Chapter Text
The sky was already turning dark when Midoriya began to make his way back home. It’d been a long day at school, quite literally. A few classmates had decided to lock him on the roof again and it took a while to climb down.
Usually the lack of light would skyrocket his anxiety, but today he was too tired to care.
There was some quiet rustling in a nearby alleyway, but he passed it before he could work up the energy to question it.
His eyes were partially closed already and he wasn’t even half-way home yet.
Dull red trainers dragged against the floor, kicking up rocks with every step he took.
He looked blankly up at the clouds above him, their dark grey centres foretelling rain in the near future.
Nearing the corner, he looked behind him purely out of habit, feeling his heartbeat speed up when a tall figure was closer than he predicted.
Turning back around, he made the not so smart decision to ignore the person. He doubted that it was anything to worry about, but some nagging in his subconscious whispered advice of finding a witness who could at least aid him if he were to get in trouble.
Midoriya became slightly more alert, taking several detours to check whether the man was actually following him or not.
Much to his growing dismay, his shadow didn’t seem to be getting any further away.
He contemplated calling someone, but what if the other was just trying to get somewhere and it was all a coincidence?
In the dying hopes to be left alone, he took a pit stop in the nearest corner shop.
The man entered behind him, closer than he was before.
Dissimilar to his previous expression, his face was now plastered with badly hidden fear. His breaths were speeding up slowly, not noticeably.
He stiffly took random paths around the shop, weaving between shelves. He continued this until he felt the eyes on him fade and heard the door’s bell ring.
He let out a soft sigh of relief, but only for a moment.
He didn't want to celebrate too soon, so he began to walk up to the till in the hopes of getting an extended stay.
Those hopes were crushed seconds later when he saw the man talking to the cashier. In his panicked wandering, he’d failed to notice the second person in the store.
His muscles froze up as the male turned to him, a false grin painted on his face.
“Ah, there you are.”
He shot an apologetic smile to the cashier.
“I’m sorry, my nephew can be so troublesome at times.”
Eyes wide, Midoriya gasped soundlessly as realisation dawned on him.
The taller man stepped towards him, reaching out and snatching Midoriya’s wrist in a grip not dissimilar to a vice.
“Thank you for helping me find him. We’ll be leaving now.” The stranger announced, tugging the child towards the door.
In a fruitless hope to be saved, he shot the cashier a look screaming for help, but the other simply smiled apologetically and turned away.
Midoriya wondered how many kids were taken like this, in front of another who assumed the kidnapper was family.
The thought made him sick, even more so when he considered the possibilities the man wanted him for.
He stumbled slightly as he was manhandled out of the shop and down the road.
The stranger took him through various alleyways until he reached a dead-end.
“Listen here, boy. You’re not gonna cause a scene. You’re gonna come along quietly and I won’t have to hurt you. How’s that sound?”
Midoriya blinked blankly.
“Why should I?” He asked, an honest question.
He was slammed into a wall less than gently.
His eyesight blurred.
Even as his situation declined, the person in front of him looked almost like he could be recognised.
Filtering his mind for males who matched the person before him, he promptly ignored the taller’s raised voice.
It took a while with all the faces in his mind, but he eventually found it.
“Pro hero Richiumu, quirk, non magnetic metal manipulation. Rank: 507. Your higher ups suspect you for the Shimo case. They’re catching on to you.”
The man hesitated for a second.
“That’s why you decided to target me. I’m quirkless, next to nobody will miss me. Your human trafficking ring, if you get out of this, is set to be destroyed in one month and three days.”
He looked the kidnapper in the eye, toxic green irises glowing in the faded moonlight.
Richiumu flinched, looking to the side.
Before he could even think up a response, a spiked shoe kicked him in the skull, knocking him to the ground.
The plot twist wasn’t expected, but was more than welcome, so when the intruder stood tall, Midoriya gladly skittered behind him.
The new figure was about six foot four, with shoulder length black hair, a blade complimented attire, and a movie-villain typical mask.
Midoriya’s eyes widened, it was obvious that this wasn’t a hero, but at the moment he didn’t care.
The newcomer forced his foot into the criminal’s gut, pushing the air out of him.
Before he could pull out a blade and deal the finishing blow, Midoriya grabbed his hand.
The man looked at him with a questioning gaze, carefully removing himself from the younger’s grasp.
“What?” The man asked, an annoyed look on his face.
