Work Text:
Midoriya Izuku lived an unfortunate life.
First, in his long line of mishaps, he was born pre-maturely. Then, he was diagnosed as quirkless. Then, he grew up without any friends. Then, he was the shortest guy in his entire school.
Frankly, Izuku doesn't care about any of these things. But other people really seem to, for whatever reason. Which makes it a real bummer however he looks in the mirror each morning and remembers he's only 5'4 (162 cm).
But, amongst all those bad things, was his one friend, Kenshin. The guy who had been with Izuku through thick and thin. Well, sure, they'd only known eachother a few months, and they only have ever met in person twice, but Kenshin didn't seem to have any trouble making himself comfortable with Izuku regardless.
Maybe a little too comfortable. But this is what having friends is like, right? Kenshin would be the person to know. He's had tons of friends. And the fact that he had twelve more years of experience under his belt than Izuku did.
Yeah, Kenshin was quite a bit older than Izuku. But that wasn't a problem. There's no issue in a harmless friendship between two people who happen to be many years apart in age.
What brought the topic of Kenshin to Izuku's mind in the first place was the fact that it was lunch time now. Kenshin and Izuku had their lunch breaks at the same time— though, in Kenshin's case, it was at work instead of school. They often texted during this time. They hadn't yet today though.
Izuku was sat on a bench right outside the cafeteria as always. It's not like he had anyone to sit with, anyways. And like Kenshin always said— "Fuck those guys, you don't even need them. You have me instead. Who needs friends at school, yeah?"
So Izuku decided to not really try to make friends anymore. He didn't need them. And it's been working out pretty well, he's been getting beat up less ever since he stopped opening his mouth so much.
Izuku's phone beeped in his pocket. There was really only one person it could be, so he finished chewing his bite of food, swallowed, and then reached into his pocket to grab said phone with a smile.
He opened his messages. And his stomach dropped.
————————————————————————
Kenshin|>>>>
[Izu]
[Do u have pictures??? You said you would send sum yesterday but u never did.]
[No hurry. But u are on break right?]
[12:13]
————————————————————————
Oh. That.
Izuku had let it slip his mind.
Okay, Izuku knew that that wasn't a normal part of friendships. But it wasn't like he asked for pictures every day, or something. It was just every so often.
————————————————————————
Me|<<<<
[Can't rn.]
[12:14]
————————————————————————
And then Kenshin answered pretty much right away.
————————————————————————
Kenshin|>>>>
[Why not?]
[Do me a solid. Just this once Izu? Ur pretty.]
[12:14]
Me|<<<<
[I really can't.]
[Lunch is ending early.]
[12:14]
————————————————————————
Izuku sighed. His stomach felt.. queasy.
That was a lie. He lied. Lunch wasn't ending early.
The one thing Izuku wasn't very fond of is when Kenshin would ask for pictures.
It started out as wholesome stuff— whatever Izuku was eating for lunch that day, or an outfit Kenshin chose for him.
Then, the requests got a bit more.. odd.
Take a pic without a shirt on? I wanna see those muscles you've been working so hard for!!
You're cosplaying Ragdoll from the Wild Wild Pussycats this year for the convention, right? Take an upskirt picture for me!! Lol jk
Let me see it in your hand, that'd be kinda funny. You're pretty dainty. Almost like a girl lmao.
That last one— Izuku truly didn't know why Kenshin would want to see a picture his hand, but it got weirder when you find out that the context of it was when Izuku was thrifting and he found a phallically shaped candle stick he thought was funny. So he sent Kenshin a picture. And Kenshin decided it would be more funny to see Izuku holding it like a..
Yeah.
Izuku didn't like taking pictures for Kenshin.
"The freak doesn't even eat lunch in the cafeteria, what a weirdo."
Izuku's head snapped up.
Oh. It was one of Katsuki's friends, murmuring to another, who was following..
Oh. Katsuki.
"H- Hi, Kacchan," Izuku said, frowning.
Apparently, his grip on his phone increased ever so slightly. Because Katsuki's eyes darted down towards it. He smirked.
Izuku always had a way of screwing shit up. Sometimes, like this time, it was as simple as a glance. He always had a tell.
"What'cha got on your phone, Deku?" He moved forward and yanked the phone out of Izuku's hand before he could react.
