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Vain.
There was this vigilante, named Vain.
Well, not so much named, but that's what he was called at least. See, he carried spray paint, and constantly sign his work with the word “vain”. And while no one was quite sure what it meant or if it meant anything at all, at least it gave them a name.
‘Them’ being Aizawa Shouta and Tsukauchi Naomasa. An underground hero and seasoned detective pair that had been friends for several years now, and had been tracking said vigilante for many months.
“I've got a case update for you.” Tsukauchi mumbles into his steaming cup of coffee. Eyes peeking over the lip of his cup to see the hero walking into the precinct, a thug being dragged behind him just an hour before his shift finished.
Shouta didn't look up from where his he planted his head against the wall after tossing the criminal in an empty cell, “mmm.” It wasn't even a word but the detective knew it was an acknowledgement.
“Vains signature changed-”
The man couldn’t even get to finish the sentence before the Erasure hero jumped, “How so?”
He drops a freshly printed paper on the desk in between them, “See for yourself.”
The signature has always been neon green, hastily painted on and dripping, always capital letters. But today, the typical green lettering had been crossed out with orange paint, the word ‘deku’ written in its place, bold, blocky letters
“Deku?” Shouta asked, “Like useless?”
Tsukauchi nods, “Or like Vain.”
‘Vain: producing no result; useless.
/Synonyms: empty, bootless, hollow, idle, pointless, void, or valuless. ‘
That was the chart the man in front of him had drawn up for possible reasons of this change.
“How do we know it's not some kid vandalizing his work?”
“First off,” the detective starts, pointing a matter-of-factly finger in the air, “He is a kid and his signature is already vandalism. Second, what are the odds of the two words meaning the same thing?”
Shouta grunts, “I guess we just keep an eye on it.”
Tsukauchi agrees, shuffling the other files in his arms before passing another off. “All Might is back from the states, he's been chasing this one around all day. Lost track of him right as night fell.” A huff of air, “You catch him and I’ll finish your paperwork for today.”
“Fucking dumbass.” He frowns, pushing away from the table and turning to leave. “I'll have him in an hour.” He grins into the capture weapon around his neck, knowing that he’s about to get away with no paperwork.
“I'm holding you to that!” Tsukauchi calls after him, a slight laugh in his tone.
…
And that's how Eraserhead ends up knee deep in sludge in a pitch black alleyway. Odd considering it was mid afternoon- (and yes, technically he was supposed to be teaching and not doing daytime shifts BUT- he expelled his entire class so here he is.)
“Two victims in one day?” The sludge man(?) laughs, “I figure I'll finish you here. I left that kid under the bridge back there. I'm going back to get his corpse.”
“Why would you tell me your plans? The hero grunts, “I'm going to defeat you.”
The villain growls lowly, “no you won’t.”
“But I will!” Theres this familiar voice before none other than Vain is swinging wildly through the air.
“But-“ the villain yells, dropping the pro in an attempt to avoid the vigilante. “You were dead! I killed you!”
“Wrong.” He grins, “I just wasn’t moving. You didn’t even check for a pulse dumbass.”
Eraserhead and Vain worked perfectly together, their partnership was balanced. Vain split up the villain, Eraser contained him, and the victory was obtained quickly.
The sludge is mumbling nonsense in the several air tight soda bottles he’s being held in, and Eraser laughs while stretching. “So you lost a fight to him earlier?”
“Ha!” The kid shouts out, “No. AllMight lost a fight to him, I played dead.” His voice is monotone then, like he was annoyed.
“I heard he was back from the states.”
“Outta go back.” Vain grumbles under his breath. They both knew the boy hated the number one hero. Why though? They weren’t sure.
The underground hero grabs a grocery bag from a nearby dumpster, putting all the bottles inside before tying it up. “You know I have to chase you now.”
