Work Text:
Shouta was roaming the streets, looking for anything to eat, trying to ignore the pain of fresh bruises and scrapes from where one of the packs of “almost normal” kids had caught him briefly and impressed upon him again how much they disapproved of his existence.
“Stupid fuckers!” he muttered, then continuing in his mind because it was one thing to be the cat-mutant, eraser-quirk, fuck-up kid but to add talking to himself crazy on top, yeah, no!
‘Stupid stupid stupid, how am I still so fucking stupid to walk into a trap like that?’ totally ignoring that they’d used food as bait and he hadn't eaten in over twelve hours, ‘Gotta get better, I can’t keep getting caught….’
‘At least I got away faster this time,’ his hand rose of its own accord, slipping under the beanie hat he’d worn most of his short life, running fingers across the scars, remembering when he was eight and these same kids had held him down as he thrashed and screamed and begged and they'd cut his ears off, telling him they were doing him a favor, that he’d look more like a Normal and he’d tried, tried so hard to escape but….
His wonderful soft kitten ears, the ones he’d stroked tiny fingers against as he fell asleep each night, the ones that could turn and catch the slightest sound, were on the ground and blood was everywhere and….
Yanking his hand down he forced that memory away as he slipped in something and cursed, forcing himself to keep going, grateful that the fuckers still didn't know he had a tail, else they’d have cut that off years ago too.
Mutant’s got no mercy, and while his mutation was mild, simply a cat-like overlay to his eraser quirk - and yeah, they hated that too - it was enough for him to be a constant target of the bigger kids that roamed after school, enough for him to have been kicked out of that same school last year, and out of his family home two years ago, and now he was hand to mouthing it, keeping under cover when he could but hunger always forced him out of hiding, made him roam miles as he searched every place he’d ever found so much as a bite before while hoping to find something again.
Leaning on the wall of an alley he chewed the bones he’d found, no meat left - the area was poor, and ragged, and no one ever wasted food - but his strong sharp teeth - the reason he never smiled - made short work of them, crunching them to fragments.
It would be night soon and even though he could see perfectly well in the dark, he had to get to cover before that happened. The kids that targeted him at least know him, had known him all their lives, and they would hurt him but not, so far, badly enough to risk his dying of his injuries but the adults that came out at night, well, he’d be fair game for them and even the thought of what they might do to him had him cramming the last rat bones in his mouth and straightening up, preparing to make a run for his bolthole.
But then, it was like he was grabbed inside, hooks latching deep into his guts and he was jerked, spinning and everything went wild as his mind tried to make sense of directions he had no name for, colours he’d never seen before, and he was falling and vomiting and hands were on him, saying “Eraserhead, it’s alright, I’ve got you, calm down…”
Fighting and kicking and screaming he clawed and bit and struck out at them but there were too many hands, too skilled for him to escape, and then eventually he was sitting in a chair cuffed to a table and waiting for his emergency contact to get there.
The only problem was - well, one of the problems anyway - he had no one in the entire world who would be an emergency contact for him and everyone seemed to know who he was, even if he didn't have a clue who they were.
Keeping his mouth shut, he forced the terror away, no one had hurt him yet, and then the door opened and a very tall, slim man was standing staring at him and said, "Oh Shoulove, how do you get yourself into messes like this, eh?”
A question Shouta would love to know the answer to himself if he was being honest!
**************************
Answering the phone at two in the morning was always a jolt to the heart because the only people who would ever call at that time would be dear to him and in trouble, it just always seemed to work that way.
“Heeeeey there Listener, you have reached the phone of Present Mic, what can I do you for?”
Infusing his tone with cheerful nonchalance he felt his heart freeze at the words, “Good morning Present Mic, we have you listed as Eraserheads emergency contact number two. As we can not seem to be able to contact his number one, we have reached out to you instead. We currently have him at the 92nd precinct and, if you’re available, we need you to come collect him as soon as you can.”
Trying to break into the stream of words proved futile as the relentless voice continued -
"We think he was hit by a deaging quirk as he currently seems to be between ten and fourteen years of age but, having said that, he is refusing to speak to us and we don't have any officers available that usually work with him that he might be willing to actually talk to."
"The attack seems to have done nothing other than reducing his age but until we have the perpetrator in custody..." - 'fuck fuck fuck' Hizashi thought as he finished scrambling for his keys and jacket and getting out through the door, 'they don't even have the one that did it yet?' - "We won't know the actual mechanics of how the quirk works until then."
"We have encountered rumors of this quirk but nothing hands-on as it were so an all-points bulletin has gone out for their capture, and we did catch all seven other members of the gang, mainly due to Eraserheads consummate skills and professionalism," (ohhh he loved hearing his husband praised, it made his heart do funny flutters) "but until we either have the villain responsible in custody or the quirk itself times out, he is clearly unable to be alone so please, will you come retrieve him, he appears to be quite disorientated by the changes."
By the time the disembodied voice finally let him get a word in, he was halfway to the precinct and simply said, before hanging up, “I’m ten minutes out!”
*****
His heart almost broke when he saw Shouta, so small, so ragged, so clearly terrified. Hiding it the way he always did and always had but Hizashi knew his tells, all of them, so could see how the now tiny body was only not shaking by a fierce effort of will.
But, when he looked back at Hizashi with no recognition in his eyes, only more fear, and suspicion, Hizashi knew they were dealing with an earlier version of his husband than he’d ever met, so not fifteen or anywhere near it.
!Heeeey kiddo." He said softly, trying to guess the age he was dealing with. Shouta was always small for his age, malnutrition tended to do that to kids, so, best guess was eleven or twelve. And where did the clothes come from? Filthy and ragged, no hair showing under the frankly disgusting beanie covering the head now turned to him, dark eyes rimmed with shadows from lack of sleep and on the right side from a darkening black eye, clearly only a few hours old but, again, mystery added to mystery because a blow in the attack that had led to him being a kid again shouldn't be darkening yet so when had that happened?
