Chapter Text
There was a vigilante in the Musutafu area. He was small and quick and weirdly nice, and Aizawa Shouta was about ninety-nine percent certain that he was a teenager. Not even an older teenager, but an actual, bona fide fifteen-ish-year-old kid.
The first time Shouta had come across him was in late August, and he was on the farthest part of his patrol route. He thought the kid was just out late, on his way home from a friend’s or something. Sure, the black sweater with the hood up in the middle of a warm, clear night was a bit strange, and the red medical mask looked a bit like a not-medical mask when he got close enough for a proper look, but kids were weird sometimes. Shouta would know, teaching them was his day job.
It was awful.
Now, perhaps all of the earlier oddities combined with the fact that he found the kid wandering down a dark alleyway should have told him there was something fishy going on here. Unfortunately, sometimes when Shouta saw teenagers in precarious situations, the part of his brain that was in charge of his students’ safety started screaming at him, and the part that was responsible for alerting him to suspicious characters turned its attention to everyone other than the teenager in question. So Shouta hopped down into the alleyway and asked the kid if he wanted someone to walk him home.
“Oh!” The kid startled when Shouta dropped down next to him, then relaxed when he got a better look. “Uh, no, I’m all right sir, um—are you Eraserhead?”
Were Shouta not a master of the deadpan, his eyebrows would have shot straight from his forehead and into orbit. As it was, he just thought, Huh. He recognized me.
“Yes,” he said.
“Oh wow, that’s so cool—I mean, there aren’t really pictures of you on the internet and I only recognized you because of the goggles—I didn’t think I’d be running into a hero tonight!” He started frantically patting down his pockets. “I need your autograph, oh my God—wait, I didn’t bring a pen…”
Shouta sighed. “I don’t do autographs, kid.” He went on before the teenager could express the disappointment made clear by his drooping shoulders. “Now, I’m sure you already know this, but it’s dangerous to be wandering by yourself in the middle of the night. Especially at your age.”
“...My age?”
“You’re, what, fifteen?”
“I’m an adult!” The kid’s voice cracked.
Shouta stared at him. “If you say so.”
The kid’s skin darkened with a flush of pink. “Well, I appreciate the offer, Eraserhead sir, but I’m fine by myself. I’m almost home, and I know this part of town pretty well.”
“Hmm.” Shouta continued to stare at him, unspeaking, for as long as it took for mask kid to start fidgeting. Then he shrugged. “Well, if you’re sure.” Without waiting for a response, he shot out a ribbon of his capture scarf and ascended onto the roof of one of the buildings flanking the alleyway.
Down below, the kid slumped and sighed. He muttered something Shouta couldn’t hear from this distance, shook his head, and started off down the alley.
Shouta followed him, of course. He wasn’t about to let a stupid teenager walk home alone in the dead of night, no matter how much control the kid thought he had over the situation.
Mask kid took a convoluted route through a few more back alleys. Closer to civilization, he stopped to help an exceedingly drunk woman climb the stairs to her apartment. After a few more minutes of wandering, the kid hopped over the fence of a house’s back yard and scurried to the back door.
So he’d been sneaking out, huh? Dumb kid. At least he got home safe.
Shouta left as soon as mask kid made it through the door.
“Hey, All Might.” Izuku toed off his shoes and slid his feet into the pair of slippers that had been left for him. “Sorry to drop by so late. I didn’t think you’d be up.”
All Might, deflated, thin, and skeletal, was sitting at the small dining table. A mug of tea rested to his right, and an array of papers was strewn across the tabletop before him. He looked up at Izuku’s greeting and smiled, softer than any smile would be in his muscle form. “Don’t worry about it, young Midoriya. You know you’re welcome anytime. I’m just catching up on some work I’ve missed the last few days.”
“What kind of work?” Izuku meandered over and peered at the papers. He didn’t glimpse more than a couple uninformative words before All Might began gathering the papers away.
“That would be a secret, my boy.”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” Izuku took the seat across from All Might. He sighed as he pulled his mask down around his neck, then pushed down his hood and pulled off the headband holding his hair back.
All Might shuffled the papers into an orderly stack. “Do you need anything, young Midoriya?”
“No. Well—” He paused. “My patrol started a few hours ago, so I guess a snack would be good.”
