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Izuku’s mom often threw him out with an empty stomach, stating that there wasn’t enough food for both him and her at home, and that he needed to find dinner on his own. Izuku thought the stocked fridge and pantry told him otherwise, but he never dared to say so.
Today was one such day. His mom had pushed him out the door, claiming that she had had a rough week and didn’t want to deal with Izuku on her day off. It didn’t matter that it was freezing and completely dark out — Izuku was just expected to deal with it.
Sometimes, the vendors would offer him leftovers they couldn’t manage to sell in time. Today, however, was a little past that time. Izuku wandered the empty streets, a sense of desolation filling him. He wished he was home instead, even if the frigid expressions of her mom were even colder than the chilly winds.After walking around forever without anything to show for it, he reached the park. He had many fond memories of playing here with Kacchan in the past, but things had changed so drastically between them recently that he couldn’t imagine them doing the same things now. Thankfully, the park was almost empty now, save for one or two people taking midnight strolls. Izuku walked past the jungle gyms and the sandboxes. He already had a destination in mind.
However, it quickly became apparent to him that his destination was already occupied. A man Izuku had never seen before was sitting on his favorite bench. It was his favorite for a reason — it was tucked all the way in the back of the park, hidden by the swooping branches of the oak tree — he could sleep here for hours and no one would notice. There wasn’t any other bench like this one anywhere else in the park, and Izuku had explored every crevice of it already. As Izuku walked closer, he saw that the man’s eyes were shut. His hair was long and messy, his dark clothes were disheveled and his collar wasn’t straightened. There was also an extremely long white scarf wrapped around his neck, however, Izuku didn’t think it was used to keep him warm. All in all, he was what Izuku’s mom would call a useless bum. Izuku thought that perhaps he doesn’t mind this man taking over his spot for the night.
Just as he was about to leave and go off to look for another sleeping spot, he saw it — a frayed, brown wallet sticking so far out of his jean pockets that it looked like it was going to fall out if the man so much as sneezed. From the looks of it, it was thick with cash and cards — more than enough for Izuku to buy at least ten instant ramens at the convenience store. If he could just take it from the sleeping man, he wouldn’t have to starve tonight, and tomorrow, for that matter.
Yet, Izuku hesitated. The man didn’t look exactly well off, and even his sleeping face looked scary and mean. Besides, Izuku still wanted to be a hero when he grew up. He was sure that if he got caught, the man would take him to the police and there would be a record on him! There was no way he could be accepted to U.A if that happened.
Before he could make up his mind, a painful wave of hunger struck him and he looked back at the wallet longingly. Maybe he could just take a few bills from there, just enough for him to buy a meal? The man probably wouldn’t even notice. It was kind of his fault for keeping his wallet in plain sight like that, anyway.
Nodding determinedly to himself, he crept closer to the man. The man didn’t shift nor stir — he looked almost comatose, which only spurred Izuku on further. Slowly and with trembling hands, Izuku reached towards the wallet while keeping a careful eye on the man. At the exact moment his outstretched fist closed around his prize, the man suddenly lurched forward, his eyes flying open.
“Ahh!” Izuku yelped, leaping back with great alarm. “AHHH!” The wallet fell to the ground lightly, bouncing off the grass before coming to a halt a few feet away from them.
The man stood and picked it up, turning towards Izuku with a wholly unimpressed expression. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked, folding his arms and glaring down at Izuku.
His heart pounded with terror. The man had been awake this entire time? Was he going to hurt him? Similar questions ran through his mind in rapid succession, rendering him frozen in place.
“I asked you a question, kid.” His voice was deep and raspy, sending chills down Izuku’s spine. “Answer it.”
Izuku remained frozen for another second before doing the only thing he could think of, which was to turn and run away as fast as he could. He knew the right thing to do was apologize and beg for forgiveness, but he was so, so scared. The man was much larger than him, and the expression on his face was downright intimidating. It resembled the ones usually on his mom’s face whenever Izuku annoyed her. He didn’t think there was a way to talk his way out of the situation.
Relief filled him when no sound of footsteps followed him, but it quickly turned to horror when a rough cloth wrapped itself around his entire body, constricting his movements completely. Panicking, he thrashed against it with all his strength to no avail — the cloth was too hard, and he was too weak with hunger. What’s more, he was floating a foot or two off the ground.
Just who was this man?
“Now, can we talk?” the man asked. “I’ll ask again. What were you trying to do?” Izuku fearfully looked up at him. His eyes were glowing bright red now, and his hair was floating in thin air. The cloth that was restraining him stemmed from the scarf Izuku had seen earlier; its use becoming apparent in the worst way possible. He felt his breath hitch and his airway close. He couldn’t give the man an answer.
