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Like any sane person, Nezu hated hospitals. The cleaning supplies used to keep everything sterile burned his nostrils. Injuries and disease lingered in the air. The personal protective equipment the doctors wore reminded him of the people who used to experiment on him.
Not to mention the fact that no one could answer his questions. All Nezu wanted to know was if the hero who caused his son to be hurt was also in the hospital.
All Nezu wanted to do was talk. He just had a few questions about why this hero deserved to live.
Broken protocol. Not calling for backup. Retreating when it was too late, meaning they ran from the fight when Aizawa was in the thick of it. It left him alone and outnumbered.
So, Nezu just wanted to know if the hero was there. If they were, the two could talk, and if he used his claws, it was because Japanese Sign Language was the fifth language he learned.
“Sir,” a nurse began. Nezu's gaze shot up. Did they have an update?
“My son,” Nezu started.
“He's still in surgery,” the nurse said gently. Green eyes studied Nezu. “He is the same as when you asked five minutes ago. I promise. But I must ask you to calm down. Your growling is scaring some children.”
“My apologies,” Nezu said as he bowed his head. “I will keep my temper.”
The nurse nodded and started to turn. After a moment, she looked back at Nezu, “Is he your only son?”
“Yes. I adopted him three years ago,” Nezu replied.
“He is in good hands,” the nurse promised.
“I know. Everyone here does great work,” Nezu said as he bowed his head again. When he looked up, the nurse smiled at him and walked away. Nezu closed his eyes.
When looking at the situation through a lens, Nezu knew that Aizawa would be fine. A punctured lung was an easy fix nowadays, and the veteran staff at the hospital had a doctor whose quirk allowed him to manipulate bones.
Then again, Nezu didn't know the full extent of Aizawa's injuries. The nurse had only been able to inform Nezu that Aizawa was in surgery for a punctured lung, which was the greatest concern. Everything would be minor to that.
And the hospital's Wi-Fi was so slow that he wasn't able to fully access the footage of the alley camera that he had hacked into. What he had seen was the second half of the fight. Which only showed the other pro retreating and leaving Aizawa alone. Plus Aizawa favoring his side and arm and coughing up blood, but it didn't show how the injuries happened.
It was irritating to not have the information he needed. Nezu didn't want to wait. He wanted... needed to know how his son was. Should he ask the nurse? It had only been two minutes since the last time he asked. Certainly enough time had passed.
“Have some tea,” a voice offered. Nezu looked up at the nurse in surprise.
“Thank you,” Nezu said as he took the cup and then took a small sip. It was nowhere near as good as how he made it, but it reminded him of the times Aizawa would struggle and try to make proper tea. But ask him to make a coffee, and he was an aficionado.
“I asked for more details about your son,” the nurse began. Nezu's eyes focused on her. “The surgery is going well, but it still has another thirty minutes or so for them to finish him up and wheel him to recovery. The knife cut-”
“Knife?!” Nezu repeated as his eyes widened.
“Only needs stitches,” the nurse assured. “It wasn't deep enough to cause any permanent damage. Some of his ribs are broken.”
“The cause of the punctured lung,” Nezu stated.
“Exactly. The broken ribs will need time to heal, but we already sent a call to the pro hero Recovery Girl. The rest of his injuries are nothing more than scraps or bruises from the fight. He did suffer some blows to the head, but there is no brain damage or even a concussion.”
Nezu let out a breath and felt his shoulders deflate. He nearly dropped his cup in relief, “Thank you.”
“I would be crawling up the walls if I knew my son was in surgery, but nothing more than that,” the nurse offered her condolences.
“I would be if my claws could dig in,” Nezu assured. He took a breath and studied her kind face. “Thank you again.”
“Let me know if you need anything else,” the nurse said. Nezu nodded, and he tried to relax. Aizawa would be fine, and Nezu would see him soon.
“And he'll make a full recovery?” Nezu asked as he sat by the hospital bed. If one ignored the hospital room, the hospital bed, the various beeping machines, the smell, the hospital gown Aizawa wore, the bruises on his face, and the doctor who was staring at Nezu, it seemed like everything was normal.
