Chapter Text
Dazai had…a little too much fun tonight. In his drunken state, he had somehow made his way all the way to Musutafu (he must have used his position in the mafia to get out of yokohama, as it usually took some effort to escape the confines of the isolated city.) He is much more sober now, but it would still take some effort and energy that he did not have to get back to Yokohama.
Left with no money and no housing, he decides the best course of action is to simply find some sort of rooftop to sleep on. He doesn’t really get much of a chance to do things such as stargazing with how busy he is, so this is a welcome opportunity for some much needed downtime. Looking back on it, he probably looked like some sort of street urchin or mugger with how dilapidated his appearance was, so it was probably a wise decision to stay out of sight the best he could.
Eraserhead, as he is called while out on patrol, is scouring the streets, hoping that tonight will be at least a semi-quiet night. He’s not in the mood to do much right now. From an outsider’s perspective, his mundane job of walking around to deter crime, and occasionally stamping out a fist fight or defusing some mundane argument between couples seems to be unimportant and rather easy, but it’s surprisingly tiring and a difficult job to have.
The raven-haired hero decides to use his scarf to shimmy up to the top of his favorite building, which also functions as a lookout. The short structure is surprisingly good at its job, giving a decently clear view of hsi patrol range, while also being unsuspecting enough so that it doesn’t give away his position to foes.
As he makes his way to the top, his boots seamlessly fitting into the cracks in the brick creating a makeshift ladder, the hero spies an unfamiliar looking figure laying on the concrete roof, head propped up with a brick which couldn’t have been comfortable. The figure, now looking to be a young boy (maybe 13 or so?) does not seem to have noticed him quite yet. As he draws closer, the unmistakable stench of cigarettes and booze grows stronger.
Just as soon as he is about to drift to sleep, Dazai hears a peculiar noise. As much as they were trying to hide it (if they even were at all) someone was climbing up the building he was on. Acting as quickly as ever, the teen decided to fake being asleep for as long as needed to deter the thing away. Surely no one would bother an obviously sleep deprived, malnourished boy that was in desperate need of some shut eye, right? Dazai was quickly proven wrong. The “thing” scaling the building was actually a scruffy man with jet black hair dotted with specks of silver, prominent eye bags, and a normal all black outfit finished off with a pair of strikingly yellow goggles, throwing off the all black color scheme he had going on.
As the sleep deprived man approached, Dazai became more and more restless. The man showed no signs of aggression and it didn’t seem like he had noticed that he wasn’t actually asleep, which gave the teen the upper hand.
A few minutes later after luckily not trying to interact, the man was looking like he was losing interest, but in that moment, Dazai’s own body betrayed him. The brunette let out a small sneeze, alerting the man to the possibility that he was not actually asleep, but was just faking it–a sign that was very suspicious, as most people are ecstatic to catch even the smallest glance from a pro hero. The raven haired man immediately knew something was up.
Aizawa turned back around after hearing the sneeze. The boy must have some sort of suspicious reason to be avoiding a hero. After a moment of silence, Aizawa spoke up. “Are you awake, kid?” The lanky figure opened his eyes, staring right back at the now slightly unsettled man. The face put on a smile, seemingly thinking of his answer. “So much for keeping to myself” the brunette pouted, although still keeping his smile. “I was tryyyyying to sleep” “where are your parents, kid? How old are you, probably too young to be out on a rooftop at 2 am…” This was surely odd behavior for a 13 year old. The kid left his smile behind in favor of a playful frown. “I really don’t think I even need to tell you that. I’m perfectly fine being alone” Aizawa gave him a long look, thinking over his options.
He could leave the boy be, but the kid seemed like a ticking time bomb full of mischief. Plus, the alcohol on his breath and strong smell of cigarettes clues him in on his home life. Not very good. His other option was to take him to the police station and contact his parents to come get him, but that wasn’t a very good option either. The kid doesn’t seem like a model citizen, and would probably try to flee. After weighing his options, and his curiosity having some impact on his decision, he decided on the latter. “You really shouldn’t be alone this late at night. Why don’t we pop by the police station to give you parents a call?” The boy obviously did not agree with his judgment. He tries to run off, but to no avail. Aizawa quickly captured him with his scarf, pulling the boy closer against his will. He brings his face up to the boy, noses almost touching. “Now you really don’t have a choice, kid.”
