Chapter Text
Yamada and Izuku walk out of the small convenience store each holding snacks and chatting like best friends. Little inside jokes and references leaving their lips without thought and they walk down the torn up street. There was a villain attack not but three hours ago, large slabs of earth are jumbled here and there and two buildings are almost completely rubble but the two of them walk and traverse the area like it’s normal to be there.
This catches Eraserhead’s attention, he was there for clean up and today was Yamada’s day off, so seeing his best, read: only, friend chatting it up with a literal child he’s never talked about or met worry’s the black clad hero. So he carefully follows them as they work their way deeper into the mess of a building.
The two end up talking about odder and odder things, Eraser doesn’t understand it, is it in code?
“-So I told him ‘It’s your power isn’t it!?’ While fucking decking him” the green haired child says mocking himself with a rased fist and climbing over rumble with ease “After that I think he said that he’d uh- ‘both kill and die for me’? So I’m thinking, why not, you know?” Yamada nods as if this was a sane thing to say, not offering help to the child as he climbs and scales rocks, just stepping up and over things.
“Well, Smart listener, if you're gonna do that, why don’t we start sooner?” Yamada only helps when the child kicks a very sharp looking rock and even then it’s just to move it aside so the green haired kid could squeeze past unhurt “It couldn’t hurt?” The, again, child rolls his eyes with a derisive scoff.
“Yeah as if you haven't changed enough already, sure I could befriend him, but if you get involved we’ll probably have to deal with the unicorn child not even existing somehow!” Yamada mocks offense at this, a hand to his chest.
“You wound my honor!” He leans his head back checking the area discreetly and almost spotting Eraserhead, but he doesn’t so the two continue. “It’s not my fault I didn’t know about you for a month! I was alone and you know how that feels!” He wags a finger at Izuku as if to scold him but there’s no heat in his words, just a small bit of melancholy layered in there. The much shorter of the two sighs as he climbs onto a partially destroyed counter and pulls up his hood.
It’s then that Eraserhead realizes their attire, Yamada is in almost full costume but his jacket has a hood under the collar an there’s a bandanna around his neck, all of his long blond hair is tied up in a bun at the nape of his neck and his boots are bright red. His support gear is missing as well, he’s also wearing red fingerless gloves with metal on the knuckles. The kid is wearing something much more casual, a dark green hoodie with black gloves and bright red sneakers. As Yamada pulls up the hoodie and bandana/mask the small child pulls out a dark green rabbit mask.
After putting it on he nods to Yamada who stands just beside the counter putting their convenient store bags behind it. They stand in silence for all of three minutes before something happens.
A small bit of almost black purple mist seems to form, spiraling outwards into an oval shape the size of a person. Then it condenses into what is undoubtedly a person, made of the stuff in a suit with sharp yellow eyes sitting above a silver collar that doesn’t match the style of the suit. Before the newcomer can say anything Yamada seems to choke on some words.
Even with the mask Izuku can be felt glaring at the blond, he turns to the mist man and speaks, his voice much older and crackling with a modifier.
“Kuro, do you have what we asked?” Kuro nods slightly and reaches into the air another hole of purple dropping something into his misty hand. He holds it out without a word. “Good” The rabbit masked child seems very pleased swinging his short legs back and forth over the edge of the broken down spot. “You know what it is.” It’s not a question, Kuro answers anyway.
“Yes” He’s upset, to put it mildly, the mist flickers around him and hand clenching the small object. Eraserhead can’t see it from where he’s hiding, and curiosity is eating away at him. “It’s mine” the amount of mixed and harsh emotions in the word drip and hiss like acid from the collared man’s tongue.
Izuku stills at this, one foot in the air and after a moment he lowers it, gloved hands gripping at the edge of the counter as he leans forward.
“You know what this means?” It is a question this time, laden with, of all things, worried hope.
The mist man flickers a bit more, Yamada looks like he wants to move forward, to do something, but he holds himself back. Slowly the blond pulls something from his pocket, and holds it out.
It’s a pair of googles, the same pair their best friend wore when he died.
The man of mist seems to stiffen even more shoulders hiking up.
“How- ?” He cuts himself off. “You know” he turns from Yamada to Izuku, “You both know me?” He says it as if the idea of being a person is foreign, something he’s only thought of late in the night when no one was there.
“Yes” Yamada speaks up for the first time since Kuro appeared, it’s impossible to ignore the tears in his voice. He goes to say something else but is cut off by the green rabbit beside him.
“You know why we can’t say more.” His tone is steady and strong, “we know that collar isn’t for show.” The mist man flinches at the word collar and slowly nods.
“What now?” He asks, uncertainty lacing his words as he pulls himself together. “You must know who I serve.”
“Yes” The child all but hisses in anger, hands still clenched on the edge of the counter. “It’ll take a month for us to free you” Kuro blinks his sharp eyes almost round in shock
“H-“ He cuts himself off “Why?” He’s leaning forward now, his yellow eyes sharp and cold “To put me in your service?” He almost spits, Yamada flinches as if slapped at this. The rabbit masked child doesn’t move a muscle.
“No” The smallest there slowly unclenches his hands from the counter and starts pulling at his fingers, “You’ll be free and neither of us will say a word of you, if you wish it.” Yamada clenches a fist around the goggles and turns away, shoulders shaking, Eraserhead can tell he’s crying. The rabbit masked of the two looks down as he pulls at his fingers.
Kuro looks at the two, really takes a moment to gauge them and realizes something. Eraser wonders what it was because the mist man seems to lose all tension.
“Okay” he sounds more professional and put together than any other moment in the conversation, “What do I do?”
The other two look at him in shock, as if hoping but not expecting this outcome. The green clad of the two seems to take a moment and then holds a hand to his mouth a quiet stream of muttering flow from him and Yamada stands there watching him for what to do.
Eraserhead is very confused.
Izuku snaps his fingers, and looks at Kuro. The man straightens up at the determined look he could feel through the mask.
“Do you have a phone? Wait- no He would watch that.” He turns to Yamada, who nods and reaches for the bags behind the counter pulling out a burner phone. “Thanks!” The rabbit mask and voice modification does nothing to hide the sunshine joy in his response. He tosses the phone to Kuro, who catches it, giving the two an odd look. “Now, that’s got no way to notify you- as to avoid a lot of issues- so check it every couple of nights at random. Do not let anyone know of it. Make sure you do not use it for calls.” He seems to look at Yamada for a second then turns to the mist man again “I’m going by Rabbit, this is Bird. He is emotional support, I’m planning. I’m not kidding.” He sighs and the modified sound is cracking. “ Even without the multiple issues caused by what happened, everyone needs to take care of their mental health. Ya- Bird here cares about you from before, and will definitely care about you now, no matter how different. So-“ He waves a hand in the air “Go hog wild- as safely as you can!” He flails both arms this time as if to rid them of the thought of being unsafe.
Kuro tilts his head, as if assessing something else.
“How old are you?” He asks his voice now no longer emotionally charged. The prim question stops the rabbit masked one in his tracks, hands suspended in the air.
Yamada snorts, and his shoulders shake with poorly contained laughter. Giggles and chortles escaping from behind his hand and bandana.