Chapter Text
Shouta rubbed his temples as he stared down at the scene before him. A scraggly teen in a baggy sweater was being an absolute idiot and had run into an alleyway, chasing a pair of drunkards. This teen was an absolute idiot of a vigilante. At least he wasn’t alone, the vigilante had a tall figure - wait a moment. Shouta narrowed his eyes as he took note of the adult following the teenage vigilante. That adult wasn’t living, and they looked way too much like-
Fuck. They were exactly who he thought they were. His old mentor, Salamander, the fairy tail hero.
Shouta closed his eyes and groaned. He had the sinking feeling his life was about to get a lot more complicated.
Shouta dropped down into the alleyway just as the kid launched himself at the two drunkards, and his hearing was immediately assaulted with a sound that made his heart ache, the hearty bellows of his old mentor’s laughter, “hey Problem child! It’s good to see you again,” the spirit called out to him, “you wanna help my boy out? Those two drunkards have drugs on them, Trigger.”
Shouta stiffened at the name of the worst drug in recent years. Trigger had been a blight on their society, “and your son is going to go after them? Knowing they have Trigger?!”
Salamander smirked, that same smirk that used to, and apparently still does, drive Shouta crazy. The smirk that says he knows something Shouta didn't, and that he’s going to be an absolute ass and not share. Shouta groaned, glared at Salamander’s spirit, and chased after the boy.
Shouta had to give the teen credit, he had guts, brains, and a scrappy ass attitude. Definitely Salamander’s kid.
Salamander still had that smug grin on his face, “sadly I died too early so I couldn’t teach my boy directly, but I’ve tried my hardest to help him. His mother keeps on trying to smother him, so I’ve used some of my ghostly powers to show him freedom. He’s a quick learner, he’s got potential.”
Shouta knew it was bad practice, but he hung back for several moments to just watch the teen. Salamander didn’t say that just anyone had potential, he’s the one who taught Shouta how to be so critical and picky about who to train. Despite his scrawny appearance, Salamander’s kid must have some muscle on him as his punches were packing a bit of a punch. The kid was also aiming for the vulnerable points, taking advantage of the intoxicated state the drunkards were in, which made his hits even more painful.
Shouta was impressed as he watched the kid weave in and out of attacks, and he could see Salamander grinning proudly out of the corner of his eye, “I managed to lead my boy to my old books on fighting styles. He learned all of this by himself, and then went and hit the streets.”
Shouta raised an eyebrow, “you do realize this is vigilantism.” He said aloud, to both the spirit and the child, who had finished taking out the two drunks.
Salamander just laughed, while his kid spun around and stared at Shouta with wide eyes and an awed whisper of, “It’s Eraserhead....”
Shouta groaned, “look, kid, this is vigilantism.” He said, choosing to completely ignore the fact that the kid recognized him, “which is illegal. Which means I have to take you in.”
Salamander and his kid both chuckled, and, wow, if he didn’t already know that the kid was Salamander’s, he did now. Their laughter was so similar it was like hearing a young version of his mentor. The kid smirked at him, with that same stupid smirk Salamander had, “well, technically I’m not. Vigilantism is defined as the usage of one’s quirk without a legal license. I haven’t used my quirk, so therefore I’m not a vigilante.”
Shouta glared at the problem child as he heard distant sirens make their way closer. He realized the problem child must have called the cops before jumping the pair of drunkards. Smart kid. A problematic, nuisance, annoyingly smart kid. Shouta shot out his capture scarf and easily caught the problem child, “well, then you wouldn’t mind waiting for the cops that you so nicely called?”
The problem child snorted once, before beginning to chuckle as the alleyway became bathed in red and blue lights. Shouta turned around to address the approaching officers, taking his eyes off the child for only a few seconds - seconds! He whipped his head around as he felt his capture scarf slack, and found the child missing.
The officers on scene only chuckled, “ah, so you’ve met Gecko.”
“Gecko?” Shouta asked as he made his way to the nearest fire escape, hauling himself up to go look for the problem child.
“Yeah, Gecko. He’s a local vigilante that we can’t catch. Hasn’t done much more than take out the local thugs and low level drug dealers. Never uses a quirk that we’ve been able to document, and has given us and most the local pros the slip. One of the old timers said the kid looks like a mini Salamander, so one of us came up with the name Gecko and it stuck.”
“Ah. I see. Thanks.” Shouta called down as he scanned the nearby rooftops. He couldn’t see anything but Salamander’s spirit smirking at him yet again. Shouta glared at the spirit, “where did your brat go, Salamander?” He asked, lowering his voice so the cops down below couldn’t hear him.
Salamander laughed at him, “your patrol method is too well known, Problem Child. Now think, if my kid ain’t up here, and he ain’t on street level, where else could he go?”