Nezu was getting a bit agitated.
“Yes, Mr. Aizawa,” the doctor began. Nezu found his mouth half open before he froze in place. He supposed that he could be called Mr. Aizawa since he had adopted Aizawa. But, he didn't deserve that honor.
“Nezu,” the pro corrected after a moment. While Aizawa senior was a rat bastard through and through, he had also been an opportunist and a man who didn't know how to quit. Normally, those qualities would be great in anyone. Especially a hero.
Just not in an alcoholic who blamed everything wrong in the world on his son.
But the Aizawa name was one that came from Aizawa's mother. While against tradition, Aizawa senior had taken the surname of his wife. She was the rich and powerful one in the family after all.
It was why, as much as Nezu enjoyed being called Mr. Aizawa, he knew he didn't deserve the name. Aizawa always spoke highly of his mother, and he was always a mess on the day that would have been his mother's birthday. Even more so the anniversaries of her death.
“We'll keep him a few hours for observation, but he should be good to leave as long as nothing comes up,” the doctor said.
“Thank you,” Nezu said as he bowed his head. He turned to look at Aizawa. “Will he wake soon?”
“Should be in another hour,” the doctor replied. Nezu nodded. “A nurse will be back to check on him soon.”
Nezu nodded and watched the doctor leave. Then, he studied Aizawa. The worst of the injuries was the punctured lung and broken ribs, but the bruises on Aizawa's face looked much, much worse than they were. His right arm was wrapped in a bandage from a knife slash.
And Nezu had finally been able to watch the first half of the security footage.
Aizawa had been stalking two criminals and had taken both out in one precise moment. He was forced to jump in to help when the hero he was partnered with was caught. Aizawa threw himself into the fight, and this was the part where Nezu assumed the hero ran in an act of cowardice.
Only, the video showed that the hero didn't run at all. Oh no. She attacked Aizawa.
Mind control? A quirk that caused them to see Aizawa as an enemy. Extortion? A threat to the hero's family. Plain stupidity?
Nezu wasn't sure, but the footage had already been sent off to the Hero Public Safety Commission and the police. Thankfully, Aizawa gave as good as he got. Better in fact. Considering he managed to stab his attacker after she gashed his arm open.
Despite being outnumbered and hurt, Aizawa managed to evade his attackers and create distance. Then, he escaped on the rooftops.
Aizawa was safe now in the hospital.
And Nezu had a new target.
This “hero” would explain why they helped the criminals. Why they attacked a fellow hero. Why they hurt Nezu's son. And if the explanation lacked, this “hero” would learn how Nezu earned his reputation.
A breathy groan made Nezu's head snap up. He watched Aizawa's face scrunch up for a moment before relaxing a moment later. Nezu cleared his throat, “I was very worried about you, Shota. I am still very worried about you.
“I know you're tough,” Nezu continued as he moved closer to the bed and pulled himself onto it. Nezu sat next to Aizawa and listened to his quiet breathing. “Tougher than you know. That doesn't mean I'm not going to worry about you. In fact, I'm going to worry more.
“You already push yourself so much, and you don't know how to relax,” Nezu said. “And Yamada is...”
Nezu trailed off. He had not called Yamada. It didn't occur to him to. And Yamada would not be a happy camper when he found out that Nezu had not called him. And that Aizawa had ended up in the hospital.
Nezu grabbed his phone and typed in Yamada's number. His other paw moved to gently brush hair from Aizawa's face. Yamda answered eleven seconds later, “Nezu! What can I do for ya!”
“I am in the hospital,” Nezu began.
“What happened?! Who hurt you?!” Yamada demanded. “I'll get Sho and-”
“Shota is the reason I am here,” Nezu interrupted. “He was injured on a mission with another hero. It is still under investigation.”
“Is Shota okay?” Yamada asked quickly.
“He's out of surgery,” Nezu replied. “Punctured lung and a knife cut to his arm. Small injuries compared to what it could be.”
“Surgery isn't small,” Yamada challenged.
“It could have been much worse,” Nezu answered. He cleared his throat. “Shota should be awake soon. Let me send you the address, so you can be here when he wakes up.”
“You're so loud.”