“I know.” He grins, pulling out his trademark spray paint along with a second can. “One sec-“ he signs the green, then scribbles it over with orange. ‘Deku’
“Vain-” Eraser tilts his head, looking at the signature. “Please look into getting medical care.”
“Mm, no thanks.”
The hero frowns, “Kid?”
“Hm?”
“Run.”
And with that, the vigilante is gone.
…
Shouta returns to the precinct triumphantly, dropping the bag of sludge on Tsukauchis desk and plopping down into a chair.
“An hour and six minutes Shouta.” The detective grins, reminding the hero of the prior promise.
“Was chasing Vain, shut up.” He groans, stirring nothing into his cup of black coffee, “the signatures’ intentional, by the way.”
“Really?” Tsukauchi asks whilst looking up from the paperwork he’s signing. “Why’d he change it.”
A second groan of frustration, “I don’t know detective,” He drawls out the word intentionally, pronouncing every syllable. “I didn’t stop and ask. I was trying to, ya know- catch him.” The hero rolls his eyes.
A smile crosses the detective’s face before turning away. “See you tomorrow.” He waves as he exits.
“Have fun with the paperwork.”
A groan of frustration cuts off as the door closes behind him.
…
To be fair, Shouta didn’t actually want to arrest the vigilante, in fact, he enjoys their partnership, fighting crime together and such. And they all knew it.
But Izuku was consistently scared that he would suddenly change his mind, and actually come after him. Logistically he knew that the hero was a good person, accepting, like when he told the pro he was trans and wanted to use he/him pronouns. Or when he admitted that his own mother had abandoned him, and how the pro had smiled and offered his place as home. And then how he almost always carried some sort of snack for him.
The boy always wanted to take his offers, (well, minus the food because he always takes that) but the money, the clothes that the hero consistently tried to leave with him, all of it. Always wanted a place to call home, and a person to call family, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Not yet at least.
Well, not until today that is…
…
Vain and Eraser were working together, typical.
Typical until the hero was hit with a quirk that made him turn on the boy. It was scary how fast the quirk took affect, making the pro hero tighten his capture scarf around Vains neck, making him unable to breathe.
They were on a roof, it was high, several stories. Eraser had him hanging off the roof, five floors from the ground, he couldn’t breath- he was going to pass out- oh god he’s gonna die- is this how he’s gonna go?
In a final moment of conciseness, something in him clicks. Something that suddenly reminds him of the tactical knife in his boot. Using whatever strength he had left, the Vain snatched it from its holster, slicing the scarf in two after a few useless attempts.
He falls.
Hard.
And that’s the trigger of the quirk Eraserhead is under:
‘Quirk: Mirror.
Activation: five finger contact on bare skin.
Effect: causes the affected to see everything backwards. In a sense. Good guys seem bad, bad guys seem good, and sense of morality is destroyed.
Deactivation: deactivated when the person causes fatal injury to someone of the quirk holders choosing.’
Pretty fucked up quirk if you asked Izuku.
The hold breaks and Eraser… snaps.
The villain goes down easy after that, Shouta scans the rooftop, eyes settling on the zip-ties that had fallen out of the vigilantes pockets when he fell-
-oh god he fell.
…he fell
He Fell
HE FELL…
The Hero works faster than ever to secure the villain, faster than ever to parkour down the wall of the building, faster than ever to get to the kid.
“Vain?!” There’s desperation in his voice, “Vain- Vain please-“
The vigilante is semi conscious, tears streaming down his face. “No- no no no-“ He’s sobbing now, a little more awake but delirious with pain.
“Kid please- please kid I’m sorry.” Shouta begs, “hey come on kid stay awake. It’s okay. You’re okay!”
“I can’t-“ The boy croaks out, “I’m- I’m not r-“
There’s too much blood, oh god there’s so much blood. “Hey no- no it’s okay- I’m gonna get help. Gonna call some-“
“‘Raser- ‘m not ready-“ he cries.
“I know kid. I know I know iknow iknowiknow-“ it’s all slurring together now, he needs to find his capture weapon, needs to stop the bleeding.
