Hello everyone~! I'm updating all my stories as a special Christmas gift to you all~! (Or Kwanzaa or Hanukkah.) So Happy Everything, and please enjoy~!

Also! I left a brief comment in the last chapter about All Might vs. Superman. JESUS PEOPLE! I did NOT mean to start WWIII! It was IZUKU'S passing thought, not a serious debate topic, okay? So please lay off of me, I'm Switzerland in this!!

And a special thanks to my friend Grace for drawing this awesome fanart *Squees*! You rock~!

Chapter 7: Truth

Shouta hated hospitals with a burning passion. He hated hospitals more than he hated mornings without coffee. They were noisy, smelled like disinfectant, far too clean, and there was no privacy. The only good thing about them was the excuse to sleep all the time. But even then, the shitty beds and cheap sheets made good sleep almost impossible, and the one time Shouta tried to use his own sleeping bag, they'd tried to confiscate it (and he just knew that he'd never see it again if he let that happen). But even he had to admit that he was in a bad state. Or had been before being brought to this hellhole.

Even now, Shouta was in pain. And he knew from experience that they had him on some pretty heavy-duty painkillers. He'd been checked over several times, and though he felt like shit, he had every intention of going back to teaching when school let back in after they were finished with security updates (because if he knew Nezu, there would be extensive updates—the kind that they shut down the school for).

"Hey, you're awake." Hizashi smiled softly as he came into the room. "You scared the hell outta us, you know that? You were touch and go for a little bit."

"I'm fine now. How soon can you spring me?" He begged Hizashi with his eyes.

"Hehe. Same as ever, I see." He took a seat beside Shouta's bed. "School, as I'm sure you've already assumed, has been closed for three days while we try to figure out a way to keep that Warp Gate Quirk out."

A flash of blood crossed his mind's eye. "Midoriya..." He locked eyes with the blond. "How is he?"

Hizashi pulled back the curtain on Shouta's other side, revealing the form of the small boy. He was pale and covered in bandages—though not to the extent of Shouta. His left arm resembled Shouta's own mummified arms, and he had a thick bandage on his right cheek. He had several wrapped around his neck, and a few around his head. Damn Problem Child...

"He's alive, which is impressive as hell. He scared us all as much as you did. According to the other kids, he didn't hesitate to throw himself between you all and that villain."

"He scared me, too." Shouta shuddered as he recalled how helpless he'd felt as he watched that villain go after his kids.

"Speaking of... I hope you don't mind the interruption." Detective Tsukauchi stood at the doorway.

"Need my statement?" Shouta sighed as the man nodded.

"Let's start at the top, shall we?" Tsukauchi waited for Shouta to start.

"Now that I think about it, Midoriya mentioned when we got off the bus that he'd had a bad feeling..." He thought back to the kid's concern. He'd thought that maybe he'd been tired or nervous... Shouta, of course, hadn't simply written it off—the kid had experience fighting crime—but he hadn't realized that things would go south so quickly.

"I actually got a text from him." Hizashi blinked as he scrolled through his phone. "He said he had a bad feeling and that if I couldn't get through to you or him in ten minutes to assume something was gravely wrong. When I couldn't get through to your phones after those ten minutes, I gathered the other teachers and went to find you, then we ran into Iida partway there."

"We'd gone into USJ for a scheduled lesson... The lights had flickered and then a warp gate appeared by the fountain." Shouta continued. "I told Thirteen to protect the students before engaging the villains pouring out of the portal. I tried to keep an eye on the guy who looked like the most trouble—the one with the warp Quirk—but the moment I blinked, he was gone."

"Kurogiri is his name." Tsukauchi informed.

"After that, things just blurred into fighting... But then Shigaraki pointed out that the intervals between my blinks was getting shorter and shorter. I attacked him, and he caught my elbow before using his Quirk on it."

"He ordered that thing... Nomu, I think it was, to attack me." Shouta shuddered hard, remembering the sheer strength of the beast. "I was sure I erased its Quirk... It didn't matter, though. It was too fast to see... too strong to fight. It snapped my arms like twigs and nearly flattened my skull into the ground." He noticed Hizashi turn a little white as Shouta described just how overpowered he'd been.

