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Chapter Text

The sound of a pen scratching against paper is what brings Keigo’s attention to Midoriya Izuku for the first time. 

He looks past fellow heroes and civilian bystanders crowding him to a boy near the edge of the crowd, shying away from everyone, not quite comfortable with coming closer. In the hero’s opinion, he seems to be young, perhaps too young to be there, with greenish hair adorning his head and a blue notebook clutched in his hands, hiding his face from everyone’s sight. 

Hero Analysis for the Future.

That is the title written with large letters on the cover of the notebook. A giddy feeling enters him for a moment—so the kid is trying to analyze the fight, perhaps even his quirk specifically. There are many people trying to analyze his quirk and it always makes Keigo wonder what they think. But still, there is no reason to think about it too much, that is why he eventually gets back to focusing on the conversation with his fellow heroes. 

Until he sees the same boy one week later.

He’s wearing a school uniform that time, the black gakuran aiding him with seeming even more invisible than before. He’s blending into the background, noticed by no one but Keigo. It’s fascinating in its own way. No one pays him attention but Keigo can’t look away, curiosity rooting inside him. He wants to know what the boy is writing in his Hero Analysis book. The notebook looks well-used, wrinkled a tiny bit at the edges but otherwise still in pristine condition. 

Appearances like that happen more and more until Keigo catches sight of the plain-looking boy almost every day. As time passes it becomes natural for him to immediately check his surroundings after a fight, hoping to see the boy. He succeeds in that without too many issues (though he is relieved that the boy never seems to be there at nighttime). The kid always has his notebooks with him and most times he wears his school uniform, preferring to blend into the background probably. After so much time of observing the kid, Keigo notices things . Like the way, the kid flinches when people step too close to him, how he comes and sinks into himself once snapped out of his concentration. It leaves an ugly feeling inside him.

(But he shoves it down for the time being. Assumptions won’t do him any good.)

Yet, it becomes a routine obviously. Every time after a fight, his eyes wander through the crowd and stop once he notices the boy (it’s a bit amusing how the kid never seems to notice that the hero’s observing him back). Keigo remains content with just knowing about the kid’s presence and watching him from afar (of course, in a non-creepy way!). It’s one of the few constants in his life at that point.

Izuku’s last class of the day ended two hours ago but he still isn’t home because his bullies surrounded him before he could leave the school ground and dragged him into a scheduled corner around the building to beat him up for daring to breathe the same air as them. That’s fine. It happens all the time, he’s used to it.

Eventually, he manages to gather his bag and the school books off the ground and makes his way to the bathroom in the school, where he tries his best to wash the dirt off and hide his wounds. He wouldn’t want to worry his mother over anything, after all. Satisfied with his work, he makes his way home, wondering on which hero he’ll make a page first. He’s seen some interesting ones on the news that morning.  

Actually, there was an article about Hawks currently being in Musutafu for some work-related issue, accompanied by a few articles of another hero in the Top Ten being in Musutafu. He could write something on the winged hero! He already had an entry on Hawks but it’s in notebook number 9 and he’s on number 12 now, so it definitely needs an update. Especially with his countless visits to Fukuoka in the last few months. Plus, there are some battles of the winged hero and some villains with interesting quirks circulating on the internet that Izuku still hadn’t a chance to see. He could check them out that evening and then extend his no —Izuku blinks, his brain immediately coming to a halt as he stares at the sight before him. 

He sees the red of the firefighters’ uniforms first, shortly followed by the blue of the policemen’s shirts. They all surround the building where their apartment is located. If you can call it a building anymore.

Then his eyes drop down to the ground at the line of white sheets, clearly covering three bodies.

The gears in his mind turn and suddenly the lack of text messages from his mother makes a lot more sense than it should.

He doesn’t want to think anymore.

(Izuku doesn’t want to think anymore, so he turns on his heel and dashes away, ignoring the yells of the people who’ve noticed him.)

Keigo just knows it’s going to be a terrible day when he walks through the streets of Musutafu only to halt in his steps when he sees a kid on the roof of a tall building. 

He wants to believe it’s nothing terrible for a moment, tries to delude himself into hoping that it’s just some kid who likes to spend time on the rooftops of buildings and stare at the sky. But then the kid climbs over the railing to stand closer near the edge and he immediately vanquishes any uncertainty. That’s no kid staring at the sky for mere relaxation. Wasting no time he lifts off the ground, flying straight into the direction of the kid but when he gets closer, he can feel his heart drop to his stomach. He recognizes that kid.

That’s the middle schooler that has been observing his battles recently. 

At that point, something beyond desperation fuels his wings.

He watches as the kid jumps, red shoes not on his feet and the world’s spinning.

(Spinning into directions it shouldn’t.)

Izuku is falling and falling and falling.

Until he isn’t.

Until red enters his sight and arms wrap around him.

Then everything halts.

Chapter Text

Izuku is quiet.

Quiet when Hawks catches him. Quiet when the hero tries to talk to him even if he doesn’t reply at all. Quiet on their way to the police station.

And he remains quiet until Hawks returns with a stranger following him. From his getup, Izuku assumes that the stranger is a detective. He’s not wearing the usual uniform of a policeman but his clothes are too proper and plain for him to be a hero. He could be a civilian too but there’s a badge hanging around his neck, so he’s got to work at the station. He knows people working in the offices in police stations also wear the uniform, considering they are part of the force—so the stranger is either someone upper-ranked in the station or a detective. Izuku isn’t important enough to have someone upper-ranked come to see him and considering the reason he’s at the station, a detective would make more sense. 

Hawks comes to a halt besides Izuku and the middle schooler is slightly confused for a moment. Shouldn’t that be the moment the hero leaves? He’s made sure Izuku is at a place where professionals can deal with him—the hero has no reasons to remain.

“That’s not true,” a gentle voice interrupts him. He blinks and glances up right into Hawks’ eyes. “I have all the reasons to stay and make sure you’ll be okay.” 

Oh. He said that out aloud, huh. 

The detective clears his throat and Izuku glances back at him. “Good evening, my name is Tsukauchi Naomasa.”

Izuku blinks. He’s heard that name before. “Tsukauchi Naomasa… uh…. the detective with a truth-deduction quirk?”

Both the detective and the hero blink at him, surprise clearly visible on their faces. Izuku decides it’s best to elaborate. 

“I’ve r-read about you on some hero-themed o-online forums. There isn’t much mention of you since you aren’t a hero, but you’re noted for helping out a lot of the top ten heroes often.”

“That’s…,” the detective trails off with a shake of his head, before smiling at the kid in front of him. “Then you already know what my quirk is, right?”

“Yes.” Izuku nods, recalling any information of the detective’s quirk stored in his mind. “As mentioned, it’s a truth-deduction quirk. You’re able to generalize statements as true or false.”

 Able to generalize statements as true or false.

Hawks raises an eyebrow. “That’s an odd way to describe it.” 

Izuku blushes before gazing directly at the detective. It’s the first time he’s looking someone into the eyes for more than a few seconds. “W-well… from what I could find, it’s not proven if you’re able to exactly deduce when someone lies. I mean, telling lies from truths apart is considered more of a thing of intent, if that makes sense? Someone could be still telling the truth but lying to Detective Tsukauchi by omitting parts of it or twisting words and meanings. That’s where the key difference in a deduction-based quirk lies. Are you able to generalize just statements as true or false or are you able to tell when someone isn’t being honest with you by their intent alone?”

Both adults blink at the kid. 

Something inside Hawks stirs at that. He remembers the notebooks the kid usually has on him. He needs to know.

“Well, what do you think the answer is, fledgling?” 

Izuku answers without hesitation. “Probably the generalization of statements? Since I’ve been here, Detective Tsukauchi has been quietly observing me. I know, that’s like, standard training for a detective, but I’ve read on the forums that he had cases, where’s been able to pinpoint the suspects without even asking any questions by simply observing them. Like said, it’s standard training and there’s probably a lot of people who won’t talk willingly, so he needs to know how to read people’s body language anyway. But he just seems so good at it? Way too good for someone without a quirk that should make it a lot easier for him.”

“Hm, is this all then? Or did something else point you to this conclusion?” The detective asks him. 

It’s a perfect question in Izuku’s opinion, exactly one he needs to back up his conclusion. 

“Plus… I’ve seen a short f-footage of you before,” he mutters, addressing the detective directly. “You, uh, were talking with the criminal’s accomplice who tried to rob the bank near the main street in Musutafu. At that time no one knew she was the accomplice and she replied back to you… and then you let her go for the moment, just quietly watching her for a few minutes before calling her back. That’s when you sent her with another police officer to the car. Your quirk probably took whatever she said as true. But her skittish body language gave her away.”

It’s quiet for a moment until the detective speaks up. “Whilst this is a commendable theory, basing your conclusion on one short video footage isn’t quite enough to back it up, don’t you agree?”

Izuku grins slightly.

“I’m not basing my conclusion on that footage though,” he says, “considering the footage was about another incident.”

At that, both the hero’s and detective’s eyes widen. 

“I, um, was present for the bank robbery. In the crowd. That’s why I knew what you were doing. But the footage was about something else. If I remember correctly it was this villain called Breakthrough? A-Anyway, my first statement and my explanation were both true but not connected to each other. If your quirk worked based on intent, you should have been able to tell that I was technically not being honest. So, yeah, that’s my deduction as to why your quirk is the ability to generalize statements as true or f-false.”

Keigo can’t stop himself from grinning. He’s seen and met a lot of impressive and skilled people—but god, most of them weren’t as interesting as that kid proved himself to be in just that short time. Excitement builds up in his stomach. He’d have to ask the kid if he was allowed to peak into his notebooks later. If his jotted-down analysis was anything like his spoken one—well, he definitely wanted to check it out. 

Still, there’s something else he wants to ask the kid.

“Criminal,” he says, “you called the bank robber a criminal. He’s classified as a villain by the public.”

It seems like such a little thing to focus on but most people usually called bank robbers villains. Especially other kids.

“You just answered yourself, Hawks.” The kid replies. “By the public, that man is a villain. But he isn’t.”

“And why is that?”

“The only thing he used that day was a gun. A normal one. There was no use of his quirk at all. If he used a quirk though, that would have made him a villain. Because according to the school-used dictionary the purpose of heroes is to fight villains. And that purpose came up with the appearance of quirks and the malicious use of them. During the pre-quirk era there were no heroes nor villains. There were just law-abiding citizens and criminals. But nowadays everyone’s just a villain in the public’s eyes even though villains are noted down as people who use their quirks with bad intentions in the same dictionary.” The boy draws a breath before glancing at Naomasa again, dread on his face. “T-That view is common because we, uh, live in a quirk-focused society.”

