Running on Empty

When one door closes

Once the documents were signed and secured in Mic's jacket, the two heroes left Hitoshi's foster parents in the entranceway and followed him to his room.

He glanced at them nervously before watching their frowns deepen as he pushed the door open to reveal the tiny shoebox of a bedroom. There was a mattress pushed against the wall covered in a thin blanket, a small chest of drawers, which Hitoshi hadn't bothered putting his stuff in, and a single window, which didn't close properly.

It was cold, and bare, and Hitoshi was painfully aware of the stark contrast between this and the room the heroes had let him sleep in last night.

"Is there no heating in here?" Aizawa asked, inspecting the broken window frame.

Hitoshi shook his head. "It's not too bad, I can usually just layer up on the colder nights."

Aizawa just frowned, taking his phone out to photograph the source of the chill in the air.

"AwwwWWWWW!"

Hitoshi jumped and turned to see what could possibly have Yamada so excited. As soon as he realised what it was however, he wished he hadn't, and he felt his face turn bright red.

There, on his wall, was the picture of Eraserhead he had sketched one night when he couldn't sleep.

"You're a fan!"

Hitoshi thought he was going to die of embarrassment.

"What's he a fan of?" Aizawa asked, joining the conversation.

Mic grinned and Hitoshi covered his face in horror. Oh please no.

"You!"

"Huh?" Aizawa took a look at the paper taped to the wall and Hitoshi let himself drop to a crouch in despair, peeking through his fingers to see the pro's reaction.

Eraser just smiled slightly, leaning over to ruffle his hair before carefully removing the drawing from the wall.

"This is pretty good kid. You really got my hair spot on."

Hitoshi knew he was turning full tomato at this point, he was sure within seconds there'd be green leaves sprouting out of his head to match.

"How come there are none of me?" Yamada pouted. "I'll have to buy you a poster for your room at home."

Aizawa reached a hand out and Hitoshi took it, letting the pro pull him to his feet as Yamada continued muttering about favouritism and heartbreak.

"So, that's how you knew my name." Aizawa looked at him curiously. "As an underground hero I don't really have many fans, how'd you find out about me?"

Hitoshi shrugged, avoiding eye contact. "I see you on the roofs sometimes, I was curious so I looked up reports of heroes in the area and found a couple about you. None of them really said much, just that you'd saved them and that your quirk was a mystery. I had to join a couple of random chats to get more information from people who'd encountered you and one of them had an old video. That's where I got the inspiration for my drawing."

He wrung his hands nervously, but Aizawa just huffed a laugh. "You'll have to send me the link, I should probably get that deleted." He paused for a moment before smiling gently at Hitoshi. "I'm glad you found it though."

Hitoshi just nodded in appreciation.

"Alrighty Listener, let's get your stuff sorted!"

Mic's excitement died a little when Hitoshi just reached around the door and picked up the duffel bag from behind it. He hoisted it onto his shoulder to free his hands. "I left my backpack in the hall last night."

"There's nothing in the drawers?"

Hitoshi shook his head and the two heroes shared a look.

"Well, if this is it we can get going."

Hitoshi led them back down the hall, stopping to grab his backpack from the floor, which Mic promptly took out of his hands to carry, and continuing on towards the door.

His foster parents glared from the living room, but thankfully they didn't actually make a move to stop him; evidently still intimidated from earlier.

He took a deep breath before stepping through the door and out, he looked to the left, to the stairs he'd taken only earlier that morning, the stairs that took him all the way up. He looked at them, and then he turned right, and followed the two pros, his two guardians, towards his new home.