“Still don’t want to talk?” he said, louder this time. “You know I can just toss you to the police, right? Attempted robbery is still a crime, even if it didn’t work. You should be glad I’m even bothering to talk to you right now. I don’t have much patience for little brats like you.” He glared at him and Izuku felt his fear pulse. The red eyes were extra horrific when his face looked so angry.
“O-okay! I’ll talk. Put me down, please!” Izuku squeaked. The man didn’t sound like he was joking. He didn’t even want to think about the consequences of being sent to the police. Would he be arrested? What would his mom say?
“Are you going to run again?”
Izuku tried to shake his head, only to find that he couldn’t. “No! I won’t, I swear,” he said instead.
There was a tense moment of silence, and then he sighed. “Fine,” he said, and Izuku felt the cloth around his loosen and release him, allowing him to land somewhat clumsily on the ground.
“T-thank you,” he said.
The man’s eyes had returned to their normal black, and his hair also stopped floating. However, his stern glare remained, prompting Izuku to quickly answer. “So?”
“Um… I’m r-really sorry. I was t-trying to steal from you,” Izuku said in a small voice. He had never felt as mortified as he did right now.
“And why did you want the money?”
“I was h-hungry,” Izuku said, hanging his head. He could feel tears prickling at the back of his eyes now, ready to fall at any moment. A mixture of shame and regret welled up in him, and he cursed himself for ever thinking that stealing was the right idea.
“That doesn’t justify it. Even if you were hungry, there are tons of options that you can take before resorting to stealing my wallet. You could’ve just asked me for food, for example.”
“I didn’t mean to, honest!” His chin was wobbling now, and a few stray tears slipped down his face. By the looks of it, the man wasn’t going to forgive him. “I’m sorry! I was just really hungry! Please don’t hurt me.”
Through watery eyes, he saw the man crouch down in front of him.
“Hey, no need to cry. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. Was that a hint of panic Izuku picked up in his voice? He wasn’t sure, but that didn’t seem right.
“I’m sorry,” Izuku wailed. Now that the tears had started, they refused to stop, even when he rubbed at them fiercely. “I c-can’t help it.”
He heard a deep sigh. “Kid, look at me,” he said. Hesitantly, Izuku met his eyes. The man’s expression had softened, and his anger had all but vanished. “I just want to talk. Let’s calm down a bit first, okay? Take some deep breaths, it’ll help.”
“O-okay,” Izuku said, taking in several jagged and uneven breaths. The man didn’t look nearly as scary now that he wasn’t glaring anymore.
“That’s it, just like that,” the man encouraged.
Finally, Izuku’s heart stopped beating at a million miles an hour and his tears receded. He wiped at them with his sleeves, trying not to think about how puffy they were going to be later on.
“Are you alright now?”
Izuku nodded timidly. He was surprisingly kind now, and Izuku wasn’t sure what caused the change. Was his crying too obnoxious?
The relief on the man’s face was palpable. “I’m sorry for scaring you. I just wanted you to know that stealing isn’t okay, even if you’re really hungry. You’re still young, with a bright future ahead of you. I’d hate to see you go down the wrong path.”
“I know. I don’t know what I was thinking.” Izuku’s face flushed from pure shame. “I’ve never done it before.”
“Alright. Then I don’t think I need to lecture you more. You seem sorry enough.”
“So … are you gonna throw me in jail?” he asked, fidgeting nervously with the hem of his shirt.
“I won’t if you promise me you won’t ever do it again.”
“Okay, I promise!” Izuku said, nodding fervently. After today’s scare, there was no way he would ever even think about stealing or breaking any other laws.
“You better keep that promise,” he warned. “Trust me, I’ll find out if you don’t.”
Izuku nodded again. “But… who are you? Why do you have … the … scarf thing?” he asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. The man didn’t look angry anymore, so he thought it was reasonably safe to ask now.
“I’m Eraserhead, a pro hero,” he said. “You caught me right after my patrol.”
Izuku’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe his luck. The one time he tried to steal from someone and it was a hero. What were the chances?
“Woah! No way! Was the red-eyes part of your quirk? What’s it do?” Despite his fears, he couldn’t resist asking. He had never been in such proximity with a hero before.
Eraserhead looked vaguely uncomfortable. “I can erase quirks,” he said.
“That’s so cool,” he whispered in awe. No wonder nothing happened earlier when his eyes had turned red. Izuku didn’t have a quirk to be erased.
“Enough about me. What’s your name, kid?”
“Izuku Midoriya, sir,” he said.
“Alright, Izuku. I’ll take you home. I’ll have a talk with your mom about taking better care of you, okay? There’s no reason for a kid like you to be out so late.”
“No! I can’t,” Izuku said instantly.