He surveys the alley around them before finally spotting the frayed scarf. He pulls his from the now wet ground- was it raining?
When did it start raining?
Vain becomes less and less coherent, “I ‘nt wan’a die.” He pleads, “pl’s ‘m not re’dy-“
“It’s okay I know-“ Eraser is trying to create a tourniquet for the compound break in the boys left leg. “It’s gonna be fine you’re gonna be fine-“
The boy screams out in pain, sobs growing louder and louder and the rain coming down harder. Shouta very suddenly remembers that he has to call emergency services, and Tsukauchi, he needs to call Taukauchi-
Oh and Hizashi- Hizashi needs to know what’s going on. Needs to know that he’ll be late getting home.
“Emergency services, what’s the address of your-“ it’s a very sweet voice on the other end, but unfortunately, Shouta couldn’t care.
“Pr- pro hero Eraserhead. ID number 7742,” He spits information at her, the location and the situation, “He-he’s bl-bleeding out-“ the hero is crying, shaking as he kneels beside the kid.
“Help is on the way sir, I need you to stay on the line okay?” She does her best to keep him calm.
He manages out a gruntled hum as the boy starts crying again, “I d‘nt wa’na die.”
“You’re n-not gonna di-e kid.” Oh Shouta can’t breathe, he’s panicking he can’t breathe! “Listen kid- hear th-that? It’s sirens.” He tells, but at this point he isn’t sure if it’s comfort for the vigilante or for himself.
“I d’n w’na-“ Then silence.
“Sir? What’s going on? What’s happening?” She’s just trying to do her job.
“Oh god- oh god no. No no no nonononono-“
The operator is trying her very best, “Sir- emergency services is almost-“
He barely whispers the interruption, “He’s not breathing.”
“Okay sir, take a deep breath.” He can’t, why can’t he? “You’re a pro hero. Okay? You know CPR. Could you try and start that?”
“Bu-but he-“ The hero wheezes.
Her voice is calm, yet stern, “Eraserhead, you need to save him.” She tells, “I need you to start compressions.”
“Okay. Okay.” They’re breathy words. His hands tremble in the rain, the steadily dropping temperature of the evening not helping. He pins the phone in between his cheek and shoulder, fingers interlaced and hovering over the vigilantes chest.
“Can you count aloud? She prompts, as if knowing that he was frozen in place.
Shouta hums, “One, two, three, four, fi-“ The snapping of bone gets a shout out of him.
Apparently, the operator heard. He grimaces because it had been so loud- the operator heard. “It’s alright. Keep going. That means you’re doing it right.”
“Five, six, seven, eight,” He keeps going, listening to the sirens growing closer and closer, “twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty.”
She walks him through the two breaths, and then continues through four more cycles, until the ambulance finally arrives. “I can take it from here sir. We’re gonna switch off on the recovery breaths, okay?”
“Nineteen, twenty, twenty one,” He nods and listens to the paramedics, “twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty. Okay!” He throws his hands in the air and scrambles away.
“Sir? I’m going to hang up now. Okay?” The still sweet voice says from his phone.
“Y-yeah. Yeah okay. Okay bye.” He manages.
He can hear her smile, “Goodbye.”
Shouta watches from the flooded ground as the first responders sweep the vigilante away. Not willing himself to even blink until the sees the rise and fall of the boys chest just once.
“Sir? Eraserhead? Can you stand?” Someone is talking to him.
He looks up at the person crouched beside him, “What?”
“Can you stand up?” They reiterate.
“I- I don’t-“ He just blinks at her, “I don’t know?”
Whoever it is, smiles, “That’s okay. Is there anyone you’d like us to call?”
“What?”
“Would you like me to call anyone for yo-“
-
The next thing Shout can remember, is sitting in the back on an ambulance, wrapped in a shock blanket. Wait- was he in shock?