The words made Nezu look up from his laptop. He was sitting on Aizawa's left side. Yamada was on his right. The blonde had been talking quietly, just ranting away about nothing. An annoying coping habit of his, but they all needed to cope.
Nezu was doing his coping right now on the laptop.
Sure, Aizawa wasn't dead. Wasn't dying. He was waking up now, so he would be fine. But the fact remained that he had been hurt. That woman had hurt his son. Aizawa would make a full recovery.
But he had been hurt.
Nezu knew it was bound to happen with hero work. There were always injuries. Even death. But, this wasn't a villain hurting Aizawa. This was a hero who was supposed to have his back. Someone who earned their hero licenses, went through all that trouble, was a hero, and then threw it all away.
Why Aizawa? Was it mere coincidence? Was he a target?
Nezu needed answers to those questions, but first.
A groan left Aizawa as he slowly tried to open his eyes. A grimace crossed his face, and as he seemed to fully come to, his eyes darted around. Yamada was quick to stand and carefully hug Aizawa. Nezu stood and looked down at his son.
“What's going on?” Aizawa slowly asked. His mouth sounded dry, and he licked his lips to get moisture back. Yamada grabbed the cup of water.
“What do you remember?” Nezu asked as Aizawa took some sips of water. In response, Aizawa just groaned. Nezu gently grabbed his hand and waited.
“Um,” Aizawa trailed off and closed his eyes tightly. He brought his hand to his face and rubbed the bridge of his nose. A sigh left him. “Don't know.”
“That's okay,” Nezu promised. “Does anything hurt?”
“It's too bright in here,” Aizawa complained.
“Oh, he's exhausted,” Yamada teased. “That's why he's whining.”
“Shut up,” Aizawa muttered. Nezu moved toward the door and dimmed the lights. He moved back toward his son and climbed onto the bed. He grabbed Aizawa's hand tightly.
Aizawa was out of surgery, so there was no reason to worry. He was awake and complaining, which meant there was no need to be anxious. Aizawa was perfectly fine.
Which was the problem.
Because as Nezu had been sitting there, he was able to process his emotions, and he had been scared. Worried maybe. Terrified? He wasn't sure, but he didn't like the emotion. Or the fact that his son had been injured.
Nezu closed his eyes. He had been worried and scared about Aizawa. And all this time waiting for him to wake up just made Nezu think about how hurt Aizawa was.
Because of a so called hero.
“You worried me,” Nezu admitted as he looked at Aizawa.
“I'm fine,” Aizawa lied as he focused on Nezu.
“You're not,” Nezu stated as he tightened his grip on Aizawa's hand.
“I am,” Aizawa argued. “And, I can just leave the hospital.”
“Oh no,” Yamada cut in. “You are going to stay right there until the doctor- no- Recovery Girl gives you the all clear!”
“Why do you hate me?” Aizawa groaned as he laid his head back. He gently squeezed Nezu's paw back and looked at him. “I'm okay.”
“You are now,” Nezu said softly. “Do you remember anything about the hero who was supposed to help you? About what she did?”
Aizawa just groaned and rubbed his eyes with one hand. A shrug finally left him. Nezu nodded. That was fine. He would just do his own research.
And teach this hero a lesson about what happened to the people who hurt his son.
Nezu hummed to himself as he poured tea into the two cups in front of him. Sealing a lid on the cup was a bit harder than he expected, but he didn't want any spills. He took a sip of the tea to make sure it wasn't too hot. Not warm enough for his preferred taste, but it would do under the circumstances.
Nezu grabbed a stuffed bear that he had bought from the hospital's gift shop. It was soft and furry. Nezu tucked the stuffed animal under his arm and grabbed both of the teas. He turned and walked across the room.
The table at the far end had a small selection of snacks that had so far been undisturbed. The young girl sitting at the table looked up at Nezu. He smiled at her, trying to hide his teeth. No need to scare the girl.
“The police will be back after they find your father,” Nezu promised as he placed his tea down. He handed the cup to the girl. Her hair was braided behind her head, and she had these light brown eyes full of curiosity. The girl took the tea and took a small sip.
