Chapter Text
Eri wasn't in her room.
It was morning, and Hizashi was running his usual obligations as the sole morning person in the entire house. He got ready, tried to wake up Shouta, started a pot of coffee, tried to wake up Hitoshi, had gone to Eri's room so that she could actually wake up the two two titular insomniacs, and Eri wasn't in her room.
Well, if nothing else, that sentence seemed to be a pretty effective way of getting husband to snap awake.
They checked her ever-tidied room, and the spots in the bathroom she hides in sometimes, and in their own room and under their bed.
And, in the chaos, they didn't even think about the spare room that none of them ever thought of, much less their surprise guests from last night.
At least, they do until they are forcefully reminded, right before they go to try and search Hitoshi's room.
"What the fuck is the damn ruckus about? I can hear you!" Bakugo yells, cheeks red- or just one cheeck?- crossing his arms and glaring down at them, half battle ready.
In Hizashi's defense, neither of them had the chance to get coffee in their panic, and even Hizashi recognized this as a mandatory part of the morning.
"Eri isn't in her room." Shouta informs the blonde, ever to the point, and the teenager snorts.
"Well, yeah. Kid sniffed Deku out like a blood hound. They had a heart to heart and everything. It was disgusting." He scowled, and both of them relaxed like puppets with their strings cut. "Is that fucking it?"
"Well, little listener, it is still morning. Y'all should probably be getting all bright eyed and bushy tailed anyway." Hizashi pointed out. The kid scowled, but nodded.
"Yeah, fucking fine. Me 'n Deku gotta go pick up some stuff from the hag before we go back anyway." Bakugo nods, more to himself then to them as he turn and goes back to the guest room.
"Send Eri out! She needs to go wake up Hitoshi!" Yamada hollers after him, a little louder then he usually would indoors. The only response he gets is a slammed door. He chooses to take this as confirmation.
Hizashi let out a sigh, somewhere between exhausted and relieved, and followed his grumbling husband to the coffee machine, giving the man a kiss good morning- a little to late, but they had extenuating circumstances, and it was the thought that counted.
"Damn problem children, causing problems before sunrise." Shouta bit out, nursing a cup of coffee as black as his eyes. Hizashi hummed placatingly and made a sweeter cup for himself, finishing just as light feet padded their way down the stairs.
"Ohayo Yamada-san. Aizawa-san." Eri yawned, rubbing her eyes sleepily, eagerly reaching for the cup of milk ready on the counter for her. Shou grunted at her, lifting his cup to his lips to get away with not saying anything in response.
"Ohayo, Eri! How'd you sleep?" Hizashi greeted, expertly masking his peaking worry. Poor girl looked like she'd been up all night- though she was much less tense then she usually was when that happened, so he couldn't really be sure.
"...Not fine." She admitted, scrunching up her nose. "I woke up. Couldn't get back to sleep."
"I'm sorry to hear that, kiddo. Ya know Shou and me are fine with you coming to us when you can't sleep, right? We want you to be happy." He reminded the little girl. He wasn't sure how many times they'd had this talk, but he was sure they'd probably have it many more.
That was fine, though. He'd have it as many times as he needed to.
"And safe." The girl nodded seriously, staring into her milk like it held some sort of secret.
"And safe," Hizashi repeated easily, pleasantly surprised. "Yeah. Do you feel any better now?"
Eri hummed happily, taking a big gulp of milk. "Uh huh! I accidentally found Deku and Katsuki, but it's ok cause they weren't mad at me! They stayed up with me and kept me ok." She said, finishing the cup and handing it to Hizashi to wash. With a careful ruffle of his daughter's hair, he did just that.
"Well, that's good to hear! We'll have to thank them for being so nice." Hizashi noted. "You ready to go get Hitoshi up?" he challenged, and she nodded seriously again, rubbing the milk mustache off of her face and padding back up the stairs.
Quietly, or as quietly as he could bother, he sang to himself as he washed whatever dishes were left in the sink- oddly, the only part of the kitchen that Bakugo didn't take it upon himself to clean last night.
Shou got another cup of coffee, which meant that he'd probably be good to talk by the time Hitoshi got downstairs.
So Hizashi should probably start on breakfast. He put on some rice and Miso soup as two arguing voices slowly got close enough to hear.
"-don't get why'd you wake me up!"
"Oho, You are not allowed to complain about me waking you the fuck up."
"I- ah, fine, point. But you could at least leave me upstairs! I'm not even hungry, and I've got stuff to do before we go to Oba's, and-."
"Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, dumbass."
"But not as important as fixing my plan, Kacchan!"
"There's no plan to fix, you got fucking busted."
"That's why it needs to be fixed! Besides, there's more then one plan, I'm not du- Ah."
Hizashi turned around to greet his students with a smile as they came into sight and their voices cut off. Shou's eyes narrowed in- suspicion, probably, but possibly annoyance. It was always hard to tell, this early in the morning.
