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“Breaking news: Killer of Flame Hero Endeavor’s on the loose again.” The tinny voices on the television and radio have been broadcasting it all day long. This night, a couple of minutes before midnight, villain Shouto Todoroki has escaped from prison after being locked up there for a little under ten years. He was supposed to have a lifetime, but broke out of his cell decades too early.
Izuku still remembers the day clearly, one of their country’s best heroes, Endeavor, fell. Died to the hands of his youngest son, when the kid was barely nine years old.
Even though Izuku wasn’t much older than the killer at the time the explosion, caused by such cruel cold-bloodedness, he’d seen on the news were never erased from his mind. That riled up feeling of wanting to fight against murders like that, might’ve been put to rest throughout Izuku’s fairly normal life, but seeing this on the news gets him all worked up again.
His eyes are fixated on the headshots taken from the prisoner a couple of years ago. His hands move automatically as he sews together a uniform for one the UA students, who are all getting ready to become the new heroes of this time. In a couple of years, it’ll be their task to deal with ruthless killers like the youngest of the Todoroki family.
The fire of a true hero that still burns inside of Izuku, but he never got to go to the school he now daily makes costumes for. As a mere tailor, all he can do is make these heroes costumes to keep them safe from harm. He cannot fight back. Not by using a quirk, at least, his body just isn’t made for that, but that doesn’t mean that in his heart he is fighting along with those people that safe his city each and every day.
He jumps up at the sound of a phone echoing through the empty shop. Izuku winces when his needle pierces through the tip of his finger. Blood forms a small glowing red drop on his skin. “Again?” Izuku mutters to himself, putting his finger in his mouth. Sometimes he feels like he should learn from his mistakes; after poking holes in his fingers each and every time he zones out, he should’ve learned not to pay attention to anything but his sewing by now.
The phone rings a second time, its shrill sound causing Izuku’s ears to ache. He reminds himself that he should really get that changed, so it doesn’t annoy him with each new order that is placed, before picking up the phone. “Midoriya’s tailoring business, you’re speaking with Izuku Midoriya, how can I be of service to you?” he sums up, almost unconscious; after having the store to his own for over a year now, he’s grown accustomed to helping out customers.
“Oh, Izuku!” He doesn’t need long to recognize the relieved voice on the other end of the line. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”
“Mom?” he frowns, she barely ever calls. Only if she has important news, or whenever she feels like Izuku might have important news. So, he wonders why she’s calling now. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
“Didn’t you hear about the prison break?”
Oh, that’s why. He smiles, relieved that she doesn’t have personal bad news for him.
“I mean, you are so close to the prison where he was being held,” she continues. “Are you sure it’s safe to be there when-“ She swallows audibly. “you know-“
She’s always been like that. Worried. Probably because, while most people at least have some quirk to defend themselves against the villains that roam through the city streets, Izuku’s completely defenseless in her eyes. Not that he agrees with her on that, even without a quirk, the pocket-knife that he keeps in his drawer all the time can do quite some damage as well.
“I’m okay, mom.” Izuku rolls his eyes and chuckles. “I’m safe here.”
“Are you sure? Because I can also pick you up at the store and have you stay over at my-“
“Mom.” Izuku raises his voice. “I am fine. Plus, it’s safer to stay inside. It’s not like a wanted villain is just going to barge into the first tailor shop he walks past.”
The bell of the store, echoing its welcoming chime through the shop, makes Izuku jump a little. He keeps telling his mom how absurd that would be while turning to the customer.
“So don’t wo-“ His mouth falls open when he sees his customer. A young man, drenched top to toe in blood, collapsing on the wooden floor after barely walking two steps away from the door, silences Izuku completely. He stares as the boy as he curls up, groaning in pain as he cradles his wounded arm.
“Izuku,” his mother’s voice sounds on the other end of the line. She’s worried.