"They called it the anti-symbol of peace. Something made to kill All Might."

Tsukauchi stiffened as he wrote that down.

"Kurogiri returned not long after and mentioned a student escaping. Shigaraki talked about a 'game over' or something before he mentioned dealing a blow to All Might's pride."

Shouta remembered the scene with a devastating clarity. "Shigaraki had been going for Asui, when Midoriya just threw himself between them. I erased his Quirk as fast as I could." The fear he'd felt when he thought he'd been too late. And God, his eyes ached just remembering how hard it had been to erase that Quirk. And he did not want his eyes to start watering now because if that happened, they'd start burning and he couldn't put his eye drops in without the use of his currently mummified hands.

"And then it was a little hazy after that. I remember Asui and Kirishima moving me out of the crater..." He recalled watching in stunned, horrified, awe as Midoriya managed to somehow keep up with that monster's speed.

"Midoriya... He had no fear." Shouta realized the words were wrong as soon as they escaped his mouth. "He showed no fear." He corrected. "He kept pace with that Nomu... It was as fast and strong as All Might in his prime."

"And he kept pace with it?!" Hizashi choked. Tsukauchi looked stunned, too.

"While fighting Shigaraki." Shouta nodded. Ow. Okay, nodding was bad. Nodding hurt. Fuck, he hated being injured. "He took the pain with a laugh and mocked them... I think he was trying to draw off their attention so we could get to safety. Didn't seem like the first time he'd done so, either... Most rookies make the mistake of looking over at the people they're protecting to assure themselves that they're safe—he didn't. It's because of that that he was successful." And watching Midoriya's shoulder be disintegrated to the bone had hurt Shouta almost as much as he was sure it hurt Midoriya.

Shouta's heart had nearly stopped when he scarcely escaped having his neck disintegrated.

"And then the Nomu finally caught him by the arm." Shouta shuddered, remembering how easily that beast had snapped his own arms, twisting and grinding the bones in its powerful grip. He was grateful for Quirks—without them, he probably wouldn't even have arms right now. "He didn't cry out, even as his arm broke." Shouta recalled, remembering his blinding fear in that moment and that need to help his student. "Even still, he laughed and mocked them, keeping their attention occupied."

"Damn, and I thought the kid was impressive beforehand." Hizashi whistled.

Detective Tsukauchi took a seat, looking unusually pale as Shouta continued to speak.

"Somehow, he still managed to get some good hits in—one right between the legs—even while dangling from a broken arm." Shouta smirked wickedly. He wouldn't lie—hearing that villain's squeak of pain as his manhood was attacked had made him grin with a vicious satisfaction. His smirk faltered as he remembered how close Midoriya had come to dying. "Shigaraki had been about to kill him... That's when All Might showed up." He remembered the absolute relief he'd felt when he realized that reinforcements had arrived.

"Yeah... Iida had rushed right up to us as we were heading out towards you guys. He scared the hell out of us. Thank goodness for Midoriya's text, otherwise it would've taken us a lot longer. The panicked look of desperation on his face as he panted out the words 'USJ' and 'Villains'... Class Reps were ordered to bring the students to the bunkers. We had no idea if this had been an isolated attack, or a distraction. I'd been under the assumption of a much smaller attack, so I'd just brought whoever was in the lounge with me—Iida's words sent everyone else into action, and Nezu gathered the rest of the staff himself."

"We didn't know if it was an isolated attack or not either. For all we knew, the rest of U.A. was also under attack, and that was why nobody had come. I'm actually glad that it was just someone jamming the signal." Shouta spoke quietly.

"God, Shou... do you realize how bad everything looked when we arrived? Thirteen was hurt and unconscious by the doorway—they're fine, now. And you and Midoriya..."

Hizashi remembered the scene clearly. His heart had been in his throat when he realized the students had been scattered and he saw all the blood strewn throughout the square. He'd prayed that the blood belonged to the villains. And once he'd reached the top of the staircase, he'd seen the kids with Shouta, and Shouta had looked like death. For a moment, he'd seen that collapsed building from their Second Year... He truly feared that Shouta had left him alone with Nemuri.

