Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Shouta meets Midoriya Inko the year of his graduation, when he moves into an LDK he really shouldn’t have been able to afford. He’s just starting out under Tenth Flame, working with The Twins by night and sleeping by day. The hours he keeps are erratic, and thus it’s a long while before he actually meets any of his neighbours.

As with many of the important people in his life, he meets her because of his complete inability to function like a normal person.

He’s walking to his apartment, groceries bag swinging back and forth against his leg. It’s five in the evening and he has no idea why he’s up right now, eyes barely staying open, and thus, it’s no surprise he isn’t watching where he’s going.

He grunts when he knocks into someone, the other person squeaking as their things go flying.

“Oh! Are you alright- I’m sorry, I should have been watching where I was going, let me help you-” It’s a woman, around his age, with green hair and eyes. He blinks blearily as she picks up a gel pouch, staring at it quizzically. “...Are these your groceries?”

“They’re easy to use,” He says blankly, because there’s not much else to it, and his brain isn’t really firing right now. The woman looks at him, eyes darting from his face to his clothes, before something in her expression sets, and she gathers up the rest of the pouches in the bag, handing it to him. He takes it, and then stares at the hand that’s wrapped itself around his elbow.

“Why don’t you come with me, Kuro-san? I’m sure I can whip up something better than protein pouches.”

He ends up sitting at a counter two doors down from his own apartment, watching a stranger cook katsudon. She eventually sets a bowl in front of him, and he stares at it before looking at her askance.

“I don’t even know your name.” Her gentle smile doesn’t falter.

“Midoriya Inko.”

“...Aizawa Shouta.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Aizawa-kun.”

Midoriya Inko takes to stopping him whenever he appears before seven and stuffing him with food. She doesn’t press for conversation while she does it, only quietly talking or humming as she sets plates in front of him.

Shouta doesn’t know how to feel about this. When he mentions it to Hizashi, the blond laughs at him for a full minute, so he pushes him into Tensei and leaves him to sputter and blush on his own.

He learns many things about Midoriya-san during her ongoing quest to fatten him up. She’s twenty-two, four years older than him, and a lawyer who specializes in Quirk-related incidents. She lives alone, and has an older brother named Hisashi who works in a lab in Hong Kong. She cooks better than anyone he’s met, and likes to watch hero battles, for all that she’s an unaggressive person.

He doesn’t learn why she’s doing… all of this. Nothing he learns explains it, either.

One day, after a truly horrible heist the night before where Tenth Flame had ended up injured thanks to his rookie mistakes, he asks, because what little courtesy he’d been holding onto has been stripped away thanks to exhaustion and self-recrimination. She looks at him from where she’s been stirring a pot of noodles, before glancing away.

“Because I want to. Because you don’t seem to know how to take care of yourself. Because company is the best way to stop loneliness. Does it matter, Aizawa-kun?”

No. He supposes it doesn’t.

It morphs into more than food. He catches her one day as she’s walking home with groceries and offers to take half, since she seems to be struggling, and they end up debating Quirk regulation laws. She hears of a success on his patrol and praises him for settling things quickly, and they spend the afternoon baking. He comes home before she’s up, and picks up her mail so she doesn’t have to. She catches when he’s nearing burnout, and lets him quietly sit in someone else’s presence without demanding interaction.

They adjust their routines seemingly without thought.

Midoriya-san finds out he is a hero completely by accident. It isn’t like he’s purposefully hidden it from the woman, but he doesn’t want to spread around what he is in the first place- he’s underground for a reason.

Unfortunately, being underground doesn’t account for his superiors needing to drag him home.

Yuurei is entirely unsympathetic as he keeps Shouta slung over one shoulder, Nagi hovering behind them as they walk to his apartment. The patrol that night had him using his Quirk one too many times and he was exhausted, barely able to keep standing. There was no lecture or reprimand, since Tenth Flame had given his patented Look of Shame. That look could quell blood feuds with the sheer disappointment it radiated.

There’s a choked noise as they go up the stairs, and Shouta blearily looks up to see Midoriya-san, envelopes held in a death grip in one hand. Oh, right. It was morning, now. Normal people were just starting to wake up.

“ Aizawa-kun -? Is he, is he alright? Did something happen-? ”

“He’s fine,” Yuurei interrupts, voice amused, “He just wore himself out on patrol. Do you think-” He fuzzes out, at that point. Everything’s blurry and grey, blending together, and when he next blinks his eyes open, dry and aching, he’s staring at the wall of his bedroom, quilt pulled up to his chin and the smell of sweets wafting through the apartment. He sits up blankly, glancing around and wondering what the hell is going on.

When he enters the kitchen, Midoriya-san is there, nervously humming as she takes a pie out of the oven. He doesn’t have the ingredients for pie. She turns and jumps, a hand covering her chest as she sighs.

“Aizawa-kun! You’re up! I was worried when you collapsed- no warning at all-”

“Why are you here?” She blinks and stares at him like the question is idiotic.

“You- you collapsed . Your superiors weren’t able to stay around, and I have no idea how to contact people you may trust more. What did you think I would do, leave, leave you alone while you’re unconscious and possibly sick?” She huffs, insulted. “Honestly, what sort of person would I be?”

He doesn’t get a chance to answer her as she ducks towards the fridge, pulling something out and revealing a fully-stocked shelf for a split second. She pushes it into his hands.

“Here, it’s something I whipped up- I’ll, I’ll get out of your way. Sorry for intruding.”

As his door shuts, he feels like he’s made a mistake.

The fridge is, in fact, stocked, with a plethora of sweets and meals waiting for him. They’re in the tupperware he’s never had to use, with labels saying what each thing is. It occurs to him belatedly that Midoriya-san must stress cook. It would explain why she’s so good at it.

She was worried for him. Honestly concerned. That’s… confusing. Usually, people are driven away by now unless they’re oblivious like Hizashi or relentless like Emi. Midoriya is… Soft. Stubborn, but not some force of nature like the others. Right?

...No, she counts.

…

He has no idea what to do with the revelation that he’s had a friend and upset them all at once.

The pie is good. Nemuri pats him on the head as she steals two slices and tells him to go apologize.

He grimaces down at the pie. It looks lopsided and pitiful. He doesn’t why he’s doing this.

(Yes he does. Guilt is a great motivator, and he hasn’t seen Midoriya-san since she looked after him.)

Sighing, he boxes the damn thing and steps out of his apartment, grabbing the flowers by the door on his way out. That’s what you do to thank someone, right? Get them nice things like flowers and food.

He has to fight the urge to bolt when he knocks on her door. There’s a pause, a heavy few moments where he’s fidgeting and glaring at his load before the door opens, Midoriya-san glancing up and blinking.

“Aizawa-kun?”

Shit .

He holds out the items like offerings, fidgeting and grimacing. “Thanks for taking care of me, last week.” She stares at them before slowly taking them, shuffling the pastry and flowers in her arms. She’s flushed as she smiles at him.

“It was nothing, Aizawa-kun. We’re friends, after all. Why don’t- why don’t you come in? I was just about to sit down and watch something.”

He does. The All Might movie is idiotic, but snorting together at the bad jokes is worth it.

“What’s it like, working as a hero?” Shouta paused in his writing. The report for the most recent takedown was sitting on the dining table as Midoriya-san filled out her own paperwork.

“...Consuming. Everything you do ends up connecting to it, somehow. How would this be affected by my work, how will it benefit or be harmed, can I do it with my schedule, and so on. It can be an unforgiving job.”

“Is it worth it?”

“Is dealing with fools and idiotic claims worth helping people avoid jail or lawsuits?”

She blinked, before nodding ruefully.

“Yeah.”

He knew opening his eyes that today was going to be a shitty day. There was an ache behind his eyes and his chest felt like there was something heavy pressing down on it. Turning over, he wheezed and reached blindly for his phone, managing to select Akasawa’s number and hit call. The silver-haired man picked up after a few rings, yelling nonsensically into the phone.

“I can’t come in, today,” He finally grit out, coughing right after and having to swallow down a nasty bit of phlegm. Akasawa was quiet over the phone, grumbling, before saying,

“Yeah, you sound like shit, kid. Don’t show up until you’ve got a handle on that, alright? We don’t need you infecting the whole office just because you won’t take a break.” The line cut without any fanfare, and Shouta sighed as he stared at his ceiling and debated going back to sleep.

He texted Hizashi and demanded hot food instead. The blond showed up an hour later with takoyaki of all things, and snorted when he saw Shouta rolled into a burrito. He tugged the brunet into the kitchen without mercy, propping him up in a chair and fetching the cold medicine that sat in the bathroom.

“I met your neighbour, you know,” He said casually as he shook out two pills, “She’s tiny. From the way you talk about her, I would have thought she looked something like Nemuri or Ryukyu.”

“She’s stubborn.” Hizashi only gave him a knowing smile, popping a ball into his mouth. “How’s it going with Tensei?” The smile dropped.

“For your information, I got him to blush yesterday! I think he actually took my flirting seriously for once.”

“Good for you,” He said, and he meant it. Watching Hizashi flit around Tensei for three years had been painful on multiple levels, and seeing his friend make headway was nice. Now, if only they could cross the finish line, then they could all be happy.

“What about you? How are you two doing?” Shouta blinked.

“Us two?”

“You and Midoriya-san?” Hizashi raised an eyebrow. “You two eat together at least three times a week, cook for each other, and watch movies while giggling over your bad taste in jokes. Aren’t you basically dating?”

Shouta stared at him blankly. “No?”

“Do you want to?”

“... No??? ”

Hizashi pat his arm patronizingly and changed the subject. It didn’t help keep Shouta from thinking at all.

Someone tries to mug Midoriya-san on her way home from the train station. Shouta doesn’t know, at the moment he sees it happening, just why she’s out so late, or why she was taking this street home instead of a more busy one, but it doesn’t matter. He drops in the moment he spots an opening, deactivating the mugger’s mildly-dangerous crystallisation Quirk and binding her in his capture weapon, dragging her away from Midoriya-san and yanking her to the wall. It’s over in less than a minute.

Nagi takes to Midoriya-san, making sure she’s unhurt, checking to see if she’s in shock while Yuurei slaps cuffs on the mugger and reads her her rights. Shouta steps back from the situation and breathes.

“Aizawa-kun.” He looks up from where he’s been leaning against the wall and glaring at the mugger. Midoriya-san smiles shakily. “Thank you- thank you for saving me.”

“It’s my job,” He replies, for lack of anything better to say. “Stay near the main streets next time, Midoriya-san.” Yuurei heaves a put-upon sigh next to him, but Midoriya-san’s expression only brightens, losing the shaky edge to it.

“Inko, Aizawa-kun. I think after all this time, you can call me that.”

“...Call me Shouta then.”

(Later, Yuurei congratulates him on functioning like a normal human being as they file their patrol reports at the office. Tenth Flame asks what he means, and it leads to a half-hour talk on basic human decency and what is and isn’t alright to say to your subordinate. Yuurei looks completely unrepentant.)

It turned out Inko had been out at an odd hour because she was shopping for presents.

Shouta stares at the box in his hands dubiously, and fights the urge to shake it.

“You and Hisashi are only a few days apart, so I thought I would knock it out in one go.” She says cheerfully as she beats a rug. “Open it!”

He does. Inside are a pair of goggles, with shuttered coverings over the lenses. He lifts them out of the box carefully, turning them this way and that. The yellow is striking.

“Do you like them? I thought they would be useful, since your Quirk relies on eyesight.” She smiles nervously, fingering the rug. “I know the ones you have now don’t do much besides protect them, and they looked pretty old, so I, well-”

“They’re perfect. Thank you.”

Her face goes red as a tomato, and she won’t stop stuttering. Shouta rubs at the stubble on his face and doesn’t look her in the eye.

Hizashi raises an eyebrow at the new goggles, but doesn’t comment.

Shouta does a lot more than raise an eyebrow at his friend’s new hairstyle. Honestly, what the fuck.

He takes to watching her out of the corner of his eye when they spend time together. She’s small and plump without being overweight, and has dimples from smiling so much. She’s soft-spoken unless she’s passionate about something, and then it’s a trial to get her to quiet down once more. She didn’t see anything strange about latching onto him when she saw he wasn’t taking care of himself, and doesn’t hesitate to barge in when he still isn’t. Her Quirk isn’t strong, her body isn’t strong, but her soul is steadfast.

He wants to be around her, watch her smile and laugh.

Godamnit, Hizashi .

“Nemuri how do I flirt with someone.”

“Oh my god. My baby boy is growing up.”

“ Nemuri .”

The problem is that Hizashi is completely right. They already half-act like they’re dating, eating together and watching movies, walking home together on the rare instances their schedules allow for it, hovering in each other’s spaces when they do paperwork. He doesn’t know how to shift that to romantic, has absolutely zero experience in that area.

It makes things awkward.

Inko frowned when he flinched away from her again, shuffling as they cooked a batch of katsudon.

“Shouta-kun? Is everything alright? You’ve been off, today.” He nodded jerkily. “You’re sure?”

“I’m fine,” He snapped, biting his lip right after. Inko didn’t answer for a long moment, only watching him.

“Is it something that will end up hurting someone?” He hesitated, before nodding his head. “You or someone else?”

“Just me,” He muttered. She hummed, before reaching out and carefully dragging him close. Her head slotted neatly under his chin as they stood there.

“I won’t make you tell me, but remember you can come to me, okay?” He sighed, letting his arms come around her.

That was the problem.

Midoriya Hisashi ends up being the catalyst.

The man appears around Christmas, breaking the calm with his flame-filled shouts and boisterous hugs. Inko is happy he’s there, gushing and spending every moment she can with him, while Shouta is… wary.

The man is a goddamn hurricane in human form. He doesn’t need two of those in his life.

Nevertheless, he’s somehow pulled into activities with the duo, helping cook or ending up hovering behind as they go out to observe Quirks. At one point, they go to the park, and Inko sees a vendor selling hot chocolate, rushing over and leaving the two men alone together.

“So, Aizawa-kun. My big sister seems to really like you.”

“She likes most people.” Hisashi chuckled.

“Yeah, true. Do you like her, though? I know she can mother people without thinking.”

“It’s fine. She doesn’t mother me.”

“Are you sure? I won’t tease if you think of her as a sister-” He grimaced without thought, and Hisashi paused, frowning. “Oi, she isn’t that bad-”

“Does it matter how I think of her? Drop it.” He snapped, relaxing when Inko came jogging back to them. He blew on the cup she gave him lightly, smiling slightly in thanks. Hisashi squinted as Inko handed him his, before making a noise of realisation.

