Hey everyone! I hate cliffhangers, so here's another chapter. I also wanted to clarify in this fic that Kuboro was experimented on for about 3 years before escaping and has been on the run for 2. That would make him 22. Hitoshi is 7. Now onto the chapter!

Kuboro tried to stay calm and positive. He tried some breathing exercises he knew. Nothing had stopped him from panicking at that moment. Hitoshi was missing! Technically, he wasn't. He could be nearby! He could be back at the warehouse! The mist man just needed to start searching. Hitoshi would show up in no time!

Yet after a good 30 minutes of searching, Kuboro couldn't find Hitoshi. The kid wasn't in the warehouse nor back at the train station. He even checked some of the shops and alleyways, but there was nothing. If he could, he'd probably ask for help from the police. The problem with that is he has no actual ID. He's legally considered dead and hasn't legally adopted Hitoshi (yet). (The police wouldn't be much help either way.)

The misty man could think of a few possible things that happened to the kid: he was either lost or got kidnapped. He had hoped it was the former. As Shouta would say it, it was a logical conclusion. It's easy to get lost, and he was only a kid. Also, he hadn't wanted to think about the other option.

However, he had to consider everything if he was going to find Hitoshi. They were being threatened by one of All for One's thugs. He could have called for backup. No, Kuboro hadn't been ready to think about all of those outcomes.

Besides, it has only been 30 minutes. No reason to start overly panicking. Kuboro knew he needed to continue searching and not lose hope. He had never felt this strong sense of protectiveness before. It was strange. He had only met the purple-haired kid yesterday, yet he would do anything for him.

Kuboro just hoped Hitoshi was okay.

_—-_

Hitoshi wasn't okay. He had used his villain quirk on the only person that's ever seemed to care about him! For all he knew, it could've just been another lie. He could just be another person who doesn't love him. A small part of him believed Kuboro wasn't like anyone else. The 7-year-old wanted to dream that he loved him. But that's all it was, a dream.

Especially when he said it didn't matter what your quirk was. That's all that mattered. His evil quirk means no one can love him, not even his mom and dad. They had loved him before his quirk came in and made him a future villain. They told him bedtime stories and bought him toys. They never ignored him. They said I love you back.

All of that changed when his quirk came in. He didn't know how to control it because his parents didn't bother to use their money for quirk counseling. At first, his quirk brainwashed people every time they responded to him. People never let him talk even after he learned to control it.

After his quirk came in, everyone pretended he didn't exist. The kids at school were the only ones who remembered he existed. He was a villain who needed to remember who he was. The future heroes never failed to remind him with teasing and bruises. Since the teachers weren't heroes, they never did anything. They encouraged future heroes to do their jobs. His parents didn't do anything either. All they did those days was give him food and shelter.

Before his quirk came, he wanted to be a hero. He loves heroes like Present Mic and All Might. Especially Present Mic. Even though he was a newer hero, his radio show (Put Your Hands Up Radio) became popular instantly. The show had good music, talked about current problems, had guest interviews, and had a call-in segment. Hitoshi always turned on the radio every Friday for the hero himself.

All Might was also incredible; he always saved people with a smile. Hitoshi didn't think he could save people with a smile, but he could do the former. At least that's what he used to think. A villain can't be a hero. According to everyone, he was born bad. He couldn't just turn good.

That was until Kuboro told him otherwise. He didn't believe it now; he wasn't that crazy. "What matters is your actions." All anyone ever cared about was quirks. At the moment, he thought it was another one of his far-fetched dreams. Then he'd wake up to the nightmare of being homeless now. His parents got tired of housing a villain, so they left him.

Although he had to admit, he felt loved by Kuboro. He had decided to believe him because he might be different. The man gave him a place to sleep, food, clothes, and what seemed like love. It felt so real, from the hugs to the way he talked to him. Hitoshi wasn't used to it, so he couldn't tell if it was real or fake. He still didn't know if it was all some lucid dream.

Until that villain walked up to them, it felt so real. The problem with that feeling is those bad things can happen in the real world. That's what Hitoshi realized the thug pulled out his knife. It made him freeze up and look up at Kuboro. Once again, he looked like he genuinely cared about Hitoshi. It made him want to help and be a hero, but he made a terrible mistake.

He used his quirk. The evil, villainous quirk that made him a villain. It did what Hitoshi wanted: take control of the villain and knock him out. It made him feel like a hero, yet he forgot. There's always some price to pay. An action has an opposite equal reaction. His wicked quirk also took control of Kuboro. A guy who's done nothing but good things for Hitoshi. As he had stared into those blank eyes, he remembered no one cared about a villain. Kuboro was lying about how quirks don't matter. Everyone lies to villains; he knows that.

So why was he sobbing in a random alleyway? No one was near, he was sure. He knew this was going to come. After all, he was a young little villain with no future. No one was supposed to love him. It made him wonder why he felt loved in the first place. Was it real? Hitoshi was never going to know for sure. Kuboro wasn't going to come back after what he did, right? That just made him sob even more.

Nearby, a woman heard cries from an alleyway. She looked into it and found it matched the description a man had just given her. She took a mental photograph and went after the man. Hitoshi was too busy crying to notice.

