Lonely Rabbit

Chapter 8: Back Off

Izuku was almost 100% happy with his current life, he got to save people almost every night, had started to work with his favorite hero as a tag team, adopted an adorable cat, worked at a coffee shop where he could get free coffee, and he had a friend who was going to easily become a great hero. However, there was a problem with said friend, and that was his foster family.

Izuku wasn't stupid and years of experience taught him how to read people and their mannerisms. He had a natural affinity when it came to analyzing people, but he had also spent time practicing it. And the way that Hitoshi sometimes reacted or talked about himself paired with how closed off he was about his home life, among other small hints, were clear red flags to Izuku.

Obviously, he was bullied, Izuku had literally fought off said bullies when they first got close, but there was more to it. Hitoshi would seem to almost refrain from talking too much, nodding or using gestures instead of verbal responses. It had taken some time for Izuku to help him shake off that habit with him, and eventually the quiet boy started to use his voice more.

No way some bullies made him that scared of his talking, it was devised from either the teachers or his home life. And the latter was much more reasonable with the way he would avoid talk of his parents or family. As much as Izuku hated it, he knew firsthand how bad quirk discrimination was.

During their study session on Sunday, Izuku tried to subtly steer the conversation for more information. Eventually, Hitoshi accidently slipped that he was living with some foster parents a few days ago. Izuku didn't react but filed away the information for later which brought him to today.

As Rabbit, Izuku had taken down plenty of abuse cases, they hit close to home for him and he couldn't stand the way that some people could treat their kids, the ones they were supposed to care for and love. It made him sick. Even to the point that Eraserhead and Detective Tsukauchi had picked up on it and purposefully asked for help in some of those cases. But this one was personal. His friend, the only one who didn't judge him and wanted to spend time with him besides just training, was the victim.

Right now, he was following Hitoshi home after their training session. Sure, he knew their address from hacking the system, but he could learn a lot from just watching Hitoshi as he walked there.

As soon as Izuku had found him after saying their goodbye's, Hitoshi was walking with slumped shoulders and a bored expression. His eyes however, were laced with a silent fear. He was scared to go home and now Izuku was contemplating If he could kidnap him right now.

'I could create a new identity for him and make it so he was adopted by my 'father' (who doesn't really exist).' Izuku mused to himself, 'he could start online schooling like I did'.

In the end, Izuku trashed the idea. Hitoshi didn't need to become like him, someone without an actual home or family who had to work his ass off to live. Besides, it wasn't 100% confirmed that his foster parents were abusive, so he had to hold off either way.

A few minutes later, Hitoshi walked up to a plain looking house, nothing impressive but nothing run down either. Just a normal beige house. The boy walked slowly up to the door and slid inside silently. As soon as Hitoshi closed the door and began taking off his shoes, he was met with a slap and yelling from his foster parents asking why he was out so late and if he was doing anything illegal.

When the boy opened his mouth, he was slapped once more and told not to speak. Instead, the boy signed to them that he was with a friend, and they lost track of time. The parents didn't fully believe him and sent him to his room, saying that he missed dinner and there wasn't any left for him. He had just nodded and rushed up the stairs to presumably his room.