Chapter Text
“May I go and get some food from the store nearby?”
Tokoyami walked beside Aizawa, who was in the process of leading the students of Class 1-A back to their dorms.
They had just come back from doing their provisional hero license exam, where everyone but Todoroki and Bakugo had passed.
It was a busy and exhausting day, and all Tokoyami wanted to do was curl up in his bed, play some video games with Shinso, and eat his favourite food of all time.
Apples.
Unfortunately, he had eaten the last one two days ago and hadn’t had a chance to buy some new ones. Tokoyami didn’t think he could last until the end of the week when the class would go on a weekly trip to collect their food.
Thus, it was off to the grocery store!
Aizawa contemplated it for a second, “I guess. But only if you can get someone else to go with you. I don’t really want anyone going out alone right now.”
Kaminari walked by just at that moment, “I can go with you Fumi-chan! I need to get some food as well anyway,” he interjected.
Aizawa nodded his head at both of them, “Okay, it’s settled then. Text me when you get there and when you get back. And try to be no later than an hour.”
And with that, Aizawa walked away.
Kaminari and Tokoyami briefly talked--enough to make a plan--before following the last of the students back inside the dorm room.
“Where are you going Fumi-kun?” Midoriya asked as he passed by Tokoyami who was just leaving his room.
Tokoyami and Kaminari agreed that they should get out of their school uniforms, and then meet together downstairs. They also needed to grab their wallets.
Midoriya was in his pyjamas and was heading downstairs to get food ready for dinner. He and Tokoyami walked into the elevator together.
“Denki and I are going to the grocery store. I ran out of apples, and he also needed to pick up some food. Do you need anything while we’re there?” Tokoyami offered as they both walked out of the elevator.
Midoriya shook his head, letting out a smile, “No thank you, Fumi-kun. Thanks for the offer though! You want me to make you and Denki-kun some dinner for when you get back?”
Tokoyami bowed his head, “We would appreciate that, thank you.”
And with that, Midoriya walked into the kitchen to start preparing the food.
Tokoyami walked towards the entrance, spotting Kaminari on his phone, leaning against the door.
“You ready?” Tokoyami called out as he reached the door.
Kaminari looked up from his phone, letting out a smile, and giving him a thumbs up.
Together, they both walked out, leaving the campus and walking towards the grocery store that was nearby.
After their little talk a few months back, in which everything was cleared up between them, a friendship was born over the incident. They had become closer since then, and while it was odd for the class to get used to it, nowadays, it wasn’t exactly shocking to see the odd pair together.
Usually, the class would find them working together on homework during the evening, reading books together late at night, or playing video games at three in the morning. Sometimes it happened all in one day!
It was common for Midoriya to join them for studying, as well as Shinso (and wasn’t that a shock to the others). Every once in a while, they joined for the other activities.
No one was complaining about the amount of time they spent together though. After all, Kaminari’s grades had gone up because of it.
It helped that Tokoyami was good at keeping Kaminari focused, Midoriya was good at teaching Kaminari, and Shinso was good at maintaining a healthy study schedule (another shock to the class, considering their impression of him).
Of course, the two did many other things together, mostly outside of school, and usually with Midoriya and Shinso. They of course still hung out with their respective friends/squads, but a weird squad had formed between the four, which was dubbed the “Insomniac Squad”. Like the name implied, all four had shit sleep schedules. Once, Kirishima woke up to all four of them in the kitchen with Tokoyami making an apple pie, and Kaminari making onigiri at freaking four in the morning.
How Shinso snuck into the 1-A dorms is still a mystery to this day.
(Todoroki’s ongoing theory is Aizawa–he’s not letting the Shinso is Aizawa’s secret love child theory go away anytime soon.)
This didn’t happen overnight of course, and this odd friendship has really only recently come to light since they moved into the dorms. It took months for it to develop the way it is now, and it’s really only on the cusp of a long-lasting friendship.
