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“Wait! Vlad King!” The hero turned around to see Izuku’s friends running towards him. “Midoriya, is he?”
I almost forgot about him. “He’s alright… I cannot say anything now but I can tell you he’ll live,”
The blonde one sighed. “Thank god! I was worried for a second there,”
“A bit more than a second,” Another one snarked.
“Yeah, but you were also worried about him Shinsou,”
“I can’t argue with that,” The person shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Look," Vlad King explained. "I’m sorry that I can’t stay here much longer… I still have the stuff to do,”
The girl in the group walked forward. “Thanks for telling us though,”
Vlad just nodded. “It’s nothing,” He ran off back into the woods, most likely to apprehend the villain that had attacked Izuku.
“So,” Denki rubbed his neck. “What now?”
Hitoshi hummed. “Did you actually give me your number?”
<--->
“There you go, added to the Green Wonder Squad!”
“Why did you even call it that?”
“Because Midoriya is the green wonder. He’s been apart of so much stuff that we just called it that,”
“Does Midoriya even want that?”
“I… uh I don’t actually know,” Denki checked the battery percentage. “I think that’s enough for you Jirou,” He unplugged the phone and gave it back to her, spitting off the end of the charger.
“Thanks, man…” She opened it. “Shit… my parents. I need to call them,” She plugged one of her jacks in and began to walk away.
Which just left Hitoshi and Denki alone together on the stairs. Most people had left the sports festival grounds at this point, leaving almost every person calling people to make arrangements. Denki had just texted his parents that he’d taken the train back ages ago. But Hitoshi just stood there, biding his time.
Even thinking about it made his cheek hurt. But he still refused to rub it at all.
"Hey, how are you getting back?”
“Huh?” Hitoshi turned to Denki. “Just the train, I’ll hang around for a while… I'm not in a rush at all,” Gives me more time away
“I like your thought process. I mean I would do the same but y’know,” He gestured to himself. “Extrovert,”
“Really?”
“Have… you not wait wait this is sarcasm isn’t it?”
“What’s sarcasm,” The comment caused Denki to groan, and Hitoshi chuckled in response. “It’s been a while since I had friends you know,”
Denki’s eyes widened. “Is that cause of… your quirk?”
“Yeah… Before I say anything I just have to say thanks for not judging me,”
“Dude… If you need to apologize like that again I’m going to deep fry your bullies,” Hitoshi snorted. “You think that's a joke? I will burn them to a crisp with over a million volts!”
“I got it I got it… I won’t be pouty about my life… just as long as you aren’t a hypocrite,”
Denki took a moment to remember the definition. “I think that's reasonable,”
“Yeah.” Hitoshi yawned. “Damnit I need some coffee… I think I saw a vending machine somewhere in the food stalls,” Hitoshi got up. “You want anything?”
“Nah, I’m planning to leave about now anyways… I’ll wait for Jirou and we’ll skedaddle,”
Wait a moment aren't I-“Are we still meeting up to see Ashido?”
“Yeah, we are, so see you tomorrow?”
Hitoshi smirked. “Yeah…” He began to walk away. “Later,”
<--->
Everyone was packing up their stalls right now. While some were still open and serving others began to quickly clean. Hitoshi checked his balance and wallet, showing that he could only get a single option. And that would be a small beverage.
As he began to search he asked a store owner.
“Um excuse me,”
“Not selling, beat it, kid,”
“I was just wondering if you knew where the vending machines were?”
The man lifted his head and looked at him. “Keep going and go left… I think that's where the coffee is,”
Hitoshi didn’t react to the comment on his eyebags. “Thanks,”
He kept walking and finally saw a dark blue vending machine. He checked the prices and sighed. The cheapest one was still a few dozen yen above his budget. This is what he gets for getting another boba.
He crouched down and began to search underneath the machine, hoping that someone had dropped some pocket change but to no avail. He was about to give up but a familiar voice brought his attention.
“Shinsou right?” Hitoshi looked up to see a familiar hero, his idol.
His eyes widened. “Eraserhead,”
“In the flesh, What are you doing?”