He knew that, bad as Shouta’s situation was when they’d met - and it had been fucked up but at least the UA ward system had gotten him out of it - it had been infinitely worse when he was younger, although as Shouta never talked about it, he wasn't sure of the particulars, just that it had been very very bad indeed.
Looking at the closed-off face, the thin wrists, the dirt deeply staining every bit of skin he could see, yeah, this kid had it bad!
Kneeling to be a less threatening figure he said again, “Heeey there, do you have any idea who I am Sweetheart?”
****
Being led out of the cop shop by the stranger that he refused point blank to call Hizashi, settling on Yamada-kun in the end, just heaped weirdness upon weirdness. Especially the part where he’d been told he’d been hit by a deaging quirk and he was actually THIRTY FUCKING YEARS OLD!!!!
Yeah, like hell was that true!
But he couldn't smell any hint of deception on the blond, only worry thick enough to choke a cow with, and concern/fear/love/resolve twisted round him still as he, reluctantly, held the man's hand.
He’d been told they were going to the apartment they shared, that when things were normal they were married of all things, like anyone, anyone at all would want to marry someone like Shouta! But again, no hint of a lie to be sniffed out so, he let the man guide him to a car - flags, so many many red flags waving for his attention but his head hurt, he was hungry, and it was too bright, too loud, so he just closed his eyes and listened to the man detailing what was going to happen next.
Next seemed to be a thorough examination by a very short old lady who smelled of bottomless power and who was already waiting for them in the apartment that Yamada-kun insisted was home. It made him sneeze a few times but, as he held himself still while his heart pounded in fear, she didn't smell dangerous so, after totally refusing to remove his beanie he did take off his shirt, letting her see the most recent collection of bruises.
Looking down at himself he felt a stirring of pride at how marginal the damage was, they used to beat him senseless but nowadays he always escaped the worst of it and even managed to avoid them altogether most days. Not knowing his smile was on view, confusing the adults, he looked up when she said, “Alright, I need to take some blood …”
Which was as far as she got before he was on the far side of the room, back against the wall, stance wide and ready to either run or fight!
*****
Hizashi felt his heart break even more, this kid, this poor kid…
"Shhhh easy sweetheart," he spread his hands wide after motioning Chiyo back to the door - a double action, it gave the kid space and covered the exit - "it’s okay, no one's gonna hurt you Shouta, all she wanted to do was get some blood to see how you're doing, ya dig? Neither of us knew it was a trigger, but she still needs it so, how about we make a deal?"
Seeing the interest in the dark eyes, he gave a soft smile, "If you hold still for her to take her samples and then use her quirk on you, no, don't worry, it's a healing quirk and it’ll just get rid of the bruising and make you feel better, so as I said, if you hold still for all of that, you and I can have some ice cream after dinner.”
It had been one of the only things that got older Shouta’s cooperation with things he didn't want done to him so Hizashi used it without even thinking about it but all he got was a confused, “What’s that?”
Feeling his eyes boggling, he managed to say, “It’s something you really really like? We use it for a reward when things are hard but we manage to do them anyway. Like, for me it's tiramisu which is a really sweet coffee dessert but you’ve always just really loved strawberry ice cream so it's the perfect reward when you have to do things like doctor's visits and things.”
The total incomprehension the kid was showing was hurting his head and his instincts now, not just his heart. How did Shouta not know what ice cream was? Had he really never had it before they met? Or did this quirk affect memories too?
Just when he was about to panic the kid said almost soundlessly, “Will it hurt?” and Hizashi wanted to melt with relief and said, with the honesty he would never swerve from with Shouta, “Yes, it will, but only a little bit, ya dig?”
Moving closer Chiyo joined in, “I’ll put a small device against the inside of your elbow and it’ll attach, creating a suction, and then the quirk effect built into it will fill the vials that are part of the blood sample device. When it’s done there’ll be a small bruise but my quirk will heal it when we get to that point. It will be slightly uncomfortable but not much and not for long and it is a really important step of getting a handle on how you’re doing right now. I know quite a bit about your past childhood so I really can’t skip this. And, as Hizashi has said, there is a reward at the end of it. When you’re ready, all you need to do is sit beside me,” - she had already set out what she needed on the table and sat down as she spoke - “and we'll get it all done and dusted, alright dearie?”
Hizashi felt relief fill him as he remembered that Chiyo was a long-time caregiver to Shouta, as well as their friend and damned near grandmother so it was only to be expected that Shouta, after considering what he’d been told, finally moved reluctantly to the couch, letting her place the device to his inner elbow - after cleaning it of the grime staining the area - and activate it.
******
The only reason Shouta didn't just smash the window and escape the two adults in the room with him was that neither of them smelled dangerous, in fact, they smelled of a level of care and concern that only his mother had ever given to him, and she’d been dead two years now so it was getting harder and harder to remember how it had felt when she’d been alive. It had been her death that let the man who claimed to be his father throw him out as he’d threatened to do for as long as Shouta could remember.
Forcing that memory back and away, he moved carefully to the couch, letting the one called Recovery Girl first clean his arm and then set the device on it. Grimacing at the combined pressure and pinching sensation, he was relieved that, true to what he’d been told, it only hurt a little bit and took less than a minute for the three vials to fill with his blood and the device to be removed.
He tried to rub the sting away but he was stopped by the medic, flinching back as she’d reached for his hand, changing that to the quiet instruction to not touch, and then he had to give her his hand anyway and let her kiss it of all things, and then she kissed it again after explaining all about how her quirk (perfect quirk, perfect features, “Normal”) worked and he watched the mark fade away, all his bruises going with it, and in place of the grinding low-grade constant discomfort he was used to he was suddenly tired enough to want nothing more than to close his eyes.
