It'd been a day since he got injured in that cursed villain attack, and Shouta was still annoyed. He hadn't needed to go the hospital, thank you. As embarrassed as he was at being helped by a kid barely out of diapers, he was rather grateful. Whatever the kid had done with his quirk, it was effective, shrinking the massive cuts he'd sustained into tiny little paper cuts and reducing the time he need to stay at the hospital from a few days to a few hours.

It was quite impressive. He hadn't seen a healing quirk to that caliber outside of Recovery Girl. What was weird though, was how he kept insisting that it was a goddess that healed him. He knew there were some strange and bizarre quirks out there in the new generation, but nothing to this extent. Was it childish imagination, or an actual godly quirk?

"Yo, Shouta, going to work already?" Hizashi asked, looking up from the dining table as he got ready to leave.

He nodded. "I have to make up for leaving work early last time."

"I wouldn't count getting hurt as leaving work early. Relax! You just got out of the hospital."

"Don't you have work to do as well? It's Monday already, in case you hadn't realized." He didn't need relaxation, dammit. He wanted to go back to work.

He rolled his eyes. "I know. I am working, actually. Got to work through this pile of paperwork." He gestured at the small, messy mound of paper in front of him.

"Oof. My condolences," he said.

"Yeah, yeah, go have fun on your patrol. And I swear, if you get yourself hurt again, I'm going to be furious."

"Got it."

His patrol went quietly and quickly, with nothing of note happening. As an Underground hero, he rarely patrolled in daytime, and he couldn't help but think he made the wrong choice. The lack of action was a little boring, though.

He was about to finish up the patrol when he passed by Aldera elementary school. Was it the school Izuku goes to, he wondered. It was the only school in the area, so he wouldn't be too surprised.

Remembering the bullying Izuku had told him about, Shouta's heart quickened. He really didn't appreciate that kind of thing happening. It struck a little too close to home. Izuku's quirk was healing, which meant he had no innate fighting power, much like him. The other kids must've looked down on him for it, just as they'd shunned Shouta when he was that age.

He sighed. Being mad was one thing, but there wasn't anything he could do about it, even if he wanted to. He didn't even know for sure he went to this school, and even if he did, what could he do? It wasn't like he could storm in there and beat the bullies up, as tempting as that thought may be.

He was about to turn when he heard a yell. It sounded like it came from one of the kids, probably just one of them playing too rough.

He hesitated for a bit, then sighed and approached. On the off chance something was wrong, he'd never be able to forgive himself.

It became extremely clear when he got there that something was definitely wrong. A small group of kids were circled around someone. A boy, it looked like. A familiar-looking boy.

Shouta groaned. Seriously? Of course it was Izuku. Why wouldn't it be? He really, really wanted to step in, but he knew it would only make the bullying worse in the future. He couldn't be there for him all the time.

"Are you looking down on me, huh?" a blond boy was yelling, tiny…flames going off on his palms. "I saw you use your quirk. Why won't you use it now?"

"I…I don't…it's not like that, Kacchan!" Izuku cried.

"Then what is it? You think that you're stronger than me now that you got a shitty quirk, don't you?"

"I…"

Shouta sighed. Enough was enough. He did owe him for his help yesterday. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he stepped in.

"Hey, kiddos," he said in a low, threatening voice. "What's going on here?"

Izuku looked up at him, green eyes filled with shock. His mouth opened, then closed, like he had forgotten what he wanted to say.

Shouta couldn't help but crack a small smile.

"AH!" one of the boys screamed. "A…A…monster!"

Shouta glared at him but secretly felt quite satisfied. If only real villains were this easy to scare.

The boy's eyes widened, clearly terrified by Shouta's patented glare, and he fled near instantly. Most of the other boys followed suit, to Shouta's joy.

"Who the hell are you?" asked the blond kid, crossing his arms. He was the last one here and didn't look all that scared. Yet.

"An adult who can get you in trouble for assault," he drawled. "Trust me, kid, you don't want to play this game."