Then the boy seems to brace himself for something before speaking up again.

“Because the chances that he could have used his quirk outweigh the reality that he didn’t. ”

It’s so for a moment. Quiet enough that Keigo could have heard a pin drop to the ground. Kids the same age as the kid before him usually don’t have such a different view between criminals and villains. Naomasa must think the same as him because he steps closer to the boy.

“You are right,” he speaks up, keeping his voice soft. “My quirk is indeed not intent-based.” 

The boy perks up at that, although only slightly.

“You aren’t wrong about society's views on villains as well,” Keigo butts in. “Though I’m wondering why you care about the differences between criminals and villains.” Most kids your age don’t , is what he doesn’t say, and neither do a lot of adults.

The kid freezes at that, biting his lips. Seconds pass and turn into minutes. It’s then that Keigo considers taking his words back and letting the kid relax.

But it’s also when the kid speaks up.

“Uh, society calls criminals with quirks villains no matter what they do, but...” he speaks up. “... they call criminals without quirks criminals.”

The kid’s clearly bracing himself for something negative. Keigo can tell as much when dark

green eyes finally meet his own.

“And I-I’d know,” he says, “because I’m q-quirkless.”

And Keigo remembers that this is the boy who stood at the edge of the roof.

(And isn’t it sad? That was the first thing he thought of upon the revelation.) 

The kid’s shaking badly and that’s what snaps Keigo out of his daze. Dumbass , he scolds himself, stupid reaction.

“Yeah, they do,” he agrees with the kid. “People are ignorant like that.”

He then gazes at Naomasa and nods. It’s probably best if they focus on why Izuku is there in the first place.

Naomasa clears his throat once more and speaks up.

“Since you clearly know what my quirk is… can I ask you some questions?”

The boy looks up and then slowly nods his head.

“Alright, before we’ll go to my office, could you please state your name… and what you were doing out at such a time?”

All three of them know what he was planning to do. It’s just, that neither the detective nor the hero know why exactly it had to be that day out of all days. Sometimes there isn’t a specific reason. But sometimes there is .

And that can make a big difference.

“Um, I’m M-Midoriya Izuku,” he states. He stops speaking for a while and both adults stiffen with concern when seeing the tears form at the corner of the kid’s eyes.

“And t-today our apartment complex b-burned down with… with my mother in it.”

Chapter Text

Keigo looks up the moment the detective walks back in. Tsukauchi sighs, eyes filled with something bitter.

"I got permission to access the files," he says, coursing a hand through his hair, "Midoriya Inko died today afternoon around 4 pm."

Keigo's heart drops down to his stomach. He thinks about the boy sitting in the detective's office, waiting for the confirmation of his mother's death. Even though the chance was slim, he was hoping that she might have survived and they wouldn't have to sadden the kid any further. But now…

"How… ?"

Tsukauchi narrows his eyes. 

"The apartment complex caught on fire, " he states without elaborating as to what the cause was, "They managed to recover her body but they were too late. She already inhaled too much of the smoke."

That had to be quite the painful death. 

"Caught on fire? How?"

That's when the mood shifts. Tsukauchi looks into his eyes and there is something quite intense about his gaze. 

"That's classified information."

But that was everything Keigo needed to know. Buildings catching fire are usually not classified information. Arsonists burning them down or some resident accidentally leaving the stove on doesn’t need cover-ups, after all. So, there is something else going on and he can already guess just what exactly. He sighs, closing his eyes for a moment. It’s the HPSC, of course. There’s simply just no other explanation for the classification of an apartment burning down. The probably most irritating thing is, that whilst the public will get some abridged cover-up story, anyone working behind the scenes will see the locked-down files and understand that something is terribly wrong—but still be unable to alter anything about the situation. Not without paying a hefty price.

Tsukauchi pats his shoulder once before he breaks the silence finally, eyes clouded over in thoughtfulness. 

“I’ll have to place him into foster care.” 

He looks troubled at that and Keigo can understand why. That kid tried—no, jumped off a roof a good hour ago and now he’s sitting there without his mother.

“Does he have no other relatives?”

“A father but that man gave up his parental rights after divorcing Miss Midoriya and moving to America.”

Keigo winces. That really only leaves the foster care, doesn’t it? Keigo may not know much about quirklessness and foster care, but he understands how they don’t mix well. Foster care is a tricky case, as there’s a good chance that the kid might just end up in a… not so nice place.

But Midoriya Izuku isn’t just any kid. He’s quirkless and as much as Keigo hates to admit it, a lot of people are quirkist morons. There’s unfortunately just no guarantee that whoever gets to take care of Izuku won’t be an asshole. And then there’s the fact that the kid will have to get therapy, which is another thing many people don’t necessarily view in a positive light (which is utter bullshit).  

The more he thinks about it, the less comfortable he is with the idea. 

“There should be a group house here with an open sp—”

“I’ll foster him,” Keigo interrupts the other. 

“Huh?”

He just can’t describe it but the unsettling feeling at the thought of Izuku getting shunned any further in some random group home just leaves him frustrated. 

(He watches the boy fall and fall, praying that his wings carry him even faster as he reaches out with his arm, hoping to reach the kid just in time—)

“I’m a hero with a fairly good reputation and work ethic, “ he elucidates, “I’m definitely capable of adjusting my schedule to take care of a kid.”

Tsukauchi blinks at him.

“Hawks, are you sure? This isn’t a light decision to make…”

“I’m not taking this lightly. The kid is quirkless .” He replies. “I know this shouldn’t mean anything but to many morons out there it will mean something. Something negative that is.”

There is nothing really to reply to that. The detective knows very well what the other means. He understands very well what the hero means. How many cases similar to this one has he seen?

(And how many times has someone genuinely offered to help the ones in need of care?)

The detective looks into the hero’s gaze and searches for anything uncertain.

He finds nothing.

Golden eyes stare at him with set determination. Hawks won’t be the one to back down.

“Alright,” he concedes, “I’ll go get the paperwork. You can join the kid in my office.”

Izuku is tired.

He’s been sitting in that chair and staring at the wall for half an hour now. At some point, he was considering running away, but he gave up quickly on that. 

The detective told him he was going to look into his mother’s situation but Izuku already knew the man wasn’t going to find anything. His mother’s death may have been accidental but it was a repeated occurrence for sure. 

And yet there has been no article or public knowledge about the past occurrences. The only reason Izuku knew was because he got too curious about a newspaper article a few years ago and then spent some time digging up information—and what he found wasn’t pretty. 

The door opens, shacking him out of his thoughts, and Hawks enters the room with a small grin on his face.

“Hey there, kiddo, sorry to have kept you waiting.”

“It’s… no problem…”

“Detective Tsukauchi will be back here in five minutes. He had to get some documents.”

“... Documents?”

“Mhm,” the hero stares at him, golden eyes glinting in the light, “foster care.”

Oh. Right. 

(His mother is gone, gone, gone, go—nothing but ashes now.)

“Will… Will I be placed in an institution?”

He’s not sure how to feel about foster care.

(It scares him. The thought of being hated in a place that’s supposed to be his home.)

“Nope,” the hero replies, popping the ‘p’. Then a big grin forms on the hero’s face. “How do you feel about living with a hero, Little Analyst?” 

Izuku freezes. Has he misheard the other? 

“... What?”

Hawks nods once as he replaces his grin with a small smile. “I’d like to foster you, Midoriya Izuku.”

Chapter Text

Change is inevitable. 

Everyone has the capability to change and every situation will alter as time passes.

Izuku knew he wasn’t going to live with his mother forever and he knew one day he wasn’t going to be able to see her anymore—but that day just came way too fast. Yesterday, he was eating dinner with her, chatting away about random topics of no importance. She had that bright, lovely smile on her face that she always wore whenever he talked about something that held his interest.  

Today? Today he is sitting in the office of a detective, watching as the No. 7 Pro Hero Hawks signs paperwork, efficiently taking Izuku under his care. It’s almost surreal. If this way any other day, Izuku would be over the moon about meeting said pro hero. But he just can’t bring himself to, not with the ongoing circumstances that drag his mood down. His mom is forever gone, and he tried to jump off a roof only to be caught by Hawks. There’s no joy nor excitement occupying his mind at the moment—he’s just exhausted. 

“That should be all for now,” Detective Tsukauchi mutters, glancing over the documents, “I’ll send the rest in once these are processed.”

The hero nods. “Thank you for this once again.”

“No problem.”

Then both adults turn to face Izuku. Tsukauchi’s expression softens as he nods at the kid.

“We have to talk about why you’re here in the first place, Midoriya.”

He hunches into himself, wishing that the ground would swallow him up and hide him from this confrontation. He doesn’t want to talk about it, acknowledge it.

“I w-was being impulsive due… due to today’s events,” he mutters, “I won’t do it again.”

A firm hand lands on his shoulder and Hawks looks down at him with a serious gaze. 

“It’s especially concerning because you acted impulsively, Midoriya. There must be a reason this is your immediate reaction when distressed.”

Izuku bites his lips and averts his gaze from the man. Deep down he understands that the hero isn’t wrong, but he doesn’t want to recognize that. Not when he’s so scared to even think about the implications of him jumping down from a roof—it was a mere temptation. He had many of these but he easily pushed them down each time. What made this one time differently? He just can’t explain it. 

Tsukauchi puts a notebook on the table. “I’ll be writing some keywords down but nothing too detailed.”

The detective sighs once before he relaxes into a more slack posture, an awkward smile gracing his face.

“I admit I’m usually not responsible for matters like these, but nonetheless, I believe it would do you better if we didn’t send you to a complete stranger for the questioning.”

Izuku nods, unsure of how to respond.

“First off, would you like Hawks to leave the room?”

The kid blinks before glancing at the hero. Does he want him to leave? Would it be more beneficial to let the hero stay? Will Hawks get mad if he makes him leave the room? Will he be annoyed if he has to stay? 

“Be honest,” the hero tells him, interrupting his line of thought, “I want you to be as comfortable as possible.”

Izuku blinks. If he’s being honest, he’d rather the hero left the room. He knows that whatever questions the detective has for him, they’ll all be a tad too personal and Izuku just doesn’t want Hawks to regret taking him in. 

But he’s still scared that saying no would be the wrong choice. Even if the hero said it’s fine, the man might be lying.

Izuku turns to face the detective. “I wouldn’t mind Hawks staying if he wants to.”

That should be a good answer, or? Even though he’d rather the hero left, if Hawks wants to stay, there isn’t much Izuku could do and it would keep the man less mad at him by simply complying. So, no, Izuku wouldn’t mind if the hero stayed as long it’s the man’s want. 

