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Chapter Text

Shouta was not having a good time.

For one, it was Christmas eve, and while for others that would mean a time of fun and cheer, but such was not the sake for the underground hero.

He had just gotten a call from Tsukauchi, and even through the phone he could tell that he was shaken by whatever had happened. That was enough to send Shouta rushing out into the cold streets, his capture weapon the only thing providing some semblance of warmth as he searched for the nearest train station.

Trains were packed during this hour, workers were comig home to their families, parents taking their kids out to celebrate and friends excitedly chattering about the festivities.

The constant in and out of passengers jostling him and almost driving him insane, and it didn't help that even with inside the train he could still feel the cold from outside seeping into his bones.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally reached his destination. He ran into the cold, frigid snow, searching for the street Tsukauchi told him to go to.

However it seemed like he didn't need to, as the bright flashing of blue and red lights were enough to tell him where to go.

He wasted no time making his way towards the scene, passing by one of the cops puking near the alleyway.

Well that can't be good.

"Eraserhead."

He turned to the voice in question, and was greeted by a man in a fedora and a thick trenchcoat that covered his entire body.

"Detective Tsukauchi, you know I was hoping you'd share more information than 'you might want to see this'."

The detective winced, "Right, sorry about that," he lead him to a dark alleyway, the smell of trash and rot permeating the air "It's just... we didn't know how to..to..."

Shouta felt a sense of dread creep unto him, Tsukauchi always knew how to be cool and collected during even the toughest cases, the fact that he was at a loss of words spoke volumes on how rattled he was.

"It's...better to just show you."

They stopped in front of a cloth with a noticable bulge underneath. Tsukauchi lifted the cloth just enough for him to see underneath.

Shouta gasped, all the color drained from his face.

It was a child's head.

But to his horror, they weren't dead, their eyes were fluttering and when Shouta gathered the courage to place his hand near his nose he could feel them exhale.

Shouta stepped back a little to fully take in what exactly he was seeing.

Judging from their appearance, he assumes this kid is a boy and a very pale one at that, his skin was practically white. Could you blame him for thinking he was dead?

He had black curly hair, though if that was his natural hair color or if it was just matted with dirt he couldn't tell.

He realised then, that there were what looked like black, long, tendrils coming from the kid's neck instead of a human body, and something was moving underneath.

Him and Tsukauchi shared a look before he moved the tendrils away to see what they were hiding.

Organs. Fucking organs, hanging onto a single black tendril.

Now he knew why that cop was puking his guts out.

And to make matters worse, they were all shriveled up, they looked like they were just barely functioning to keep this kid alive.

He forcefully shook himself out of his stupor, he had a job to do goddamnit. "Were any of you able to identify this kid."

Tsukauchi was still pale, but he was at least able to provide an answer, "Unfortunately no, there have been no missing person reports that bore any resemblance to him, and a mutation quirk like this- if it even is one- has never been seen let alone recorded."

Right after he finished, the boy-or his head at least-shifted. Both men froze as the child's eyelids slowly opened to reveal striking emerald eyes.

He doesn't know what led him to do so, but before his mind could catch up he crouched in front of the boy, taking the cloth to cover what was left of the kid's body.

"Don't worry," he said, with more gentleness he ever thought he was capable of, "you're safe now."

That seemed to be enough for him, as he closed his eyes again, seemingly content.

Shouta ran a hand across his face. He was not having a good time.

Chapter Text

Today was probably the most exhausted he's ever felt.

As soon as the ambulance arrived the boy was quickly swept away, the shock and horror were visible on the paramedics' face, only serving to prove just how much of an anomaly this boy was.

So now here he is, waiting on one of the benches in the sterile walls of the hospital and nursing a cup of coffee, the swirling black liquid was tempting to drink, especially considering that it's 2 in the morning, but he still felt sick and far too confused to even take a sip.

The doctor responsible for treating the kid had last spoken to him 5 hours ago, Tsukauchi was still with him at the time before he went back to the police station to do more research on this unknown child.

He said that the child was on the brink of starving to death, and while it wasn't apparent in the dimly lit alleyway, he was sufferring from multiple lacerations on his tendrils. He had also said that he was anemic, though it seemed to be a side effect of his quirk rather than something that was inflicted.

The doctor's statement however only served to fill Shouta with more dread . When talking with Tsukauchi they both suspected that the child was perhaps abandoned because of his quirk, which would explain why there were no missing person reports and why there have been no sightings of this boy in the past, since they most likely would have been too ashamed to even acknowledge his existence.

Just the thought of it made Shouta's blood boil, but it was the sad reality of having an 'unappealing' quirk.

CRASH!

Shouta quickly snapped out of his musings, getting up and running towards the sound of screaming.

He felt his blood run cold when he realised it was coming from the kid's room.

He quickened his pace, nearly running into one of the nurses.

"What is happening?!" He didn't have the sense to mask the panic in his voice as more nurses flooded out of the room.

Brief glimpses inside revealed black tendrils lashing out and knocking aside equipment. The others still in the room were caught between defending themselves and holding down the tendrils with little success.

"We were just in the middle of the operation when they lashed out! We tried giving him more anasthesia but those things won't let us get near him!" one of the nurses answered.

Immediately, Shouta knew what to do. He entered the room, ignoring the alarmed shouts of the medical staff.

Upon laying his eyes on the kid he activated his quirk.

Almost immediately, the tendrils went slack, one almost landing on a poor nurse in the process.

"Restrain them now, before I blink."

Everyone quickly got to work, one doctor injecting the boy with quirk suppresants while the rest focused on restraining the tendrils.

When it was deemed safe enough, Shouta finally allowed himself to blink. God, he already felt a headache coming along.

After what felt like an eternity of-no doubt traumatized-doctors and nurses tearfully thanking him he left the room only to be greeted by a haggard looking detective.

Oh for fuck's sake.

Tsukauchi took one look at his face and said, "Did something happen?"

Shouta wanted to tear his hair off.

Instead he just pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed, "I'll tell you later, did you find anything?"

The detective raised an eyebrow but continued nonetheless, "We did actually, we even found information on his parents."

That was enough to spark his interest, "What did you find?"

Tsukauchi pulled out a file from his trench coat and opened it, he began reading,

"Izuku Petrov Molchalin, born on July 15, 2134 in Musutafu, Japan before moving with his parents to Lesnoy, Russia. His mother Inko Molchalin, and his father Pyotr Molchalin died in a house fire on August 1, 2139, the cause of which was ruled as faulty wiring. The body of Izuku however was never found. Witnesses claimed to have seen a group of mysterious men dressed in black arrive in a black minivan before leaving, an investigation was conducted in search of Izuku Molchalin as well as these mysterious men in black, but due to no leads or evidence the case went cold."

The silence that followed was almost deafening as the two men let the words slowly sink in.

Tsukauchi closed the file and looked at Shouta, his expression somber.

"I think we just inadvertedly solved a case Eraserhead."

Chapter Text

Shouta stared at the files Tsukauchi handed him as if they had personally wronged him.

And in a way they did, considering he had completely forgone any sleep since last night.

Not that it wasn't a rare occurance, but during those times he at least had Hizashi or Nemuri to ground him, either by barging into his apartment or spamming his phone with memes that honestly weren't even funny.

But it was 6 am and neither of them were awake at this time, so Shouta had to be left with his own thoughts, the five cups of coffee he drank only further excacerbating his nerves.

Not only that, but Izuku had lashed out three more times last night.

Somehow, his tendrils managed to break away from his restraints, the second time it happened they had nearly strangled a nurse before Shouta used his quirk on them.

The doctors were wary of upping his dose of quirk suppresants as he was only a child and they didn't want to risk him developing an immunity, so they apologetically requested that he stay at the hospital until they found a better way to control the child's quirk.

Those accidents combined with trying to find out how Izuku had gotten here and how the men in black were involved left Shouta feeling like death warmed over.

So now he was back to staring at the offending file that managed to give out so much yet so little information.

Izuku's mother had a telekinesis quirk, however she was only able to attract small objects, Pyotr Molchalin on the other hand had the ability to transform his fingers to black tendrils resembling Izuku's and was also incredibly pale, a side effect of his quirk.

None of them had mutation quirks, they both looked relatively normal physically, and yet the only human attribute Izuku had was his head. How was that even possible?

One photo in particular caught his eye.

It was Inko Molchalin, lying down in a hospital bed with a tired yet joyful smile, and holding a baby with tuffs of green hair and unnaturally pale skin. No body in sight, just inky black tendrils.

On the bottom right corner read the words, Izuku Petrov Molchalin, July 15, 2134

He doesn't know why this photo intriuged him so much, maybe because the baby looked so out of place next to his mother, who looked humanoid in comparison, perhaps it's because it served to remind him more just how little they truly knew about quirks.

Or maybe because when looking at the sleeping face of Izuku, he couldn't help but think back to when he saw him at that alleyway, looking like he was in a deep sleep yet so, so close to dying.

Shouta jolted a bit when a steaming cup was placed in his field of vision 

"It's tea Aizawa-san. Don't you know that drinking more coffee will only make you more tired?"

He looked up to see a woman smirking at him, her long, messy, lavender hair held back by a headband.

He sighed, choosing to ignore her comment. "Shinsou-san, I take it it's your break?"

She raised an eyebrow at his clear deflection and sat on the bench across from him, taking a sip of her own cup of tea.

"It's chamomile," look who's deflecting now "I figured you'd need the tea after what happened."

He sat up straighter at that, "Were you there to see it?"

"No, I was in the other hospital wing at the time, but people love to gossip here, though I suspect that it wasn't as bad as they made it out to be."

"Well..." He trailed off, trying to figure out how exactly he should explain this.

Her eyes widened at that, looking even more concerned. "Was it?"

"What did they say?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

She hesitated for a moment before sighing. "They described it like it was straight out of a horror movie, a mysterious child with only a head and tendrils for a body had attacked the doctors in the middle of the operation. It sounded absurd, yet I couldn't find any reason why they would imagine such a horrific thing." Shinsou finished, all playful attitude from before dissipating.

"That's because they didn't, I was the one who took him here and I was there when he lost control."

