Chapter Text
It has officially been a week since the bullet wound!
Izuku was finally allowed to go out.
So as soon as the clock struck 10:40 PM, he got into his costume and rushed out the window, climbing up the fire escape as fast as ever and taking a deep breath.
He started to run across the roofs, now that people knew his voice, there was no reason for a voice changer, but he decided to make it just so he could intimidate the thugs.
Not even 15 minutes in he ran into a person he has been looking forward to.
“Hawks!” he yelled jumping at the hero
Hawks almost fell over at the impact “Hello bullet wound; I see you listened to me?” he asked
Zex let go and crossed his arms at the hero
“For your information, I can be patient, and the wound is doing great! Thank you weary much!”
“Good to hear, how’s the head? Still pained?” he asked a tease in his voice
“Actually, it’s doing great! It no longer hurts as it did the day after my latest patrol, it’s still there, but I can manage!” he cheered.
“So, it still hurts? Kid, you should go see a doctor if possible, I know you don’t want to, but please?”
Zex sighed “Hawks, I can’t go to a hospital, they would dismiss me in a matter of minutes, and I really don’t want to know if it’s the fault of the drug.” He mumbled the last part to himself, but hawks heard it
“Kami kid! What drug, when did it happen, who’s at fault!?” Hawks was in the mother hen mode.
“You weren’t supposed to hear that…” Zex’s eyes were wide.
“Who did its kid!” hawks demanded.
“Chill out, the first night of my patrol I encountered some thugs, one of them injected some drug into me during the fight. The first week afterward the pain went away, but I have a feeling it had come back to bite me” he grumbled.
“Kid, you either go to a hospital, or I drag you to recovery girl!” Hawks stated, a stern face showing.
“Oh hell naw! Hawks I’m fine! The pain is not even as strong!” he argued.
“Zex, it took it 2 months to get to this point, now that it's going away it might come back to bother you even more, later on, we are going to recovery girl and that’s final!” hawks stated grabbing Zex and launching himself into the air.
Zex put down the feeling of wanting to scream and held on for dear life to Hawks’s jacket.
They were in front of a door in a small apartment complex, Hawks knocked on the door, and only in a few seconds, the doors opened.
“Who is looking for me at 4 in the morning-” she grumbled before seeing hawks carrying a child in his arms, the child looked sick and was shaking a bit.
“What is a child doing here hawks?” the woman asked, a plain face with a void of emotion.
“Well, you see. This kid is Japan's vigilante known as Zex, and he here got injected with a drug approximately 2 months ago, and only started to gain drawbacks of it now.” The hero glared at the child who looked at him with dead eyes.
“Please put me down mom, I am not 4” the child stated.
“I am not letting you down, all I know is you will run if I do!” the hero argued.
“God damn it” the child grumbled.
Chyo sighed and pointed at the door “Come in”
The kid looked betrayed “Oh, hell naw! I don’t need medical treatment, and hell I ain’t getting my energy taken away” Zex states trying to get out of Hawks’s arms.
“It's useless bud, you are trapped in these big arms of your mom” Hawks teased.
The child groaned and went limp in his arms.
Hawks set Zex on the couch and Chyo came not too long after.
“Take off your mask” the woman stated
The child sighed “It all started at four years old-“
“Not that mask, the wooden one” the woman sighed.
The kid groaned “Hawks~ Buddy? Why would you give me out like this?” Zex took off his mask and the black one was still there.
Chyo sighed as she took a few tools from her medical kit, she can’t heal the kid if he isn’t injured, if there is a drug, she will have to drain it out.
“Okay, I can’t do anything with my quirk in this situation, I will check for any signs of the drug, and will have to drain it out with the blood” The woman stated.
“Great, this is worse than getting burnt” the child groaned.
Chyo made eye contact with hawks, the winged man sighed “He is learning to make support gear, he’s talking about electrical burns.” He stated.
She nodded as she used one of her tools to scan his body.