“Nope,” Hawks responds before the detective can start talking, “try again, kid.”

Izuku blinks.

The hero’s expression softens a bit and a small smile makes its way on his face.

“This isn’t about what I want but about what you want.” 

Izuku stares into golden eyes, minutes passing by before he nods his head and finally speaks the truth. It seems almost impossible to lie to the winged hero—not when the man’s gaze is so fierce.

“I… I would, um, prefer if Hawks l-left the room.”

Hawks immediately stands up from his place, stretching his wings and arms a bit. “Well then, I’ll be behind the door, waiting for you to finish.”

Then he reaches down to pat the kid’s head. Izuku blinks in confusion.

“You’re doing great, kid.”

Keigo is standing behind the door, waiting for Tsukauchi to finish the questioning. To be honest, with his advanced hearing he knows what the two are talking about anyway. It would be disrespectful to ignore Midoriya’s request though, so he won’t talk to the kid about what he’s hearing. At least not until some time passes.

But god, he can’t help but feel a bit disquiet about what he’s hearing. It takes Tsukauchi some time but eventually the kid tells the detective about his life. He mentions the heavy discrimination he faces on a daily, the bullies and their illegal quirk use on the kid, the school with all these damn teachers that just let him get hurt. Keigo wants nothing more than to burn it down to ashes. And with Tsukauchi Naomasa—a well-trusted detective in the community—on the case, Keigo knows that will happen soon. Aldera won’t exist for much longer after this day. 

Eventually, the questioning is finished and the kid steps out of the room, accompanied by the detective. 

“As you are his current legal guardian, I’ll be getting back to you to discuss this all further,” the man tells him, “but for now I think it’s best if you both rest. It’s been a long day.”

Keigo nods, glancing down at the kid quickly, taking in his anxious posture.

“Thank you for doing this, Tsukauchi.”

Tsukauchi shakes his head gently. 

“Well then,” he says, grinning at the kid, “it’s time to get going.”

Midoriya blinks at him.

They both bid their farewells to the detective and some of the staff they come across as they exit the building.

“Are you fine with flying there?”

And there it is—the first sign of something other than distress or apathy in the kid’s eyes.

Muted excitement.

Grinning brightly, Keigo hoists the kid up into his arms and then, without further ado, he uplifts from the ground, adjusting his speed so Midoriya will be fine during the flight. He glances down occasionally, to see the kid staring at the ground or looking up at the sky with some fascination and smiles slightly. He’s glad to see the kid a bit less upset for the time being. 

After some time passes, he descends to the ground, landing in front of a hotel. After checking them both in and entering the room, he sits down on the bed, observing as the kid glances at him with a confused expression before something shifts and he seems understanding. 

“Oh r-right, you live in F-Fukuoka, don’t you?”

“Sure do.” Keigo leans a bit forward, arms resting on his crossed legs. “And you will too, starting tomorrow.”

Midoriya freezes.

Ah, they didn’t address the situation properly, did they?

“Unfortunately, Fukuoka is a bit too far away from Musutafu for me to travel between the agency and here every single day,” he explains, frowning slightly, “even by flight at full speed, I’d still take more than 2-3 hours.”

Midoriya nods.

And Keigo’s not exactly keen on letting the kid stay in Musutafu. Not after what he overheard about the bullies and the school. It might seem a bit extreme, but after all these years of discrimination and with what happened to his mother, it would probably be for the best if the kid is able to start over in Fukuoka. He knows there will still be some discrimination. There are many quirkist assholes out there, spread all over the world. Keigo himself had to deal with his fair share of morons mad at him for having a mutant quirk. 

Anyway, back to the point. He won’t budge on having Midoriya move to Fukuoka. Because of the traumatic events which happened in Musutafu but also because there is no way he is letting the kid live alone—he wouldn’t be allowed to anyway. Still, he’s nothing but sympathetic. He knows that such a drastic amount of change must be tiring and stressing the kid out.

“Sorry about that, Midoriya,” he apologizes candidly. “I know this all is happening rather rapidly, but…”

He trails off upon seeing Midoriya’s shocked expression. There’s a tiny spark of disbelief in his eyes as well but it clears quickly.

The winged hero can feel concern build up in him. He doesn’t know what he did wrong, but he’s worried at the kid’s silence and shock. How does he reverse this? What should he do? What did he do wro—

“Izuku.”

Keigo blinks before it’s his turn to be stunned.

“You c-can call me Izuku,” the kid mutters shyly, leaving the hero speechless.

(What Keigo doesn’t know is that he’s the first adult to properly apologize to Midoriya Izuku.)

Chapter Text

Izuku, Keigo observes, is quiet.

The boy barely speaks up except when the hero initiates the conversation or it's absolutely necessary for him to say something. There isn't much the kid has to say during the night spent at the hotel. After giving Keigo permission to use his first name, Izuku retreats into a shell, making absolutely no noise as he keeps to himself.

What surprises Keigo though, is that despite his obvious discomfort, the kid never takes his gaze off Keigo for too long. 

He's keeping track of me.

That's… a very concerning realization but one that unfortunately makes sense considering how the kid has lived the past years.

There isn't much Keigo can do about any of these things at the moment, so he settles with the decision to approach some topics the next day after they arrive at his apartment.

The next day after breakfast, he's waiting for the kid to tie his shoes. That's when his gaze wanders to the bright, yellow backpack and something comes to his mind.

The apartment complex the boy lived in with his mother burnt down…

"You don't have anything besides the clothes you're wearing and the stuff in your backpack, do you?"

Izuku freezes, halting in his movements for a moment and Keigo worries for a moment that he's being too hasty with asking such questions. But then the boy nods slightly, seemingly sadder than before.

The kid obviously lost a lot of things he must have cherished to the flames.

(He lost his mother to the flames.)

"Definitely not today," Keigo speaks up, gaining Izuku's attention, "but sometime this week we'll go shopping for some stuff for you."

At that, the kid seems panicked, raising his hands and waving them.

"T-That's… You don't have to—"

"I definitely have to," Keigo interrupts the boy. "Those clothes you're wearing are the only ones you have, right?"

Izuku frowns, lowering his gaze to the ground.

Keigo softens his expression into a gentle smile as he steps closer to kneel before the boy. He reaches out with a hand and pats the kid's head gently, watching as the boy looks up with wide eyes.

"I want to foster you," he tells the kid before continuing, "in hopes to be able to adopt you one day."

Shock enters the kid's gaze and Keigo can't blame him. He talked about fostering but he never mentioned adoption. He does want to adopt the kid though, he made his mind up back at the police station—back then, when Izuku rambled on about the detective's quirk. He saw the spark in those otherwise dull eyes. That's when Keigo knew. After catching a glimpse of a piece of brightness the kid possessed, there's no way he could just forget the kid and let him continue to rot away near everyone who wronged him. He wants to see the kid fully bright and happy, in an environment that lets him grow.

There is just one issue with the adoption.

The Hero Public Safety Commission.

As much as he understands some aspects of their policies, he's unfortunately unable to completely disregard how… corrupt they are. It's downright impossible not to when you're a part of the commission. He knows that if he doesn't handle the situation delicately and warily, he'll put Izuku in danger. He isn't even sure how they are going to address the foster parent thing. And he knows that they'll address it because there is no way that they won't find out before the end of the week.

(He already has a plan though. He just needs to be careful and patient. Just needs to make sure that he doesn't set it into motion too late.)

"So, as someone who wants to adopt you," he continues, "it's very important to me that you have enough clothes, basic necessities, and things that you enjoy."

The kid blinks, still baffled.

"Izuku, I have more than enough money and you're my responsibility now. There is no way that I'll disregard your comfort and safety for anything."

The kid's still stunned but Keigo really hopes that he got his point across. Because he means it. He'll make sure Izuku will have everything he needs to live comfortably. From clothes to an environment that isn't harmful to him.

(He's honestly a bit baffled that Midoriya Inko didn't do anything about the bullying. Something there just doesn't add up.)

The flight to his apartment goes well. He takes a bit longer than usual due to him having to adjust his speed so as to not harm Izuku but it's fine. Pleasant even. It's not often that he takes the time to just fly around and enjoy the wind. He's not sure why he doesn't do that more often since it's this relaxing.

(That's a lie. He knows exactly why.)

After they enter his apartment, Keigo shows Izuku to the guest room. Well, the former guest room. It's a bit barren at the moment but once they'll go shopping, he hopes Izuku will find many things to decorate it with. He's actually curious about that. What kind of style will the kid have?

Afterward, he shows him around the apartment.

"I usually enter by the balcony. But you'll definitely get a key to the apartment and a keycard to the complex before tomorrow. I've already contacted the owner about that."

Then he halts in his steps, eyes widening for a second.

"Right," he mutters. 

Izuku glances curiously at him.

"We have to stop by my agency later. We'll need to arrange you a keycard to the building."

"W-What?"

At the apparent confusion in the kid's voice, Keigo blinks.

"Is something not clear?"

"Why… Why are you g-getting me a keycard to your agency? A-Are you sure that's f-fine?"

Oh. Keigo sighs in relief. He thought the kid didn't want to go to his agency.

He would have waited of course, but Keigo does spend a lot of time there and the longer the kid doesn't have a keycard for the place, the longer something might happen and the kid would be unable to seek him out. He tells Izuku just as much.

"I'm at my agency quite a lot during the day. I want absolutely every place I'm at possibly to be available to you, so you can reach me if needed." 

Well, except the commission headquarters. He'd rather that Izuku never has a reason to go there.

"Come on," he mutters, leading the stunned kid to the living room. "Let's order in for lunch.'

(Perhaps Keigo is a shit cook.)

He goes to the kitchen to make the call and order some chicken and a few other snacks. When he walks back into the living room, he sees Izuku sitting on the floor, bag on the ground beside him, and open.

And he's clutching a notebook. Keigo remembers the countless notebooks the boy would carry when observing his battles. Then the hero glances up.

The expression Izuku wears is one that pains Keigo. He looks utterly hopeless.

"It's the only one now," the kid mutters, never taking his eyes off the notebook. "The rest were in my room, when…"

Keigo frowns as he steps closer and sits down beside the boy, moving his wings to accommodate his position. He wraps one wing gently around the boy. They sit like that for a while until Izuku hands him the notebook.

"It's my current one." Now my only one. "So, it has the notes of you in it."

Keigo sees the gesture as it is. The kid's giving him this notebook as a scarce act of trust but also a request for comfort. So, Keigo takes the notebook, opens it, and starts to read.

What he finds is not what he expects.

