Chapter Text
Okay, in hindsight, Izuku really should have thought this through. He could’ve at least checked the weather before he decided to run off. But no, his first thoughts were, grab the notebooks, set of cloths, and run, no further questions asked. No more dealing with.... Her… No more dealing with the bullies, no more people calling him Deku , he was sick and tired of it all. Everything from every waking moment was abuse.
He sighed. Is it really abuse if she just forgot about you? His brain supplied. Izuku shook his head, everything else was. The burns, the notes, the flowers, everything. He was done. No more. Which is why Izuku brilliantly came up with the idea of running away. It sounded better at the moment, okay? Izuku clenched his hands around the straps of his backpack as rain poured from the night sky. He was quickly reminded of the burn on his shoulder as the strap strained against it. Izuku paused to remove the strap from his shoulder.
A quick glance up and Izuku might have seen it, a quick flash of red from the roof. Izuku pulled out the crappy phone from his jean pocket. Forty-five percent, that was good. Thunder erupted from the sky and Izuku tensed. He needed to find somewhere to get out of the rain. With a quick glance around, Izuku spotted a hand reaching towards his shoulder. “Hey, kid-”
The voice was abruptly cut off by Izuku proceeding to fling his backpack into the figure’s face. Izuku began to move his feet any direction away from, whoever this was. It was then he really got a good look at the figure. It was a young adult, from what he could tell. The person was clenching their nose. Izuku could only stare as he realised the person had large red wings. Oh, shit…
Keigo should have known better than to approach the kid from behind, but it would have probably scared him worse to plummet down from the sky in front of him. Keigo held his nose as the greenette quickly descended into a panic. “Oh my god! I am soooo sorry!” he frantically reached for the backpack.
Keigo shook his hands. “Don’t worry kid, I shouldn't have approached you like that…” he grumbled. “Damn, you pack a punch, whatcha got in ‘ere? Bricks?” he added after a minute.
The pre-teen shook his head. “Just notebooks Hawks-san.”
Keigo shook his head. “Drop the san, too formal. Now, wanna tell me why a 10 year old is out at near midnight?” he asked.
The kid shifted his feet, as if uncomfortable. “J-just walking.”
Keigo, while a new pro and severely under experienced with dealing with liars, could see the kid was lying. The kid had a backpack, an extra layer of clothes, and appeared to be in a hurry to go somewhere. “Yeah, and I’m All Might. What’s with the backpack? Do your parents know you're out here?”
Greenie stiffened at the mention of parents. Keigo sighed, that was a no. The kid was a runaway. So, why runaway? It struck Keigo like a hammer. “Kid, are you safe at home?” It was a cautious approach, and usually got answers out of the kids.
The kid rolled his eyes. Rolled them, as if whatever the hell was going on here was obvious. “If you're asking if I’m being abused at home, then no.”
Keigo felt a twinge of irritation run through him, vague answers, of course. “If you’re safe at home, then why aren’t you there right now?”
“Told you, walking.”
“That was a lie.”
“No, it wasn’t…”
“Yes, and you’re doing it again kid-”
“Not a kid.”
“Your ten.”
“I’m twelve.”
“Still too young to be out on the streets this late a night.” Keigo finalized the banter.
The kid huffed and looked at the hero. “S-so, you're not actually gonna s-send me back are you?”
Keigo looked at the kid and saw fear, not intense but there. He frowned a little, and made up his mind. “Okay, okay… You don’t want to go back home, got it. Any relatives I can take you to?”
Greenie just shook his head. Keigo sagged a little in defeat. Not going home (until further investigation), no relatives, what else? Keigo snuck a glance at the kid who appeared to be holding his shoulder delicately. That’s a possible injury… Keigo frowned. “Kids your age usually have a lot of friends right? Got any of those you could stay with?”
That sparked an immediate reaction out of the kid. “No. I don’t have any friends.” it came off rather defensive. Keigo would question it later.
“Your shoulder hurts.” Keigo stated.
The kid turned his torso away from Keigo slightly. He grimaced, paused a second, continued walking, and inhaled deeply. “Kid, you don’t have anywhere to go, so, I can only offer you a trip to the police station, or… My apartment.”
The kid stared up at the hero. A confused and calculating gaze was targeted at Keigo. “Sorry Hawks, but aren’t you a little young to have an apartment.”
Hawks opened his mouth to close it again. “I am a legal adult thank you very much.” he snorted.