“Oh. You’re both hopeless.” Shouta stared at the older man as he nodded sagely, grabbing Inko by the shoulders and pushing her into Shouta. He grabbed their cups before they could spill, grunting as her head bumped his chin. “You’re both head over heels. Get over yourselves and kiss.”

“ Midoriya. ”

“ Hisashi! ”

They looked at each other. Inko was redder than a strawberry. His own face was warm.

Fuck it.

He leaned down.

Nothing changed. Not really. Now they shared a kiss when one left, and Inko curled into his side when they sat next to each other. They lingered in each other’s space.

It’s a new experience.

Shouta feels he’s lucky that Inko didn’t meet his friends until after they actually started dating.

Hizashi waggled his eyebrows from across the table and Shouta kicked him, ignoring the over-exaggerated wounded expression that follows. Nemuri, Hizashi, and Tensei are sitting across from them while Emi sits next to Inko, the couple boxed into the corner. They’ve been throwing out questions and jokes for the last half hour over burgers.

“How did you two even meet? I know you’re neighbours, but Shouta hides in his bed whenever he isn’t working or when we aren’t dragging him outside.”

Inko laughed awkwardly. “Ah, it’s a little embarassing- looking back on it, I feel like I was so rude.”

“We bumped into each other while I was walking home from grocery shopping, and she insisted on feeding me.” The four of them shared looks.

“All he had was protein pouches, huh?”

“Don’t worry, we stuff him whenever we see him with those things, too.” Inko giggled as he sunk into his seat. The conversation shifted to Shouta’s strange habits, and he watched the group bond as he sipped his soda.

He supposed it wasn’t that bad.

The lights were bright when he finally blinked open his eyes.

“Shouta-kun.” A relieved voice said next to him. He looked over, blinking at Tenth Flame. The brunet had bags under his eyes and a pile of papers in a chair next to him.

“Wh’t h’ppn’d?” His throat was dry, and he coughed.

“Ah, here.” The man passed him a glass of water. “A beam fell on you. You’re lucky Kenshin and All Might were on the scene and could handle you until medical attention arrived.”

Beam…? Oh. Right. There had been an emergency call for a burning building, and his group had been the only one in the area close enough to respond besides All Might. Him and the number one had headed in while EXTREME handled those who came out and The Twins reinforced the building with illusions. They had thought everyone was out when a woman had told him about squatters in the basement, and he had raced back in to make sure no one was there.

The building hadn’t been able to hold up in time for him to escape, even with the reinforcements.

“Ev’ryone’s ‘right?” Tenth Flame huffed, setting down the paper in his hands.

“Besides you, yes. You’re on bedrest for the next week until they’re sure your ribs won’t collapse again. You’ll need to be monitored once you go home, as well.” Shouta grimaced. He’d punch Hizashi if he had to deal with his henning for that long. “Also, there’s someone who wants to talk to you, I believe.”

…?

When All Might came into the room, Shouta resisted the urge to slam his face into the pillow. The hero blustered on and made polite noises until he finally held up a hand, pinching the bridge of his nose and fighting the incoming headache.

“What do you want?” The blond wilted, smile dimming from its creepy radiance.

“Ah… I feel it is partly my fault you were injured, Aizawa-san. If I had searched more thoroughly, there wouldn’t have been a need for you to go back in.” Flowery words that meant jack shit. Except.

Hm. Golden opportunity, here.

“If you’re really sorry, there’s something you can do for me.”

(Inko, when he tells her where he is, rushes in within the hour and pats him down, fretting. It takes her a minute to notice the hulking figure in the room, and when she does, she nearly trips over her own feet. All Might takes it all in stride and has her stuttering smoothed out in ten minutes with his rambling.

He dislikes the man, but seeing Inko puff up in excitement is nice.)

The apartment was a welcome respite after the hospital, and he had to fight the urge to collapse on his futon. Inko puttered around for a few minutes, putting away his medication as he changed into cleaner clothes. Finally, he sat on the sofa, where she joined him. With the tank he wore, the bandages just peaked out from the fabric.

Inko laid a hand over his chest carefully; her expression was unpleasant.

“Is this sort of thing going to… happen, a lot?” He covered her hand with his, hesitated.

“The circumstances this time weren’t ideal, and aren’t likely to repeat. But I’m going to be injured again. It’s inevitable. It may be better or worse than this. It may land me in the hospital, or only require some antiseptic, or kill me. I can’t say for sure.”

She looked at their hands. “Is it bad that I wish you didn’t put yourself on the line? That you did something less dangerous?”

“It’s human, I think,” He said.

They stayed like that, hands twined together and leaned in.

“Happy birthday!”

Inko blinked from her place in the doorway, peering around at them and the decorations that had appeared in her apartment. Shouta smiled from where he was hovering in the kitchen, slapping away Tensei’s questing hands from the cake.

“I, th-thank you all! I didn’t think you knew.” Nemuri wrapped an arm around the shorter woman, grinning.

“Of course we did! You’re our friend too, you know, we don’t hang around you only for Shouta.” Inko smiled and blushed, and was swept into the festivities.

Beyond the cake, Hizashi had brought booze and greasy takeout while one of the others had found old superhero movies, and they spent the evening laughing at the effects and trying to play a game of scrabble. Once it went multilingual and Hizashi started putting down English and Spanish, they gave up.

It was around ten when the others finally left, bidding the woman goodbye and promising to meet up again soon. When it was just the two of them, Inko leaned up with a smile, kissing him.

“I don’t think I’ve had friends over for my birthday since I was in high school. It was nice.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” He murmured back. He let her tug him down, pecking him on the lips again and again. He shivered when they deepened, lacing his arms around her neck.

“Shouta, have you ever…?” He shook his head. Inko smiled, curling a hand around his waist. “Do you want to?”

He shivered again. She tugged him towards the bedroom.

His parents were not impressed that it took him eight months to tell them he was in a relationship. His mother demanded they go up to Kansai immediately, while his father wanted to march down to Musutafu and meet Inko.

Two weeks after he tells them, his mother is forcefully decorating his apartment while his father sits him down in the kitchen and solemnly promises to throw him out a window if he ever mistreats Inko. He also promises to do the same if she mistreats him, so. At least he’s not the only one being threatened.

(Aizawa Yoshiro is a former police officer and capable of throwing his grown son with ease. Aizawa Haneul is capable of the same, if only because her Quirk lets her telepathically move anything she sets her eyes on.

His parents are terrifying.)

They meet Inko when she comes over to his apartment asking for help in dealing with a new client who’s mired in hero law, focusing like sharks smelling blood when her voice sounds out.

“Shouta, could you- oh. Hello.” Inko blinks at the three of them. Shouta closes his eyes. “Uhm. I‘m Midoriya Inko. Nice to meet you…?”

“Aizawa Yoshiro. This is my wife, Haneul. Knowing my son, he didn’t breathe a word about us to you.”

“O-oh! I- it’s so nice to meet you, I most look a mess, I just got off work-”

“It’s fine, dear. I think we’d prefer to see you without any airs, anyways.” His mother smiles at her kindly, patting the seat next to her. “Why don’t you sit down? There’s so much to talk about?”

Shouta watches with mild horror as his girlfriend makes fast friends with his mother. He jolts when his father claps him on the shoulder, shaking his head.

“It’s better than the alternative,” He whispers.

Shouta remembers his grandmother screaming at his mother at a family gathering and decides to trust his father’s judgement.

Shouta stared. The kitten stared back. He jiggled the piece of chicken in his hand again.

It’d been raining on and off for the past week, and he’d been walking home when he heard a meow, followed by a giant splash. He had looked over in time to see the kitten fall ass over end as it jumped from a pile of trash bags. The chicken he was planning to eat (something substantial, for once) was sacrificed to lure it over, and now he was waiting for it to relax enough for him to pick it up.

The kitten finally darted forward, plucking the piece from his fingers and gobbling it up. He tore off another piece and offered it up, the animal reaching for it more readily. Carefully, he reached out and ran a hand down its back, smiling when its tail went up like a question mark.

“Why don’t we get you out of the rain, huh?” He slipped his other hand under its stomach, slowly picking it up and tucking it- him, into the crook of his arm. He hurried home. When he reached his apartment, he unlocked the door with one hand, opening it carefully as he set down the squirming kitten. It zoomed off to parts unknown, but it wasn’t like he’d be searching very hard; there weren’t many places for it to hide.

He found the tiny thing sniffing around his closet, once he had switched into drier clothes, and captured it in a towel, ruffling damp fur and gently drying it. The kitten was a calico, patches of orange and black dotted along its coat, and was tiny- he couldn’t be more than half a year old, at this size. He picked the baby up again when it was finally dry and smiled when it went boneless in his arms, purring.

“Don’t know why you’d be out in that rain, neko-chan.” He murmured. “Why don’t we get you some more food?”

He sleepily watched the little guy chomp through half his chicken as he ate the other half, wondering how Inko was doing. The woman had been sick with a stomach bug for the past few weeks that didn’t seem to be going away, and had finally decided to go to the doctor today. He was just reaching out to pet the kitten again when the doorbell rang, startling him. He shuffled over and opened it, pushing back the baby with his foot. Inko smiled nervously at him, tucking her hair behind her ear. She looked better than she did that morning, a healthy colour to her face.

“Did the doctor figure out what was wrong?” Her smile wavered, and she opened her mouth to say something before startling and looking down. The kitten twined between her legs, looking up at her inquisitively.

“Oh! Who’s this?” She held out a hand to sniff, smiling as the kitten rubbed against it.

“Stray. I found him jumping through garbage on my way home. I was going to take him to a shelter before I headed off for work.” Inko smiled, tweaking a paw and letting it hunt her fingers.

“Well I, I don’t know. We could always keep him. He’d make a good playmate for the baby.”

Shouta. Stopped.

“Baby?”

Chapter Text

Tenth Flame took one look at him when he came in and suspended him from patrols, instead tugging him into his office. The room was decorated in soft browns and reds, with pictures of sidekicks and the main team decorating the walls and a small cat bed taking residence next to the desk. The brunet ushered him into a chair and started a kettle of tea, taking a seat across from him once the water was set to boil. Natsu jumped into his lap, and Shouta began to pet the ginger tabby on automatic.

“What happened, Shouta-kun? Off the record.” Fuck. What hadn’t happened? Shouta thought back to the discussion from yesterday, Inko telling him through tears and shaking that the doctor had told her she was two months along, that she’d need to decide soon if she wanted to keep the baby. Inko saying that she’d keep it, no matter what he said, but that she wouldn’t force him to be involved.

“Shouta-kun?”

“I just found out what my life is going to be for the next two decades and I don’t know how to react.” Yuuto-san blinked slowly at him. The kettle whistled, and he busied himself with pouring two cups, setting one in front of the younger man.

“How far along is she?” The cup was warm. He blew at the steam coming off it, carefully keeping it away from straying paws.

“Two months, according to the doctor.” Yuuto-san hummed, watching him carefully.

“Do you want to be involved? There’s nothing saying you need to be, beyond paying child support. You know Hiroto does that with his daughter.”

“ No .” Shouta cleared his throat, tamping down on the sharpness in his voice. “No, I want to be involved.” Yuuto-san smiled at him gently, reached over and clapped a hand over his.

“Then be happy, Shouta-kun. Go home and kiss Inko-chan, figure out if you want to marry or not, start planning the nursery. It’s only overwhelming now because it’s new, and you’re young.” He grinned, glancing at the family photo on his desk. “It’s worth it, I promise.”

Shouta nodded slowly, and let the man distract him with paperwork and stories about his twin children, contemplating the idea of a green-haired, black-eyed child.

Inko froze when she opened the door, still in her pajamas with bed head. Shouta cleared his throat awkwardly. He had come here straight from the office, not even bothering to stop by his apartment and make sure nothing had been clawed while he was away.

“Can we talk?” She silently moved aside, watching him trudge into the kitchen and stop. They didn’t look each other in the eyes, cringing, before he blurted out, “I want to be involved.”

Her head snapped up from where she had been watching the floorboards, and her breath hitched. “I- really?”

“I’m terrified, and I don’t feel like I’d be a good father or that this is the right time,” He said bluntly, “But I…” He huffed wishing this was easier to put into words. “I care about you, and our… child. And I don’t want to leave you to do this alone.”

He grunted when she slammed into his chest, arms wrapping around him as she buried his face in his shoulder. He was frozen for a split second until he felt her shaking, heard her sob. Then he wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head as she let it out.

“I- I thought you would be too- too-”

“It’s me.”

“You’re twenty , Shouta, you’ve got your career to think about, and, and for all I knew this is just, just some-” She cut herself off, pulling away and scrubbing at her cheeks. “It’s never been serious for anyone else, so I didn’t bother assuming.”

…

He pulled her close again. “Assume. Please.”

The kitten was hanging off the kitchen cabinets when he finally returned to his own flat.

He named him Jelly.

There was, it seemed, much to plan when it came to a baby.

He knew that, of course, common sense dictated taking care of a small human required tremendous time and effort. But he hadn’t realised how much just went into preparation . They had called his parents, because neither had any experience with this, and after his father had yelled at him for a good half hour for only using one form of protection, I fucking taught you better, Shouta, they had sent a list of things to get, what they’ll want to do concerning their jobs and what to avoid when eating or planning activities. His mother promised to send over his old baby clothes and supplies, which made him question why she still had them, but… Less expenses.

But there was so much .

“What’s the point of cloth diapers? Wouldn’t we just use disposables?” Inko peered at the list and their shopping cart, frowning.

“I think it’s for burping? Would you rather use dishcloths?” Ew. No. He grimaced, grabbing a package and tossing it into the cart. He looked to the next item on the list, cocking a brow at… whatever the hell corner covers were.

“Do you two need help?” The two jolted and looked over. Another couple was eyeing them from down the aisle; the man was ginger, while the woman was blond, with a visible baby bump. She grinned at their cart knowingly. “Just starting out?”

“A-ah, yes, we just found out, so we’re getting some things.” The woman nodded, trotting over and peering into their cart. She pulled out the crib they had found, hefting it up.

“You don’t want this, then- this brand is overpriced shit, didn’t last my sister more than a few months before she had to replace it thanks to wear.” She tossed it at her husband, who somehow caught it without flinching, and jerked her head. “C’mon, we’ll show you the good stuff.”

Bakugou Masaru and Mitsuki proved to be invaluable in navigating shopping. Mitsuki was crude, but genuine, and Masaru reminiscent of his mother. When Inko asked to trade contact information, Shouta added his own, and grunted when Mitsuki slapped him on the back.

Another Hizashi, it seemed. At least she would be quieter.

The others were awkward when they came over for hot pot, and it took Shouta a good two hours and Inko leaving to answer a call to figure out why.