Shinsou-san turned more somber at that, she looked like she wanted to ask questions regarding this boy but knew this wasn't the right time, Shouta was grateful for that, he really didn't want to relive those moments.

He looked at the still steaming cup of chamomile tea she gave him and took a sip, the aroma and the feeling of the hot liquid serving to calm him even for just a short moment.

Once again he looked back at the photo, reminding himself to savor this moment of calm before it was taken away.

Chapter Text

And it was taken away.

Because Izuku had just woken up.

This wasn't like any of the other time he had lashed out no, because back then the kid had no idea what he was doing.

But now he was conscious for all of it.

And he was afraid.

Half of the medical staff were focused on evacuating nearby patients to a safer part of the hospital while the other half were trying to get the boy to calm down.

The tendrils seemed to act as if they had a mind of their own, trying in some sick attempt to protect the boy by flinging away anyone who tried to come near him.

It was chaos, it was a fucking shitstorm and Shouta was the only one who even came close to stopping this.

Great. Just great.

The moment he stepped into the room the tendrils zeroed in on him and with a speed that had him stumbling back, they all came for him simultaneously.

Just before they reached him Shouta activated his quirk.

All at once the they fell to the ground, but after a few seconds he could see that they were starting to twitch, like they were fighting against his quirk.

Shit shit shit shit shit!

His attention was then turned to the boy, he was full on crying now, he was saying something but it was all in Russian.

Shouta made his way to the boy, trying his best to seem unthreatening, though the floating hair and red eyes probably didn't help.

The kid looked at him then, his eyes were fearful and desperate, as if he was pleading for him to help and Shouta can't help the way his heart clenched at the sight.

"Hey kid, I don't know if you can understand me, but it's going to be okay." God, he hopes this'll work.

His brows furrowed in confusion at first, before clarity seemed to come to his eyes.

"Safe?" he croaked, his japanese was choppy and had a russian accent, but once he understood felt some of the tension leave his shoulders.

"Yes, safe." he replied, making sure to soften his voice.

The kid sobbed in relief, his breathing seemed to even out, and Shouta had to give in to the urge to blink the tendrils seemed to retreat, coiling around Izuku and staying there.

Then it was quiet, the only sounds filling the room was the heartbeat monitor and the quiet breathing of the now sleeping boy.

~~~

"WHAAAAAAT?!"

Shouta winced at the volume of his friend's voice and he spared a quick glance at Izuku's sleeping form, thanking whatever god was out there that he only stirred a little bit.

He hissed into the reciever, "Quiet you idiot, you're gonna wake him up."

"Sorry. But could you blame me? How are you going to spend an entire day in the hospital?! What about your patrols? Can me and Nemuri still see you? I need answers Shou!!!"

Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing he could erase quirks through phonecalls, "Look, it's not exactly ideal, but as of now I'm the only hope this kid has of getting his quirk under control. And I already alerted my agency of the situation, they should be sending someone else to take car of my patrols. And you and Nemuri can only come if you can stay quiet and not freak the kid out, which I highly doubt you can do."

Hizashi faux sniffed, "So mean, I'm great with kids! Did you know that 66% of my audience consists of kids and teens? I'm a natural with them! No wait, that sounded super weird."

Shouta snorted, knowing that Hizashi understood him and was making a great effort to make him feel better. While Hizashi liked to joke around and had a love for theatrics, that didn't mean he didn't take things seriously, he knew why he couldn't come and that even though children did typically like him, that didn't mean he was equipped to deal with something like Izuku's situation.

Speaking of the kid, it seemed like he was starting to wake up.

After bidding his goodbyes to his friend he tried to make his sitting position look casual, so as not to scare the kid, before realising he was failing at it and decided to just wait for Izuku to wake up.

The kid blinked blearily at the ceiling, taking in his surroundings before his eyes landed on Shouta, recognition sparked through his emerald eyes and Shouta couldn't help but notice that he seemed more... at ease.

"Hey kid, how are you feeling?"

Chapter Text

The kid had to take a few seconds to process what he was saying, when he did his mouth made a small 'o', Shouta would vehemently say that it was absolutely not adorable.

"Go-good." The kid's voice was barely above a whisper and Shouta had to basically strain his ears to hear him. He looked to the far left corner of the room where a water dispenser sat and sat up to grab a cup, hoping it would soothe the boy's throat.

When he turned back his eyebrows raised slightly at the sight of Izuku's tendrils wrapped around the IV stand. Shouta had to wonder for a moment how the hell the doctors managed to insert that thing before shaking himself of that thought. Not now, you have a traumatised boy to talk to.

He held the cup to the kid. "Drink, it will help." The kid's eyes widened a fraction, surprised by the offer before a tendril slowly reached out, Shouta forced himself to stay still despite his insticts to activate his quirk, trusting that the kid could control his quirk better now that he's lucid.

It finally wrapped itself around the cup and Izuku took a big gulp, emptying it in one go. The boy looked a bit sheepish as he handed him back the cup. "Th-thank you."

His brows furrowed in concern, his voice was still little more than a whisper and although the water definitely helped him, it didn't seem like dehydration was what made his voice so quiet.

That's when it hit him. Oh my god I'm an idiot.

Of course. His internal organs were diminished, way too small for that of an average person, so of course his lungs wouldn't allow him to speak any louder. God he wanted to smack himself in the face.

Instead of doing that though, he opted for just saying. "You're welcome."

They stayed there in silence for a while, honestly Shouta didn't really mind it all that much since he doubted he would be able to hold a proper conversation with the boy, him not knowing any russian and Izuku being inexperienced with japanese. However he could tell that there was something eating at the boy.

He would glance at him every so often, opening his mouth before closing it again, and as each second passed his heart rate began to speed up and his face became more frantic. The tendrils held tighter onto the IV stand, Shouta swore he could even hear the metal bending in its grip. Not wanting the kid to spiral into a panic and have a repeat of yesterday, he made the first move.

"What is it? You can tell me." He tried his best to make his voice clear and reassuring, the last thing either of them needed was the kid having a panic attack.

Izuku relaxed only slightly, hesitance still written on his face. "Your. Name?" He asked.

Shouta blinked, he must have heard that wrong. "Say that again?"

"Your name?" He whispered again, this time his voice sounded more uncertain, like he was regretting asking.

That's it? The kid nearly worked himself into a panic attack over asking for someone's name? Did he think he wasn't allowed to or the he'll be punished for it?

All these questions simmering in Shouta's brain only served to make his heart clench painfully, he quickly shoved down that feeling. Not now, focus on comforting the kid first.

He cleared his throat. "Aizawa Shouta, you uhhh.. Call me Aizawa." The kid's eyes glimmered with relief, his grip on the IV stand loosening as he tried the name on his tongue.

"Ai-zawa. Aizawa." The boy looked at him with those big puppy dog eyes, as if waiting for approval. Shouta couldn't help the small smile that made its way to his face as well as his fondness for the boy slowly growing.

"That's it, good job kid." He said, not realising at the moment how he didn't have to try very hard to make his voice soft. Izuku didn't quite smile but now there was something in his eyes that wasn't quite there before, pure childlike wonder. Not only that, but they held trust.

It was enough to take Shouta's breath away.

~~~

"What do you need japanese textbooks for?" 

Shouta had to bury his face in his capture weapon to hide his embarrasment. He had contemplated going to either Hizashi or Nemuri, but ultimately decided against it. For one, neither of them ever kept their old textbooks and any remaining ones were either filled with terrible doodles or had stains from god knows what. He thought about Tensei but.... eventually decided the inevitable teasing wasn't worth it.

So here he was, asking Shinsou-san instead.

He sighed. "Izuku, the kid I told you about, he's not fluent in japanese so I was hoping you could lend me any spare textbooks so I can... teach him."

Jesus christ, even with his capture weapon obscuring his vision he could practically feel her knowing smirk.

"Well you came to the right person then, I just so happen to have a few that Hitoshi doesn't need anymore." She said, and while Shouta still feels disgruntled at hearing her smug voice he does feel grateful that she's willing to help.

"Are you going soft Aizawa-san?" Nevermind, throw all that gratefulness out the window, this woman is a menace.

"I'm not." He gritted out, this is just... to make talking with Izuku easier, right that's it, not at all because he wants to see that childish glee in his eyes again no, that'd-that'd be ridiculous.

Fuck, he's in too deep now is he?

Chapter Text

"Say it with me again, bozu ga byobu ni jozu ni bozu no e wo kaita." Shouta said, holding a textbook full of japanese tongue twisters in his hand.

Izuku's brows furrowed in concentration, his tongue sticking out a bit as his tendrils absentmindedly tapped against the IV stand they were wrapped around.

"Bozu ga byob-byobu ni joz.. ni joz.." The kid trailed off, looking dejected. Shouta wasn't too worried though, the kid was a surprisingly fast learner and had absolutely gobbled up textbooks on grammar and kanji. What he really needed to work on was his pronunciation, hence the tongue twisters.

"Do you want to try again or move on to a different one?"

"Ag-again." Izuku replied with no hesitation, you'd think he was going to battle a particularly powerful villain with the determined look on his face.

Shouta huffed in amusement. "Okay, repeat after me, bozu ga byobu ni jozu ni bozu no e wo kaita."

"Bozu ga byobu ni jozu ni boz-bozu ga byobu ni boz..."

Izuku made a noise of frustration, his tendrils seemed to pick up on his distress and before Shouta could do anything, the book he was holding was suddenly thrown across the room creating a loud crash!

He flew out of his chair and activated his quirk before they could do any more damage. The boy looked horrified, staring at the textbook now in the corner of the room as the gravity of what just happened hit him.

Immediately he curled in on himself, sobbing "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry..." over and over until the words were practically unrecognizable and started to fade into gibberish.

Shouta held his hand out to touch him before deciding better of it, instead just holding his arms out in a placating manner.

"It's okay kid, it's okay, it's not your fault, I'm not mad." He reassured even though inside he was panicking. Fuck. This was exactly what he's been trying to prevent this whole time.

Izuku started run out of breath, tearful apologies turning into gasping breaths as Shouta continued to say soft reassurances while also fighting to keep himself from blinking.

