Chapter Text
With equal amounts of anxiety and excitement, Hitoshi Shinsou walked down the corridor of UA towards the Principle’s office. Following his performance in the sports festival, his presence had apparently been requested. While there was nothing wrong with the General Education course at the prestigious school, Hitoshi’s heart belonged to the hero course. Despite what everyone had said, snarled or muttered to him whilst growing up, he knew that his quirk had the potential to help others. And that’s what being a hero is all about, right? So every ounce of his being was hoping that this meeting was to discuss a transfer to the course of his dreams.
He took a deep calming breath to try stave off the heart attack his body was trying to give him and stomped the last few steps to the door.
“This is it” he whispered lifting his hand.
Before his knuckles could make contact with the door, it was yanked open and a small but extremely firm body collided with his, knocking him back and sending them both tumbling to the floor.
The lump gasped “OH!! Oh my god I’m so sorry!!! Oh my goooood”
The boy in his lap scrambled back and Hitoshi finally got a good look at the cause of the wreckage.
Deep green curls that moved like underwater kelp, drifting in a gentle current. Pretty dark freckles, sprinkled on warm flushed cheeks. Sparkling viridescent eyes that caught the sun from a nearby window and glinted like precious gemstones.
His breath caught in his throat, suddenly his heart stopped focusing on what was about to go down in the principles office and instead was keenly in tune with-
“Izuku” a deep sighing voice came from inside the office. Hitoshi recognised the voice of Sensei Aizawa, even if he couldn’t see him. “You’ve really got to be more careful diving out of rooms like that. While I appreciate you’re trying to get to the car quickly, try not to cripple anyone else on your way”
The boy in front of him stood bolt upright and wheezed in embarrassment. With a little whine while shoving his hands up to his reddened face, the teen extended a hand out to Hitoshi to help him to his feet “I’m so sorry Shinsou-kun- errr… ok gotta go! Good luck with the meeting!!”
And with that curious babble, the boy ran off slowing to a speed walk after a second or two, then picking up to a galloping run again. Hitoshi stood stupified, watching him go in fascination.
‘How did he know my name? How did he know about the meeting? Who was-‘
“Apologies for the other student, he’s quite the whirlwind.” Nezu, standing in the doorway chuckled, careful not to jostle his tea cup “Why don’t we step inside, we have a lot to discuss”
A year later Hitoshi finally felt like he could breathe freely. The war was over, society finally returning to normalcy, even if the HPSC was still in chaos according to whisper in the halls. With this return to the regular status quo, school life had become thoroughly… boring.
Obviously he loves being a part of the hero course, but school is still school and while Ectoplasm stresses the importance of trigonometry, he feels his time would be much better spent sleeping. Or watching cat videos.
His late start on the hero course was hindered by everything that happened, so while others flourished under the drama that came with the surge in villainy, Hitoshi’s training suffered. He was barely proficient with the capture scarf, he needed more prolonged quirk use to get past the headaches it caused and he sorely required more hand to hand combat coaching. So once the final bell rang signalling the end of the school day, he packed up quickly in anticipation of the tutelage he was about to receive.
After waving goodbye to his friends in Class 1-A, he veered off the usual path to the student dorms and walked towards the teacher’s ones instead. Today he was resuming something he’d barely gotten a taste of before everything went south. Training with Sensei Aizawa.
Trotting up the steps to the front entrance, he heard sweet laughter. He could recognise Eri’s laugh but there’s another and it sparked recognition from long ago. As he got closer he made out a voice, chatting between the giggles… about a cat that “looked like dad”…? He frowned and quietened his steps to be able to listen better.
“It hahah it had such a tired fed up face haha, I could’ve died from cute overdose!”
A bright peal of laughter that he knows belongs to Present Mic threatens to rattle the windows from its sheer volume. As he’d pulled back from the noise, the door suddenly and almost violently opened. The laughter in the back ground is louder for just a second before Aizawa closes the door behind him.
But in that brief second, a flash of green hair had crossed the room… could it be-
“Come on, let’s go. Its illogical to waste time when there’s so much to catching up to do Shinsou”
Hitoshi straightens further, nodding and adjusting his attention to sit firmly with the strict teacher in front of him “Yes Sensei”
Behind the two as they walked away, Izuku ran up to the slightly tinted window and looked out. He sighed dreamily out of the window at the purple haired teen. So close and yet so far, he thought as he gazed at the boy he’d harboured a crush on since the sports festival and only interacted with him once (in the most embarrassing moment of his life so far).
