Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku really didn't want to believe it. But it had made sense; most of the adults in his life had said something along a similar vein. He liked studying the quirks of heroes, and it should have sunk in before now, how important - necessary, he had to correct himself - quirks were to heroics. 

All the top 10 had powerful quirks, Fierce Wings, Voice, Hellflame. All awe-inspiring quirks. Even the heroes that weren’t in the top 10, still had impressive quirks. Fat gum’s quirk came to mind the versatility of it. A perfect hero’s quirk.  Those with less impressive quirks never even saw the entrance into heroics. Why did Izuku think he could with less?

He slid down hopelessly and let himself kneel on the roof. Despite the sunny cloudy day, the roof cement felt cold and wet. Izuku could feel the chill seep through his school uniform. Another wonderful thing to add to this messed-up day.

Left on a roof. It was some sort of poetic irony that it was All Might. The hero, Kacchan and he had always wished to emulate the hero in their own careers. 

The two of them would pretend they were asleep during sleepovers, only to get up when it was sure all the adults were asleep. They would watch the past fights together until night bled into morning and their moms found them curled up on the couch. Neither party mentioned their nightly adventures. Only happy memories would be discussed over pancake mornings.

Izuku still had a little piece of paper his mom wrote with what he wanted his hero names to be, all based on the hero, he remembered being small and latching on to “Mighty Boy”. He thought at the time that it was the coolest name. His mom had encouraged him. He had looked back on that memory so fondly. Now, he could feel a copper taste in his mouth. He had looked up to All Might. Had wanted to thank him for all that he’s done protecting their country.

Even now, he wanted to thank All Might for helping him understand. For Izuku to finally understand what it meant for him to be quirkless. All Might, Number One Hero, was the catalyst.

That wasn’t the only revelation for the day. It was starting to sink in for Izuku what the real relationship between him and Bakugo was. It hurt thinking of his childhood friend as ‘Bakugo’. But that was all he was now.

He wasn't Kachan, the little boy who shared the same dreams as him. Bakugo, the only one who tried to make him see how the world really was, what Izuku’s worth in this world meant. His past friend had even given him a nice solution for it. Izuku could appreciate that. Bakugo always tried to help in his own way.

It could have been minutes or hours since Izuku was there. Time felt off, like in a dream-like state. All he knew was a wrongness feeling setting over him.  Izuku didn’t have anything left tethering him here.

He decided to take action and stand up from where he was crouched. Slight pain in his legs formed, causing a small bit of shakiness. Luckily it wouldn’t be something for future Izuku to worry about. Nonetheless, they persisted and carried him towards to railing.

He carefully took off his red shoes and placed them to the side out of harm’s way; they were expensive after all. Thinking about the reason why they were so expensive made his gut twist. 

The railing was short, only about waist height, easy enough to climb over. That’s what he did. He softly put his feet on the ledge outside the railing, still hanging tightly to the bar in front of him.

Izuku kept his gaze on the concrete of the roof. He knew if he looked up he’d be met with the light blue sky with white puffy clouds he had seen earlier. What a shame he decided on a beautiful day.

He took a last breath and Izuku allowed himself to fall backward off the roof. 

It was freeing for a moment or two, to feel the wind going through his hair, to feel it ruffling his clothes.

It seemed oddly peaceful. As if the pain and hurt had escaped him for a moment leaving elsewhere to never return. Izuku could live happily like this. Like a rubber band, his brain snapped. He was falling. He was going to die. He was actually going to die.

He would never get to see the new hero's special.

He would never get to eat Katsudon again.

He would never get to make sure the neighborhood strays were fed.

He would never get to kiss his mother goodbye in the morning.

He hoped it wouldn't hurt her, for her to know how weak he was. Because at this moment, all he wanted was to be home, helping his mother cook dinner, and to be watching a movie together. Izuku felt his heartrate pick up. Why had he done this? He didn’t want this.

He wanted his home, his bed with his soft sheets - 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, he regretted that they have All Might's face on them, but that voice was silenced with the declaration that it was his regardless. He missed that feeling of comfort.

I don't want to die; I just... didn’t want to live. The last image on Izuku's mind was the image of his bed before the world went dark.

Oboro raised his arms outstretched to the side of him and let the wind run through his hair. Patrols from the sky just felt different. Something was freeing being amongst clouds that weren't his own—the calmness of being miles high in the sky.

Shota and Hizashi tried to understand when he took them flying one time. Hizashi was too focused on racing the entire time. Not that he didn’t love a good race but some of the benefits of clouds were how peaceful they could be.

Shota on the other hand looked ready to throw up at the mere idea, only getting worse once he was in the sky. Oboro still remembered how his friend had curled up into a fetal position on his cloud, wrapping his scarf around his eyes. He also refused to listen when both Oboro and Hizashi said that his position might make it worse. There was only so much you could do to block the effects of air travel.

Once they had gotten him to stable ground, Oboro teased him that he couldn't handle being in the sky despite all his work with using his capture weapon to traverse rooftops. Shota tried apologizing, something about having control in the situation being the difference. Oboro could agree.

Having all the control being up in the sky by himself was powerful in a way. He went as far high as he felt comfortable with, allowing for just the moment of peace for himself.

Next, Oboro swept down, ready to begin his patrol with a general pass by over his area. A bird's eye view from the sky really did give him a suitable advantage.

It was suitable for seeing criminals, suitable for spotting out good date spot, suitable for visiting the Symbol of Peace talking to a child, who couldn't be older than middle school age, on the roof.

Hold up, back the cloud up. Oboro wouldn't lie, he was concerned, and he wanted more information. He quickly put up a cloud cover and made his descent closer to the rooftop All Might and the kid were on. He managed to stop his clouds enough just in time to see the Symbol of Peace's body deflate into a skeletal figure.

It was only out of years of training, to the point that his cloud and he were the same, that he didn’t drop his clouds and fall from the sky.

A little voice in his head, sounding strangely of Hizashi told him to keep breathing. Assess the situation , the matching Shota voice sounded after. This was good, information gathering was good.

He was still hidden within the mass of his clouds as he got closer to the rooftop. The deflated version of the Symbol of Peace was talking animatedly to the child, who looked crushed. 

Unfortunately, Shirakumo wasn't in range to hear anything. He had intended to get closer to investigate. In a second, a flock of pigeons was getting tangled in his clouds.

By the time he had dealt appropriately with the fowl and redirected them, it seemed All Might had powered up into his usual beefy form and flew away. The kid was left on the roof. The whole matter had him asking more questions than he was getting answers.

Why were they both up there anyway? And why was the kid left still there?

Maybe he could get some answers from the kid. The kid was standing there blank-faced. Maybe in shock?

Oboro lowered his clouds as softly as he could to avoid spooking him. The kid must not have noticed he was there as he bent down and took his shoes off and put them to the side. Oboro didn’t know why but his brain fixated on the fact they were an obnoxiously loud red color. They looked so out of place and stark against the grey of the roof. Why did he put his shoes aside?

Oboro was too focused on the shoes; he must not have seen the kid walk closer towards the edge. When he looked up and saw the small figure against the backdrop of the sky, clinging on tight to the railing, he felt his clouds go dark.

"Shit, kid, wait!"

He tried to throw out a cloud, but it was too late. The kid fell.

Chapter Text

The afterlife was a lot livelier than he would have thought- more tangible as well. Izuku could feel himself sinking into the ground. Pulling him into the soft and caring ground. It was odd; he would have assumed the earth to be harsh and unforgiving.  Izuku wouldn’t complain though, it was a wonderful dreamlike state. Better than the all-consuming terror he was feeling earlier when he first jumped. Maybe he would be alright with dying if he could rest like this forever. Consciousness called to him and he noted that the soft feeling under him was actually his bed and not the ground.

This served to make him more confused.  He had thought he'd fallen off the roof. Or was it a dream? Izuku did meet All Might so it was possible. He’s had countless dreams of meeting the hero. Although they never happened after a villain attack. And it certainly never ended with him saying Izuku couldn’t be a hero. The All Might of his dreams was always encouraging. Parental in a way. Izuku tried to block it from his mind.

But then he saw that he was in his uniform, chard and beaten up around the edges. Izuku could make out the burned-in finger patterns creating little holes. It would be difficult trying to mend them on the curve of the shoulder. Why couldn’t it be somewhere flat and easy to sew? And he would have to sew it too. Izuku only had a few uniforms, and the others weren’t in the best shape as well.

What was he going to tell his mother? As if the universe had been listening in, the sound of the door opening caught his attention. The soft pattern of her work shoes were echoing across the floor. It was slightly slower than normal. Most likely a longer shift. He could hear his mother call from midway up the stairs "Izuku honey, did you get home from school okay?"

Izuku could feel the panic set in. She couldn't see him in this state; he hadn't gotten a chance to cover up or treat any burns. Where were his materials? In the bathroom. 

His breath caught in his throat as he saw the doorhandle to his bedroom jiggle. He backed himself up against his headboard, squeezing his eyes tight; maybe she would go away. Then she wouldn’t see the burns or the messed up uniform. She wouldn’t be able to see the disappointment her son had become. 

He needed to be away from her sight, where he could dress and cover his wounds in peace. If only he had the foresight to make it to the bathroom.

Some part of him silently screamed as the door creaked open. Before he could see his mothers face he was facing a white cieling. He back up and registered that he was now sitting on the cold tile of the bathroom floor.

What.

--

Shirakumo moved his clouds fast over the edge of the building; maybe he could catch the kid on the way down?

His clouds could be fast when they needed to, although clouds made in a last minute save of desperation were always a little wonky with his control. He could take the risk if that meant a child wouldn’t be splat on the pavement.

He tried creating a column of clouds, no matter where in the descent the kid was at he would hit one of the clouds by statistics alone. That was only if Shirakumo was faster than gravity. If the kid was already on the ground.

Shirakumo felt no pressure on his clouds. He held in a choked sob. He was too late. Too late and now there would be a kid, so young looking. Dead. Because of him.

They peered over the edge to look at the ground. The roof was high but maybe something would have cushioned the impact on the sidewalk below. When they looked though there was nothing there. No splattered remains, no child balancing between life and death. Nothing.

Shirakumo had to take a moment to breathe. He wasn’t going crazy, he didn’t imagine things. There was definitely a kid there previously, and now he was no longer there. An Illusion from a villain perhaps? Was it the Symbol of Peace's doing?

Regardless they needed answers. They could feel their mood drop. He couldn't very well go and asked to see All Might himself.  But, he thought with a small bit of hope, they knew a detective who could. A detective who would possibly be able to get him in contact with the number one.

-

"Izuku, baby, where are you?" Izuku could hear his mom clearly walking around his room, looking for him. Did she already know? Would she care?

He had to get her off his trail, "Oh, hi mom! I'm in the bathroom; I'll just be a few minutes," that'll at least stop her from searching for him and would give him time to bandage and hide his things.

"Okay, honey, can you come to help me make dinner when you’re done?" She seemed hesitant, maybe work was super stressful? For either of them it was always harder for them to talk after a stressful day. If his mom had a rough day at work and coupled with his failing friendship with Bakugo, the household tension level would be high. Izuku didn’t have much hope for dinner conversation between them.

Izuku took a few deep breaths as he grabbed his medical supplies from under the sink. "Can do!" He called back. He hoped it didn’t sound as shaky or unsure as it felt. His mom probably didn’t pick up on it, he could already hear her moving around the kitchen.

He picked out bandages from the first aid kit and gently took off the top of his uniform seeing the blistering red skin. Bakugo was particularly more vicious today than normal. He was usually one of the only kids who never let the explosion hit his skin.

Izuku gently put the burn cream on and started wrapping his arm up. Yes was an odd occurrence for Bakugo, but this day was already so weird, he could write off his confusion.  Izuku went back to wrapping the bandage. It was more important to focus on the other parts of the day. He formulated a plan to figure out what happened. He could map out the series of events of today to try and see if he might have been in contact with anyone's quirk. 

It wasn’t exactly rare that there would be quirk accidents but they could be deadly if it was a new manifestation and no one had information on it. Luckily Izuku could use some of his own knowledge to help him. He went to grab his notebook, even if it was a little charged it was still good.

Where was his backpack? Izuku groaned. He didn't have it when he talked with All Might, which meant it was in the tunnel. The tunnel where he was attacked by a sludge monster. If he went back he could encounter a similar villain, not exactly high on his priority list. Today he seemed to be a trouble magnet so the idea wasn’t too far off. He could live without his backpack for a day.

It would suck but he could deal without it. Important was fixing up his uniform. For that matter, where were his shoes? Oh, Izuku thought dejectedly;  Still on the roof, a roof with most likely closed access. He had taken them off before he jumped. Which he did. He jumped off a roof. So why was he here?

Think logically, a part of his mind told him, what happened so far? He was on a roof; then he was in bed. He entertained the idea of a dream again. No, he had his school clothes on. He was in bed then the bathroom with no memory of when he moved. Did he have his memory erase? Maybe. But that still didn’t explain why he went from one area to the next. That could be chocked up to a quirk.

But then, what was this humming that lingered underneath the surface of his skin? Energy? Usually when other people’s quirks activated on you, the event happened, there were few lingering effects.

Still the energy persisted. Could it be his? Did he cause it? Did he.. Teleport?

Did he have a quirk? Izuku couldn't allow himself to hope. Maybe he really was hit by a quirk; just one with more long term effects. That was much more likely he told himself. Was there something that activated the person’s quirk?

Maybe it becomes activated when he steps backward. Although that would mean he was the catalyst for why it activated. But so far the two points of reference would support that.

The more he thought the more he realized it had to be someone else’s doing. If it were his it would have started at some point in his life before that moment.

He could hear the sizzling of the stove pan downstairs. He could test some theories later. There was no sense worrying his mom now, she couldn’t know.

---

"I'm just worried for the kid; you understand, right?" Shirakumo didn’t particularly care if his voice sounded slightly pleading. If a small bit of begging made the detective more sympathetic, more likely to hear him out and grant his request, he could deal. It wasn’t like he hadn’t shown the man in front of him a much worse situation he’d been stuck in. A small bit of groveling was nothing compared to that.

"I can try to get in contact with him, to ask him what happened; in the meantime, you said they were on a roof. Did you find any clues up there?" Tsukauchi seemed sympathetic enough to his plight. But he was also focusing nearly all his attention on the incident report, not looking at Shirakumo. The hero decided to pace around, if he wouldn’t be listened to with begging he could at least let some anxious energy out. If he wore the floors down in the station, well then maybe they could get new carpet like Tsukauchi was looking for.

"Just his shoes." He held them up for the detective to see again. It had been jarring enough when he first found them to see the shoes so neatly laid out on the side of the railing. Perfect in line with the mental safety poles. Despite the kids' actions after, the shoes had been placed with the utmost care. "Bright red clunky things. Though I don’t think they’ll give much of a clue."

The detective took them gently from his hand. Turning them every which way and looking them over. "There's a clue in here all right." Oboro gave a hum in return, he wasn’t sure how shoes could give an answer but he’d listen anyway. “They look like they're from the Primordial company." with a sense of finality.

That was oddly specific. Shirakumo twerked their head to the side. "Didn't catch you for being a shoe connoisseur, inspector"

Tsukauchi looked flustered as if caught in a lie, "I only knew them from a case a few years ago", he put his head down but Shirakumo could see something in his eyes that suggested it wasn’t a happy memory. Such a downed look shouldn’t be on Tsukauchi’s face.

Shirakumo tried to lighten the mood with a cheeky smirk. "Oh? Care to share with the class?" He wasn’t quite sure the smile reached their own eyes. He could excuse the fakeness, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant topic to discuss.

Tsukauchi did seem to relax at Shirkaumo’s teasing nature. As he picked his head up and passed back the shoes into Shirakumo’s waiting hand. "Similar case to yours, actually," Shirakumo froze. Did the detective..? "Middle school kid died by suicide, overdose by pills. Could be like your kid." Unwillingly, they relaxed, the knowledge hidden away for now.

---

"Oh, I’m sorry to hear that" Oboro could feel his mouth turn into an unhappy frown. His heart hurt for the dead kid. He wished wherever they were at that they could find peace. Tsukauchi was looking at him now, expecting an answer, but there was a soft concern in his eyes. Get the detective off your case, ask a question to redirect. "So, where do the shoes come in?"

Tsukuahci was still giving him that odd look. "We know they’re a clue because the shoes are specially made."

Shirakumo racked his head for an explanation, it still didn’t quite make sense. "Like for mutation quirks?" There didn’t seem to be anything outwardly different about them. No holes for claws to poke through, no heel extension to allow for people with quirks that happened to give them large paws. If it weren’t for the odd red color as standout as it was, Shirakumo would have thought they were a normal pair of kid’s sneakers.

"In a way, yes” Tsukauchi started “Did you know a majority of quirkless individuals have an extra toe joint?” Shirakumo gave a slight nod. Tsukauchi looked hesitant to continue “It's not a full guarantee or diagnosis. But there’s enough of a correlation that there is a line of specialty shoes just for that population. There the only one in existence." Tsukauchi looked down at his desk “and they only have the one style as far as I’m aware”

If what Tsukauchi was saying was true, the idea that there was only one style from one company, unnerved him. Why would the company make it such an obvious color. Unless the idea was to mark them?

"So the kid is someone who wears a very specific brand of shoe, one that would indicate that he’s quirkless" Shirakumo paused in his thinking. They kept running into more holes in their theories.

"He can't be quirkless; the kid obviously used a quirk on himself. That’s why he dissapeared"

He had to have. Shirakumo had expected a body at the ground. There was none, hence meaning the kid used a quirk.

Tsukauchi seemed to be pondering the idea in honest now. Paperwork was laid aside, that’s when Shirakumo knew Tsukauchi was down to business. Said detective looked up and stared at the ceiling, eyes roaming over the popcorn walling. Shirakumo could appreciate that it was being taken seriously. "Even if it was him causing himself to disappear thats assuming he knows he has a quirk?"

He had to take back in his mind what he said about the detective, his heart clearly wasn’t in this one. "Huh?" Shirakumo could admit he was baffled.

Tsukuachi took a deep breath before speaking, "Traumatic Quirk Acquisition: in the event that a quirkless body may find traumatic, there have been instances of quirks miraculously forming. The quirks aren’t easily controlled and if not given the proper care they can have severe negative consequences for the individual and their loved ones” Something dark passed over the detective’s face, “It’s not exactly a pleasant experience” Shirakumo didn’t think it would be, it sounded downright terrifying, quirk formations are hard enough. “It's essentially a survival skill of the body."

"Hell of a survival skill. But that would line up with the story so far” Shirakumo responded. If it turned out to be Traumatic Quirk Acquisition that just meant Loud Cloud had to find the kid that much faster and make sure he was safe. “I'll keep searching from the sky. Let me know if you hear anything."

"Of course, Loud Cloud,"  Tsukauchi gave him a reassuring smile. Shirakumo had come to trust that smile to make things a little less difficult, especially on the longer cases that dragged him along like a marionette after patrol. "Hey, if I can't reach All Might. I'll scan through the quirk registry; see about any labeled quirkless kids in the area.” Tsukauchi was a good man. “You said around middle school, right?"

He gave a nod in response. "Yeah, he was a pretty tiny thing, can't imagine much older than that" Just a kid. Wasn’t that a terrifying throught? Although something about what Tsukauchi said made him pause. "Wait, quirk registry? I thought you weren't supposed to access that except for higher cases," he remembered how many forms he had to fill out when he was trying to track down a potential drug dealer. All that work only to find the information isn’t there.

The detective was his favorite at the precinct but that didn’t mean he wasn’t at heart a straight-laced person. They couldn’t ask him to go behind protocol even if it would help.

"I think we can make an exception," the detective's own eyes were lit up with emotion. If Shirakumo knew any better he would say it was mischief. Two could play at that game.

He turned up the charm and sent a grin.

"You never fail to surprise me, detective."

Chapter Text

"You two going to be alright?" Shota was just about to leave for his patrol, having just put his capture scarf on, and going through his pre-patrol checklist. It mostly consisted of ensuring all his knives and support gears were hidden correctly, just enough to be concealed but accessible enough that he could always reach them in a pinch. Oboro secretly found it adorable that he was so meticulous about everything. The last part of his ritual was ensuring that the two individuals currently occupying the couch were safe and would continue to be.

Hizashi responded with the usual pep in his voice, "Yeah, Sho, don't worry. I'll keep our bluebird safe and sound tonight." Hizashi seemed to think that keeping safe and sound meant being piled under a multitude of blankets, a loud blond, and a cat. Oboro wouldn’t say it wasn’t working though. It did make for an exceptionally cozy time, he wouldn’t dare move from the set-up for a while. But really, sometimes they both could be a little too much with their care.

They would be sure to remind the two of that. "Just because I had Quirk Exhaustion doesn't make me an invalid." Oboro griped and uncurled a bit from Hizashi's side, intending to show just that. He regretted the action immediately as a wave of pain flooded through his head, sharp and dizzying. Sushi must not have liked the movement either as she readjusted and gave a half-hearted bap near his face.

"No, we’re aware.” Shota started “And don’t think we didn’t see that, but it does give us a reason not to let you search more for the kid tonight."  Shota kept quipping from the door entrance. He was rearranging again the different parts in his utility belt, Oboro smiled to himself. Even with his ritual, sometimes his friend could go overboard and forget other things. Mainly like getting nutrients and ensuring a proper meal. One cannot live on jelly packs alone. Honestly, Oboro wanted to wrap Shota up in their blanket cocoon with them.

Although there was a benefit to having Shota out on patrol right now, despite wanting him to stay inside the apartment. "Promise you'll keep an eye out for him?" Oboro said, trying to make his eyes wide and as pleading as possible. Oboro could berate himself later for the somewhat pathetic display. He could admit it was pleading, they had been doing alot of that this week. Luckily the two around him didn’t comment on the noise.

"I will," grumbled Shota. With that, he went out the door and was off. He was never one for a ton of words, but when Shota spoke them, it was with enough conviction, Oboro couldn't help but believe him. If Shota said he would then he would.

Hizashi playfully ruffled his hair, "Don't worry, I'm sure your kid will be just fine, plus you can search for him all of tomorrow afternoon! And you’ll even have better luck on the ground! But only then - no sooner!"

Unfortunately, doctors’ orders meant he was grounded, no flying in the sky with his cloud, no use of his quirk whatsoever. This was going to be a miserable next few days.