It wasn't until he'd moved that he realized he was even alive, but holy fuck Midoriya looked just as bad, and the kid was somehow still standing.

"Hey, stop that." Shouta spoke up. He knew Hizashi's mind was going to a place it shouldn't be.

"Nobody else was hurt. Just you, Thirteen, and Midoriya. Everyone's alive." Hizashi reassured him.

"You could've just started with that, you know."

"But you needed to get that story off your chest." Hizashi pointed out, gently poking his cheek. "Tensei's worried about you, too. He sends his regards."

"I'm guessing he's looking after his baby brother, then?" Shouta smiled fondly.

"Of course he is." Hizashi shook his head. "Remember when Little Iida was born? I don't think I've ever seen someone come into their brotherly instincts so quickly."

"Still remember when the kid puked on me." Shouta grimaced.

"You know, I don't think Little Iida knows that we went to school with his brother." Hizashi mused. "I mean we see Nemuri and Sekijiro all the time at work, but Tensei decided to go off with his own agency."

"If his brother wants to tell him, that's fine. But it's not our place to tell him we babysat him when he was an infant." Shouta shook his head. Ow.

"Would you stop hurting yourself?" Hizashi asked, exasperated.

"If you get me coffee..."

"You know I'm not allowed to do that, Shou."

"I want to thank you for your statement today." Tsukauchi was still seated, and he was still somewhat pale, but he looked more collected than before. He glanced over to Midoriya. "I'll come back when he's awake for his statement." He went to get up, when they all heard a soft groan from the other bed.

Shouta would later deny just how much of a relief it was to look over into green, very much alive, eyes.

"You took your time, Problem Child." He smiled softly.

"I'm glad you're okay." The kid breathed in relief before wincing. "How long before we can spring this joint?"

Hizashi snorted in amusement. "You sure you two aren't related?"

"Probably another day or two." Shouta ignored his friend. "And if you ever scare me like that again..." He trailed off.

"Let's both agree to be angry at the other for nearly dying, yeah?" Midoriya cracked a smile. "Though this is new. I'm not used to hospitals."

"Didn't your mentor ever take you to get treated when you were hurt?" Shouta knew this kid had to have been hurt like this before.

"No. We had... someone... Alfred was a trained military medic. There were... extenuating circumstances that prevented us from getting treated at hospitals for any injuries related to our... heroic activities."

"So basically you were both vigilantes and couldn't go to a hospital for fear of being arrested." Shouta deadpanned.

"Yep!" This kid was too damn happy. "Though after a while, I suppose we could've tried going to the hospital... The police chief eventually started to call us in to handle the particularly insane criminals."

"Insane?" Hizashi blinked.

"Yeah. Every now and again, there'd be a breakout from the Asylum for the Criminally Insane." He shrugged like it was no big deal.

"You're unbelievable. No wonder you could taunt that villain so casually." Shouta fought the urge to shake his head.

"Well, Shigaraki definitely had a couple of screws loose, but it was nothing compared to Jo—" He cut himself off, like he'd suddenly realized he'd said too much.

Tsukauchi took this opportunity to clear his throat, alerting Midoriya to his presence. The kid paled a bit—an understandable reaction considering this man was in charge of capturing Robin.

"Forgive my intrusion. I'm Detective Tsukauchi. I know you just woke up, but I need your statement regarding the USJ Incident."

Midoriya sent a glance at Shouta, who sighed. "We may as well settle this now. Tsukauchi."

"Hm?"

"Midoriya Izuku is my official Apprentice. He is no longer a vigilante."

Tsukauchi blinked, completely lost. "Vigilante?"

"You know me as Robin." A light smirk graced the kid's features as Tsukauchi startled badly.

"W-wait... You're the vigilante Robin?!"

"Yes. Yes I am."

"And he's my official apprentice, so he's now off the wanted list." Shouta stated. "So please, make sure your men know. I do not want my student getting shot by your team."

"Again." Midoriya muttered under his breath, and Shouta fought the urge to press for answers. You can ask him later.

"They'll be informed. Though I have to ask... how the hell did you avoid us for so long? You weren't even seen." Tsukauchi had an excited gleam in his eyes.