“Hey Shouta, is uh, Inko doing alright?” He stared blankly at Tensei, who shifted uncomfortably. “It’s just, she seems like she’s… put on weight? Not that that’s a bad thing, but is it because of stress, or…?”

Oh.

He. He did not know how to answer this. He glanced towards the door, but Inko was still on the phone, yelling at whoever was on the other side. He looked back to the others.

“Protection is very important.” They stared blankly at him for a moment, before Hizashi’s eyes widened and his face went slack.

“Wait- Shouta, you, you’re not-”

Inko came back into the room, interrupting the blond as she grinned at Shouta. “Good news! The leases are set, and we can start moving next month!” They all stared at her, and her smile shrunk, gaining a nervous tint. “Is, is everything okay? What happened?”

“ARE YOU REALLY PREGNANT?” She jumped and stared at Hizashi, before glancing at Shouta. He shrugged his shoulders.

“U-uhm. Y-yes. I’m four months along.”

“Holy fuck.” Nemuri leaned back, staring at nothing. “How is it that Shouta’s the one out of us all to end up with a kid?”

“Dumb luck.” Shouta grunted as Jelly jumped into his lap, meowing and rubbing against his chest. “We’ll need to start packing, then. Gonna need extra hands to move everything.”

“We’ll help!” Tensei jumped in. “That’s what friends are for, after all. And uh, congratulations, you two.”

The other two murmured their own congratulations, Hizashi jumping up and hugging the both of them. Shouta sighed longsufferingly while Inko giggled and hugged back.

One of the neighbours asked if he was getting ready to propose, while they moved in, and it left Shouta thinking in the hours after.

“Should we be… doing more?” Inko paused in her typing, turning towards him.

“What do you mean?” He shifted uncomfortably, gaze steadily on the dishes.

“Some people would see a child as an. obligation to get married,” He pointed out. “I don’t know your own views on it, but-” He was silenced by her hand on his, pulling it out of the soapy water and placing it on her belly. She was showing now, a bump that made her figure curve no matter what she wore. She smiled when her gaze caught his.
“Shouta. Do you want to get married?” He blanched at the thought, and she giggled. “That’s what I thought. Let’s wait a few years, ne? Raising a child is a big thing; I say if we survive the first few years together, then we won’t need to worry about the next thirty.”

Well. He couldn’t disagree with that.

He woke up that first morning in the new apartment to Jelly jumping on his back and yowling for food an hour after dawn, Inko asleep on a numb arm and his pillow covered in drool.

He smiled as he shooed the cat off and went to find the bag of cat food in the forest of boxes.

“There we go! That’s the baby!” Shouta stared dubiously at the projection on the screen. That did not look like a baby. That looked like an alien curled in his girlfriend’s abdomen. “They look healthy, no anomalies to be seen just yet. Do you want to know the sex?”

The two traded a glance. “Please.”

The technician hummed, prodding at Inko’s a belly a bit and moving the wand around. The infant shifted, and they made a noise of triumph as they pointed. “Ah, there we go! If you look closely, then… It looks like you’ll be having a little boy, Aizawa-san, Midoriya-san!”

A boy. Gods. They’d have to start coming up with names.

“Haru.”

“Too common.”

“Hizashi!”

“I’m not naming our child after you.”

“Midori!”

“ Hizashi I will strangle you .”

“What about Isamu? That’s a good name.” Shouta pursed his lips, debating flinging the baby book in his lap across the room and going to find a stiff drink.

“Maybe,” He said grudgingly. Tensei smiled victoriously and went back to texting on his phone. His mother was nearing her due date, and the other was downright obnoxious with how excited he was.

“I like the name Izuku.” He glanced over to Inko. She was perched in her chair, hands laced over the belly that was growing each day. She smiled cheerily at him. “Or maybe something close to yours? Something like Kouta?”

“No.” He glanced back down at the book, grimacing. “Izuku is fine. We’ll put it on the list.”

Better than these flowery things at least.

“Shouta. Shouta!” He jolted awake, shooting up in the bed and looking over to Inko. She had a hand on her stomach and panicked expression, wincing in pain. “I- I think I’m having contractions? But it’s only been five months, what do we do-”

He didn’t know it was possible to carry someone all the way to the hospital, but, well, that’s what he ended up doing. It didn’t occur to him until afterwards, as the doctors were tending to Inko, that they could have called an ambulance, have Hizashi take them in his car, but. It wasn’t important.

The doctor, Madaraki-sensei, pulled them aside with an absent-minded smile, stretching the stitches on her face. “Tell me, this is your first child, right?”

“Y-yes. Is everything alright? I’ve been watching my diet, making sure to attend classes, but-”

“Midoriya-san, calm down, everything’s fine,” The doctor soothed, placing a hand on her shoulder. “There’s a common phenomenon called Braxton Hicks contractions. They can start happening around the second trimester, and are your body’s way of preparing for the real thing. You’re not actually going through labor.”

There was a sigh of relief as they slumped over, Shouta running a hand through his hair. It was tangled to all hell. He’d have to brush it once they went home.

“We’re not doing this again. I’m finding out literally every tiny thing that can happen and then making sure they don’t wake us up at three in the morning,” He said gravely. Inko giggled against his shoulder, a little wet and a little hysterical. Madaraki-sensei sent them off with well wishes and congratulations, and they stumbled into a taxi, not wanting to walk the distance back. His legs were already killing him from the sprint he had done.

They collapsed into bed when they finally opened the door and didn’t move for three hours. Jelly meowed at them, and Shouta only pulled the kitten close, letting him rub against his face as he dozed.

Yuuto-san’s children had been kidnapped.

The news was playing the story over and over despite the perpetrator already having been caught, segueing into different subjects on the protections afforded hero families, the dangers of having one while working, whether heroes should even bother.

They didn’t cover the absolute chaos that exploded in the agency the moment the news of it broke, the office as a whole putting operations on hold as they directed their efforts to finding the twins. They were found three hours in, held captive by a man with a grudge against Tenth Flame for breaking up the criminal enterprise he had been attempting to build.

Yuuto-san hadn’t been allowed to be on the front lines, at that moment. They all knew he would have roasted the man alive.

Inko came in when it was all said and done, hugged Yuuto and his wife and husband; Kenshin hugged back just as enthusiastically, skin glowing while he bawled his eyes out, and Haruko promised the other woman a more peaceful visit once things had settled down. They went home together, Inko clutching one of his hands tightly as they sat on the train.

“Shouta… Will we…?”

He leaned in closer, chin on her head. “I don’t know. I’m trying to stay underground. But I don’t know.”

They were silent as the announcement for their stop rang out, reminding people to not leave their bags or possessions on the train.

“Are you. Regretting this? Being with me?” He asked as they headed from the train station. Inko startled before adamantly shaking her head.

“No! No, never, I promise. It’s just…” She bit her lip, watching the passing crowds. “What can we do to prevent something like, like that from happening to us ?”

He unlocked the door, stepping aside for her to waddle in. Jelly opened an eye from where he was sprawled among the shoes before ignoring them. “It might be best if you aren’t overtly connected to me. Nothing that can somehow be traced back.”

“Which means…?” He hesitated, looking at her.

“Never taking my name. The baby taking yours. Possibly even lying about the father to anyone outside our circle of friends.”

“And you’d be alright with that?” He shrugged, turning away.

“It’d keep you safe.”

She came up from behind him, hugging him close. The bump pressed into his back. They stayed like that until the chill forced them to move, closing the door and settling in for the night.

That night, he dreamed of his father teaching him the weak spots of the human body, pointing out what sort of people to go to if he was in danger. Making sure he knew the numbers to the local emergency departments along with their own, and hugging him each day before he left for school, right up until he graduated from Yuuei.

Inko called Hisashi that week and outlined the plan he had thought up. The man rambled for a good ten minutes before agreeing, even if he declared it weird and offputting to pretend he was his nephew’s father.

Safety came first. Comfort second.

The nursery was finally done the eighth month of Inko’s pregnancy, painted a pastel purple with a crib in the corner of the room. There was a changing station and dresser, as well as a mobile with tiny animals hanging. Stuffed animals and tiny action figures lined the shelves, ready to be played with when the baby was old enough. He glanced around it and felt a small sense of accomplishment. Only one more month.

“You two really outdid yourselves.” Mitsuki glanced around impressed, Katsuki hanging off her hip and burbling at nothing. “Masaru and I ended up doing jack shit for this brat’s. Too young to really care, was our thought.”

“Not much else to do,” Shouta mumbled, “Everything else was already set up, thanks to yours and my parents’ help.” Mitsuki gave him a knowing look but dropped the subject, instead wandering back to the kitchen, where Masaru and Inko were cooking and discussing… something. He thought it involved lab work?

“So! You think these two will be best friends when you finally push out the little parasite?” Inko snorted into her tea as Mitsuki sat, Katsuki in her lap and playing with her hand.

“Mitsuki-chan, you, you could phrase that a little more delicately-”

“When you finally take the bun out of the oven? Squeeze ‘em out? Have a chestburster down below-” Shouta finally couldn’t hold back his laughter, and Inko started giggling, slapping the grinning blonde’s arm.

“You-! Fine, yes, when I push him out , I think they’ll be great friends. No reason not to be, after all.”

“Unless Katsuki ends up with his mother’s temper; then we might end up having to separate them every five minutes,” Masaru joked. Mitsuki smacked him, but smiled anyways. The oven suddenly went off, and Masaru jumped up, hurrying to take the casserole out.

They ate and talked well into the night, anticipating the new beginnings.

Shouta stared at the white door. It didn’t move. His father was sitting next to him, reading the news, while his mother and Inko were on the other side.

He fought the urge to get up and pace.

“When you were born, the doctors were debating a c-section, you know.” Shouta glanced over at the quiet words. His father’s expression was calm, knowing. “She wasn’t progressing along as quickly as she should have, and the labor had been stretching almost to a full day. They didn’t want to place anymore strain on her body.”

“What happened?”

“Around the… twenty-one? Twenty-two, I remember. Around the twenty-second hour mark, she heaved a great breath and demanded a mirror. The doctors didn’t understand why, at first, and I tried to tell her it wouldn’t work, but she didn’t listen, and just kept breathing and bearing down.” Aizawa Yoshiro grinned, looking off into the middle distance as his memories passed by. “She ended up not needing it. All that impatience gave her enough energy to push through and get you out.”

Shouta huffed softly, eyes straying to the door again. “I’m surprised she didn’t break your hand during that.”

“Oh, almost did. I’m surprised she didn’t send me flying into a wall the first time I suggested she use painkillers.” His father snorted softly. “Your mother’s a beast, honestly.”

They sat quietly for a few moments in the hall, Shouta watching the staff and other patients walk by.

“Did you… Were you ever worried you wouldn’t be a good parent?”

“Oh, every day.” He looked to his father in surprise, watched him smile wryly. “I was terrified when we had you, Shouta. Was scared I’d screw you up permanently, hurt you by accident, all sorts of things. We had about ten different parenting books that I’d read constantly. But look how you turned out!”

He grinned widely, knocking his shoulder against Shouta’s. “Gods, graduating from Yuuei, becoming a hero. And now you’ve found a great woman, took charge when the surprise of your life popped up. I don’t think there could be a bigger sign that we did well raising you. So don’t worry too much, alright? Your best is better than you think. Besides,” He nodded to the door, grin softening to a smile, “I think you’ve got something else to be doing right now than worrying.”

The midwife stood in the doorway, patiently waiting for them to look over and smiling when their eyes met. “Aizawa-san? They’re ready to see you.”

He stood unsteadily, scrubbed at his eyes and hurried forward. The room was as white as the rest of the hospital, blood already scrubbed away and Inko laying sweaty on the bed. His mother sat nearby, smiling, but he ignored her in favour of stumbling over to the chair next to the bed, falling into it. There was a lump on her chest, wrapped in a blue blanket and moving slightly.

“Hey,” He said hoarsely. Inko grinned.

“Hey,” She said just as quietly. She shifted the lump, pulling the blanket back to reveal a scrunched, red face. “Shouta, meet little Izuku. Izukkun, meet your daddy.”

He stretched a hand out hesitantly, brushing fingers against green wisps before letting it drop down to a tiny hand. It fisted around his finger on automatic, tugging.

“Hey,” He whispered. He hesitated. “...Welcome to the world, little guy.”

That little face scrunched some more, and tiny eyes slowly peeked open, revealing tiny blue gems that stared up at him. He smiled wobbily.

Izuku smiled back.

Chapter Text

Jelly stared at the infant. Shouta kept hands poised for if tiny claws so much as appeared.

The cat leaned forward, sniffing at Izuku’s face as his nose scrunched. Finally, he butt his head into Izuku’s face, purring loudly as he demanded petting. Shouta breathed a sigh of relief as Izuku shrieked, descending into cooing and waving.

They held the Oshichia* a week after Izuku’s birth; it was a formality, but a warm one, and Shouta watched Hisashi cry over his nephew while his mother and father chatted with Inko’s father.

Izuku was oblivious to it all and kept trying to look at everything. He wondered what the baby saw, as nearsighted as he was at this age.

Dealing with an infant was… difficult.

Shouta knew this beforehand. He wasn’t an idiot, knew it would be a huge undertaking that involved less sleep than even he could deal with and constant worry over how safe the house was.

But it didn’t cover the worry over the little things . Shouta worried over whether or not Izuku was babbling enough for his age, if it was alright to use this shampoo or that while bathing, if he could use this brand or if it was Instant Baby Death the Product ™ . When the kid just fell over during his bath, he spent five minutes calming himself from his immediate panic that he’d hit his head.

Shouta legitimately spent ten minutes at the supermarket staring at the air freshener they had and debating whether it would be alright to use , when the kid didn’t even go near the bathroom.

He suddenly had all these tiny details to pick out, worry over, decide on and cement the health of his tiny son.

He had a feeling this was how Hizashi and the others had felt, attempting to take care of him when he went through his depressive slump.

Inko went back to her job two months after Izuku was born, and they worked out a schedule that went fairly well for them.

During the day, Shouta would take care of Izuku, making sure that he and Jelly didn’t manage to destroy the apartment or his playpen. He’d take catnaps between bouts of activity, and when Inko came home, she would cook dinner while he had one more long stretch of sleep. They’d eat, he’d say goodbye, and she would take over for the night. Jelly proved to be a good warning for when Izuku was about to start crying, so they avoided many outbursts that may have otherwise unpleasantly jolted them awake.

On the off-chance both of them were busy, say he was pulled in for an emergency or she was tied up in a long case, Masaru and Mitsuki would take the two for the night, letting Katsuki and Izuku sleep together while Jelly yowled for food and his humans. It was a good system.

Shouta hummed to himself as he went down the shopping list, grabbing an apple that seemed relatively healthy. He checked for bruising before he put it in the basket, letting Izuku grab at his fingers along the way.