"Um. Ohayo gozaimasu, Yamada-sensei! I thought you were waking up Shinsou-kun...?" Midoriya trailed off awkwardly, obviously embarrassed to be caught arguing. Bakugo seemed entirely indifferent, taking the opportunity to drag the rebooting greenette to the table. That got the boy to blink away most of his embarrassment to glare at the other.
"No dumbass, the midget is going to wake up eyebags." Bakugo corrected, carefully scrutinizing what Hizashi had done of breakfast and deeming it acceptable. Or maybe deeming himself too tired to intervene.
They both looked very tired, after all.
"Ohayo, Midoriya-kun. Bakugo-kun. Hungry?" He greeted with no small about of amusement. Midoriya immediately started shaking his head.
"Hey, Sensei, and we sure as hell are. What's on the menu?" Bakugo contradicted, not even looking at Midoriya.
"Tamago Gohan and Miso soup. Maybe some fruits, I'll see whats in the fridge." he offered. Bakugo narrowed his eyes in what appeared to be a challenge.
"Miso soup for me, then. Deku?" He decided. The boy stubbornly didn't speak up, and Bakugo sighed. "Plain rice and whatever fruit you're, I guess."
However reluctantly, Midoriya nodded, and Hizashi refilled his husbands cup a third time before getting the boys their food and prepping Tamago Gohan for Hitoshi. Bakugo seemed to be trying his very hardest to not commandeer his kitchen again, at least, but he did so by carefully picking all of the seaweed out of his soup and dropping it into an increasingly annoyed Midoriya's rice.
"Strawberries or Ume?" He offered to Midoriya as he heard a dramatic groan upstairs and readied a few Onigiri for Eri.
"um..strawberries?" He requested, and Yamada handed him just that. Bakugo took his dish to the sink as Hitoshi let out an exaggerated yawn and let an annoyed Eri drag him down the stairs.
"Mission complete!" Eri announced, presenting Hitoshi like a prize on a game show.
"Ohayo!" Midoriya enthused upon seeing the two, continuing to mostly-ignore his rice. At least he was now hesitantly picking at the strawberries.
"Deku!" Eri cheered, attention immediately diverted as she barreled into the tired greenette and partook a frankly adorable hug. Hitoshi gave a long blink.
"Huh. Guess you weren't hallucinations." Hitoshi noted absently, and gravitated immediately to the coffee machine.
Midoriya and Bakugo both snort at that, and then glare at each other when they realize they shared a reaction. After a moment Bakugo's eyes flash with something a little darker, and Hizashi readies himself to intervene-
But the greenette smirks something evil, and speaks up before Bakugo ever gets the chance.
"Hey Kacchan, nice arm you've got there." Midoriya drawled with an abnormal amount of amusement. Hizashi saw Eri stealing the freckled teens strawberries, before curiosity compelled him to loot at Bakugo's arm.
And the small bite mark embedded just above the elbow.
"Shut the fuck up, Deku." Bakugo grunted, cheeks dusted a very very faint pink as he covered the mark with his other arm. "Like you're one to fucking talk, with ribs like that. 'S not my damn fault I didn't expect your lame ass to have a rabid fangirl before we even fucking graduated."
"I bet you deserved it." Eri claimed innocently, though with a gaze only a touch away from a glare, and Midoriya snorted. Bakugo, somehow, didn't launch himself across the table.
"Maybe it's like how some people have very punch-able faces. You just have bite-able arms." Hitoshi offered over the edge of a mug.
"Maybe you need some more fucking rocket fuel before you're not too dumb to speak." Bakugo replied. Hitoshi kind of proved him right by not even arguing as he finished his glass, but he also seemed a bit peeved.
"Settle down, settle down." Hizashi mediated before it got out of hand, giving Hitoshi and Eri their breakfasts- though Eri finished Midoriya's strawberries first. Midoriya barely seemed to notice, much less mind, so he let it slip. "I know you're all turbo stressed out because it's the last day of break, but this isn't a good vibe for anyone's morning! Let's just eat breakfast before we start any blood feuds or anything, yeah?"
Midoriya and Bakugo gave each other stares with a concerning amount of serious consideration, before both nodding.
And, for almost fifteen whole minutes, Hizashi knew the bliss of peace and quiet as people ate. Granted, he really wasn't one to complain, and he physically couldn't hear whispered conversations which might help, but it's the little things in life sometimes. He even got Shou to eat something besides one of his juice pouches by sharing his own breakfast.
"Hey Hitoshi. Can you take Eri to school? Hizashi and I have some errands to run." Shou requested, once they had finished their shared plate.
Hitoshi obviously looked confused and a little peeved at the blatant dismissal, but also seemed too tired to care or argue much.
Hizashi smiled and packed leftovers from breakfast into Hitoshi and Eri's lunchboxes as they got ready to leave and Shou washed whatever dishes were left over.
"Stay safe. We shouldn't be more then an hour or two."
"And we're bringing the rest of your stuff as well, so don't worry! Call us if either of you need anything. You gonna be alright with Hitoshi for a while, Eri-berry?"
"Yeah, Yamada-san, Hitoshi-niisan's great."
"See you at school, Shinsou-kun!"
