-Shinobu's POV-
Despite being on patrol, I put one of my wireless earbuds in and turned my phone to the radio app. Zashi-nii-san's radio show would be starting soon, and even if he irritated me earlier, I never missed his radio show since the day he started shortly after I graduated high school. It made me so happy that it was getting more popular.
"Hello, Listeners! Thanks again for tuning into Hands Up Radio with me, pro hero PresentMic! I hope all of you listeners are having a fantastic Friday night! We're going to get things rolling tonight with a special song that I picked out for my number 1 listener! This one's for you, Nobu!" Nii-san's voice yelled out into my earpiece. My heart lifted a bit, and at the same time, I began to feel a bit guilty for snapping at him earlier. He was just trying to help. Suddenly, the song Silence by Marshmello ft. Khalid. It made me smile a bit.
Unfortunately, a movement caught my eye in an alleyway near the roof where I was crouching. Sighing to myself, I turned my phone to record the radio show, so I could pause it and finish listening to it after I was done checking out what was going on. As I approached the alleyway, I heard a muffled scream. Keeping my movements silent, I moved towards the alleyway to see a man pushing a woman against the wall with a finger that was morphed into a knife on her throat as he got ready to use another one of his knife fingers on his other hand to most likely cut her clothes off. I noticed another presence but decided to focus on the immediate threat.
Pulling my goggles down over my eyes, I cancelled the man's sense of touch and hearing as I came up behind him and pulled my kusarigama out of my obi and quickly moved the chain around his neck and pulled back fast and firm, successfully getting him away from the woman without a single scratch on her.
"You're safe, ma'am. Please leave. I will take care of this creep," I said calmly with a small but reassuring smile, my voice quiet but calming causing the woman who was still shaking to nod and run off. I pulled the chain I had around the villain's neck a little bit tighter until he passed out from lack of oxygen before releasing my grip on the chain and pulling out some rope that I had in one of my utility pouches and calling the cops as I tied the villain up tightly.
"You can come out now. Or just report to Nii-san that I'm fine. Your choice," I stated calmly and quietly to the underground hero I had noticed the presence of earlier. Said hero landed on the ground beside me and walked up to me as I turned to him, moving my goggles to the top of my head.
"How long did you know I was here?" he asked, curiosity intruding on his usually bored sounding voice.
"Since I noticed the perpetrator," I responded shortly, turning Nii-san's radio show back on, as Aizawa-san hummed in response.
"Your skill with that kusarigama is impressive," Aizawa-san commented, his bored tone back. I nodded in thanks, not looking at him.
"Now you can report that to Nii-san, and I can get back to my patrol. I've proven myself to be more than capable of handling myself," I stated while signing as I looked back at him. Being around someone for any length of time always made me nervous and led me to signing while talking.
"Believe it or not, I'm not here at Hizashi's request, Muffle," Aizawa-san responded while looking at me with a serious expression causing me to give him a quizzical look, "He did ask me to come watch after you; however, he also mentioned having you come teach at U.A. and I was curious about the rationality of that suggestion. Even among underground heroes, not much is known about you, so I wanted to see you in action. U.A. might just be the right fit for you." That threw me for a loop.
"Now, listeners, we are gonna take things up a notch for all you party animals tonight! Makes me wanna say YEAHHHHH!" I could hear nii-san yelling in my ear, temporarily distracting me and causing me to giggle.
-Aizawa's POV-
As soon as I finished explaining to Yamada-san why I had followed her and watched her apprehend the feeling, I heard yelling from her earpiece that sounded like… Hizashi's radio show? Immediately after, she let out a giggle, and I felt my face heat up a bit. Cute. Wait… No, Shouta. You're being irrational! This is Hizashi's little cousin for God's sake! I mean I had already had to cool my face down after seeing her in her hero costume. It definitely confirmed that she was not a kid as it showed off her curves pretty obviously.
"Is that Hizashi's radio show?" I asked just to distract myself from her giggle and the frankly gorgeous smile that lit up her face when she did it. She nodded, her smile staying on her face though smaller than before.
