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Aizawa was not known to adopt vigilantes. No, that was Tensei’s job with Crawler.
But this kid, Counterpoise, or just Poise, was one he didn’t mind.
They were quick on their feet, hard-working, and smart. They made plans easily and knew decent basics in fighting. They had a level head too, a huge thing that was necessary for Heroics.
Maybe Aizawa would have made a recommendation for them to UA if he had presented the chance. However, based on their height, he assumed that the time had already passed.
(Aizawa didn’t eliminate the idea that they might just be tall, although he didn’t fully believe in it either simply because he knew there was bias on that idea.)
However, now? After three years of fighting by their side, Aizawa believed he had the trust of the kid.
And he was captured with them by villains. The kid had panicked slightly, but Aizawa just shifted until his pocket was next to Poise’s wrist. They pulled out the protein bars and other basics, such as small pouches of water, before they divided them into rations based on the calories.
Enough to be able to maintain their mass enough to escape, if needed. Assuming Hizashi wouldn’t alert them, or if they couldn’t find them before the opportunity arose.
But if they did rescue them, the question came of how to conceal the vigilante’s identity. Maybe their friends (he assumed they were, based on the banter they shared on patrol, the similar costume schemes, and more) would find them.
They’d be out of here soon, he would have said if he believed in lies.
But they were too smart for that, knew too much of the real world after long patrol nights when they saw the worst of humanity. He couldn’t say that to them, not when there was the obvious lie in it, and it’d only drop their guard.
While Aizawa didn’t commonly comfort people—he saved them and left them for the medical responders if they were injured or brought them to family—he did have one for the person next to him.
We’re in this together.
Izuku didn’t know what to expect. They’d been going through their patrol route with Himiko when she turned suddenly and knocked them unconscious.
But there’d been a shocked and pained look to her face, even as blood dripped down their face. Despite her love of blood, she didn’t seem to cheer up at the sight of theirs.
No, Himiko looked ready to cry.
And that pained them to see on their friend’s face.
Then, when they’d woken up on cold, concrete ground in a large warehouse, they’d panicked until the memories came flooding back to him. The presence of Eraserhead next to them and comforted Izuku, and it was somewhat re-
Eraserhead shouldn’t be here. the realization hit them hard.
Eraserhead was here, either because of Izuku or because of his own actions as a hero. At least with Aizawa’s training, they could get out and defend themselves.
Calming their nerves, Izuku took a deep breath. Then another.
Soon enough, the constant anxiety, which had spiked up slightly more recently due to the situation, had returned to the back of their mind, a constant buzzing in their nerves and a tool to look at each aspect and possibility with their plans.
Anxiety did have some ups to it’s constant downstream of disadvantages. Izuku happily took advantage of them.
The room was silent for a while, the food returned to its place now that they had decided how much to eat at each interval.
Izuku would estimate it’d been a couple hours, but it could have been longer or shorter of a time. Tapping their foot with Morse code, Izuku communicated with Eraserhead. Some of it was about what they could see, possible escape plans, but it was a dark room. Other topics ranged from the dumbest things criminals have done when running, as well as other topics that weren’t too personal.
“Well, well, well… Look what we brought in, Eraserhead and his son.”
“First, I go by the singular they/them so the proper statement would be his child. Second, I’m not related nor am I legally under his care, so you’re factually incorrect.”
Then the villain paused.
“Sorry, what are both of your pronouns so I don’t screw up? Don't wanna misgender you, I went through that when I was eight.”
“He/him, the kid uses they/them.”
“Eraserhead and his not-child child. You’ve been giving us some… trouble. My sister feels that you… need to be removed from the equation. So, Eraserhead. You’re going to find out what my Quirk is the hard way.” The villain’s ponytail, which was straight and measured to the back of their mid-thigh, swung as they turned and stepped away.
“Have fun in your own little Hell here.”