Shouta looked down at the alleyway below, and realized that where Gecko had been standing was... a manhole cover. A slightly ajar manhole cover. Shouta’s eye twitched, “goddamn it, that problem child.” He grumbled to himself as he dropped back to street level and followed after Gecko.
He didn't notice Salamander’s fond, teary eyed look, nor the spirit’s soft words, “my problem child has grown up so quickly...”
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Shouta trudged into the station unhappy and reeking like a sewer. Several of the newbie cops stares at him with wide eyes until he glared at them, while one of the older ones snickered at him, “Gecko gave you the slip, didn't he?”
Shouta glared at that cop too, who merely hid their grin in their cup of horrible coffee, “if you want, Tanuma is on this case. Not that any of us are in any rush to catch the kid, he’s doing good work. We just have a case open so the HPSC doesn't ride our asses.”
Should nodded his thanks as he turned, and headed towards the detective offices.
The detective’s door cracked open when Shouta pushed on it, and the man inside looked up when Shouta entered. The detective’s nose scrunched up, “did you go dumpster diving again, Eraserhead?”
“No, I was chasing a Gecko through the sewers.” Shouta deadpanned.
Tanuma’s expression relaxed and he nodded, “ah, so you have finally met the resident Vigilante.”
“I want in on the case.” Shouta said bluntly.
Tanuma sighed, “i figured you would say that. You’re on it. Just be easy on the kid.” He stood up from his desk and headed out of the room, towards the communal file room.
“I know. He’s Salamander’s kid.” Shouta said as he followed the detective down the hallway.
“He hasn’t breathed fire like his dad, yet.” Tanuma opened the door to the file room as he spoke, ”in fact we havent caught the kid using a quirk at all yet. Just his fists and weapons.”
The file Tanuma handed him was a thick behemoth of a stack of papers. Two thick binders and one extremely slim folder, “That’s all we have, Eraserhead. The folder is just a rough appearance and a list of scenes he’s been recorded at. The rest is the analysis and other notes the kid had gifted us. The kid’s mostly a helper, he got started via dropping off packets of analysis on villains in our Dropbox, though recently he’s started going after drug dealers. We didn’t even know we had Trigger in this area until he dropped some dealers off at our steps.”
Shouta hummed as he flipped through one of the binders, “The kid is smart.” He commented passively.
Tanuma nodded, “oh yeah, he definitely has Salamander’s smarts. The running theory is that he has an analysis quirk, and we just haven't caught him using it yet. Those mental quirks are always so hard to catch being used.”
Shouta had a gut feeling that the kid didn’t have an analysis quirk. The image of Salamander’s stupid fucking smirk entered his mind again, this time overlayed by image of Gecko’s smirk, “wait. Last night he wasn’t wearing a mask. How have you not caught him yet when he doesn't wear a mask?”
“That’s the thing, last night was the first time anyone had seen his face. And even then, the officers on scene don't actually remember what the kid’s face looked like. Just that he was very plain faced with green eyes. Very much like his plain faced dad. Someone who could easily blend into a crowd and the smarts to be able to do it.”
Shouta frowned, because Tanuma wasn’t wrong. Both Salamander and his son had very plain, generic faces. Yet Shouta could clearly remember what Gecko’s face looked like. He couldn’t help but wonder why the kid was so unafraid of letting shouta see his face, but wouldn’t let the cops see it.
Something was going on here, and Shouta immediately felt the itch to go out hunting for Gecko again. Even though he knew that if he did, Salamander’s spirit would burn him alive for being reckless and not taking a break. Shouta sighed, and shifted the stack of information in his arms, “I presume this is the copied version?”
“Yeah, the originals are locked up like normal.”
“Good, I’m taking these home.” Shouta said as he pivoted, and walked out.
†††††††††††
Shouta had the case files scattered across the kitchen table when his husband Hizashi got home, and a cup of coffee in his hands as he glared at the files. He only looked up when Hizashi addressed him, “how long have you been staring at those files, Shou?”
Shouta slowly blinked, “too long.” He admitted, “but I need to crack this case.”
“Traffickers?” Hizashi asked with concern leaking into his voice, he knew how much his caring husband stresses over kidnapping and human trafficking cases.
Thankfully, Shouta sighed, “no.” He said, bringing hope to Hisashi’s heart, “its worse.” Aaaaand there it is, the bombshell.
Hizashi frowned at his husband, “what’s worse that human trafficking?”
“Three things. Trigger, Salamander, and a teenage vigilante.” Shouta raised a finger for each thing he listed off, looking more and more tired with each finger.
Hizashi’s eyes went wide, “I thought Salamander was dead?”
“He is. His son however, is not. And Salamander never moved on either.”
“Oh. Fuck.”
“Yeah. I have to find this kid. There’s something Salamander wont reveal to me, the cryptic bastard, but he wants me meddling. He practically begged, in his own way.”