Kids Who are Smarter Than Adults Tend to Get Hurt
Aizawa didn't sleep a wink that night. Frankly, neither did Hizashi. As soon as Aizawa came back from patrol late, Hizashi had already knew something was wrong, so he wasn't surprised when he told him he found something. Although it did surprise Hizashi when husband told him an orphanage was the problem.
That being said, Hizashi stayed up with him all night doing research on them. The orphanage is a correctional facility that specializes in troubled children, but it's a small business, and there isn't much dirt on them. Though there was one new report from a year ago about a law suit. Apparently a woman, Mrs. Minoru, sent her child there after multiple accounts of sexual talk and threats from him, even though he was young. The doctors had deemed it a cognitive issue and that there was no cure, so she sent him there in hopes that the orphanage would fix her child. But instead they completely cut off contact with her, and when she forced her way in, her child, his name was Mineta, was no where to be seen. She was kicked out once again, so she filed a law suit. It took months for it to even get to court, and the case was mysteriously dropped by the judge, deeming it pointless.
Aizawa had put that article in a folder for the police report later, but continued doing research until the sun rose again. It was about 9am when he and Hizashi headed back over to the orphanage. Aizawa had been thinking about the kids all night. If the orphanage had been there so long, there had to have been screaming like that before, right? So why did no hero come to help? There should be reports of that, but no matter how hard he looks he can't find anything.
He knocked on the creaky wooden door 3 times, just like the previous night. Except it won't be like last night, Aizawa reminded himself, this time Yamada is here. Both of them are wearing there hero costumes, so maybe the workers there would be even more terrified of a pro-hero who is out in the public a lot.
The door flew open after a moment, except this time the bug-like woman with the thinning hair opened the door. She was wearing a pink blouse today, with a white pencil skirt, and heels that made it seem like her head was going to hit the ceiling. Her lips were pursed with annoyance when she opened the door, but upon seeing Eraserhead, and more importantly Present Mic, it immediately morphed into a pinched, plastic grin.
"Why hello again Mr.Eraserhead! And Mr.Present Mic too! What brings you both by so early this beautiful morning!"
She was doing the hands-on-her-hips Mrs.Universe pose again, all the while batting her eyelashes.
"Hello! You can just call us Eraserhead and Present Mic, the formalities really aren't necessary. We came by to see the children that Eraserhead here was talking about! We're excited to get to meet them!" Hizashi, the ever friendly one, always seemed to know how to get what he wants. To everyone else he seems chipper and hyper, but to Eraserhead, he could see right through it. There was a small bite to his words and a tenseness to his jaw that only proved to Eraserhead that he wasn't taking no for an answer. He doesn't think All Might himself could stop Yamada from meeting these kids today.
The scrawny lady's face pinched, and she opened her mouth in an "o" shape as if she was going to say something, but one look from Aizawa let her know that he wasn't playing around this time.
"C-Certainly! The little buggers are eating breakfast in the dining hall currently, so you can wait-"
"We can go now."
Her face reddened,"A-Absolutely! Right this way you two! My name is Emiri Tanaka, but you can just call me Emiri! My coworker's name is Sasaki."
She led us around the corner and through a small pair of double doors. Aizawa couldn't help but let a sharp inhale escape him.
The room was larger than the lobby, but was still just as dirty. Except this one had two windows in the back, both cracked open despite the cold breeze flowing through it. It was all very gray, and quite depressing, and that was coming from the guy whose hero costume is as black as his soul.
In the middle of the room, there was a large rectangular table with nineteen children sitting around it. None of them looked very happy to be there, all of them much too thin and beat up. But that's not what stood out to him. It was the modifications to their quirks.
A child with wild lilac hair was had a muzzle on his face, which was dripping blood down his face, but he didn't seem to care. A boy with bright yellow hair with a black streak through it, who had thick gloves on which looked insulated. On the other side of the table was a child with bright orange skin with lots of arms, but they were pinned down and binded to his chest, with only two accessible. Not to mention a large mask covering his mouth. Next to him was a small figure with a large bag over his head and a thick metal strap going around his midsection. Aizawa couldn't even tell if he could breathe with that bag on, though he thought he saw black feathers sticking out. On the far side was the bush of green hair that he saw yesterday, but he didn't have any modifications as far as he could tell. A few kids sat next to him, one with raven hair and glasses who seemed to have pipes coming out from his calves, but were enclosed with a rubber cap. Sitting by him was a girl with short brown hair and heavy looking gloves on, similar to blonde boy before. Right next to the green haired boy was a kid who had half-white half-red hair, he also had gloves on, but most noticeably were fresh bandages covering one of his eyes.
Next to him sat a purple haired girl with what looked like plastic boxes by her ears with her earlobes painfully rolled up inside. She was looking longingly to the back of the room, where a raven haired girl sat with her hair in a ponytail. The girl was sitting alone by the propped open window at a small square desk, similar to the ones you'd find in school. She looked the worst out of all of them, as she was nearly falling asleep in her food, with lots of healing cuts and bruises all over her body. She was hunched over her stomach, but was eating rapidly even though it looked like it was hurting her.