"I had a very good mentor." Midoriya smiled softly.

"You're fifteen? So you've been a vigilante since you were ten?" Tsukauchi realized, and Shouta's own eyes widened. He'd never really thought of it that way.

"Er... yes?" He smiled sheepishly, causing the two men to sigh and Hizashi to choke.

"Yes, well... I must inform you before taking your statement... My Quirk is Lie Detector. I can tell if you're dishonest, so please try not to gloss over any details."

"Hai." Midoriya shifted a little. He's uncomfortable around him? Shouta took note of that.

"Uh... I guess the place to start would be when we got off the bus. I had this horrible gut feeling... I just knew something bad was going to go down, but had no idea what. So I sent a text to the only faculty member in my phone and informed my sensei, but there wasn't much we could do other than try to be prepared." Midoriya shook his head.

"And then the villains showed up... Aizawa-sensei jumped right into the fray after telling Thirteen-sensei and I to protect the students."

"You told a student to help protect them?" Hizashi raised an eyebrow.

"He's a capable vigilante and a very promising hero with more experience than any student. It was only logical that he help Thirteen." Shouta defended his decision.

"Honestly, even if he hadn't told me to, I would've protected them." Midoriya smiled softly. "And then Kurogiri came up out of nowhere, introducing himself as a member of the League of Villains—a shitty name, if you ask me, but I've seen worse. He scattered all of us around the building, and I barely snagged Tsu and Eiji before we found ourselves—with Mineta—in the Shipwreck Zone. I managed to reverse-hack the system and activate the whirlpool while having Mineta throw his sticky balls into the water, trapping the villains together and neutralizing the immediate danger."

"After that, we decided to rejoin the others by the entrance. I had to get them out of the building and to safety."

"You had to get to safety, too." Shouta narrowed his eyes.

"My safety is second to theirs. I can handle myself. They've never been in a situation like that before—they've never stared their own death in the face." The words sent a shiver down the spines of the adults.

"And you have?" Shouta was afraid of the answer.

"Of course I have. More times than I care to count."

Something a lot of people didn't realize was that Tsukauchi's Quirk had a tell, much like Shouta's hair. Whenever someone told a lie in his presence, his eyes would flash silver for a brief moment. So when Midoriya had said that, he'd watched for it, and was horrified to find that the Detective's eyes stayed brown.

Even Tsukauchi seemed shaken by this revelation.

"When I saw Aizawa-sensei being massacred by the Nomu, I wanted to help him so badly, but I knew that doing so would draw attention to my classmates, too. I couldn't risk their safety. I'm sorry." Was the kid seriously apologizing for not helping him sooner?

"You don't need to apologize. You made the right choice." Shouta sent him an exasperated look.

"Well, it didn't really matter anyways, when Shigaraki tried to attack Tsu. I blocked it, and as soon as Aizawa-sensei erased his Quirk, I broke his nose." Midoriya smirked. "That was very satisfying."

"I'm sure." Hizashi shook his head fondly.

"I've been told that you managed to keep pace with the Nomu—a creature who has speed like All Might." Tsukauchi inquired. Shouta would be lying if he said that he wasn't just as curious.

"I had a friend when I was younger... His name was Wally. His uncle had had some lab accident a while beforehand and accidentally gave himself super speed. The two of them were Quirkless, and Wally replicated his uncle's experiment, giving himself the same power." Midoriya smiled fondly. There was a sad edge to the smile, though. "We'd hang out all the time. His uncle was his mentor, and his mentor and my mentor were good friends, too. And being around two of the fastest men to have ever walked the earth tends to give you reflexes that are above average."

Not once had Tsukauchi's eyes glowed. Damn. What the hell, kid? Your luck is unlike anything I've ever seen.

Tsukauchi asked a few more questions about USJ before he finally asked a question that caught the interest of Hizashi and Shouta. "Who was your mentor?"

"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you... Lie Detector or not." Midoriya shook his head, but Tsukauchi's eyes flashed silver.

"You aren't going to get in trouble, and neither is your mentor."

"My mentor is dead." Midoriya spat, startling Shouta. "He's been dead for a long time..."

