosters do or worse, upset him with whatever is going to happen once they find his friend. 

But maybe, instead of worrying about all of that. He should just start things step by step and see where they go from there. See how the kid reacts to one of those worries.

- - -

“We’re pro heroes” he said succinctly. 

Hitoshi just stared at the two there, mind completely blank on anything to say except repeating the three words that man just said.

“You’re…” he managed.

“Pro heroes.” the man finished.

“B-both of you?” he asked unsure. Purely in disbelief that he is currently having a picnic with two pro heroes.

“Yeah!” Hizashi replied, keeping a smile. “Though we didn’t want to say anything yet until we got more comfortable,” he admitted.

Heroes. Pro heroes were here in front of him. Talking to him and he didn’t even know! Well he suspected it from Aizawa but not from Hizashi too! Not just that but he was taught by two of them, and helped one of them with shopping as well. 

But he didn’t recognise either of them. He can’t really put a face to Hizashi or Aizawa so maybe they’re lesser known ones?

“What heroes are you?” he asked, trying to keep his cool and not totally faint.

The black haired man shrugged. “You wouldn’t know me. I’m an underground hero, Eraserhead. Don’t ask about the name.”

“And I’m more well known! Though you probably can’t tell, but I daylight as Present Mic!” Hizashi said enthusiastically.

Present Mic. The Present Mic. The same one who’s currently trending as one of the best radio hosts in Tokyo. He was here, in front of him, helping him train and he helped the man get groceries. He’s seen Present Mic’s cats!

It was just a chaotic wave of thoughts flooding through Hitoshi's head. A mix of being starstruck, alarmed, overwhelmed and in awe. Just barely holding onto his willpower to not start doing something stupid in front of them. 

After a few minutes of calming down and answering Hitoshi’s questions, such as what is an underground hero, he finally gets back on track. They technically didn’t answer his question about why they’re here, with him. And now the answer was more necessary than ever.

“Why are pro heroes looking at my school record?” the boy questioned.

The pro heroes both looked between each other, seeming to speak with just their eyes as they seemed to decide on whether to explain further. Eventually Hizashi is the one to speak up, taking the lead on that question.

“You know about that incident in your school a bit back. With your teachers?” the blond asked.

“You mean the thing with the monster? Do you think I have anything to do with that?” Hitoshi uttered, concerned.

He waved his hands. “No, not directly! But we do think there is someone related to you who is responsible.”

“Related? Like who… oh.”

It all clicked in his head at that moment. He didn’t know much about the attacks outside of what was whispered in classrooms (he didn’t exactly have the money to buy a newspaper and he didn’t have a phone then) but he heard that the reason behind it was something to do with the message it said. 

Not just that, but apparently a bunch of kids were being talked to by police. He was sure he was going to get talked to soon as well but they just didn’t call. Is it because they sent these pro heroes instead? 

Maybe. No probably. And there’s only one person he knows that would be of interest to them. Izuku. He knew his quirk made things come to life and that he was working on a ‘scary doll’. Apparently he already finished it and had it do its job.

But that can’t really be true. It makes sense that he would be responsible but, Izuku wouldn’t seriously break into a bunch of people’s homes to scare them just for him? That would be insane. 

“You think Izuku is the Behemoth, or controlling it?” he questioned, clearly not believing what he was hearing again.

Aizawa spoke up. “We don’t just think it, Shinsou. We know it. We found spinal fluid from it after I fought it. It was linked to Midoriya Izuku.”

He can’t believe it. His friend not just made a monster to attack the teachers but he even fought Aizawa using it? A pro hero! 

“Does that mean… he’s a villain?” he asked, voice shaky and afraid. His emotions were running high. First there was the hero stuff, now he’s learning his friend could be a villain.

“That… is still up to debate. He is at the very least a vigilante.” Aizawa stated. “He used his quirk in an illegal way against supposed criminals.”

“What makes it so he’s a villain?” the boy questioned.

“If we find nothing wrong with Aldera, the kid technically broke into several homes to traumatise and terrorise innocent people.”

“But they aren’t innocent!” he protested. “He did it because of me!”

The boy frantically started to explain what he experienced at Aldera and how Izuku helped him so much. He told about the teachers treating him badly, the students being ignored when he was being bullied and even the constant detentions for every little thing so he couldn’t actually learn anything.

He said it all, hoping it would convince them that his friend isn’t bad. The whole time the heroes’ faces turned to a mix of sadness and guilt that he wasn’t sure why. They needed to understand that they were wrong. If anything this is all his fault.

His quirk and everything that comes with it. That’s why this is all happening. Because he can’t just accept being alone and miserable. That he had to drive his only friend into getting into trouble for him. He can’t have that kind of guilt, he can’t have it because how can he ever pay that back? How could he ever make it up to him?

He really was an awful awful friend.

He felt something warm and wet slide down his face as he kept arguing even though his points don’t make sense and he’s barely legible. At that point, Hizashi couldn’t take it anymore and scooped the kid up in a hug. 

He just cried into his shoulder. Scared and confused about everything. He didn’t want to imagine Izuku doing those things for him but he couldn’t stop thinking that and in turn blaming it all on himself.

It took almost ten minutes for him to fully stop and even then he was still sniffling. Fighting breaking down all over again. He stopped hugging Hizashi but held onto his hand to keep himself grounded. He’d thank him if he wasn’t so wrapped up in other emotions.

After clearing his eyes he sniffled, “S-so are you j-just here to find Izuku?”

Hizashi squeezed his hand a little. “No, no. Not at all. We’re here right now because of you. Sho’ is too. When I met you in the mall I didn’t know you were connected to Izuku at all.”

“W-when did you know?”

“Before the second mall trip. Remember I asked you for your friend's name? I thought he might’ve been Izuku and, well, I was right.” he explained, keeping a firm grasp on his hand.

“Then why-”

Aizawa spoke up. “Because we wanted to. And we were considering… fostering you. No, we are going to foster you.”

That caused the boy to freeze. “W-wait. Really?”

Hizashi smiled whilst gently stroking the back of his hand. “Yes, Shinsou. I’ve wanted to since I first saw you. Sho’, I'm guessing, just came to his decision now.”

“B-but, you know my quirk?” he cried “It’s bad and I could brainwash you and-”

“We don’t care about that.” Aizawa uttered. “We can tell you’re a good kid. We want to help you, give you an actual home. If you’ll allow us?”

He didn’t need to ask.

Hitoshi felt like he was going to cry again. It’s just been too much. He just wants to keep weeping until he can't. Until it hurts. His emotions were a tornado of different colours and temperatures and he didn’t know when it would end.

All he could do was dive back again into a hug with Hizashi, the man accepting it readily and stroking the back of his head tentatively as he just kept whispering that everything was alright.

This time, he calmed down quicker but only barely held on. He can’t take anything else and after calming down he kept asking questions just so he wasn’t confused anymore. He asked about the attack and what happened. About who Izuku really was and learned his family name was Midoriya. He learned that they had been looking for him for over a year and haven’t found anything until now.

And at the end, there was still one question left. Probably the most important. “What’s going to happen now?”

Hizashi made sure to answer before Aizawa could. “Now lil’ listener, we’re going to call it a day and head home. You clearly need time to process this and we don’t want to push you anymore.”

A part of Hitoshi didn’t want it to end right now. He wanted to know how he could help Izuku and not let him hide away. He didn’t want to watch him become a villain or a vigilante or get arrested. He just wanted his friend safe and to talk about all of this with him. 

Most importantly though, he didn’t want to go home. He doesn’t want to be in a home where he’ll just sit in his room and break down for the next few hours. But other than Izuku, he didn’t know where else to go, except maybe…

“C-can I go with you?” he asked sheepishly.

The two men just looked at each other. “Sho’.”

The black haired man just looked at his partner for a moment, looked at Hitoshi and then closed his eyes. “Alright. But you can’t stay the night kid. Not without your parent’s permission.”

“They won’t even notice I’m gone,” Hitoshi countered.

 “That’s what I’m worried about.” 

The trio began packing up the stuff, loading it all into the duffle bag. Hizashi told him he didn’t have to do anything and he could just head to the car and wait for them. He did that but only because he was too tired to argue at this point and wandered there, thinking of everything.

Firstly, Izuku was a vigilante and maybe a villain according to the law. His friend. The same one who stuttered and squeaked his way barely through saying ‘happy birthday’ to him. That Izuku. It was still unbelievable but everything made sense. According to Aizawa he managed to evade him and even a whole year ago he managed to beat Hizashi in a fist fight using a doll.

Secondly, he was being trained by pro heroes, and because they actually believed in him and not because they pity him. He’d never believe it too if Hizashi hadn’t pulled out his phone to show him in his costume. Now that the two were shown to him, he almost couldn’t divide the two.

Thirdly, and as a follow up, these pro heroes want to foster him! Him! Want to! It was literally unreal that he had to be dreaming but the headache he got from all that crying proved otherwise. This was reality and it was insane.

Hitoshi reached their car. It was a normal blue sedan and the door was already unlocked by Aizawa’s remote key. The two were still packing up their stuff in the distance and probably talking to each other as he finally reached up to the car door.

“H-h-hitoshi?” a small quiet voice whispered.

The boy froze and then spun to look where the voice came from and in a small alleyway, carried by a dark figure in a cloak using their forearm as a seat for him, was a child.