Dazai was stuck. He had earlier abandoned his pistol in a bar that made you give up your weapons and forgot to retrieve them when he moved on to the next. The strange scarf looking object was continuing to squeeze him tightly, to the point where he had no choice but to surrender. Trying to fight back is useless if you don’t have the mobility required to do so. Just as he was about to admit defeat, he realized something he had on him. Something he always kept in his mouth just as a precaution when going on long trips where he could be caught. A suicide pill.
As he is holding the boy in his capture weapon, he seemed to…faint? Hesitantly, the hero touches the boy, looking for a reaction. Nothing. Not even thinking, Aizawa dashes into the night, his destination being the nearest hospital. The boy’s heartbeat is rapidly losing speed. Aizawa thinks of all the things that could have happened “could he have fainted from shock or worry? Maybe he has some sort of condition?” Luckily for Aizawa, the hospital is only a 10 or so minute walk away which is shaved down to more like 5 or 6 minutes when running at full speed.
As they barge into the emergency room, the young boy flopped over on Aizawa’s shoulders, a young nurse with the head of a snake rushes over to them, immediately checking for any signs of the boy’s pulse. Aizawa pulls out his hero license to show the nurse, hoping that it means he’ll have some sort of control over the already nerve wracking situation. “I’m pro hero Eraserhead, I…found this boy unconscious on a rooftop. I don't think he was there for too long before I found him though.” The hero was nervous to tell anyone how he really found him, as it would probably warrant police suspicion which the boy was already adamantly against. The nurse pressed some sort of button, signaling to the doctors that there was an emergency. Staff rushed into the entrance room while a significantly older nurse gently guided him to a seat nearby.
Dazai woke up quite fatigued. As the memories flooded back into his brain, he suddenly remembered the pill he took. Why isn’t he dead? Is this hell? Seeing that he woke up, a nurse in scrubs decorated with little rainbow polka dots walks up to him, checking a big screen stationed beside his bed. “How are you feeling? Do you have any pain or discomfort?” “No, nothing like that…” muttered the teen. “Good to hear! May I ask some questions?” Dazai silently nodded his head, although still cautious of the nurse’s intent. “How old are you?” “15.” The nurse looked up from the paper she was going over with surprise. “15? you…alright…What’s your name? “Osamu Dazai” The nurse takes a second to write that down on the piece of paper she has on her clipboard, And prepares to ask some more questions. “Do you have parents? What are their names and phone numbers? We need to inform them of what happened” Dazai stays eerily silent, seemingly thinking over his options. “I’m an orphan, miss” There’s no way in hell he was going to have them call Mori, or even Hirotsu. The nurse seemed a bit taken aback at this. “Well, do you have a home or orphanage to go to?” “Noooope!” exclaimed Dazai, popping the p sound. “Oh…so you live on the streets?” “yes.” Dazai wasn't nearly as enthusiastic as he was during his last statement. The nurse seems a bit puzzled, she obviously hadn’t seen a child in the situation before. Dazai, on the other hand, was grinning ear to ear, happy to have someone to annoy even if it was brief. “Well, thank you for the helpful information. I’ll be right back, I just need to go talk to someone.” And with that, the nurse speedwalks out of the room, leaving a tired Dazai to his own devices.
