apoptosis

by orphan_account

Summary:

When Izuku woke up it all felt like a bad dream. His mom couldn't be gone could she? He couldn’t be on his own now- could he?
The small boy huddled himself as far into the small structure as possible, going to grab his extra bag and pull out a rather large biology textbook.
One term caught his eye.

 

apoptosis

 

apoptosis (noun)
the death of cells that occurs as a normal controlled part of an organism’s growth and/or development

Notes:

uh first fanfic i guess?? let us see if i can keep up
tw: blood, gore, violence, death (anything else lmk!)

Chapter 1: single-celled organism

Izuku

Izuku sat on the ground in the main living area in his family's apartment. Scattered shards of glass littered the floor. Tiny almost infinitesimal drips of blood could be seen on the hardwood floor; to the untrained eye it just looks like poor quality flooring, or just a speckled wood grain.
Izuku knew differently. He knew where the only place this pure amount of blood could come from. Nothing else made sense because while Izuku wished his gut was wrong he knew it wasn’t. He knew it wasn’t because some of it was from him. The rest was from his mother. His now cold to the touch, going through rigor-mortis mother.

The air was cold, penetrating anything and everything it could. Not sparring anything. The shattered glass on the ground was foggy with frost, a damp layer of solidified air coating anything within reach.
Slowly Izuku rose to his feet. His young muscles ached as he moved. He hadn’t realized how long he had been sitting on the ground until he saw the state his mother was in.

Contrasting his view he had from where he had been sitting on the floor, the view he saw when he turned around to look at his mothers corpse was terrifying. Instead of the small smear that had been there before, small rivers of fruit-punch colored blood ran across the floor, slowly seeping under the door that led into Izuku’s room staining the carpet.

Izuku glanced around in robotic motions causing more blod to begin dripping from his face. The clotting factors were torn as he looked around. He couldn’t tell how far away things were and he was stumbling over his own feet is this what dad saw when he drank? Young Izuku thought as he stumbled into his room.

He thought trying to navigate into his room over his mother was difficult. That was nothing compared to trying to navigate his room. Within one step his left foot caught on a shirt causing him to fall face first into the ground. A throbbing pain ricocheted through his entire head. His left eye aching more than it had previously.

Carefully Izuku stood up. One hand clung to his dresser like an anchor in the middle of the Atlantic. He pulled both feet next to each other and slowly turned so he could look into the mirror.

That was the first time Izuku had seen his face since he felt the pain. He went to reach up and touch his face and ended up slapping himself. He had absolutely zero sense of depth perception, and he felt like he couldn’t get his bearings on his two feet. Izuku moved his hands away from his face, opting to grapple onto the piece of furniture in front of him. Izuku was in awe at what he saw.

A deep gash was small but very deep right above his right brow, and terrifyingly a shard of glass could be seen wedged partially under his left eye. A grotesque stream of bloody tears wound from his left eye. He tried to look to the left but whenever he did his eye felt like it was being stabbed, probably because it is, Izuku thought.

Hesitantly he moved away from the mirror moving closer to his bed. He safely collapsed onto it with a heaving sigh. Through muscle memory he moved his hand towards where he kept his phone. Giving his phone a tug so it became disconnected from the charger Izuku looked at it. He didn’t know what he was going to do. It’s not like he really had anyone he could call. The Bakugou’s were out of the question because of their son, and his dad was gone, and his grandma refused to answer any messages from him since he became diagnosed as quirkless, and his grandfather had disowned Izuku’s entire family when he found out, and his mom- a cold corpse on the floor, another statistic for the researchers.

Izuku looked at his phone. He had an idea, but he doubted it would work; nevertheless, to Maps he went. He was thankful for where he lived. While yes he lived in a city, not too far out of it was large wooded areas. Areas a small child no one would report missing could hide. A place where no one would make tiny starbursts appear on his skin. A place where no one would look for a kid, let alone a quirkless kid.

Fingers moving like lightning, Izuku researched local laws, and basic survival guides. These guides didn’t include too much actual survival advice, but Izuku felt like he could reason through a lot of things. He wasn’t planning on the wooded areas as a final home, it wasn’t realistic. Realistically he will find some abandoned building that he could reside in. He just didn’t feel comfortable heading too far away from the apartment in case something goes wrong.

Izuku carefully maneuvered back to his dresser only tripping over his feet a few times. He reached up hesitantly to his left eye where the glass shard was embedded. Izuku knew he needed to get this piece of glass removed. His eye would become severely infected if he didn’t. Tiny child sized fingers gripped the all too big piece of glass and gently began to tug. The pain was instant.

Izuku felt like he couldn’t breathe.

It burned.

It burned so bad.

Izuku tugged again.

Who knew a piece of glass could become so lodged into an eye like that.

Izuku pulled again.

This time the glass piece shifted more trails of blood raining from the young boys’ eye.

Izuku was blacking out from the pain, but in the back of his mind Izuku knew that no matter what his sight wasn’t going to be salvaged, that much was obvious, so he yanked.

In one movement the glass was free from his eye, blood now running in a stream down his face. The young boys’ hand shook with vigor as he held onto the rather large piece of glass in his hand. The piece of glass was sickeningly beautiful. It looked like stained glass that you might see in a cathedral. The scarlet drops of red darkened the outer rim of the shard with a paler pinker color decorating the majority of the shard in thin rivets.

---

Izuku’s feet thudded one in front of the other as he got the hang of his new depth perception. He had his yellow backpack slung across one shoulder while he carried an extra bag with his other hand. He was currently dressed in his school uniform (not like he was going) and was taking relatively the same path. He waved to the small flower stand worker he passed every morning but turned an alley later instead of the one he usually took.

In Izuku’s bag the extra clothes and empty notebooks shook lightly. For safe measures Izuku had also packed a few knives reasoning that he might have to cut plants (not for self defense). He had also packed his entire collection of pens and pencils, at least enough to hold him off until he had the money to buy more at some point. One of what would turn out to be the most important assets that Izuku had packed on a whim had been the pack of solid black cloth masks and a pair of sunglasses. Izuku thought that if he got sick it would be difficult to tell what was wrong, and better safe than sorry; the reasoning with the sunglasses was that he may get tired of looking at the sun while walking.

In the extra bag Izuku was carrying he had multiple school workbooks. Seeing as he was only newly in Middle School, he felt like keeping up on his studies would be a good idea.

---

Izuku continued weaving through various different alleys before he came across a large open clearing. He focused harder on maintaining balance as he no longer had any walls to lean on. The small boy continued stumbling through the open area before making it to the treeline, shoots of brown and green now decorating everything he could possibly see.

In all honesty Izuku was in awe. The wooded area was beautiful, the trees painting a picture like what you’d find in an art museum. Splatters of brown, green, orange, and blue blending together effortlessly. And it was quiet.

There was no Kacchan shouting at him.

Calling him Deku.

Worthless.

It was quiet.

Not quiet like last night.

Not the quiet of blood spilling without reason on the floor.

The small boy continued on his path through the woods. He eventually found a rather good area that had god coverage, and with the brief knowledge he had gained from the survival guide he read online, he felt fairly confident he could build a small shelter to hold him over for the night.

Izuku set his bag down, tying his dark green sweatshirt from his bag around a smaller tree as a marker to where his things are. He rubbed his hands together moving to slowly start stumbling to collect the necessary branches he’d need to build a fort to where the wind won’t cut through it.

He carefully lugged the larger branches to the area where he had leaned a main limb against it to form a tent-like shape. Izuku found what was left of the ushiest limbs and leaned them up against the main bar to start in order to create a pseudo-isulation layer to try and keep it warmer at night. After the first layer he added another layer of the softer insulating material, and then another, and then another. Finally Izuku picked up the solid wooden branches he had collected along the way and began to lean them against his insulation layers to create a protective outer shell of sorts.

