Hey everyone! I can't believe this fic already has 70 views! This is the first fanfic I've ever posted. I've been writing them for a while now but never had the motivation to finish them until now. Thank you all for the support so far. This chapter is longer than the first, so enjoy!
Kuboro was still sitting quietly with Hitoshi. Neither of them felt like talking, so they kept each other company. He wanted to ask how he got all of those bruises, but the boy looked emotionally drained. The man decided to break the silence.
"Do you want to stay with me for the night? It can be pretty dangerous right now." Kuboro offered.
"You are the nicest person I've ever met. I don't want to bother you even more." Hitoshi affirmed.
"Kid, your not a bother. I want to help you." Kuboro assured.
Honestly, Kuboro would help any kid he met, so he has. He remembered the first and only time he looked after Tensei's younger brother, Tenya. Oboro was great at calming the baby down, but he was terrible at taking care of him. How was he supposed to know babies couldn't eat sushi because they didn't have teeth? Everyone loves sushi, so it should be the same for babies too. Little Tenya predictably ended up choking on it. He learned that day that babies couldn't have anything except milk and baby food.
Foolishly, he kept on feeding Tenya other solid foods like mochi. It always ended the same way: Tenya choking on the food and Oboro quickly getting him to spit it back up. When Tensei was about to come back, he was so focused on cleaning everything up that he forgot to watch Tenya. He finally noticed that the baby was gone 5 minutes before Tensei would be back. He had frantically searched the house, but Tensei got back punctual as always.
Oboro was still searching for Tenya when he heard the door open. He had only looked away for a minute, but Tenya had disappeared! He checked the nursery, closet, and even the kitchen again! Tensei was going to kill him! Oboro quickly got himself to calm down; he just needed to follow his MO: smile even when you screw up. That's just what he did as he walked into the living room. Tensei was not buying it.
"Oboro…where's Tenya?" Tensei calmly asked.
He knew it was a sort-of fake calmness; it was the kind of calmness he used to try to be rational. The older Iida loves Tenya with all of his heart, so he won't take Tenya being missing all that well. Oboro has only seen Tensei Iida mad once, and he was out cold before he could blink. It must've had something to do with his robot arms.
"I can't find him! I looked away for one minute, and Tenya was gone!" Oboro exclaimed
"What do you mean he's gone? He rarely goes off on his own! Now that I think about it, that's weird, but that's not the point!" Tensei yelled.
Oboro could see Tensei's face reddening by the second. He was angry, but the hero in-training could see a hint of worry in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Tensei. I didn't mean to lose Tenya. We can talk about this after we find him." Oboro reasoned.
Tensei still seemed angry, but he put that aside to search for his baby brother. For thirty minutes straight, they looked everywhere. Under tables, in closets, under blankets, and there was still no sign of him. Oboro tried to offer comfort to his friend, but it was no use. They only had one room left to triple-check: the kitchen.
"There's no way he got out of the house! I kept all of the doors locked just like you asked!" Oboro confirmed.
"Tenya is a smart one-year-old! You would know that if you were watching him the entire time!" Tensei barked
"Let's just check one more time. We can get Shouta and Hizashi to help search the neighborhood afterward." Oboro said.
Tensei only nodded as they did their final sweep of the kitchen. Oboro realized he'd never checked the cabinets. The first one he opened had Tenya: eating baby food like he was supposed to.
"Tensei! I found Tenya! He was in the cabinet the entire time." Oboro screamed.
Tensei only facepalmed and got his brother out of there in response. Later, he forgave his friend, but he was never allowed to watch Tenya alone again.
Kuboro smiled at the memory. He didn't exactly do a good job watching Tenya, but he tried. There was also that time he got crushed by rubble to save all of the kids there, but he didn't have time to dive into that can of worms again. Instead, he turned his attention to Hitoshi. A kid he could help right now.
"Okay, only if you want to." Hitoshi sighed.
The mist man nodded and opened up a portal to the abandoned warehouse. It wouldn't be the best place to take care of a child, but it would work. Besides, it was on the side of Japan All for One didn't have much control over. Hitoshi was glaring warily at the warp gate as it formed.
"It's just my quirk: Warp Gate. If I have the exact coordinates of a location, I can make a portal there. This one will lead to my place." Kuboro explained. "We'll both go in at the same time."