Never! He jerked himself awake, never sleep where strangers could see, could reach him, his bolt hole where he lived could only be squeezed into by someone his size or smaller and was double hidden beside and even then he sometimes couldn't sleep for fear of someone creeping up on him so to want to sleep right now, in the open like this?
Trying to hold back the yawn he felt his eyes slip shut without his letting them, took a deep breath to summon up enough will to force them open again, and then nothing….
****
Watching the kid fall asleep after Chiyo used her quirk on them was a relief, the kid looked like they hadn't slept in years! He found himself reacting more and more like this wasn't actually Shouta and instead was a new, and damaged, temporary foster kid placement which was perhaps a strange way to be handling this but, with them being so much younger than the Shouta Hizashi had first met way back when, it really was like dealing with a stranger.
A feral, frightened, yet still logical stranger.
Helping to settle them down onto the couch, placing a pillow while Chiyo covered him with a blanket, Hizashi gently touched the still-covered head. Why didn't the kid want to take the hat off? So much to learn and he already just wanted the entire episode over, over, and done with and his husband back, fucksake he missed him!
Well, after a nap they’d have ice cream and then dinner, which judging by the ribs on show, would be the last time they were eating anything not on an approved dietary list that his Chiyo-Obaachan was already working on.
Catching her eye he smiled hopefully, and she gave a short laugh, “Yes child, when he wakes you can have your treat and whatever else your planning on for dinner, AND my list will have nice things on it too, but please, for the first few weeks at least stick to the food plan, the child is far too thin.”
Frowning down at the sleeping figure she said softly, “He is so different to how I remember him, although as he seems to be about eleven right now and I only met him at fifteen, the four years difference is enough to explain how odd he seems," she sighed, "now I wish I’d made him tell me all about his childhood long ago but at first it was such a struggle just to get him to work with me when he was a student and then, well, you know how he is Zashi dear."
Hizashi nodded, it was the same reason he didn't know anything much about Shouta’s childhood, his own self, and damn, wasn't that something he’d be correcting as soon as his love was back to normal!
Letting Chiyo out and locking the door behind her, he resolved to follow her advice and treat Shouta as a new foster placement, working carefully to both learn all about him and to avoid any triggers that might set him off. The minefield effect he and Shouta both were skilled at when dealing with troubled teens that now he’d have to use for his very own husband, ‘Shit Shouta, how do you manage to get yourself into fucked up situations like this? You call Izuku problem child but daaaaaamn, you first dude!’
*****
The weird blond had woken him at noon, saying he was sorry but that he needed to eat and then if he wanted, he could go back to sleep again and how had he slept! He knew better but, well, it was warm, and that quirk had healed him so he was pain-free for the first time that he could remember, not even a broken nail or split lip or anything so, as he’d survived it, maybe a nap wasn't a bad thing to have had.
The shower was a revelation though, and it brought up all the things he’d been ignoring so far, because HOT WATER to wash with? How was that a thing in a place not for the ultra-rich Normals?
But he’d been clearly instructed to “Get those filthy things off you and get all cleaned up and by that time I’ll have us some food ready! Once you're done just open the door, there’ll be fresh clothes beside it for you, I even have a clean beanie if that's okay?” The sudden worry the blond smelt of as he wondered if he’d overstepped a boundary or something had Shouta hiding a grin, cause, well, the beanie was to hide his ears, not for anything else so he nodded with a muttered, “Yeah, thanks.”
He decided that hot water falling all over his body was his new favorite thing in existence, and then he tried the container that Yamada-kun had told him was his and the smell of sandalwood filled the air and it was bliss unimagined.
Only a firm knock and the words “Foods getting cold Little Listener!" actually got him out of it at all!”
Drying himself with the fuzzy fabric he’d guessed was for the job, he managed to grab the clothes pile and get back into the shower room before he was spotted. Taking almost no time he crammed himself into what the blond had left, finishing up with the beanie and moving silently to hover in the doorway to the kitchen, swallowing repeatedly to clear the drool the smells were causing him to produce because holy fucking hell it smelled good!
*****
“Ohhhh hey there Shoubug, hungry? I decided to fix the hot stuff first and then we can have the ice cream cause Chiyo almost infarcted when she thought we were gonna have it first, ya dig?”
Shooting finger guns at the kid hovering in the doorway, he lifted the two plates he’d just finished loading, and offered one to them, motioning him to follow and lead him to the table.
Glancing over to see what kind of a job the kid had done getting clean he felt his heart stop, like, actually STOP!!! at the sight of the tiny gray thing crawling on his neck, just before it got under the beanie and oh no hooooo NOOOOOOO he didn't just see a louse? The kid had lice, he had lice and he’d been on the couch and in the bathroom and his clothes were in the hamper and lice LICE OH FUCK his entire body was itching already and now the kid was staring at him, in a mix of concern and apprehension and he had to pull up his big kid panties and pretend he hadn't seen a thing of actual horror and say, with all the casualness he could manage, “Sit down and dig in, I hope you like it.”
Planning how to make sure no nightmare fuel escaped his cleansing fire, he finally paused his panicked mental cleaning to watch the kid eat because, red flag after red flag after red flag, the kid ate like he expected it to be snatched away at any moment, his eyes repeatedly covering every exit and line of escape, absolutely silently and then he licked the plate clean but didn't ask for more…
‘Shit,' Hizashi thought, 'offer more or give the treat?’
“Hey, Shouta? I know you’re probably still hungry but how bout we have our treat and then eat again in an hour or so, small meals often will help you gain weight easier and have less chance of upsetting your tummy. Here, give me your plate and I’ll get the ice cream.”
*****
Having eaten more food than he usually found in a full day, and the taste of good quality food freshly prepared had been amazing enough, Shouta was stunned to hear he was going to have more later and that the blond was actually following through with his promise of a treat.
