Chapter Text
The kid was freaky, ok? Thin, almost skeletal in figure with too-pale skin and appendages that appeared to go on just a little too long. Raven hair spiked up in every direction and also coming down over his eyes. Then there were his eyes themselves — bright azure that clashed hard with the dark grey bags under his eyes. When he smiled, his skin looked like it might rip from being stretched too thin. When he stretched, his shirt would come up and his ribs would be visible. When he adjusted himself, various bones cracked loudly. Everything about him screamed at Aizawa to run, run now while you still can. Aizawa, however, couldn’t find it in himself to leave the boy, especially in such an emaciated state.
“Hey, kid,” Aizawa strode over to the boy, arms crossed in an attempt to appear somewhat authoritative. The boy looked over, startled expression marred with something else, something almost sinister. Aizawa almost stopped walking, but instead just shook his head and continued onward. “What are you doing out here?”
The boy scrambled to his feet, fists coming out in front of him as he took on a fighting stance. Aizawa did stop this time, smiling sadly at the beyond scrawny boy before him, trying desperately to defend himself. “Stay away from me. I— I don’t want to hurt— hurt you,”
Aizawa nodded, feigning contemplation. “Oh. You don’t?”
“No.”
“Well then, don’t.” Aizawa leaned casually against the decimated brick wall directly to his left. How it had been destroyed was a mystery, even to the police. That was the whole reason Aizawa had been sent there in the first place. Now, finding this kid who was so obviously off, he didn’t have a very good feeling about it. “What’s your name?”
The boy lowered his fists tentatively, though remained tense and on guard. “Danny.”
“Got a last name, Danny?” Danny shook his head no, to which Aizawa nodded. “Of course you don’t. Well, what I need to do is take you to the hospital to get checked out. You look horrible, kid. When was the last time you ate?”
Danny’s face hardened, his fists clenching at his sides. Upon looking closer at his hands, Aizawa realized there were cuff marks around his wrists, bright red and rubbed raw. Anger boiled in his stomach. Something wasn’t right here. “Dunno,” Danny finally spoke up, voice low and shaking as he did.
“Well, wanna change that?” Aizawa asked. He pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, searching through for a punch card and holding it up with a cocky smile. “I’ve got a punch card for the best sandwich in Musutafu, and that free sandwich practically has your name on it.”
It took a while to get Danny to agree to follow Aizawa. Eventually, however, hunger won out and Danny was walking next to Aizawa down the shady alleyway they’d just emerged from. “So what is this place anyway?” Danny asked as they walked. Aizawa cocked his head to the side, signaling he didn’t know what Danny was talking about. “This city. This place. What is it?”
“We’re in Musutafu,” Aizawa said. When Danny stared at him in confusion, he sighed, shaking his head. What had he gotten himself into? “Japan, kid. You’re in Japan.”
“Oh.” Danny stared straight ahead, brows furrowed as he continued to clench and unclench his fists. When he caught Aizawa staring at the cuff marks, Danny pulled his long sleeves down to cover the markings. “Why are you being nice to me? Aren’t cops supposed to hate homeless people or something?”
“You’re homeless?” Aizawa asked, completely avoiding the question.
“You didn’t answer me.”
Aizawa sighed, chuckling lightly. “You’re right. I guess I just…have a soft spot for stray teens who need a little help.”
“I don’t need help,” Danny deadpanned.
Aizawa laughed in response, earning a despondent glare from Danny. “You could’ve fooled me. Come on, this way.”
By the time they ordered Danny’s sandwich, Aizawa could see just how hungry he was. The boy was almost shaking, for goodness sake. When they sat down, Danny demolished his food, scarfing it down so fast Aizawa was surprised it didn’t come back up. Finally, the hot American style sandwich was finished, and Danny was wiping his mouth with his hand and leaning back in his chair, satisfaction written across his face.
“Was it good?” Aizawa asked. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from Danny himself.
“Yeah,” Danny sighed, so full and satiated that he didn’t have a quip to come back with. “It was. Thank you.”
“I suppose you know where I want to go next,” Aizawa started, to which Danny glared at him. “Hey, I just want to make sure you’re healthy. That’s all.”
“Well, I’m not. Case closed. Can I go now?” Danny spoke fast and with an air of determination. He started to get up, but Aizawa stopped him with a hand held up. Danny, at that, lowered back into his seat, crossing his arms and looking away from the adult at the table.
“I’m serious. You don’t know where you are, you were found next to a villain attack — that can’t mean anything good — and you look like the wind might blow you over. I think we need to talk about next steps.”
“I’m not going to the hospital,” Danny grumbled.
“Why not?”
“Don’t wanna talk about it.”
“Danny—“
“Can you drop it?” Danny snapped. “Please?”
“No, we can’t.” Aizawa stared him down, watching as Danny’s resolve only strengthened in response. “But I don’t need to take you to the hospital, if that really stresses you out this much. But I have a friend, Recovery Girl, who should at the very least look you over.”
Danny raised a single brow. “Recovery Girl? What, next you’re going to tell me she’s some sort of super hero?”
Aizawa straightened up at Danny’s words, confusion coloring his features. “Danny, she is a super hero. So am I. So are a lot of people.”