Aizawa had been waiting in the uncomfortable hospital chair for hours, only briefly leaving to get a much deserved coffee from the cafe next door. Directly after giving up the child to be treated, he had called Yamada and informed him of the situation. He then emailed Nezu to call out for the next day. This should give him enough time to call in a substitute for his class, right? Yamada, or known to the public as Present Mic, rushed over as soon as he had called. The couple was now sitting in the hospital waiting room, anxious to hear any news about the mysterious kid. A couple minutes later, a nurse came up to them, asking them to follow her to where the child, who was referred to as Dazai, is being kept. Aizawa and Yamada followed the nurse down a bustling hallway, full of nurses and the occasional doctor. They finally got to the room, only to see a very weak looking but awake Dazai in a hospital bed. “You…did you bring me here?” Dazai said weakly, presumably aiming the question at Aizawa. “Yes, I did. You would have died if I hadn’t brought you here.” “Did you not stop to think that maybe I wanted to die? It’s not very heroic to help someone against their will…” That statement took everyone in the room aback, even the ever undisturbed Aizawa. “I’d argue that heroes are meant to help people even if they aren’t looking to cooperate.” Dazai couldn’t argue much with that, or he was just too tired to. “So” The nurse inquired gently “was the poison we found in your system meant to…assist in…” The young nurse stumbles over her words a bit before getting to her point. “Suicide?” At the mention of that word both Aizawa and the uncharacteristically quiet Yamada both snapped their heads in the nurses direction, and then to Dazai, almost in sync. “Yes, but it was more to get out of a troublesome situation” Dazai announces, looking at Aizawa as he says the last word. Aizawa’s mouth refuses to move, so he simply looks towards the nurse instead. “Sirs, can you step outside with me, I can get another person to keep an eye on him while we talk.” The nurse whispers the last part, as not to alert or bring Dazai into a panic. “Sounds good…” Aizawa wasn’t thrilled thinking of all the possible things the nurse wanted to talk to him about.
Left alone with the exception of a nurse in the chair in the corner of his room on his phone, he notices something odd. He doesn’t feel the scratchy feeling of his bandages hiding against his limbs and torso. Looking down, he notices that he has been undressed in favor of a Carolina blue hospital gown, his bandages gone as well. Dazai knew what was to come. He had been through this before–the phycological tests, therapists, mental health screenings, and he wasn’t eager to go through it all over again.
Looking out the window, he could see the three adults talking across the hall in what seemed to be some sort of nurse’s station. As the polka dot adorned nurse continued the conversation (which was probably about the scars and wounds littering his body and the whole idea that he just tried to kill himself) The two men periodically looked shocked–the blonde one with peculiar facial hair being the most expressive out of the two. As he watches, he can’t help but become more and more worried. What if Mori finds out? What if they try to ship him off to some orphanage, or even worse, the police? Dazai knew he just had to hang low and wait until a chance to escape, then go back to Yokohama and act like nothing had ever happened. Mori would more likely than not have his head if he were to be captured, and he was even more sure about his fate in the event that he slipped up and gave out Port Mafia information to outsiders. For now, the best course of action is to remain docile and answer any questions they have, all without giving up any important information. This will be easier said than done.
As the nurse took Aizawa and Yamada aside to the nurse’s station, he couldn't help but be a bit worried. All he wants to do is to be over with this and finish this whole ordeal seamlessly, but he’s starting to think it’ll be harder than that. “As i’m…sure you heard, Dazai is more than likely suicidal. He also shared that he’s been living on the streets and has no parents or guardian to contact. I also thought I should tell you that he says that he’s 15. I suspect that means he’s extremely malnourished as well, but I'll leave it up to the doctor to decide if that’s the case, or he is just very small for his age. Since you’re the only adult that he has right now, regardless of how well you know him, Our only option on who to give this information to is you. Would you be willing to take the brief role of his guardian for the rest of his stay or until we can get some sort of adoption center to take him in? In his condition, I think what he needs is a stable environment, so I would lean towards the former.” Aizawa and Yamada stood there speechless. They wanted him to take in a child? And a very sick one at that! Although…Aizawa and Yamada didn’t really have a choice. They were curious too–curious about the boy’s life, his upbringing, and what he was even doing the night he was taken in. “Oh, and one more thing.” The nurse added “When we had to change him to get him prepared for surgery, we…found something…” She hesitated before saying her next words, much to the dismay of Aizawa. “His entire body is riddled with scars. Some that seem self-inflicted, and others that seem too precise for that. My best guess is surgery scars, but there are way too many for that to be plausible, unless some surgeon was cutting the boy up against his will” The nurse tried her best to hold back tears. She obviously was very shaken up about the whole situation. Despite her sturdy mask of the unbothered professional, she was struggling to hold it together. “He also has 16 bullet wounds that we were able to count. There’s a great possibility that there are more that we could find with a detailed search. I should also mention that the clothes he came in had to be cut, so he doesn’t currently have any proper clothes other than the hospital gown he’s in.” The nurse perked up, seemingly forgetting something. “Oh, and the doctor will be with you soon to discuss the details, but i’ll let him know what you have already been told” Aizawa, speechless, simply nodded and dragged himself back to the hospital room housing the teenager.