And what a treat it was, cold, frozen, sweet and with a sharpness that added to the overall feeling as he ate it of absolute bliss, his eyes actually closing with each spoonful.
But like all good things in his life, it came to an end and he finally had to think about what he’d been ignoring, people like him didn't get to be in a place like this, no way, no how.
Despite what he’d been told, there was no way he had ever grown up to live here, they had the wrong kid so the sooner he was out of here, the better it was gonna be for everyone. Listening with half an ear to the blond telling him how welcome he was, how he wasn't a problem, how they'd get more clothes, and that he was sorry the ones he’d been given didn't fit right and more that he tuned out, he finally started listening when he said he was gonna catch a quick shower and then they’d go shopping…
Just what he needed!
Nodding he watched the adult disapear and was on his feet and moving before the echo of the closing bathroom door finished, hitting the bedroom first because from his forays into breaking and entering, valuables were usually hidden in the bedroom.
Sure enough, he found a wallet and took the cash from it and, remembering the weird chill to the air earlier, he shoved himself into a jacket - much too large but very soft and warm - and slid out the door. The blond was nice, but this was for the best.
*****
Toweling his hair dry, Hizashi walked into the living room to ask if Shouta was ready only to find it empty.
The entire apartment was empty.
Shouta was gone!
*************
Shouta was only three blocks from the apartment the blond - and in some kind of fever dream an adult version of him - lived in before he felt panic setting in.
This was wrong, all of it!
Taking shelter in a narrow alley he hid himself and watched the crowds and saw, walking in plain sight and in blatant disregard for the laws that ruthlessly held sway over the world as he knew it…
Mutants!
Everywhere he looked, people with mutations were just ambling along, like they were real people with rights and everything!!!
Knowing fucking better Shouta tugged his beanie down harder, shoving his hands in his pockets, and moved on, the blond seemed the sort to try to find him so he needed distance and, as he was clean and dressed good and looked Normal no one was giving him a second glance so he started off again, watching everything around him and feeling the weirdness coiling in his guts like a sickness.
Wrong, it was all wrong, but he knew where his bolt hole was so, all he needed to do was find it and hide and well, he didn't know what then but for now just getting hidden again was all the goal he needed.
~~~~
He went for miles, the areas he moved through getting worse and worse but he never found where he'd lived, only finding more and more people, weird and wonderful, and more mutation types than he’d ever even dreamed of seeing, all out in the open.
The attack happened because he was distracted by everything but, as was normal in his life, he managed to break free once he froze their quirks, laughing at them demanding “The rich kids money!”
Well, they were right he had money but like hell was he gonna give them any, especially when his legs worked and his fists and feet could get him away.
Scratching the crawling feeling behind his ear, crushing the tiny body he caught between his nails, he finally realized, “This isn't my home.”
A feeling like molten air writhed in his chest as he repeated, ‘This isn't my home!’
Easing in between a skip and a solid wall, he felt the shakes coming on hard. Wrapping his arms around his knees, he just let the feelings rule him. They were going to take control anyway so at least this way he was hidden and protected as his mind yanked him through memory after memory…
~~~~~
He was five when the older kids caught him, holding him down and cutting off his ears.
His mother’s arms when he’d made it home, blood having covered his neck and shoulders, sticky and awful and the pain making him sick and dizzy, how she’d cried and his father had yelled that it was all her fault, no one in his family had any stinking filthy mutant blood in them!
The fight had gone on for hours, and the pain for even longer, but, with time, most things healed so his ears did too, rimmed in horrible scars and only a fraction of the size they used to be, the pain finally went away.
But now, instead of just tucking his tail into his pants, his mother tied it to his leg. And now he wore gloves too, hiding how his nails had slits under them where claws were hidden, retracted yet ready to spring out at an instant's thought, and now he no longer smiled, his baby teeth falling out and the ones that came in sharp and catlike. Any time he smiled at home now, well, he just never did it after the first time, not unless he was alone with his mother, that is.
His eyes blessedly looked normal, even though he had a cat's acute vision, and his other senses were a secret that no one had ever guessed at, but everything else had to be hidden, his hair was all cut off so no one would see it floating when he used his quirk and a hat shoved over the wreckage of his ears and he never ever was allowed to take it off.
Normal, he had to look normal.
Mutants had no rights, not after the mutant revolution, and while he didn't have many visible mutations, what he had was enough that the kids that had hurt him so badly only got detention for it, and even that mild punishment had other kids looking to hurt Shouta because, “Fucking mutant, getting Normals in trouble!”
It had been some kind of scary villain who got all the mutation quirked people to fight, but he didn't really understand it much, only that normal people had rights and mutation people didn't anymore.
People like him were kicked out by their fathers as soon as their mothers died, not even getting to go to the funeral.
People like him didn't get to go to school for longer than ten years old cause “Trash like you just taking up space for real people, get out!”
People like him scavenged in trash for enough food to get him through another day, always hungry, always lonely, always afraid, knowing someday soon someone bigger would catch him, would hurt him, that, despite how his disguise made him look like a Normal, someone would kill him soon just for being him.
~~~~~
Sitting in a huddle in a world that no longer fit what he understood, Shouta let the tears fall silently as he tried to decide what to do.
*****
Hizashi was going insane, how could a kid just disappear like this?
Nezu-otosan was already searching street cam footage, despite his being stuck in America on a multinational case, which was why Hizashi had been the one to go to Shouta’s aid, rather than Nezu, in the first place. Nezu was both of their listed first contact, after all, and he was always much calmer in an emergency involving Shouta than he was.
Never mind, Nezu was now searching, as were all the rest of their support system, and surely they would find him, they had to.
