Mothman!! Give me a Dream~♡ ○v○ (TodoDeku)

[LovelyBones]

It was hard to remember what life was like before that fateful day in the park. Izuku was just so little, his fluff only barely coming in, while his wings were still too small and soft for flight. It was surprising, how his quirk was nothing like his mother or father's, but it didn't matter all too much. He was happy, and his parents were happy, too. He remembered a long, long flight over the sea to a different place with his father, as he had begged to come with him to see what he did for work. At first, everything was fine!! Of course, everyone spoke differently in this new place, and looked different too, but it was still fun, exciting!! It was supposed to only last a summer, then they would go back to Japan, and he'd get to see his friends at school again!!

Then, everything changed one day.

Izuku and his father were enjoying a day off together at the park, playing, and having fun on a warm, sunny day. Unfortunately, when his dad answered his phone, he looked shocked, serious and almost afraid. Did something bad happen at work, maybe? It was hard to remember what all happened next, but he remembered what his father told him after that call was finished with a sad smile on his face.

"Go hide like Daddy taught you-- and don't come out unless I come back with fire in my hand, okay? Don't let anyone find you, or it'll be hard for me to find you and bring you home to Mommy, okay?"

Izuku had done what he was told, and had done an incredible job in hiding, waiting for his father to come find him in the woods where he was left. It was hard, though, when people in uniforms began to search his hiding spots, looking for a small moth boy that a criminal had spirited away and presumably hidden away. Izuku, young, trusting and determined, had never been found, and was eventually considered dead to the public. Many seasons passed, word about him waning with each passing winter until any mention required a proper look online to know his story.

It was hard to find food a lot of the time, what with him needing to never be caught, and being so little, as well as knowing little to nothing of survival beyond never being alone for too long. It was a wonder how he managed to make it to the age of twenty years old, honestly. Sure, he'd gotten better at hunting and foraging, and was lucky to never get deathly ill over the years, but he was also.... unsocialized. Strange. It wasn't long until sightings of him prompted stories about the 'Mothman' in the woods, how his large, green eyes reflected the lights of teenagers that got too close to his hideout in an abandoned water wheel. How his silhouette could be seen in the darkest night as large, intimidating, though in truth, those times were when he was bringing food and scrap fabric home to use for bedding.

It was like his childhood all over again-- people trying to find what didn't want to be found.

At least he had learned well how to hide himself in the shadows, fly away when others got far, far too close to his perches. Even so, he hoped that he'd see his father's flame so he can go home. He was so, so tired and lonely out in the woods, and scared, too. Winter was hard, too, with how bitingly cold it could get-- it was a miracle how his thirteenth winter, which was the hardest, didn't end him. His dad was going to come for him, right? He promised he would-- his father never broke a promise to him before!!

.... But, it's been so, so long.... Does his father remember his hiding spot? Izuku still visits it every night in the hopes he'll see the signal to finally come out of hiding, and go home. He wanted to go home.

Tonight, he came back to the place his father told him to wait at, like every night, after twilight. Though he was tired, scarred, and honestly small for what he should have been, if he hadn't had to fend for himself in the woods, he was still ever the optimist, hoping that tonight, like every other night before, he'd finally see the flame that would bring him home. Tonight had to be the night he was finally able to come home!! It had to be.... right?

[NicTheDjinn]

Shouto hadn't had the smoothest of upbringings... His father had been overbearing at the best of times and a monster at the worst. It wasn't till high school that he had friends and even that had been a spotty affair. While several students attempted to befriend him, the most well established relationship he built up was a rivalry with an explosive blond, the two bonding over life goals and the need to learn how to interact with other people. Only after that shared reality check did he eventually have friends. Despite this, he struggled to form deep connections and kept to himself much of the time unless specifically asked to join in.

All this alone time, particularly when allowed the freedom of living in a dorm, had lead to some peculiar hobbies. The most notably odd was his interest in the occult, conspiracy, and cryptids. While his hobby remained benign and harmless for the most part, it presented itself more firmly upon graduation. While no one was surprised that he wanted to follow in All Might's footsteps and make his debut in the united states, no one expected for him to select Point Pleasant, West Virginia as the city he would select. Why Point Pleasant, a city most people in you U.S. had never heard of, let alone anyone in Japan? Mothman. That's where the Mothman was said to reside. His father was less than pleased with him, but at this point, he cared little for what his father thought.

Point Pleasant was happy to welcome him, even if they were surprised by his interest. Despite being a fresh graduate, he easily got in with the largest hero agency in the city and quickly started to settle in. The city found themselves pleasantly surprised that he was taking his job seriously too, working hard to prove himself and lower the already very low crime rate. Unsurprisingly, he was also lent to neighboring cities as they really didn't need a hero of his caliber in a place like this.

