Shouta carefully laces his boots, nimble fingers looping a familiar pattern before tightening the strings, sealing the knot. From the corner of his eye, he could see his son pacing restlessly around the room, his own shoes laying forgotten off to the side. Though, that wasn't an uncommon occurrence, given how much the boy hated wearing them. But Shouta could sense his restlessness was not related to his dislike of footwear. With a sigh, the hero realizes this must be one of those days.
It only occurs a few times a year, but for some strange reason the boy would gain bursts of extreme energy out of the blue, making him antsy, fidgety, and impossible to keep still or focus his attention on something for more than a few moments.
The only thing to satiate Izuku when he got like that, was to allow him to burn the energy until he tired out. He needed somewhere to run.
And if this were any other time, Shouta would have been happy to do so – to prevent him from destroying the house with his restless pacing, if anything. But unfortunately, neither of them has the time for that.
"Izuku, shoes," he reminds. Izuku pauses briefly, his long rabbit ears swiveling in Shouta's direction, and after a moment, his green gaze falls to the discarded shoes. With his tail twitching behind him, Izuku sits roughly down on the floor with a thump and uses quick hands to grab one of his shoes, totally ignoring the bright green socks next to them. And what's more, Shouta could see Izuku was trying to put on the shoe while his foot was still scaled up. His long, jagged claw tips threatening to rip through the soles.
With a sigh, Shouta kneels beside his distracted son, giving his arm a light touch. "You need to let go of your quirk before putting those on, Izuku."
"But I don't want to," Izuku bristles, giving the shoe a reproachful glare. "They trap my feet. I don't like it."
"They keep your feet protected from stepping on something sharp, kid."
"My feet are tough! They can handle it."
"But your human feet cannot, they don't have that kind of protection," Shouta points out.
"Then I won't use my human feet!" Izuku rebukes hotly, tucking his legs under himself for good measure. Shouta could feel a headache starting to form behind his skull. The green haired youth could be so damn stubborn when he got like this.
"Fine," he eventually concedes after a pause, "no shoes today." At least the kid was properly dressed, sans the shoes.
Slinging his paper-filled bag over his shoulder, Shouta steps towards the door, only to hesitate as the child harness catches his eye.
They've been using it less and less, as Izuku gets more accustomed and comfortable with the crowded streets, but when he gets like this the kid is more often than not to run off ahead if Shouta so much as glances away for a second. As much as he wants to trust Izuku to behave, he knows they're not quite at that stage yet.
But that was alright. He knows given the circumstances of his raisings, Izuku was exceeding expectations in his transition into society. Children growing up feral had happened in the past before, with less than pretty results. It was nearly impossible for them to integrate back with their own kind. Most had died in the process due to the strain, their bodies either falling under the stress or even going as far to starve themselves.
Shouta blinks down at his son, who is now pushing against his side, eager to get through the door to go outside. Before he can, the dark-haired hero leans over to grab the child harness from where it hung limply against the wall. "Here, put this on," he says, tossing it.
Catching it, Izuku quickly equips the harness himself. He was used to the item. Once it was tightly fastened, the kid shot towards the door, childlike excitement and energy radiating from his small body. As Shouta trails a few feet behind an impatient Izuku who was trying to urge him to walk faster, the dark-haired hero reflects on the detective's call a few days ago.
"A missing kid?" Shouta echoes. "What makes you certain Izuku would know?"
"Even though it was eight years ago and Izuku would have been nothing more than a toddler, the possibility that… well," the detective sighs. "I am not accusing him of doing it on purpose, but Aizawa, you saw the news. He killed a full-grown deer like it was nothing. Who's to say there wasn't an… accident when he was younger and unaware of what he was doing?"
"So, your first thought is that a five-year-old commits murder." He states bluntly.
"Eraserhead, as a pro hero, you of all people should know that with quirks, almost anything is possible." Pausing for a moment, Tsukauchi adds, "and I think you and me both know Izuku is more than capable of doing so. He already killed a villain and permanently maimed another when he was just ten. It's one of the main reasons we couldn't home in normal housing that deals with special cases."