Tsukauchi's left eye flashed silver, but his right eye stayed brown. What the...?

"That's... a lie?" Tsukauchi himself sounded confused.

"It's a lie for me, but the truth by fact." Midoriya looked up at the three adults in the room. "My mentor was a vigilante who protected a city in the United States of America known as Gotham." He took a deep steadying breath, and glanced at Shouta for support.

The kid has so much trust in me... He nodded firmly.

"His name was Bruce Wayne. Hero Name: Batman."

That name was familiar. Maybe he'd read about his work somewhere?

"This is where things get tricky..." Midoriya chuckled bitterly. "I met him when I was eleven years old after my adoptive parents were murdered. He took me in and trained me after I discovered his identity."

"Adoptive?" Tsukauchi's brows furrowed. "As far as I know, your parents are still alive."

"They hadn't been born yet, when I met the Grayson's." He smiled softly, and to Shouta's shock, Tsukauchi's eyes stayed brown.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Hizashi looked like his brain was frying.

"There's a couple things you need to know. First, I'm Quirkless." Tsukauchi nodded to Midoriya's statement. "When I was nine, I got caught up in a villain attack. I got hit by an unknown person's unknown Quirk. It's not known if that was from the villain or a civilian, but it made me 'disappear' for about a week."

Again, only one eye flashed silver.

"Sorry, a week, here."

Both eyes stayed brown.

"I remember that case." Tsukauchi blinked. "I was called in to help find you since I deal with so many different Quirks... You just showed up a week and a half or so after your disappearance. Reports said you'd undergone severe personality changes, but were otherwise unharmed."

"Yeah, well..." Midoriya scratched the back of his head. "That Quirk sent me back in time... To the year 2013. I lived there until about 2020, when the aftereffects of the Quirk sent me back to my original time and reset me to my original age. I retained whatever physical alterations and items I had on me at the time."

Tsukauchi's eyes stayed brown. The kid was telling the truth.

"You lived in the Pre-Quirk era?" Hizashi echoed, eyes wide in shock.

"That makes so much sense." Shouta sighed. "Your unconventional fighting style... your experience and skills... you were... sixteen when you were sent back here?"

"Yeah. It was sudden and terrifying. One moment, I was helping Bruce research a few things, and bantering with Barbara about whether or not Catwoman and Bruce would hook up, when I just started fading. And... And I've never seen them look so scared before." Midoriya curled in on himself as much as his injuries would allow. "And then I was back here in this time, and... I was a kid again, and they were gone. And all of a sudden, I was the Quirkless kid again. I was less than and alone. Everyone I cared about... everyone I'd fought for... protected with everything I had... dead."

Suddenly, everything became clear. It's been centuries for the world, but only a scarce few years for the kid... Shouta wanted nothing more than to scoop this child into his arms and reassure him that things would get better. That the grief would ease, little by little.

Hizashi got up and carefully pulled Midoriya into a hug. The kid stiffened and looked up in confusion.

"Shouta's in no state to get out of bed, so you'll have to settle for my hugs in the meantime." He smiled softly, running his fingers through the green hair. "You aren't alone anymore, Little Listener. I don't care how long you've lived; you're still a kid right now. It's okay to hurt. It's okay to cry. Nobody here will judge you for that. You can grieve, we understand."

Apparently that was exactly what Midoriya needed to hear, because he wrapped his good arm around the blond and started to break down. Every heart wrenching sob tore part of Shouta's heart out of his chest, and he wanted nothing more than to join Hizashi in giving the kid support.

Fuck this. My arms are broken, not my legs. He bit down on his tongue and gingerly swung his leg over the edge of the bed. He noticed Tsukauchi giving him a reprimanding glare, but the man must've been just as affected, as he didn't stop Shouta.

In fact, the detective nodded his thanks and left the room, giving the three some privacy.

Shouta carefully made his way over to the two of them before swinging a casted arm around Hizashi and Midoriya.

The blond's head whipped up in surprise before dissolving into a disapproving glare. "You should stay in bed." He signed angrily with the hand that wasn't running though Midoriya's hair.

