Lonely Rabbit

Chapter 7: Time Flies

A/N: Time-skip chapter woo

~ ~ ~

The next 7 months since that meeting with Eraserhead as Rabbit flew by for Izuku. It took a while, but Izuku had finally stopped running away from Eraserhead on instinct, he knew what the hero said about not wanting to catch him but come on. He was a hero and Izuku was a vigilante, it was literally the hero's job to catch him. And sure maybe Izuku has some trust issues, but he would never admit it, not even to himself.

There was a small incident that finally allowed him to relax around the hero. They had been fighting a group of thugs together and the vigilante had slipped up. He had ended up with a knife buried in his thigh.

As they were fighting, a gunshot rang out unexpectedly from the direction of Eraserhead and Izuku, despite his usual level headedness, had looked away from his opponent to check on the hero. The hero was fine, but Izuku had gotten stabbed in the leg.

After that, Izuku quickly took down his opponent and he had attempted to run away before the hero could even notice, preoccupied with making sure all the villains were secure. Unfortunately, Izuku had tripped on the stairs of the fire escape, hissing in pain as his bleeding leg hit the metal. The hero had climbed up after him immediately. Before Izuku could protest, the hero had helped get him up to the rooftop where he carefully treated the vigilante's wound. Izuku knew the hero was somewhat upset at his carelessness, but he seemed to also be... worried?

It was as if he was concerned for Izuku which made his chest clench slightly with a warmth spreading through his lungs in happiness. Or maybe it was just the pain. It was probably just the pain.

Afterwards, the hero told him to head home and not patrol for the next week. Izuku had watched him start to leave in confusion, mind racing. In the end he could only call out on word.

"Why?"

Eraser paused and turned slightly back, "what do you mean?"

"Why...why are you helping me? And letting me go? I can't exactly run away right now."

It was a bad idea now that he looked back at the situation. He was literally giving the hero good reasons to change his mind and take him in. But he had been too curious and talked without thinking, which rarely happened.

Lucky for him, Eraser just sighed and said that despite his recklessness, Rabbit was more of a hero than most actual heroes these days, not to mention a kid. He couldn't bring in someone like that. The hero had snickered and added that Rabbit had never even used a quirk so he legally wasn't even a vigilante. In response, Izuku had just huffed, amused, and touched with the hero's honesty.

That was the night that made Izuku realize that the hero had been telling the truth and wasn't about to betray him. It was a very good night besides the pain in his leg and the way he had to cover it up a few hours later at work when serving the hero.

Ever since then, Izuku had started to patrol with Eraser a lot more. They would take care of the bad guys and after, Izuku would just wait for the hero to finish with the police while scouting other targets. Knowing that the hero had his back was weird. It was strange, foreign to Izuku, but not unwelcome.

About a month after they started their routine, Izuku was waiting for Eraser to finish with the police when he heard a soft noise. He soon sound the source in a nearby alleyway. A dirty cardboard box sat overtop of the muffled sound.

Eraserhead had soon joined him, looking around in confusion before his face morphed to realization at another soft chirp came from the box. Izuku slowly lifted the box to find a small kitten underneath it, trembling from fear and the cold. He slowly reached his hand out, the kitten sniffed it before rubbing her head against it. Smiling under his mask, Izuku gently picked up the kitten and cradled it to his chest.

Eraser had just stood a few feet away, watching with a small smile hidden under his scarf, but by now Izuku could tell when the hero was hiding one. Turning to the hero, Izuku asked about shelters nearby that he could run to. The hero thought for a moment before telling Rabbit that he should take the cat home with him, it seemed attached to him already. Izuku paused but eventually nodded, smiling even more as he scratched the kitten's head.

The next day after work, he bought cat toys and care items for his new cat he had named Sushi. Her eyes were a beautiful, one was gold, and the other was a soft violet. As she grew healthy and older, her fur became thick and fluffy, her ears folder down on her head, an obvious sign of some Scottish fold genes. It was surprisingly easy to get her a vet appointment and register her in the system as his cat.

Eventually, Izuku had started bringing her into the café with him, Yui had agreed after meeting Sushi and deeming her docile and a 'perfect addition'. Now, Izuku was scared the Eraser might recognize her, but after thinking it over, it was unlikely. The alley had been dark and Sushi hadn't opened her eyes until they were home, not to mention that a few months passed before he brought her to work so her fur was now clean and fluffy.

Fortunately, he was right and his peaceful life continued, now with his fluffy companion who was the only family he had, but it was more then before.

~ ~ ~

(Aizawa POV)

7 months had gone by and Eraser had gotten a bit more information about Rabbit. After their first meeting, Rabbit had eventually stopped running from the hero at first sight and even began his usual small pranks on the tired hero. Despite his annoyance of having glitter forever stuck on his clothes, Aizawa couldn't help but smile. The kid was acting as he had prior to when Eraser first went after him.

One night, the Detective asked Eraser to go after a small group of mid-level criminals, but the hero was confused why he was the only one being asked to go. Not that he couldn't handle it, but backup would have been nice. Tsukauchi had smiled and told him that Rabbit was the one who found their base and wanted to strike tonight, but he knew he couldn't handle them alone, so he wanted Eraser's help. They surprisingly worked together perfectly and got out with minimal injuries.

Since then, they team up at least once a week for patrol or some kind of raid. Eraser even gave the kid his and Tsukauchi's phone numbers in case he needed to contact them. Of course, the kid had immediately made a group chat with them three and used it to send information as well as locations for defeated criminals. Tsukauchi even started to ask the kid to help in difficult cases ranging from child neglect to large drug rings.

Needless to say, Aizawa was proud of his problem child, sure he was sometimes reckless, but he usually knew when to pull out or ask for help. Thanks to that, the kid rarely gets more than a few scrapes and bruises. It was a relief to Aizawa that the kid wasn't dumb, but that didn't stop him from tackling situations he shouldn't.

The kid was just too selfless at times, a true hero in nature, always wanting to help others without full regard for himself. When Aizawa had asked him about it one night, asking how he could be so quickly selfless but somehow not reckless, the kid had surprised him. With a shrug, the problem child said that if he was brought down, then the victim would be in even more danger, so why would he purposefully sabotage himself.

Aizawa loved the kid even more because that was exactly how he thought about fights. Prioritize the rescue first, but also prioritize yourself or else you couldn't save anyone. Not if your dead or incapacitated. His problem child #1 was just like him and thought rationally while still acting on emotions, even though the hero would never admit that last part.