Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cold. Loud. Ow. Falling- oh no, he was falling.

Something to his left. A flash of black and pale, a person? No, no, no, that was bad. Twist, launch, grab- crap, missed, keep twisting, try again- GOT THEM.

Now what? Gotta stop falling. Nothing to grab onto- one hand busy. Crap. He hadn’t tried this before, not moving this fast, but no time to learn like now. Ow. Okay, hard rocks were falling too all around them- gotta watch out for those. Right. Need to focus. Arm out, palm down, and-

BOOM.

It wasn’t Katsuki’s most elegant move. He still hit the ground hard, only barely managing to pull the other kid he’d latched onto over him so the other hit him rather than the solid concrete. But his explosion slowed their fall and redirected enough of their momentum that nothing broke. They would both just have a lot of bruises in the morning.

Katsuki took a second to overcome the initial pain, then forced his eyes open, remembering the debris that had been falling with them. He couldn’t spot any immediate danger, but they sure as hell weren’t safe here. Wherever here was.

The other kid on top of him was breathing, that much Katsuki could tell, but they didn’t seem to be awake. That might be a problem soon. There were a lot of things that were probably going to be problems soon.

Alright. Deep breaths. Katsuki shut his eyes for just a moment, just long enough for him to take stock of what he could remember.

His name was Katsuki Bakugou. He was eight years old. He had a really cool quirk. Right. So how the hell had he gotten here? And what was he wearing?

The clothing he was wearing fit him pretty well, but it wasn’t anything he owned. A flexible jacket with a high collar, an undershirt, gloves, pouches… all of it was weird. At least it was comfy, and well padded.

Clothing aside, Katsuki inspected their surroundings. From what he could see, they were in a pit of some kind. A sinkhole? It looked like something between a sinkhole and a really deep basement. Definitely was a building at some point, given the wiring and metal bars he could faintly make out. Getting out of here was going to be a pain. Especially if he had to lug this other kid around too.

As if on cue, the other kid chose that moment to wake up. It wasn’t slow or sleepy- more like a sudden jolt as their eyes flew open. They were red- the exact same color as Katsuki’s. Huh. Interesting. For a second or two, the other child was frozen and then they practically flew off of Katsuki. Ah, crap, that could be bad.

Katsuki forced himself up and took a step towards the other kid who was now backed up against some rubble, hands oddly clenched together over their chest. The step forward only seemed to make the other panic more, forcing Katsuki to freeze. Okay- Deku panicked too sometimes. Katsuki could handle this.

Racking his brain, he tried to find something comforting to say.

“Hey, calm down moron. I dunno how stable it is here.”

It worked a little bit, the other at least took a quick look around and realized that they were in a dangerous environment. Their breathing got a bit more steady. That was ruined when Katsuki took another step forward, sending them right back into a frenzy as they tried to push themselves away from him.

“I’m not gonna hurt you!”

His voice was more aggressive than he meant it to be, but it was enough to get the other to respond.

“Stay back! You can’t-”

Ugh. Katsuki threw his hands up in a sign of surrender and took a step back. The movement helped, and the other kid started to calm down. They probably needed a minute before they’d be ready to talk, so Katsuki used that time to study them.

The other kid looked about Katsuki’s age, although they were a bit shorter than him and a lot thinner. They had wavy, messy light blue hair that went down to their shoulders, and their skin looked really dry. Bleh, they needed a bath. And some lotion. Their clothing was simple; black shirt, black pants, familiar looking red shoes Katsuki couldn’t quite place. Not much to look at really.

Once they’d stopped hyperventilating, Katsuki tried talking to them again.

“Can I come closer now? I promise I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Instant shake of the head, hands clutched tighter to themselves. The other child took a few moments before they found their voice.

“I’m not- My quirk. It’s dangerous. I’m gonna hurt you if you don’t stay away. I need Sensei or ‘giri.”

Oh. Huh. Katsuki was a bit offended at the idea that this random kid thought they could hurt him, but he got it. His own quirk still gave him a lot of trouble. God knows he’d burned Deku more times than he could count ‘cause the other startled him. But this place was dangerous, and there was no chance they were gonna be able to stay apart if they wanted to make it out alive.

“I dunno who those people are, but they aren’t here. It’s just us. We’re gonna need to get out of here, and I might need to grab you again if somethin’ goes wrong. What’s the deal with your quirk?”

The other kid flinched at his words, but took a look around, a proper one this time, and obviously came to the same conclusion. After a few more seconds of internal debate, they finally spoke, voice obnoxiously quiet.

“... My hands- uh- they destroy stuff. If I touch all five fingers to somethin’, it’ll disappear. Or, um, it’ll decay. That’s what Sensei calls it.”

Well, that didn’t sound so bad. Katsuki glanced down to the gloves on his own hands, and bit his lip. These ones were obviously designed for him, they were made from the same material as the special gloves from the doctor he had to wear during the summer. They made it safe for him to touch stuff without getting nitroglycerin on things. Without them, he’d have a lot more trouble moving safely, and he might accidentally get nitroglycerin on the other kid. Still, it could work.

“It’ll be good as long as all five fingers aren’t touching?”

At the other kid’s nod of confirmation, Katsuki made up his mind and pulled off one of his gloves. It took searching through the pouches for a moment to find a suitable knife- this clothing had to be his because he recognized one of the blades he saw- and then he carefully sliced off two of the fingers from the glove. His hands were shaky from the explosion earlier, but it did the trick, and when he was done he held out the finished product for the other kid to see.

“Here! If you put this on, then you won’t have to worry about it. I’d give you both, but I need to keep at least one glove on too. Otherwise I could accidentally explode ya’ or give you nitroglycerin poisonin’. That’s my quirk, it uh, comes outta my hands and lets me explode stuff. But it’s dangerous too.”

For a long moment, the other kid blinked owlishly at him, stunned by the words and offered item. Then they startled back to life, still looking nervous, but not panicked anymore.

“I guess… I guess that would work. I’ll just need to be careful. Just- promise you won’t touch my other hand?”

“Promise! You just gotta do the same thing and not touch my other hand either, okay?”

Reassured, the other kid scooched forward to take the glove between two fingers. Gingerly they pulled it on and flexed their now covered hand a few times to ensure the fit was secure. Katsuki nodded in self-affirmation, and very slowly and carefully, he held out his own gloved hand to help them off the ground. A hand that was accepted after several seconds. Excellent.

“Okay, good. Now we gotta get outta here. I’m gonna guess you don’t know where we are either?”

A nod. The other kid was still staring worriedly at their linked hands, with their ungloved hand clenched near their neck.

“I figured. Whatever happened, this place isn’t safe. Everything feels… unstable. We’re gonna need to be really careful. Don’t let go of my hand unless you hafta, okay? That way if something goes bad, like if the floor gives out, we won’t lose each other.”

The other kid nodded, and then paused, a worried look overtaking them.

“Who are you? I don’t- We’ve never met. I’m not supposed to be around anyone unless Sensei says it’s okay.”

“I’m Katsuki Bakugou, and I dunno who your ‘Sensei’ is, but he’s not here so he doesn’t get to make the rules. Plus, I’m a future hero, so I’ve gotta stay with you until it’s safe! Who are you?”

Oddly enough, that made the other kid upset. He jerked his gloved hand back, pulling it back up to his chest, posture now defensive.

“My name is Ten- Tomura. My name is Tomura Shigaraki, and I hate heroes! They’re fake and bad!”

Now that Katsuki took offense at.

“They are not! Heroes save lots of people, and they fight all the bad guys! I’m going to be the best one too, and I’m not fake or bad!”

Tomura wrinkled his nose at that declaration.

“Heroes are just liars, they hurt people and act perfect and pretend that they’re better than everyone else even though they're not! I bet you like All-Might too.”

“I do! All-Might’s a really amazing hero, and when I grow up, I’m gonna be even better than him and prove you wrong! I’m not a liar, I never lie, and since I’m gonna be a hero, that means heroes can’t all be liars. Besides, I already saved you earlier. So there!”

That caught Tomura off guard, surprise overriding his anger.

“What do you mean? What happened earlier?”

Oh, right. Yeah, Tomura had been passed out during that. Katsuki felt some of his righteous rage dissipate when he was reminded of their situation. It was a really bad time for petty arguments.

“We were falling. I dunno what happened or why, but that’s how we got down here. I grabbed you and used my quirk to slow us down, so we didn’t go splat. ‘Cause I’m gonna be a hero, and that’s what heroes do. That means you’re sticking with me until we’re safe, and then you can go back to your Sensei and be wrong about heroes all you want, okay?”

As he spoke, Katsuki carefully extended his hand out towards the other, trying to keep his voice and posture calm. Tomura hesitated for several seconds, glancing from Katsuki, to where the two of them had hit the ground, to the ruins around them, before he must've realized Katsuki was telling the truth. The other boy’s eyes narrowed in confusion, flickering back to Katsuki and studying him. This felt like a test, but Katsuki was good at taking tests so he puffed his chest up and refused to waver under the other’s gaze.