The green haired teenager had watched that day with rapt attention from a special viewing booth as a boy from the General Education course wiped the floor with powerful hero course students. And with just a few words no less! He was not only instantly fascinated by the teen but also, the delicate lilac coloured eyes that looked a little tired but intense, floaty soft lavender coloured hair and broad but lean shoulders… Izuku was instantly addicted.
In many respects he felt like Rapunzel, held protectively in a tower, watching from afar as the dashing young man commanded Bakugou out of bounds. Except, unlike the fictional fairytales, he really was kept a secret and it genuinely was for his own protection. While some probably thought Hitoshi’s brainwashing quirk was unpleasant… well, Izuku’s would have gotten the gold medal in that race.
Hitoshi apparently wanted to be on the hero course (while they watched from the booth, Nezu told him about the teen’s entrance exam and how disheartened the teen must have been to end up below the cut) and if the pretty purple haired teen could go for heroics, why couldn’t he?!
But then he remembered the day he was old enough to fully understand the situation. It wasn’t because of what happened to him as a child that meant he couldn’t properly register his quirk and attend the course, it was because the second the HPSC found him, he’d be snapped up in a flash. He’d disappear in a system of lies.
And even now, after society fell apart and slowly began to rebuild, he wasn’t safe. It was better if he just went into analysis like his dad and Nezu recommended. It would be an interesting career path and he’d still be helping people but…
Watching his dad and Hitoshi set off for training made him grumpy. He made sure to lift his spirits as his little sister ambled into the room with a goofy grin “Auntie Nemuri is coming! She just called and has finished with her extra curnicu-curl-cre-“
“I understand Eri” he jogged away from the window, sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her out of the room up over his head “Lets go! Airplane style!!”
Hitoshi sucked up a deep sniff of his gifted takeout coffee, the plastic lid in his other hand as he sat on the roof of a local restaurant. The breath rushed out as a long adoring sigh. In all honesty, it could have been made with the cheapest coffee, the worst burnt beans or the most tepid water and it would still make his soul sing at 2:30am.
“You can’t marry coffee so stop serenading it”
He turned to look at Aizawa’s unimpressed face. The hero had randomly joined him, tagging along for the first time since he graduated seven months ago. The two had stayed in touch in a group chat sense, bumped into one another at agencies or the police station but never on a patrol before.
As an underground hero, he didn’t get a sidekick status to start, it was more like a probationary period. During that time he just needed to take small night time patrols in areas that were covered at ground level by the limelight heroes (each patrol was registered with the appropriate agencies), take part in undercover missions with other more experienced underground heroes and work with the police in some capacity to earn a reputation.
Right now he was drifting around an area close to Present Mic’s radio station, so when his former Sensei hopped onto his rooftop, it was a bit of a surprise. The coffee was welcome though.
“So are you going to tell me why you dropped by?” He held up the still steaming cup “Is this a bribe?”
The older hero scoffed “I heard your undercover mission with those quirkless teens went well, the guys at the Musutafu police station were impressed… Mic said you were in this area tonight so I thought I’d come get your opinion on a few things now that you’ve been working the field for a few months.”
Hitoshi eyed him suspiciously. He’d known the man long enough to understand there was something underlying all of this. Now his curiosity was piqued so he played along “Sure… ask away”
He took a short sip of the coffee, watching the hero push his wind swept hair from his face. After what felt like slightly too long, Aizawa asked quietly “What are your thoughts on vigilantes?”
‘Well that was unexpected’ he thought as a slight frown pinched his brow “I’ve only met one, Zapdos, he was easy to work with although he was a little skittish”
Aizawa turned sharply “That’s not what I asked Hypnos”
The way the man turned, uttered his name with an air of impatience… ‘interesting’
“I guess not… I have no issue with them provided they-“ he lifted one finger at a time as he listed his thoughts “-don’t needlessly hurt anyone, stay within most other facets of the law and work with me, cooperatively instead of against. Does that sum it up?”
The other hero remained quiet for a moment then hummed “Ok… good chat” he stood from his crouched position and made to move away
“Wait… Eraser… what’s all this about?” The weirdness of the situation was so intense that he’d forgotten the coffee in his hand and grumbled as it spilled over the edge of the still unlidded cup “Ah shit…” he quickly put the lid on, set it down and pulled off his damp glove.