After multiple hours, and an innumerable amount of tripping and falling Izuku looked at his finished piece. He had filled the inside of the small tent-like structure with as much moss and leaves as possible to try and give some sort of cushion. Dark wood outlined the small structure, and because of the way it was built, it was built to where the wind shouldn’t be able to penetrate it very easily. Not bad. Not bad at all for my first time, Izuku thought to himself. As Izuku dragged his small body into the even smaller shelter he shuddered. Even with the layers of insulation, that didn’t mean that he wasn’t affected by the colder nights in general.

Izuku decided tomorrow's goal would be learning the most effective way to start a fire. It’s be a rather sad start to living on your own if you died because you couldn’t figure out how to get warm. The small boy pulled his forest green hoodie tighter against his body, pushing himself into any attempts to get more heat out of it. He had retrieved it soon after he started building his shelter because of the temperature drop, but it still didn’t do a lot.

Besides being cold, Izuku thought the night had gone rather well. He was proud of himself for getting something done. It took away from the grieving his mind wanted to do, and instead made him focus on just surviving. Being alone at night, those thoughts wanted to come back, but exhaustion got the best of Izuku. He finally fell asleep and let his mind drift. He dreamt of heroes swinging from rooftop to rooftop, flying from cloud to cloud, grabbing people and saving them.

At night he dreamt of heroes.

He dreamt of quirks.

He dreamt of happiness.

He dreamt of innocence.

---

When Izuku woke up it all felt like a bad dream. His mom couldn't be gone could she? He couldn’t be on his own now- could he?
The small boy huddled himself as far into the small structure as possible, going to grab his extra bag and pull out a rather large biology textbook.
One term caught his eye.

apoptosis

apoptosis (noun)
the death of cells that occurs as a normal controlled part of an organism’s growth and/or development

 

Aizawa

He never got called during the middle of the day. Especially not when he only got off patrol a few hours ago. He especially didn’t get calls at the exact same time as his husband who had been sleeping right next to him.

They never got called in at the same time.

They especially never got called in to work the same damn case.

The two of them arrived at the station together. They immediately made their way back to Tsukauchi’s office for a briefing on the case. Longer slender fingers intertwined themselves with thicker more callused fingers. Two matching sets of footsteps wound themselves into the small office.

Walking into the office you would never think that this person was a renowned detective. It looked like a basic cubicle you would see in an American movie where the protagonist hates their life. The man sitting at the desk looked tired. Bloodshot eyes and dark circles decorated the otherwise flawless skin.

“Tsukauchi? You said you’d brief us on a case?” Hizashi said. He looked at the tired man in front of him who just gave a small nod.

“We got a call this morning. A middle aged nurse working at a local hospital hasn't shown up for two days. No phone calls. No contact with anyone. No sights of her son”

Aizawa cut the detective off, “Okay, but its only been two days. Usually adult missing persons cases can’t be filed for five.”

“Aizawa you need to understand this. She's like you. She has never missed a single day of work. She has never called off work. She has never been sick on the job. She covers anyone and everyone's shifts if they need it. It’s been that way for 10 years. That type of person doesn’t just disappear without a trace and absolute 0 contact,” Tsukauchi paused before continuing, “Another detective and I decided to go to a well check. Just in case she was too sick to be able to call anyone, and what we found was less than desirable.” Tsukauchi’s eyes went hollow as he retold what he saw. The lifeless blue tinted corpse of Midoriya Inko, small shards of glass scattered everywhere on her body, blood splatters everywhere. A shot out window. No sign of a firearm. And evidence that someone left.

Someone left without a trace.

Without a report.

Moved on without a word.

A controlled factor.

A calculated factor judging by the notebook littering the floor everywhere in the apartment.

A silently studied case judging by the small mop of shredded green hair found in the bathroom.

A pondered factor judging by the amount of knives missing from the kitchen.

A dangerous factor judging by the fact the only other person living in the apartment at the time was 10 year old Izuku Midoryia.

A suicide mission decided when 2 months later a vigilante by the name of Patchwork was discovered.

Chapter 2: new form: zygote

Summary:

izuku gains a friends and aizawa is on the brink of a breakdown.

Notes:

if you did not see in the notes of the last chapter, i made izuku's future vigilante name to Patchwork. i also have posted some prototype designs of izuku's vigilante outfit to my instagram (magpie.squash)
i update on my instagram when chapters will be coming out along with are i make for this series. if you like my art in general you can check out my main art account (saltat1o).
i also made a playlist for this fic you can check out if you would like : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1UuAHkA3J2AhOmK5aFw3jO?si=b3dd4084b5724b56

Shouta 3 days after Midoryia Inko’s death

Shouta looked at the files in front of him. He had been let into this case soon after the death of Midoryia Inko. Calloused fingers ran over the two files in front of him. Midoriya Inko and Midoryia Hisashi. Both died in nearly exact manners. Shattered glass littered around their bodies. Both times no family surrounded them. Both died on the same day, only years apart. The only difference is they lived an ocean apart.

Nothing was collected from either scene that could have resulted in these deaths. Nothing at the scene could point to what killed them. Both died from one calculated shot into the lower abdomen in the left lung. The only things that remained at both scenes were panels worth of shattered glass. Both bodies were covered in a layer of frost by the time they were found. Somebody wanted this family to hurt.
Someone wanted this family dead.

Shouta shuddered at the thought. From what he could see this family had done nothing wrong. No one in this family ever even had a mark on their record. Who would want this family dead so bad that they would go to these lengths to get it done?

Scarred fingers ran over the family picture that was attached to the file. It had a woman with bright green hair, a man with longer curly hair, and a young boy. All of them were smiling with the brightness of 1,000 suns in the picture. Who would want this family dead?

A light click from the door shook the man out of his stupor. A man with long blonde hair looked at him, “Shou, it’s time to leave,” the man took a few hesitant steps towards where Shouta was sitting, “I understand you want to solve this case, but you are not going to get anything without proper rest. You also have patrols you have to be at least somewhat ready for.”

Shouta looked out the window, “Zashi. . . It’s a kid. A kid is missing. A kid who possibly is living on the streets. Zashi’ that’s no place for a kid. You and I both know that-”

“Shou, I get it. But you have to remember to take care of yourself. If anything groundbreaking happens while you sleep your phone will be going off like mad. Come to bed. Please. Please Sho, come to bed, if not for you, for me,” the blonde man said, now close enough to begin rakeing his hands through the exhausted man's hair.

The black haired man sighed in contentment. Letting himself breathe he muttered, “Okay, but only a few hours. I have a lot to do.”
Hizashi chuckled at the man sitting in the chair in front of him. He placed a gentle kiss to the man's head reaching around to grab his husband's hand. One calloused hand met the other and together the two bodies left the room.

After reaching their bedroom Hizashi helped Shouta get ready for bed by getting out his melatonin gummies, favorite pair of sweatpants, and an old tank top for the man to change into after taking a short shower. He also took the liberties to plug in the man's phone; he made sure he moved the charger closer to the bed so the phone could sit on the nightstand within grasp of his husband if something did occur while he slept.

After 10 minutes Shouta re-emerged from the bathroom having gratefully changed into the set of clothes his husband had set out for him. Shouta settled himself on the bed patiently waiting for his husband to take the spot next to him. Hizashi entered the room carrying two glasses of water. He gently handed one to Shouta. He then signed, ‘drink’ at the exhausted man. Obediently Shouta drank the water.

The man hadn’t realized how thirsty he was until Hizashi was replacing the glass in his hand with the other full one he had brought with him. As Shouta began drinking the second glass Hizashi settled himself next to Shouta placing a firm hand on his shoulder.

Shouta finished his second glass of water and set it on the nightstand. The man leaned into his husband's touch; eventually he leaned his entire body into the man having let sleep overtake his overworked body. Hizashi gently settled the two of them into a more comfortable position. Nearly immediately Shouta wrapped his arms protectively around Hizashi. Hizashi chuckled to himself and let himself bask in the comfort of knowing that his husband was okay. That they were okay. That they could take care of each other. That they had each other. And gods be damned Hizashi knew his husband would not stop searching for this kid until he was found.