“Gonna love this shit when you get teeth,” He mumbled, running his hand through green fluff. “Your mom’s obsessed with fruits and vegetables, you’ll get the stuff shoved down your throat constantly.”

A woman was staring at them from down the aisle, and he raised a brow at her, watching her hurriedly turn away and mutter to her companion. Gossiping vultures.

He finally headed to the counter, basket laden with supplies for the next week. Kaminari-san smiled at him as he rang up the groceries, glancing at Izuku amusedly.

“He’s looking healthy, Aizawa-san. My own’s already a little terror.” Shouta grunted, shifting a little when Izuku fussed. He pulled out the tiny bear that Izuku had taken to recently, letting him grab and squeeze it with a contented noise. Kaminari-san smiled again and rang up the total, taking his card with ease.

“Have a good day, Aizawa-san, Izuku-chan! It should be raining soon, so stay dry!” He waved the hand not preoccupied with groceries, deftly grabbing the bear as Izuku dropped it. Kaminari-san laughed before the door shut, but Shouta ignored it in favour of peering up at the clouds. The blond was right; it looked ready to pour.

He hurried home, humming the tune of an old anime opening while Izuku babbled at nothing.

Midoriya Hiroshi was a kind man, obviously the source of his daughter’s personality and son’s passion. He was a literature professor at the local college, specializing in the effects of historical notions of heroes on modern-day protectors. When he first met Shouta, six months into the pregnancy thanks to clashing schedules and a health scare on his end, he had dragged him into a hug and said he was ecstatic to have another son.

(The cheerful promise to roast him alive if he left Inko to deal with a child on her own lent him some respect, if only because he said it with a perfectly level tone and bright smile before turning round and greeting Inko.)

When he came for the Okuizome*, he helped Shouta’s mother in the kitchen and reminisced about Hiashi and Inko’s ceremonies, gushing over them.

“You wouldn’t believe it with how skinny he is, but we had to stop Hisashi from grabbing the food and eating it himself! He hadn’t even grown any teeth yet, and he was still trying to eat his fill.” He grinned at his son’s groans, shaking his head. “And Inko- my mother had made pickled plums, and Inko wouldn’t stop staring at them like they were about to attack her. I guess the smell put her off them.”

“Shouta fell asleep during his, the lazeabout.” Yoshiro snickered, waving a small rattle in front of Izuku, who tried valiantly to grab it. “I don’t think this one will cause any trouble- he’s too well-mannered. Just like your granny, you are, nice until someone isn’t looking, hu? I bet we’ll be dragging you away from the chairs when you’re old enough to reach the counters, huh?”

“That was one time, I can’t even remember it -”

“Boy, the day I let you live down trying to make a nest on the cabinets is the day I die.”

“Shouta, oh my god-” Inko giggled into her hand as he threw his up, rolling his eyes.

The ceremony went fine. Izuku stared at them all like they were bugs under a microscope as they pretended to feed him food, but nothing went wrong, so it was good in his book.

Shouta realised the moment he slid his third picture of Izuku and Inko into his wallet that he was turning into his boss.

He stood there staring for long enough that Kawaguchi stopped and asked if he was alright, sword slung across his shoulder as he squinted.

“Am I going to start making horrible jokes and offering people food? Shoving baby pictures on anyone who starts a conversation with me?” Kawaguchi blinked at him. Before breaking down into laughter. “Oi.”

“Never change, Shouta. And to calm you down, no, I don’t think you’ll turn into Kenshin.” Kawaguchi shivered, smile going crooked. “I don’t think anyone could manage that level of energy.”

True.

“ Shit! ”

“Shouta!” He looked over to Inko, sucking on the finger he had accidentally cut. She was covering Izuku’s ears with a scandalized expression, despite the one year-old being more focused on dragging himself upwards. “Don’t say words like that! He may pick them up!”

“Inko, everything we say is probably gibberish at his age. I doubt he understands what I’m saying at all.”

“Still!” He rolled his eyes as Inko put her hands on her hips, pushing his hair behind an ear; it had been growing out lately, since he didn’t have time to cut it.

“Look, at least I’m not Mitsuki. It wouldn’t surprise me if they try to get Katsuki to say Mama and Papa and he ends up calling them bitches instead-” There was a tugging on his pants leg, and Shouta glanced down, expecting Jelly to be begging for petting again.

Izuku stared up at him with green eyes, fist shoved into his mouth.

“Uh.”

“Oh my god.” Inko looked stricken when he glanced at her. “We missed his first steps. When did he figure out balance. Oh my god, Shouta, we’re horrible .”

He ignored her as he carefully picked Izuku up, smiling at the boy. Izuku grinned in response, four teeth gleaming.

“You did very good, Izuku.” He solemnly shook the baby’s hand with his finger, rubbing a chubby cheek with stubble to make him giggle. “Ve-ery, ver-ry good. Why don’t you do it again when your Mama has the camera?”

Inko nearly ran into a doorway grabbing the camera, but Izuku was perfectly willing to toddle to her while she recorded.

Hizashi very, very carefully, extended a hand to Izuku, who took it and excitedly shook it, used to this exchange. Behind the tape, the blond gave him a look of pure adoration.

“Isn’t this a bit much?”

“”Do you trust him not to accidentally yell down the house because Izuku reeled him in?” Point. Shouta glanced at Tensei, who was sitting on the couch and playing with Tenya’s legs. The blue-haired boy was a fussy one, constantly demanding attention or stimulation, which Tensei was glad to provide if the constant pictures he sent meant anything. The two toddlers were meant to be having a playdate, but Hizashi had taken one look at Izuku and demanded cuddle time.

“How’s it going, anyways? First baby, living with the girlfriend…” Tensei trailed off, and Shouta hummed.

“As well as it can. We’re adjusting to each other and the responsibility. It’s a good sign we’re still relatively stable, I suppose.” He paused, thinking. “I’m glad he’s done with baby food. Shit’s disgusting.” Tensei nodded knowingly. He’d been helping out as much as possible at home. He knew the nastiness of pureed greens.

Stretching, Tensei picked up Tenya and carefully set him on the blanket, next to a pillow. The toddler whined as he moved away, but quickly stopped when Izuku was placed next to him. The two stared at each other, curious, before Izuku reached over and slapped a tiny engine. Tenya squawked and shoved a hand in his face, trying to push him away, and the two fell on top of each other trying to escape the other’s chubby hands.

They quickly separated them, but it didn’t stop Izuku from sending Shouta a betrayed look that had him chuckling and feeling guilty at the same time.

“Well. That went well.”

Izuku never talked, despite hitting all his other milestones. He could walk, had his teeth grow in and tracked objects, woke up less and less in the night. He loved to scribble formless blobs with his crayons and got stars in his eyes whenever Inko or Shouta handed him one of the All Might action figures. But he wouldn’t talk.

Shouta was just about ready to tear his damn hair out over it. They took him to the doctor, who said there wasn’t anything else wrong, that he may just be mute, or his Quirk may be affecting it in a way they couldn’t identify yet. They took him to a psychologist, who said there was no developmental disorder apparent to explain it and he seemed like a well-adjusted child. They talk to their parents , who are at a loss, since Hisashi and them had all been babbling by this point and demanding food and attention with two word sentences.

Yuuto gave him a week off around the tail end of it, seeing that he was running himself ragged trying to figure it all out.

“Come in Monday, he says. Relax a little, he says,” Shouta muttered, scrubbing a pan harshly. “The fuck does he expect me to do but worry? How the fuck am I supposed to relax?” Something tugged on his pants, and he ignored it, knowing Jelly had been begging for more food lately thanks to Izuku dropping scraps. He dropped the pan into the drain board, turning on the spray. “Goddamn- it’s like he’s stuck in the thirties. Asshole.”

“Papa, tha’s ba’ word.”

“I’ve got Inko stressing herself out and eating to compensate, dad riding my ass about keeping her calm, Nemuri of all people trying to get me to apply to fucking Yuuei -”

“Papa! Tha’s ba’ word!” Shouta paused. Blinked at the cabinets and then looked down. Izuku frowned up at him, slapping his leg with one chubby hand. “Mama say tha’s bad! You can’ say it!”

What.

“Izuku. You-” He stopped. Crouched down carefully, so he didn’t fall on his ass. “Sweetie, how long have you been able to talk?”

Izuku shrugged.

“Why didn’t you say anything, when we took you to the doctor’s?”

Another shrug. “You din’t talk t’ me.”

…

Shouta put his head in his hands and carefully counted to ten. Then he cleared his throat.

“Why don’t we send Mama a video to cheer her up at work today, Izuku? We can sing your favourite song for her.”

Izuku beamed at him, clapping his hands together. “Yeah!!”

Shouta sang the All Might anime theme song and resisted the urge to set fire to the computer as he sent the video to Inko. She called him crying and demanding if it was real, and they spent half an hour basking in ungodly relief.

Katsuki is… a rough child. He bosses around the other children he and Izuku play with, likes to be the leader whenever they play and mostly insists on games like villains versus heroes. Mitsuki writes it off as a childish tendency, something that he’ll grow out of, and Inko listens to her, but Shouta and Masaru have their doubts.

“I love the two of them, you know? But Mitsuki is loud, and I know it took until her teens for her to smooth out her edges.” Masaru took a drag of his cigarette, offering it to Shouta who declined. “I’m worried Katsuki’ll be the same way. And he’ll have that explosive power behind him.”

“You’ll always be there to rein him in. And it’s not like Mitsuki is completely oblivious. She knows it won’t go well if he turns more violent.” Shouta glanced over to where the children were playing, Izuku waving a Gang Orca figure while Katsuki gripped an All Might one. “Don’t worry too much. As long as you keep watch, you’ll be fine.” He smirked. “And besides, with Izuku there, he won’t be able to get up to much. He’s practically a student council member with how much he polices their behaviour.”

The mood broke, and Masaru chuckled into his arm like Shouta had planned. They’d be fine, he was sure.

Izuku had freckles.

Shouta stared at the tiny spots with no small measure of suspicion. Izuku endured it placidly, continuing to colour in his book.

(Cats weren’t normally purple, but self-expression was important, after all.)

“Do these run in your family? I don’t think mine have them.” Inko smiled at him in amusement, pecking his cheek.

“You get them, silly.”

“What? No I don’t.”

“The one time I got you to stay in the sun shirtless for a few hours, your shoulders broke out in them. You get them, Shouta.”

He spent an hour glaring at his shoulders and prodding his skin. The fuck. This is why he didn’t go in the sun, his body did weird shit.

“Papa. Papa, I wanna be a hero.” Shouta looked up from his mission report at Izuku. The toddler was sat in front of the laptop, practically vibrating in his seat. That damned All Might video was pulled up, waiting to replay or be closed out. “Can I be a hero?”

“You have to train first, and go through a lot of schooling,” Shouta replied, “Like I did. And even then you might not make it. You prepared to do that?” Izuku nodded so quickly his head looked ready to fall off, and Shouta huffed in laughter. “Alright then.”

“You think I can do it, Papa?” He reached out ran a hand through green fluff, smiling.

“I think you can do whatever you set your mind to, Izuku. That’s where you’re not different from your Mama or Papa.”

Izuku beamed and asked for him to replay the video again. He did, after making sure the headphones were plugged in so he didn’t need to hear that obnoxious voice.

“Izuku, why don’t you ever want Eraserhead things? You ask for All Might, Gang Orca, and the Pussycats, but never Papa or Uncle Hizashi.” Shouta sighed. Again with this. Inko was worried over it, wondering if Izuku was somehow judging him for not being as popular, but he’d written it off as Izuku wanting the more popular heroes’ merch. It wasn’t like he even had much, after all, being as underground as he was.

Izuku looked at his mother strangely, pouting. “Why would I need any stuff of them? I have Papa and Zashi-ojisan. They’re better than any figures or posters.”

…

Oh god. This kid. Shouta reached over and drew him into a hug, rubbing their cheeks to hear him shriek about stubble.

Tenya and Izuku’s second meeting goes markedly better than the first. The two spend the whole time gushing over heroes, with Izuku proudly showing off the multitude of selfies that Hizashi and Nemuri had taken with the Yuuei staff and sent to them. Tenya in response pulls his brother over and makes him show them the pictures of all the sidekicks he insisted on hiring.

Both have a healthy respect for the other and their connections. Shouta’s just glad there isn’t another fight.

Shouta regretted agreeing to this conference. Akasawa yowled in the bathroom, where he was taking a shower and saw fit to attempt singing, and he groaned and pressed his hands into his eyes. The call, when it came, was a godsend, and he ducked out to the balcony as he accepted it, gazing out at the city. It was a sea of lights, the nightlife its own entity.

“I may kill Ichirou if he keeps singing. It’s worse than Hizashi when he tries to hit low notes.”

Inko didn’t giggle at his words, which was the first sign that something was wrong. The second was the watery intake of breath audible over the phone, and the lack of music playing in the background signalling that Izuku was home and watching television.

“Inko? What’s wrong?”

“The school,” She paused, swallowing. “The school was worried, since Izuku hit the threshold for manifestation of his Quirk, so I took him to a doctor. And Izukkun… Shouta, he has the extra toe joint.”

He leaned heavily against the railing, eyes closing without his permission. “He’s Quirkless.”

“A ninety-nine percent chance, they said,” Inko whispered. “He, he wants to be a hero, still wants to be. How can someone Quirkless be a hero, Shouta? He’ll get himself killed, but, but, how can I say that to a four year-old?”

He looked out at the city. The lights were glaring in the dark, hurting his eyes. “You don’t. You make sure he knows he isn’t worth any less than a child with a Quirk and make sure he’s prepared.” Akasawa yelled a question out into the suite, but he ignored the man. “Being Quirkless isn’t necessarily a death sentence.”

“But, without a Quirk- what defense will he have? ”

“What defense do I have, besides my training?” He countered. Inko fell silent.

“ ...Even so… ”

“He’s our son,” Shouta agreed. He sighed. “The best we can do is support him. Make sure he knows we aren’t judging him for it, and that it doesn’t mean he can’t do what he wants. I’d talk to Masaru and Mitsuki to make sure Katsuki handles it well, too.”

“ ...Alright. I love you, Shouta. ”

“Love you.” He closed the phone, staring down at it. By the doorway, Akasawa cleared his throat.

“Everything alright?” He looked back at the blond, sighing.

“As much as it can be. Are you done with the shower?”

Izuku sobbed when he finally came back and sat him down. Shouta went and dug out his old notes for school on fighting styles and anatomical weak points, and told Izuku they would begin training when he was older.

It was worth seeing that smile come back, as wobbly as it was.

