Chapter Text
"Run!" His mother screamed, pushing Izuku as she collapsed to the floor, fire spreading across her skin.
The twelve-year-old looked between his burning mother and his father, whose mouth was leaking flames as he cursed.
His father- no, Hisashi, he refused to call him that anymore- growled and yelled, slapping his mother. Izuku looked between them once more, before meeting his mothers pleading eyes, and running. He ran into his bedroom, and quickly closed, locked, and blocked the door, like his mother had taught him a couple years ago. He was eight when Hisashi finally came to terms that Izuku wasn't going to naturally develop a quirk, and had taken to trying to beat one out of him.
To help protect him, his mother had packed 'safety bags', which contained some imperishable foods and water bottles, along with clothes and travel sized soaps. There was also a good bit of money, along with other necessities. They kept it in a little hidden cubby in his closet, one they built in while his dad was at work.
Then she taught him the rules. If he was ever in danger, and she was being hurt, he had to go to his room and lock the door. He was told to block the door with whatever he could find, and to never touch the metal door knobs. If his mother was being hurt really bad, and she told him to go, he would climb out his window to the fire escape, where he would run as far as he could.
The original plan was to just go to the Bakugo's, but Izuku didn't get along with their family anymore, not after he got his diagnosis. Then the plan was to go to the police, or a hero, but they never listened. Whenever Inko went to them with bruises, they wrote it off as a clumsy wife trying to get money or attention. Hisashi being such a gentleman in public on solidified assumptions, and made it worse for Inko and Izuku.
They had then planned a location to meet up if Inko could get away, but as Hisashi got worse and worse, the plan changed once more, so it became that Izuku would just run, and get out. This plan was the one, because the night it had to go into action, Inko was unable to go with him.
Izuku ran through Musutafu, all the way from their apartment building to the red-light district before he finally slowed, panting as he found an abandoned building to rest in. He put down his heavy bag, slumping down on the rotting wooden floor inside, the sun setting outside, with the last of its rays leaking into the broken window.
He looked at his phone, which he kept with him at all times, and realized that it was going to die soon. He needed to charge it, but first, he needed to eat and sleep. His stomach was growling, but he was so tired he might just go to sleep. Actually, that sounded like a plan.
Searching through his bag, Izuku found a small sleeping bag. He was always a small child, thin from both running from bullies, and from the lack of food, as his father rarely let him eat. However, this sleeping bag was meant for his eight-year-old self, meaning that if he kept it zipped up, it would only go to his shoulders.
It was warm enough that he didn't need to be inside of it though, and so he unzipped it and laid on it, his feet coming off of it as he used his bag as a pillow. It was a bit hard, but he didn't want to take anything out of it.
Izuku soon fell into dreamless sleep, the last dreamless sleep he would have for a while.
When he awoke, it was early morning. He had turned off his phone to save the battery through the night, and when he turned it on it was only at ten percent. The time was 6:30, though, and the growling of his stomach lured him off his back and onto his feet. Izuku rifled through his bag, finding a granola bar. A quick check of the date showed him it expired a month ago, but it seemed to be good when he opened it. He ate it, before counting his money. He had about 100,000 yen (about 700 dollars), but it wouldn't last forever. His mother was trying to make it to 1000, and then hopefully Izuku would've been able to get a job. It'll be hard for him to find a job on account of his quirklessness and now homelessness.
Shaking his head, he decided to deal with one thing at a time. He needed to charge his phone. He needed somewhere to spend his nights.
He tucked everything into his backpack, the dark green thing looking comically large on his small frame. Izuku walked out the door of the building, and back into town. There was a small cafe with free wifi his mother took him to a couple times, far enough from his apartment and where his dad worked.
Upon noticing some stares, something such a plain looking boy like himself never received unless they knew his status, he put the hood on his hoodie up. Either they recognized the meaning of his red shoes, or someone was looking for him.
Once he made it to the cafe, he chose a booth in the middle, and plugged in his phone. A waitress came up to him, and he ordered a cheap drink to down as his phone charged. After she left to go make it, he pulled out a notebook from his backpack.
He had 13 analysis notebooks, but his bag only had the newest one. The rest were hidden in the apartment building in a fireproof safe.
He wanted them back.
It would have to wait, however, as he didn't know the state of the building, nor Hisashi. He could be waiting for Izuku to appear to kill him too.
Kill him too. Well, that leads to a rabbit hole of thoughts, doesn't it? He hasn't really thought about the fact that his mother is probably dead. It would be very surprising if she lived with those burns though, and who knew what Hisashi did to her after he ran?
