Chapter Text
It all started with a request to help out at an apartment complex fire. Shuffling his way through the smoky building, Sero Hanta called out for anyone left in the building, the sweltering heat and thick smoke telling him he didn’t have much time left. He was about to leave the building when he heard a small sniffle come from his left. Launching himself toward the noise, he found a little girl with long octopus like tentacles for arms wrapped around her knees as she hid under a desk, her small body shaking like a leaf.
“Hey there kiddo. Let’s get you out of here.” As he reached out to grab her the girl (who couldn’t have been more than six years old) only backed herself further under the desk, fear stretched across her face.
The room around them was filled with smoke, he didn’t have much time left. But, Sero knew he couldn’t just grab and go, the poor girl was terrified. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” Taking off his helmet Sero grinned and held out his empty hand to the girl, “My name’s Cellophane and I’m here to help.” Slowly, the girl nodded as she unwound her arms and shuffled to him. “Let’s get you out of here.” In one swift motion he scooped the girl up as she suctioned herself to his chest, holding on for dear life as Sero lept out the window and swung down to the throng of firefighters and police below. Once he landed, Sero carried her over to the EMTs who did their best to check her over while the child continued to cling to him. Once he was given confirmation she was okay, he headed over to the police so that he could hand her over while she waited for her parents.
With a tired grin he tried to hand her off to the officer but the second Sero loosened his grip on the child she began to sob, clutching onto his arms harder than before. Sighing, Sero pulled the girl back into his chest and addressed the officer, “Sorry, she doesn’t seem to want to let go.”
“Don’t worry about it, Cellophane Sir.” They were always so formal with heroes, it kind of unnerved him at times like this, “We just need some of the child’s basic information so we can find her parents.”
“You mean no one’s come looking for her yet?” Shocked, he glanced back down at the girl in his arms, her tentacles locking her onto him as she continued to sniffle.
“Well chances are her parents or guardians were injured in the fire and are on their way to a hospital right now. I’ll take her into police custody until we manage to locate them or another relative.” With that, the officer reached out to take the still shaking child. Immediately, she wailed at the sight of the unknown man reaching out to grab her as she buried her face into Sero’s shoulder. Feeling his chest tighten, Sero couldn’t help but remember a similar situation from his childhood.
Alone… helpless… the 5 year old was wandering the streets looking for his parents, dodging knees and swinging bags as he navigated the throng of adults around him. In his ever growing panic he bumped into someone in navy blue. Looking up, all he saw was an unknown person reach down to try and grab him, the sun right behind them making them an ominous blob. In a panic, he scrambled to his feet and ran away, tears now freely falling from his face as he hid in an alleyway covering his ears to try and block out the ever growing noise of the street.
“I…I have…” he snorted, wiping tears from his eyes as he tried to calm down. “I hafta find mommy and daddy. I… hafta be brave.” Lightly smacking his cheeks, he bit down on his lip to keep it from quivering any more. “Crying’s for babies. I’m not a baby. You can do this Hanta.” His tight frown warbled up into a small, yet forced smile as he stood up and stepped back out into the street, searching for any sign of familiarity. There was no one there to watch out for or be brave for him, so he had to be brave for himself.
Shaking his head, Sero turned his back so the child was shielded from the officer’s view. Tightening his grip on her, Sero addressed the officer. “You know what. She seems pretty attached to me right now.” With a smile he took a step back and waved a hand to show the girl quite literally stuck to him, “I’ll take her back to my office and send you any updates on her identity.”
Pulling their hands back the officer nodded, “Oh. Uhh… Sure thing, Sir.”
With a nod, Sero turned and left carrying the little girl away from the still smoldering building and began the 15 block walk back to his agency.
Five minutes into their walk, the girl was still shaking like a leaf, her small body heaving as she tried to choke back more tears. Looking around, Sero spotted a quiet yet well lit alleyway and went over. Once there, he spotted a stack of crates, after a quick inspection he deemed them safe to set her down on. Like earlier with the officer the second he tried to put her down she began to cry with renewed vigor.
“Shh... kid. It’s okay, it's okay.” Softly patting the girl’s head he let go of her and kneeled down so he was looking right in the girl’s watery eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.” Slowly she nodded, tears still falling as she did. “You’re going to be staying with me until we find your parents. Is that okay?” Sniffling, the girl nodded. “Great. I can’t keep calling you kid forever sooo...” Smiling softly, Sero waited for a response.
A little “mhm” escaped her lips as she nodded. “My…” she took a deep breath before continuing, “My name is Sadako...” She paused, unsure if she could continue. “Hanaika Sadako.”
