Chapter Text
The wind was cold as it blew through the narrow street. Izuku's hair was already a mess of knots and tangles. He had to keep running. He couldn't stop. The sound of his footsteps echoed of the buildings. He thought he'd lost them, but the wind was too strong to make out any noise, and he couldn't be sure. So he kept running. The wind bit his skin and his breathing was ragged and his throat was burning, but he'd ran for longer.
He looked behind him as he was turning the corner, and relief washed over him as he noticed the street behind him was empty. Just as he turned his head, he collided with a solid mass. His breath was knocked out of him as he fell to the ground, and he reflectively raised his hands in front of his face.
"Woah, slow down there kid. Are you okay?" A concerned male voice cut through the heartbeat pounding in his ears.
Izuku's glaze flicked up at the man in front of him. He caught a glimpse of something red and blonde hair. "I- I'm sorry. Uhm. I'm really sorry," Izuku stammered, his pulse still rising.
"No need to apologise. Are you hurt?" The man crouched down, his concern tangible.
Izuku drew his legs closer to his body. "Um, no, I don't think I am," he muttered, eyes fixed on the ground. "But I should really get going."
Understanding seeped into the man's face. "I see. Can I at least know what were you running from?" He asked, settling down across from Izuku.
"It's really no big deal. I, uhm, was just running for fun," Izuku said, his eyes darting around, avoiding eye contact at any cost.
"It didn't-" The man paused. "If you say so. What can I call you?"
"Uhm," Izuku hesitated, "Yatto."
"I'm Takai." The man smiled gently. "Where do you live? I'll walk you home."
"Thank you for the offer." Izuku slowly rose to his feet. "But I think I'll be fine."
"Alright. Stay safe." The man said, standing up in a fluid motion and leaning against a wall.
As soon as Izuku had left the street behind, he began to jog, his mind torn between gratitude for the stranger's kindness and the persistent caution that life had instilled in him. He couldn't afford to let his guard down.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
Izuku opened the door to find an empty and dark house. He hadn't expected his mom to be home, and though he had told himself he didn't care, a part of him still shrunk. He walked to the kitchen to find a note. It read: "I'm working late. Food is in the fridge." He still remembered when the notes were longer and ended with 'I love you'. But he got it. His mom had to work three jobs to keep their apartment and to keep him fed and in school. And if he knew his mom would blow most of the money she'd earned on alcohol, he didn't tell her that.
After he stuck a microwave meal into the microwave, he headed to his backpack to get his phone and hero analysis notebook. He opened the trusty underground hero news site he'd been using for years and scrolled through the videos till he found a new video someone recorded of Eraserhead.
Izuku almost dropped his phone in excitement. Though the quality wasn't the best and the footage was shaky, it was new footage. Izuku was glad to be able to touch up his notes on Eraserhead's fighting style. He had multiple pages dedicated to how Eraserhead dodged and evaded attacks.
The microwave beeped, and he got some cutlery. As he sat back down at the table, he ate as he wrote, and by the time he was done, he'd watched the video ten times over.
He closed the video, and the site automatically refreshed. He scrolled down again and caught a glimpse of red. As the site he was on generally focused on underground heroes, he was surprised to find a video of hawks. He clicked on the video and flipped the pages of his notebook till he got to Hawks. He had written about five pages on the man, but he hadn't actively researched him. Many of the notes Izuku had made on the sideline were arrows connecting multiple moves with question marks and statements like "It's almost like he's not trying."
But this fight seemed rather interesting. Hawks was positioned in an alleyway, protecting a crying woman from a group of thugs, armed with knives. Izuku watched the video multiple times, but when he cross-referenced it with his notes on Hawk's fighting style, he was left very confused. Some points still stood, but many of the things Izuku had believed to be integral to his fighting style weren't present, and he seemed to heavily rely on other techniques. Izuku quickly ran upstairs to get more paper before searching for more videos on Hawks.
˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗
4 hours later, Izuku was done. There seemed to be nothing consistent about Hawk's fighting style. Izuku's head hurt. He'd scribbled all over multiple pages and gotten almost nothing conclusive.
Sighing, he grabbed all the pages he'd used and went to put them into a folder. He had a few of those, usually containing information about heroes and villains he couldn't quite figure out, or heroes he really liked.
Izuku sat down on his desk chair and stretched. As he stretched, he looked out at the night sky. It was a clear night, and Izuku could already tell he wouldn't be able to sleep. He was pretty sure his anxiety had turned his already bad sleeping habits into insomnia.
He yawned as he put his shoes on. He usually wore a pair of worn-down red shoes when he went out at night, along with an oversized green hoodie and a black mask. He also took a first aid kit and a water bottle with him, along with a pocket knife. After all, you never knew who you'd come across while roof hopping.
