Chapter 9: Thou shalt speak thy truth
It had been a couple of days since Izuku had first received his powers and created Babylon. Just a week ago he had been a quirkless, bullied nobody, and now he could literally not be further detached from that identity if he tried.
Instead of school, his days were now spent in his mindscape. He worked on some new items that may or may not be useful in the future, and then usually lazily napped in the central garden, which he had since dubbed "the Oasis".
He wanted to move on from that routine though and decided to focus on other things. He still had to think about a costume. which would have to be created by the support department at U.A., unless he wanted to blow his cover in regard to his quirk not having an actual limit. Still, that wouldn't stop him from creating his own prototype, as well as his own gadgets that he would activate from time to time.
Another thing he desperately wanted to start working on was his body. Sure, he could just give himself more muscles, but this was one of those things that he didn't want to cheat on. His quirk was already overpowered, so this was something that he wanted to do just like any other human. That part meant a lot to him. As such, he needed to come up with some kind of training regime. At least he had the training yard floating just next to the workshop to use instead of a sweaty and intimidating public gym.
Speaking of the workshop, another thing he had yet to even think about was some epic mode of transportation. Teleportation was convenient, but nowhere near as fun as zooming through the skies at high speeds! It made him think of Hawks, the winged hero, and now incredibly fast he was. Izuku debated with himself if he should create some sort of wings with his "quirk" but decided to figure that out later.
When he thought about speed and vehicles, he thought of a motorbike right away. It was fast, convenient, and was definitely one of the flashiest vehicles out there. His mum would kill him if she knew what he was considering, but since it was part of his quirk, he could control the vehicle with his mind! He simply had to have one.
It would look absolutely perfect with my neon theme, too!
Thinking back to his mother, though, Izuku was conflicted once more. It was obvious to her that he was acting differently; she'd even told him as such. It wasn't meant in a harsh way or anything, since he was obviously much happier than before, but it surely confused her all the same. He'd chalked it up to having Kimiko in his life and enjoying online school, but he knew he'd have to tell her more soon, especially since he had to publicly register his quirk sooner or later. He just didn't know how to go about it.
Hey Mum, yeah, hey, so, um, I have a Quirk now! Cool, huh? Okay, bye, see you.
Izuku shook his head. Yeah, no.
He glanced over from his position on the couch next to Kimiko, who lay on a big cushion in the partial shade under one of the trees. She was asleep, so he decided to wait before discussing the things that were on his mind with her.
Speaking of sleep, he mused to himself, why do I even still have to sleep? I'm God!
It dawned on him then that he could easily be a hero 24/7 since his new status could take care of his body for him if he so wished. It was certainly convenient not having to eat, drink or use the bathroom every so often. He still did those things, since he enjoyed them, but he didn't technically need to. The same went for sleep.
He wondered if he should create a separate vigilante persona. He could change his entire appearance, give himself a completely different quirk, the whole works. It would be fun being able to experiment with a different side of himself.
But then again, vigilantes were illegal, and he wasn't so keen on his illegal activities being linked to him, even if he were to have a different identity. Izuku didn't mind vigilantes too much; he understood their reasonings for the most part, and the Hero Commission was more corrupt than all the vigilantes combined. But all that meant to him was that it was more important than ever to enact meaningful change from within.
People who were oppressed by the system – vigilantes or even just people who want to use their quirks in public from time to time, as well as quirkless individuals, among others – didn't have the power to change anything. Any attempt on their behalf would just be met with ridicule or even harsher consequences, such as imprisonment. No, change had to come from the people who actually had the power to enact change, or at the very least had the status to be listened to. To make people doubt the system, to see the cracks in what they had previously perceived to be flawless.
It would take time, but Izuku was nothing if not determined. He was going to make the world a better place, even if that meant he had to follow the oppressors' rules for the time being. And besides, he could always sneak out at night undetected.
With that settled for the time being, Izuku realised that it was time to go again for the day. He was itching to start designing his new bike, but he figured he could do that from his bedroom since he wanted to browse the internet for some inspiration first. Knives and guns were easy, but a one-of-a-kind futuristic mind-controlled bike? Yeah, no, that would need some planning.
He figured it would also enable him to spend some time with his mother. The poor woman had been alone a lot, except for at night, and it most likely made her uneasy knowing how often Izuku just disappeared during the day. Maybe he'd bring his laptop to the living room for a change of pace.