"Follow me okay? In for 5, out for another 5. Do you understand?" He said, hoping to god this'll work. Izuku nodded shakily and began to copy what Shouta said, just in case, he did the breathing exercise as well, exaggerating his breathing so the kid can follow him.

In, 1... 2... 3... 4... 5, then out, 1... 2... 3... 4... 5..

"Kid, I need to turn off my quirk for now. Is that okay?" He asked when it seemed like the boy was getting his breathing under control.

He nodded, and Shouta couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as moisture was brought back to his eyes. The kid was still crying, though it was mostly reduced to quiet sniffles and the occasional hiccup. Without Shouta's quirk to impede it, the tendrils began to move, he was about to use his quirk again but stopped.

Each tendril began surrounding Izuku in an almost protective manner, acting as a sort of makeshift shield as they slowly enveloped him.

"No!" Izuku cried out, in an instant the tendrils stopped what they were doing and retreated, encircling themselves around the IV stand instead.

Shouta eyed them warily, body unconsciously posed in a fighting position, when it looked like they were settled he turned his attention to the boy.

His heart fell at the sight of the boy staring at the floor, his glassy eyes were distant, as if he wasn't really here. In hindsight, seeing him cry was much better than this because at least he was showing emotion, now his face was just a blank slate. It was a sharp contrast from just moments before, when they were just going through simple tongue twisters and now...

Shouta crouched down so he could be in Izuku's line of sight, slowly so as not to startle the kid. "Izuku, can you hear me?"

A few seconds passed before the boy nodded and he sighed in relief, it was a start. "Okay, good. Now can you look at me? Really look at me."

Another few seconds longer than the last. Izuku's eyes moved slightly, before finally settling on Shouta's face. He smiled a little, genuinely proud of the action, though small. "That's it, good job kid."

It was like a switch was flipped when those words were uttered. Izuku's face began to crumble and more tears started to form in his eyes, this time however, he wasn't crying from despair, this was him letting out whatever emotion he's feeling, and has been feeling since he was taken in, in a series of gut wrenching sobs.

Shouta hesitated for a moment, before finally settling a hand on his mop of curly hair, the kid stilled for a moment before deflating, even going so far as to lean into his touch.

For once in his life, Shouta didn't know what to do.

~~~

He paced the halls of the hospital, heedless of the annoyed glares he was getting from the people sitting on the benches.

"Listen Tsukauchi, you can't question the kid, not now." Shouta said, they've been at it for what? An hour, maybe more? Whatever it is, he's sure that any longer and this godforsaken phone call will turn into a screaming match.

"I understand Aizawa, I do." But... "But," Goddamnit! "you and I both know how important this is. An aformentioned missing kid last seen in Russia, Russia Aizawa! Suddenly turns up in Japan of all places, starved and beaten, this is really shady Aizawa, and that's not even mentioning his quirk. He was obviously taken for a reason, whose to say his abductors aren't searching for him still?"

Fuck, he makes a good point. Still, Shouta wasn't one to back down. "You don't think I'm aware of that? I'm an underground hero for Christ's sake, I know the stakes. But the kid is in no state to answer any prying questions, he won't react well to that, especially since his quirk will probably register you as a threat. Unless you want him to have another meltdown, then by all means feel free to let him relive his trauma!" Shouta's voice rose until he reached the end of his tirade, by which he was promptly told off by a nurse passing by.

The other end of the call was silent for a moment, and although both men were in completely different places, the tension was so thick you could slice it with a meat cleaver.

Finally, the detective sighed. "Three more days, I'll give you three more days, but after that, I'm not sure if I can delay it any longer." He said, his tone was displeased but if you strained your ears hard enough, you could find sympathy lacing his voice.

Shouta allowed the tension to leave him, his body collapsing against the wall. "That's all I ask. Thank you."

"Just- take care of the kid okay."

Then the line went dead.

Chapter Text

"Three more days, I'll give you three more days."  the reminder felt like a ticking time bomb hanging over Shouta's head. He had to make the most of this, get Izuku to learn how to be in the same room with someone without anyone getting maimed in the process. Maybe he could use his quirk on Izuku throughout the entire interrogation and pray that he'll still have most of his vision intact afterwards. He scoffed, like that'll work.

He ran a hand across his face as he stood in front of the door to Izuku's room. He took a deep breath, and let it out in one long sigh before entering.

Not for the first time, Shouta was thankful for the years of training that allowed him to keep his face blank, it wouldn't do for Izuku to pick up on his anxiety and exhaustion.

Said kid looked up from where he was curled around the IV stand again, he looked surprised that he was here, which puzzled Shouta since he thought he'd be used to his presence by now.

He went to sit on the chair next to his bed, but stopped when Izuku flinched.

Okay, something is definitely wrong.

"Kid, it's just me. I'm not gonna do anything to you, promise."

He relaxed at that, but only slightly, never keeping his eyes off Shouta the whole time. He didn't miss how a few tendrils began to move, seemingly without the kid knowing.

"What's wrong? You can tell me." He said, careful of his tone while sneaking a few glances at the tendrils.

Izuku didn't respond for a while, Shouta waited as the kid mulled over his response, all the while keeping his expression and posture relaxed despite his worry.

"You're here. Even when the book happened? You're here?" His voice was quieter than usual when he finally spoke, nervousness evident in his voice, he noticed how his russian accent sounded thicker now.

Shouta held back a sigh, he should have expected Izuku to feel guilty for what happened, it was understandable, but he really needed him to know this,

"Listen kid, what happened yesterday was an accident, it wasn't your fault okay? You were upset and scared, there's nothing wrong with that. You're-you're just a kid, and look-there's something-" he did sigh this time. Might as well get this over with.

"In three days... someone will come to see you, they're nice I promise." He added that last part in when Izuku's expression became fearful. "The thing is-he's going to ask you some questions about your past, I'm not going to lie, these are-they won't be particularly easy to answer. Kid this is-it's really important, and I'm sorry I can't give you more time." Guilt flooded his veins at the sight of the kid's downtrodden expression, but he wasn't done yet.

"But I want you to know you're not going to be alone in this, okay? I'm going to help you, I'll teach you how to control your quirk, to use it without harming anyone or destroying anything, and if you make a mistake, that's fine too, you can always learn from it." 

Izuku was close to tears by this point, there was still uncertainty hidden behind those eyes, but this time there was something else mixed in.

"How?" He asked. Oh, that's what it is, hope. 

Shouta felt a bit uneasy with that look directed at him of all people, somehow it felt like a new responsibilty thrusted upon him. Don't let him down.

"You've seen what I can do right, with your quirk?" The kid nodded. "That's how, I'll teach you how to control them," he gestured to the tendrils, "and if something goes- if something happens, I'll stop it, we can even take breaks if you want to, whatever you need, but I can only teach you if let me. Will you let me, Izuku?"

There were tears streaming down Izuku's face now and for a second Shouta was worried he did something wrong, before he saw the ends of his lips turn up a little in some semblance of a smile.

"Yes."

Shouta felt a rush of warmth from those words, even with a new voice at back of his head repeating that same phrase over and over again. Don't let him down. 

~~~

After making sure that the kid absolutely did want to go through with this, he gave both of them a 15 minute break so Izuku could calm his nerves as well as Shouta, before they started their first.. lesson? Training? Was he technically a teacher now? He-he wasn't sure how to feel about that.

"We're going to start with some small exercises. Tell me, what do you struggle with most with your quirk?" Shouta asked, already thinking about a few things they could do, but he didn't want to dump all of them on the kid just yet lest he overwhelm him.

Izuku hesitated, thinking it over before answering, "I can't touch anything. I'll destroy them."

He nodded, the cogs already turning in his brain as he looked around the room. There.

He gets up and takes a stack of paper cups from the table next to the water dispenser and holds it in front of Izuku.

"Can you try holding this?"

The kid glanced up at him uncertainly before nodding, letting a few tendrils wrap themselves around the cup, a loud creak can be heard from inside the mass of coiled tendrils. When they retreated, the cup was reduced to nothing more than a pile of crinkled paper.

"I'm sorry..." Izuku whispered.

"Don't apologize kid, I asked you to do it."

"I still destroyed it..."

"You did, but now I can see what the problem is. You used too many at once and applied way too much pressure. Do you remember the breathing exercise I taught you?"

Izuku nodded. "Good, next time I want you to try focusing on using less force, if you feel like you're going to lose control, do the breathing exercise until you've calmed down enough to try again. Do you think you can do that?"

He nodded again, not for the first time, it struck Shouta just how much this kid trusted him in just the span of a few days. Don't let him down, he silenced that voice as he reached for another cup from the stack.

"I want you grab this with just one tendril, this time without crushing it, if the cup is in perfectly good shape we'll move on to two, then three, and so on." 

Izuku lifted a tendril and slowly began to curl it around the cup but just as he was about to lift it a small squeak could be heard, he flinched away as if he'd been burned, dropping the cup and revealing its slightly deformed shape.

"I'm sorry!"

"No no no, it's okay, it takes practice, I'm not expecting you to get it on the first try. That's why I'm teaching you, remember?"

"What if I don't get it right?" his voice was just barely above a whisper.

"You will, it'll take a few tries and you'll make some mistakes, but you will. Do you want to continue or take a break? Either answer is fine."

He mumbled something he couldn't quite catch, his naturally quiet voice making it impossible to hear.

"Kid, can you say that a little louder?"

"Can I... do it again?"

Shouta held back a smile, "Of course, kid." he said as he took another cup from the stack.

"Remember your breathing exercise, breathe in for 5 seconds, then let it out for another 5 seconds." 

Izuku nodded, closing his eyes and following the exercise until the panic began to ebb away. When Izuku opened his eyes again, they were shining with resolve.

He curled the tendril once more around the paper cup, just barely touching it. He glanced at Shouta, hesitant to do any more without crushing the cup.

"Just a little bit more kid, you're doing good."

Izuku's brows furrowed in concentration as he willed the tendril to coil itself around the cup, he waited with baited breath for the telltale squeak of the paper as he began to apply more pressure. 

Nothing.

Both watched with anticipation as Izuku steadily lifted the cup. Still nothing.

Shouta kept the shock from showing in his face as he held out a hand. "Alright, good job, now give the cup back to me."