As Hizashi let the comforting feeling of his husband lull him to sleep, all he could pray for was that the kid his husband was trying to find was also wrapped up somewhere. Comfortable, healthy, safe.

Izuku 3 days after Midoryia Inko’s death

Izuku shuddered. Over the past few days he had continued to build up the walls of his small shelter to help keep war, and to an extent it had worked. The small boy had also figured out how to make fire which helped more than he could ever imagine. The only issue now was food and his eyes. More specifically his left eye.

The eye he had removed the glass from had become swollen as he had anticipated, and he was well aware that he would never regain the vision in that eye, but what he wasn’t anticipating was the fact that his depth perception would be this bad, he could no longer balance, he was better off trying to figure out where to go with his eyes closed, and the biggest was that he couldn’t open his eye all the way. Izuku could only open up his left eye about half way.

He couldn't feel that his eye was only halfway open given the damaged nerves, but when he saw himself in the reflection of the water he startled himself. His other eye was open and bright, and his left eye was half closed and now had a lavender hue to it.

Izuku had begun relying less and less on his vision given how difficult it was to maneuver, but he also knew that if he didn’t start acquainting himself with only having one eye he’d never be able to do anything. Because of that Izuku had begun carefully maneuvering the wooded area he was camping in relying heavily on his sight rather than memory and hearing. The small boy was also running into the predicament of food. Sure he knew what greens and berries were edible, but he also knew it wasn’t giving him the energy he wanted.

Even though the food wasn’t giving him the energy he wanted he kept moving, kept building, and kept improving anything he could. Even over the short period of time he’d lived on his own he’d gained a significant portion of muscle in his body. Nothing revolutionary, but enough to where he saw a change when attempting to move a heavier piece of wood.

Recently Izuku decided to travel out of the wooded area to see if he could maneuver the city, maybe find some cheap clothes or canned food he could buy with the money he did have. Izuku decided not to buy any food, instead focusing on clothes since it was getting colder at night.

The small boy traveled into one of the cheaper stores. He was currently dressed in the basketball shorts he had left in, and his emerald green hoodie that used to match his hair when it wasn’t mucked over in dirt and mud. Izuku wound himself to the back of the store where the clearance section was. He saw some smaller tank tops that caught his eye, these would be useful. They’re cheap and I can wear them while I build shelters and fires so I don’t ruin my nicer shirts and my hoodie.

Izuku was always told by his mother to never steal.

Izuku was always told by his father that if you steal something you must have a damn good reason to warrant it.

Izuku always thought he was above stealing.

Izuku was not above stealing.

Because of Izuku’s smaller build he was able to silently grab four tank tops off of the rack and stuff them into his waistband of his shorts to the point where they couldn’t be seen due to the hoodie he was wearing.

Izuku had grabbed a red top, blue/purple top, light blue top, and a washed out salmon colored top. The boy had also been sure to take off all of the tags that were connected to the clothes. He also figured that if anything happened to his hoodie he could patch it using these tops since they weren’t amazing quality.
He silently left the store, not even a clerk gave him a second glance as he left. It’s not like they even truly cared about the store if the amount of dust on anything was an indicator.

 

The sun had begun setting and Izuku took a wrong turn. He ended up walking past a beach that looked like a goldmine for possible things he could add to his shelter to make it warmer. Putting metal siding on the shelter would make it so no wind could get through. That would keep me warmer, because then I could also have a fire inside of the shelter if it was made purely of metal. The metal would heat up meaning that I could use the wood I used for the siding for more cushion and more warmth in the sleeping area itself.

Izuku hadn’t realized he’d ended up on the beach until he face planted by slipping in the sand, goddamn eye, he thought as he pulled himself up from the sand. The small boy closed his eyes and shook his head like a dog in an attempt to shake the sand from his hair.

If Izuku had been more awake he would have heard the aggressive padding of paws across the sand. Instead Izuku whipped around and fell again when he felt fur against his legs. Izuku shuffled himself backwards as quickly as possible given the very possible threat of something that could hurt him; however, when Izuku looked up he instead saw a creature that looked very fluffy, very soft, and possibly very warm.

It was a dog. It was mostly black but had the patterning of a tuxedo cat. Its eyes were a piercing icy blue. Izuku’s heart was pounding in his chest. It seemed to be going a mile a minute at the idea of a possible threat. Slowly however Izuku stuck his hand out at the dog. It seemed young, it wasn’t super tall and its paws seemed too big for its small body. Almost instantly the dog shoved its head into Izuku’s hand and began making content sounds.

Izuku had never been afraid of a dog in his life, but it was unsettling how quickly this dog attached itself to him. He honestly didn’t know what to do, so he stayed there. He moved himself to be kneeling in the sand with minimal difficulty and began to pet the dog. The dog continued to move as close as possible to the small boy it had decided was theirs now.

After several minutes the dog slowly nudged Izuku to his feet and led him through the beach. Every time Izuku got close to tripping on something the dog alerted him and helped him maneuver around the beach. Because of this Izuku was able to get around the beach and find two large pieces of metal to add to his shelter.

With the help of his new friend the two made it back to where Izuku had made his shelter. Surprisingly when Izuku began removing the wood siding from his shelter the dog came over and began grabbing pieces and stacking them with a wagging tail. Together the two creatures worked in harmony to install the metal panels to the shelter, laying some wood limbs into the inside for a raised platform to sleep on.

Once that task was completed Izuku started a small fire at the opening to the shelter and climbed to the inside. The small boy tugged the hoodie tighter around him using the tops he stole earlier as a pillow. Being honest he was so exhausted that he forgot that there was now a dog with him. He only remembered when a reassuring weight settled over his legs and onto his chest. The long fur acting like a blanket that was draped over him to keep him warm. Whoever out there that sent him this dog was the reason Izuku was still alive, and even as Izuku gets older he believes he would not have survived if not for the dog that pushed its way into Izuku’s life.

the next day

Izuku woke up warm for the first time in several days. For a few fruitful moments Izuku thought he woke up in his bed, meaning the nightmare of the life he was living was all a bad dream. Sometimes nightmares are real though. And this nightmare? Very real.

Izuku ran a small hand through his(?) new dog’s fur. The fur parted for his fingers smoothly, not a single tangle decorated the dog's fur. He knew the dog needed a name, but he had no clue what to name it. The dog was absolutely stunning. It was absolutely one that he would have asked to pet if he was at the park.

All in all Izuku thought that today was going to be a good day, it had to be. He’s had so many rough days that he needs something in his life to keep him going. This dog seems to be the thing that will keep him moving. Continue giving him a reason to get up in the morning, something to take care of, something to love.

Slowly the dog woke up. They groaned and stretched; paws flexing, tail lifting slightly, the dog pushed itself off the ground and shook. Izuku giggled as the dog looked slightly out of it, me too buddy, me too. The dog trotted out of the door Izuku followed after quietly.
The two danced around each other; Izuku becoming more and more sturdy on his feet, the dog learning more about Izuku and helping him navigate the difficult terrain of where the small boy was.

Eventually the two wound themselves out of the wooded area back to the beach covered in garbage. Izuku giggled as he watched his dog run around in the open sand, tongue flapping wildly as they ran around. It was then seeing the pure joy on the dog's face that he would clean this beach. Not only would it clean a bigger space for his dog to run, he might find something for him to add to his shelter, or maybe even build a better shelter. Izuku also figured that some of the larger recyclable pieces he could recycle for a few cents a piece. It wouldn’t be much, but it would help him be able to live better once he didn’t need to hide out in the woods. The boy carefully made his way to the front shore of the trash. He already found something useful. Sure it could use fixing, but a partially broken trolley could still be useful to help move things around, especially if he wanted to take materials to a recycling plant.

