Chapter Text
"Kid." The homeless man from before calls out, tone flat and bored and Izuku looks up from where he'd been playing with Puppy, his quirk's crimson tendrils reaching from his lap to curl around his fingers. He'd been trying to teach Puppy to count, showing his quirk different numbers of fingers and cheering when Puppy stretches out the correct amount of tendrils to curl around him. But now Izuku’s attention is drawn away, big green eyes blown wide as he takes in the grumpy scruffy homeless looking man before him. The guy scratches his stubble, looking bored and plain as he subtly examines the child hiding once again under the green plastic slide.
The crimson blob hisses at him for stopping their game, its slimy body rippling as it grabs the front of Izuku’s scuffed up school clothes. His hands lower automatically to soothe Puppy, stroking and petting the slime until its agitation is assuaged. He does it without thinking, already feeling more relaxed with the lukewarm wetness beneath his touch. The man's eyes dart down to his quirk, an unreadable look in his gaze.
Izuku knows it's kind of late, the street lights have come on and he keeps getting texts and phone calls from his mum, but he just needs a minute to decompress, the pressure of school and medical tests and endless bullying draining what little energy he has left. They were just gonna make out a little and head home, but now that kind stranger is back. He knows he shouldn't talk to strangers, but he's got a burning curiosity. He can't help but wonder why he came back and what his quirk really is? And what's up with his scruffy clothes? Is he actually homeless?
"Hi." Izuku responds against his better judgement, ogling the man much less subtly. He takes in the strange white scarf, the nearly unnoticeable combat boots (likely reinforced with steel toes) and the hint of yellow plastic hidden around his neck. This guy sure dresses weird, maybe he's in a gang? Izuku mutters to himself all the little questions in his head, he's never been very good at staying quiet, but the man doesn't interrupt, just hides a smile in his scarf as the boy wonders if he's some kind of construction worker or a beggar on the streets.
"I see you're all roughed up again?" The man starts, pointedly looking at the bruise staining his cheek, an old scab on Izuku's lip proving he took a good hit to the face.
Izuku blushes and ducks his head, "yeah…" He doesn't really know what to say, it's not like this random stranger will care if he's being beaten up at school or not. The man isn't blind, surely he can see Puppy's disgusting form sitting in his lap and know whatever punishment he's suffering is well earned for having such a villainous quirk.
"Are you okay?"
"Mhm," Izuku dismisses with a nod, curling his fingers around Puppy and lifting it up, stretching out the crimson slime until it all drips back into his lap. Sometimes he plays with Puppy without thinking about it, like having a living breathing fidget toy on his person whenever his mind goes wool gathering and he struggles to hold onto conversations.
"Really?" The man questions. Izuku blushes, why is this guy so persistent?
"Yeah I'm fine, I've got Puppy with me."
"Then why are you out late again? Last time I saw you here… you weren't doing too good."
"I'm fine, really. Some of the kids are just a bit rough at school…" Izuku weakly explains, eyes focused on the red blob in his lap, the squishy pulsing thing reaching back, playfully tugging on his fingers to keep him entertained.
"I'm guessing they don't like your quirk?" The man looks away, easing up on the interrogation-like atmosphere. Izuku nods in his peripheral vision.
"They think it's scary…" Izuku adds. "Do you think it's scary, Mister?"
"Hmm? Nah. It takes a bit more than a red blob to scare me." The man jokes flatly.
"Hey! Puppy isn't just a blob!" Izuku is quick to defend, "it's amazing! Look!" Izuku holds up the creature. Puppy seamlessly shifts into its canine form, pulling on all the slime gathered in Izuku's lap and the parts of itself hidden beneath his clothes to form a medium sized dog-like creature. It wags its stubby tail, poorly fitting in Izuku's lap now and the man appraises the quirk with a new light, subconsciously analysing how he'd take it on in a fight.
"It's not an emitter quirk, right?"
"Nu-uh, it's a sentient quirk! Puppy is its own entity. We have a bond, obviously, since we've been together since it first manifested. But its existence doesn't seem to be directly linked to me. Well, it wouldn't have any food without me, but in theory it could find another host." Izuku explains, it's a bit of a mouthful, but the man seems to get the gist of it.
"It depends on you for food?"
"It's a parasitic quirk…"
"Ah I see." The man nods. And that's all he says, he doesn't pull a face or tell him that's gross, just accepts Izuku’s explanation.
They talk like that for a while, Izuku happily explaining the intricacies of his quirk to the man and relaxing with Puppy in his lap, petting the faux dog’s tummy, its tongue lolling out. The man eventually sits down across from him, knees creaking, his back resting on the supporting pole of a string of monkey bars, but he leaves plenty of space between them, making sure the kid doesn't feel boxed in or creeped out by him. He's an excitable little kid, full of energy and life and a well of quirk knowledge, his curiosity burning to no end when a new quirk is dangled before him.
"What do you think my quirk is?"
And doesn't that get the kid talking. He'd originally only wanted to check in on the boy, make sure he's alright and isn't afraid to go home or something, but instead he ends up talking to the kid for at least half an hour, maybe longer.