At once, he let go and carelessly plopped the cup onto Shouta's hands, and would have tumbled down the floor if not for his quick reflexes. They'd have to work on that.

Izuku winced. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head, "No, don't be, you did great. See?" he showed him the cup, its form in relatively good condition save for a slight indent in the side, he smirked slightly when the kid gasped. "Not crushed, you did great, kid."

Izuku looked astonished, staring at the paper cup in his hand in disbelief. Shouta couldn't hold back his surprise this time when he stared right into him, his eyes full of determination and vigor that he's never seen on the quiet boy before.

"Two next?" 

Despite his past attempts to be gentle with him, he couldn't help but mirror the kid's intense look, his eerie smile making its way to his face unbidden.

"Two next."

They had made it to four before the paper cup was eventually crumpled mercilessly under the tendrils. It was a small step, but that didn't stop the pride from overflowing in Shouta's chest, especially if it made Izuku just a little more confident in himself.

~~~

Shouta woke with a jolt, instincts kicking in as he scanned his surroundings for a non-existent threat, he began to relax as any memories of the dream he had began tp slip away, leaving him in the dark hospital room with the only sound being his and Izuku's breathing. He sat up only to wince at the sharp pain in his neck from sleeping in the incredibly stiff plastic chair, and cursed himself for forgetting to bring his sleeping bag with him.

He looked at the clock and inwardly groaned, 3:45, looks like he wasn't going to get anymore sleep tonight.

He had just about resigned himself to spending the entire night moping over his lack of sleep when he heard a whimper coming from the bed. Shouta immediately snapped to attention, any ounce of tiredness had completely dissipated when he realised Izuku was making those noises, his sobs growing louder and louder.

He cautiously approached Izuku as the blanket began to shift and long black tendrils barely visible in the dim room crawled out from underneath. Shouta didn't move, an intense feeling of dread keeping him in place as they slowly crept onto the floor and up the walls, steadily covering Izuku's corner of the room in inky black darkness.

He snapped himself out of his stupor to run towards the light switch and flipped it on, the bright lights causing spots to dance around his vision, and wasted no time in using his quirk on the tendrils.

One less problem to deal with, now on to the hard part.

His hands hovered uselessly above the kid, for all the training he had as an underground hero, he was woefully unprepared to comfort this kid from whatever nightmare he was having.

Izuku sobbed once more, the guttural sound piercing through Shouta.

Ah, fuck it.

He gently put a hand on the boy's head, cringing at the feeling of grime in his curly hair, but continued to bury his hand in it nonetheless. Izuku flinched at first, before slowly leaning into his touch, though the whimpers hadn't died down very much.

Shouta hesitated, before leaning in closer to the boy, praying to whatever god was out there that this'll work.

"Hey kid, I don't know if you can hear me but... wherever you are right now, you're safe. No one's gonna hurt you anymore-I won't let them. I'm-I'm here, kid."

Eventually, Izuku's whimpers dwindled to mere sniffles, until they stopped all together  and he once again fell into a deep sleep, at some point Shouta forgot about all the muck covering the boy's hair as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through it.

Now he really wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. But if it meant keeping an eye on the kid, then maybe it wasn't so bad.

Chapter Text

Shouta's eyes snapped open from the sound of wood breaking, interrupting him from his light doze. He silently cursed himself for falling asleep in the middle of teaching Izuku.

Yesterday, he had come up with a schedule they could follow, he'd teach Izuku japanese in the mornings, and after a short break they'll work on his control over his quirk throughout the afternoon. He'd also teach him english if he could but he wasn't nearly as fluent in the language like Hizashi was.

So far, the kid was able to hold a water bottle and a metal fork, and was now trying to do the same with a pencil this time. The idea came up when he thought about Izuku possibly being able to express himself through writing.

He rubbed his eyes blearily, holding back a sigh as another broken pencil joined the rest on the ground, the floor was practically buried in splinters now. God, that's going to be such a pain to clean up.

"I'm sorry." Izuku said, his spirit breaking along with each pencil.

"'S okay kid, not your fault. D'you wanna continue or-" he cut off with a yawn, "...take a break?"

Izuku's brows furrowed, though if it was from confusion or concern, Shouta couldn't tell, but that might be because he was too sleep deprived to do so.

"What?"

"I said do you want to continue or take a break? Either option is fine." He said, making considerable effort to speak coherently, whether he was successful or not is up for debate.

"...Are you okay?" Ah fuck, he was already proving to be a terrible teacher wasn't he?

On the bright side, Izuku didn't seem to remember his nightmare last night, or was at least unaffected by it. No wait, the latter one was even more concerning, he should probably start reading up on child psychology books, maybe they would explain why the kid is looking at him like there's something wrong with him-oh wait, he hasn't answered him yet.

"'M fine kid, just didn't get enough sleep."

Izuku looked almost disapproving at that, or tried to at least, seeing that look on an eight year old's face was honestly hilarious.

"You need sleep, sleep is good." He reprimanded, trying to sound stern but only serving to make Shouta crack a smirk. It was honestly kind of adorable-wait what.

He hid his face in his capture scarf in embarrassment. Curse his sleep derived brain for derailing his train of thought, making him look like an idiot.

"I know kid, I know, and you haven't answered my question."

Izuku deflated, looking down at the floor full of shattered pencils before steeling himself. "Continue, please."

It took a total of six more tries before he began crying tears of frustration and Shouta had to convince him to take a break, if the kid kept up the waterworks he might actually dehydrate himself.

Shouta was just in the middle of picking up every single piece of shattered pencils when there was a knock on the door.

He got up only for a tendril to suddenly wrap around his arm, squeezing painfully before retreating just as quickly. Shouta turned to the kid to find him staring at him with wide, fearful eyes, the sudden change of the atmosphere from relaxed to foreboding almost gave him whiplash.

"Kid, I'm sure it's just a doctor, they'll probably just make sure you're okay." Mentally, he noted the way he flinched at the word 'doctor', if the kid had a bad history with them it would explain why he lashed out in the operating room, but the implications of what they must have done to garner that reaction was... unsettling, to say the least.

Shouta only grew more concerned when Izuku started speaking in russian, dashing away any hopes of finding out what this kid's problem was. Was this what he resorted to when he was scared?

"Нет! Нет-нет-нет! Оставайтесь здесь, пожалуйста, просто оставайтесь! Здесь безопаснее, мы в безопасности-"

"Kid, Izuku I can't understand you, I need you to-Is it because of the doctor? I can take them away from you, I'll go out mys-"

He shook his head frantically, his eyes were near hysterical at this point. "Пожалуйста, не открой эту дверь, ты не вернитесь, если ты это сделаешь!"

The pro was at a loss for what to do, the kid was terrified of doctors, that much he was sure of, but the way he reacted to his offer made it seem like he was scared for Shouta's safety too. God, he wished he had learned russian.

"Kid, remember your breathing exercise, breathe in for five seconds then let it out for another five, here, I'll do it with you."

Shouta made sure to do the same, exaggerating his movements so that the kid could easily follow, but even as his breathing began to even out, the fear was still there in his eyes.

"Listen to me kid, I promise you that whoever is on the other side of the door won't hurt you, and they won't hurt me either, even if they tried to, I won't let them."

Another knock resounded, "Excuse me?" a voice said from the other side.

"Do you understand? They won't hurt you, or me for that matter."

Uncertainty was still present in the kid's eyes, a tear slipped out from the corner of one and without thinking about it, Shouta wiped it away, surprising both himself and Izuku by the affectionate action.

Eventually, Izuku nodded, letting Shouta get up to answer the door, he spared a glance at the boy before finally opening the door.

Outside was a man in a lab coat, with hazelnut hair that reached just below his ears. The rectangular glasses and stubble added to his mature look, but despite his aged appearance his expression was open, friendly even.

The doctor smiled kindly, "Ah, Aizawa Shouta was it? I'm Dr. Shishido, I'm here to check in on Molchalin-kun here, as well as discuss more about his stay here. Molchalin-kun is adjusting well in your care I assume?"

Shouta stepped aside so Izuku could properly see both him and the doctor. "He's doing...as well as he could be. I have to ask, what exactly will this check-in entail?"

"Oh it's nothing too serious, just a simple examination of the boy's health, and to discuss the new diet he must follow during his stay." Shishido gestured to a nurse that he hadn't noticed was there the whole time, she was holding a tray containing a glass of what looked like orange juice.

The moment he took a step closer to the room however, a handful of Izuku's tendrils moved at lightning speed towards the doctor before stopping just a few inches away from him, not moving any closer but not retreating either, just holding their position like a warning.

Shouta turned to Izuku, who looked conflicted, not wanting the doctor to come closer but not wanting to hurt him either.

He held an arm out placatingly, "Izuku, it's alright, he won't do any harm. I promised, remember?"

A few seconds passed where there was nothing but tense silence, Shouta was debating using his quirk when the tendrils slowly retreated, all of them letting out a breath of relief at the sight.

He turned back to Dr. Shishido, who was now a few shades paler. "I'm sorry about that, he's still skittish around other people, I'm sure you understand."

He let out nervous chuckle, "Oh of course, if the boy would like, we can just stay here. We don't want to make him uncomfortable after all!" 

Shouta took the tray from the nurse when she handed it to him, there were slight tremors in her hands as she did so.

"Due to his body showing signs of starvation, it would be unwise to give him a full meal so soon. In order to get his body used to digesting food again, he'll have to stick to only juice for a minimum of 2 days, after that, he'll move on to small sips of broth, when he can finally stomach it, he'll be able to eat solid food like slices of bread, fruit, crackers and the like."

Shouta nodded along to the doctor's explanation, out of the corner of his eye he spotted Izuku trying to listen in as well, but seemed to give up halfway through when it became too difficult to understand.

"Other than that, he doesn't seem to be in severe condition, even the lacerations were already close to healing, because of that, we were able to determine that his quirk most likely has a regeneration aspect to it as well."

Shouta leaned in a little closer, mindful of the boy watching them. "Have you discovered anything else about his quirk?"

Dr. Shishido smiled in understanding. "From the tests we've gathered so far, only that his quirk is extremely durable, strong too, though we aren't sure just how strong we're talking here."

Shouta sighed, it felt like he had a million questions running through his head but with no way to put them into words, so he just settled for, "Thank you Dr. Shishido, that's-that's all have to ask." It'll have to wait for now anyway, Izuku was starting to get restless. He'll get his answers when Tsukauchi comes.

Shishido smiled once again, something dancing in his eyes that Shouta couldn't quite place, and gestured something to the nurse, they exchanged a few words he couldn't hear before they turned to him again.

"Alright then, let us know if any of you need anything or if there are any adjustments to the diet that should be made."

They left and Shouta closed the door, tension that he didn't know was there leaving his body. He looked to Izuku, his expression was more relaxed now, and Shouta felt guilty for what he was about to do, but he was tired of fumbling in the dark.

He sat down on the uncomfortable plastic chair. "Kid, can you tell me about what happened earlier, why you reacted like that?"

Izuku clearly hesitated, it made sense, Shouta didn't expect him to trust him that much already, honestly he was surprised they went this far, but just as he was about to take back his question Izuku spoke.

"Doctors are bad, all they do is hurt, and-and do...bad things."

He could have just left it at that, but something in him just felt the urge to push further. "What...what did they do?"

"They tested, liked to...experiment. Not just me, plenty of others too, like me." Izuku said.

"How were they like you?" He asked, even when bile threatened to rise in his throat.

"Quirks were powerful, very powerful. Young too, my age some of them, others younger, older. They hurt them too. Do not know their name, wish I did. Wish I helped." Tears threatend to spill from his green eyes, but it was the emotion buried in them that caused Shouta's chest to constrict. They looked resigned, like he had accepted that there was nothing he could do-could have done, that those kids were most likely dead.

Shouta swallowed the bubbling rage in his chest. Kids, these were kids, most likely a case of human trafficking. Disgust and anger mixing together to create an ugly concoction threatening to burst, it made him want to hunt down the people responsible for this, for hurting his kid, and make them regret ever being born.

He desperately tried to push down that thought, now wasn't the time, the kid needed comfort now more than ever. They'll be able to do something in due time, he'll just-he'll wait for Tsukauchi to do the interrogation.

He cleared his throat to get rid of the lump that had formed. "Okay, thanks for telling me, that's all I wanted to know."

Izuku looked up in surprise, there was still a glossy sheen to his eyes that made Shouta's chest clench painfully. He really was going soft wasn't he?

Izuku scanned his face, as if he was searching for something, before the ends of his lips ticked up. "O-okay. You're welcome for...telling you?" he replied, wincing at the poor choice of words

Shouta stifled a laugh, it seemed he wasn't very successful judging by the look the kid gave him. "Now drink your juice kid."

Izuku huffed, but he paused just as he was about to grab the glass, and Shouta realised why; he hadn't practiced using his quirk on glass yet and for good reason, if it actually shattered, the shards might hurt Izuku.

Shouta got up to get a paper cup he could pour the juice in before remembering that they had used all of it up yesterday. He hummed, he could just call a nurse to bring another stack but the interaction just a few minutes ago had already been draining for the kid, not to mention reopened old wounds.

"Hey kid, I'm just going outside to get a cup to replace that glass, is that okay with you? It'll only be a short while, I promise."

There was a flash of uncertainty in the boy's eyes but then his gaze seemed to zero in on Shouta, he felt a little bit like the kid was sizing him up for some reason, but then his gaze suddenly turned...melancholic? Sympathetic? 

"Okay, I will wait." There it was again, that slight uptick in his lips.

Despite his curiosity, Shouta merely nodded in response, his eyes not leaving Izuku until the door obscured his vision.

Alright. He was outside, now he just needed to ask someone for help.

Ask someone for help.

Ask...someone.....

For help.

This was a lot harder than he thought.

Goddamnit, he was just being petty, again. It would be better to make this quick, if only for Izuku's sake.

It seems that the universe took pity on him, as he saw Shinsou-san just at the end of the hall. He made his way toward her, just about to say a greeting before seeing a second figure just beside her.

He did a double take when he realised it was a boy practically glued to Shinsou-san's side, watching him with narrowed eyes. The resemblance between the two was striking, they both had the same wild untamable hair, though his was a darker shade, and purple eyes as opposed to golden ones.

He raised an eyebrow, "Last I checked, it wasn't bring your kid to work day."

The lavender-haired woman rolled her eyes, "It isn't, but Satoshi is at a conference today, and I didn't want to leave him alone in the house." she gestured to the boy holding her hand, he was still watching him warily, it would have intimidated Shouta, if he were literally anyone else.

"Well, I'm actually here to ask you were you guys kept all the paper cups." He said.

"Oh, that's all? Well they're usually kept in the storage room, it's just a few floors above us, follow me." She was about to move when the kid tugged at her hand.

"Mom, can I go walk around?" The boy asked. Shouta held back a sigh of irritation, maybe he should have gone to someone else.

She crouched down to be at his level. "Hitoshi, I'm just going to help Aizawa-san here, it'll only be a minute."

Hitoshi pouted, "I already know all the places here anyway, it's not like I'll get lost. I just wanna walk around a bit, promise."

She still looked dubious however. Shouta was just about to go find someone else when a chipper voice called out, "Shinsou! I didn't know you'd be bringing Hitoshi-kun today."

He resisted the urge to groan. Great, more distractions, fantastic.

Shinsou-san smiled at the newcomer, though it seemed a bit placid. "Ah, Miyamura, I see you're feeling much better now."

Shouta felt his brow twitch in frustration as Miyamura replied, "Yep! Turns out all I needed was a good night's rest. Say, how's Satoshi doi-"

"Hey Shinsou-san, why don't you just leave Hitoshi with Miyamura-san over here, you three seem to know eachother anyway." He interrupted, he didn't care if he looked rude at the moment, he was already taking too long and he'd be severely disappointed with himself if he came back to an upset Izuku.

Shinsou looked relieved at the interruption. "Hitoshi, will you be okay with that?" She asked.

The boy weighed his options, before eventually nodding, though he did spare a suspicious glance at Shouta. "Sure, I can stay with Miyamura-san."

"Great, let's go Shinsou." He said, a touch too briskly, quickly whisking her away.

As they were walking, Shinsou-san turned to him. "Why do you need the paper cups so badly anyway?"