A deathly pale child, with dark green hair that sunk down past his shoulders but not down his back. A messy mane of split ends and knots. A body a whole head shorter than him that he couldn’t believe they were the same age and a form so frail it looked like it was made of actual glass.

He wore a slightly too large pajama shirt and baggy shorts and had no shoes, just bare feet dangling from the arms of the terrifying beast carrying him.

His dull green eyes glistened barely as they looked at the other boy. He looked terrified and was shaking, holding onto the dark figure for dear life like he’d die without it.

It was Izuku. He had no way of knowing but he just knew.

“Izuku…” Hitoshi got out before he heard a yell behind him that shattered both of their focuses on each other.

“Shinsou! Why are you standing still-” the blond stopped. The man stopped. Everyone stopped.

Aizawa and Hizashi were staring directly at Izuku and the giant holding him. It was quiet, no one could say anything. It was like going on a forest trek and spotting a deer in the woods, both him and the animal freezing the second they saw each other as they comprehended what was happening.

“Izuku?” Hitoshi uttered.

“N-no!” the boy cried.

And the giant ran with Izuku in tow.

And it’s only after that exact moment that Hitoshi realised…

…he could’ve used his quirk.

Chapter Text

Today was the day Izuku was going to find Hitoshi in person and greet him as himself. In all honesty he was terrified and anxious which was why he’d been psyching himself up all morning, sitting at the hole in the wall that leads out of the warehouse and trying his best to leave.

He knew Hitoshi would be at the park training. He had something at two so he’ll probably be there. He must’ve wanted Izuku’s help with something but that was a lie of course meant for today. Him saying hello.

Brutus was going with him as protection but it’s likely he’s going to have to be carried. He hasn’t really needed to move much around before so finally beginning to after all this time, on top of not eating well, sleeping well and not having seen the sun in a year, he definitely wasn’t getting there on his own.

Just getting down the steps from his room was exhausting so after testing (procrastinating) ways Brutus could comfortably hold him, he finally reached the hole. The problem was Brutus can’t carry him through because it was too small, he needed to crawl through just as Izuku.

That meant it had to be him who made the first step out back into the world and that was the part he was hung up about.

‘Maybe I should make sure I’m dressed right.’ he thought, being carried back in by Brutus.

He was planning to wear a simple long hoodie with a pair of track bottoms underneath. Of course the bottoms were meant for kids younger than him and the hoodie reached his knees but it’s not as if he’s going for style here. Okay maybe he should. Anything to keep him putting off going out for longer.

After at least an hour of preparations, he was back down to sitting in front of the hole, fighting to move through. Everytime he raised his hand to move towards the exit, he felt every part of him freeze up and every fear and reason he hid in the first place came crawling back.

Hisashi found him and doing whatever awful things he had in mind for him to do and become.

Pro heroes capturing him and locking him away for what he did.

Hitoshi not liking how he looked, or how he sounded or anything like that.

‘If I give up, it’s not as if he would know. He can’t be disappointed if you never tell him you tried.’ Izuku tried to manipulate himself.

There were a lot of reasons for not leaving. It was safer in the warehouse, he was thriving in the warehouse. Leaving it would risk all of that and could end with him getting hurt. But what are the chances any of those bad things could happen? It’s just one day out, a few hours. It’s not as if he’s going to bump into that blond guy a year ago or Eraserhead walking around in the street. 

And what about all the good things that can come from this? He would see Hitoshi. Talk to him, sort of, and be able to do a bunch of things with him he never thought he could. Like, what did he smell like? Izuku doesn’t know a lot of scents, given the lack of experience he has. Even smells he did know were slightly forgotten, like katsudon.

All that he’s eaten is the bare minimum like bread and cereal. It’s not that he couldn't afford good food, it's just that he had better things to use money on and he didn’t really have much of an appetite in the first place.

Maybe he could work on that with Hitoshi. Maybe the first thing they do together is have chocolate. Izuku just barely remembers the taste of it and he remembered he liked it so, yeah chocolate it is.

And it’s not just experiences that should lure him out. Hitoshi said… he would protect him. That he wouldn’t have to be scared and hide and honestly that made him feel a lot more safer than expected.

He definitely had no reason not to trust his best friend. He read his file, his history and even watched him through traffic cameras a few times just to see how he was doing and it’s not as if he was setting this up for him. 

And on top of all that it was a surprise! No one is prepared for him to come out, not even him! Clearly by how he continues to procrastinate even now.

‘Okay. I can do this.’ the boy declared in his mind.

A tiny shaky hand reached out towards the hole and the closer it got the more it shook. A feeling of panic washing over him as his fingers graze the boundary of his safe place. He stopped, holding his hand there. Heart going a mile a minute and breathing threateningly on panting.

He was so scared.

“I just want to know… you’re alright.” the purple haired boy's words filled his head.

And so he pushed forward, his hand touching the concrete outside as he kept going forward, crawling through the hole until he was on the other side. In the alley he hadn’t seen in forever with his own eyes. Just as slimy and dirty.

Izuku let out a breath, a strangled one as he felt exposed immediately and grabbed himself to cover up, well, himself. But there was no one around. Just an empty alley in the shade and no eyes to watch him. He was alright. He didn’t die even though he feels like he will. Everything was alright.

Brutus made his way through the hole as well, quickly under Izuku’s orders and picked the boy up, hiding him behind its long cloak. It felt a lot better than being exposed so he nestled into the cold chest of the giant and ordered him to move, every step shaky and careful.

When the two walked out of the alley and into the street, the sun hit Izuku’s face and all of the warmth that came with it. It was as bright as he remembered but this warmth was something else. The fresh air too; it felt nice.

Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all.

‘O-ok. L-let’s head to t-the p-park.’

Brutus marched forward, down the street. Ducking into alleys to avoid people and hiding Izuku deep within the cloak. The boy had a phone with him that showed what the giant was seeing so he didn’t have to worry about steering with his actual eyes as they went to the park.

On the way, there were sounds he almost forgot existed. The microphone on the camera picked up a lot but one thing it never got was ambience. The distant sound of birds, the humming of air conditioners and cars far away driving down the street. It was Sunday so the streets were empty but they were far from quiet. Even the wind blowing the cloak a little and drifting over his face felt foreign but missed for some reason. 

Whenever he inevitably did have to pass by people, he curled in tight to Brutus and watched them carefully with the camera. Thankfully people were either too unbothered or too intimidated to approach the giant so Izuku remained largely unbothered until he got to the park.

He wondered what the grass felt like again, or how the rustling of trees sounded. He’d probably have to hide in the shade because his skin was paper and he knew the sun burned from what Hitoshi had said about it. Maybe he should’ve brought an umbrella. But there’s no turning back now, not when he’s made this much progress.

The walk, all in all, took thirty minutes but it felt like forever for the boy. One part of him marvelling at existing outside and the other paranoid and terrified of being discovered.

But all that wonder and fear evaporated the second he saw him.

Walking out of the park in gym clothes was his purple haired friend. Sweaty and tired looking. He must’ve been working hard today because he looked awful but that didn’t matter to Izuku, none of it did. Because he was in front of him, in person, no doll in between.

“H-h-hitoshi.” he squeaked out, surprised by how he said it so easily.

His friend froze and turned immediately to see him, eyes locking fast as Brutus slipped the cloak off a little from the wind passing through the alley they were standing in.

His purple eyes were really as vivid as he expected, and glistened slightly from seeing him. He looked even taller than he thought and wondered what they’d look like standing next to each other. 

His face was frozen, between shock, awe and… sadness? Fear? Izuku wasn’t quick sure. He knew he was bad at reading people but maybe now with Hitoshi he could learn a bit. A camera can only catch so much that you can feel emotionally detached from any situation so this could be the start of something new.

The boy opened his mouth a little and just pushed out his name before a voice spoke out that made every part of Izuku grow panicked and afraid. And the person who the voice belonged to, didn’t seem to help and neither did the man following after him.

- - - 

Shouta and Hizashi were just stunned as they looked at Shinsou and then over to the little child cradled in the arms of a giant metal thing cloaked in black. The kid was here, right now, in person and seeing as how Shinsou was just as shocked he didn’t expect this at all.

The greenette looked awful. His eyes were dull and he had eyebags heavier than even Shouta’s along with a size and weight that was clearly not healthy. It was almost captivating in a way, like seeing a deer in the wild staring at you with black glossy eyes. It’s here in front of you and you feel pinned by noticing it.

And just like a real one, it ran. The giant spun fast and sprinted with Midoriya. Shinsou stretched out towards him, screaming his name but Hizashi grabbed him, expecting Shouta to be the one to chase and sure enough he did.

Just as the blond had told him, the doll was fast despite its large size and maybe even quicker than when he fought the Behemoth. The entire time the black haired man’s scarf bellowed behind him, ready to strike. 

It was clearly Brutus. The size and shape were exact to the man he watched nearly snap the neck of that fighter in the cage. The same thing that was controlled by Midoriya and god he seriously needed to save that kid. He’s already done something illegal and now he was going to the Theatre of all places.

Which is why he needed a cut. A wound. Just enough to use his quirk on and shut it down completely. He didn’t know if he needed to see all of the fluid but he knew that a look could be enough for the thing to collapse.

During a particularly long stretch of alley, he grabbed his capture weapon and threw a strand towards the thing, wrapping around its leg. However it didn’t stop, even with his full weight the thing just kept charging so he grabbed a pole and used it as leverage, standing on it and gaining enough pull to halt the giant.

