Chapter Text
Despite what Stain thought to be a brilliant disguise, Izuku from the other end of the table realized that his colleagues’ outfit stood out in the crowd of blacks and grays that littered the area. His hood pulled over his head was ragged and full of holes, his pants had been washed of their original color, and his boots had mud covering them, leaving a trail of footprints from the door towards his seat.
It was no wonder the officers sat near them; along with them trailing Izuku, Stain looked like a straight-up criminal, and even that was generous. Other customers around them tried their best not to stare, but the slight head-turns and enlarged pupils gave it away that they were the center of attention. Stain adjusted his mask with a finger and pointed towards Izuku’s untouched food with another.
“Are you going to eat that?” Izuku knew that Stain was just trying to play the part, but even in this context it seemed like a ridiculous question. He pushed the tray towards Stain who was taking fries before even before he ended his sentence.
As Stain ate, it was clear he hadn’t eaten in a while, and thus looked like an animal shoving fistfuls of fries into his mouth. The officers from the table turned around to see what the commotion was, and Izuku shoed them away with a harsh stare. He really wasn’t looking to get questioned while Stain devoured a burger, heinous noises and all.
Stain threw down the wrapper and pulled his mask over his face to cover himself again. He leaned across the table, into Izuku’s ear.
“I will be right back, don’t engage.” He walked into the bathroom, leaving Izuku alone to feel all the stares of everyone inside the restaurant. Bouncing his leg, the glances from the officer in front of him became more frequent, and every time their eyes met the amount of fear in Izuku’s eyes grew. He was trying not to make it obvious he hated being alone with them, but he stiffened with every movement they made.
One of the officers got up to enter the bathroom, leaving the others to look directly at Izuku. Stain said not to engage with them, which he definitely wouldn’t, but he needed to do something. These officers were grilling him just from their eyes. He got up to dump his trash, and walked outside, the officers following him a minute later. It was risky not having Stain with him, but he was confident the officers wouldn’t try anything without his shady friend around, they didn’t have any reason to.
Outside, he fiddled with his phone, pretending to do something while he examined the officers. The problem he was facing right now was why they were tailing him. It was possible they knew his online persona and were trying to eliminate him, but that seems like something they can pay someone to do. It’s also possible they knew he had a connection to Stain and were trying to catch him in the act, but they shouldn’t have seen Stain’s face. What they saw was just some homeless guy bothering a kid, or at least that’s what he hoped they saw.
Just then a body crashes through the front door of the fast-food restaurant, flying across the pavement. Izuku takes a step back like the other bystanders and sees Stain push open the doors to enter the street. He looks over to the other officers, their legs visibly shaking. Well, there went his plan to stay down-low.
Stain still has his mask on shielding his identity, but it wouldn’t help now. The villain looks around and spots Izuku out of the corner of his eye and gives him a glare, a bloodthirsty aura surrounding him. The officers take out there stun guns, shakily pointing them at Stain who sees no threat from them. They try to launch the electricity towards him and when he easily dodges it, Stain sends a punch their way that blows them back on their asses.
The officer that was pushed back into the street charges towards Stain and tries to throw a punch. He catches it and throws them into the other two officers. It was almost funny seeing the difference in power between them, but what wasn’t funny were the heroes arriving behind Stain. They sent a blast of fire towards Stain, who was too close to the crowd for anyone’s comfort.
Izuku runs towards the street to get away from the blast and Stain glances at him, his eyes filled with a slight worry. But as the heroes landed, Stain needed to worry about himself getting surrounded. He takes a few steps back, and a beam of fire sent towards him. It grazes a light pole, incinerating it enough to burn its stability and nearly falling on Izuku, who avoids it with a side-step.
Stain launches himself away from the scene, a couple heroes trailing him and one walking up to Izuku.
“Midoriya, I’m surprised to see you today.” Izuku flinches under the deep voice and he turns around to see Todoroki in his hero suit. He looks to the light pole at his feet.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Never been better.” He says, sarcastically. Todoroki’s eyes grow wider and his lips thin.
“Sorry, I’m glad you’re okay. It seems you’re always getting yourself into trouble. What were you doing around here?” Izuku shrugs and glances towards the police officers walking towards them.
“I was just getting a bite to eat when that guy sat at my table. He was kinda scary looking, so I gave him my food and this mess happened.” Todoroki huffs.
“What an ass,” He mutters as the officers approach them, their eyes focused on Izuku, but before they could say a word Todoroki placed himself between Izuku and the officers.
“Can I do anything for you officers?” He asks.
“We need to bring this boy in for questioning.” Todoroki shakes his head.
“No, you don’t. Since this is has turned into a villain attack, it’s the hero commission’s job now, you three just go rest. You look like you took a beating.” They want to say more, but a figure appears from behind the kids that scares the officers away.
Todoroki already knows the presence behind him and turns around uninterested.
“Hello, father. Catch that villain? Or were they too fast for you?” He towers over the pair of kids, and Izuku’s eyes are instantly drawn to the large scar on Endeavor’s face. He glances towards Izuku, who tries not to collapse under his gaze, and crosses his arms.
“No, I didn’t. They were too fast for me to catch.”
“Ah, that’s too bad.” Todoroki says in an even more monotone voice than before. Endeavor’s eyes narrow and he gradually turns his gaze towards Izuku. The flames radiating off his body weren’t the only things that set Izuku’s body on his fire, it was his stance, his harsh eyes, and his face that made the heat burn into his skin.
“Who is this, Shoto? A friend?” He nods.