“Of course. Can’t go patrolling the streets on an empty stomach.” All Might swept off to the kitchen, dropping his paperwork on the counter. “You did eat dinner, right?”
“Yeah. Though it was a while ago…” He scratched his cheek where the edge of his mask had been rubbing against his skin.
“Good, good.” All Might began filling a glass of water in the sink. He returned to the table a minute later with the glass and a couple protein bars. Izuku unwrapped one and took a bite.
“You’re quiet tonight,” All Might said after a moment. “Is there something on your mind?”
“Mm…” Izuku swallowed. “Well… I kinda ran into a hero a bit ago?”
“Oh?” All Might folded his hands in front of him. “Who was it?”
“Eraserhead.”
“Ah.” All Might nodded. “Yes, I know the one. Is that why you came here?”
“Yeah…” He fiddled with the edge of the protein bar wrapper. “But what if it was a mistake?”
All Might blinked. “What if what was a mistake?”
“Coming here.” Izuku tore the corner of the wrapper. “I mean, it seems like he thought I was just a lost kid on my way home or something, and he offered to walk me the rest of the way because it wasn’t safe, but what if that’s not actually why? What if he figured out I’m a vigilante? Could he get me in trouble? He might’ve followed me here, and if he did then he might come around and start asking you questions, and that wouldn’t be great for you. But I also didn’t want to lead him back home, and here seemed like the best option, but now you might have to deal with him, so maybe it would have been better if I—”
“Young Midoriya,” All Might cut him off, “it’s perfectly fine. He doesn’t have any reason to suspect you’re a vigilante, right?”
Izuku thought. “Well… I guess not. But I mean, he’s supposed to be smart, right? And he’s an experienced underground hero. I might have dropped some hint that he could pick up on and not even noticed.”
“I’m sure you didn’t. You don’t cut much of a suspicious character. It’s not like you’re doing any fighting, either—helping people isn’t against the law. Technically you aren’t even a vigilante.” All Might took a sip from his mug. “In any case, I’m moving to my apartment soon, so you don’t have to worry about me if he does come looking.”
Izuku all but melted in relief. “Oh. Good.” The apartment All Might was moving to was a fair way across town—closer to U.A. actually, which was exciting, though also disheartening, since that made it farther from the apartment where Izuku lived. “You still haven’t told me why you’re moving, though.”
All Might huffed a laugh. “All in due time, my boy.”
The second time Shouta met the vigilante was over a month later. Halfway through his patrol there was a scream, then—
“COME ON, C’MON, GO! RUN—AH!”
Shouta wasted no time plunging over the edge of the building he was standing on, just in time to see three teenagers burst from a dark side street pursued by a large man with some kind of rhinoceros mutation.
Wait, he recognized that guy—Ayabumu Tsunoshiro, drug dealer, broke out of prison last month, described as being extremely aggressive. Two charges of murder and three of assault, and that was just what the police had proof of.
One of the teenagers—older girl, black hair—dove to the ground with a shriek as Ayabumu made a roaring swipe for her head. A shorter boy with his hood pulled up tackled her out of Ayabumu’s path, and they rolled off the sidewalk and into the deserted street.
“Get back!” Shouta pushed his way in front of the last member of the group and lashed his capture weapon out at the dealer’s horn. A hard yank threw Ayabumu off balance before he had a chance to dislodge it.
The other two kids were just picking themselves off the ground, and a quick glance showed the boy standing behind him was dawdling.
“Grab your friends and get somewhere safe,” Shouta snapped. “And call the police over here!”
“Uh—right!” the boy stammered. His footsteps echoed away, nearly drowned out by Ayabumu’s enraged yelling.
It didn’t take Shouta long to deal with the threat now that there was no one to protect. Large though Ayabumu was, he was an amateur fighter; Shouta had him bound on the ground in under a minute. He made sure to cover his mouth, just to get the man to shut up—it was the middle of the night, hardly the time for loud noises.
After making sure Ayabumu was secured, Shouta turned and surveyed the street. This area of town had a lower population, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that there was no one else around. There were almost no windows with lights on this late, and not so much as a twitch of a curtain. Except—
Movement. Down the street. Close.
He glanced over to the side without moving his head and spotted him, peeking around the corner of the next building. It was one of the teenagers, he thought—the one with his hood up. He was wearing a bright red mask over the lower half of his face, almost reminiscent of a medical mask.