"Y-yeah. I always listen to Nii-san's radio show. I haven't missed it once since he started doing it," she admitted her smile becoming a bit more shy as she began to sign more quickly, "That's why he calls me his number one listener." I smiled slightly at that. She really did look up to him, which really shocked me why she didn't use the quirk that she shared with him.
"Muffle, why don't you use your voice quirk?" I asked, and immediately, I regretted it as her smile fell and her bright green eyes seemed to dim, and she began signing at me without speaking, hinting that her quirk activated on its own again. I quickly deactivated her quirk to allow her to be able to hear again.
"S-sorry, Eraserhead-san," she mumbled, her voice coming out barely as a whisper. I nodded in understanding as I walked up and grabbed her wrist causing her to look up at me in surprise, "W-where are we going?"
"It's almost 5am. This patrol time is almost over, and the other pro heroes will start patrolling soon and the press will be getting more active soon. I'm taking you back to Hizashi's, and then I'm going to sleep," I stated bluntly as I led her towards Hizashi's apartment. I felt her tug back at my grip.
"I-I can get there myself," she said quietly, signing with one hand. I sighed.
"I'm sure you can, but Hizashi's apartment is on the way. It would be irrational for us to split up when we are going in the same direction," I stated simply, continuing to pull her along. I heard her sigh before her arm went limp in my hand. I glanced back to make sure she was okay; however, she seemed to be lost in thought. Before long, we made it back to the apartment.
"Do you have a key?" I asked with a yawn, and she shook her head.
"No, but I left my window open," she responded causing me to shake my head in irritation.
"Don't do that. It's dangerous in a big city like this. Plus, Hizashi is not an underground hero. You never know if you two will be targeted," I scolded slightly, my teacher side coming out a bit more than I intended. I noticed her giggle a bit causing my face to heat up once again.
"Your teacher side is coming out again, Aizawa-sensei," she teased quietly, emphasizing my name slightly causing my cheeks to burn even more at the mischievous glint that appeared in her bright green eyes. With that, she slipped out of my grasp and in through her open window. A minute later the front door opened with her standing in front of it in sweatpants and a black baggy sweatshirt that said Hands Up Radio on it in big bold red letters.
"You can come in if you want and sleep on the couch. Zashi-nii-san mentioned that he had a friend that was always tired. I'm guessing that's you. I'm not sure how far your apartment is from here. I can cancel your hearing if nii-san gets too loud," she stated while signing quickly, her voice nervous as she spoke quickly. I could tell she wasn't used to talking to strangers much and was really pushing herself. I smiled slightly at her before placing my hand on her head in a comforting manner.
"I'll take you up on the couch part, but don't worry about cancelling my hearing. You need your sleep too," I responded with a yawn as I walked in and laid on the couch, "And remember to lock the door and close and lock your window. Not only is it dangerous, but you could let your cat out too." At that, I heard the door close quickly followed by the sound of the lock and then shortly after, I heard her window shut and lock too.
What an interesting girl. I thought to myself as I laid on Hizashi's couch, falling asleep almost as soon as my head hit the cushion.
-Shinobu's POV-
The smell of something burning woke me up, and I got up quickly out of bed, startling Kuro as I did so. Quickly running to the kitchen, I immediately saw the source of the burning smell: Hizashi-nii trying to cook. There wasn't much smoke, but something was definitely burning.
Sighing to myself, I came up behind nii-san, turning the burner off before he accidentally caught his long blonde hair on fire. He apparently had not heard me because the action caused him to turn around quickly, hitting me in the face with the pan that he had in his hand. That earned a whimper from me as I fell to the ground, a sharp pain across my left eye and my nose as I held it feeling the wetness of blood dripping out of it.
"NOBU-CHANNNN! I'M SO SORRY! ARE YOU okay?" Zashi-nii panicked as I opened my eyes, activating my quirk to eliminate his hearing so he'd quit yelling; however, I had done that halfway through him yelling my name out, which means…
"You are way too damn loud first thing in the morning. Some of us were up late working last night and were trying to sleep," I heard Aizawa say as he walked around the island in the kitchen and kneeled down in front of me seeing the blood dripping from my nose, "I'm starting to think you don't need to be in a kitchen at this point." I gave him a halfhearted glare and cancelled his sight in response for a couple of seconds, unable to talk without getting blood in my mouth.