He was also considering telling her about his quirk soon, maybe even that very same night. She deserved to know, and it would explain his absences. Hopefully, she would see the positive side of things, maybe even thinking that there was no safer place for her son than inside his mind of all places.
Only one way to find out.
-x-
The godly duo teleported straight back to Izuku's room, just as they had done the previous days. Inko would be coming home in about five minutes, which gave the pair enough time to make it look as if they hadn't spent the past couple hours in a different dimension.
Thinking back to his previous thoughts, Izuku decided to follow through and bring his laptop to the living room. He had some time before dinner anyway, but he thought his mum would like to see him there. The only thing missing was calming down his nervous jitters.
"I'm gonna tell her tonight," he said while staring at the laptop in his hands. "I don't want to lie to her any longer. I've figured out my quirk now, so there's no point in prolonging it."
Kimiko jumped down from the bed and nuzzled one of his legs. "It'll be fine, don't worry."
"Yeah, I hope so," he sighed.
They made their way over to the couch, settling in relatively comfortable positions. It wasn't quite as comfortable was the Oasis, with its warm sun, gentle breeze and cushions as soft as clouds, but it was still his home, so he didn't want to complain.
Opening his laptop to start his search on motorbikes, his mind was racing. He had to come up with the perfect story, the perfect way to break the news to her. He was debating which parts to include and which parts to conveniently not mention for her to not worry about him. Needless to say, mentioning his soon-to-be-real motorbike or his flamethrower of all things could wait for another day.
The most important part, he thought, was his origin story. Late bloomers were a thing, but the oldest were usually six or seven, not 14 years old. So, there were only a few other options for him to choose from.
One, he could say he always had his quirk but didn't know about it until recently. That still left the how up for grabs, though. What kind of event could have made him realise he suddenly had a quirk, especially after doctors had confirmed he didn't have one? Could Kimiko play a role in his story, perhaps?
Two, he could say it was a trauma-induced quirk, meaning some kind of event made his fight-or-flight response react, thus activating his dormant quirk genes. It was a simpler story, arguably more believable too, but much scarier for the poor woman.
Then there was three, even though Izuku already knew he didn't want to go with his. Technically, somebody could have just given him a quirk. He knew that that kind of power existed, but it wasn't something that just happened now and then. If you got a quirk in that way, you had made a deal with the devil.
The devil wasn't even anything like what people thought he was.
Izuku sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Hey, Kimi?"
"Hm?" she replied from her relaxed position next to him, cocking her head in question.
"What story should I tell Mum about how I discovered I have a quirk? I can't decide."
She was quiet for a moment, seemingly pondering the situation. Then, she had an uncharacteristic smirk on her face, which threw the poor boy next to her for a loop.
"I think you should make this decision on your own, Izu."
"Wha- bu- why?!" he whined. "Aren't you supposed to be my all-knowing advisor or something?"
She merely chuckled at his antics. "Well, technically you could just see the different futures based on your conversation with her yourself, but I want you to just react the way normal Izuku would. She's your mother, Zuzu. She'll be confused either way, but she'll also love you either way."
Izuku sighed. "Yeah, yeah, you're right. Thanks."
Turning back to his research, it wasn't long before he heard the door to the apartment open. He heard his mother shuffle around, no doubt taking off her coat, shoes and bag, and then she finally made it to the living room. She was reading something on her phone, so she hadn't noticed her son yet.
"Hi, Mum! Welcome back."
She looked up, slightly startled, before smiling brightly back at him. "Oh, hi honey! I didn't expect to see you there."
"Yeah, I feel like I've just been either in my room or outside lately, so I thought I'd come hang out here for a while."
Inko had now moved over to the couch and gently placed a kiss on the top of his head. "I'm glad! Would you like to do something together later or are you busy?"
Izuku hummed. "No, I don't have anything I need to do, really. I'm ahead with my schoolwork, too, so we could watch a movie or something?"
"That sounds great! I can make us some popcorn, too. I'll even make you some with caramel since I know that's your favourite," she replied, now gently guiding one of her hands down Kimiko's back, who in turn seemed to be enjoying the affection.
"Oh, yes please!" Izuku cheered. "What are we having for dinner, by the way?"