Izuku took a bite of the protein bar, swallowing a small gulp of water after and sealing the pouch back up. Really, it was a stupid mistake on the villain’s part not to check them over and take their items. Izuku reached for the knife in their boot (a habit they’d picked up from Eraser) with difficulty. Their back popped, and Eraserhead grunted as the ropes chafed against his wrists and his arms pulled in awkward positions.
“So they were smart enough to take away our main weapons, but not to check us for other ones?” The tappings of their foot echoed through the room, and they heard Eraserhead chuckle as he answered.
“If you would rather have them take all your weapons you could always surrender them.” The sarcastic tone was clear, even without the voice.
They sighed, tapping out a “no thank you” and leaning against Eraserhead again.
They felt like an idiot when they remembered the knife on the ends of the drawstring to their hoodie.
Well, less a knife, more a sharp edge on the aglet and a piece of pliable metal, similar to that in the Capture Weapon, making up the string.
They bent their head over, pulling the cap off with their teeth and pulling the string out. Dropping it next to their hands, they threaded it through their hands, allowing the string to become a mini saw, pulling against the ropes.
“What’s that?” The taps rung through the air, just barely above the sound of the rope being cut. The slight jitter to them signaled the pro’s nervousness, but there were no other indicators.
“Saw.” Izuku tapped out.
There was a snap as they pulled the last few strands of the rope apart, and their hands were free. They both kept up, on their feet as Izuku bared their strings as a weapon, Eraserhead finding some makeshift ones around the warehouse they were kept in.
A spring cut through the silence, and Izuku let out a gasp of pain. Eraserhead whipped around, instantly going on defense and blocking them from any dangers before checking to see what injured them.
A bear trap had been planted, and they’d stepped in it. He winced, picking them up in his arms and returning to his search. He’d felt a cold draft, and soon they made it out.
Eraserhead continued to leap across the rooftops, having collected his Capture Weapon from a table in the corner. (Seriously, these were the dumbest villains.)
“I’m going to take you to my house to patch you up, okay? I’m not going to take off your mask or anything, but that looks like it hurts bad and will probably get infected, and no way in Hell will I let you parkour back with that on your foot.”
Izuku nodded, a wince on their face.
They soon landed at an apartment in a less fancy area, and Aizawa entered through the balcony and unlocked it.
“‘Zashi, get the first aid kit!” He called out as he entered. “Before you panic, it’s not me that’s hurt!” He added as an afterthought.
He set the vigilante on their couch, a blanket under their leg as he removed the bear trap carefully. He set it aside, grabbing the towels Hizashi had brought along with the First Aid Kit, using them to staunch the bleeding.
He grabbed a wet one and wiped the blood away, using the moment to assess the damage to the wound.
Not terrible, but it could also be way better. It had torn through the flesh to the bone, and tugged a bit, ripping the edges of the skin and muscle. He placed the towel back over it before the blood covered it again.
Grabbing an antiseptic pack out of the First Aid kit, he opened it and poured it onto the wound. They winced in pain, letting out a sharp but short scream as the antibacterial went to work.
He continued to treat the wound, letting out a spiritual sigh when it had been dressed without any problems.
“Poise?” He asked, making they were awake. They nodded, and Aizawa sighed.
His kid was safe.
“Do you need water, food, anything?”
They shook their head, then paused and nodded. “Um, water please?”
Shouta stood, heading towards the small kitchen and pulling down a glass. The ice clinked as he filled it up, adding some of the refreshing liquid that made up the majority of their body.
He passed it to them, tilting their head up as they pushed their mask above their nose to take a sip. Shouta saw some freckles, a trait he’d known the kid had, and then the mask was back down, empty glass on the table.
Hizashi glanced at him, and he nodded. Hizashi stepped away, towards their room where Mikoto, Luchino, and Sanjiro sat.
The reddish cat’s paws kneaded their carpet in worry, and Hizashi picked him up. Aizawa glanced back to see the vigilante’s eyes shutting.
“Thanks, ‘Raser..”
