Chapter Text
8 years ago in a dark alleyway outside UA High School for Heros…
8 years ago in a dark alleyway outside UA High School for Heros…
Eraserhead was headed home after a tiring day of corralling a class of arrogant teens who all thought their quirks were better than each others when he heard a cough from behind. He froze, his capture scarf raising from its position to be on the alert. You wouldn’t believe how many low grade villains had tried to sneak up on him only to reveal themselves with a sneeze or a sniffle. Or how many times he had fallen sick with a cold or the flu after capturing said villain. Oh the woes of being a hero.
When nothing jumped from behind to attack he turned around and began to creep towards where the sound came from. He strained his ears, trying to listen for any signs of movement.
This guy might be tougher than I thought. He hit the emergency button on his watch, a Christmas gift courtesy of Nezu. The faint buzz it gave his hand let him know an alert had been sent out to all of the teachers. Everyone else’s watches were programmed to send alerts to the police and all nearby heroes but Nezu, knowing Shota’s aversion to other people, had specially coded his to only notify friends.
After a moment of standing still he could begin to hear the stranger breathing. Except… they weren’t breathing normally. They were wheezing and sounded like they were struggling to get any air in at all.
Someone’s injured, and badly. I need to find them. Suddenly he felt embarrassed about alerting the others and jumping so quick to conclusions.
A brief second of movement caught his eye. Sure enough, there was a body lying on the ground pressed against the wall. He hadn't noticed them because of the dirt that caked their entire body, along with the fact that they were disturbingly small.
That’s gotta be a kid. Shit. He took back what he said about not wanting to call the others. He was not good with kids. He would just keep watch until the others got here.
Only, he couldn’t hear the kid breathing anymore, and the tell tale sign of his chest rising and falling was gone. Oh my god I just watched a kid die and did nothing.
Shota could practically feel his blood pressure rise as he raced over to the boy and knelt by his side. His hands enveloped the boy's tiny wrists. And it was a boy for sure, even if he wasn’t too masculine in the face.
“Hey kid, are you with me?” Green eyes blinked open at him from beneath a mat of hair. A pained groan fell from the boy's lips.
“Are you hurt? Where?” A shaky hand started pulling away at an unbuttoned shirt, and Shota completely left his body for a moment in shock.
On the boy’s left side of his chest there was a gaping wound, some sort of gooblack oozing out of it. Shota didn’t need years of medic training to tell him it was directly over his heart. Some sort of strange quirk most likely.
It was about the size of one of the expensive oranges he would gift Hizashi every year on his birthday, and had black viney tendrils coming out of it and into the areas around it, creating more wound sites.
“You’re gonna be okay kid,” The I promise that usually followed the common phrase used to reassure civilians was purposefully left out. “We’re gonna get you to the hospital, I promise.”
When he said that, the boy began to shake his head frantically. “No… no hospital… please… they’ll find me…” Shota nodded his head, agreeing but not knowing how to keep the boy’s injuries a secret now. His gut was telling him the boy was right, but he had already called several people to come and help him.
Except… no one was here by now. And Hizashi wasn’t blowing up his phone as he normally would have. Shota checked his watch. He had sent a ‘Happy Birthday’ into the group chat instead of a cry for help. Why was that even a button? Whatever.
“Alright kiddo, I’m going to call someone to come pick us up. And I guess take you back to our place.” He looked down for any sign of acknowledgement only to be met with an unconscious child.
He pulled out his phone and called his husband, who was about to become the happiest man in Japan. And a certain old woman. He could already feel the knot that was going to form on his head from her cane.
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞
“Shota! Be careful!” His husband yelled as he accidentally bumped into a wall, causing the boy to let out a cry. He just ignored him, patting the boy’s thigh and giving a quiet apology.
“Let’s get you into the bath first little listener! I promise to be very gentle and not look anywhere I shouldn’t be looking. I know it sucks but you’re very yucky right now, and when our friend gets here to give you a look over she needs to see everything that’s wrong. And unfortunately that means skin that doesn’t have any dirt on it!”
The kid's eyes were still blown wide, but there was a sort of understanding in them. They had explained to him who Shuzenji was on the slow car ride over, and while he wasn't thrilled he had accepted it.
When they reached the bathroom Shota sat the boy up on the toilet while Hizashi ran the water. While the kid had agreed to the bath just a bit earlier Shota could tell he was getting nervous about it now.
“I'm going to step out and get something real quick. Boy, don't move. Husband, don't don't yell, jump, activate your quirk, begin to sing Disney songs, or move him until I get back.”
Hizashi just began humming 'You're Welcome’ from Moana. Shota sighed.
He had gotten an alert on his phone that someone had rang the bell, and suspecting what was going on, Shota went outside to see what had shown up. Sure enough, there was a box sitting on their front step.
When he opened it there was a pair of small swim shorts and pajamas. Written in the fanciest handwriting he had ever seen was -
Will be sending more supplies by tomorrow morning, but this should work for now!
Shota sighed, again, and grabbed the clothes and went back into the bathroom. He held up the swimsuit to the kid who's eyes lit up and gestured for Hizashi to follow him out or the room for a minute.
When Hizashi gave him a curious look all Shota could do was shake his head. “Nezu.”
“I see. Oh look Shota! The pajamas match the ones he got us for Christmas!” While Hizashi ran off to their bedroom to find said PJs, Shota glared in the direction he suspected a camera was held.
No matter how many times he searched the house top to bottom he could never find them, but that didn't mean they weren't there.
The buzz of his watch told him his message was received.
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞
That night after Recovery Girl had healed the kid as best she could, the two men sat with their new houseguest that slept in between them after passing out from exhaustion all in matching turtle themed pajamas. Well, Hizashi was sleeping as well, drool seeping into his only slightly annoyed husband.
They had managed to wash nearly all of what they had thought had been mud off of the boy’s hair and skin, revealing a green bush with several white streaks. The ‘mud’ had been the mysterious fluid leaking from all of the boy’s wounds.
Shuzenji had pulled Shota aside shortly after the kid’s assessment with a worried frown.
“I would be surprised if he lives very long Shota. I’ve… never seen anything like this before. I cannot say that I agree with your decision to not take him to the hospital.”
Shota opened his mouth to argue but was cut off by a whack to the knee. “I’m not finished talking young man! What I was going to say before I was rudely interrupted was that I’m glad you didn’t take him. This is something that does not need to be public knowledge.”
“But please Shota, take good care of him. I don’t see him living for long. Hold him close, give him everything he wants.”
Shota nodded, and she was out the door. Dinner was cooked, with the boy eating like he hadn’t in days, and to be fair he probably hadn’t. Shota relaxed against the warm and clean body of a boy who had become his son in less than twelve hours and promptly fell asleep.
𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞𓆝 𓆟 𓆞
Somewhere, in two distant and different parts of Japan, were two men lying in hospital beds after being tirelessly worked on by doctors. One had to have the majority of his face removed to prevent further damage, and the other had a hole in his stomach and his powers damaged. As both of the men drifted in and out of their drug induced hazes they had both had one thought:
where did Izuku go?