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Izuku fucking swears he doesn’t do this on purpose.
He doesn’t.
It felt like that little incident all those months ago when he first met Eraserhead, (because he refuses to refer to the man as anything but that, no matter how much Eraserhead seems adamant on enrolling Izuku into UA and having Izuku call him Sensei. Jokes on him, he already graduated high school and got his credits to an AA in being a teacher, so ha), and really he hadn’t meant to ya know…
Do the thing that resulted in him becoming an actual Problem Child.
(And if the Kacchan in his head doesn’t fucking shut up-)
But here’s the thing, society sucks.
Yes, the era of All Might ended and a lot of heroes retired, died, or were publicly shamed for their wrong doings during that loooong year of bullshit, but this does not MEAN people can go ape-shit and fuck up with stuff! More than they even did in the past!
There are lines people, lines which must not be crossed.
And going after the outer districts for a quick victim or money scheme was not it, my guy, especially since those areas were recovering from the League of Villains bullshit.
Not cool.
(At least the previous remnants of the Yakuza treated these people better.) (Not you Overhaul, you can suck his big fucking-)
So he just so happened to, ya know, remind people that their community was WHOLE, and their bullshit wasn’t tolerated. Not after that huge ass war where people fucking died, lost limbs, got a shit ton of trauma, AND dealt with the overturn of Hero related shit in a whole.
Training with Kacchan was a blessing and a half, and now with some of Class 2-A reaching out tentatively, he had far more experience with different quirks! Momo-san was the best! Her quirk was so great and versatile, and he didn’t understand why Eraserhead looked so done when he was chatting with her, that was just weird. (He knows he’s not being realistic, he knows he’s grasping at a dream long lost, he knows he needs to follow All Might’s advice and he IS, but…
He didn’t need the previous number one to get his attention, alone, to make sure Izuku wasn’t doing anything. Izuku thinks he did really well hiding his crying later, even if Kacchan tried to weasel it out of him later on their walk back home.)
Training was all for late night patrols to escort, well, escorts because they were people too and they just needed something to make money (he deftly ignored that many of them were quirkless, many of them had no means to a better life than the one they had, none of them had the stability he had been able to have); helped older folks from being mugged (left behind by family who deemed them worthless and a risk to their perfected lives); made sure kids weren't supped up on Trigger or any other crap people tried to pander to them (kids kicked out late at night for drugged up parents, kids who rather face the unknown cruelty of the world than the cruelty of home); and fed the stray cats and dogs that wandered about (abandoned toys no longer wanted by their human owners).
It was that last one that MIGHT get him in trouble.
See, the kitties and puppies he befriended were just so sweet, mostly needing a soft hand, gentle words, respect of space, repeated kindness, and the food he brought wasn’t too bad of a helper either. And if the kitties and puppies just so happened to have, oh I don’t know, ran off muggers or clawed at any sexual offenders who tried to harm others? Well, of COURSE he gave them more treats and lovings to reward them! They were good loves, of course he was going to give them all the love and affection they wanted.
And of course, to the ones who preferred as little human contact as possible mood, he got them their preferred treats and warm shelters to curl up in. (And if he cried over some of those animals following from a distance so he got home safe, and they wandered back towards their usual territory, that was only for Kami and his posters to know.)
The thing is, seeing as he began all this in the winter, a little after Halloween to be honest, he was in black sweats with a soft line of fuzzy stuff (he thinks Kacchan said it was fleece), a dark grey hoodie with green lightning strikes running over the material (Kacchan said it felt like him), a black face-mask, and his new dark red shoes that had reinforced steel plating!
His parents and Kacchan's parents collaborated to make them!! (His dad had been worried about the rise of crime. With Izuku almost ready to move out on his own and Inko worried for their son, they made the decision to have him have a few perks in his clothing for safety.)
So, he looks sketchy, seeing as a few Pros have already had a go at chasing him across rooftops.
On the plus side, he’s getting very good at it! (Parkour!)
So now, his sketchy ass was being called Whisper because all the animals he’s befriended? Yeeeaaahhh, they’re his sweet sidekicks? Shia surprise?