On the way to the store, Tokoyami and Kaminari both made small talk, discussing things such as homework, the drama between classmates, and today’s events.
At one point, Kaminari brought up that the only thing he needed to buy was some eggs for breakfast the next day. Which was good, because it meant that it would be a quick and small trip for both of them.
Once they reached the store, Kaminari agreed that he would text Aizawa. They then split up to grab their respective foods.
As Tokoyami was heading to the checkout, he noticed that Kaminari wasn’t anywhere in sight.
He most likely went ahead of me, he thought to himself.
Walking out the door of the grocery store, Tokoyami decided he would chill outside while he waited for Kaminari.
Suddenly, a sound was heard in the alleyway nearby.
A whimper?
Tokoyami immediately went into hero mode, stealthily walking over towards the alleyway. The noise really could be nothing, and he might just be having a case of paranoia. But, his hero instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong, and since he just got his licence, he figured it wouldn’t hurt for him to check out the scene.
As Tokoyami entered the alleyway, he noticed how dark it had become outside. He could barely see anything!
Tokoyami pulled out his phone, flashing the light ahead. It was nothing, he told himself. He was just being paranoid. All there would be is an empty alleyway.
Except that wasn’t the case, as his phone flashed right on the face of Kaminari who was locked in the arms of one of the members of the League of Villians.
Tokoyami dropped his bag of apples on the ground in shock.
Kaminari was caught in the arms of Spinner, who had his arm wrapped around Kaminari’s waist, and a knife to his neck. Kaminari had a cloth wrapped around his mouth, and his hands were tied up in front of him with a rope.
He had tears running down his face, and his right arm appeared to have a huge cut on it. His food was nearby, spread across the ground. He was most likely attacked quickly and efficiently, with no warning of the dangers that were around him.
Flanking Spinner on either side was Dabi and Mr. Compress. Dabi was on the right and had a huge smirk on his face, while Mr. Compress was on the left and was leaning against the wall.
“Tokoyami Fumikage, just the bird we were looking for,” Dabi drawled out.
Tokoyami didn’t know what to do. He was all alone, at night where he couldn’t control his quirk, and there were no heroes nearby except for the ones at UA. Usually, he always had one of Hawks’ Sidekicks watching over him, but since he moved into Heights Alliance, the Sidekicks had only been trailing him if he was going back and forth between Hawks’ agency and the school.
No, he couldn’t panic, he was a hero-in-training. He had just passed one of the hardest tests a hero has to face in order to begin their journey as a hero. He could do this. He’ll do whatever it takes to get one of his closest friends and himself safely out of this situation.
He put his phone behind his back.
“What do you want with me?” he asked, staring at them intensely. Kaminari appeared to be trying to communicate with him, shaking his head viciously. Spinner growled at the constant movements he was making and squeezed him tight until Kaminari went limp in submission.
Tokoyami ground his teeth, looking straight at Kaminari.
“What do we want? Well, you see, Shigaraki has taken quite an interest in you. All we want you to do is come with us quietly, and your friend here doesn’t have to get hurt. Well, any more than he already is,” Mr. Compress answered.
Tokoyami starred at Kaminari harder, wondering if he could convince him to somehow use his quirk to escape.
“Don’t bother,” Dabi said. Tokoyami looked at him confused. Dabi let out a smirk, “Sparky here won’t be able to help you get out of this predicament. Let’s just say, his quirk is on a temporary vacation.”
“How did you…” Tokoyami trailed off.
Dabi raised an eyebrow, “You don’t think we did our research before we came after you? During the sports festival, you only lost because of your weakness to light, am I right? Not only that, but your quirk, according to Mr. Compress, is an absolute monster during the night. And if Mr. Compress is also right, you have a lack of control of it in the darkness as well. Argo, you try not to use your quirk at night, leaving Sparky here as your only defence. It’s not that hard when you think about it.”
Tokoyami stood there, processing his words.
Now what should he do?
“What happens if I refuse to come with you?” Tokoyami said slowly.