Chapter Text

Dabi groans, slouching his shoulders a bit. He took a wrong turn and now he doesn’t recognize which street he is on. Was he ever there before? Probably, but the place seemed uneventful enough that he wouldn’t remember anything. 

Sighing, he turns around, every intention to get back to the last familiar street.

Before he could even take one more step, he hears a loud crashing sound as if someone triggered a bomb followed by shouting. Strong curse words are thrown around—by a voice that sounds young. It rubs him wrong for some reason (he doesn’t debate about it; such hunches and feelings have never led him wrong). He wants to walk away, ignore it, and go on about his day. But the curiosity only keeps growing as the curse words turn more and more creative. It’s kind of impressive at that point. 

But also unsettling. 

(That’s a lot of rage in those words.) 

He decides to heed his growing curiosity and follows the way to the loud noise. He arrives near a park to the sight of a green-haired boy getting beat up by at least four kids. Huh, a good reminder that society is trash. It’s a disquieting sight in a sense. Sure, he’s seen—done—worse but in all those cases, most people fought back. The kid wasn’t doing much, just shielding his face with his arms. 

Still, there’s no need for him to interfere in something like that anyway. Dabi is no hero—it’s not his job to help that kid. It’s not his responsibility, and he has better things to do either way. It’s just that the next words out of the blonde-haired brat’s mouth freeze him in his movements. 

“Am I seeing right? Is the quirkless dumbass crying?” 

Quirkless? His eyes widen a bit as he lifts his head to stare at the kid, who’s crouching on the ground now. That’s new but it explains a lot. Quirkless people are society’s punching bags. He clicks his tongue in distaste at the blonde-haired brat’s words. This changes things—the quirkless boy can’t even fight back. 

(It reminds him of scorching flames, slashing and ripping into his skin.) 

He isn’t one for righteous actions. There’s no moral intent behind his actions. Dabi doesn’t take time to think about doing the wrong or right thing. He sees the boy lying on the ground, bloody nose, and held back tears in his eyes. He sees the bully hold his hand up and sees the fire exploding in his hands—and Dabi hates the sight of that quirk. Hates how memories race in the back of his mind, crawling in from places that should have been completely closed off. 

He steps in and halts the boys. 

He doesn’t do it out of goodwill or empathy—this isn’t a pity party, after all.

He does it because for a moment that bloodied kid reminded him of someone else.

That feeling of helplessness just doesn’t sit well on his tongue.

The bullies blink, eyes wide. Slowly fear creeps into their expressions, no doubt put off by his unusual appearance.

Even the presumed ringleader of that group seems to be freaked out—he’s doing a poor job at hiding it. The confidence in his movements vanishes and although there’s still some rage left, it almost diminishes. Dabi smirks at that. It feels good to see the anger die down and be replaced by a heavy feeling of fear.

“Get lost,” he says, keeping his voice low on purpose for a scarier impression. It works. The bullies run away, not looking back once except for the blonde-haired kid. He takes one look at the bloodied victim of his, something like consideration and, wow, concern visible in those red eyes. But then, he makes a turn and runs as well. Not without turning to Dabi and telling him that he’s ugly as fuck first though. He doesn’t know if he should be offended or laugh at that.

After letting the situation settle for a bit, he turns to directly stare at the green-haired kid on the ground. For a moment, he awaits the same fear on the kid’s face as on his bullies—Dabi knows he isn’t a pretty sight.

There isn’t any though.

The kid’s eyes are wide. But not from shock or fright.

There’s admiration visible in those green eyes.

“T-thank y-you,” the kid stutters, sitting up from the ground slowly.

“…”

He’s not sure what to say. There isn’t anything he wants to say. He didn’t step in because he wanted to help the kid. He stepped in because he hated the sight. The kid finally stands up, shuffling anxiously in front of him. He’s got a lot of wounds. Blue bruises and blood cover him like a cloak. He doesn’t look that old either.

For a moment, Dabi wonders how society can live with itself.

The kid smiles at him despite his obvious panicking.

“I… um… r-really, t-thank you!”

“… No need to thank me, kid.”

The child’s smile only turns brighter at that.

Dabi nods once before walking away. There’s no point in staying any longer than needed. Luckily, the kid doesn’t try to follow him or anything. He’s more than fine with that.

With one (accidental) good deed in his pocket, Dabi walks away, fully convinced that he’ll never see that kid again. 

Dabi ends up seeing the kid again at an abandoned playground.

In the midst of the night.

He’s not sure how to exactly assess the situation but it’s fair to say that seeing an eight-year-old kid all alone at an abandoned playground in the midst of the night is quite disturbing. The kid notices him and recognition fills into his green eyes. The villain isn’t sure how exactly the kid was able to see him in the dark but it’s whatever.

He’s stunned. Not shocked. But still, he didn’t expect to see that boy again. It’s only been a few weeks since their first encounter.

(It doesn’t help that he’s covered in bruises, ugly, scoring burn marks on his arms and Dabi hates that sight, hates how the kid doesn’t even react when his arms with all those open wounds brush against something.)

“It’s… you… um,” the kid mutters, staring at him with wide eyes.

“What are you doing out here, kid?” Dabi asks instead, seeing no point in beating around the bush. “It’s 1 am. Definitely past your pastime.”

“I… uh, I c-couldn’t sleep.”

Dabi can tell that’s not a lie. But it still doesn’t explain why the kid’s outside at such a late hour. He raises an eyebrow at the younger boy and waits for any response but there isn’t one. 

Sighing, Dabi shrugs his shoulders.

“Have it your way then.”

He turns around and leaves.

(The truth is, that he hides behind a corner and waits it out until the kid leaves and makes his way home safely a few hours later.)

And then he stumbles upon the kid a week later.

And once more.

And more.

And more.

Every night he sees the kid again, Dabi feels a sense of relief. 

Dabi startles out of his thoughts.

Huh ? Right, it’s been a while since he saw the kid. Usually, he would have ended up stumbling upon Izuku at least twice in a week but in the past two weeks, he hasn’t seen the kid once.

Concern boils in his stomach.

Without thinking it over, Dabi makes his way to the neighborhood the kid lives in. It’s around the time Izuku would leave school anyway.

What he comes across though, is not what he expects.

(Flames are scary. They burn and burn and damage.)

Chapter Text

Izuku doesn't think he'll be able to fall asleep.

He's laying on the bed in the guest room— now his room —as he stares at the ceiling. It's almost surreal. He's unable to connect the past days' events to his reality. He's unable to believe that Hawks is a real person . It almost can't be. The No.7 Pro Hero Hawks willingly taking him in? In what world does that make sense? Izuku is and has nothing. He has never been of value to anyone. 

(But Hawks did willingly take him in.)

He wasn't supposed to make it that far. Everything should have ended the day before, the moment he jumped down.

But it didn't end. 

Tears gather in the corner of his eyes and he bites down on his lips, afraid of making any noise.

Wouldn't it have been better if it all just stopped? 

Izuku isn't even sure what he is supposed to do now. Nothing is ever going back to how it was before. Nothing can ever go back to how it was before.

(His mother won't come back. He's never going home to get welcomed by a warm smile and home-cooked food. He's never going to hear her talk about the shifts at her law firm again. It's all gone. It's all gone —)

Slowly, his tears turn into sobs and he turns his body around to press his face into his pillow, too afraid to make any loud noises. 

Why couldn’t he have burned down in that fire with her?

(Minutes later, the door to his room opens and someone walks in, sitting down at the edge of the bed. Fingers thread through the curls of his hair in a soothing gesture.)

He can tell the kid is embarrassed by the way he’s avoiding looking directly at Keigo. Still, Keigo won’t mention anything until Izuku does. Crying is natural—Izuku has all the reasons to cry and be sad. The past days weren’t easy for him and the next months won’t be as well. Keigo is no fool, no matter how much Izuku needs the change, it’ll take him a while to adjust to it.

“I got a phone call from Detective Tsukauchi,” he informs the kid once he sits down at the table. “It’s about Aldera.”

Izuku looks up, curiosity shining in his eyes.

He knows the topic is a bit heavy but it would be best to deal with the middle school as soon as possible, so Keigo could search for better options for Izuku. There are probably some schools in Fukuoka that are less discriminatory. He’ll look into it.

“He decided to involve someone else in the case, and that person would like to meet you later the week, to go through some things and explain what will most likely happen to the school.”

As the main victim of the whole discrimination, they believe it to be important that Izuku will get to listen to how wrong Aldera was and what further awaits the staff working at the damned school. Keigo agrees with them. It’s important that Izuku fully realizes that his treatment at that school is under no circumstances right.

“I just wanted to inform you, so you won’t be surprised if we have to go to the police station once more.”

“Um… do you already know who it is?”

Keigo nods his head. “Aizawa Shouta, he’s a trusted acquaintance of Tsukauchi.”

Izuku perks up upon hearing the name and Keigo raises an eyebrow. Did the kid just recognize the name? There is no way, or? Aizawa makes sure to separate himself from Eraserhead to an extent and as such there shouldn’t be any reports or blog posts that would reveal the connection. Keigo himself only knows of the other because he works at night occasionally.

Or?

“Do you perhaps recognize the name?” 

Izuku blushes before adverting his eyes. 

“Ah… n-no?”

Keigo grins at that. “Try again, kid.”

“... Eraserhead.”

Ah, just as he thought.

“And how do you know that?”

“....”

“... Izuku?”

“Present Mic’s radio show…”

Huh?

“He t-talks about his husband a l-lot. A-And well, it’s not that difficult… to put the pieces together?”

Keigo doesn’t doubt Izuku but he’s also 100% sure that Yamada is careful with how much he reveals about his husband.

“Oh, and there’s the H-Hero Gala too.”

“Hm?”

At that Izuku looks up, looking troubled.

“T-They release pictures from the event, r-right? And they broadcast it, too. Um, it’s… easy to figure out who Present Mic’s husband is and there is this one very short clip of… uh… Eraserhead… and well, the man in the Gala pictures looks similar to the underground hero, so…” The kid frowns as he continues on talking. “I never got the point of broadcasting the Gala though. Don’t a lot of underground h-heroes attend these out of social obligations? They end up leaving clues about their identities like that. Plus, lots of daylight heroes t-tend to reveal a lot of information about themselves that c-can be used against them, due to the slightly more careless setting. Like, shouldn’t people refrain from sharing pictures and videos of the event?”

Those are some good points. Very good points. Keigo knows from working under the commission, that these kinds of events are only allowed because they expect the heroes to be able to handle and bad situations, in case something happens. 

But Izuku isn’t wrong. These events being broadcast and shown to the public is quite dangerous. 