~~~

Hitoshi was beginning to regret agreeing to being left with Miyamura-san. He absentmindedly nodded along to whatever she was saying, humming occasionally as he scuffed his sneakers on the white tiles. He thinks she's talking about some lady she met at a salon, he doesn't really know, he tuned it all out the moment she opened her mouth.

He'll admit, he didn't like Miyamura-san all that much. She wasn't mean or anything, she was just really chatty, not the kind like dad was, where he managed to make anything he said entertaining, with Miyamura-san it was just talking for the sake of talking. He'd even prefer walking alongside that weird hobo looking dude. Something about him was familiar, though Hitoshi couldn't quite place where he'd seen him before.

At some point, they had made their way to the pedriatric unit, but as they went deeper Hitoshi noticed that the amount of people began to dwindle. He brushed it off at first, until they came across a particular area of the unit.

The hall they were in now was completely barren save for the two of them. There weren't any nurses or patients walking around anymore, just the sound of Miyamura-san's voice and their footsteps, the lady blissfully unaware of their surroundings. It was a bit like the kind of setting you'd see in a horror movie or a level of a video game. Just seeing a place were there were normally so many people to be seen be utterly devoid of life was unnerving.

He paused in front of a room when he heard the sound of something snapping from inside. Hitoshi leaned in to listen closer, and indeed it sounded like someone was continuously breaking...wood? It was the closest conclusion he could draw. There didn't seem to be a pattern to it either, sometimes there were pauses in between, during those pausing he could hear the sound of someone breathing heavily, then the snapping of wood would go on again.

Hitoshi looked up to see the room number, 109.

"Miyamura-san, do you know who's in this room?" He asked.

The woman hummed, looking at the room number before shaking her head. "Afraid I don't. I've been sick for some time, so I haven't kept track of any of the new patients. Which reminds me, I wonder if they already found a donor for Tadashi-kun, his mom was pretty hellbent on donating, but it was such a shame that her-"

Hitoshi stared blankly at Miyamura-san as she droned on and on about the transplant this Tadashi guy needed. He absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck, staring at the door where the strange noise persisted.

Snap!....... snap!........snap!

"-and the uncle, ugh! That scumbag, imagine our surprise when it turned out that guy had-"

"Miyamura-san, can I go greet the person in there? I wanna be friends with them." Hitoshi interrupted, his curiosity-and a touch of boredom- getting the better of him.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you Hitoshi-kun! Of course you can, I'm sure they'll be glad to have someone to talk to."

Despite his conscience telling him this was a bad idea, he turned the knob and opened the door.

He was greeted with the strangest sight, a boy with a floating head-actually no, he wasn't floating at all, below him were numerous black tendrils seemingly coming from his neck, gripping the IV stand and keeping the boy's head upright. 

One of the tendrils was holding one half of a pencil, Hitoshi looked down to find a massive pile of broken pencils. That explained the noise then.

Then the boy locked eyes with him.

Suddenly his tendrils shot out with a speed that rivalled the pro hero Ingenium, causing Hitoshi to step back in surprise, a small gasp escaping him.

The mystery boy looked at him warily, his wide eyes scanning Hitoshi, to his surprise, the boy's expression softened, and the tendrils returned to gripping the IV stand.

"I'm sorry. You startled me." he said. Hitoshi almost didn't hear him, the boy spoke so quietly. Hitoshi wondered if there was something wrong with his throat or if he was just really shy.   

He shrugged, if the boy was shy, that was fine, he could be the one to do the talking. "It's okay, I should've knocked first."

The mystery boy tilted his head as he processed the words, it was then that Hitoshi noticed the accent when the boy spoke, the way he enunciated his words slowly, not at all used to how they rolled off his tongue. It was a bit puzzling, considering the mystery boy had japanese features.

He was also pale, unnaturally so, he practically blended in with the pristine white walls of the hospital room. He had a mop of dark curly hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for quite some time. The only bright color he possessed was in his eyes, which were a brilliant shade of emerald green.

Hitoshi rubbed his neck, now that the mystery was solved, he wasn't sure what to do next.

