Licensed Villains

Patrol

Izuku had been surprised, to say the least. His insides had twisted sickeningly when they passed the woman who only wanted her son. A feeling of wrong settled within him. How selfish could someone be to not even try to help, especially when it's their job like with Endeavor? It made him wonder how he could possibly be the number two hero. 

Sutorimu had placed a hand on his shoulder during that brief moment. It had surprised him almost as much as Endeavor moving past those people, shying into the crowds. He's gotten used to knowing the woman as someone closed off and not for touch, but the warm, weighted hand on his shoulder said otherwise. She gave him a look, something akin to understanding and encouraged him to keep walking. 

He shoved down his guilt and anger for her sake. She no doubt had been speaking highly of him to Endeavor lately. If he made a fool of himself, it hurt her reputation too. 

They took a break from searching around noon and ate lunch. Their group stopped by a local park where Endeavor and Sutorimu ran off to get food. Shouto sat next to him on one of the many benches and asked him for advice on how to use his fire. Izuku had told him to be passionate and use that feeling as fuel for the fire. He himself didn't know what it meant, only taking Sutorimu's words and reiterating them as his own, but Shouto seemed to understand well enough. 

"I talked to my mother," Shouto had blurted not three minutes after the two adults left them alone. 

The confession taking him by surprise, Izuku only replied with a simple, "Yeah?" 

He'd nodded, eyes trained on the sidewalk in front of them. "I didn't want to use my fire without her knowing. I hadn't talked to her since I was five before a few days ago. I was glad to see her." 

Again, Izuku wondered what makes Shouto so compelled to tell him these sorts of things all the time. He's been told he has a welcoming aura before but this seems too far for it to just be that he seems nice. 

"She was glad I'm using my fire again, as long as it was to help others and myself heal." He paused for several moments, then faced Izuku. "What you did at the sports festival, it led to me talking to her. Thank you." 

There'd been such a relief to the words, a weight Izuku was just beginning to understand, but he hadn't gotten to respond before Sutorimu and Endeavor returned with food in hand. He's almost glad they showed up. He isn't sure whether what Shouto said needed a response or not. 

The first bit of the afternoon when their break ended had gone well too, relatively. It wasn't much different from the morning. They ran around the city, Endeavor getting more and more frustrated as they received less and less clues to Stain's whereabouts. By sunset, Izuku had to stop himself from turning around and heading back home as Endeavor furiously kicked at a wall. 

"Where is he?" the hero roared, his flames growing in size slightly. Izuku stepped away from him while Sutorimu rolled her eyes from next to him. Shouto watched in a bored manner, seeming used to this. 

"We'll find him soon," Sutorimu reassured though she gave Izuku a disbelieving look that contradicted her words. "There is still the rest of the week. Besides, he's known for working in the night. Lets give it an hour or two more before giving up." 

Endeavor glared at her. "I do not give up."

"Call it a break then," she corrected herself. "We can continue tomorrow, maybe later in the day so we can stay out longer into the night." 

That was when all hell broke loose. 

Izuku used to tell himself when he was younger that if you expected bad, you couldn't get worse. When he aged a little more, he learned that wasn't a very healthy saying to live by. He'd adjusted and stopped thinking that but still had yet to have it proven wrong. Now, his expected bad intern had turned into a worse chaotic one.