Chapter 16: Imagine Adopting A Wild Shinso
"Well, he should be here soon. While we wait for him," The vigilante thrust out his hand to Shinso, "I'm Serpentine."
"I'm aware." Shinso shook it wearily, as if it might hurt him if he made any sudden movements. "Uh, thanks…for taking down that guy."
The vigilante looked down at the still unconscious thug, "What, him? Oh, that was a complete accident, but I'm glad that I could help. Why was he bothering you anyway?"
"Who knows. It's nothing new though," The purple haired kid that looked almost as tired as Izuku did answered with his hands in his pockets and refusing to meet his eyes.
He looked around his age, and he was scrawny. Kinda scary looking with the shadows falling on his face the way they did, but to Izuku he just looked cool. "What's that mean?"
Shinso looked at the vigilante, he hadn't expected for him to continue the conversation. That was the perfect opportunity for him to stop talking, so why didn't he? It didn't make sense. "Nothing, don't worry about it. And you don't have to talk to me you know."
Izuku plopped down beside the unconscious criminal and patted the ground next to him, "Come sit." He stretched out his short legs and began to fidget with one of the hair ties on his wrist. "Talk to me, what did you mean that it wasn't anything new?"
Hitoshi complied to the vigilante's request hesitantly. Was he really about to have a heart-to-heart with Serpentine? Really? Well, it wasn't like he had anywhere to be anyway, and he definitely didn't want to go home.
"No, it's nothing just-" He met the vigilante's green eyes that seemed to be tearing into his soul and gave up trying to dodge. He somehow knew that even if he did, he wouldn't get very far. "I get bullied sometimes."
Izuku hummed under his face mask, he knew all about that. "Why?"
"My quirk. They say that it's a 'villain's quirk' and that I can never be a hero with a quirk like that. It really sucks because I've wanted to be a hero ever since I was little and I even took the entrance exam for the hero course at UA, but I didn't pass because my quirk wasn't physically powerful enough."
"And I bet that gave them even more to say."
"Yeah…" Shinso scoffed, thinking back to how bad the bullying had gotten just before he graduated middle school. He would come home with black eyes and bruises all over and his foster parents just completely ignored it. His foster dad even went as far to say that he deserved it one night at dinner. "But it's been getting better lately."
"And what does your family think about this?"
Crap. Hitoshi didn't exactly want to talk about his family issues with some random stranger, ever if he was a up and coming vigilante. He barely knew the guy! "Oh, they're fine…" Serpentine looked at Hitoshi out of the side of his eyes and he knew that his lie wasn't as good as he wanted it to be.
He tried again, "This home is a lot better than my last one. They don't hit me and they provide everything that I need."
"That sounds like basic human decency to me. Did they even try to stop the bullying?"
"Um," What was this? Why was he so interested in Hitoshi's life? "Not-not exactly…but it's okay! It's not their fault that I have such a villainous quirk. I'm just glad that they took me in and continue to take care of me."
"So, you're a foster kid?"
It wasn't really something he liked talking about. Remembering that his parents apparently didn't love him enough to keep him and just dumped him at the door of the closest orphanage wasn't exactly a happy memory.
He had been through six different homes before this one. All of which condemned him for his quirk and got rid of him as soon as they possibly could. This home was the longest one he had ever had. The couple that fostered him had three other foster children that they took care of. They were nice enough, but they were of course wary of him and what he could do.
So, they took some precautions in the house. Hitoshi was not allowed to speak while at home. The whole family took up sign language classes so that they'd be able to communicate with him, and he had a designated notebook he was to talk with at school since he technically wasn't supposed to talk there either, but he didn't really use it.
They made sure that everyone he was around knew of his quirk and exactly how it worked so that they could be prepared and take their own precautions. And Hitoshi was usually secluded in his room except for mealtimes and other special occasions.
It was to ensure their safety from him. Sure, it was unnecessary, and yeah, it hurt, but if it made them feel better, then he'd deal with it. He'd be out of the house soon anyway and then they wouldn't have to deal with him anymore.
