Chapter Text
Shouta was upset to say the least.
Today was supposed to be the day that he and his family watched the season premiere of Dancing with the Heroes; it was a tradition of sorts amongst them, even if he thought the show was a bit gaudy and overproduced. But what he did enjoy was seeing his soulmate and soulchild's smile as they discussed the heroes and professional dancers, how they would give the teams their own scores, and how they would occasionally yell at the TV screen when they disagreed with the judges.
He may not join them for every episode, but he at least made an effort to be there for the premiere and finale, as well as the occasional one in between. But he couldn't be there for it today because Eyes had scheduled his first live the same day and time as the Dancing with the Heroes premiere. Shouta had tried to get out of going in to watch it with those assigned to the case, but he had been unable to.
Shouta wasn't upset at the kid; it's not like he knew he was making him miss a tradition. He was just frustrated with the situation.
Walking into the station, he carried a freshly brewed large coffee that he had picked up from his favorite coffee shop on the way in. His phone chimed with another notification informing him that his soulmate had once again used his card; he knew the man was using it to let out some of his frustration over the situation. Honestly, Shouta couldn't care less about him using his card, but he would probably give him a little bit of a hard time about it when he got home, if only to see his husband smile at the challenge of a bickering match that Shouta would let him win.
Shouta entered the familiar conference room and was met by Tsukauchi, already setting up the TV.
"Just us two so far?" Shouta asked as he took a seat at the conference table, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Nezu texted before you came in and said he would be here shortly."
"And Hawks?" Shouta raised an eyebrow realizing the man said nothing about the other hero.
Tsukauchi sighed, "He is apparently busy with another case. He will be watching the livestream and giving us his comments later."
Shouta's grip tightened on his coffee cup. He had suggested beforehand that they could all watch it in their own time and convene later, but someone higher up than them thought it important that they all meet up and watch any important video of the kid’s together. Like somehow, all of them being in the same room together would make them notice something they would have otherwise missed, it was illogical.
Shouta was willing to admit that these meetings were mostly at a standstill. The kid had been basically posting on and off for the better part of 6 months, and aside from Shouta's instance that the kid was the same one he’d seen on the subway all those months ago and Nezu's observations that the kid seems to have been getting smaller due to a lack of nutrition, not much more was usually spoken of at these meetings. Now, even he could admit that with the kid doing a livestream, he might slip up on something, but that wasn't a guarantee.
Nezu walked in with a cup of tea and his usually cheerful smile as Shouta sat there, stewing while watching the clock tick closer to the beginning of the livestream.
"Good evening, gentlemen," Nezu greeted, "are you all ready for the lovely occasion?"
Shouta grunted as Tsukauchi greeted the mammal back. 'Lovely occasion', yeah, right. Nezu was still the only one who ever seemed to be excited about these meetings. While Tsukauchi and Shouta had begun to hate them, it was obvious that the kid didn't want to be found and was smart enough to make sure that didn't happen.
It was a minute until the livestream was supposed to start, and Tsukauchi had logged into the livestream's waiting room. The kid’s fans were talking within the chat, excitedly theorizing about which hero the kid was going to talk about.
He saw a comment guessing that it could be Present Mic, and his stomach sank because what if? What if it was about his husband? When he had realized how serious this could get, he had requested that Hizashi not message the kid due to Shouta fearing that if his husband did, the kid might take the anger he seemed to have against heroes out against him. It had been a small argument between them with Hizashi's insistence that he could get the problem child to maybe listen. In the end, though, Hizashi had let Shouta win after realizing that he was just worried about his soulmate. Hizashi had even gone as far as never even mentioning the boy on his radio show, a choice the blond had made on his own, a choice in which Shouta was grateful for.
The TV screen suddenly came to life, filling it with the familiar image of green eyes, the rest of the boy having been covered by his signature black beanie and medical mask with a sharp-tooth grin.
"Hey everyone, it's Eyes, and welcome to my first live!"
The kid seemed nervous, which Shouta had to admit was a first when it came to one of his videos; he doesn't think that he had heard the kid be nervous in a video before. That could be because he had never been live before though.