"Yeah, yeah. I got it, I will, see ya."
"And you too, Eri-chan! Make sure to keep Shinsou-kun out of trouble, yeah?"
"Mmhm!! You can count on me Deku!"
"Bruh. I'm, right here. And isn't running head first into trouble more your bag anyway, Midoriya?"
"Aha, maybe, but you're 1-A now, so you're just as liable as the rest of us!"
"The rest of the extras, maybe. You're your own fucking species of trouble-finding liability. And don't listen to dumb Deku, squirt. If y'all get in trouble, call someone."
"Hey!"
"I'll punch you for real."
"Aw Bakugo. You do care. We really should be off though."
"Yeah, probably. See you guys!"
"Stay safe!"
"Don't do anything illogical."
"See you Deku! Yamada-san! Aizawa-san! Katsuki!"
"Tch."
The door closed behind his adopted kids, leaving Shou and Hizashi at the table with nothing but their two most problematic students and Midorya's quarter-eaten bowl of rice.
"So," Bakugo drawled after only a few seconds- it seemed both teens were almost entirely adverse to any lapse in conversation, though that at least wasn't much news. "Errands?"
"Well, you're the one who pointed out this morning that we'd have to pick up stuff from your place. And Midorya's, I'm assuming." Hizashi pointed out. Bakugo's eyes narrowed, and Midoriya's lips tightened.
"Ah, no need! I didn't take a ton with me over break- no point if we're going back to school anyway, right? I've got backups of everything I'll need at Oba's place." Midoriya fretted, waving his arms around anxiously.
"You expect us to just accept that you keep things at Bakugo's house, when you can barely talk to one another most days?" Shou asked, raising an eyebrow. Midoriya winced and shook his head.
"Not- No, I don't keep things there, really. I just...leave things there. Even if me and Kacchan don't get along well anymore, our moms are still close, so I go over there often enough." He corrected, blushing lightly.
Bakugo remained silent.
"Okay, sure. But still, wouldn't it be easier to go to your home? Get the things you need, instead of whatever you have lying around somewhere else?" Hizashi offered, suddenly very interested in Midoriya's home life. "I certainly wouldn't mind driving you, if that's what you're worried about."
"It's....not. what I'm worried about." Midoriya admitted, blush darkening as he looked away. Bakugo narrowed his eyes at the greenette- "It's just...gosh, this'll sound silly, but I dropped my key at some point last night, and no one's home right now to let me in. We can't go to my house to get my stuff." -and rolled them, as Midoriya went beet red and looked at his fidgeting feet.
"Oh? Okay, that makes sense." Hizashi nodded, less out of belief and more to comfort the boy. He didn't miss Midoriya's small sigh of relief.
"While we're on the subject, what was going on last night?" Shou cut in just on time. Hizashi nodded with interest.
Because, to Midoriya's credit, it did make sense. But still, there was obviously something more going on here.
"Fuckin Deku called me at fuck-o-clock in the morning-" Bakugo began immediately, breaking his odd silence with a vengeance, and Shou cut him off.
"I'm asking Midoriya." He insisted sharply. Perhaps a bit rudely, but Hizashi didn't question it- Shou usually had good reasons for stuff like this. Bakugo didn't even seem to mind all that much, as he settled back again, only mildly miffed.
"ah?" Midoriya shrunk into himself, caught off guard.
"What was going on last night, Midoriya?" Shou repeated without a moment's hesitation.
The boy gulped.
"Ah, it's gonna sound silly." He repeats with a nervous laugh, probably stalling. Shou's eyes narrow in warning, and Midoriya bites his lip and continues a little faster. "So, um, I kind of got into free-running when I was in middle school? Like, super into it, because I didn't have a whole lot else to do back then. So I was running last night, for old times sake, but then I tripped and had a nasty fall, so I called Kacchan because I wasn't that far away from his house. I didn't even realize how late it was! Kacchan was just cranky, and we were kind of in a bad part of town, so we were both pretty tense. Probably seemed really interesting and mysterious, huh?" Midoriya explained, laughing a little bit. Bakugo was back to absolutely fuming beside him, but didn't speak up, which was wildly out of character.
Either Bakugo was shockingly insistent on listening to Shou for once, or something else was stopping him from talking. Or maybe both?
"That does sound silly." Shou agreed sagely, resting his jaw on one of his hands. "'total bullshit' kinds of silly, in fact."
"Yeah, I know. Kinda wild, right?" Midoriya laughed sheepishly, shaking his head. "I'm just really not interesting enough for it to be much else, sorry. Maybe if Kacchan was the one who called me in, it would have been serious." Midoriya nodded, placating and apologetic, but ultimately firm in his alibi.
"Are you hurt?" Hizashi demanded, switching gears easily. Midoriya was obviously lying, but equally obviously not going to talk about it right now, and this was much more important anyway. "Like- Shou said, last night, that you had a limp, Midoriya-kun? And Bakugo-kun's wrists hurt? Is that really it?" He pressed. But, on this at least, the teens seemed to effortlessly agree, as they both nodded their assurance.