After 5 minutes of waiting the device pinged and a robotic voice said “Drug detected” when Chyo looked at the analysis, her eyes widened, she looked at hawks and then at the child on her sofa.
“He had had trigger in his system for 2 months, and no one bothered to tell me!?” she exclaimed, Hawks jumped up in the air in surprise and the kid growled with a groan at the loud noise.
“Wait… Did you say trigger….” Hawks asked, his face going stoic.
“Yes, a small dose but it's surprising how he didn’t get out of control with his quirk.” She stated.
The boy groaned and looked Chyo in the eyes “My ‘quirk’ wouldn’t go out of control anyway”
“And why is that?” she asked an eyebrow raised, the child nodded towards her, but his eyes were looking below her, when she looked down, she understood.
Chyo has been a doctor for years, she knows what someone means with certain motions, Zex was telling her he has an extra joint, the kid didn’t have a quirk, that’s why all the other drugs didn’t activate as soon as injected.
Trigger is a mixture of multiple drugs, it usually lasts a few minutes, but as it looks, it can last longer without activating.
She nodded at the boy “I will have to make a small cut to get the drug out, it might hurt” she stated as she pulled up a scalpel, Zex nodded.
While Hawks stood there confused as ever at the motion, he decided to ask after the cut was made and a plastic bowl was put under the teen's leg.
“What was that about? You just nodded and somehow understood each other?”
“It’s a medical code when someone has a ‘quirk’ the world considers useless or anything but good they nod in the direction of their foot” the woman stated (In reality it was a code for quirkless people, it meant they didn’t want to say it out loud and to keep quiet.)
Hawks nodded looking at Zex in the eyes, he knew Chyo didn’t tell the truth or at least not a full one, but he decided to not put his nose into it further.
The kid smiled at him, a sad smile only visible in his eyes, he would bet 100 yen he saw a tear in the corner of his eye for a moment there.
Zex was happy, recovery girl knew the code and still decided to heal him.
“Is that why you didn’t want to come here? Bad experience with the doctors I presume” Chyo asked.
Zex sighed “Yeah… Last time I went to a doctor I was diagnosed with anxiety, and only that took 3 months to find a doctor that was willing to do so…” he stated looking down at his foot again.
Chyo nodded “You don’t have to worry about it here, no ones going to judge you” the woman gave a kind smile before ruffling the kid's hood, the kid chuckled.
“The last person who told me this was my mother, and look where it got me, my father left for a ‘business trip’, with no contacts at all” he stated.
Chyo gave him a sad smile “Well I am the only one that knows, so you can expect to not get judged.”
“Plus, quirk discrimination is illegal” she chuckled and stood up.
“You want anything to drink? It will take a while for the drug to seep out” she asked.
“Black coffee no milk no sugar, I need something to keep me awake” Zex stated.
“Wow kid, you sound like Eraser, anyways a normal cup of coffee is good for me,” The winged hero said, the woman nodded and went towards the kitchen.
“So, what was that really about, I know recovery girl didn’t tell the full truth about the ‘code’” He used the air quotes on the word ‘code’.
Zex shifted around uncomfortable under the stare “It does have to do with a quirk, that’s all I am willing to say.” He stated as he looked away from the older man’s face.
Hawks sighed and rubbed his temples.
Chyo came back with a cup of steaming black coffee in one hand and standard coffee in the other, she set them down on the coffee table.
Izuku gave her a small thank you before taking the cup and taking a few sips, hawks observed as the kid put a hand over his mouth to hide his appearance.
“You are a smart kid” Hawks complimented.
Zex looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
“What?” He asked.
“You covered your face with your hand, just so no one sees your face! I would have forgotten about that” the hero chuckled.
“I like to stop by a coffee shop now and then, you get used to it” Zex shrugged
“Did you even know what was injected in you?” Recovery girl asked and then took a sip of her tea she brought while he and Hawks were talking.