But so far, nothing, only a few glimpses of the small figure as they made their way in a direct line to the very worst parts of Musutafu, but the last glimpse was ten hours ago, and now Hizashi was home again - at Nezu’s insistence because “You need to eat darling!” and he knew his father figure well enough to know that, if he didn’t, the instant he got home Hizashi’s ability to sit in comfort would disappear for a few days so, yeah, here he was eating and resting because he was loved enough to be made to take care of himself, despite Shouta’s still being gone.
And then, a small noise at the door, which despite being locked, was now opening and, shaking slightly, Shouta was standing there, wide frightened eyes staring resolutely back at him, small fists clenched tight at his sides….
Breathing “Oh my gods, Shouta baby….” and he fell to his knees before he reached him, trying not to freak the kid out but needing, needing so bad, and he opened his arms and the kid moved slightly closer, and then like a frightened crab he slid into Hizashi's arms sideways, head ducked, almost as if he too didn't believe he was doing it and then Hizashi had him in his arms at last and he simply held him, breathing past the panic and relief and the inevitable desire to have the naughty little one across his knee teaching him to never EVER frighten him like that again but they hadn't even gotten to the rules part of taking him in before he disappeared so that would be unfair and none of it mattered as he felt silent tears soaking his shoulder, he just held Shouta tight, letting the relief and love fill him.
Shouta was back, he had him safe, and nothing else mattered!
************
Finding himself in someone's arms, a stranger at that, all Shouta could do was feel how much like his mum the man felt, how he smelled the exact same emotions from him, the combination of wanting to hold him forever and yet wanting to thump him for scaring her/him.
He almost laughed but found himself crying instead, everything was just too much, he was so tired, so hungry, and the world was wrong.
Holding tight to the only stability he’d found, he never even noticed falling asleep, only knowing he was safe at last.
********
Eraserhead had been fighting eight people, cursing at finding himself in that situation, he knew better, he KNEW BETTER but from one moment to the next he went from intel gathering to fighting for his life, barking out a command for assistance in the last free moment he still had breath for talking and then….
‘What the fuck?’ sick and dizzy, he was on his knees, crouched over a steaming puddle of vomit, trying to get his eyes to work right as he blinked desperately, the villains, where were they?
Managing to blink past the spots blurring his vision, he saw, 'Good, good good good, still in the same alley but, where are they?’
The filthy space - and had it been this dirty before? - was empty of all but him, the night silent, still, and hot with a sticky humid heat that spoke of August, rather than October.
Staggering to his feet he reached for his coms unit and demanded, “Status report!”
Only a quiet crackling answered him as he tried every channel available, finally cursing and throwing his capture weapon, snagging and climbing for the roof five stories overhead, trying again and again once he reached clear space…
Nothing!
And now that he was looking, really LOOKING, he could see differences in the area. It had been run down before but now it was much much worse, more buildings were falling down than standing, and almost no lights shown, only a bright patch on the horizon showing where people must still be active.
“What the fuck?” he hissed, trying to get his bearings to try to get back to his agency, the first stop demanded by protocol for any unknown quirk effect, and that fucker had gotten a hand on him, this had to be a quirk, it had to be!
Almost falling into the rooms below when the roof gave way beneath him, only his training and experience saved him. A flick of his wrist and effort of will and he was swinging across to the next building and then, when it shook at his landing, he continued the motion and landed back on the ground.
It would be safer, for now, to keep his feet on something solid!
Keeping to the shadows, he saw no one at all for the first mile, and then he avoided a gang of drunken men yelling and smashing things, seemingly just because they could. No one showed up to stop them anyway and, keeping out of sight, Shouta finally moved on, not his circus, not his monkeys, this time at least!
His agency was gone, only an empty lot marked the place it had been.
The apartment that he shared with Hizashi was still there but instead of being comfortable little places to live, it was a burnt-out shell, long fallen to ruin.
UA almost broke him when he tried it next, only shattered fragments of stone showing where the walls had been, fused glass the only thing left of the main building. He had no idea what kind of attack would leave hundreds of feet of bubbled glass fused to the earth but it must have been a hell of a battle.
But with light now beginning to show in the sky, he had to get undercover so, forcing away the need to scream Hizashi’s name, to sob brokenly for Nezu, he instead headed for the lights still on the horizon. Where there were lights there were people and where there were people there were answers!
*-*
It took him almost a full week to find the answers he needed, keeping his head down and remaining mostly hidden from sight, blessing Nezu-otosan for all the lessons in urban infiltration and disaster scenario games they had put them all through during school.
They saved his life now.
Striding in as if he belonged there, he entered the library, sitting down at a station and, while he cringed at using anything so against everything he stood for, he used his so-called Normal appearance and played the part of the privileged few.
The ones in power, in other words, as he tried to figure out what had happened in this world he now found himself in because sure as hell it wasn't his own!
He knew about the boogeyman of the underworld because when All Might finally defeated them five years ago, well, he’d been with Nezu to view the body, actually used his quirk on the lifeless husk to make sure no quirk was hiding in the battered flesh that might bring the bastard back to life.
Now though, as he read this world's history, he wanted to scream, to cry, to pull down the rage of angels because here the one called All For One had come out of hiding, had raised an army of people, and it had been so easy….
The discrimination against mutant quirked people had been twisted and sick and it had been easy for AOF to use that for their own gain, or to try to anyway, but the great uprising had failed, the Normals had won, a hero had defeated and killed the boogeyman and….
Fifty years later the world was a fucking nightmare!
Normal people had latched onto power, making twisted laws and enforcing them ruthlessly, and now anyone who looked the least little bit different was treated worse than lepers in the dark ages.
After all, no one would touch a leper!
But anyone with a mutation was fair game, gangs roamed the streets near the actual maintained parts of the city - all the rest falling into decay - and “running” any mutants off but in reality, many of them caught were simply killed out of hand.