Wherever he wandered, whichever konbini he stopped at, there was a trail of animals right behind or beside him, vying for more treats or pets, his own little group of guards! It hadn’t helped his issue of trying to keep away from that nice detective or from Eraserhead, but, ya know, it is what it is.
Until they smell him in his civilian attire.
(Technically, the previous one was ALSO his civilian attire, mostly for exercising and all that jazz, but people had opinions about his outfit, so it was no longer civilian attire.)
And they trailed behind him when they spotted him, looking at locations he was considering renting (in the daylight), fetching groceries (old habits die hard even with everyone significantly kinder now so he had to WALK a whiles), when he’d meet up with Kacchan (and BOY did he learn some information from Koda-chan that one time), not to mention if they ever decided to join him on his morning and evening jogs.
He had really hoped he wouldn’t be found out.
Which resulted in that evenings…incident.
He had just finished escorting one of the ladies back to her apartment, beaming when she told him she was so proud of how far he was getting (they both knew it was because connections were the only way quirkless could survive), and he promised her he’d bring over some taiyaki the next time he’d escort her; he had just rounded the corner to walk into the active investigation for a konbini robbery and there was Eraserhead and the detective.
And he was in his get up.
“NOPE!”
Running was very good cardio, did you know? It makes a lot of things happen! You can get healthier! Gain the ability to longer and longer distances! You can even attempt to escape from a seasoned pro-hero who was snarling your vigilante name as you dodged like fuck away from his scarf!
Amazing thing, really.
“Get off the street, get off the street, get off the street, get off the street,” he whimpers, quickly climbing up as quickly as he could to try and make distance. Of course, that’s when his little lovelies appeared!...
Oh fuck, they were attacking Eraserhead.
“I’M SORRY, THEY ACTUALLY ARE REALLY GOOD BABIES!” Izuku defends for his babies, running from roof to roof to roof, making distance before dropping down in an alleyway near the gym he frequents (Kacchan’s parents owned it, after finding out Izuku wasn’t allowed in most).
With the speed of a middle schooler who had PE before lunch and had a MINUTE to strip and get dressed, Izuku was in his Gang Orca basketball shorts and tank top, storing away his get up.
Casual, he had to play it casual, that’s all he needed to do.
Yep, please ignore the fifty-something animals trailing behind and around him please. He is very normal, he promises.
No vigilante here, nope, no such thing. What is a vigilante? Certainly not him.
No, Eraserhead ‘hiding’ on the rooftop of the abandoned t-shirt factory Izuku got most of his shirts from, he is not Whisper. You must be mistaken.
Izuku tries not to react when a very much claw covered Eraserhead drops down yeet from the rooftop, red-eyed glare fastened onto Izuku. Izuku is acting casual, he is no vigilante, he is a good boy, he is an AA graduate working on more university things, he is no problem child.
“Problem Child.”
Kami fucking-!
“It’s Mi-Midoriya Izuku, s-sir. Not Problem child.” Izuku, you absolute fool, you do not have the time to sass. “U-Um, can I help you Eraserhead? I was just leaving Uncle Masaru’s gym.”
Eyes narrow at him, the pro-hero clearly unamused by the display of feigning the truth. “Why are there animals following you?”
“...Because they’re independent babies who don’t need no man?”
Eraserhead looked even more done at that point, unable to corner him when he had no proof, Izuku had very MUCH just left the gym (after sneaking inside), and animals were very much creatures that did what they wanted.
“...You’re not making a very good case for yourself, Midoriya.”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Izuku, the liar, states, as one of his cats, Ichigo, jumps into his arms to curl happily in them. “I’m going home…they follow who they want.”
Yeah, Eraserhead did NOT look like he believed him but couldn’t tell him that was a lie.
~
“Hey nerd?”
“Y-Yeah Kacchan?” Izuku grunts, trying to wrestle out of Kacchan’s grip, very highly tempted to bite Kacchan’s arm.
“Caterpillar-sensei called you a problem child at scho-HEY! DON’T FUCKING BITE ME YOU ASSHOLE!”