Its movements stopped and both it and Midoriya looked back to see Shouta and the scarf grasping them. Once they noticed that, the giant raised its clawed hand and slashed at the tape, shredding it and allowing them to keep running. Whilst it did though, Shouta’s eyes flared red, hoping to erase Midoriya’s quirk but nothing happened.

‘I need to grab Midoriya and knock him out. Erasing his quirk doesn’t stop the giant.’ he realised and kept up the chase. 

Soon they weren’t in the alley and now were out in a busy street, people jumping out of the way of the giant pushing through and him chasing straight after, yelling at the crowds to call the police. He knew Midoriya was probably in a panicked state, anything could happen with that kid and he didn’t want his rap sheet to get even bigger.

Thankfully back up had arrived in the form of another hero, Death Arms, he thinks he’s called. He was at the other end of the street and Shouta yelled out at him to help and the man got in a fighting stance as the giant stopped in front of him.

Now it was a standoff, with the two heroes sandwiching Midoriya and the metal giant with no clear way to go without going through them. Which is why he needed to talk him down before attacking like a cornered animal.

“Midoriya! You don’t have to do this!” he shouted, the unmistakable sound of a squeak coming from somewhere close to the cloaked figure. “No one’s going to hurt you! Hisashi’s not going to hurt you!”

The kid said nothing, hiding in the machine and holding what Shouta assumed to be a phone he was controlling the doll with. He needed to get that away from him too. Izuku also looked freaked out and was clearly going through a panic attack and a part of Shouta cried at that.

“We’re not going to hurt you! I know it-” but he couldn’t say anything else as the giant ran towards Death Arms, ready to fight its way out of here.

‘Goddammit kid!’ Shouta swore in his mind as he ran forth. “Death Arms! Be careful, there’s a kid in there who’s fragile!”

The hero gave a nod as he winded up a punch to throw into the head of the thing, noting the kid hiding next to its chest. However he must’ve expected it to be slower because the giant dodged and swung with its free hand into the man’s chest earning a grunt and a curse from the pro.

- - -

Izuku was in a state of complete fight or flight. Every part of his body shaking and his mind screaming at him to get away from it all. He didn’t understand why the guy related to Hisashi and the pro hero he fought were with Hitoshi but he didn’t want to find out. Right now though he was trapped between two pro heroes and needed to escape.

He was freaking out, his heart racing and barely able to breathe as all sounds just shrunk to a blur and his vision was locked on anything that could get him out. He knew Death Arms, he was one of the heroes he was studying for Brutus so he was aware of his strength enhancing quirk.

He knew he could outrun him but he can’t outrun Eraserhead. So he had two options. Take out Eraserhead and risk Death Arms crushing him, or risk trying to slip past the big hero and take out the other somewhere more isolated.

He went with the latter, charging forward and just dodging a punch. He knew Death Arms  attacks were slower and heavier so he had a hard time redirecting his punches more. He laid a hit into the man’s chest to push the air out of his lungs and sure enough it came out in a groaning curse.

The giant then ran around the hero, keeping out of his reach until another length of scarf wrapped around the giant's arm and swung it around just in time to get a kick in the skull by Eraserhead.

Thankfully Izuku made sure the tech inside the skull was well protected so nothing in there broke but the cloak did slip off with the force and the giant was now exposed. 

- - -

Shouta watched the cloak fall off and he could finally get a look at what he was fighting and in all honesty it was chilling. All metal with jagged misshapen skin and clawed hands and feet that looked like they’d give tetanus just by touching them. The whole thing was a rusted beast with red teeth and no eyes, instead sockets with something black coming from them like tears.

It was beyond off putting and eerie and that’s when he noticed the metal pole on its back as well in what seemed to be a weapon it couldn’t really use right now with Izuku occupying one arm. Speaking of, the kid dangled from that one arm; Legs and limbs and dangling like he was a cat held around its chest.

There were a few gasps from the nearby crowds who were watching this go down with their phones out and god this was one of the reasons why he became an underground hero. People gawking instead of running, making things so much harder.

The kid also seemed to hate it and was weeping terrified tears as they huddled even closer to the chest of the giant, not even bothering to look anywhere but his phone anymore. Brutus had shredded his grip on the arm but that gave enough time for Death Arms to recover and deliver a hit to the back of the giant, metal crunching as the thing tripped forward, catching itself enough to not fall.

It felt no pain of course so it was able to spin around and deliver a rounding kick to the hero’s head and send him stumbling a bit back. It took another opportunity to run but once more Shouta grappled its leg and pulled hard enough this time to cause it to stumble and turn around. This time he was ready to watch his scarf get torn again but instead it grabbed the cloth and pulled it hard, throwing Shouta towards the giant.

He just barely managed to dodge a fist to his face before it swung again and grabbed his leg, batting him into Death Arms like a club, who fell over from the force of the crash. It, of course, cut the bindings again and ran this time throwing the erasure hero to the ground and rushing towards an alley, police sirens in the distance.

But Shouta still had one chance and though it meant stepping on Death Arms, he threw his capture weapon towards Midoriya, grabbing the boy and pulling him out of the clutches of the giant. He knew he might hurt the kid badly with this but he can’t let him escape.

The boy let out a cry that was heart breaking and the kid landed in his arms, holding him tightly and checking he was alright. “Kid! Calm down! You’re-”

His voice died in his throat as a dark shadow loomed over him, the giant above him staring with empty eyes as it swung far too fast and fear widened his eyes. He was on the floor before he knew it with a bleeding head and just consciousness long enough to watch the giant fend off Death Arms to get away, escaping into the dark alley.

Chapter Text

The next time Shouta woke up it was in the hospital with a bandage wrapped around his skull and a headache that was killing him. He blinked his eyes wearily as he got his bearings of the room and noticed his husband sitting at the other side of the room, quietly looking at his phone.

“Did they get Midoriya?” he uttered out and his husband shook a bit and rushed over to his side.

“Sho’!” Hizashi genuinely cried as he checked him over. 

He looked like he was weeping a bit and he could understand. If he ever saw Hizashi get knocked out for a while then he’d be… 

The thought died in his mind as he felt that his face was slightly more scruffy than before and his clothes had been changed. He wouldn’t need this if he was just knocked out. He looked to his partner who was seeming to understand what the unsaid question was and answered it.

“You’ve been out for a week,” he answered and the words hit like a truck.

He’s never been out for that long. Did he go into a coma? How hard was he punched? He definitely felt bad but… did that kid really hit him that hard? His mind was swirling as he went through what he last remembered. The fight and the discovery and the emotions. 

“Your head was split open, Sho’. They said a bit more force and he would’ve cracked it completely.” Hizashi explained.

He really did almost die. He seriously could’ve been killed and he wouldn’t have been able to stop it in the slightest. The black haired man was shivering a bit at that realisation and the blond immediately held his hand, stroking it gently.

“It’s alright Sho’. You’re fine honey. They managed to fix most of it but it still needs to heal.” Hizashi consoled whilst he ran the nurses call button.

Shouta called down a little with that. “I had him ‘Zashi. He was in my hands and…”

“I know,” he agreed. “There’s a video of the whole fight online.” .

That’s right there were people recording the whole thing. That’s arguably worse not just for the fact that two heroes fought a kid and lost but that kid was now probably being plastered on TV as a villain. Izuku might never live a normal life now.

Before more conversation could be had, the nurse arrived to see Shouta awake and called for his doctor to come. Things were much more busy for a bit with a bunch of tests to check to see if everything was alright cognitively, all the while there were a dozen other things he needed to be caught up on.

Once the medical staff made sure he was alright in the head, they said that apparently he would be visited soon by a few people. Hizashi explained that it would probably be Tsukauchi and maybe Recovery Girl.

He knew the healing hero from his time in UA and relaxed a bit knowing he was in good hands there. Using a lot more quirkless combat, he had more visits than most to her office for bruises and cuts needing to be healed so he could get back to training, much to her chagrin.

It would be a while though and there was still so much more to talk about with Hizashi. “Where’s Shinsou?” being a good one.

“He should be at his foster home. I’ve been trying to get through the paperwork for becoming foster parents ourselves but it's a bit hard when one of them is in a coma.” he chuckled. “We should be able to get it once you’ve done your side of the work.”

At least there’s that. He was scared of that kid getting left behind. Ah, that’s right. He can’t imagine what he’s going through right now with everything that’s happened in just a short amount of time.

“How is he?”

“Holding.” Hizashi said simply but implied a lot.

“Has he made any contact with Midoriya?” he questioned.

His husband kept his frown. “No. Apparently he’s been blocked.”

There really was no connection left between Shinsou and Midoriya now. It seems the kid burned that bridge himself and probably doesn’t trust him anymore because of them being there. He really wants to check with him and see how exactly he’s holding up.

The door to their room soon opened and in came a few people. Firstly there was the good Detective Tsukauchi, always in his beige overcoat, taking it off and rolling it over his arm. Next was Recovery Girl though he had to look hard to see her given the angle of the bed and her height. The same could be said for the other person, someone he didn’t want to see, least of all right now.

Nedzu. The white rat with the intelligence quirk trotted along with them. It wasn’t that Shouta disliked the guy, it was just that he feared him. Not in the panic kind of way but the ‘oh no what’s going to happen’ kind of way. He was his student for all of UA before he became the principal and though he wouldn’t admit it he did get some part of his sadistic side from his time being mentored by him.