He would at least take the night’s rest seriously. "It's not like I'll sneak out of the apartment like some teenager." Hizashi sent him a very unamused look. Oboro couldn’t help but nervously laugh. “Again.” Hizashi’s look just increased. “I won’t sneak out again” Oboro placated.

Hizashi seemed contented enough with his answer, dropping his look and moving his arm closer.  Whether he was dropping the subject because he actually believed Oboro or had just that much faith in his blanket burrito-ing skills was up for debate. "I will keep you to it." Hizashi reached over to the corner pulled another blanket up and around them. Oboro gave a soft sigh to himself. Definitely the second one then.

---

Aizawa found it to be a reasonably boring patrol. Not that he was complaining. A quiet night meant less pain for himself, at least physically. Aizawa could welcome a night without a brawl. Any day he could go teach kids without lingering aches was a good one.

Currently, he had been patrolling on the ground, going between alleyways and through hidey holes. It was the duty of an underground hero. Danger and villains could lurk anywhere. And often they were far less in the limelight than one would think. 

No, Aizawa thought roughly, criminals liked to work in the shadows. Away from the prying eyes that would cast judgment. Judgment, people’s perception, is what dictated everyone’s actions. It’s why criminals try to atone for their crimes when loved ones find out. Everyone seems different in the light of day.

Aizawa made his way through a nearby access tunnel. It was hidden off the main path, with little to no light ways. It was an easy place to get ambushed, and an even easier place for evil to lurk. He proceeded through with caution, sticking to the right side, close up against the wall, effective for ensuring no one could sneak up to the unprotected side of him.  His capture weapon was poised at the ready for anyone who thought they could get the drop.

As he moved through the tunnel, he felt his shoe slightly kick something. He bent down to pick it up, "Hero Analysis for the Future number 13" Interesting. Not particularly the notebook itself. The notebook looked like a classic school notebook with typically lined pages. 

The interesting part was why was it here, though? This tunnel was a fair bit away from the local school even if some kid must have dropped it on the way home. With its resting place being in the dark alley, it begged the question of if the kid did successfully get home.

Aizawa flipped out his flashlight and showed it around the area. The light caught on a gaudy reflective yellow bag. The teenage Aizawa in him said it was bright enough to cause headaches. The adult side of him, who was intimately aware of the benefits of a sleeping bad in that same color, told him to keep his mouth closed on the issue.

Still, a lone notebook was interesting, a whole backpack left was cause enough for concern.

He quickly scanned the area with the light to make sure nothing else was amiss. Nothing else was there. Just a notebook and a backpack.

Aizawa’s gut gave a small lurch.  He had a bad feeling about this.

---

"You've been out looking for the last few days," Hizashi's heart ached a little. It was clear the stress of searching for nights on end was causing a hefty amount of stress on Oboro. Both mentally and physically. His hair wasn't as poufy or well cared for, its usual cloud formation wispy as if it could blow away at a single moment. Not to mention the eyebags that had rivaled even Shota’s on a bad day. Plus Oboro sounded downright depressed every time he opened his mouth.

"Yeah, The detective is looking into it for me. I know he's close with All Might, at least to some degree", Oboro had an odd look on his face about it. Hizashi couldn’t unpack it right now, more focused on hearing his friend out. Hizashi nodded in a gesture to continue. Oboro looked painfully sad for a moment, "He said the shoes I found matched a Quirkless shoe store." That certainly piqued Hizashi’s interest. "I saw this kid, though, unless it was some villain, I’m certain the kid was the one who activated that portal."

"It could be possible. Some quirks do evolve in high-stress situations." Hizashi had heard of the phenomenon before. From what he remembered, it usually didn't fare well for the bodies of the victims. The body had to adjust to the new quirk, and often times it left its own mental scars in addition to aches and chronic pain.

"That's what Tsukauchi said.” Oboro moved a little closer to him not meeting his eyes. For such a tall person, Oboro could make himself small when he wanted to.

“You think the kid’s gone through that much stress?” His heart ached for the little listener.

Oboro seemed to hesitate for a moment before speaking, “I did nearly see the kid commit suicide."

Hizashi had to take a breath and centered himself. It’d do little good to freak out now. Of course, he and Sho had doubts about Oboro’s initial story. He sounded frantic enough that first day. But all they could get out of him was that a kid took a tumble off a roof after talking with All Might who had left the scene.

The kid jumping off himself changed some things. If they had known, they might have tried harder to keep Oboro that much further away. Hizashi glanced at the top of Oboro’s head, No sense in it now, Hizashi thought solemnly. There was attachment. "That would count as high stress."

Oboro's shoulders just dropped as they let out a weak laugh, "Yeah that’s what I said." The laugh sounded too chocked up and watery.

"Oh, hey Oboro, you alright?" Hizashi untwisted a bit from the blanket pretzel, moving his head and forcing Oboro to look his friend in the eye.

Oboro kept giving a smile, Hizashi knew him long enough to know it was an act, too strained, too uncomfortable. Oboro knew it too. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Hizashi could think of a few reasons.

"Bluebird, it’d be more than understanding if it's triggering you" Hizashi had said it just as much as for Oboro as for himself. Don't dwell on it, Hizashi had to keep telling himself. Don't dwell on the thought of another kid, almost taken from this world. They were here in the apartment, sitting on the couch. It was different now.

Oboro seemed to know what he meant, looking up and meeting Hizashi’s eyes one-on-one. He held the bond strong, "I'm a hero; I can handle it." 

Eventually, Hizashi had to break the contact, huffing at him at looking slightly away. He put his head on Oboro’s shoulder letting him know he wasn’t mad. Hizashi wanted to believe it would all be okay. "Doesn't mean you have to do it alone," Hizashi grumbled.

Oboro squeezed him a bit tighter in response, "I'm not alone; I have you and Shota."

Hizashi hoped that would be enough.

---

"Lost school items?" the detective was questioning him as he flipped through the book seemingly taking in all the details. Aizawa was only mildly impressed that he was taking this seriously.

Aizawa was filling out his own paperwork on the sides. "Yes, I'm guessing a possible trafficking case, although I'm praying for something kinder."

Tsukauchi pressed a few buttons on his computer. "No missing kid reports for the night, but I'll inform the squad. Anything else at the scene?" The detective was giving him that look. The one to make others know his quirk was always on. Aizawa hated it.

"No, just those. No seemingly evidence of foul play." Aizawa had scoured the area himself. Shining his flashlight through every hidden corner three times over. He had genuinely considered taking the mantle off the sewer system to look before the common sense of wanting to check-in with the police department outweighed that thought.

“I’ll have the teams tonight and tomorrow keep their eyes peeled,” he said typing out a few words on their police scanner. Once it was sent, Tsukauchi leaned back out of exhaustion.  

Aizawa was content to finish their respective paperwork in peace but Tsukauchi had other plans. He was glancing up at Aizawa every few moments with an odd look. It wasn’t the face he made when Aizawa lied to him, so what gives? He really didn't have time for this, "Spit it out," he grumbled.

"Is Shir- Loud Cloud alright?" Tsukauchi had spoken uncharacteristically fast and higher pitch as if losing any composure he may have had. The slip-up of the name didn't sneak past him either. Aizawa fought back the urge to roll his eyes. Honestly, Oboro, why him?

"They're alright. I think the whole ordeal shocked him more than anything. They're currently curled up with Mic and the cats," Mic and he had a silent conversation with their eyes before they left. If the plan was being followed, Oboro wouldn't be able to move from their eyes.

"Oh, that's good. Really good,” Aizawa waited him out, there was obviously more he wanted to ask. “So are you three like" The detective interlocked his fingers and looked at him expectantly. Aizawa could hold back the eye roll that time.

"If you can't ask outright, are you really ready for a relationship with him?" Sue him if sounded harsh. He could be protective when needed. Plus Oboro appreciated communication, even if it was hard. Tsukauchi would do better to find that out sooner rather than later. Asking a question should have been simple. In reality, Aizawa was doing him a favor.

Tsukauchi took a deep breath in as if steeling himself. Aizawa felt a little bit more at ease knowing that Tsukauchi could have a backbone if needed. "Are you in a relationship?"

"I'm assuming you mean romantic relationship based on the way you asked.” Most people did and wrote off anything that wasn’t romantic as lesser, it pissed him off. “No, we aren't. Mic and I are in a romantic relationship and we are queerplatonic partners to Oboro." Aizawa waited for him to ask more questions.

"Oh okay," Tsukauchi answered. Aizawa saw the pen pad moving under the detective's desk. No doubt to make notes to look up definitions later. Maybe a bit of research would do him well.

Aizawa motioned to leave. "Well I gave you the items I found, I'm going back out"

Tsukauchi kept looking at him, "Are you going to sweep the area for the kid?" Make it be known the detective did care, especially when children were involved. He had no doubt of that.

"It's been quiet on the comms. It'd be illogical to do anything else with my night." Aizawa was already planning out the routes from the school that would lead someone to use the tunnel as a throughway.

There was a static sound starting up. "Robbery at the bank on Fifth street!" Aizawa could hit himself for the sound that came from his head speaker. The line that connected both hero and police comms. The feedback coming from both Tsukauchi’s device and his own was creating a not helpful screech. The speaker kept crackling with the sound. "Aggressors running rampant. Heros requested on scene."

The detective shot him a wry grin that reminded him of blue hair. "Spoke too soon, Eraser?" Aizawa mourned for a world where Oboro didn’t teach every person that god's awful smile.

"Just keep an eye out." Aizawa glared at him, only leaving after the detective shot back with "of course." Bleeding hearts, all of them. If he took the Mason street pathway, he might be able to cut the robbers off on their route. Always better to cut off at the source.

---

They were gaining on him. He had to leave. Izuku made a quick turn into an alley. If he was right, this could be a shortcut to the pathway to the corner store. A few strides into the alley made him realize how wrong he was on his initial assumption. The alley he was in actually led to a dead end, with a high fence surrounding one way.

On the other side of the alley, the group that had been chasing him was blocking the entrance. The main leader looked at him with a sneer on his face, "Well, Deku, looks like we found you after all." The group of tormentors had been particularly aggressive the last few days, and it had only escalated.

His week had already been hard enough. Whatever the weird incident was on Monday with suddenly being in his bedroom. Then his bathroom. He was still trying to make sense of it. He had planned to explore it on the weekend but seeing that it was Thursday, he hadn't had the chance to. Izuku clutched the new backpack a little tighter to himself. Barely one day old and it would get destroyed by his bullies, and Izuku hated that he cared more about the backpack being beaten up than himself.

Izuku wanted to be gone, anywhere other than here. He'd rather be up on the horrid rooftop. The rooftop didn't promise immediate pain and burns. The group of bullies came closer. Izuku closed his eyes and took a step back, expecting to smack into the wood of the fence, but he stepped back with no problem.

He opened his eyes and was shocked to be standing right in front of a black mass that had a swirling dark green and black pattern. Izuku almost reached out to touch it before he heard shouts from within. Did it come from the black mass?

It took him a second before his ears registered the shouts. "What the hell, where'd he go?" Izuku froze, they couldn't find him, please don't let them see him.

"NO!" he threw his arms up, and the black mass disappeared.

What the hell was that?

That had to have been him. He knew that for sure. That was the quirk that had affected him. Izuku nearly let out a cry of relief. Or was it really? Izuku wanted to scream in frustration. He was so focused on the mystery that he didn’t hear the stranger approach.

"Hey, uh green-haired kid, you alright over there?" 

Izuku froze as he felt a cold chill go up his spine.

Chapter Text

"Seriously, kid, you alright?" The boy had turned and froze right as he had initially spoken. Oboro waited for a second for him to respond.

The kid hadn't moved a muscle since they met eyes. His eyes were still looking at him, very big and very expressive if he could correctly read the fear present. Maybe he spooked the kid. That wasn't his intention. Then again, perhaps they shouldn't have started with calling him a type of vegetable.

In his defense, seeing the kid again after his searching had stunned him. His excitement at seeing the kid okay got the best of him, and he spoke before he could think. What did kids enjoy? Talking about themselves usually did the trick. Maybe talking about the quirk will help the kid settle down, "Pretty cool portal you got there -"

"You're Loud Cloud!" The kid interjected. His mouth was spread in a large smile. It warmed up Shirakumo.

"You're right, kid. I sure am." It was mildly impressive as he wasn't even decked out in his hero gear. They were dressed in their street clothes.

The kid had his full attention on him now. "What are you doing here, aren't you usually a daylight hero?"

Saying that he was purposely staying up the last few nights hoping to find the kid probably wasn't the best idea. It would have the kid screaming stranger danger and running fast before he could talk to him.

"Sometimes I do… night… shifts" that sounded convincing enough. And he didn't technically even lie. "I was just doing my patrols when I saw you come out of your portal"

The kid looked confused, then behind him, "It's not mine,"

Uh. Shirakumo wasn't quite sure how to respond. "It sure looks like yours."

"But it can't be. I'm quirkless." The kid was holding his hand over his face as if he hadn't meant to say that.

Shirakumo gave pause. He had to think delicately about this situation. "I, uh, don't think you're quirkless kid-not that there is anything wrong with that" he added in quickly. He pointed behind the kid, "but that black mass that was there responded to you."

"But how can that be? Quirks don't just appear."

"Sometimes when we experience something"- traumatic, his brain whispered - "really painful, we gain new abilities. Did something like that happen with you?"

-
Izuku looked at Loud Cloud's eyes; they seemed to be all-knowing. He knew he couldn't lie his way out that nothing had been going on. But he also couldn't just tell a hero that he tried to kill himself. That was one sure way to ruin his life. How to lie when the person knew something already? The best lies are always rooted in truths. "I-I was in a villain attack the other day. I guess that could be seen as …painful." Better to use the same words the hero did. It had taken a second to struggle with the word, but it seemed to appease the hero.

"That could do it, kid. So how much experience do you have with it so far?" The portal, little to none, did Loud Cloud need to know that? But he shouldn't lie too much. That would give him away. Better tell the truth and be safe than sorry, but the words couldn't come. Izuku motioned behind with a thumb.

"Ah, right." If Izuku didn't know better, he would say that the hero looked awkward as if he wanted to ask something but didn't know-how.

"Well, there were two other instances, I'm not sure about them." He was hesitant to disclose that much, but if asked, he just wouldn't go in-depth about them.

Mentioning the other times seemed to make Loud Cloud attentive. Izuku wanted to hit himself. "Well, what did it feel like?"

He couldn't not, respond to the hero, but what would be accurate but not enough the hero felt he had to be concerned. "It felt tingly."

"Tingly?" Loud Cloud was giving him a smirk, "Care to elaborate?"

"No, I don't think I will." He was worried the hero would be mad, but a lookup still showed a smiling face. Izuku didn't quite know what to do.
He decided to do what he did best and get out of the situation.

"Well, I need to get home. My mom's probably waiting for me" Izuku spoke quickly enough that Loud Cloud probably wouldn't register it fast enough to make him stay. He rushed towards the access door. Anything to get away from the hero looking at him with knowing eyes. He could vaguely hear Loud Cloud shouting something behind him, but he was too focused on not missing the step from under his foot to take in any words being said.

-
"If you'd like to talk more, you can find me here!"

Oboro decided he wouldn't push the kid, at least not today. The kid was having a rough time if the torn uniform had been any indication, not to mention the accidental quirk usage. Oboro couldn't bug him. He'd been there before. The kid would have to reach out first, at least for the beginning bit, or it wouldn't stick. The kid had to know that there would be help there - some support that would stay. Oboro would still be persistent as all hell to show him just that.

-
Oboro was careful. He had the experience of a pro hero. They also had the veil of darkness on their side. The limited space held mysteries and secrets.

He used his clouds to get on level with the windows and quietly slipped inside. Getting through the window was easy. Creeping around the kitchenette area took a bit longer. One wrong move and the tile underneath would creak. Then it was all over.

Oboro might have been slightly dramatic, but it was warranted. He had been a little concerned to see the kid out so late. But he was ecstatic to have found his kid. Shirakumo wasn't sure how they'd sleep tonight, despite the fact it was around 3 am. Somewhere in his elation, he may have forgotten that Shota's shift ended around this time.

"Shirakumo" a low voice drawled.

Oboro quickly turned around. Hidden in the dark of their living room, sitting on the loveseat was Shota, still dressed in his hero gear. A scowl was present on his face.

"Hi lovely, what's with the last name treatment?" Maybe if he played it off and kept the mood up he could salvage the night. And protect from Shota's anger.

"What were you doing out? You're supposed to be on quirk rest", Aizawa crossed his arms over himself. Shirakumo was not to be deterred.

"See-ee I was" and Shirakumo had been for the most part taking it easy. But there were some things you didn't take it easy for. It had been a gamble going to look for the kid tonight. "Shota you need to understand" and hadn't his gamble paid off. Shirakumo grinned widely, "I found him"

Aizawa did seem to soften at this "You found him?". It was unbearably soft.

Shirakumo didn't realize how tired he really was until that moment. He had taken so much time and energy to find the kid and make sure he was okay. It had finally paid off. "Yeah. Yeah, I found the kid."

He could feel a chocked cough come up. "He's okay.", Shirakumo was suddenly exhausted. "Well like maybe not okay, okay" there were definitely burns on his uniform, and the kid was scared out of his mind from something. "But he's alive" He's alive. Shirakumo reached up to his face. When did it rain?

Aizawa breathed in and gave a big sigh. He looked like he was going to launch into a lecture. His brow was furred in that way that ramped him ready for an argument. Shirakumo resigned himself to the next few hours.

"Sho, lecture in the morning. Bed now" Both of them startled a little. Yamada was in the entrance from their living room. Clearly having just left the bed, hair standing up at all ends.

"Hizas-" Aizawa had started.

Yamada cut him off with a stern look. "Nope, we all need sleep. We can discuss everything in the morning," Shirakumo smiled wide. His savior. Yamada quickly turned a glare on them. "Don't go acting smug. I'm glad the kid's okay but I have already been cheapened out of cuddles once today and am not a happy camper"

Yamada turned and walked back towards his and Aizawa's bedroom. Aizawa followed him in with Shirakumo trailing behind. Shirakumo was about to turn into his own room before two hands grabbed onto him and pulled him back.

"No, Oboro" Aizawa's voice drawled.

"We are not letting you out of our sight," Yamada said.

They both proceeded to drag him into the bed. Sleeping was surprisingly easy. It was a peaceful rest.

Chapter Text

Izuku was finding more and more comforts in sitting alone. He wasn't sure when he exactly made his way up to the rooftop of his building, but he found it comforting nonetheless.

Comforting until a voice let out, "Oh hey kid, nice to see you again," Izuku jumped back and was mildly terrified to see the hero near him.

"I was a little worried when you immediately ran off, but good thing I have a knack for finding you on roofs" Izuku must have been conveying his distress because Loud Cloud put up placating hands. "Right, I got the message. I'll stay over here" Loud Cloud sat down from where he was standing. He sat cross-legged. Which as a hero, Izuku thought, was a really inefficient way to sit if there was any danger.

Izuku could still feel his heart beating. Loud Cloud must have noticed this as well because he patted the spot near him. "Hey, kid, you still seem spooked. Why don't you sit and breathe with me for a minute? The hero looked worried enough. If Izuku bolted for then, the hero might chase after him and question him more. He couldn't have that.

If he just did this small thing now, maybe that would get the hero off his back. "Just for a minute?"

"Yeah, kid, I still have a few minutes until I'm officially on patrol. Plus helps me get into the right headspace to use my quirk."

"The right headspace?" Izuku asked. Cloud wasn't a mental quirk. If anything, it was an emitter and elemental manipulation quirk. Why would he need to focus on that?

"Yup, my clouds take an incredible amount of concentration. So to help with that, I meditate. All quirks in of themselves require some mental work."

That brought up a plethora of more questions. Izuku could feel the analysis buzzing within him, questions coming out rapidly, "So how exactly do you control your clouds? Does that mean you don't produce the clouds yourself, and you're just controlling water vapor? What about when you make your cloud cover attacks? Theoretically, could you choke someone with clouds?"

"Wow, kid, slow down. I don't think I can choke someone with a cloud" Loud Cloud shushed him. He had a concerned look on his face. Too many questions, Izuku was being too annoying, Izuku should have realized. Loud Cloud was still a hero after all.

"Hey, hey kid, don't look sad. They're all great questions, all ones I want to answer, but in due time."

Izuku could feel his mind go blank, would the hero answer the question? Maybe he was just saying it to get him off his back.

"You seem like you need a lot of de-stressing," Rude, Izuku thought, but then again, it was fair. Izuku was stressed constantly. "How about this? For every meditation session you do with me, you can get one guess of how my quirk works. Sound fair?"

"I guess so," Izuku wasn't quite sure about meditating, but if it allowed him to talk about his theories with the hero's quirk, he would take it. Loud Cloud had his hand outstretched towards him. He took it gingerly and softly shook it.

"Now come on, you owe me a session."

"But we didn't agree until just now?"

"Too bad, you're still looking tense, and I, in good conscience, cannot leave someone so wound up."

Loud Cloud pat the spot near him on the roof. Izuku sat near, not entirely on the area but close enough, that if asked, he could claim he was still sitting with the hero.

"I'm not really sure how to meditate," Izuku said. He thinks it involves free time. Most of his free time was spend with analysis or running from bullies. Not quite calming activities.

"It's more of a go with the flow kinda deal. There's no right way to do it."

Not that I can do anything right. Izuku thought dejectedly.

"Try taking some deep breaths with me right now. That's something you can do."

--
"Hey cloud man, got something for you" Detective Tsukauchi had been waiting for Loud Cloud to come into the station to give his field report of the day so that he could tell the exciting news. It had been a little lonely around the station. With mandatory quirk exhaustion leave, it had been a few days since he saw the blue-haired hero.

"Inspector!" The cloud man in question yelled, then strutted his way over to the detective's desk. "I am sooo happy to see you." Tsukauchi always liked talking to him because, despite all the talk and the persona, every word about emotions and people always rang true in his head. It certainly made for fewer headaches. Although with the stack of papers now placed on the desk, maybe that was speaking too soon. "Got some villains for you, but first. How's my favorite pencil pusher doing?"

Loud Cloud made himself comfortable sitting up cross-legged on the corner of his desk, and honestly, didn't the man use clouds for a reason? But Tsukauchi couldn't find it in him to push the hero off. "I'm doing well. How are you, Loud Cloud? You seem in chipper spirits."