The kid walked towards it hesitantly but stopped again. It made sense Hitoshi didn't fully trust him yet. They had only just met about an hour ago. Nevertheless, Kuboro offered out a hand to him. When Oboro was little, his mom always offered a hand out to him. Like when he broke his arm for the first time or that time he couldn't find his favorite stuffed animal. To him, it let him know someone was going through it with him. It might work for Hitoshi too.
Hitoshi slowly took the offered hand and squeezed it lightly, and Kuboro squeezed back. This poor boy was touch-starved; he could see Hitoshi melting into all the touches he gave. It broke his heart, but it also made him more determined to change it. With that, they both walked into the portal.
It was still disoriented Kuboro sometimes when he walked through his warp gates. It just screamed, "this isn't my quirk." In his heart, his quirk was still Cloud. A quirk he could use to fly away from what his life is now back to the good old days with Shouta, Hizashi, Nemuri, and Tensei. Sadly, Kuboro knew he couldn't go back with All for One still after him. Perhaps after he gave up looking for Kurogiri, he could finally see them again.
Hitoshi and Kuboro arrived inside the warehouse. Kuboro had tried to make it look more like a house just for his crippling homesickness, but there was only so much he could find in junkyards. In the center of the room, there's a single blue couch with an exclusive Put Your Hands Up radio and an old TV. Crates were scattered around containing random essentials like toiletries, food, and clothes. A small rusty kitchenette sits in the corner along with a photo of him, Shouta, and Hizashi (he was able to get into his old account and print out the photo). A few other trinkets were randomly on a small dining table. Lastly, a lavender futon sat on the left side of the room.
Kuboro made the room more like his old room. It was just on a lower budget with more space. He's been meaning to try and find a cloud or cat rug, but no one throws those things out. He even tried looking at the mall! Then again, the mall near the warehouse didn't have anything interesting. His "house" was just unorganized and boring. Judging by the unimpressed look on Hitoshi's face, he thought that too.
"So your also homeless?" Hitoshi chuckled.
"Hey! Homelessness is when you have nowhere to live. I have somewhere to live!" Kuboro denied.
At first, Kuboro was homeless. He had thought he needed to be constantly moving to avoid getting captured by All for One's minions. Turns out he needed somewhere to keep all of his stuff, so he found this abandoned warehouse. He just only uses one room.
"Fine, you are technically homeless." Hitoshi giggled
"I guess I am. Anyway, you can sleep on the futon for the night; I'll sleep on the couch. I don't have enough food left here, so we'll be going out for breakfast tomorrow." Kuboro said.
"You can sleep on the futon; you've already done enough for me," Hitoshi argued.
"Hitoshi, you're my guest. It's my job to keep you comfy. Besides, I'll be getting another futon when we go shopping tomorrow." Kuboro insisted.
"That'll cost too much money. Why would you want to spend it just for me?" Hitoshi asked.
Who had told this child he wasn't worth it? There was absolutely nothing wrong with him, and the universe decided to wrong him. Kuboro blames society for this. All people care about these days are quirks. If you had a powerful quirk, it was like you ruled the world. While if you had a weak quirk, villainous quirk, or were quirkless, it was like you were less than human. Talented people have lost their jobs to powerful quirks. Powerful quirked humans believed they could do whatever they wanted and never get punished. Hitoshi's parents were definitely in that same mindset.
"Because you are worth it. Everyone can be worth it, and you most definitely are. You've done nothing wrong, so you're worth every single penny. Don't let anyone tell you your not." Oboro preached.
Hitoshi's wide eyes were full of stars now. Unlike how they were dull and bleak before, he could see how bright and determined they looked now. Kuboro's only known Hitoshi for an hour, but he'd already do anything for him.
"You're different than my parents; I can just feel it. Again, thank you, I've needed to hear that my entire life," he responded.
"You're welcome. Also, you can sleep on the couch if you really want to, but I'm giving you the blanket and a pillow from the futon. Deal?" Kuboro compromised.
"Deal." Hitoshi agreed.
After that, the mist man grabbed one of the pillows and his fluffy blanket. The boy had already dozed off when he made it to the couch. Kuboro carefully draped the blanket over him and gently lifted his head over the pillow.
"Sweet dreams, Hitoshi."