“I’m a few yen short of some coffee. I'm looking underneath to see if I can find some spare coins,”
“Really?” He looked at the prices. “Now that's just gouging. I’ll pay,”
“Oh, there's no need I think I sa-,”
“Espresso shot or flat white?”
“Espresso shot... Please”
Eraserhead smiled. “Nice Manners,” The pressed the button and poked a few buttons. He reached down and took out two cans, handing Hitoshi one as he opened his own can and took a sip. “Excellent choice,”
Hitoshi took a sip as well, enjoying the nice cheap flavour of the coffee. It was at that time when his stomach growled at comedic timing. Eraserhead looked to Hitoshi as Hitoshi looked in the opposite direction, silently dying of embarrassment. But at that point as well Eraserheads stomach growled as well which caused an adverse reaction.
“How about we…” Eraserhead looked up. “Get some Takoyaki?”
His stomach growled again. “Yes please,”
<--->
He finished his third ball and quickly downed it with some more coffee. He shook the can a little before settling it down.
“Street food is the best,” He commented.
“It’s easy to make and it fills me enough to do my job,”
“Wait, I thought a balanced diet was needed for hero work? You now body shape and all,"
Eraserhead sighed. “Not every hero can afford the ludicrously expensive stuff,”
“Especially for underground heroes. They're the backbone of every city and no one gives credit to them," He took a sip of his coffee.
“In all honestly, you surprised me Shinsou,”
“What for?” He looked back at his idol.
“I may have two civilians know about me and I met the two of them today,”
Hitoshi finished another bite. “Well, I look up to you… You’re one of the only heroic idols I have,”
“Because I also have a villain's quirk?”
Hitoshi nodded. “You guess it,”
“Brainwashing, perfect to stop damage and destruction, it's like Eraser in that way,”
“But because people can’t see that they end up becoming villains,”
Eraserhead finished his takoyaki and coffee right as Hitoshi did so. “Follow me,”
<--->
They talked and talked about what they thought about quirks. About how some are shunned for no good reason, how mutants and quirkless have it harder in life, and people have the audacity to call a quirk a villains quirk.
“We’re just like the rest of people with quirks! It just doesn’t make sense,”
“You know the statistics of those with villain quirks actually turn to villainy?”
“Eighty Percent?”
“A little bit lower, seventy-three,”
“Wow… Can you tell me more?”
“I can, like how that percentage is off by forty per cent,”
He looked up. “What?”
“The first is most of them become vigilantes, which helps us underground heroes from dying, even helping us out with the more petty crimes from happening. Guaranteed some of them to work a little too hard, but I can’t really say anything,”
“You work too hard don’t you?”
“I solve as many cases as some in the top hundred heroes. Most of which have entire agencies just for that. And then I have my day job as a teacher for first years,”
“Wait, seriously?”
“You’ll just have to get to know me better if you want to find out,”
“But… you’re already so busy… and I’ll just get in through the sports festival… Like you did!”
“There is another way you know. A way that will probably be better for you,”
“What’s that?”
A sceptical smile came over Eraserheads face once again. “How about you follow me and find out?”
<--->
Why were they in UA’s halls?
Hitoshi had dreams about this place. His entire dream was to attend these halls, even if it was general education it would set him off for the rest of his life. They even walked past a massive door that read 1-B and soon after 1-A.
He would love to sit in one of those seats next year, but he knew that it wouldn’t be the case. But still he still followed behind his idol, still wondering why he brought him here in the first place. As they reached the end of the hallway Eraserhead put his hands on the sliding door and looked back.