“Hey,” Shouta called.
The kid jumped, looking around as if to make sure he was the person being spoken to.
“Are your friends safe?”
“My—uh, yes.” The kid stepped out from behind the building. “They’re calling the police. I just wanted to—to make sure you got him.”
“Civilians shouldn’t loiter around hero fights. But yes, as you can see, I got him. You’re safe now.” Shouta paused. Something about everything about this kid was familiar somehow. Mask, hood, alley, night… “Have we met?”
“Um.”
“Ah, I remember. You’re that kid who snuck out and started wandering around dark alleyways in the middle of the night.” Shouta adjusted his hold on his capture scarf and took a few steps forward. “Is this what you and your friends get up to? Meeting with drug dealers?”
“What—? No!” The kid clenched his fists at his sides indignantly. “I don’t do drugs!”
“That’s what they all say,” Shouta sighed. Though judging by how shocked and affronted the kid was at the accusation, he was likely telling the truth. “Whatever, that’s not important right now. Get back to your friends and wait for the police to arrive. They’ll take your statements and someone will drive you home.”
“Right. I’ll do that.” Mask kid spun on his heel and disappeared around the corner.
Somewhere around ten minutes later, the police rolled up to the scene. Ayabumu was shuffled away for transport to the nearest police station, and Shouta took off in the direction the mask kid had gone. It was a simple thing to follow the lights of the remaining squad car down the adjacent street. When he got there he found an officer taking down the statements of the black-haired girl and the other boy in the group. In this light they looked to be around eighteen, and suspiciously twitchy.
The masked boy was nowhere to be seen.
“Hey,” he interjected as soon as the statements were finished. “Where’s your friend? He didn’t go off on his own, did he?”
“Friend?” the police officer questioned.
“Oh.” The boy seemed to realize something. “Yeah, that guy. We haven’t seen him in a few minutes—he went off to check on you and Ayabumu and didn’t come back.”
“‘That guy’? So you’re not friends, then?”
“No.” The girl shook her head and rubbed her arms with shaking fingers. “We’ve never seen him before. He cut in when Shiro—uh—when Ayabumu started getting all…” She waved her hands. “Y’know?”
“I see.” Shouta glanced at the officer, who was nodding and gesturing to the notepad he’d written the statements on. “So he appeared after Ayabumu became aggressive?”
“Yeah,” the boy confirmed. He wrapped his arm around the girl’s shoulders. “He pushed us out of the way and told us to run. We should have left earlier. Or never come.”
The girl nodded. A shudder wracked her frame, even though she was wearing a sweater and it wasn’t cold out. She wiped sweaty palms on her jeans.
Shouta frowned. Budding vigilante, or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time with a heart too big for his own safety? There was no way to tell with as little information as he had, but he had a feeling it was the first option. Two nighttime encounters over a month apart, and on both occasions he covered his head and wore a mask. If Shouta saw him again, he was going to do something about this.
For now though, he borrowed the officer’s notepad and pen and wrote the girl the number of a good drug rehabilitation center.
The next morning was a Saturday. Izuku dragged himself out of bed at half past nine and trudged into the living room, rubbing his eyes to wipe away the accumulated grit of seven hours of sleep. His mother was seated on the couch, watching the newscaster going on at length about the U.A. Cultural Festival taking place in a few weeks.
“Oh Izuku, you’re up!” She turned and sent him a bright smile. “There’s breakfast on the table for you. Are you doing any beach cleaning today?”
“No, today’s just a run. I’ll go after I eat.” Izuku took his seat at the table and tucked into a bowl of rice. “Anything interesting on the news?”
His mother turned back to the TV screen. “Well, not much. The U.A. Festival is coming up, but we can’t go since your middle school is holding theirs around then too…” She sighed.
“Well, with any luck I’ll be in U.A.’s festival as a student next year.” Izuku grinned at the prospect.
“That’s right! Oh, and some drug dealing prison escapee got busted last night. Scary stuff. Be careful walking at night, Izuku, okay? Stay away from alleys.”
“Mm.” Izuku swallowed a bite of rice and carefully avoided making any kind of expression that might somehow give away the fact that he had been there during the busting of the drug dealing prison escapee. Though at the time he’d only known about the drug dealing part…
After finishing breakfast, Izuku changed into his running clothes, pulled on his running shoes, said goodbye to his mother at the door, and took off. His running route wended its way through town for about a mile. At the end of that mile was the train station, at which point he hopped on board the train and rode for half an hour to a different neighborhood. There his run continued for another ten minutes and stopped again at All Might’s apartment.