Izuku's eyes widened, and he stood up, trying to grab the phone back.
"H-hey! You can't— that's my-"
Katsuki shoved him away and looked at the screen. His friends were laughing behind him.
The backs of Izuku's legs hit the bench he was sitting on prior, and gravity did its job and Izuku fell down onto said bench.
Katsuki was still looking at his phone.
And he was scrolling up.
And his amused face didn't look so amused anymore.
There was a look on his face that Izuku had never seen before.
He cleared his throat and shut off the phone, tossing it back at Izuku.
"Oi, you two. Fuck off and go back to the cafeteria. I'll meet you."
"What-? But we were just getting—"
"Go."
They listened.
It felt like hours of silence. The halls were empty now, except for Izuku and Katsuki.
Katsuki put his hands in his pockets and walked over to the bench.
He sat down.
"What did that guy mean? Pictures?"
Izuku chewed on his bottom lip. This is exactly what he had been afraid of.
"Y-yeah, pictures."
"Of?"
"Normal stuff.. uhm.. like, I dunno, trees."
"He's never seen a tree before?"
"Well— I'm sure he has, but—"
"How old even is this guy? Why'd he call you pretty? What a damn weirdo."
"Why are you assuming it's a guy?" Izuku furrowed his eyebrows. He does when know why he said that— maybe he was just trying to divert the subject. Whether or not he was a guy wouldn't really matter.
"You had his contact set as "Kenshin". That's a masculine name." Katsuki seemed to be refusing to look at Izuku, himself, instead preferring to look at the ground. This was awkward.
"Look, I don't do nice shit often, but I'm trying to right now," he mumbled.
That caught Izuku's attention. He blinked, unsure of what he was hearing. And then he furrowed his eyebrows.
Nice? Really? As if. As much as Izuku admired Katsuki, he didn't have a nice bone in his body.
"That guy was asking for nudes, right?"
Izuku's stomach dropped. He felt sick.
"No," was his simple answer.
He'd never asked for nudes, Izuku always had some sort of clothing on. Even if it wasn't very much.
"Well, then what was that damn perv asking for?" Katsuki said, sounding more than slightly frustrated.
"I'm trying to help you, damn it!"
Izuku didn't reply.
"If I interpreted the texts wrong, just fucking tell me, and I'll leave you alone," he gritted his teeth.
After a few moments of silence, Izuku sighed.
"No.. I- I guess, well.. you're kinda right. I always wear some clothes, though, so I don't know if they qualify as nudes," Izuku mumbled, completely missing the point.
Katsuki grimaced.
"I don't care— that's not the point! I'm asking you if he's asking for creepy pictures of you. Like- like invasive ones. You should know what I mean." Katsuki looked like he was holding back from screaming.
Izuku gulped.
"I mean-! Well, yeah! Yes, he's asked for pictures like that, and I guess I've.. sent him some, but.. I thought it would, uhm," Izuku got quieter as he went on. He felt a lump start to grow in his throat. Oh man.
"I thought it would.. be okay, I d- didn't think that it would be such a problem.."
"How old is he?"
"W-what? Why does that matter?"
"Because it's—" Katsuki groaned to himself, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"If it's some random perv our age, you can just block him and move on, probably, but if it's some adult, I kinda want the creep to get arrested."
Izuku's eyes widened, and he suppressed a gasp. Instead he grinded his teeth— a habit, one of many, he noticed recently that he had when he was nervous.
"He's- he's older. Uhm, twenty-six. But you can't get him arrested! He hasn't even done anything wrong!"
"He's a predator!"
"Well— well," Izuku pursed his lips. He was stumped. Every excuse his brain was coming up with was dumb. Maybe it's because he himself was dumb, for trying to protect this guy, who was genuinely a creep. And probably not only to him.
But he's Izuku's only friend. He's not expensable.
But.. other people could be getting hurt.
Maybe it's stupid how Izuku cared more about other people being harmed than himself. Maybe he should be less self-sacrificial. Maybe that would be a smart idea.
The bell rang.
Katsuki groaned again, and Izuku stood up from the bench, and started walking down the hall.
"Where the hell do you think you're going!?!" Katsuki shouted.
"Class is gonna start soon," Izuku said back, but he was probably barely heard over the hoard of kids coming out of the cafeteria.