After dawning his roof-hyping attire and grabbing some rope he climbed out his window. He'd done this many times by now, he was on top of the roof of the apartment complex in a matter of minutes. He took a few steps back before running to the edge and jumping for the other roof. He rolled to keep his momentum and ran to the edge of that one. The rhythmic actions were both an escape and a form of mastery. The gravel crunched underneath his feet and the wind was nice and cool against his face.
He continued like that for a while, till he reached a building with a fenced-off rooftop. The gap between the buildings wasn't that large, so with a bit of run-up, Izuku was able to grab a hold of the fence and haul himself over it. He went to sit down against a pole and he grabbed his water bottle from his bag. He was glad he'd taken it with him, as running and jumping usually ended with him being extremely dehydrated.
After a five-minute star gazing and drinking break Izuku got back up. He grabbed the fence and started to haul himself back over it. The fence creaked and shook slightly. He'd gotten remarkably good at climbing over things and making decisions on the fly after years of needing to escape from bullies. He sat down again on the edge, just in front of the fence.
Looking down at the ground, his mind started to wander. He wondered what would happen if he fell. How long it would take for his mom to notice he was gone? If she would even care. The kids at school would probably be glad he's gone. He could feel his throat starting to burn and tears started to form in the corners of his eyes.
He shouldn't be thinking about this.
He shook his head in an attempt to get rid of the thoughts. Suddenly, the ground looked a lot more inviting. He swallowed and wiped a hand past his eyes. He shouldn't be crying about this. It'd been this way for years now, and crying like a little kid wasn't going to change that.
He stood up, his body now feeling a bit less steady than it did a few moments ago. He took another sip of his water bottle before getting ready to jump to the building next to him. It was about the same height, but there was a pretty big gap between the buildings. Though it normally wouldn't be an issue, he couldn't get a run-up due to the fence blocking his way.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before putting all his force into leaping between the gap. Just then, an object went through his hoodie, and just a few seconds later he found himself in someone's arms. He blinked a few times before starting to struggle to get out of the stranger's arms.
"Woah, calm down there kid." The stranger said, putting him down on the ground, far away from the edge of the rooftop.
Izuku just looked him over now that he was free. He recognised the stranger almost immediately. It was Hawks. Izuku blinked again. The voice seemed familiar. Almost like he'd heard it earlier. Especially the way he pronounced kid. He'd heard Hawks taunt his enemies in the fighting footage, but the audio was never good enough to get a grasp of his voice.
"Kid?" Hawks asked. He was fidgeting with one of his feathers, eyeing Izuku like he could bolt at any time. Which was a ridiculous thought, since Hawks was a hero, and Izuku was, well, Izuku.
"Uhm, oh, sorry, I zoned out," Izuku eyed the gravel on the rooftop. "Why'd you do that?"
"Why I did that? I wasn't about to let you jump off of a roof." Hawks replied.
"Oh. Oh, that's what you think that was. This is not what it looks like, I promise!" Izuku all but yelled, before realising that might not be the best thing to do. "Sorry, I uhm didn't mean to yell."
"It's fine kid, don't worry about it," Hawks ran a hand through his hair "but if that wasn't what it looked like, what was it?"
Izuku nervously fidgeted with his hands. "I, uh, enjoy doing parkour."
Hawks eyed Izuku for a bit before motioning for them to both sit down. Izuku hesitantly did so, if not purely for the fact that Hawks was a hero, and he really had no other option.
"What's your name?" Hawks asked.
"You can call me Yatto. I'd rather not tell you my full name if that's okay." Izuku said.
Hawks tilted his head and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Are you that kid from earlier today?"
Izuku looked up and searched through his memory. Suddenly, he realised the man he'd bumped into had been Hawks. "Oh, my god. I'm so sorry for bumping into you." Izuku stumbled over his words.
"It's fine, really. Don't worry about it." Hawks reassured him.
They sat in silence for a few moments, Izuku looking everywhere but at Hawks and Hawks occasionally stealing glances at the kid in front of him.
"Are you okay?" Hawks asked Izuku.
"I think so. It's the same as always, so there's no reason not to be." Izuku replied, looking at the rocks he was digging his hands into.
Hawks stole another glance at the child in front of him. He looked quite young and the name he'd given him was obviously fake. He was able to make out a bruise on the kid's face. His gut instinct was telling him something was off about this, that he needed to help the child in front of him.
"Why are you out here this late? It's way past your bedtime." Hawks inquired.
"It's nice, and it's good practice. I need to be agile." Izuku replied, toying with one of his curls.
"You need to be agile?" Hawks tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.
"Uhm, yeah, I do." Izuku stumbled over his words. "Forget I said that."
"Yatto, do you want to be a hero?" Hawks asked.
Izuku's head shot up. "What?" He said, before averting his gaze. "I would like to be, but that's not an option for me."
Hawks tilted his head. "Why not?"
Izuku took in a deep breath. "I'm quirkless. No quirkless person has ever been a hero."
Hawks was taken aback. He had no clue how to reply. A silence fell. After a few minutes, Izuku got up. "I'll be leaving now," he said before jumping off the roof and hopping to another one.