Chapter Text
It was a quiet night. Truly quiet.
It was even unsettling for the underground pro-hero Eraserhead, who was hopping from rooftop to rooftop among the eerie alleyways of Musutafu.
However, that night, everything was normal. Nothing seemed out of place.
Nothing seemed like it would disrupt the tranquil glow of the bright full moon.
Nothing, except that small mound of green fur swaying in the light night breeze.
Eraserhead walked past until he realized it was NOT normal.
Hair meant there was a person, and a person sitting on the edge of a building's roof late at night did NOT mean anything good.
Eraserhead stopped in his tracks to get closer and check what exactly was going on.
He didn't want to scare him away or disturb him, so he stayed a significant distance away to assess the situation.
Everything seemed calm, with no signs of nervousness or any other intentions. Analyzing it, Eraserhead could tell it was a teenager—wait, more like a child.
Wait.
A CHILD?!?
Without a doubt, that skeleton, size, and build belonged to a boy of approximately 13 years old. And that, began to worry Eraserhead.
Without a doubt, this situation was starting to get out of hand for the pro-hero.
He fights all kinds of villains daily, catches all kinds of bandits, criminals, rapists, and thieves in the city without any hesitation.
He didn't need her.
He was a cold, distant, and unloving man.
And yet, as a professor at UA, he dealt daily with children in their teens and on fire.
But he wasn't used to this. He didn't know what to say. How are you supposed to comfort a little boy who, God knows, got to the edge of a rooftop? He wished Hizashi were with him; he'd know exactly what to say.
However, even with all his fears, Eraserhead couldn't wait any longer. He had to do something. He couldn't just watch and ignore what was happening.
So he decided to slowly approach from behind with heavy steps so the troubled child could anticipate his arrival.
As he landed on the building where the child was, he began walking toward him, until
"Hello," the child said, without any hesitation or fear.
"H-hey, kid," Aizawa said, reaching the curb where the child was standing.
"What are you doing here alone?" he said as he crouched down, looking at the sights of the city.
"Thinking," the child said, his voice much huskier than Aizawa imagined.
"Isn't it a little late for you to be thinking in a place like this?" Eraserhead asked, raising an eyebrow at the child's response.
"Mhm," the boy hummed, noticeably indifferent to the conversation.
Eraserhead noticed how he wasn't making any progress with either the conversation or the situation, yet the atmosphere wasn't tense or awkward; they were simply there.
"The stars can be clearly seen today," Eraserhead said, leaning back to see them more clearly.
At that moment, the boy tilted his head back slightly to look at the sky.
It's something, Aizawa said to himself; at least he wasn't brutally ignored.
"I'm—" Eraserhead said, trying to begin his introduction, but was interrupted.
"You're the underground pro-hero, Eraserhead," the green-haired boy said.
"I know," Aizawa didn't know what to say. How could this kid know about him? He was supposed to be an underground hero.
"I also know you work as a professor at UA."
What? How could this kid know that? Only his coworkers, Nezu and Tsukauchi, knew.
The media barely knew anything about him.
"Excuse me?" Eraserhead said, trying to hide his shock.
"You're my favorite hero, you know? You do good because you want to. You don't need achievements or an audience, and you don't need attention to do something halfway good for society like other heroes."
"Wow... kid, is that what you think? I'm glad you have such a good opinion of me. However, how do you know all that? Not many people know that much about me."
"I really like quirks. I investigate and speculate about them. I like to analyze them." The answer was simple, but it's something: the boy had said something.
All this time, the boy hadn't moved his head, except to look at the stars when Eraserhead said it.
But even then, he looked straight ahead again.
Aizawa could only see his right profile for the moment. He had quite pale skin, emerald-green eyes, and a few freckles adorning his face.
And something distinctive, something Aizawa hadn't expected to see, was that smile.
A smile hung on his face.
Forced.
Artificial.
Completely unwanted by the boy.
That smile never left his face.
It wasn't exaggerated; he didn't even show his teeth, but it definitely didn't feel right.
His outfit didn't reveal much: black sweatpants and a loose-fitting black sweatshirt.
The sweatshirt was slightly rolled up, but not a trace of his skin could be seen.
Both of his arms were bandaged. Right down to his fingers. This slightly wrinkled Eraserhead's gaze, but it didn't show.
He could also notice that the boy was quite thin; however, all that remained was pure muscle.
That didn't leave the hero entirely at ease, but he couldn't be affected.
Until he came to the puzzle piece.
His shoes.
Those red shoes were the piece the hero needed to begin speculating and investigating the boy's situation.
"I like them a lot too," the hero replied, "although my quirk doesn't say the same." He tried to joke.
It was at that moment that the boy turned his head toward Eraserhead.
He didn't do anything, he didn't say anything, he just watched carefully.
Eraserhead already knew what didn't feel right, what didn't add up.
His smile didn't match those empty eyes, devoid of hope, of brightness, of light. It was as if he'd already seen it all... as if he'd already given up...
Eraserhead swallowed and continued the conversation. "Tell me, what else do you know about me?" he asked curiously.
“Not much, really. The basics are, you're an underground pro-hero specializing in secret missions who fights with a restraining weapon and specializes in hand-to-hand combat. You don't have a specific fighting style, but rather a mix of taekwondo, kickboxing, and street fighting. And on top of that, you have your quirk, which basically suppresses your quirk through vision. As long as the target is in your line of sight, their quirk will be suppressed, as long as you don't blink. You can last approximately three minutes since your eyes dry out, hence the eye drops… If I'm not mistaken, that's it. Sorry if I made a mistake, but I don't have my notebook handy.”
Aizawa didn't know what to say. He simply didn't understand how the hell this kid was able to find out all this; not even some of his closest friends knew about it.
“...hmm, okay, wow. How the hell did you get all that information from me?”
“Um, just some of the few videos that exist about you and some of your fights I've witnessed.”
“Excuse me? Witnessed?”
“Well, I'm usually around the neighborhood.”
Aizawa was still stunned, but this was the perfect opportunity to ask something more about the boy himself.
“Well, while you're at it, what about you, problem child?”
“No.” As soon as he said that, he stood up.
“Wait!!” Eraserhead shouted. “Okay, okay, you don't have to tell me anything!”
“I have to go anyway.”
With those words, he started running and jumping between buildings…