“I’m letting you know now, that I am trusting more of my private life than some of my closest friends. And if you leak a drop of this to the press I will make sure you won’t get into UA. Understand?” The violet boy gave a sharp nod in response." Good, now if you would excuse me,” He opened the door and walked in. “Did you get those papers as I asked?” Hitoshi walked into the teacher's office as well,
“ShOOOOOOUUUU-” Hizashi's fast pace ground to a halt at the sight of Hitoshi. “And a smaller, more clean-shaven Shou as well, eyebags and everything,” He blinked a few times. “Wait a minute aren’t you-,”
“P-present Mic,” Hitoshi stuttered as he offered his hand. “It's an honour, I listen to your radio all the time,”
Hizashi took it and shook extremely fast. “Yet another fan, always glad to meet them, and before you ask, eh,” Hizashi patted his chest for a few seconds before striking a pose out of panic. “MY PEN FELL OUT,”
“You were going to give me an autograph? Well that's really nice, thanks,'' Hitoshi rubbed his cheek again, but this time Shouta noticed it. “Wait… a minute… private life… Present Mic… You two-,”
“Are married yuparoonie!” Hizashi sarcastically tried to put his elbow on his husband who just walked towards his desk. “Anyways… So do you know?”
“Know what?”
Hizashi gasped and turned back to his husband, then Hitoshi, then back to his husband, and then Hitoshi, then back to his husband. “It’s like a twenty-minute walk from the stadium to UA! How did it not come up!”
“I thought you would like the surprise…” Shouta picked up another folder and flipped through it. “Here it is,”
“Here is what?”
“Hitoshi Shinsou born July 1st, quirk is Brainwashing. Quite a troublemaker and currently living with his twentieth pair of foster parents,”
His eyes widened. “How did you?” Shouta gave him the folder which silenced him very quickly silenced him.
“School reports are quite good. Ambitions are quite good, and I sniff out falsified reports a mile away,”
“Why… why do you have my file?” Hizashi stretched over and flicked the page which caused him to stare widened. “These are… papers to foster a kid?”
“You have good eyes,”
“No, he can just read,” Hizashi groaned and muttered that his husband was ‘no fun’.
“Hehehe, like I’ll believe that,”
“What was that? We’ve been looking at fostering someone with plans of adoption and Shou and I relate to you and-,” Hitoshi batted Hizashi’s arm away as he backed away.
“You think this hasn’t happened to me before? How somehow some rich prick at my school got my hopes up? Hired someone with an illusion quirk?! Well, I’m not falling for it again! In fact... I’m just dead, aren’t I? This entire three hour is just my body in a coma isn’t it!” He slapped his forehead and run it through his head. “Of course, people are finally fine with my quirk once in my life!”
“Shinsou!”
“SHUT UP! IF YOU WANT ME TO BELIEVE YOU THEN… THEN TRUST ME!”
“How can we make you see that we trust you?"
“I! I don’t know… How can I make you?”
“I can answer a question,” Through tear-ridden eyes, Hitoshi realized what Hizashi was saying and took over. His smiling face became emotionless, and a moment later he came back awake as two red eyes came over and cancelled his quirk.
“Y-you… you’d willingly… lose control of your own body for me?”
Hizashi took off his glasses and set them aside, crouching down as well. “You know… Both Shou and I were adopted once… One of us had a villain's quirk… And the other had a voice quirk… I mean no one wanted a dangerous voice or a quirk that cancels out your own. And… when Shou and I were looking in the system we found you… A villains quirk that works on the voice,”
“B-but there’s others that would be better! Better quirks! Better heroes!”
“Maybe… But if I looked at someone who has had it worse than both of us combined… And with an opportunity like this…We couldn’t help but put you down for fostering…With adoption later on,”
“I…I would have a family?”
“A happy family,” Hizashi smiled.
Hitoshi couldn’t help but cry at the statement.
<--->
“D-damnit…” Hitoshi wiped his right cheek which revealed a deep purple lump on his face and was hidden by makeup. “This was supposed to be waterproof,”
“You were rubbing your face a lot,” Shouta said as he looked at his phone. “Left here,” Hizashi did so.
The trio were now currently driving to Hitoshi’s foster house. The only way the tired teen could describe the ride would be a perfect harmony between Loud and Quiet. Ying and Yang, 50-50, it was satisfying.
Two of his favourite heroes, Present Mic and Eraseread who were actually a married couple were now driving him to his foster house to pick up his stuff, as… they were the ones who would be fostering him now.
With plans of adoption.