“I’ll be sure to mention that to Yamada,” he tells the kid. “And I agree with you, broadcasting the event is indeed a foolish action. I’ll check if that aspect can be changed in the future.”

Although that’ll be difficult. A good portion of the public won’t be happy if that happens. 

“Still, it’s quite impressive that you managed to deduct Eraserhead’s identity with such little clues alone. Just like your notebook.”

The notes in that notebook… Keigo thought the kid’s deduction at the police station was already impressive, but the analysis in that notebook was downright prodigious. Professional analysts twice the kid’s age cannot keep up with that skill. Keigo understands though, that Izuku worked on his analysis since he was small.

(That he obsessed over it to make up for his lack of a quirk—)

Time, effort, and hard work went into that skill. Dedication that many aspiring heroes can only dream of went into that skill

“You know,” he speaks up, staring at the kid, “whatever path you choose for your future, with that dedication and skill, I’m sure you’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

It’s quiet at first but then the boy speaks up, carefully and guarded.

“Even as… as a hero?”

Chapter Text

1 Year Later

Izuku looks at the timetable and sighs. The next train back to Fukuoka won't drive until at least two hours have passed. Musutafu doesn't have that great of a connection to Fukuoka due to the distance, it's something Izuku has been aware of since he started to visit his mother's grave monthly. Still, he finds it a bit annoying nonetheless. Keigo can't always come pick him up; the winged hero has his job to do and with the commission being the way it is, he knows Keigo will do everything in his possibility, to keep them from thinking that Izuku is weighing him down in any way. Which means doing his job and leaving Izuku to take a three-hour train ride to Musutafu and back. 

He can't really blame his brother for that decision—the commission has always been a bit strange and this whole ordeal just confirmed some of his suspicions.

There isn't much he can do about it at the moment, so Izuku decides to stop at a little coffee shop for breakfast and then visit his old school. Or well, what remained of Aldera.

They tore down the former school building earlier that year. Apparently, the care of the building has been heavily neglected in the last decade or so. 

(And from what Izuku can remember from his time there, he isn't surprised at all about that decision.)

He makes his way towards the school.

Perhaps it was too much to think walking the path back to his school was a nice idea. It's not like he had any good memories of that whole street anyway. Seeing the familiar buildings that he walked past each day one year ago, leaves him with nothing. He hasn't made any good memories there. Hasn't had any days where he liked walking along the trail of buildings. This place bears nothing for him and Izuku isn't sure how to feel about that. 

Sighing, he turns around. There is no reason to go see the school. If that's how he feels about the surrounding area, seeing the actual school will do nothing for him.

He walks back to the underpass, first unaware of the slime moving on the ground. But then he hears a noise and his eyes widen momentarily, before he jumps to the side, barely escaping… a form made out of slime?

Woah, that's gotta be an interesting quirk. So is the person made out of slime or is that just a coat out of slime? If it's a coat, does it just slide off the user or does it perhaps get absorbed into the skin? Although, how would it affect the body if it gets absorbed? How would the user even store it?

"Kid, stop mumbling. It's creepy."

Izuku freezes, blinking.

"A-And you attacking me in a dark place without anyone else in sight isn't?"

The slime quirk owner stills. An awkward silence fills the place, but Izuku uses that moment to make a run for it. He, unfortunately, doesn’t come far, the slime moving quickly and immediately catching up to him—In the matter of a second, Izuku is encapsulated in slime, choking in its’ mass.

“You’re a bit frail but your body isn’t out of shape… it should be enough until I find a better host.”

He can feel some of the slime swipe into his mouth and it’s a sticky and ugly feeling. Izuku despises it but no matter how much he struggles, he can’t do anything about it. He is too weak to fight and now he’ll die all alone without anyone ever knowing or missing him.

Except for Keigo.

Keigo will wonder why he hasn’t come home that evening. Keigo will make his way to Musutafu and perhaps only find a yellow backpack on the ground without Izuku remaining. 

Keigo, who Izuku will never see again.

This is the end, isn’t it?

Everything turns dark slowly and he closes his eyes, unable to keep them open any longer.

“Found you!”

Keigo knows something is wrong when Izuku doesn’t text him back even after 30 minutes have passed. One of the conditions for Izuku to be able to leave for somewhere three hours away from Fukuoka is that he texts Keigo once every hour. It might sound ridiculous but Izuku is only 14 years old. Musutafu is just too far away for him to be fully comfortable with it, and there are a lot of terrible people roaming around everywhere. He'd know.

Izuku is a good kid, so he respects those rules and keeps them. That's why Keigo just knows something is wrong the moment over an hour passes and he has no text or call from his fledgling. Narrowing his eyes, he calls his agent and asks for someone to be sent to patrol the area in his stead. Then he immediately makes his way towards Musutafu, concerned with building up inside of him with every passing minute. He prays that Izuku is alright. Praying that his kid brother just forgot to text him.

But of course, Izuku wouldn't forget.

And he becomes aware of that the moment he hears the sound of yelling coming from downwards. When he looks down, the fire is the first thing that catches his attention. Then comes the large crowd, full of screaming and panic.

His eyes wander to the villain at the center of everything. He's holding a kid hostage.

Keigo can't waste even one second, he'll have to dash down to get the—

—Izuku.

He moves without thinking, tucking his wings in and flying down. What is he doing? Why is he running towards the villain like an idiot? Concern builds up and swirls into ferocious determination. 

Faster, his mind screams, be faster than before. Speed up, speed up, spe—

He watches as Izuku's yellow bag—his absolute favorite—goes flying towards the slime villain—and there it is. A chance!

God, he can't miss it.

With everything he has, he sweeps past the crowd and their surprised shouting.

Then Hawks unfolds his wings.

Chapter Text

"Thank you… but I think I’m already being realistic enough."

Izuku doesn’t listen to the pro heroes scolding him. Usually, he’d give them every ounce of his attention, not wanting to seem disrespectful or rude in any way. At the moment, though, he really couldn’t care less. It doesn’t take long for Keigo to notice what the other heroes are saying to him. The moment he does, the winged hero is on his way, shoving through the crowd of reporters and civilians, with every intention to chew out his colleagues for chewing Izuku out—and isn’t the whole situation ridiculous?

He sighs, exhausted and done for the day.

Death Arms doesn’t take too well to that.

“Are you even paying attention, kid? I’m saying this for your own good. You could have died!”

Maybe it’s because of the whole slime attack or the fact, that Keigo was definitely going to have words with him for running recklessly into the midst of a villain attack.

(Or maybe it’s because he saw Katsuki once again after one year of not having to coexist with him.)

(Or maybe it’s because, All Might, the one hero he looked up to since he could remember, shattered his dreams and left him on a rooftop, out of all places.)

(Maybe it’s because being on that rooftop brought back something dark lurking in the back of his mind.)

Realistically, it’s probably all reasons above combined.

Izuku snorts in disbelief.

“Yeah, could have,” he mutters, bitterness sweeping into his words, “Kacchan, though, would definitely have died because of your incompetence.”

Death Arms stutters, complaints dying down. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Keigo halt in his steps, and stare at him with an expression Izuku can't identify. He glances past the rest of the heroes, who are staring at him with wide eyes, at Katsuki.

Katsuki, who looks shocked.

“No, kid, that’s—“

“Are you going to deny it?” He asks Death Arms, digging his nails into the skin of his hands, to stop them from shaking. Izuku is not sure how exactly he feels at the moment, but it’s heavy and it weighs down on him in a way that he’s not comfortable with. “Because he definitely wasn’t able to properly breathe for at least over 4 minutes, and none of you were doing anything to prevent that.”

“There wasn’t much we could have done about that,” Kamui Woods joins the conversation, “our quirks weren’t the right fit—”

“Are you listening to yourself?” Izuku interrupts him, aghast. “Nothing much you could have done about that? Nothing… Noth—Are you all actually heroes or a whole circus act?”

He can’t breathe. That emotion keeps weighing him down even more but it’s getting tighter and it’s starting to hurt him.

The noise of the crowd around them dies down, and one civilian whistles in amusement, obviously finding the whole thing funny for some goddamn reason. He sees Katsuki reel back, obviously not having expected Izuku to insult anyone, especially a hero.

“Kid—”

“I can think of at least ten ways your quirks could have helped you out here,” Izuku tells the heroes before him, smiling bitterly. “But that’s not the point.”

Now, his words seem to finally get through to the heroes, because Kamui shuts up.

“The point is, if all I had to do was throw my backpack at the villain’s eye to get him to loosen his hold on Kacchan, then... then why couldn’t you do the same?”

No one answers him and his smile drops as something in his stomach churns. Of course, they wouldn't answer him. None of them takes their job seriously enough, apparently. And isn't that irritating? Everyone told him that he'd never be able to keep up with heroes who have a quirk. With people who have a quirk. Even All Might.

Izuku couldn't take this anymore.

“You know, almost everyone says the same thing to me—I can’t be a hero without a quirk, because I’d be too helpless and weak. Because apparently, I can’t save people without a quirk.”

Izuku takes a glance at everyone—from Katsuki, his brother, and the crowd—before he settles his gaze on the heroes once more.

“But what makes you heroes? You all have perfectly fine quirks and yet most of you couldn’t do anything today.”

And he sees the way Kamui and Mt. Lady flinch, the way Death Arms takes a whole step back. 

Their reactions do nothing for him. Izuku doesn’t feel great about any of this. Instead, they make him feel worse. He bites his lip, and wonders if he should just apologize and endure the scolding some more.

He doesn't get to make a choice. 

“He’s right, you know?” Keigo joins the conversation, effectively shutting down any upcoming words from the other heroes, as he stands beside his little brother. He’s smiling amicably at them, but Izuku knows his brother well enough.

That smile reeks of danger.

“In the first place, I don’t even understand why you think it’s okay to immediately scold someone involved in a villain attack. That’s, like, one of the first things they teach you not to do,” the winged hero points out, gazing directly at Death Arms and Kamui. 

If Izuku makes the heroes uncomfortable, Keigo outright scares them. He can tell by the way all of them look like they want to dash off and never come back. Keigo’s usually so nice and laidback, so people don’t expect him to be intense or rude in any way.

That’s why it causes even more discomfort when he does actually showcase his anger. His brother is a master at using his carefully crafted mask to induce all kinds of responses from people.

Izuku shakes his head, before picking up his bag and turning to leave as Keigo berates the heroes. His brother will catch up with him once he’s done there. Izuku, however, doesn’t want to stay there any longer than he needs to.

That feeling still hasn’t dissolved.

