“You want to go out on your own?”

Yui-nee looked up from her laptop, tilting her head at him. Two months had passed since his first night out, and he’d earned the grappling brace.

He nodded, his curls bouncing as he clenched his fists “Yeah! Just tonight? I want to see if I can…I can’t be at your side forever,” the fire in his voice sizzled out as he looked up at her, “I don’t want to do this alone, but I can’t get too dependent on you…”

She sighed softly, running a hand through her hair before she looked up at him. “Okay you’re right. So tonight you can go out on your own. I’ll follow you through cameras and you keep your comm on. If you run into any trouble I’ll be there.” She gave him a smile that was a little sad but there was warmth and pride mixed in.

He smiled and crushed her in a hug, he wasn’t the toothpick she’d met months ago. “Thank you Yui-nee! I’ll make you proud!”

She ruffled a hand through his curls. “You always do, Izu,”

“Enough sappy shit you two! It’s time for dinner!” Dabi called out, carrying in two plates. His scars had started to heal and needed the staples to keep his peeling skin secured less and less. The deep purple color had also faded a bit. As long as he only formed flames on his hands, he was okay. He still overheated but at least he wasn’t burning off his own flesh, or dousing his recovering wounds in rubbing alcohol anymore.

“I made curry! Izu-chan make sure Dabi doesn’t give you his, he added a ghost pepper!” Himiko smiled as she handed Yui-nee a plate.

Izuku raised an eyebrow at the plate Dabi offered him, looking into cerulean eyes before he handed him the other one.

“It’ll put some hair on your chest, brat,” he plopped down beside them.

“I’m ten, Dabi! I don’t need chest hair yet!” he dug into the curry, smiling wide. “Wow, Himi-chan, this is amazing!”

“Yeah, the spices compliment but don’t overpower like last time, you’ve definitely improved,” Yui-nee flashed a grin at her.

“Thank you!” she chirped, “Those cooking classes are so fun! I love going! And the Tai-Chi classes!”

“Guess we should send Endewhore a gift basket for funding the classes.” Dabi grumbled out between bites. They exchanged looks amongst each other before three voices spoke at once.

“Fuck him!”

----------------------------------------

It had started as a standard night, three easy takedowns before he stumbled on a group of kids around his age. He had no idea why they’d be out at eleven forty-eight at night, they obviously weren’t out to stop crime like he was doing. Three of them were cornering a kid with wild indigo hair, the tallest one had a hand fisted in his shirt, blood was dripping from the kid’s nose as he was forced to look up at him.

“Let him go!”

Now maybe he should have waited to scream that when he was on the ground, or before he jumped down even. Not when he was falling through the air, where it came out garbled and distorted. Oh well.

His feet shot out, each slamming into the chests of the two flunkies behind the lead bully, sending them crashing into the walls on either side of the alley. He landed smoothly on his feet as he straightened to his full height, which wasn’t that tall or imposing but the glowing goggles and sparking bo staff was enough to make the bully lift his hands above his head, blood draining from his face.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Hey, I don’t want trouble! We were just dealing with this villain!” he squeaked.

Izuku frowned, tilting his head. “The kid doesn’t look like a villain. And I can’t stand bullies.” He took a step forward, “So, unless you want me to turn you over to the cops, you’d get out of here and leave him alone. Got it?”

The bully nodded quickly, “Y-Yeah sure man… we’ll go!” he shuffled past him before the three could run off.

Izuku sighed, shaking his head as he turned to the kid, “Are you okaaaaay-" his mouth became dry as he met lavender eyes.

The boy raised an eyebrow at him, “Yeah, just a bloody nose. I don’t even think he broke it this time.” His voice was deeper than he thought it’d be, and he sounded like he’d just woken up. That tone matched the bags under his eyes.

“This time? This happens a lot? What about your parents?” He rambled out, pulling some gauze out of his pouch, “Here,”

He narrowed his eyes as he took it, “I don’t tell them. They have enough shit to shovel.” He pressed it under his nose.

Izuku bit his lip before he took in a deep breath, “Are they…good parents? They aren’t abusive or neglectful are they?”

Those lavender eyes snapped up to glare at him, “My parents are amazing, they love me! They didn’t abandon me when I got this villain's Quirk! They’ve moved me from schools because of the bullying and I won’t put any more stress on them by complaining about some asshole kids in the neighborhood! Who are you to stick your nose in, huh?” he snapped at him.

Izuku raised his hands in front of him. He swallowed as he tried not to tremble. It’d been awhile since he dealt with that kind of voice directed at him.

The kid sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Sorry, I…I shouldn’t have snapped…but no, my home life is great.”

He nodded, rubbing the back of his head. “I’m sorry. I just wanted to make sure. You said you had a villain’s Quirk? My sister thought the same, and her birth parents were…really bad people. But her Quirk doesn’t make her a villain! And neither does yours! A Quirk is just a tool, a gun in a mugger’s hand makes it bad, the same gun in a cop's hand makes it a tool for good! As long as the cop is good and not…I’m getting off point, sorry!” He rambled, grimacing a bit under the mask. He thought he was getting better at that…

“Yeah? Bet your sister doesn’t control people.” He snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Izuku blinked, his eyes widening before he blurted out, “How did you know that?”

The kid jerked, “I…uh, didn’t…my Quirk is Brainwashing….I can take over a person if they respond to me…” He winced and moved his arms closer to his body.

Izuku gasped, bouncing over to him, “That’s so useful for heroics! You wouldn’t cause property damaged and you could end fights like that!” he snapped his fingers, or tried to with his gloves on it really just thumped. “You know what I mean! Hostage situations…I wonder if it helps for panic attacks…Kami, you have such a cool Quirk!”

The kid stared at him in shock, “You…you really mean that? Could I really be a hero?”

He blinked, before he smiled wide, even if the other couldn’t see it. “Of course! I bet you’d make an amazing underground hero like Eraserhead!”

The kid quickly scrubbed his sleeve against his eyes, breaking out in a smile. “You know about him? He’s my favorite hero!”

“He’s one of mine too! He’s kind of my inspiration since he fights Quirkless and still kicks ass!” He jumped up and down.

The kid chuckled, “I’m guessing you’re not just a short hero, huh?”

He stumbled a bit before he rubbed his neck, chuckling softly “Ugh, no, and hey I’m not that short!”

“I’m almost eleven and you’re shorter than I am. How old are you?”

“Ten!...why did I tell you that?” He mumbled, “I suck at the secret identity thing…”

He chuckled, “Well, for a ten year old, that was pretty badass… I’m Hitoshi Shinsou. What do you go by?”

“Oh! My vigilante name is Null! But you can call me Izu if you want…” he offered him his hand.

Hitoshi chuckled as he shook it, “Thanks again…um, I know you probably have to save more people, but could we talk sometime? It’d be nice to have a friend who’s not my cousins. I promise not to give your phone number to the cops.”

“Y-You want my number? You want to talk to me again? Really?” he squeaked out.

He chuckled “Yeah, I want to get to know the badass under the mask. Is that okay?” Hitoshi flashed him a crooked grin, his eyes lighting up.

“oh umm…Y-Yeah! That’s great!” he pulled out his phone, and Hitoshi put in his number.

He stepped around him as he handed him back his phone, “I’ll text you later, Izu,” he disappeared down the street, leaving Izuku staring after him in a stupor.

He only jerked out of it when Yui-nee’s laughter filled the comm. “So smooth, little bro!”