Chapter Text
Then
Shouta bent over the papers on his desk, the sound of the rain lashing against the windows muffling the rest of the noises from the outside world. A storm had started to roll in a few minutes ago, promising high winds and thunder and lightning.
The door to his office creaked open, and he glanced over to see a small figure silhouetted by the light of the hallway. “Eri?”
“It’s loud,” she whispered.
He held out his arm to her and she scurried over to him, pressing up against his side. “It’s just a thunderstorm,” he explained.
She nodded, flinching against him when thunder rolled overhead. He sighed and set his pen down, taking her hand as he stood up. “Come on, let’s go see what the boys are doing.”
The three boys were sitting on the floor around the coffee table in the living room, playing a card game. Aizawa settled in one of the armchairs, letting Eri climb up on his knee. “Who’s winning?” he asked.
“We’re playing for fun,” Kaminari said.
“Kaminari’s winning,” Todoroki announced dryly. He was staring at the five cards in his hands with an intense expression. “I’ve never played this game.”
“Yeah, but you’re rocking it for your first time,” Kaminari commented as he placed a card down. “You’ll be wiping the floor with us once you get a hang of the rules.”
Todoroki stared at him, brow furrowed. His gaze moved over to Shinsou, who let out an amused snort and shook his head.
“He means you’re a fast learner and you’ll be able to beat us soon,” Shinsou explained.
“That’s what I said!” Kaminari protested. He was wrapped up in one of his blankets, with a corner over his head like a hood. “Hey, Eri. Do you know how to play?”
She shook her head, staring at the brightly-colored cards. A deep rumble of thunder echoed through the house, loud enough to rattle the windows, and Eri yelped and plastered herself against Shouta’s side.
“Are you scared of the storm, Eri?” Kaminari asked. He unwrapped part of his blanket and beckoned her over. “C’mere. I’ve got a secret for you.”
Shouta helped Eri climb down so she could sit next to Kaminari, and he pulled her close and wrapped the blanket around both of them. “This is a special blanket. Do you know why?”
Eri shook her head. “It feels kinda funny,” she whispered.
“You know what my Quirk is?”
“It’s ‘lectricity?”
“Yep! That’s what lightning is, too. When I was younger, thunderstorms like this were really dangerous for me. So, I started getting blankets like this one. It has a layer of rubber inside it, which protects you from electricity.”
Eri studied the blanket, gently testing the edge with her fingers. “So you don’t get hit by lightning?”
“Nope!” Kaminari grinned cheerfully, placing his last card down on the table. Shinsou groaned in defeat, and Todoroki stared balefully at the cards he was still holding. “I’ve got rubber sheets, too, just in case it’s really bad. I can wrap myself up and no lightning can get to me.”
“Rubber sheets, huh?” Shinsou chuckled, gathering the cards to shuffle them. “You sure those are just for the lightning, Kami?”
Kaminari froze. “Y…yeah. It’s for my Quirk.”
“Man, whatever you say,” Shinsou drawled. “I just didn’t figure a kid your age still needed rubber sheets.”
“Shinsou,” Shouta said warningly.
A flash of hurt crossed Kaminari’s face while Shinsou wasn’t looking. He opened his mouth to reply, then closed it and swallowed hard before trying again. “Dude….”
His voice sounded weak and pained. Shinsou looked up, eyes wide. “Oh, hey…it was just a joke, Kami. I didn’t mean anything…I was just joking.”
Kaminari tried to smile, but his expression was stricken. He was hurt, and he couldn’t meet Shinsou’s eyes. He just hugged Eri a little closer and kept his gaze on the table, shrinking in on himself as he did.
It had barely been a month since Kaminari and Iida had been abducted, during which Kaminari had had multiple seizures. His neurologist had put him on an anti-seizure medication for six months, which had messed up his birth control. His period had come back with a vengeance, and Shouta had found him trying to wash blood out of his sheets early one morning.
He’d quietly explained, head down and eyes averted, that he had a rubberized mattress protector. It was for his Quirk, to keep him grounded at night and reduce the risk of accidental discharges while he slept, but he’d assured Shouta it also meant the mattress hadn’t been stained.
Not that he cared. He’d just hugged his kid and told him everything was alright. It didn’t matter if Kaminari set his mattress on fire, as long as he was okay.
Shinsou couldn’t have known what had happened, unless Kaminari had told him, but the comment had still hurt him.
“Hey, Kami,” Shinsou called, rising up on his knees and reaching across the table. “I didn’t mean it, okay? I’m sorry. I was just…it was just a dumb joke.”