_—-_

Kuboro still hadn't lost hope, but it had been 5 hours. It was dark out with criminals lurking around. That just motivated him to keep looking. It also made him even more worried. Heroes didn't usually patrol around here, so crime ran rampant. The quirkist police weren't much help either.

It made him start to expect this was more than getting lost. All for One could've kidnapped Hitoshi and used him as bait to get Kurogiri back. Once again, he pushed those thoughts away. He needed to stay positive and keep on looking. That's what Kuboro had been telling himself anyway.

He just hasn't felt this strong sense of protectiveness before. It wasn't his normal itch to save everyone; it was something else entirely. Instead, it was urging him to protect Hitoshi from everyone and anything. He had no idea what it was yet, but he didn't have time to question it. What he did have time for was to ask around. Maybe someone had seen a purple-haired boy?

Kuboro might've been a little too desperate. He started asking everyone he saw instead of "around." Sadly, no one had seen Hitoshi. Some did agree they'd keep looking, so it wasn't a total loss.

Maybe he was overreacting. Kids usually go missing for a few days and then turn up, but that's usually when pro heroes and police help. He was a hero-in-training at one point (5 years ago). Kuboro never got the chance to learn investigation work. The mist man had been too lost in thought to notice someone running after him. At least at first. A few shouts broke him out of it. He turned around to a woman that agreed to look for Hitoshi. Didn't they just talk a few minutes ago? She seemed out of breath.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Kuboro asked.

"I found your son! He's at an alleyway a few blocks away!"

Kuboro froze for a brief second before letting out a sigh of relief. Hitoshi was okay! He didn't have any energy to correct the woman. It would raise questions as to why he was looking for the boy. He had no idea what happened to Hitoshi, but he was about to find out.

"Lead the way."

_—-_

Surprisingly, Hitoshi wasn't that far away. He remembers going through here. Kuboro mentally slapped himself. It was similar to the time he watched Tenya. He needed to work on his situational awareness.

He quickly thanked the lady before walking into the alleyway, and his heart broke. There the boy was, sobbing his heart out. They sounded like screams. It was the most heartbreaking thing Kuboro had ever heard. It made him want to cry, but he needed to stay strong.

He slowly went over and sat beside the kid. This time, he knew better than to tap Hitoshi's shoulder. Instead, he just got right to talking.

"Hey, Hitoshi. How about you take a few deep breaths for me?"

The kid stopped crying and whirled around to look at Kuboro. A look of pure shock adorned his face. He stared for a few minutes.

"Why did you come back? I used my quirk on you!"

That was news to the mist man. Is that why he couldn't remember what happened? He must have run away because of something his quirk did.

"Remember what I said? Quirks don't matter. Only actions."

"You don't understand! Brainwashing is a quirk of a future villain. That's all anyone everyone says!"

Those words made Kuboro want to go punch society in the face. How dare they make this innocent kid believe he's a villain!? It all leads back to quirks. Something nobody has control over. There were laws about quirk discrimination, but it seems barely anyone likes to listen to them anymore. Nobody breaks those stereotypes either.

Except then he remembered his two best friends, Hizashi and Shouta. Against all odds, they both became the best pro heroes.

"Wanna hear a story about people I know with "villain" quirks?"

Hitoshi looked at him weirdly but ended up nodding. Perfect.

"Well, this story is about my best friends Sho and Zashi. Once upon a time, they both wanted to be heroes. The world didn't want them to be heroes because of their "evil" quirks. Little did they know, their quirks were useful in hero work."

The boy wasn't crying anymore but looked curious.

"With the power of friendship?" Hitoshi deadpanned.

"Nope! They hadn't met until hero school. Anyway, they both trained hard. Pushing their quirks past their limits. When the entrance exam came along, both of them were ready. Only Zashi made it in. The entrance exam was not fair to all quirk. For example, your quirk wouldn't be able to do much."

The boy frowned and looked down at the ground. He looked like he was about to cry once again. Sh*t!

"I can't be a hero?"

"No! I'm not saying that! Wait till the end of the story. What I was about to tell you was how he eventually got in. Instead of the hero course, he got into general education. Every year, the school holds a sports festival. If a student from another department won, they'd have the option to transfer to the hero course, so Sho trained for that. With all that hard work, he won the sports festival.

After he transferred, we all ended up becoming friends. They ended up becoming fantastic pro heroes. Alongside hero work, Zashi started to speak out against quirk discrimination. Sho became an underground hero. Rather than popularity, underground heroes focus more on the dirty work. They save a lot more people. Though, both of them are equally great."

Hitoshi's had stars in them. It looked similar to yesterday, but somehow they were brighter. This kid deserved the world. Kuboro was going to take care of this kid no matter what.

"Does that mean I can be a hero?"

"Of course, you can be a hero! As long as you put in the work. It won't be easy, but it's possible! I'll be there every step of the way."

Before he could say anything, Hitoshi wrapped him in a tight hug. Kuboro gave him an equally tight one back. Unlike the first time, there wasn't any crying involved. There were only brilliant bright smiles and laughter. This time, they both believed everything was going to be okay. It would take time, but everything does.

Kuboro smiled as he tucked in Hitoshi. That woman was partially right. Hitoshi wasn't his son yet, but he was going to be. It would only be a matter of time.