Of the rest, well, humans were a social species so there was a world outside of the Normals, savage and filled with discrimination harsher than anything Shouta would have dreamed possible, but as well as that, there was the fact that quirks kept going generation to generation, changing as the years went by, and the Normals were now equal in number to the “mutation scum” and the effect of that fact was a simmering tension…
Normal gangs roamed in packs, but only in the no man's land around the bastions of power, go too far and no number of Normals would be safe.
The tipping point hadn't been reached yet but Shouta could clearly see it coming, as could anyone with a brain.
This world would run with blood as soon as the flash point hit, and it was going to hit soon.
And Shouta didn't care! Not about the people in power, or how he blended in with them effortlessly, or the ones oppressed and about to explode into violence unimaginable….
All he wanted to do was go home!
*-*
Waking slowly in the crawlspace he’d taken up residence in, he felt the twisting sickness building at last, bringing hope that he might get home, that the nightmare might be over…
It built all day, beginning with a blinding headache and nausea that had him throwing up hours after he was empty, heaving his guts as whimpers of agony dragged from him, finally blind and deaf and helpless and then he was falling, senses tangled up into a confusion unimaginable and then he was hitting and rolling and coming to a stop and finally, finally he could breathe, trying to catch his breath as the pain crescendoed and began to ease.
He slid into unconsciousness before he mastered the pain, not even feeling as he was called in as an unresponsive homeless person and then brought into the secure ward of the hospital when he was ID’d as the missing Eraserhead.
It took three days for him to wake up, and in those three days, there were a few changes waiting for him.
**********
Hizashi wanted his fucking husband back, damn it!
But he never wanted to let little Shouta go!
Nezu had finally gotten back and, with Ryou (and Hizashi there in his advocate and new parental role) they had finally gotten some answers from the kid they had thought was simply a deaged Shouta, not a kid from a different reality altogether, yes he was Shouta but he wasn't Hizashi’s Shouta and now he knew some of the kids' history, he never wanted to let him go, no one on EARTH deserved to go back to that!!!
~~~~
When the kid had woken up after his return and they had both eaten, Hizashi led the way to the living room, saying they had to talk about what the kid had done, and how they were going to move on from there.
Shouta had already given him the money back, saying he’d stolen it from the black wallet with the cockatoo on it and hadn't that hurt, that the kid had stolen from his own adult wallet, and then gave it back as if he might be able to buy his way back into Hizashi’s home.
Giving a silent sigh he smiled, “It’s alright, sweetheart, you are not in trouble. If we’d been together longer then you would be cause you almost stopped my heart, shit, I thought I’d lost you, Baby!”
Getting a grip on himself he continued, “But for now I get what you did, well, I don't really but I know you’ll explain, and then together we can work on this cause Baby, until you get back to normal," (the kid flinched at the word, a trigger, but what the fuck was triggering about the word normal) "well, back to your adult age, I’m the one responsible for you.”
"Do you know what that means kiddo?”
He’d been right that the kid was confused when he shook his head so he went on, “Well, adult you never talked much about when you were this age so I’ll ask you straight out, who’s taking care of you right now?”
“That’s easy,” Shouta said, “I am!”
A few questions later and Hizashi was down a rabbit hole where only nightmares lived, looking in horror at the ears revealed when the kid took the beenie off.
This wasn't Shouta, not HIS Shouta, but protective rage filled him, causing the kid to blink - and wasn't that a shock, the kid had senses so powerful that he may as well have a secondary quirk effect of empathic perception, good thing he’d never lied to him, the kid would have smelled it in an instant - but not to shift in fear, as he’d done earlier after a nightmare woke him from his sleep, still held in Hizahsi’s arms.
He’d just not been able to let go so had settled into the big squashy chair that Shouta loved so much, and let his mind wander over how this conversation needed to go, the dreaded rules, boundaries, limitations, privileges, and punishments talk.
Instead of all that though, now he was dealing with a traumatized eleven-year-old who had been on the streets for two years in what sounded like a full-on end-of-the-world dystopian nightmare of epic proportions.
They did eventually get to the “talk” portion, but he could see that the kid had no idea what a spanking was, and when he explained it, the kid only asked, “So, you won't kick me or punch me or cut me or burn me if you don't like what I did? Is a spanking worse than that then?”
The kid did look scared at that thought but, being glad he was such a talker, Hizashi just let his words flow, explaining all about what he expected from the kid, how the three strikes system worked, all about time outs and corner time and how a spanking actually was given and how it worked and and and and it was hours later that they sat, the smaller one curled against the dozing adult, both of them exhausted by the talk.
And Hizashi swore, first in his heart and then to Nezu, that they were never letting this Shouta mini-me go, there had to be a way, some way, to get HIS Shouta back and yet keep this Shouta too!
“Nezu-otosan, please, please help, we gotta keep him, we gotta!!!”
******
It took Nezu a full week to catch the one who’d done this to his Shouta, the one who had sent him to a horror unimaginable, and once he had him, he wrung them dry, not only getting everything they needed to know about their quirk, but calling in every favor he had in the quirk research field, and finally got not just the information, but also the tools he needed to have a hope of pulling this off.
And then, at the end of his third week with them, Shouchan fell ill, the quirk effect trying to bring him back to his point of origin.
It was the boy's sickness that helped his plan work because the pain reached a point where they had to sedate him so, as his first helper grabbed them with their quirk, bracing themselves to hold him in the room, two more activated their own quirks and used them on the now unconscious child.
The first one was called Anchor, and it did just that, anchoring anything in place, unmovable, until the user either turned it off or fell asleep, whichever came first.
The second was called Tangle, and like Anchor, it pinned something immovably in place, only this one only worked on living beings.
With two quirk effects and one person actively holding the little body in place, he sent out the word to the ones waiting for it, “Look for Eraserhead, he should be showing up soon, possibly injured or confused!”
As none of them knew how long this might take, he had two changes of quirked guards ready to step in and hold that tiny body in place.