Kaminari nodded, but he pulled away from Shinsou’s hand and wouldn’t make eye contact. “Yeah, I know.”
Shinsou glanced at Todoroki, who seemed just as lost as he was, then looked at Shouta.
“Why don’t you make some cocoa?” Shouta suggested. “I think we could all use a hot drink.”
“Yeah…yeah, I can do that,” Shinsou nodded. “I can…here, Todo, you shuffle, we can deal a new round when I get back.” He climbed to his feet and hurried to the kitchen, while Todoroki calmly arranged the cards in two even piles and flawlessly shuffled them together.
Shouta snorted in amusement but tried to hide it with a cough. He’d never get over the way Todoroki was completely clueless with some things, but almost effortlessly competent with others.
“I froze my bed twice when I was younger,” Todoroki commented off-handedly. He met Kaminari’s eyes with a wry smile, tapping the cards on the table to straighten them. “Fuyumi tried to help me thaw them before….” He shook his head, as though forcing himself to pull back from a dark memory.
“Your whole bed?” Eri whispered.
“My whole bed,” Todoroki replied seriously.
“I thought you always slept on a futon?” Kaminari asked.
“It might have been frozen to the floor.”
Swift footsteps heralded Shinsou’s return to the living room, and he settled back down in his place across from Kaminari. “As soon as the water heats up, we’ll have cocoa,” he announced. “So, what do you think, Aizawa? Are you in?”
He shrugged and scooted out of his armchair to sit on the floor like the boys. He’d told them they could drop the honorifics at home, if they were comfortable doing so. Kaminari had called him Dad a few times as a joke (and Eri had once, when waking up from a nightmare, but she hadn’t said anything like that since), but for the most part they just called him by his last name.
“You know the rules, right?” Shinsou said cheekily. Shouta pretended to take a swipe at him, and he ducked with a laugh.
“Just deal the cards,” Shouta retorted, unable to keep the smile off his face.
Kaminari declared that he and Eri were a team this time, and he held the cards where she could see them and whispered an explanation about each of them. Todoroki stared at his hand, the same intense expression on his face as before. Shinsou straightened up the rest of the deck, flipping over the top card to start the round.
Shouta studied his hand, selecting a card to play. He’d have to remind Shinsou about the cocoa in another minute, since the electric kettle didn’t have a whistle like a traditional one. He’d been careful to buy a silent one, after hearing the story behind Todoroki’s scar. He hadn’t thrown the old one out yet, it just sat on top of the fridge gathering dust. It was probably time to clear it out, they could use the room for—
An ear-piercing whistle split the air.
Shouta’s eyes snapped up, seeing Todoroki frozen in the middle of drawing a card. “Shinsou.”
“I forgot!” Shinsou jumped to his feet. “I’m sorry, I-I just forgot!”
“Just take it off,” Shouta said. “Kaminari, take Eri to your room.”
“Yeah, sure.” Kaminari stood up, hauling Eri up into his arms, blanket and all. “C’mon, Eri. Let’s go.”
“Shinsou, stay in the kitchen,” Shouta called, as soon as the kettle’s whistle was silenced. He slowly approached Todoroki, staying in a crouch so he didn’t tower over the kid, keeping both his hands visible. “Todoroki? Can you hear me?”
He didn’t reply, but his eyes flicked to Shouta momentarily. There was something in the way he moved, some tip of the head or twist of the hand, and Shouta activated his Quirk to erase Todoroki’s just as frost began to spread from his fingertips.
“It’s just me, kid. It’s Aizawa. You’re in my apartment.”
Todoroki glanced at him. His eyes were almost blank, and there was a stiffness in his face that was horrifyingly familiar.
It was like the boy Aizawa had taken in, the one who’d come so far and was just learning how to live, had been replaced with the cold, empty shell he’d met on the first day of class. This wasn’t the quiet, kind Todoroki who helped Kaminari with his homework and Shinsou with his endurance training. This was Endeavor’s tool. The one he’d beaten into shape to be the best. The one who had no need for friends or kindness or gentleness.
The one that had nearly broken Shouta’s heart when he’d seen what lay under that frozen façade.
Then it was gone. His face relaxed into an expressionless mask, his hands lying limp in his lap. This wasn’t the proud, stern Todoroki, or the gentle, patient one.
He was just blank. Empty. Everything had been too much, and he’d shut down.