If he was here there was only one reason, especially given how he came here on such short notice. He was interested in Midoriya.

Despite the maliciousness that rat can emit, he was extremely insistent on giving people second chances and helping stop, children especially, from going down the path of evil. It likely had a lot to do with his own past and from being experimented on. He managed to put aside a reasonably justified hate for humans and instead grew to help them.

“Good evening Aizawa, Yamada.” Tsukauchi started.

The two men greeted him whilst the healing hero grabbed his chart and started looking through it. “Seems you got out unscathed according to the test. Surprising given how much damage was done.”

“Was it really that bad?” Shouta asked and the whole room turned to him in near disbelief at how calm he was asking that, or at least looked it.

“Bad? A bit more force and you wouldn’t have had a head!” she chided. “Seriously, I know no one could’ve guessed how strong that boy’s monster was but you should’ve at least not dropped your guard when you got him.”

“I didn’t know how else to get him to stop except maybe knocking the kid out but I didn’t want to risk that.” Shouta tried to explain.

“I know, I know. I saw the footage. Poor boy looks like a glass sheet ready to shatter.” she said.

“Speaking of,” Tsukauchi interjected, “I need to ask you if you know anything more about Midoriya. I already know the situation with Hizashi and Shinsou so I wanted to know if there was anything else I missed.”

Shouta nodded. “I saw the giant at a fighting ring once.” 

At that Tsukauchi frowned a little so he made sure to clarify. “It was at an underworld hotspot. No, I won’t be telling you where it is.”

“Why were you there?” the detective asked, making the right choice by listening to his advice.

“Funnily enough I was looking for some information on Midoriya. I spotted a couple people in cloaks watching me, then I saw the big guy fight. He did something that reminded me of my fight with the Behemoth and sure enough when I asked them about Midoriya they seemed to fit the bill for being puppets.” Shouta summarised in deadpan.

“And you didn’t stop them?”

“It wasn’t Midoriya, it was his puppets. Attacking them would've done nothing. I also didn’t want to follow in case I was wrong.” he clarified quickly.

“How well did they fight?” Nedzu asked, finally speaking up.

The question was a bit odd but he wasn’t going to ask. “Wasn’t really a fight. Other guy couldn’t even make it flinch. Thought the thing was going to kill him with how much it tossed him around.”

Nedzu didn’t seem to like that answer. Well no one in the room really liked it. Midoriya already seemed to be on the verge of doing something he can’t take back if not he’s already done it. Arguably he might even kill accidentally with how lethal that giant was.

“I also learned the ‘names’ of those things.” Shouta continued. “The big one’s Brutus and the other, normal sized one was called Zoe.”

“It might’ve been Ana.” Hizashi suggested at which the detective nodded in agreement.

Shouta asked what that was and the two explained that Shinsou talked to Midoriya through a puppet called Ana and after some descriptions involving height, it was believed that the two  puppets were likely the same.

“Does Midoriya go to these fighting rings often?” questioned Tsukauchi.

“No, according to a guy I asked, it was their first time.”

The detective made sure to get this all down in his notepad. Asking a few more follow up questions before saying he has nothing left to ask for now. 

“What’s happening now?” asked Shouta, turning to Nedzu. He already could tell what that rat was probably thinking behind those beady eyes of his.

The detective answered instead. “Unfortunately, in terms of finding Midoriya, not a lot. That kid is really good at hiding. We’re currently looking around but haven’t found much. But that’s probably not what you want.”

Nedzu nodded. “Yes. Unfortunately, due to this being more public than your attack, Aizawa, the HPSC has decided to designate the young Midoriya as being a threat that needs to be arrested.”

“So he’s a villain now?” he asked, voice shaky.

“Not for the moment. I’ve pushed them back on that word but the court of public opinion is harder to manage.” the small principal said.

Tsukauchi spoke. “We’ve had a conference to explain a bit of the context of the fight but that’s just led to people either being angry or confused at how a kid has managed to evade the police and heroes.”

Shouta didn’t say anything else. He just felt numb. Not just him but Hizashi too. They both felt like they failed on a lot of fronts. Between the blond losing Midoriya a year ago and him being beaten to near death they can’t both help but blame this on themselves.

Not only was he right there but he was arguably weaker due to having to have his metal protector keep him away. All he needed was a hole in that armor, some exposed fluid and maybe the whole thing would’ve collapsed and Midoriya would be safe and not causing trouble.

Now the kid probably had no trust in anyone and was going to be even more isolated.

The room was quiet all around. There was not a lot anyone could say in such a difficult situation. All of it hinged on finding Midoriya but no one had any idea how to accomplish that. It wasn’t as if the kid was going to get any worse at hiding. No things just felt stuck. That is, everyone except for Shuzenji and Nedzu. 

“Well are you just going to mope around? You need to get a headstart on your rest so you can get back out there and find him.” she chastised.

She continued. “That kid needs a home. A real one. And the only way he’s going to get it is if there’s someone to stop him. And the only one who can do that is you.”

The rat agreed. “Your quirk, from what we’ve found, is probably the only thing that can reliably shut down those puppets Aizawa. It’d make sense that you’re the only choice to go after him.”

“Of course you won’t be alone. I’ll try and push back the HPSC’s decision on what Midoriya is for a while and start dusting off some laws about rehabilitation just in case. I’ll even keep checking to see if I can trace him over the internet, seeing how he accessed the police database.”

As the two laid out what their next steps should be, Hizashi next to him began to smile. “It seems we may be getting more than one kid,” he whispered.

“You think we’re adopting him?” Shouta said back.

“Maybe,” he said, looking at his husband. “As long as you’re alright with it?”

Shouta just sighed. You know, at this point he might as well. Midoriya needed help and they’re right, he is going to go after him so he might as well give the kid a good home too. He brought home Dot before from off the street so how hard could it be for a kid?

“I’ve already gotten one. What does two matter?” he said but despite his lack of enthusiasm, Hizashi could tell he wasn’t really upset at the prospect.

They’ll give not just Shinsou but Midoriya a place in their home. Whether it will work or not, doesn’t matter. Shouta now had a goal and maybe it was hastily made in retrospect but one day he might look back on this moment and not feel an ounce of regret.

Yes. This was a plan he could get behind.

- - -

Hitoshi looked at his phone where he had sent at least half a dozen texts to Izuku just wanting a response but there’s been nothing. Just the constant note that he was blocked and that it was unlikely he was even reading his messages. That didn’t stop him from having tried every day for the last week.

Right now he was at his foster home, lying in bed late at night reading the news and anything related to Izuku. He got the update yesterday that Aizawa had woken up from his coma and Hitoshi was so grateful for it. He felt awful when he heard what happened from Hizashi when asked and couldn’t help feeling like he could’ve done more.

Not in protecting Aizawa but in helping Izuku. 

He knew there was something strange going on with him. He knew he lived alone, rarely ate and a whole other red flags he could’ve, should’ve looked into. But he didn’t and the reason was clear. He was scared of losing the only friend he had.

He never wanted to push into learning more about his friend who clearly didn’t want to be known further than his first name and voice. Especially after learning more and more about him passively, he knew if he pried there was a good chance he would leave and Hitoshi would be all alone.

Left in a foster home that had parents who didn’t love and back to school where none of the students liked him, cared about him and even hurt him. He didn’t want that. And now he’s paying for it. 

He didn’t know who Izuku was truly, or why he ran the second he saw the pro heroes but he knew from his perspective, he betrayed him. Even though Hitoshi didn’t do anything wrong by just being around Hizashi and Aizawa, he knew that from him asking about Sunday at two and trying to meet him in person…

He’d think it was a set up too.

And it seemed he couldn't convince him to trust him again, no matter what he sent. No matter how hard he tried to explain how it was all a misunderstanding. Hizashi was also asking him for his phone because they could maybe trace Izuku’s number but he was afraid of not getting it back and losing any chance of speaking to him again. 

YamadaHizashi: Hey Shinsou! Just checking in

to know how you’re doing.

YamadaHizashi: Sho’ has been doing better and

says hi btw

YamadaHizashi: Shinsou?

ShinsouHitoshi: I’m fine. Thank you.

YamadaHizashi: Great! Just wanted to let you know

as well we’re almost through the paperwork for 

foster care. 

YamadaHizashi: That is if you still want it?

That’s right. He still had that to unpack. The fact that two pro heroes want to take him in. The fact that anyone wants him at all was a lot. If he wasn’t already emotionally drained he might’ve smiled a little.

Of course he still wants it. Even though he’s only known Hizashi for a month and Aizawa for a day he felt happier with them than any adult he's been cared by. The thing was, he was still unsure whether or not they were really going to like him once they’d been around him long enough.

He’s never had a long term friendship with anyone but Izuku and look how that ended up. How was he so sure he wasn’t going to screw this up and hurt these two who wanted to foster him. It felt like something he didn’t deserve and he hadn’t earned the right to just go off and have a happy life whilst his friend was probably scared and confused.

It felt wrong and evil.

‘But what would Izuku think?’ a small voice in his head whispered.

He’d probably tell him to go. Aizawa and Hizashi seemed to be good people and Izuku knew how much he wanted foster parents who cared for him. He knew Izuku cared for him, between the tutoring, the outings they’ve gone on, all that food he bought and even sometimes clothes. 