This was only his running route on weekends, of course. He had a proper one he used on other days.
He knocked on the door, hopping in place slightly as his heart slowed from the pace it had taken while he ran, and only had to wait a few seconds before the door swung open.
“Good morning, young Midoriya.” All Might moved aside to let him in. “How was you run?”
Izuku shrugged and stepped through the doorway. “Same as always. Not even a hero fight. Last night though…”
“Ah yes, you said something about that in your text. I thought I’d wait till you got here to hear the full story.” All Might shut the door and moved to the kitchen while Izuku took off his shoes.
“Well, patrol was mostly normal too.” Izuku slid into a chair at the table. “Up till a few hours in. I saw this couple looking kinda shifty in the alleys, so I followed them, and it turned out they were meeting a drug dealer.”
All Might spun around, nearly spilling the half-filled cup of tea he was pouring. “A drug dealer?”
“Yeah.” Izuku drummed his fingers on the table. “He had a rhino mutation, I think—and he was huge, almost as big as you when you’re all puffed up. I didn’t fight him or anything, but it seemed like the couple were kinda desperate, and the guy got really angry for some reason, so I pushed them out of the way when he took a swipe at them.”
“I see.” All Might turned back to pouring the tea. “What happened after that?”
“The three of us escaped the alley with the rhino guy chasing us, and you’ll never guess who showed up.” He didn’t wait for the guess. “It was Eraserhead again!” He threw his hands in the air. “I don’t know why he was there. I’ve switched up my patrol route since last time I ran into him, so I didn’t think I’d see him at all. I guess our paths intersected or something?”
All Might came to the table and set a cup of tea in front of Izuku with a soft click of ceramic on wood. “I don’t know much about Eraserhead, but I believe he switches his patrol routes and times now and then to cover more ground.” He took a sip from his own cup.
Izuku nodded, wrapping his hands around the tea. The heat seeped into his hands. “Yeah, that sounds like something he’d do. Anyway, Eraserhead took down the dealer and I ended up talking to him a bit when I went back to check he had things handled. It turns out he doesn’t know I’m a sort-of vigilante, he just thinks I’m a stupid teenager sneaking out at night.” Izuku gulped a mouthful of tea.
All Might raised an eyebrow.
Izuku looked up. “What?”
“Of course, you’re definitely not a stupid teenager sneaking out at night. He has no idea what he’s talking about.”
A wave of heat traveled up Izuku’s face. “Well yeah, but I’m doing it to make a difference! Not to rebel or—or do drugs or party or something!”
“I know, I know.” All Might shook his head fondly. “You didn’t get hurt, did you?”
“Just a little bruised.” Izuku rolled his shoulder. “No big deal. I remembered what you taught me about falling safely. It was a bit harder to do when I was holding on to other people, but it could’ve been worse.”
“Good, I’m glad.” All Might swirled his tea absently. “I’d rather you didn’t have to put my training to use so soon. It would be much safer if…” He trailed off.
A grimace pulled at the corner of Izuku’s mouth. “I’m not going to stop. Even if you stopped teaching me I’d keep going.”
“I know. That’s exactly why I picked you.” All Might sighed. “You have a good heart, my boy. I just wish you’d be more careful with it.”
Izuku smiled at the praise, even if it was half buried in All Might’s worry. “That’s what the combat training’s for.”
“Don’t go thinking you’re ready to fight villains yet. It’s only been a few months since I started teaching you.”
“Yeah…” Izuku turned his head to stare out the window. “It’s gonna happen at some point, though, right? I’m going to end up in a situation I have to fight my way out of. No running away.” He curled his fingers around the teacup. “I know I’m not ready for that… but I’m gonna have to try my best when it happens. If I see someone being attacked again… I don’t think I can stand by. I’ll have to do something, even if I’m not ready.”
Out the window, a gust of wind beckoned a leaf off its branch.
All Might sighed again, then coughed slightly. “Well, I’ll do my best to prepare you for that eventuality. Hopefully it comes later rather than sooner.”
Izuku sipped his tea. “Yeah. Hopefully.”