“My name is Nezu, and I am just going to stay with you until your father is here,” Nezu explained. The girl looked down. Nezu grabbed the tablet that belonged to the girl and the charger. He plugged it in. “Would you like to watch a movie?”
The girl looked at him before immediately looking away. The smallest of shrugs left her. Nezu offered her headphones and found what he hoped was a kid-appropriate movie. He placed the tablet and headphones down in front of her.
“One more thing,” Nezu said as he offered her the stuffed bear. The girl's eyes widened. “It's for you.”
“Thank you,” the girl mumbled as she took the bear. Nezu gently offered her the headphones as well, and she took them. It didn't take long for the girl to become enthralled by a mixture of the movie on the tablet and Pocky. She didn't really touch the tea for some reason.
The young girl had been at school, and to keep from causing too much of a scene, Nezu had an officer dressed in casual clothes pick the girl up. No need to cause panic. But the police had to act quickly because they did not want the girl to be picked up by her mother, who would soon be on the run.
Nezu lost his smile. He moved his gaze to his laptop, where everything was already set up. His phone rested on the table. Nezu checked that everything was in order before he grabbed his phone.
Nezu lifted his phone and placed a thumb on it, starting a face call. His other hand typed on his laptop. Five seconds later, a face appeared on the phone. The woman's eyes widened in surprise.
“Mai Chi. Also known as Striped Screw. I would suggest hearing me out,” Nezu said. He smiled. “Especially because you can't hang up right now.”
Despite his warning, he could see she was desperately trying to use her finger to end the call. It wouldn't take long for Mai Chi to realize that Nezu was in control.
“I am a pro hero,” Nezu said. “Just like you are. Or should I say were?”
The phone started to move like Mai Chi was going to throw it. Nezu spoke, “Don't you want to say hello to your daughter?”
The phone moved this time. Not because Mai Chi had thrown it, but because she had dropped it. Mai Chi scrambled to pick up the phone and turn it to face her. Nezu alternated his camera's view, so the woman could see the young girl who was still sitting at the table.
“Who the hell do-”
“I'm a father too,” Nezu interrupted as he turned the camera back to his face. Mai Chi glared at him as her face hardened. Her jaw clenched, but he could see the beating pulse in her neck.
“A son,” Nezu continued. “Not by blood. No. I adopted him when he was sixteen, but I still love him like he was my own flesh and blood. I chose him, so maybe it's the animal in me.
“Or the human,” Nezu contemplated. He looked Mai Chi in the eyes. “I almost lost him. He had surgery for a punctured lung, and I'm just coming to terms with the fact that the surgery could have gone poorly. Or he could not have made it out of the ambush you planned alive.”
“That kid,” Mai Chi began.
“Eraserhead,” Nezu corrected. “You should at least have enough respect to know the name of the hero you betrayed.”
“Look, he should have just listened to me and-”
“You attacked him. You tried to stab him and only managed to slash across his arm,” Nezu continued.
“I told the kid to stay back. I would handle things,” Mai Chi argued.
“I watched the video,” Nezu stated.
“He was supposed to stay back,” Mai Chi insisted again. “I would have completed the exchange, and he would have been none the wiser.”
“Exchange,” Nezu repeated.
“They threatened my family,” Mai Chi continued. She swallowed painfully, and it looked like there was regret on her face. Maybe guilt. “I was to give them information under the guise of this mission. If Eraserhead had just stayed back, I would have met back up with him, and we would have taken out a few of the lower ranks to make everything seem fine.”
“And how does that turn into you hurting him?” Nezu wondered as he made sure to focus the camera not on his face but on the little girl near him. Mai Chi glared at him, but he saw the fear in her eyes. Nezu smiled and sat forward.
“At the moment, your accounts are frozen. Your wanted poster is being placed on the media as we speak. Your husband is still at work and will be picked up by officers in about seven minutes. And your daughter is with me until I say so,” Nezu warned.
“Leave my daughter alone,” Mai Chi whispered in rage.
“I don't plan to harm your daughter,” Nezu said. His smile widened. “Yet.”
“Don't you dare th-”
“Turn yourself in to the police,” Nezu ordered.