"How'd Bakugo get hurt? Did he run fast enough to catch you from your fall?" Shou focused on instead. Midoriya bit his cheek, crossed somewhere between annoyed and chastised.
"Of course not sensei, that's ridiculous! And, um, I don't know? I only saw him last night! It was just a training accident, I'd assume, though- his wrists get weak when his quirk is overused without proper reinforcement in the muscles." Midoriya posits, and Bakugo nodded in confirmation.
"Right. That's ridiculous. And what about your ribs?" Shou continued. Hizashi blinked in surprise, looking at his husband.
Ribs? Did Shou not tell him about an injury? Why not?
"What ribs?" Midoriya asked, blinking owlishly. He looked so shocked at the question that it could have been called confusion, but Hizashi wasn't entirely sure.
"This morning, when you teased Bakugo about the bite on his arms, he made a comment about your ribs in return." Shou explained. Midoriya's hand went to the small of his back, with an instinctive wince at the mentioned injury.
Both teens looked surprised to be caught red-handed like that. They probably thought that Shou wasn't paying attention, given how dead on his feet he always was in the mornings. An amateur mistake, really, but he never really lets their students see him like that, so it was understandable.
If, Hizashi admitted, pretty funny.
"Uh- yeah. I fell wrong. I'm fine though- they're just a little bruised, really!" Midoriya conceded reluctantly, bringing his hands back in front of him and fidgeting with them.
"Anything else you hid from me that I should know about?" Shou presses.
Midoriya goes silent, thinking it over carefully as he threads and unthreads his fingers together, and Bakugo gave them the stink-eye. Slowly, Midoriya shook his head.
"Um...not really. Maybe Kaachan's ears, I guess. If he was, uh, over-training. Probably not his ribs though, cause I would've noticed." Midoriya said, tilting his head at the other. There was something else hidden in the sentence, Hizashi could feel it, but he had no idea what it could be.
"Tch. Mind your own damn business, Deku. My ears are fucking fine. And, unlike you, I'm not a dumbass, so my ribs are too." He deflected, glare shifting threateningly to the greenette. Shou hummed skeptically. "Eh- as fine as they were before I fucking left, at least. 'M not a dumbass! I practice with earmuffs."
"But not wrist braces." Shou remarked dryly, raising an eyebrow. Bakugo shrugged.
"Couldn't find 'em." Bakugo grunted easily. "Hag went through my shit when I went to the dorms or something- Why the hell are you grilling me about my wrists any-damn-way? I'm fucking fine, and Deku's the one that tried to hide his fucking bruised ribs. Get on his ass about that." Bakugo deflected, quite obviously.
But, well, he did have a point.
"And you didn't tell me about your bruised ribs because...?" Shou obliged, turning away from the rubberband-tense Bakugo to the very-carefully-not-tense Midoriya again.
"It didn't seem relevant, sensei. It wasn't impairing my movement, so it wasn't something you needed to know to get us to your house. It's just a couple of bruised ribs, ya, uh, ya know." Midoriya defended. To his credit, the longer he spoke the more he seemed to realize how weak of a defense this was.
"Then why tell me about Bakugo's wrists? They weren't impairing his movement." Shou countered, eyebrow going back up.
"Ah- Kacchan was hurt! I couldn't just not tell you!" He squeaked, offended, and not seeming to notice that it was just as weak of a defense.
Bakugo scoffed.
"I was fucking fine. I didn't need your help- unlike you, I could'a told sensei on my fucking own." He insisted, and Hizashi kind of wanted to scream.
"If either of you hide another significant injury of any kind from the staff again, you will be expelled for self destructive tendencies. If a hero cannot properly care for themself, they cannot properly care for anyone else either." Shou affirmed with finality. "Your personal judgement on the matter has proven to be unreliable, so I will urge you to default to someone else's, because this is your final warning." He insisted.
That was a bit...harsh, Hizashi would admit, but he couldn't convince himself it was entirely unwarranted. From what he had heard- and he'd heard a lot- this was an ongoing problem in Shou's class, especially with Midoriya.
"My personal judgement is damn pristine, I didn't hide shit." Bakugo defended himself, thoroughly miffed.
"You didn't mention Midoriya's ribs until this morning. Covering for someone else is still hiding a significant injury, even if it's not yours. Enabling this behavior benefits nobody, and won't be tolerated." Shou countered evenly.
"That's bullshit!" Was Bakugo's immediate reaction, but he didn't seem to have any further argument.
Midoriya, smartly, didn't say anything.
Shou let the teenagers sit for a minute as they thought his assertion over, before letting out a deep sigh and downing the last of what was in the coffee pot.
"Good. Now that we've got that settled, finish eating. Hizashi and I will pack the rest of the luggage, and we'll go to Bakugo-san's house."
A grunt from Bakugo and a nod from Midoriya, but it was better then nothing.
By the time they were finished packing everything into the trunk- it really wasn't much, all things considered- Bakugo seemed to be stress-cleaning the counters, and Midoriya's breakfast sat three-quarters full by the sink, through he was almost spitefully downing a full glass of water.