“Shouta?” There’s hands on his face suddenly, “Shouta babe- look at me.”
He glances up, “Nem?”
“Well hey there tough stuff. You’re okay. It’s okay.” She’s pulling him into a hug.
“Zashi? And Nao?” He looks at his friend.
“It’s late. Hizashi’s hearing aids must be out. Naomasa went to get them.” She tells.
Okay so one of his best friends was here, and his other best friend and partner were on the way. “Okay.”
“Shouta what happened?” Nemuri asks from her spot in the rain.
He looks at her, motioning for her to sit beside him, out of the downpour. “I- I don’t um- I don’t remember.”
“Is there anything you do remember?” A prompt.
The man frowns, “I hurt him.” It’s quiet, his voice wet.
“Hurt who?” So apparently the paramedics hadn’t told them anything. Just called his emergency contacts and asked them to come.
“Vain.” He sputters out.
That must have caught her off guard, “The vigilante?”
Shouta nods his head rather aggressively.
“Okay. Okay that’s okay.” She turns to speak with the first responder who started talking.“Shouta?” Nemuri looks back at him, “Hey we’re gonna go to the hospital okay? They wanna check you out.”
“Can- can we see him?” He asks once the information has processed.
She glances sideways at someone, “We’ll have to see. Okay?” He bites his lip, “Hizashi and Nao are gonna meet us there.”
…
“Quirkless.” Is the only thing that’s really making any sort of sense to Shouta.
He doesn’t remember arriving at the hospital, he doesn’t remember Hizashi showering him in kisses, doesn’t remember the terror in Naomasa’s eyes when he heard what happened.
He doesn’t remember getting X-rays that showed his fractured ankle from jumping off the building, doesn’t remember asking what happened to the villain that caused this, doesn’t remember the look the paramedics gave him as they arrived at the hospital.
He doesn’t remember anything.
Expect “quirkless”.
How could the kid not tell him?!
Why was he so angry about it?!
It didn’t make sense.
…
Four days later, Izuku comes to slowly and crying. There’s beeping and whirring in his ears and something shoved down his throat. He feels like he’s choking- he’s gonna throw up- oh god- is this death? Did he die?!
“Woah hey! Calm down! It’s okay-“ Someone comes sprinting into the room, “It’s a ventilator, I can remove it. It’s alright.”
He can’t quite nod, but he understands, chin quivering while tears run down his cheeks.
She talks him through the entire process, sitting him up and having him cough, and then patting him on the back and encouraging him to take deep breaths. Eventually she helps to adjust his bed to a half propped up position, and leaves with a promise to return shortly with a doctor and something to eat.
It’s only after she’s left that he notices. And you know, considering how good of a vigilante he is, he should have noticed sooner, but he was too caught up in trying to breathe.
In the far corner, to the right of his hospital bed, directly opposite of where the nurse (he assumed she was a nurse) had come in, sat a hero.
A hero who looked as if he hadn’t slept in days. A hero who watches him with an emotion he can’t quite place. A hero that may or may not have moved the entire time he had been in the hospital.
An underground, Erasure hero, who hadn’t let him die.
And he hadn’t left.
He had stayed.
He stayed.
Stayed.
“Eraser?” The boy croaks out with a raw throat.
The man was sitting with his legs pulled close, chin resting on his knees, eyes surveying him, taking in every detail.
“Y- you stayed.” He whispers and the pro gaze hardens, “I- thank you. Th-thank you for staying.” Izuku is crying again. “Thank yo-“
Shouta stands up, quickly, and without a word, exits the room with long strides.
“Eraser?” The boy sits up a little straighter, attempts to reach out toward him and-
*-clank-*
He glances down to see-
-handcuffs.
“Era-ser?” His voice pleads, pulling aggressively on the metal cuffs connected to his wrist(s, because he’s cuffed to both sides of the bed). “Eraser please come back. Come back in- please! Come back!” He’s sobbing now, loud enough that multiple attendants come in to check on him.
