Chapter Text
“The lines of trade are strong, you give me two weeks and I can have your drugs shipped halfway across Japan.”
Shinsou caught the end of the man's sentence as he opened the door into the dark conference room. He clutched his takeaway cup in one hand, it was empty but maybe he could find a bin? In the League of Villains hold out it seemed unlikely. He was just going to have to hold it awkwardly or find somewhere to put it…
“Look who’s finally decided to join us.” Spinner's voice drawled out as he settled his stuff on the table.
“I have to pretend to be a hero as well,” Shinsou shot back. “There was a hold up at the commission.”
“Funny. I couldn’t care less,” Dabi said from the centre of the table, pointing to Shinsou and then at the man they were meeting with. “Brainwash him.”
“I’m sorry, brainwash?” the man asked. Shinsou took a moment to look at him. He seemed like some regular yakuza guy, maybe smaller than others he’d seen. No mutation quirk so who knew what Shinsou was dealing with.
Dabi looked at him pointedly. “What are you waiting for?”
Shinsou sighed. “For you to tell me what I’m brainwashing him to do.”
“Tell the truth,” Hawks replied, coming forward from where his chair was balanced on its back two legs. “To be honest, you can’t take what anyones says as the truth nowadays.”
Shinsou was surprised he was there. The League, so far, had only allowed Shinsou to step foot in the building.
“You think the Yakuza would be stupid enough to go against the League on this?” the man asked.
Dabi shrugged. “Perfect timing, you guys would have noticed Shigaraki isn’t around right now.”
In fact, in the room there were really only a few of them. Dabi, taking on a pseudo-leader, Spinner, Compress, Hawks and himself. Enough to be a threat, Shinsou knew that.
“What’s this meeting about?” Shinsou asked, Dabi motioning for the man to answer. A routine perfected over the last couple of weeks.
“I’m here to talk about-”
The man's eyes glazed over.
“Whatever you say from now on, you must tell the truth.” Shinsou stated.
Dabi sighed, flicking through some notes. “You mean what you say about the trade routes?”
“No.”
His next question came out in a growl. “Elaborate.”
“The trade routes would stand for a few weeks until our gang would start syphoning off the drugs. By the time you hotshots would realise, we’d have a small army gathered to take you on easy.”
“Really can’t trust anyone these days,” Hawks sighed. “You guys seem to have more enemies than friends.”
“Shut it bird-brain.”
“What!” Hawks raised his arms up in Dabi’s direction as the villain stood up and walked around the table. “I’m just saying, people seem to think you’re an easy target right now.”
“Which is why we’ll send him a message,” Dabi replied bitterly, coming close to where the man stood, Shinsou stepping aside to make room for him. “Can he feel pain?”
“Right now? Yes.” Shinsou replied.
“Good.”
Seconds later Dabi’s hand erupted into blue flames, pressing his entire hand across the man's face, smothering his screams. Immediately he broke from Shinsou’s quirk, his arms flailing before coming to rest on his belt.
“He has a knife!” Compress stated. Too late for Shinsou to move, as the blade swiped up and across his face. Making contact and ripping half an eyebrow from his face before he managed to step backwards.
“ Fuck !”
–
“Hold still.”
Shinsou hissed through his teeth, staring at one particular leaf on the ground. It must have fallen off of someone's shoe or something, trodden in from the outside. It was curled up at one end, a shade of dark brown. A single drop of blood splattered next to it. His blood.
“That might need stitches…”
Hawks said it so calmly. The side of Shinsou’s eye throbbed but he sat up, wondering if it was worth brainwashing himself. He didn’t want to do it too much, he was worried about losing his pain tolerance or something.
“I’ll see if they have a medical kit.”
His footstep receded into the distance and Shinsou let his shoulders drop a little now he was alone. He had been surprised how nice the league's setup was. It was well managed, organised in fact, honestly it just seemed like a halfway house. A sort of foster home of some sorts. That’s how Twice had described it. And out of everyone, he seemed the most genuine. Well half of him… Some of him? It was complicated.