"-get expelled because of your fucking machinations, I'll-" Bakugo was whisper-threatening the greenette, entirely indifferent to his apparent attempts to drown himself. The blonde even refilled the other boy's glass as he continued. "-extras aren't my goddamn responsibility....times I just want to rip your skull open...fucking brain worm would compel.....learn your damn lesson, learn fucking anything from...." Bakugo continued quietly, and even with his aids turned all the way up Hizashi could only catch half of the conversation. Midoriya seemed to be humming placatingly as he scribbled away in some sort of notebook.
Up until he seemed fed up, snapping the notebook closed.
"I tried not involving you, Kacchan, and you were just as angry. What do you want from me?"
"...DAMN well what I want! Come fucking clean!" was the hissed response, and Midoriya cringed.
"Ok. What do you want that won't screw everything up?" Midoriya corrected himself, and Bakugo flexed his hands with frustration.
"You already screwed everything up." The blonde insisted, and Hizashi admittedly does want to hear more of their insightful argument, but they had to go if they want to make it to UA by a reasonable time.
"Ready to take off, little listeners?" Hizashi enthused, walking into the kitchen. "Shou's already waiting in the car with all the stuff- lets go!"
Both boys nodded, conversation cutting off immediately as they followed him. They seemed to trade the notebook Midoriya had earlier back and forth, occasionally scribbling something down in it, but remained otherwise silent as they got into the car.
The boys seemed to be too focused on their notebook to notice, but Hizashi could almost feel Shou glower at them through the mirror. All things considered, he wasn't surprised to hear his husband circle back to his interrogation.
"What are the Tsubasa protocols that Bakugo mentioned?" He asked the silent pair. Hizashi was driving, so he couldn't look, but he heard a hurried snap of the notebook closing and some shuffling in the backseat.
"A-ah....um...Gosh, where do we begin..?" Midoriya muttered from behind Hizashi's seat, quiet enough that Shou might not have heard.
" 's from when we were brats." Bakugo started, since that seemed to be the part Midoriya was struggling with. A little awkwardly, Midoriya ran with it.
"Uh- y-yeah! Me and Kacchan didn't, um, really get along, but we made a promise to always be there for each other when something scary happens that we can't go to an adult with, no matter the state of our relationship." He explained, though it wasn't hard to tell that this was probably a very simplified explanation.
"Something that you can't go to an adult with?" Shou presses, barely masking his worry. "Like what?"
"Oh, uh, I guess it depends on the adult? Mostly just stuff we wouldn't want to bother my mom with. That was kinda the crux of the deal- if something happens that could make my mom sad, we call a truce to make sure it doesn't happen or she doesn't find out."
"Like you falling off of a building." Shou deduced, and Midoriya nodded.
"Yeah, like me falling off of a building. I guess it sounded a little ominous, but that's really all it is."
"And the name?" Hizashi couldn't help but ask.
The two went an oddly somber sort of quiet.
"There was....we had a friend that went missing around the time we made the promise." Midoriya said, so quiet Hizashi barely heard it. Bakugo was quite literally grinding his teeth together louder then Midoriya spoke.
Shou, for once, let the matter drop there, and Hizashi couldn't help but he grateful. Midoriya took a deep breathe and, like that, the somber atmosphere dissipated.
"Why didn't either of you go to your own homes?" He asked instead.
"Uh- well we couldn't go to Kacchan's, because he told Mitsuki-ba that he was staying with me when he left. And we couldn't go back to my place, because if my dad caught us everything would suck a lot. So we called you." Midoriya said. The light sound of rustling gave Hizashi the impression that the boy shrugged again, even though neither of them were looking.
"And everything won't 'suck a lot' when your dad realizes that you aren't there in the morning?" Shou asked skeptically. Midoriya giggled.
"Well, I mean, not really. I sure won't be there if it does, at least! But really, he wouldn't bother to check unless he heard something, so he probably won't even notice. He's busy, ya know?" Midoriya assured.
Out of everything he'd said, did that really have to be the bit that sounded honest?
"What about the plan, then?" Shou almost hesitated to ask, which was a red flag in it's own right. Hizashi chanced a look at the backseat in the mirror, and that one question seemed to have Midoriya completely locked up. "You've been dancing around it, insisting that last night was an entirely mundane event that we have no reason to dwell on."
"W-well, yeah, sensei, because-" Midoriya objected immediately, voice starting to waver. Shou continued over him, not giving another inch.
"But, Midoriya, you fail to acknowledge everything that wasn't mundane last night. Like when Bakugo hung up mid sentence and didn't call back for several minutes. Or when Bakugo mentioned that you deliberately kept my patrol close. Or how when you fought Bakugo for the phone the second he tried to properly brief me on the situation. Or how you were both so jumpy when I found you that, had I not immediately canceled your quirks, you might have killed me. Any of those things alone would be concerning, much less all of them in the span of an hour." Shou reviewed. Midoriya made a slightly-strangled sound, but bounced back with admirable speed.
