Chapter 18: Eraserhead actually has friends??

"Shut up," The villain whined as he side stepped the growing pool of blood coming from Shouta's face, "You may be cool Eraser, but you're a huge pain in the butt. And for that, you must die before you become even more of a problem."

He didn't move again, not even when the Nohmu eventually got off of him or when he was apparently carried away by his students. He couldn't wake up no matter how hard he tried or how much he screamed in his head.

He was helpless…useless. And he hated it.

Shouta woke up with a gasp and was met with complete darkness. After a moment he began to panic. The quiet beeping that was steady in the background began to increase as his thoughts ran rapid.

The last thing he remembered was getting his face slammed into the concrete…and then again…and again…and again until he eventually passed out. What if that thing had permanently damaged his eyes? His quirk wouldn't work without his eyes. He wouldn't ever be able to see his students, or his friends, or his problem child ever again-

Before he could go into even deeper of a spiral, he heard a soft thud and the sound of something sliding open and then the crash and grunt of someone falling and cursing under their breath.

"Kid??"

The only person who would be stupid and crazy enough to literally fall through the locked window of a hospital was Serpentine, and honestly, Shouta wouldn't put it past him.

"Surprise?"

Izuku had heard about the attack on the school and about Eraserhead's condition. That one had taken some digging, but he also managed to figure out what hospital he was at and even the room number he was in.

He wasn't sure if he should be thankful or scared that this information was this easy to find. Not that it was too easy, because it wasn't, but it would be something that he'd have to bring up to Eraser once he recovered.

Then Izuku found himself looking at the front of the hospital, actually the same hospital he escaped right after he came back for the first time. According to his info, Eraser was on the sixth floor in room 6-C…

He could do that.

It wasn't difficult to scale the building, what was difficult was staying out of sight of both the patients in other rooms and the people outside who could see him. And snapping the lock off of the window from the outside was also not a walk in the park, but he still managed to do it.

He just hoped that he had the right room.

Once he got the window open, Izuku tried to shimmy his way through gracefully, but he hadn't ever done anything graceful in his entire life, so why would this be any different?

It wouldn't. And that's why he wasn't surprised when he fell through the window and crashed to the floor letting out a string of words under his breath that he never would've said before.

"Kid??"

Eraser's voice snapped him out of his pity party and when he saw the frantic mummified figure of the pro hero, Izuku felt his heart ease. He could see for himself that he was okay. That he wasn't hurt too badly or…

Did he really care about him that much? Had they gotten that close over the past few months?

"Surprise?"

Even though, he probably couldn't see him, Eraserhead's head snapped in Izuku's direction, and he could just tell that he was glaring at him.

After another few seconds of him *probably* glaring at him, Eraser let out a sigh in relief. "What are you doing here problem child? And did I just hear you fall through the window?"

"Haha…yeah."

"How far up are we?"

"Six floors."

"Oh my-you know what? I'm not even going to try. Why are you here?"

Izuku crossed the room and sat in the chair beside Eraser's hospital bed. "Is it that hard to believe that I was worried about you?"

He couldn't even see his face, but Izuku knew-he knew that Eraser was rolling his eyes under his bandages. The jerk.

"In all seriousness, I was actually worried and wanted to come and see that you were alright for myself."

"I-" The hero started but stopped as if trying to find the right words, "Thank you. For coming to see me…even though I can't actually see you right now."

Izuku shot up from his chair, "Oh yeah!" He walked towards the closed door and opened it gingerly before peeking his head outside to make sure that no one was around. Once he determined that the cost was clear, he nabbed the chart from where it sat in the wall cubby thing and carried it back to his seat. "Let's have a look at your chart. I got some details from snooping, but not a lot."

"You what?"

"Chill out, it wasn't anything too illegal."

According to Eraser's chart, he came out of that whole situation incredibly lucky. Especially considering how much damage he obtained.

His right elbow was quote 'chipping away' and his face was almost completely shattered due to whatever that Nomu thing they were talking about did to him. There didn't seem to be any permanent damage, just some scarring.

Izuku let out a breath and silently thanked God. It could've turned out so much different if All Might hadn't shown up and defeated the monster. Or if his students hadn't gotten him away when they did.

"What does it say?" Eraser asked eagerly.

Izuku hummed, "Nothing much, there's no permanent damage, but you will have a few scars. But that's not really bad news, scars are cool."

The hero scoffed and let out a relieved chuckle, "Yeah…yeah, I guess they are."

"Were you worried?"

"About what?"