"I prepared some curry again last night, so all I need to do is cook some fresh rice, which shouldn't take too long."
"Okay, thanks, Mum."
"That's alright, Sweetie! I'll start once I've freshened up, I'm surprisingly hungry today."
-x-
Dinner preparations came and went, and Izuku found himself anxiously eating his curry. Kimiko was innocently eating her food like the traitor she was, leaving him to try to find the right moment to bring up the absolute bombshell he was about to drop on Inko. His mother seemed to pick up on his nervousness, though, and decided to be the one to start the conversation.
"Izuku, honey, what's wrong? You look anxious."
His head whipped up to meet her gaze and he inwardly cursed at himself for his emotions betraying him just like his foxy friend. The universe was conspiring against him, it seemed.
"Ah, well…" he started, "I have something to tell you, but I don't know how to go about it."
She dropped her utensils and gave him her best motherly smile. "Well, whatever it is, if you want to tell me then I will gladly listen."
He took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.
"I have a quirk."
Nailed it.
His mother stared at him for a solid five seconds before finally shaking herself free from her stupor. "What?"
"It's true. I discovered I have a quirk the other day."
He wasn't sure what kind of emotions he should try to convey. Happiness? Guilt? Anxiety? Either way, his poker face was non-existent, so he imagined his face probably looked like a combination of all three.
Inko, who had no idea what to say, simply stuttered. "T-That's amazing! What is it? And how did you discover it?"
He decided to tackle the first part first, hoping that she might just forget the second one. If there was one thing he knew how to do, it was talking about quirks. That had been the one thing in his previous life that he had been good at, after all.
"Ah! Well, there are two sides to it. You see, it's a mindscape quirk. Basically, I can enter my own mindscape, which is a place where I can do pretty much whatever I want. I can also create whatever I want, which is where the second part comes in!"
He paused for a moment, then decided that showing was better than telling. Lifting his hand to the side, he manifested a bouquet of flowers, tied together with a bright red ribbon.
"I can bring things from my mindscape into the real world, Mum! The drawback though is that they disappear after a while since it takes energy to keep them here."
He reached over and gave her the bouquet, which she accepted almost robotically. Her poor mind was currently in the process of rebooting, so all she could was stare at her son in disbelief, and then at the bouquet in her arms. She decided to smell them, and to her surprise, they actually smelled heavenly.
"So… these flowers will disappear after a while?" she tentatively asked.
"Yeah," he answered, "I don't know what my limits are yet, but I can manifest multiple items at once for at least a while, so a simple bouquet can probably stay here for a while. I don't feel it draining me or anything like that."
She realised she just probably – no, definitely – be more excited for her son who finally had a quirk that she mentally slapped herself, her look of disbelief morphing into one of joy.
"That's amazing, Izuku! You could do so many things with that!" she exclaimed as she moved over to give him a certified Mama Bear Hug. "I'm so happy for you, honey!"
Izuku all but gladly accepted his mother's invitation and embraced her hug. Any hug from her was always amazing, and it became even more so when emotions were running high. They were both crying now, whether they wanted to or not. Nobody could fight Midoriya tears.
They stayed like that for a moment until they reluctantly pulled away and sat down again, although their curry had long since been forgotten. Kimiko, for her part, just silently watched the scene in front of her with the slightest of smiles.
"So," Inko continued, "can I ask what your mindscape looks like? Have you been spending a lot of time there? Is it only your mind that goes there or does your body go there too?"
Izuku clasped his hands together. "My physical body goes there too, and yes, I've spent quite a bit of time there over the past few days whilst I got to grips with it," he said, a grin beginning to appear on his face.
"And Mum, that place is beautiful. It's a bunch of floating islands with various buildings and tropical gardens. I call it Babylon because I was subconsciously inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, I think. You know, the ones said to have existed thousands of years ago."
"Oh my," Inko replied, "I would love to see that for myself. Can you do anything there?"
"Yeah! I can do absolutely anything there. Flying is definitely one of my favourite things to do. I bet I'm either faster than Hawks!"
She chuckled. "I don't doubt it, darling."
They both started eating some of their plates of curry in comfortable silence for a moment. Kimiko decided to move back to the couch, and Inko decided to continue the conversation.
"We should go and register your quirk tomorrow as I don't have to work in the afternoon. Hopefully, they won't give us too much trouble."
