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Izuku breathes heavily as he zips across the skyline, dashing from rooftop to rooftop and his body buzzing with the power of One For All Full Cowling. Even moving this fast and at this distance from the ground, Izuku can hear screams and blaring sirens, and the crackle of flames breaks up his view of the night sky.
It’s a villain attack. It’s always a villain attack. Members of the League of Villains appeared in the centre of the city an hour ago, and they have already caused total chaos. Izuku was with Todoroki, Iida and Uraraka at the time, the four of them soon getting surrounded by the other civilians as the police and pro Heroes ordered them all to evacuate. But, of course, they didn’t, breaking away from the crowds and rushing off to see if they could find the villains or help the Heroes.
They all split up and ran off towards different fires and areas where they could hear the most commotion, and Izuku hasn’t seen his friends since. He hopes they are okay. The last time he was in a city when villains attacked, it was the Hosu incident and they all nearly died.
Izuku comes to a stop, gasping for breath. He scans the skyline, trying to look out for villains. Maybe he’ll notice a Nomu or that warp gate villain, or some civilians who need help. Whatever he sees, he needs to do something. He wants to be Hero one day, and this is what Heroes do.
And then he freezes when he hears a shriek, a shriek of pain and utter terror. His stomach clenching, Izuku rushes off in the direction of the shriek. He peers over the top of the building and sees two figures in the alleyway below.
“What’s the matter with you?” one of them says, irritated and confused.
The other, the one who shrieked, sounds young and panicked, their voice thick with sobs as they say, “It hurts.”
“Of course it hurts. But suck it up. We’ve got a job to do.”
“Please don’t hurt me!”
“I’m not gonna hurt you,” the first person says, but the other just keeps crying.
And just as about Izuku is about to intervene, the first person walks off. Once they are out of the alleyway, Izuku hops down to the ground and walks towards the crying person.
“Hello? My name’s Mido— Deku. I’m here to help. Are you okay?”
He hears sniffling and whimpering. Izuku steps further into the alleyway, his eyes adjusting to the dark. There is a person hunched up on the floor, their knees tucked up to their chest. Their head is bowed, showing blueish-grey hair, and they are dressed in all black with their hands held out awkwardly in front of them.
Oh shit…
Izuku recognises this person. But no, it can’t be…
“A h-hero?”
Shigaraki Tomura is staring up at him. That hand isn’t covering his face, but his face is coated in blood, bleeding from a gash at his hairline. Tears stream down his bloody face, and he looks so scared, so weak, and so… young.
This has to be a trap, right? Shigaraki is a villain and probably wants to murder him the moment he lays his hands on Izuku.
So he doesn’t walks closer, staying out of his reach. But he says, “Yeah, I’m a hero. I can help. Are you okay?”
“No,” Shigaraki whimpers, tears making clear trails through the blood on his skin. “My… my head hurts. Blood…”
Izuku steps closer. “How did you get hurt?”
Shigaraki sniffs. “I don’t know. It just… it hurts so much.”
“Well, do you want me to help?” Izuku says, starting to feel more and more like this isn’t a trap. He doesn’t know what the hell is going on, but Shigaraki’s act is too real to be faked. He really looks terrified.
Izuku steps closer and Shigaraki shrieks again, shuffling backwards. “No, don’t touch me. You’ll… I’ll hurt you. My Quirk… it’s bad. My hands… they’ll hurt you.”
Trying to pretend he doesn’t know Shigaraki, because Shigaraki clearly doesn’t remember him, Izuku says, “It’s okay. I just won’t touch your hands. I’m not scared of you.”
Shigaraki stares up at him, more tears running down his face. “Really?”
He nods. “Yeah. Let me see your injury, okay?”
“Okay,” Shigaraki mumbles.
Even though this might result in his death, Izuku kneels down beside Shigaraki and places his hand on his shoulder. Shigaraki flinches, but looks at him.
“Th-Thank you.”
“For what?” Izuku says.
“For not b-being scared of me,” Shigaraki says.
Izuku smiles reassuringly (still confused that this is his biggest enemy acting like a scared child before him, but trying to keep this hidden), and takes a close look at the injury. There is a gash at Shigaraki’s hairline, jagged and leaking blood. It looks like someone sliced him with a knife.
“It’s not too deep, but you might need stitches,” he says.
“I hate stitches. They hurt.”
“I know. But it’ll be okay. Um… can I ask you something?”
Shigaraki nods, starting to scratch at his neck. “Okay.”
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Tenko.”
Okay. So Shigaraki must be a fake name (or maybe the other way around).
“And how old are you?”
Shigaraki scratches his neck harder. “S-Six.”