The kid smiled slightly. “Would’ve never guessed.” Keigo snorted, so the kid did have a backbone.
“So, apartment it is?” Keigo asked, earning a nod from the kid.
After walking through the rain for a while, the two were thoroughly drenched. They arrived at a large and rather expensive looking apartment building. Keigo looked to the kid and motioned for him to follow him in.
Izuku would have thought that Hawks could afford a nice apartment with his quickly rising popularity. However, the apartment shown was above what he originally expected. Maybe it was because he stayed in a blank room for his entire life, or maybe it was the entire wall made of windows. Izuku wasn’t very sure. “You can set your stuff down on the rack right there.” Hawks broke Izuku’s train of thought, pointing to the rack to the left of the door.
Izuku nodded and proceeded to remove the soaked jacket from off of him. Izuku looked inside the backpack to see that the notebooks had not gotten wet, thanks to the plastic bag they were wrapped in. A smile made his way across his face as he pulled out notebook 15. Izuku set it, along with the other 14, down on the table and grabbed his spare clothes. “Hey, uh, where’s your bathroom?”
Hawks peeked his head into the room. “Second door on the hall to the left.”
Izuku nodded. He threw his wet clothes into the plastic bag he’d kept his notebooks in. Returning to the living room he found Hawks in the kitchen, which was placed conveniently behind the living room, and just to the side of the glass wall. Izuku watched as Hawks looked thoroughly through the fridge. “Hey kid, what do you want to eat?”
Izuku shrugged. “Anything you give me is fine.”
Hawks however, seemed annoyed at that answer. Oh god, am I gonna get kicked out? Did I really just screw up my one shot at a warm place to stay tonight? Shit, he’s gonna send me to the station, and I’m going to have to go back home. Back to school, back to-no, no, no- Izuku was broken from his thoughts by a steaming cup of soba in front of him.
Hawks gave Izuku a friendly smile, which immediately lessened the stress of the situation. “Alright, I can’t keep calling you kid, so can I get a name?”
Izuku looked at the hero. His first name would have to do for now. “Izuku.”
Hawks smiled at that. “I’m Keigo.”
Izuku nodded and began to eat his soba. Haw-Keigo eventually accompanied him with his own cup of soba. “So, I noticed you have a lot of notebooks, is that your homework or something?” Keigo asked suddenly.
Izuku finished his bite of soba. “A-ah! Those are actually j-just a hobby of mine!” he smiled.
Keigo nodded. “What you got in them?”
Izuku’s eyes light up. “I have quirk notes! T-they’re all the d-different q-quirks I see and I analyze them!”
Keigo seemed slightly taken aback by the boy's sudden spark of enthusiasm. “How good are they?”
Izuku shrugged. “No one other than me has ever really seen them, s-so I don’t exactly have an o-outside opinion.” He smiled weakly.
Keigo nodded slowly, contemplatively. “Would you mind if I read through some of them?”
Izuku froze for a second, before hesitantly getting up, soba forgotten. He grabbed notebook 13, and brought it over. “T-his one is a bit older b-but it has an a-analysis on you in it…”
Keigo was surprised. Normally kids would be fanning over All Might or Endeavor, not him. Not when he was so much lower in the rankings that the other two. Sure he was rising quickly, but he was still at number 9. People usually tended to focus on the top 5 pros. So yes, he was surprised to know the kid seemed so eager to show him his analysis on him.
Once Izuku handed Keigo the notebook, he carefully opened it, noticing how the first one was a lesser known hero, Eraserhead. Huh, that’s funny. A lot of people don’t even know Eraserhead exists. Hell, Keigo only knew after meeting Eraserhead at a hero gala. The pro looked more or less like a hobo and clearly was not one to have fans.
Reading on he found Izuku had expertly detailed lists on his strengths, weaknesses, improvements, past battles and drug busts, everything. Keigo felt concern well up in his gut. “Izuku, where the hell did you get information like this?”
Izuku’s head snapped to Keigo. “W-well, I came up with most of it myself but I got the records from the police database.” he stated simply.
Keigo frowned. Simply, the kid had stated it as if it were elementary school math. “You… Hacked into the police database…”
Izuku frowned. “W-well, no? I-I don’t think… It was exactly hacking…”
“What would you call it then?” Keigo huffed.
“Uh, guessing the police chief's login?” Izuku replied.
“Izuku what the actual hell?” Keigo sighed, wondering what he got himself into.