Eventually, Tomura gave in. He looked away and grumbled something that Katsuki couldn’t catch before reaching out to take Katsuki’s gloved hand again. Good enough for Katsuki, now it was time to get out of here!

Turning on his heel, Katsuki studied their surroundings with a critical eye.

It was definitely a sinkhole of some kind, which wasn’t good since that meant the whole area was unstable. Said sinkhole appeared to be in the middle of some sort of old building. It was a big one from what Katsuki could see, he could count at least 10 broken floors. Light filtered in from patchwork holes in the top floor. More than enough to see, but all of the holes looked like they’d be a pain to get to. They’d need to get out through the building, and that meant that they needed to get up to the ground floor.

Katsuki took a moment to inspect the area they’d landed in too. Given the amount of moss, dirt, and rusted metal, this place had probably been abandoned for a while. Which raised more questions about what the hell the two of them had been doing there, but that was for later.

Right now, Katsuki managed to eyeball a path up the scattered concrete chunks and jagged walls of the sinkhole that he was pretty sure would get them back up to the ground floor. Once they got up there, they could find a path out. The climb shouldn’t be too difficult either.

“Alright, follow me! We’re gonna climb up and find a fire exit or something.”

He started forward as he spoke, Tomura stumbled but regained his footing quickly and followed without complaint.

The two of them picked their way across the scattered debris that seemed to fill the basement. It was slow going, and Tomura had more trouble with it than Katsuki did, but he was a lot better than Katsuki expected. At the very least he could jump and hop pretty far, and his balance wasn’t awful. Plus, when he did slip he just got back up, no crying or whining like Deku would.

Maybe fifteen or so feet from where they’d fallen, just across a big hunk of rock, the shine of something plastic caught Katsuki’s attention. Was that… huh. He paused for just a moment, leaning down and snagging what looked like a electronic device in a plastic shell. It was scratched, but it looked shiny and new. Nothing like the rotting building around them. That was weird enough that he tucked it into his left knee pouch. No harm in taking it along. Maybe he could ask about it at the library and see if anyone knew what it was.

When they reached the base of the large concrete chunks that would grant them access to the upper floors, Katsuki realized his plan might have a bit of a flaw in it. He looked back towards the other boy.

“Hey, have you climbed rocks before?”

Tomura paused, eyes wide, and glanced at the rocks stretching upwards in front of them. His free hand twitched and shifted to scratch at his neck. Not a good sign.

“... No. I haven’t started that part of my training yet. I’ve done a little climbing though, just ladders and stuff. Is that similar?”

Ugh. They’d need to take it slow then.

“Kinda. We’ll do it in bursts. The first climbs are pretty short, so I’ll go first and then pull you up. There’s a few bigger ones towards the end, so when we get there I’ll show you where to go, and then let you climb up. That way if you slip, I can catch you. You’ll figure the rest out, just do what I do and go slow, ‘Kay?”

“Yeah. I’ll- I’ll manage. I’m getting a lot stronger, that’s what Sensei says. So I can do this.”

It wasn’t as confident as it could be, but it was something. Katsuki nodded in affirmation, tugged Tomura closer to their starting point before let go of the other boy’s hand.

The first section was hardly even a climb, more like a short scrabble up the large chunk of what was probably once the building's foundation. Katsuki got up with ease, and Tomura managed to follow with a bit of help. Next up was a slightly taller section, but again, not a big deal.

Slowly, the two of them made their way up towards the ground floor. Katsuki had to be patient with Tomura, but again, he found himself pleasantly surprised by how tough the other was. Even when he bumped his knee or scratched his hands against rough concrete, Tomura kept pushing forward just like Katsuki did. It was nice to have someone else who could actually keep up with him, and by the time they were close to the top, Katsuki had decided that maybe the other boy wasn’t so bad after all. He was just wrong about heroes, that was all.

Unlike the shorter climbs before it, the second to last climb was a bit of a challenge. It was a lot longer than any of the others, and the hand holds were more limited. There was still a clear path up, and had Katsuki been alone he wouldn’t have worried at all, but Tomura wasn’t as experienced as he was. Plus, the other couldn’t touch all five of his fingers to the rock face, which was an added challenge.

Still, Tomura started up the rock once Katsuki pointed out the path to him. Katsuki waited below, keeping himself as close to the other boy as he could, just in case.

Thank goodness Katsuki did too, because when Tomura was halfway up, the patch of rock he tried to grab onto turned out to be way looser than it looked. There was no time for Tomura to right himself, and back down he went. It probably would’ve been pretty nasty, he might’ve even fallen all the way back down. Not on Katsuki’s watch though!

Rather than letting the other tumble all the way down or slam against any hard rocks, Katsuki reacted with lightening speed and grabbed Tomura, yanking both of them against the rock face for stability. He was careful to avoid Tomura’s ungloved hand, but held tightly to the gloved one while Tomura was frozen with shock.

After a few moments, the other boy’s brain restarted and his eyes went from Katsuki to the long fall below them, and back to Katsuki again.

“You caught me.”

It wasn’t really a question, but it wasn’t just a plain statement either. Katsuki didn’t know quite what to make of it.

“Of course I did! I said I would, didn’t I? And I’m gonna be a hero, so I gotta do my job!”

The other boy didn’t have an answer for that. He just looked away, shaken by what just happened. What exactly had shaken him, the incident or Katsuki catching him, was unclear. Both of them took a moment to catch their breath, and then Tomura started up again. This time he managed to get all the way up, and Katsuki scrambled up behind him while the other watched nervously.

They reached the top easily after that, making it to an opening that looked like it was a hallway a long time ago. Now it was covered in broken rocks, moss, dirt, and other debris, but it was still walkable, and should lead them out. It was darker than the sinkhole, the only light came from cracks in the ceiling which were barely enough to navigate by. Katsuki wasn’t scared of any stupid darkness though! Tomura didn’t seem put off by it either. They still took another break before heading off, since the climbing had been pretty tiring.

Katsuki used the break before they started into the darkness to check through the pouches on his pants, which he hadn't thought to investigate before. Rope, not enough to have been useful, but good to know about. Second knife. Some grenades? Some medical supplies. Pen and paper. Third knife. Nothing that was helpful right now. Ugh. Oh well.

When they were ready to keep going, Katsuki held out his hand again, and this time Tomura took it with only a seconds pause. The other boy held on a lot more firmly too, he must be nervous from the fall. Fair enough. Even though they were on what should be solid ground, Katsuki still didn’t trust the flooring to hold up. Holding onto each other, the two kids continued their journey.

They walked in silence for about five minutes before Tomura spoke up.

“Why do you like heroes so much anyways?”

The question was grumbled, but sounded genuinely curious, so Katsuki answered honestly rather than snapping back like he normally would.

“Heroes like All-Might are big, and strong, and they always beat the bad guys and win! That’s what I want to do, and I’m gonna, but I’m gonna do it even better than anyone else! I’m gonna be an even better hero than All-Might!”

A minute or so passed as Tomura considered that. The other kid was a thinker apparently. Which was okay, since he still seemed to speak honestly.

“But why like heroes at all? Heroes don’t help everyone, they don’t save everyone. I mean, look at right now, there’s no heroes helping us here.”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Tomura huffed, and Katsuki had to hold back a snort.

“You don’t count! Not until you’re an adult with a license and stuff, that’s what actual heroes are, right? And there’s nobody like that here!”

Shrugging, Katsuki brushed the argument off.

“So? The heroes are probably busy fighting the bad guys that caused us to end up here in the first place. Or maybe they don’t even know we’re down here, or they can’t risk moving the rubble yet, or they haven’t gotten to the building. I mean, this area is obviously abandoned and there’s nobody else around, so there’s lotsa reasons they might not be here. Heroes can’t do everything. That’s why we gotta focus on getting ourselves out of here instead of just sitting on our butts and waiting for heroes to do everything for us. Don’t you know the self-rescue rule?”

“I- No. What’s that?”

“The self-rescue rule is like the most important rule! If you get hurt or stranded when you’re climbing or hiking, you can call for help if it’s bad, but you also gotta try to self rescue if there’s a safe way for you to do it. Self-rescue’s usually your best bet, and even if you can’t make it all the way, you really boost your chances of surviving. The same rule applies to stuff like this; heroes can help, and fight the bad guys and stuff, but you gotta take charge of keeping yourself safe!”

“Oh.” Clearly, Tomura had not been taught the self-rescue rule like Katsuki had been when he took his first rock climbing class. Good thing the other got set straight now! The two of them walked on in silence for a few more minutes, winding through the hallways and picking their way over fallen rocks, rusted pipes, and rotting furniture. It was slow going in the darkness, but Katsuki was good at navigating by touch and air pressure alone, and Tomura followed his lead easily.

“I still don’t like heroes.” The declaration was less hostile this time, and Katsuki shrugged again.

“You think you could do better?”

That caught Tomura off guard. He almost stopped in his tracks, stumbling as he tried to keep up. Katsuki was glad for the darkness, as it hid his grin.

“What? If you think heroes suck and need to do more, or a bunch of ‘em are fake or something, fine, show 'em how it's done! I think there’s plenty of sucky heroes out there too, and you don’t see me whining about it! I’m gonna fix it by being a better hero than all of them. Someone’s gotta stop the bad guys after all.”