“I’m not going to let you kill him.” He stated, voice infinitely more confident than he felt.
Shifting his weight so he could face the teen better, Akaguro raised an eyebrow.
“You do know that this hero tried to kidnap you, right?”
“Of course, I’m not stupid. But if you kill him now, he won’t be able to serve his time in prison.”
Akaguro rolled his eyes.
“He’s a hero, I doubt he’ll get more than a warning.”
The greenette chuckled softly.
“He would’ve if I hadn’t started voice recording on my phone the moment I entered the shop. Seeing as I don’t have a quirk, there’s no way I could use one to mimic his voice. In the eyes of the law, I have no skill.”
Akaguro made a noise of agreement, glancing back to the downed man’s body.
He pulled a weapon from its sheath and smacked the handle against Richiumu’s head, successfully knocking him out.
With his back turned to the boy, Midoriya took his shot.
There was one major difference between the quirked and the quirkless, and he knew exactly how to target it.
Springing up on to his toes to reach as high as possible, he stepped forward and slammed two fingers into the vigilante’s neck.
Akaguro crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.
He knew that the moment he left the two alone, one would kill the other, so he took the chance.
Grabbing the vigilante in a novice fireman's carry, he slung him over his shoulder and felt his knees buckle slightly under the new weight.
He got to a safer place, a few houses away from the so-called hero, and dialled the police.
It took a while for the police to arrive, and whilst he was waiting he managed to somehow use the vigilante’s scarf to create a painfully slow and small pulley system.
It was a snail pace journey up, and he had to rewrap the scarf around whatever he could find every few minutes.
Part of the reason it took so long was the underwhelming lack of muscle on the teen.
Once he finally got up, he checked to make sure the man’s windpipe was open and placed him in the recovery position.
It would be pretty shit of him if he let the person who saved him die.
He stayed there with the stranger, glancing at the time every once in a while.
The last time he checked it was around ten past nine.
The darkness of the sky seemed like it had tripled since he got out of school. He wondered if he should call Inko, to make sure she didn’t worry, but then remembered that five percent charge on his phone probably wouldn’t last through it.
He crossed his legs, prepared to wait however long it took until he could leave knowing nobody was killed.
It took about half an hour for the vigilante to begin to stir, and Midoriya was struggling to stay awake by then.
He blinked once, springing to his feet as soon as he was fully conscious.
Once his eyes landed on Midoriya he barely held himself back enough to not drop kick him.
“Jesus fucking Christ, kid.”
Midoriya frowned.
“Language.”
“Japanese, bitch boy.” The vigilante spat, rolling his eyes at the teen’s child-like traits.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
“Shouldn’t you be at the police station or some shit?” The killer growled, annoyance evident in his exaggeratedly pained face.
“Yeah, but I’m not going.”
“Why?”
Midoriya winked.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me your name.”
The vigilante gave a huffed laugh.
“Like I’m gonna give some kid my identity.”
The greenette shrugged.
“Your loss.”
Swinging his legs back and forth over the edge of the building, he began to quietly hum.
He knew that no matter what, he would get the man’s name.
The pair were like that for some time, a comfortable blanket of silence draped over them like a second skin.
Midoriya could tell with practiced ease that the murderer was feeling restless.
It was obvious that the man was uncomfortable with the limited social interaction, not to mention being in the presence of such a strange boy.
Akaguro made a movement to leave, but was held back by the child.
“Nuh uh. You’re not allowed to leave until you tell me your name.”
The older attempted to tug his arm out of the kid’s death hold without hurting either party, but failed miserably.
The killer sighed.
“Fine. Call me Mizuniki.”
Midoriya rolled his eyes.
“Your real name.”
After a few seconds contemplating his choices, he sighed, giving in.
What could a child do with a name, after all?
“Akaguro Chizome. If I hear it going around, I’ll know who it was.”
A bright smile lit up Midoriya’s face.
“Thanks, Akaguro-San!”
As much as the vigilante tried to resist, the smile was infectious and he soon found himself with slightly curved lips.
“Well, what’s your name then?”
The usual gruff undertone of his voice had retreated; it was barely noticeable now.
“Midoriya Izuku!” He chirped, sticking his hand as a peace offering.
Against his conscious will, Akaguro took it, shaking it gently.
Their hands dropped to their sides and the killer closed his eyes, the strain of being awake for so long beginning to kick in, feeling safe enough to do so for some inexplicable reason.
