Chapter Text
He jolted awake as the ringing from his phone got louder. Sitting up he looked at the time and saw he had only slept for an hour again.
“Guess it’s time for work.” He whipped his face a little, already knowing that he still had stray tears on his face.
He walked over to his closet and pulled out a pair of burned, oil, and slightly blood stained blue jeans, they were covered in holes and ratted near the edge but he liked them, he also grabbed a plain black shirt that was in a similar state though no one couldn’t really tell. Grabbing his skateboard, backpack, and face mask he left the small run down apartment and headed to work.
As he skated he did a few tricks, skating on benches or jumping over something. Though looking through his phone made he wanted to groan.
He had a shift at the garage for seven hours, then a twelve hour shift at the corner store. If he wanted to even work on anything he would need to take a short nap at some point or get another energy drink, though the drink was more likely. He also needed to stop at the library and return his books, maybe get a few more, then go to the beach and work there before going on patrol.
He of course knew it wasn’t healthy to sleep so little and do so many things but he didn’t exactly have a choice in the matter. He needed the jobs to pay for his food, apartment, and clothes, he needed the books and library to get some form of an education to get better jobs to make more money, he needed to go to the beach to work out and clean the place up, and he liked patrolling, he got to help people when heroes couldn’t and it kept him sane to a degree.
“Midoriya!” He flinched at the name when he walked into the garage, his boss was on his ass doing nothing of course, because Izuku was here “We got two more cars! Hurry this shit up and fix em!” Izuku plastered on a smile and nodded his head.
“Of course Mr. Sato!” He set his bag down near the wall with his board leaning against it and grabbed his tools out of his bag. He had already had his own tools when he started working here and Mr. Sato had made it clear he wasn’t allowed to use the other tools.
Anytime he needed a new tool he had to go buy it for himself, it pissed him off a little but it tended to come in handy when he was working on projects and could find a use for the tool. It didn’t hurt that the pay was pretty good too, it was less than what some of the other people were making and he still had to buy his own tools but it was enough to pay for his food and save a ton in his bank account. Add that with his other job where he got paid a little above the minimum wage, it was good, though he knew he still needed to find another job soon.
If his plan worked, which it would, then this place would be closed down with the owner being arrested.
He had originally taken the job to get evidence against the man for selling drugs to people, heroin, trigger, you name it he sold it. When he heard wind of this place being the selling ground he looked into jobs here right away, he knew the cops wouldn’t believe him without a good amount of evidence and he was getting that.
He had footage, photos, recorded conversations, and even witnesses, who were already in jail for the same reason. All he had to do was get this to the police and it was out of his hands from there.
“Midoriya!” He turned with a smile towards his boss, he had already finished one of the cars and was working on the next “Go here and pick up the package, there’s some extra cash in it if you do.” Izuku nodded and entered the coordinates into his phone before wiping his hands off and grabbing his board.
He may have also been hired specifically to be a drug runner, he was a quirkless kid that always looked like shit so no one bothered him. They simply glossed over him and went on with their day, even heroes did that to him.
When his employer hired him it was specifically for that, but then he found out Izuku worked amazingly with cars and even seemed to enjoy messing with parts. He was paid less and his hours weren’t the best, but the extra money went a long way.
While being the drug runner got him extra cash it also got him more evidence since he was the one handling a lot of the delivery. It let him take photos and even physical evidence, though he never did that second one, if his boss noticed anything he was dead, literally. The man made it clear that if he ever caught wind of anything like that happening then Izuku was dead, not that Izuku cared really, but it was still a threat.
He came across the box and crouched down in front of it, moving a few parts on the top and spotting what he was looking for, he took a few quick photos and moved them to his evidence file before closing it. He picked it up and got back on his board heading back to the garage.
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It was getting well into the morning when someone actually walked through the doors of the small store. Usually when he was working there wasn’t much to do so he usually restocked, read, or worked on new designs for something.
It was just another teenager getting a coffee from the back, he ignored them for the most part as he flipped through the pages of the old textbook. When they did come to the counter they gave him a five before walking out, he was a little confused by it since the drink was around 3.50 but he ignored it as he placed the five into the drawer.
Most nights were like this for him, he knew the other person was supposed to be here around 1 am but they were late again, they were late each time he was the one before them so he had to work more rather than actually get some sleep.