In reality he didn’t know if the whole thing was a facade or not. It had only been a few weeks since himself and Hawks had successfully infiltrated the group and he hadn’t met everyone. They all sort of did their own thing, leaving for days on end only to come back to the base as if they’d just popped to the shops. No word, no explanation and yet there was a semblance of trust between them all. Not that this extended to Hawks or Shinsou, not yet. They were still doing their normal training, plus their hero work, plus any experiments the League wanted to try on them. Which ranged from mild interest in their quirks to full on bullying.
“They had one, so that’s good!”
Hawk’s voice echoed around the room once again and Shinsou made an effort to look up. He was tired. Bone achingly tired.
“I want to go to the Lawson’s,” he replied as Hawks came closer and flashed his phone light up by his face. “Ow. Bright.”
“Lawson’s? What for?”
“Energy drinks, I have patrol tonight as well.”
Hawks smirked. “With Eraserhead?”
“Yeah, with Eraserhead.” Shinsou sighed. Because he got to assign his shifts on this undercover job, he’d purposely matched up with Eraser. It was like a childhood dream come true. But Hawks had not stopped going on about it since he found out, today being no exception.
He seemed to take the hint. “We can go to Lawson’s. Once I stitch you up. It’s not like they trust me to stay here anyway, they’re just letting me fix you up ‘cause no one else can be bothered."
Shinsou’s eyes narrowed as he watched the pro take a suture kit out of the medical bag. “Oh fuck no.”
“You can’t walk into a Lawsons with half your eyebrow dangling down your face,” Hawks reasoned. “Suck it up lil’ bitch.”
Shinsou resigned himself to his fate. Letting Hawks guide him towards the window for better light, holding his phone up with one hand and sitting on the floor. “Please tell me there’s at least some sanitizer in that.”
“Sure,” Shinsou heard rummaging from next to him. “Somewhere…”
The door creaked open and the two of them turned to the open door. A figure stood, silhouetted in the light before reaching out and flicking on the switch.
“Hey you two, you know there’s a light in this room right? Don’t tell them that. Or do you not want to see, something like that?”
“Oh, we’re just stupid apparently,” Hawks grinned as Twice walked into the room, some sort of snack hanging from his mouth. He raised one eyebrow at Shinsou.
“Hardcore training? You look better with one eyebrow. ” he asked.
“Some guy from the Yakuza had a knife,” Shinsou replied as Twice sauntered over, taking Hawks phone from his hand and moving the torch light. “Ow!”
Hawks huffed. “This is just the antiseptic so if that hurts, good luck with the real thing.”
“I can knock you out?”
“Thanks, but no thanks Twice,” Shinosu grinned. “I appreciate the enthusiasm.”
Twice just shrugged in reply. “Okay, offer still stands. I’m glad I missed that meeting! ”
“Where were you this afternoon?” Hawks asked Twice before turning his attention back to Shinsou, hooking the thread into the needle. “Ready lil’ bitch?”
Shinsou put his hand in his pocket, twisting the fabric around in his fingers in anticipation. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
He placed the sleeve of his spare hand into his mouth for extra measure.
“I was running an errand.” Twice said.
“For Dabi I’m guessing,” to which Twice nodded. Hawks looked bemused for a moment. “You do whatever he says huh?
“ Yes sir! I don’t do whatever he says,” Twice replied indignantly. “But I’ll do what makes sense!”
Maybe Hawks would have nodded, maybe not, Shinsou didn’t get time to work out before the space above his left eye exploded into white.
“Keep your eye still, closed or open, doesn’t matter just choose one.”
Shinsou chose to keep them closed.
“You’re cooler than that Twice,” he heard Hawks continue. Trying to focus on his voice and the way his nails dug into his hero costume. “You can be your own person. Own people?”
“Who knows!” Twice laughed. “ Those stitches are terrible. Can you sew?”
“No.”
Fantastic .
“Why are you here?” Twice continued. “I thought Dabi wasn’t allowing you in the building yet?”
“I had a meeting with him this morning, about the high-end Nomu thing,” Hawks replied, his voice nonchalant even though Shinsou could sense the tension in it. “I told him I wanted to stay for the Yakuza meeting and he actually let me so that’s a bonus.”
