All Might couldn't help but feel deja vu. This green haired kid in front of him seemed... familiar.
"I just wanted to know..."
Oh damn- All Might could feel him losing his form. No! At this rate the kid will-
"...IF I CAN BECOME A HERO EVEN WITHOUT A QUIRK!?"
Poof!
The lid continues to ramble for a few seconds more before finally -finally- looking up.
"..."
"..."
"...look kid-URKK!" Ah there it was. All Might was beginning to wonder when that would come.
"AHHHHH! WHO ARE YOU!?"
...
After explaining to the kid everything he was willing to tell a stranger, and more -and wasn't that just strange, he felt comfortable sharing with this kid he barely knew-
He finally stood up to leave, a solemn expression on his face.
"Sorry kid, you should stick to something realistic." All Might almost took it back as soon as he said that when the child's face fell, but he pushed onward.
"You should be a police officer! Or- or something else equally as public serving! Like a good friend of mine! He's a detective! And a good one at that!" All Might refrained from mentioning his friends quirk.
"...oh..."
All Mights face softened immediately. "My point is, you should strive to be the best you can past, present and future. But sometimes..."
He clenched his fists. He had a feeling he knew why this kid seemed so familiar.
"...sometimes people's best can only go so high."
He reminded him of himself.
-
Yagi had no way of knowing just how much he would remind him of himself.
He didn't know just how quickly he would be taking his words back, either.
He couldn't shake the feeling something was missing.
-
Aizawa was done.
No. Perhaps done wasn't quite the right word. Tired? Yes, very much so. But done? That would seem a bit insensitive as his current dilemma pertains to a child.
"I will not be made a fool of! I want that child dealt with!" He would actually rather deal with the kid than this adult that doesn't seem to stop whining.
He had caught a thief a while back. Aizawa was ready to be done with it and just hand them over to the police. However, in their drunken haze, they had told him to at least check on the brat if he wasnt gonna let them go and do it themsleves -which, Aizawa is a Hero, why would he let them go- "Kid?"
Aizawa loosened his hold and turned around to face them.
"Yeah, the kid. Said he was hungry." They tilted their head back towards the sky.
"A kid?" Aizawa asked again, because why is a child outdoors? At night? It almost makes him want to punch the people responsible but doing so would waste his time. Time he could use spent towards looking for the kid.
"Is that why you were stealing?" He couldn't help but ask.
They looked vaguely insulted. "O'Course. What? You think I'd be stealing and so ready to go back to jail after I just got out o' it? And why would I be stealing candy?" They pause for a second. "...that's what kids eat right? Candy?"
"..."
Aizawa did not deign that with a response and instead did a quick check on their background.
... they weren't lying.
... he let them go after showing him where the kid was.
The brat managed to run away the second his eyes landed on Aizawa. And Aizawa, funnily enough, lost him. He could only imagine what the kids been through to run at the sight of an adult like that.
-
Ael, kicked his feet back and forth on the bus bench. He wasn't waiting for one, didn't even think they would let him on, but his feet hurt and he was tired. That hero in black -he remembered him from the last time- would not give up the chase. Ael had no real reason to run from him. Except for maybe the fact that he would turn him in and they would put him into the frosting - at least that's what he thinks it's called- system and he knows he would have a harder time leaving after that and he kinda of needed to find the dumb hero.
...
Yeah, so maybe he shouldn't get caught.
As he felt someone sit next to him, he knew he was kind of stuck.
Maybe he could still run.
The tall man in black locked eyes with him and it took all Ael had not to look away. That's not the same look mama would look at him with when he did something wrong or hid away from her for half the day. The man's face held a bone deep tired that had Ael wanting to share what little energy he had with the man, but it also held loads of relief and Ael suddenly thought that maybe he was too tired to run.
"Hm." His voice was scratchy feeling from disuse. Last he used it was when he told that nice thief he was hungry. -To be fair, Ael did not know that they were a thief.- His soft black curls swayed in the slight wind, eyes drooping with sleepiness. It was cold and he was still hungry. He was tired of eating other people's left overs too. It's been weeks since he had been back and he still had not found the dumb hero. The man in black just stares, tense to make chase should Ael make a break for it, yet not invading his personal space bubble.
He supposes he will take a break.
"Hmp." Ael tries to convey his thoughts into one syllable sounds. The man does not seem to understand. Sigh. It is fine. Hero in black is not mother so he would not understand Ael yet.
Yet.
The hero in black is still looking him in the eyes, scanning over his face. He looks sad now. Ael gets impatient.
"Hmph!" He kicks his feet out this time. The hero seems to snap out of it and looks at Ael properly.
"Wha...?" He lifts his hands out slightly towards him but they stop midway and he sets then down. Ael frowns a little at that.
"And who are you?" He asks in a gentle voice.
Ael gives him the most flat stare he could muster.
Sweat beads down the side of the man's face.
For all his confidence in finding him, the hero in black sure does look nervous. He decides to give the man mercy. But first...
Ael reaches his hand out and crawls towards the heroes hand resting on the bench. The man flinched when he takes his hand into both of his. Ael tugs on his hind and sleeve in succession, then holds up his other hand, opening and closing his fist.
The man looks like a deer in headlights. Though, eventually, his eyes go back to normal, his eyesbrows lower, and his gentle tired look is back. He reaches down and picks the child up. Ael latches on immediately, face curled into his scarf and fingers clenched into the -surprisingly- soft jumpsuit.
"Ael." It felt like the first time in a long while he had said his name.
"Ah. Well then Ael. Let's take you back home, shall we?" The man murmured, standing up than rearranging Ael to be more comfortable on his hip. He started his trek towards the police department.
Ael knew that he couldn't go home. Not yet, at least. But he can figure that out when he wakes up. He hasn't felt this comfortable in a long while. In fact, this is what he imagines a real home would feel like.
Yes.
It almost feels as if this man is sapping the rest of his energy away. But that is fine, he supposes. The man looked exhausted when he found him, so he can have Ael's energy in return.
For finding him.