"You don't seem to have any obvious physical mutations, but I keep meeting you in the evenings, so maybe it's something relating to sleep? Or functions better during the night? You might have some kind of eye related quirk due to how sleepy and bloodshot your eyes look. Although, maybe that's just because you're homeless." He doesn't correct the kid on his guesses or assumptions, just lets the boy talk it all out, admiring his use of logical reasoning and evidence based hypothesis. He's kind of impressed, clearly the boy has some intelligence or at least a very strong obsession with quirks, although he could use some more confidence and could work on voicing his ideas more succinctly.
"Well, I've got to head off soon, and you should too. It's way too late for little kids to be wandering around outside on their own."
"I'm not that young…" Izuku complains, "and you never confirmed any of my guesses!" The boy whines, more upset over the withholding of valuable quirk knowledge than being told off by an adult.
"You never settled on one quirk, I can't have various forms of telekinesis and eyes that turn people to stone. Everyone only gets one quirk." The man smirks, tilting his head to bury it in his capture scarf.
"But- I- how can I know without seeing it in action!"
The man shrugs, "give me your best guess."
Izuku gapes, frustrated and conflicted as he struggles to answer the man.
"... Manipulating shadows!"
"Wrong."
"Arggghh!" Izuku complains loudly, Puppy rippling in amusement as its host grumbles and gripes, second guessing every quirk hypothesis and theory that crosses his mind.
"I knew that was too unlikely…"
The man stands up, holding out a hand to pull Izuku up too, Puppy stepping out of his lap to let the boy stand.
"The name's Aizawa Shouta." The man says, tone still flat and unreadable like it has been for nearly the whole conversation. Izuku feels like it's a bit lighter though, like maybe the man wasn't completely annoyed by having to sit and listen to him ramble about quirk's for god knows how long.
"Uh, Midoriya Izuku." He offers back and the man, Aizawa, nods, casually shoving his hands in his baggy pockets.
Standing up like this, Aizawa can see just how big 'Puppy' is. The sentient quirk is almost larger than a working dog, coming up well over the boy's hip on all fours. Although it's wiry and thin like a greyhound, visible bone white ribs poking through where crimson muscle and slime doesn't quite cover it. A darker red pigmentation covers its paws and reaches up to its elbows, a few stray fang-like spines and strands manifesting across its back like the beginnings of a nightmarish porcupine. It adjusts its jaws, mouth curling open to lick a tentacle tongue over previously hidden needle sharp fangs. Suddenly he's not so sure he could take the boy's quirk in a fight, but he does well to hide his unease at the sight of its strange vertical mouth. He keeps the conversation calm, scratching at his stubble like the boy's quirk isn't terrifying to behold. He refuses to make another kid feel bad about the quirk they were born with, there's nothing wrong with Puppy, it's his own human tendency to be scared of the unknown that makes Aizawa prickle with unease.
He reaches out a hand to Puppy. "Does it like pets?" He asks, checking that he's doing the right thing, that he isn't somehow demeaning the sentient quirk by treating it like an animal.
"Uh yeah! Puppy usually loves pets, although I've been the only one to pet it, so maybe it won't like strangers petting it?" Izuku frowns, not quite sure where Puppy's boundaries lie.
Aizawa slowly reaches out anyway, the creature warily eyeing him as he presses a hand to the top of Puppy's wet eyeless skull. He gingerly strokes the odd dog, hesitant at first, but then it wags its nubby tail, the beast's mouth creaking open to fake pant, its tentacle tongue lolling out casually.
"I think Puppy likes that!" Izuku translates in case the happy body language wasn't enough. Izuku was actually a little worried that his quirk might bite the man. If any of the kids at school had tried that, Puppy would have immediately torn into them, like that time Puppy ripped up his only Endeavour plush, those needle-like teeth tearing into fabric and spraying stuffing all over the floor. He's glad Puppy is being nice right now. It's been through so much, the other kids relentlessly teasing and agitating it, just to laugh when Puppy is rightfully upset.
The skinless crimson dog curls its tentacle tongue around Aizawa’s wrist, squeezing just so before releasing him. The man keeps his cool, letting his hand fall back to his side and resisting the urge to wipe off the wetness on the leg of his pants. It kind of felt like being pet back, in a weird way, like he’d just earned Puppy’s approval by being kind to its host. He’s probably overthinking things, but he hopes to see the two again some day, preferably without being covered in bruises and injuries or sobbing and crying in the middle of a breakdown. But that seems unlikely with the unfortunately frightening quirk Midoriya’s been saddled with. Kids used to bully him for his own villainous quirk and Erasure isn’t anywhere near as confronting and strange as Izuku’s quirk is.
“I’ll see you around, kid. Stay out of trouble.” Aizawa says, ruffling the top of the boy’s curly green hair.
“See ya, Mr. Aizawa.” Midoriya bows curtly. He holds his arms out towards Puppy and smiles when his quirk morphs back into liquid and leaps into his arms, crimson sludge hiding back underneath the boy’s torn up school uniform. It disappears out of sight surprisingly faster than Aizawa would have thought possible for its large size.
The kid runs off and Aizawa likes to think he’s a bit happier after that conversation, that maybe he feels a bit less alone.