Tsukauchi wasn't exactly sure that the hero should still be up and about after dealing with quirk exhaustion. He was just happy the hero seemed to be doing well.

"You know how it is, skies been clear" His eyes were sparkling. Tsukauchi could feel his heart swell a bit. It was nice to hear them be excited again. "Any word on the big shot?"

Tsukauchi had to fight not to groan at the reminder. He had been calling and messaging Yagi for the past two days, trying to scrape away information, especially if he had let his deflated form show. "All Might's kinda ignoring my calls at the moment."

"Oh no, not the cold shoulder" Loud Cloud's grin was still wide as ever, but their eyes were open and caring. A touch of sincerity that was hard to miss. "Do you want to talk about it?"

How he wanted to tell him, let them in on the secret of All Might's quirk, especially that first day when they had come into the precinct like a bat out of hell, so concerned for this kid looking, one of the first times to Tsukauchi, unsure. It was more than a little scary to see the usually smiling hero being severe and stoic about it all.

"Don't concern yourself with it" Their grin had fallen a bit throughout the conversation, but the slip was quickly concealed. "But I do have something that would be of interest to you." He held up the notebook and backpack recovered, and Loud Cloud perked up like a puppy. "I think it might be from your kid."

Loud Cloud took no time in grabbing the notebook and flipping through it, "Where'd you find it?"

"Your tall, dark, and handsome brought it for us." Loud Cloud was giving him an odd look. "Eraserhead found it along in a closed-off access tunnel along his patrol route" Loud Cloud was nodding, but his smile was wide. Vaguely, Tsukauchi thought he resembled a kid on Halloween.

The smile didn't stay for long as he looked over the notebook more. "Man, it's torn to shreds and burned? And then… drowned? Whelp, that sure is water damage, alright." He may have pretended to be flippant with the thing, but Tsukauchi could tell how carefully he was turning the pages.

"Wait, there's a name on the inside. De-ku? No, that's not it, oh wait, Inspector, does this say Dekiru?"

The detective looked over at him with a questioning eye. "Like 'you can do it'?"

"It would make sense if this is a kid. Maybe it's something a guardian wrote on the inside. Ya know a little pick me up for the kid." Loud Cloud seemed to be trying to convince himself more than Tsukauchi.

"Possibly. I followed up on looking up registered quirkless kids in the area, something else for you. Think I found the legal name" He handed him a piece of paper that had a picture of a green-haired middle schooler. "Izuku Midoriya"

"Oh, that's him alright." Loud Cloud was looking somber at the photo. Tsukauchi wasn't sure if he should offer comfort.

"Although Midoriya? Little on the nose. Green hair and eyes?" They said as he gestured to the photo.

The detective couldn't help but smile. "Says the one who called him Broccoli" Loud Cloud's cheeks turned an adorable rosy color.

"Touche, inspector" Tsukauchi had to hold back a snort at the now indignant look the hero's face held.

"Well, I shall be off, gotta put good use to the information you got for me." The hero barely jumped off from the desk before he put a cloud under himself. "Hey Tsukauchi, seriously, if you ever need to chat about your friend, you have my number."

The serious tone in Loud Cloud's voice did catch him off guard for a moment. All Tsukauchi could get out was, "yeah, I'll, uh, keep that in mind."

"Please do, by-yee Inspector!" And they were off with a wave of their hand. Tsukauchi watched him stroll to the door.

"Comes in like a storm, leaves your heart soaring" the mocking tone didn't escape Tsukauchi.

Tsukauchi turned to glare at his coworker, hoping the feline didn't see the whole of that interaction from wherever he had been hiding. "Sansa, don't you have paperwork to fill?"

"Yup" the shit eating grin Sansa was sporting did not help, "but so do you, especially since Loud Cloud dropped off three villains when he first came in" Tsukachi looked towards the front of the precinct, sure as Sansa said there were three villains all held up in their holding cell. He bit back a hard groan.

"I give him information, and he brings me paperwork,"

"Sounds like you don't mind it that much," Sansa teased and motioned to Tsukauchi's desk.

Tsukauchi looked at the sticky note left on the side of the recent incident report. 'Sorry for the paperwork, Inspector!' signed with a bit of scribbled cloud where a signature usually would be.

Tsukauchi hid his smile behind his cup of coffee. "Yeah, guess I don't."

Chapter Text

"So, do you actually have a water manipulation quirk? Cause clouds are made of water vapor?"

Shirakumo tried not to squeal out, this was his favorite part. "Nope, great guess, though! My clouds don't always look like it, but they are completely different from the atmospheric clouds you are used to." they loved talking about the difference.

The kid was looking at him intensely now. "What makes them different?"

"What I've found is there are two important aspects to my quirk compared to atmospheric cloud. What I can control and what I can't."

He had the kid's full attention on him now. Hopefully, he could deliver a good show. "The color I can't control. It kind of changes with my mood. If something affects me a lot, my clouds react."

"What does it mean right now?" the kid tried to poke one of the fluffier white clouds that were surrounding the two. Shirakumo liked enclosing their meditation time within his clouds. Nothing wrong with an extra barrier of protection, especially when vulnerable.

"The big fluffy white ones usually mean I'm happy, or at least content with something," usually, being around his people was enough to ensure the clouds stayed that way.

The kid kept poking various parts of his clouds, seeing where they disappeared and where they didn't. "What about when you're angry?"

Shirakumo tried not to look sheepish and resolved to look away. "I've been told they look like thunder clouds" Beautiful and terrifying all-encompassed together, Shirakumo still didn't know how to feel about that description.

"In all the videos I've seen of you fighting, they look all the same. I don't think I've ever seen a storm cloud?"

"In fights, I try to keep my emotions in check best I can, not to say I don't slip or have bad days. But usually, when I see one of my storm clouds brewing, I realize that things got out of control, and I work to ground myself quickly" Shirakumo breathed in, "I have to try and not let the anger get to me or affect my actions,"

The kid was giving an appraising look. "Wouldn't a massive storm cloud deter villains from fighting you?"

"I'm a hero first, and that means my job first and foremost is to save. And that means I need to keep all potentials of a scene in mind. Even if my clouds were to become large and dark, it might scare off a villain or two." Izuku seemed to be nodding along to what he was saying. "But that also means I could potentially scare any already traumatized victims at the scene."

He was told once upon a time his clouds looked villainous. It was by a concerned mother and child he had saved from an angry husband and father. He had engulfed the two of them in what had turned into a dense black cloud born from rage. Domestics were always more challenging. He thought it was the best way of keeping the two safe at the time.

After taking them both to a waiting ambulance and ensuring they were okay, the mother stared him down and rightfully chewed them out for terrifying her kid. When he tried to look over and assess the kid for injuries, the kid had just clung to his mother's side. He wouldn't even look at the hero.

"Civilians and victims come first in the line of hero work. Well before fighting any bad guy," They'd trade everything to ensure every hero knew that.

Shirakumo looked over to the kid—this kid who was looking at Shirakumo in what could only be described as wonderment. Were all kids this starry eye'd? Shirakumo didn't know if he'd be able to handle it if they were.
-----

Izuku tried to shift his hands into the clasped position. He had seen others do a similar hand position in the meditation videos. His didn't quite look the same. Maybe putting his hands flat together would work better?

"Kinda looks like a temple," Loud Cloud quipped in from the side. Izuku was still slightly wary of the hero. But being able to ask questions regarding quirks did bring him some joy.

Izuku could see the resemblance a little. The peaks of his fingers did kind of look like the rooftops. However, that's where most of the similarities ended. His hands made more of a long steeple than anything. It reminded Izuku of one of the pre-quirk era stories. Of a long-haired princess trapped up in a tower. What must it be like to stand up that high and have it be the only world you can see.

His introspection may have made his tongue a little looser than usual as he pondered the hero's comment. "It kinda hurts."

"What holding your hands in that position?" Loud Cloud started moving towards him, "Well, stop that then." Instinctively Izuku let his hands drop and shuffled a few inches back. Loud Cloud seemed to take it for the dismissive as he stopped. "It shouldn't hurt,"

Something in the hero's eyes still looked like he was going to reach for Izuku's hands. Izuku wouldn't allow that and made his move a foot away. Why was he feeling the hero was going to make this more dramatic than it needed to be? "But it's not that bad. It just stings a little."

Loud Cloud met his eyes. "You don't deserve to be in pain kid." He took a deep breath and turned away. "Trying to force yourself to do something that hurts," Loud Cloud looked down at his own hands, "especially when the ultimate goal is to help you. That whole mindset won't get you anywhere. You gotta try around and see what works."

"Personally, this is what works for me." Loud Cloud's body relaxed, and their hands went down to his side. Izuku watched the hero's hands, ready to emulate them. He waited a second. And then two.

"You aren't doing anything special with your hands." Izuku's statement was true. Loud Cloud's hands were limp at his side.

Loud Cloud let out a huff. "Exactly, I'm letting them rest."

"But-"

"Sometimes the best thing is just to give yourself a moment just to be"
Loud Cloud motioned for him to continue and went back to closing his eyes.

He could do this. Izuku let his hands rest at his side. He was surprised it didn't hurt.
----

"What about what you can control?"

"What do you mean, kid?", Shirakumo really had only sat down a minute ago as they both began to do a breathing routine together before the kid spoke. He didn't have any real context to go off of.

"You told me about what you couldn't control about your quirk, which was the color and appearance. But you never told me about the part you can control."

"Oh, I guess a lot of that is more the internal stuff."

"Internal stuff?"

"All the actual particles my clouds consist of, though I'm not entirely sure what elementals it's made of. Essentially I can control the parts that allow me to move them how I want and decrease or increase the density."

"Density?"

"Lot of small word questions, kid" The kid started to glare at him. Shirakumo just shot him a smile in return. 'Density is right. Did you know it actually takes an incredible amount of concentration to hold things on an actual cloud sturdily? Though I'm usually not that good at figuring out the right amount until something's already touching my cloud. The grounding helps, though for holding things for long periods"

"So that's why you meditate?" the kid looks sad for a reason.

"When I can" It seemed like more things were pulling them in many ways. Now it was getting rare for Shirakumo to have a break to himself. He was really starting to cherish these rooftop times. "It helps take time to get all the extra thoughts that could pop up in the heat of battle and possibly knock my concentration eschew. If I'm agonizing over a conversation with a coworker I felt didn't go so good, there is no way in hell my quirk would withstand the weight of a building."

"That makes a lot of sense." the kid was still looking at him oddly, "So you do place a lot of value in this. Why invite me along?"

"I place a lot of value on making sure my mental wellbeing is the best it can be for what I'm able to do. " It dawned on him that the kid probably needed a bit of reassurance; hopefully, this could be it. "Talking with you helps bring things back into perspective." Too many and not enough things made sense after every new chat. "I enjoy our talks together."

The kid must have taken that for an answer as they both slipped back into a comfortable silence again.
----

Another week passed. Shirakumo taught the kid some more simple breathing patterns to help with relaxation. Shirakumo was going to see about maybe working some yoga stretches into their sessions. He jumped off his cloud and onto their roof. Shirakumo was excited to see the kid already waiting for him and sitting down with his legs crossed.

The kid looked up and looked him over. "Where's your hero costume? I thought you had patrol today."

Shirakumo looked down. His days of stripping naked in the middle of the classroom to fight off the chill of the rain were over, but that didn't mean he didn't still have dreams about having forgotten his clothes for big events. He hoped this wasn't one of those times. Shirakumo looked down at his body. He was sporting the black jumpsuit and utility belt. What was odd about that? Hizashi hadn't said anything when he first left. It took Shirakumo a second for it to click.

"Oh, I do have patrol. This is my nighttime gear." They gave a wide spread of their arms as if performing. Well performing for an audience of one.

The kid didn't look that impressed. "Your nighttime gear?"

Shirakumo wouldn't let that bother him, "Yup, the skies are a bit more overcast today, and I know my shift will be running a little bit longer than usual. Hence the nighttime gear."

"It looks similar to underground heroes."

An image of Aizawa first seeing his gear came to mind. The erasure hero looked him up and down and then affectionately calling them a copycat. Shirakumo didn't really have any argument against it.

"Yup, Very much so! Personally, I like to use it for stealth missions. Plus, I like being flexible in my wardrobe. It gives me kinda repressed emo kid makes it to adulthood type vibes."

The kid looked at him as if he had grown three heads. Damn it. He was losing his credibility with the younger generation. "Youths of today don't understand our humor," at least he knew how to get the kid excited quickly. Shirakumo sat down to begin their routine, "well shoot at it, what's your guess, deals a deal."

"Are your clouds a nonnewtonian fluid?"

Shirakumo paused. "Kid, what the fuck is that?"

"Language," the kid scolded him as if he were a schoolboy. Shirakumo hid his shame from being called out. "Anyway, it's a specialty fluid, it's a liquid until you apply force, and then you can see its shape form" the kid was looking at him like that was something to be common knowledge. Shirakumo honestly found it frankly unnerving, "So is it that?" obviously expecting an answer now.

"Oh no. It's not that" Shirakumo's clouds reacted differently than just applying force. They were still solid when no one was on them. But by nature, the minute he touched to check, he was using force. "I… don't think."

The kid didn't seem to take it as an answer, and honestly, Shirakumo wasn't precisely satisfied either.

That added more disturbing things to think about in the middle of the night. Shirakumo already had a rough time with the idea that his clouds could potentially be lethal by choking.

Liquid until force. Interesting concept. Maybe he could do some experiments with the kid?

---
"I don't think I'm good at this meditation thing."

Izuku really had been trying for the last few weeks. Two weeks of regularly meeting up with a pro hero. To what? Breathe a certain way? Izuku couldn't even do that right now.

"No one's good at it or not" Loud Cloud turned towards him and tried giving a what was suppose comforting smile; Izuku could only pick out the pitying eyes, though. "I'm not even sure if it's something you 'can' be good or not good at. But I know it shouldn't be something stressful."

Izuku could feel the frustration bubbling up inside him. "But it's so stressful. I don't even know where to begin."

Loud Cloud just chuckled at him, "Sounds like someone else I know. Well, you can start by thinking of it as what helps you relax."

Izuku thought about it more. Did he have anything? "Not really much. I don't think I've actually relaxed a lot in my life."

"Okay, first off, what a relatable thing. Second, that's pretty sad, kid. But don't worry, we'll be able to get you relaxing and chillin' in no time." Izuku had a few doubts about that. Before he could voice them, Loud Cloud was asking. "What about what makes you happy?"

Izuku was thinking through his day. Was he even truly happy? Recent events would suggest no. But surely he had a few activities? He thought long and hard. Maybe it wasn't so much what made him happy, rather what didn't make him sad.

"Writing"

"Writing?" the hero was looking at him earnestly now. Izuku wasn't afraid to say it was slightly unnerving how zeroed in the hero's eyes were on his person.

"Yes," Izuku answered hesitantly. Loud Cloud may have gotten him to do this little exercise, but that didn't mean he would spill everything.

It seemed Loud Cloud had intended on gathering more information, "What type of writing? Creative? No offense, kid, you don't strike me as nonfiction kinda kid."

Izuku scrunched his nose, "definitely not. I mostly like writing analysis, mostly for quirks", he hadn't meant to voice even that. Recently all of his analysis has been in his head. Could he even say he wrote if he's not put pen to paper for weeks? Izuku curled in on himself. He was so wrong about this. "I haven't written much of it lately."

"Hey, it still makes you a writer, sometimes the drive isn't there, and that's okay."

Izuku thought back to the last few nights, holed up in his room alone, staring at a blank sheet. "I, uh, lost my latest notebook, and I haven't really found it in me to start a new one."

"I'm sorry to hear that" the hero's voice had something in it. Izuku couldn't tell if the sympathy was faked.

Another interaction was ruined by Izuku over-sharing. "Yeah, it's a stupid idea, though."

Loud Cloud had a sad look on his face. "I think it's pretty cool."

Izuku looked at him in disbelief. "No, trust me, it's pretty cringy. Hell, I named it Hero Analysis of the Future" childish, is what Kaachan had called it. "Makes me sound like a kid."

"I'm not sure how to break this to you, but well, you are a kid," and now Loud Cloud wouldn't ever take him seriously with that reminder. "But I don't think it's that bad, one suggestion and question though. Your analysis is recent, right?"

"Yeah, I usually analyze only recent fights" Izuku himself usually stuck to a month- maximum on the information. "Not to say there isn't value in a past fight, but it's the way I am more up to date with material. So I can get the best idea of how they will fare in a future fight."

"It's seeing someone for where they are in the moment."

"Yeah, I guess," Izuku didn't know entirely about that.

"Well, why not write it for the present?"

Izuku tilted his head to the side. "Huh?"

"You said it's called Hero Analysis for the Future. Why not for the present?"

Izuku thought on that. It could work; the name wasn't too bad. Izuku could admit that much. But if he could mess with the hero a little. Loud Cloud seemed playful enough. "That sounds kinda lame," he said with a smile.

"Rude!" but Loud Cloud, sounded indignant but Izuku could see the broad smile he was sporting.

Chapter Text

Loud Cloud had returned his notebook to him during one of their unofficial meditation nights before the hero's patrol.

He said he happened to be turning in some paperwork when he saw it in the evidence locker and recognized the title. Izuku had more than a few thoughts about how the hero's story didn't quite make sense. Izuku was going to question him but had barely gotten a word in before Loud Cloud spend all their usual time talking about his notebook.

It had been terrifying when the hero started talking a million miles a minute. Izuku was afraid Loud Cloud was going to dismiss his work. Surprisingly that wasn't what happened.

Loud Cloud talked about how Izuku had been right on many of his theories (Present Mic being able to mimic sounds) but had completely missed the ball on others.

Loud Cloud said that he was shocked he heard of Eraserhead, and really the man did patrol around Izuku's neighborhood quite frequently. Eraserhead apparently did not neutralize any quirk within a hundred yards by the power of his hair. When questioned Loud Cloud explained he wouldn't be telling any information like that to the kid, Izuku was disappointed but could admire him for knowing when to keep things secret. Loud Cloud seemed to not pick up on the disappointment as he kept going on about other entries.

Loud Cloud was talking about his entry on Fat Gum, apparently, their agencies teamed up a lot before he stopped and looked at Izuku.

"You're kinda bad at accepting compliments aren't you"

Izuku had a weird relationship with praise, he still wasn't sure about what had been going on the last few weeks. Meeting the hero. Having meditation sessions. Being allowed to ask questions freely about quirks. Izuku had yet to be convinced it wasn't all just one big joke. "Sorry, it’s just hard to believe."

Loud Cloud met Izuku's eye with something close to sadness. "One day it won't be, just hold out for a little while longer".

Izuku had to pull his eyes away from that interaction. He could try that. But for now, though he had to get the attention of the hero off of him, "you still have a few more minutes until patrol right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can we meditate?", maybe it could take the forlorn look off the hero's face. Plus, Izuku had finally been able to admit to himself that he actually did manage to enjoy the meditation sessions.

Loud Cloud seemed to pick up on his wants as he smiled. "I thought you would never ask"
--
"The kid is picking out so many things about my quirk, you two have to meet him."

Hizashi was getting used to Oboro's gushing over the kid he met on the roof, it was usually the same rough conversational topics. He didn't feel as bad for tuning out when he was stirring dinner. Plus Sho was sitting with him at the table, that was enough of a soundboard.

"-and so I looked through the notebook the inspector gave me a few weeks back. Like the kid is great at this stuff."

Well, Hizashi wasn't completely tuned out. "Notebook? What notebook?" he asked from around his place at the stove.

"Yeah, school kid notebook, apparently that was found in an alley. Speaking of know anything about that Shota?", that was Oboro's dangerous voice. Usually, the ones on the receiving end were criminals and overzealous assholes. The fact that it changed so quickly to that voice after what seemed to be a pleasant conversation was slightly concerning.

"Nothing" that was Shota's, 'I'm hiding something but I don't see it relevant' voice. Hizashi was tried not to be slightly concerned he was so tuned into their voices.

"Really? Because Tsukauchi happened to mention you dropped it off with him." Oh no. Hizashi could feel Aizawa's eyes narrow. "Shota, if you didn't want me getting involved you should of said something"

"Okay, you shouldn't get involved" Blunt as ever.

"In the moment!" Oboro shouted out. "Say it at the moment!"

Shota looks disinterested at the suggestion "Like you would have listened to me?"

"Sho." Hizashi tried to get through to him.

"But you could of at least said something" Oboro whined, "what were you just waiting for me to fail?!"

"Oboro!" Hizashi yelled a little louder than intended. Almost setting off his quirk. Hizashi breathed in deep. "I'm going to put this down", as calmly as he could he put down the tongs and moved the knob to turn down the stovetop. How to approach this delicately. "I think what Sho is saying is that he's worried you're getting a little too close to this case"

Oboro turned his eyes leveled at him. "The kid isn't a case"

Breathe Hizashi, "No, but you've been putting a lot of time into the kid. We're just being cautious"

Oboro seemed to lose all fight in him at that moment, "'Zashi. I haven't been suicidal for a long time. You know this."

Even Aizawa seemed to deflate. Hiding his face in his capture scarf to try and hide. Hizashi could say he could feel the same. "I know. It's still concerning as people who love you"

"I'm sorry. I think I need to take a breather, I'm going on patrol earlier" Oboro gathered his utility belt and left out the door.

Shota and he met eyes over the dining room table.
-
"So I realized I never got your name and I probably can't keep calling you the "can-do kid"
He and the kid had just finished up their usually beginning breaths with each other before the thought occurred to him.

"Can-do?" Izuku questioned. He had been getting better about talking more openly with Shirakumo, willing to speak a bit more lively and actively participate in a conversation. It was a welcome difference from the scared-off expression the kid sported at first.

"Yeah I saw the inside of your notebook, it only had a few characters but I think someone wrote something like Dekiru, ya know you can do it" Shirakumo wasn't entirely sure what the notebook's kanji was but he thinks he got the letters well enough to get the gist of it.

Izuku seemed to hesitate as he answered. "That's.. not exactly what it means"

Looking over all they saw was the top of messy green hair. It must of saddened the kid if it was enough to keep his head that low. "Do you want to tell me what it means?"

"Not really", spoken in that soft tone. Left really no room for argument. Shirakumo pushed him enough with questions today.

"That's fair" they continued to sit near each other. The silence resting over everything. After a few minutes, the kid was looking like he wanted to ask him something. Shirakumo tried to make his posture as least threatening as he could be.