Izuku’s not quite sure if, seeing this, her worry is still not valid. But he doesn’t want to worry her, even if having a severely wounded customer bleeding all over his store might be an alarming sign, so he just tells her he needs to go. “There’s a customer that needs my help.”
He utters a sigh of relief. He hates having to lie to his mom, so he’s glad he didn’t have to lie to her right before ending the call; there is a customer and he really needs Izuku’s help.
As soon as the phone has been placed back onto the table, Izuku rushes to the guy’s side. He doesn’t think twice before kneeling down in the pool of blood surrounding the younger teenager and he fully follows his instincts when asking the guy if he’s alright.
There’s a groan, it’s barely even audible. “I’m fine,” the boy grumbles in a strained voice, it’s almost like he’s holding back cries of pain. Izuku can’t blame the guy; his arm looks like it’s been scorched by fire and going from the blood that has seeped into his hair and clothes, he has much more wounds than just that big one on his arm.
“No you’re not!” Izuku shakes his head furiously. “What happened to you?”
No answer.
“You’re clearly hurt.” He inspects the wound on the guy’s arm for as well as he can, seeing the guy is cradling it against his chest tightly. Going from the nearly black skin in some places it’s a third degree burn, if not worse. “I need to call an ambulance.”
Izuku rises to his feet, only to be pulled down to the ground right away.
“No!” The bright blue eye that peeks out from underneath the guy’s bloody bangs looks scared. No, terrified. His voice is shaking when he urges Izuku, “Do not call an ambulance.”
“But-“ Izuku would help him right here and now, but all he has lying around is a first aid kit that’s been there for ages. It probably only stores some band-aids, cotton, bandage and maybe antiseptic wipes if they’re lucky. And with Izuku’s limited first aid skills, that’s not going to cut it.
“Please.”
Izuku takes a deep breath. Closes his eyes. And nods once. “Alright.”
The guy’s face immediately relaxes, just for a second though. As soon as screeches from outside, in the streets, reach his ears his eyes get huge and his entire body tenses up.
Izuku looks out through the window to see policemen supported by at least a dozen of heroes running through the city streets. The escapee must be nearby, then. He reaches up to the lock of the door and closes the store. “You’re safe here,” he promises the young man.
He doesn’t quite seem to believe him. Though, that makes sense, seeing that this villain is just as malicious as he was the day he murdered his own father; he scorched this poor guy pretty badly, so no wonder that he’s terrified when there’s so much commotion going on outside. Who knows where the villain who did this to him might be.
“I promise, no one will get inside.” Izuku gives him a warm smile, before reminding himself that there are more urgent matters to be done. More important than calming the victim’s nerves; saving the poor guy’s life. Izuku gets to his feet, getting the first aid kit from the counter’s drawer. Once he’s got it, he walks back and takes a seat on the ground, opposite from the guy. “Now, let me take a look at that arm of yours.” He holds out his hands.
There’s visible distrust, a fear that even Izuku can feel just by looking at the guy’s shaking hands, as he carefully lays his wounded arm into Izuku’s hands. With utter care, Izuku inspects the wound, deciding that while it’s probably already too late to keep it from swelling up by cooling it, he should still rinse it with water. That’s what his mother always taught him to do when scraping his knee, so he just follows his instincts that tell him it must be the same with burns.
He gets up, walks over to his bag and gets out a bottle of water. For the first time, he feels fortunate, always carrying water with him rather than a thermos flask of coffee or tea.
“This is going to hurt a little,” Izuku warns before letting some of the water stream past the wound. At first, the guy winces at the pain, but soon the guy’s single revealed eye starts following each and every move Izuku makes. Making sure Izuku won’t hurt him any more than that; little does he know that Izuku can barely even hurt a fly, even if he wanted to.
Along with the pouring water, the little layer of blood slowly washes away. A darkened skin reveals itself. Some bits are just dark red, a little swollen, others are an inky black.