And of course there’s the teachers, he didn’t need to do that. Didn’t need to risk being exposed (even though that isn’t a bad thing) which he knew was the last thing he wanted. He did all of that for Hitoshi and maybe he wouldn’t now but he knew that if Izuku just understood that this was a misunderstanding, he’d probably tell him to do it.

ShinsouHitoshi: yeah. If it’s not a problem

YamadaHizashi: Shinsou, it is not a problem

at all. We’d be happy to have you.

YamadaHizashi: Me and Sho’ are still doing

the paperwork but hopefully it should be done

soon. Let you know more when it happens!

It seemed that was that. He was going to live with the Yamadas. The Aizawas? He knew the two were married but they didn’t seem to take the other's last name. Maybe it’s to do with hero work or they’re attached to those names or something.

Anyway, now he can focus on everything else. He still had summer and he didn’t want to stop training. Not because he wanted a distraction, or maybe he did, but mostly because if he wanted to help izuku he needed to be strong. He knew they’d probably not let him help but that wasn’t going to stop him.

This was something good. This was a plan he could do.

- - -

New Child Villain defeats Two Heroes! Escapes leaving the Heroes Competence in Question.

Last Sunday afternoon, a fight had broken out between the pro hero Death Arms and another underground hero who will not be identified and referred to as Hero A. The fight occurred in the middle of the street between block five and four in Musutafu where multiple bystanders recorded the heroes attacking a ‘metal man’ carrying a small child.

According to a police conference released the following Tuesday, the child involved had a puppeteering quirk that was controlling the ‘metal man’. He was also revealed during that conference to be one Midoriya Izuku, aged seven. According to police chief Tsuragamae the child had been declared missing over a year ago after an incident involving a hotel fire.

Sure enough, our research had found that a burning of a hotel over a year ago was indeed related to the child, with the death of his mother, Midoriya Inko, with his father, Midoriya Hisashi, believed to be a prime suspect. 

From what our sources claim, no arrests were made as they failed to locate Midoriya Hisashi and there are even speculations that he has relations with the Dragon’s Roar, a large criminal gang that is based all over Tokyo. This has led to some speculation of the younger Midoriya being affiliated with the Roar but was disproven in the same conference by Tsuragamae when it was explained that the seven year old was believed to be acting alone.

When questioned on the reasons for the chase and not simply attempting to talk to the child, it was responded with the revelation that MIdoriya Izuku, using his quirk, is a prime suspect in the Fright Night incident over a month ago where several teachers from Aldera Elementary were stalked and traumatised by an unidentified monster.

In the end this Behemoth wasn’t caught but there have been reports of an altercation between the monster and a pro hero before their disappearance. 

This has led to many outcries over why the heroes have not captured Midoriya yet with many saying the dangers of the child controlling such a dangerous creature. Not just that but during the altercation on Sunday, the child had not only defeated, through their quirk, not just the pro hero Death Arms but almost killed Hero A after they had pulled Midoriya from the ‘metal man’ before being crushed by it.

 Reportedly Hero A was put into critical condition by Midoriya and had fallen into a coma that he has yet to awaken from.

Ultimately, there have been outcries over this child villain and how the heroes, despite it having been a year since his disappearance, had failed to locate and capture Midoriya before he became a threat with many quirk analysts noting the dangerous power of his quirk should it be used for more evil.

- - -

Izuku had barely moved in the last week. Only getting up on occasion to go to the bathroom, drink and eat scarcely. He was holding onto the small plush Hitoshi won at the arcade of a yellow dog and barely did anything but stare at the wall and occasionally look at his phone to see Hitoshi trying to talk to him.

He also knew that Ana was fired from her job because of him not ordering her to go in but it’s not as if he needed money right now. He didn’t know what he wanted right now. He’s already wept his heart out over all of it. 

Not only was Hitoshi with the man who chased him a year ago but he was also with Eraserhead. If that wasn’t him plotting behind his back then what was it?. What else could it be? He asked him over that day when those two would be around.

Not only that but he was attacked too. By both of those pro heroes. When he lost his grip on Brutus he panicked and before he knew it the hero was bleeding on the floor and there were screams all around. Now they were calling him a villain and honestly, now they weren’t wrong. He’s definitely going to go to jail if he gets caught and he doesn't know what to do.

Not only did he have to worry about Hisashi but now the pro heroes too and the stress was starting to freak him out. 

“What am I going to do?” he whispered, not meant for anyone but maybe Ana who was standing next to the bed. Brutus was at the door, blocking it in case someone broke in.

There really was nothing. He felt lonelier than ever and the walls felt like they were crashing in. He just wanted to hide further and further but every time he did he kept feeling lonelier and lonelier.

“It’s only a m-matter of time. Now H-hisashi knows I’m a-alive and…”

He stared at his phone and thought about many things. How the root of his problems was that he was always afraid and always hiding. It made him tired, alone and from the looks of things, evil. He hated it.

So maybe. He should just stop. Turn himself in and put an end to this. Finally just stop and let the world take him. But the fears were too strong. He almost killed a pro hero and it was disturbingly exhilarating. It disgusted Izuku a lot and it made him scared of what he was becoming.  

Maybe he is a villain, just like Hisashi. Maybe he could only be truly happy as one. He knows that he’s being hypocritical with all he’s done for Hitoshi but this isn’t about quirks it's about actions. 

“Actions.”

Actions. Action. To do something. But has he really done anything that wasn’t done in panic or defense. Maybe that was his problem. The whole time Izuku has been hiding away from Hisashi, that maybe. He beat pro heroes not once but twice. Not one but two and is still here to tell the tale outside of bars.

He thought ages ago when he first started that maybe one day he could be strong enough to fight Hisashi and bring him to justice himself. Maybe now was the time. To take the fight to him before he took it from him. Beat him down before he could find him and stop him once and for all.

Kill him and-

“No!” Izuku said aloud, surprising himself.

He wasn’t going to kill Hisashi. He was sure. Killing was a line he knew he was dancing with but he didn’t want to cross it and become just like him. He wasn’t that monster.

But maybe he could be one anyway. He already had experience stalking. He had experience fighting. Maybe he could become a monster that could hunt down him and stop him finally. For himself and Mama.

Izuku looked up at his computer. He remembered that guy, Giran, was an information broker. Maybe if he paid him enough, he could find Hisashi. He stepped up and settled next to his computer and with that both Ana and Brutus spurred to action, grabbing a pair of cloaks and heading out.

Maybe he could learn a lot and do something crazy and be brave not because he believed in someone else but because he believed in himself.

Yes. This was a plan he could get behind.

Chapter Text

The streets were dead quiet around the old factory. It was the middle of the night and it rested in the lonelier parts of town so of course there wasn’t a sound. Despite that though the people inside the rotting building didn’t allow their workers out for smoke breaks or even some fresh air.

This was an expensive operation where Trigger was being produced by the batch load and though the Dragon’s Roar typically didn’t care who found their operations, this one had a lot of money behind it. Which is maybe why there were so many criminals watching the streets and patrolling the place either by foot or camera. 

One of those guys, Saisutsu, was currently in the furthest room in the building in what was the foreman’s office but was now his. He was here late to look through if the production quota was met and logged that information away to be sent back to the heads. 

He wanted to be up there some day, become one of those mysterious Dragon Heads and not have to lift a finger whilst an army of goons did all the work for him. Well, he was still doing that now but at least up there he’d get a high rise building and not some crummy factory.

Honestly though, he has been on edge recently. Typically heroes would knock out about two operations of the Dragon’s Roar in a fortnight but this week alone there’s been two and it’s making the whole gang antsy.

Communication has always been loose with the Dragons so there wasn’t much that can be said about why these raids are happening more often this week. Maybe there’s a snitch feeding the heroes information and will probably get sniffed out sooner or later. After all, the Dragon’s Roar was structured in a way that made it harder for rats to exist without being caught.

Hell, he didn’t, and probably many other operations, know their places were being raided until it made the news. That’s how little communication there was between the higher ups and the grunts.

Saisutsu in particular fell on either side. Whilst he was sure he was ‘higher up’ because he’s had more talks with the real heads over letters, emails, phone calls, whatever was the communication method that week, he was still out there in the thick of it. Naturally, he knew he was a bigger target as any information on those mysterious heads was better than none.

So yeah, patrols doubled and that’s meant pay’s doubled too to the large, balding man’s hate. He knew good, loyal men had deeper pockets and he wasn’t about to risk being forced to fight heroes alone just because he got stingy.

Anyway, besides all of that there was one more thing he needed to do, and another reason for all of the security. There was a client coming who wanted to take a huge batch of Trigger and they only wanted to visit at night. Made sense, most business dealings were done at night.

What didn’t was the fact they were apparently coming alone. Typically they’d have an entourage for these kinds of deals. This wasn’t a representative either, it was the same guy who made the call.

He took a look at a monitor to the side of the room showing footage of the place. He should be expecting them to arrive soon so he straightened his suit, practiced his sleaziest smile and made sure the horn coming out of his face like a rhino’s was polished.

Right on the dot, a cloaked figure walked across the street from the factory and stepped inside the gates after they were unlocked by a guard. Saisutsu couldn’t see who they were because of the cloak but it seemed they were thin and average sized. A part of him didn’t like that, he preferred to know who he was looking at before the meeting started.

He monitored the cameras and watched the figure carefully as they met with a guard who radioed to him that ‘she’s here’. That was a bit odd. He could’ve sworn the buyer was a man but if they gave the right signal then maybe he misheard the buyer.