“It’s Aizawa when I’m off duty, Poise.”
“Then call me Izu…” the small smile on Aizawa’s face was hidden shortly after in his Capture Weapon, and Hizashi cooed.
“Shut up…” it was a weak protest, and he had to admit Hizashi was right.
Izuku awoke with their mask on, leg aching, and a few sore spots on their neck. They sat up slowly, rubbing at their face as he pulled out their phone for the time.
They saw three messages from Himiko, four from Dabi, and another five from Jin. Another three from Jin argued, but he ignored those.
They sent a quick message to Dabi explaining what happened and where they were, that they were safe and fine currently, and asked them to relay the messages to Twice and Toga.
They replied a few moments later with a simple ‘okay’ and they closed their phone.
A few moments later, Aizawa came out with some simple takeout, passing them a portion of it that would have covered a whole day’s worth of food for them.
“Eat up, Poise.”
“I told you it was Izu, didn’t I?”
“Ah. I wasn’t sure how awake you were and didn’t want to make you nervous.”
“Thanks.” They sat in silence, Izuku chomping down on the yakisoba as Aizawa blinked in shock at how they seemed to unhinge their jaw while eating.
“Anyways, I think it should be done healing soon if we stop at Recovery Girl’s, it will probably be completely healed.”
Izuku nodded. They knew Aizawa had phrased it like that because he understood they weren’t the most comfortable around many heroes. Aizawa had their trust though, thanks to the times he’d protected them and made sure any heroes were on the wrong trail.
“Alright, I’ve always wanted to see Recovery Girl.”
Aizawa nodded, and they headed out towards the streets. Izuku ducked their head down, pretending to be looking at something on his phone but was just concealing his mask as they headed toward a new location.
Before Izuku knew it, Aizawa’s fists were rapping on a door to a rather nice house, a well-trimmed garden, and a clean porch.
“Yes?” A small woman emerged, and Izuku knew it was Recovery Girl. Her hair was pulled up into a bun, and the cane was iconic.
“Mind if we come in, Chiyo?” Aizawa asked. Recovery Girl glanced between the two, seeing the mask on Izuku’s face.
“Alright. What happened?” They were ushered in and the door closed behind them again.
“Poise got hurt pretty badly last night when we were kidnapped. I’m going to give my statement to Tsukauchi later, but I wanted them to be fully healed before they headed back.”
“Fine. Take off your mask or pull it up a bit.” Poise did as asked, pulling their mask up to their nose and exposing their cheek.
Chiyo had them bend over before plopping a kiss onto their check, and Izuku let out a sigh of relief.
The aches that had been going through their leg with each step were gone. The lightning strikes that sent pain through their leg were gone, and they were left with a flaming wave of sleepiness.
“Thanks, Chiyo. Remind me to get you some miso soup tomorrow.”
Recovery Girl smiled, shaking her head fondly. Poise and Aizawa headed out shortly after, Izuku being left on a roof to parkour away to their base while Aizawa turned.
Izuku bit their lip, pausing for a moment.
Maybe… Maybe he could trust Eraserhead. He’d given him his name, and Izuku had given him part of theirs.
Instead of leaping towards the next roof, they pulled down their mask.
After a minute or so, Aizawa had turned around, eyes widening at what he saw.
“Poise?”
“Midoriya Izuku.”
“Pardon?”
“My name. It’s Midoriya Izuku. I trust you, Aizawa.”
“Aizawa Shouta.” A smile graced both of their faces, and wow that kid’s smile was sunshine incarnate.
Because seeing the plump cheeks that still hadn’t lost the baby fat of youth, he knew it was a child.
“Since you showed me your house, do… do you want to come see mine and meet my friends?”
Aizawa smiled and nodded softly.
This one wasn’t hidden behind the scarf.
“Alright, but once you do this, there’s no going back.
”You’ll be one of us.”
And somehow, Aizawa Shouta didn’t see that as a negative.