Upon closer inspection, it almost looks like the black spots form an eight digit code hidden between the burn patches of skin. It might just be Izuku’s mind, playing tricks on him, but his body can’t help but jolt back when he recognizes a couple of the numbers from the news he saw this morning. His breathing gets faster, his heart racing rapidly in his chest; it’s all there, the half white, half deep red hair and his icy eyes. It’s really Shouto Todoroki, no doubt about it.
The guy notices Izuku’s reaction. His eye squint at him, he visibly hesitates before he asks Izuku what’s wrong. Almost like he doesn’t know what on Earth is going on.
“I may just be me, but-“ Izuku tries to control his trembling voice. “Could it be that you did it to yourself?” Izuku didn’t need a mindreading quirk to see the panic shooting across the wounded guy’s face; he’s right. “You were trying to get rid of your prison number, weren’t you?”
An audible gulp sounds from the young guy’s throat and his entire face grimaces when he tries to back away from Izuku. There’s fear in his eyes, panic in his posture, when he realizes that he cannot get away. Not in this state. And he knows dead well that Izuku’s well aware of that fact.
“Plea-“ His voice fades away into complete silence when there’s a loud knock on the front door. A dark shadow can be seen through the opaque glass.
“We’re closed!” Izuku shouts in response.
“I’m Uravity, a pro-hero, no need to be afraid!” a young woman’s voice tells him.
Izuku doesn’t quite know why that makes him so scared, his heart starts beating even more rapidly, almost like the hero that has come to save him from his unfortunate fate is the bad guy. Everything inside of him tells him to leave the door shut, but he knows it’ll only be suspicious if he does that. Still, his body won’t listen to him when he wants to open the door.
He takes off his button-up, pressing it up against the bloody side of the guy’s face. The blood immediately seeps into the white fabric. Only after doing that, Izuku unlocks the door.
The hero storms in. Checking the room for any dangers before turning to Izuku and the wounded “victim”. The brunette gasps, before whispering, “I didn’t think he actually attacked people.” She crouches down beside Izuku and Todoroki. “Are you in much pain?”
Izuku glances at the youngest Todoroki son to find him, staring at the hero. Afraid, and completely clueless of how to react. He doesn’t just lie, like Izuku previously thought was in a villain’s nature. He just gapes at her for a minute before shooting Izuku a questioning glare.
Izuku swallows tickly, before making himself a promise; he’s not going to regret what he does next. Maybe it’s just the adrenaline rushing through his veins, or maybe it’s the fact that the panicked eyes of the wounded villain are begging him to keep him safe as he lays helplessly on his shops’ floor, but Izuku doesn’t need to give it a second thought before saying, “Sorry, this young man was in a very bad state when he walked in. He hasn’t said a single word at all, I think he might be in shock from being attacked, or something.” He’s never lied, not to anyone, but certainly not to a hero! Yet, flawless lies spill from his lips. “He really needs your help! Please tell me you can help him!”
The hero immediately reacts like she should in a situation like this. She helps Todoroki to his feet, helping him with putting pressure on the wound on Todoroki’s face while Izuku supports Todoroki’s weight. She acts like she would with any victim, calming Todoroki down, but the fear doesn’t fade from his eyes. They keep shooting at Izuku, without needing any words, Izuku knows that he’s asking him “what the Hell are you doing” and, to be completely honest, Izuku doesn’t have a single clue what to do now.
His mind is torn between giving up on saving the well-known villain, but on the other hand, he can’t just let them lock him up again; he’s spent most of his life behind cell-bars. He was nine when his father’s openly known terrible pedagogy got out of hand and drove the young boy to murder. But who says that those ten years didn’t teach him about the crime he had undergone?
Who says that he didn’t change?
Just like that, Izuku decides that he’ll have to see that for himself. He makes a plan in his head; as soon as they get outside, he’ll dash away. He may not be strong enough to go up against the heroes, if he fights back, they’ll win, but he’s always been a fast runner. And, well, he’s also known for sticking to his plans once he’s made them.