“He’ll trust you soon! I’m sure of it!” Twice replied. “He just wants you to do one thing for him.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll only be one thing.” Hawks drawled.
“When’s the hero ranking going on?” Shinsou asked, changing the conversation topic. He knew the answer, he just wanted to talk about something else. He didn’t know why he was the chosen one, the one Dabi had decided to ‘let in’. It had just happened, somewhat unspokenly. Just last week, he’d stayed the night in the villain's hideout. It made sense at the time, an experiment they’d run had gone on until past three in the morning, he had training at seven. But now, thinking back, it sent his mind for a loop.
“Next Sunday,” Hawks replied. “No talking, it moves your eye.”
“Are you expected to rank highly?” Twice asked. He had taken to squatting next to Shinsou, he could feel their knees touching.
“Second.” Hawks said. Shinsou could hear the smile in his voice.
“Wow! It’s amazing!” Twice replied, his other selves chiming in. “ It’s a load of rubbish! ”
“Now I agree with that,” Hawks replied. “Still it makes a great stage for your new Nomu, doesn’t it?”
“Our Nomu.” Twice replied with a grin.
It was meant to sound endearing but Shinsou just felt sick.
–
He was still feeling nauseous when he met up with Eraserhead later that evening. The pro took one look at him as the two dashed over the nearby rooftops and scoffed.
“What the hell happened?”
“Commission training.” Shinsou replied, letting the cool air fill his lungs. It was crisps and the dampness mingled with the smell of smoke and bath salts from the nearby onsen.
“Sure,” Eraser replied. “The commission would have fixed you up properly. Don’t lie to me.”
Shinsou said nothing.
Instead they dived down into the nearest alleyway, a homeless man startled on their arrival. Eraser looked up at him, pulling his glasses up, his hair sliding up against his forehead.
“You okay sir? Do you have somewhere safe to be tonight?”
The man shook a half empty can in their direction. “Youfukin heroes… s’meddling inspeoples business.”
The two watched as the man tutted, stumbling off into the street.
Eraser sighed, pulling eye drops from his side pocket. “I’ll take that as a yes then.”
Shinsou’s wrist buzzed. The commission had given him a sort of smart watch he could use on patrol. It linked up with his radio messages so he could use it to monitor crime in the area. The most important use for it however was the little sound recorder hidden on the inside. It was old school but it made sense. This way he could easily record anything incriminating the League said or discussed around him and send it directly to the commission.
“There’s a convenience store robbery two streets away,” he read aloud. “Want me to take it?”
“I’ll come with,” Eraser shrugged, pocketing the eye drops and blinking a few times. “Which way?”
“Left,” Shinsou replied, detaching his capture weapon from his costume and wrapping one end around his hand. “I can go on ahead just in case they try to run.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They set off but the guy seemingly hadn’t bothered to run far. Shinsou watched as Eraser changed his trajectory midair and slid down the side of the building next door, throwing out his capture weapon and tugging the man backwards so the stolen items fell out of his grip.
Shinsou hopped out of the sky and started to pick them up, noting how Aizawa had caught the guy exactly how Shinsou remembered being caught himself just half a year ago.
“Thank you, thank you,” a woman said from beside him, bowing deeply in her shop apron. She looked young, maybe about Hawk’s age and Shinsou watched as she helped pick up the various items from around their feet. “Thank you.”
“Did you call the police?” Shinsou asked, balancing a carton of milk in one hand, motioning towards it with his head. “This one’s leaking.”
“Yes, yes I did, oh… thank you…”
“Oi. Mindjack.”
Shinsou turned to Eraser struggling to keep the man under his control as the figure wrestled under the restraints.
“What’s your name?” he called out.
The man hissed, jerking his head upwards to look at him. “Not telling yo-“
Just above Shinsou’s eyebrow he could feel it throbbing. “Stay still. Shut up.”
“Thank you,” Aizawa huffed, letting go of the man and pulling his weapon back. “He’s a flighty one.”
“Can I get you two anything, whilst we wait?” the shop assistant asked, beckoning them off the pavement and into the outside sitting area.