“Yes, someone I’ve met outside of school.” Endeavor slugs a glare towards his son and crosses his arms.
“You know you’re not supposed to be outside the school campus, Shoto.”
“It’s not like the teacher’s notice anyway, they’re too busy with other things, like you are.”
“Doesn’t that kid Ida keep an eye on you?”
“He’s just one person.”
“What about that girl Yaoyorozu?” Midoriya could feel the air change and burn under the pair’s argument and his face heated in embarrassment. This seemed like something that should be kept behind closed doors, but as Midoriya walked away, Todoroki grabbed onto his forearm.
“Two people looking for me to sneak out, does it really matter so much? And it’s not like you ever talk to me when I’m at home, why do you even care?” The hero’s face loosens for a second.
“Because you’re my son.” He speaks, his voice devoid of any harsh undertones. It seemed Todoroki didn’t have a rebuttal, and he focused away from his father.
“Well, I have to get a statement from him since he was involved with this incident, I can take it from here.” Shoto hurries off, pulling Midoriya away from his father at a pace slightly faster than his walk.
“I hate my father if you hadn’t noticed.” He drops his hand away from Midoriya’s arm and faces him, pulling out a recorder angrily. Midoriya tries to cheer him up with a smile.
“It seems like you don’t see him that often, so at least that’s good.” The student’s hand shuffles through the knobs on his recorder.
“Yeah,” He stays silent for a moment, the sounds of heroes talking through headpieces trailing through Midoriya’s ears. “I appreciate you staying silent through that, we get a little heated sometimes.”
Midoriya nods.
“Of course, just wondering is your dad connected to the police department in any way?” Shoto breaks his eyes away from his recorder to focus on Midoriya’s face.
“Not anymore than any other hero, he sees them as a weaker law enforcement agency.” He shakes his head, “Because of course he does.”
He finally gets the recorder working and Todoroki sticks the recorder in front of Izuku’s face.
“Can you give a testimony for me, please? How you involved yourself in this situation?” And just as he had made it seem like to those officers he explained to Todoroki that this homeless man sat in front of him and when he left to use the bathroom, Midoriya fled leading to the incident outside.
Todoroki’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Strange, you had no relation to this man?” Izuku shakes his head, lying.
“Well, it seems like you should lie low for a while, do you need someone to escort you home?” He looks around, “Anything to get away from my father.” It was just as Daichi said, not an hour before this conversation, he really needed to keep his head down. He had been getting himself into a load of shit that needs to blow over before he could move forward with his investigation.
“Sure, you can ride on the back of the motorcycle.” Todoroki softens his gaze, and he moves back towards his father, telling him of the situation before coming back, looking excited.
“Alright let’s go.” Izuku nods and the pair sit on the motorcycle, driving towards Izuku’s house with the afternoon sun overhead. It had been almost 15 minutes, and they rolled up to his apartment, Shoto hopping off his bike.
“That was quite the rush, I see why you drive that thing around.” Izuku takes his helmet off and shakes his hair around, ruffling it out of its helmet-hair state.
“Yeah, it is fun. Sorry I didn’t have a helmet for you I wasn’t expecting anyone to ride with me.” He rustles with his keys and he hops off the bike himself.
“I wouldn’t want to seeing how your hair looks right now.” Izuku looks up from his keys to meet Todoroki’s eyes.
“Wow, I think that’s the first time you’ve actually made a joke of some kind.” His lips turn upward and Izuku leads him to his apartment door.
“It doesn’t happen often, I only make jokes with my friends.” Izuku unlocks the door.
“Does that mean we’re friends?” Todoroki smiles.
“I guess so, do you think we are?” Izuku nods.
“Yeah, you’ve helped me out of this situation and the one with Bakugou, so I think you are. I would hope you are.” They both let out a chuckle and Izuku chimes up again.
“Well, thank you for escorting me home, I appreciate it.” Todoroki nods and he shuffles awkwardly, his hands fidgeting behind his back.
“Well, if you ever want to talk, you have my number. I’ll see you later.” Todoroki turns on his heels and he saunters down the street, a 30-minute walk in his future.
Izuku twists the knob to his apartment and walks inside, closing the door behind him. He slumps down, his back against the door. Finally, some peace and quiet from the hectic days Izuku had been experiencing. He sunk to the floor, closing his eyes and breathing in the moving air that flowed out of the air conditioner.
It seemed like he bit off more than he could chew these last couple of days, he really needed to give himself a break, he can’t let his whole life revolve around his work, it wasn’t healthy.
After a few minutes, he lifted himself from the ground and started up a bath for himself. Waiting for the tub to fill up, he cooked himself some fast ramen and took it into the bath when he wasn’t finished in time. By that time Mei was texting him wondering what he had done that day and Shinsou had texted him feeling a so-called ‘disruption in the force’.
For the first time in a couple days he was soaking himself in a bath, and he clearly needed it. Muscles that he hadn’t even noticed were tense, relaxed, and he sunk into the warm water.
Maybe lying low and acting like a normal kid would be good for him. Daichi had always been looking out for him. He probably saw how skittish he had been and told Izuku to calm down to save his sanity. He blew air out of his mouth, leaving bubbles to rise to the top of the water, bursting at the slightest contact with the bathroom air.
I guess for now it would be up to Daichi to continue the arson case while he took a break. Maybe Daichi could keep up his momentum and find more evidence, that was the dream. He just hoped everything would blow over in a couple days, he was already looking forward to getting out again.
He sighs.
“Quirkless signing off for now.” He mutters to himself before dunking his head under water.