Chapter Text
“Ah, Izu! It’s good to see you.” Ms. Mayeda smiles once Izu steps fully into the room. Izu smiles at her, but stays silent looking between her and Eraserhead. Like he can sense her unease from his position, Eraserhead turns to look at her and gives her a reassuring nod, his glare turning into a soft smile. Izu returns the nod and looks back at her social worker.
“Hi, Ms. Mayeda.” Izu does her best to speak up, but her anxieties are making speech a little difficult. All the what ifs floating around her head make her throat feel tight.
“Well, now that everyone is here, let’s get started, shall we?” Ms. Mayeda looks between the adults and Izu. When no one stops her from continuing, she gestures to a chair in front of her. “Izu, why don’t you have a seat.” Izu nods and sits down, placing Kumo in her lap and petting the cat’s soft fur, letting the silky texture ground her. “I’ve just had a lovely chat with Mr. Yamada here, but I have a few questions I need to ask you.” Izu nods her understanding. Ms. Mayeda smiles, “Right. How did you come to meet Mr. Aizawa?”
Izu begins her story, telling the woman about meeting the hero on a rooftop near her fosters’ house. Then seeing him again a few times after, always on rooftops when she needed to get some air. Ms. Mayeda actually frowns at that, which is very unlike her, but looking at Eraserhead and seeing him smile at her and nod, she continues. She wrings her hands as she recounts the abuse from the most recent family, how they told her to keep it quiet or else, how the son treated her, and how she eventually ran away.
“And that’s when you found her?” Ms. Mayeda looks to Eraserhead.
“Yes. She had been badly beaten and needed a safe place to go.” His tone is firm, his body language relaxed but a keen eye can tell he is tense.
“Hmm.” Ms. Mayeda writes something down in her little notebook and turns back to Izu. “What happened next?”
Izu recounts the train ride and meeting Present Mic. She tells her social worker about how kind both men were to her. How welcoming they were and how she had never felt so safe in a home before. Again, Ms. Mayeda frowns and writes something down. Izu swallows and looks between Present Mic and Eraserhead. This is weird. The woman is usually all smiles and happy thoughts, but she is frowning an awful lot right now.
“Izu, are you sure you like it here?” She looks between the two men, smiling at Present Mic, but when she looks at Eraserhead and his cold expression, she frowns again. “It’s okay if you don’t.”
“I do! Er-Aizawa has been so good to me! He bought me clothes and took me to a doctor! He even made sure school would be safe for me! I’m in private school now and made two friends! I love it here!” Izu prays she can see how earnestly she wants to stay here. This is the best home for her, surely Ms. Mayeda can see that!
Ms. Mayeda looks at the two heroes again and sighs. “Could you two please give us a moment? I need to have a private discussion with Izu.”
Eraserhead looks like he wants to argue, but Present Mic interrupts him. “Sure thing, yo! We’ll be in the kitchen if you need us!” Then he pulls Eraserhead from the room.
Ms. Mayeda looks at Izu with a soft smile. “I know I haven’t done the best by you, Izu. I haven’t seen what was going on and I looked passed things that I shouldn’t have, but I promise I’m going to do better this time. So, please be honest with me. They are gone and it’s just you and me now. How do you actually feel about being here?”
Izu looks at the woman bewildered as to what she’s doing. She’s never talked to Izu like this before. Talking without her foster parents present and acting like she’s on Izu’s side. “I am being honest. I love it here. Mr. Aizawa is the nicest foster parent I’ve ever had. He’s so much better than anyone else has ever been.”
Ms. Mayeda frowns more. “Yes, but you are a teenage girl living with two adult men. Doesn’t that make you the least bit uncomfortable? Surely you’d rather have a woman around to confide in? I’ve always made sure that you were in a balanced home where you could find-”
Izu stands up, dropping Kumo, her face heating with the anger she has held back for years. “You always put me in homes where I was abused. You have never, EVER put me in a safe place. Every home you put me in I have either been ignored or yelled at, beaten, and even raped! You have never kept me safe! Now I am in a home where I am happy and healthy and safe, and you want to talk about the fact that they are both men?! How about how they are both heroes? How about the fact that they got me out of a terrible situation that you put me in?! How about the fact that this is the first time I have actually had a family and all you can talk about is that there isn’t a woman here! What is wrong with you?!” Izu takes heaving breaths as she tries desperately to calm down. She’s never spoken to her social worker like that before, but maybe it’s about time she did.
Ms. Mayeda is pale, her lips in a thin line as she looks at Izu like it’s the first time she’s seeing her. They just look at each other for what feels like an eternity before the woman finally speaks. “If that is how you really feel, then I believe I am done here.” She closes her notebook and stands up stiffly.
She’s walking toward the door when Izu speaks up once more, in a quiet voice barely above a whisper. “If you take me away from here, I will never forgive you. I will run away from anywhere else you put me and I will never stop running. Don’t ruin my life again. You’ve done that enough.”
Ms. Mayeda doesn’t even look at her as she walks out of the room. Yamada and Aizawa are both standing near the doorway, Yamada looking absolutely shocked and Aizawa glaring once more at her. Izu’s social worker gives them a curt nod and walks out of the house.
Aizawa wastes no time rushing into the room and wrapping Izu in a hug. He rubs her back as she begins to sniffle. “I heard you. You are safe now. I won’t let anyone hurt you again. Never again.” Izu grips the back of his shirt so tightly her knuckles turn white, and she cries.
“What if she takes me away?”
“Then I will fight like hell to get you back. I’ll hire every lawyer in the country if I have to. You aren’t going anywhere.”