"I'm so sorry, Nobu-channn!" Zashi-nii anime cried as he ran around the kitchen like a chicken with his head cut off causing me to roll my eyes and giggle slightly at his antics earning me a look from Aizawa that indicated he was clearly questioning my sanity before the scruffy man let out an irritated sigh.
"Hizashi! Enough! Make yourself useful and get the damned first aid kit," Aizawa ordered nii-san who quickly did as he was told as Aizawa passed me a washcloth which I took with a nod and held to my nose to stop the blood.
"Thank you, Aizawa-san," I said, my voice quiet and even, despite how nervous I was getting from our close proximity. It was then that I noticed that his hair that I had only seen long and unkempt was tied back into a messy bun at the base of his next, and I found my face heating up, which was definitely not helping the whole nose bleed situation.
Damnit, nii-san! Why did the first friend you introduce me to have to be so freaking attractive?! Aghhh! Damnit, Shinobu! Get yourself together! You're a basket case! You don't get to think about this stuff that normal people do! I scolded myself and my dearest older cousin in my head. At that last thought, I sobered up, my emotions settling on a more depressed state that was typical for me since my first year of high school. I didn't deserve the normalcy other people had. Not after what happened with my parents. That reminder was enough to calm me down, though my face definitely fell as my bright green eyes dimmed.
Whatever was said towards me throughout Nii-san and Aizawa-san while they were treating my injuries did not register as I purposely cancelled my hearing and refused to sign to Hizashi-nii. It was my way of shutting people out. I guess this kind of quirk was actually quite useful for people that were antisocial like me. It was a lonely quirk, but it was what I deserved. With that thought, I walked into my room and laid on my bed face up, staring at the ceiling. Before long, I was joined by nii-san, worry reflected in his green eyes as he brushed through my hair with his fingers a couple of times before signing to me.
'Nobu, talk to me,' he signed quickly with a concerned expression on his face, as I sighed and signed back.
'I'm fine, nii-san. Just a lot of change at once,' I signed him a half truth, but of course he noticed.
'Is it Shouta? I thought for sure you would get along with him. Did patrol not go well? Do I need to kick his ass? He may be my best friend, but no one messes with my baby cousin!' nii-san signed, getting more agitated as he jumped to conclusions causing me to smile a bit and shake my head.
'No. Aizawa-san is nice. I don't mind him. Patrol was fine. I'm just not used to spending time with others,' I admitted in sign language as I gave him a smile and a small giggle. At that, I was pulled into a bear hug by Hizashi-nii and decided to uncancel my hearing.
"Thank you, Nii-san. You always know how to make me feel better," I whispered as I looked up at him and he placed a protective kiss on my forehead, "But are you even sure you could kick Aizawa-san's ass? He seems quite capable with his quirk and reflexes." At that, Hizashi-nii looked at me with a mock hurt expression before giving me a small smirk.
"How little faith you have in me, imouto! Or is it just that someone is taking notice of my best friend?" the way he said taking notice told me exactly what he was insinuating causing me to blush and shake my head to hide it.
"I'm just observant, and he's stopped both of our quirks with ease," I pointed out while signing, a telltale nervous habit I had. At that Hizashi-nii just gave me a suureeee before leaving so I could get some rest after having such a late patrol.
After he left, I laid back down staring at the ceiling trying to keep my thoughts off of a certain intriguing underground hero as I eventually fell into a fitful sleep with Kuro curled up beside me.
Song: Phobias by Johnny Orlando
A/N-
So the support and feedback on this story has already been amazing, and I'm honestly so grateful and overwhelmed! Please feel free to leave any comments or critiques or anything! It really means the world to me! :) Thank you all so much again! :)
Also, the song I put at the end of the chapter may or may not relate to the chapter content. A lot of times, it's just whatever I'm listening to when I'm typing the chapter up.