The woman was escorted through the factory and straight to his office where she sat down on the chair across from him that the guard pulled out. Needed to keep things cordial when there could be hundreds of thousands of yen on the line here.

“Hello,” greeted Saisutsu in his deep, heavy voice, “it is a pleasure to meet you. The name is Saisutsu. And what might be yours?”

The cloaked figure was silent for a moment and he was irked a little. Not by the silence but the fact she was still cloaked. He really didn’t like doing business with someone he couldn’t see.

“Zoe.” the figure whispered.

The voice was quiet and nearly digital. It was probably a voice changer he guessed and it wasn’t the first time a client came with one. Those were usually the ones he hated the most.

“Well, Zoe, do you want me to take your cloak? It must be stuffy under there.” he suggested.

The figure just shook their head and that was even worse than if they just said no. But he can keep his cool for a little bit. 

“Well, let’s get to business then.” the large man uttered. “I know you are here for our latest batch of Trigger. Am I right in remembering you said you wanted all of it?”

“Yes.” she responded succinctly.

“Wonderful!” he clapped his hands together and rubbed them. “Now typically our batches come up to about five hundred vials, is that enough for what you need it for?” 

“Is five hundred your usual batch, or can you make more?” the figure uttered.

Saisutsu let loose a wider smile. “Of course! And of course for that our rates are higher. How many did you have in mind?”

“One thousand. Are these really Dragon’s Roar quality?” she asked without missing a beat.

“We can certainly push ourselves to do one thousand.” Saisutsu stated. “As for the quality, I can assure you, every vial guarantees at least twenty five to thirty minutes of pure power in your veins.”

“Can I confirm this?” Zoe questioned.

“You should know you don’t sample Trigger.”

The woman seemed to go quiet at that but seemed to accept it. After a conversation about the price and some negotiations over how the stuff would be transported, he decided to find out more about his customer. He knows he shouldn't pry but it’s important to know who you’re talking with.

“Are you planning to resell this Trigger yourself?” he asked.

Zoe seemed to still. “No. It’s planned to be used in an operation.”

“What kind?”

“Infiltration.” she simply said.

“Awful lot of drugs for an infiltration. Where are you attacking? Tartarus?” he said jokingly.

But when the woman went silent he felt he might’ve hit right on the nail. He couldn’t tell though, cloak and all but he definitely felt he hit something. Before he could say more though, the power went out.

“What?!” Saisutsu said as he stood up. Zoe did the same.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Might’ve been a power outage.” and he took out his radio.

He called over the comms and it seemed everyone was alright though there was one voice that came through he didn’t recognise. And if Saisutsu is anything, he gets paranoid when it comes to things he doesn’t know.

“Who is that on line three?” he ordered.

The guy didn’t say anything and all alarms were run at the factory. The intercom was down so he settled with the radio, commanding all of his men to move towards the main factory floor that he can see through the office’s window. He watched as all of his men gathered there barring some whilst Zoe asked if there was something wrong.

“Some heroes might be lurking around here.” he grumbled. “We’ll be fine up here.”

Eventually the emergency power kicked in and the lights were on in a dim orange glow. The men all huddled together as the factory was now dead silent besides the hum of machines. Then came the sound of something distant, crushing, footsteps. 

Heavy footsteps that seemed to be omnipresent and no source other than everywhere, somewhere in the dark. A few of the three dozen men started to sweat at that, as though they weren’t sure where the footsteps were coming from, they were getting close. Thundering, now mechanical sounding steps growing louder.

All of them were armed with either knives, fists or quirks as they kept together as the sound of walking got heavier and louder until it felt like they were right next to them. The echoing of the large factory didn’t help but suddenly those steps stopped.

“Where are they?” one guy whispered.

It was the only sound now before a loud crack in the ground as the basement opened up beneath them to a giant hulking metal man pulled itself from under. At least a couple of people had fallen in, lost underground as the rest spun around to fight.

The metal man had hollowed eye sockets with black pouring like tears like they were crying. A few of the men stumbled back at the mangled metal giant and watched as it took out a long metal pole and swung it wide, hitting at least five different people in the face with a loud crack and sending them hurtling away.

Several of the thugs charged, stabbing into the thing, expecting the metal to pierce but it didn’t. One guy tried to jump back but his head was grabbed by the metal thing and he was swung like a weapon against anyone else who didn’t get out of its range.

A loud clash of metal rang out as a man with barbs for hair slashed at the big guy before, with frightening speeds, he was hurled into a wall and crashed into a few boxes of ingredients. Another reached out to place their fingers on the back of the giant but was kicked painfully without it even looking and he crashed into another thug.

About a third of the guards were down and not getting back up as the rest circled the giant. One man, with light green hair, called out to everyone to get back and breathed out a toxic green gas that overwhelmed the giant.

“How’s that?!” he screamed before through the smoke a fist slammed him to the ground with broken teeth.

A whip made of lightning latched onto that fist and soon translucent hands latched onto its other, dropping the metal pole. The thugs shouted to attack but in an audible click, gas started to spill out of the things eyes and mouth, filling the area with this dark green mist.

As some who ran too close breathed it in, they suddenly felt gigglish and calm as their adrenaline nose dived before they could reach the giant. That gave it enough time to grab the lighting whip and pull its user over to be grabbed by the neck and used to bash off the hand’s restricting its other arm.

They were then thrown to the user with that hand quirk and the rest kept fighting as this giant just kept taking down man after man with seemingly no effort.

“Fucking heroes!” Saisutsu swore. “Don’t recognise him so he must be underground.”

He’d been watching the entire fight and expecting to see more heroes but didn’t. As for Zoe, he assumed she was watching with him but when he turned around, he saw her messing with his desk and cabinets.

“What the hell are you… You're with them!” he reasoned as he charged towards the woman.

His horn was aimed towards her chest and seemed to pierce through it but before Saisutsu could celebrate, he realized it was a lure and was now blinded by her cloak. His hand reached up to rip the thing off only to find Zoe gone from where he saw her.

“Where did you-”

A zap of electricity flowed through him causing him to grit his teeth before he was forced to the ground, twitching at the shock. He was still conscious though, and looked up to see a disfigured woman who looked more like a puppet than a person. 

She had one eye that didn’t move or blink, the other one hollowed like the giant’s with more black paint drawn on it in the shape of tears. They had a long cattle prod that sparked in their hands and smoked a little from the flesh that it just seared. 

The creature delivered a kick to Saisutsu’s face and collected her cloak, ignoring the hole in it for now and continued to rummage through the cabinets. Meanwhile the metal giant was almost through with the thugs, having just used one as a shield against someone with an ice quirk.

‘I can’t let this happen…’ thought Saisutsu. ‘I’ve worked too hard to be taken out now, I’ll have to…’

- - -

Ana was thumbing through the documents, Izuku taking screenshots of every one to be looked at later. All the while he controlled Brutus who only had a few people left to dispatch. He needed to hurry up soon, the fighting had been loud and although it was a relatively deserted area someone had started to call the police. He stopped them by redirecting their call to somewhere else but it’s only a matter of time.

The doll was almost through the documents and the giant was almost through the people, even that guy with the horn mutation who he was warned about. It’s why he made sure to not be conservative with the cattle prod, he didn’t know what his quirk fully was and he wasn’t going to gamble on it.

But before Ana could get through the last documents, suddenly she was lifted by her leg and thrown through the window towards Brutus who managed to catch her before she crashed to the ground. Back at the office, a hulking figure pulled itself from the shattered glass. With a grey hide and a much larger horn, his suit was shredded to reveal a man much larger than before.

‘He must’ve used Trigger.’ Izuku reasoned, seeing the small needle in the hulking man’s hand.

“I will destroy you punks!” the man roared as he leapt down and charged towards the two dolls, concrete cracking with each thunderous step.

Ana ran, looking to hide, she isn’t built for fighting at least not directly. Brutus on the other hand…

Izuku recalled a hero, Greatquake, and ordered Brutus to get into a stance not unlike a sumo wrestler and prepared to meet the rhino. The man was on all fours, roaring and growling as the two giants clashed into each other.

The sound of creaking metal was heard as Brutus was shoved back a few feet, still holding onto the shoulders of the man to stop him. The rhino let out another roar and swung his horn into the giant's head but was stopped last second by Ana kicking the side of his face and hopping onto his back.

She stabbed the cattle prod into the beast, this time where his spine would be in the hopes of paralyzing him. They lurched and cried before bucking wildly, sending Ana off and crashing into a couple boxes.

He’d also broken free from Brutus and drove the horn into the giant’s chest, sending him hurling back a few feet as well. A hole was now present on the front of his body, exposing some muscle in the form of spinal liquid twisted like moss to hold the doll together.

‘Brutus isn’t strong enough to stop him on his own but Ana’s cattle prod isn’t powerful enough to stop him quickly.’ Izuku thought as he started looking online for anything on rhinos and weaknesses. Unfortunately it’s either brute strength or a killing blow but there was a mention about the underbelly.

‘It’d make sense, he’s moving on all fours instead of running. He’s preserving his weaker underside.’ the boy reasoned.

Saisutsu was still reeling from the shock, which gave Izuku enough time to order both Brutus and Ana to take out their recovery drinks. The spinal fluid couldn’t regenerate once it’s inside the doll and can only be redone if Izuku reinjected them at least, not unless he did something interesting.