Just to make sure Hitoshi wasn’t dreaming again he pinched his arm and felt the small feeling linger for a while. He tried again but still, he was here.
“Stop trying to pinch yourself,” Shouta said. “You’re fine, this is real we’re almost there take a right,”
“Is it though? I heard people living hours or years in just a few minutes… what if this is the same? What if it's all a dream?”
“That would be an existential crisis I do not want to have whilst driving!” Present Mic yelled, beeping the horn. “GET OFF THE ROAD!”
“The human face is so complex that they cannot make a new one… This means that if it was a dream you would have to see my face and I know that isn’t public knowledge, especially my eyes,”
“So this has to be real?”
“Correct, you are being fostered by us for the foreseeable future,”
“Ok, ok… So… what happens after this?”
“We get your stuff, I make your current fosters sign a few things to relinquish care of you over to us… We take it to an office, run it through and then we have you,”
“Is it really that easy?”
Shouta sighed. “Most heroes have an emergency foster license as well and it is only viable when we the hero believe that a child's environment is not safe,”
“And… You think that I’m not safe?”
“If that bruise is anything to say I would say so. Good thing is that your parents are now only currently fostering you so that’s a lot less paperwork to revoke their license,”
“Wait what?”
“And if they fight back they will be hearing a court date,”
“You’d sue them?”
Shouta sighed. “I don’t want to sue them for child abuse charges now but I will sooner or later. And I
really
want to get one massive headache out of the way. We take a few photos, get a lie detector quirk… and pressure them. I do not care but-,”
“SHOU,” Hizashi said. “Let's just get one thing over it. Let’s just get Shinsou out of here alright?”
“Fine,” Shouta unbuckled his seatbelt. “Come on get out. I’m not getting your belongings for you,”
Hitoshi opened the door and saw his soon-to-be ex-foster house right in front of him. It was a regular suburban two-level house. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, two car garage, it was surprising how horrid that kind of people could be.
Just for the money and their own enjoyment. Feeding him bare necessities, stealing the money out of his part-time job which he illegally worked. And when they found out he used his own money to buy the cheapest ticket to the sports festival he got a quirk-enchanted backhand to the face.
Shouta placed his hand on Hitoshi and just looking at him saw that he had calmed down almost instantly. He nodded twice and the two coffee addicts made their way to the front of the house. He looked at the door and then back at Shouta.
“Are you… still sure about me?”
“We’ve already taken you on a ride, may as well get your stuff,”
Shouta rang the doorbell and waited for the parents. He could hear the stomping of what to be someone under the influence of drugs. But when the person opened the door he seemed much more respectable.
Kept hair, had dull skin, was tall and needed a shave.
“Who’s this?” The man slurred before his gaze shifted towards Hitoshi. “Shinsou stop wasting my time! Get in here-,”
Hitoshi stepped back and Shouta stepped forward. “Mr Yami, my name is Shouta Aizawa and I am here to get Shinsou’s personal belongings,”
“Yeah, right don’t buy that for a second. We would’ve gotten a call from the foster association about this,”
“Check again,” The man did and his face went blank. “You missed a call from Japans foster system, I just need you to sign some forms to relinquish your foster and we’ll be on our way,”
The man gulped as he stared into Shouta’s eyes. “Get your shit and get out… You have two minutes,” Hearing this Hitoshi stared at his foster parent before he headed upstairs to get his stuff.
At that point, Shouta took out Hitoshi’s folder and opened them to a specific page. He told the man where to sign and explained what each one did.
“This seems to quick… Is there anything else?”
Wow, he really doesn’t care “If you have any problems here is my agency number,” I know you won’t use it but still.
“Red String Hero Agency? Never heard of em,”
“Underground,” Shouta pulled out his hero licence. “Pro Hero Eraserhead, underground serial number 29846572,”
“Never in a million years would I think that Shinsou would finally be put away,” The man looked back down and handed Shouta back his licence. “Good riddance one more wretched villain off the street,”
Hitoshi walked down with a travel bag that was about to burst. His former parent turned around and glared at the boy which caused him to rush out as well. He was halfway down the front garden before he turned back and looked at the final conversation between Shouta and his former parent.