He walks past Katsuki, not bothering to pay any attention to his childhood friend. That one year without the other kid has done wonders for his mental health, and he doesn’t want to reverse any of it. It doesn’t even seem like his childhood friend is capable of addressing him anyway.

He walks towards the train station, further leaving everyone and everything of that attack behind.

Well, almost everyone.

“Wait!”

Apparently, All Might decided to reappear out of nowhere and follow him.

Izuku turns around to face the man. He doesn’t smile.

(The rooftop still remains on his mind.)

“All Might… ?”

“I’m here to apologize,” the hero tells him, shaking his head slightly. “And to take my words back.”

His words? The ones he told him on the rooftop? The ones about how being quirkless means Izuku can’t be a hero? Admittingly, he’s curious as to why the man changed his opinion in less than two hours.

“What do you mean?”

 “I was wrong,” All Might admits, staring directly at him. “Having a quirk or not doesn’t matter.”

Izuku blinks. His confusion must be apparent enough on his face, because the hero explains himself instantly.

“I heard what you said back then, boy. I heard it and… admittingly, I feel ashamed.”

Ashamed? All Might feels ashamed so suddenly? Izuku is not sure what to feel anymore. All the bitterness he has is still present… but less strong.

“Maybe it’s because I have been doing this hero thing for so long, to the point I started to do it on autopilot, but I’ve forgotten what the essence of a hero truly is… that it never had to do with a quirk. You were right there, boy. Wherever these heroes had a quirk or not didn’t matter,” All Might tells him, clenching his hand into a fist, his frustrated gaze softening into something… warmer.

“What mattered was if they tried to save that kid back then or not.”

He then smiles at him.

“It’s like what you told me on the roof. You were being realistic enough. You are indeed capable of being a hero without a quirk, you proved as much back there.”

For a moment, it feels like he’s not breathing properly. Like the world has suddenly stopped turning around and everything is frozen.

“That’s why I understand, that this offer will probably come across badly.”

Izuku snaps out of it. Offer? What offer?

“Young boy, tell me, do you want to be a hero without a quirk?”

“What… isn’t that obvious…? All Mi—”

“Or do you simply want to be a hero? Maybe… maybe even with a quirk?”

What? This suddenly doesn’t make any sense.

“To clarify, I meant my words. I fully believe you're capable of being a hero, regardless of your quirk status.”

The hero stares right into his eyes. It almost feels like he’s staring right through him, into his soul, if Izuku is being honest. Something about it is so uneasy yet admiring. It reminds him just why exactly he idolized the hero for all these years. 

“Because if it’s not about being a quirkless hero for you, then I’d like to offer you my quirk.”

What?

What.

“What exactly are you implying there? Offering a quirk?”

Both All Might and Izuku whip around, eyes wide upon seeing Hawks landing right behind the hero, a sharp glare directed at the man.

“… Young Hawks?”

The winged hero narrows his eyes.

“What kind of shady deal are you trying to drag my little brother into?”

Well.

Izuku figures leaving All Might at the mercy of his overprotective brother is a good payback for the whole thing on the rooftop. 

Chapter Text

“It’s not bad to dream. But you also have to consider what’s realistic.” 

Although the words hurt, Izuku knows he’ll be fine. All Might isn’t the only hero out there, and therefore his opinion isn’t the only one out there.

And an opinion isn’t a fact.

He averts his gaze from the other hero.

Still, he would be lying if he said it didn’t sting at all. The number one hero, huh? Even the number one of the best doesn’t believe in his dream.

He listens to the other’s words before softly shaking his head. 

“Thank you… but I think I’m already being realistic enough,” Izuku eventually mutters, drawing the other hero’s attention. Then he looks up, frowning at the hero.

“A quirk is just a tool,” he mutters, a lopsided smile on his face, “a tool I might lack… but don’t necessarily need.”

There are other tools out there. Support items, weapons, strategies… 

All Might looks at him, a confused frown on his face. 

He doesn’t seem dismissive of Izuku’s words yet he doesn’t bother to reply either. That leaves something bitter dwelling inside Izuku.

“Because if it’s not about being a quirkless hero for you, then I’d like to offer you my quirk.”

Keigo thinks he might be finally going insane. He’s heard his fair amount of rather questionable things, considering his position within the commission. Yet, the sole mention of offering a quirk leaves him baffled. Impossible , a part of his mind whispers, that can’t be possible. 

Because of the implications of that, of an ability to offer a quirk—they are too dangerous. Quirks that can be given spell the recipe for a disaster. A big and negative disaster. 

Yet, All Might has spoken those words confidently.

It’s not a joke and the man sounded too sincere for it to be a lie.

And as both the number one hero and his charge turn to face him, Keigo finally truly realizes it.

“... Young Hawks?” 

All Might is offering Izuku a quirk.

“What kind of shady deal are you trying to drag my little brother into?”

He glares at the other hero before his gaze wanders to said little brother, and his heart drops down to his stomach. Izuku is crying. And he’s not crying like he usually would, overwhelmed but content. No, Izuku’s crying like he’s beyond exhausted. Keigo can feel the rage inside him building up, but he pushes it down. There’s no point in causing a commotion right now, it would only lead to ruining his brother’s mood.

“I’m not trying to drag him into something,” All Might’s voice calls out. He sounds… more gentle. Calmer. Keigo associates All Might with his boisterous voice, which commands everyone’s attention. So, to hear the man talk so calmly for once is unsettling. 

And yet, it feels more genuine. 

The winged hero raises an eyebrow at his colleague. 

“Then, what are you trying to do here?”

“As stated, it’s an offer. I won’t force anything upon Young Midoriya,” the other hero defends himself, before sighing. “Although, I’m definitely overstepping here by making this offer after what I said earlier the day…”

Earlier? 

So, Izuku met All Might once before on that day. There’s definitely a story there. He’ll make sure to find out what that story contains because no doubt it’s not something pleasant if he goes by the hero’s tone of speaking. Keigo’s gaze wanders to his brother, and he flinches. Right, his brother!

The winged hero walks up to Izuku, to gently lay a hand down on the other’s head and ruffles his hair. 

“Are you alright, Izuku?” He asks, smiling at his brother, hoping it’ll reassure the other that everything’s going to be alright, that Keigo has his back, no matter what. Izuku frowns. Minutes pass before the boy shakes his head.

“Yeah, that was to be expected,” Keigo mutters, before tugging at the strap of Izuku’s yellow bag. His brother understands immediately, taking his bag off and hugging it with his arms. Then, with a practiced move, Keigo hoists his brother up into his arms, holding him securely. 

He turns to face the other hero, who’s looking at them with confusion. 

“You’re coming with us,” he tells the other. There is just no way he’s going to let this go. Offering a quirk isn’t just something he can brush off without any care. Also, there’s the fact that this man said something to Izuku, something that clearly affected his little brother and he intends to find out what the hell happened before he arrived in Musutafu. 

All Might splutters, obviously ready to deny him.

But this simply isn’t a request and Keigo makes it clear to him.

“Listen, you obviously want to talk with Izuku about your strange offer, but there’s just no way I can let you do that here, in the middle of the street. Anyone could eavesdrop on you here—I technically did,” he points out, his smile turning sharper, more dangerous, “also something happened with you and my little brother, I won’t just let you run off without knowing what.”

He faces his brother. “Is it alright if he comes back with us? I guess you probably want to know more about his offer.”

“Yeah, it’s alright.” Izuku sounds downright exhausted. 

Keigo frowns before he glances back at the hero. “Well?”

“I understand,” All Might answers him, looking genuinely guilty upon hearing Izuku talk. Seems like he’s aware of what damage he caused. Good, that’s something. 

Keigo knows the other man means it, that’s why he grins at him. “Well, then let’s meet up at the Musutafu Central train station. We’ll be there in around 15 minutes, but I understand you’ll probably take at least 20 minutes longer. Don’t worry about it, just make sure to show up. It would be bad if I had to spend the evening hunting you down.”

Then he gazes at the other, his golden eyes glinting with something dangerous.

“Bad for you,” he points out, “after all, I’m a bird of prey, don’t you dare forget that.”

All Might looks bewildered, still not catching on to what exactly is going to happen very, very soon. Keigo doesn’t care. 

“Wait, what do you—”

Without giving the other man any time to respond, he takes off, wings flapping as he soars up into the sky, leaving behind a dumbstruck Number One hero. 

It’s then that he hears it—

Izuku’s laughter. 

“His… His e-expression, Kei!”

Keigo’s grin turns into a tender smile. 

As long as his little brother is still able to laugh, everything will be fine. 

When they arrive at the train station—well, on the roof because he really doesn’t want to deal with the public at the moment—Keigo sets Izuku down, and pats his head, before asking him if he’s really okay with taking the number one hero back with them. He reassures the kid that they won’t be going to the apartment but to his agency instead. If that talk turns out badly, then he doesn’t want it to leave any bad memories in their home. Neither would do well with that, considering the place is one of the locations they feel secure at.

Izuku nods and Keigo sighs, feeling relieved.

He can’t wait to find out how much of a punch in the face All Might deserves. 

Two hours later they all sit in Keigo’s office at the agency. 

Izuku’s sitting beside him, drinking hot chocolate out of a mug. Keigo raises an eyebrow at the hero, sitting opposite of him.

“Well, All Might, wanna start from the very beginning? From how you met my brother to the whole thing with the quirk, which I definitely haven’t forgotten.”

All Might flinches, before nodding his head, seemingly resigned. 

“Before I begin,” the man starts, “my name is Yagi Toshinori. I’d prefer you use that name whilst I’m in this form.”

Then he gazes at Kegio, a strange look of contemplation on his face. 

“You don’t really seem to be surprised by it?” He points out. 

“Mhm, through my involvement with the HPSC I’ve been informed of your health long before, Yagi-san,” he explains but doesn’t offer much else. He glances at his brother. “I assume you’ll be telling me why Izuku knows of it?”

All Might nods.

“That is how this whole story has more or less started,” Yagi explains, drawing the brother’s attention back to him. “I met Young Midoriya a few hours ago, by saving him from that slime villain that was present during the attack in the city.”

Keigo blinks. 

Then the realization settles in, and he turns to face Izuku, his heartbeat speeding up slightly. 

“You were attacked?”

Izuku shrinks but nods his head. “Uhm, but All M—Yagi-san did save me.”

Keigo sighs, trying to calm his heart down. Izuku is fine. He’s sitting beside me. The medic at the scene looked him over.

Frowning, he shakes his head softly. “We are going to the hospital tomorrow. For a further check-up.” 

Izuku averts his gaze but doesn’t protest. He knows better than to assume Keigo would treat potential dangers to his health carelessly. 