“Just leave her out of this,” Mai Chi pleaded. Nezu simply looked the woman in the eyes.
“I will not ask you again,” Nezu said. “Turn yourself in.”
“My daughter,” Mai Chi began.
“Will be picked up by her father and taken home. At some point, he will have to explain that you were arrested for conduct unbecoming of a hero. Better than the alternative.”
“Have mercy,” Mai Chi whispered.
“This is my mercy,” Nezu said. “It is more than what you shared with my son.”
“I told him to stay back, and when he didn't, I just wanted to knock him out.”
“Which is why you used a knife?” Nezu pondered.
“I was just going to take his arm out,” Mai Chi excused quickly. Her gaze was not on Nezu but on her daughter. “Nothing else.”
“But he erased your quirk,” Nezu said, and it was the only reason Aizawa still had an arm. Mai Chi called her quirk screwdriver, which did a disservice to the power of her quirk. She was able to spin her wrist at the speed of a drill.
So stabbing or slashing didn't matter. The move would have destroyed Aizawa's arm.
“I would have-”
“Done nothing. Just like you did nothing as a gang of them pinned him and beat him until he used his support device to get them off of him.”
Mai Chi was desperate, clinging to any sort of half-truth or explanation that would satisfy Nezu.
But nothing would.
Though the fears in her eyes helped.
“If you do not turn yourself in to the police by the time my son is released from the hospital, I will hurt you,” Nezu promised. He turned to look at the child near him. “And I would hurry, they are getting the discharge papers ready.”
Nezu ended the call and sighed deeply. The child in front of him was enthralled by the movie. She hadn't looked up once.
Nezu stood and left the room. He turned toward the officer by the door, “As we expected, the child knows nothing. Please keep an eye on her until her father comes.”
“Yes, sir,” the officer said. Nezu turned and made his way down the hall. He stopped outside of Aizawa's hospital room. Nezu tilted his head as he listened in.
“You are staying with me,” Yamada said.
“I am not,” Aizawa sighed.
“You're hurt!” Yamada argued. “You need to relax and not do anything!”
“Do you remember when you broke my-”
“That was an accident!”
“-and I took care of myself just fine?”
“Really, because I remember you curled up in a ball and-”
“Oh shut up.”
Yamada laughed, “Seriously, Sho. You shouldn't stay alone. Let me come over. Or stay with me!”
“We'll see,” Aizawa sighed. Nezu knocked on the door and walked into the room. Aizawa looked at him. “Hey, Nezu.”
“How are you feeling?” Nezu asked. Aizawa was out of the hospital gown and back in regular clothes. He was sitting impatiently on the bed. His injured arm was pressed against his stomach. Chiyo had looked him over and warned him to rest in bed. And promptly slapped him upside the head after making sure he wasn't concussed.
“Fine,” Aizawa shrugged. “Can I go yet?”
“Not yet,” Nezu replied. Aizawa sighed in annoyance.
“Might as well get comfortable,” Yamada teased. Then, he looked at Nezu. “Besides, you need to tell me about this group. Nemuri is already-”
“No,” Nezu interrupted. “I already turned a hero on them.”
“Can one hero really take on a whole gang?” Yamada asked as he crossed his arms. His colored glasses nearly hid the rage that simmered in his eyes. Nezu smiled.
“Oh yes,” Nezu promised. He had no doubt All Might would have these criminals neatly handled and dropped off to the police. “As for the hero who was working with the criminals, she should be turning herself in to the police soon.”
“And what did you do?” Aizawa questioned as he looked at Nezu.
“Nothing at all,” Nezu said. Both Aizawa and Yamada looked unconvinced, but Yamada knew better than to ask. And Aizawa looked too tired to question. “All that matters is that you are safe.”
“Yeah,” Yamada said as he pinched Aizawa's cheek. Aizawa's eyes widened before narrowing in rage. Nezu smiled and hopped on the bed. He pinched Aizawa's other cheek.
“I'm going to kill both of you,” Aizawa swore.
“I am just happy that you are okay,” Nezu said. He suddenly hugged Aizawa. His son hugged him back.
And God help anyone who tried to hurt his son again.