“Sit down,” Shinsou told the man, watching as he did so, the plastic chair creaking as he put his weight on it. “Uh, can I get some painkillers?”
Aizawa looked at him but said nothing. “Coffee. Black. If you don’t mind.”
“Of course, it’s on me.” she smiled but Aizawa shook his head, handing over some coins and taking a seat next to the man as she left.
“Ask him if he’s hungry,” Aizawa said. “I’m aware that from experience, if you’re stealing from a Lawson, you must be in a difficult situation.”
Shinsou didn’t reply to that, simply turning to the man. “Sir, are you hungry?”
A quick nod was all he gave in reply. Aizawa pulled out another coin from his back pocket, brushing the lint off of it. “Go get him a cup ramen or something.”
Shinsou nodded and walked inside the store, the bright lights causing him to close one eye out of instinct. He picked out the cheapest option and moved his way to the counter where the assistant was already getting a coffee ready. “This as well please.”
“Really, there’s no need to pay.” She insisted.
Aizawa wouldn’t want Shinsou to return the money to him so he hovered over the charity donation box instead. “Can I put it in here?”
She smiled and nodded.
“They’ll want to take your statement, the police I mean,” Shinsou continued. “Is there another worker coming?”
“His shift starts at 11:30,” she replied. They both looked up at the clock reading 11:24. “He has a habit of being late however.”
“It’s fine, we’ll be here until the situation is resolved,” Shinsou smiled, taking the ramen and walking over to the hot water dispenser. “What’s your name?”
“Hana.”
“I’m Mindjack,” he replied, leaning across for some disposable chopsticks. “How did you know to call the police so fast?”
“He’s a regular here,” she said. “Quite often tries to steal but usually there’s someone else here to deal with it. I guess he’s learnt now, that there’s a bit of time where it’s just me.”
Shinsou nodded, grabbing the ramen and going back for the coffee and painkillers. “Thank you. We’ll just be outside.”
Hana bowed again and Shinsou exited through the automatic doors, placing the coffee on the table in front of Aizawa, the ramen in front of the man. “I’ll have to let go of my control for him to eat that.”
“Fine,” Aizawa said. “He won’t run again, I’m sure of it.”
So Shinsou did, the man breathing deeply as he regained control over his body once more.
“Eat. Don’t say a word, especially anything incriminating and be grateful.” Aizawa muttered.
“Thank you for the food…” the man whispered, grabbing the chopsticks and hungrily tucking in.
Shinsou opened up the painkillers, pushing his nail through the foil tab and pushing two pills onto his palm. He was about to take them when Aizawa tapped his elbow.
“Take it with my coffee.” He offered.
“I can’t take a gulp of that,” Shinsou replied. “It’ll burn the skin off of my throat.”
“You can’t take them dry.”
“I can…”
Aizawa pulled a face. “Drink some coffee after at least, I’m not having you choke on over the counter painkillers.”
Shinsou grinned slightly and accepted the offer. They sat in silence for a while, listening to the whir of sirens as they came and then faded down the streets.
“Does it hurt?” Aizawa finally asked, pointing at Shinsou’s eyebrow.
Shinsou wondered how best to reply. If he said the truth then Aizawa would push for more information, that’s just how he was. But he couldn’t exactly lie after taking pain medication in front of the man.
“Your silence says it all,” Aizawa murmured. “It looks nasty, that’s for sure.”
“It was just an accident.”
“Are you using your quirk to hide the pain?”
“No.”
“Okay. Good.”
Aizawa shifted in his seat.
“Do you want to use Erasure on me to check?” Shinsou asked pointedly, pushing the coffee back in his direction.
“No…”
The pro took a sip. Shinsou watched him, listening for sirens getting closer.
Aizawa finally cracked. “Don’t stare, it’s rude.”
“You look more tired than usual.” Shinsou retorted, waiting for a reaction.
Aizawa scoffed but the corner of his mouth tipped upwards into a smile. “Yes, because you look like the picture of health.”
Shinsou put on his biggest smile, ignoring how much it hurt his eye. “Aw! Thanks!”
