Chapter Text
A sob, a choking sound, the smallest cry for help. Shouta heard it as he walked out the convenience store, stopping in his tracks as he analyzed his surroundings. An alleyway smelling of mildew caught his attention. There. A small boy with matted dark green hair. Shouta looked around again, hoping to see a pro-hero around, albeit he was a pro-hero, he just wasn’t good with kids. He frantically looked around, at least one other had to be patrolling, right? Wrong. He cursed inwardly, slowly making his way into the alley.
“Hey, kid.” He called softly to not scare the boy. He looked up at Shouta with devastating green eyes filled with tears and fear. “Hey, are you okay? Do you know where your parents are?” Shouta asked, still slowly approaching, acting as if he was approaching a stray cat. “N-no. D-don’t remember. C-an’t remember. Hold m-me back.” The boy stuttered, roughly carding his hand through his hair, pulling it as if it had personally offended him. Shouta squatted down, not too close to scare or crowd him, but not too far to where he couldn’t use his capture scarf if needed. “Okay, that’s okay. Are you hurt anywhere?” Shouta replied, voice dripping with concern, “Hurt…?” the frail boy asked. “Yes, hurt. Like pain. Do you feel it anywhere?” Shouta clarified.
He looked the boy up and down for any obvious injuries, looking at his legs, he saw multiple scars, two on his right leg, both wrapped around his calf, one on his left going from his knee down to his ankle. Both legs have a multitude of small circular scars, as if someone repeatedly stabbed him with a needle. He looked to his arms next. He saw the same small circular scars on the inside of his elbows and two identical scars on each forearm going from the inside of his elbow to his wrist. What happened to this kid?
“W-what is..pain?” Shouta’s eyes snapped back to the boy's eyes. His tears had dried up, he was looking at him with confusion. “Pain is like…when you scrape your knee after tripping and it makes you cry” Shouta tried explaining, the boy still looked confused, he shook his head no, maintaining eye contact with the dark red eyes in front of him. Shouta sighed, then asked, “Okay…what’s your name kid?” the boy closed his eyes and scrunched his eyebrows, thinking deeply. “I-Izuku” He shyly said after a minute of thinking, opening his eyes, shy, fearful green met concerning red.
“Alright, Izuku. Can you walk?” Shouta asked, holding a hand up while standing. Izuku looked at the out-stretched hand carefully. He hesitantly took his hand out of his hair and made contact, he quickly snatched his hand back, he looked up at Shouta with fear. Shouta frowned. “It’s okay, you don’t have to take my hand.” Izuku looked back at Shouta’s hand again, he stretched his hand out again, this time more confident. The hands made contact and Izuku held his breath as he gripped the older man’s hand weakly. He used the hand to help him stand up, he stumbled back and forth before catching his footing.
Shouta smiled at Izuku, “Okay, we’re going to the hospital to make sure you’re not injured and try finding your parents.” Izuku looked at him blankly, ‘Hospital…?’ He thought to himself. He nodded softly at the man and they started walking.