Something that they did when they first took him in was forcing him to attend weekly classes on how to be a good citizen. They'd make him watch villain rehabilitation videos and lectures on how to properly help people. Things to try to teach the villain out of him.
Once Hitoshi told them his desire to be a hero they eased up on the classes and videos. They probably assumed that if he wanted to be a hero then he didn't want to be a villain and therefore they didn't have to deal with those anymore.
Like he said, they really were nice people who had taken him in and kept him longer than anyone else. They did slip up and yell or say something mean to him every once in a while, but they tried their best to keep things civil between them, which he appreciated.
"Are they good?" Serpentine's voice pulled Hitoshi out of his head and he hummed questioningly. "Your foster parents, are they good people?"
Were his foster parents good people? They took him in, so they must be, right? "I think so, yeah."
The vigilante nodded, staring at nothing in particular. Brain working a million miles a minute no doubt, "Do they love you?"
It came out of nowhere, and probably shouldn't have caught Shinso as off guard as it did. But the question hung in the air as he looked at the vigilante who was now searching his eyes for an answer. "I-" Hitoshi didn't know how to answer the question. He didn't really know what love felt like, all he had ever had was tolerance at best.
Was what his foster parents did for him love? He read about love in books and saw it on tv, but it looked different there. According to them, love was self-sacrificing. Love was putting someone else first and doing everything you can to be there for them and be with them. Love was encouraging one another and listening to them when they needed you to. It's seeing the worst part of them and staying anyways.
That wasn't what Hitoshi had. And he didn't think he ever has.
"…no. I don't think they do."
People who love you express that love, whether it be in telling you verbally, or showing it through their actions. That's not what his foster parents did.
Hitoshi felt a drop of liquid on his hand that was resting in his lap. What? Is it raining? He looked up to see that the alley was covered above them and then he felt another drop run down his cheek. He lifted a hand up to his face to find that he was crying.
"Oh wow, um," He scrambled to his feet and retreated to the alley wall to wipe his face and pull himself together. I can't believe I let myself cry in front of a vigilante. The vigilante! How pathetic can you get…
"It's alright." A low voice sounded quietly behind him. Hitoshi turned around to see Serpentine looking at him with sad eyes. Ones that were very different from before. "It's okay to cry, sometimes. When you need to."
"W-what?" This was too much for Shinso.
"Bottling up your emotions like that isn't healthy and will just hurt you in the long run. Believe me, I would know." He got up and stretched as he continued on. "Crying doesn't make you weak. It proves that you're strong, strong enough to care."
"I-" Hitoshi tried, but the words failed to form as he stared at the sad-eyed vigilante in next to him. The weight of his words…they held so much feeling, so much anguish. It made him sad.
He had never been much of a vigilante sympathizer, in his eyes, they were one step away from villainy and that was one step too close. But as he sat here with Serpentine, someone who was as human as he was, who had feelings like he did, he had to reconsider.
What had he been through to elicit such pain in his expression?
"What's your name?" The sudden question drew Hitoshi from his thoughts once again. The mood had shifted, as if that entire conversation hadn't just happened, and the vigilante looked at him with an expectant raised eyebrow.
"Uh, Shinso…Hitoshi Shinso."
"Hmm, good. It'd be pretty awkward for us to exchange tragic back stories and not even know each other's names."
Hitoshi's eyebrows furrowed, "But I don't know your name."
"Well duh," Serpentine scoffed, "That's kinda the whole idea."
"I-" He started but was cut off by cloth shooting from the mouth of the alley and wrapping Serpentine up like a burrito.
Both boys turned to where the cloth came from and found a red-eyed Eraserhead glaring at them, or Serpentine mostly.
"This is a bit overkill, don'tcha think Eraser?"
"When it comes to you, nothing is enough."
"Okay, that's fair."
The underground hero released the vigilante from his scarf and walked towards them, taking in the scene. All the while, Hitoshi was fangirling in silence at his aLL TIME FAVORITE HERO SHOWING UP AND HE WAS HERE STANDING IN FRONT OF HIM AND-
Stop.