Eventually the police arrived, the man holding one hand up as they went to arrest him, tipping the rest of the noodles into his mouth before letting them handcuff him, the group heading into the convenience store where Hana was thankfully not alone anymore.
They left them there for questioning, hopping back onto the rooftops and scaling the last few streets before Aizawa came to a stop on the concrete balcony of a deserted block of flats.
“Everything good-?” Shinsou started.
“Shhh.”
He kept silent, pulling his persona chords up, waiting for whatever Eraser had heard. The hairs on his arm standing up on end.
Then he heard it. The smallest, most pathetic meow, coming from just below them. Apparently so did Aizawa, the man silently hopping down from the balcony, his capture weapon acting as a rope to soften his landing to the alleyway.
Shinsou followed suit, the two crouching towards a pile of bin bags, Aizawa pulling one of them away.
And there, underneath the black plastic was a tiny black kitten, its fur matted and damp. Its mouth wide open as it meowed as loudly as possible.
“Oh…” Shinsou whispered, watching as Aizawa reached to pick it up, the tiny animal shivering in his hands.
“Hey you,” he whispered, tucking the kitten into his capture scarf. “What happened to you?”
“What should we do with it?” Shinsou asked.
Aizawa continued to wrap the animal up, glancing at Shinsou. “Try and find its mother- oh Jesus Hitoshi…”
Shinsou was about to ask what was up before he felt something wet drip down his face. One dab with his hands and it came back with red.
He reached into his pocket for a spare tissue or something, turning away from the pro as he did. “It’s fine, I’m fine. A stitch must have come loose or something…”
“Okay, you’re coming home with me.”
Eraser said it so quickly Shinsou barely heard it. He was about to open his mouth to ask the pro to repeat himself before his brain caught up with the information.
“Wha-?”
“Come on.”
Aizawa wasn’t really leaving room for an argument so Shinsou got up and followed him, holding the scrap of tissue paper up against his eyebrow.
“Do you think it needs to be restitched?” the man asked as they walked.
Shinsou wiggled his brow slightly, feeling for any shift. It seemed fine. “I don’t think so, it’s just bleeding.”
“Okay.”
He looked at his watch, it was close to midnight. Nearly Sunday.
“Patrol doesn’t end until 3am.”
“You’re injured,” Aizawa said pointedly. “And if the commission did do this to you, they’ll understand why you’re clocking off early. I’ll drop you and the kitten off and head back out. My place isn’t far.”
“Don’t you have to go to UA dorms?” he asked, running slightly to catch up with the pro. He desperately tried to think of some excuse to stop Aizawa from worrying about him but it could wait until they got the cat in from the cold at least. Plus it was a quiet evening. That was his justification for now anyway.
“Vlad takes over on Saturdays so I can patrol,” he replied. “Then I look after 1-B on Tuesdays for him.”
“Nice little arrangement.”
Aizawa hummed, tapping on the broken screen of his IPhone with one hand, the other clutching onto the kitten. “Have you eaten?”
“Ever?”
“Don’t be a smartass.”
Shinsou was about to say ‘ I had an energy drink ’ but thought better of it. “Not dinner, no.
Aizawa continued typing, swinging into a side street. “Okay I’ll get Mic to make you food.”
“Who?” Shinsou asked, not catching the end of the sentence properly.
“My flatmate.” Aizawa replied. Shinsou wasn’t aware he had a flatmate. Maybe he could just spend the time looking after the cat instead of focusing on awkward conversations.
“Doesn’t the cat need to go to a vet or something?” he asked, trying to sneak a peek at the black bundle of fur tucked into Aizawa’s neck.
The pro smiled slightly. It was unnerving. “I’ve taken a lot of stray cats home before. This isn’t new. Can you use your capture weapon? We can take a shortcut here.”
Shinsou watched as he rearranged the cat in one arm. It meowed again before letting out a soft purr.
“I can fly.” he replied, looping his capture scarf from his neck.
Aizawa turned to give him a look. “Fly? Don’t call it flying. I don’t fly .”
“Why? Do you soar ?” Shinsou grinned with the working side of his face.