And Shouta gets that, really, he does. He witnessed firsthand what Izuku could do. But a little part of him refuses the idea of his son killing an innocent kid, unintentional or not.
"And if he says he doesn't know anything about it?" Shouta questions.
"Given his age, that is possible," Tsukauchi hums, "but as I said, I'm certain he played a part in it."
"And?"
"Well… when this boy went missing, he wasn't the only one to step into the forest that day, several of his friends ventured in with him as well. They came back, he didn't."
Shouta stays silent as a stone of dread settles in his lower stomach.
"And when they emerged, they were terrified witless and swearing of encountering a monster. Search teams went in to look for both the monster and the missing boy, but they all came out empty handed."
"Why wait until now to ask him?" Shouta questions softly.
From the other side of the phone, Shouta could hear the muffled rustling of papers being moved about, a quiet sigh soon following. "It was useless to ask him when he couldn't even understand a language that's understandable. I needed time for him to get used to his surroundings as well so he wouldn't feel pressured into not answering. It's hardly a light topic. And…" Tsukauchi hesitates here, obviously unwilling to say this next bit.
"We need to take precautions, so it doesn't happen again." He finally finished.
And as Shouta walked to UA with the bundle of energy that was Izuku, he wanted to bristle with indignation.
They were taking precautions! Sure, what happened to those villains was unfortunate, but the kid was no better than an injured, cornered animal in that instance. Anyone in his situation would have lashed out in an effort of self-defense. It just turned out Izuku's was a bit more… deadly, is all.
And the supposedly missing dead teenager? Did that count as self-defense? A voice in his ear seems to whisper. He frowns.
"Izuku, when you lived in the forest—did you ever show yourself to another person before me?" He asks casually.
The boy in front of him trills questionly, his big green eyes narrowing in thought. "No, the cats told me to stay away. So, I did."
Bewildered, Shouta gives the green-haired boy a look. "Cats?"
Izuku nods. "I lived with them! For a while, anyway," he adds on, his nose wrinkling. "They made me move somewhere else later."
"Do you miss them?"
"Sometimes…" Izuku admits hesitantly with drooping ears. "But White said they didn't really like me, so I don't know if I should miss them."
Well, that was disheartening.
"Well, they don't know what they're missing," Shouta snorts as he reaches a hand to ruffle his son's feather-soft hair. "Guess you'll just have to be stuck as my son forever then, hm?" That managed to crack a smile on Izuku's face.
Grinning mischievously, Izuku pushes his hand off his head and jumps forward to circle around his father excitedly, and already knowing what Izuku was planning—Shouta quickly steps out of the trap his son had created with the harness.
Izuku looks back at him over his shoulder, his toothy grin unfading even after his failed attempt to trip the taller male. After making sure Shouta was still firmly on his feet, the younger boy gave an eager skip forward, pulling the harness taut and urging Shouta to hurry up.
Izuku felt itchy.
But this itch was not where he could scratch. No, this itch laid just under his skin. Not actually there, but still enough to make him twitch.
He wanted to run. He needed to.
More than that, he needed to shift—if he stayed in this tiny form for too much longer, he feels like he's going to burst out his skin!
But Izuku wasn't allowed to shift in public—not so close to strange humans. He had to wait until they reached the fake forest at UA.
And Izuku knew logically, UA wasn't too far away. That they would be there soon.
But it still feels like it's not soon enough.
Energy buzzed like electricity, pumping his blood until his heart rabbits in his chest and every breath of air strained in his chest like ice as sweat pooled on the back of his neck and the itch was still there.
Izuku throws another glance over his shoulder. Behind him, Shouta was still keeping up with his normal stride, refusing to go any faster than what was his normal.
I should've convinced him to take one of the cars, he thinks to himself, his tail-tip twitching. But he wasn't sure if sitting in such a small, cramped space full of the musty stale air of strangers would have been much better. At least he's able to stretch his legs like this.
The harness tugs at his chest, alerting Izuku that he was straying ahead again. He pays it no real mind, his attention caught on his forest peeking ever slightly between two passing buildings. The lush greens making his heart ache and long to run through its undergrowth, frustration prickling the back of his neck that one of these spells had happened during one of the most inconvenient times of the day. Izuku could have easily taken care of it if he were already at UA, or at home during the evening. It would have been easy at night too, so long as Shouta was aware of his need to go into the forest.