“I’m not- I couldn’t be a hero! That’s not how things work!”

“Phhft, says who?”

“Everyone!”

“So you’re just gonna let other people decide what you get to be, like some kinda weakling?”

“I’m not a weakling! It’s just- My quirk is way too destructive! I just destroy things and hurt people. You can’t be a hero like that!”

“Yes you can! My quirk is really destructive too-” Katsuki punctuated his point with a little explosion in his free hand, which had the added bonus of cleaning off the sweat that had slowly been collecting there. “And I hurt people on accident sometimes, but that’s on me! I’m learnin’ and getting better at not doing that, and one day I’ll be so good at it that I only ever explode bad guys! You could figure it out if you tried!”

“... You’ve hurt people accidentally too?”

Tomura’s voice was very small all of the sudden. The hand holding onto Katsuki’s twitched, like he wanted to pull it away. Katsuki squeezed it tighter in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, glancing away as he did so. Shame bubbled up in his chest, but he pushed that aside for once. Tomura wasn’t making fun of him. He said ‘too’, and his quirk was dangerous like Katsuki’s, so he understood.

Giving a sharp nod, Katsuki forced himself to admit to something he hated talking about more than almost anything else.

“I’ve got a friend- Deku. He follows me around everywhere. I’m kinda surprised he hasn’t shown up here yet. But he’s really touchy too, and last summer I accidentally poisoned him with my sweat. Nitroglycerin’s toxic, and mine's not as bad as some kinds of it are, but it's still not good. Deku had to go to the hospital and everything, it was really bad. The doctor said he almost died. I coulda killed him if I hadn’t figured out I was the problem in time.”

Keeping his eyes forward, Katsuki fought to stop his voice from shaking. It took more effort than he would’ve liked. Clearing his throat, he pushed onward in the conversation and on their journey.

“But I know better now. I don’t let stuff touch my hands anymore unless I’ve got gloves or I’m really sure my hands are clean. And just ’cause my quirk can do bad things, doesn’t mean it can’t do good things too! If I didn’t have it, we prolly woulda died earlier when we were falling. It’s all about how I use it.”

The pair kept walking as Tomura thought that over, clearly unsure about the idea. When he spoke again, his voice was weak. As if he didn’t quite believe what he was saying. Or maybe he didn’t want to.

“Maybe yours works like that, but mine’s different. All I do is destroy things.”

“When you touch all five fingers to something, right?” Katsuki finally glanced back towards Tomura, barely able to make out the other’s nod. In the dim lighting, he couldn’t see the other’s expression, but the faint shine of red eyes told him Tomura was looking toward him.

“Okay, so all you can do is destroy things. That’s still a hero’s quirk if you make it one. You just gotta destroy the right things! Like, uh-” He racked his brain for some examples.

“Like if a villain had a super big evil robot, you could just touch it and poof! All gone! It couldn’t fight back or hurt anyone. Or if people were trapped somewhere, you could just destroy whatever’s trapping ‘em. Maybe you could even get rid of toxic waste or somethin’. There’s plenty of ways you could be a hero by destroying the right stuff!”

“....I-I still don’t think I could be a hero, but I guess you have a point.”

“I ain’t saying you hafta be a hero, it’s your life, you do what you wanna. But don’t be a wimp about it. You gotta fight for what you want ‘nd never let anyone push you around or tell you what to be! Anything less is just pathetic.”

Tomura didn’t have a reply for that, so Katsuki let the subject drop as they hiked further through the broken building. God, how big even was this place? The messy hallways seemed to go on endlessly. Katsuki hadn’t even seen a single window yet. Maybe they needed to go up? The worn numbering he’d seen on some of the rooms they passed indicated this was the ground floor, but maybe the numbers here were just weird. They might even have better luck trying to get up to the roof to escape. Although that did increase their risk of falling again, and Katsuki really didn’t want to chance that.

They took another break, stopping to sit on some rocks as Katsuki mentally mapped their route. They definitely hadn’t looped around, so maybe switching directions would be smart? The building could just be really long or something. Or maybe-

“I still don’t like heroes. I think most of ‘em are bad and fake.”

Katsuki jolted out of his thoughts, blinking at Tomura who wasn’t looking at him. The other boy was curled up and staring at his own hands, tone almost guilty. Like he was admitting to having done something bad.

“But… I think you’re okay. You aren’t fake like they are. So if you really end up becoming a hero, then maybe all heroes won’t be so bad.”

Pride swelled up in Katsuki’s chest, his voice unreasonably pleased.

“I’m gonna be the best hero ever! Just you wait and see! Then you’ll have to like heroes, because I’ll be so amazing that there won’t be any other options!”

Tomura cracked a small smile at his declaration, and Katsuki felt reenergized.

“Now come on! We’re gonna get out of here!”

He offered his hand, and Tomura took it eagerly, giving a squeeze that Katsuki returned. Hell yeah. They totally had this.

Probably.

After ten more minutes of walking, Katsuki found himself less optimistic. At least until they turned a corner, and a little ways down the hall, there was a big metal security door!

The door was in the exact direction they were trying to go, and from the lack of security desks or devices near it, Katsuki was pretty sure they were on the ‘secure’ side of things. No wonder there hadn’t been any windows or exits!

“Perfect! Come on, this should be the way out!”

He tugged Tomura over to the door, both of them almost tripping several times in their rush.

Only, there were a few problems that quickly became apparent.

The door was firmly locked in place. No external keyhole that Katsuki could blow open. And even when he pushed with all his might, the door didn’t budge.

Taking a step back, Katsuki inspected the door once again with what little light he had. If he focused really hard, he could probably blow a hole in it. The metal was old and rusty, so it should give way to his explosions. But the building was already unstable, and the amount of force required to blow up the door could bring the whole place down around them. Still, they didn’t really have any other options… Then his eyes went back to Tomura, who was nervously waiting behind him.

“Hey, would your touch thing work on this? I don’t wanna blow out a support structure or shake the area too much.”

Tomura jumped when addressed, anxiety quickly overtaking him.

“I mean- yes- I think I could but maybe we should just look for a different way. I don’t- I could lose control 'n hurt you or-”

They didn’t have time for this. Katsuki cut in, keeping his voice as firm as he could.

“This is our best bet. I’ll take the glove and stand back so it’s safe. You don’t gotta destroy the whole thing, just make a hole really quick, okay?”

“I’ll- I’ll try. Just.... promise you won’t leave? I don’t wanna be alone here.”

Katsuki snorted.

“Of course I won’t! I’m gonna be a hero, and heroes don’t run away from stuff!”

Assured, Tomura handed over the glove Katsuki had made him, and waited for Katsuki to get all the way down the hallway.

For several seconds, Tomura inspected the door and his hands. Finally, he glanced back to Katsuki, who gave him a thumbs up, and turned back to the door. A single shaking hand reached out and made contact with the door.

It seemed to happen in an instant. One moment all five fingers touched the metal, then the hand was jerked back, and there was a huge hole in the door. Light streaming in through it and illuminating the other boy. Tomura’s eyes were wide, his breathing heavy, and after a stunned moment of silence, his gaze jerked from the hole back to Katsuki, fearful and desperate, as if he expected Katsuki to have vanished as well.

“That was so cool!”

Katsuki couldn’t help himself. He’d never met another kid with a quirk so strong it could rival his. His mind raced with all the possibilities for a power like that as he hurriedly made his way back to Tomura. The other kid still seemed out of it, so Katsuki paused a few feet back. He sometimes needed space after he used his quirk too. But even while he was trying to good and wait, he found himself bouncing in excitement.

“You’re not- You’re not scared of me?” Tomura’s voice was tiny, but rang loud and clear in the otherwise quiet hallway.

“Of course not! I’m not a baby, and I’m not scared of anything.”

“But I could hurt you!”

“Do you want to hurt me? Are you trying to?”

“No! But still-”

“My quirk is pretty tough too. Even if I’m not trying to ‘xplode you, my sweat could poison you pretty bad. Are you scared I’ll hurt you?”

“...No, I guess I’m not, but you’ve got your glove to stop that.”

“Exactly! You’re fine when you’ve got your glove on, just like I am. So both of us have nothing to worry about, as long as we keep our gloves on and we’re not dumb about stuff!”

As Katsuki spoke, he held out Tomura’s glove again, and after several beats, the other boy took it. Confusion was still painted across his face, but Katsuki wasn’t deterred.

“Besides, your quirk is totally badass. How much can you do at once? Can you make it faster or slower, or is it always a constant rate? Can you destroy stuff in a certain direction, or is it like a circle? Is there anything you can’t destroy?”

Katsuki had to hold himself back from asking too many questions. He didn’t want to be creepy about it like Deku, but he was really curious! His curiosity only seemed to confuse Tomura more as the other boy tugged on his glove and took Katsuki’s offered hand.

“Um- I dunno exactly how much I can do. I don’t think there’s anything I can’t destroy, and I can do a lot at once if I try to. But it makes me tired. When I’m tired or upset I do a lot more a lot faster. I can’t really control it. I just kinda… touch things and it works.”