“Why not?” Eraserhead looked utterly exhausted at this point.
“Mom will be mad,” he said, his tears threatening to make another appearance. “She told me not to go home until the weekend was over. She said she wanted the time off for herself.”
“What? So that’s why you tried to take my wallet?” He sighed again. Izuku noted that he did that a lot. “Why didn’t you just say so before?”
“I didn’t think it was super relevant,” Izuku said hesitantly. “Please don’t tell my mom. She’s going to be furious.”
He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly looking very uncertain. “When was the last time you ate?”
Izuku had to think about it. “I had a juice box this morning,” he said.
“So, to get this straight, your mom doesn’t feed you and kicks you out of the house on the weekend?”
Izuku nodded. Eraserhead’s angry expression from earlier had returned, but Izuku didn’t think it was directed towards him this time.
Digging a hand through one of his pockets, he took a granola bar out and handed it over to Izuku, who accepted it with wonder.
“Eat this for now,” he said, putting a large hand on Izuku’s unruly hair. “You’re coming with me.”
Shouta watched Izuku hungrily wolf down the bowl of instant ramen he had placed in front of him. He wasn’t sure why he thought bringing the boy back home with him was a good idea, but his hunger-filled eyes triggered every protective instinct Shouta had. He was also slightly guilty for scaring him so much at first. He felt like he owed him a little after making him cry. Hizashi was going to have a field day when he finds out, he thought with a scowl.
“Eat slower,” he admonished. “You’re going to choke.” The way Izuku was eating could’ve been made into an advert for the instant ramen brand. Shouta wondered how hungry he was to be so eager about something so simple. He wished he had healthier options at home for him, but his fridge was sadly empty. Maybe Hizashi was right and his lifestyle was a little on the unhealthy side.
Izuku looked up mid-chew, his cheeks puffed up from all the food in his mouth. Shouta resisted the urge to groan. “Sorry,” he said, his voice muffled.
Within minutes, Izuku’s bowl was cleaned out.
“Are you still hungry?” he asked.
“Nope! It was delicious, thank you!”
“Don’t be afraid to speak up if you still want more.” The bowl of ramen couldn’t have been filling enough for someone who hadn’t eaten all day, but Shouta didn’t want to push.
“I’m okay, really.”
Shouta nodded and stood up. “Okay. Now come on. Let’s get you washed up. I don’t want dirt on my guest bed.”
“I … I can stay?” Izuku’s green eyes glimmered with hope, and Shouta forced down the warmth blossoming in his chest at the sight.
Shouta nodded, and Izuku beamed, his entire face lighting up with pure elation. It was so bright that Shouta almost looked away. “But we’re going to have to talk tomorrow, okay? People would think that I stole you, or something.”
Izuku’s face fell comically fast. “That’s not it,” he said. “My mom doesn’t want me around anyway, so it’s okay.”
The casual way Izuku said the horrifying sentence sent a wave of rage through Shouta. While Shouta wasn’t an expert on taking care of kids, he couldn’t fathom making such a small and defenseless child to fend for himself.
Forcing down his anger, he smiled awkwardly at Izuku. He didn’t want to accidentally scare him even more after threatening him earlier. “Your mom is wrong. I’ll work something out, don’t worry. You won’t ever starve or not have a place to sleep ever again.”
Izuku didn’t immediately respond, looking deep in thought. Then, he slowly nodded.
“Thank you so much,” he said fervently. “I … You don’t have to do all this for me after I tried to … tried to steal from you. Which I’m really, really sorry about, again. I mean, I know I already said it before, but I feel like it’s not enough. I--”
When Izuku’s face started going red from talking so fast, Shouta knew it was time to interrupt. “Yeah, I know kid. You don’t have to keep apologizing,” Shouta said. “Just go take a shower first.”
Shouta thrust the smallest-sized clothes he had in his wardrobe into Izuku’s arms. It wasn’t going to be a good fit, but it was loads better than the dirty and shoddy clothes he currently had on.
Pointing him in the direction of the bathroom, Izuku scampered inside, the awe-struck expression never quite leaving his face. Shouta wasn’t quite sure how he felt about the blatant admiration he was seeing from Izuku. He hadn’t exactly done too much to warrant it — he only gave him a place to spend the night.
As the bathroom door slammed shut, Shouta slumped down on his couch, suddenly feeling faint. What had he done? Despite what Izuku had said, it was still technically kidnapping, something Shouta himself was supposed to be strictly against. However, he knew he couldn’t have just let him be after what he had told him.
Shouta sighed, letting the sound of the running shower numb his growing anxiety. It was going to be a long day for him tomorrow, from the looks of it.
Maybe it would’ve been easier if he had just let the boy take his wallet.