“Shut up. Let’s go.”
They rose back into the rooftops, the kitten immediately shutting up at its sudden loss of gravity. From up here, Musutafu looked so beautiful, the skyline of Tokyo etched into the distance.
There was a trick that Twice had passed to him that Toga had taught the League. A knife throwing technique where you twist your wrist one direction, quickly turning it back seconds before you let go of the knife so it arches in the air. Shinsou used it with his capture scarf, aiming it just above Aizawa’s head so he flew just above him, coming to land on the rooftop close by.
“Jesus Hitoshi! You nearly had my eye out!” Aizawa cried into the night. Shinsou snorted, running faster into the cool breeze. It worked. It actually worked.
“Cool though, right?” He laughed.
“Dirty more like,” Aizawa remarked. “Hey, bet you’d be great at ten-pin bowling.”
“What! Rather than being a hero?!” Shinsou asked with mock offence.
Aizawa huffed his usual laugh from beside him. “You’re far too much like me to be a hero.”
Usually Aizawa would take this chance to try and throw a swift kick in Shinsou’s direction. Tonight, with a kitten in his arms and Shinsou dripping blood onto the pavement below he didn’t. Instead they came to a quick landing outside another block of flats, Aizawa pressing the call button with his index finger.
“It’s me.” He said as the line connected and the door clicked open. As it did, Shinsou’s wrist buzzed.
“It’s a suspected mugging on the bridge by-“
Aizawa cut him off with a firm grip on the top of his arm. “No. Go up to my flat, 106. Take the kitten, I’ll go check it out.”
Shinsou couldn’t exactly argue with Aizawa lumping a kitten into his arms so he took it, mouth opening and closing like a fish as he watched the pro run back in the direction of the city. He didn’t even get a chance to tell him which bridge it was. It would be another minute or so before it could come over the police comms.
The kitten stretched out in his arms, flexing its paws and digging its claws into Shinsou’s forearm.
“Fuck- okay!”
He shoved the door the rest of the way open and went inside.
The flats seemed well maintained, there were even potted plants, albeit fake, lined across the window sills of the communal stairs. Flat 106 was on the first floor so Shinsou took the steps two at a time wondering what exactly Aizawa’s flatmate would be like.
A woman perhaps? Although Aizawa had never mentioned anything about him being in a relationship. Whoever it was had to know about his hero work as well, and they were up at midnight on a Saturday so did that mean anything? Or we’re adults usually up into the early hours of the morning? Hawks was but was he really an adult in the same way Aizawa was?
He knocked on the door quietly, shuffling his feet and looking down at the doormat. It was scuffed but it had a picture of a cat on it. One paw up in the air with a speech bubble that said ‘ meow! ’.
Shinsou quickly glanced up at the door. Definitely the right flat…
A lock clicked on the other side, a familiar voice calling out as it opened.
“Hey listener!”
And there, in loungewear, hair down and yawning was Present Mic .
Shinsou gawked as his brain caught up, filling in the gaps. Of course… when Shinsou had been in hospital and Aizawa would visit, Mic would always be there as well. When Aizawa needed something from his place, Mic would get it for him. Hell, when Shinsou was discharged and taken to Hawk’s for the first time it was Mic who drove the car to drop them off. He was being dense, completely overlooking the only thing that made sense because he just assumed that all teachers lived in dorms or something? Like a child?
“Hey. Shinsou. Where’s Shota? I mean Aizawa .”
Mic’s voice brought him back into focus but the kitten replied first, poking its head out of Shinsou’s arms and meowing once more.
“Ah. A kitten,” Mic stated in a tone that sounded like this was a regular thing. His eyes widened. “That’s not Eraser is it?”
“The cat? No!” Shinsou’s mouth caught up with his brain. “Sorry, there was a mugging, he went to check it out.”
Mic’s expression softened into a smile, beckoning them in. “Come on, your dripping blood onto my welcome mat.”
“Oh…” Shinsou looked down at the mess he was making. “Sorry.”
“You’re all good listener, let’s get you cleaned up.”
Shinsou let the fight trickle out of him as he crossed the threshold into the flat.