“Sounds like you need more practice! My explosions get stronger when I’m pissed off too, but I’ve been learning how to make ‘em bigger or smaller on purpose. There’s this old quarry up kinda near my house, the guy who owns it doesn’t use it anymore, so he lets me train there. I bet he’d let you use it too if you asked!”

“Oh, uh, Sensei has places for me to train already. I do it a lot actually. But I’m just supposed to learn to destroy as much as possible.”

That made Katsuki wrinkle his nose. He was about to explain why that was a crummy training plan, but his focus was stolen when he peered out through the hole Tomura had created.

The new area was much brighter than the hallways had been. There were large holes, both in the ceiling and in the flooring in front of them. Both weren’t great, but the glass doors leading to the outside on the other side of the wide, open room absolutely were! This must’ve been the lobby! They were almost out!

Behind him, he could feel Tomura perk up, stepping forward so he was side by side with Katsuki to get a better look.

“We’re almost to the exit!”

“Hell yeah we are, come on!” Although, glancing at the patchwork flooring between them and their goal, Katsuki quickly added to his statement. “But be careful! Test the ground before you put all your weight on it, and don’t let go of my hand, okay?”

“Right!” Tomura agreed, and his steps grew more cautious, his grip on Katsuki’s hand tightening.

Slowly, the two of them made their way across the lobby, avoiding the holes in the floors as best they could. It was really hard to be so close to the exit and not just rush for it, but both kids were well aware that this was a very dangerous place to be. They stayed silent as they crossed, not wanting to miss any important noises or distract the other.

Two thirds of the way across was where everything went wrong. Tomura took a step forward, he could’ve swore that area was safe, but the flooring gave out under his feet as he shifted his weight.

The loud crack sent a chill down both of their spines. It was more than just that little section of the floor. That one crack set off a chain reaction that had the entire floor crumbling around them.

Tomura froze. Katsuki didn’t.

The moment Katsuki heard the break, his body was moving. He was running, pulling Tomura along with him. When he felt the floor giving out under his feet, he reacted without thinking. Katsuki twisted, all but throwing Tomura towards the safety of the doorway. Hands free, he flipped, using dual explosions to launch himself forward just in time as his body started to fall.

His back hit one of the doors, which thankfully didn’t shatter from the force. And it seemed some higher power took mercy on the two of them, because the entryway flooring held, even as the rest of the lobby’s tiles fell away.

Katsuki and Tomura lay slumped against the glass doors, panting for breath as they tried to recover from the intense experience. They had a few seconds reprieve.

And then there was a second ominous crack above them.

Oh no.

This time, Katsuki was the one who couldn’t move as a chunk of the ceiling plummeted down towards them. There was nowhere to go, and he didn’t have enough sweat for another big explosion. He wasn’t even sure if he could make one big enough to knock something that large away.

He braced for the hit, knowing that this might be it. Or that at the very least he was about to be in a world of pain.

Seconds ticked by, and the crushing force never came.

When little red eyes blinked open again, a wobbly Tomura was standing above him. One ungloved hand raised and dust falling around the two of them. The other looked shocked, staring at his own hand in wide-eyed wonder. Katsuki found himself equally shocked, that boulder had been HUGE. And in less than a second, in just an instant-

No time for amazement now. The building groaned loudly, as if yelling at them to leave. Katsuki took the hint, forcing himself to his feet and grabbing Tomura’s gloved hand.

“Come on! We gotta go!” He shouted, and Tomura snapped out of it. The other boy’s ungloved hand dropped and grabbed the glass doors in front of them, decaying them as well so the two of them could race out. Katsuki practically dragged Tomura behind him, lungs heaving and feet moving faster than he ever had before. His legs screamed in protest, but he powered through it.

Behind them, the building finally gave out. More and more of it fell, collapsing inward. Thank god it had held up long enough for them to escape. The two of them kept running into what looked like a mountainous region, until they finally hit the treeline, well out of range of the now ruined building.

Once safe, both children fell to the ground, exhausted, sore, and shaken, but alive. For a few minutes, that was all they did; lay on the ground, breath and be alive.

Katsuki was the one who broke the silence, his tone far too smug for a eight year old who’d spit in death’s eyes less than five minutes ago.

“I told ya’ so.”

“Wha’ ?” Tomura was still out of breath, and his reply was more grunt than word. Katsuki didn’t care.

“Your quirk! I told you it’s totally a hero quirk, and I was right!”

When Katsuki glanced over, he noted Tomura was red in the face. Though it was hard to tell if it was from exertion or embarrassment.

“That- That doesn’t count! I wasn’t even thinking! My body did that on it’s own!”

“Nuh-uh, that makes it count more! You totally saved us with your quirk, ‘cause you used it to destroy the right thing, just like I said. We woulda been super dead if you hadn’t!”

As much as Katsuki hated admitting someone else saved him, he could make an exception this time. After all, he liked being right even more than he hated admitting weakness, and he’d saved Tomura too, so it was even.

The other boy didn’t have an argument for that, so he went quiet again. Katsuki felt Tomura’s hand twitch as the other thought his words over.

Oh. he hadn’t realized they were still holding onto each other. Hm. There was no reason to anymore, but Katsuki didn’t particularly feel like letting go. Instead, he gave the other’s hand another squeeze. Just to remind him Katsuki was still there and still holding on. Because he wasn’t scared of anything. Not of buildings trying to kill him, not of waking up some place he’d never been, and certainly not of Tomura.

After a minute of quiet contemplation, Tomura turned to look at their linked gloved hands, then over to Katsuki himself, two pairs of nearly identical red eyes meeting head on. Each searching the other for something that neither quite understood, but that they managed to find anyways.

“... You really think I could be a hero?”

The way he said it, Katsuki knew he’d won. A grin split his face as he nodded firmly.

“If you practice and work really hard, yeah! You could be a totally awesome hero. Not as good as me, ‘cause I’m gonna work the hardest and be the very best hero, but you could be really good too!”

Tomura glanced back down at his own ungloved hand, contemplative.

“Sensei wouldn’t like it very much if I became a hero.”

“So? Screw him! It’s your life, and you get to live it! Real heroes don’t let anything stop them. My mom says I’m not gonna be a good hero all the time, but I’m gonna prove her wrong. I’m gonna prove everyone wrong! You can too, even if it’s hard!”

Those familiar red eyes darted back to Katsuki, shining with something. It reminded him of how Deku always looked at him, and that was a bit weird, but Katsuki shook it off. Tomura wasn’t crying like Deku always would, so he was pretty sure it was a good thing.

“Okay! If- If you’re going to become a hero, then I’ll do it too! I’ll be a way better hero than any of those fakers, and I won’t hurt people like they do!”

“Hell yeah! That’s the spirit! I bet we can work together when we’re older too. Deku and I were gonna start an agency together, but he’s quirkless and he doesn’t even train, plus he cries about everything. So I dunno if he’s still gonna be a hero. If we do it though, then you could join too!”

Tomura sat up, finally releasing Katsuki’s hand to curl up around his knees, rocking in excitement. The grin on Katsuki’s face grew wider and he sat up too, stretching out his sore arms as he shifted.

“That sounds nice.” Then he paused in his movements, face tucking down into his legs as he got shy again. “You don’t think he’ll be scared of me?”

“Deku?” Katsuki had to consider that one for a second. “I mean, probably at first, but he’s a huge crybaby. He gets scared by everything, even his own shadow. But he gets over it pretty quick too. Then he’ll ask you a million questions about your quirk and follow you around everywhere, and you’ll wish he was still scared of you.”

The other boy stifled a laugh. “If you say so.”

“I do say so! Now come on, I think I see a communication's tower over there. We can radio for help, or find a way outta here.” Pushing himself to his feet as he spoke, Katsuki offered his gloved hand to Tomura to help him up, and the other accepted with a small grin. Neither of them let go as they started walking towards the tower, and Katsuki spoke again, good mood intact despite his legs whining at him for being forced to keep going.

“What kinda hero name are you gonna have? Mine’s gonna be Lord Explosion Murder.”

“Isn’t that more of a villain name?” Katsuki almost would’ve mistaken that for an innocent question, if not for the mischievous grin on Tomura’s face.

“No it is not! It’s a super badass hero name!”

“Sure it is.”

Sticking his tongue out at Tomura, Katsuki found himself a lot less bothered by the teasing than he normally would be. Not dying had put him in a pretty good mood. That, and it helped that Tomura laughed for real this time. The other boy’s happy laughter was a nice noise, one that made Katsuki grin despite his best efforts to stay grouchy.

“Lord Explosion Murder is gonna be the best hero the world has even seen!”

“I’ll believe it when I see it!”

“Better stick around then, ‘cause I’m gonna make you eat those words, just you wait and see!”

Tomura laughed again, almost tripping over some scattered rocks. Oh whatever, Katsuki would win their argument eventually. It’d just take awhile. If he kept his promise, Tomura would be right there to see it, and then he’d have to admit Katsuki was right. It was gonna be awesome.