The school called him on a normal afternoon and interrupted Shouta’s sleep, leaving him irritated and messy when he trudged in. Sitting in front of the principal’s desk was Izuku and his teacher, who had a disapproving expression while his son was teary-eyed and angry. He was immediately on edge.

“Can you explain to me why you called me instead of his mother, who we explicitly listed as the first contact due to my job?” The principal faltered when he immediately went for the jugular, the spineless idiot. They quickly recovered, peering down at a report and the people in the room.

“Please sit down, Midoriya-san. We just needed to speak to you about Midoriya-kun’s behaviour problem-”

“Behaviour problem?” The faculty both froze at his tone. “You’ll have to backtrack. I can assure you my son has no such thing, unless you’ve managed to confuse two of the children.”

“Midoriya-san, I can assure you, we aren’t lying! He keeps fighting with the other children, and just the other day, he had to be separated from Katsuki-kun! It’s disrupting the classwork to the point where I have to send him out!” Shouta tilted his head at the teacher. Aomune Chika, a woman capable of creating photographs she could manipulate by hand. Employed for two years, generally good track record.

He turned to his son instead of responding to her.

“Izuku, what happened?”

“They’re picking on kids, Papa!” His son looked outraged, cheeks ruddy and face scrunched. “They’re- the kid’s Quirk isn’t there yet, or they’ll be small and un, un-notable, and, and Kacchan and the others will bully them, and it’s not fair! It’s not right, and they shouldn’t be doing it, but the teachers let it happen because Kacchan’s Quirk is so cool, and they’ll pick on me because I’m- I’m-” He stopped, scrubbing at his eyes. “And the teachers won’t do anything then, either! I have to fight, or else I’ll get hurt more!”

He closed his eyes, regretting letting Izuku talk him into believing the bruises from the past few weeks were from particularly rough play. Then he opened them and turned to the two staff members, smiling when they blanched.

“Would you care to explain why you ignored my son being bullied for- oh, a month now?”

“Quirkless”. The word rankled at him like an annoying fly. Who was the asshole who thought there needed to be some distinction, like it made a difference whether or not someone had a superpower? For all intents and purposes, considering human baseline, Izuku’s hair could be considered a fucking Quirk for not being natural half a century ago.

Shouta tsked to himself as he walked Izuku home, shuffling through the papers in hand.
It would be a bitch to switch schools, but damn if he was letting the boy be somewhere run by incompetents.

“Izuku.” The boy flinched, not looking up from the ground. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Izuku kicked at a rock on the ground, watching it skid. “...Didn’t want you to be dis’ppointed.”

“Why would I be disappointed?” He didn’t respond, and Shouta pressed him. “Izuku.”

He finally broke. “I’m Quirkless! It’s bad enough I can’t be a hero, I didn’t want to be weak, and, and need help just to defend myself! And, and, it’s Kacchan, so I thought, I thought it was just playing around at first, and then he-” He quieted abruptly, sniffling, “And then he got mean , and wouldn’t stop, and I didn’t know what to do, because he’s my friend, and you’re friends with Masaru-ojisan and Mitsuki-obasan and I didn’t want to upset them and-”

“Izuku, breathe.” Shouta stopped, crouching and putting his hands on Izuku’s shoulders, grabbing his attention. “No matter what happens, nothing will affect my friendship with Mitsuki and Masaru. This isn’t the sort of thing to do that. And more importantly, even if he’s your friend, and even if you don’t have a Quirk, that doesn’t give him permission to hurt you. Someone who does that isn’t a good friend. Understand?”

Izuku nodded shakily, and Shouta pulled him in for a quick hug before heading up the stairs, unlocking the door to the apartment. He set the paperwork on the table while Jelly twined round their legs and pulled out a small snack for Izuku, setting it down along with a glass of juice.

“You stay here and eat, alright? I just need to run an errand. I’ll be back within the hour.” Izuku looked like he’d rather follow him out the door, but the boy quickly took his seat, munching on a cracker dejectedly. Shouta only shook his head.

Locking the door behind him, he headed for the Bakugous’. Masaru would be raising hell very soon.

Katsuki was grounded for months at the very least, and Shouta had the pleasure of sitting him down and staring him into nervousness.

“Would you care to explain yourself? Keep in mind him being ‘weak’ or ‘useless’ isn’t going to fly with me.” Katsuki glared at him heatedly. “I expect an answer, Katsuki. This behaviour isn’t excusable.”

“What do you care? You don’t give a damn about Deku anyways, you keep telling him he can still be a hero!” Shouta tilted his head.

“ Deku? ” Katsuki flinched, looking away. “How does my encouragement mean I don’t care?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes it does. I’d say it matters as much as Izuku coming home with bruises and thinking he has to defend himself from his oldest friend.” He leaned back, crossing his arms. “Why do you think Izuku can’t be a hero?”

“Because he’s Quirkless! He can’t be a good hero in the first place, he’ll go out and, and get himself hurt, or killed, and it’ll be your fault because he wouldn’t stop thinking he could be one!”

Ah. Worry and terror wrapped in anger. He eyed Katsuki, taking in the clenched fists and defensive set to his shoulders, flicked his eyes up to Masaru’s and Mitsuki’s. They’d already figured that Katsuki was feeling a little threatened by Izuku, thanks to the overzealous praise ( favoritism ) of the teachers, but the second layer of this was just as messy.

“Katsuki. Do you remember Sir Nighteye? All Might’s sidekick.”

The boy twitched, gaining a suspicious look. “Yeah? Of freakin’ course.”

Shouta nodded. “Good. What does his Quirk do in battle beyond show him what will happen? Does it provide him any defense, a weapon, anything like that? Additionally, does my Quirk do anything besides give me an upper hand?” Katsuki blinked slowly, expression freezing. “We fight Quirkless, Katsuki. If we didn’t have our Quirks, barely anything would change in our work. And we’ve been working for over half a decade at this point.”

Katsuki stared at him like he was a strange creature from the twilight zone. Shouta left him to it.

Shouta squinted and frowned. The employee noticed him and came over with a fixed smile. “Good morning, sir! Looking to buy, or are you simply browsing?”

He blinked at them, before pointing at a simple pair of gold bands, marked as available for inscriptions. “I’d like those, please. I have what I want inscribed written down.”

“Wonderful choices, sir. And how are you paying…?”

Their smile became markedly less fixed once he pulled out the stash of bills he had been storing away from Inko’s sight. They quickly worked through the details, and he soon had the confirmation that they would call him once the inscription was finished.

His birthday was in two weeks. He could treat himself.

She said yes. They hold a quiet ceremony a month later with their family and friends and watch the snow fall surrounded by warmth.

Assume, please , pressed into her finger, while Because I want to rested against his.

“Shouta, do you think I’m getting… heavy?”

He spat in the sink, glancing up in the mirror. Inko was eyeing herself fresh out of the shower, frowning down at the newfound pudge that had been building over the past few months.

“Yes.” He paused. “But you’re still you.”

She gave him a wounded look, quickly wrapping herself in a towel. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That you’re still the woman I met six years ago and thought was too kind and pretty to be stuck dealing with dumbasses who destroyed their house.”

“I-oh.” She flushed, and he watched it spread down her chest avidly. “O-oh.”

“Mm.” He pulled her close. “I don’t care if you put on weight. If you want to lose it, lose it, but it doesn’t matter either way to me.”

She snorted, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Alright, then. Thank you, honey.”

Shouta trusts Hizashi to watch over Izuku for a weekend while he and Inko unwind and enjoy some rare solitude. This is a mistake.

They come home to the neighbours glaring at them and their walls looking like something had slammed into them repeatedly. Recognising the marks, he immediately lunged for Hizashi, grabbing him by the hair and binding him with his scarf.

“What did I say about using Quirks.”

“Shoutaaaaa let me BOND-”

“ What did I say, you goddamn banana slug. ”

“SHOUTA-AA-” He covered Hizashi’s mouth, slapping him upside the head for good measure. Glancing up, he saw Izuku smiling sheepishly while Inko fiddled with a bright green megaphone, taking out the batteries. She held it up at Izuku, smiling crookedly.

“Let’s not use this in the house again, ne? Maybe when we’re at the park, instead.”

“Yes, Mama.” Izuku glanced at Hizashi. “Is Hizashi-ojisan going to be alright…?”

“No, he is not.” Shouta took out his phone and texted Nemuri and Tensei. “He is very much not going to be.”

Fucking Hizashi.

Tensei is no better. He brings over Tenya, who is a little angel up until the moment Izuku convinces him they should pretend to be Sonic and fucking zoom out the door .

Nemuri, bless her sadomasochistic heart, sits Izuku quietly down for colouring and talks to him about what it’s like to teach at Yuuei before making greasy snacks for the two of them. Bless Nemuri.

Tenya and Izuku were focused entirely on the papers in front of them, debating costumes and names and what office they wanted to start out at, and Shouta watched them with no small amount of amusement as he went through forms at his own seat.

Fucking Nemuri, submitting paperwork without telling him. At least Nedzu was willing to accommodate him needing to bring along Izuku sometimes- he wasn’t about to leave the six year-old alone in the apartment the whole evening until one of them came home.

The doorbell rang, and he glared at the door until it rang again, insistently this time. With a sigh, he heaved himself up and trudged over, opening the door just enough to peer out.

Katsuki glared up at him with no small amount of challenge. He only raised a brow.

“Can I see Izuku?”

“I don’t know, can you?” The boy’s face went purple, and Shouta snorted before shaking his head. “Let me get him.”

Izuku, when told Katsuki was there, wilted before sitting straight and gaining a determined expression. He told Tenya he’d be back in a few minutes before toddling to the door and going outside. Shouta watched them for a few moments before turning to Tenya.

“Did something happen, Aizawa-san?”

There was a loud screech, and the sound of Izuku giggling outside. Shouta shrugged. “Nothing bad, Tenya. They’ll be back in a minute or so.”

The duo tromped back in. Tenya is hesitant if willing to talk to Katsuki, who is standoffish as per usual. They continue talking about hero business, and Shouta left them to it, since there doesn’t seem to be any explosions or screaming.

“Hold on, let me get Kacchan!”

“Ah, Izuku-kun, maybe it could… just be us, today?”

“But, but, shouldn’t it be all of us? It’s not fair if it’s only us.” Tenya stared at Izuku, who was doe-eyed and innocent. Shouta covered Tensei’s and Hizashi’s mouths and kept them from laughing.

“I… I suppose so.”

Izuku was his mother’s son, there was no doubt about that.

Shouta stared out at the masses, wondering what the hell he was even doing with his life anymore. Nemuri and Hizashi slapped him on the back, both in their hero gear with shit-eating grins on their faces.

“It’s gonna be great Shouta, you’ll see! Once you get into the swing of things, teaching is an amazing experience!” He eyed Nemuri dubiously.

“Really?”

“Fuck no. But there’s tons of jailbait and no one can protest if you expel a kid since the school’s so selective.” The jailbait thing was skeevy, but the prospect of thinning the business some and preventing zero-potentials from breaking through…

He looked at the teenagers in a new light. Some of them, noticing him, shivered. This was going to be fun.

When Izuku turned eight, Shouta took him to a nearby beach, cluttered with debris and trash, and had him stand in a spot he had cleared specifically for this. He sat the boy down on the sand, making sure he had his undivided attention.

“What I’m going to teach you isn’t to be used against people. It’s not supposed to be used at all unless you need to defend yourself. Do you understand? Until you begin training for hero work, this is strictly practice.” Izuku nodded vigorously, hands digging into the sand. “Good. I want you to pose as if you were going to hit someone, then.”

Izuku’s form was horrible. Of course it was, considering the boy’s only exposure to fighting was bullies and action movies. At least he had expected it and was prepared. Shouta went over the basics, emphasizing the importance of stretching and not overthinking movements. Moved a thumb out of a fist, explained how to best stun someone with a hit to the solar plexus.

Izuku absorbed it like a sponge. He was determined, enthusiastic, and Shouta was glad that they had switched to a school that encouraged rather than belittled him, made him consider workarounds instead of telling him to give up. He didn’t know if Izuku would be as strong as he was if had stayed at the first one.

He taught his son and felt content waiting for the future.

Shouta shuffled into the genkan, regretting viscerally picking up that second patrol when he had a class scheduled at nine this morning. He toed his shoes off, stumbling into the living room and ready to collapse on the couch before stopping.

Jelly, the fatass, meowed from where he was perched on one of Tenya’s engines. He eyed the child, wondering why the hell he was here before writing it off. Fuck it, not his business at five in the morning. He went to the armchair and collapsed, instantly falling into a doze.

He came to some time later with smothered giggles and something tickling his nose. He pried one eye open, ready to beat the shit out of whichever friend had woken him up, only to be greeted with white and orange hindquarters and Izuku hurriedly taking pictures.

“Izuku, why .”

“Mom likes pictures!” He shoved the camera into Tenya’s waiting hands before carefully picking up Jelly, ignoring the cat’s whines of displeasure. “Okay, you can move.”

He heaved himself up, glaring at the camera before deciding it wasn’t worth it. Staring at the two expectant children, he sighed heavily.

“Alright. I can manage omelettes right now and probably nothing else without setting off the fire alarm. It’s that or cereal and fruit, so make your choice now.”

He took his sleeping bag into school and ignored the students walking in until the bell rang for homeroom. They stared, but he was more comfortable than he’d be on the staffroom couch and also there , so fuck it.

Izuku peered nervously at Nedzu, who smiled back patiently. Finally, the child carefully held a hand out, smiling when Nedzu shook it.

“It’s nice to meet you, sir! I’ve read a lot about all the changes you made at Yuuei when you became Director and principal! Is it true you terrified the board into adding the Management course to Yuuei?”

“Well, I won’t say I terrified them; after all, with all the evidence I provided, they were more than willing to add it.” After you made them think you’d hide their bodies where no one could find them, you mean . Shouta hid his snort in a cough, ignoring Nedzu’s knowing glance as Izuku rambled on.

“Why don’t you sit down and relax, Izuku-kun? I’m sure Shouta-kun needs to get to his classes now.” Izuku paused and straightened, nodding. He turned on his heel and latched onto Shouta, squeezing tight.

“Bye, Papa! See you this afternoon!” Shouta smiled faintly as he hugged back.

“Be good for Nedzu. Don’t get into trouble.”

His first class of the day was markedly better, even if he had to correct a kid before he broke his own arms with the move he pulled.

Hisashi was a dead man. Shouta stared at the mounds of merchandise and felt a twitch start up in his eye.

“ Why .” The green-haired man shrugged and offered him a sunny grin.

“Well, the big guy himself offered it all, so who was I to say no?” Izuku shot up from where he had been gazing starry-eyed at a spread of All Might.