“No, have no clue, I just found out the name thanks to you, may I know what it does?” He asked.
Recovery girl nodded.
“Trigger is a drug that is a mix of multiple others, it causes pain and quirk enhancement, usually resulting in the person going on a rampage” she explained.
“Damn, I must be lucky then, or unlucky?”
“You are lucky it didn’t work, but you are unlucky because of the pain it must have caused you” she nodded her head in his direction.
Zex nodded and continued to take small sips of his coffee.
“Anyways!” Hawks exclaimed changing the topic not so subtly.
“How has school been?” he asked.
“Good, just about to start my second year of high school” he sipped his drink.
“Damn you learn fast” Hawks looked like a lost puppy with how wide his eyes were
“How old are you dear?” Chyo asked.
“I am turning 15 in 2 months” he sipped his coffee.
“You are not even supposed to be in high school yet, I am impressed, just hope you never meet Nedzu, knowing him, he would try and use you to take over the world” the woman chuckled.
“Not my problem if he does, he is creepy as frick though” he laughed.
“Oh, so now you decide to keep your tongue in between your teeth!!!” Hawks exclaimed.
“Shh, Hawks it’s 4 AM and obviously, I ain’t cussing in front of her!” he whisper-yelled.
“You better not” recovery girl said.
“How do you feel deary? Your head still hurts?” she asked as she looked at the time passed.
“Nah, I'm good, this really helped, however, the blood loss will kick in, the moment I stand” he gave a shy smile.
Chyo nodded as she took his leg and wrapped it in some gauze and medical tape.
“I am not going to use my quirk since the cut is going to close in a few hours by itself, and I can’t regenerate the blood lost in the process, so I am going to give you some antibiotics to drink to retain that, a few days and you should feel like new,” she said as she pulled a bottle of pills from a small cabinet.
“Thanks, and please don’t use my blood to find me? I have had enough crap to deal with the past week” he pleaded.
Chyo nodded
“Don’t worry, your secret is safe, I am not giving Hawks the blood and I myself will not use it” she gave a small smile.
“Not like I don’t have any at home” Hawks grumbled, loud enough so only he could hear himself.
Zex sighed in relief “Also, please don’t mention this to Eraser, I don’t want him chasing me for hours to scold me” the teen slumped in an obviously annoyed motion.
Chyo nodded as she grabbed the empty cups of coffee “You should probably get going, it’s 4:21 AM deary”
Zex immediately shot up “Holly hell! Mom’s gonna wake up in an hour and a half!” he stood up but dropped a few moments afterward, thankfully Hawks coughed him.
“Hey! Hold up, Imma drop you off at the park, it should be enough time for you to get used to the movement” he said as he grabbed the teen in his arms and carried him to the front door before turning to Chyo and thanking her.
At 4:55 they were at the park and Zex is standing normally, still wobbly, but he can stand!
“Okay, I can take it from here!” He exclaimed as he started walking off.
“Hey! Zex.”
Zex turned around only to have a bottle of pills thrown at him, they were iron pills.
“Thanks” he said as he walked away and Hawks flew away.
Shoto was in his room again, unable to sleep, today's ‘training’ was the worst, he ended up having a few second-degree burns on his back and torso and a minor headache.
He was in his pajamas on his futon scrolling through his phone, it had been a while since he checked the internet and now that he was alone, he decided to do so.
He was scrolling through his phone, not paying as much attention until he stumbled upon a Reddit post, it was a vigilante post.
It was written like this:
So, a few days ago I was attacked by a large man, he was asking me for my money, I have a quirk that makes me look like darkness, but my eyes are obvious and the colors that pop up now and then give me away, I don’t have any fighting experience and thought that that was the day I was going to die.
The villain had a gun with him, though he didn’t use it until the vigilante showed up, I think he called himself Zex? The vigilante dropped from the rooflines, I didn’t see from where he dropped exactly, it could have been a window, roof, or even out of nowhere.