She didn't catch Izuku's knowing smirk when he answered with a simple "I'm sure it'll be fine."
Undeterred, she then steered the conversation to the very things Izuku had been trying to avoid. "So, how did you find out you had a quirk, then? Did something happen?"
He swallowed his food, giving himself a precious few extra seconds to internally debate his choices. He had brought this on himself, though, and he knew that, so he finally settled for his answer. Which wasn't quite one of the options he had thought about before, and instead was a fourth option: feigning ignorance.
"I'm honestly not sure," he said, testing the waters. "It happened the other day. I'd had a bad day, so I went out to blow off some steam, but nothing seemed to help. And then, the next thing I knew, I was standing next to an elaborate fountain in the middle of a tropical garden."
He briefly looked at Kimiko from where he sat, before turning back to face his mother. "Kimiko was there too, so maybe she had something to do with it? It's definitely my quirk, though. Once I was there, after I dealt with my confusion, that is, I somehow instinctively knew what I could do. It was weird; it was like I suddenly knew my quirk like the back of my hand as if I had had it my whole life."
Okay, at least some of that was the truth, right?
He anxiously waited for her to respond, but thankfully he didn't have to wait too long. Inko clearly had to think about everything for a bit, but that was to be expected.
"Well, I suppose that doesn't matter too much. I'm just so happy for you, baby! You have a quirk now, and it's so versatile, too! I take it you want to be a hero even more now, hm?" she joked with a knowing sparkle in her eyes.
Izuku snorted. "Of course! It's perfect for hero work! I can quickly create tools and weapons, and if it gets too dangerous, I can just escape to my mindscape and come back someplace safer. It's like teleporting!"
He'd made sure to include that last part. He knew she would worry and fret about him no matter what, but knowing he had an easy escape route at all times would be sure to calm her nerves a little.
"I'm glad. And I'm sorry… I couldn't quite believe in your dreams before, Izuku. I will support you no matter what now, but I couldn't help but worry about your safety before. I still do, of course, but…" she trailed off, waving her hand to the side.
"But now I have a way to stay much safer," he finished for her with a sad smile. "I know. I'm just glad how things turned out. I'm going to train hard for the entrance exam and then, one day, I'm gonna save a lot of people!"
That managed to lift the mood again. Inko reached out her hands on top of the table, and Izuku met her hands with his own, squeezing them gently. She smiled at him fondly.
"I know you will."
Notes:
Poor Mama Inko just wants her son to be happy lol. At least a quirk should help with that, right? Next chapter will see some more bonding between the two of them!
Also - thank you guys so much for all your suggestions for future weapons/gadgets/powers! All of them were super interesting! I won't be using all of them since some of them don't quite fit the narrative, but I can definitely see Izuku or other students using them! After all, even if Izu doesn't use a particular weapon, doesn't mean Hatsume can't make it lol. It will be a while before we get to U.A. but when we do it will be lots of fun having him show off what he can do! (and making certain people very confused lol)
Catch you guys in the comments or until next week!
-Curious Cat
Chapter 10: Thou shalt face disappointment
The rest of that evening had been pleasant, to say the least.
Inko succeeded in making Izuku's favourite caramel popcorn just the way he liked it – with butter and a decent amount of salt – and the three of them claimed the couch in various lounging positions, with Izuku leaning into his mother's embrace and Kimiko sprawled out next to him. It was nice; he'd missed simple hugs like this.
When was the last time we did this?
"What shall we watch?" his mother asked him. "Something new or one of the classics? How about an All Might movie?"
Izuku frowned, though thankfully it was hidden from her view. "Can we watch a different superhero movie? How about Spider-Man 7? It's good."
"Sure, that sounds nice," she replied. If she picked up on any unusual behaviour, she didn't call him out on it.
They watched the movie in peace, and before long they were fully committed to the story. The hero was struggling, and the villains were tough. Spider-Man's quirk protected him many times, but it was his gadgets as well as other heroes that saved the day. It reminded Izuku about his own weapons and gadgets, and how a quirkless hero was much more plausible than most people thought.
Either way, he enjoyed the movie. He felt comfortable and warm. It was a different kind of warmth than the sun in Babylon; he felt loved and protected here. His sleepy mind didn't quite catch the irony of that thought, since he hardly needed protecting from anyone. But he was still a child, and he would always seek his mother's warm embrace. Was he touch-starved? Maybe. He hummed in satisfaction as she gently caressed her hands through his locks.