Both of the dolls took out a plastic bottle filled with Izuku’s spinal fluid and poured it into their empty eye sockets, absorbing the liquid into their bodies and replenishing what was lost from the crashes.

‘Now, how do I get Ana to shock his underside?’ the boy thought as he looked around the room with Ana whilst Brutus kept his eye on the rhino who was recovering.

‘There.’ and she ran.

Saisutsu turned to the doll as she ran in his direction and he was about to chase her down but Brutus got to him first, ramming into the beast and knocking it down but not enough to topple him over. 

Concrete crunched as the rhino held his ground and with one hand, grabbed the giant and lifted him up to skewer him on his horn. Brutus reacted fast though and slammed down with both hands onto his head, earning an explosive yell before a sudden gas released by the giant’s eyes left the rhino blurry eyed and teary.

“Agrh!” Saisutsu yelled. “I’ll rip you apart for that!” 

He dropped the giant who immediately ran behind the rhino and slammed into the back of his knee, dropping him slightly as he gained more distance. The hulking man, tearing up a bit from the gas and having a hard time seeing, spins around to see a blurry image of the giant.

The rhino slammed the ground with his fists and roared as he charged towards the blurry giant, with more force than he ever showed and almost shaking the building with every step. The police were definitely on their way now and heroes too. Thankfully, the battle is almost over.

Brutus got into the sumo stance again and took the force head on, metal creaking heavily but he didn’t get pushed back, for this he needed to tank him fully. The hands definitely needed a touch up again but that was for later as just like before, the rhino was held by the shoulders who was on all fours as he tried to push forward to no avail.

“I’ll rip you both apart! I’ll tear you to pieces!” he yelled in the giant’s face and Izuku would be scared if he didn’t see what Ana was doing.

“You’ll be de-”

A powerful shock ran through his body’s underside, electricity pouring through as Ana, in the hole that Brutus made during his entrance, poked her prod through to stop him from below. The rhino was bigger than Brutus, so he wouldn’t fall into the hole provided he lure him right and because of the tear gas in his face, watering his eyes, he didn’t notice it either.

The man seized as lightning flowed through him, fighting the urge to fall unconscious but because of the shock, Brutus had enough room to let go of Saisutsu and deliver a final powerful slam to the rhino’s face, cracking the horn and knocking the man out entirely.

He collapsed, just as distant sirens ran out forcing the two to leave early. Brutus hopped down the hole after Ana and the two rushed through the basement, out a door and into the darkness of night.

Izuku watched through cameras whilst the police surrounded the building and rushed in, some underground heroes hopping in through the roof to see the mess he caused as he made sure that none of them saw the dolls leave. Once the coast was clear, they made it back home and rested whilst the boy poured over the documents.

It had been several months since Izuku declared war on the Dragon’s Roar. Of course they didn’t know that at first but definitely now they were aware someone was targeting them. He’s knocked out three of their operations in one week, far faster than the heroes but that tends to happen when you don’t care about red tape.

Before now though, he mostly looked to build up money either through fighting rings with Brutus or stealing stuff with Ana. Not stuff as in robbing banks but mostly getting documents and data from companies he was commissioned to target. 

He needed the money to improve his stuff, getting a better computer, better cybersecurity and of course improving Ana and Brutus. 

A lot of Brutus’ stuff was between getting him better and scarier armour and that gas emitter in his skull. So far, Izuku’s jumped between using nitrous oxide and tear gas to attack with to make big group fights like that easier. The armor though was mostly just having an actual blow torch to weld instead of a hammer. 

Ana was a lot more simpler. Besides getting a more flexible mannequin for her body to make her more life-like, the cattle prod was also a thing he realized he needed after a job stealing information led to him beating a man with a fire extinguisher. The voice box was also good at getting her into places, just like tonight.

Of course, all these upgrades were done by each other and not by Izuku. He’s gotten weaker, especially with the fluid recovery drinks he’s made. That and the fact his appetite was non-existent to the point he’s had to set a reminder for him to eat or he’ll die.

Maybe he was becoming self-destructive, maybe he just doesn’t like to eat. Who can say? A therapist? No. Nonsense, Izuku doesn’t need one when beating people up was more therapeutic than anything.

But that was at the back of his mind right now. Because for the moment, he had something else to deal with; that being these documents and the fact that he didn’t get all of them.

Indeed the Dragon’s communication network was confusing, on purpose of course, with different methods of talking and even different ways of delivering those messages. Thankfully, this guy, Saisutsu, kept good notes so he was piggybacking off of them but only to a point when he realized something in one image.

There was a file that was only partially captured that mentioned something about a meetup with a head. Why was it partially captured? Because of the next picture that showed Ana being tossed through a window.

‘I need to get that document. The police will have collected it by now but it’s only a matter of time before someone ‘loses’ it.’

It wasn’t that the police themselves would destroy the documents but Izuku could tell that the Dragon’s Roar didn’t get this far without someone in the police force to cover their tracks. Not unlike Izuku unless you count the fights where he’s been leaving hints of his presence. He wanted Hisashi to know he’s coming.

However this of course had an annoying effect. Izuku looked at the cameras of the factory again and saw that countless guys were being led out, the rhino having to be moved in a metal vest and a stretcher. There were also a few news vans outside, probably due to the loud roaring, who were reporting on the scene.

None of that bothered him. What did though was the man who just dropped in, hiding away from the media. Eraserhead.

For some reason the man showed up to every site he was on. Sure he was on his case but so were other heroes but he would always be there and the fastest too. Izuku didn’t like it. He probably wanted to get his revenge on him for almost killing him. That’s the only logical reasoning behind that.

Not to mention he found out in some records that they had tested his erasure quirk on that water bottle he left in the hotel and sure enough as Izuku theorised, it caused the liquid to fail.

‘He must really want to get back at me.’ the boy thought.

An assumption he would come to be wrong about.

Chapter Text

Shouta was currently rushing over rooftops towards the more dead side of Musutafu. He had gotten a call from Tsukauchi that there had been another raid done by Midoriya. A cloak that looked like it belonged to the giant doll, Brutus, was discovered on site. 

He hopped down into the street, where there was a massive arrest of villains probably from in the factory and quickly rushed past the perimeter of the scene to avoid the press. He wasn’t camera shy but rather being an underground hero meant he was naturally someone who didn’t do well in the spotlight, either for personal or professional reasons.

Once inside, the factory within was smashed up. Broken crates, machinery and even what appeared to be a hole in the floor that led to the basement. The lights were off too but they flickered on as he stepped in. He quickly noticed the detective he was searching for in an office overlooking the factory floor.

“Detective.” he greeted, hopping in through the shattered window.

“Eraserhead.” he greeted back.

Shouta noticed that he was looking through some recordings on a monitor of what seemed to be some kind of fight. “Is that why you called?”

“No, I’ve just been looking through this footage now. Thankfully the cameras ran on the backup generator.” he explained.

“The power was cut?” Shouta questioned.

“Yeah. As you can see we just got it back on.” he said, motioning to the lights. “As for this footage, it’s clearly Midoriya’s puppets at work.”

He watched the footage too of what seemed to be both the big puppet, Brutus he recalled, beating up villain after villain without rest, seeming to release gas as well to disorientate them. Meanwhile an office camera for this room showed the other doll, Ana, going through documents right behind the head villain’s back.

He then proceeded to watch as the main guy used Trigger to boost his strength and fight the two puppets. Them fighting back with impressive tactical thinking, playing to their strong suits as well. It was impressive, if he didn’t get a bit shaky at the end watching the final punch by the giant into the man’s nose.

“Is he-”

“Yes.” said Tsukauchi. “He’s fine. A concussion definitely but thankfully Midoriya held back enough.”

Shouta then proceeded to watch the puppets both leave through the hole they made seconds before a pro hero came in through the roof. Then heading out an emergency exit and vanishing beyond the camera’s views into the night.

“We tried following on any other cameras but they all went down once they got outside.” Tsukauchi stated. “We’ve also learned that someone tried calling us earlier on one one nine but the call was interrupted.”

The pro hero nodded as he thought through how this has been the third attack on a Dragon’s Roar operation this week. 

After Midoriya was exposed to the world, he hid and went silent for months. Even at the Darkest Theatre he didn’t show or at least if he did, he made sure to avoid him. Shouta had tried to, with Nedzu’s help, track the phone number he used to talk with Hitoshi but nothing came of it, the number reaching a dead end.

However, he has heard whispers of Midoriya. The Brutus puppet isn’t subtle and given how he was captured on film, anyone who’d see the giant would know that that beast was actually being puppeted by a child. So he knew the kid was still around, at least in Tokyo. He also knew he did infiltration and stealing from part of his findings.

None of this however ever led to Shouta even seeing neither hide nor hair of Midoriya, or his puppets. That didn’t mean he was going to stop. He needed to do this. For Hizashi who’s been eager to get that ‘green bean’ home safe and for Shi- Hitoshi, who wants to see his friend safe and happy.

But he won’t lie and say he isn’t frustrated, at least until this week when these attacks came in. It was clear the kid was leaving hints it was him, probably for the Dragon’s or rather his father. That was something that scared Shouta. The kid was clearly going on a revenge hunt and people who do that normally don’t come back happy. Not to mention the fear that he might get hurt or worse, killed.

Hopefully with his revenge tour he’ll get sloppy and Nedzu will finally be able to track him down through his camera, the ones in the puppets he means. Their plan was simple. Apprehend a puppet, take out its wireless camera and use it to trace back to Midoriya before the kid can cover his tracks.