“YOU MET ALL MIGHT!?” Hisashi’s grin went crooked even as he let the boy crash into him, patting at his stomach like a tiny cymbal monkey.

“Aha, yep. He’s pretty impressive up close. Very, er. Big. And. American.” Shouta narrowed his eyes at the other man, who jerked his head. Not now.

Alright then. He could wait. He’d make him suffer in the meantime, anyways.

Later, with Izuku in bed and the posters and action figures set up in his room, Shouta sat down with Hisashi on the couch while Inko steeped tea. His brother-in-law heaved a long sigh, stretching in his seat.

“Look, before you start asking things, I can’t say much. I can barely say anything, in fact, thanks to all the NDAs they had me sign.”

“So.. What can you tell us? What had you meeting All Might of all people?” Hisashi shrugged helplessly at his sister, expression distinctly unnerved.

“I… He needed some things. A material that could expand and retract with a form that transformed drastically and was combined with a few others that are used in the business. Something to mimic a preset voice. Contacts that could be worn for days at a time. I.. those are the vaguest things, I think. The rest is too… specific.” Hisashi shook his head, troubled, as the couple shared a look.

“Something’s wrong with him, then.” Hisashi shook his head again, expression asking they not continue. Shouta didn’t press.

The implications were heavy, though. Something was wrong with the Number One, and it was bad enough for even happy-go-lucky Hisashi to be incapable of hiding it.

Shouta blinked slowly when he came to, wondering where he was for a split moment before he recognised the garish buttercream walls of the staff room. He groaned and sat up, peeling off the essay paper that had stuck to his cheek. The room was empty besides him and Ishiyama, who he waved at absentmindedly as he got up to look for his son.

The hallways were empty at this hour, only the staff left in the building. It was a welcome change compared to the bustle of the day, volunteer visitors and students filling every room with chatter. He checked Nemuri and Hizashi’s rooms first, finding no one. Shuzenji said she hadn’t seen Izuku when he stopped by, so he headed to Nedzu’s next.

He could hear chatter from down the hall as he approached and knew he had found the right place. Peeking in, he could see Izuku waving a pencil around, with one of his notebooks sat in front of him. Nedzu was smiling cheerily as he rambled, interjecting every so often with advice or questions. The mammal smiled at him when he finally stepped in.

“Shouta-kun, you’re here! Izuku was just telling me about some ideas he had for the school. They’re very innovative, if I say so myself.”

Izuku instantly coloured, chin ducking into the collar of his gakuran. “A-ah, I know they aren’t that great, Nedzu-san, you don’t need to lie for my sake.”

“Now why would I bother doing that, my boy?” Izuku coloured further. Shouta ruffled his hair and put him out of his misery.

“Why don’t we go, kid. Your mom’s going to be home soon.” Izuku jumped up, shoving things in his bag while he stammered goodbyes to the principal. He was out the room in seconds, and Shouta shook his head at his antics.

“Ah, having him around brings back memories of being that young. He’s a promising child.”

He sideyed Nedzu. “You don’t need to corner me into it. He already has his heart set on Yuuei since the whole family went here, not to mention that blond ape.” Nedzu sent him an amused look.

“I’m still attempting to recruit him, you realise. You may end up working with the man you call a ‘blond ape’ in a year or so.” Shouta shivered at the thought; the paparazzi would be unbearable. Instead of dwelling on it, he waved Nedzu off, grabbing Izuku and stopping by the staff room to grab the rest of his assignments before they went home.

The train ride home was peaceful, Shouta dozing on Izuku’s shoulder while he read something on his father’s phone.

“Now, you have your key and your mace, right, and the airhorn your uncle gave you?”

“Yes, mom-”

“And make sure Katsuki-kun has the same, and that he doesn’t use his Quirk first.”

“I know, mom-”

“And call us if you need anything, alright, don’t be worried about bothering us-”

“Inko. He’s thirteen, he’ll be fine.” She bit her lip, smoothing her hands down Izuku’s gakuran.

“Well. I, I can worry, can’t I? You know there’s been an uptick of crime in the district. A mother can worry.” They both huffed, and Izuku hugged his mother close.

“I’ll be fine mom, I promise. The train station isn’t that far from the apartment.”

She sniffled and squeezed him. “Alright. I- I trust you.”

Shouta shook his head and wrapped his capture weapon around his throat. Thirteen already. Fuck, if that wasn’t weird. They’ll have to start weight training, soon.

High School submissions were coming up soon. Shouta rolled his eyes when Katsuki came over bitching about the teachers trying to stop Izuku from putting down Yuuei, suggesting less prestigious schools. The moment they stopped his son from doing what he wanted was the day he got Izuku to exercise a measure of self-preservation.

Chapter Text

Izuku was being a suspicious little shit. Normally, Shouta wouldn’t be alarmed over that, since he did try to give the boy some measure of privacy, but normally Izuku being suspicious wasn’t paired with him coming home exhausted and smelling like salt, or him suddenly eating enough protein to put a bodybuilder to shame.

When he asked Inko, the woman only shrugged helplessly and suggested it might have something to do with the hostage incident from a month ago. He twitched at the thought of it, remembering the boys’ accounts of the heroes praising then reprimanding Izuku for jumping in, all on the basis of him not having a Quirk. While they themselves had stood there, ready to let a child die because their Quirks weren’t suited for an instant takedown. Fucking wastes of space.

So. Izuku was being suspicious, and there was no explanation for it. And he was stuck figuring out what was going on before his kid did something stupid like blew himself up.

(Oh, wait, no. That was Katsuki.)

“Have you considered it might be puberty?” He glared. Yuuto put his hands up in submission, chuckling. “Alright, alright. But you do have to realise, at this age, children tend to do things completely idiotic. Or dramatic. Remember me worrying over Nana and how she kept disappearing on us, until we found out she was getting involved in a fighting ring?”

Gods. He tried to forget that month entirely, in fact. The whole period had been overdramatic, with Yuuto fretting and constantly ducking out of the office, and the group going crazy over a Quirkless fighting circle that seemed like something out of a retro movie. Finding the advisor’s daughter at one of the meetings when they finally located it, well. That had been the cherry on top of the bullshit sundae.

Yuuto gave him a knowing look. “See? It’s probably nothing to worry about. At worst, he joined an illegal fighting ring because he has anger issues. At best? Maybe you get to terrify him with The Talk early and learn if you should expect a son or daughter-in-law in the future.”

Shouta shuddered. Hell no.

All Might was going to be working at the school the coming year. Shouta resolutely stayed in his sleeping bag the whole introduction, ignoring the puffed-up hero even as Hizashi elbowed him repeatedly in the gut. He only cracked an eye open when he sensed someone crouched in front of him, hearing Hizashi’s loud voice nervously laughing. He could just barely make out All Might, thinner than usual, but there was too much gunk and blurriness for the image of the man’s face to be clear.

“It’s ah, nice to meet you again, Eraserhead. I look forward to working with you.” Shouta grunted. “You… don’t like me too much, do you.”

“Every year, I have students sent to the hospital during internships because they think they can be like the Symbol of Peace and break limbs trying the shit you do.”

The boisterous man flinched hard enough that Shouta could see it. Hizashi sighed. “I… See. My apologies?”

Shouta grunted again, and ignored the man until he shuffled away. Later, Nemuri and Hizashi beat him over the head for his behaviour and missing some “giant reveal”, but damn if he didn’t care. He had a time limit on his power, alright, okay, who gave a shit right now. It was the dead of the night and he was too busy dreading the next term.

Izuku had definition that wasn’t there two months ago, when they sparred one night. That explained the protein, he supposed.

“What happened to the grappling hook?” Izuku jumped, nearly falling out of his chair as he whipped around to face Shouta.

“W-what?” Shouta nodded at his son’s notebook.

“You had a grappling hook in your costume design, before. What made you take it out?”

“I, it didn’t seem practical, anymore?” Izuku pursed his lips, tapping the table with his pen. “I have to make sure I can move quickly, since I’m going to be relying on my speed and mind, and that means not having too much equipment, especially since my staff is already going to be a ton of weight. I was thinking of having something on my gloves and shoes that could work as an adhesive, instead.”

“You’ll want to make sure you don’t stick to everything, doing that…” He sat down, and they spent the next hour throwing ideas back and forth, working out Izuku’s costume. It was practical, meant primarily for defense and agility instead of augmenting a Quirk, and it made something twinge with pride in Shouta’s chest that Izuku had designed his first draft on his own, with nearly no adjustments needed. Damn if his kid wasn’t going to turn out alright.

Hisashi was visiting.

This wouldn’t usually be such a strange thing, but, it was Hisashi. The man was so wrapped up in his work they saw him maybe a few weeks a year, the visits spaced out among the months.

Instead, here he was, three days in with no sign of disappearing.

He wouldn’t share the reason for his sudden drop in, brushing off Shouta’s prodding with laughter or weak redirections, reassured Inko’s worries of something being wrong before distracting her by asking how work was. Disappeared with Izuku for hours, talking about who knew what.

Another thing to add to Izuku’s growing list of strange behaviours, then.

Haha, no. He cornered Hisashi the moment Inko and Izuku went over to Masaru and Mitsuki’s for dinner, saying they’d follow in a moment and smiling as the other man paled and tried to make a break for the bathroom.

He didn’t make it. If Hizashi still couldn’t escape his capture tool after two decades of experience, Hisashi wouldn’t be able to do jack shit against it. The man went sailing to the ground with a panicked squeal, and Shouta tied the thing tight, making sure he wouldn’t escape. As an added measure, after a contemplative pause, he grabbed Jelly and dropped the cat on Hisashi’s back, nodding in satisfaction when he curled up and promptly went to sleep.

“Okay. Explain.”

“ How are you like this where is the cute kid my sister fell in love with- ” Shouta tugged the tool tighter. Hisashi wheezed, before shaking his head. “Stop- okay- fuck, why- ”

“Izuku’s been acting suspect for months, and neither of us know why, and now you suddenly drop in with no warning and whisk him off for hours at a time. Explain , Hisashi. This is my son , not one of your assistants.”

Hisashi squirmed, frowning and refusing to look him in the eye. “Look, he wanted advice, alright? And he was scared to ask you or Inko. It’s nothing dangerous, I swear on my damn stomach. He’s just nervous over applications, and wanted an outside opinion.”

Shouta leaned back disbelievingly. “You count as an outside opinion?”

“I’m not here all the time or involved in the hero business, so yes , now will you please untie me you barbarian .”

He did. Hisashi punched him in the arm and breathed steam at him, but no more than that. Shouta was no closer to understanding.

He avoided All Might as much as he could, whenever the man popped in to talk to Nedzu before the new term began. He only had three more months of relative peace, and he was planning to at least enjoy them before the paparazzi swarmed the school and the students collectively lost their attention spans.

Shouta arrived home early one day, the usual workload lightened thanks to exams. That meant, luck of luck, that he arrived in time to see Izuku leaving the house, glancing around before hurrying off.

He only debated it for a moment before he followed the teenager. There was only so far his trust could extend, and only so much he would let his worry fester. Izuku didn’t notice his tail as he trotted down the road, going further and further until all that was left in this direction was the coast’s storefronts and the wrecked beach. It was still a dump despite some of their efforts to clean it over the years, and provided absolutely no insight as to what Izuku was doing.

As it turned out, that was exactly where he was going. Izuku hurried down the steps, zigzagging between mounds of detritus until he reached a rake-thin figure that towered over him. Shouta’s eyes narrowed to slits as the teen stood in front of them, shifting from foot to foot in a familiar way. The figure nodded to something he couldn’t identify, and the teen scurried off, hidden by one of the mounds of garbage. His eyes drifted back to the figure, taking in the draping clothing and unkempt hair.

Shouta fisted his capture tool in one hand and breathed carefully through his nose. He could feel his hair whipping at his neck, and tilted his head. He wondered if he could take them out before Izuku noticed.

The figure shifted, almost as if sensing his stare, and glanced around until they turned in his direction. He saw them visibly baulk, and bared his teeth in a mockery of a smile. The figure called something out, voice just barely audible, and he could hear Izuku say something in return before they started racing towards him, taking the same path Izuku did down.

He grabbed them when they were close enough, wrapping them tight enough to creak and dragging them close.”Would. You. Care. To explain. What you are doing with him?”

“I- I promise you, it’s nothing ominous, although why do you care, A-?” They were cut off as he tugged tighter, blood spurting across their lips. He abruptly loosened the bindings, frowning at that and looking them over with a sharper eye. Thin, obviously not naturally, with sunken eyes and cheeks. Injured or ill, then. He grudgingly readjusted his tool to be just binding, instead of constricting, and made a note to drop them off at a hospital before he reported them.

“Is it any of your business? What I see right now is that he’s hanging around an older, unkempt person with no explanation for months, has been hiding it for months, and coming down here to do god knows what while you see it as apparently fine to notify no one either, which just reassures me so much.” Shouta tilted his head. “So. Explanation?”

They stared at him blankly for a few moments, before something close to realisation crossed their expression, and they coughed again, blood covering their chin. Definitely ill, then.

“He’s my student. He wants to be a hero, and I’m ensuring he’ll be prepared for the Yuuei exam. I’ve been having him clear the beach to build up muscle and stamina.”

They weren’t lying. Fuck , why couldn’t they be lying, god damn it, Izuku. He reluctantly released them from his capture tool, making sure they stayed upright and offering his handkerchief. They took it gratefully, wiping at their chin shakily.

“Do you need to go to the hospital? That doesn’t look pleasant.” They only shook their head, waving a hand vaguely.

“It’s normal for me. Thank you, though.” They smiled weakly at him, extending one knobbly hand out to him. “Yagi Toshinori. Pleasure to meet you.”

He stared at it for a few moments before grabbing it, shaking roughly. “Aizawa Shouta. Sorry about. Jumping to conclusions.”

“Ah, it’s fine, anyone sane would be worried about him being out at this hour. It’s the only time we can meet up most days, unfortunately.”

Shouta hummed, still skeptical. Yagi hesitated, before jerking his head back to the beach. “If you want, you could watch...?”

“No. He wouldn’t want me there; he hid it for a reason.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair. He pinned Yagi with a glare, making the man jump again. “Keep in mind that I’ll have my eye on you from this point on. If he ends any more beaten up than he has been, you’ll be doing more than spraying blood.”

Yagi looked terrified as he hurriedly nodded his head. Good. That meant he probably wouldn’t have to worry as much. Job done, Shouta gave the beach and the green figure that was Izuku one last glance before he turned for home. Staying any longer wouldn’t help any, and Inko would want to know why he was so late coming home after messaging that he was leaving early.