"I'm not scared of you," he snarled. "And I didn't assault Deku. We're just having a talk."

Deku? Was that what he said? Shouta took a second to consider the implications before crafting a response. "Mhm. Sure. But whose word do you think they'll believe? A snot nosed little boy or me, a respected pro hero?"

Their eyes widened, and Izuku looked gobsmacked. "Pro…pro hero?" Izuku exclaimed. "You're a hero?"

"You know him, Deku?"

"Yeah! I met him a few days ago."

"Of course you'd make friends with the stupidest looking pro hero in the world." He snickered. "Whatever, Deku. I'm leaving. We'll continue this tomorrow."

"No, you won't. You will not bully Izuku again," Shouta said firmly. "If I find out you did, I'll make sure you pay for it." He wasn't sure how he was going to do that, exactly, but it seemed like the right thing to say.

The boy was quiet for a bit, then he glared at both of them. "Whatever," he yelled, throwing his hands up. "I hope you're happy you got some weirdo to help you." With that said, he stormed off.

Shouta gaped at the blatant disrespect. "What are they teaching you kids these days?" he asked, sticking a hand out towards Izuku and helping him up.

"Sorry about him," Izuku said, looking a little subdued. His face was completely red and he was staring at the ground. "Um…thank you, but you didn't have to help me."

"And why not?"

He just stared at the ground.

"You saved me last time. I'm just repaying you."

"I…I…should've been able to save myself!" he wailed, bursting into tears. "I have a quirk and stuff, but…but…"

Shouta winced. What had he done? Why was he crying? He didn't know how to deal with this. This wasn't part of the job description!

Wait. It kind of was. He trained for this at U.A. and it was part of the hero licensing test. He should know how to deal with a crying little boy by now. Hizashi would laugh at him for sure if he knew.

"I couldn't do anything! My quirk wouldn't come out!"

"It's okay, kid," he said, hoping he didn't sound scary. "Your quirk is healing. Of course a combat quirk would have an edge."

He cried harder. "No! It's not healing! I can do other stuff too, but only for thirty minutes! I was using it earlier before school and used it all up!"

"Oh." Shouta had never heard of a quirk like that. But that didn't make sense, did it? He knew for a fact Izuku had a healing quirk. He experienced it. "Um. Maybe try not using it up until the end of the day next time?" He winced even before he finished his sentence. What idiotic advice.

"Y-yeah. You're right," he mumbled, wiping his tears. "I'm sorry, mister. It was really nice of you to help me."

"Of course." Did that really work? No way, right? There was just no way. "Let me know if that other brat ever picks on you, okay? I'll teach him a lesson."

Izuku let out a wet laugh. "Okay," he said.

"Great. You feeling alright now?"

"Yeah. You can go back to doing…cool hero stuff." He paused. "What's your hero name?"

"It's Eraserhead. I'm an underground hero." He waited for the kid to be disappointed, but he finally cracked a smile.

"Woah. That's really cool. What's your quirk?"

"I can erase quirks temporarily," he said. "But you can't tell anyone, okay? It's a secret."

"Oh, okay! I promise I won't," he said sincerely. "Thank you for telling me."

For some reason, Shouta's cold heart warmed a little. The damn brat was growing on him, just a little. "Alright, kid. Let's get you home," he said gruffly.

"I can walk home on my own," he said, puffing out his chest. "I'm almost five."

"i know, but you said you ran out of your quirk for the day, didn't you? Not that you're allowed to use it, but still."

His eyes widened. "You're right! Let's go."

Shouta let out a small chuckle. "Yeah, okay." Kids were dumb, but he liked this one. If the other dumb kids dared to mess with him again, they'd have Shouta to contend with.


Izuku's was so stupid. He couldn't believe he used up all thirty minutes trying to use Raijin's blessing before school. He should've known something like this would happen, and now Aizawa saw everything and thinks he's a weak idiot.

So embarrassing. So dumb. The worse part was, he didn't even get Raijin's blessing to work.