"I'd like to make something special tomorrow," she said. "Would you like me to make Katsudon? It's still you're favourite, right?"
He chuckled. "Nothing could ever surpass my love of Katsudon, Mama."
That, in turn, made her chuckle. He usually only called her that when he was in a certain kind of mood, like the one he was evidently in currently. It warmed her heart.
"That's settled then. You're lucky I always keep the pantry stocked with that dish in mind," she said, as she started rubbing his arm absentmindedly. "Oh, we should invite Mitsuki and her family! This is big news, after all!"
Izuku stiffened next to her. He'd completely forgotten about his mother's friendship with Bakugou's mother. His plan had been to completely ignore his bully for as long as possible, which was most likely high school, but the universe truly did have a twisted sense of humour, it seemed.
Oh, I am so screwed.
"Actually, Mum? Can we keep my quirk a secret, please?" he asked her with the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster. He was going to beg for this if he had to.
"Huh?" she asked, confused. "Why would you want to do that? Don't you want to show off your quirk, Baby?"
"I don't want… Kacchan, to know," he replied, stumbling over the nickname he never wanted to say again but would for the sake of maintaining some sense of normalcy for her. "Or anyone else. I want to surprise everyone when I get to U.A.! It would be anticlimactic for me to just announce it on a random Friday."
Inko hummed as she thought about it. "I suppose… Oh, I already feel bad for lying to Mitsuki, though."
"Don't think of it as lying, just as withholding the truth! Please, Mum? I don't want to ruin the surprise. I've gone this long without a quirk, so now that I have one, I want to milk it for all its worth. I want to train hard and then show everyone what I can do!"
"W-Well," she says, clearing her throat, "if that's what you want, then alright."
"Yay! Thank you!" he cheers, pulling her into an actual hug. That was one less thing to worry about.
They stayed like that for a few more minutes, waiting for the after-credits scene to play. It was an old tradition that spanned back many centuries. It gave Inko some time to think, though, and she promptly had another oddity on her mind.
"I'm wracking my brain, but I can't remember any of your relatives or ancestors with a quirk even remotely similar to yours."
She watched as her son froze under her grasp once more. Why was he so nervous?
"Hm, me neither. Maybe it's a mutation, or there were some relatives we don't know about. Not like we can ask Dad or anything." Her breath hitches at that, and he's quick to realise his mistake. "Argh, sorry, I didn't mean it like that...!"
"It's okay," she reassures him.
Hisashi, Izuku's father, was always a bit of a sore subject, to the point where neither of them talked about him anymore unless it couldn't be avoided. Unbeknownst to Inko, though, her son was already planning on paying him a visit sooner rather than later.
-x-
That night, Izuku couldn't sleep. Kimiko was snoring softly at the foot of his bed, her form slowly rising and falling with each breath, but he had too much on his mind that night. He had too many things he wanted to do – no, had to do – and there he was, about to waste precious hours by lying unconscious in his bed. No, he couldn't do that.
He was going out.
He quietly got out of bed, masking his presence from the little fox for good measure. She didn't have to come with him for once, and besides, she would probably disapprove of the boy's plan, even if he couldn't exactly get himself killed. He preferred to let her sleep. And so, stretching his limbs, and giving himself enough energy to last the night, Izuku teleported to one of the dodgier parts of town.
Looking down at himself, still in a simple t-shirt and shorts, he quickly changed his attire to black streetwear that he could easily move around in. He was even wearing a mask and a hood, although it wasn't like he was going to drop his cloaking anytime soon. It was for the vibe if nothing more. The aesthetic, you could say.
Izuku had no idea what he was doing. In all honesty, he most likely just wanted to see the state of his hometown for himself. At the very least, that's what he told himself. After all, if he was going to fix society, he was going to have to work his way up from the bottom just as much as he had to reach the top one day. It was going to take time, but Izuku figured that time was one of the key things that he had that other people didn't. As such, he was uniquely qualified for the job he wanted to undertake.
Pulling up a holographic projection of a map - one of his favourite new creations - in front of himself to familiarise himself with his surroundings, he soon realised that the underground scene was much larger than he'd previously thought. Izuku lived on the other side of town, more or less, and the media always focused on what happened during the day, so it came as no surprise that the underground was such an unknown to him.
