Chapter Text
Villains weren’t the collaborative type.
Shouta Aizawa was well aware of this fact. More often than not, when villains attempted to work together they would still break off. They weren’t known for their cooperative abilities. Even the most impressive of attempts were easily thwarted. Shut down one, the rest would go down like dominos. So when he realized the person standing outside a rather unassuming house was actually working with someone inside the house he was more than surprised.
He had struck up a conversation with him, suspicious, but careful about how he handled the situation. He didn’t want to let this guy know he was concerned. That could start a chain of events he didn’t really want to deal with at the moment. Even in his hero uniform, as long as the conversations remained natural most villains would attempt to pretend like nothing is wrong in the hopes the hero remains oblivious. But his well trained senses picked up the slightly too loud earpiece the man was wearing. But he had no proof that anything had happened so he had no cause to attack.
“I think I’ll check in with the owners of the house. Just to say hi.” It was stupid, but it always worked. The moment he moved in the direction of the house, he heard the man speak what could only be a code word into the earpiece. A sudden crashing noise was all the hero needed to act. He turned, activating his quirk just in case, and used the scarf around his neck to detain the man outside.
Now without his capture weapon, he’d need a strategy for inside the house. It wasn’t difficult to get in as the door had been left unlocked, but now he needed to figure out what was even happening. He had no idea what was even going on, he simply knew it was criminal. But before he could survey his surroundings he was suddenly blinded and forced to cover his eyes with his arm.
“Let go of me!” The voice was small, frightened but in some level of self defense mode. This was the voice of a child who had enough courage to fight back, even while terrified. His teeth gritted as he considered every possible implication of the statement the child made.
“Stupid bitch- Can’t see a fucking-”
A crashing noise told him that whoever the unwelcome party was had likely fallen. He put on his goggles, and noticed the light dissipating. He looked up, and saw another man on the ground, and watched as a young girl, who couldn’t be more than seven or eight, cowering in a corner of the room. And her skin was glowing faintly.
“So she’s the light…” He muttered to himself. He immediately went to her, his instincts telling him she needed his protection. He made sure he softened his voice, something he only did with young, scared, people. His voice wasn’t the warm friendly type, and wouldn’t encourage them to stay with him. “I’m Eraserhead, I’m a professional Hero. Can you tell me your name?”
“Hikari…” Her voice was quiet and scared but she was talking to him. That was a good thing. That meant that even as adrenaline wore down this child was resilient. She’d be more receptive to his help. She would’t cower from him.
“Okay Hikari, I want you to stay behind me okay? I’m going to keep you safe.” She nodded, and clung to his leg. Not the most helpful but as long as this guy was down Shouta didn’t need to move. He pulled out his phone and called the police. After a quick explanation and an address, he crouched down to her level, prompting her to let go, and faced her. “Are your parents here?”
“They were upstairs… I think he…” She didn’t even need to finish her sentence for Shouta to know exactly what happened. The terrible part was that meant she’d been targeted. And the worst part was… He’d likely just left this child without parents. There was no way an abduction like this didn’t include murder, they weren’t stealthy enough. It took quite a bit of strength to not just stab the man while he was down but that was not his job. And he didn’t need to be attacked by the media for this night.
“I’ll protect you, okay? I promise.” The little girl nodded. He kept her close to him, needing to keep an eye on the currently unconscious villain. He put one arm around her to keep her close and to help her feel safe. He just needed to wait until the police arrived. He had no other method of detaining the man at the moment. He’d need to think of a way to remedy this issue so it wouldn’t happen again. But for right now he was stuck.
His eyes darted from the villain, to the door, to the little girl he was now guarding. She was clinging to him as he held onto her, and he’d allowed his emotional guard to come down in an effort to help calm the child. His heart swelled just slightly at the notion that he was protecting this little girl. She’d just potentially lost everything and somehow she was finding comfort in his presence.
He’d been hoping that the police would arrive before the villain woke up but that was clearly not to be. The man was stirring and he needed to make sure he didn’t escape. Without leaving the girl’s side. He made sure Hikari was behind him and grabbed the knife from his back. He held it out, prepared to do anything to protect the child. The man slowly got up and turned around, holding his head as he did so. When he turned Shouta was finally able to get a look at him.
The villain looked to be about as old as the Hero facing him. Possibly even younger. The fall appeared to have injured him as there was blood sliding down his face. Shouta didn’t recognize him, so he wasn’t anybody known. And with only two people he worried that perhaps they were part of a bigger group. A targeted attack like this appeared to be usually indicated something bigger was underway.