What Izuku had said was true, though. Lunch was ending. Hence, the hoard of children.
Izuku decided to leave him and Katsuki's conversation at that.
---
Aizawa Shouta was a rather boring man who lived a rather boring life.
Despite the fact that he was a pro-hero, and a teacher to the next generation of heroes, married to another hero, who was a part-time DJ, and they had three cats together— okay, maybe some parts of his life were more interesting than others. The cats aren't very abnormal.
The fact that they had cats wasn't very abnormal. Don't get him wrong, the cats themselves, individually, were very abnormal.
But despite all this, he had his schedule. And right now, he was patrolling.
It was a sunny afternoon, a Saturday. Had it been a week day instead, school would have just let out. But instead of the streets being filled with school kids walking home, they were rather empty— the children apparently biased to sitting at home on their game consoles, or maybe working on homework.
But despite that, there was one teenager sitting on a bench all alone.
He was looking at the ground and carrying himself as though he wanted to scream as loud as possible, but also looking rather..
Conflicted.
It's just an angsty teenager. There's no situation, you don't need to intervene, Shouta told himself.
And then his foot started tapping against the ground. Damn it. Stop that. Nervous tic.
Stop that. You don't need to intervene. He's just sitting on a bench by himself. Nothing is wrong.
He narrowed his eyes, the teen sitting on the bench not getting any less angsty.
Alright, fine, I'll bite.
Shouta sighed, taking a few steps out of his original path towards the bench.
He sat down on the opposite side of it to the kid.
God, how am I even supposed to like— initiate this? How do you talk to teenagers?
Shouta didn't even know how to talk to teenagers when he himself was a teenager, much less as an adult.
"What do you want, hobo?" The teenager started, not even bothering to look at Shouta.
For a moment, the man questioned whether the teen really was even talking to Shouta. And then he remembered that they were really the only two people around, and the fact that Shouta kinda did currently look like a hobo.
He was in his intentionally inconspicuous hero costume, after all.
"I wasn't.. intending to be creepy," Shouta started, realizing how he could be coming off as slightly off-putting.
"I have teenagers myself," which technically isn't a lie. The man was a teacher, after all, and those were his teenagers.
"And you looked upset. I was going to ask you if.. you were alright."
The teen stayed silent.
Shouta's eyes drifted towards the kid's uniform.
He's an Aldera student, it seems. And a young delinquent at that. The kid had the top two buttons of his uniform undid, and his pants were obscenely baggy.
"I'm fine."
"Are.. you sure?"
"Yes, old man, fuck, it's just.." the teen started mouthing words and then stopping, as if he was trying to figure out what to say— or maybe just how to phrase it. Either way, he looked awfully frustrated with himself.
Shouta realizes he should be used to emotionally constipated people, seeing as he's married to one— Hizashi was probably the most stubborn man Shouta has, or will ever, meet, but it was still rough to watch someone try to articulate themselves for over three minutes at this point.
But Shouta stayed still, and he kept quiet.
The kid sighed.
"I'm only telling you this because you're an adult. And that's what you're supposed to.. fuckin' do in this kind of situation, right?"
Shouta's eyebrows furrowed in worry. He wasn't sure how to respond. What are you even supposed to say, when you don't even know what type of situation the person you're talking to is referring to?
So instead, the hero just nodded. Slightly hesitantly.
"I think.. someone I know, my age, got himself involved with a.. uhm, a creep. Some weird guy. Who's like, I dunno, probably older than you," he said, clearly trying to sound as casual as possible.
The statement itself was anything but casual, though.
Shouta's eyes opened slightly wider, before slimming again. He moved closer to the teen on the bench, so they could have a more clear conversation.
"What's your name, kid?" Shouta asked, a bit more urgency to his voice.
"Katsuki Bakugou."
"And are you actually talking about someone you know, or were you talking about yourself?" Shouta asked.
Shouta has noticed that sometimes when people are nervous, they'll speak about themselves in a certain type of code.
For example, instead of saying, "I", or "me", they'll say, "someone I know", or "one of my friends".
"No. It's.. one of my classmates. I've known the guy for a long while," he mumbled.
"I don't like him all that much. He's the clingy, loser type, and even though we stopped being friends a long time ago, he still follows me around." He paused.