So, just as planned, he and Todoroki make an escape for it, as soon as Uravity is looking the other way.
Great. Izuku thinks to himself as they’re running away from a hero who simply tried to do her job of saving people. But she will never safe a villain. What now?
Todoroki can barely stand on his feet, so Izuku basically carries all his weight. Fortunately it doesn’t look like the scrawny guy has gotten much food while he was in prison, and at nineteen years old, the ruthless killer of Endeavor stands at barely one-hundred and sixty centimeters tall.
This underfeeding during his youth, is probably the only reason why Izuku’s quirkless body still manages to run out of the hero’s sight. He ducks into an alleyway, hiding himself and Todoroki’s limp body behind a dumpster.
“Great. Just amazing.” Izuku stares at his shaking hands, slowly starting to realize what he just did. “You just turned me into a criminal, you know that right?” Izuku lets out a nervous chuckle before glancing at Todoroki. “Todoroki?” Izuku whispers when he sees that there’s no expression or relief, or even pain, on the villain’s face. There’s just-
emptiness.
“Shit!” Izuku whisper-screams under his breath when he spots the bloodstain around Todoroki’s shoulder. In a state of panic, he takes off Todoroki’s shirt, using it to stop the blood as it pours from a gunshot wound that, going from the burns around it, was scorched shut before they started running. It reopened again and is draining what’s left of Todoroki’s blood, quickly.
How could he have missed that? How could he not have even wondered about the wounds Todoroki got when escaping from the most secure prison of all time? He was stupid!
Izuku presses down into it, holding back tears as he hisses, “You’re not dying now!”
And Izuku does not break promises.
***
Night goes by and while Todoroki’s eyes remain unopened, Izuku doesn’t close his eyes even once. He does not get a single second of rest. Not until the sun slowly starts creeping into the narrow alleyway through the gap between two houses.
With the warm sun-light on his skin, instead of the icy moonlight, Todoroki’s skin looks a lot less pale. Less dead. It gives Izuku some faith in what’s in store for the younger guy’s future.
Especially when he hears a soft groan coming from his throat, Izuku feels a relief wash over him; at least he didn’t just become a criminal simply to have the villain he wanted to safe, die in his arms mere hours later. No, instead he might’ve actually given this villain a second chance.
“Hey,” Izuku whispers when Todoroki’s eyes slowly open. “You’re awake.”
Two eyes, one dark and amber and the other an icy blue, look up at the sun. At first, they squint; in pain, or maybe a deep-rooted fear of having to go back to prison again now that his identity is not hidden from Izuku anymore. But when he realizes that Izuku could’ve just left him here to die if he wanted, tears well up in his eyes. “Why did you save me?”
Izuku shrugs. “I felt like, after all you’ve gone through, you deserve a second chance.”
Todoroki frown, scoffing in disbelief. “Yeah, sure. Because villains deserve a second chance, especially after they killed a beloved hero.” He glances at Izuku and raises an eyebrow.
“You were nine.”
“I killed my father.”
“Your point being?” Izuku takes a deep breath and shakes his head. “I’m just saying, I don’t think you’re a villain or a murderer, what they want to call you. You’ve had your hardships, you’ve had your pain, and pain makes people angry. And anger makes people do weird things.” Izuku closes his eyes, wondering what bad things anger might’ve made him do if he’d been granted a quirk at birth. Who knows, maybe he also wasn’t cut out for the heroic jobs. “So, you might not be a hero, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve a second chance.”
“Do you really think that?”
“Yes.”
There’s a small smile on Todoroki’s face. A warmth that breaks through his cold act. “Then you must be a hero.” His eyes meet Izuku’s, thanking him wordlessly. “My hero.”
“Nah.” Izuku chuckles. “I’m just a quirkless tailor, helping my customer in need.”
The End