The kid finally spoke up, "You aren't going to force me to tell you?"

Things clicked a little more. Aw kid, Shirakumo's heart ached. "Nope" While he did technically know the kid's name it was important to build trust and if that meant temporarily forgetting the file given from Tsukauchi then that was that.

"Okay." The kid still looked wary of Shirakumo, but he did shuffle over just the barest of inches near him.

Shirakumo would count it as a win.
--
The returning home had been less of a win.
Oboro was a bit shocked that the lights were all on.

Especially as he made a quick stop by Tsukauchi’s and they shared a cup of coffee and talked things over. It was nice to see more of the detective, especially in a less formal environment. The other was often a different man when relaxed. More open to playful banter, a little less stiff.

Hizashi and Shota were curled up on the couch together. When he walked into the living room they all had met eyes.

Oboro tried to hold in the tears that had started slipping. “I’m really sorry”

Shota had stood and was making his way over to him, quickly pulling him into a soft hug. Oboro let the tears fall freely when he felt the second pair of arms wrap around them both. What followed was a conversation late into the night. Hizashi and Shota shared their concerns about Oboro possibly being retraumatized. Oboro discussing how they were addressing it in their therapy sessions. Oboro in turn also shared his concerns about feeling like he was being treated as a child rather than as one of their partners.

Too many tears flowed that night. Hizahsi and Shota giving softly whispered words of his chosen name. The sounds blended together into a warm cascade of love.

“Oboro, love, we’ve got you”
“You aren’t losing us, Oboro”

They would need to talk when they all weren’t ramped on emotions most likely in the morning. They would have many more conversations. But for right now it was enough they were all together.

--
Izuku had been sat at his desk for the last half hour staring at the charred notebook. He was mentally berating himself. There were so many things he wanted to write down. Especially with his multiple meetings with Loud Cloud had come about. Izuku still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the hero taking interest in him. Despite his own clear love of hero hunting, it was hard not to think of All Might's advice when speaking with the other hero.

Maybe he could find some inspiration for writing about Cloud by looking at past entries. He flipped through and found one he had written fairly recently. Gentle Criminal. One of the few villains that had been written about. Often it wasn't worth it to look at the quirks of villains in depth. Once Izuku heard about them it was usually when they had already been captured. Heroes were the constant. Gentle Criminal though had managed to avoid capture multiple times. Halfway taunting law enforcement and heroes with videos.

Izuku hadn't gotten a chance to see any of his videos when they were first to live, but there were a few more secret forums he was a part of that preserved the videos after they had been taken down. That same forum had also archived civilians and passersby accounts of the incident. That's why Izuku knew anything about the quirk in reality.

Elasticity- touch makes an object have elastic properties. It seemed to work on any nonorganic object, even air particles. Uses: deflection and defense

It wasn't necessarily the quirk that caught Izuku's attention. Rather it was fascinating to see Gentle Criminal's uses of the quirk in a fight. From what Izuku could gather he was good at disguising where he placed his elastic air barriers with out there and flamboyant movements. By using the clever distraction it often caught opponents by surprise. The last piece of information he had noted for the villian was that he didn't seem to fight at full capacity and never want to severely injure or kill.

A far cry from the next entry. Endeavor. Izuku didn't particularly care for the number 2 hero. Unlike Gentle nearly every fight left the aggressor with some degree of burn. Izuku had his own thoughts of the quirk being less fire-based. His running theory was that Endeavor was able to control rather the temperate than the height of any flames. That was about the last interesting thing. Endeavor did have a good track record on paper of villians taken in. Efficient but deadly. It wasn't too shocking someone like that had become number 2, that didn't mean Izuku had to like how the rankings went.

He flipped to the next page, it was a little difficult as the pages have stuck together with something grey. He was able to separate the pages, what even was the entry on this page? The words ALL MIGHT in large writing stared back at him. Oh yea, the sludge monster.

At least it finally made sense why he couldn't write in the notebook. Izuku closed it up and added it to the pile of past notebooks. It served its purpose.

He made his way over his desk and started going through the drawers. He had a stack of notebooks on reserve, easier to buy them in bulk. Izuku searched until he found a notebook with a light blue color. He opened to the first page and started writing.

Cloud- ability to make clouds. Uses: best in rescue and defense

Chapter Text

It was late, really late at night. The sun had gone down hours ago, sleep would be impossible. It didn’t really matter to Izuku, he wouldn’t be sleeping regardless. Luckily Inko said she would sign off on him not going to school tomorrow. Izuku didn’t know if he’d have the strength to power throughout the day.

He was staring at the words that past him had written. Current Izuku felt no qualms about having ripped it out of the old notebook.

Bakugo Katsuki. Explosion

Izuku had heard about it from his mother a few weeks, who had gotten the call from Auntie Mitsuki. 

Powered by nitroglycerin

Highly explosive

It was a powerful quirk. 

When aimed at the air, it can create sparks similar to fire sprinklers

Awe-inspiring and magnificent in its own right.

Burning sensation on skin leaves small starburst scars

Izuku had been doing better. He was dealing with his emotions regarding Bakugo. Then this happens. He wanted it to go away.

Hurts similar to burns on the stove.

Izuku had ripped up the torn paper and threw it across the room. He had meant to have it just lay there but before it hit the ground It was engulfed by a black mass. Portal. Izuku could scream in frustration. Couldn’t his quirk get it together? He didn’t even aim at an exit point. 

It felt hard to breathe. Closing up his airway with a slimy gooey substance.

Like Izuku was breathing in pudding. No breath was coming through. He was feeling light-headed. Why was he feeling this now? Bakugo was fine.

It had been weeks since he heard but tonight was the night of visiting the hospital. They were finally allowing visitors that weren’t family. That was a lie, Bakugo had been allowed visitors for the last few weeks. This was just the first that Izuku had accompanied his mother.

He didn’t even get to really see Bakugo, he had taken one look at the sleeping figure, still hooked up to monitors and sleeping peacefully. It still hadn’t affected him like he thought it would. It was only seeing Auntie, clinging desperately to his mother. She was breaking down and sobbing against the other’s shoulder. Only then did it all seem like the world was crashing down around him.

After a time he and his mother headed home in silence. Beyond his mother telling him he didn’t need to go to school tomorrow, they hadn’t spoken. Izuku had just gone to his room alone. Look at where that left him. He needed to get out.

--

Izuku stumbled over to their spot. Loud Cloud was already sitting there in his meditation pose with his eyes closed. It took everything in Izuku to hold back his hand from reaching out. He must have sat down a bit quicker or rougher than he intended as Loud Cloud opened his eyes and looked over him worriedly.

“Oh hey, kid, are you okay?” Loud Cloud asked.

Was he okay? He had been reeling ever since he had seen Bakugo yesterday, despite not going to school he had laid in bed all day overthinking everything. He remembers seeing his hands shake. In anger? In frustration? In sadness? He wasn’t entirely sure except for the fact that he was tired. Izuku braced himself and asked, “What do you do when the heroes can’t save someone?”

“Oh kid, did something happen?” Loud Cloud was giving him his full attention. His eyes were soft and caring towards him. Izuku wasn’t sure he deserved it.

“A fri- an acquaintance got hurt” Izuku tried to hold the tears in. “He got hurt really bad because he was attacked by a villain” Bakugo. Laying there, all strung up with wires.

“I’m sorry to hear that kid. How are you holding up?” Loud Cloud’s voice was soft and quiet.

“I’m not sure. Why wouldn’t they help?” They were heroes. “They apparently all just stood around and stared.” Up until All Might came. Barely just in time. The doctors said it was a miracle that he had just gotten his body away from the sludge monster. Everyone else just stood around.

Loud Cloud, breathed in. He wasn’t meeting Izuku’s eyes. “Sometimes heroes don’t always do the right thing. I don’t know what all happened with your friend. Even heroes can screw up sometimes. It shouldn’t have happened. But heroes… can’t always be there”

“What does that mean if we can’t even trust the heroes to protect us?” Izuku tried to hold the sniffles that were coming out. They weren’t complying. Izuku tried to curl in more to himself, any sort of barrier from the outside world. On the ride to the hospital, Bakugo had flatlined. Izuku let a few more tears slip before he tried to wipe them away.

“That’s a good question kid. Truly, there’s no easy answer” Izuku was happy Loud Cloud decided to not mention Izuku’s crying. “But for the immediate future, I want to make sure you’re being as safe as you can. If anyone ever tries to hurt you or anything I want you to have these” Loud Cloud started reaching in his pocket and held it dangling from his hands. 

It took Izuku a moment for his eyes to adjust. When they did all he could feel was confusion, “Handcuffs?” Izuku wasn’t a cop.

“Quirk suppression cuffs” Loud Cloud crouched down and was looking at him seriously now. “If you or someone you love is ever being attacked by them I want you to use them.”

“Wouldn’t that be vigilantism?” Izuku wasn’t entirely sure of all the laws but part of that did sound not entirely in line with the law.

“Not if you are being defensive.” He was holding out the handcuffs for Izuku to take. “So long as you aren’t fighting with any villains and all you’re doing is protecting yourself you’ll be fine.”

Izuku took the cuffs from Loud Cloud with only a bit of hesitation. He pulled them closer to himself and inspected them. They looked like normal police cuffs, slightly larger in the base, wrapping more like bracelets around the wrists rather than cuffs.

“See? Cloud” Loud Cloud made a small white cloud. The hero held out his hand to take the cuffs back, “And so you take one end and you just click” in a flash Loud Cloud’s hands were wrapped up in the cuffs. “No cloud. No matter how much I try my quirk can’t summon anything”. He took the cuffs off with a small lock in the back of his pocket and tossed the two items Izuku’s way.

“So you just put these on someone and it stops their quirk?”

“To a degree. More or less. It helps suppress the quirk factor, but for some whose quirk factors aren’t standard such in the form of some mutation or in the case of…” Loud Cloud wasn’t exactly subtle in the side-eye he was giving him.

“Traumatic Quirk Acquisition” Izuku finished for him.

“Exactly, those who deviate from that norm will be slightly affected but it won’t be a full cancellation of their quirk like it would for some people.”

Izuku looked them over and tried to inspect them more.  “Does it hurt for you?”

Loud Cloud seemed to be pondering the question, “It’s less of a 'hurt' and more of a kinda emptiness. Like you have something there and then it’s gone. You know”

Izuku tilted his head a little, “I actually don’t, hence quirkless” it came out more flat than he wanted.

At least the hero didn’t seem to mind, given that Loud Cloud snorted a little. “Oh yeah, I guess since you didn’t have a quirk it would probably feel different”  Loud Cloud sat across from him “What exactly does it normally feel like for you?”

“For me, it was like just normal and there wasn’t anything there and then suddenly there was”

It was like a slight extra pressure on his body. Like wearing snug clothes, except Izuku couldn’t take it off.

Loud Cloud was giving him a sad look, “Does it hurt?” Probably a cursory question, given that Izuku had asked a similar question prior.

It was definitely power coursing through his body. There was a certain energy that was now constant. But it didn’t seem to give him any pain. “Not really, it’s just different”

“Good different?” Loud Cloud was still looking at Izuku, he seemed to be genuinely curious, almost worried.

Izuku tried to think on the feeling he was experiencing now. Compared to how he was feeling the weeks leading up to getting his quirk, Izuku was feeling elated. Like some weight that had been settling on him was finally dissipating.

“Yeah, good different”

Chapter Text

Ever since Katsuki was admitted to the hospital, Masaru took up the role of the rock of the family. Masaru had considered himself a well-tempered and logical man. He was the one who had everything together. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Izuku, I need you to know I’m sorry. Masaru put his head in his hands. I figured things between you and Katsuki were bad, but I don’t think I knew the full extent of it. but the silence persisted.

It would kill him to say everything out loud. The silence between the two of them had been pleasant. They had both stepped out after Mitsuki collapsed and started crying into Inko’s shoulder, giving the two mothers some time to each other. She had been doing more crying as of lately. It hurt Masaru to realize Inko could give comfort to his wife better at this moment than he could. Izuku seemed to be feeling a similar way towards his mother, thats when Masaru decided to nudge the boy into the hall with him. Now that left him sitting on a bench just a little bit away from the room. Sitting beside Izuku, who couldn’t look more uncomfortable if he forced it. His back was completely straight with all of his muscles tensed.

When you stopped coming over after he got his quirk, I guess I just chalked it up to young boys changing friends, nothing out of the ordinary.

Of course, it was odd. It was always bizarre when two people, thick as thieves and best friends, had suddenly wanted nothing to do with each other.

But then he’d get real quiet when we asked about you. I thought, at the time, maybe you had a bad fight.

Masaru remembered snippets from a conversation when Katsuki was young, a few months after getting his quirk. His son had come to him angrily. He had asked what to do when someone calls you something that makes you feel bad. 

Mitsuki had jumped in and told him to call them something they don’t like back in return. Masaru opted for a different approach and told him others shouldn’t be making him feel bad and, if that was happening at school, he should tell one of his teachers. Within the next few weeks, Katsuki stopped bringing Izuku over. Masaru could only make the obvious connection.

I was mad at you for a while. I thought you had done something to hurt my son. I asked him one time what had happened. All he said was that you looked down on him. That you hurt him.

Masaru had maybe jumped the gun. He thought it would be an excellent lesson to teach early on. “If anyone makes you feel bad or intends to hurt you, I want you to use your quirk until you feel safe,” it’s what kept him safe. It kept Mitsuki safe. The advice would keep his son safe as well. The words he told Katsuki at the time were haunting him now. 

I was really angry, furious even. For years I didn’t want Mitsuki to have any relationship or be around your mother because in my mind, if she didn’t correct you in your way of thinking, then she didn’t deserve to be around the family. I told Katsuki he shouldn’t be around you.

There was a time at a parent-teacher conference. The teachers and he and Mitsuki had been engaged in conversation about all of Katsuki’s new friends and how Katsuki seemed to flourish better with them.

Masaru wouldn’t ever repeat what was said about Izuku out loud. He had given a few good-natured chuckles to the teacher’s comments, mostly out of politeness. But for the rest of that night, he remembered in his mind quietly agreeing with the teachers. Wasn’t that worse in a way?

Izuku not being a good influence. Trouble in the classroom. A nuisance to have around.

When Masaru asked if the teachers had talked to Inko about Izuku, they said they had. Inko had responded to them that she would speak to Izuku about it. Masaru remembers the faces of sadness on the teacher when they said no behavior had changed from that interaction.

The teachers advised him and Mitsuki to keep them apart. It would be what was best for Katsuki’s future.

Here he was now, with Izuku having been the only one who had shown up to the hospital this far. Even if the first time was purely familial obligations, the following times weren’t. Nearly every other day, Izuku would stop by, managing to only stay for the duration that Katsuki was asleep. Izuku’s presence was still noticeable. It was made even more apparent with all the All Might merch that had made its way into his son’s room.

He told Katsuki as much. His son’s only response was, “Damn Deku.”

After scolding his kid for swearing, he asked why he used that nickname. He hadn’t had much success when he asked the question in the past and didn’t honestly expect a response. Whether Katsuki was feeling more vulnerable or had finally decided his vow of silence on the topic wasn’t worth it, Masaru never knew. All Masaru knew was that guilt filled the expression on his son’s face as he fessed up.

“Useless?” He had questioned. Katsuki didn’t meet his eyes.

“Katsuki, why?” He didn’t know what to make of this situation as a father. All he knew was that he was confused. 

“Do you think I haven’t tried asking that myself?” His son said with a fierce look over to the side. 

Masaru knew when Katsuki was to his limits. He wouldn’t press his son more. At least not when Katsuki had looked at his body with mixed emotions. The doctors had said that the scars were a side effect of him using his quirk to try and fight off the sludge villain and had burned himself in the process. Katsuki was fixated on them, trailing up and down his arms with a certain reverence.

Masaru had tried to say the little starburst pattern was beautiful. His son just snarled at him. Masaru was slightly fascinated by the starburst. He was moments away from trying to reassure him, calling them ‘battle scars’. A look from Katsuki’s face made him backpedal in that line of thinking. They could talk about what happened another time.

Then it changed when Masaru had caught sight of familiar scars on Izuku’s sleeves. He had only seen them two days ago when it was a sweltering day in the hospital, forcing jackets either sleeves rolled up or off. Masaru only glanced at them, but after seeing the similar marks on his son for a week, it would have been difficult not to make the connection immediately to a conversation he had with his son.

“Deku was right, I am a bully” the last word was said with such venom. Katsuki had never been a tempered child, his words often rough and full of emotion like his mother. But there was a particular sort of anger that was present. One that spoke of long pain. The pieces were starting to click more and more.

Izuku must have noticed him staring at the starburst and had rushed to pull his sleeves down, hiding any evidence out of sight. 

Masaru never felt so sick.

He should haven’t believed the teachers, saying the past, Izuku was a burden in class. The Izuku of now looks weary. Not disruptive. If anything, every time Masaru has seen him has been quiet as a mouse. Masaru had forgotten he was there a couple of times. Since coming to the hospital, he has been polite and kind, almost to an aggravating level as he tried to drum up conversation with the kid.

That wasn’t what set off the last bit. It was Izuku’s eyes, darting all around the room frantically until they would settle on the nearest door. Masaru could admit he was unsettled the one time they had fixated too much on the window.

Masaru had walked up to him one time from behind while Izuku was sitting by Katsuki’s bedside. He had barely been more than 10 feet away when Izuku had turned and back up against the wall. Masaru remembered the terrified expression as if something was going to hurt him.

It reminded him too much of how a small four-year-old kid had clung to him. The small kid, who held on to him tight as Inko was in the hospital, and who was initially scared and crying because “why can’t they find daddy?”. He had tried to get away from every male police officer that wanted to take him.

Izuku, who as soon as he saw Masaru had screamed “Uncle” and ran towards him. Who had stopped crying when he was wrapped in Masaru’s arms. Looking back up at the policewoman with an “it’s okay because Uncle Masaru is here, and I’m safe with him,” Masaru held onto that memory tight as he did to the kid that day.

How could he have failed him? Both of them. He had failed both Izuku and Inko. He had been her friend too, even before Mitsuki and he was together. She had made him Izuku’s caretaker in her will if anything were to happen to her.

“Izuku” Deku. Useless. “I need you to know” Parents and teachers threw harsh words around like they were nothing. And Masaru had laughed along. “From the bottom of my heart.” Starburst marks made a stark contrast against freckled skin. “That I’m sorry.”

Masaru couldn’t find it in him to look at the sunken-in eyes as he gave one last bow. Masaru wouldn’t look him in the eyes as he would bow low. Letting Izuku see how much he truly felt it.

But that was a fool’s dream. Maybe that’s what would happen in another universe, one where Masaru wasn’t a coward. In that universe, he would apologize, and Izuku would share his own thoughts on the matter. Unfortunately, that was not this universe’s Masaru. This Masaru was a coward. A coward who’s throat was closing up at the idea of talking to Izuku.

All he could get out was one minute of reassurance wrapped up in a question. “Izuku, just know you are always welcome in our house, alright?”

Izuku jumped as if he didn’t think Masaru would ever talk to him. It broke his heart in more ways than he thought. “Um, thank you, Uncle Masaru. I will keep that in mind.” 

With that, Masaru stood up and walked away. Even if he couldn’t voice everything, even if he didn’t apologize, hopefully, that reassurance would allow the kid to heal, even if only just a little. He couldn’t change the past, but he could do better for the future.

---

Izuku had been feeling weird all day. At least he had good reason to. Izuku wasn’t quite sure what to make of the earlier hospital trip. At one point, Uncle Masaru had pulled him aside and chatted to him. The conversation had a heavyweight to it that was foreign to the conversations Izuku was used to with Uncle.

Izuku wasn’t exactly sure how he was supposed to respond for most of the conversation. But it had been nice to talk and catch up with the man nonetheless, it really had been too long. He still felt off-kilter from his conversation with Uncle Masaru when his usual meetup with Loud Cloud began.

Like usual Loud Cloud had politely asked about his day. If anything interesting had happened.

“A close family friend, I think apologized to me,”  it wasn’t the right word but it was close enough to fit, “but I’m not exactly sure what for?” or what really the meaning of everything was.

Izuku had picked up his unfortunate mumbling habit from Masaru initially. Today, the man had mumbled some things to himself. Izuku wasn’t quite sure, but he heard the words “Izuku ...Oh god… I’m sorry… So so sorry” Izuku made his own quiet assumptions.

“Did this close family friend do something that would warrant them needing an apology?” Loud Cloud questioned.

“No,” Izuku tried not to think about why the thought bothered him so much. “II don’t think so.”

“Are you close with this family friend? Or is it more of someone you just know of?”

“We were close when I was younger. It makes it a little weird as this person is also my acquaintance’s dad” as much as Izuku would love to keep his feelings about Auntie and Uncle separate from Kaachan it was a little hard.

“Oh, the acquaintance that got hurt. That is a lot; I’m sure it’s complicated to think about.” Loud Cloud responded, “how are you feeling with everything?”

How did he feel about it all? Izuku couldn’t put a name to it, “Weird,” he responded. It was the only thing that seemed to be fitting. The rest was a mix of emotions too much to unpack right now.

Luckily the hero seemed to understand not to pry for more information and they proceeded to sit in silence. 

“You can call me Deku if you want. That’s what the other kids do.” 

Maybe it was the safe and comforting silence that made Izuku speak up and give an alternate name. It wasn’t a lot, but it was more than he was willing to provide the first few times.

Loud Cloud must be acknowledging that fact as well, "Deku? Was that what was written on the inside of your notebook?"

Izuku honestly forgot that he had written it there. It felt like it was so long ago that he had used it. All he could really do was nod. “Huh, I was placing bets on it being Dekiru, you know, like the saying ‘you can do i’t.”

It was a nice thought, but unfortunately, “No it’s Deku, that’s the name some of the other kids gave me” Well, really only given by one person, used by the rest after it caught traction. Izuku wasn’t going to touch on his feelings on who gave him that name. That was a bit much for today.

Loud Cloud was assessing him again. “Really, they gave you that.” He paused and said something under his breath, too soft for Izuku to hear. When he next spoke it was clearer. “What does it mean?”

"It doesn't mean anything." He snapped. Maybe Izuku said that a little too quickly. A little too sharp. Loud Cloud was looking at him fully now.