He got into a fighting stance and slowly approached the villain; he then did some weird motion and the guy started to go limp. Unfortunately, he didn’t go limp, he came back to his senses in a second or two and turned around to fire 2 bullets, one of them did hit the vigilante’s arm, but the other missed.
Somehow, he got himself together and attacked the man again, he knocked him out in one swish move and tied him up in zip ties! He asked if I was alright, I was, so I answered, when I asked him if he was alright, he answered with a concerning answer ‘Eh, I’ve had worse’ and told me to call the cops. The man saved my life and I owe him every cell in my body.
The tweet ended with a small note stating that not everyone is going to agree to vigilantism
Shoto scrolled through the comment and it was true, there was a fight in between the people.
He turned off his phone, it was maybe 4:30 when he decided it was time to go to sleep.
Izuku woke up the next morning feeling good, for the first time in a while he felt fine.
He did some research before he went to bed, and it approximately takes 24 hours for the blood to regenerate, with eating the right food and iron that is, he went to the kitchen and took a glass of water, his mother already left for work.
He drank the iron pill and went back into his room, he put on a white shirt and sweatpants.
He decided to go out today, he needs to see the sun, he hasn’t gone out in the daylight in a while, the school could wait, the sun can’t.
Izuku put on his signature high tops and went out, locking the door behind him and hiding it in its designated hiding spot.
He needed some scrap to finish the lock on his mask, and he needed some fresh air of the daylight.
He didn’t even think before going to the junk beach as people call it.
He was there for a while, maybe an hour or two, he forgot his backpack so he used a random ripped-up bag he found, he would throw it out later, but for now, it works.
On his way home he heard yelling.
He turned a corner and witnessed a purple-haired teen getting beat up by 3 guys in the same uniform as him.
Izuku frowned ‘bullies’ he scowled.
He approached them not making any noise and tapped one of them on the shoulder.
“What’s going on here?” all the other teens jumped in surprise.
When they turned around to look him in the eyes they froze, there was a deadly aura floating around him.
“This kid has a villain's quirk!” the probable leader yelled.
Izuku scowled at him, sending a shiver down their spine.
“For your information, villain quirks are not real, only if you use it as a villain is it considered villainous, did he try and kill you?” he said, the question rolling out like venom.
“W-well, he tried to USE it on us!” the leader defended.
“And how do you know that? How do you know his intentions?” he questioned.
The teen stayed silent.
“That’s what I thought, hey! Purple kid, what’s your quirk?” he asked.
The kid twitched.
“Brainwashing…” the teen responded barely above a whisper.
“Cool, I don’t have one” he said looking at the leader.
“Try and fight me and you will regret it” his eyes sharpened.
The teen was shaking but decided to attack.
Izuku grabbed him by the wrist, swiped his foot, and placed his hand on the teen's head, with a sickeningly sweet smile saying.
“Bullying isn’t right you know. Plus, quirk use is illegal, what does it matter what his quirk is?”
Izuku let the teen go and soon all 3 of the bullies scrambled away.
“How did you do that?” the purple teen asked.
“Hm” Izuku turned to him.
“Oh, I forgot you were here, common let’s get you patched up, then we can talk.”
He grabbed the purple-haired kid by the arm and pulled him up, the teen's ankle was sprained it seemed.
“We are going to my place; I have medical supplies there and my mom won’t be home for the next 2 hours or so.” Izuku stated.
The teen didn’t say anything, just nodded, but he did look concerned.
Izuku noticed this.
“Don’t worry, I won’t kill you” he said a small smirk spreading on the corner of his mouth.
Izuku was patching up the teen that introduced himself as Shinso Hitoshi, he was just patching up a minor scrape on the teen's arm when the teen asked.
“How did you manage to be so intimidating?”
“Hm?” Izuku asked.
“You had this aura like if you were ready to kill” Shinso explained.