"What happened to you. What had been done to you. Were you scared that your sight was gone? Is that why you looked so scared when I dropped in?"

Another scoff, "I guess even with whatever is on my face, you can still read me like an open book."

"Eh, not really. I just happened to get lucky this time."

"I'm glad though. I don't know what I would've done if I had lost my sight…"

Izuku looked at the hero, the hero that was bandaged from literal head to toe from his fight with villains that infiltrated the school and he had to hold off by himself from what Izuku read. "You'd still be a great hero. With or without your sight."

"I guess you're right."

"Of course I am!"

Before Eraser could retort the door to the room opened and both of them tensed, not expecting anyone to come in. Izuku had nowhere to run, so he would just have to deal with whoever was coming in.

The door opened fully to reveal a surprised looking Tsukauchi before his face relaxed into a more tired expression. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Hey Tsuki!"

Tsukauchi walked in followed shortly by someone with blond hair and glasses. If Izuku didn't know any better, he'd say that was Present Mic in a man bun and hipster glasses coming to visit Eraserhead.

He walked in and noticed Izuku sitting beside Eraser's bed and stiffened. "Oh…hey listener. We didn't know that Shouta had any visitors."

"He doesn't. This little gremlin probably broke in here." Tsukauchi commented and received a point and wink in confirmation from Serpentine. "Oh my god. What did you break?"

"Just the window lock."

"JuST THE WINDOW-" He cut himself and held the sides of his head with his hands as he tried to calm himself down.

Present Mic watched the exchange with wide eyes, before he turned to Izuku and looked him up and down. Something seemed to click, and he smiled, "You must be Serpentine. Shouta has told me a lot about you."

"Eraser talks about me?"

"He sure does!"

"Zashi…" Eraser's voice came as a warning.

"First names huh? He must be one of those friends you were talking about, right Eraser?"

The hero sighed as Present Mic laughed and even Tsuki snickered from the corner of the room.

"But if you use his first name, why don't you call Tsukauchi by his first name?"

This time the detective groaned before he joined the rest of them surrounding Eraser. "We do it to annoy him. Tsuki sounds a lot cuter than Naomasa so that's what we call him."

"And I hate it."

"But you love us!" Present Mic leaned his head on Tsukauchi's shoulder only to be brushed off resulting in him and Izuku laughing, Tsuki huffing, and Eraser looking at them with what was probably a confused face. He then turned to Izuku with a smile, "We're only a few of Shouta's friends. Another should be showing up any minute now…"

"Oh no. No, no, no, no, pLEASE ZASHI NO!"

"It's too late, she just texted me that she's on her way up!"

Mic and Tsukauchi looked ecstatic for whoever was coming, but Izuku could just feel the dread seeping off of Eraser. Who could be coming that caused him so much grief…?

"Hey Eraser!" The door slammed open and a woman with green hair and a smile so bright that Izuku actually thought that the room got brighter walked in.

"Ms. Joke?"

"Fukukado…"

It was crazy how many pros Izuku was able to recognize outside of their hero costumes. Guess that's what happens when you spend pretty much your entire life studying and analyzing everything about them.

Ms. Joke crossed the room and sat in the last open chair around Eraser's hospital bed. "Come now Shouta, what happened to Emi?"

"I only call you Emi when I actually like you."

"So, you admit that you like me?"

"I dO NOT!"

"Aww, come on Sho, we all know that you two are bound to get together. Why resist it so much?"

"Shut up Hizashi! I do not like her!" Eraser tried his best to defend himself and snapped his head to where he probably thought that Tsuki was (and was correct, which was really scary/cool) "Don't you dare say a thing Tsuki."

The detective held up his hands in defense, "Wasn't going to."

"Shouta, who's this? No wait, let me guess!" Ms. Joke seemed very excitable, although Izuku supposed that she was always like that from what he knew of her. She took in Izuku and it was a minute before she spoke up again.

Izuku was glad that he had the mind to slip into his vigilante garb before coming, otherwise, he'd be in trouble. (Not that Tsuki and Eraser didn't already probably know who he was)

"Ohh! Is this that Serpentine kid you always talk about??"

"I do not talk about him!"

The three friends laughed at Eraser's outburst while he huffed and crossed his bandages arms.

"No need to be so defensive Shouta, we're all friends here. Even your son-" Tsuki didn't even get to finish his sentence before a pillow was thrown at his face faster than any of them had thought possible and with creepily perfect accuracy from someone who literally looked like a mummy.

This just sent them into even more laughter which Izuku joined in with.