“Is that all?” He growled out.
“No just one more thing,” Shouta looked up and activated his quirk. “Next time don’t use your quirk in front of a hero,”
The stepped back in shock as a familiar feeling in his hand suddenly disappeared. He clenched it into a fist but stopped, deciding to just scoff as he looked away.
“DON’T EVER COME BACK HERE AGAIN!” He slammed the door in Shouta’s face which didn’t even register on the Pro’s danger radar. He just looked back at Hitoshi who was just standing.
“We’re done here get back in the car,”
“You got it,”
As they did the car’s music volume suddenly decreased even without a push of the button. This sudden decrease caused Hizashi to turn to his husband.
“How was it?”
“Painful,” The two said in harmony.
"Yeah thought as much,” Hizashi started the engine. “Now! ONWARD TO HOMES!”
<--->
He wasn’t sure why but the area where the two lived… Wasn’t as lavish as Hitoshi expected. Sure the apartment block only had four homes per floor it still barely made any sense. Guaranteed the neighbourhood was high-class and a home with two Pro-Heroes should be enough.
Besides he was against just reading the cover of a book anyways.
“We’re home!” Hizashi yelled. “Are my babies here?” He put his bags on the coathanger and crouched down.
Four cats appeared all around and ran towards Hizashi. Two of them went into different arms and the other one just raced past him and climbed up Shouta with relative ease right before snuggling into the capture scarf.
He felt a very fluffy feeling graze his leg, looking down he saw a cat already scenting him.
“Cherry’s taken a liking to you, she's a rescue if that wasn’t obvious,” Shouta said as he patted his own cat before taking Hizashi’s bag and bringing it further into the house. Cherry was a dark chocolate colour with her tail haven being cut off. She looked up and meowed at him, yellow eyes staring into his soul.
“Oh look at that, baby's first trip attempt! Do you want to see your room?” Hitoshi shrugged at the question. “Let's go!” Hizashi got up which caused both cats to scatter into the rest of the house. The sudden commotion also caused Cherry to run off after her siblings.
Hitoshi slowly began to walk into his new home. From the hallway, it was clear that there was a sudden open room at the end of it. Walking towards it he looked to the right, seeing a kitchen, and to the left was a lounge room that was down two steps.
The lounge room had around three couches and a table in the middle, as well as a television.
But the Kitchen.
The first thing he noticed was the state of the light coffee machine. And right next to that was an entire bag of coffee. He knew the brand, it was the expensive beans that he could find in some larger stores. It was expensive, a bag like this must have been seven-thousand yen at least.
Normally he would have started his day with two spoonfuls of the cheapest bitter coffee on the market, but just smelling the aroma it let off was making his mouth water.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself,” Hitoshi turned around, seeing Shouta’s eyes bright red, his hair standing on end.. “Before you even think about touching that thing without knowing anything about it,”
“Shouta!” Hizashi yelled. “He's just interested in the damn thing,”
“It's my coffee filter and I get to choose who to threaten,”
“Under my roof, it's OUR coffee Machine and WE get to choose who to threaten!” Hizashi shook his new foster kid a little. “AND I SAY WE DO NOT THREATIN SHINSOU! That is what you want to be called right?”
“Yeah, for now at least,”
Hizashi nodded. “I feel ya, now just follow me, your rooms down the hallway, I’ll show you,”
Hitoshi followed Hizashi past the kitchen and towards the right where there was another small hallway. It had three doors on one side, one at the end and one on the right, all of which had cat flaps on them.
“C’mon,” Hitoshi looked up and saw Hizashi. “We used to have two rooms for guests so we decided to change one into your room. It’s been a few weeks since we decided on you and the only thing we really found out about you is that you liked staying up, coffee and cats so…
Hitoshi looked at his new room.
The first thing that came to mind was the abundance of cat pillows that riddled his purple-sheeted bed. He walked into it and jumped back a moment as one of them began to move. A cat yawned and got off the bed.