He opened his mouth to say something, but by the time he’d opened his eyes again the kid was gone.
He chuckled to himself.
What a curious child.
“So, yeah.. Is that enough?”
Tsukauchi blinked before his head fell into his hands in frustration.
“You.. You almost got kidnapped and you never mentioned it?”
Midoriya groaned.
“That’s the part you focus on?”
Tsukauchi sent him an incredulous look.
He pouted playfully, sitting up from his previously slouched position.
“How’s he behaving?”
Tsukauchi glanced at his phone which was on silent.
He froze when he saw the string of notifications on his screen.
“He.. He says he’ll only talk if he can see you..”
Midoriya scrunched up his nose.
“But that’s effort.” He whined, sliding down the soft chair.
“You literally took him down earlier today, but walking to his interrogation, which is only a few buildings away, is too much.”
He was shushed almost immediately, Midoriya leaning across the table to place a hand over his mouth.
“Silence, wench.” He hissed.
The journey was, as expected, really fucking short.
Midoriya was huffing most of the way, not enough to be annoying and just enough to be humorous, and the almost-stranger smiled in amusement.
The security was as tight as expected given the situation. There were multiple double locked doors and countless winding corridors on the route through the building, but they eventually approached a simple interrogation room
The adults pretty much shoved him in desperately.
Midoriya had never felt so small before, but now, with eyes on him from all angles, he felt like a bug, trapped and observed.
He shrunk under the attention, silently walking towards the table Akaguro sat at.
The sound of metal scraping on stone sounded too loud for the room, rebounding off the walls until it finally died out.
“Midoriya,” Stain acknowledged.
“You’ve grown..”
The teenager shrugged.
“Time tends to do that to you.”
The conversation felt unnatural, like oil on water.
“Why are you still here?”
Akaguro blinked.
“Because they haven’t moved me yet?”
The younger male rolled his eyes.
“You know what I mean. Why haven’t you escaped yet?”
The criminal leaned forwards, as if revealing a secret. Midoriya could almost imagine the police and heroes in the other room having simultaneous aneurysms at his movement. It was rather entertaining.
“Because I was taken down by a true hero and if I leave I have the chance of a fake catching me.” His voice was low, almost low enough to count as a growl.
“That’s stupid. Take what you can and run for it, that’s how you work. You don’t lay down and accept defeat so simply. Tell me, why are you still here?”
Akaguro sighed, “Because here is where I have the highest chance of seeing you.”
A short bark of laughter slipped out of the teenager’s mouth by accident.
“You’re kidding.”
He searched the killer’s eyes for any hints of a lie, but found none.
“Jesus fuck, man.”
Midoriya sighed exasperatedly.
“I gave you my name when we first met, we both know you remembered it. If you wanted to talk, why didn’t you just ask one of your followers to get my number or some shit?”
Stain blinked very, very slowly.
“Ah.”
A loud screech accompanied the chair as it was pushed back.
“No. We’ve spoken, so please, please just tell them what they need to know.”
And with that, the officer in training left, too fed up to deal with that bullshit.
Midoriya had gotten thanks from the detective for aiding the investigation and that was by far the best payment.
A quiet tapping sound stole Midoriya’s unconsciousness right from under his nose.
At first he was irritated; he’d been sleeping well for the first time in seemingly ages and some stupid knocking ruined it.
Then it was confusion and realisation.
Tsukauchi would knock four times, this was three.
So who the fuck was knocking at two in the bloody morning? Midoriya was about to find out.
The sounds weren’t derived from wood, they were much higher pitched. That left a single option. His window.
As usual, the windows were closed, to aid his questionable sleeping habits.
Taking a second, closer look at the curtains, there was a slightly darker spot in the right corner.
‘If it’s something bad, Tsukauchi will hear me.’ He reasoned, stepping closer to the glass until he was right next to it.
He tore the pieces of fabric apart, almost squeaking when a frustratingly familiar face was the source of his anxiety.
He pulled the window up with unnecessary force.
“What the absolute fuck are you doing here?”
“Taking your advice.” Was the haste response.
Glancing at the time, he turned back to the criminal.
“Go the fuck away.”
"But-"
Midoriya rubbed his brow.
"Akaguro. It is too early and there is nobody stopping me from kicking you again."
"Midoriya! Can I at least have an autograph?"
The greenette stared him dead in the eyes, hissing a single, "No!" Before pulling the window down so fast it shook.
That's enough murderers for now. (Or is it?)