Sensing that its human was doing something that could potentially be dangerous the dog wound its way over to Izuku. And there the two worked moving around each other in a comfortable silence, both creatures working in harmony to stack glass bottles as effectively as possible into the small trolley. Once Izuku felt he had enough of them he began moving off of the beach and into the direction of the recycling plant.

By the time Izku got his small sum of money from trading in bottles Izuku and his dog took themselves back to the beach. Izuku’s purpose this time was now to try and find something he could use to build a better shelter. In brief moments of free time Izuku had been visiting the local public library to do research using the computers there. He had seen many ideas for a better shelter, not only ways to improve his, but also new methods in total of building shelters. If he could figure out how to build a bigger structure that he could actually store stuff in, he likes where he's staying, so he might want to stay there if he can make good living conditions. Preferably make a shelter that's clean, he can navigate given his rough eyesight, somewhere warm, and somewhere his new dog would want to live.

Shouta four days after Midoryia Inko’s death

Shouta has been careful to not overwork himself with patrols and subbing at UA. So far he has yet to get a lead on the case of the Midoryia’s. Nothing relating to Inko and Hisashi’s deaths, and nothing about even a missing kid. Somebody has to have noticed that a kid was missing. Somebody must have been friends with Inko enough to know that she had a kid. There had to be a family member. He had looked through her file and Inko had quite the extensive family. All next of kin had been called, but none of them made a move to claim her body. Did this woman only have her son?

Shouta shook at that revelation. If that was true then that meant that her son had no one. No one to go to. No one to turn to.

He now shook out of anger. There was a kid somewhere out there who had no one now. Who was on his own. Who had nobody to look out for him, take care of him, make sure he eats, make sure he gets to school.

The kid had no one.

Shouta was going to change that no matter how long it took to find him.

This kid was not going to suffer alone.

Shouta would make sure of it.

Notes:

i hope you enjoyed the chapter! i wanted to make it longer, but i only have so much time with band season and school, but i'll try and post a chapter at least once a week. if you want to ensure you don't miss an update, follow me on instagram where i'll be posting when i'm working on a new chapter, as well as getting to see some designs for certain characters.
i currently have izuku's tentative vigilante design posted, and i will also be posting an announcement post for this chapter along with some more art of izuku in his tentative vigilante outfit.

also i need names for izukus dog, if you have any give em' any gender, it does not matter :)

Chapter 3: growth

Summary:

izuku meets his first vigilante friend :)

Notes:

i'm so indecisive i haven't picked the name for the dog yet, maybe next chapter

???? 1 month after Midoryia Inko’s death

That last thing the young teenager had expected out on their walk to the scrapyard was to see a rather young looking child and a goddamn dog. In all the times they had come to the beach, never once had the teen seen anyone else there, let alone an animal. This place is no place for a goddamn dog. There's metal shards everywhere in the sand. The teen thought as they kept their distance.

The teen moved in tandem with the wind. The cool breeze shifted around them as they navigated a place that had once been beautiful and now was everyones dumping ground. Their small hands dug under large pieces of debris grabbing any salvageable metal and putting it into their bag. The same hands then moved to clasp the mask on the teens face lightly tugging it down.

They took a deep breath shrugging off the now full bag of metal scraps. The same hands that grabbed them now sifted through them throwing any piece they now had second thoughts about back onto the mound of metal in front of them. In replacement of those pieces of metal large pieces of fabric from things like furniture, and pieces of rubber from shredded tires made their way into the small bag.

As the small frame maneuvered their way out of the heaps of garbage on the beach the teen looked and saw that the teen was now asleep on the beach. The dog that had been there before was not in sight anymore. They began moving towards the small child, heart aching slightly in pain thinking that this kid might not have anyone or anywhere they can go. Slowly they approached; the sand shifted around the hard metal infused shoes navigated towards the small kid. When they were within ten feet of the kid a loud growl could be heard emanating from behind them.

Slowly the unfocused and blurry eyes of the teen turned around. They were now face to face with a lycan from Greek mythology. Shadows shifted around the now hellhound looking creature in front of them. The small teen stumbled backwards releasing the butterfly knife from its hiding spot on their arm.

It was then a matter of life and death basically of just where that small kids dog went. They were looking at it. This is that kids dog, I need to figure out a way to tell it I want to help. In an effort to make themself look less intimidating the teen kneeled on the ground and slowly announced, “I just want to help. I would never hurt a child.”

The breeze that had been a constant blanket the entire time they were there was now gone, the area around the beast in front of them was now completely soaked in shade. It felt 10 degrees colder, and the air now had a bite to it.

Human and beast kept eye contact for what felt like decades before the creature began to shrink and began the small sized dog that had been seen before. They watched as the dog moved to be next to the kid lying on the beach. A small black nose nudged the small child until they started moving.

Seeing that the kid was waking up the older teen moved their mask back up into place. They decided that if they were meeting a kid they should probably look as nice as possible, and their natural look probably wasn’t that.

As the small kid finally came to, the older teen looked in somewhat terror at the kid. Bruises and cuts littered their legs and hands. Some of those were most definitely infected. The kid continued moving until they finally opened their eyes. Almost immediately the hazy grey of the teens met the astonishing green of the kid in front of them.

What the teen hadn’t expected was the outburst that followed, “No way! No way! Are you the vigilante Bone Marrow? I’ve seen you in action so many times! The way you just go like boom and then all the bad guys are on the ground! That’s amazing! Can you show me how to do it? Y’know I’m a vigilante too! Not a very good one, but still, I’m getting better!”

The teen looked at the small kid in confusion. His green eyes had lit up at the idea of possibly learning anything about vigilantism, “I- I’m not a vigilante,” the small teen let out a chuckle, “I’m just a teen who likes building and designing things. I mean, I do sometimes test them on people, but only when I think they deserve it.”

“Can I call you Bone? Or how about Marrow! Both of those fit you because of your vigilante name-” The boy had begun saying.

“Ari. That’s my name, call me Ari,” Ari sighed and looked at the boy in front of them. The boy had mismatched eyes, one of them didn’t seem to open all the way, and the clothes the boy wore looked like a mess of patchwork quilts all hurriedly sewn together, “Hey kid, when's the last time you had a good meal, new clothes, and maybe even some new gadgets to aid in your uh, vigilantism?”

The kid now looked hesitant, a small sense of fear gathering in his eyes, “A while, but why should I trust you not to hurt me. What if you just use me!”

Ari took a step back to not look as intimidating, “What if I made you a deal? You can live with me, I live kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and I can teach you how to fight and survive for yourself. In return you have to eat three meals a day, get ample sleep, and get some goddamn medical treatment from me.”

“What about my dog?” The boy asked, his hands latching onto the lengthy fur of his dog.

“Your dog is fine, I’ve got one too, his name’s Marco,” Ari smiled at the young boy, they stuck out their hand, “What do you say beach boy?”

Green eyes lit up in amazement, “You- you aren’t joking right?”

“Not at all kiddo. Not at all.”

The young boy looked at Ari with a sense of wonder in his eye, but something darker lingered behind them, “You don’t have to know what my quirk is? You won’t ask?”

“Not at all, kid. I’ll only have to know if there’s any limitation to fixing ya’ up. Sometimes certain quirks can interfere with mine, so all I need to know is if you can’t have something for any reason. Things like an allergy to something like latex,” Ari explained, their hand vigorously motioning as they spoke.

“You promise?” The small boy asked.

“Yeah, and I don’t take promises lightly,” Ari said, a small smile on their face.

The green haired boy stuck his hand out. Small red and yellow cuts decorated his hands, definitely infected, Air noted. The boy then spoke, a level of determination in his voice, “Then shake on it.”

 

Shouta 1 month after Midoryia Inko’s death

Shouta grumbled in frustration. A month. A month since this case began and he was nowhere closer to finding this kid, or any damn lead to help the case. The long haired man looked at the files laid in front of him. Who wants the Midoryia’s dead, Shouta thought. As far as the man could tell this family was nothing but nice. Inko’s co-workers spoke highly of her. They claimed she was the nicest person they had ever met. Many had also spoken of her going through many hardships in her life. The only thing Shouta had figured out is that Inko had been disowned from her family a few years ago, but for the life of him, Shouta couldn’t figure out why.