But no, the urge had to strike now.
It was frustrating.
Distracted and lost in thought, weaves among the flowing crowd, easily avoiding bumping into the tall legs that surround him. His eyes spot the bright pink building that marks that UA is only another fifteen minutes away.
Too bad White couldn't come today, he thinks to himself with regret. The snow-colored cat had sprained his leg yesterday after trying and failing to make a difficult jump from one branch to another from one particularly high tree in the fake forest. White managed to land on his paws, but from that height it had jolted his hindleg. When Izuku had worried over it, White brushed him off, saying he just needed to rest for a few days and he'll be back to his mischievous self.
In front of him, Izuku could vaguely sense some walking in the other direction heading straight for him. Shooting a quick glance up, Izuku could see it was a tall man with his daughter nestled against his chest. Izuku could tell the man wasn't paying attention to what was in front of him, as he kept shooting long glances over his shoulder. Already dismissing the strange human, Izuku merely sidestepped the man himself, his mind already trailing off towards thoughts of the forest and feeling the wind in his fur as he ran as he pleases.
As distracted as he was, he almost missed it.
The scent of icy, unbridled terror.
Izuku stops dead and whips his head around, tracking the scent that was so strong it sent chills up his own arms.
His eyes dart rapidly until—there! They land on the man that had just passed, or rather, the small bundle that was curled up in his arms. Izuku could see how young the child was and the tremors that wracked her small frame as she let out waves and waves of distress, distrust, and petrifying fear. And it didn't take long for Izuku to figure out the source.
For human families, they all shared a scent that was unique to themselves, a mix of all their smells mingling together under the same roof after years of exposure. And after Izuku became friends with Hitoshi and Koji, he found out it applied to people who were around them for a long enough period, as the scents adapt and adopt.
And without time being the factor, it was hard to get rid of that scent that marked you as belonging with your family. Under normal circumstances Izuku was sure it was near impossible.
So, when he stands there, inhaling the two completely different scents without a hint of familiarity and the combination of terror, Izuku is reminded of one important thing.
There were some truly horrible humans in this world.
And to Izuku, who has been restless since the moment he woke up—that's all the incentive he needed to lunge.
Shouta isn't sure how this happened.
One moment he's walking to UA with Izuku in tow, then the next moment Izuku stops and whips around to sink his teeth into a random man's arm.
The man howls in pain as he drops the child in his arms to try to shake off his sudden attacker that dug himself deep into the meat of his arm, long claws scratching and tearing at the fabric as Izuku wedged himself firmly in place.
Immediately, Shouta erases his quirk and the claws and fur retract sharply back, but there was nothing he could do about his fangs, so he swiftly loops his arm around his son's torso and place a hand over the snarling boy's face and yank him free of the poor bleeding bastard.
"What has gotten into you?!" Shouta hisses furiously in Izuku's ear. But he could tell his son was not listening as he struggles in his grip, twisting and thrashing like a wild animal. A very pissed off wild animal.
"Is that—thing—yours?" The civilian—a short stocky man with beady black eyes—growls out between clenched teeth. Blood oozed sluggishly down his arm and drips steadily down onto the concrete, staining it crimson. An enraged fire blazes threateningly in his dark eyes, along with a trace of something else.
Shouta wants to snap at the man for that remark, but he couldn't help a trickle of cold dread. Izuku never attacked someone out of the blue like that—not without a reason. The closest incident had been his first trip to the hair salon, but that was only because the sudden appearance of scissors had spooked him.
And when he first showed up and attacked anyone who wasn't me, he reminded himself. But dammit, the kid is accustomed now.
"I'm sorry for his behavior," Shouta starts to apologize, "if you'll come with me, I know someone who can heal that for you." The little girl the man had been carrying was, fortunately, unharmed. Frightened, but unharmed. Shouta glances at her as she trembles like a newborn fawn in the middle of winter. It must have been scary for her to see her father attacked out of the blue.