"I think I doubt that a little, kid. But fine, keep your secrets we all got them,” Loud Cloud gave a wave of his hand. Izuku knew it wasn’t truly dismissive. He had gotten better about reading the hero’s seriousness over the last few weeks versus when not. Suddenly Loud Cloud's eyes were on him. Izuku vaguely registered that it had switched to serious mode. "Just so you know, kid, you don't have to put up with people calling you something you don't want. You don't deserve that. The hero's eyes were looking at him seriously. "Now, do you really want me to call you Deku?"

Izuku put his head down. The more he thought, the more he could feel the tears starting to swell up. Izuku could barely get the word out, "No."

"Okay,” Loud Cloud said in a tempered, nonjudgmental voice. "Do you want me to call you anything else? It's okay if you'd rather not."

Izuku wanted something different, Loud Cloud referring to him as ‘kid’ was getting tiring. “What did you say you thought it was earlier?”

“Dekiru?” Loud Cloud questioned.

“Dekiru,” Izuku repeated. It sounded stupid and wrong coming from his mouth. Still, he didn’t have a better alternative at the moment, “Yeah, that”

Loud Cloud had a broad smile on his face and spread his arms wide, “Alright! Dekiru! The can-do kid.” The hero relaxed back down and gave a softer smile, “personally, I think it fits well.” 

Izuku wasn’t going to tell the hero a part of him still thought it was stupid. The nickname did sound better coming from Loud Cloud.

Chapter Text

Izuku was running while he started trying to run earlier in the morning to build up his stamina. Unfortunately, it seemed to be doing little good at that moment.

Soon the group of kids that tried to ambush him after school would catch up to his retreating form. Izuku tried to keep in mind the weaving path he usually took to get them off his trail. Just enough to get to the safety of his apartment plan, most of them wouldn’t venture willingly, and hopefully, the possibility of witnesses would deter him.

The bullies mostly left him alone at school now, but it was a free game once the bell rang. Meaning, Izuku’s goal in mind was to get out of dodge as quickly as possible.

Izuku had let his mind wander too much as he realized he must have made a wrong turn, and instead of facing the inlet that would let out into the neighboring street, full of mom-and-pop shops along the way, he was facing a sizeable high brick wall.

He let out a string of curses under his breath as he could hear the kids get closer and closer. Luckily Izuku had one last card to play; he had been hesitant trying to use Portal.  A few days he had been practicing in his room had yielded a form different from previous times. Instead of one large swirling circle, he had conjured up a bunch of smaller circles. It had startled Izuku enough that he hadn’t exactly been putting a lot of practice into trying to use the quirk. Not like any of the circles would be big enough that he could escape with now.

“Hey, found the nerd,” the group of four of them had finally caught up.

Their bodies spread out in a line formation were now in the mouth of the alley, effectively blocking his only exit. Fuck it. He thought and tried to form the quirk. Nothing came initially. Izuku tried to think of the quirk coming from his fingertips. Even if he couldn’t escape, maybe the sight would throw his attackers off enough. It certainly shocked Izuku when he saw it. If his classmates had thought he was quirkless, then that would be even more of a stun—enough of a stun that Izuku could probably slip back out the alley.

To his shock, nothing came about. Not even a tiny smidgen was forming. It was like nothing was there. The dumb quirk goes off when he doesn’t want it, and when he does, it abandons him. Like it was being stopped. Stop gave him an idea. He did still have the quirk suppression cuffs from Loud Cloud. But would he be allowed to use them in this situation? It wasn’t exactly a villain or criminal, but they intended to harm him. Izuku was still registered as quirkless; a small voice in his head reminded him that the police might not side with him in the event of self-defense.

Before Izuku could think of more defensive measures, he was on the ground, cheek flaming in pain. He knew the bruise that would form would be one he needed to cover up. 

Izuku tried to stand on his feet and remember what this particular group of quirks had in their arsenal. 

There was the one who presumably punched him, who had something that turned his fist into a flat plate-like item. Among the first were three others, two consisting of candle-fingers and long-fingers. Izuku didn’t exactly have time to be creative. A faint thought of the last possibly having a mild strength-enhancing quirk before he felt another punch and felt his vision fuzzy.

God, this day couldn’t have been worse. 

--

“Hey, Loud Cloud, what does Cloud look like in your mind?”

“What do you mean, Dekiru?” Izuku was still getting used to the new nickname given to him by the hero. He still wasn’t sure if he enjoyed it, but it was a nice switch from the ever-present ‘kid’ the hero tended to give. 

Loud Cloud still stuck around and decided to meet with Izuku nearly every night before patrol. He had already asked his allocated question for their session, but Loud Cloud had been surprisingly open about information. Izuku took this as meaning he must not have been annoying the hero too much.

“When you try to picture it, what do you see?” Hopefully, getting some pointers on what other emitter quirks felt like, he could figure out what was going on with Portal and hopefully how to fix it.

Loud Cloud always answered his questions after thinking through the answer. It was nice that he didn’t just give a quick response just to placate Izuku;

“Hmm, well, you weren’t too wrong when you compared it to water particles a bit ago. When I try and conjure up Cloud, what comes up is a bunch of different little parts that I have to envision coming all together to make one full cloud.”

Izuku was silent as he took in that information. Loud Cloud must have picked up on it as he turned towards Izuku and asked. “Did that confirm a theory of yours at all?”

“A bit, yeah” Maybe most emitter quirks were just sums of their parts. It made sense in a way. “but I guess I was asking more about something else.”

Loud Cloud liked to indulge him with theories of quirks, although the hero often would get distracted and genuinely needed to center himself before patrol. But the hero must have been interested today. “Oh, what’s up, kid?”

“I tried to conjure up the quirk the other day” Izuku winced at the reminder that it didn’t even come up earlier today. “It didn’t quite work” Izuku remembered the frustration that boiled in him trying to use Portal. When he was purposefully trying to get it to work, it decided to go AWOL on him.

“Is that how you got that big bruise on your face?”

Ah yes, the bruise. Izuku was most annoyed about that. Couldn’t his classmates have aimed somewhere Izuku didn’t have to try and come up with an excuse for? His arms and legs were right there. Izuku swears that when Bakugo isn’t there, his tormentors get dumber. At least it was only punching that time.

Not that he could tell the hero how he got the bruise. He would most likely stop their sessions if he knew how little Izuku could stand up for himself. Although maybe if he seemed incompetent enough with his quirk, he could get some pointers. “Yeah, it didn’t turn out how I wanted it to.”

Loud Cloud let out a laugh at that. “Ha, I remember my first few times with my quirk. I sucked at it.”

“Really? You weren’t a natural?” It was hard to imagine any version of the hero who didn’t utilize his quirk fully.

“God-no kid, I could barely make an actual cloud until I was around eight or so. Pretty late in the grand scheme of things.”  Loud Cloud made a little cloud form in his hand and looked at it with a certain reverence. “Even for years after that, it took me so long to make a cloud that I could put weight on, like so,” He stood up and made a cloud to sit on. They crisscrossed his legs and put his arms out wide, “but once I got going, I guess I never stopped” 

They looked so confident on top of their cloud, almost like a king on a pedestal. Loud Cloud made a smaller cloud in front of where Izuku was crouched.  “Would you like a ride?”

For all Izuku had an affinity for rooftops, he wasn’t that big a fan of heights. “I’ll pass. Thank you.”

“Your loss, kid” Loud Cloud put himself back on the ground. Izuku wouldn’t say being on solid earth was a loss. Loud Cloud looked at him with another rugged look. “You know you can practice your quirk with me here, so you aren’t constantly bruising yourself.”

Izuku could feel his face flush with that. He thought he had done a good enough job at hiding the black and blue mark that had gone from mid-neck to his collarbone, but then again, he was talking to a pro-hero, one who, based on Izuku’s deep web research, did much more stealth missions than initially thought.

Still, if Izuku was going to have to keep up this charade, he needed to play into it full-heartedly. 

“I think I’m just hitting a bad learning curve right now where everything is tough,” that wasn’t a total lie. Izuku was still learning on the whole with his quirk.

“You did only get your quirk a little bit ago; it’s normal you wouldn’t have a huge grasp on it. Well, if you’re comfortable with it, why not try making it in front of me?”

Izuku couldn’t precisely tell him how it wasn’t even coming up now. Something on his face must have shown because Loud Cloud let out a little laugh. “Ok, not comfortable, that’s okay. How about we just talk through some things, and I give you some pointers?”

That could work. Izuku gave a slight nod in return, and the hero returned it with a smile that was almost menacing in its enthusiasm. “So long as it’s only that and not the quirk,” Izuku added in hastily.

“Sure thing Dekiru, though do you want to tell me why you’re scared of using it in front of other people?” The hero’s eyes were still laughable, but there was a hint of concern there.

Izuku tried to think of a good cover. “What if I suck people in?” there didn’t seem to be a gravitational force to the quirk, but it sounded like a good excuse.

“As someone who almost got accidentally sucked up into Thirteen’s Blackhole, I’m pretty sure I’ll be an okay kid.”

“You got trapped in Black Hole once?!” Maybe Izuku’s tone was a little skeptical, but Thirteen’s quirk was terrific in his defense. “Does that mean you’re close with Thirteen?” or maybe it was the opposite, and they were hero rivals?

“Not extremely close, but we were doing training together for a bit, and we… partner together for some assignments,” A partnership between Loud Cloud and Thirteen. Izuku honestly would have thought it a disadvantage match-up if the risk of Thirteen sucking up Clouds was there. 

“How’d you get out of their quirk?”

“I thought when we were sparred that, I could try and plug it up, but uh... “ Loud Cloud looked shameful for a second.

“It didn’t work?” Izuku guessed.

“Not quite. My clouds are pretty amazing but not quite that insane.”

That must have meant, “So thirteen beat you?” Izuku could feel himself get excited. If this was so, then he had to update so much in his notebooks.

Loud Cloud put his head in his hands. “Oh for sure, got my ass kicked like no other” He picked his head up and looked him in the eye. “Never underestimate a rescue hero. They are insane bastards.” 

Izuku bit back the part that wanted to reprimand the hero for swearing. He looked over at Loud Cloud, noticing a sort of trusted reverence in the hero’s eyes. It was transparent Loud Cloud held a lot of respect for Thirteen. It could have been from their quirks, but Izuku thought it might have more to deal with they were both were a small select few successful heroes who were openly out and Queer. Not that it particularly helped them in the rankings. But they were still two terrifying heroes in their own right.

Izuku’s hands itched for his notebook. “How exactly did they beat you?”

Loud Cloud showed a dramatic rendition of his clouds getting sucked up, leaving him flailing on the ground. He also told other stories of the two of them and other classmates (which surprisingly included other similar pros such as FatGum and Present Mic), the funniest stories coming from their mock battle trials. He spoke of their second and third year with a wistfulness.

Izuku had nearly a million questions regarding Thirteen’s quirk. Where did things go? Was it a black hole that ripped apart items? No, Izuku said, the gravity would be too much for practical purposes. But then what was it? A large vacuum? Possibly a gravity quirk that pulled things closer.

He didn’t realize he spoke most of these items out loud. Loud Cloud tried to answer the questions best he could and added some theories of his own. As far as the hero was aware, it worked like a giant vacuum, and he still hadn’t found the answer as to where things go. They both concluded that there might be a storage area Thirteen could pull stuff out of (“like videogame inventory?” “exactly kid”). The hero even promised to try and ask the next time he saw them.

Izuku wasn’t sure how much of the information helped with the plight of his quirk, but it had been a great conversation regardless.

Chapter Text

Izuku’s subconscious must have taken some of Loud Cloud’s words about his own quirk to heart. Cloud seemed to work as one item made of many parts. Portal now mimicked something similar. 

It was true Izuku had been successful in now manifesting it, but the manifestation was neither helpful nor practical. He found it quite annoying, actually. If the quirk had picked up the mannerisms of a different quirk to emulate, Izuku thought that it would have been a lot easier to figure out and control. It would have been simpler to control the output and to aim a standard emitter quirk, like shooting lasers out of his hands. It also didn’t disappear nicely, flicking in and out of existence like a bugged video game.

Unfortunately, this was not the case, and Izuku had to bite the bullet and ask Loud Cloud what his thoughts were. Instead of a straight answer, which the hero never seemed to give, Izuku thought begrudgingly; Loud Cloud just asked what Izuku could currently do with his quirk versus where he wanted to go with it. As if Izuku had all those answers. 

He didn’t have many, and what he did have was minimal. So far, Izuku could manifest what he assumed were particles of his quirk, but interestingly, they no longer took the form of one large mass. Now they seemed to separate and scatter.

Izuku demonstrated to Loud Cloud by letting out his quirk and trying not to show how embarrassed he was. It was inefficient to have multiple particles spread out; couldn’t his quirk see that?

They couldn’t even fully have anything pass through them, not when they were so small. Izuku had tried. By only the light of his desk at night, the best he had gotten through was a bent paperclip. Not exactly impressive.

Little green and black droplets, all around the size of a coin, fluttered the roof around Loud Cloud and him. It looked closer to a light show than a quirk. They were so tiny, even smaller than when he was alone. It would have been impossible for anything helpful to pass through them. Not to mention there was no guarantee that each droplet led to an exit point. That was a thought Izuku tried not to think too hard about the implications, lest he terrifies himself. 

Loud Cloud seemed unphased if anything he was looking at slight awe around him. None of the same concerns Izuku had were probably on the hero’s mind. He had just brushed off Izuku’s comments at first, making a small quip about it looking similar to when Cloud first appeared for him. Izuku tried to warn him about the potential dangers again, but he just gave his head a soft pat. “Don’t worry, I’ll teach you, and we’ll get Portal up and working in no time.” The hero looked so relaxed. How could anyone be relaxed right now?

Maybe it was because Izuku’s thoughts had been scrambled all day. His mom had invited Aunt Mitsuku and Uncle Masaru over for dinner the other night. Masaru wouldn’t meet his eyes throughout the meal and had excused himself early. Izuku still wasn’t sure where his thoughts lay with everything.

Afterward, Auntie and his mom sat on the couch and had reminisced over old photos of Bakugou and Izuku. Mostly all from kindergarten days. They had sat and chatted about how their two boys used to be the best of friends, how school was so good for them. How both of them missed “the good old days.”

It had made Izuku feel weird to think about things. Especially with the school. He wasn’t sure what the feeling was, but he did have to spend the rest of the night in his room. He could still hear them talk through the thin walls.

Once Auntie left, his mom knocked on his door and tried to talk through the door. Izuku didn’t respond. All she had said was that it was “okay to feel sad about what happened to Katsuki.” Izuku wasn’t sure how to tell her the feeling at that moment wasn’t sadness.

“I’m not exactly the easiest kid to teach.” He told Loud Cloud. 

He had thought on the memories of the reports that were sent home to his mother, the ones that described him as disruptive. Distracting . 

He remembered the comments said one time during a Parent-Teacher conference. The words attention-seeking burned the back of his brain for days. Even now, he can still feel the lingering elements. Thinking about it made his head dizzy with the thought. Why was all this coming up now? He wanted to scream. Couldn’t he keep his mouth shut?

Loud Cloud seemed to pay it no mind, much like the little particles still hanging around them. They looked ready to try and flick one, then seemed to think better of it.  “I’m sure you’re a wonderful kid to teach.” The hero once again tried to reach out and touch one. Izuku blinked towards the spot where they would have connected. The particle Loud Cloud was trying to reach had disappeared. The hero looked sad before brushing it off, “I mean so far, meditating with you has been pretty great.”

That’s because he only talked to Izuku in small doses, and in the grand scheme of things, barely a few weeks wasn't a lot of time. Loud Cloud would soon see that. Loud Cloud was looking at him with a sad expression now; their voice dropped a bit lower, a little bit softer. “Has anyone told you otherwise?”

Izuku didn’t like thinking about that question. Most teachers he had were kind the first few months, but then Izuku would be too Izuku. He would disrupt the classroom, and all the beginning kindness would be taken away. It was never a quick thing either. Izuku could always tell when the start of the descent began. He knew that once the process started, it didn’t stop.

He remembered how their looks initially pitiful towards him would turn scornful at every new week. Answering questions in class would become impossible as time went on. Izuku felt the questions become more demanding than the ones his peers would get. It wasn’t until the last year that it clicked the teachers might have gotten a bit of joy out of it.

Before, he wrote it all off as trying to make him better. And Izuku couldn’t measure up. He never could. It seemed whatever he ended up doing, he messed up their expectations of him—constantly failing some invisible test.

It would have been one thing if he had just gotten questions wrong or been bad at schoolwork. But soon, it spread to other parts of him.

All of his oddities, once seen as endearing, would become annoying for the teachers. Previously, teachers would softly ask him to quiet down if he muttered. They would now sternly and roughly tell him to be quiet. Usually set with a scowl in place that promised displeasure if he acted up. His nerves weren’t calming for anything. Fidgeting, initially seen as a classroom coping skill, soon became labeled as a problem. It was a vicious cycle. The more he was a nuisance in class, and the more his behaviors came out. Teachers came to resent it after a while.

This process usually happened sometime after the first few weeks when teachers finally got around to looking through their student’s files. They may have been able to overlook his quirklessness previously, attached to those previously mentioned pitying looks. 

Despite pitying, they still treated him like a student, gave encouragement when needed, softly corrected him if he got something wrong.

Teachers listened to teachers, though. Any past word written about him and saved would just influence the next teacher more. Once those past reports were looked at was the change. It was too far to damning concept to be only attached to small bits of paper. 

That teacher would then end the year with their comments on him, solidifying his personality for the next. Then the cycle would start again.

Year in and year out was what Izuku knew. Barely still pondering, he answered Loud Cloud’s question, “try every teacher I’ve ever had.”

Loud Cloud was being fair. But the hero didn’t know about all of Izuku’s oddities yet. The hero would eventually get frustrated with him and leave. Izuku didn’t know why the thought hurt so much.

“Well, pardon my language, but they sound like shit teachers.” Loud Cloud was glaring at the ground. Izuku hoped he didn’t think Izuku was lying. It was a typical response to assume Izuku had been lying or exaggerating, as his mom said. 

Something in the hero’s face told Izuku that voicing that fact wouldn’t go over well. Maybe for one or two, you could make the excuse of a lousy teacher. Izuku wasn’t sure how he could write up nearly ten years of teachers to just bad luck. There was only one common factor. “I’m pretty sure it was just me.”

Loud Cloud kept frowned at him, “agree to disagree; personally, I feel like if a kid isn’t performing well, it’s on the duty of the teacher to find out why and to help how they can.” They made a small little cloud and floated it over to Izuku. His hands started moving through soft fluffiness on instinct, kneading it and seeing it mold to different shapes. It was grounding in a way. “Others might disagree, but that’s my stance,” it was said with firmness and finality.

Izuku wasn’t quite sure how to respond, a little shocked by how much conviction and passion was in the hero’s voice. Still, an adult, an adult who said it was the teacher’s duty. Loud Cloud seemed to almost be on the side of the student. Why did he care so much?

Loud Cloud was obviously waiting for a response of some kind, shooting Izuku’s small looks every few seconds. Izuku couldn’t find it in him to give one. He just barely gave a non-enthusiastic nod in response. Loud Cloud didn’t seem bothered by his lack of engagement, though the hero was now looking around at all the black and green spots still suspended in the air. It was concerning Izuku that they were still holding open that long and in the same place. Maybe that’s what the hero was thinking.

Loud Cloud did a sweep of his eyes all around the rooftop before landing on Izuku. “Here, I’m sure your brain is going into overdrive thinking of all the things that are going on right now.” It did feel a little bit like everything was too much. “I want you to relax, maybe close your eyes, and to try and gather up all the thoughts in your brain right now, make them one collective being.”

He wasn’t sure that would work.

But despite not showcasing it at times, Izuku really didn’t want to make the hero disappointed in him. He closed his eyes tight. Some of the evening light still passed through his eyelids. It was less scary than the total darkness. Izuku tried to imagine all his thoughts coming together. It still felt like everything was scattered.

Feelings about Aldera. Group. Feelings about his mom. Group. Feelings about his childhood friend. Group.

Past teachers, place with Aldera. Place with his mom. Visiting the hospital. Place in Bakugo’s group. The past few silent dinners, where Izuku felt so alone even with another person in the room.

Izuku was a bit surprised that it was starting to feel clearer in his mind. While the problems felt enormous and more pressing, it was nice to know there weren’t really as many of them as he thought. Instead of dozens of little thoughts, it was a now organized few categories.

He let out a sigh as he heard Loud Cloud let out a little whistle.

Izuku opened his eyes on instinct and could see that some of the smaller particles were now clumping together. Izuku could still tell they were his, but now they looked a little close to what it was before. This time some of the clumps had a bit of shine to them. Izuku, for a singular moment, thought they looked pretty.

Reflecting like the glitter his mom had helped him put on his All Might Halloween costume, it was a fun memory. It looked like how his childhood friend used to make little lights shoot out with his quirk. Izuku remembered they looked like sparklers. Bittersweet at best. Spread out like the pattern of spider lilies that adorned his desk one day after the news blasted the story of the quirkless girl. Throughout the whole segment, they hadn’t even said her name. The first time Izuku could say he genuinely felt hot anger.

So many little memories. All were collecting together. 

How many nights after school had he spent crying alone? How many times had he raised his hand in the classroom only to get shot down? How many times did he internalize the words his teachers and classmates said? To the point, that disruptive was all he ever felt he was—that or dead.

Izuku came to a conclusion. He had a horrible time at school. He could admit it now. Despite all of his mother’s and Aunt Mitsuki’s fond memories, Izuku knew what it all really meant. It was horrible. The school was awful. And life sucked.

In a moment, all the parts of the portal, including the clumps and smaller pieces, ones scattered around their rooftop area, came together. They all formed one whole mass, connected and held together tight. The color was a nice blend of black and varying shades of green.

He had been using his quirk for a while, but he didn’t think it would slip away easily like the first few times he used it. Now it was holding firm. Unbreakable and unwavering in the face of Izuku’s emotions. When he dropped the portal, it didn’t wisp away into the wind, instead of dropping all at once, collectively.

Izuku looked over and saw Loud Cloud smiling at him. “Hey, look, kid, you did it,” Izuku did. He also could breathe a little easier now.

Chapter Text

“Nem, it’s been ages get over here!” Oboro stood up and ran over to the front of the cafe. Shota loved them, they were like a big puppy at times. They gave Nemuri a big hug as she gave him a few pats on the back.

