A/N: I spent a really long time trying to decide whether it was possible for a kid Kuroko's age to read the kanji for Aizawa's name (I eventually assumed that his ability to read kanji would probably be about my ability to read Chinese characters, lol) before deciding, fuck it, why would they have their real name on their card anyway. I based the ID appearance on the provisional license.
Also, if Kuroko seems like a really big idiot in this scene, I'm going to pass it off as childish ignorance. :P I think of him as about 10 or 11 in this scene maybe? He's fairly mature for his age, which is canon, plus he likes reading, so I feel justified writing with my usual style, though I hope his reasoning stands out as a little more childish than you might expect? Also I haven't experienced KnB in any form in like a year or something so he might also be totally ooc I wouldn't really know at this point, sorry.
Title comes from LeeandLie's translation of Dakara Hitori Ja Nai.
For the longest time, Kuroko's idol, like many other children his age, is All Might. He admires the hero's, well, heroism, but also his consideration for his fans and genuine concern for the people that he rescues, even if it's not always captured on camera. What he most admires, however, is the way that no matter where All Might is, or what he's doing, people are always aware of him. For a boy whose very nature causes people to forget about him, the number one hero seems like a shining beacon.
That isn't to say, of course, that All Might is the only hero that he admires. Much of his time outside of school is spent hero chasing. It inevitably worries his mother, of course, but the one upside to Kuroko's quirk, he finds, is that it makes his hobby very easy for him. It protects him from overzealous villains looking for a hostage and prevents heroes from worrying if he steps a little too close to the action.
On his worse days, when he's been called for by his parents one too many times despite standing right in front of them, he occasionally wonders why he spends so much of his time pursuing something that's so out of reach. It's not as if he has a future in heroics, with a quirk like his. It would actually probably be easier for him to be a professional basketball player than a pro hero, even with his horribly weak physique.
But then he catches a glimpse of that blinding smile or the flicker of flame or the swish of a cape, and sees how people smile back in kind, with hope in their eyes, and thinks that even if he's not the one to put it there, it's enough for him to seek it out all the same.
One evening, he's walking home from an hours-long hero-villain battle, still analyzing the match that he had witnessed between a hero with a quirk that allowed her to liquefy (and later solidify) the ground at will and a villain that was capable of extending his appendages to great lengths (he concludes that the villain had been incredibly stupid about the way he was using his quirk and that was the only reason why he was eventually apprehended).
While he's contemplating how the hero could have gone about arresting the villain sooner, he hears a quiet scuffle in an alleyway to his left. Curiosity overcoming the fear provoked by the natural creepiness of dark alleyways, he peers inside, only to see a man dressed in a black restraining another man with what seemed to be wide bandages.
As he shifts his weight, wondering if he should call the police, his shoe makes a small sound against the ground and the man in black whirls around. Kuroko gets a glimpse of red eyes through the goggles adorning the man's face, pinned not only by the sensation of having something stripped away from him, but by the way that the man seemed to actually be looking at him, and not just through him.
"Oh, it's just a kid," the man mumbles, relaxing just a tad. He turns back to the man he's in the process of restraining, wrapping him in even more bandage-like things. "Get lost, kid," he calls, raising his voice. "There's nothing here for you to see."
Kuroko stays quiet, retreating to a respectable (safe) distance before coming to a stop at the edge of the alleyway. Usually, if he keeps still and quiet for long enough, people forget that he's there, and go back to doing what it is that they were doing before.
As he waits, he studies the man. The bandage-like fabric that the man in black is using to restrain the other man is fairly atypical from what heroes usually carried around. Even pro heroes tend to only carry around zip ties or handcuffs, or, on rare occasions, rope if the villains were feeling particularly rambunctious that day. Not many bother to invest in special villain capturing methods, especially since the villains tend to be incapacitated in some way by the time they need to be restrained anyway.
That likely means that the man either isn't a hero or is one that has a very specialized quirk that somehow necessitates the cloth. However, it doesn't seem like the man is a villain either. Although some larger villain organizations liked to attack hero agencies as a group, the petty criminals that roamed the streets rarely did. Plus a villain wouldn't let a witness go like that.
Kuroko turns his attention back to analyzing the man's quirk. So far, he had only had experience with either analyzing one person's quirk as it faced off against a different quirk, or the quirks used by his family and classmates that were all but announced to him when he was first old enough to understand what quirks were. It almost feels like an exciting challenge to attempt to ascertain what the man's quirk is, especially when he factored in the sensation that he experienced when the man had looked at him.
He hadn't noticed while he was experiencing it, but it seems like the man's hair was linked to his quirk. It jerks into an upright position, hovering around his head in a gravity-defying manner, whenever it seems like the other man is being particularly rowdy. As time goes on, it becomes increasingly evident that the man in black's quirk is somehow related to subduing the man, whether through the direct application of his quirk, or the use of his quirk to manipulate the fabric.
After another few seconds of Kuroko's observation, the man glances over again, a surprised look on his face for just a fraction of a second before it descends into a scowl. "Like I said before, kid, there is absolutely nothing interesting for you to see here. Scram."
"I'll going to call the police," Kuroko replies with more confidence than he feels. He trusts his poker face, though, reaching for his cellphone meant 'only for emergencies, okay, Tetsu-chan?'