Shouta stared at Todoroki, trying to figure out what to do next. He thought he could hear Eri crying down the hall, and Shinsou’s shadow waved back and forth as the boy paced in the kitchen.
His kids all needed him…but how could he be there for all of them at once?
…
Now
Hizashi’s heart ached as he listened to his friend describe the events in his home last weekend. “Shouta, that’s terrible.”
“I knew what I was getting into,” Shouta said with a shrug. They were on the roof of the staff building, enjoying a little early-morning quiet before classes started. Shouta was leaning over the railing with a cup of coffee in his hands, his eyes shadowed with more exhaustion than normal. “I knew they’d all need me one time or another, I just wasn’t expecting it to be all four at once.”
“Then what happened?”
Shouta let out a sigh and took a sip of coffee. “I called in backup.”
…
Then
He opened the door, relieved to see the familiar face on the other side. “Thanks for coming.”
“No problem! When you need help, I’ve Too-got-ta come!”
Shouta stared at Toogata wearily. He had no energy for puns, but the kid had been the first on his list when Eri needed comfort. She trusted him implicitly, and he knew he could count on Toogata to help her. “Down the hall, third door on the right. Kaminari’s in there too.”
He’d checked with Kaminari already. The boy had been hurt by Shinsou’s words, but he was trying to move past all of that for everyone else’s sakes. Shouta had promised that they’d have a talk later, but right now Todoroki, Shinsou, and Eri’s needs were more urgent. He’d hugged Kaminari, letting the kid cling to him for a little bit. He needed comfort and reassurance, and Shouta hoped Toogata would be able to offer some of that.
“Mr. Aizawa?” The second visitor, who’d been hidden behind Toogata’s tall frame, peeked in through the doorway.
“Midoriya,” Shouta sighed. “Thank you.”
“Where is he?”
“First door on the left.”
If anyone could reach Todoroki, it would be Midoriya. Shouta had gotten the kid to his room and gotten him to sit down, but he’d still been so blank. Like his mind had left his body. He didn’t seem to be any danger, he was just…empty.
Midoriya had gotten through to him before. Shouta could only hope he could do it again.
That left Shinsou.
Shouta entered the kitchen to find his fourth troublesome child sitting at the table, guilt written all over his face. He looked up, eyes wide and red with unshed tears.
“I threw the kettle away,” he whispered.
Shouta nodded, sitting down in the chair next to Shinsou. Sometimes his protégé felt more comfortable when they weren’t making direct eye contact.
“I just forgot, I swear,” Shinsou said. “I know…I know what I said to Kaminari was messed up, but you have to know I wouldn’t do anything on purpose. I was just…I just wanted to tease him, and I forgot about the stupid kettle. I didn’t…I didn’t mean to.”
“I know you didn’t,” Shouta replied. “I should have thrown that thing out a long time ago, I’m at fault here too.”
“But I did it,” Shinsou whispered.
Shouta sighed. “Kid, I’m the adult here. It’s my job to make you all feel safe here. That means throwing out the kettles and buying rubber sheets.” He put an arm around Shinsou’s shoulders and pulled him close. “That means telling you I still want you here. You’re not going away, kid. You’d have to do some pretty villainous things to make me even think about letting you go, and even then, I’d probably bend the laws a little to keep you.”
Shinsou managed a raspy, wet laugh. “I don’t know why I mess everything up.”
“You didn’t mess anything up. It was an accident.”
“But he’ll hate me now.” Shinsou ducked his head, wrapping his arms around himself.
“Kaminari or Todoroki?” Shouta asked after a few moments of silence.
“I don’t think Kami has it in him to hate,” Shinsou whispered. “But Todoroki is…I’ve been trying, I really have. I hated him so much at first, but you helped me see past that. And we were doing alright—we’ve been talking more.”
Shouta nodded. He’d noticed it tonight, when Todoroki looked to Shinsou for help understanding Kaminari’s comment. More than once, he’d found them both passed out on the couch, the late-night movie still playing, wearing some strange combination of each other’s pajamas.
“And now I ruined everything.”
“You didn’t ruin anything,” Shouta said. He tugged the kid closer to let Shinsou rest his head on his shoulder. “You know he wasn’t even seeing you when that happened.”
“Yeah,” Shinsou whispered.
He didn’t know the truth—unless Todoroki had told him—but Shouta did.
Todoroki hadn’t been seeing Shinsou or anyone else in the room. He’d seen his mother, driven to the edge by the constant abuse in that house. He’d seen his father, looming over him, fire and pain and judgement.