Chapter Text

To put it simply, Hawks was having an awful fucking day. He’d been sent on what should’ve been a simple retrieval mission.

Some two-bit gang had sprung up and started causing trouble. Nothing new, but this particular group had, through stupidity and sheer luck, managed to get their hands on some pretty damn important information. They’d gotten a USB with Intel on a number of high ranked government officials. The good news was the thing was completely inaccessible without several specialized programs and passwords, everything was encrypted tightly for security. That bought the heroes plenty of time to get it back before any damage could be done.

Hawks had been assigned to the case alongside several other pros. It was total overkill, but nobody wanted a repeat of what happened with Nighteye, and said government officials were pretty damn anxious to have the USB back in their hands. Hawks had thought it was stupid, but kept his mouth shut.

Damn good thing too, because not only had the gang proven to have an obnoxious number of hidden members with previously unreported quirks, but it just so happened that the heroes weren’t the only ones after the USB. The League had shown up without any warning. Hawks had been so focused on getting this mission over with that he’d been slacking on his double agent duties, and so nobody had been prepared to have an extra ten villains involved.

A total clusterfuck was the only way to describe what happened next. Nobody knew what was going on or who was on whose side. Hawks got a headache just thinking about it.

Somehow in this whole mess, the guy carrying the USB had managed to escape to an old powerplant a ways off from the rest of the fight. The area was basically inaccessible by any non-fliers, so Hawks and one of Endeavor’s interns, Bakugou, had been the only two heroes nearby who were able to follow. Still, it was just one guy, it should’ve been a fairly easy take down. Sure, Hawks had been a bit nervous about having a 16 year old there, but they were together and he had a most his feathers. No real danger.

Then Hawks took his eyes off the kid for like 2 fucking seconds. Seriously, that was it. He swore that was it.

The next thing Hawks knew, most of his feathers were gone and the kid was in a highly unstable building fighting the guy they'd been chasing, and Tomura fucking Shigaraki for the USB. While Hawks was stuck outside the building. He still had no idea how that happened.

Less than a minute after that, the gang must’ve pulled some serious shit, because half the powerplant caved in on itself, and Bakugou’s comm was gone. Not just non-responsive. Totally destroyed. Hawks had completely lost any line of sight or contact with him.

The few remaining members of the gang fled. Leaving Hawks two hours out from any backup, with a grand total of five feathers left, and an MIA sixteen year old.

Oh, and Dabi. How could he forget Dabi?

The asshole had apparently been teleported up here alongside Shigaraki to help with retrieving the USB. He’d been responsible for taking out most of Hawks’ remaining feathers before he realized the hero was alone and there was nobody for them to fake fight for. Then the dickhead had switched into cocky teasing, and Hawks had never been so tempted to punch him in the face before.

He would’ve done it if that hadn’t been when the building had fallen in on itself.

The collapse had both of them setting aside their usual games to try to get in contact with their respective allies.

Honestly, the only hope Hawks had that the kid was still alive was that Shigaraki had vanished too. Dabi had been completely unable to contact the League of Villain's leader, and their teleporter hadn’t been able to find him anymore. Which was supposedly borderline impossible. Even if the other was dead or there was nothing left of him but dust, the teleporter should’ve been able to recall the remains. Since they couldn’t, it meant Shigaraki would’ve had to have physically changed in some way. Transformation quirks fucking sucked, but it explained the disappearances without them being dead. Which was obviously preferable.

It still made trying to find their lost teammates a pain in the ass.

Dabi was sure that both of them were still alive, he insisted that Shigaraki wouldn’t have dusted the kid. Apparently, the guy was still convinced he could make a villain out of Bakugou. Something that was both worrying and reassuring. Reassuring in the short term, but probably going to be a fucking problem long term. Now wasn’t the time to worry about that though.

Now was the time to worry about trying to find any sign of life in the wrecked building, without dying in the process.

Hawks had already called in to report the situation. Since he was in no condition to fight, and since Dabi could be teleported out whenever he felt like it, plus the unstable land around them, he’d relayed the information the villain had given him back to the others. Nobody was happy when he’d reported he’d forged a temporary truce with the villain so they could find their missing allies, but nobody had any better ideas either.

Most of that had been overshadowed by Eraserhead’s absolutely fury anyways. Hawks had physically flinched at the deadly rage in the older pro-hero’s voice when he’d asked how the hell Hawks managed to lose his student.

Yeah, he was super dead whenever Eraserhead managed to get up here. Especially if he hadn’t found the kid by then.

It was looking like that was going to be the case too. Hawks and Dabi had spent nearly an hour trying to get into the building where it’d fallen apart, which just so happened to be where Shigaraki and Bakugou had been fighting. No matter what access point they tried, the area had been too unstable for them to get in. Hawks had sent the few feathers he had left to search the sinkhole, but they'd found nothing.

Dabi had been getting more and more upset as they’d kept searching. The other sure liked to pretend he didn’t care, but his concern was obvious as he almost burned Hawks for refusing to let him just jump down into the fucking pit and search for them there. Hawks had only barely managed to convince him that was a stupid fucking idea that would get all of them killed.

Finally, the two of them had agreed to go around to the front of the building and work their way in so they could access the sinkhole safely, when everything went to shit.

Hawks had his back to the building when it happened. Thank fucking god both he and Dabi had gotten off the rubble before that awful CRACK rang out.

He heard it in his feathers, in his bones, coming from the very front of the building, and his body knew what was going to happen before his mind did. One of his hands shot out on instinct, grabbing Dabi's arm in an iron grasp and then he was running, hauling both of them away. Have to get away. Go, go, go- go.

Dabi was yelling at him, but he didn’t care. There was something, an explosion, big and powerful and too much-

Then more cracks. All throughout the building's frame.

The two of them could only watch as the entire building fell in front of them. Dust filled the air, and Hawks’ lungs, but that was okay. He wasn’t breathing anyways. It settled after a minute or two, and there was nothing left but ruins. Sunk into the ground. Hawks’ radio flared to life, the other heroes must’ve heard that all the down the mountain, but he couldn’t focus on that.

If they were still in there-.

“No!” Dabi surged forward, eyes wild and panicked. Hawks grip on him didn’t yield, and Dabi might’ve burned off his arm in his desperate attempt to do- to do something.

Very suddenly, Hawks’ brain caught up with everything that had just happened, and all he could remember was an explosion. It’d been towards the front of the building, and he whirled in that direction. He was moving, his mouth was moving.

“I heard- Come on! There was an explosion, at the very front. I think that’s what set it off, come on, move! There’s a chance-”

The heat vanished, no longer burning his finger tips, and this time it was Dabi practically dragging him along as the two of them ran towards the front of the building.

It took them too long to get there. Even moving as fast as they could, the building was fucking huge and the ground nearby was rocky and hard to navigate. Nearly ten minutes must’ve passed, and 10 minutes was too long. Any amount of time was too long. Hawks was still clinging onto Dabi’s arm, he didn’t think he could let go if he wanted to, his body was too focused on finding the fucking kid, and this was all his fault- and-.

“Birdie, fucking focus. I can’t see shit, are you picking up anything?”

They’d reached the wreck that was formerly the powerplant’s lobby. Hawks’ eyes scanned the mess of stone, glass and metal. Nothing. No movement, but no flesh either. No tattered clothing. No blood.

He took a deep breath in, shutting his eyes tightly. Focusing on the smells. Dust was still heavy in the air, but he powered through it and searched the air for what he desperately didn’t want to be there.

“No blood.” His voice was almost a sob in relief. “There’s no blood, if- I would smell blood. So-”

Then one of his feathers pricked up. All five were still ringing from the loud noise only seconds earlier, but they were finely tuned from years and years of practice. It was the largest one he had left, a secondary, which picked up on… noise. Something. Something making noise.

He let the feather loose without a second thought, let it zip towards the noise and focused his entire being on it. It could’ve been anything, an animal, rubble settling, some new problem, but no-

Talking. His feather was picking up on voices- and fuck, there was two of them. Footsteps as well. He couldn’t make out any more details, but that was all he needed to know.

“This way, they’re this way!”

Hawks yanked Dabi along, following his feather forward. His mind was racing, but there were no thoughts in his head. Just follow, find, protect. Not words, but feelings, impulses, played over and over again, driving his feet and aching bones.

Maybe that was why he didn’t think about how weird it was that there were two voices together, but neither was yelling. Or why he didn’t notice that the voices were too high pitch, the footsteps too light. Everything was just slightly wrong.

Maybe that was why it was such a fucking shock when he burst through the forest undergrowth, only to come face to face with two kids. Both scuffed up but relatively unharmed. Holding hands.

Two kids who were definitely Katsuki Bakugou and Tomura Shigaraki, his brain helpfully informed him, after several seconds of stunned silence.

Today was a really bad fucking day. Made all the worse when Dabi just broke down laughing beside him, the absolute asshole.

Okay. This was fine. Hawks could handle this. They weren’t dead. That was good.