“But, why would he hide it? Why go to someone else?” Shouta sighed tiredly, scooting back into his wife’s embrace. Inko’s arm was laid across his waist, and they were both under the covers, with Jelly loafing at the end of their bed.

“I don’t know. Maybe our schedule wasn’t rigorous enough for him. It’s not like we trained every night like he is now.”

“You don’t have the time for it,” She pointed out, and he nodded, sighing again. Inko stroked his hip comfortingly. “I guess, at least we know what he’s doing, now? And you can always step in if it goes too far.”

That was true. He could also investigate Yagi to hell and back and make sure he wasn’t some child predator in hiding. Satisfied with the thought, he hummed and let himself drift off, warmth pressing into his back.

Yagi Toshinori was All Might’s secretary. And, going by what he was able to access, ill enough to be approved for disability benefits if he ever applied. No wonder he was coughing up blood. His number was on public record, and he made sure to write it down.

Shouta started bringing home packets about when to fight and when to run that they gave to new students. Izuku was confused, even if he took them, but Shouta didn’t elaborate. If Izuku wasn’t going to, neither was he, until the jig was up.

Izuku came home one night and tugged Shouta away from where he had been grading essays, hugging him tightly. He sat surprised for a moment before hugging back, rubbing the teen’s back when he heard sniffling.

“Everything okay?” Do I need to put the fear of god into that walking scarecrow? Izuku only shook his head, face still pressed into Shouta’s shoulder.

“I, I just, it- it sort of sunk in, today, how lucky I am to have you and mom? I, you could have told me I couldn’t be a hero, or that I needed to do something else that would be easier, or that it’d, it’d be pointless without a Quirk. But you didn’t.”

Oh.

Inko peeked her head around the bathroom doorway, frowning worriedly as she towelled her hair. Shouta only shook his head. T hey were fine.

Shouta stepped into the courtyard wearily, glad to finally be going home. It was only a few connections until the apartment, so hopefully he wouldn’t fall asleep on the train. This time. Tying his tool more firmly around his neck, he glanced up just in time to see All Might slapping Hizashi on the back with a laugh before tromping into the school, likely heading for Nedzu’s office. He grimaced and headed for his friend, who was rubbing at his back with a frown.

“He not know his own strength?” Hizashi shook his head, glancing back at the doors.

“No, it’s… Did you meet him sometime outside of Yuuei? He was asking me if you had any family.”

Shouta blinked bemusedly. Why-? Ah. Right.

“I met his secretary a month or so ago. Izuku’s been slipping away for training with him, apparently. He must have realised we were connected. What did you tell him?”

Hizashi shrugged. “That you were a bachelor. I didn’t know if you were alright with him knowing, so…”

“Mm.” He yawned into his hand, rubbing at an eye. “Do you think you could drive me home, today? I don’t think I’ll manage staying awake on the subway.”

He dozed in Hizashi’s passenger seat while the blond hummed quietly along with the radio, streetlights passing overhead.

The exam for the multiple departments of Yuuei took place two months before the beginning of the new term. Results would be recorded, evaluated, and then sent out two weeks after, giving students a month and a half to prepare for the new year or adjust their prospects.

The morning of the exam, Tenya appeared with a frazzled Tensei who quickly waved goodbye, and the teen disappeared into the kitchen to worry with Izuku while Shouta went over to the Bakugous’ to pick up Katsuki. The explosive boy only glared at him before stomping past, ignoring Masaru’s well-wishes and Mitsuki’s berating. Mitsuki shook her head when he disappeared round the corner, sighing.

“Little shit. You want some coffee? We’ve got the good shit brewing because of all the excitement.”

He went back to the apartment with a warm thermos in hand, humming. At eight, he checked them over, making sure Izuku had his staff and Tenya his emergency coolant. Then they all bundled up and hopped into Hizashi’s car, ignoring the man’s whining at being a pack mule and making sure Izuku was in the middle so a screaming match didn’t break out.

Again.

They let the boys off a block from the school so no one would see, and pulled into the staff parking lot minutes later, weaving between prospective students easily. Hizashi killed the engine, grinning over at him.

“You ready for this?” Shouta snorted. Hell no. But it didn’t matter. Whether he was or not, he was going to watch Izuku and the others navigate through the test as best they could, and hope for the best.

Yagi was there. Shouta looked at him curiously before the man noticed him, trotting over to the spot Seijiro, Nemuri, and him had claimed as theirs. The other two shifted as he approached, but Shouta ignored them.

“You’re allowed to be here?” The sickly blond chuckled even as Seijiro made a strangled noise, shaking his head.

“No reason for me not to be. Are you excited, Aizawa-san? All these new students testing their strength... It makes me feel nostalgic.” Shouta grunted. He glanced through the screens, easily catching sight of Katsuki demolishing a robot, while Tenya was unbalancing and destroying them with glancing hits and quick kicks. Izuku was struggling, but still holding his own, staff burying itself in weak spots with precision. Yagi was watching Izuku as well, he noticed, blue eyes pinned on him.

“...It’s a good opportunity to see their potential,” He finally said.

Off in the thick of it, Mic cackled, announcing the final phase of the exam, and there was a rumble as the zero-pointer was released to hunt. The teens fled en masse as it began to destroy everything in its path, and Shouta grimaced at the sight of a girl stuck in the rubble. The machine would avoid her thanks to its targeting system, but most the children didn’t know that. She would be under the impression she was facing her death right until it passed her.

In the view of one of the cameras, he could see Tenya and Izuku pausing, the smaller teen holding fast onto Tenya’s arm and yelling something. Tenya looked conflicted, before nodding, and they both took off in a sprint towards the robot and girl.

Tenya swerved towards her on revving engines, and he thought for a moment that they were going in on a strike-and-run plan, Izuku forcing it to pause before they took her and ran, but Tenya picked her up and turned tail while Izuku dropped his staff, gaining speed as he ran full-tilt at the mecha.

“What the fuck is he doing,” Shouta whispered. Nemuri was wide-eyed beside him. Yagi had a knowing grin. It dropped when Shouta latched a death-grip onto his shirt.

Izuku jumped into the air, high high higher than he should have been able, and slammed a fist in the robot as he arched down.

The robot was sent flying into the building behind them, and Izuku fell in a freefall as he watched.

Chapter Text

Shouta greyed out, his ears rung and his vision fuzzed and suddenly he was being held back by ropes of blood, Seijiro yelling while Nemuri threatened to use her Quirk. Across the room was Yagi, bloody mouth and nose, Ishiyama holding him up.

"SHOUTA, WHAT THE FUCK? " He tried to shake off Seijiro's binds, but he wouldn't budge. Nemuri grabbed his head before he could turn and glare at the man, keeping him faced towards her. "What, why are you suddenly attacking All Might, what the hell happened?! Just because Izuku-" she cut herself off, baulking and leaning away.

He breathed, eyes slowly shifting to Yagi.

" All Might? "

Nedzu finally stepped between the two groups, smile gone and paws held up. "Maa, let's calm down before we do anything we regret, hm?”

Izuku had multiple breaks in his legs and right arm, just barely avoiding dislocating all three. He could barely walk straight after Chiyo healed him, hanging off Tenya like a limpet.

The teen froze when he saw Shouta waiting for him outside the lockers, All Might and Nedzu beside him.

It took Inko twenty minutes to arrive. They sat in a dead silence until then. Shouta wouldn’t look at either of them, focused on a spot on the wall behind Nedzu while the mammal calmly sipped at his tea.

All Might. Thin as a rake, bags under his eyes, periodically throwing up blood All Might. Who had been hanging around his son, training him, for over half a year. Who had, despite being the oh-so lauded Number One, had apparently never seen fit to contact Izuku’s parents, increase security around the neighborhood, never so much as spared a thought as to what being associated with him would mean, what the repercussions were, and going by those fucking broken limbs -

Shouta took a careful breath. All Might flinched in his chair. He had a tissue pressed to his nose, although it had long stopped bleeding; Shouta supposed there was a chance for it to begin again, with how frail the man was.

Good.

Inko finally bustled in, barely stopping to knock on the door before she charged. She had a scared expression, the one Shouta knew she wore whenever he had to go to the hospital, and it didn’t fade when she saw the two of them relatively hale and whole. When her gaze strayed to All Might, who was looking more and more contrite, it only worsened.

“Shouta, what happened? Is everything alright? You didn’t explain much over the phone.” Shouta shook his head and pointed to the last chair in the room. Inko’s expression tightened even more. She took a seat.

“Inko-san-” Nedzu paused, putting down his teacup, and Shouta could see All Might straighten out of the corner of his eye. Nedzu being on first name basis with her must surprise him. “During the exam, Izuku-kun exhibited an excess of strength- enough to be classed as Quirk-worthy- but suffered broken limbs as a result. Normally, this alone would be cause for concern considering his circumstances, but-”

“But All Might acted as though he expected both the power and the injuries.”

“-And Shouta-kun subsequently attacked him in what I’m classing as panic-induced aggression. We agreed it would be wise to wait for you before any explanations began as to what is going on.”

Inko stared blankly at them, before her eyes strayed to All Might. The man shifted nervously as she looked at him head to toe, but he didn’t speak up.

“...Broken limbs.”

“Recovery Girl healed them.” Ah, the first time he had spoken up since they holed up in the office. Izuku didn’t look up from his hands, and it was almost a whisper, what he said, but it was still something.

“Being instantly healed does not excuse the fact you seriously injured yourself,” Shouta replied, voice like a knife. Izuku flinched. Beside him, All Might shifted, clearing his throat.

“It’s not young Midoriya’s fault- the blame falls on me.” He hesitated, mouth firming, and turned to Shouta, nodding his head. “Aizawa-san, when we met on the beach, you could easily tell that I was in poor health, yes?” All Might grabbed the collar of the button-up he was wearing, unbuttoning it until he could pull the shirt aside. Shouta felt himself still at the spiderweb that climbed across the man’s side, originating from a shallow pit over his heart.

“Oh,” Inko breathed. All Might nodded as he let the shirt fall closed.

“Five years ago, I was involved in an altercation that left me hanging between life and death; it was sheer luck I was able to survive, with a heart donor already in the hospital. Since then, my powers have been weakening, to where I can only patrol for a few hours a day…” He coughed into his hand. “I explained this when I was first introduced to the Yuuei staff, but I suppose Aizawa-san wouldn’t have had reason to mention it…”

Ah.

No, he had mentioned it. He just hadn’t cared enough to pay any attention. A mistake on his part.

“That- that’s horrible, Yagi-san, but that still doesn’t explain why my son suddenly has a- a Quirk, or why it broke his limbs ,” Inko stressed, “Izuku has been Quirkless since he was four, has the toe joint and everything, and I know for a fact neither his father nor I have anything remotely similar to what Nedzu-san described in our families.” All Might hesitated again, and Inko leaned forward, expression souring. Izuku glanced up, catching sight of it, and paled.

Shouta was glad he still had enough sense to do that, at least; the only ones she usually used that expression on were lawyers she ended up ruining or people who tried to bribe her.

“Yagi-san, if I might remind you, I could easily press charges for child endangerment, since you never made an effort to reach out to his father or I- Shouta only found out because he came home early and saw Izuku leaving for the beach. It would be in your best interests to explain, fully.”

“...Yes, I- of course. I should have approached you beforehand. Not doing so was a great oversight.” All Might coughed into a hand, droplets spraying it. “Where to begin… My Quirk was a very special one, Midoriya-san. It was, primarily, a strength stockpile, with minour enhancements thanks to additions over the generations.”

“Generations?” All Might inclined his head to Shouta.

“Yes. The second part of my Quirk, the, base I suppose, was the ability to pass it on. Its originator passed it on when… certain events failed to transpire, and then his successor passed it on. With each generation, their own Quirks were added, all the way down to me. By now, besides the strength stockpile, there is a… added hardiness, as well as enhancements to the legs and more.”

The robot slamming into the building, smashed to pieces with one hit. “And you passed it to Izuku.”

“Yes.”

“Why?” All Might looked taken aback, Izuku blinking beside him, and Shouta leaned in, glaring. “Most people write him off the moment they find out he’s Quirkless- other professional heroes did just that after the hostage situation nine months ago. What exactly stood out so much that you didn’t brush him off like they did? And beyond that, why pass it on? Why did the originator? What ‘failed to happen?’”

All Might shifted, and Shouta noted that even Izuku looked curious at this point; he wondered which the boy hadn’t been told- why to bother passing it on, or why it ever had been.

“...The, the original wielder, his goal in using it had been to defeat All for One. When he realised he wouldn’t be able to, he passed it on, and it continued until I defeated him five years ago- when I received this scar.” There was uncertainty to his voice. Shouta narrowed his eyes. “As for why I passed it on... The Symbol of Peace is a placebo, keeping the public safe by making them feel safe. If it disappears, dies with me… so does that security blanket.”

All Might glanced over at Izuku, smiling for the first time during this whole debacle. “And for him, well. I did brush him off, at first- hero work is dangerous, and I couldn’t see someone without a Quirk making it through unscathed. But he took that and threw it in my face. It reminded me of myself, when I was younger.”

Izuku wouldn’t look up. Shouta could tell it wasn’t out of belligerence, or misplaced anger. But it wasn’t from regret either, and that was part of the reason they were sitting at the dinner table, Inko and Shouta waiting.

“...I figured it out, after the hostage situation with Kacchan.” Izuku smiled bitterly, flexing his fingers. “No matter what I do, even if I save hundreds of people and help out as much as I can, risk my life everyday, do as much as Tenya or Kacchan or even you would, it won’t matter. To anyone. Because I’d be Quirkless. And that means whatever I do is lesser.”

Inko was tearing up, placing a hand over her mouth. “Oh, Izukkun…”

“And, and I know I should have said something, but I didn’t want to risk the, the chance All Might gave me! He believed in me, he didn’t, he-” Izuku cut himself off, seemingly at a loss for words, looking between the two of them desperately. “I didn’t want to hesitate and lose the only chance I had to be taken seriously,” He finally whispered.

Shouta leaned back and closed his eyes. Gods. What a fucking mess.

“You realise we aren’t going to trust you to go out alone for a long time, after this. Tenya and Katsuki will likely be upset with you, unless you deigned to tell them instead of us. Not to mention the target you’ve painted on your back; if anyone outside us learns of your connection to All Might, you will be targeted.”

“I know,” Izuku whispered.

“And you won’t have any free time between now and the start of the year. I’m not going to let you go to high school without being able to use this new Quirk without injuring yourself. We’re going to be sparring every free moment when you aren’t studying and I’m not grading.”

Izuku only nodded, not putting up resistance.

Good.

Shouta was going to limit his interaction with All Might as much as he could; taking over his training would be one of the first steps.

“Shouta, evening! How, did…” Yuuto paused, smile falling as he eyed Shouta. “Is everything alright?”