The man charged at him and Shouta held his ground, holding up the knife defensively. Just as the two were about to make contact, flashing red and blue lights stopped the man in his tracks. He looked at the girl behind Eraserhead, and for a moment the Hero saw panic in his eyes before he bolted. Just as he was about to go after him the police came in, many following the running villain. One stayed behind to talk to Shouta and Hikari, and the rest began inspecting the house.
“Hey, Eraser.”
“Tsukauchi.” He gave a nod to the detective. The Hero only just became aware that the little girl had once again clung to his leg, so he chose to remain upright as the detective moved down to the child’s level.
“I see you’ve met my friend, Eraserhead. I’m Tsukauchi. What’s your name?” The little girl, still holding on to Shouta’s pants, responded.
“Hikari.” At that moment and officer came up to Tsukauchi and he stopped to listen. The message was quiet, audible only to the detective.
“The parents are dead.” Tsukauchi’s face fell. He nodded in response so the officer knew he heard him, before smiling again and getting back to the child’s level.
“Alright, well Hikari it seems like you’ve had kind of a hard night. But we’re gonna find somewhere for you to rest tonight, okay? We just have to let these nice men make sure you’re okay. Is that alright?” The little girl nodded as she watched some men in white come into the house holding bags. She looked up at Eraserhead, trying to make sense of everything. The Hero looked down and noticed her confused face.
“Those are doctors. They’re going to make sure you aren’t too hurt. You can trust them.”
“Oh… Okay.” Shouta left her with the medics and went to speak with Tsukauchi far enough away that she couldn’t hear them. After making sure she was occupied with the medics he turned to the detective.
“The parents are dead, aren’t they.” All he got was a somber nod in response. He ran a hand through his hair as he continued. “I think this was a targeted attack. They were here for her.” He knew his hunch wasn’t much more than that, but his gut told him it was correct. He just hoped they could accomplish something with it.
“Do you think it’ll happen again?”
“I can’t be sure. But they were too… Coordinated. This wasn’t typical behavior. It seemed organized. Like they’re part of a bigger group.”
“That’s a big claim, Eraser. Do you have any proof?” He shook his head, knowing that his answer would not do him any favors.
“Nothing concrete… But you’ve got the guy from out front. He might talk.” Tsukauchi didn’t seem convinced but figured he’d work on Eraser’s hunch anyway.
“I’ll throw in some questions on it but I wouldn’t expect much. If they are part of a bigger group I can’t imagine they’ll squeal so easily.”
“It’s worth a shot. Besides do you want to risk more lives if another attempt is made? They clearly don’t have a problem killing.”
“Even if I do ask, if he doesn’t say yes, we can’t exactly throw extra protections on the girl based on a hunch. I could check in on my days off but that’s all I could promise you.” Even that could raise some red flags with his superiors but he trusted the pro hero in front of him enough to risk it. Especially if it involved the safety of a young child.
“It’s better than nothing. I have a bad feeling about this and I’d rather be safe.”
“I’ll do what I can. But I really can’t promise much.” He nodded. He had to accept that was the final offer. That was all Tsukauchi could do. He was about to head back towards Hikari when he felt something grab his leg. Looking down he realized the young girl had got to him before he could get to her.
“Why are you holding my leg?” He tried to keep his voice neutral but some level of ‘confused yet entertained’ came through.
“I trust you.” He made a face, this wasn’t something he really wanted to do. This was why he avoided letting his guard down too much. They’d get attached and he’d have to let them down. He’d brought this on himself. He crouched down slowly, giving her a chance to let go of his leg before he crushed her arm.
“And you did a great job today. But now it’s time to let these nice men help you out. My job is finished.” He could tell she looked sad, and as much as it broke his heart he had to hold back from reaching out to her. He wanted to comfort her but he couldn’t let her get more attached than she already was. It was a bad idea.
“Oh… Okay…” He stood up again.
“Don’t worry. You can trust them. I do.” He knew that would get her to at least make the effort. If she trusted him, she would trust the people he trusted. True to his belief she let go and let the paramedics and a few officers lead her outside.
“There’s some paperwork that needs to be done, but you’re probably good to go home after it’s complete.” He nodded in response, and got into Tsukauchi’s car. Hopefully this would be quick.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The paperwork had only taken somewhat longer than expected. And the child had been placed with a local foster family while they reached out to family members. But from the sound of it, there didn’t seem to be any family to contact. The grandparents weren’t fit to be actual parents, and no other family could be located. This girl would likely remain in the system. And Eraserhead didn’t like the idea of random foster parents taking in the child. And most heroes didn’t sign up for the job.
So as he walked into the house, he couldn’t help but shake the feeling he had. Enough so that when he joined his husband in bed he turned to face him and asked him the strangest question to ever leave his mouth.
“How would you feel about becoming foster parents?”