Chapter 21: Davinki???

"He what?!"

"Shouta! Shouta, please calm down-nO YOU CANNOT GET UP YET!"

Maybe telling Eraser wasn't the best decision that Tsukauchi had ever made. But he had to at some point, the kid was basically his child.

He knew that he wasn't going to react well, but this was…

"No Shouta! Hizashi, help me hold him down!"

Mic shuffled to the other side of the hospital bed and pushed down on Eraser's shoulders, making sure that he couldn't get up and go kill a pro hero. "Listen, we're all pissed, okay? But you're still recovering."

"What? Do you expect me to just sit here while a pro literally KILLED Serpentine? Absolutely not."

"Careful Shouta, your dad is showing."

"Shut up." Eraser crossed his arms across his chest and glared at the two men braced to hold him down again should the need arise. "Fine, so what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to confront him."

This caused Eraser to scoff as he looked at Mic like he was crazy. "You're serious? Come on Tsuki, like he'd ever tell you the truth, especially since there's no actual evidence."

"You forget that I'm literally a human lie detector."

"So what, you're just going to go up to him and ask if he killed a vigilante? Then what?"

"Then I'm going to detain him, revoke his hero license, and let the chief figure out what to do with him."

Okay, it was a good plan. Eraser couldn't deny that, but he still wanted to make him pay. Just a little bit of pummeling, not too much. But that wasn't very becoming of a pro hero according to Hizashi, stupid pacifist…

"Stop pouting Shouta, it's not a good look on you."

"I wish I still had my bandages on."

"I'm sure…and Serpentine definitely isn't your child."

"He's not!"

"Keep telling yourself that."

Izuku was sitting on the couch, relaxing for once in his life when he heard the sound of the door being unlocked.

Alarms immediately went off in his head as he jumped up and out of the open window, quietly shutting it behind himself.

What the *?

Nobody was supposed to be here, so why was someone trying to get into the apartment?

Did that mean that they had finally sold it? If people were moving in, then what was Izuku going to do? And whoever was in there now would know that someone had been living there…

S*

Izuku poked his head up and tried to look in the window, seeing nobody at first.

The door was open, and he could hear someone walking through the apartment, but he couldn't see them yet. Maybe it was just the landlord coming to check on the condition and-

Oh…

Oh no, this was bad. No like this was really, really bad.

Dad-

It was Izuku's dad. The tall man was unmistakable, even though he had never seen him in real life before. At least, not that he remembered. But it was him, the same curly brown hair, the same dark eyes that he saw in so many pictures.

But what was he doing there?

He knew that he should leave, hide and try to figure out what to do, but he just couldn't take his eyes away. This was the man who had left them all those years ago and never even tried to contact them. Not even when mom died…nothing.

And here he was, rummaging through their apartment, inspecting all of Izuku's things.

He hated it.

Apparently, Izuku's bad luck just kept on coming because it was at the moment that Hisashi decided to look out to the city and the two of them made eye contact.

Oh my god, mother-

The window was closed so Izuku didn't hear what his father said, but he could tell by the way his mouth moved that he had said his name.

He should've left, he should've just gone when he had the chance, but it was too late now and even if he wanted to, he was glued to his spot. They just stayed like that, staring at each other, until Hisashi rushed to the window and opened it with a grunt.

"Izuku?"

Oh, he wished that he could be literally anywhere else.

"Izuku…son, is that you?" He reached out and enveloped him in a hug that made Izuku flinch hard. He didn't seem to notice. "Oh my god-what are you doing alive? I thought that you died. You and…oh son-" He squeezed is arms tighter, oblivious to Izuku trying to get away from this man who had infiltrated his home.

"Stop…" His voice was low and could barely be heard, "Please, let go."

"Oh, Izuku you have no idea-"

"Let me go!"

Hisashi froze and slowly retracted his arms from around his son. "Izuku?"

He stumbled back, looking at this man with horror in his eyes. This was wrong, he wasn't supposed to be here. "What-what are you doing here?"

"Well, when I heard about…everything, I decided to come here to take care of some stuff since it all fell to me. Imagine my surprise when I come to inspect your old apartment that was seeming abandoned and find my supposedly dead son."

"I-you need to leave. Right now."

Hisashi leaned back and let out a small laugh, "What do you mean Izuku? I'm your father."