Shouta glared back, unable to respond in sign with his hands reduced to mummified marshmallows.

"We're here, kid. You aren't alone, now." Shouta softly murmured to Midoriya, who glanced up in surprise.

"You remind me of him a lot, you know." Midoriya muttered, leaning into Shouta without pulling away from Hizashi. Unable to truly hug him, Shouta tucked Midoriya's head under his chin. The soft locks tickled his chin, but the kid seemed to melt into the embrace, nuzzling into Shouta's chest. "You feel safe, like he did. Strong and quiet... I don't know why, but I feel safe with you, Aizawa..."

Shouta wouldn't admit it aloud, but that made him feel warm inside. A soft smile found its way onto his face. "No matter what, you can count on me. We're a team, now, yeah?" And wasn't that a strange thought. Shouta hadn't been part of a team since Shirakumo. He supposed that he was a lot like Midoriya in that aspect—they'd both lost their teammate to death.

"Yeah..." Midoriya smiled softly. His sobs eventually quieted and his breathing evened out.

"Little Listener fell asleep." Hizashi chuckled. "He looks so content snuggled up to you."

"Take a picture and I will hurt you." Shouta threatened as he saw Hizashi reach for his phone.

"I never want to see him cry like that again." Hizashi sighed.

"I agree. I never would've guessed that the kid went through so much... No wonder he's such a brilliant vigilante."

"He'd been one for years." Hizashi agreed.

"Batman..." Shouta's eyes narrowed before widening in realization. "The Dark Knight..." The legend had been passed down for centuries. Not many people remembered the Old Hero's actual hero name, and his civilian identity had never been discovered (and remained a hotly debated topic to this day). He was one of the most famous Old Heroes. He fought some of the most vile and twisted criminals, and was Quirkless to boot.

Many Old Heroes had come into Quirk-like powers through unconventional means, and had come across equally strong and powerful villains in their time. They earned the trust of the people by protecting them, and many were still known to this day. Superman. Green Lantern. The Flash—wait...

"Think the Hero Midoriya was talking about earlier was The Flash?"

"You're shitting me!" Hizashi whispered, excited at the prospect that his student had met Hizashi's own favorite hero.

"To think that he'd been trained by The Dark Knight, though..." Shouta smiled softly, before resisting the urge to hit his head on something. "Batman and Robin. The Dynamic Duo. Midoriya was his sidekick."

"Oh." Hizashi's eyes were wide. Shouta understood why. The Old Heroes were something like Ancient Celebrities—borderline gods, depending on who you asked. Like how children looked up to All Might, many heroes looked up to the Old Heroes of the Pre-Quirk Era, the ones who paved the way of Heroism and forged the path that they followed to this day. Their teachings—spread by word-of-mouth and from whatever surviving documentations that remained—were held in high regard.

U.A. Second Years had an entire class dedicated to the study of the Old Heroes. Shouta supposed that Midoriya wouldn't exactly need to take that class, considering he was an Old Hero.

And that thought made even Shouta excited. The Dark Knight had been his favorite of all the Old Heroes, and to know his own apprentice was once the sidekick of his favorite hero... It made him (internally) giddy. He felt that childlike wonder fill him before shaking his head (Ow).

No matter what, Midoriya was Midoriya. He was his student. His apprentice. The kid was the same kid that snarked off to villains and scaled the side of U.A. for shits and giggles.

And shit made sense. Because Gotham was known as one of the most dangerous places in the world during the Pre-Quirk Era, and only The Dark Knight and Robin had managed to keep things anything close to peaceful.

He would try not to treat Midoriya any differently, but he knew that that would be impossible.

Because he was more than a student, now. They were, in terms of experience, equals. And Shouta was going to treat him as such. Yes, he was a kid, and Shouta would continue to teach him. But the kid had as much real battle experience as any seasoned hero (more so than most, actually), and Shouta was not going to baby him out in the field.

He laid back in the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping child. He shifted to get a little more comfortable.

Weeks later, Shouta would demand Hizashi delete the picture of a mummified Shouta curled protectively around a small green-haired child whose head was tucked securely underneath his teacher's chin.

Hizashi would do so after sending the copy to every faculty member of U.A.