“I’m so sorry Midoriya!” He looked over as the person came in looking smug “I got busy, thanks for staying later!” He nodded and grabbed his book, drink, and bag before skating out of the store. He knew if he stayed longer they would make him stay later and do more work, even though there wasn’t much to be done anyway.
With the time he could throw in a patrol then a nap, he only had the garage tomorrow anyway so he could get a few extra hours, maybe even get the evidence in after work.
When he got back to his apartment he quickly set his work bag away and opened his closet. Hidden in the back under a few boxes and clothes was another backpack, a baseball bat, a chain with a metal hook, and a change of clothes.
The outfit was pretty simple, a black short sleeve shirt with hand sewn padding on his vitals, black cargo pants, and his usual black gloves and boots. He always had the chain wrapped around his waist unless he needed to get up somewhere high, but he often just climbed more than anything. The bat was used for obvious reasons, though he knew how to fight and fight dirty so he only used it when needed since he could do some serious damage with it.
That was another reason he read a lot, he needed to know what would and wouldn’t permanently hurt someone, if he hit a little to the left would he paralyze them or just knock them out? That was one of the problems of being self taught, but he dealt with it.
He secured his medical mask to his face, the chain around his waist, and strapped the bat to his backpack before grabbing his bag and heading out.
An advantage for using casual clothes and common weapons was that he could blend in, he only looked like a delinquent, which heroes and police wouldn’t do anything about. Disadvantage, he got injured a lot easier, good thing he was good at dodging though, years of abuse and living on the street made you good at that.
He turned the corner and sped up as he heard the cries of a kid coming from an alley. He stepped on the edge of his board making it fly into his hand, he took his bag off and grabbed the bat, leaving the board and bag in a dark corner before approaching silently.
From what he could see it was just a guy cornering a kid, a little too late for them to be out but he wasn’t gonna judge them. If he was reading the man correctly he wanted the kid for not so good reasons.
“Can I help you with something?” he spoke loud enough to get their attention, they still gave off fear, but seemed more calm with someone else around.
“None ya business kid, how bout you fuck off?” Izuku looked him up and down before looking at the kid.
“Are you ok?” The kid shook their head hesitantly, Izuku nodded back and spun his bat casually “How about you fuck off instead? Kid doesn’t seem to be happy with you around.”
“Stupid brat!” The man pulled out a knife and charged at Izuku who stood still till the very last moment. He grabbed the guys wrist before slamming his bat into the guys head, it wasn’t enough to cause bleeding, just to knock him out long enough for Izuku to tie him up.
He looked at the knife curiously before pocketing it, he checked the mans pockets and took some cash from the guy's wallet before tying him to a fire escape. He turned back to the kid and crouched in front of them.
“Are you ok? Did he hurt you?” The kid shook their head, tears still streaming down their face “Hey, it’s ok, he’s not gonna hurt you anymore alright? Do you live around here?”
“Y-yes, m-my sister and I w-were playing and I got...got lost.” Izuku nodded along, it was pretty late in the day, so either their sister forgot or was panicking like crazy.
“Ok, how about I take you to the station, I’m sure your sister’s worried sick,” He picked the child up and grabbed his bag and board “Ever ridden on one of these?” They shook their head “That’s ok, stand on this part and I’ll take us there.” He helped the kid onto his board before pushing off and heading to the station.
The kid seemed surprisingly calm around Izuku, though it wasn’t the first time, a coworker had once told him that he just gave off calm vibes, he was very approachable apparently.
When they went in Izuku picked up his board and attached it to his bag before going in.
“Ma’am?” The woman at the desk looked up “I was riding around and saw them getting attacked, they said their sister lost track of them?” Before she could speak someone shouted.
“Samidare!” The two looked over, seeing a woman and her husband run over and drag the kid into a hug, followed closely by two other kids.
“Thank you so much! We looked away for a second and he was gone!” Izuku nodded in understanding before looking at the woman.
“There’s a guy knocked out and tied to a fire escape a block to the left.” He didn’t wait any longer and left the station, going back to a patrol.
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Izuku woke up to his alarm and changed back into his normal clothes, being careful of the bandages on him. He hadn’t gotten too hurt, just enough to be annoying.
He grabbed his board and tools before heading to the beach for parts. He was getting closer to finishing the computer he was making, it looked like a mess of wires and screens, but it would work.
The beach was getting closer and closer to being cleaned and he was able to fix a lot of things up and sell them, there even seemed to be a shop opening up that would accept metals for money, he could turn in the pieces he wasn’t going to use for extra cash.