“Oh yeah, that’s Cola. He doesn’t bite but you may want to make your bed otherwise you may want to remember that he’ll get under there,”
He finally put his bag down and turned to his left, seeing a lot of stuff.
There was a massive desk that had a bunch of stuff on it already. A stand, a sleek-looking laptop. A stationary pen, a few paper folders, pens… It was the best thing he ever saw. And right next to it, he saw a cat tower, which was where Cola was currently curling up into a ball.
He looked down at his desk again, seeing a beige glasses case. He turned to Hizashi who nodded before turning back and picking them up, opening them.
“But… I have good vision?”
“We know you do these aren’t normal glasses, they’re blue light glasses,”
“Blue… Light?”
“Ah yeah, they’re glasses that stop blue light from entering your eyes. So you can use your phone as much as you want and then fall asleep without having to worry!
”
“There are glasses for those?” Hitoshi put them on. “How, How much were,”
“That’s not important, they weren’t expensive or anything but I just thought that if I start now you’d actually use them. Unlike someone another adult I know,”
Hitoshi looked at his laptop and bed again. “Could I? Have some alone time… You know pack away my stuff,”
Hizashi noticed the look in his eyes and backed away, grabbing the door handle. “Take all the time you need, both of us will be here when you come out,” The door closed, and before they could do anything Hizashi threw a pair of keys through the cat flap.
Hitoshi picked them up and counted the keys. He looked at his door handle noticing that it had a lock, something he never had before. He put them in and turned the keys, before grabbing the handle and tugging it, it was locked.
He looked down to the cat flap and also noticed a keyhole there as well.
He turned back to his room, revelling in all of its violet glory before he walked over and sat down on his bed, making sure Cola hadn’t snuggled under the blankets.
All of this for him.
A laptop for him. A desk for him. A bed just for him. All of this was made just for him, not because of money not because of pity, not because of generosity, it felt like it was just made for him.
And Hitoshi couldn’t help but cry tears of happiness.
<--->
He packed everything away, even his basic makeup kit. Although he didn’t have a personal bathroom he never had one in any of his foster homes. He looked at the keys he had, noticing it had a keychain that looked just like Cola. He blinked at it before unlocking his door and slowly opening it.
He saw all of the nights turned off and saw the television running. He opened it the rest of the way and closed the door behind him. Immediately seeing one of the two cats he didn’t know directly go through the cat door.
The sudden noise caused Hizashi to look up from Shouta’s chest and look at Hitoshi.
“Oh, You’re up!” Hizashi got up, much to Shouta’s annoyance. “Sorry I didn’t know what you liked so I just made some regular okonomiyaki,”
“Okonomiyaki?”
“Yep! Made enough for the three of us!”
“That’s a lie he ordered six from a store,” A gruff voice emanated from the couch.
“Yeah well… I didn’t have any ingredients because we were supposed to get him next week!”
Shouta just blinked at his husband. “I’m too tired,”
Hizashi groaned. “We had two each and we have two for you, I’ll show you where the cutlery is,”
A minute later Hitoshi had two portions of warm Okunomiyaki and was sitting down opposite Hizashi and Shouta, to which after the blonde returned Shouta curled back onto his husband's chest. As he took a bite of the delicious street food he had an epiphany. Izuku should’ve been out of the hospital now and at home.
He should text him. After everything that had happened a little bit more chaos should’ve been fine. He whipped out his phone.
Midoriya
Me: Hey just letting you know I’m here
Me: and uhh
He looked up and decided to take a quick photo of his two caretakers next to each other and send it.
Me: Image.attach
Me: Yeah this sort of happened
When Hitoshi looked up he saw Shouta staring at him, this time without the glowing red effect.
“Was that to Midoriya?”
“Y-yeah?”
He fell back onto his husband's chest. “Then we don’t have no problem,”
Hitoshi turned his attention back to the phone, seeing his message had been read. Deciding the rest could wait he put his phone face down and picked up the rest of his food and kept eating it, all while watching a sitcom with two pro-heroes.
He could get used to this.