The man steps in front of her. "Come with you?" He repeated incredulously. "You must be out of your damn mind! Why the hell should I go within two feet of that—hellhound!" He spat viciously, gesturing to the still struggling Izuku. "No, I think I will—"
"She's afraid of you!" Izuku interrupts the man with a snarl. He pauses in his thrashing to let out a low, threatening growl. "Her fear was so strong, the street reeked of it! You scare her!"
"What the hell are you babbling about, boy?" The man grits out. "She is my daughter."
Izuku starts to struggle again.
"You're lying!" He shrieks.
Shouta narrows his eyes at the bleeding man, then down to the small cowering girl. With fresh eyes, Shouta could see she was very pale, and noticed how she would not meet the man's eye, instead meeting Shouta's gaze with a look of desperation. Suspicion tickles the back of the underground's neck.
Taking a careful step forward, Shouta meets the man's face once again. "No, I insist. Without proper care it would be easy for that bite to get infected." The man glares at him, taking a step back as Shouta takes another forward. Shouta was vaguely aware of how Izuku fell still in his arms. "It must hurt a lot, right? Looks real deep."
"And whose fault do you think that is?" The man doesn't look away as he kicks a foot behind himself, bumping into the child. "Get up, we're leaving."
The girl flinches but doesn't respond or move from her spot on the ground, her yellow eyes still fixated on the advancing duo.
Aggravated, the man whips around, snarling. "I said get up—"
His hand only reaches down halfway to the child before Shouta's scarf wraps around his arm and snaps it away, preventing him from reaching out. Shouta had to drop Izuku to maneuver his capture weapon, but to his relief the green-haired kid didn't strike out again. But he could tell from the way he stood by his side bristling and glaring angrily, that it would not take much for him to lash out.
Once the man is restrained, the little girl scrambles to her feet and darts towards the hero. Seeing this, the man grabs at the capture weapon with his free hand, gripping it tightly as a wave of electricity shoots through the scarf and a sudden wave of pain envelops Shouta's body as his muscles seize up without his permission.
The onslaught did not last long as the man slipped free from his bindings as soon as they loosened and grabbed the child from the back of her shirt and yanked her back into his arms.
Shouta lets out a hissing breath as his muscles get back under his control, angry at himself that he was not able to activate his quirk in time. "Izuku, stay there!" The underground hero yells as he darts after the man he retreats and pushes his way through the crowd of onlookers that gathered around the disturbance. Shouta didn't look back to see if his son obeyed him, not wanting to lose the possible kidnapper.
Shouta weaves his way fluidly through the bustling street, steadily gaining ground on the increasingly panicking man. Civilians leap out of their way, either startled or annoyed by the chase. His gaze catches the man pivot on his heel and scurry down a rather empty alley, possibly thinking he could gain more ground with fewer obstacles. It was a mistake on his part, as that held true for Shouta as well.
Eraserhead ducks into the alley, hot on the fleeing man's heels. The world seems to slip into slow motion as Shouta activates his quirk, leaving no chance to be electrocuted a second time as he sends his capture weapon flying. At the same instant, the man twists his body to the side—a glint of silver flashing in his hand as he arcs his arm in position to throw. It was very sloppily done, and Shouta knew he could easily avoid it just by stepping off to the side.
That was, until he heard the sharp and familiar clack clack clack of scaled claws hitting concrete, along with a flash of green in the corner of his eye.
Izuku had followed him.
Without wasting time, Shouta quickly repositioned just in time for the thrown blade to sink deeply into his thigh with a sickening squelch, but the hero only gritted his teeth and made quick work of binding the man in his scarf. The little girl fell from his grip, stumbling a little as she hit the ground—but otherwise unharmed.
"Shouta!" Izuku cries as he rushes from behind the hero and some part of Shouta's mind alerts him to sharply stick out his free arm and catch his son before he leapt and attacked the bound man a second time.
"He hurt you!" the boy snarls in rage, his small limbs thrashing as he tried to wriggle out of Shouta's grip. The short man yelps at the sight.
"Keep that thing away from me!" He yells and starts to struggle in his bindings that only tighten around his body and dig into his skin. The little girl backs away from the sight, her body almost hugging the brick wall as if she wished it would suddenly open up and offer a way out of this situation.