Dabi raised an eyebrow, turning towards Spinner, “Spinner, why don’t you demonstrate to Tokoyami what happens if he doesn’t cooperate?”
Spinner let out a grin, “With pleasure,” he said. And then he untied Kaminari’s hands, and took his left arm and twisted it.
It let out a crunch.
Kaminari let out a muffled scream in pain as his arm was broken. Tears continued to roll down his eyes. They both felt so useless.
“NO!” Tokoyami cried out in panic.
Spinner arranged the knife he was holding to Kaminari’s neck, onto his stomach. His other arm wrapped around his neck, keeping him in his clutches.
“Now, if you try and disobey us, instead of breaking a limb, we’ll stab him right in the stomach and let him bleed out until he dies. Do I make myself clear?” Dabi stated.
“Fine, fine! I’ll go with you! Just please, don’t hurt him anymore,” Tokoyami pleaded.
Dabi let out a smirk, gesturing towards Mr. Compress who immediately started to text Kurogiri that their mission was a success.
Dabi walked over towards Tokoyami, knocking his phone out of his hands, crushing it on the ground with his boot, and kicking it to the side. He then tied his hands behind his back.
Tokoyami wasn’t just about to go quietly with them though.
No, he still hadn’t given up yet.
What none of the villains had realized was while they were talking to Tokoyami, Tokoyami had taken a moment to send a text message behind his back to his brother, letting him know of his location.
Keigo-nii will be here soon, he thought. He would just have to hold out a little longer.
“Dark Shadow!” Tokoyami cried out, startling everyone.
“On it!” Dark Shadow cried, immediately going after Dabi, knocking him into the wall. Dabi unleashed his fire onto Dark Shadow.
He just barely dodged it.
Dark Shadow then went after Mr. Compress, who jumped to the side, narrowly missing his attack.
Tokoyami heard a gasp and turned towards the sound.
There, in front of him, Kaminari’s face screamed in pain.
Spinner had shoved the knife into his stomach.
“NOOOO!” Tokoyami cried out, knees falling to the ground. That was the final straw, the thing that would unleash the hell from within Tokoyami.
Tokoyami cried out in pain as he tried to restrain the beast inside of him.
In front of them, Dark Shadow continued to grow gradually bigger. But, just as he was starting to lose complete control, he felt a prickle in his arm.
He turned upwards, staring into the eyes of Dabi, who held a needle in his hands, that was lodged into Tokoyami’s arm.
Just as quick as Dark Shadow grew, he disappeared back into Tokoyami.
He… couldn’t feel Dark Shadow anymore.
Dark Shadow…?
Silence.
“Mr. Compress?” Dabi said into the hushed air.
“You got it,” he said, before Tokoyami’s world turned black and he was no more.
Mr. Compress tossed the small ball that held Tokoyami in it up into the air.
“What should we do with him?” Spinner asked, gesturing towards the nearly unconscious student in his arms.
Dabi shrugged, “Leave him. Someone will eventually find him. I have no doubt Tokoyami tried to communicate with someone. We better get a move on, before that help arrives.”
Spinner dropped Kaminari onto the ground, who cried out in pain. He then quickly untied the cloth from around Kaminari’s mouth, dropping it on the ground, before moving over towards Mr. Compress, who had started to walk out of the alleyway.
Dabi walked over to Kaminari, crouching on the ground over top of his body. He grabbed his right arm (which wasn’t broken) and stuffed an envelope into his hand.
“Make sure to give this to Hawks. He’s going to want to read it,” Dabi said, smirking slightly, before getting back up.
“No… Fumikage…” Kaminari mumbled as he tried to sit up, reaching towards the villains. Dabi let out a scoff, before kicking Kaminari in the stomach, right where his wound was.
Kaminari let out a silent scream before passing out from the pain.
And with that, the villains walked away with their prize towards the designated meeting place where Kurogiri would have a portal waiting to take them away.