"You're overthinking this sensei, really. We were in a bad part of town, we were just exercising caution. Especially since we're 1-A students, which basically means that any crook that recognizes us probably wants our head. I actually theorized that the LoV put out open hits for us, at this point it's, like, the only explanation for the frankly obnoxious hostility we face, even for hero students. I wonder if Nezu-sensei would let me see the statistics in comparison to other first year classes...." Midoriya rambled, getting indecipherable at the end, which was a shame because if Midoriya was planning on talking to Nezu Hizashi would very much like to know about it in advance.
Thankfully, Bakugo got fed up pretty quick, and a short scuffle in the back seat later Midoriya cleared his throat.
"Ah- sorry, sensei! But, uh, yeah. It was a bad part of town so we were being careful. And I kept your patrol close because it..seemed like a good idea? Just in case I, uh, needed help. Which worked out well! It's not, like, my fault you patrol there!" Midoriya defended. Shou let out a long sigh.
"And how, Midoriya, did you find my patrol routes in the first place?"
"Cause he's a goddamned stalker creep." Bakugo piped up without hesitation, earning a whine from Midoriya. "Shut up shitty Deku, It's true! The bastard probably made a game of tailing you for a week, scribbled all about it in his stupid ass notebook, and moved on with his life like there's nothing fucking weird about it."
"I- I only followed him for a couple nights Kacchan! It only takes three to establish a pattern- from then I just needed to check my predictions periodically. And it's not like I, like, followed him home or anything! And I wouldn't- I wouldn't write down a Pro Hero's patrol schedule Kacchan, that's just reckless! Even for me!" Midoriya defended himself. "Besides, stealth and information gathering are both very versatile and useful skills to have for any pro hero, and the earlier you cultivate them the better. Right, sensei?"
"Right, Midoriya." Shou agreed, sounding just as floored as Hizashi felt. He was barely paying enough attention to go when the light he'd stopped at turned green a moment later. "And if you were eager to do so, you could have approached a teacher and asked how you could pursue such courses, because stalking an underground hero, while impressive, is a show of monumental idiocy. Anyone could have found you- not just me, but villains too."
"But they didn't, sensei. I knew what I was doing. I wouldn't have done it if it was gonna get me caught. I didn't even try to fight any villains!" Midoriya defended himself, tone obviously getting frustrated that they were still questioning him.
"That can not be where the bar is, Midoriya. If you wish to continue training in these fields, you will bring it up with a member of the UA staff, and tell me or Hizashi if you feel you aren't being taken seriously." He commanded the teenager. Midoriya let out a meek sound of agreement, and Shou sighed. "Next?"
"...Next?" Midoriya parroted with a touch of confusion.
"You've only tried to rationalize a few of my concerns. You still need to explain why you fought Bakugo, where the two of you were before you obviously moved to meet up with me, why you needed to move to a secondary location so badly that you did so with a limp, why you were violently resistant to Bakugo telling me anything about your situation, why you were basically mute last night, what the two of you were whispering about all night, why you freaked out when I asked you what was going on, why you were so wary of me while we were walking back to my house, and, last but not least, what the plan Bakugo mentioned was." Shouta demanded, rapid fire and obviously annoyed.
This, Hizashi realized, was going to take a while. Longer then it would take to get to Bakugo's house, at least. Wordlessly, he mentally rerouted the trip in the longest way possible in his head and slowed the car down as much as he legally could. Living and patrolling in roughly the same area for a decade and a half had it's perks, he supposed- he knew Mufastafa like the back of his hand.
Now that he thought about it, the streets around Bakugo and Midoriya's houses were especially familiar- they were areas that the Hero Commision itself ensured were some of the most heavily patrolled areas in the country, a few years back. If only he could recall why...
"R-right now?" Midoriya squeaked, finally seeming intimidated. "I- I don't think Mitsuki-ba's house is that far away..."
"Well, then, you better talk fast." Shou shurgged. He smiled that creepy smile he loved using to freak people out, and even though they couldn't see it, Hizashi had no doubt his nearly-sadistic tone carried the message well enough.
Midoriya gulped so loud they could hear it in the front seat, and Bakugo let out an indecipherable huff.
It took the greenette several minutes to decide what to say next. Just as Shou seemed to be running out of patience, his freckled student cleared his throat.
"Okay." Midoriya sighed. "Well I, uh, kinda already answered most of those. More implicitly then explicitly though, I guess, sorry. But! I fell off of a building in the bad part of town after having a bad enough night that I went free running in the first place despite my exhaustion. It wasn't my most, ah, logical moment- I was all sorts of paranoid about being overheard, or staying in one place for too long, or you being an impostor even when you obviously weren't, or the signal getting hacked or something. I'm sorry that me acting all weird and paranoid and quiet freaked you out, sensei, but I was just....freaking out. It's not that deep." Midoriya assured with an embarrassed laugh. "Kacchan, obviously, didn't have quite the same mind-warpy problems, so from what I remember our whispering was mostly just him finding the soft spot between pulling me out of my funk and accidentally triggering a panic attack or something. The specifics of last night are...uh, kinda fuzzy, admittedly. Same reason I can't tell you exactly where we were. Sorry."