"Oh, geez," the man mutters, yanking on the restraints one last time. "Stay," he says flatly to the bound man, knocking him over the head for good measure. Kuroko watches with an equal mixture of curiosity and trepidation as the man pulls something out of his pocket and tosses it towards him. "My hero name is Eraserhead," the man says, nodding towards the object, which, upon closer examination, looked like a leather billfold. "My hero license is in there. You can call the police if you really want, but it's probably going to make more sense to them if I do it."
"You don't seem like a hero," Kuroko replies, picking up the wallet anyway. Flipping it open, he immediately notes the hero license in place of a traditional ID. His eyes are drawn to the large font at the bottom declaring 'Hero Name: Eraserhead.' Next to it is a picture of a tired and scruffy looking man with unkempt long hair. Quickly glancing over at the supposed hero (who was on his phone-to call the police like he said he would, Kuroko supposes), he finally concludes that to his untrained eye, the man seems to be the real deal, though the large goggles on the man's face hinder any sort of accurate judgement Kuroko could have come to. "How come I've never heard of you before?"
"...I'm what's known as an underground hero. My work's best done when it's not in the spotlight," the man answers flatly. "Not all of us can be wannabe celebrities." Kuroko thinks he might be griping about All Might, but he's not confident enough in his knowledge of all highly-televised heroes to say for sure.
"How come no one's ever mentioned underground heroes to me?"
"That would defeat the purpose of my job, kid. If you haven't heard of me, then things are going the way they're supposed to."
"...I guess I believe you."
"Good timing," Eraserhead says curtly. "The police will be here soon. Why don't you scram before they get here?"
"I have to make sure you're not lying to me about being a hero," Kuroko replies matter-of-factly. He graciously pretends to not notice when he catches Eraserhead rolling his eyes. He's wondering whether or not to let his mother know that he'll be late for dinner when his train of thought is interrupted by the strangest ringtone he's ever heard. "...is that a duck?"
He hadn't thought it'd be possible, but Eraserhead's expression somehow gets even more exasperated while simultaneously maintaining his entirely flat countenance. Kuroko is filled with a vague sense of awe; the man's deadpan expression might be even better than his own.
The man doesn't even check the caller ID before answering the call. "What do you want, Hizashi." Even from over twenty feet away, Kuroko doesn't need to strain to hear the indistinct chatter of the person on the other end of the line. Eraserhead doesn't even flinch at the volume. "Despite what you may think, my physical presence isn't actually necessary for you to eat dinner." More indistinct mumbling, then a sigh from Eraserhead. "I should be done soon anyway. Some kid showed up so I had to wrap up sooner than I thought I would. I'll be back before midnight." He hangs up without waiting for an answer and then stares at his phone. "I'm going to regret that later."
Kuroko finds this interaction fascinating, but the wail of police sirens getting closer and closer keeps him from asking any questions. When he can see the flashing red of the lights, Kuroko mentally fortifies himself. He can't help that Eraserhead has already noticed him, but as long as he doesn't point Kuroko out, he should be fine.
When the police officer steps out to greet Eraserhead, Kuroko braces himself when the police officer casts a quick glance over the scene, but the man's gaze skips him over, just as Kuroko is used to. He catches the sharp look Eraserhead shoots him out of the corner of his eye. Kuroko just stares back at him blankly until the hero returns his attention to the other man.
"Thanks for making your way out here, Eraserhead," the officer says in greeting.
The hero nods in acknowledgment. "Bannin-san."
"It's a good thing you were available; we didn't have anyone that could counter that man's quirk," the officer says, gesturing to the bound man. "If you'll excuse us, we'll be taking that man into custody now."
The rest of the captive man's apprehension is fairly quick and simple. Eraserhead shifts some of his bandage-fabric so the officer can snap on handcuffs before unwrapping the man entirely and rearranging the cloth around his neck like a scarf.
It's hardly ten minutes before the police officer is ready to leave. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your night," the officer says before heading off to the police headquarters.
Kuroko watches the car until it turns a corner. Turning his attention back to Eraserhead, he pulls up short at the sight of the man's face, confronted with the massive bags under the man's eyes. With the removal of the goggles, Kuroko can definitely see the resemblance to the ID photo now. "What's your quirk, kid?"
"I can make it so that people don't pay attention to me." The actual, willful aspect of his quirk had taken a long time for Kuroko to discover, and even longer for him to gain any semblance of control.
"Hm." There's a long pause. Kuroko waits patiently for the man to speak. "You've got potential," Eraserhead says finally, reaching over to ruffle his hair when he walks past him. Kuroko feels a bit betrayed as he reaches up to fix his hair. "Go have dinner, kid," he says over his shoulder as he walks out the alleyway.
Kuroko stands in the alley for a little while longer, thinking over the night's events. He had long since dismissed heroics as a viable option for him, given the nature of his quirk, but if there's an entire category of heroes whose job it is to stay out of the limelight…
Well, he just might have a chance.
A/N: (Don't expect updates this close together; I just happened to have this one mostly written.)
Lol I didn't even know I needed Aizawa-Kuroko interaction until I wrote the part where they're both being deadpan and then I was like, wtf these two are clearly the same person. I also imagine that whenever Aizawa's saying 'kid' he's actually saying 'gaki', which translates closer to 'brat', but idk if that's in character for him.
Bannin's name comes from 番人, which Google Translate tells me means guard/watchman.