Izuku hurriedly scrubbed the tears off his face as the waitress brought him his drink. She looked concerned, but didn't say anything, which he was thankful for. He would probably trauma dump on her if she asked if he was okay, and explaining how his dad killed his mom and then he ran away would probably get him sent to the police station then foster care where they don't treat the quirkless well and Hisashi would find him and kill him too-
Okay, well, get away from that train of thought. He peaked over at the waitress from under his hood, and realized she was on the phone. Instantly suspicious, he tried to listen, but could barely hear. She laughed quietly, her back was turned, but when a customer arrived and she looked to the door, there was a smile on her face. Must not be about him then.
The customer had purple hair that poofed up, defying gravity. He sat in a booth in the very back, and he must have been a regular because the waitress never asked for his order, just brought him a drink and a paw print cookie.
Realizing he was staring at unimportant things, Izuku opened his notebook, and started researching.
First, he needed some place to stay. Preferably with electricity and running water. He also didn't have a job yet, so he would need to ration his money as much as possible. Izuku wasn't sure when he would be able to get a job, if he would be able to get a job.
He didn't find a cheap apartment, but after watching a few videos, he figured he could run electricity and water to the one he spent the night in. If not that one, then there might be others that are fine enough for him to stay in.
The second thing was to find a job. He browsed a few listings online before just deciding to go around the edges of the red-light district asking. Those areas would be bad enough they might want a quirkless kid, but okay enough that he won't be in too much danger working there.
He brushes that away for now. He can focus on that later, since it requires going out. For now, he was going to take notes on plumbing and running electric. He knew that becoming a hero is too high of a goal for him, as most schools had rules against the quirkless- except Yuuei. He would never get in there though, with their extremely biased entrance exam. He might be able to pass the written exam, he always got perfect marks on is tests, but that wouldn't be enough. In fact, his elementary school had messed up his grades the past few years, and although he got perfect marks on his tests, his final grades were always lower than Bakugo's, or sometimes the teacher would make him retake tests to make sure he wasn't cheating. It got worse when they started giving him tests meant for middle schoolers.
He had planned on doing online this year, as Hisashi worked at an office, so he wouldn't be home anyway, but plans may have to change because of his current situation. He could try for a library, but he might have to pay for a library card. He still had a few weeks left of summer before he had to go to public school, but he should've signed up by now. With online school he gets more leeway, so he can find free classes to take, and work through them quickly.
Izuku didn't realize he was muttering until the purple-haired boy walked up to him, drink in hand. He slid into the other side of the booth, and took a long sip of his drink.
"You mutter a lot."
Izuku turned red, looking reminiscent to a strawberry with his green hair and freckles.
"Sorry about that, I'm sure you came here to eat in peace." He quietly said, just above the volume of his mutters.
"Eh, don't worry about it. You seem to be doing something important." The boy tilted his head, as if he asked a question.
Izuku took his statement as such, and responded, "Yeah, I've had some stuff happen lately, and need to figure stuff out. Y'know. Stuff."
"Okay. Stuff." Lilac, as Izuku now referred to him in his mind as- because of the hair- responded, giving a look that seemed to mean, 'No I do not know, but okay.' "So Greenie." He made a face, like he wasn't sure how to say something. Flailing his hand around uselessly, he said, "Never seen you here before."
He seemed to be avoiding questions. This made the gears in Izuku's mind shift, and he blurted out, "Are you not asking questions because it's related to your quirk? Is it some sort of response based mental quirk?"
Lilac looked at him in shock, mouth agape. Izuku, whose blush was dying down, flared up even redder this time, the blush reaching his ears.
"Sorry, that was rude, it's habit, you don't have to answer that."
"Mind control."
"What?"
The boy looked almost bored, but Izuku could see the fear in his eyes. Y'know, one traumatized kid to another.
"Mind control. If you respond to one of my questions, I can control you." He suddenly looked angry, and stood up to leave, "Are you happy now?"
"Thank you for telling me, you don't have to leave."
Lilac suddenly looked very confused, and paused, "You just responded to me."
"I did."
"I just told you-"
"You just told me your quirk, but you didn't use it on me. In fact, our entire conversation you were trying not to use it until I pointed it out. I have no reason to dislike you, so sit back down and finish your drink Lilac." Izuku burst with a newfound confidence. That confidence friend when he saw the smirk on the boy's face.
"Lilac?"
"Oh, shut up, you called me Greenie."
The boys talked a little more, exchanging names as the boy, who Izuku learned is named Shinsou, downed the rest of his drink. They then exchanged numbers, as Shinsou had to leave.
"Bye Akatani."
"B-bye Shinsou."
Oh yeah, and he gave Shinsou a fake name. He is technically missing, after all.