He picked up a larger piece of scrap metal and moved to put it in one of the piles until something ran into him knocking it out of his hand. He hissed a little when he felt the metal cut his arm open, feeling glad he put his gloves on so it wasn’t worse.
“My apologies! I wasn’t paying attention!” Izuku looked up from his arm and froze seeing the other teen “Are you alright?! You seem to be bleeding!” Izuku looked back to his arm and put a hand over it.
“It’s fine, I can-” Izuku was cut off as the other placed his own hand over the rest of the wound.
“Nonsense! It wouldn’t be very heroic of me if I left someone bleeding!” Izuku blushed a little realizing the other teen was in fact shirtless and standing a little too close to him.
“Um...I have some bandages in my bag over there.” Izuku pointed to it sitting near one of the piles.
“I’ll fetch it for you!” The other ran over and grabbed his bag before coming back “How rude of me! I never introduced myself! My name's Inasa Yoarashi!” Izuku looked up quickly before returning to his arm.
“Midoriya Izuku, I um..prefer Izuku though.” Inasa smiled as he replaced Izuku’s hands with his own to cover the wound.
“Well then you can call me Inasa! Only fair, right?” Izuku smiled a little and nodded, pulling out gauze, antiseptic wipes, and tape “Ah! Allow me!” He moved his hands and took the supplies from Izuku, beginning to wrap it.
“I um...thanks,” Izuku wasn’t used to people engaging in conversations with him, at his jobs he barely talked to anyone other than hellos and goodbyes “You d-didn’t have to do this.” Another thing Izuku was used to was owing people, when he was on the streets if someone did something you owed them, and he hated owing people.
“Nonsense! I was the one who injured you,” Izuku blushed again but it was more out of embarrassment than Inasa being shirtless, normally things didn’t sneak up on him “Are there any heroes you enjoy? I personally like Hawks!” Izuku nodded a little.
“I usually prefer underground heroes, but Hawks is an interesting choice, even though he’s the number three hero he’s usually pushed to the back for Endeavor or All Might. I like Midnight and Eraserhead though, they work more at night and on personal cases.” Inasa seemed to brighten at the answer.
“Worthy heroes I’m sure!” Izuku nodded along.
“Their quirks are interesting though, same with their styles. Since Midnight plays into the role more people tend to underestimate her or try to make it so she can’t use her quirk but she’s also rather strong and it tends to give her the chance to analyze her opponent. Eraserhead has an interesting style too, he relies on his surroundings and weapons, which is good for his quirk.”
Inasa was a little amazed with the teen. When he first ran into the other he felt horrible, he didn’t realize the teen was bleeding at first but when he heard him hiss and hold his arm it was obvious.
He was slightly confused by the hesitance, but once Izuku seemed to calm down he looked at least a little relaxed. It was concerning to see someone around his age with scars and burns on his arms, a few on his face, and some peeking out from the gloves. Though his eye bags and almost bored personality made Inasa feel awkward. He was excited however when Izuku seemed to be just as interested in heroes as Inasa was.
It also didn’t hurt that he was good looking and while people thought Inasa was oblivious he knew the other had been trying not to look at him shirtless.
“You seem to know a lot about quirks and fighting!” The boy blushed and ducked his head down a little.
“I just um...yeah I like analyzing stuff and-and heroes are the easiest I guess.” Inasa hummed as he finished wrapping his arm.
“There we go! Good as new!” He let a loud laugh out, making Izuku flinch, though the other teen smiled back.
“Thanks, is there any way I can repay you or something?” Inasa seemed nice enough but Izuku still didn’t want to owe him.
“Well your number would be great!” Izuku blushed, trying to stutter out at least a coherent sentence “If I made you uncomfortable than-” Izuku cut him off with a shake of his head.
“I-it’s fine! Sorry just um...I don’t really...I’m not used to talking much is all,” He pulled out his phone, it had a black scrapped up case “I um..here!” Izuku handed the other his phone, not sure how to respond otherwise. Inasa only smiled and pulled out his own phone, typing out a few things before handing it back.
“There! Now we have each other's numbers!” Inasa patted him on the shoulder making Izuku fall forward before Inasa steadied him “I should go though! My father’s probably waiting for me! It was a pleasure to meet you Izuku!” He took the scarred teen's gloved hand and kissed the knuckles before running off.
Izuku stood frozen in the middle of the dirty beach before slowly sinking to the ground and groaning. It was going to be a long day.