Shouta places a foot on the man's back, keeping him in place as he continues to cancel out his quirk. He needed to properly bind him in something other than his weapon but needed both of his hands in order to do that. Something that was proving difficult with a squirming young teenager who wanted nothing more than to sink his teeth into the very same person.
"I'm fine, Izuku. It was nothing serious," he tries to reassure the green-haired boy who is torn between fretting over Shouta's injury or growling hatefully at the one responsible for it. The erasure hero wanted to sigh as his son ignored his words.
Kneeling over the captured man, Shouta is quick to slap on a temporary quirk cancelling bracelet over his wrist. Once secure, his hold over his quirk vanishes. Plopping himself on the man's back, he digs out his phone from his pocket, his gaze quickly sweeping over to the girl who was now huddling against a trash can, her expression fearful and wary under her bubblegum pink bangs.
"You are ok, kid?"
The girl seems to take a step back, then pause, her eyes fixed on the hero before giving the smallest of nods. He would like to double check, as children would typically not tell the whole truth in situations like this, but from experience he knows that would only freak them out. His face and particular demeanor weren't the best with kids.
A hand pokes too close to his injury and Shouta very nearly yelps at the suddenness. With a sharp glare down, he caught the brief flash of retreating green and guilty eyes. Shouta bit back a sigh, focusing on his phone again as he quickly sent out his location to request a villain pickup and first aid.
"Shouldn't it be taken out?" Izuku frets, pointing to the knife that is still embedded in his side.
"No. Taking it out now will only make it bleed more," he answers, tucking his phone away. At Izuku's still worried expression he nods over to the little girl a few feet away. "Why don't you see if she's alright? I'm sure she would appreciate a friend." Or at least someone who wasn't six feet tall and had a permanent scowl etched on his face.
Kids liked bunnies, right?
Izuku turns his head, giving the girl a long look before turning back to Shouta, worry and uncertainty in his green eyes. Shouta appreciated his son worrying over him, really, he did. But Shouta is a grown ass man and a professional hero. He isn't going to die over a single stabbing. After a few moments of staring up at Shouta with big eyes, Izuku's nose twitches and draws his attention back to the child. Then, hesitantly, with one final glance at Shouta, tiptoes over to her.
The bound man shifts minutely under Shouta, so weakly that the hero would not have noticed it if it wasn't for the fact he was currently sitting on the man's back.
"Please," the man begs quietly. "I won't do it again, please, let me go."
Shouta doesn't answer right away, keeping his eyes planted ahead as he watches his son introduce himself and declare that the "bad man" has been taken down. The little girl—Shouta guesses she's about six—blinks at the bright green-haired boy, her mumbles inaudible on the hero's ears.
Shouta hums. "Oh? So, you won't attempt to kidnap anymore children?"
"I wasn't going to hurt her—I swear!" He whines. "It's just—her quirk, I. I owe money, and her quirk would have made it so easy—" The kidnapper breaks off with another whine as Shouta gives his capture scarf a sharp tug, tightening the bindings.
"There are other ways to deal with your money problems," Shouta growls lowly. To his relief the little girl gave a small giggle at whatever Izuku was babbling about as he gestures wildly. Good, she's calming down.
Suddenly, Izuku gives the girl a nod and bounces back over to Shouta. And after hesitating, the girl follows behind, trailing Izuku like his own shadow.
"She says her arm hurts a bit," Izuku chirps, "But she doesn't smell like blood."
Shouta nods. "Good job, thank you Izuku."
Izuku's tail curls at the praise, obviously pleased. One of his long ear's twitches, pivoting backwards as a tiny fist tugs at his sleeve. Two brown eyes look up to meet grey ones, only holding the gaze for a few seconds before hiding behind Izuku once again, quietly mumbling against the fabric.
"She said she wants to go home," Izuku relies back, his ears twitching forward.
"Don't worry," faint sirens sound off in the distance, steadily growing closer. "You'll be back before you know it."
This is definitely not what I was planning to do today, he couldn't help but think to himself as an ambulance comes to a stop near the alley.