Chapter Text
Two kids meet in the streets, both injured and scared. Both boys are barely 6 years old. One with half red half white hair with a bandage covering the side of his face on the red side. The other with lavender colored hair with a muzzle strapped tightly to his face making it so he can’t talk and can hardly eat.
They decide to try and survive together. The lavender boy can’t talk so he writes in the dirt and teaches the other boy some sign language. They play and interact for a while before searching for food. They find some food behind a restaurant and eat. The lavender boy is having a much harder time eating due to the muzzle, but he manages.
Soon the sun starts to set and they search for a place to sleep. They find a large cardboard box and set it up between two dumpsters laying a tarp over the top. They also find a gray blanket and a brown scarf. Curling up in the box together they fall asleep.
They spend the next day or so the same, playing, eating and scavenging for stuff. The half n half boy slowly starts to get sick. The bandage on his face starts turning yellow and he gets a fever. One night probably 4 or 5 days since they met, the half n half boy is not doing good at all. They go to sleep but only one of them wakes up.
The lavender boy tries to wake the other but he won’t wake up. He can tell that the other has a fever. The lavender boy spends the day watching the other waiting for him to wake up. The sun sets and the other starts breathing weirdly. He needs help.
The lavender boy tucks the blanket around the other and takes off, wrapping the brown scarf around his face. He walks for a while before stopping in front of a pharmacy. He looks around for a moment before stepping inside.
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After a long day of work, I’m ready to go home and pet my cats. I didn’t take the car today so I’m stuck walking home from patrol. I could use my capture weapon to get home but that takes more energy than walking. Hearing a ding from my phone. Hizashi texts saying his hearing aids died and asks me to get more batteries. Sighing I make my way to the pharmacy.
While there I see a young boy maybe 4 or 5 looking around the store. His lavender colored hair covered in dirt and grime, along with his clothes. He has a brown scarf wrapped around his face covering his mouth and nose. I find what I’m looking for and go to check out.
While the cashier rings up my stuff I watch the boy. The boy looks around before tucking around a corner. Something is off about this boy. I pay and make my way to the door. As I open it and step out the boy runs past me, something tucked in his arms. Great just what I needed, an obviously homeless boy stealing stuff from a pharmacy.
“Kid!” I yell out to him. He turns for a second before bolting. With a sigh I follow him, he makes it a block or so before he falls and everything falls out of his hands. He sees me coming and tries to pick everything up. As I get closer he panics dropping everything again. The boy curls up around his loot.
I’m about 10 feet away when the boy looks up again. His scarf has fallen away from his face, probably from the chase. I see something on his face, a mask, no. A muzzle. God, who would put a muzzle on a damn kid. I put my hands up and move slowly.
“Kid, I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to help.” the kid whimpers in response. “I’m a pro hero, Eraserhead.” the kid stares at me with wide eyes. “Will you let me help you?” he looks nervous for a second but nods. I take a small step forward. The kid sits up and frees his hands.
FRIEND HELP? he signs shakily.
“Yeah I can help you.” I say crouching down to his level.
NO he signs and I cock my head. FRIEND NEED HELP. Oh I understand now, those supplies aren’t for him.
“Yeah, I can help you and your friend. Can you take me to them?” I ask. He nods and starts picking up the stuff he dropped. He flinches away and backs off when I come near. “Don’t worry kid, I just wanna help carry things.” he stills and lets me pick up the rest. I shove the stuff into my pockets and turn to him. “Lead the way kid.”
The kid runs ahead looking back every so often to make sure I’m still following. He doesn't run very fast, probably starving and hurt, who knows how long he’s been on the streets. I follow him for a few blocks before he turns leading through the dark alleys. We turn a few times before he slows down, leading me to one side.
Between two dumpsters is a cardboard box covered by a tarp. Inside is a young boy probably the same age as the other, with split dyed hair, one side white-ish the other red. The boy is curled up in the box, slightly covered by a thin blanket. He’s shaking and breathing heavily, there is a gross yellow bandage covering half his face and eye. I kneel down carefully in front of him.