“Hi Oboro, missed you too” they pulled away from each other and made their way to the table where Shota and Hizashi were already at. 

They had decided to get the crew together, it had been a rare day all five had been able to meet. The group had decided to meet at one of the cat cafes that was the distance right in the middle of the trio’s apartment and where Tensei’s agency was.

Cat cafes were good meeting places, calm enough to keep all their anxiety at bay but enough of distractions around, both cafe items and cats, that if there were ever an awkward lull in the conversation. Plus like he mentioned there were cats. Cats always made for a good time in Shota’s opinion.

It had been a toss-up whether Nemuri would have been able to join. Shota could admit he did miss getting their group together.

“I feel like I haven’t seen nearly anything of you lately besides the staff meetings,” Hizashi said, standing up and giving her a hug. Shota couldn’t help but notice how different she looked with her hair straightened and wearing a full set of clothes.

Shota preferred the more appropriate greeting of nodding, currently having a cat in his lap and knowing that today he had been particularly on edge about touches, “Nemuri, good to see you”

He appreciated that Nemuri never took his lack of touch as a slight, she said returning his greeting with a nod. “Yeah, it’s been a while. Especially for you Mr. Eleven, what have you been up to?”

Hizashi leaned in closer to Nemuri with a sigh, “you know hero work, the radio show, the usual. These two have been busy with classes but I’m sure you’re aware”

“Unfortunately I know that intimately,” Nemuri said with a sigh, “You’re lucky Hizashi, you will never know the stress of prepping for the coming school year”

“Yeah, ha lucky me” Hizashi responded. Shota was a bit confused on why he sounded weirdly sad about it. Something to ask later. It wasn’t like the cafe was particularly overtly crowded but it was still a public place. Hizashi was always overtly cautious anywhere where paparazzi could be.

Nemuri had a little less reservation about asking questions in public. “Not overworking yourself right? Still taking the time for self-care.

She was much rather wanting to get to the heart of matters as quickly as possible. She took her role as an upperclassman very seriously, despite the fact that they had been out of school for many years.

Oboro gave Hizashi a small slap on the back, “Don’t you worry Nemuri, he’s been making plenty of time for breaks, how about you? I feel like we never see you resting at all.”

Nemuri just seemed to smile at them, “You know, some of us have busy lives.” That was true, even with all the jobs Hizashi seemed to hold down, Nemuri had that and more on her plate.

Shota figured now was a good time as any, “how is the shelter going?”, it was only one of many projects Nemuri had taken on, in addition to hero work and teaching.

Nemuri gave a sad smile, “as well as it can be but we are a little bit on funding, even with the generous ‘anonymous’ donations” She said shooting Hizashi a grateful if sad smile. “People just don’t want to put work into the women’s issues.”

Shota looked over catching her eye, “you mean money?”

Nemuri let out a huff, “exactly the world seems to entirely run on it.”

Hizashi looked over at him and Oboro before trying to meet eyes with Nemuri, “What if there were a few more “anonymous” donations?”, it was cute how much he wanted to help. Shota loved that about him, but his husband could be an idiot sometimes. The defeated look on Nemuri let him know all he needed.

Nemuri quickly covered up her look with a smile, “as generous as that is, I’d like to not be accused of money, laundering and large donations don’t always look the best on tax forms”. Shota could see Hizashi visibly deflate at that.

Oboro gave him a pat on the shoulder before leaning further in on Hizashi’s side. Shota let his hand move under the table and squeeze Hizashi’s knee in support. He wasn’t feeling the best with touch right now but he could offer this small bit of comfort for his husband.

Nemuri continued speaking, “I also want us to have our name out there to the public and really make it a community effort. If the support is coming from the community it will make it that much greater”

The bell above the cafe rang out and their table turned to look to see who had come in, it was a side effect of being a pro hero. You were always vigilant. On guard, it was helpful for spontaneous villain attacks. Less helpful for relaxing days with friends.

Luckily the person who entered was not a villain but rather Tensei Iida, who was unfortunately still wearing his hero uniform. Oboro didn’t seem to see anything wrong as he jumped back up and hadn’t he barely sat down before they were on the move again. He raced over to the front with a shouted “Ten-Ten!”

Shota took a glance over at Hizashi who looked ready to combust. Shota groaned inwardly to himself. Oboro’s cloud hair was usually his worst worry about being recognized but Tensei wearing his very recognizable hero uniform took the cake. Shota could kill him.

Shota turned towards the front just in time to see the fall out of Oboro letting Tensei down from the pickup hug he was given. Tensei had a love-hate relationship with those hugs from what Shota remembered. Good served him right for coming here in his hero uniform.

Tensei and Oboro made their way over to the table. Oboro picked out a spot on one of the cushions on the floor. Tensei sat down, still looking a little dizzy at being picked up and swung in a bear grip hug. 

He seemed to come to himself as he looked over at their group seated, eyeing Hizashi with a questioning look. “Buddy, what are you wearing?” He was looking Hizashi up and down scrutinizingly. It was a fair question, Hizahsi looked silly every day with his hero persona but it was true when he tried to go low-key that he looked most out of place.

Considering no one of this century, at least those who had any sense of fashion, wore a trenchcoat especially indoors. The slacks Hizashi had on had a slight shimmer to their look. Shota had told them it would have been better to just wear his normal leather pants. And then came the worst of the whole disguise. The large sunglasses, probably picked with the idea the shades would shield Hizashi’s infamous heterochromia swirled eyes, only served to make him stand out even more. It wasn’t even a sunny day, not a singular other person would have thought to even grab a pair to block out the sun. Luckily the staff at the cafe were at least somewhat familiar with their group coming. They also had been one of the few places they could say had true discretion, knowing that none of their conversations from past visits had information leaked to the press. It might have been another reason they had suggested they all meet up at this specific location.

Still, Hizashi’s get-up was awful, and he could stand some soft teasing due to it. Shota said without a missed beat, “He’s finally succumbed to the idea of being quiet”

Tensei gave him a weird look, sometimes there was a miscommunication from their conversations. Aizawa spoke in a lot of sarcasm, it was hard for Tensei to pick up on sarcasm. It didn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things. The other three were usually able to translate for the “out-of-the-know” party.

Oboro seemed to want to fill that role for now, “he’s prepping for an attack from the press”

Tensei gave a short nod, with a sense of disbelief, “and you decided to go with that as your battle armor.”

Hizashi gave a mock offended look, “It’s a disguise, you know how the media can be crazy about getting a picture, and with the coming launch of the new merch, you know they’ll be even more blood-thirsty for pictures”

Nemuri just gave him an unamused look, “Dude no one is gonna recognize you without your getup, honestly, we all look pretty average in our civilian clothes” Nemuri sent a look towards Aizawa “or even in our costume.” He shrugged in return, he was underground, and it was comfortable, why should he have to have a different outfit? Nemuri must have noticed that it wasn’t going to bother him and decided to move to her next victim, “Well mostly everyone, excluding cotton candy hair over there” she pointed over to where Oboro was on the floor. 

Shota remembered Oboro telling him the last few times that they were there the floor was the best spot to get the cats to warm up to you. Shota didn’t understand it, he sat perfectly normal and currently had three cats on him.

Oboro looked up from where he was crouched at eye level with a smaller tabby. “I take offense that you know, plus Tensei is literally in his hero costume right now”

Nemuri just laughed “I know you would, and Tensei’s fine he’s not even in his prefecture.”

They had laughed and talked for a good half an hour. It was good to catch up with all five of them, it was rare will all the things going on in their lives that there were only a few precious times their schedule allowed for them all to meet. Even then, their jobs as pro-heroes sometimes cut that time short.

As was evident by the small little beep Nemuri’s pager made. She picked it up and looked at it with a frown, “Duty calls, you can never catch a break”, Shota remembers her saying that she was on call. A large part of him was disappointed that the villain attacks couldn’t hold off for just another hour or two. Nemuri seemed to be taking it in stride, giving a small little laugh before starting to pack her things.

Tensei laughed with her before responding, “We’re hero’s, did you expect any less?”

Nemuri shrugged, “Not particularly, but a girl can dream”, Shota could relate. It seemed like far too many times did an on-call shift turn to a full patrol and day (night in his case) of work.

“Be safe out there” Hizashi said giving her hand a squeeze.

Oboro pitched in with a “Kick any bad guy’s asses!”

“Ha, don’t worry, I’ll be safe and be badass doing it. Anything for my boys” Nemuri responded, pinching Oboro’s cheek and giving an air kiss to Hizashi. 

Nemuri gave him a last look, he always appreciated that she never gave him grief for taking a second longer than others to react. “You’ll do good work.” It was more of a statement than anything but Shota wasn’t exactly in the habit of saying falsities, and sometimes brutal truth was the best reassurance. Nemuri’s smile indicated that she at least enjoyed his response

“Well I must be on my way lovelies, we must do this again sometime.” and with that, she was off. Off to do important hero work and save people. Shota knew she’d be amazing at it.

They settled back down after wishing Nemuri another goodbye. Hizashi had offered to grab them refills on drinks and grab some small snacks from the counter. Shota had offered to help before he was shoved back down and told to “be social with your friends”

Shota let his mind drift as Oboro was dragged into a new topic with Tensei. 

It was less of a conversation and more of a gushing session as Tensei bragged and boasted about his younger brother. At some point, their friend had opened up his phone and was showing them pics from Tenya’s training. 

Tensei was always a good person to get feedback about hero training from. Growing up in a hero family and now running his own agency had given a lot of insight into the training of young children. 

Shota and Oboro often got feedback from current heroes in the field. Even with their own experiences, it wasn’t a whole look of things and it was always good to see different perspectives. But today was for relaxing. Shota let himself relax listening to his friend’s chatting as background.

“And this kid I’ve been mentoring,” as Oboro started talking Shota tuned back into the conversation, trying to see where the topic had changed from Tenya. “You need to understand he’s so brilliant”, Oboro was waving his hands, the way he does when he got excited, the cats that had been slowly making their way, finding themselves comfortable in his clouds were getting startled away. Shota made a cooing motion to bring them closer to him. Oboro would be disappointed when he realized Shota was reaping the benefits.

Oboro still hadn’t seemed to catch on as he continued speaking, “Kid’s also crazy smart with quirks too since we’ve gotten a handle on his own quirk I’ve felt more comfortable with trying to pick his brain about his analysis.

“Analysis?” Tensei questioned prompting for more.

“Yeah, the kid has a knack for picking through quirks, I’ve been trying to think of a way to help him with it but it’s kinda hard” Oboro seemed to realize the cats had vacated his area as he reached his hand down and only met air, putting a small pout on his face.

“Hmm, how come?” Tensei replied.

“I can’t exactly take him around on hero work. Even if that would give him a chance to look at different quirks” Oboro said, being frustrated at the thought.

“Wait, why can’t you take him on patrol?” Tensei asked.

Oboro looked at him incredulously, “You want me to take a middle schooler out on patrol?”

“I mean why not” Tensei shrugged, “We’ve let other people do it, hell Tenya’s joined me a few times, why not the kid? Plus it’s not like you’d be totally alone, you’d keep him safe and he’d get to see what it’s like as a hero, maybe could hone some skills that way”. Oboro still seemed to have an unsure look on his face, but Tensei was not one to be deterred. “What’s his name I’m sure he’s a great candidate for shadowing?”

“Name huh yeah,” Oboro said nervously.

Tensei didn’t seem to pick up on the weird way Oboro was acting. Shota did. Oboro had the kid’s name, why was he being weird. Tensei seemed to consider it for a moment before asking, “Why not have Shota take him?”

Shota’s eyes snapped from where they were looking at Oboro over to Tensei, he tried to make his voice sound threatening as he let out an “excuse me?”

“I’m just saying it might be helpful to have him shadow the underground aspect if you’re concerned about the media?”

Oboro looked over with pleading eyes. Shota couldn’t handle this conversation right now, best to table it for later. “That can be something to discuss”, it was good to let Oboro know he wasn’t downright ignoring the option but that he wasn’t going to blatantly say yes to anything. Plus these conversations were usually had when both their minds were clear and all three within the household had been 

“Oh and if further down the line you want to teach him some parkour, the gym I’ve been taking Tenya to-” Shota once again tuned out the conversation, content to let Oboro and Tensei huddle close together and talk as he kept petting a tabby that came up to him.

“So, I’ve been holding off asking it with Nemuri here. We all know she’d be insufferable,” Tensei gave a small chuckle to himself, “but I’ve been meaning to ask. Any changes to your love life?” Tensei looked hard over at Oboro. Oboro’s face look hot flushing red as they refused to meet Tensei’s eyes. Tensei seemed to light up like he was given candy, “Oh-ho, what does this mean? Shota, do you know who has stolen Oboro’s heart?”

It was at this time Hizashi pulled up to their table, putting refills and little plates of cake on the table. Shota never loved his husband as much as he did at this moment. Hizashi was always a good distraction to direct attention away from him. “Sorry for being slow everyone, what’s this about stealing?”

“I’m just curious about new potential guys Oboro’s been keeping from me,” Tensei said with a wink. 

“Oh yeah, Oboro, isn’t there a detective you’ve had your eye on?” Hizashi said with a teasing voice, knowing full well what was to come. Oboro started stuttering and denying left, and right the accusation moving his hands in waves in front of him. Shota, for once, could agree with him. The less about Tsukauchi and Oboro possibly being a romantic item, the better.

“Well, I’m happy, so long as he’s treating you, right” Tensei seemed to be ignoring Oboro’s protest that there wasn’t anyone in mind, instead just slinging his arm around Oboro and rubbing their hair down.

“Disgusting,” Shota let out a groan, “the amount of affection is making me sick,” he said, softly burrowing his head into his husband’s shoulder. He hadn’t been feeling touch at the beginning of the day, but the headache-inducing idea Tensei had just given made touch sound like the most wonderful thing in the world.

Hizashi just gave a laugh, swinging an arm around Shota and drawing them closer together. “I think it’s cute, Sho.”

He would. His husband ate up things like that. Shota was more practical. Still, he most likely wouldn’t have to worry about any major changes coming up. Shota could feel himself sinking further into the cushions and relaxed as he felt small little cat feet walk over his lap. He could relax for now.

Chapter Text

“So, Shota, have you given any more thought to my proposal?” Oboro, said slightly poking Shota’s cheek.

It had been a nice, relaxing evening. Shota had been laying dead to the world on their couch, he had one of their orange tabbies laying on him. It was a contentful way to relax before starting his patrol. Up until Oboro began pestering him about his plan for the kid. If Tensei wasn’t a few prefectures away Shota would have hit him upside the head for implanting the idea in Oboro. Sometimes he cursed having friends. Nothing but trouble at times. 

He wouldn’t change it for the world. Still didn’t mean that their pestering wasn’t annoying.

“You mean the one where you try and get me to help out your problem child” Shota grumbled. he closed his eyes a little more, if he could block out the light maybe he’d have an extra few minutes of sleep before being bothered by Hizashi with dinner.

Oboro was determined to not let him sleep apparently as Shota felt another poke on his cheek. “He’s not a problem child” Oboro whined. “I can already tell he’s going to be a lot easier than your students from last year”. Placating him with promises wouldn’t work either.

He opened his eyes to finally meet Oboro’s, giving a half-hearted glare. “That’s not a hardball to beat.” His last class had really tested the extents of his patience, and Shota liked to at least pretend he was a teacher with some bit of restraint. The number of times he had been tempted to expel them all a second time had been far too great. But they had all graduated and as far as the last time Shota checked on them were doing splendidly in their careers. Still, it wasn’t quite the argument Oboro thought it was, “and if you’ve claimed him, then yes he’s a problem child” he took a moment to admire the affronted look on his friend’s face. It was a joy to see Oboro knocked off his feet.

“C’mon Shota” Hizashi loudly projected from the kitchen area. “It could be really fun” ever the optimist his husband was.

Shota wouldn’t stand for it. “Not you too, you’re supposed to help me get out of hair-brained schemes, not encourage them”

“Really?” Hizashi said walking out into the living room with a faux pensive face. He held the spatula up in the air twirling it around. He was even wearing his “Kiss the Cook” apron that Oboro had gotten for him as a gag gift. 

If Oboro didn’t think Hizashi was his best chance at convincing Shota, he would have teased him for the domestic look. Luckily Hizashi was more focused on whatever chaos he could instill as he responded “I don’t believe that was written in our wedding vows”

Shota let out a large groan, throwing his hand over his eyes and sinking into the couch. He may get on Oboro and Hizashi’s case for over-the-top dramatics but he had a flair for it when in the right mood. Oboro admired it about him, he could be dragged right down to their level if given the right motivation. They complimented each other.

“You two will be the death of me, one of these days” Shota grumbled out.

“Whatever you say honey bunch!” Hizashi called with a singsong voice, giving Shota a quick kiss on the nose and one on Oboor’s cheek. He walked back to the kitchen to look over his preparation of the food. He had banned both Oboro and Shota from entering the kitchen today, citing that they would be little help and a distraction, something about wanting to celebrate a milestone on his radio show. Oboro hated not being able to help but he understood the sentiment, when cooking together more of the food ended up on themselves than on plates.

It did allow him to try and whittle Shota down a little. “So you’ll do it?” he asked in his most sincere and pleading voice.

Shota moved his arm from his face and lifted one eyelid. “I suppose, what all do I need to prepare?”

Oboro tried not to flutter with joy. “Well knowing you you’re going to want to look at his quirk before anything,”

“Correct” Shota grumbled.

“So I was thinking we could do something like a mock of your quirk test,” Oboro said. Shota could be meticulous about knowing all the in and outs of the quirks of students in his care. Needing to know all the ways his students could grow. There was always room for progress, for further growth. Oboro had no doubt that Shota would be meticulous once he met the kid.

His thoughts were further confirmed when Shota seemed to be a little more awake, at least attempting to sit up and have a proper conversation. he figured they’d get their thoughts out as quickly as possible, Shota could easily sway himself when he wanted. 

Oboro continued on, “Then I was thinking we could both talk him through proper patrol procedures, both daylight and night,” There weren’t a ton of differences, much of the concern for nighttime was staying in the shadows away from groups you didn’t want to be seen by. The kid would probably be fascinated with the difference between the two heroics and would probably have a million questions. “And that’d be our time to write out what we would expect from him if he did want to shadow some of our work.” He didn’t have a doubt that the kid would follow any rules they set in place but Shota was always good for ensuring rowdiness in kids was tamped down.

Shota looked to be considering it, “Seems reasonable enough, did you broach the subject of joining night patrols with me?”

He hadn’t even fully talked about having the kid join on even his own patrols, as excited as Oboro assumed the kid would be about everything. “Not officially, not yet. I was going to try and bring it up slowly” Shota hmmed in response. The kid was already spooked enough, Oboro didn’t want to scare him off but added a new variable. “But yeah I was thinking we take him around with instructions to stay hidden if any fights arise”

“If?” Shota asked.

And here would be the possible dealbreaker for Shota. He was often a man of habits rarely liking to change up things like patrol, “I was thinking we might be able to switch our patrol shifts with some of the more” Oboro took a breath, “relaxed areas for the net few nights?” and he certainly wouldn’t like where Oboro had gotten the information. Oboro tried to brace himself for the rest of the conversation.

Oboro had a tendency for over-planning in some areas and under-planning in others. “Oh, and how do you know that’s an option?” Shota asked him with a smirk. 

“Um,” his friend responded. That made Shota pause. Oboro was hesitating. He had initially been joking, a bit of messing around, but Oboro didn’t hesitate. This was weird. Shota didn’t like it.

If Oboro was keeping things from them again. “Oboro, spit it out,” he said in his serious voice hoping it covered up any of the overwhelming concern he was now feeling. The serious voice usually spooked Oboro but he couldn’t take his chances now.

Like he suspected Oboro gave a small flinch with his voice before looking sheepish, “Well Tsukauchi actually has been running reports of the highest crime areas around”

Shota resisted the urge to slap his hand against his head. Ok, so the situation wasn’t great. It could be better. But only Tsukauchi being involved meant it wasn’t as serious as he first thought. Not great but salvageable.

Although this could work in his favor, “you know he most likely wouldn’t approve of you taking the kid out” Shota said.

Oboro looked over at him with even sadder big eyes, “You think?” his voice was unbearably soft. God, how close had they even gotten in the last little bit?

Shota hated putting Oboro’s hopes down. Still, he needed to be as rational as needed. “He’s had particularly hard handling of vigilantes in the past” It would hurt to say, but it was true. The Naruhata vigilantes had particularly gotten on Tsukauchi’s nerves, which Oboro had probably been aware of. “And you know how some people like to call shadowing just one step closer to vigilantism” that viewpoint had been a little outdated and Shota was near sure that Tsukauchi didn’t hold it. But some still did and Shota wasn’t above using it to his advantage.

“But it’s not” Oboro protested. Shota bit back the part of him that wanted to say that it didn’t matter if it was true or not. “And! And we can get the proper paperwork to have him shadow” Oboro looked a little more lively. Shota wished they didn’t bounce back as quick as he did.

“Underground agencies don’t allow shadowing.” There had been quite a few many people Shota had wanted to have a few potential students join him over the last few years. But currently, the hero commission rules had banned them from the practice.

“Duh, then he can run through mine,” Oboro said like it was the easiest thing in the world, Shota admired his blind optimism for all that it made him annoyed. “Plus we were going to have him mostly watching me right?”

Shota did love him dearly, but there were quite a few more things Oboro seemed to have forgotten about. “And how will that work if the kid thinks you don’t know his name”

He could visibly see their eyes grow wide before a classic carefree smirk was on their face. “Psh, I’m sure we can find a way around that.”

Shota was unimpressed, “and has his quirk been updated in the registry yet?” it had been only a few weeks but Shota hadn’t heard anything suggesting the kid had taken the legal precautions.

Oboro gave a head tilt at that, “not that I know of.”

Shota might need to spell it out for them, “then the kid would get in trouble if he used it for self-defense” Shota didn’t know all the details of the quirk yet, hopefully, he would soon, but it sounded powerful enough that they’d need the extra bit of legal security.

Oboro’s smirk was getting smaller at each moment, “well I’ll convince him to switch it over at least.” Assuming he was successful it was a good first start.

One problem down, another to go. “And for Tsukauchi?”