“Oh! I was bullied too, but when I dropped out of school and started doing online schooling, I practiced some minor fighting, even before then I practiced some martial arts and parkour, and over time, I learned to be scary.” He said tugging the bandage tighter around the kid's arm.
“Oh, you said that there is no such thing as a villain's quirk, do you really think so?” Shinso asked.
“Well, by this logic 13 would be a villain because she has a destruction quirk, Eraserhead would be a villain because he can eraser quirks for a limited time, and Vlad kind would be a villain because he can control blood, so no, I don’t believe such thing exists” he said letting go of Shinso’s arm.
“You are probably the only one who thinks so…” he said.
“Look Shinso, I might have not been in the same situation as you, but I know I surely was in the worst part. I was bullied because I didn’t have a quirk, heck 6 months ago they broke my arm and my mom pulled me out of school, my teachers downgraded my tests, I got mentally and physically abused by my entire school, and was told I could never be a hero, not because I had a villain quirk, they said I would be useless on the field because I ‘couldn’t’ defend myself.” Izuku finished his rant.
Shinso stared in shock “But you literally pinned my bully down!?” he exclaimed.
“That’s the thing, I know how to fight, I just didn’t bother doing so, the more you fight back, the more is to come” he explained “I once tried defending myself, it ended up with me having third-degree burns, they were caused by explosions is the worst part.” He chuckled.
Shinso paled “Are you okay!? I mean mentally, are you stable?”
“Honestly? No, I ain’t good, I could care less for my own life, I was diagnosed with anxiety around a year ago, I probably have PTSD and depression, but never got diagnosed. I mean, ye I am okay” he said a smile as bright as the sun plastered on his face.
“You are worse than me man.” Shinso acknowledged
“Oh? How so?” Izuku asked, crossing his arms.
“Well, I have PTSD and anxiety, but damn you are messed up.” He stated shifting to the side
“You’ve got a point, though many people don’t notice when I plaster that fake ass smile of an innocent Deku” he gagged.
“What?” Shinso asked.
“Well, you see my friend, I ain’t innocent, not even my ma knows this, like, I curse, I know too much of the inappropriate stuff, even though I am not proud of, I know how to effectively knock someone out in a few seconds, I have a high pain tolerance and am basically immune to the law” he shrugged.
Shinso stopped for a moment, he was thinking “Wait! What do you mean the law doesn’t affect you?”
“Well, I am quirkless, and the majority of laws go up against quirked people, so let’s say I became a vigilante, I wouldn’t be able to get arrested for vigilantism because I don’t have a quirk, and the law for self-defense states that the person has to blow an attack first, no matter at who.” He shrugged.
“Wait, wouldn’t that make you a hero, you only need a license for legal quirk use, so if you save people without one you are basically a hero.”
And Izuku stared at him as if he opened up his mind, and he did.
“Holy shit, that’s true!” he laughed.
“Anyways, friends?” Izuku asked.
“Friends” Shinso answered.
From the front door, a yell could be heard “Izu I’m home!” a woman’s voice.
Izuku nods at Shinso and gestures for him to follow.
“Hey mom, I got a friend over” he gestured towards Shinso.
His mother stares for a minute before running towards Izuku and giving him a hug
“My baby has friends!” the woman cried.
“Mom!” Izuku flushed with embarrassment
“I am sorry, but you barely leave the house nowadays and I am just happy that you got a friend” she wiped off her tears.
“What’s your name dear?” She smiled at Shinso.
“Shinso Hitoshi” he said, a straight face.
“I am glad to meet you Shinso, I am Midoriya Inko, Izuku’s mother”
“It’s nice to meet you too” he bowed.
After a short conversation, Izuku and Hitoshi waddled back to Izuku’s room.
Izuku collapsed on his bed.
“Too much wholesomeness for a day” he groaned.
Shinso huffed “If you kept acting as you did in front of your mother, I wouldn’t have known the difference” he smirked.
Izuku growled at him.
He quickly let go of the hatred and thought he could get used to this someday.