Archive of Our Own ^beta

Keigo felt absolutely terrible for the kid laying in the hospital bed before him, he had been in a coma for the past few weeks and only recently had woken up. He liked to check up on the students that were hurt every once and awhile, it was one of the few things that he still could do. Most of them had already recovered, as much as they could, but a few were still checked into the hospital. Izuku Midoriya was one of them.

Shigaraki had been going after the boy, trying to steal his quirk. It was for the best that nobody had let the kid go on any social media; his name and face was plastered everywhere. Keigo could understand why he wanted to keep the quirk hidden, everyone was curious about it now and they wanted answers. They were going to keep demanding answers until someone finally came out and said something. Izuku was not going to be the one to do that, he was already struggling enough as it was, having a giant target on his back, he could rest some more.

Most of the time when Keigo would check up on the boy he would be asleep or speaking with one of his classmates, the Bakugou kid that had won the sports festival was a very frequent visitor. He probably spent the most time at Izuku’s bedside aside from the boy’s own mother. But right now it was just Keigo and Izuku; and Izuku was awake.

Keigo knocked on the door frame, which seemed to be perpetually open, to get the kid’s attention. The last thing that he wanted to do was scare him. The boy didn’t need any more stressors. “Hey kid, you’re awake?” Keigo was always a bit tense when it came to talking to the students that had been in the brawl, he felt as though he had let them down somehow even though he did the best that he could have done in that situation.

“Um hi Hawks-san.”

Keigo rolled his eyes as he walked into the room, “How many times do I have to say call be Keigo, my name’s finally out to the public I might as well use it.” Keigo was actually kind of relieved that his name had been revealed, sure it brought some downsides, like everyone knowing that he was related to a very well known criminal, but he liked it. It was one of the few good things to come out of his childhood and by the gods was he going to use it. Just not his last name, he would rather people just call him Keigo if it was going to be an unprofessional setting. The name Takami left a sour taste in his mouth.

“Anyway, how have you been holding up? Bored out of your mind yet?”

That earned a halfhearted chuckle from the boy, “Same as always I guess. But I have been thinking about something for a while…” Izuku trailed off and started to play with his fingers, Keigo had picked up on a few of his nervous habits.

He also wanted to learn more about what was happening and help the kid as much as he could. “Okay, what’ve you been thinking about?” Keigo took a seat in the plastic hospital chair next to the boy’s bed, the same chair that all visitors sat in.

Izuku glanced up, “Well, recently I’ve been thinking, well, uh…” Keigo could see just how anxious the boy was to finally be talking about this. He was kind of red in the face and was stuttering much more than normal. He was also fiddling with his hands constantly. “Are all heroes good?”

Keigo sat in shock for a moment, he really wasn’t expecting that from Izuku, maybe some quirk related question or maybe something about what was happening outside the hospital but this way out of his pay grade. Then he remembered what really was happening outside, what had been revealed from Dabi. He felt terrible for not realizing it sooner that something was off about that man’s family situation.

Keigo scratched at his neck, was he supposed to lie or something to keep giving this kid some hope? But that would just backfire in the end. “Well Izuku, damn, I don’t really know. I mean I’d like to think that all heroes are good, they want to protect people after all. Recently I’ve been asking myself the same question if I’m being honest.” So much changed recently, heroes were seeming more like villains and the villains were becoming like heroes. There were villains that were genuinely good people, like Twice, poor Twice. Keigo had lost many hours of sleep because of what he had done to that man. All he had ever wanted was a place where he fit in, if it hadn't been the League he probably would have been a normal civilian.

“Not all heroes are good, some recent events have told me that.”

Izuku looked up at Keigo, “Its because of Endeavor right? Todoroki-kun told me, he said he wanted me to find out from him and not the press.”

Keigo stared back at the boy, “Uh yeah, I used to look up to him a lot as a kid. He was one of the main reasons I wanted to be a hero, I looked up to him for most of my hero career too if I’m being honest. I’m not so sure what to think now. Is that the reason its been on your mind? The number one hero not being who you think he is?”

Izuku shook his head and broke eye contact, “No, I was wondering before too. It's because of Shigaraki.” Keigo was really confused about that one, Izuku shouldn’t have known anything about Shigaraki’s past. Even he didn’t know much about the guy and he had been with him for a while now. He hadn’t picked up all the details. “Apparently after his quirk came in something bad happened so he was homeless. None of the heroes would help him, they just passed him by, brushing him off. Why wouldn’t anyone help him? I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if a hero did help him, would the League of Villains be created? Would All for One finally be defeated?”

The kid had been harboring some really tough questions for who knows how long. Keigo didn’t know what to think, Izuku wasn’t exactly wrong in his thinking. If the past few months had taught him anything it was that villains were created not born, if Shigaraki had grown up differently maybe the entire situation that was happening now would never have come to be. “I think if there was a hero that was there to help him then a lot could have been changed and avoided…”

Izuku perked up, “Then I want to save him.”

Keigo flinched back at the response, “Izuku, I know that this has been eating up at you but I don’t really think that you can save Shigaraki now.”

The boy shook his head, the look of confusion and anxiety was gone, it was replaced with a look of determination. That scared Keigo. “Nobody is beyond the point of saving, I want to help Shigaraki. The little boy that I saw, I want to save him.”

Keigo had no clue what he was talking about, about the little boy or anything, but he could see where Izuku was coming from. If Keigo could turn back time he already knew that there was a villain that he wanted to save too, and maybe he wasn’t past the point of saving either. Keigo couldn’t believe what he was thinking, there was a really stupid idea bubbling in his mind. If the Commission were to hear it they would have his head, his career would be over. But damn if this kid didn’t have a really good idea.

Keigo sighed, he couldn’t believe he was going to say this, “Then let’s save Tomura Shigaraki.”

“Tenko Shimura.”