He picked at his nails, and then started speaking again.
"I.. took his phone earlier today, y'know, to be an asshole," he mumbled.
"And he was in the middle of texting this.. guy, I read the texts and the guy was being really really creepy— I dunno.. and I asked him about it, and he said the guy was his friend, and he was fucking twenty-six years old, the perv, and he'd been being creepy for a while now."
He sighed.
"And I don't like the damn nerd but I hate creeps more than I hate him, so I thought.. that I should tell someone about it."
Shouta nodded.
They were silent for a few more moments. Shouta started digging in his pocket— trying to find something.
"I don't know why I even told you this. I.. you're just some random extra, you probably can't even help with-"
Shouta grabbed Bakugou's hand and placed his hero license right in his palm.
"I can help."
---
Bakugou stayed frozen for a few more moments, honestly very.. stunned. Not only was this man beside him— whom he'd previously thought was just a hobo, actually a pro-hero, but seemingly, his efforts to help the dumbass nerd (despite hating the guy) wouldn't be in vain.
The hero license still in his hand read "Eraserhead [Aizawa, Shouta]". Katsuki spotted the birth date and recognized that this guy was thirty years old. Not that it mattered much, but Katsuki tried to absorb as much info from that little card as possible, before the hero took it out of his hand and tucked it back into his wallet.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm an underground, kid, I deal with sketchy shit like this all the time. I can help your friend."
Katsuki frowned.
"He's not my friend."
Eraserhead rolled his eyes.
"Alright, fine, I can help your not friend. What's his name?"
Katsuki scoffed.
"Izuku Midoriya. He's a student at Aldera— like me, he's fourteen, and he lives in an apartment with his mom."
Eraserhead raised one eyebrow at him.
"Didn't really need that full analysis, but thanks. What, you're gonna tell me how many freckles he has now, too?"
"Eight— wait, how did you know he has freckles?"
"Took a wild guess."
"Okay, whatever. Just—" Katsuki groaned.
"Can you help him?"
Shouta sighed, standing up.
"I'll search him up on the hero commission database when I get home."
-----
———————————————————————
—[HPSC.GOV:Identity-database]—
SEARCH:
[Midoriya, Izuku]
•[Midoriya, Izuku]
•[Birthdate: July, 16, 2XXX]
•[Quirk: N/A]
•[Birth Parents: Midoriya Hisashi, Midoriya (Shinozaki) Inko]
•[Occupation: Student]
•[Last updated address: Masutafu, Noburu Residence, Apartment 34]
———————————————————————
Aizawa hummed to himself, looking over thr profile.
Quirkless. He's surprised that the brat— Bakugou, he remembers, hadn't mentioned that. Not that Aizawa cares. A kid is a kid, quirk or not.
He grabbed a post-it note from beside his desk and a pen.
He copied down the information in messy handwriting, making special note of the address. He'd need it.
-----
Izuku was home without his mother very often.
She worked as a nurse at the local clinic, so she was gone a lot of the time.
It was important work. Izuku knew this.
But he also remembered when he was a kid, and he would come home from school, and his mother would be there, and she'd give him a big hug and ask him how his day went.
Not that he had school today. It was a Sunday, anyway.
But the point is— he was home alone. And this was normal.
What wasn't normal was someone knocking on the door.
Izuku wouldn't admit this to anyone, but he actually got startled really bad when the first three knocks came.
He contemplated hiding under a table or something, but then he realized that for most, having someone knock on your door was generally normal.
Izuku and Inko never really ordered anything online. And if they did, the delivery person would usually just leave it on the door mat.
But Izuku is fourteen. He's practically a man. He can answer the door. He's not a hermit.
He took a deep breath, and then got startled again when three more, slightly less patient, knocks came. He walked through the living room to the front door of the apartment, and unlocked all three locks they had in place.
He twisted the knob and opened the door.
Oh. Big, tall, scary man. There was a big and tall, scary man at his door. A very unkempt one, for sure. Though, Izuku can't really talk. He never really combs his hair, either.
"Are you Izuku Midoriya?" The big tall scary unkempt man said.
"Y-yes?" Izuku squeaked out, taking a step back.
Big tall scary man reached into his pocket.
Oh god— he has a gun! Izuku thought. He felt like his soul had left his body. Oh god. Oh no. This is it. This is the end to his sad, quirkless, 5'4 life.