"Are those your body?" He gestured to the tendrils and mentally smacked himself. That was a terrible start to a conversation.

The mystery boy glanced at them. "I...guess so."

Hitoshi's eyes widened in awe, this obviously had to be some mutation quirk, but it was nothing like he'd ever seen before.

"Woah, that's pretty cool." He whispered, more to himself than anything. The mystery boy caught it however, surprise overtaking his features at the comment.

"Not scared?" He asked, though it sounded more like a statement.

Hitoshi shook his head. "Nah, you're pretty nice, the kids at school are much scarier anyway."

His eyes narrowed a bit at that last part, almost protectively, thankfully he didn't say anything about the slip-up, just nodded in understanding.

"So uhh...why were you breaking those pencils?"

The mystery boy looked down dejectedly at the pile of crushed pencils. "Aizawa is helping me prac-practice my quirk. I'm trying to learn...holding pencil."

Aizawa? Where did he hear that name-oh! That hobo dude, mom called him Aizawa.

But that raised even more questions. "Wait, is he...your dad?"

The mystery boy's eyes widened. "No, he's more like...teacher. My daddy is..." He trailed off, somehow the silence was enough of an answer, and Hitoshi felt regret wash over him for asking that question.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know"

"How could you?" The boy said, not unkindly, his head tipping slightly in what probably might have been a shrug if-well, if he had any shoulders.

Hitoshi rubbed the back of his neck, the awkwardness of the situation settling in. "I-I'm Shinsou Hitoshi by the way, what's your name?"

The ends of this mystery boy's lips lifted slightly, like he was trying to smile but some invisible force stopped him from fully doing so.

"Izuku Petrov Molchalin, nice to meet you."

~~~

Shouta speed-walked down the hall, carrying an entire stack of paper cups in his arms, he knew it was a little overboard, but goddamnit he was not going through that again. His friend meanwhile, was trying desperately to keep up with his pace, Shouta took pity on her and slowed down. Slightly. He was still miffed that he wasted so much time.

Shouta lifted his wrist to check the time before realising he didn't have a watch. Shinsou-san noticed the action, because of course she did.

"You didn't any sleep last night did you?" Her tone was reprimanding in the way that Izuku was trying to emulate just a few minutes ago, only with Shinsou-san it was effective because she was, you know, actually a mother.

"Couldn't have even if I wanted to, the kid had a nightmare last night and I wanted to make sure it didn't happen again." Shouta firmly kept his gaze ahead, not wanting to see the smirk that undoubtedly on the woman's face. 

"Well, I think it's sweet how you go out of your way to help him, I mean-the paper cups were a little unneeded, but they were really thoughtful."

Shouta slowed down to look at her incredulously. "What do you mean unneeded?"

She paused. "You do know...you could have just held the glass yourself and had him drink from it."

Shouta stopped walking altogether, it felt lile his mind was blue-screening. I really could have just done that.

For a few seconds, it was just them standing in the middle of the hallway, Shouta staring into empty space while Shinsou-san looked at him with concern.

She cleared her throat. "I actually do think it's very thoughtful for you to uh-adapt, I suppose, to the boy's needs."

Shouta hummed through gritted teeth, at the moment he was satisfied with staring at the floor and contemplating his existence.

Just as Shinsou-san opened her mouth to speak, the grating voice of that lady he already forgot the name of, rang out.

"Oh Shinsou, I have amazing news! Little Hitoshi-kun has just made a friend! You see, we were walking around the pedriatric unit and we came across room 109, I think? Anyway, so we stopped in front of this room and he asked me if-"

Shouta turned to his friend to see a similar expression of horror, both of them paling as the chatty nurse went on as if there was nothing wrong.

"Wait, wait, what room did you say he entered?"

"Room 109-"

"WHAT?!"

"FUCK!"

They immediately took off running, leaving behind a bewildered nurse.

Shouts and exclamations filled the halls as they sprinted to Izuku's room, all the while trying not to run over anyone, Shinsou nearly tripped over a man in a wheelchair in her haste.

Shouta cursed himself for the nth time. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! He should have never left Izuku in the first place! The encounter with Dr. Shishido should have been enough to warn him of that.

He can't even begin to imagine what Shinsou must be feeling right now, he'll never forgive himself if he became the reason for her son being injured, or worse.

Before they knew it, they were in front of Izuku's hospital room, their adrenaline slowly fading and giving way to a suffocating feeling of dread. Shouta put a hand on the doorknob, exchanging a glance with Shinsou-san, both of them expecting the worst.

He opened the door, their jaws going slack at the sight.

Here the two boys were, chatting amicably, or-well, Hitoshi was at least, Izuku seemed content to just listen. It was such an utterly normal scene that Shouta can't help but think, What the fuck?

Shinsou-san recovered quicker, wasting no time in scooping Hitoshi up in her arms despite his protests. "Oh my goodness Hitoshi, don't scare me like that again! I was so worried when you weren't with Miyamura!"

Hitoshi flushed in embarrassment, squirming in his mom's hold. "I'm fine mom, I was just talking to Izuku."

Shinsou-san's expression somehow turned even more shocked, she glanced to Shouta as if silently asking for answers, but honestly, he was in the same boat as her.

He thought back to what Izuku said, about how he was once surrounded by children, and somehow his behaviour was a lot less perplexing when put into that context.

"plenty of others too, like me."

Shouta spared a glance at Izuku, he was staring at the mother and son duo, his usually vivid eyes distant, as if he was in a faraway place.

He stepped closer to the kid, crouching down to be eye-level with him. The kid snapped out of whatever trance he'd been in when he made contact with Shouta's concerned dark eyes.

"Are you okay, kid?" he asked.

Izuku's mouth turned to that not-quite smile once again, somehow it looked brighter than before.

"I think that...I made a friend."

Chapter Text

Shouta watched from the doorway as Shinsou showed Izuku a video of The Wild Wild Pussycats. Izuku was watching with awe as the voices of Mandalay and Tiger's voice reassured civilians, Shinsou wasn't much different even though this probably wasn't the first time he's watched this video.

He knew that just leaning against the doorway and watching the two boys the entire time was a little creepy, but it didn't hurt to be too careful.

As the minutes ticked by however, he found the tension in his body slowly leave him as the brats started chatting away. The younger Shinsou listened patiently whenever Izuku talked, never saying anything about his butchered japanese or raspy voice. He treated him like a normal person, and that was all Shouta could ask for. 

He had nearly gotten on his knees and thanked Shinspu-san when she allowed her son to visit Izuku. After what happened yesterday, he had expected her to forbid the younger Shinsou from touching Izuku with a ten foot pole, maybe cover him in bubble wrap. But she had waved off Shouta's concerns, saying that it all turned out alright in the end and that her son needed a friend just as much as Izuku did. She had also said that Shinsou would do a good job at helping him keep an eye on Izuku, while pointedly looking at the bags under Shouta's eyes. Which, fair.

In all honesty, he was relieved that Izuku had found someone his age that he could spend time with. Shouta wouldn't admit it to anyone, but the last few days had taken a toll on him. The sheer stress of taking care of Izuku made him feel like he was 50 years old instead of 23.  

He jolted when he heard his cellphone ring. The brats swivelled their heads to him, Izuku significantly more alarmed than his friend.

Shouta sighed when he saw the caller ID.  He had a gut feeling the conversation he was gping to have wasn't something the two brats should overhear. At the corner of his eye, he spotted the door to the bathroom on the other side of the room, and began to slowly inch towards the door.

"What are you doing?" Izuku asked.

"Don't mind me, just need to use the bathroom."

"While on the phone?" Shinsou questioned sceptically.

Shouta looked at him dead in the eye, "Yes." he replied, in the dryest tone possible, before closing the door. When it was only him in the pristine white tiles of the bathroom, he answered the call.

"Tsukauchi." he greeted, blinking away the sting in his eyes from the pungent smell of bleach.

"Aizawa, how is Izuku doing?" the detective replied.

"He's doing alright. Now what do you actually want to talk about?" 

Tsukauchi chuckled, "I just want to discuss what time would be best for me to interrogate Izuku."

"I'll have to ask him first. I want him to still have a choice in this, or an illusion of one at the very least."

The detective sighed from the other end of the line. "I understand that, and...I also called to tell you something else."

Shouta grew more alert. "What is it?" he asked, a tad too sharply.

Tsukauchi sighed once more, the sound more tired than the last. "My superiors wouldn't let me go alone, they said it was too risky. There'll be officers outside the hospital while I interrogate Izuku, but they won't interefere unless I call them, which will only happen if absolutely necessary."

Shouta cursed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He should have known the Commission would stick their noses in, one might think they were omniscient with just how much they knew about everything and everyone in Japan. Shouta just thought they were a nuisance. The smell of bleach somehow seemed more prominent than before. 

"Aizawa?"

He blinked to get rid of the sting, but only served to make his eyes more teary. "Yeah, I'm still here. Are they just regular officers, or appointed by the Commission?"

"Only officers from my rank, thankfully. I don't like this either, but ever since Izuku attacked the doctors when he first came to the hospital, he's been registered as a threat to them."

Shouta ran a hand through his hair in agitation, the smell of bleach was almost suffocating now. "Fuck, how did you get away with stalling for three days?"

"They were surprisingly lenient about that actually. The interrogation itself never really had a specific deadline, they just wanted it to happen at some point." Even Tsukauchi sounded just as confused as Shouta, understandably so. The Commission was known for being ruthlessly efficient, if they wanted a job done, they'd get it done before you could even blink.

"Maybe they had a plan or something, did you question them about it?"

"I did, but they didn't give any real answers. All they said was that it had to happen eventually. I'm just a detective, Aizawa, I'm the last person they'd let in on their secrets."

He sighed. Part of him had expected that, but he couldn't help the feeling of disappointment.

"Touche. I'd go up to them myself, but something tells me they'd be even less inclined." He said, not bothering to stop the bitterness from seeping into his tone. One of the cons of not being a spotlight hero was being treated as less by the Commission. All the gritty jobs, grueling missions and downright abysmal healthcare, that was all on the underground heroes.

Tsukauchi laughed, "They'd kick you out of their headquarters the moment they see you in all your underground hero glory." Shouta huffed, letting himself crack a smile for a brief moment.

He froze at the sound of tiny footsteps nearing, and sighed. He was doing that a lot lately. "I have to get going, I've been taking too long in here. I'll tell you the time later."

"Sounds good. I'll see you later, Aizawa."

"Yeah, see you later." He hung up, opening the door to reveal a mop of messy purple hair right outside, looking very much like a deer caught in the headlights.

Shouta raised a brow, "Trying to eavesdrop?" 

Shinsou rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, "Would you believe me if I said I was going to use the bathroom?"

Shouta's blank face was enough of an answer.

He turned his gaze to Izuku in silent question. The kid merely tipped his head in a semblance of a shrug. "I tried to stop him."

Shouta looked up to the ceiling in exasperation, as if he can hear the gods above laughing at his suffering. 