He then thought of something, and in an instant, the map displayed different coloured dots, all representing heroes and police officers currently on patrol. There were a few he didn't recognise, which threw him for a loop because he thought he knew everything about heroes, especially in his own hometown. Nevertheless, there were plenty of heroes that he knew about, most of them moving about on what was most likely their patrol routes.
"Shadowing one or two heroes would be good experience," he mused to himself. "I can see how they do things, and make sure no one gets too hurt."
His mind now made up, he teleported onto a rooftop next to an alleyway where an underground hero was currently using some kind of retractable staff to take out some thugs. Izuku stared at the scene in front of him, fully intent on analysing the heroes moves and tactics for future reference. His new notebook and pen already materialised out of thin air and into his hands which were itching to right.
The thugs put up a decent fight. There were three of them, thus outnumbering the hero, and their quirks looked like they could do some serious damage. The first one had some kind of reptilian mutation, giving him sharp teeth, claws and even a tail, which he used to swing at the hero like a fifth limb.
The other two looked human, but it was quickly obvious what their quirks were. The woman seemed to be able to control some kind of metal or perhaps a similar type of material, with which she flung various bullet-like projectiles at her enemy. The final thug had a simpler quirk that let him control the water in the bottles he carried with him.
The fight had only just begun, but it seemed like the hero was already overwhelmed. Each of the hero's opponents was strong in their own right – the women with the projectiles especially – and together they were quite the force.
Growing apprehensive, Izuku pulled up his map again. The closest hero was about ten minutes out, maybe less if they hurried. That was a lot of time for something to go deadly wrong. Turning back to the scene down below, Izuku bit the inside of his cheek. Surely heroes had more than one trick up their sleeve, right? It would be way too dangerous, otherwise.
Surely enough, the hero jumped back and grabbed something from their utility belt. It was small, and they threw it at the thugs in front of them, revealing the fact that it was some kind of smoke bomb. The hero quickly put on their mask, which looked to be some kind of high-tech gas mask, and waited.
Their opponents coughed and they breathed in the pink gas, swiftly losing their balance and collapsing onto the concrete below. They tried to get away or fight back, even succeeding in hitting the hero in the arm with one of the bullets, until they finally collapsed.
Izuku was shocked. He wasn't sure how to feel. On the one hand, he had just witnessed an efficient takedown of three hostile and powerful people with minimal damage. But on the other hand, the hero basically just used a bomb with the kind of gas the Pro Hero Midnight created with her quirk. As in, the hero relied on a support item. Their own quirk was useless in that situation.
Shock turned into anger. That hero, who was now waiting for the police to come while tending to their injury, had essentially fought completely quirkless, and quite poorly at that, and yet society somehow believed that quirkless people couldn't be heroes. That they would just get themselves killed, that they were a liability.
And yet here he stood, watching a pro hero doing something Izuku knew he would be able to do, even without his brand-new powers. How was that fair? How was any of it even remotely fair?
With his anger still coursing through his system, Izuku decided to leave the scene and see what a different hero was up to. Maybe they would actually impress him, unlike the previous one.
He found himself on top of a roof again, except this time the hero was also there. Izuku recognised this man since he taught at U.A. It was the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead. He honestly looked a bit like a homeless person and like he needed roughly ten years of sleep, judging by the dark circles underneath his eyes. His yellow goggles were on top of his long black hair, and his capture weapon was around his neck. It made for a funny-looking scarf.
The man was sat at the edge of the roof, his feet dangling off the side. Izuku was surprised to see the hero sit there so casually as opposed to on guard, but if the hero was still alive after so many years on the job, surely he knew better. Izuku walked up next to him and sat down. It was an odd feeling sitting next to someone, let alone a pro hero who doesn't even know you, and for them to have absolutely no idea you are there. It made him smile a bit, despite his conflicted emotions from before. It was like being a ghost, minus the dead part.
"So, busy night, Eraser?" he asked, fully knowing he wasn't about to get a response. "I wonder what kind of hero you are. Don't get me wrong, I know how you fight, which is essentially quirkless, actually. You just erase peoples' quirks, which is pretty damn cool."
He turned to look at the hero, who was still in the same position as before, obviously not hearing the boy's words. "I wonder what you're like, though. I hope you're not like All Might. He sucks. Do you think quirkless people could become heroes?"