What wasn’t as good was the quick hostile reaction from Bakugou, his little face twisted up into a snarl, tugging the tiny Shigaraki behind him as he dropped into a defensive stance and his free hand sparked. It was probably meant to be threatening, but Hawks was having trouble seeing it as anything other than fucking adorable.

Focus, Hawks, focus.

Throwing on a media smile, Hawks opened his mouth to try to assure the kids they were okay now, but Dabi beat him to it.

“Chill the fuck out kid, we’re not here to hurt ya’. We’ve been searching like crazy to find the two of you for like the past hour.”

Hawks almost smacked Dabi upside the head for cursing around the kids, but his words worked. Bakugou relaxed his stance a bit, and little Shigaraki’s head poked out over Bakugou’s shoulder, wide eyes studying Dabi. Neither child appeared off-put by the man’s appearance, but Shigaraki certainly seemed more curious about him than Hawks.

“Did Sensei send you to find me? Where’s ‘Giri? What happened?”

Hawks’ brain raced, trying to piece together who Shigaraki was talking about, but Dabi had a handle on it.

“Buncha quirks went off that shouldn’t have. Kurogiri got knocked out, he’s okay but he’s gonna be recovering for a while, so All for One sent me to come get you instead.”

The explanation worked, Shigaraki relaxed. Probably best not to tell them they were in the future just yet and risk either child panicking.

“What about you?” Bakugou asked, little red eyes narrowed at Hawks suspiciously. Hawks perked up, and quickly smiled again, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible.

“I’m a hero! My name is Hawks- it’s nice to meet you both- I was actually trying to find you! Everyone’s been really worried since you vanished!”

Unlike Shigaraki, Bakugou’s suspicions didn’t ease, and little Shigaraki tensed up when Hawks mentioned he was a hero. Yeah, ugh, that might’ve been a bad move.

“I don’t remember there being a hero called Hawks. What’s your quirk? Where do you operate?”

Okay, time for some white lies.

“I’m really new, I haven’t even been assigned an area yet. I was sent to get you since I was the only one who could get up here.” As he spoke, he titled to show off the pitiful amount of his feathers that remained. “Usually, I’ve got these big red wings, but most of ‘em got destroyed after I got up here. Makes it pretty hard to recognize me with ‘em.”

Bakugou’s relaxed, accepting the explanation reluctantly, but Shigaraki grew significantly more anxious.

“If he’s a hero, why are you working with him? Sensei doesn’t like heroes.”

The question was directed at Dabi, who kept his posture loose and uncaring. Hawks realized lamely he was still gripping Dabi’s arm and hastily let go, much calmer now they’d been found.

“Hawks was already lookin' for both of you, 'n All for One was real worried, what with you just poofing like that. So he made an exception this time. ‘Sides, Hawks is alright, for a hero. I’m Dabi by the way.”

“Oh, okay.” Shigaraki was still a bit put off, but willing to accept the answer. It left the perfect opening for Hawks to pipe up and move things along before backup arrived.

“Did either of you get hurt? I can see you’ll have some bruises, but anything we should try to fix now?”

For having just come out of a building that practically imploded, both of them looked remarkably well off. Hawks could only see a few scraps and cuts. Both of them had kept their original clothing, which probably helped a lot.

Bakugou glanced himself over, twisted to check on Shigaraki who shook his head, then looked back and replied.

“We’re good. My shoulder kinda hurts, I think I might’ve pulled it earlier, but it’s not too bad.”

Then a thought seemed to strike Bakugou, and the kid turned around fully as if confirming something. Hawks couldn’t follow his thought process though since it looked like the kid was getting a good look at Shigaraki’s shoes before he turned back around.

“Oh, but if we’re gonna keep walking then Tomura needs different shoes, otherwise he'll hurt his feet.”

What- Hawks blinked several times in confusion before glancing over to Dabi. The other adult seemed equally confused, and even Shigaraki himself didn’t seem to know what Bakugou was talking about.

“These are the shoes I always wear and they’ve never hurt my feet before. Why would they now?”

Bakugou held firm, very confident in his crusade against Shigaraki’s shoes. And sure, they were bright red, but other than that Hawks couldn’t see anything wrong with them.

“Those are quirkless shoes! You’ve got a quirk though, so you can’t wear those or they’ll hurt your feet. It’s ‘cause of the extra toe joint or whatever. I know ‘cause Deku and I can’t wear the same shoes even though we’re the same size. He has the joint and I don’t, so his shoes hurt my feet and mine hurt his. And those shoes are definitely quirkless shoes like his!”

Both adults froze. Shigaraki didn’t, only mildly confused by this revelation.

“I dunno, maybe they just look the same? I like these shoes a lot, I’ve tried to wear other kinds but they always make my feet ache.”

As the two children set about checking the brand of shoe, Hawks found his mind running a mile a minute trying to piece together all the implications here. He didn’t even want to touch the idea of ‘Deku’ apparently being quirkless, because Hawks was 96% sure that was the green haired kid, who definitely had a quirk last he checked. Another problem for another time.

Back on the matter at hand, now that Hawks was thinking about it, he was pretty sure Bakugou was right. Everyone knew about the extra toe joint thing, but it what was less commonly know was it meant specialized shoes were required for high intensity activities, and for quirkless people, their options were pretty fucking limited.

The only reason Hawks knew anything about it was he also had to wear specialized shoes to mask his own bird-like feet, and he’d seen articles on quirkless shoe options while researching his own. He could distinctly recall seeing one of the very few good brands out there and thinking it was funny that they were so bright red. Just like-

Holy shit.

The kids had confirmed that Shigaraki really was wearing the same brand, and both were confused by this development. Neither really knew what to make of it, but neither had put together the implications. Neither knew what the two adults present did.

Hawks glanced over and met Dabi’s gaze, a silent conversation taking place before Hawks took the lead. He stepped towards the kids, careful to keep his hands in plain view and movements slow.

“Here, Tomura, if you sit down then I could look at your feet? I’ve got first aid training, so I can check if your shoes are causing any problems, if you’re okay with it?

While definitely still not willing to trust him, Shigaraki agreed reluctantly after looking to Bakugou and getting an encouraging nod. The two kids were still holding hands, on closer inspection it looked like Bakugou had cut one of his gloves to negate Shigaraki’s quirk, which was pretty damn smart. Hawks would need to keep that trick in mind for neutralizing Shigaraki in the future.

Back in the present, Hawks let Shigaraki sit down on a nearby log before he knelt down in front of the kid.

“Why don’t you two tell me how you got out of that building while I check?” The gentle prompting was all the kids needed to distract themselves. Bakugou answered first, sounding very pleased with how things had gone.

“Well, I woke up first and we were falling, which was bad, so I grabbed Tomura and used my quirk to stop that. Then Tomura woke up, and he was upset 'cause he didn't know where he was and he was worried that he was gonna decay me- that's his quirk, it's super cool, he can destroy anything he touches with all five fingers."

Shigaraki's focus was completely taken by Bakugou, face going red and looking away when his quirk was called cool. God, all of this was not good for Hawks' heart. He tried to focus on his own task, sliding off on of Shigaraki's shoes with minimal a struggle. The laces were kinda a pain with his gloves, but he managed as Shigaraki piped up to continue the story.

"It was okay though. 'Suki had gloves on, and he cut the fingers off this one so I didn't have to worry 'bout hurting him. It's really cool, I'm gonna make another one later so I don't hafta worry about decaying stuff by accident all the time."

"Yeah! And then after that, we realized that the building was a bad place to be, so we climbed out of the pit up to the ground floor."

"I almost fell, but 'Suki caught me. Then we walked for ages through the building, I thought it'd never end."

"It did though! We walked all the way through it, and we got to this really big, tough door. I didn't wanna risk blowing it up, so Tomura decayed a hole in it. It was really awesome, all he did was touch it, and then there was a hole! No kickback or anything!"

"That let us get out to the lobby, and the floor had a lot of holes in it, which was bad, but we still wanted to be out of the building. We tried to cross it safely, and we almost made it! Except I guess I wasn't careful enough, I accidentally stepped wrong, then everything started falling apart. Thankfully, 'Suki grabbed me and launched us the rest of the way across."

That would explain the cracking and the loud explosion. Hawks was happy that the kids had made their way to safety, but god, just hearing about kids in this situation was stressing him the fuck out.

"Yep! I think the building was done being a building after that, 'cause was when everything started falling apart. There was a really big part of the ceiling that almost fell on us. I didn't have any sweat left, so I totally thought we were gonna die, but Tomura got to it first! He decayed the entire thing before it could hit us. I just blinked and it was gone! Then we ran out here, and we were gonna head to that building over there to see if there was a radio or somethin' to call for help!"

"Jesus, you two are in good spirits for two kids who almost died."

Dabi finally spoke up, one eyebrow cocked in amusement and disbelief. Bakugou was the one to reply, almost bouncing in place.

"Well, yeah! I mean, it was kinda scary, but that's okay! Both of us are gonna be heroes one day, so we gotta learn how to handle scary stuff like that. Besides, we got out okay in the end."

By this point, Hawks was completely distracted from his original task. His mind picked up one particular word that Bakugou had chosen, and he spoke without thinking.