Keep your cool Hitoshi, he's just a hero…
Just the cOOLEST HERO EVER!!!!
The hero walked closer to them and examined the still unconscious thug on the ground. He looked up after he determined that he was still alive, "You did this?" He asked Serpentine with tired eyes.
The vigilante just nodded and the hero sighed deeply.
"Well, he's not dead so there's that."
"Hey now, we both know I've never killed anyone. I'm the one who wants to die, remember?"
Another sigh, "How could I forget…" He then seemed to take Hitoshi into account and looked him over. He nodded his head towards Shinso and asked, "He with you?"
"No, I found him!"
"Oh my god…"
"I slipped off of the roof and landed on that criminal who was threatening him! I saved his life and then we talked about our tragic backstories!"
"And we both know you have plenty of that," Eraserhead rolled his eyes and brought his hands up to his temple to rub as if fighting an oncoming headache. "Are you hurt?" He asked Hitoshi who was still staring wide eyed at the interaction in front of him. "Any emotional trauma? Well, any that wasn't caused by this one?" He jabbed his thumb at Serpentine, who smiled innocently under his mask and, Hitoshi was just noticing, was somehow free from Eraserhead's capture weapon.
Hitoshi shook his head, still not able to calm himself down enough to function like a proper human being. Pull it together Hitoshi!
"Okay. I'm going to need both of you to come to the station with me to give statements." Before he even finished his sentence his scarf shot out and wrapped Serpentine up once again, who had looked like he was trying to run away. "Not so fast. You need to learn to deal with the consequences of your own actions, and that means paperwork."
"But I don't wannaaaaaaa," the vigilante whined while Eraserhead dragged him out of the alley with the criminal draped over his other shoulder and motioned for Hitoshi to come too.
"I don't care. You fight, you write, that's how it goes."
Serpentine groaned and pouted as he continued to be dragged the entire way to the police station.
"Tsuki!" Eraserhead dragged Serpentine through the station doors as if it was just another Tuesday and the vigilante hadn't stopped grumbling until he saw one of the detectives who, when he saw him, seemed to age ten years.
"Serpentine…" He took in the situation and rubbed his forehead before turning to Eraserhead, "Dang, looks like I owe you twenty dollars."
At this the underground hero smirked and yanked Serpentine to his feet. The vigilante looked between the two of them with a look of betrayal in his eyes. "Have you two been betting on me??"
"Yes." Both answered at the same time and chuckled.
"I was hoping that you'd take a bit longer to bring in, but it seems that Eraser has stepped up his game."
"I don't know about that. If he really wanted to get away, I have no doubt that he could. He probably just wanted to see you again and annoy the two of us as much as possible."
"That's not true!" Serpentine cried out with a scoff. "I also wanted to spend more time with my new friend." He gestured at Hitoshi with his head.
Eraserhead sighed and the detective laughed, an interesting dynamic if Shinso had ever seen one. "I feel sorry for you if Serpentine now considers you his friend." He patted Hitoshi's shoulder and then the two of them turned and started walking through the station, still dragging the vigilante behind him and carrying the criminal on his shoulder.
The hero dropped the criminal off in an interrogation room and made sure that he was restrained for when he eventually woke up, while Hitoshi, the detective, and a burritoed Serpentine waited in the hallway.
"Geez, what did you do to knock that guy out so cold?" The detective nudged the vigilante's shoulder.
"It was an accident!" He cried.
The detective scoffed and crossed his arms, "Of course it was." He looked over at Hitoshi, who was awkwardly just going along with whatever happened, because he had absolutely no idea what to do in this situation. He must've picked up on his discomfort because he stretched out his hand in front of Serpentine who stood in between the two of them, "I'm detective Tsukauchi. And you must be the new friend that Serpentine was talking about, right?"
Hitoshi let out a nervous laugh and accepted the detective's outstretched hand. "Apparently so. My name is Hitoshi Shinso."
"It's very nice to meet you Shinso."
Eraserhead finally came out of the interrogation room with a sigh, "You really did a number on him kid."
"I diDN'T MEAN TO!"