~~~

Tsukauchi arrived at exactly 6 pm. True to the man's word, there were in fact officers accompanying him. Five in total, though Shouta expected more would arrive if needed. He felt an irrational surge of rage at seeing them weilding guns, it seemed they had forgotten that this was a child the detective would be seeing, not a villain.

Shouta nodded at Tsukauchi when he stepped out of his car, the gesture being returned in kind. He narrowed his eyes, puzzled at the padding under the detective's clothes before it clicked. 

"Are you wearing body armor?" he asked, the other man looking uncomfortable, but it wasn't because of the armor.

"I was required to wear protection for this. My superiors wanted me to bring a tranquilizer, it took a lot of convincing for them to deem that unnecessary." 

Shouta scrunched his nose in distaste, "Well, you're doing a terrible job at hiding it. You couldn't more obviously be wearing something underneath." he snarked, less to joke and nore to distract himself from the anger boiling inside.

Tsukauchi chuckled, grasping the distraction with his two hands. "These weren't exactly designed to be discreet, Aizawa."

They arrived at the door to Izuku's room. Shouta out a hand on the knob, sparing a glance at Tsukauchi first, "Just to remind you, his japanese needs a little work so be clear with your words, yeah?"

"Of course." he replied.

Shouta nodded and opened the door just a crack so he can peek inside. "Kid, he's here. Are you ready?" Izuku's eyes widened in alarm, but he nodded regardless.

"Alright, he's going to come in now." he said uncertainly. He gestured for Tsukauchi to enter the room, the detective following right behind him.

Before any of them could blink, the tendrils lashed out, three of the them pierced through the wall right next to the detective. Shouta watched with shock as tiny debris fell from the holes in the cement. One wrapped around Tsukauchi's left leg, squeezing with enough strength to dislocate it if it weren't for the armor underneath. Izuku glared at the tendril, willing it to let go, making the tendril loosen just enough for Tsukauchi to get his leg out.

The three other tendrils had trouble getting out of the hole they created, only able to escape by forcefully yanking themselves out and causing even more damage to the concrete.

Both men stared at the large holes in the wall with numb shock. Panic managed to break through Shouta's befuddled mind as he began thinking of ways to apologise to the hospital staff so they won't decide to kick Izuku out.

They snapped out of their stupor at the sound of a tearful whisper, "I'm so sorry!"

Shouta immediately jumped into action, sitting on the bed next to Izuku and leaning down so they were eye-level. "It's not your fault kid. I'm not mad, just really surprised, the detective isn't mad either." He gave Tsukauchi a pointed look.

He cleared his throat awkwardly, "Right, I'm not mad, not hurt either so it's all good."

Izuku was still uncertain, but at least he didn't look like he was seconds away from crying anymore.

"You okay, kid?" he asked. He remained unsure at the kid's nod, though he guesses it wasn't like they could just call it off now.

He turned to Tsukauchi, who was still standing by the door. "Right, Is it okay if you just...stay there?" 

"It's no problem." The detective carefully pulled up a chair, watching if the movement would be met with hostility once more. When it wasn't, he sank into the plastic chair.

"I'm sorry." Izuku muttered, keeping his gaze on anywhere but the detective.

Tsukauchi smiled at Izuku in hopes to placate the kid. "That's alright, I understand you don't really know me that well, but please understand that I'm not going to harm you. I'm Tsukauchi Naomasa, what's your name?"

The kid furrowed his brows in confusion, but soon relaxed the tiniest bit at the detective's warm tone. "Izuku Molchalin. Please call me Izuku."

"Okay, thank you Izuku. Now, before we begin I have to let you know that my quirk is 'Lie Detector'. What that means is that I'll be able to tell if you're telling the truth or not, so please answer honestly, okay?" Izuku's eyes glimmered with curiosity, a little bit of wariness sure, but for the most part he looked interested in the detective's quirk.

"Okay." he answered, Shouta smiled a little at the awed whisper.

"First, I need you to state your name, your age and date of birth, your quirk and your reason for being here. You may now begin." Tsukauchi turned on the recorder.

"My name is Izuku Petrov Molchalin, I am eight years old, I was born on July 15, 2139. My papa called quirk 'Coil', so I think that's its name. I'm here because...to answer questions?"

"Thank you Izuku, do you know what kind of questions you're going to answer?"

The kid looked away, "Aizawa said that, you will ask about my-what happened to me, how I got here..." 

"You went missing on August 1, 2139, do you remember the events that day?"

Izuku hesitated, before nodding slowly. Tsukauchi frowned, "Izuku, you need to answer verbally."

"Yes." he whispered, barely audible but it was enough for Tsukauchi's quirk to pick up on.

"Can you tell us what happened?"

Shouta startled when he felt a tendril curl around his index finger. The hold was slack, gentle even, a stark contrast to when they had effortlessly punctured the wall of the hospital room. The kid looked dejected at Shouta's flinch, and forced the tendril to retract. He tried to say something to comfort him, to get that crestfallen look off his face...but couldn't find the right words for the life of him.

"I was as-asleep. I woke up when I heard my mama scream. And then I- but I-I opened my eyes, but I could not see anything, could not m-move, I only smelled a- a, what- what is that, comes from fire-"

"Smoke?" Tsukauchi suggested.

"Yes, I smelled smoke. Then I-I heard other-other people in my room."

"And what happened after?"

"They took me out-out of the house. I heard my papa call me, but then he-he stopped. I think they killed him." Shouta let out a shaky breath. It felt so, so wrong to hear those words from a kid, and with such a blank tone, like he was just stating a fact.

"And you couldn't see anything the entire time?"

Izuku shook his head, looking down at the white bed sheets and hiding his face from view. 

"Izuku, I need you to answer verbally."

He merely shook his head again, stubbornly keeping his gaze down. Shouta reached out to give the kid an encouraging pat on the head, keeping it there despite feeling the muck and grime cling to his palm. Izuku looked up at him with those impossibly big eyes, reminiscent of a sad puppy. Something steeled in the kid's eyes then.

"No." he said at last, causing pride to swell in Shouta's chest.

Tsukauchi smiled at the kid, "Thank you, Izuku."

He almost retracted his hand, but stopped at the kid's slightly panicked look. Shouta's eyes softened, and he ruffled the kid's hair as reassurance.

"And where did they take you?"

He thought for a moment. "Took me to this box. A-A big box. There were cages inside, with ch-children too. It rocked sometimes and it smelled like-like raw fish, in the sea."

A cargo ship, Shouta thought. It seemed that Tsukauchi came to the same conclusion, with the way his eyes widened ever so slightly.

"Is that how you came to Japan?"

Izuku scrunched his nose in thought. "I-I think so. Everyone looked different, spoke different outside."

The detective nodded, "And where did they take you after that?"

"A really big building. An-and inside, they took us to a big-a big room, full of other smaller rooms that- but you can see in, from the outside and-and we would stay there."

"What did these rooms look like?"

Izuku tilted his head in confusion, looking at the detective like ha was an idiot, "Like a room."

Tsukauchi chuckled, even Shouta couldn't help but huff in amusement. "Yes, but what was inside the rooms?"

The kid's mouth formed a small 'o' in realisation, "There was a-a...mat! And there was glass in front so they can-they can see you."

A crease formed between the detective's brows. "That's all?"

"Yes."

Shouta closed his eyes momentarily and took a deep breath, pushing down his fury even as it roared deep within him. His hands clenched, aching to have something to do. Preferably punch the bastards who held those kids captive.

Tsukauchi- clearly the more composed of the two- only had a brief flash of displeasure in his eyes before it disappeared as quickly as it came. "The children who were with you, do you know who they are?"

Izuku flinched as if he'd been slapped, newfound tears sprang to his eyes. "I did not know their names, but I knew the quirks of them. Strength, Endurance, Muscle Growth, Deadly Breath, Metal Control..."

He began to list down every quirk he remembered, unprompted. Both Tsukauchi and Shouta were baffled at the absolute ease the kid stated the names of these quirks, no stutter, no hesitation, the only time he'd pause was when he'd take a breath of air, before starting again.

When he finished, a total of 43 quirks had been listed. 43 people. Shouta wanted to throw up.

Tsukauchi cleared his throat, disconcerted. "Thank you, Izuku. Now that we know the quirks of these people, we'll be able to find their identities and start a search for them."

"You don't have to. They might already be dead." Izuku said bluntly, not at all fazed at how messed up that sounded. Somehow, the fact that he was so calm about this made the situation even worse.

Shouta hissed through his teeth while Tsukauchi's smile looked pained.

"Still, we can at least let their families know what happened. That way they can be put to rest."

The kid looked contemplative, before finally nodding, looking satisfied at the detective's explanation.

He pushed on, though it seemed like it hurt to do so. "Besides these children, what do you know about the people who took you?"

"There was a doctor, he looked funny. He had really big-big...seeing things, and-and a mus-mous-maws...hair on the face."

The detective's lips quirked up slightly, "Mustache?"

Izuku perked up, "Yes! And he said to us to call him Dr. Tsubasa."

Shouta leaned forward, sharing a look with Tsukauchi as they finally have a name to one of the tormentors. 

"What was this doctor like?"

Izuku's expression soured, like he had bitten into a lemon, "Mean. He hurt us, and said it was for-for a reason. But I think he liked it."

Soon enough, Shouta felt his own expression mirror the kid's. When he gets his hands on this so-called doctor...