“Good. If you’re starting to feel worse in any way now or later today, do tell me right away. Your health is more important than this talk, do you understand?”

Izuku nods.

Keigo narrows his eyes.

“Izuku?”

“... I understand.”

The winged hero smiles at that, patting his brother’s head. “Good.”

Then he glances at the other hero. “You did drop him off to get checked by a medic, didn’t you?”

“...No,” Yagi admits, sheepishly, “however, I wasn’t able—”

“I understand you’re a busy man, but it is a protocol to get victims of a villain attack to a medic,” he lectures the other, glowering slightly, as the other hero flinches back at the sound of his voice. Good. 

“All Might,” Kegio stresses out, using the man’s code name. “You’re a hero. Don’t become careless now.”

“... Of course,” Yagi agrees, softly but with conviction. Good, at least the man hasn’t done it intentionally. 

Still, Keigo feels just a tiny bit frustrated. First the heroes at the villain attack today, and now All Might—does none of them care about their job? Shaking his head with a sigh, he waves his hand at the hero. 

“Go on.”

“My time… was running out. So, I apprehended the villain and decided to leave as soon as possible. But as I took off, Young Midoriya held onto my leg, so I was forced to stop, to make sure he was alright.”

Keigo freezes.

“... Izuku?”

“... Yes?”

“We’ll have a talk about holding onto departing strangers, after this.”

“Okay,” his little brother mumbles, sounding apologetic. 

God, he’s too young for this amount of fast heart palpitations he’s experiencing at the moment. 

“I’m going to have grey hair when I turn 25,” Keigo whines, comfortably dropping his facade for a short amount, leaning closer to his brother. “Izuku! Think about your poor, delicate older brother, when you do all these careless things.”

“Delicate? Aren’t you the renowned hero who keeps crashing into windows every week? There’s nothing delicate about that?” Izuku points out, grinning at him, and damn, if he wasn’t so adorable, Keigo would be genuinely offended. 

“I’m a bird,” he points out, offended, “glass panels mean nothing to us!”

“They really should—you have the eyesight of a hawk, use it.”

Yagi looks at them, a bit confused and a bit amused at what he hears. They eventually snap out of it and Keigo gestures at his colleague. 

He raises an eyebrow when the other starts to frown. Seems like whatever he’ll hear next won’t be too pleasant.

“My… time ran out, that is how Young Midoriya found out about my situation and time limit.” 

He observes Izuku fiddling with his hands from the corner of his eyes, his body posture tense.

"There is no gentle way to retell this," Yagi states, catching Keigo's gaze with his own, "he asked me if he could be a hero without a quirk, and I…"

Keigo's heart clenches in pain and steaming rage.

How dare he? 

Still, he pushes it down for the moment, instead moving his hand to pat his brother's head as he waits for the other hero to finish his words.

"... I told him he couldn't be a hero without a quirk. To be more realistic," Yagi confesses, sombre.

"And you were wrong," Keigo replies, with no ounce of hesitation or doubt in his voice. No, instead he was the picture of confidence and reassurance.

"I know that now," Yagi agrees, smiling slightly, "after what happened at the scene before, I realized how wrong I've been."

Keigo nods. "Good."

He glances at his brother again, who is still staring at the ground.

"You mentioned you already apprehended the slime villain, didn't you?"

Yagi grimaces. "Unfortunately, I had nothing else on hand, so I locked the villain into a bottle. I, carelessly, forgot about it when Young Midoriya latched onto me and dropped the bottle."

It's then that Izuku speaks up quietly, but both heroes hear him.

"I'm sorry about that."

Before Keigo can say something, Yagi interrupts.

"Don't be, Young Midoriya. It wasn't your fault but mine. I neglected my duty as a hero to keep track of the villain."

The winged hero nods in agreement, gently tugging at one strand of Izuku's hair. “He’s right Izuku, it really wasn’t your fault.”

After an unsure nod from Izuku, Yagi continues to speak.

“Eventually, I left and came across the scene. I was past my limit then, so… I hesitated to do anything at all. Instead, I wallowed in my self-doubt until I saw Young Midoriya rush in, followed by you.”

Yagi smiles and it is something a bit more bitter than Keigo ever thought he’d see from the other. 

“It made me realize how callous and mistaken my words were. That I had no right to tell him he couldn’t become a hero when the actual pro heroes did nothing. All in possession of a quirk.”

Keigo nods. They sit in silence, processing the information, before he sighs and turns to his brother.

“Why did you rush into the midst of the attack, Izuku?”

His little brother flinches and he soothes his expression into something more gentle. “I’m not angry at you. Just really, really worried.”

“I… wasn’t feeling too well after the whole talk with Yagi-san,” Izuku admitted. “In fact, the only reason I finally left that rooftop, was because I heard Katsuki’s exp—”

“ Rooftop ?” Keigo cuts in, voice sharper than before.

Izuku trailers off, eyes widening as his words sink in. Oh no.  

Nauseated, Keigo whips around to face the other hero, his wings fluttering in accordance with his emotions. “You left my brother on a roof? After denying his dreams and ambitions like that?”

Yagi’s eyes widen in shock and he stutters out an explanation but Keigo can’t stop the simmering rage building up inside him. He can barely surpass it, and keep it down but it’s becoming really difficult the more he thinks about the whole situation. 

But could anyone blame him?

That man left his brother on a roof out of all goddamn places?

Memories rush back in, reminding him of that day. The day he met his precious family member.

That day, when Izuku jumped off a roof.

A cold shudder courses through his body, and Keigo moves, without a single thought, to hug his brother, wrapping his wings around them. Slowly, fingers dig into the back of his jacket and his brother’s calm voice reaches him.

“It’s fine, Nii-san. I’m here,” his little brother reassures him, “Nothing happened, I promise.”

He calms down slightly, trying to get a stronger hold of his wrath.

“It’s alright, he didn’t know.”

“Still,” Keigo stresses out. “A roof of all places?”

“Well, I did inconvenience him by latching onto him like that…”

“That doesn’t matter.”

It doesn’t matter.

Nothing except the fact that his brother was left alone on a roof after his dreams were rejected matters. Anything could have happened.

Anything.

(And Keigo might not have been there to catch his brother this time around.)

He knows Izuku is doing a lot better and he believes his charge when he tells him that he is fine, but Keigo can’t stop worrying. Not when the world has been so cruel to Izuku. Not when Izuku is so used to accepting mistreatment and pain. 

Still, he knows better. Slowly, he unfolds his wings and turns to gaze back at the other hero, who looks confused but pained. Good. That means the man understands the possible consequences of his actions. Somewhat at least.

“I’m sorry, Young Midoriya,” Yagi apologizes. “I might not fully understand what is going on, but I do understand now why leaving you on that roof after what I did was wrong of me.”

Keigo calms down at that. It doesn’t fully push away the rage but it is something and he would be a fool to not acknowledge that.

“Please revisit some hero training courses,” Keigo eventually tells the other. “About mental health topics as well as victim care training.”

He's still too shaken up to say anything else.

With that, he stands up to refill all their drinks and gives them some time to process all that. 15 minutes later they all are seated again and the winged hero sighs, after taking a sip of his tea.

“Well then,” he begins, observing as Izuku perks up, obviously ready to satisfy his curiosity. “offering a quirk, Yagi-san. What’s that about?”

Yagi’s gaze turns more somber, more serious. “You mentioned this room is soundproof, right?”

The winged hero nods.

“What I’m going to tell you is classified information,” Yagi explains, with professionalism that he previously lacked. 

Keigo raises an eyebrow at that. Whatever his secret is, it must be a grave one. 

Izuku and he agree, and Yagi starts to tell them a story. A story about two brothers and a wonder that lasted for eight generations.

.

.

. 

“.... Excuse me, but are you implying that you want to give my brother a quirk that has gathered strength for over eight generations, for over 200 years? ”

He was going to kill that irresponsible man, the commission be damned.

Chapter Text

“He apologized and I watched him sign up for remedy classes on victim care and mental health ,” Keigo states when Izuku settles down on the couch in his office. “Otherwise I wouldn't have agreed to this.”

Izuku expected as much. Keigo was the textbook definition of overprotective. Not that Izuku could blame him. As a spotlight hero in the top ten, Hawks had a lot of enemies, most of them eager to get their hands on anything or anyone they could use against him.

(However, even more so scarier is the HPSC that keeps vigilant watch over him constantly. That tracks every move Hawks makes and that notes down everything he says.)

“Were those all conditions you gave Yagi-san?”

Izuku doubts it. Keigo has been spending the past days constantly exchanging phone calls and emails with the number one hero, both of them discussing how Izuku was going to get the quirk and what needed to be done, so he could adjust to having one. Safely, of course. His brother wouldn’t simply settle at the bare minimum, no, Keigo would definitely want more reassurance before letting All Might hand Izuku a miracle quirk with strength accumulated over decades. 

“No,” his brother replies, sighing. He leans forward from his seat, his sharp eyes glancing at Izuku with intense seriousness not many get to witness. “After he sent me your future training plan, I went over it. It's not as bad as I feared it would be, but it lacked variety.”

Izuku tilts his head, a curious frown on his face. Lacking… variety? 

“Mhm, it was all about building muscle mass. Which you obviously need if we want to avoid the worst case scenario of your limbs exploding. ” They all hadn't a great time when they found out about that tidbit of information. Keigo almost strangled Yagi to death over it. “That said, you should still dedicate some training time to other stuff like actual combat. All that muscle mass and the overpowered quirk won't do much for you, if you don't have at least basic combat ability.”

Yeah, that makes sense. Yagi was All Might and All Might obviously could simply punch his opponents away. Izuku doubted he'd be able to do that immediately. At least without hurting himself beyond repair. He shuddered at that thought.

Seeing his reaction, Keigo grins at him. “It's okay though, I fixed that immediately.”

“Oh, is Yagi going to teach me how to fight? That wouldn't be—”

“That wouldn't be a good idea with his injury, yeah. Which is why I got somebody else to help you out with that.”

Someone else? But who? It couldn't be his brother either with how the HPSC breathed down his neck. A thought enters his mind and he blanches, immediately on edge.

“It… it isn't Rumi-san, r-right?” Izuku absolutely adored the pro hero Mirko, but she would end him. She had no concept of mercy when it came to training. Izuku wasn't ready to die just yet.

Keigo chuckles upon seeing his scared expression. Traitor. As if he didn't fear training sessions with her either.

(Then again, there probably wasn't much Keigo truly dreaded as much as the sessions with the HPSC and his handler .)

“Nope, don't worry, baby bro. I decided to spare you from that for now.”

For now. Oh no.