Aizawa looked over to his left, where the larger lady was, and only then did he realize she was looking straight at him. She seemed like she wanted to say something, and from the looks of it, probably not something very nice. But she wasn't able to when all a yell ripped through the damp dining hall.
"PRO HEROES!!!"
He looked over to the source, and was surprised to meet the eyes of all twenty children. The one who yelled it had been the green haired one, who he was fairly certain Emiri called him Izuku last night. In a flash, he and Hizashi were surrounded by children.
"Are you really pro heroes?"
"Of course they are! Izuku said so!"
"Look at their outfits! How could they not be?"
"Why are you here?"
"I wanna be a hero!"
In all honesty, Aizawa wasn't expecting this. He understands his husband getting attention, as the girl with the encased earlobes seems especially fascinated by him, and the boy with the blond hair and black streak wouldn't shut up about his radio show. But he definitely didn't expect the boy with the lilac hair and black muzzle practically vibrating while staring up at him. Next to the muzzled boy was Izuku, who looked as if he could pass out from excitement.
"H-Hi! I'm Izuku Midoriya! And t-this is Shinsou Hitoshi! You're Eraserhead, right? You're Hitoshi's favorite superhero! My favorite hero is All Might, I know everything about him! Do you know All Might? Are you friends? Do you know all of the heroes? You erase quirks, right? How do you not blink? Why can't you erase mutation quirks? Why are you with Present Mic? Why does your hero costume look like pajamas?"
Aizawa was still trying to process the first part of what he said. He was this muzzled kid's favorite superhero? Most of the public doesn't even acknowledge him, so the fact that a child even knows his name blows him away. He glances over at Yamada and he's sat down in the middle of a group of squealing kids around him, with an angry looking blond boy sat proudly in front, who had on thick gloves up to his elbows. Looking even farther back, he can see Emiri and the other lady stunned, not even knowing how to react. Finally, he looks down at the two boys in front of him, and crouches down. He's not the best with kids, but he couldn't just ignore the two kids looking at him with stars in their eyes.
"Hello Izuku, you're correct I am Eraserhead. I don't personally know All Might, but he does seem very nice." That was a lie, he actually quite disliked the #1 hero, as he was too commercialized for Aizawa's taste, but he wasn't about to get into hero politics with this child,"I don't blink because of lots of practice, and my hero googles stop things from getting into my eyes. I can't erase mutations because they are physical manifestations in someone's body. I'm with Present Mic because we came by to visit." He decided to ignore the pajama question, but wasn't exactly offended. Yamada told him that all the time. Instead, he turned his attention to Hitoshi, even though Izuku looked like he had 1000 more questions to ask.
"Hi Hitoshi. Thank you for having me as your favorite hero. If I may ask, why do you have a muzzle on? It doesn't look that comfortable."
Hitoshi's looked excited all the way up until Aizawa mentioned the muzzle. At the very word, his eyes widened, and he took a small, defensive step behind Izuku. He seemed to instinctively grab at his muzzle, with the blood dripping down from the sharp edges getting on his hands. He look in between the two children's eyes, but neither of them looked like they wanted to answer. Their once star-filled eyes now seemed frightened at the mere presence of him. Standing up, he looked over at Yamada again, who had a grim look on his face. He seems to be in the same predicament as he was. Looking up, he caught the eyes of the ponytailed-hair girl. She was still sitting at her desk by the window, but had stopped eating, and was looking at him conflicted. As if she couldn't decide whether to get up or not.
He decided not to bother her, as he already messed up with the two kids in front of him. He was about to ask if Yamada wanted to leave, when a loud, echoing clap vibrated in his chest. Immediately, all of the chatter stopped and the larger lady, who was wearing an even tackier Christmas sweater today, had a scowl on her face.
"This has been quite enough. Children, go back to your room. Eraserhead, Present Mic, I believe you've over stayed your welcome. It's time for you to leave."
Aizawa was about to apologize and take his leave with Yamada, when a loud chorus of "Awhhhhhhh" broke out through the room.
"Please don't leave!"
"We want you to stay!"
"No one ever stays, stupid!"
"But I have more questions!"
Upon hearing this, Emiri clapped her hands again to cease the growing chatter. "No buts! You brats get back in your room! NOW!"
The second she yelled, all of the kids practically sprinted out through the doors. He caught the face of Hitoshi, who was looking at him longingly, and Izuku, who looked quite sad when he sent Aizawa a small wave. Looking around the room, he saw the same ponytail girl at her little table, still sitting there. Except this time she was stuffing her face full of food desperately when Emiri stormed over to her.
"You're going to pay for not finishing your food! Do you know how busy we're going to be today, you insufferable little girl?" She ripped the spoon out of the girl's hand and practically dragged her out of the doors before she could even catch her footing, causing her to trip and skin her knees, but the tall lady didn't even look behind her to check if she was okay.
"Where are you taking her?" Aizawa saw that his husband was keeping himself together, but he looked like he was about to start throwing hands due to the treatment of these kids. The larger lady was the only one left in the room.
"That's none of your concern."
"Fine. Then I guess we'll just have to come back for dinner later tonight." Aizawa curtly responded and started walking out the door, similar to last night, with Yamada in tow.
He was going to figure out what was going on with the kids, even if it was the death of him.