“Hanaika Sadako.” She smiled as Sero repeated it out loud. “That’s a very pretty name. What do you want me to call you?”
She brought one of her tentacle arms up to scratch at her chin as she thought. “Sadako is fine.”
“Perfect.”
Sero quietly chatted with Sadako as he waited for her breathing to even out. Once she had calmed down completely, Sero reached out to pluck her off of the crates she was still perched on. “Do you wanna go to my agency and hang out while we wait for your parents to show up? Nodding, Sadako reached out to grab his hand, squeezing tight while she did. “It’s still a good twelve blocks away. You okay with walking all the way there?” If her little frown was any indication Sadako did not want to walk, but she still nodded. She’s been through enough tonight, making her walk ten blocks is just unnecessarily cruel. Sero glanced around, his ever present grin growing as he had an idea.
“Hey Sadako.”
“Yeah?”
“I have a better idea. You just have to promise to hold on tight.”
With a matching grin Sadako’s eyes began to sparkle as she tightened her grip on Sero’s hand.
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Swinging over the city with a small child clinging to your back is not the smartest move, but the delighted cackling coming from said child made it all worth it. Snickering to himself, he shouted over the wind, “You wanna see something cool?!” He could barely make out Sadako’s excited yes over the whistling of the wind in his ears but it was enough to make him burst out into a wide toothed grin, “Hold on tight!” Somehow her tentacles wrapped even tighter around his shoulders as Sero pulled up on his tape midswing, releasing once he was a full height and began to spin midair until they were both facing up into the setting sun. Bright oranges and pinks blended into the deep purple and blue of the coming night to create an experience he hoped she’d never forget. A certain kind of high he’d been chasing ever since his first time.
It wasn’t quiet like he’d always imagined the moment would be. The cars and pedestrians below him were screaming into the night sky, completely unaware of the lanky fourteen year old currently perched on top of one of the 50 story tall buildings that lined the street. Perched wasn’t the right word for his situation though, that suggested someone cool, calm, and confident Sero was currently none of that. Instead he was pacing the roof shaking from the cold night air and fear.
He was going to do it today. He’d been training for years to be able to do this. “All I have to do is stick to the walls and swing. I can do that.” He took a step towards the edge and turned around, quickly moving away from the edge, “No I can’t… But now or never I guess.” He walked back up to the edge and looked down at the tiny dots below as he tried to steel himself.
Taking a deep breath, he turned around so he was facing away from the street, slowly tilting himself back until there was no going back. Sero opened his eyes as he began his freefall.
Everything went quiet, his eyes widening as he took in the sight of the sky above him, the stars shrinking yet growing in numbers as he fell, the cold air biting at his exposed arms as he flipped around to look down at the people below him. Their miniscule forms grew larger by the second. With no time to soak it all in, Sero swung his arms out, spinning so he could launch his tape at the building across the street.
With a solid THWACK the tape connected, causing him to change direction midair, instead of falling he was now flying back up towards the sky, taking in the moon and stars, all watching with bated breath to see what he’d do now. As momentum pushed him higher, Sero’s grin grew. He was doing it. Whooping with joy as he began to fall once more as he disconnected from the strand of tape. Swinging his other arm forward he grinned as he watched the tape make contact with the side of a building again.
THWACK! Rounding the corner he caught sight of his agency and a familiar face pacing in front of the rooftop access door. “Okay Sadako, we’re going to land.” Not a second later, Sero landed as he had done dozens of times before while making sure to not frighten the girl still clinging tightly to his back. On the roof of his agency was a familiar sight, his secretary standing at the door to the roof, a pad of paper in his hand and a frown on his face.
“Cellophane.”
Still grinning wildly, Sero pried Sadako off of him, the girl smiling so hard it looked like her face was about to split. “Wassup?”
Sighing, his secretary opened the door for the three of them, closing the door behind himself as they all made their way down the stairs and onto the top floor. “I’d like a bit of a heads.” up before you decide to bring a random child back here.”
“Oh come on, it's not like she’s hurting anyone.” Sero patted Sadako’s head as he helped guide her to his office.
“Still, Sir.” His secretary stood next to him as they watched the girl explore every nook and cranny of Sero’s spacious office, a small smile tugging at his lips, “I just don’t want to find out we’re having guests because the police call me asking if we have any information on some random child I’ve never seen and her identity.”
Feeling just bad enough to grin sheepishly Sero turned to face his secretary, “Okay, fair enough. That does remind me though. Make sure to call them back and let them know I did get her name. It’s Hanaika Sadako.” At the sound of her name the girl popped out from under Sero’s desk and scampered over to the two men.