“How long has he been like this?” I ask the lavender boy.
FEW DAYS, GOT WORSE MORNING, NOT GET UP. He signs. I gently shake the unconscious boy to see if he will wake up. This is not looking good, he needs medical attention or he could die.
“He needs a hospital.” I say and the boy looks scared. “It’s ok they will help him.”
YOU NOT TAKE HIM AWAY? He asks nervously.
“No, you are coming to the hospital too. I can get them to take off the muzzle.” he reaches up to touch the metal covering his face before nodding. I call for medical and quickly text Hizashi, telling him to meet me at the hospital.
Carefully I gather the sick boy in my arms and start to walk out of the alley. The lavender boy holds on to the hem of my shirt as he walks beside me. The ambulance comes and puts the sick boy on the stretcher. I pick up the lavender boy and hold him to my chest and hop in the ambulance. The paramedics take care of the first boy before turning to us. The boy in my arms whimpers and buries his face in my capture weapon.
I wave them off and wait till we get to the hospital. Once there I walk behind the stretcher, still holding the boy who managed to fall asleep. I pass him off to a nurse and wait in the waiting room till Hizashi arrives. He arrives with Detective Tsukauchi in tow.
“Here.” I say pulling the stolen medical supplies out of my pockets. “These were stolen from the pharmacy on the corner of 13th.”
“Thanks Eraserhead.” he says and takes the supplies. The nurse comes out and leads up to the boys room. Both boys lay in hospital beds a few feet apart from each other.
“Do we know who they are?” Hizashi asks.
“This one is Shoto Todoroki, he has a bad second degree burn across his eye and face. He has a major infection and smaller burns and bruises across his body.”
“Todoroki?” I ask, “as in Endeavor?” Tsukauchi nods.
“He was reported missing 5 days ago. A week ago he was put in the hospital after his mother attacked him with a tea kettle and burned his face. His mother was taken to a psych facility. Endeavor is currently overseas on a no contact mission and won’t be back till next month at the earliest.” he supplies.
“And the other boy?”
“Hitoshi Shinsou. A foster kid who ran away from his foster home a week ago. He has a brain washing quirk and has a history of being trouble.”
“How did two little boys survive on the streets for a week?” Hizashi asks.
“They almost didn’t,” the nurse buts in. “The Todoroki boy probably wouldn’t have made it through another day with his infection and Shinsou is extremely malnourished and wouldn’t have lasted through the weekend.” All three of us suck in a sharp breath, taking in the info.
“How old are they?”
“Both 6.” Tsukauchi says and Hizashi gasps.
“They look 4.”
Everyone turns and stares at the kids in the beds. Both with oxygen masks on with wires and IV’s around them. The Todoroki boy’s face is mostly covered with clean white bandages, through the hospital gown you can tell his body is covered with them as well. Shinsou on the other hand has deep bruising and bandaged cuts across his face and arms. He looks so skinny and small even compared to the other boy. He has a feeding tube going down his nose and extra stuff in the IV.
God how did they survive? If I didn’t find them when I did, I don’t think they would have been found alive. How did they even end up out on the streets in the first place? I still remember the look of fear in the lavender boy's eyes when he tripped and fell, or when he took me to the other boy. I’ve seen that look more times than I should have. I don’t want these boys to go through whatever happened again. Even if that means taking care of them.
“Sho?”
“Yeah?” I say looking up at my husband.
“You good? You spaced out there for a while.”
“Yeah, just thinking.” I realize that Tsukauchi and the nurse left already. Hizashi pulls me into a hug. “The boys would’ve died.” I whisper, still staring at the boys.
“But they didn’t, you made sure of that.” he reasures me. “I know you found them in a tough spot but you got them through it. You got them off the streets and now they are safe. You did what you could.”
“It doesn’t feel like enough.” I say. “Neither of them have much of a place to go back to right now.”
“Then how about we be that place for them for the time being. I don’t think Endeavor would mind us looking after his kid while he’s gone. And we both have our emergency foster license so we can foster Shinsou too. How does that sound?” He asks.
“Yeah, let's do that.” I smile.