What the hell?
Izuku is about to ask more questions when they hear footsteps at the entrance to the alley. Shigaraki whimpers and curls in on himself.
“Tenko are—?”
"Quiet, they'll hear us!" Shigaraki hisses, sobbing again.
“Who will?” Izuku whispers.
“Mom and Dad. They don’t like it when I leave the house. They’ll hit me. And they’ll hurt you too.”
Izuku stares at him. Is Shigaraki really acting like his childhood self? And if so, did his parents abuse him when he was a child?
“Quiet. Hide. Safe,” Shigaraki whispers, scratching at his neck so hard his fingernails tear his skin, coating them with blood.
“Deku?!”
Izuku’s eyes widen. Shigaraki jumps, flinching.
He knows that voice. It’s Uraraka!
“Don’t worry,” Izuku says. “That’s my friend. She won’t hurt you.”
“Please don’t go,” Shigaraki says, and he reaches out and grabs Izuku’s arm – and disintegrates a patch of his sleeve.
They both flinch. But Shigaraki dissolves into tears, curling up in a ball and tearing at his neck
“Deku? Are you there? They’ve caught some of the villains. The warp gate got away, and we can’t find Shigaraki, but otherwise it went well. Deku?”
“Sorry sorry sorry,” Shigaraki is mumbling. “Dangerous dangerous dangerous.”
“No, it’s okay,” Izuku says. “Look, I’ll be right back, I promise.”
Shigaraki stares at him. He doesn’t look impressed, but he nods slightly.
And Izuku stands up and walks into the line of sight of Uraraka. He rushes over to her, finding Midnight-sensei stood just behind her.
“Deku!” Uraraka says, and she hugs him.
“We’ve been looking for you, Midoriya,” Midnight-sensei says, eyebrows raised. “You and your friends are going to get a mouthful from Aizawa, I can tell you that. Uraraka wanted to come and find you, so I let her come with me.” Noticing the disintegrated part of his sleeve, she adds, “Are you okay?”
“Deku?” Uraraka says again.
“Uh… okay, listen, this is going to sound weird, but I need to say it,” Izuku says. “I’ve found Shigaraki, but he’s really screwed up.”
“What?”
“Where is he?”
“No, wait,” he says, putting up his hands to stop them rushing past him. “He’s… he’s acting like a kid, himself as a kid, I think. He’s terrified and he hasn’t hurt me. I think he’ll come quietly if we’re quiet and calm when we arrest him, okay?”
Midnight and Uraraka look at each other, clearly confused.
“You seem to know what you’re doing, so show me,” Midnight says, smiling. “Uraraka, can you call the police for me?”
“Yes, sensei,” Uraraka says, taking out her phone.
And Izuku nods and shows them where Shigaraki is. He looks even worse, his neck covered in blood and his nose running. He looks up at Izuku and manages a pathetic smile, but shrinks away when he sees Midnight and Uraraka.
“Izuku? Who… who are they?” he stammers.
“It’s okay, Tenko,” Izuku says, kneeling down in front of him. Behind him, Midnight-sensei is prepared to rip her sleeve and knock him out with her gas. “They won’t hurt you. Can I hold your wrist and you can come with me?”
“Where?” Shigaraki says, frowning and biting his already damaged lip.
“Well… bad things have happened and you have to go somewhere to talk about it,” he says, trying to make being arrested sound like a good thing.
Shigaraki is a very… obedient person when acting like this, and he isn’t sure if that is a good or a bad thing. All he knows is that Shigaraki sniffs and holds out his arm, letting Izuku grasp him firmly but gently around the wrist, and haul him upright.
“Now you look quite unsteady, so can Midnight here hold your other wrist?”
Shigaraki nods, and a thoroughly confused Midnight does the same to his other wrist. They help him walk down the alleyway, Izuku unable to comprehend what is happening.
And when Shigaraki looks at him and smiles weakly, Izuku finds himself actually feeling kind of sorry for him.
---
It turns out that Shigaraki is prone to age regressing – that being a thing some people do when too much stress gets to them and they end up reverting to a childlike state, often acting like themselves when they were younger. It happens involuntarily for Shigaraki.
He learns all of this from the police, who commend him for finally getting Shigaraki Tomura arrested. Izuku is thoroughly embarrassed by the whole thing, and it’s actually a relief when Aizawa-sensei tells him off and gives him detention for being dangerous. But Izuku doesn’t care, because this is all part of being a hero.
---
Although it turns out to have all been for nothing. Because the next day, the warp gate villain breaks into Shigaraki’s cell and takes him back to wherever their hideout is. Because the villains always get away.