Eraserhead didn't answer, which was to be expected. Izuku couldn't help but feel a bit deflated, though. He wished he could just drop his cloaking and talk to the man, but that would probably have ended badly. Kids weren't meant to be on random rooftops in the middle of the night, after all. Not that that would stop Izuku from now on, but the heroes didn't need to know that.
After a few more minutes, Eraserhead stood up with a grunt, which amused Izuku. The hero was looking at his phone, clearly typing something, and after pocketing it he used his scarf-like weapon to propel himself forward and onto the next roof. With a startled yelp at how skilled the hero was at parkour, Izuku gave chase. There was no way he would be able to jump across the gaps like the other man, but he did his best to at least run where he could, supplementing what he lacked with his godly abilities.
"I clearly have to work on my fitness!" he shouted to no one in particular.
After a few minutes, which left Izuku panting more heavily than he'd be willing to admit, he saw Eraserhead crouching down and peering over the edge of the building. Down below, in yet another alley, two people were exiting the back of a building with some bags over their shoulders. Thieves.
Eraserhead didn't waste time as he leapt down to the ground, his capture weapon making it quick and easy to incapacitate his targets. They looked shocked, taking a moment to realise what was happening before they snarled.
"Oi! Who do you think you are!" thief number one shouted.
The hero didn't reply, holding his weapon tight and glaring at the two of them instead. His eyes turned red and his hair started to defy gravity. He then delivered two blows to their heads, knocking them out, before releasing his quirk.
Izuku was amazed. Eraserhead was ruthlessly efficient. He watched as the hero muttered something under his breath and took out his phone once more, presumably to coordinate with the police. It took a couple of minutes, but a police car finally showed up, allowing the man to release his hold of the delinquents.
What Izuku wasn't expecting was for the hero to follow after the car and head to the police station. Did heroes always have to head there after an incident, or was there a different reason? Did underground heroes work differently? Or was it the end of his patrol anyway? He had so many questions, so, naturally, he followed.
Police stations were frequently featured in popular media, so Izuku wasn't too surprised by the scene in front of him, though there was certainly a lot that he didn't quite understand. He wondered what kinds of tasks had to be carried out, and how they collaborated with heroes.
He could spy some interesting quirks at use, which made him wish he had a notebook. It took him a second to realise that he literally could just summon one again, which made him laugh out loud. He guessed he still wasn't quite used to his new powers yet. Either way, he decided against it, because he didn't want to lose track of the man he was shadowing for the night.
The man in question was speaking to a man with a cat head and a man with short dark hair. Moving over to them, he tried to pick up on their conversation.
"I'm glad they didn't give you too much trouble," the cat man said. "These two have been on our radar for a few weeks now. Only petty theft for the most part, but their quirks make it easy for them to slip away."
"Thank God for our amazing Eraser for that then, hm?" the plain-looking man said with a sly grin.
"Very funny, Naomasa," Eraserhead deadpanned.
Izuku, as invisible as ever, chuckled. He liked this guy. He was competent, unlike that first hero, and so refreshingly different to heroes like All Might.
"Either way," the guy now known as Naomasa continued, "thanks for bringing them in. Why don't you head home once you've finished the paperwork? You have class tomorrow, right?"
Class? After working all night?
"Hmpf, fine. But only because it's a quiet night."
The man walked past his colleagues' knowing smiles and sat down at a desk not too far from them. Izuku followed, deciding to watch him work. It was the less glamorous side of hero work, but a necessary part of it nonetheless, and something that he would undoubtedly be taught at hero school anyway.
And so, Izuku found himself sat cross-legged in the air behind his new favourite hero, enjoying the monotony of the scene in front of him and the noise of people around him. Compared to a night alone with his own thoughts, it was heavenly.
Ha, heavenly.
Notes:
I live for family fluff. Writing and editing that scene was so fun, it warmed my cold, stone heart for a brief moment.
And our favourite Dadzawa finally appears! Yay! Can't really call it a meeting when you think about it, but don't worry, the hobo teacher will meet his problem child soon enough. After said problem child causes him a headache or three. Naturally.
Next chapter: Izuku plans his next steps, and we get to see what a certain villain is up to. I wonder if you can guess who :3
Thanks for reading!
-Curious Cat