Needless to say, not only was Shouta becoming even more short-tempered than ever, he began to take his frustrations out on even the people closest to him. Not just people he would see at the station when he’d visit for any possible leads, but even his husband.

The man decided he needed a break from this case. It was draining him, and while yes he was determined to find this damn kid, he had other cases he needed to work on. Important cases, so when Tsukauchi walked in as soon as Shouta closed the Midoryia’s files’ Shouta’s stomach sank. Tsukauchi always knocked before entering, but not so much as a single rap came from the door as the man entered.

Tsukauchi stood there, a look of bewilderment in his eyes, “Eraserhead, I have a case I need you to look at. We think it could partially be intertwined with the Midoriya case given it’s a vigilante and our highest suspect is a vigilante that killed Inko. Even if they're not the one, they could be a useful informant to befriend.” The brown haired man made strides towards Shouta, a rather thick file in his hand.

Shouta grabbed the file and opened it as Tsukauchi began speaking again, “Their calling them Bone Marrow. We got the name from some villains we’ve been bringing in for the past few months. The kid is not scared of police or heroes. The kid makes their own weapons, that's how we first found out about them. They’re known for the quality of the weapons and protection they can produce in a short period of time. We aren’t talking support course type things, we’re talking pro level protection. One villain we brought in cited them as the maker of their suit. It withstood Endeavor Eraser, Endeavor. I have never heard of anyone being able to make anything that can withstand that man.”

Shouta looked at the file, the blurry pictures attached showed someone of small nature, descriptions were slim, but many people described them as child like, “So how are these people paying Bone Marrow then?”

“Information. They deal strictly in information. They make you basically whatever you want, you pay with information they can use for a multitude of purposes,” Tsukauchi paused, “Eraser. You need to realize that this kid is dangerous. They don’t have the name Bone Marrow for no reason. According to our sources, when someone falls through on their deal, Bone Marrow fuses their bones together. There has to be some drawback to their quirk, but what it is, I don’t know.”

Shouta looked at the man who was now fiddling with his hands, “You keep saying that they're a kid. A kid can’t possibly be making pro level weapons. A kid cannot be making pro level weapons.”

The man in front of him sighed, “If you don’t believe me, I can show you. We boxed together all the weapons the kid has built. I think they almost rival some of the craziest we’ve seen from UA. Also, from what we can tell the kid seems to be around 19 years old. So if saying teen would somewhat quell whatever thoughts are going through your head, we think they’re around 19.”

Shouta relaxed at the thought of it not being a kid the age he would teach at UA. To him 19 was still way too young to be doing any hero work, that’s just not how life works anymore. Now anyone over the age of 18 with a license could do hero work. It scared Shouta because the normalization of acclimating children to the lives of heroes and telling people to aspire to be these heroes was ruining what it truly means to be a hero. Not kids at a very young age start getting involved with villains because the kids only a few years older than them are fighting them, so to a kid they can’t see the difference; sometimes even Shouta couldn’t see the difference between a child and a ‘pro’.

He rose from his chair looking Tsukauchi in the eyes and quietly mumbled, “I want to see the weapons.”

Izuku 1 month after Midoryia Inko’s death

Izuku couldn’t believe it. He was going to be trained by an actual vigilante. They were going to teach him how to fight! He even knew their real name! When Izuku shook the teens hand he could tell that they weren’t joking about taking care of him. They were going to watch over him, teach him how to fight, maybe even give him weapons, or an upgrade to his vigilante outfit. Said outfit currently only consisted of a hoodie in rough condition and a thin pair of sweatpants.

As Izuku peppily followed close to Ari’s side, the two kept ample conversation. So far Izuku had found out that she was actually from America, had bad hearing, bad eyesight, and loved to craft and build things. They also evidently were pretty good when it came to anything biology or medical.

Eventually Ari, Izuku, and the dog ended up at the door to what looked like a warehouse. Ari reached out with a set of keys and unlocked the door, “It’s not much, but it should do. I’m going to go grab some supplies to fix your wounds, then we can set up a sleeping area for you.”

Izuku eagerly nodded looking around the wide area. There seemed to be a small salvaged kitchen in one corner, an area for what looks like scrap metal along with a bunch of fabrics, another corner had three long tables taped together with pieces of a lot of different things scattered on it, and in the last corner were a few folded cots, stacks of blankets, one put together sleeping area, and even a dog bed on the ground.

He could see Ari scrambling to gather things. Izuku chucked to himself when he saw Ari climbing on tables to reach the slightly terrifyingly attached cabinets to the walls. That’s when Izuku saw the pure amount of different weapons decorating the walls of the small warehouse Ari called home.

Eventually though Ari waved him over and motioned for him to sit down. They put what looked like a wireless earbud into one of their ears and tapped some buttons on their phone. They then began quietly humming as they sorted through the various medical supplies they had pulled out.

Ari motioned for Izuku’s arm first, their hands lightly grazing over the discoloration of his skin. Izuku noticed that their fingers and hands were covered in band-aids. They worked quietly. Someone could have dropped a pin and you would have heard it. As Ari applied salves and bandages to his arm Izuku saw how much care they put into everything, and the blatantly obvious fact that this was not their first time doing this.

After what seemed like a long time Ari had finally finished fixing Izuku to a better point than he’d ever be able to, Ari sighed, “I’ve been thinking,” Izuku immediately thought that Ari must be backing out of their promise, “I think I’ve thought of a good vigilante name for you once you’re ready to actually start doing proper vigilante work. I noticed that some of your clothes were patchworked together, and I think I can make you some better stuff that keeps that theme but would be pro-hero quality. Leading to the point of a vigilante name. I think the name Patchwork would fit you. You’ve got basically everything mismatched. Your eyes are different colors, one side of your hair is longer than the other, your hoodie is patchworked, and you have portions of what looks like a backpack stitched to your sweatpants.”

“Patchwork. Patchwork. I like it. It fits,” Izuku smiled. He didn’t know what was going to happen in the future, but for right now he was sure of a few things, and this name was one of them.

Notes:

if you would like to see the design of Ari [(they/them) 16 yrs] you can check it out on instagram.
mha/fanfic account- @magpie.squash
main art account- @saltat1o

Chapter 4: development

Summary:

dad?

Notes:

im so sorry this took so long to get out, i got busy with many thing involving school and had to focus on that, but heres a chapter! it's not the best, but it is somewhat longer than the previous ones, i hope you enjoy! i'm also gonna be starting a new fic soon, i just want to finish planning it first before posting, more info in the end notes

Ari 1 month after Midorya Inko's death

Ari looked at the small kid in front of them. He had fallen asleep fairly soon after they had finished patching up his wounds, by the God's that kid has seen some stuff if the burns are anything to go off of, but who am I to really say anything? All Ari could think about was the fact that they were frustrated that they had been unable to help to remove the previously infected eye from the small boy. It would definitely be a challenge for him to properly learn how to function properly again. By the looks of it the eye had been like that for a while, but Ari still felt bad for not being able to do much about it. They hoped that over the course of the training they will go through with the kid the kid could gain the maneuverability he had before whatever caused the injury.

Ari brushed themselves off and maneuvered towards their fabric stash. They pulled out a few things. If one thing was evident this kid didn't have the proper protection or weapons to even be out on the street. It honestly slightly terrified the parental senses in Ari to think that a 10 year kid was running around unsupervised on the streets. Then again I wasn't any older than him when I ended up on my own.

They took another glance at the boy who was laying bundled up on a cot with his large dog on top of him. At least if he doesn't have someone else he has that dog. It was highly evident to Ari that the dog would protect its owner from anything that could possibly hurt him. It was going to be an interesting process trying to get the dog to fully trust them enough to train the boy. The two slept soundly together like they were built as a pair to go together. It almost reminded Ari of them and their own fog Marco.