“What do I do?” the kid asked.
“Talk to him, when he’s ready to talk,” Shouta replied. “He might be withdrawn for a while, but don’t take that personally. This triggered some pretty deep trauma tonight, and we have to give him space to get over it.”
“Is he okay?”
“Midoriya’s with him.”
Shinsou sagged against him when he said that. Shouta had to hide his smile—he didn’t know why, but all of his kids seemed to think Midoriya could solve anything.
He hoped it would be enough to pull Todoroki back out of his personal hell…and that that would be enough to let Shinsou forgive himself.
He was all these kids had…he’d have to find a way to help his family move forward.
…
Now
“Poor kid,” Hizashi mused. “Is that it?”
Shouta sighed. “I checked on the others after that. Toogata and Kaminari had built a blanket fort, using Kaminari’s insulated blanket. They were crammed into it with Eri, and Toogata had found two of Eri’s dolls and was making up a story about them. Todoroki was asleep, but Midoriya said he was okay.”
He’d had his arms wrapped around Todoroki; hands locked together so tight his knuckles were white. He’d said the pressure helped when Todoroki got like this…and Shouta had gone straight to his computer to order a couple of weighted blankets.
He let out a low moan and leaned forward until he rested his head against the railing. “I think I’m in over my head,” he admitted. “My class already needs so much from me, how am I supposed to raise four of these kids?”
It had all made sense at the time. Of course he was going to take Todoroki in. The kid had asked for him. Had needed him. He’d fought so hard for Todoroki’s safety, there was no way he could let him go.
And Eri…no one else could look after her. Her Quirk had already gone haywire once. She needed to train it to, to learn how to control it, and that was safest to do with someone who could cancel out her Quirk.
Kaminari had been abandoned by his family, their parental rights signed away as though he’d meant nothing to them. He’d needed someone to fight for him. Someone to stand with him and see him for who he was and who he wanted to be.
And Shinsou had had nothing. Abandoned by his mother at a young age, passed around in the system over and over. In and out of foster homes thanks to his Quirk. Left forgotten in group homes. Neglected and abused. He’d fought so hard to be the kid he was today, and Shouta couldn’t leave him behind after this.
“I’ll be alright,” he said, when Hizashi didn’t answer right away. “I just need some time.”
Hizashi made a thoughtful sound in his throat. Shouta looked up, eyeing his friend’s profile in the morning light. He was staring off into the distance, brow furrowed in thought.
“Is everything okay?” Shouta asked.
“We should get married,” Hizashi said. He glanced down, meeting Shouta’s shocked expression. “I know we joke about it, but we should do it.”
“Hizashi…”
“I mean it.” Hizashi was staring at him now. Every line of his body was tensed, like he was preparing to go into battle. “You can’t do this alone, Shouta. You’ve said it yourself; you’re in over your head. But you don’t have to—we can just get married, and then you’d have me. I can help.”
He shook his head. “No, that’s—”
“I’m serious, Shouta.” The blond was staring at him over the rim of his ridiculous sunglasses. “Marry me.”
Shouta snorted, covering his face to muffle his laughter. “We’re not getting married,” he said, as soon as he could talk again.”
“Shouta!”
“We don’t need to get married, Hizashi.” He held up a hand, to keep his friend from saying anything else. “But I would appreciate it if you’d consider moving in.”
“What?” It was Hizashi’s turn to be stunned, judging by the slack-jawed expression on his face.
“We’ve been roommates before,” Shouta said with a shrug. He turned around to lean back against the railing and took another sip of coffee. “We can do it again…just with a few problem children around, this time.”
“Platonic co-fathers,” Hizashi mused. “Sounds like the plot of an anime.”
Shouta shrugged. In truth…he could definitely use the help. He hadn’t wanted to ask for it, since everyone else had their own lives. Taking in these four kids had been his choice; he couldn’t put that burden on someone else.
But Hizashi was right. He couldn’t do this alone. “I could use the help,” he admitted. “These kids need more than I can give them…they deserve more than that. So, you up for the challenge, partner?”
Hizashi threw his head back and laughed, wrapping his arm around Shouta’s shoulders. “I’m so ready for this, co-daddy!”
“Do not call me that.”
“We’ll see what the kids say.”
“Hizashi, I’m serious.”
“What’re you gonna do? Divorce me?”
Shouta shook his head, letting his best friend drag him away from the railing toward the school building and the awaiting day.
It was a hard road, acting as a father to so many troublesome children.
But maybe he didn’t have to do it alone.