If it was possible, they were keeping this kitten right where they were! The world he’d come from didn't deserve him, or want him, or need him, and they did all three!
*-*
It took thirty-six hours for the quirk effect to give up on the boy, and by then Nezu had not three but all nine of them holding him fast, everyone working flat out not just to hold him, but to keep him uninjured in place on the bed and then, like the snapping of fingers, it was all over and the boy was still with them, still sedated and unresponsive, but healthy and alive and still in their reality and all they had to do was wait for them to wake up.
And better again, he thought as he looked at the other person still asleep in the hospital room, their actual Aizawa Shouta was back with them too. He’d been found in the original alley, deeply unconscious and he’d been brought in and the two versions of one person were now in the same room. A room slowly emptying of all the people he’d called in to help them, his thanks ringing in their ears, a fat bonus about to land in their accounts as he sent them all to eat and rest and recover.
‘Now we wait,’ he thought as he watched his sunshine child holding not one, but two hands, one large and calloused and the other one small and fragile as his eyes went from one beloved face to the other.
Shouta was undoubtedly going to be surprised to have gained a son while he was absent in another reality but, with how caring he was under his gruff exterior, Nezu knew it wouldn't take him long to fall in love with the child, Nezu themself was already fond enough for them to move heaven and earth to save them, and he’d only known them for three weeks!
Letting a faint smile wrinkle his lips, Nezu leaned back, sighing, waiting was always the hardest part.
*******
Keeping totally still and relaxed, Shouta allowed his other senses to give him an idea of what was going on, he remembered, or did he? It was all weird, he was still so tired but, slowly trickling back, like a dream….
He'd been in a different reality, a different and alternate universe, he’d hidden, using all his training to fit in, to be unnoticed, to try to find a way home and then, what then, then then then….
He’d been sick? He remembered pain and ewwww, that had been awful so, he listened harder, hearing the hushed sounds of conversation, the smell of hospital finally filling his nose in the familiar and hated way.
But if he was in hospital then Hizashi would be there, it was a universal constant so, cracking his eyes open ever so slightly, he saw bright green ones looking right back at him, a slightly twisted grin when his husband said, “Sneaky are we?”
Breathing a deep sigh of relief he managed to say, voice harsh with dryness, “Tell me something only you know.”
His face heated up as his brat of a husband actually said one of his most lurid fantasies aloud, “Shit,” he managed to croak, “shut the fuck up you bastard!” and a glass of water was being held for him, loving arms holding him tight (and maybe soon they’d even make the time for doing, well, that!) and the fear of being lost with no way home eased as the comfort soaked into his bones.
They simply sat for a long time as, bit by bit, Shouta worked his way through five glasses of water. He had tried to keep hydrated in the other place but he knew he’d not had enough to drink, he simply didn't trust the infrastructure so only drank water he knew was boiled, like for coffee.
Having to steal the money for it was not quite heroic but needs must when the devil drives, as they say.
Finally feeling able to talk clearly, grateful for his headache to have eased off to almost nothing, he let Hizashi record him as he gave his statement, following protocol, and all that shit, and Zashi needed to know as well cause, well, this was gonna make him a bit jumpy for a while, he just knew it.
******
Letting Shouta talk himself out, going day by day, reminding him to cover his emotions as well as his impressions and deductions, Hizashi knew exactly how bad it had been, he didn't even need words, just watching his loves eyes track the exits, over and over and over let him know that.
And eventually, they got to the question he’d been expecting each time those dark eyes rested on the bed beside him where tousled black hair was only just visible from where the covers were almost pulled right up and over that small head.
"We done with the official part, Sunshine?" Shouta finally asked and when Hizashi nodded, he finished up with, "Great, who’s the kid?"
And wasn't that a billion yen question indeed!
**************
Snuggling with Hizashi in the stupidly hard and narrow bed, Shouta mulled over the fact they now had a kid - cause the look in Hizashi’s eyes had that fact set in stone, their kid, now and forever more - and what was more, they had HIM as a child.
A version of him that had been born and raised, spending eleven years in that hell hole he’d just come back from, and how amazing of Nezu-otosan to have managed to keep the kid, to hold them here until the quirk effect ran out of energy, and now they had a kid….
Him as a parent?
As a father?
Sure he’d thought about it but every time he did he thought, nope, no way! He just wasn't good enough, a good enough person, a good enough hero, a good enough teacher, sure he was alright but an actual fucking father, a real DAD, had to be better than him, so MUCH better….
His memory of his own father, he grimaced, well, 'I know how to NOT do it, I guess?' Then he thought about Nezu-otosan as they had all started calling him halfway through their first year at UA, half in jest and wholly in earnest, as the phrase went.
Because Nezu WAS a dad, rock steady, solidly dependable, able to trust and be trusted, filled with love and a determination for his kids to grow, to learn and have fun, and experience life while at the same time having the safety system and support that, when they went off the rails or got in too deep then he’d be there, either with hugs and tissues and hot chocolate and advice or a lecture and a ruler and even more tissues for the tears he’d make sure you cried and then the talk about how much you’d done right and how you could do better and he always made even the worst situation something that logic and love could get you through.
How could he ever measure up to that, how could he be even half the Dad Nezu had been to them all but to him the most, coming from the background he’d come from.
Could they give tiny Shouta to Nezu? But one look at Hizashi as he gazed at the scrunched-up eyes, the tiny hands fisted tight, and he remembered sleeping like that, how the pain of the cramps in his fingers would wake him, how he’d have to shove his hands under his arms, using the warmth in his armpits to soothe the ache cause at that time he had no one to soothe them for him.
This kid, Shouta shook his head, this kid had it just as bad, worse even, than Shouta had ever dreamed of and Hizashi thought he was good enough to step in and be this kid's dad?