It was during his time off that he did what he was really there to do. While he was developing a good reputation for being a humble, kind, and hard-working hero, he also quickly developed a relationship with the local cryptid hunters. This was the 'home city' for the Mothman and he was determined to find him. From what he had gathered, the cryptid's location had been narrowed down a fair amount and could be attracted by light. The trouble was, he was incredibly shy and reclusive so even getting blurry footage of him was incredibly difficult as he was so stealthy that he was usually only noticed when he was already fleeing. Shouto was determined...

And so, he searched the areas he'd been directed to and sure enough found evidence of someone living in the area, but no sign of the person themselves. Eventually, he gave up trying to search during the day on his days off. This wasn't going to work. Ugh... He was going to have to lose some sleep... Accepting his fate, his next day off, he entered the forest at night with the intention of camping out in the area for a couple of days. Selecting to camp in a comfortable place near the area he'd deduced was the most likely place to spot the creature, he'd set up a tent, sleeping bag, and ate a dinner he'd brought with him.

Once night fell, the world growing dark and the sky beautiful, it was time to start his search anew. Making sure his tent was securely closed with all his things inside, he set off, lifting a hand and casually igniting it so he had some light to see by. The last thing he needed was to trip over a root-like an idiot, but it also had the added side effect of hopefully attracting the elusive creature. Mismatched eyes carefully looked out into the darkness for any movement, ready to give chase with his ice quirk if he needed to. He was determined to succeed where all others had failed. He was born to do this, he was sure. This was definitely his destiny.

[LovelyBones]

Izuku waited quietly in the bushes like he did every night, eyes scanning the darkness from his safe little hiding spot. It was surprising, really, how easy it was to go undetected for so long, even if strange people kept getting so close, only to never realize he was there, watching, waiting. Though, tonight had started off a bit tense-- someone had found his mill, though nothing seemed to have gone missing, or been added. He didn't know if he could move again, what with how hard it was to fortify the seemingly dilapidated water mill to where he had it now. It mostly had four adequate walls, a solid enough roof, and the things he had done to make it a home made it stressful, knowing someone found his sleeping place. Where would he go, if someone really tried to stake his place out, try to finally catch him for good?

Those thoughts halted when a light shone in the darkness, his large, reflective emerald eyes locking onto the flickering luminosity peeking through the flora in the dead of night. Now, flashlights typically had a solid, steady light, either in cold or flat warm tones, but.... But this was fire. He was seeing fire, after so, so long!! His eyes welled with tears of joy, relief that he was going home finally, after years of struggling to survive on his own. When the small flame came into the clearing, he leapt without looking at who that warm, flickering, inviting light was attached to. To the stranger, he probably looked like a large, fluffy assailant, but rather than attacking properly, the poor moth-boy had tackled and clung to the other, surprisingly without unintentionally lighting himself on fire. "Dad!! Dad, you finally came back!!" He cried into the other's chest, wholly unaware of how mistaken he truly was.

Oh, the poor, poor creature, having his hopes fly high, only to crash harder than Icarus had towards the cold, cruel earth.

[NicTheDjinn]

It was a nice night at least. He was sure that he had narrowed down the search area well so now he just needed to have a good look around is all. If he couldn't find him around here, he had a few other places in mind, but he had started with what seemed to be the most likely place to find the Mothman. As fate would have it, he was right. It all happened so fast! He'd only a second to spot those famous big, glowing eyes, then the thing was on him! Not wanting to hurt the poor thing, even if he was being attacked, he quickly snuffed out his hand only to be bowled right the hell over!

The last thing he'd expected was to not only be clung to by a creature that was supposed to be frustratingly shy, but to hear it speak. Even more shocking, it was speaking not the local English, but rather childish-sounding Japanese. What? He blinked down at the mop of green hair, hesitating for just a moment before slipping his arms around the poor thing in hopes of offering comfort. He was a hero and he couldn't just ignore someone that was clearly distressed, cryptid or not. He seemed to have lost his father, but... There was never any report of there being an older and younger one, just the one.

"I'm not your father, but... I'd like to help you, if I could." He offered, gently rubbing the other's back while being very careful with his wings. "You must be very lonely out here by yourself... When was the last time you saw your dad?"

[LovelyBones]

When the other person spoke, Izuku had slowly pulled away, hiccups as he finally realized that.... no, this wasn't his dad. This was just someone that could hold fire, and he left away quickly, panic beginning to settle in. "N-no-- d-dad said I couldn't let people find me, th-that he'd come for me with fire w-when it was safe--" his breathing became quick and shallow, and he soon curled up in the dirt, wings wilted like damaged lettuce, head between his knees. "H-he was supposed to come back, f-find me--" he cried, a miserable sight.

He was found, and his father wasn't coming back, was he? He was alone for so, so long.... when the other offered help, he shook his head roughly, dirty nails digging into his mess of curls while his antennae laid flat against his head. "H-he was supposed to come back-- why didn't he come back?? W-was I bad--" he choked on a sob, almost making himself sick in the process. "I-I don't know-- I-I don't know-- i-Its snowed.... i-It snowed t-ten times--" He hiccuped, soon shrinking further into himself. "W-why didn't he come back...." his voice cracked painfully, abandonment finally settling in properly after so many years.