Ari got to work thinking of a good vigilante outfit for the boy. Something Ari enjoyed even more than helping secure and trade information was sewing and building things. Before their name became Bone Marrow, many knew them as The Seamstress; some still do. Needless to say the legacy still continues. Now Bone Marrow is known for the exquisite costumes they wear, and for what they will deliver for orders when they are given. Ari themselves have two specially designed capes they wear with their common black mask, top, shorts, and of course fishnets. In the back of their mind they wondered if as the kid got older if they would pick up on Ari's clothing habits.

The small teen decided with some nice emerald and amethyst colors to match the young boy's own mismatched eyes. As for other colors to add, Ari believed if you were going with the name Patchwork there better be a fair amount of patchwork to be found on the costume. While in their stash Ari decided to grab some electronic pieces, kevlar, and any other possibly useful tech they could add. If Ari was going to make a suit, they were going to make it as good and quality as possible. If that meant built in tracking modules so Patchwork could track people and Ari could track him as well, then so be it. If it means built in hacking devices for once they taught the kid some tips, so be it. If this kid was already feral Ari would not stop him as long as he's being careful.

Next came the actual design process. It meant actually designing and adapting the proper electric in the suit, the proper pattern, the proper stitching, and anything and everything you would never originally think of. Ari turned to the sleeping boy seeing not only a rather large amount of hero merch, but Ari had also heard their fair share of the kids' favorite heroes. Turns out the kid really likes All Might and Preset Mic. Ari figures they can work in a little bit of an homage to both those heroes in the boys vigilante outfit. If the boy wanted to talk about heroes all the time Ari could almost guarantee that the small boy would enjoy his vigilante outfit.

The details the young seamstress added would be unnoticeable to the common person, but someone who really really enjoys heroes would appreciate the small symbols throughout the costume. The paper sketch of the body piece shows a small homage to All Might's uniform with the lines on the chest and arms and overall feel of the piece with it being rather skin tight to keep from snagging on possible obstacles. The homages to present mic come in the designs for a disguised voice modifier, taller shoes, noise cancelling earbuds that can also tune into hero frequencies, and the gloves. Ari finally finished the prototyping for the small support pieces that would go with it.

One support piece that Ari decided on would be frequency blockers and receivers. They were unsure of how to incorporate this into the design. I'll just have to wait until I see more of his personality. Maybe I could add cat ears or something if he has the personality of a cat? He doesn't seem like a cat personality. He more has the personality of that energizer rabbit. He would continue to bang the drum just out of pure spit I can guarantee you. Ari decided that they might as well roll with rabbit ears for now, they can always edit them later.

The small teen began to tinker with their supplies until a small display tracking map finally became visible. To the untrained eye the small piece of tech would look like a generic fabric with a circuit board pattern on it. Ari did this in a few different colors. Patchwork would then have options when it came to a few elements of his first vigilante suit. Once a few different colored displays had been made Ari moved onto the next struggle. The voice modifier mask.

Ari already knew the boy commonly wore a mask. That much was evident because that's how Ari found the boy. The challenge would be making such a high tech thing for your face nearly unnoticeable. Every voice changer Ari had ever made was fairly bulky. They tend to be just because of the amount of tech that needs to go into them, but Ari could already tell how vital this small piece of equipment would be to keep the small boy they now cared for safe. Ari pulled out pieces of tech they only vaguely remembered making, who knew all these scrap pieces of gadgets I made would ever come in handy.

After several hours the mentally exhausted teen set down their small screwdrivers, turned off the soldering machine, and brushed any scrap pieces of metal to the side. Ari could see the sun peaking through the one window in the top of the warehouse they called home. Need to make some food for the kid and me. The kid's definitely malnourished, hopefully having actual food will help him grow a bit. The small teen themselves made their way to the salvaged kitchen they had managed to build and got to work. Believe it or not being an info informant for many people had its perks when it came to getting paid. Ari didn't get paid a ton, but they got paid enough to buy quality ingredients to make food.

As Ari worked on making breakfast for themselves and the small boy they could hear quiet shifts coming for where said kid was sleeping. They paused chopping the ingredients to look and see if the small boy was awake. A small audible huff could be heard coming from the large dog on him before it got up and stretched. Ari chucked a little bit as the boy woke up soon after. His curly hair was a mess, I'll have to show the kid how to properly take care of it and give him a haircut. The small boy stood up stumbling a bit before his dog made its way in front of him to steady his balance. Slowly the two made their way over to where Ari had begun cooking again.

"Good morning," the small green haired boy yawned.

"Good morning to you as well. Did you sleep well?" Ari asked, trying to gauge the boy's energy.

"Really well actually. First time I haven't slept on the ground in weeks."

Ari startled the boy when they handed him a plate full of food, "I know it's not traditional, but I hope it's okay. As I mentioned yesterday I'm not from around here, so I apologize for not knowing how to make many traditional foods, but if you find me a recipe I'd be glad to make them." They had made a quick breakfast that had everything you needed for a proper meal.

The boy nodded, "Thank you! And I promise that this is okay!"

Ari smiled at the small boy who was hopping from foot to foot. One hundred percent I'm keeping the design with rabbit ears. They then grabbed their own food and sat down in a chair across from the chair the boy had sat in.

He broke the silence, "I have so many questions."

Ari was slightly startled at the straight-forwardness of the kid but answered nonetheless, "Okay, go ahead and ask."

"What's it like being a vigilante?"

"I personally don't think of myself being a vigilante, but to me it's fun. I enjoy being an info dealer and I enjoy the market I've built up. The people you end up working with while sketchy usually have some pretty cool stories to tell. I also enjoy fuc- messing with pro-heroes I encounter," Ari answered recalling their encounters with startup heroes who got stuck working the night shift that weren't underground heroes.

"Are you really going to help me become a vigilante?"

"Of course kiddo. First off you need to learn the basics of self defense and pick your key weapons. Then you'll accompany me on patrols until I feel you can operate mostly on your own. I must stress the fact that you will not be going out on patrols by yourself until I feel that you have the skill to defend yourself. I can't have myself being responsible for your death if I could have prevented it. And I want you enrolled in school once I figure out the logistics. I can tell your a smart kid, and I don't want that to go to waste."

He nodded looking at Ari, "Thank you for this. It's nice to have somewhere to stay, and please call me Izu." Izu smiled with a grin powerful enough to be from the sun itself.

Ari nodded at the boy who had finished his food, "I can take your plate, then I have something to show you."

Izu's eye(s?) lit up and nodded. Once Ari had set the dishes in the sink he followed them to where the sketched design of the suit laid along with a few support items including the hell that the voice modifier had been. "I know it's not a lot, but I sketched up a design for your vigilante outfit and made a few support items. I realize I kinda did this without really know-"

Izu cut them off, "This is amazing Ari! I love it! And the top suit thing is almost like All Mights!"

Izu caught Ari off guard by embracing them in a big hug. The small kid melted into Ari and held onto them as tight as possible, "I'm glad you like it Izu. I'll work on sewing it tonight as well as finishing the support gear to go along with it." Ari gently rubbed the kids back before releasing him, "How about we start with basics training?"

Ari thought they had seen a look of awe on the boy before, but now looking at him he looked like Ari had bought him his own planet or something like that.

---

They both finished basic training for the day, Izu looked exhausted and red faced from the workout. Ari looked at the small boy almost remembering what it was like when they first started to train. It had been grueling, but it's something in Ari's life they would never change.

Judging by the light (or lack thereof) coming from the one small window in the window Ari realized they had to make dinner then head out for patrol. They hadn't had time to finish Izu's suit bottoms, but they had fashioned the top and a pair of sweats with some improvements. Ari was unsure of taking the boy out on patrol while he was still healing from injuries, but Ari figured the sooner he realized what being a vigilante or informant was like, the sooner they could start focusing more time on training rather than healing injuries.