"A 'bad enough night'? What could possibly be so bad that it triggered such an...extreme reaction, Midoriya?" Hizashi asked, concerned. He resisted the urge to turn around in his seat and look the boy over again, given that he was, in fact, still driving. At least Shou had no such problem.
"....A nightmare." Midoriya whispered, voice shaking. He took a sharp breathe, and, after a brief hesitation, got a little louder. "I..You gotta understand Sensei, UA....It's the dream, and I love going there, and all of my friends, and all the good I'm doing, and all the awesome memories! Honestly!! But there's also a lot of...bad, wrapped up in the good, ya know? I promise I'm stoked to get back! But I guess, uh, there's some part of my brain that....has it's reservations. And decided to make them known. Sorta like the way Athena 'made herself known' by trying to crack open Zeus's skull from the inside and screaming the whole time." Izuku elaborated, and he sounded so young.
Sometimes- usually at the worst times- teaching at UA felt a little too close to training and desensitizing child soldiers. Hizashi, with a tired sort of familiarity (desensitization), pushed the feeling and it's accompanying nausea down, and kept driving.
Pulling up to the same stop sign for the 4th time- he'd been circling the neighborhood for the past few minutes, even the slowest of routes really not that far away- and unable to resist the urge, he glanced around to check on everyone in the car.
Shou, while still composed, looked quite pale, and there was some complex emotion floating in his eyes Hizashi didn't have the time to pick apart. He looked...fine, relatively.
Bakugo really just looked as uncomfortable as angry could get, staring out of the window as if that would convince anyone that he wasn't listening. Lovely.
And Midoriya....Midoriya looked decidedly determined, but maybe not entirely there. It was kinda weird, seeing what were supposed to be oposite states of mind both existing, but 'determined' seemed to be Midoriya's only default besides 'crying' and 'deflective', so maybe not too weird.
But, still, everyone in the car needed....a breather, at least. He turned onto the street the Bakugo's lived on, and stopped in front of their house.
Maybe a little too eagerly, Midoriya unbuckled and scrambled out of the car. Hizashi got out at a more normal pace, and frowned when Bakugo's door remained closed.
"Bakugo?" He opened the door and asked. "Ya coming?"
"Nah, Deku's got it. Carrying my shit's a good way to get him started on paying me back, after dragging my ass halfway across the prefecture to accommodate his dumbassary." Bakugo scoffed, slamming the door back closed.
Hizashi blinked, looking to Midoriya to see how to handle this, but Midoriya just shrugged.
"That's- that's totally fair. C'mon, we're gonna worry Eri-chan and Shinsou-kun if we take too long." He urged, still looking a little shaken, but nothing more- nothing worth really worrying about- so Hizashi smiled and followed him to the door.
"Who the fuck is it and what the hell do you want?" A woman- Mitsuki Bakugo, he could only assume- swung open the door.
Like a switch had been flipped, Midoriya perked up and grinned something awfully fake.
"Mitsuki-ba! Hey!" He greeted readily, standing in front of Yamada. His grin didn't falter when Bakugo grabbed him by his chin with a smile.
"Izuku! Hey kiddo! You had me fucking worried last night, you okay?" She demanded worridly, roughly looking Midoriya over.
"Eh heh- nothing too bad Oba, promise. Just some scrapes and bruises. And Kacchan took really good care of me!" He grinned, barely flinching at her jostling despite his ribs.
She scrutinized him a moment more before sighing and letting go, backing up a step.
"If you say so. Where's that good for nothing Hisashi bastard?" She asked, looking back to the door, and blinking a little in surprise when she saw him. "And who is this man with you?"
"O-Oh! This is Yamada-sensei! He's our English teacher! Dad was busy this morning, and Yamada-sensei's awesome, so he offered to drive me and Kacchan to pick up his stuff and then get to UA!"
"Jesus, the grind never stops for you, does it Izuku? I don't know how the hell you do it, honestly." She sighed. She ignored his sputtering of 'you don't know- you're a model!", and turned to greet Hizashi instead.
"Nice to meet ya. Sorry that you have to deal with my shit of a sun, but thanks for doing it anyway. Honestly, the audacity that fucking boy has, to make his teacher drive him around like some sort of chauffeur when his legs work just fine....you must be some sort of saint." She sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"Well, all teachers are." He nodded sagely, not sure what else to say. He honestly didn't know what he expected from Bakugo's mother.
He ignored the uneasy stirring in his gut.
"Actually, Mitsuki-ba, He called Yamada-sensei because of me. I have a limp from my fall last night, and he didn't want me to be totally useless in class." Izuku corrected firmly. Bakugo takes a moment to process this, before shaking her head.
"Well, that's sweet of him then at least. Maybe I'd buy into his newfound altruism, if he didn't send sending you in to get his bags when you were injured! What's the brat gonna do next, make some poor girl peel grapes for him?" She laughed.