“Please calm down sir-“
“I need you to take deep breaths!”
“Mister it’s going to be alright-“
Multiple people practically shout at him, (at least they got his pronouns right?) but none of it helps.
“Somebody sedate him!”
That’s the last thing he remembers until waking up several hour later.
The second time he wakes up, there’s two people watching him. One; Tsukauchi, who’s leaning against a wall scrolling through his phone. And two; Eraserhead, sitting crisscrossed on the floor next to the detective, and again, staring right at the vigilante.
“D-detective?” He asks quietly, and truthfully, he wasn’t expecting an answer. The detective and him weren’t very close, not like he and Eraser were.
“Ah!” Tsukauchi places his phone in his pocket, “It’s good to see you awake, uh- Midoriya? Is it?”
He nods.
“We have a lot to discuss, but I won’t throw it all on you now, seeing as you need time to recover.” He clears his throat, “But, you need to know that one, you will be facing legal consequences for your actions as a vigilante. And two, seeing as we can’t locate any family for you, we will have a social worker called in later today.” There’s fake sincerity behind his words, like he’s only acting like this because it’s his job.
The detective has a solemn look on his face. “I can’t- um,” Izuku pauses, “I understand if- um- it’s doesn’t. But d-does the offer to stay with eraser still sta-“
Eraser, FINALLY does something. Finally stands and walks towards him. Finally speaks, “No.” His tone is full of anger, he’s angry.
“W-what?” Izuku fumbles out, why was the hero mad at him?
“I said no.” The man says again, “you’re not welcome in my home anymore.”
Izuku had never actually been to the hero’s house, but the offer had been extended multiple times. “Wh-why?”
“You know why.” He’s seething.
“Be-because I’m quirkless? But you stayed!” He yells back, “You had to have known from the moment they brought me in. They must’ve run me through the database! You knew and you still stayed!”
“I stayed because I felt obligated.” Erasers voice is so angry, he’s shaking in place.
Izuku jumps forward, and the pro steps back until the cuffs stop the boy in front of him. “You had NO obligation to stay.”
“I’m a hero. Of course I do.” He quips back.
“No you don’t.” He hisses out, pulling against his restraints once more. If he wasn’t recovering currently, he could have escaped. “So why did you stay?”
“I-“ The man frowns, “I don’t know.” He admits, and this time, Tsukauchi steps forward.
“Then leave.” Izuku surprises himself, so much raw anger on his tongue that he almost flinches.
Why doesn’t he just walk away? Why does he stand there and listen? “What?”
“I said leave!” The vigilante screams. “Get out! Get out and go! And don’t come back!”
“FINE!” He screeches and turns on his heels.
The detective reaches out towards the pro, an attempt to keep him there. But it’s too late, the hero is gone.
The room shakes slightly from where the door was thrown open, and then there’s silence.
“Midoriya, I’m afraid I will not be able to continue leading your case.” Tsukauchi sighs, “Once Shouta explained your- status, to me, I was hesitant to continue. But this has solidified my decision.” The way he speaks makes izuku sick. “A case worker will meet with you soon. I wish you the best in life. Goodbye Midoriya.”
“Goodbye detective.” Izuku calls after him.
…
It’s much later, days later in fact, after he’s met a case worker, and after he’s been mostly healed up, that it finally all processes to the boy.
It finally processed to him that Eraserhead had actually turned on him. He had turned him in to the detective, he had abandoned him, he had just- left.
Eraser had stuck with him through being homeless, through being trans, through all of his vigilantism. And had left, because he was quirkless.
It finally processed. And once again, Izuku Midoriya was alone. “Goodbye. Aizawa Shouta.” He muttered as the tears flow once again.
.
And miles away, a pro hero on patrol, would shiver as a chill ran down his spine. A villain would attack him, and he’d cry silently when he realized he missed having the vigilante as his partner.
“Goodbye Vain.”
~ E N D ~