Ari made a quick dinner that would provide enough energy for the short route they would be taking tonight. Usually their patrols were fairly long, but the boy was still healing from injuries as well as being a literal child and Ari didn't want him to get injured while they were in charge.

They made their way to where they stored their vigilante outfit. They took out a belt, fishnets, skirt, compression top, and dual capes. They also quickly re-braided their hair and pulled on a mask. They then moved to putting on their platforms they wore purely for the fact that they altered them to where they could be very good offensively when kicking.

Ari then pulled out Izu's partially finished vigilante suit. During breaks from training Ari would work on sewing it together, so the entire top was finished along with support items. Izu gratefully took the suit from the older teen thanking them. Ari then sorted through their weapons that they not only were delivering, but the info packs they were also delivering. They also grabbed a few knives and collapsible staffs that they slid into a pocket of their messenger bag they use for delivering any ordered goods.

Izu came back once he was fully changed with a humongous smile on his face. "This is so exciting! I'll call you Marrow when we're out there so I don't reveal your identity! Maybe we'll run into some pros!" Ari listened to the young boy ramble as he fiddled with his voice modifier making him sound older than he truly was.

Eventually the two made it outside and they began traveling to their destinations while on patrol. Ari led them down various alley-ways and dirt roads that they commonly took to get places. Whenever the two were approaching a person who "ordered" something from Ari, Ari would motion for Izu to stay behind them and stay silent. Izu would watch in wonder as Ari and villians exchanged information.

The two were nearly done with the route and ready to head back home a friendly conversation between the two when someone showed up. Ari quickly reached into their bag and pulled out a collapsible spear. It collapsed to the point where you wouldn't be able to see the spear head, but as soon as it was extended it was quite obvious what it was.

The man who had hopped down from a small roof was taken aback as Ari pushed Izu behind them and held the spear out ready to fight.

"I don't want to fight Bone Marrow. I only have some questions," the man told them. He looked almost like a homeless person. He was dressed in extremely baggy clothing with a large scarf around his neck.

Ari had what they think their family would have described as a 'coming to jesus moment'. Ari didn't know if they would go as far as to say that when they heard Izu talk, they were always very focused on what he had to say, but they were. When they could recognize the pro-hero infront of them just based on descriptions alone they were baffled, "Eraserhead. What do you want. You don't exactly travel in my circle." When Ari spoke it sounded venomous. A threat for something that in hindsight honestly wasn't a threat.

Izu stood behind Ari carefully watching what happened. Internally he was freaking out at seeing the pro-hero. Especially since he was underground.

The moment quickly shifted after Ari spoke. There was a sound of a scuffle coming from down the street. The vigilante quickly spun on their feet and grabbed Izu's hand as they ran towards the noise. The only reason they were concerned is that it was not only coming from the direction of the police station, but it was coming from the direction of someone Ari had just done a deal with. Ari had made them a very high tech piece of support equipment that could easily cause havoc if used wrong. They ran as fast as they could move. Ari was stunned into silence as they came upon the disruption, the air briefly leaving their lungs.

Ari quickly pushed Izu behind them as they worked on trying to decipher what even happened to get to this predicament. This was the one and only time Ari would ever say that they were thankful for the fact that there was a pro-hero there. They hadn't even realized it but Eraserhead had grabbed the boy and moved him away from the scene as soon as he saw what Ari did.

"God be fucking damned. I warned them," Ari hissed out crouching next to the unmoving body on the ground, "I fucking warned them that the equipment stay between us, but evidently it didn't." Ari reached out for the scraps of metal now littering the ground. They picked them up and set them into their bag.

"Those scraps should be taken in for evidence to the police-" Eraserhead began saying before being cut off by Ari.

"Eraserhead I don't think you understand the severity of the situation at hand here. Somebody took my fucking tech, but managed to break a chunk of it off that just happened to be the traker I put into all my gadgets. Whoever took it knew that I put something in it. Just because you see me as someone rotten to society, I do more for you behind the scenes than you think. No one, not even me get away scot free from a deal," Ari said as they stood back up. Fucking hell it's a kid. They don't look much older than Izu. Izu. Where is my the kid.

It must have been obvious by the panic in Ari's eyes that they were looking for the kid that had been with them. He then reeled in his capture weapon which along with it came Izu. The immediate look of relief that flooded Ari was highly noticeable even with the large mask they wore.

The small teen ran forward, nearly scooping the young boy off the ground in a hug. Izu had no idea why Ari looked so frightened, if only he knew. . .

Shouta 1 month after Midorya Inko's death

Shouta had a long night. He was finally ready to go home, but it seems like the world had other plans for him. The man got a message from Tsukauchi saying that Bone Marrow had been spotted in the area Shouta had been patrolling.

After an hour of waiting, and nearly calling it for the night he heard cheerful conversation coming from an alleyway. Shouta headed towards the conversation seeing someone who definitely fit the description of Bone Marrow.

Without wasting a beat Shouta jumped down ready to throw his capture weapon the second he got the chance. Bone Marrow beat him to it wielding a spear of their own, "I don't want to fight Bone Marrow. I only have some questions."

If Shouta had been anyone else he would have missed what happened within a split second. Not only did a look of surprise immediately change to recognition, but then to something that resembled a look that a cornered animal would give.

"Eraserhead. What do you want. You don't exactly travel in my circle," Bone Marrow spat towards him. That's when Shouta truly realized the situation. He could see a small kid standing behind Bone Marrow. It looked like he was wearing his own vigilante outfit, this must be his first night out. No one has ever seen Bone Marrow travel with someone, let alone work with them.

Shouta opened his mouth to respond when he was cut off by a commotion down the street. It honestly terrified Shouta when Bone Marrow's reaction times were faster than his own when they took off towards the sound. He knew something was wrong when Bone Marrow nearly instantly pushed the young boy they were travelling with back towards Shouta. Just to make sure the kid didn't run he wrapped the small boy in his capture weapon while the teen in front of him examined the situation. He could hear the teen cursing under their breath and went to investigate himself.

When he saw Bone Marrow take a hand across the person's head and close their eyes he immediately tied the boy as far away from the scene as possible. Anything that could have a hardened vigilante shaking was something a child shouldn't be exposed to. He could then see the small vigilante begin picking up small scraps of metal off the ground. Shouta looked at the small teen, "Those scraps should be taken in for evidence to the police-"

Bone Marrow interrupted him, "Eraserhead I don't think you understand the severity of the situation at hand here. Somebody took my fucking tech, but managed to break a chunk of it off that just happened to be the traker I put into all my gadgets. Whoever took it knew that I put something in it. Just because you see me as someone rotten to society, I do more for you behind the scenes than you think. No one, not even me get away scot free from a deal."

Shouta looked at the kid who laid dead on the ground. He had already sent a message to Tsukauchi relaying a message with a brief outline of the fact there was a dead child on his hands. When Bone Marrow looked up all he could see was panic in their grey eyes. The kid. That has to be what they're worried about. Shouta revealed the small boy who was casually lounging in his capture weapon. The pro-hero pulled his capture weapon back to him, releasing the boy. In an instant Bone Marrow had the kid in a hug. Maybe it's their brother? Kid looks too young to be a vigilante friend. The kid looks untrained too. It must be a brother.

As soon as the two vigilantes heard sirens Bone Marrow grabbed the boy's hand and took off again. Shouta was tempted to follow the two, but he had a police force he had to talk to about the situation they were in.

---

Shouta returned home with another manilla folder on the vigilante Bone Marrow. Even just Shouta's short interaction with them had spoken volumes. He now had an average height for them. He subtracted the estimated height of the shoes from it and ended up with someone around 152 cm. He had also learned that they installed trackers into every piece of tech they made. That could be useful if they could get Bone Marrow to become an informant for the police, rather than using information as a currency.

The most vital thing Shouta had learned was about the sidekick it looked like Bone Marrow had. It was obvious that Bone Marrow would have gone to any lengths to protect the small kid.