"Both of you?"

Luckily, neither child took that as an insult, though Shigaraki did stiffen. Again, it was Bakugou who responded.

"Yep! Tomura said he didn't like heroes earlier, he thought that destroying things was always bad, but he changed his mind! We're both gonna be heroes, and I'm gonna be Lord Explosion Murder, and he's not sure about his hero name yet. He's gonna be a rescue hero, which is cool I guess. Not as cool as I'm gonna be though!"

It was hard to miss how Shigaraki's little eyes went straight to Dabi. His body was tense, like a spring ready to go off at any second. Awaiting the other man's reaction.

Right. Dabi had said he was sent by his 'Sensei', and Hawks could guess exactly how well something like this would go over. Still, he was surprised once again when Shigaraki piped up. His words were quiet, but there was a special sort of power behind them. The sort of power from someone who'd made up their mind.

"Yeah- I- I don't really like heroes. I think they hurt a lot of people. I know Sensei doesn't like them either. But- Well Katsuki said if you think something's bad, you should try to do better and fix it. And that makes sense. And I think Katsuki is really cool and he's not a liar, and he said he's gonna be a hero, so I wanna do that too. I wanna be a better hero and fix things."

There was a heaviness to the air, and Hawks glanced back towards Dabi. The pained expression on his face was well-masked, but Hawks managed to pick it out. He could relate. Was it better to just tell them? Wouldn't that be the responsible thing to do?

Hawks almost managed to steel himself to do it- and then-

And then he made the mistake of looking up at Shigaraki's face. The kid had a soft, vulnerable yet unwavering determination about him. He was anxious for sure, but he wasn't going to let go of this, and fuck. Hawks didn't have the heart to tell him the reality of the situation.

Neither did Dabi apparently.

"Well, that's definitely one way to go about it. If he’s gonna be ‘Lord Explosion Murder’, then maybe you could be ‘The Destroyer’. It’d make the news reports fun as hell to read."

The tension broke, both in the air and in Shigaraki's frame as the child’s face wrinkled up in confused amusement.

“I dunno, I guess it’d work but I don’t really like it. I actually kinda had one idea though. Um, ‘Eraser’ or maybe ‘The Eraser’ or something like that."

While Bakugou seemed eager about the idea, Dabi and Hawks shared a quick glance. It could just be coincidence, but-

“It’s got a nice ring to it, anything in particular inspire that one?”

Dabi’s voice was casual, but it set Shigaraki on edge all the same. The kid brought his ungloved hand up to his neck for a heartbeat before quickly dropping it back down, as if he’d been scolded. Little red eyes studied Dabi and then Hawks for a long moment, judging them.

“... If I tell you, could you promise not to tell Sensei what I say? About- about any of this. At least for right now? Or anyone else?”

His attention was mostly on Dabi, who mimed zipping his lips shut, but Hawks made sure to add in his own agreement and even Katsuki caught on after a second and nodded resolutely.

“Okay, well, I know I said I don’t like most heroes, and that’s true, but I do like one of ‘em. His name is Eraserhead, and he can cancel out people’s quirks by lookin’ at them. He's like a secret hero I think. ‘Giri talks about him sometimes and says he’s cool, and if ‘Giri thinks a hero is cool then they must be a good hero! That’s what I wanna be like too! But he said not to mention any of it to Sensei, ‘cause Sensei doesn’t like any heroes. That’s why it’s gotta be a secret.”

That was- that was interesting. It left Hawks with a lot more questions he desperately wanted to ask, but now was not the time for it. Fuck, he needed to focus on what he was doing. Dabi replied to Shigaraki as Hawks turned his attention back to inspecting the kid’s foot.

“Don’t worry, I ain’t a tattletale. Sounds like a pretty good backstory for your hero name. Maybe you could have some gloves, kinda like you’ve got now, but designed to slide on and off a bit easier. Letcha decay things real fast without worrying too much about messing with the wrong thing.”

Just like that, both kids were distracted, both eagerly lost down the rabbit hole of discussing support items and hero costumes. Their enthusiasm warmed and broke Hawks’ heart in equal measure. He’d never been quite so excited about being a hero when he was their age, but then again, it’d always been a sure thing for him. His fate had always been certain, and in an awful way, theirs was too. They just didn't know it yet.

Shoving those thoughts aside, Hawks bent Shigaraki’s toes forward and back one by one. They were long and flexible, and he could tell with a glance that there was no fucking way this kid didn’t have the joint, but some part of him still didn’t want to believe it. X-rays would be needed to know with absolute certainty, but Hawks had enough medical training, and Shigaraki’s little feet were lithe and bony enough to confirm his fears within any reasonable doubt. The kid had the extra pinky toe joint. He’d been born quirkless.

Again, questions surged and pushed at Hawks’ lips. He asked none of them.

If Shigaraki had been an actual kid, he would’ve. God he would’ve asked all the questions and never let any of this happen. Even now it was hard to fight down the instinctive urge to grab both kids and fly. He couldn’t fly until his feathers grew back though, and he couldn’t undo the past no matter how badly he wanted to.

Sighing softly, Hawks slipped back on Shigaraki’s sock and shoe, giving the kid a little pat to let him know he was done.

“Okay, looks like your feet should be just fine in those. I think you’ve just got extra long toes, which is probably why these fit better!”

Hawks pushed himself out of his crouch, giving Shigaraki a big smile when the kid nodded politely. The smile faded when Hawks turned and caught Dabi’s eye, giving the slightest of nods to communicate everything he couldn’t say yet. Dabi nodded in return before refocusing on the kids.

“Well, since that’s solved, we’re gonna need to call to let the others know everyone’s peachy. I think I had signal back near the plant. I don't wanna risk getting you two any closer to that death trap than you have to be. Will you two be good to chill here for a minute?”

“Course we will!” Bakugou replied, and Shigaraki nodded in affirmation. As much as Hawks didn’t want to leave the kids alone, he really needed to radio in and let backup know what was going on without panicking the kids. And talk about… all of this with Dabi before they split up.

“We’ll just be up that way, if anything’s funny, just shout for us, okay?”

Another set of nods, and the kids were turning back to their prior conversation, so Hawks took that as his cue to follow Dabi up the slope.

The moment they were out of earshot, Dabi let out a long fucking sigh.

“He’s got the extra toe joint, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah.”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

Both of them needed a moment to take that in properly. Dabi recovered first, glancing down at his phone as a text came in.

“Alright, well, the good news is they won’t be like this for long. Intel says the quirk should wear off within 24 hours. Both of ‘em are gonna be totally beat after this, so if you take the kid, get him to medical and stuff, and then get him to sleep it should be gone by the time he’s up.”

“Oh thank god. I was worried this might be one of those things that sticks around for weeks or some shit.”

“Nah, thankfully life doesn’t feel like fucking us over that much. They’ll be back to normal by this time tomorrow. Our teleporter is working on redoing the imprint for Shigaraki now, so we’ll be able to duck outta here in just a minute.”

Hawks hadn’t been expecting anything less, but his heart still clenched at the thought of letting a kid go back to... that. Even if All for One wasn’t in the picture anymore, it still didn’t feel right. Dabi caught onto his discomfort and rolled his eyes.

“Chill out Birdie, I ain’t gonna let anything happen to him. I’ve got some questions for a few of the… older members of the League, and I plan to get some fucking answers, but I won’t let him get caught up in that while he’s like this.”

Right. Yeah. Dabi was a villain, but he looked out for his own. Hawks knew that all too well. Shigaraki would be fine with him until he turned back. That did raise a very important question though.

“I’m gonna have to explain this, and they’re probably gonna question the kid too. I can justify not grabbing Shigaraki and playing nice with you for a bit, but if I withhold shit, that won’t look great.”

The Commission would want the full report, the real one, but Hawks found himself hesitating to do even that. This felt bigger. More personal. Like something he wasn’t ever meant to know. Dabi hummed for a moment, before he glanced back at his phone and sent off a few texts.

“Tell most of the truth. You can chatter all you want about the explosion kid making a new friend, or him somehow converting Shiggy to the hero's side in under a fucking hour, but leave out the quirkless thing. And the Eraserhead stuff. That shit stays quiet until I get a chance to talk with him once he’s an adult again.”

A ping drew Dabi’s attention, and he quickly read the new text before continuing.

“The kid promised to keep the name thing under wraps, and I don't think he'll bring up the shoe thing unless he's asked directly. Once he’s back to normal, intel's sayin’ he probably won’t remember much more than faint concepts. Not enough to be a problem.”

“Got it.” That was a relief. The kid was damn perspective when he wanted to be, and he was pretty close to the last person that Hawks wanted getting any hints towards Hawks double agent status. He’d already had too many suspicious glares and too knowing red eyes fixed on him already.

Pulling out his own phone, Hawks quickly sent off a string of texts letting Endeavor know that the kid was safe and sound, just younger than he should be. He then promptly ignored the flurry of texts asking for clarification on what the fuck that meant.

“Alright, well. That’s that I guess. Time to get them back home.”

“Yeah, hold off on that for a minute once we’re back. I wanna grab a few more pictures first.”