"Soon, I...began to-to know, what he liked and did not liked. Crying was okay, but not shouting. Finish the food you are gave, if you don't eat, the food won't come anymore. He liked it if you did not fight. A girl bite the doctor before. When he gave her back, her teeth were gone, and her tongue."

Shouta dug his fingers deep into the sheets with enough force to rip it into shreds, he took deep breaths to calm himself but to no avail. Tsukauchi did a better job at looking unaffected, though there was a slight crease between his brows, just barely noticable.

"How did you escape from that place?" There it was, the question they've all been waiting for.

"I-I was...it was my turn with the doctor. I was tied, but-but one was loose. I broke out, and...I left. I do not remember much. It was really scary, because they were coming for me and-I could not-I had to get away, I had to-" His breathing became more labored, and Shouta moved to be in Izuku's line of sight before he could spiral into a panic.

"Hey kid, kid. It's okay, they're not going to hurt you anymore, you're safe, you're with me."

Izuku's clenched his eyes shut like he was in pain, and took a big gulp of air, following the breathing exercise that had become familiar to him. Eventually, his breathing had slowed down enough and he finally opened his eyes.

"I'm sorry." Shouta furrowed his brows, they would have to get rid of that habit soon.

Tsukauchi smiled at the kid, soft and understanding. "That's alright, you have nothing to be sorry for, Izuku."

The kid looked like he was about to say something, but stopped, a look of concentration in his face. "There...it was not just the doctor though. There was also another man, but-but he wasn't there always. He was big and scary, and wear-wears a suit."

Tsukauchi blinked, "Oh? And what else do you know about this man?"

"I do-I do not know his true name. The doctor call him 'Sensei', but he was not a teacher. He was bad too, because when he came, he did something. One time, he took a boy with long nails, and when he came back the nails were no more. And next day, they were back. Sometimes I never see a quirk again."

The detective paled, slight tremors came from the hand gripping the recorder with unnecessary force.

"Izuku...are you saying this man can take away quirks and give them back?"

"Yes."

Shouta's eyes widened, the ability to take someone's quirk away permanently was near unheard of, and combined with being able to give them back as well? That was absurd. He glanced at Tsukauchi to gauge the man's reaction, suspicion arising when the detective's expression was not that of disbelief, but of realisation. What are you hiding Tsukauchi?

Tsukauchi cleared his throat. Despite the action however, his voice still came out hoarse when he spoke, "E-excuse me, I have to cut this interrogation short. Thank you for your time, Izuku." He hastily turned off the recorder and got out of his chair.

Shouta narrowed his eyes at the blatant attempt at an escape, and stood. "Let me escort you out, detective."

He stammered, "That won't be necessary, Aizawa-"

"No, I insist. Besides, I have to talk to you about something." he interrupted, making his way to the door before the other man could make his escape. He held the door open for Tsukauchi in mock courtesy. "Well?"

The other man sighed in resignation, following Shouta and leaving behind a confused and nervous Izuku in his wake. He attempted a smile at the kid, knowing it looked pathetic. "It'll only be a minute, don't worry."

Shouta closed the door, leaving just the two men alone in the hallway. He stared down the detective, who let his eyes wander anywhere else, a point just above his shoulder, the grey fabric of his capture scarf, the hands in his pockets, anywhere but his eyes.

"You know something I don't." Shouta broke the silence. It took all his willpower to keep his tone from sounding accusatory.

Tsukauchi didn't even try to deny it, simply nodding wearily, his shoulders were slumped as if he was carrying the weight of the world.

"Aizawa, trust me when I tell you it's not information you want to know."

He scowled, "It is when it involves Izuku. I think I have a right to know when I've been watching over the kid for the last five days now."

Tsukauchi shook his head. "You don't understand. If I tell you, I can't guarantee you'll be safe after this."

"I already know more than I probably should, if you didn't want me to know you should have dipped out the moment the kid said something about a man who could take away quirks."

The detective didn't say anything in response, some petty part of Shouta took satisfaction in that. The tense silence made a comeback, so thick that it was almost suffocating.

Finally, Tsukauchi slumped in defeat. "I'll need to ask All Might first."

Shouta choked, "Wait, I'm sorry, All Might is involved in this?" he asked incredulously.

Tsukauchi smiled, though it lacked any humor. "Unfortunately, I know you're not very fond of the man."

"But why do you need to ask for his permission? On a scale of one to ten, how involved is he?"

The detective cringed, "...Eleven?"

Shouta blinked.

"Go call All Might." he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Will do."

~~~

When Tsukauchi said that he'd have to consult All Might of all people, he had expected the number one hero to just give his answer and then fuck off to do number one hero things.

He didn't think the man would actually come here himself.

But alas, here he is in all his American glory, leaving behind swooning and awestruck medical staff in his wake. Dear god. There goes all of Shouta's hopes of this being discreet.

"Tsukauchi, my dear friend!" All Might boomed, approaching the two men. They could not have more opposing auras. The detective was smiling amicably and coming up to greet his friend, the underground hero on the other hand, was looking all the while like he wanted to light himself on fire, or the man in front of him, or both.

"And you must be Eraserhead! It's a pleasure to finally meet you." If it weren't for the years of dealing with Hizashi, he'd be snapping at the number one hero to regulate his damn volume. They were in a hospital for crying out loud.

Shouta kept those thoughts to himself however, bowing in respect regardless of his misgivings toward the hero. "Likewise. I take it Tsukauchi briefed you on the situation?"

All Might sombered, but his smile was still kept in place. "Yes, the most important parts at least. That poor kid...I'm glad you're here to help that boy, Eraserhead."

It's not enough. Shouta pushed down that thought, there was a time and place to be self-deprecating.

"We should discuss somwhere more private." He looked pointedly at the bustling halls of the hospital, some patients and medical staff not-so subtly trying to get All Might's attention.

All Might coughed into his hand awkwardly, "Ah, of course! How careless of me."

He tapped a passing nurse on the shoulder, "Excuse me good sir! Do you happen to know any rooms where I can peacefully talk with these two gentlemen over here?"

The nurse blushed like a tomato, stammering out a response to the number one hero, "O-Of course, sir! Right this way!"

The man led them to another hallway, nearly tripping in his haste and needing to be caught by All Might so he wouldn't fall on his face, which only caused the nurse to blush even more to the point were he was practically steaming.

They eventually arrived to an empty break room, with the nurse promising to inform everyone not to enter. The three men said their thanks- or well, All Might bellowed it- and the nurse left, but not before getting his ID lace autographed by All Might.

Right after he left the room however, a large plume of smoke began to appear. Shouta immediately took on a defensive stance, hands reaching for his capture weapon, until he realised that the smoke was coming from All Might. What's more, Tsukauchi didn't seem the slightest bit alarmed, in fact he almost looked...disappointed?

The smoke cleared out, revealing an emaciated man practically drowning in the tacky costume.

"What." was all Shouta could say. The sight before him was just too baffling to properly convey how his brain was currently blue-screening.

All Might- if that really was him- cleared his throat, the sound wet. "I understand this looks shocking, but trust me, I really am All Might. What you are seeing now is my true form."

Still, Shouta said nothing, continuing to stare blankly at the diminished form of the supposed number one hero. Tsukauchi sighed in exasperation, "You can't just leave it at that, Toshinori." Excuse me, what?

All Might- Toshinori apparently- slumped, "No, I suppose not." he lifted up his shirt.

Shouta's breath caught in his throat at the sight of a horrific scar stretching through his side. A crater the size of someone's fist was embedded to where the man's stomach would be, web-like appendages stretched across in a gruesome pattern.

"This injury is the reason for my condition, now I can only do hero work for up to six hours at most before I have to 'power down', so to speak. But that's not the most important part, no. The important part is that the very villain who did this to me..."

He looked at Shouta then, the intensity of his sunken blue eyes was so strong that he found himself rooted to the spot.

"Is the exact villain responsible for young Izuku's suffering."

Shouta felt like he had stopped breathing altogether. Ice flooded through his veins as All Might's words sunk in, numbing every one of his senses yet overwhelming him at the same time. An ugly concoction of fear and rage threatened to consume him, because Shouta was one step closer to finding the person- no, monster who had hurt his kid, but at the same time, this wasn't just any villain or sick bastard.

This was someone who had gravely injured All Might, one of if not the strongest person in the planet. If this villain was still up and running, then what hope did they have of ever catching him?

~~~

At 1:25 am, Shouta found himself staring at the wall of the hospital room. Plaster now covered the holes, only leaving the circular-shaped marks as evidence of what had happened. He had paid for the damages to the wall, and said his apologies to the staff, prepared to beg for them to continue treating Izuku. Thankfully, they'd been understanding and accepted the money he offered them.

He rubbed his temple in exhaustion, yet he didn't have it in him to sleep. Izuku had another night terror just 10 minutes ago, the last one just 23 minutes before that, but although Shouta was staying up in case the kid would have another one, that wasn't the sole reason why.

The entire talk with All Might had consisted mainly of a retelling of a story so outlandish, so fantastical it was hard to believe despite all the evidence laid out before him.

All for One or Sensei, a man who was centuries old and could take away quirks and give them back like it was nothing. Who had commited so many atrocities, who was so powerful that he was able to injure the number one hero, who was able to somehow survive.

Shouta rubbed the sides of his head, trying to will the oncoming headache away. God, what am I going to do?

A small flash of light caught his eye just outside the window. He furrowed his brows, it was far too late for anyone to be up. He slowly stood to get a closer look, hoping to god it was just some midnight jogger and not a criminal.

Once his eyes had adjusted to the darkness, he could see a figure- two of them to be exact. They were clad in black, wearing what seemed to be matching bowler hats.

And they were staring right at him.

One of them smiled, their square glasses glinting in the moonlight, and waved at him.

Shouta closed the blinds immediately, his heart was pounding beneath his ribcage and his instincts kept screaming at him to keep himself hidden, get away, protect Izuku-

He took a moment to regulate his breathing, subconciously using the same breathing exercise he taught Izuku.

In, 1...2...3...4...5. Then out, 1...2...3...4...5

With a shaking hand, he reached into the gap between the blinds and parted it just enough to peek through it.

No one was there.