"Shou! How was patrol?" Hizashi stood in the kitchen grabbing a midnight bowl of cereal.

"I met the vigilante I told you about. They weren't what I was expecting to say the least," Shouta responded, setting the new file on the table.

Hizashi opened it up. The first thing you could see was a higher quality security camera footage screenshot that showed the vigilante crouching by the body picking up pieces of scrap metal, "Shou is this the first time they weren't aware of a camera? Every other 'picture' that has been taken of them has always been a blur because they avoid them."

Shouta hadn't thought about that, "This is why I married you. Tomorrow I need to talk to Tsukauchi about that. If we can get footage of what went down, maybe I can see why they were so messed up about this."

Hizashi nodded at his husband, "And on that note we're going to bed. You've had a long night, and no new facts are going to come out of that file if you just keep staring at it."

Shouta laughed, following his husband into their room, setting his capture weapon on the nightstand.

---

Tsukauchi looked at Shouta in disbelief, "We actually have a picture that doesn't look like a toddler took it with their parents phone. You can actually see their stature and everything we've really been missing about them. Especially when taking into consideration the fact that we have them executing a deal on a security camera. The only question is, wouldn't they know about the security camera? For the past several years they've managed to avoid every single camera, but all of the sudden we get a crystal clear picture on them? Where's the logic on that?"

"I can't answer all of your questions, but the company we reached out to for the footage said it was just installed. That would make sense that Bone Marrow wouldn't know about it since this is the first time they've been seen with an accomplice. If they had been training or taking care of the kid they wouldn't have known about the camera there. No matter what, it works out well for us because now we have clear footage of the vigilante," Shouta responded.

Shouta's comment egged on Tsukauchi as the two bent over the file, "What can you say about them? How old do you personally think Bone Marrow was judging by how they acted because you held a small conversation with them?"

The man paused thinking about his interaction with the vigilante, their stature was small, but that could also be genes. They showed respect for me even if they seemed slightly scared of me. They protected that kid like their life depended on it. When they picked up the scraps, bandages wrapped around nearly all of their fingers. When they spoke they sounded young. . .

Shouta sighed, "I don't think we're dealing with a 19 year old kid. I can almost guarantee you that they're younger than 18. The kid was mature but also spoke younger than they looked. If I had to reason a guess I'd say they were around 17 years old, but definitely close to being 18, but nowhere near 19."

Tsukauchi froze and made eye contact with the pro-hero, "But all the reports talk about them being older-"

"Sometimes people need to grow up before they should. I think that's what happened here," Shouta said. The man sagged his shoulders slightly realizing what he just said. "Meeting Bone Marrow was an experience to say the least. The kid knows their stuff but is also highly protective of the kid that was with them. They also had even faster reflexes than me which was startling."

Tsukauchi paled slightly at that comment before chuckling, "So we're dealing with a kid as you say who has faster reflexes than Eraserhead, is taking care of a child, running their own black market empire, and all the while finds time to patrol. Yeah, that sounds so reasonable."

"You think I'm lying. Tsukauchi you have a lie detecting quirk. Nothing I just told you buzzed you off as false. This kid's going to be a force to reckon with. You have to promise me you will not send other pro-heros after them. You will scare them. You know as well as I do what happens when a scared animal feels cornered. They lash out. Be careful when proceeding with this information. I will keep my eyes out for them and the kid, but please, keep what you do reasonable."

Tsukauchi let out an indeterminate sound. It was something between a huff and a groan of frustration, "Fine. But if people keep ending up dead that rule might not stay in place as long as you think."

---

Izuku 1 month and 2 weeks after Midoryia Inko's death

Izuku couldn't believe it. Not only did he have his own fully complete vigilante suit, he was being trained by a known vigilante, he had his own vigilante name, and he now had his own bo staff just like Ari! He also finally named his dog mostly because he himself didn't pick the bo staff, but his dog did, so he named it Bo. Originally Ari thought he meant bow with a w, but Izuku meant Bo, like his staff because the dog would just pick it up and carry it around.

Bo had become very good at leading Izuku around when he needed it. The dog had also started coming on patrols with them, it's a quirk they decided to call "Lycan" was useful at scaring people off if they got too close.

One thing still puzzled Izuku after knowing Ari for the past 2 weeks. He had yet to see their quirk in action let alone actually see many drawbacks. He did however notice one thing: Ari's skin is very thin and gets injured easily. When asked about it Ari deflected the question which puzzled him. Up until this point Ari had answered every question Izuku had asked, but when talking about this they closed up.

Izuku hadn't even realized he'd wandered off by himself until the guard dog presence of Ari wasn't around him anymore. Bo wagged its tail happily next to Izuku, tongue hanging out of its mouth. If Izuku had listened to Ari to stay constantly alert and stay by them all the time maybe Izuku would have heard the light thump of someone behind them.

The only reason Izuku got topped off was from the tail flicking against his leg from Bo. When Izuku turned around while his hands fumbled for his collapsible staff he noticed who it was.

It was Eraserhead.

A pro-hero.

Eraserhead.
"Oh my goodness! Eraserhead! You're so cool! I didn't get a chance to speak to you last time I ran into you because Ar-Bone Marrow didn't want me to, but it's so cool to see you!" Izuku spouted off within one breath.

Eraserhead looked confused, "You're the kid that travels with Bone Marrow? You don't exactly look the type?"

Izuku huffed, slightly offended that the pro-hero didn't think he didn't know what he was doing, "I've had some training, and I'm in school, so I don't see anything wrong with it."

"What does your mom think about you going off on your own like this?" The hero asked, raising a brow at the young boy infront of him.

Izuku sensing that the pro hero might be onto his story decided to lie, it's not like she's here to tell the truth anyways,"My mom thinks it's really cool! She really likes that I'm learning self defense and becoming more confident in myself!"

Eraserhead was taken aback by his answer it seemed, "She said it was

okay? What type of parental instinct is that?"

"Pretty good one! I'm being safe and learning a lot, so there's no harm in it!" Izuku smiled at Eraserhead, not that you could tell under the mask and the tinted glasses. One thing that disappointed Izuku was the fact he wasn't wearing his voice modifier. Ari was in the process of touching it up since it was bugging out a bit, so Izuku had no protection when it came to his age.

"Kid, that's not a good parental instinct, it's highly dangerous out here, and you should save the drive you have now for when you're old enough to be a hero," Eraserhead paused before starting a new conversation with the kid, "What's Bone Marrow like?"

Not realizing what the information he was giving the pro-hero could cause, Izuku was honest with him, "Marrow! They're amazing! They're so good at fighting, and they're the one who made my suit! They also make really good food. They're nice too. I enjoy having them in my life. The only thing about them is they don't sleep much, and it affects them in the field I think. I also think a drawback to their quirk has to do with weakening their immune system and body as a whole. Even around me they constantly wear a mask, and they always have bandaids on them, but the band aids could also be because they're more clumsy than you would think-" Izuku paused realizing what he was doing, "Sorry Eraserhead, I didn't mean to ramble. It was nice getting to know you, but I have to go now. It's getting late and I don't want my mom to worry would I?"

With that Izuku took off as fast as he could given his limited balance, trusting that Bo would make sure that nothing went seriously wrong.

Notes:

the fic i'm planning on is tentatively called "The Soldier, The Poet, and The King"
surprise surprise its a vigilante deku fic
genderfluid!izuku, selectivly mute!shinsou, dadzawa, support course!izuku
if yall are interested let me know and i'll keep planning it!
as usual you can keep up with me on my socials!
twitter(new): magpiesquash
instagram: magpie.squash or saltat1o

Notes:

i'm not 100% on his vigilante name, i wanted something original but this was the only thing i could think of. another tentative name was panther for reasons that become prevalent later on.
tumblr- magpie-squash
instas-
magpie.squash <- mha and fanart
saltat1o <- main, oc art

EDIT: i changed izuku's vigilante name because I recently designed his vigilante outfit, and it fits him a lot better :)