Hawks wondered which was worse, that he hadn’t noticed Dabi taking pictures of this mess in the first place, or that Dabi had thought to take photos before he did.

God, could he get away with it? Would Dabi be upset if he did? Did that cross some line?

“You can grab photos too. I’m never letting Shigaraki live this one down, and it helps if there’s extra proof. Fair warning, he might decay you if he finds out you have ‘em.”

Was it worth risking his life for a few photos?

Yes. Absolutely yes.

Hawks and Dabi made their way back to the kids, who thankfully hadn’t moved since the adults left them there. The two were holding hands again, chattering excitedly, and Hawks snuck as many photos as he could while they weren’t paying attention. This was the only chance he was gonna get.

Still, the fun had to end sooner rather than later, and after a few minutes of letting the kids take a breather, Hawks knew it was time to get them home.

The news that they’d be going their separate ways brought about the expected long faces and fussing. Shigaraki was reluctant to let go of his new friend, but seemed to understand it was inevitable.

Bakugou wasn’t quite so willing to let the connection go. He pulled a grouchy face for several seconds, and then seemed to light up, going for one of his pouches and digging out a pen and a little notepad. He scribbled something down quickly, and tore it off, handing the paper to Shigaraki who looked at it curiously.

“That’s my email address! I made it a few months ago, you can use it to send me emails ‘n stuff about how your training is going! Do you have one too?”

Biting his lip, Hawks decided it was probably fine to leave that with Shigaraki as long as he warned older Bakugou about it. A childhood email address shouldn’t be particularly sensitive information. Shigaraki was delighted by the idea, clutching the paper carefully in his gloved hand, before his face fell at the second part of Bakugou’s declaration.

“No. I’ve never used an email before. Is it like letters? I know how to send letters. I saw 'Giri doing it and he showed me how!”

“Kinda, it’s like letters but on a computer. I can give you my regular address too though, so that way you can send me normal letters if you can’t use email.”

Shigaraki brightened up as Hawks panicked. An email address was one thing, but fuck, Hawks could not let the kid give the villain who’d kidnapped him his home address. His mouth opened as he quickly searched for an excuse to stop Bakugou without tipping the kids off that something was up.

Thank fucking god Dabi spoke up first.

“Don’t worry, I can help you figure out email when we’re back at the base. It’s way faster than sending letters anyways.”

Both kids were satisfied with that, and they hugged one another awkwardly, both keeping their ungloved hands safely away from the other. It only lasted few seconds, but Hawks definitely got a photo of it, and he was going to have to make backups just so he could prove this fever dream really happened.

“Be sure you send me an email soon so I can email you back! Maybe we can meet up too, if you live nearby me?”

“If Sensei lets me then that’d be really fun! Even if he says it’s not okay, I’ll find you when I’m older no matter what, okay?”

“Hell yeah, and then we’ll be heroes together and it’ll be awesome!”

Both kids had wide smiles on their faces, bright determination shining in their eyes, and it pulled at Hawks’ heart in all the worst ways. Then it was over, Shigaraki turned towards Dabi, allowing himself to be scooped up without any protest. Hawks bent down and held out his arms for Bakugou, who was a lot more hesitant, but sore and tired enough to step closer so Hawks could pick him up.

Man, the kid was heavier than he looked! He must be one solid muscle under that clothing.

Hawks didn’t comment on it though, he just adjusted his grip until he could hold the kid comfortably and started in the opposite direction that Dabi had gone, back towards where a car should be waiting for them.

It took about fifteen minutes to meet up with the car on the old forest road. The other heroes had turned back since Hawks had confirmed he’d found Bakugou, but an EMT was waiting to look the kid over on the drive back.

Said drive took another half an hour, it was easier going down than trying to get up and all the major blocks on the road had already been cleared off, but it was still slow going. In that time, Bakugou got a clean bill of health and instructions to rest. Hawks had also told him he’d be kept under observation for 24 hours to make sure there were no ill effects from any quirks he might’ve been hit with, and the kid had bought it with minimal suspicion.

That settled, all that was left was returning to where the rest of the heroes who’d been involved in the raid were waiting as they wrapped up and worked with the police to handle the villains who had been caught.

Bakugou looked ready to pass out when the car stopped, and he let Hawks pick him up without any fuss this time. Honestly, Hawks was pretty fucking impressed that the kid was still awake after all of this bullshit. Little red eyes were drooping, but the kid seemed determined to stay awake.

Hawks stepped out of the car, kid in his arms and made his way over to where he could see Endeavor caught up in a discussion with Miruko, Kamui Woods, Eraserhead and Present Mic, the other main heroes who’d been involved in the operation. None of them noticed his approach, which was perfect since it let him surprise them as he stepped into the group, grin in place and just the right amount of playfulness to his voice to lighten the mood.

“Heya guys, sorry we took so long to catch up! Katsuki went on quite the adventure, but he’s all good now. He’s quite the tough kid, he made it out of that building all by himself and even made a new friend in the process!”

Everyone startled, Bakugou included. He blinked to full awareness, twisting to take in the new people around him. His eyes lit up as he recognized Endeavor, getting wiggly and excited when he realized everyone else around must be a hero too.

It was Mic who spoke first, and oops, Hawks probably should’ve checked that Endeavor caught the others up on what happened first, but too late for that now. They all adapted quickly anyways.

“Hey there little listener, we’re glad you’re okay! You must’ve had quite the scary time up there, huh?”

Bakugou puffed up his chest in pride and defensiveness.

“It was tough, but I wasn’t scared at all ‘cause heroes don’t get scared of anything! Plus, it wasn’t so bad. Tomura was there too, and both of us have really strong quirks, so we got out okay!”

The expressions on the other gathered heroes' faces were priceless. Hawks definitely should've mentioned that part, but oh god, this was so work it. Bakugou didn’t even notice the weird faces since he was caught up in his triumph. Endeavor was the one to speak this time, eyes wide as they darted from Bakugou to Hawks and back.

“Tomura?”

“Mhm! He got hit by the quirks too apparently, so we were stuck in the building together. I thought he was weird at first, but turns out he’s actually pretty cool! His quirk lets him destroy stuff really fast, and both of us are gonna be heroes when we’re older! He had to go with uhh- Dabi? I think that was his name? But I gave him my email address so we can keep in contact.”

Yeah, Hawks was having the time of his life with this. He kept up his wide grin as he added on.

“The two of you made quite the team. I’m sure you’ll be great heroes when you’re older! For right now though, you’re gonna go with Mr. Aizawa here for that observation period I talked about, okay?”

Bakugou nodded and let himself be transferred over to Eraserhead, who snapped out of it enough to take the kid, fixing Hawks with a glare that said this wasn’t over. Endeavor was again the one to speak, having apparently decided to shove his shock to the side in favor of being grouchy.

“Well, that’s that I suppose. All this trouble, and they still got away with the damn USB.”

Way to kill the good mood. Hawks winced and opened his mouth to point out how many villain’s they’d caught, only to be beat to the punch by Bakugou, who’d perked up at the statement.

“USB?”

Oops, right, he wouldn’t know about that. Okay, uh.

“Ah, yeah, it’s actually what the whole quirk mess was about in the first place. Some bad guys wanted a USB with important info on it and a bunch of people were caught in the crossfire. They got away with it, but it’s all good, we got most of the group, so there’s only so many places they could hide it.”

“Hang on.”

Bakugou wiggled in Eraserhead’s hold until he could reach one of his knee pouches, pulling it open. Wait. No fucking way-

Yes fucking way, apparently, since after a second of digging the kid produced the damn USB that had started this whole mess in the first place, holding it out in his gloved hand.

“Is this it? I found it near where Tomura and I fell, and it looked kinda important so I grabbed it.”

“... Goddamn kid, you really don’t halfass stuff, huh?”

Hawks could only shake his head in disbelief at what this kid had managed in what? Under two hours? Man, Hawks was gonna need to pay a hell of a lot more attention to the kid once he was older again, because if this was the sort of shit he could pull off when he was eight, then he’d be making waves the moment he debuted. Maybe even before that, given how much shit the UA students had been caught up in lately.

The kid responded with a grin of his own, as Kamui Woods took the USB and stepped aside to radio in that it had been retrieved. Mic broke out into a grin, and started chatting excitedly, something that made the kid’s smile widen as Eraserhead stepped away with him. Leaving Hawks there with Endeavor and Miruko, both of whom needed several seconds to process everything that just happened.

It was Miruko who broke the silence at long last, turning to pin Hawks with a look that sent shivers down his spine.

“Hawks, I swear to god, if you didn’t get photos...”

“Who do you take me for? Of course I took photos.”

There was a whole lotta bullshit that Hawks was gonna need to sort out in about a day or so. Or less. He had a fuckton of questions that needed answers, and he intended to get them. But for the time being he just pulled out his phone and brought up his gallery, fully intending to relish in the cute kid shenanigans for as long as he could.

Tomorrow or the day after he could go get answers. Today, he had some fucking amazing photos to pass around among the pro-heroes present. Sure, it might get him killed at some point, but it was so fucking worth it.