“Then who…,” he mumbles, trailing off as he tries to figure out who else Keigo could ask. Keigo had barely any friends. In fact, Rumi might be his only one. So, he was probably banking on using favors or something like that. Otherwise, no one would probably help him out with this.

“Ouch? I have plenty of friends.” 

Oh, Izuku said all that out loud. Cool.

“Every single one of your feathers doesn't count. They're a part of you. Neither do the people that work under the Aery. They probably signed their souls away to you.”

Keigo splutters in disbelief, before pouting at his brother. “Rude, they all like me just fine, so the soul offering was consensual.”

Izuku blinks at that. Keigo stares back. Minutes pass in silence.

“Are you sure the Aery isn't a—”

“No, the Aery is not a cult, Izuku.”

It's alright. One day Izuku will get him to admit it.

“So, which favor did you crash in then? Who is going to train me?” Izuku leans forward in anticipation, a curious gleam in his eyes.

“Well, about that… if he's going to train you is still undecided.”

Undecided? Izuku raises an eyebrow at that.

“He said he'd only train you if you prove yourself to him.”

Huh? What?

“... Who is he?”

“Aizawa Shouta.” And then as if Keigo didn't completely overthrow Izuku’s whole world with that statement, he continues to speak. “Remember him? He had that whole talk about Aldera with you. He also was really impressed by you knowing of his hero identity. He's really good at Quirkless combat, so I fi… Izuku?”

“... Eraserhead?”

“Uh, yeah, Eraserhead. What about hi—”

“I'm going to have to prove myself to Eraserhead ?!” Izuku groans, slumping further down into the couch. “I'm so done for.”

“Is Aizawa that bad?”

“No!” He yelps, immediately straightening his posture. “Eraserhead is the best.”

Which he really is. Eraserhead is so cool. From his quirk to the way he simply excels in Quirkless combat. Everything about the underground hero is just so awesome. Izuku still can't believe that he met the hero in person. Sure, the conversation was super awkward and he did his best to not think about it too much, but meeting Aizawa? One of the greatest moments of his life. Too sad he didn't have time to ask him about his quirk. Erasure is such an interesting quirk.

Keigo raises an eyebrow. “But… ?”

“Eraserhead probably eats babies for breakfast.” That man was downright terrifying. Izuku would never forget the man's gaze when he told him about his time at Aldera. Sure, he schooled his expression immediately but Izuku kept track of him the whole time during the conversation, partially because it was Eraserhead and partially because the man was stil l an adult .

His brother laughs at that. “Seriously, Izuku? Chill, Aizawa isn't that bad and I doubt he eats babies. He's a teacher, after all.”

“They let Eraserhead teach children?!”

Izuku's not sure if he wants to be taught by Aizawa or pray for all his students’ continued survival and sanity. It's probably a mix out of both. No doubt, the underground probably has a lot of knowledge and experience that could come in handy but also. Aizawa eats babies for breakfast.

“How did you even get him to agree to teach me?” Izuku cannot imagine a reason as to why the underground hero would bother spending his free time training some random kid. “If I impress him, that is.”

Keigo grins at his question and suddenly Izuku knows that there’s something off about it. That specific grin never means anything good for him, after all.

“Why, my dearest brother, that’s a great question!”

Oh no.

“I didn’t even have to do much convincing.”

The winged hero whips out his phone and unlocks it before clicking on something. “You see, this wonderful piece of media alone was enough to get him immediately to agree.”

Then he turns his phone to show his younger brother the screen.

All color drains from Izuku’s face.

Oh no.

He has to immediately move out of the country and change his whole identity. 

Keigo immediately starts laughing.

Cool, he said that out loud, didn’t he?

Shaking his head fondly, Keigo moves from his desk to drop down on the couch beside Izuku, a hand moving up to ruffle his green curls. 

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. I promise you that.”

Izuku can’t help the smile that grows on his face.

Keigo never broke any of the promises he made to Izuku.

“I love that kid,” Hizashi whispers reverently.

Shouta sighs, already feeling the bone deep exhaustion settling in that the upcoming conversation will surely bring him. “You don’t even know the kid.”

“And I would kill for him.”

Well, there the man goes. Not saving him anymore.

“Come on, Shou! You can’t tell me you don’t agree with what he said at all? You out of all people.” 

The underground just closes his eyes and tries his best to pretend he’s fallen asleep. Naturally, that doesn’t work.

“Come on, Shouuutaaa.”

He groans before answering, “No, I don’t agree with the kid recklessly rushing in.”

“Of course, but that is—”

“However, I do agree with what he said.”

There. Hopefully, that will satisfy the other. He wants to nap so badly and he won’t be able to do that if the other keeps talking.

“There! I knew it.”

The door to the teacher’s lounge opens and a familiar voice calls out, “What did you know?”

Oh no.

Hizashi immediately turns to the newcomer, a big grin on his face. 

“Nemuri! Did you see the video of the slime villain attack?”

Nemuri grins back. Shouta knows with certainty now that he won’t be able to nap at all. Just why. 

“The one where that green-haired child scolds the heroes on the scene?”

“Exactly! You see, our dearest Shouta said he agrees with the kid.” Hizashi leans in, whispering. Everyone in the room can hear him anyway.

Nemuri gasps exaggeratedly. “No way.”

Shouta hates his friends. No, coworkers. They don’t deserve the title of friends. 

And then, for some inexplicable reason, Hizashi plays the video again. The two immediately start gushing about the kid and cursing out the on-scene heroes. Shouta pretends not to listen but he can’t stop himself from focusing just a bit more on the audio, when the kid starts speaking.

“—I can’t be a hero without a quirk—helpless and weak—save people without a quirk—”

In the end, it all comes back to quirk discrimination. Even now as an adult, as a respected underground hero, Shouta still gets shit for his quirk from some people in the field. It’s absolutely ridiculous that they are even allowed to work as heroes, but then again, Endeavour is still out there as the prized Number Two Hero. That said, whilst people with villainous or weak quirks have it bad, he knows it doesn’t quite touch on what Quirkless people go through. Every form of Quirk discrimination is utter bullshit and terrible, but his peers usually were too scared of him taking their quirks away to hurt him in any way. So, he spent most of his childhood being ignored with a few outliers who were “brave” enough to approach him. The same went for most people with what could be considered a villainous quirk. 

Quirkless people, however? The pariahs of society. 

Considered more unevolved and weaker than everyone else, they got the worst treatment. Shouta’s seen the statistics. Seen red shoes on rooftops and blood splatters on the grounds below.

And well, it definitely doesn’t help that Shouta knows what the kid in the video went through. He remembers Midoriya Izuku. Remembers the day Tsukauchi called Nedzu and him in to help with a case. Remembers the kid retelling his experiences at that shitty excuse of a school. 

(After the kid finished talking and recounting every instance of injustice done to him, Aizawa Shouta couldn’t help but feel relieved. Relieved that the kid was still there, sitting in front of him and breathing. He’s seen the statistics. The red shoes. The letters with only a few sentences, devoid of anything. He’s so, so relieved that the kid is still alive.)

Shouta can’t blame the kid for snapping at the heroes. In fact, it would probably do them more good than harm in the long run. This is the obvious wake-up call they needed. If they don’t improve from this, better themselves, then they won’t get far as heroes. Heroes do not have the right to discriminate, to lean back and rely solely on their quirks, not when they all vowed to save as many lives as they can to the best of their ability and with everything they got. 

“But what makes you heroes? You all have perfectly fine quirks and yet most of you couldn’t do anything today.”

Heroes are people who save—and those that play God without regard for the lives that they promised to protect, do not deserve to bear that title. 

“Oh? Look at that! Shou’s smiling!” His husband calls out, interrupting his thoughts.

 “Oh my! First he agrees with the kid and now he smiles at his words. Just where has the cold and heartless Eraserhead gone?”

Shouta groans.

He needs to leave the country and change identity. It’s the only way to get his rest from these two. 

“I am here—”

All Might opens the door to the classroom, a bright grin on his face.

“—to take remedy classes!”

The other people in the room turn to face him, stunned expressions on their faces. Some mixed in with awe, others with disbelief. 

At first, he wanted to attend the classes as Yagi Toshinori but then Izuku pointed out that going as All Might would have more positive consequences.

“If the Number One Hero proudly attends remedy classes of all kinds, especially of stigmatized themes like mental health, then more people will follow suit. You’ll be easing them into it, basically.”

After he heard the kid’s words he couldn’t help but agree. Yagi’s well aware of how much of a role model All Might is to other heroes and citizens. If he goes to remedial classes and showcases that even the hero at the top needs to refresh his knowledge, he’ll open the door for many uncertain people, who refused to attend out of fear or pride. Sure, some will probably avoid these classes even more due to that, in hopes to seem more competent than the All Might . But as Izuku pointed out back then, eventually even these heroes will realize that… no one really cares (as rude as that sounds) and instead attend the classes with the approach of seeming better than All Might at them.

“Not only that, but you’d be taking a step into the direction of fostering a healthy mindset on mistakes. People will realize that it’s okay to make mistakes as long as they work on fixing them.”

Which is a great thing! There seems to be some underlying belief in people’s minds that every hero needs to be perfect to the T. That’s simply wrong.

And unrealistic.

Heroes, too, are only humans.

“Of course, openly going to remedial classes and lessons on mental health topics will invite backlash… but it wouldn’t be enough to damage your reputation or career in any way that matters.”

No surprise there. No matter what All Might does, there’s always a trail of backlash following behind. Yagi has accepted that ages ago, finally curbing his need to please everyone and everything back then. People are entitled to their opinions and there’s nothing wrong with that.

So, All Might will attend these classes to touch up his knowledge and to inspire others. 

Keigo: So, you’re going to teach at UA?

Toshinori: Indeed! I’ll be teaching the first year’s heroics class next year.

Keigo: That’s cool. I didn’t know you had a teaching license. You never mentioned that in any of your interviews. 

Toshinori:

Toshinori: Young Keigo, I

Keigo: Wait

Keigo: You have a teaching license, don’t you?

Toshinori:

Keigo: Yagi Toshinori, where the fuck is your teaching license

Izuku blinks, glancing up from the book he’s reading when he hears Keigo yell from his bedroom. 

“Number One Hero, my ass! How dumb can he—”

Nope. It’s Tuesday. Therefore, it’s not Izuku’s issue. He’s only on the clock to deal with issues on Fridays and Fridays alone.

He goes back to reading his book, pointedly ignoring the angry phone call his brother is having with his mentor. 

What a great day Tuesday is. On Wednesday, Eraserhead will kill him and hide his body, but for now it’s still Tuesday.

“You idot! What do you even think teach—”

Best to enjoy the day.