“I heard my name.”
Chuckling, Sero kneeled down so that he was eye-level with her as she crossed her comically long tentacle arms. “Yeah you did. I was just telling this nice gentleman your name so we can try and find your parents.”
“Oh. Okay.” With that she turned around and went back to exploring the office.
Once Sero was upright again his secretary shook his head before addressing him, “I’ll get to work on that right away.” Before he could respond the man turned around and left, closing the door behind him.
“Welp.” Clapping his hands together, Sero strode over to where Sadako was currently dangling from the climbing equipment he had hung from the ceiling when he first moved into his office. “Hey kiddo.”
“Hello!” Giggling, Sadako began to swing back and forth as he watched.
“Mind if I hang out with you?”
Sero could barely contain his snort of laughter as Sadako’s face immediately deadpanned, her swinging coming to a swift standstill. “As long as you don’t say any more bad puns.”
“Sure thing kid.”
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Instead of being home in his nice warm bed, Sero was sitting at his desk while Sadako slept on the couch across from him. Suddenly his office phone started ringing, causing the girl to begin to stir from her nap as he picked up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Good news Sir. The police managed to find Sadako’s mother. She was released from the hospital fifteen minutes ago and should be here in a few moments to pick her up.”
“Oh…” Sero wasn’t going to lie, his heart broke a little at the thought of returning Sadako to her family, what could he say? He became attached easily. “I’ll make sure she’s ready to go then.” With that he hung up, just in time for the child in question to sit up, slowly wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“Who wazzat?” Muttering, she glanced around the room before locking eyes with him.
Gulping Sero plastered a big smile on his face as he stood up from his desk, “It was your mom, she’s coming to pick you up.”
“Really?” Every remnant of sleep vanished from the girl as she sprung to her feet, bouncing in excitement.
“Yes really. She’ll be here in a few minutes to take you home.”
“Are you coming home too? You can be my new uncle and play with me all the time!” Her wide eyes begged him to come with her, it was clear Sadako had also grown attached in the past few hours.
Sero gave her a sad smile and kneeled down so he could look her in the eye, mirroring the position he was in when he’d first asked Sadako for her name. “I can’t come with you.”
Sadako tilted her head to the side, “Why not?”
“Well... I’m a hero.”
“So?”
“So I have to stay and help other people. I wouldn’t be much of a hero if I just left now would I?”
“But-” before Sadako could finish her thought a woman with similar pink skin who looked to be her mother burst into the room and rushed forward to scoop her up in her arms.
“Sadako! Oh my baby!” Her mother fought back tears as she held onto her child for dear life, as if she was afraid she would disappear again. After a minute of silent hugging her mother stood up and walked over to where Sero was now awkwardly standing. “Thank you so much for taking care of her, Cellophane. Is there any way I can repay you?”
“Don’t worry about it. Sadako was a delight and I’m just glad to see her back with her family.”
The woman smiled softly as she took his hand. “You have no idea how much it means to have her back. Thank you. Really.” With that she let go and took Sadako’s hand “Now let’s get you home and cleaned up, okay my Lil’ Cuttlefish?”
“Okay, Mommy.” With that the doors closed behind them as they left the office, leaving Sero standing by himself once more. Sighing, he turned around to go to his desk to type out a report. Before he could even round the desk he was alerted to the sound of small footsteps hurrying down the hall to his door.
Flinging the door open, Sadako rushed up to him as he knelt down to ask her what was wrong, concern painting his face. Instead she slammed into him, her small arms wrapping around his neck and her face buried in his chest. He could barely make out a muffled “Thank you, Mister Cellophane.” Raising her head, Sadako grinned up at him, “You’re my hero.” Any question he had died in his throat as he returned the girl’s hug, a soft smile gracing his face.
“Thank you Sadako, feel free to stop by.”
Her mother walked back into the room flanked by another agency hero, smiling as she saw the two of them, “She said forgot something.” Walking up to them, Sero let go of Sadako, her mom taking her shoulder and leading her back to the doors once again, “I promise we’ll visit mister Cellophane again, but for now he still has work to do. Okay?”
Sadako nodded and turned around to wave at Sero still seated on the floor, “I’ll bring you a cookie to replace the one I ate!” Without waiting for a response she tugged her mother around the corner as she mouthed one last thank you to the hero. The last thing he heard was a muffled “Mommy?”
“Yes Dear?”
“I wanna be a hero just like Cellophane when I grow up.”