“Hawks, you need to go to sleep! What would Fumikage say if he knew you pulled two all-nighters in a row?” one of Hawks’ Sidekicks scolded him.
Hawks flinched slightly, flashbacks playing in his head of the last time Tokoyami caught him doing something like this.
He pointed at his Sidekick, “We will never speak of this to him,” he said with a blank face. Although, you could see the hint of fear in his eyes.
The Sidekick rolled their eyes, before grumbling and walking out of Hawks’ office.
Hawks then went back to his paperwork, which he was almost done with. I’ll sleep after this, he told himself.
The sun had set in the sky, turning to night, and Hawks finally finished his paperwork.
He let out a yawn, stretching his arms, before resting his head on the desk.
Just as he was dozing off, his phone went off. Hawks thought about ignoring it, but barely anyone had his phone number, so if someone was texting him it was probably an emergency.
As he looked at his phone, he noticed it was a text from his little brother. Confused, he opened up his phone and saw that Tokoyami had just sent him a location.
What…?
And then it hit him. Tokoyami was never this vague. He would never just send him to a random location unless it was important.
His little brother was in trouble.
Hawks quickly grabbed the coat for his hero uniform, and rushed out of his office, towards one of his Sidekicks.
Once he found one, he informed them that something was happening to Tokoyami and that he needed to leave them in charge of the agency until he got back from checking on him. He told them that he would call if he needed backup.
Once the (worried) Sidekick gave him the go, Hawks rushed out of the agency, his wings taking off into the night sky.
As soon as he was in the air, he pulled out his phone to call someone.
“What?” the annoyed voice of Aizawa answered.
“Eraserhead, have you by any chance heard from Tokoyami recently?” he said in a panicked voice as he flew through the night sky.
Aizawa was confused, “Yes, he went with Kaminari to the grocery store to pick up some food.”
“How long ago was that?”
“Let’s see… they should have texted me they were leaving the store about 15 minutes ago…” Aizawa’s voice trailed off, as it set in that something might be wrong with his students.
Hawks let out a curse, “Okay, something is clearly going on. I just got a vague as hell text message from Tokoyami who only sent his location. And now that I’m looking at it, it appears to be at a grocery store near the school.”
Aizawa also let out a curse, and Hawks could hear rustling on the phone, “Okay. I’m going to gather a couple of heroes and we’ll head to the grocery store as fast as possible. Can you send the location?” Aizawa asked
Hawks immediately sent the location, and he could hear arguing in the background as Aizawa presumably let his students know what was happening.
“We’re going with you! If something is clearly happening with Tokoyami and Kaminari, then we want to help out as well!” the voice of Kirishima yelled out.
Aizawa groaned over the call, before letting out a sigh.
“Fine, Kirishima, Midoriya, Shoji and Sero, you four are allowed to come and help, but that’s it. The rest of you are not allowed to come and help us in any way. If anyone else comes, I’ll expel you. Now, quickly get into your hero uniforms. I’m going to get Present Mic and Recovery Girl, and we’ll meet at the front entrance of the school.”
And with that, Hawks could hear Aizawa leave the room.
There was silence between them.
“Hawks, are you sure you want to come? You know this means they’ll have a high chance of finding out, right?” Aizawa said.
Hawks flinched, “I know, but I can’t not do anything. He’s my little brother, and I promised to protect him the moment he was placed in my arms. Besides, he technically came to work for me during the internships. I’m sure I can come up with something.”
Aizawa let out a sigh, “I don’t know if they’ll fully believe any excuse you come up with on why you're there. Considering it doesn't make sense at all for you to have known about this in the first place. But who knows, maybe it’ll be fine. Anyway, I have to go and get Recovery Girl and Present Mic and let Nezu know what’s going on. See you in a bit.”
And with that, Aizawa hung up, and Hawks was left all alone in the night sky as his mind ran with thousands of scenarios that could be happening to his baby brother right now.
A dark thought hit him.
What if this was the worst possible outcome?