Danny stared at Aizawa for a solid thirty seconds before bursting out laughing, doubling over to do so. “Yeah, ok,” he chuckled when he finally regained his composure. “And I’m a fairy princess. You got me!”
“Danny—“
“What, next you’re going to tell me ghosts roam the streets?”
“Ghosts? What do ghosts have to do with anything?” Aizawa asked incredulously.
“Ghosts?” Danny asked the word out, as though that alone should have explained everything. When it ultimately didn’t, Danny sighed, shaking his head and letting out a small, sad laugh. “Yeah, ok. It’s like I’m on some totally different planet here.”
“You might just be,” Aizawa speculated. When Danny stared back at him in confusion, he kept going. “There’s a possibility you’re from a different dimension. One without Quirks. And, apparently, one with ghosts. What were you doing right before you ended up here?”
Danny stiffened at that, eyes darting around the small sandwich shop as though the walls had eyes. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It does, it’s—“ Aizawa started.
“Look!” Danny exclaimed, jumping up from his seat and looking around with wild eyes. “I don’t want to talk about it!”
Aizawa slowly raised himself from his chair, hands held out as though addressing a wild animal. When Danny’s frightened gaze landed on him, he attempted to look warm, inviting, and generally non-threatening. Scaring the kid further wouldn’t help anything. “It’s ok. We’ll table that topic for later, alright? Let’s just sit back down and finish talking.”
Danny opened and closed his mouth like a fish out of water, lip quivering as tears threatened to fall. He wiped them away, however, with the sleeve of his shirt before they could fall. Just as he was finally going to respond, he doubled over, groaning loudly and clutching at his chest with distressed hands. “Fuck. Not again. Please not again…”
“Not again? What’s going on?!” Aizawa asked frantically, moving closer to the boy and going to wrap his arms around him. When he did, though, Danny hissed, glowing green eyes casting themselves in his direction where once blue eyes were.
“Don’t touch me,” Danny’s words were pushed out in quick succession. Aizawa ignored his protest, however, opting to grab Danny right before he fell to the floor.
“Kid? Kid! You’re going to be alright,” Aizawa tried to reassure the boy before him, though it was hard considering he was now convulsing. Aizawa hefted him up, holding him close to his chest. Danny was way lighter than he should have been, which only sent Aizawa’s protective streak into overdrive. He ran out of the sandwich shop, feet carrying him to the nearest hospital on autopilot.
By the time he arrived, Danny had stopped moving completely, his limp form glowing a faint green color. Something was definitely wrong, and it appeared it was beyond his own comprehension. Danny got a room immediately on account of the fact that he’d been convulsing just moments prior. When Aizawa handed him over to a nurse with a gurney, he felt a pang of worry pierce his heart. Taking a seat in the waiting room, Aizawa pulled out his phone.
’Will be home later than expected.’
Aizawa looked at the time on his phone before sending the message to his husband, shaking his head at the realization that it was well past midnight by now. He put his phone in his pocket before resting his head in his hands, elbows rested on his knees. It was nearly two hours before a doctor made their way out to talk to him, their expression unreadable.
“You’re Eraser Head?” the doctor asked gently, to which Aizawa nodded. They motioned for him to follow. “Let’s walk.”
The two started down the hallway, the doctor leading the way. “What’s wrong with him?” Aizawa asked after a few unbearable seconds of silence.
“That’s a very…complicated question,” the doctor explained. “His vital signs are all very weak. His temperature is inhumanly low. But those appear to be normal findings for him, if I was understanding him correctly.”
Aizawa nodded, unsure of what to say to that. “He’s awake?” he settled on the sentiment.
“Hardly.” The doctor pursed their lips, folding their arms over their chest as the two continued walking down the sprawling hospital hallway. “But enough to fill us in that much. What’s really pressing are his…his more recent injuries.”
Aizawa readied himself for the worst. After all, Danny had looked bad. Surely there must have been a serious issue. He still wasn’t prepared, however, for what the doctor had to say.
“There are autopsy incisions across his chest,” the doctor blurted, taking in a shuddering breath before continuing. “The scars have healed, but…well, he’s been cut into and sewn back up. It was all very surgical and precise, though there are some signs of a struggle that suggest he was awake for it.”
“Hang on…” Aizawa cut in, trailing off as he tried to process exactly what the doctor was telling him. “He…someone…?”
“Yes, he’s been experimented on it appears,” the doctor concluded. They both stopped in front of a door, and upon looking into the small window carved into the white metal, Aizawa found Danny was asleep within. “He’s been through a lot, Eraser Head. These wounds appear to have been from a week ago, though Danny claims it was longer ago and that they just healed faster due to his strange physiology. I’m inclined to believe him on account of his current weight. Such emaciation would have taken considerable time.”
Aizawa’s heart sank as he stared on at Danny as he slept. “Poor kid.”
“Now, because he’d inter-dimensional, we have no choice but to put him in a government funded home,” the doctor sighed as they spoke. “Too bad.”
“No,” Aizawa asserted.
“Huh?” the doctor asked, head falling to the side.
“He won’t be going to one of those homes. I’ll take him home with me,” Aizawa determined, voice strong and definite.