Until the guy just pulled out his wallet instead, and he flipped it open to reveal a hero license.
Izuku, once again, felt like his soul had left his body.
"I'm an underground hero. Eraserhead. Can I speak with you?"
"Y-yes!" Izuku spoke. He probably had stars in his eyes. Wow. A pro hero. It's not every day you meet one.
Even undergrounds, Izuku has great respect for. Even if the general public doesn't have as much appreciation for them.
But what was he doing at Izuku's home?
Izuku stepped aside and opened the front door wider, allowing for the hero to step inside.
Was this a good idea? Probably not. Despite being a hero, he was still a stranger. But Izuku didn't think about that at the moment.
Eraserhead walked into the apartment, slimming his eyes at Izuku.
(Izuku wouldn't realize until later, but Eraserhead was looking at him like that because that was the exact moment that he realized Izuku might be a bit stupid. Who lets a random stranger into their house?)
"I.. it's such an h-honor, uhm.. this is so cool, it's n- nice to meet you, Eraserhead," Izuku couldn't stop shaking.
"Uh.. yeah, you too," the hero responded flatly.
"Are your parents home?"
Izuku fidgeted with his hands.
"Uhm.. no, my dad doesn't live here, and my mom is at work," he nodded.
"You can.. sit down. If you want," Izuku invited, gesturing to the couch.
Shouta took a seat on the sofa.
"I'm here because.." (really, because he didn't mind his own business. But also because it's his job as a hero to protect people who need help.)
"Because something was brought to my attention yesterday, by someone who knows you, and he was very insistent that you aren't his friend, but either way, he was worried about you," Shouta explained, trying not to sound too nosy.
Izuku furrowed his eyebrows.
He moved and sat down in the arm chair that sat across from the couch.
"I.. can't think of anything that's be referring to?" He genuinely couldn't— he probably should, but he has shit memory.
To be honest, Izuku was a bit worried that this was some sort of prank from someone at his school.
But then he remembered the conversation he had with Katsuki on Friday.
His eyes widened.
"Oh.. I think, uhm, I remember.. yeah, I think I get what you're saying," he stuttered out.
"He said that you're involved with a.. predator," Eraserhead grimaced.
Izuku chewed on his bottom lip looking at the floor.
"..I wouldn't put it like that," he mumbled.
The hero sighed.
"Well, then, how would you put it? You said you knew what I was talking about.. can you explain to me?" He spoke softly— well, just about as soft as someone who was as intimidating as Eraserhead could.
Izuku stayed silent for a few moments.
He looked up, at Eraserhead.
"I.. have a friend. That- that I talk to online," he started.
"Well, not just online, we- we meet up for conventions and stuff. And.. I dunno, he's weird sometimes. He's older than me, but that's not really a problem. Uhm.. he's still a great friend, regardless."
"You said he's weird? How so?"
Izuku looked away.
"I.. well, he asks me to.. uhm.."
Eraserhead stayed silent.
He seemed like a patient guy. But Izuku didn't want to waste any more of his time.
He looked back up at Eraserhead with a smile.
"He's a great friend. I- I'd do anything for him. It's not a problem. He's.. helped me through some stuff, so really, I- I owe him.
Eraserhead tilted his head to the side, and slimmed his eyes.
"Owe him what?"
"I already said, it's not a problem."
The hero's eyebrows furrowed.
"Answer my question, please, owe him what?"
Izuku's breathing excelerated. Alright, not now, not now. It's okay.
"Well— well, uhm.. pictures."
"Can I ask.. what type of pictures?"
Eraserhead was damn hard to read. Izuku couldn't quite tell if he was mad— or upset, or just plain curious.
"I.."
Izuku stayed silent.
He couldn't tell.
Kenshin would get in trouble. And it was harmless. It's not like anything ever happened between them when they meet in person. Only over text. Only pictures.
"W-would you like some tea?"
"Midoriya—"
"Maybe some coffee?"
"Mi-"
"I mean, if those eyebags are anything to go by, you- you look tired!"
The hero stood up. Izuku hadn't even noticed.
"Kid, you have to-"
"Light roast, or dark roast? We don't have medium."
"Kid, you gotta calm down." Eraserhead put his hands on Izuku's shoulders.