"Is this your place?" he asked when Izuku stopped at his apartment door.

"Yep! Wanna come in?"

He hesitated, looking uncomfortable. "No, I'll just have a talk with your mom and be on my way."

"Okay!" Izuku quickly unlocked the door and hurried in. "Mom! I'm home!"

"Izuku! Welcome home!" She smiled at him, but there was worry in her warm eyes. "Who is this gentleman with you?"

"A hero! I met him yesterday. He was with Present Mic!"

"Oh! Hello," she greeted, instantly relaxing. "Welcome. Thank you for walking my son home. Did something happen?"

"He got into a small tussle with some kids," Aizawa said. "I broke it up and thought it'd be better if I walked him home."

"I…I see."

Izuku frowned. "I'm okay, Mom," he assured. "Nothing happened."

Aizawa looked at him with a raised eyebrow, but nodded. "I gave them a stern warning. This is my cell number," he said, handing a card to his mom. "Call me if it happens again."

"O-okay," she responded. "Thank you."

"It's nothing," he said somewhat awkwardly. "I'm going to get going."

Izuku nodded. "Bye!"

His mom looked extremely confused but waved him goodbye as well.

"Izuku, what really happened?" she asked once the door closed. "I'm worried. For a hero to get involved, it must've been bad. Do I need to have a talk with the school?"

"I'm fine, I promise," he said, feeling guilty. "And he stopped them super quick. It was so cool. He's awesome."

"Oh, alright, but you'll let me know if something happens again, okay?"

"Okay."

"Great," she said, smiling once more. "There's actually something I want to talk to you about. Mitsuki called me today."

Izuku froze.

"She said Katsuki told her you had a quirk?" she said. "Is that true, sweetie?"

Izuku nodded, swallowing hard. "Yeah. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, mommy," he said. "I wasn't sure if it was a quirk at first!"

"Oh, that's wonderful, Izuku! I'm so happy for you! Tell me everything."

"I'm not sure how it works. When we went to the shrine last week, I p-prayed for a quirk."

Her face fell. "Aw, sweetie. Is that what you prayed for?"

He nodded. "And the goddess gave me one! It's kind of weird but I can use a little bit of her powers. Like…like I can make light and make light barriers!"

"The goddess gave you powers? Really?"

"Yeah! I can only use it for thirty minutes a day and I already used it up, so I'll show you tomorrow."

For some reason, his mom didn't look very joyous at that. The gaze she fixed him with looked more pitying than anything. "Izuku, it's alright. You don't have to pretend to have a quirk. Mommy loves you no matter what."

"No, no, it's true! The goddess can talk in my head and everything, I promise!"

The pity in her eyes grew. "Okay, honey, I believe you. You can show me tomorrow if you want."

"It's true, it's really true!" Izuku cried. He knew it was weird and believable, but he would never lie to his mom. It wasn't fair. He thought that everyone would accept him after he got his quirk, but they all still think he's quirkless, or in Aizawa's case, thinks it's a healing quirk. Why couldn't he just have a normal quirk? One that he could use without a limit. One that didn't require him to chat with invisible people in his head.

"I believe you," she said, patting his head. "It's okay, Izuku. I'll always be on your side."

"Promise?" he said.

"Yeah, I promise."

He sniffled and wiped his eyes, annoyed that this was the second time he cried in a single day. "Thanks, Mom. It's a really cool quirk, I promise."

"I'm sure it is. Now, would you like to eat some apples?" she asked, picking one up from the table. "I just bought them this morning."

"Yeah!" he said, with slightly more enthusiasm.


A/N:Hihi! A bit of a slower chapter, but Izuku finally tells Inko his quirk. He'll get to try out his new raijin power in the next chapter tho :)
Thaanks for reading :D and thanks for all the comments 3 Hope this chapter was enjoyable

Also, to that one reviewer, yes, i'll be focusing on Japanese gods for now. Some of the ones I have in mind do have Buddhist and Indian influences, or are directly taken from them if that counts :)