No.

No this was all wrong. No, he couldn't be here-he needed to leave.

Izuku needed to leave.

All at once Izuku's body seemed to flip into hyperdrive and he just knew that he couldn't stay here. So, like any sane teenager, he jumped off the side of the fire escape landing on the platform below and booked it to the ground.

His father yelled after him, but he refused to look back. He just wanted things to stop. Stop and go back. He was doing just fine on his own and now this…man shows up…

No, he needed to go somewhere, but where could he go? Maybe-

"Eraser," Was the only thought that broke through.

Izuku didn't know why he was thinking of the hero, but he just knew that he could help. He just needed to get to Eraser and things would be okay.

Shouta sat in his bed thinking. Tsuki and Hizashi had just left due to visitor hours ending and now he was here alone.

He was quickly getting bored with recovering and was ready to get back out there, something that both of his friends had scolded when he brought it up. Spoil sports…

They were right, of course. But that didn't mean that Shouta was just going to do nothing while his injuries healed, he needed to be productive. He knew that he would be going back to the school either tomorrow or the day after, he couldn't just abandon his teaching duties because he got a little roughed up.

Hopefully that is tame enough for his friends to step off of his butt about resting.

He had been deep in thought when a small pop and clatter sounded beside him followed by the sound of the window opening and someone grunting as they climbed their way inside.

As soon as the person fell to the floor with a yelp, Shouta knew who it was. He would know his number one problem child's voice anywhere.

"Serpentine what are you doing here?"

The kid stood up and slid the window back shut, picking up the snapped off window latch and placing it on the bedside table. He turned towards Shouta, and the hero's face immediately dropped as he looked at the kid's red eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"What happened?"

He sniffled and tears welled up in his eyes before spilling over with a whimper. "I-" Serpentine tried to say but was cut off by a sob, "My-"

Shouta sat up and beckoned the kid towards him, "Hey, come here. It's okay, it's okay, tell me what's wrong."

He obeyed, walking closer and only slightly flinching when Shouta placed a hand on his shoulder. "Um, my-my dad…"

"You're dad? I thought he was out of the picture-"

"He was! But he just showed up and he tried to talk to me and I just…" The kid was falling apart. He was now sobbing and hyperventilating while also trying to control his breathing and failing (obviously). Under Shouta's hand his body was shaking and the tears were coming quicker than before.

Eraser shifted his body to put his other hand on the kid's shoulder and shook him slightly, "Hey, hey! Look at me kid, okay? Look, you're okay, you're fine. Breath with me…in…and out…in…and out."

Slowly he began to calm his breathing and in turn his sobs and shaking as well.

"Good, that's good. Feel better?"

Another sniffle, "No."

"That's fair. Alright, so your dad came back…and he knows that you're alive?"

Serpentine nodded, "He was surprised when he saw me." He paused, staring at nothing in particular, before his attention snapped back, fresh tears pooling in his eyes. "He-he didn't even show up to either of our funerals-"

Oh my god-

"Hey, hey, you're good. You're with me, okay? That means that you're okay and you're safe. Right?"

He hastily nodded and ran his hands through his hair. The kid wasn't wearing his vigilante garb, he was dressed in All Might pajama pants and a too big black t-shirt. He must've come here on instinct. That also meant that his face was visible, not that it mattered, Shouta had figured out who he was not too long ago.

Izuku Midoriya. Mother, Inko Midoriya, died just before Shouta met him, and the kid…had died just after she did, suicide.

There was no mention of a father in his records except for a name, Hisashi Midoriya. From what he could find, he had left the family years ago and hadn't contacted them since.

It hurt Shouta to see the kid like this. He had never seen him so vulnerable, so…broken. Seeing his dad must've really done something to him, especially considering what he just said, that he didn't bother going to either his or his mother's funeral.

Then that begs the question, why was he here now?

"Um," The kid started, voice broken and soft, "Can I…stay here for tonight? I don't want to go home and see him again."

"Sure kid, whatever you need." Visiting hours were over and Shouta was pretty sure that the hospital had rules against people staying with their patients, but they also probably have rules about people breaking into the hospital rooms and the kid had already done that twice. Plus, what were they going to do? Try to ban the dead kid? Right, I'd like to see them try.

"T-thanks."

"Don't mention it.