The scruffy man and his more groomed counterpart sat down in the chairs across from Dazai’s bed. Dazai assumed that they were told about what the nurse knew, including his scars. He could tell the two were thinking about talking to him, but were still taking in all the information given to them. He dreaded the upcoming conversation. Luckily, the tall, brunette doctor coming into the room interrupted his thoughts. “Mmm…hello. My name is Dr. Grey and I will be checking you out today.”
Dazai hated doctors. Being around Mori when he was his boss was scary enough, but Mori as a doctor? That was a whole other breed of terrifying. He hated all the poking and prodding, all the scalpels and the pain…The feeling of Mori’s cold, sterile gloves especially disturbed him. This doctor didn’t seem as bad though. As he sits down on his stool next to dazai’s bed, he puts on his medical gloves and starts to examine Dazai so as to make sure his wounds have closed properly and there was no lasting damage from the surgery the nurse from earlier had mentioned. This doctor must have been one of the ones who performed his surgery, since he didn’t seem too terribly startled at the chopping block that was his body. Everyone that has seen his true self for the first time has been started. Even Chuuya, who he thinks is probably the person he trusts the most (even though he doesn’t like him all that much). Dr. Grey gently examines his torso, though he focuses primarily on the area around his stitches. After he is judged as doing alright, The doctor leaves the room.
Dazai had barely noticed the two men in the chairs. The pair introduce themselves as Aizawa and Yamada, the one introduced to him as Aizawa being the one who captured him and brought him into this whole situation. He was then informed that he will have to stay in this hospital for a few more weeks, and then come in for bi-weekly check ups an additional month after that. “I'm sure that they told you I don't really have a family or house to go to…” Yamada nodded. “We’ve been tasked with taking care of you for right now until the government can find you some other place with a decent family to live” “And what if I run away right now?” Aizawa tensed up at this, being the victim of his previous escape attempt. “Then us two will have to catch you. Plus, remember how well that went last time?” Dazai sighed, looking defeated. He’s not strong enough to face up against anyone in his delicate state. Plus, this was probably a needed vacation from Mori, no matter how unpleasant it was. Dazai sat up. Mori. Oh shit. He forgot about Mori. He’ll be in heaps of trouble if Mori found out he was captured like this, and staying here would just make Mori suspicious. Dazai would occasionally wander off for a couple days at a time, but never two whole months! He would have to think about this later. His eyelids felt like a pile of bricks. Just an hour after waking up, Dazai fell back asleep, The pain meds winning against his will to stay awake and get out of this less than ideal situation.
Aizawa and Yamada are more than hesitant to take this kid into their home, even if he would be spending most of his time at the hospital. He is a risk, a distraction to their careers. Dazai is also on suicide watch, so that just makes things a hundred times more complicated. What will they even do during the day? They can’t just quit their jobs to be with him 24/7. At least while he is staying in the hospital they’ll probably have some nurse or something who will watch over the kid, but what will they do when he is all moved into their house, without a caretaker from the hospital? He probably won’t be off suicide watch by then, but it depends on how he does here. If he can’t stay home, they won’t have any choice but to bring him to UA, which brings up a whole new set of problems. He doesn't want Dazai interacting with many students, as he seems a bit dangerous if he was willing to try killing himself just to avoid the police. Could he ask Nezu if he could stay with him, or maybe he could see if Recovery Girl could take hi-. Aizawa’s thoughts were cut off by Dazai’s sudden movement. It seems like he slipped down into the thin sheets when he fell asleep. He can’t help but let out a small sigh. What have they even gotten themselves into?