Oboro considered this for a moment, “Well do I really have to tell him?” Shota bit down the instant gut reaction to smile. It wasn’t that he was particularly happy about Tsukauchi being out of the loop, but Shota could be a petty bastard when needed.

“Do you?” Shota parroted back in a questioning voice.

“I guess not, I do have some other contacts in the police force I can run paperwork through,” Oboro said with a sigh.

Shota hated the sigh, he could at least he could get his friend’s hopes up another way, “so when am I going to meet the kid?” If it was soon Shota would have to figure out what he’d need to plan to test the kid’s quirk.

Oboro gave him a small smile in return, “Hopefully soon, I do wanna give the kid a fair bit of warning. I don’t want to spook him after all the progress we made. If all goes well we can start him working with you three nights from now,” 

Shota just hmmed already planning through what he’d need for the kid. Three nights. He could do this. Bit of quirk assessment and some teaching, nothing different than he did any normal day. Hizashi called them in having finished dinner. He could see Oboro dance happily over to the kitchen, no doubt because he got confirmation that Shota would be helping him with the kid. Shota hoped he wouldn’t regret saying yes.

—--

Loud Cloud had been indulging his analytical side more, engaging more fully into their conversation regarding quirks.

It was like a switch with Izuku having shared his own quirk. Loud Cloud had helped him figure how to stabilize it and now their conversations didn’t hold any of the same awkwardness, none of the concern Izuku usually had considering adults. Even trying to tell his mom about his quirk left a bad taste in his mouth. It was a welcome change that Loud Cloud seemed to view him favorably.

Currently, they were sitting on the rooftop, it had been a normal night. They had a bit of discussion of quirks as they meditated. Loud Cloud was pensive as Izuku told his theories to him as if he was deep in thought. Izuku had just finished describing his thoughts on how exactly Hawk’s wings worked. If they were truly an extension of his body or something that he just found he could manipulate. He had specifically been asking if Loud Cloud knew any special insider secrets.

“His quirk is amazing, and I’d love to pick his brain about it sometime, but I’ll be honest, I don’t pair up with him all too often,” Loud Cloud said.

Izuku did find that initially surprised when he had been researching common hero team-ups and their benefits.  For two heroes, who were both skilled in above-ground hero work, there were only a handful of cases it seems they both were assigned to. On the whole, there were only a documented two recording team-ups between Hawks and Loud Cloud. Both were successful but it was still odd they hadn’t been paired up more.

This might have been for many reasons, Hawks was an extremely high-ranking hero and took on many cases solo, while Loud Cloud was slightly about 50th place but frequented many team-ups for missions. There was also something to be said for quick team-ups on the battlefield. Hawks tended to shy from quick-made pairings while Loud Cloud seemed to reveal in it. 

Even if he didn’t team up with Hawks all that often he seemed willing to engage with Izuku’s theories regarding the other hero. Although secretly Izuku thought some of his suggestions were downright wrong. He wouldn’t necessarily tell the writer that.

Izuku could appreciate that Loud Cloud was taking his inquiries seriously. He was probably the first person to actually wait and listen when he went off on a tangent. Unlike his mother, Loud Cloud rarely smiled when Izuku talked on his tangents, putting on an almost bland face at first. It scared Izuku the first few times. His face had actually looked pretty dead. 

Especially compared to the hero’s usual hero smile. What Izuku had described as Loud Cloud’s “thinking face” was a flat mouth with a slight downward curve on the edges.

That was Loud Cloud’s thinking face. He wasn’t annoyed, but it was like he was focusing so hard to ensure that he was taking in all the information Izuku was giving. Then, once the thoughts all made sense to Loud Cloud, the face would break out into a grin. He would match Izuku’s inquisitive energy right back.

Then it seemed once the thoughts were encoded or Loud Cloud made sense was when the face would break. Once he took it in and made sense of his thoughts he usually added to Izuku's own thoughts or prompted him to continue whatever track had led him down the thought with an insightful question. Always answering Izuku's questions with his own inquisitive thoughts. And when he did give answers there was always a follow-up for more. Which always would turn into an insightful conversation.

It was a far cry from the placating his mom did. She would smile and nod along, but it was clear she wasn't following the conversation.

Izuku decided to test it out one time during dinner started talking about Water Horse and kept mentioning the ability of flame regulation. The point was that there were two things that were total opposites. His mom should have picked up that it hadn't made sense. She had just smiled and nodded along.

When Izuku asked her direct questions she would answer, but it was clear the answers were just to humor him. She would give a brief sentence and then joke about how analyzing was Izuku's forte and not hers.

He didn't know why it bothered him so. She wasn't putting down his dream. She got him notebooks, she just wasn't engaged when he talked to her. It could have been worse, much worse. Why was he so hurt?

Izuku forced himself to tune into what Shirakumo was explaining. At least he had someone who was willing to engage with him.

More than engaging it looked like. Loud Cloud was knee-deep in his own theory regarding exactly how Hawks could control so many feathers. Loud Cloud was talking with his hands, getting lost in the flow of their conversation

 “I’m telling you, kid, no one can successful multitask that much”

Izuku was ready to disagree, he could see the logic from where the hero was going but it wasn't the right track, the videos taken of Hawks were always so smooth in their execution. The feathers were too meticulous in their trajectory, if Hawks really was just switching between focus at a rapid rate, as Loud Cloud was suggesting, then there would be a slight delay in their path. But there was never a delay, never a falter.

Much like Izuku and Loud Cloud’s conversations as of late. Maybe Izuku could help him see that in a roundabout way. After all Loud Cloud did, Izuku could do that much.

Izuku had to pause. He had been getting extremely closer with Loud Cloud. 

The hero respected him enough to give him a name when he didn’t want to share his and “kid” was getting to be a bit much. It had been a few months now, there wasn’t the concern he had for the hero at first.

Izuku was surprised he found he could trust Loud Cloud now. 

"Izuku"

Loud Cloud stopped in the middle of his multitasking theory, picking his head up and was looking at him with confusion. "Pardon kid?"

"My name is Izuku.” He took a deep breath in, the moment of truth. “Izuku Midoriya" Usually introducing yourself by name was done at the beginning of a meeting, but there was no helping it now. Izuku felt a small weight off his chest.

Loud Cloud was looking at him with slightly wide eyes as if startled. Izuku had felt really sure about the decision but now that he said it out loud he could feel a little bit of the terror creep in. Izuku felt like he wanted to bolt. His skin was itching leaving little pinpricks in its wake.

Loud Cloud must have realized Izuku’s anxiety was ramping up because he seemed to shake off his stunned look.

--

Oboro remembered what it was like to be a kid. So unsure of your place in the world. So distrustful of everything around you. The fact the kid trusted him spoke wonders. The kid had shared so much. Enough to not just give his name but his surname to. 

Of course, most people trusted a hero. It helped greatly the success rate depending on how well known or in the limelight a certain hero was. The more famous the more people knew you. The more they knew you the more they were to trust. It had served LOud Cloud the hero extremely well to have civilians trust him. A mother who, tentatively at first had put her child on one of Oboro’s clouds. But ultimately had trusted him to get them all down safely and away from the fire. He had been successful that day. All the civilians from the burning apartment complex had gotten out alive and with minimal injuries, but it was only because they had trusted him enough to take a leap of faith onto a cloud. If they hadn’t, Oboro wasn’t quite sure it would have been as successful of rescue as it was. 

The point is that Oboro knew trust was sometimes given out to heroes without second care. The population had gotten so used to seeing their faces, especially those within the top spots. And the heroes were often known more closely by those along their specific patrol routes. Loud Cloud the hero was known fairly well along with the _ prefecture. And was well known amongst the local shop owners in the area. The people of this town trusted Loud Cloud the hero.

But this kid, Izuku, his mind told him he was finally allowed to use that name. This kid didn’t have the surface-level trust the rest of the town did, they all looked up to the hero that protected their town. 

He had found Izuku, and from there a mentor-mentee relationship was born. Izuku had talked to him, sharing his theories and fears. Loud Cloud had responded in turn, continuing on the conversation and passing along what little knowledge he knew.

Now, Izuku had looked up to him as if trusting Oboro himself. What else could they do but give that same trust in return?

"Nice to meet you Izuku. I'm Shirakumo Oboro. Now, the most important thing. Do you think Hawks actually has a different muscle structure because he’s the part bird?"

He tried not to make a big deal of the trust given after that, he kept talking about Hawks. His own secure way of letting the kid know this wasn’t going to change anything drastically if he didn’t want to but letting the kid know he was here for him all the same.

Chapter Text

Izuku hadn’t gotten the best sleep. 

Before bed last night, he heard something fall in the living room and scared him.  He had gone to investigate what it was; it turned out to be a book that had fallen off a shelf. 

In and of itself, it wasn’t a concerning thing. The problem came to his response to the noise. In being startled, Izuku had accidentally created a large portal in the center of the living room. It was whipping the air back and forth, scattering paper and his mother’s trinkets all around.

He had barely got it to disappear. 

After going through a variety of mental exercises, some that Shirakumo taught him and others he looked up online, Izuku’s heart had stopped racing. His panic over the situation had subsided, but the portal was still present.

What finally did the trick was giving up, both on getting the portal to go away and on a good night's rest of sleep. He sat out in their living room as a way to keep an eye on the portal. It hadn’t done anything nefarious.

It was just…hovering there. It didn’t suck up any of the furniture like he first worried. It was almost calm in a way.

Izuku finally decided to sit on the couch and turn on the late news. They were doing reruns of hero fights that had happened earlier. He hadn’t gotten a moment to sit and observe as many hero fights as of late. He pulled out his notebook and got to work.

It was around two hours that he was starting to feel the effects of exhaustion, and soon after, Izuku fell into slumber. When he awoke, it was still dark out. Izuku checked over where his portal once was with urgency and was surprised to find no evidence of his quirk having manifested. At least that meant he didn’t have to explain anything to his mother. 

It was a bit concerning that his body was responding to starling events with a portal he couldn’t control. It seemed to be the only thing stopping them was either time or exhaustion—two things Izuku didn’t always have easily at his disposal. 

He’d have to get it under control. Sleep afterward didn’t come as easy the more he thought about his quirk. 

But Loud Cloud had finally put his foot down about actually training Izuku’s quirk.  Well, less of any stern reaction and more pitiful begging on the hero’s part. Izuku had eventually given in to the pleas.

Izuku was self-aware. When he was sleep-deprived, he usually had a slower reaction to things; along, he usually had slight irritation at small sensory things that wouldn’t usually bother him had he been well-rested. But never before had being sleep-deprived caused Izuku to have hallucinations. But the sight in front of him was making him doubt that.

Izuku arrived at his and Shirakumo’s regular meeting time; he wasn’t completely shocked to find the hero, another figure standing on the roof. 

When Shirakumo first told him about the training, he had cited a counter for Portal getting out of control. They asked Izuku if he’d be okay bringing a friend, another hero who had a built-in counter against quirks going out of control.

Izuku was expecting a quirk counselor or even another hero Loud Cloud had been seen teaming up with. An underground hero, one Izuku hadn’t found any evidence of working with Loud Cloud, didn’t cross his mind. 

Shirakumo came over with a slight bounce in his step. If anything, he looked downright delighted. “Ah! Hey kid, remembered how I mentioned a friend might be joining us?” Shirakumo turned to the familiar hero that was next to them, pointing over at Izuku, “Eraserhead, this is Dekiru.”

To say, Izuku was a little shocked about the turn of events. 

  He barely had enough time to register that Loud Cloud still used his nickname instead of ‘Izuku.’ Maybe because of the other hero there?

“Kid, this is pro-hero Eraserhead.”

Speaking of the other hero, he wasn’t exactly what Izuku imagined. Granted, what he had known of the hero was entirely from hero fan forums. Eraserhead didn’t let himself be seen by people. What evidence that did exist of him was a few grainy photos and witness accounts. Either by grateful citizens or by taking in villains. 

The villain’s testimonies were more often focused on the fact that they had momentarily lost their quirk rather than the man who did it. Or how, for that matter. It just mentions of how jarring it was to have your power taken from you. How even more unpleasant it was when the hero would immediately take them down swiftly and efficiently. Description of Eraserhead only really mentioned dark black hair and an equally dark matching tactical suit. Perfect for ambushes from the shadows. There wasn’t much else description to the man beyond that.

Honestly, if Loud Cloud hadn’t announced him by name, Izuku wouldn’t have pegged the man standing beside him as a hero. More akin to a homeless-looking man.

The man was rather plain, while he matched in all black with a matching dark gray utility belt. 

His hair was long and black pulled into a ponytail, not high like Shirakumo’s but low enough that it was handing on his shoulder. 

If Izuku had to describe the man, he would say the man looked like he lived off caffeine alone. The bags under his eyes seemed dark, and his face had promises of an angry scowl. The scowl dropped and turned into a look of mild disinterest before he spoke.

“Yo,” Eraserhead said with a wave. He was looking for Izuku to respond. When he didn't, Eraserhead and Loud Cloud looked uncomfortable. “My hero name is Eraserhead; I can erase quirks.”

“Ha. I think the kid knows that. Analysis remember?” Loud Cloud gave a nudge with his arm and tried to laugh, but it came out pitifully flat. “Oh, hope you don’t mind, kid but I passed on some of your suggestions to the man himself. I hope that was okay.”

Izuku’s throat closed up. Was his stuff shared? 

Eraserhead was probably going to hate him for pointing out the flaws of his costume and challenging his authority.

There was an awkward beat of silence. Izuku was frozen before Shirakumo picked up the energy again. “Well, no matter, Kid, you’re in luck. Eraserhead is the best teacher out there, well, as you can guess aside from yours truly.” Loud Cloud gave a thumbs up, pointing to themselves. “We’ll get you working with your quirk in no time.”

Izuku still wasn’t sure if their little meditation sessions counted as ‘teaching,’ but he wouldn’t ruin it for the blue-haired hero. Still, Izuku didn’t want to test Eraserhead’s patience much longer, “You’re a teacher?” he asked.

Eraserhead didn’t seem particularly phased by his questioning. “I would hope so,” Izuku had to hold back his own ‘me too,’ and based on the way Loud Cloud was trying to hold in laughter, it must have still shown on his face. “Loud Cloud mentioned you’re concerned about sucking people into your quirk. If that happens, I’ll act as damage control, and I’ll shut off your quirk before that occurs.”

Shirakumo went and swung an arm around the other hero. ”I promise he isn’t as scary as he looks. He puts up the air of a ‘mean grumpy pants,’ but really he’s a big ole softy.” Shirakumo seemed to be dangling his weight as Eraserhead looked bored. “Especially for kids that impress him” Shirakumo stopped his swinging and gave a stage whisper to Izuku, “not that he’ll ever admit it.”

“How exactly does it work?” Izuku had been curious why such power was more hidden, not showcased as a neutralizer. He was sure that civilians would be relieved knowing someone could erase a destructive quirk from rampaging. 

“I can erase quirks. I believe you wrote about it,” the hero said.

Eraserhead’s quirk had so many unanswered questions. There had to be so much more explanation than that, especially regarding its activation. 

As if knowing Izuku was going to ask for more, Eraserhead spoke again, “I can erase quirks by looking at them.”

If that was the case, how does he go about daily life not erasing people’s quirks willy-nilly? Or does he and people never have the mind to notice? But the accounts all said it was a jarring process; indeed there would have been uproar if people noticed their quirks gone during a nonvillain attack. Maybe if he got special glasses that neutralized the neutralizer quirk? Or did it work like a light switch? With a clear on or off? Or was it a more gradual shift?

Eraserhead sighed.  “Every time I’ve used it, there's a definitive quirk-is-working or quirk-is-not-working reaction.”  Izuku didn’t realize he mumbled his questions out loud and his cheeks flushed red.

“As far as activating my quirk. It is like an adjustment of my normal vision. Akin to twisting a telescope to focus on, similar concept. When going about non-hero business, I don’t activate my quirk and to my knowledge, I haven’t erased a civilian quirk unless it’s been an active villain scene or my students.”

Izuku could admit that the protective measures Eraserheads’s body were pretty interesting. There must have been something through a second mutation to ensure that his quirk wouldn’t always be on. But still. That’s it? It felt like there should be more.

It never really occurred to him until now, but Izuku was honestly slightly disappointed there weren't a lot of unique applications to using a quirk that erases.

Izuku was a little bit confused as to why he and Loud Cloud didn’t just use the quirk cuffs since they both had access. A quick look over at the two, at the ease of how Loud Cloud still had his arm around Eraser and seemed to melt into his side. Even Eraserhead seemed somewhat comfortable with Loud Cloud hanging off him. Maybe Eraserhead wasn’t just here for Izuku?

“Thank you for being willing to teach me, Eraserhead-senpai” Izuku was trying his best to be polite. “How exactly do you want me to practice my quirk?”

Loud Cloud stepped forward, eyes meeting Izuku’s before looking over at Eraserhead. “You mentioned a bit before about having trouble forming them to be consistent sizes; maybe we could do an activity that involves something similar?”

“We can do that, just work on forming the opening right now. We’ll work on exit points later” Eraserhead said. The next part was said more to himself than anything, “Although if we’re going to be trying to measure things quantitatively.”

Eraserhead walked over to the side of the roof where the were the remnants of a spray paint mural. Whoever it was must have left in a hurry, but Izuku could still make out the distinct flame facial hair the picture was trying to represent.

The underground hero looked around before spotting a spray can that must have been left and went to the side of the wall where the previous artist’s work was. Izuku could barely hear the whispered “Good target as any” under Eraserhead’s breath. 

Eraserhead made a small circle enclosing the likeness of Endeavor in it, marking it with a little one, before surrounding it with a bigger circle marking it with a 2, and doing the same thing one more time with 3. When Eraserhead was done, Izuku could see how it was made to resemble a target. However, he didn’t have any projectile quirk at all. He was about to ask them how he could shoot without anything to shoot with before Eraserhead was talking.

“Stand over here and try forming a portal about the size of the number 1.”

Izuku understood it a little bit better before he got into position and ground himself. Shirakumo made a small cloud and sat on it, perching above them watching. Eraserhead’s eyes locked on him. He could feel the terror come up his spine at the thought of other people seeing how he used Portal. “What if I make it too big and it gets out of control?”

“That’s what I’m here for,” Eraserhead responded.

Eraserhead and Loud Cloud shared a look. Loud Cloud went over and put a comforting hand on Izuku’s shoulder. He could honestly say he enjoyed the comforting weight.

“We aren’t going to let anything happen,” It was a bit too serious and low-tone for the usually upbeat hero. Izuku desperately wished the hero who would make silly jokes to the side was back. The genuine care coming from the two heroes made something in Izuku’s insides itch. As if realizing Izuku needed something on their usual terms, Loud Cloud jumped into a more peppy voice. “This is a controlled space where you can use your quirk and let it loose a little” He tried to do a little shimmy with his arms and hips. He looked like a dork. “Seriously, Dekiru, trust us; feel free to use your quirk here.”

Izuku tried to feel the portal come from his hand. It formed and came together. It was much smaller than all the ones he’s created so far. He wouldn’t be able to fit himself through or escape. If Izuku was looking at it realistically, he would probably be sad it didn’t match the same significance that his others did. But he couldn’t find it in him to care.

His portal was the exact same size he was aiming for.

“Way to go, Problem Child,” Izuku heard Eraserhead drawl from a bit away. He didn’t turn towards the teachers, still focused on the dot on the small target.

“You can’t give him a nickname after one session,” he heard Shirakumo say.

There was a thud. Izuku turned around and was met with Shirakumo sprawled out on the rooftop like a starfish. Eraserhead must have erased the cloud he was on. “I can and I will.”

“Eraser!” He heard Shirakumo screech from the ground, “Very rude.”

“Hey, Dekiru.” Izuku’s eyes shot over to the underground hero. “You aren’t done yet,” Eraserhead was looking at him with calculating eyes. “One correct size doesn’t mean you have it down. We’ll keep doing it until it’s second nature.”

Izuku got back into position before forming another portal. He couldn’t wait.

Chapter Text

It had been a few weeks of Izuku making various sizes of portals under Eraserhead and Shirakumo’s supervision. It wasn’t every day of the three nights a week that seemed to make the schedule Izuku and Shirakumo fell into but more often than not the underground hero seemed to join. On their off nights from portal training two of them still had their meditation session before Shirakumo’s patrols, this, unfortunately, was not one of those nights. Eraserhead seemed to be insistent on forgoing their training to speak with Izuku on another topic.

“So your analysis notes. Do you do them often?” Eraserhead asked in a softer voice.

Izuku was slightly nervous, he had only gotten to being open about his analysis with Shirakumo recently. To be questioned on it now was at the very least nerve-wracking.

“Somewhat. I like to watch hero fights, I learn a lot from them” Izuku responded.

Shirakumo seemed to tune in to what they had been speaking about as he piped up, "Listen I'm all for learning by observation, so you can watch the hero fights and take notes, but stay out of the actual fight for me? Huh, keep an old man's heart still beating?"

“You aren’t old” Izuku and Eraserhead managed to say right at the same time, they both looked at each other. Izuku let out a small nervous giggle. Eraserhead didn’t laugh but Izuku was sure he saw the tops of his lips upturn.

“Oh-ho but,” Shirakumo started, jumping off his cloud and making their way over to them. “One day I will be, and where will that lead you? Hopefully not in the middle of criminal activity”

“If he’s going to be a hero he’s going to be in the middle of criminal activity,” Eraserhead said deadpan.

Shirakumo shot Eraserhead a look, “But he is not a hero yet, and should be careful to stay far- far away from villains without any chance of being attacked by one, right?” Shirakumo was now looking at him with an almost pleading look.

Izuku felt this a good time to speak as any, “I’ve never been attacked by a villain”

Shirakumo’s eyes went towards the ground murmured something.

“What was that?” Eraserhead asked.

Shirakumo responded, “twice. He’s never been attacked by a villain twice.”

Izuku paused. The sludge villain hadn't even crossed his mind despite that it had only been a few months since then. He always seemed to have some chest pain when he thought about the whole incident.

Eraserhead seemed to take that into consideration, “One villain attack is child’s play,” seemingly ignoring Shirakumo’s flabbergasted face. “So Dekiru, you say you stay pretty safe?”

Izuku tried to respond as honestly as he could, “as much as I can.”

Shirakumo had a conflicted look on his face. “Kid, me and Eraserhead were talking and we think that it might be beneficial for you to watch us do some real fighting.”