When he looked back up, the other underground hero was gone.
“What the fuck?”
Approximately nine rooftops away, Izuku watched the interaction through a small but powerful pair of binoculars. When his dad landed silently a few feet away, he pocketed them in one of many compartments on his dark teal belt. It was one of the only colourful aspects of his vigilante costume along with the matching leather harness and dark red laces on his knee high combat boots. Everything else was black. He had no use for being flashy or fashionable, he needed to blend into the night. Not being seen was vital for hiding his vigilantism away from members of the hero and law community AND because he fought quirkless, stealth was his friend.
“How’d it go?” He asked quietly, still staring in Hitoshi’s general direction even if he couldn’t really see him without the binocs.
“Good.” His dad slumped down against an air-conditioning fan unit, no doubt enjoying the gentle vibrations against his back. Izuku waited, knowing more information would slip out if he provided space and time. “He gave the answers I was hoping for so I’ll call him over in a couple of weeks and ask him. I know he’ll work well with you and I know you don’t need a hero partner but I just feel more comfortable knowing you’re not alone… I trusted him anyway but y’know, better safe than sorry”
Izuku rolled his eyes even though it irritated the full black eye contacts he wore. His dad insisted on a tight upper face mask covering everything from mid-cheek/nose upwards, a removable voice modulator that resembled a creepy gas mask covered his lower face (although it was usually slack around his neck when he wasn’t in combat) and contacts to conceal his “unforgettable eyes”. It was one of many stipulations when he agreed to allow Izuku to become a vigilante five months ago.
“How was school today?”
Aizawa grumbled “I’m glad I retired from being a homeroom teacher lets put it that way. Just being an assistant means when the brats are being brats, I just walk away”
Izuku pulled out a jelly pouch and tossed it to him, smiling as he got a grateful nod in return. Before he could relax into the small talk, his burner phone rang, Tsukauchi’s number flashing up on the screen.
“Yes?” It felt weird to be so curt with anyone but maintaining a persona different from his usual friendly bubbly one was important for being unidentifiable, along with the deep artificial voice.
“Kidnapping case, several hours have passed now with no leads, Hypnos attempted to garner information at 9pm tonight to no avail. If we have the suspect loaded into the car and stop in the alley by the old Mitsubishi factory, can you meet us?”
Izuku sighed, looking over to his dad who had leant over to listen. When the man’s eyes narrowed, he nodded “How do you know this is the correct person, how will you remove evidence of our interaction, how long until the meet, who will attend?”
“Suspect was seen taking the child at 2pm this afternoon, he was intercepted at a hardware store six hours later but no further progress to locate the child was made. We will have Myosotis ready back at the station to make him forget the interaction, ideally if you could meet us within the hour and it will be just me. I’ll be calling Eraser to assist if that’s ok though.”
At that point, his dad got up from his seated position with a grunt so he knew that was all the confirmation he needed “That’s fine. He’s with me now, he’ll come. Give me thirty minutes”
Then he hung up the phone.
His chest was tight with the thunder of his pounding heart.
It was so rare that he had to use his quirk these days, only ever in emergencies such as this and with strict protocol. Tsukauchi knew Izuku could make people talk although he didn’t understand the mechanism. But the cop trusted Aizawa and therefore kept everything off the books. And Myosotis was usually how they got around the suspect’s memory of the ordeal, a simple sonic pulse from his fingertips could make an hour of memories drift away like petals on the breeze. The hero was never given a reason, only that his services were needed - Aizawa always checked in a few days later to make sure everything was hush hush. The less people who knew about Izuku the better.
“Come on let’s go. I’ll have to tell him that my services won’t be available while you’re away.” Izuku walked to the edge of the roof, pulling on his gloves “I don’t want to drag Hitoshi into any of that drama”
“Oh it’s ‘Hitoshi’ is it?” his dad smirked behind the capture scarf earning a swift elbow
“Don’t you start, holy shit I had enough of that from Nemuri at UA” After a lingering glance towards Hitoshi’s position in the distance, Izuku took a leap. Grappling hooks shooting out from each forearm, helping him hop from roof to roof, moving rapidly across town.
It was time to be a hero… at least for some little kid anyway.