It was then that Izuku noticed he was crying.
Tears rolling down his face, sniffling, and shaking. His heart was beating so fast. It felt like getting a bucket of cold water dumped over his head, the way he could suddenly feel how he was falling apart.
And he didn't even know why.
"I'm.. I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Izuku sniffled, looking down at the ground.
"No, you're not. You don't have to worry. I can help you," Eraserhead assured. His voice sounded so.. safe, and it only served to make Izuku start crying harder.
-----
It had been a long couple of weeks for Shouta.
Dealing with the kid was the hardest.
Obviously the first thing that needed to happen was the arrest. And it didn't the guy had put up quite a fight, which was kinda pathetic. The only way the arrest could have happened in the first place, was luckily Midoriya happened to have his abuser's address. They had sent eachother various things over the few months. According to Midoriya, all the packages were luckily appropriate and wouldn't need to be used as evidence.
That was another one of the things shouta had to deal with. Evidence.
He had Midoriya go through and screen shot all of their conversations in which the topic of sending nudes came up, along with the pictures that were sent, and Shouta gave Midoriya his number so he could send all the evidence to a second location in case of an.. accident.
That'd happened to Shouta before— the victim had all the evidence on their phone, and the phone itself broke the day before the trial.
Of course Shouta didn't really like having the pictures saved to his phone, but, whatever. It was his job.
Well, dealing with legal matters isn't really his job. It's arresting villains. Ordinary criminals are usually up to the regular police.
But Shouta would never pass up the opportunity to arrest a child predator, that's for sure.
Another one of the hardest parts was informing Midoriya's mother, Inko, of the situation.
The woman had cried. A lot. She made a lot of clearly empty threats to never let her son talk to anyone else online again— which was quickly settled by Shouta, who assured her that after Midoriya had went through the proper therapy for situations like this, he'll be able to see warning signs much easier and he'll stop interacting with creeps on his own.
And yeah. Therapy. Yet another issue.
"For now, since I know you and your mother aren't exactly in a financial place to hire a psychologist, you can see your school counselor," Shouta had suggested.
Midoriya shook his head and then informed Shouta that the school counselor at Aldera was also a known creep. Go figure. Why do people have to be such dicks? Taking a position from someone who could do it better just so you can manipulate kids— not only kids, but specifically ones that need counseling— okay, Shouta didn't need to go on and on. He just had to find a solution.
And a solution, he did find. Luckily he caught Nedzu on a good day, and when had called to ask with basically already knowing Nedzu would say no, Nedzu actually said yes.
So, Midoriya would be attending UA's school counselor, Hound Dog, for the next few weeks with Principal Nedzu's permission.
The kid had freaked when Shouta told him over text. Something, something, I can't believe I'm actually going to get to see UA after all. This had lead to a giant conversation about how Midoriya had always wanted to be a hero but couldn't, because of his quirkless status.
Shouta stuffed that little piece of information into his back pocket. He may or may not be able to help him. But obviously that wasn't what needed attention right now.
The trial had been rough. Despite all the evidence against this Kenshin guy, he kept refusing to plead guilty, saying it was photoshop, or orchestrated conversations made by someone else to make it look like he was the one saying it, and then he was eventually found guilty by the jury which got him an even longer sentence. Serves him right.
So he'd be in jail for the next twenty-two years, and oh boy, Shouta knows exactly what happens to child predators in there, so he wasn't worried about Kenshin getting off easy.
Everything now was pretty much set. It was weird, not having anything extra to work on.
For the last few days, Shouta has just been going on patrol.. coming back home, eating dinner, feeding the cats, kissing his husband good night and then going to bed. Rinse and repeat. Which is what he had been doing previously.
Part of him wonders how Bakugou is doing. He never told Midoriya that Bakugou was the one who told him about the predator, but he's sure Midoriya knows given the fact that apparently Bakugou found out about the whole thing via conversation with Midoriya himself in the first place.
But Shouta didn't need to worry about that. It was over. Everything was alright now. And he'd probably never see the two kids again.
He was wrong. Oh god he was so so wrong. Only a year later and both Midoriya and Bakugou showed up in his classroom and holy fuck they are the biggest problem children Shouta has ever had.
But it was weird though. Last time Shouta checked, Midoriya didn't have a quirk..