Now taking down those puppets was a different story. He definitely couldn’t fight the giant on his own without getting creative so his best option was the smaller one. As long as he could get that one alone, he’d be able to beat them. 

It’s why he’s been going to these scenes. Both the giant and the doll were fighting and if Shouta could just join them in the middle of a fight, the giant might be distracted enough to give him a chance to snatch the other away.

But it seemed tonight was a bust. They got away before he could get there but at the very least he should check to see what they took. “Do you know what they were looking for in the documents?”

“Besides obviously Hisashi? More operations. But we couldn’t find much as usual after raiding a Dragon’s operation.” Tsukauchi explained, then paused as he went to the desk. “Except for this.”

What he showed him was a simple message in an envelope marked as being received last night. An invitation to a meeting that mentions a lot about the higher ups. The address was clear and so was the timing. 

“It seemed Saisutsu, the man who this was for, didn’t burn it in time.” the detective assumed.

“Did Midoriya see this?” Shouta questioned, looking over the document.

“Part of it. On camera the puppet reading the documents was thrown out before they could fully see it. Midoriya might have enough though.” he theorised.

The pro hero set down the envelope and made a mental note of the meetup date. It was soon and given how it mentioned needing to be burned, after reading the very bottom, Shouta was sure they wouldn’t know they were coming. 

It also meant there was a chance, no, he was going to be there. The question was did Midoriya have that information yet.

Shouta looked through the footage again, going to the part where the puppet looked at the documents. The screen was grainy but he could see that most of the document was covered by another but it showed clearly what it was for. Everything except the date and place, which were at the bottom of the document.

“We could use this.” uttered the pro hero.

“How?” asked Tsukauchi.

“Midoriya didn’t get the important parts of the document. If I spread the word underground that I’m willing to trade it, the kid will bite.” he planned.

The detective’s eyebrows furrowed at that. “Are you saying you want to leak documents confiscated by the police to the underground?”

“Not leak. Just spread the word that I have something that Midoriya wants.” he clarified. “The kid is smart enough to know exactly what it is if he notices the document.”

Tsukauchi seemed to think that through before seeming to accept it. “As long as nothing actually gets out, that’s fine. We need to keep this top secret. I know there’s going to be a leak if we hold this information carelessly.”

“I’ll take it home then.” the pro hero decided, taking the envelope and tucking it away in his scarf. The detective agreed. It was safer in the hands of a pro than in the police station. Whenever they’ve gotten intel like this in the past it’s always ended up ‘misplaced’ and ‘missing’. The two went their separate ways and Shouta went on to continue his patrol and Tsukauchi to finish the factory.

- - -

Hitoshi was up late again in the living room. Watching TV whilst absent-mindedly petting Dot on his lap. He was nervous about tomorrow and what it would bring. Actually it was already tomorrow but that isn’t what mattered, what did was he couldn't sleep and needed something to take his mind off everything.

After being taken in by Shouta and Hizashi, he was pulled out of Aldera. That being for two reasons. One was of course the bullying he received making things hard for him to just be a kid but the other was the fact that, not just the school but the schools altogether were closed down for the year.

Even though Izuku hasn’t said anything to Hitoshi over the phone he still has, he did release a massive bombshell of a file online showing footage recorded over ten days of the goings ons in all three of the schools. Between the bullying, the unfair treatment by the teachers and the rampant discrimination, the education board had fired most of the leadership and was restructuring the school to be better.

It also didn’t help that his new… caretakers, used their connections to hammer in further the damage and make sure the school’s board was fired and had their teaching licenses revoked. All the while Hitoshi kept getting that bug in the back of his mind telling him that everyone was doing too much for the likes of him.

But that still didn’t answer the question on why he was so nervous. Well the answer was simple, he was going to a new school tomorrow. A private one meant for the kids of heroes which he is of two. He was afraid of going, both because he didn’t have Izuku to help him but also because the private school, Somei, was meant for rich kids and he was not at all exposed to that kind of culture.

And it wasn’t as if he could ask for anything different. He can’t, he’s scared too. He likes both Hizashi and Shouta and he doesn’t want to burden them anymore than he already has. He can’t be greedy, no matter how much Hizashi says it’s alright to call them his dads. It just feels too soon to tell he’s really here to stay.

Speaking of their relationship, he’s had a hard time adjusting to the two of them. Not because they were difficult, the problem was they weren’t. They were attentive, caring, friendly and it was something Hitoshi was not used to. He wasn’t used to waking up in a spacious room, smelling fresh pancakes meant for him. He liked it but it felt like something was wrong with that.

He knew he had self esteem issues but knowing that didn’t mean they went away. Of course he’s been to therapy with that but it doesn’t stop him from pushing people away out of habit.

Suddenly, the back door opened. It was the middle of the night so this should be a cause for concern if Hitoshi hadn’t gotten used to seeing Shouta come in after patrol. 

The pro hero just looked at him and a small sigh left his mouth as he greeted him. “Nervous  about tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Hitoshi answered with a yawn back.

Shouta hummed at that response and took off his scarf. He then pulled out an envelope of some kind from it that he brought with him upstairs to his office. The purple haired boy thought that was it until he came back in and went to the kitchen, the sound of the coffee maker turning on.

He comes out three minutes later with two cups and hands one over to him. It was black coffee and he immediately took a sip ignoring the burning that came from it being fresh as the hero plopped down not next to him but on an armchair. The TV was still on in the background, going on about some news about a factory raid.

The man sat there for a moment, drank a sip of coffee, before turning to Hitoshi and with a bland tone just asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Couldn’t have asked me that before you handed me the coffee?” the boy said.

Shouta took another sip. “Harder to say no.”

‘Of course it was,’ Hitoshi thought. Shouta was aware of his constant self guilt so forcing him to tell him what’s on his mind by bribing him with coffee was an obvious move.

“And also I was tired,” he added, both of them knowing that being tired didn’t mean they could sleep.

“Well thanks.” Hitoshi answered, both of them taking sips of their drink. 

After a small beat went by Shouta looked up to chat with him. “So want to talk about tomorrow or not?”

Hitoshi was quiet for a moment before he decided to speak up. “I was nervous about school.”

Shouta hummed. “So am I.”

“You are?” Hitoshi was a bit surprised. Does Shouta think he won’t be alright with the new school? Or was he nervous about Hitoshi causing trouble, or-

“I’m talking about my new job, kid.” he clarified, noticing Hitoshi’s slight spiral.

“Oh,” Hitoshi sighed, a bit relieved. “Why are you nervous?”

“I’m not a people person, in case you haven’t noticed.” he started. “I’m afraid of messing up the next generation of heroes. I have the training, yeah, but the experience is nonexistent. I don’t even know if I’m doing things right by you even.”

“I think you are, you’ve done a lot for me!” Hitoshi tried to correct.

“Thanks for the glowing review,” he said simply. “What about you?”

The boy took a longer sip of coffee, thinking of what to say. “I’m scared of things being the same in Somei, just without Izuku this time to help.”

“I’d say you’re doing fine with learning but that’s probably not what’s bothering you.” he guessed correctly.

“I don’t know if they’ll get scared of my quirk or not.” Hitoshi worried.

- - -

Shouta sat there for a moment, watching the TV. It was the news cast of the factory. They’d already found out it wasn’t the heroes who did the raid and are speculating. A press conference is probably going to have to be released on that given the frequency of these raids on Dragons going up.

He knows things would look bad if they said Midoriya did this. Nedzu was already keeping back the HPSC from declaring him a villain even though this would technically be vigilante work. They could just chalk it up to villains fighting villains for territory.

He’s getting distracted. Hitoshi asked him a question and he needed to answer it. He switched off the TV so he wouldn’t get distracted again.

“Kid, I hate to say this, but someone somewhere will be scared of you. It’s only logical.” he finally answered. “But it’s never about a popularity contest. Do you want to be a hero?”

Hitoshi nodded. 

“Want to be an underground hero?” he asked.

Another nod came from the boy. “I don’t really see myself dealing well with cameras and autographs, even though Hizashi makes it look easy on the radio.”

“Yeah, that cockatoo loves chirping away all day,” he joked in a slightly amused tone. “But seriously, you probably don’t need me to tell you that you need a bunch of friends to be happy. Even one can mean everything.”

He knew he was drawing a parallel there with Midoriya but he didn’t want to say anything and let the kid come to his own conclusion. That’s what some of the teacher training he got from Nedzu said.

- - -

Hitoshi took in the advice. Shouta was right, there wasn’t a lot he could do to make people like him. There’s always going to be someone who’s scared, or angry, or mean about his quirk. It’s logical as he put it. But what happens if that’s everyone? What if everyone is all those things and no one will give him a chance?

“Hitoshi, do you really think me, ‘Zashi and Midoriya are the only ones in the world who don’t see your quirk as ‘villainous’?” Shouta argued, seeing his inner turmoil.

“N-no.” he stuttered, startled at being so easily seen through.

“Then find yourself a friend. At least one. Somei isn’t like Aldera. Never been myself but I have a friend whose brother goes there and he says things are good there.” Shouta argued softly.

Hitoshi nodded and accepted that challenge. If not for himself but to keep that promise to Shouta. He wanted to find a friend. He wasn’t going to give up on Izuku though, far from it. However, seeing as his mind is there…

“Have you found anything new on Izuku?” he asked, knowing he can’t say much if there really is something.