It wasn't a nice laugh, but Midoriya laughed along anyway, and Hizashi gave a chuckle to avoid any awkwardness.
"Don't worry about it Mitsuki-ba though, seriously! He helped me out last night a lot- seriously, I think he might've saved my life, I was really out of it- so this is nothing! Watch, it won't even take ten minutes."
With that, Midoriya scurried up the stares, or tried the best he could with a limp. Bakugo sighed.
"Too good to my spawn, that little bugger is. You take damn good care of them both, ya hear?" The woman demanded, getting more in his face then civilians usually dared to.
This, at least, was easy for him to nod along to.
"Totally! Your son and Midoriya are both shaping up to be outstanding heroes already!" He gushed, and she nodded.
"Good. Glad to hear it. Now I just gotta see it to believe it." She sighed. "I swear, if it wasn't to help Izuku out, I'd kill that damn kid for sneaking out. What does he think he is, some sort of delinquent? Nearly gave me a stroke, when I called him and Izuku answered." She ranted incredulously. Hizashi just nodded along awkwardly. Something was off.
"Of the two of them, I think Midoriya's the delinquent, really. I'm pretty sure if we handed him a rulebook he'd feign illiteracy." Hizashi pointed out, because it was true. He wouldn't label either of them as such, personally, but of the two Midoriya was easily closer. Bakugo may have a nasty temper, but while he was corraling toddlers, Midoriya almost straight up murdered a yakuza boss while carrying a child and breaking all of his bones.
"Yeah, Izuku's always had spunk, even when he had nothing to do with it. Part of his charm, really." she sighed, almost affectionately.
"I get it from my mom." Midoriya helpfully supplied, coming down the stairs with three suitcases stacked higher then he was tall and wearing a backpack half his size to boot.
"You sure as hell don't get any of you positive qualities from your bastard of a father. Or much of anything, with how sparse the ass was." she scoffed. Hisashi picked a suitcase up from Midoriya, and caught him smiling the first real smile he'd had since they entered the house.
"I mean. You're not wrong. !" Midoriya chirped in farewell. "I'd wave but- well, my hands are a bit full, you see."
"Yeah, I got it pipsqueak. You keep that spawn of mine in line, yeah? And take care of yourself! If you give Inko another scare I swear Izuku I'll kick down the walls to UA and slap the shit out of you and Katsuki for not stopping you!" She scolded(?), and Midoriya laughed again.
"Yeah, yeah, Oba, I got it. I don't try to get into trouble usually, promise!" Midoriya whined playfully. Bakugo rolled her eyes.
"It's that usually that worries me, brat." She sighs. "You better visit more, too. It's been too fucking long. I'll drag you out of Hisashi's arms myself next break if I have to."
"I get it, I get it! I'll see what I can do Take care, Mitsuki-ba! Tell Masaru-ji I said hi!!" He waved, walking out of the door. Bakugo waved back, and slammed the door shut behind Hizashi. Were he a lesser man, he would have stumbled.
Alas, he is The Voice Hero, Present Mic, and all luggage makes it safely into the car, after some rearrangng of the rest of the stuff in the trunk. Midoriya does end up having to carry his backpack, but he doesn't seem to mind all that much as he collapses back into the car.
"She's exhausting." Midoriya groaned quietly. Bakugo huffs in solidarity, Hizashi starts the car, and they're on their merry way again.
"So. The plan." Shou starts again as soon as all of the doors close.
"Mmmh nuh. Nap now. I'll tell you later." Midoriya mumbles.
If the kid didn't look so utterly exhausted, by every meaning of the word, Shou probably would have kept pushing. Instead, he just sighed.
In the mirror, Hizashi could see Midoriya- sitting in the middle now, with his backpack in his previous seat- snuggling up to Bakugo, already conked out enough to be drooling on the explosive teen, and somehow not getting exploded.
"Any chance you want to tell us anything?" Shou asks the blonde.
"Oh? I'm allowed to talk now?" He bit out, raising an eyebrow. Shou probably rolled his eyes, but Hizashi was driving again so he wasn't sure.
"Cut it. If we let you talk earlier, Midoriya would have had an easier time deflecting questions to you and dancing around his words, I'm sure you get that."
Katsuki grunted, but didn't object, which was as good as agreement. He still didn't talk, for a minute.
"it's none of my damn business, though it's fuck near close to being worth making my damn business. Deku and I have a deal though, and I'm not a fucking snitch, so I'm not telling you dick." Bakugo hissed, quiet enough to not wake Midoriya. They didn't know how to respond to that, so they didn't, and Bakugo continued. "But, I am telling you to do your damn jobs. And maybe find a reason to stop him from ever ever going places alone, because that apparently always leads to fucking trouble."
They could....almost call that helpful and working information, which was more then they could say about most of their conversation with Deku.
"Thanks Bakugo. We'll do what we can." Hizashi assured, and Shou grunted his agreement. Hizashi sighed, something hardening his stare as he pulled up and signed in to UA.
They'll do what they can, and if it isn't enough, they'll make it be.