"I'm sure you are all wondering as to who the hero is that we will be discussing today." The kid's nerves seemed to be disappearing as his tone started to return to what Shouta was used to hearing. "Well, you will be happy to know that answer in..."
Bright red numbers started to count upwards. Great the kid was into theatrics. When the numbers reached three the kids face filled the screen again,
"It's the number three hero HAWKS!" the kid proclaimed, and an image of Hawks eating out of a tub of fried chicken came up on the screen behind the kid.
The kid turned around slightly as if to look at the image on the green screen behind him, shaking his head, he mumbled just loud enough to be heard, "Cannibalism."
Shouta heard a snort in the room and looked over just in time to see Tsukauchi put his hand over his mouth. As the kid continued to speak,
"I figured for my first ever live I should fly a little closer to the sun in term of the hero I chose to do it on." God, this kid was theatrical. "Now, being a top hero I bet you all are wondering what could Hawks possibly do that I could make a whole live about him."
The kid gave a little pause as he seemed to be reading the comments, his eyes crinkling as he seemed to be smiling beneath the mask before he continued.
"Okay, okay I hear you. Well... read?"
The kid let out a little chuckle as he rubbed his left arm, his sleeve lifting almost to the elbow for a second before it was quickly shoved back down. But Shouta saw what was on his arm and his head was spinning; the kid’s voice faded to the background.
There was no way he just saw what he just did. He wished he was on his own because then he could go back and slow it down and screen grab it. Make sure what he really saw was what he was seeing, but he couldn't not with everyone here. And if what he had saw was really there, then he had had the kid all those months ago and had lost him. He had had the kid in his hands and even if he logically knew that he had left him in the hands of the detective Shouta was the one that felt like he failed him. He felt like even more of a failure having seen the boy's arm.
Eventually Shouta shook himself out of his slight spiral reminding himself he wasn't alone and had a job to do. When he focused his attention back on the screen the kid had brought over a white board and had drawn a pair of not half bad wings on them with a few feathers drawn as if they were falling, and some equations were written around in the blank spaces on the board. Did the kid get the whiteboard just for the live? Shouta doesn't remember him using it in a video before.
"Okay, okay, hear me out," the kid spoke as he animatedly used his hands, "we have talked about how Hawks has the ability to control each and every feather he has. So does that mean when Hawks gives the camera or whoever a bow and he has all those extra feathers falling around him he's controlling them?"
The kid had gotten closer to the camera again and then a video of Hawks popped up in the corner of the video where the whiteboard was. In it Hawks was giving the camera a bow as feathers gently cascaded around him. The problem child let out a small laugh and brought up his left had as if to run it through his hair before remembering he was wearing a hat, instead resting the hand on his forehead. Shouta eyed the arm that was currently covered with a sleeve wishing that he could see through the fabric.
"What a drama queen." The kid chuckled his eyes once again crinkling around the edged he smiled under the mask.
The kid had gone on in his video to discuss how Hawks is defiantly playing a role using the how the hero interacted with other heroes as evidence, pointing out how the hero seemed to change his personality based who he was interacting with. How Hawks would be basically useless if he ran out of feathers and how the hero's constant use of them for little things could result in him losing them and being a few short when he is in real need of them. And how Hawks seems to not be a hero of his own will, but rather more of a Hero Commission puppet that does whatever he’s told.
By the end of the livestream Shouta felt tense but as the kid said his usual sign off of 'I see you,' he started to feel the tension lessen, if only because it was over.
"Well, that certainly was an interesting live stream." Nezu said as he picked up a tea kettle to pour more tea into his mug, "Wasn't it Eraserhead?"
Shouta reached over and turned off the detective's recording device.
"You saw it too, didn't you?" Shouta raised his eyebrow.
"That I did. I must admit it is a rather interesting development."
"If this is important..." Tsukauchi started as he reached over to turn the recording device back on, Shouta activated his quirk as a warning stopping the man from doing anything.
"This is not going in the report." Shouta growled.
"I must agree with Eraserhead it would be beneficial to keep this information to ourselves." Nezu said as cheerful as ever, "Well that is besides one other person."
"And who would that one other person be?" Tsukauchi asked looking between the two obviously still having no clue as to what was going on.
Shouta sighed as he looked at the now blank TV screen, "Hizashi."