Chapter Text
Aizawa finished up his patrol when he noticed a figure on top of the roof again sitting down, legs swinging in a familiar motion. He sighed and neared the roof landing on it softly.
He checked the kid's position, certain that if he accidentally startled him the kid wouldn’t fall. “I thought I told you not to hang out on the roof.”
“You did?” The kid turned and Aizawa realized that this wasn’t Izuku but Yami. Yami stared into his eyes, eyebrows raised.
“Is there another kid in town hanging out on rooftops at midnight?”
“You wouldn't believe," He sighed, rubbing his forehead, feeling an oncoming headache. He hadn’t even noticed that the kids' hair didn’t have its interesting green shine but was pitch black instead. Apparently, Izuku and Yami were similar enough in build for Aizawa to confuse them.
Yami hummed tapping his fingers on the concrete that he sat on, it still put Aizawa on the edge of how close the kid was to falling off. What's with these children running around and hanging out on rooftops his hair would go grey before he reached his thirtieth birthday which wasn’t that far away.
“We're worried I’m gonna jump?” Yami looked back, the wind ruffling his hair.
“No,” Aizawa muttered. Of course, he was what the hell. He was always worried.
“Alright,” Yami laughed standing up, he peered down the building giving Aizawa a heart attack before backing away a few steps. Aizawa glanced down trying to see if the kid would do something stupid but it was too dark for his tired eyes.
“So are you going to arrest me?” Yami mussed. “Otherwise this is very confusing you know, you're hero, you’re tried to arrest me two times already and yet here we are having a nice chat on the top of a building and I hear no sirens coming for me,”
“You want to be arrested? Alright,” Aizawa pulled his capture scarf stalking towards Yami who threw his hands up in the air.
“Wait, wait, that’s not what I meant,” He jumped out of the way as Aizawa lunged for him.
“Hey, that’s not cool, I told you no,” He shrieked as Aizawa released his capture weapon, grabbing Yamis legs successfully and pulling him towards the hero.
“Eraserhead has anyone taught you consent!” He shrieked again trying to push the captured weapon off. He pulled Yami closer to him, wrapping his hand together and binding them behind his back.
“Why do I always end up in these situations?” He whined showing his true age for once. Aizawa stared, god he really was just a kid. A kid running around at night playing a hero.
“For one, you could stop playing a vigilante and leave the job to pros,”
“Right like that sludge incident a few days ago, did you hear a quirkless kid ran to save his classmate instead of the heroes because they were just standing by,”
“That’s none of your concern,”
“Right because that time, it wasn't me,”
“Do your parents know what you’re doing at night?”
“Not really no,”
“And if I told them?”
“Ah what would I do when my dead mother finds out I’ve been trying to make the world a tiny bit better,”
“Kid,”
“What,”
“Why do you do this?”
“Do what, run around as you say?” Yami shrugged “I don’t know, it’s fun, I get to beat up some guys, let out the anger I've suppressed for years, do some good once in a while,” “Thought I’m a bit lost how I’ll get out of this tonight”
“Didn’t expect to get captured?”
“No,”
“I’m glad to have caught you by surprise,”
“The only time I'll be surprised is when I die,”
“Where's your home?”
“Are you going to let me go?” “Because if you are, you’re not gonna be really a hero,”
“No, but I’ll be human,” “ And besides underground heroes aren't that well perceived by society anyway, who I am to put another small dent besides all the grime people have thrown on me,”
“True, but the Eraserhead I know usually is more of a hardass than this, you don’t get soft,”
“Alright, police station it is then,” Aizawa pulled the kid up, throwing him over his shoulders.
“God damn it stop it,” Yami struggled with some anger slipping in his words.
“Or what?” Aizawa put the problem child back on the ground staring him down, Yami's face shielded by his hair.
“Or this!” He rushed towards the edge and jumped, his feet bound, hands bound but still successfully flying his body over the side of the roof. Aizawa's heart dropped, hands secured around his captured weapon, pulling it stiff, grunting as his tired arms bore the sudden weight. He dug his feet into the ground for some leverage.
“Are you insane?” He screamed hoping the kid was smart enough to adjust so he wouldn’t be hitting his head against the wall. He tied the captured weapon to a pole, making sure it wouldn’t bend and leaned over the edge to pull Yami up.
“What were you thinking?”
“Escaping?” He said it like it was a simple thing. Like he hadn’t just jumped off. Sure maybe the kid had some quirk to escape but as far as he knew this was Akatani Mikumo a quirkless child who already jumped once and didn’t survive.
His heart beat loudly as he adjusted his grip to pull him over the edge and back to safety.
“Scared?” Yami whispered, his red eyes shining in the dark of the night. He stared back.
“Wanna know the truth?” Yami nodded.
“Petrified,” He whispered. Yami looked shocked as he narrowed his eyes.
“Now let’s get you back to whenever you live, I’ll be keeping my eye on you,”
“Great as if being a hero magnet was not enough, you’ll now be deliberately trying to look for me,”
“Your actions show that there’s need for that,”
“Thanks but I don’t need some hero to look after me, I've been doing it fine myself for the last two years,”
“Two years since you stepped onto the streets, that is?” Yami shut up real quick, averting his gaze.
“It doesn’t matter, at least not to you,”
“Believe it or not but heroes care, I care,”
“Next thing you'll tell me is that I can live with you because you adopt a stray, by the sound of it you already have one,” Yami joked, snorting to himself but Aizawa just starred. He didn’t have Izuku under his care but the night after he had escorted him he thought about finding out his family situation and offering a shoulder to lean on just in case. He even had a special adoption license that allowed him to take in a kid without the long process that sometimes took way too much time and was honestly unnecessary. Adoption pass if you will.
“No, no you’re joking,” Yami mumbled.
“Look, problem child-”
“Problem child?”
“Problem child, I don’t know what drove you to this but if you ever need help, need food or even need home just find me,”
Yami shook his head, ruffling his locks. “I’m fine,” He said before disappearing down the fire escape. Aizawa took a long time to watch him get down and walk away with slow steps, swaying on his feet. His shoulders shook in a manner Aizawa wasn’t sure was laughing or crying. He wasn’t sure which one he preferred.
Sighing, he took out his phone. Pulling out his contact list he punched the call button and waited.
Three rings later he heard a shuffle from the end. “Aizawa?” Tsukauchi’s tired voice ran through the speakers. “Is everything alright?”
“You know how you told me to look after the problem child?”
“Yeah? Am I going bankrupt with coffee?”