“Wait really?” Izuku asked. They’d allow him to watch real fights?

“We’d have some ground rules first,” Eraserhead said, “but if you follow them and stay out of fighting I see no reason to not get some hands-on experience.”

Shirakumo looked back at him, “What is it you would like though?”

Izuku couldn’t help the smile that spread on his face, “I’d love to”.

—--

"You are only here to observe, got it?" Eraserhead said from where he was crouched down on the roof next to Izuku. “And drop a little lower, we don’t want eyes on you.” Izuku felt a soft pressure on his head and followed, now only his eyes were over the roof barrier.

To be fair, Izuku was still in shock at the idea of Loud Cloud and Eraserhead allowing him on patrols. The group of them had hoped across rooftops, after a very thorough run-through of proper jumping techniques courtesy of Eraserhead. 

Alongside the continuous reminders that this was a general patrol and they were just looking out for general signs of trouble. No prolonged cases or anything of the sort.

Still, he would follow their orders to the utmost degree. "Got it" he whispered, as part of the rules he was to keep as silent as possible and communicate best in whispers.

Suddenly then a bang was heard, almost as if someone smacking into a trashcan. They had made their way to the closest roof.

They were looking over the roof where a person with a bird quirk (large talons, pointed on one end, flat on the other, good for lockpicking? Izuku's mind supplied) had been picking up his bag and shuffling what was a menagerie of purses and watches. "Stay here, you can watch but only if you're hidden in the shadows" Loud Cloud had whispered reminders to him before he jumped down into the alley. Eraserhead stuck behind with Izuku, presumably to make sure he didn’t get in any trouble. Not that he would disobey their orders. He was more than content to watch the hero fight play out.

It was a pretty standard fight. Izuku thought. At least the matchup was in Loud Cloud's favor

Loud Cloud had the high ground advantage, always a benefit to his quirk, and was able to catch the criminal off guard. The criminal’s long talons, now that he could get a better look at them wouldn’t help much with lock picking, but they did seem particularly sharp. I wonder if he could grow them to different lengths or change their sharpness. While Izuku thought they might be initially good for fighting seemed to be hindering him. The swipes might have been dangerous for Loud Cloud, it was only if he had gotten hit by one of them. The criminal very clearly didn’t have any fighting experience, based on the fact that he hasn’t landed a hit yet. Though that did bring up questions about the robbery if he didn’t have any hand-to-hand skills. There wasn’t an obvious weapon. Did he get by on pure imitation factor alone?

“That’s pretty good start kid,” Izuku jumped a little at hearing Eraserhead’s voice. “Though we should curb that mutter habit. Can’t be spreading your ideas to villains.” Izuku tried not to blush too much out of embarrassment.  

Loud Cloud had cuffed the remaining criminals, at some point he must have contacted the authorities as flashing blue and red lights stopped at the end of the alley. The heroes and the policeman had shuffled the criminals away into the back of their car as they took pictures of the scene. It hadn't taken long at all but Izuku still found he lost Loud Cloud in the shuffle of bodies. He noticed him again, by the one car, talking with a man in a trench coat. Probably to give his statement and finish up processing. Although Izuku didn't know if it was the proper procedure to lean your body entirely on detectives as they recount events. From Eraserhead’s scoff, he didn’t think so either.

At least Eraserhead didn’t seem eager to leave them in silence, “Have you told your parents about your quirk?”

Izuku could feel the annoyance reach up, “Yes I did,” Eraserhead just gave a hum in acknowledgment. The talk with his mother about the quirk itself wasn’t bad. But it was clear that would be all he was telling her. His mother was concerned for him and tried to steer him away from hero work. Izuku placated her by saying he wasn’t even thinking of that as an option. She wouldn’t do well with the truth.

Loud Cloud pulled away from the detective and made his way around the back of the building before jumping onto the roof crouching by Izuku’s side. 

"That's how a pro does it.” Loud Cloud said. The grin he sported made even Izuku excited, “Now, what did you see?"

–

It was odd. Loud Cloud was usually more thorough with his statements. Sansa used to say it was so the hero could get more time with Tsukauchi, which had made him blush when the feline told him. 

Now that seemed to fly out the window as Loud Cloud was rushing through the events. 

Not that this arrest would need significant detail, it seemed very clear cut. There were also no reported excessive injuries which usually made up a majority of hero incident reports. Loud Cloud usually had minimal damage anyway.

When Shirakumo recounted how he came across the scene it was short and succinct. Just a simple “he accidentally ran into the dumpster. I heard the noise.”. It wasn’t followed by any hard laughter, no jazz hands, no extra flourishes. 

It unnerved Tsukauchi.

Loud Cloud usually acted out the scene again to the highest caliber (even if the detective had been there to witness the same events). While it could be annoying, sometimes it did manage to bring a little extra lithe to an otherwise boring night.

He should have been happy that everything was wrapped up all nice.

Still. Loud Cloud didn’t even add in any extra funny voices. No pretending to be whatever villain of the week's inner thoughts were.  '"I could go get some ice cream or I could rob a bank, frankly with how my wife left me I'm leaning towards the bank"' 

That one had been particularly funny as it was revealed in the interrogation the criminal woman in question didn't rob the bank because she was sad but because she had just gotten off the high of a good performance review.  Tsukauchi could sympathize in some ways with villains, praise from his boss was nice. Although in his profession it was probably good he didn’t resort to robbing banks after the fact.

Tsukauchi had expected the hero to at least stay around a while. If not to further his story, maybe a nice chat with Tsukauchi himself. At least that’s what he usually did.

Tsukauchi hoped this wasn’t an unfortunate consequence of the late-night call. But that couldn’t be, just the other day the hero was gushing about Izuku finally feeling comfortable enough to tell him his name. What could have changed?

Loud Cloud was softly tapping his feet on the ground, fingers gently twisting together. Tsukauchi paused. Did he want to get away from the conversation?

No, that couldn’t be it. Maybe he could dig deeper. He was a detective for a reason. Gather more information. First Step. "Got somewhere to be?" he tried to ask in as casual of a way as he could.

Loud Cloud seemed to come back to himself and shot the detective a small smile. "You know me, always a busy bee. I like keeping busy" True . But a dodged question nonetheless. Tsukauchi could scream. Maybe a more direct approach would work?

"Got a special… date tonight?" It sounded insecure coming out of his mouth. It certainly wasn’t the most tact he could give the question.

Loud Cloud's face scrunched up before relaxing. "Nope, no special date." True.

Tsukauchi felt himself relax a little. He glances at his watch. If he got the schedule right Shirakumo would end his patrol in a little over half an hour. Tsukauchi still had 45 minutes. If he was willing to wait the extra 15 minutes for Tsukauchi, they could go to a 24-hour diner. Maybe grab pancakes.

“So, no plans for tonight?” This was good, he could use this as a segue into asking. Then it would sound more natural. Just two people grabbing dinner.

"Nope, no plans. Only me and the sky" A small pain made its way through his heart. False. Tsukauchi tried to hide the fact that he stepped back. Loud Cloud didn’t lie at least not intentionally. Sure, the hero more than often partnered up with others for missions, strength in teams, but Loud Cloud's general patrols were only solos.

He was about to question more about it when the man in question perked up.

"Oh, inspector! it looks like you need to get our charming criminal here to some more secure constraints" Sure enough when Tsukauchi looked over the apprehended criminal was trying to lodge talons under the quick cuffs. God, that would mean they would need the armbands. Tsukauchi hated pulling out the armbands. More paperwork.

Tsukauchi sighed, "Thank you for the assistance today, Loud Cloud", maybe falling back into their usual script could put them on equal footing. Hopefully, it will make Tsukauchi feel like he wasn't falling from one of Shirakumo's own clouds.

"Anything for my favorite Inspector" True. Tsukauchi smiled to himself. "Now you should be going" Loud Cloud tilted his head towards the car. Tsukauchi bemoaned having to walk away from the conversation to ensure the criminal was brought to the station with no complications. The hour couldn't be done quick enough.

Chapter Text

Izuku was practicing with the targets Eraserhead had put out for him; he had been getting better with his precision on the portal's opening. He had been making what was in reality leaps and bounds of work on his quirk. Not to mention the hero patrol lessons he was given on the physical training off days. 

But only focusing on one part of his quirk was making him antsy, especially when there were so many unanswered questions about what he could do. Voicing his concerns seemed to do nothing for Eraserhead.

“We will get to that, don’t be too eager,” Eraserhead said, and Izuku felt slightly chastised for wondering. Luckily Eraserhead must not have much annoyance as he asked, “I got a question. For your quirk, do you need to visualize keeping it open?”

“I guess I do, in a way.” Most of the other times, he wasn’t fully consciously aware he had been opening. “I’m not sure, actually. I think so..”

Eraserhead just hums, "Good, then next time we’ll work on that,” Izuku almost gave a happy shout of joy, “to make sure you don't accidentally close it on yourself and lose a hand."

Izuku felt cold as the words processed, "I'm sorry, what?"

Eraserhead didn’t seem concerned as he said matter-of-factly, “We don’t want you to close it on any limb that’s not fully through your portal. It wouldn’t do you well to lose a hand..”

That did nothing to sway Izuku’s fear. Luckily Shirakumo seemed to want to step in. "I agree with Eraser, despite the maybe..graphic visualization. If you’re gonna, have to be constantly focusing on it, staying open, and you're using your quirk the whole time, that's gonna take a drain on your mental toll, and fast. Our goal is to make sure you and anyone else is out of the way of your portal so it doesn't close on you midway. That’s all.” They both were saying things like it was the most common thing in the world.

"That's terrifying," Izuku said.

Eraserhead spoke up, "Most quirks are if you think about them too in-depth." Izuku almost felt sick at the thought. Should he even use his quirk anymore? “Don’t get discouraged, though; you’ll never get anywhere being stagnant.”

Shirakumo seemed to take a more positive approach, “Plus learning is all about risk. We believe you’ll be able to use your quirk. And if it takes a few tries well, that’s why you have two pro-heroes who’ve got your back.” He ended this by giving two thumbs up.

Eraserhead sighed, “yes, but first, you need to master the basics.” Eraserhead’s face changed from reflective to a downright devious smile. Izuku found himself a little concerned. “And right now, you’re ‘oh so stable portal’ could use some work..”

Izuku quickly turned. Just in time to see his portal, which previously was dead center of the target, now hovering over the mark by a few feet.

“Oh shit,” Izuku heard Shirakumo say from somewhere behind him. Insightful. Izuku tried staring at it and making it reappear on the target. “Wait, wait, It’s moving!” Shirakumo shouted. And now that he was looking at it, the portal did seem to be moving in a short pattern, albeit slow. 

Izuku could feel his heart rate pick up faster and faster.

“Hey Dekiru, it's okay,” he heard Shirakumo say from behind him and a soft pat on his shoulder. “It’s okay; we just need to try anchoring it somewhere.”

“Anchoring it?” he asked.

“Yeah, a lot of quirks work better when you think of it like them needing an anchor point to do what they need to.”

It sounded simpler enough. “Kinda like your grounding technique?”

“Yeah, exactly. Sometimes when making clouds, I focus on a specific point, like a person or a building. Every once in a while, I’ll focus it on another cloud of mine to make it more stable.

“Hell, even Eraserhead had to focus his eyes on one specific target at first to get his quirk going.”

Izuku looked over at where Eraserhead was. The man just gave him a shrug before speaking, “He’s not wrong.”

“So instead of just trying just to hold it into place, try to visualize moving it back to where you need,” Shirakumo said, giving a soft nudge to Izuku, who started getting back in position and going over to join Eraser.

He could do this. Just visualize moving it back into place.

—

“Why’s the kid moving like he’s holding a lasso?” Shota said under his breath, right as Dekiru swung his arm in an arcing motion. As much as he was happy, the kid was listening. The whole look of everything was absurd.

“I’m not sure, but frankly, it’s hilarious.” Oboro whispered back, obviously trying his best to hold his laughter in, “Maybe it helps him like visualize it?” 

If it was, well, it was working. Slowly the portal was moving further and further closer to its target. Albeit slowly. It was okay. They had time. Plus it provided a good bit of entertainment. Dekiru’s spiral arm did bring an extra bit of mischief to the table.

Shota turned to look at Oboro. His friend was obviously trying hard not to laugh aloud at the kid. Probably not to discourage him. Shota would try not to make fun of him too much. No real promises. If the kid wanted to get into UA, he’d have to get used to it.

“Nice technique you got there,” he deadpanned a little louder towards Dekiru. He seemed to come back to himself as if realizing what he was doing, a blush coming up on his cheek. Aw, Adorable. Kids were disgusting with their insecurities. “Genuinely not bad. For a start. You might want to think about finding something that’s a little more inconspicuous.” Especially if the kid wanted to do more covert options.

The kid wasn’t bad. Certainly better than some of the first-year students that entered his class. The ones he expelled but didn’t ever bring back. Not those that just needed a good scare, those that honestly had no potential.

The student he found always to want to be heroes for the wrong reasons. Those who were seeking the glory and the fame, without wanting to put in the work. Those who delighted only in being able to use their quirks for the amusement of it all. Acting like some carnival trick. Not about how to use those quirks to save. How the tools they have been given could benefit others.

That’s what quirks were: tools-albeit fancy tools but tools nonetheless.

At least the kid was willing to practice with his quirk. It had concerned Shota when Oboro mentioned the idea that the kid didn’t know how to work his quirk and seemed reluctant to do so. That could be dangerous, both to the kid and others. When Oboro brushed it off, Shota almost killed his long-term friend.

Said long-term friend was now saying his last few works and concluding their time with the kid. Probably good. No use wearing the kid out too much today.

It was adorable. Their time turned into a little ritual for Oboro to ask Dekiru a variety of mother-henning questions. If the kid knew what he was going to be eating tonight and if he’d have time for proper sleep frequently, those questions usually made the list. Things that made sense to training if asked.

Shota didn’t call him out for the more paternal questions. However, he did find amusement in telling Hizashi about how Oboro actually asked if Dekiru needed any help with his homework. His husband had laughed for a good minute straight after that lovely nugget of knowledge. 

To answer the question, Dekiru didn’t need any help with his homework. Obviously. Even Shota could tell from just his first glance that the kid was pretty bright. And it only grew as they allowed him on patrols, and the kid got to show off his skills.

For all there was nervousness and insecurity, the kid did have an underlying sense of pride. Help with homework, which would no doubt look to the kid as if Oboro doubted his skills (which Oboro would probably cry if the kid thought that was his intention), was most certainly going to be a sore spot. He actually looked offended at Oboro’s offer. Shota kind of wished he took a photo of Dekiru’s indignant face.

Now Oboro and his kid were doing their last wrap-ups, it was clear his friend was a little hesitant to let his charge go.

If you would have asked teenage Shota who he would ever see being a parent out of their friend group. Well, Oboro wouldn’t have ranked particularly high. Not that any of their reject group was gunning for parenthood. Maybe Nemuri. She did talk a lot about the “youthfulness” of those younger than her. Shota shook himself out of his thought process.

The point was Oboro had changed significantly since high school. His friend still kept a lot of his good qualities. Their caring nature. Ability to light up a room. But he was calmer. A little wiser. They all were after certain events.

Dekiru was leaving back down one of the fire escapes. It didn’t leave Shota’s notice that Oboro waited until the kid had fully walked a block from their building to start packing up their items to go.

As Shirakumo started packing up some of their notes of how the training session, his phone started letting out a little tune. Shirakumo usually kept the phone on Do Not Disturb when he was with the kid. If it was a call that was still pushing through, it was probably time-sensitive.

Shota paid no attention as he did a check-through of his knives, knowing he probably wouldn’t have a ton of time to do it later when they both got home and even less if the phone call was for an impromptu mission.

The ringing continued.

“Are you going to answer that?” Shota growled out. It wasn’t often he got annoyed, but it had been a long day with both of their classes and teaching Dekiru, plus he still had to head out for patrol.

“Not particularly,” Oboro seemed intent to ignore the ringing phone. Shota considered the merit of smacking his friend as a wake-up call. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Do you know who it is?” Shota tried to look over at Oboro’s phone and get a glimpse of the number.

Oboro looked uncomfortable. “I do.” There was a high bit of guilt in his tone. Maybe he’s been dodging this person’s calls for a while.

Now that Shota was listening, the sound did have a bit different tune to Oboro’s normal ringer. 

And it was still going.

“And you aren’t going to answer it?” Shota questioned. Right as he finished asking, the phone stopped, sending whoever it was to voicemail.

“Nope.” his friend seemed to relax.

“Oboro,” he sent one of his disappointed glares his friend’s way. It usually worked on his students; he didn’t often use it on Hizashi and Oboro. When he did, it was effective.

His friend looked sheepish for a second before whispering. “It’s Tsukauchi”

Now Shota was the one feeling a bit of guilt. 

Once Oboro got an idea in his head, it was hard for them to let go of it. Shota hadn’t meant for his comments to escalate it this much. Definitely not to the point of ignoring a detective’s phone calls.

That wasn’t his intention.

Just maybe get the guy to back off a little. That was all.

Trust Oboro to take things to the extreme.

“Is this because of the shadowing work?” he asked delicately. It didn’t escape his notice that the phone had stopped ringing.

“What if he tries to say we have to stop?” Oboro said, “Dekiru is really enjoying himself. He looks so happy every time we take him out. And things aren’t going well at school or home or wherever he’s going that makes him look so sad.” Oboro looked up at Shota’s eyes. “This really makes him happy; I don’t want him to lose that.” His friend really perfected his kicked puppy look.

One of the few looks that could make him feel actual human emotions.

Doesn’t seem like the kid is the only one who needs this—well, time to do some patchwork.

“You can always just steer the conversation away from the kid. Or better yet, just make sure you aren’t telling lies. It’ll set off his quirk; half-truths would probably get past him if you worded it well enough,” Oh, and now Oboro looked even more hurt. Great. Even the idea of lying to Tsukauchi seemed to pain him. “You know you can’t ignore him forever,” Shota stated bluntly. He wasn’t in the habit of starting soft, neither with his students nor his friends. And Oboro wouldn’t want him to be soft. “Plus, we use him for our cases. It’d be illogical to cut off contact.” Not to mention highly annoying. Tsukauchi was their go-to policeman for a reason.

“So you think it’d be okay to talk to him?” Oboro was baiting him, asking in that pleading tone. 

Shota just glared at him, “It’d be illogical not to,” Especially not answering his calls. How long had he been dodging Tsukauchi? Oboro was lucky he didn’t get called in on the hero network, which Shota knew for a fact Tsukauchi was not above doing.

“Okay, I can do this” Shota heard Oboro whispering to himself and cradling his phone. “I can do this.”

Knowing his friend, he would be giving the same pep talk for another 10 minutes before calling the detective back. Shota finished cleaning up their notes. He tried to hide the eye roll. His friends, honestly.

—

“We’re home,” Shota lazily called out as he stepped through the door of their home and going to hang up his capture scarf.

Oboro, meanwhile, made a beeline for the kitchen where Hizashi was no doubt ready to try and take scraps of their dinner before it was fully made. Hizashi would playfully smack his hand away, but Shota knew he always found it endearing that Oboro couldn’t wait to have some of his cooking.

Just as Shota hung up his capture scarf and was about to join them in the kitchen, when Oboro’s phone started ringing a familiar tune Shota was growing tired with.

“Oh, hey, it’s Tsukauchi; sorry, I gotta take this” Oboro gave a last kiss to Hizashi’s head before heading into his bedroom and closing the door.

Hizashi was trying to catch Shota's eye. "Tsukauchi again, guess they made up." He gave a little wiggle of his eyebrows, trying to keep the mood light and airy.

“You knew he was ignoring the calls?” Shota asked.

“I just figured it would blow over,” Hizashi said nonchalantly.

Shota looked up into green eyes, leveling him a stare. "I don't trust him."

Hizashi had to hold back a laugh, "Babe, let's be honest here. Do you trust anyone?"

Shota looked up to the ceiling, contemplating it genuinely. "I trust you and Oboro."

Hizashi just laughed at him and put up two fingers, "Alright, so that’s two. How about anyone else?"

Aizawa leaned forward and put up one finger. "I trust Nezu to an extent. I trust Nemuri to feed the cats when we go on vacation." He gingerly put another finger up. "I trust Tensei to give us heads up when our agencies collide for team-ups," three fingers now, Yamada was almost proud. "I trust our colleagues to attempt not to burn down our classrooms when we ask them to sub,” the fact that the word ‘attempt’ was in their discussion didn’t escape Hizashi’s notice. He was a little less proud of his husband’s antics, but it was something.

"And why not Tsukauchi? I know for a fact he's your favorite on the force," If by favorite the proclaimed 'one that pisses me off the least’ then Tsukauchi had been successful in holding that title for almost a decade. Hizashi was going to take it for what it truly meant. Tsukauchi had earned at least some of Aizawa’s respect.

"That is a very low bar. Unlike some of the other half-brains there, I trust Tsukauchi to do his job, process evidence, and question witnesses,” his husband grumbled, “Nothing more, nothing less."

Hizashi started rubbing Shota’s upper arm in a comforting manner. It was clear this was getting to a little more heavy topic tonight than his husband was probably looking for.

He tried to make his voice as delicate as possible, "Sho, you know those things are all his job. Not to mention just barely surface-level things.”

"He should only be trusted with surface-level things," Shota said with grim finality.

Hizashi took a deep breath in. Clearly, he'd need a new tactic. Maybe time for a little tough love. "I get it. I do. Oboro is important to me too. But Sho, we can't protect him forever. Nor would they want us to. And I think this relationship could be good for them." Oboro did seem to be a bit happier every time he came back from patrol or dropped down at the station. It wasn’t a huge change, but Hizashi could tell the slight extra bounce in his platonic partner’s feet when he walked.

"Or it could end up in a worse situation than last time," There was the catastrophizing. Aizawa leaned into him slightly as he usually did during these moments. That meant Hizashi was getting somewhat closer to getting through to him.

Hizashi looped an arm around Shota's back. "I can't say I know what the future holds, but if it does end up turning into a massive dumpster fire, we'll be there for him. You know this, we’ve dealt with it before" While Hizashi would prefer never to have a repeat of that awful time, he could endure it if he needed to.

"Knowing it doesn't make it any less terrifying." Shota slipped his hand into Hizashi's.

Hizashi squeezed the hand in return. "No, it doesn’t, but we got each other; that’s pretty damn good enough for me."