Hizashi would be a star, he was fantastic at shit like this but - and his eyes met green ones that were no longer soft and sappy but laser-focused on him, considering in a way that argued against comfortable sitting, and that honeyed voice asked, in a tone that brooked nothing but the absolute truth - “Check in Babe, give me five words that cover how you feel right now.”
'Shit!’ "Ummmm, right, five? It’s usually three Zashi!" - but the gaze didn't relent so - “Inadequate, afraid, ashamed, unworthy, ummmmm," his head shook without his even realizing it, a silent no no no motion as he tried to find one more word to sum up how he was feeling, finally finding not one but several when he said "Grateful? And relieved, and shit, I love you so much but a DAD? How on earth do you think I’d be a good Dad?”
Then Hizashi had him in his arms, carefully wrapping him up, saying “Aizawa Shouta, how can you not think you’ll be a wonderful father?”
"You’ll do fantastic, you’re such a natural at kids, your students jump at your every word but me? Shit Shou, I’ve been doin' my best and the Lil Listener seems to like me but how can I do this? What if I fuck it up, how can anyone trust ME with something this important?" and he was holding so tight, frantic shivers wracking his frame and he tried to articulate his own insecurities when a beloved voice said crisply -
"Yamada Hizashi and Aizawa Shouta, look at me!”
*****
Hearing his beloved children doubting themselves so much was hard but then, so too was unexpectedly becoming fathers at such a young age, after all, 28 wasn't so very old at all, only three years into having a fully adult brain at last so, well, he’d give them a bit of slack on it, this time anyway.
Keeping his voice stern he bade them to look at him, and caught first the worried green eyes, and then the even more worried dark ones, and suddenly smiled, shaking his head in fondness.
"You will both do wonderfully, my boys, you are both deeply caring and yet focused enough, and structured enough, to give your new son the support he so badly needs, and all the love in your hearts."
"What child needs more?"
And later, he set them up with their wonderful Ryou to begin to address the worrying lack of self-confidence he’d overheard from them. He’d give it some time and together, as a family, they would work through their fears and support them through their new fatherhood.
After all, his own children deserved all the love and support too!
*******
Shouta ached in his very bones but the acute distress was gone, and he was warm and covered by something, a blanket maybe, so if he was still warm and covered and - his fingers shifted slightly - still in a bed, then maybe it had worked?
He hadn't let himself hope that it would work, that he could keep the blond, that he would actually be able to stay with Hizashi (he’d finally caved in his mind, even though he still called him Yamada-kun out loud) and maybe even meet his husband and if his husband was a grown-up him, would he even like him? Shouta had been told all his life he was unloveable, except for his mother who had loved him, and told him so all the time, he’d hide and remember her words when the pain of loneliness got too bad but, would an adult him love the child him?
Or even just let him stay, he didn't NEED love, after all, but the thought had tears prickling at his eyes, and he reached up, slowly and carefully, and wrapped his fingers around his ears.
The ears that had been repaired for him, the quirk that fixed them hurt too badly for anyone to be awake for it so they put him to sleep and then he’d woken up and his ears, his wonderful ears, were back, just like before, and he’d cried and cried and cried and Zashi had held him and the smell was love and care and he wanted that, wanted it for always.
The smell was back, and careful fingers were scratching gently behind his ears, and when he opened his eyes Zashi smiled at him, telling him it was alright, it had worked, he was safe, they were keeping him for always and oh, he said they and sure enough, when he looked past the familiar figure he saw and, “Shhhhhhit!” he said in amazement, “Is that what I grow up into?”
The person sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning his elbows on his knees and staring right back at him with the same kind of surprise he was feeling - he could SMELL the surprise, the interest, the amusement - and his own lip quirked up at the corner, matching the adult one, and Hizashi smelled just as amused, just as happy, and now the dark one nodded once, saying, "Good to meet you, Zashi’s been telling me but now I can see how good a fit you are."
Smelling the pleased surprise from Zashi at the words and then grown-up Shouta said, "He told me how they managed to keep you here and shit kid, I am so glad they did, that hell hole you came from doesn't deserve you but, if you want, and only if you want, then you can be with us forever, or as long as you like."
The mingled scents now were so strong, like heat haze across a sun-baked road, and all of it was good, all of it was welcoming and filled with calmness and interest from one and love and relief and joy from the other and he could even smell Nezu-sama who smelled both pleased and proud.
Not able to find any words, he simply nodded, making the tiny gesture almost unconsciously that always got him a hug from the blond, and warm arms were wrapped around him, just Zashi but he bet soon Big Shouta would join too cause he sure smelled like he wanted to so he let go of Zashi and opened his hands making grabby motions until, with a huff of happy relief, the other one joined as well, firmly pulling Nezu in too.
Shouta would have never in a million years expected to find himself in a hospital, wrapped in loving adult arms, but he sure was glad he was, loneliness sucked and he suspected he’d never be properly lonely again, well, who could be lonely with Hizashi on one side, a grown-up version of himself on the other, and someone like Nezu there too.
*******
Feeling the kid in their arms give a huge yawn, mumble something about food and happiness, Shouta couldn't help kissing Hizashi on the head as the kid fell back asleep.
Sometime in the short meeting he’d figured out how to handle the Dad thing, all he had to do, in any situation, was ask himself, what would Nezu-otosan do?
And later on, after he and Hizashi had some adult alone time together, in the aftermath he softly mentioned it, and Hizashi, the absolute brat that he was, almost fell off the bed because he was laughing so hard.
When asked in a slightly huffy voice what was so funny, he admitted to making the exact same plan himself almost three weeks ago!!!
Yeah, they may have come from backgrounds without good parental role models but then they’d been found and taken in by the best father anyone could ever dream of having so all they had to do was try to be half as good as he was for them and if they had a problem, the solution was simple, ask Dad’s advice and follow it!
Maybe being a parent wasn’t going to be as hard as they thought.