“We found out what was going on with Izuku.” He took a swig from his thermos, coffee scalding his tongue. “It’s worse than a fight club.”

Shouta was mildly surprised when, after finally telling his friends, it’s Katsuki who stops talking to Izuku. From what little he could pick up during sparring and subtle prodding, Tenya had taken it in stride after a few days, grimly agreeing with his son’s observations of the hero community and public. Katuski, in contrast…

“He’s always pissed, hell if I can tell why now .” Mitsuki dropped the chopped onions into the pot. Masaru was checking the recipe and measuring out spices. Katsuki was likely in his room. Sulking. Again. Or outside, damaging his gym equipment. “Knowing him, though? Probably because Izuku gave up.”

“...But he didn’t. Not necessarily.” Masaru hummed wearily, stirring the curry.

“In his eyes, he did. You know how he is. Can’t accept anything less than the best and strongest. Izuku taking what he sees as the easy way out makes him weak.”

They all shared a grimace. Little shit of a teenager.

“So. They passed, but what the hell are we supposed to do with them, now?” The faculty looked towards Hizashi, frowning and fiddling with his amplifier. “It’s gonna be kinda hard to avoid accusations of bias, ain’t it?”

“Just put them in Kan’s, they’ll be fine,” One of the third year teachers said. Seijiro gave them an unimpressed look.

“I babysat those kids for four years.”

“But we can’t exactly relegate them to GE, when they qualify for Hero. It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Well, what else are we supposed to do?”

They sat in silence. The files of Katsuki, Tenya, and Izuku were spread across the table; each had made high enough marks to qualify for the Hero course, something that made Shouta want to preen, but there was the issue that nearly every first year teacher had bias against them. Hizashi and Nemuri? There since Tenya and Izuku’s birth. Seijiro? Helped with babysitting at the beginning, before he was roped into teaching alongside Shouta. Maishiro? Even that asshole had looked over the kids at some points, since they tended to wander when Nedzu was called away for business.

Shouta himself was obvious.

“Well. Do we really have to worry? I mean, just stick them with Aizawa, he’s brutal enough it won’t matter.” He glared at Inari. The counsellor put his hands up placatingly, rolling his eyes. “Look, we’ve all seen you throw down with Yamada and Kayama like it’s nothing. You can’t say there’d be any problems when you’re willing to treat them like recalcitrant five year-olds.”

Shouta turned his glare down to the files. “...Do I really have to deal with all three of them at once?”

“Do you want to deal with the fights that’ll break out if they aren’t together?”

Point. Shouta groaned and resigned himself to a long three years.

Shouta could see Izuku glancing at his phone at times, frowning at whatever he read and typing something back. It disappeared whenever he made his presence known though, the teenager smiling and ready for whatever they were going to do. He had the feeling Izuku was just relieved he had forgiven him so quickly.

Shouta heard from Hizashi that All Might had been attempting to talk to him, reach out. He had been avoiding the staff room since the exams, and had even given up his napping to do paperwork at home. It meant he couldn’t patrol with Ten Offices more than once a week, but it also meant he didn’t have to hear the man try and appeal to him to let Izuku go out on his own.

He smiled every time the blond caught his eye during meetings and paled. The less they interacted, the better for everyone.

Wait.

Hisashi.

“ Look, I- I didn’t know, okay? I mean, I knew about the training, I’ll admit that, but everything else? The Quirk, the whole not telling you all ? That’s completely new. ”

“Hisashi, I want to believe you, I do…” Inko trailed off, glancing at Shouta. He shrugged from his place on the bed. Hisashi was a hot mess half the time, forgetting his assistants needed breaks and sustenance just because he could run without for two days and keeping secrets due to the sheer fact he forgot to tell anyone. But he didn’t think the man would hide something this big, not from him and Inko.

“ Inko, I promise, I wouldn’t do that to you, either of you. I- all I knew, was that All Might was crippled, and Izuku found out and managed to convince the man to train him. Or he offered, I don’t remember. ” There was an explosion in the background and the sound of someone yelling in fast-paced Cantonese. Hisashi snapped something before coming back to the phone. “ I would have said something if I knew this was going to happen. You said he’s alright though? ”

“As much as he can be.” Inko sighed. “Everything’s healed, but he’s been quiet lately. I suppose it’s the best we can ask for.”

Another explosion, followed by an exasperated sigh and Hisashi screaming for someone to flip the sprinklers. “ Look, call me back if anything happens, alright? And slap Izuku up the head for me, pulling something like this- he’s worse than Shouta, honestly. ”

“Oi.”

“Will do. Love you, Hisashi.” They said their goodbyes and Inko ended the call, letting the phone clatter against the dresser. “...Do you think everything will be okay?”

Shouta hummed, remembering Izuku bawling over his acceptance letter, the slow progress that had been teaching him to use the Quirk. “Eventually.”

Shouta had carefully observed the footage of the exam. It was less than ten seconds of action, but it gave him more than enough to work off of.

When Izuku used- what had he called it, One for All? When he used it, it was localized in the limbs he was using, forcing all the power into those three. It was no wonder he injured himself, considering the amount of power All Might had. Even with the added muscle from the last nine months, focusing it like that was bound to break bones.

“You need to figure out how to use it across your whole body, before you fight with it,” He told Izuku, after he had worked him into a panting mess, “A Quirk isn’t a hammer, where you only use your arms to smash something with it. It may have been, for All Might, but you aren’t him. You’re built for speed, not strength.”

Izuku huffed, propping himself up on his elbows. “Spread it… But how?”

“How did you call on it that first time?”

“It was like…” He paused, staring down at his hand. “Taking a deep breath, and then letting it go all at once, when I moved. I focused on the, the buildup of power and then let it go.”

Shouta contemplated that. “There’s part of the issue. You’re thinking of it as an immediate. temporary action, instead of an ongoing one. When I use Erasure, I don’t activate it by imagining the moment of activation, I picture the state of being activated, for as long as I can hold it.” He hauled Izuku up by his hand, steadying him. “Try again, and imagine continuous instead of immediate .”

Izuku stood there for a few moments with a concentrated expression, before a crackling began in the air. Slowly, lightning sparked over his limbs, until it was as though his body was a live wire. He looked up at Shouta, wide-eyed.

“I don’t think I can move.”

Shouta snorted. It was a start.

The first day of school, Shouta couldn’t come in at the last minute thanks to the fact Izuku hassled him out the door bright and early. When he saw Hizashi’s car waiting by the curb, Tenya already waiting in the backseat with Hizashi wearing a shit-eating grin, he only sighed and climbed in.

Katsuki, when they stopped for him, said nothing as he slid into the back. Tenya was in the middle this time, Shouta noted, acting as a barrier between the two. Going by how Katsuki was resolutely glaring out the window, he didn’t think they needed to worry.

As they drove, he contemplated today’s activities. The entrance ceremony was scheduled, of course, but he usually said to hell with that and dragged the fresh meat out to the track. When he put pressure on them, made them think it was success or absolute failure, they tended to perform better than they would if he dragged them out after the ceremony. Maybe it was because Nedzu’s droning relaxed them? Something to test when he had the time.

They let the boys off a block from the school again, trusting Tenya to make sure no one started a brawl, and continued on.

Shouta could feel his eye twitching and fought the urge to sigh. They had potential, he reminded himself, he couldn’t punt one just because he started talking about tits the moment they went to the locker rooms. Or the one who blasted himself stupid because someone startled him.

Three years, someone free me from this.

He put them through the paces, watching for those who may have confidence issues or may cause trouble later on- ignoring Katsuki, who had already been flagged, and Izuku, who oscillated between a walking PSA and a ray of sunshine- and noting who was on the lower end of potential. Unsurprisingly, most everyone’s scores were skewed towards only one or two tests, with everything else being near a baseline human’s. Truthfully, none of them could be put above one another when the scores were averaged into something rankable; however, they didn’t know that, and his fun continued on.

By the last test, it was becoming more and more apparent that Izuku was going to be dead last; every other student had some specific test to pull up their scores, Quirks granting them a boon, while he stayed firmly in the slightly higher-than-average range. He didn’t look worried, which was slightly reassuring, but if it didn’t pull something on this last test, well…

Shouta knew he had potential. The class at large didn’t.

Izuku breathed deeply as he held the ball in his hand, taking a relaxed stance. Shouta watched closely, ready to flare his Quirk if the boy got it into his head to use One for All at its full strength- but electricity arced over his body, and Izuku abruptly wound into a pitch, sending the ball flying, flying, flying, until it was gone from sight.

His pad read five hundred metres. He grinned as Izuku beamed at him, excess power still crackling over him as he moved.

He saw Izuku slip away during lunch, waving at Uraraka and Tenya as he hurried off, and narrowed his eyes, wondering where he was going. What reason would he have to slip away?

If he was running off to see that-

Hizashi pinched his neck, making him wheeze and slap his hand away. The blond pouted when he glared, huffing.

“Well, you weren’t paying attention! What else was I supposed to do?”

All Might was supposed to teach Hero Fundamentals today. The man, according to the lesson plans Shouta had scarpered with, was going to run a hero versus villain simulation to gauge their abilities and fighting styles and give advice afterwards. A passable plan, although there were holes- many’s Quirks wouldn’t function well in the enclosed space of the artificial city regardless of any planning, and randomly selecting them could lead to clashes that interfered with the simulation, something they didn’t need this early on.

Like now , he thought wearily, watching Katuski go on the warpath against Uraraka and Izuku. He was on the villains’ team with Tenya, who had apparently decided to method act while guarding the missile, and had been hunting down Izuku since the beginning of the match.

Izuku in his hero costume was… a sight that made him pause. Form-fitting protective material done in forest green with monochrome accents, it was similar to the old combat uniforms worn before hero costumes become more individualized. There were canisters and boxes for supplies on his belt, as well as a harness for his staff across his back; his hands and feet were weighted down with heavy metal, serving as both enforcement and defense. Knowing what he knew now about One for All, he could see now that it was likely meant to increase the impact of his strikes.

The item to give him most pause was the mask, something he hadn’t seen in the last rendition of the costume. It was made of two parts, dark goggles connected to a panelled underside that ran from nose to chin, covering the bottom of his face.

It was the same colour of his goggles.

“...Did- did he, ah, gain inspiration from you, Aizawa-san?” Aizawa sent the other hero a flat look. Went back to watching the match. Katsuki had cornered Izuku now and was screaming, audible even over the tinny mics.

“... Didn’t tell me, you shitheel! Nine fucking months! ” An explosion that sent the building crumbling, Izuku barely scrambling away, spinning on his heel with his staff in hand and electricity crackling. “ What the fuck happened to that teamwork you’re always going on about? ”

Yaoyorozu hesitantly stepped forward when the next explosion sent the target building tilting and Izuku’s staff careening into the ground instead of Katsuki’s arm, burying itself into concrete. Shouta was impressed that it didn’t break. “All Might-sensei, Aizawa-sensei, isn’t this getting a bit overboard? They’re going a bit overboard...”

Shouta only shook his head while All Might rambled on about it being a learning experience or some bullshit like that, pointing at the screen. Izuku had finally abandoned the defensive route and was manhandling Katsuki to the ground, keeping him in a chokehold. They couldn’t hear what he was whispering, quiet as it was, but it made Katsuki go slack in shock, long enough for Izuku to quickly wrap him in tape.

And then the match was over.

The doorbell rang, and Jelly immediately began meowing, running in circles in the genkan. Shouta groaned, putting down his pen and resisting the urge to do the same with his head. When he trudged over and opened the door, he blinked tiredly at Katsuki, scowling with a bag and box in hand.

“What.”

“Is that nerd home?”

Hnnngh. He was too tired for this. He shuffled back into the living room, leaving the door open. He knocked on Izuku’s door, calling out, “Your angry infant is here,” Before going and sitting back on the couch, dragging the essays back onto his lap. He regretted letting them research fighting styles so, so much.

In five minutes, Izuku was sobbing on an awkward Katsuki, who was aggressively patting him and telling him to calm the fuck down. Shouta really did put his head on the table at that point. Gods save him from the drama of teenagers.

He dumped the next round of essays on All Might, the next time he saw him. The man assigned the reading, he could grade the damn things.

His panic was a treat to watch unfold. Shouta could only imagine how… interesting, it would be, to try and assign a percentile grade to the masterpieces Kaminari called strategy.

Shouta glared tiredly at the crowd of reporters flowing onto the school grounds, already hassling the students who had thought the siren was the real deal. Vultures, the lot of them, exploiting what was obviously a security breach to harass students.

“You think one of them used their Quirk to get rid of the gate?” He glanced over at Nemuri. She was watching the scene with pursed lips, any amusement gone from her expression. He looked back at the crowd, now being pushed back by the more intimidating faculty.

“Not likely. They would be facing charges of property damage at that point, and not just trespassing.”

“Mm. Hopefully they’ll get it fixed soon. I doubt you’ll want to do that field trip when there’s a hole in security.” She clapped him on the shoulder as she left, likely to go make sure no students were trampled. He sighed, watching the reporters finally clear out below.

He had a feeling going to the USJ would be more an annoyance, if the beginning of this week was any indication.

Chapter Text

The morning of the rescue simulation was quiet. Inko hummed as she made breakfast, and the television played the news softly in the background; All Might was already running round the city and taking care of petty crimes, no doubt shortening any use they would get out of him for the lesson. Shouta sighed as he listened to an update on the man stopping a car accident.

Izuku, when he came out of his room, grimaced at the screen, quickly turning away and heading for the table. Shouta raised a brow, but didn’t say anything. Maybe that guilt was finally setting in.

The train was crowded when they boarded, Shouta holding onto a pole while Izuku leaned into him. The road to Yuuei was quiet, the campus slowly filling, the classroom and staff room empty. It was normal, mundane, steady.

Shouta dismally hoped the rescue simulation would go better than the mock battles.

An hour past noon and it was obvious All Might wasn’t going to be there for the Foundations lesson. Shouta grit his teeth as he guided the students out to the bus. He knew the fool wouldn’t be reprimanded for it, not in the slightest.

The children made a ruckus as they drove to the USJ and he breathed a sigh of relief when they finally stopped, clambering out to meet Thirteen. They confirmed his suspicions that the idiot had used up his time limit and went into a spiel for the students, hammering in the fact that they were fully capable of killing each other, if they weren’t careful.

It was a speech they were sure to make every year, ever since they had begun teaching. Thirteen’s Quirk and body were a hazard to those around them, and they had grown up knowing just how much danger a Quirk could present; teaching at a school like this gave them the opportunity to help others in the same situation, and make students take their own seriously. Shouta approved greatly, the effects clear in the reduced amount of inter-student injuries since they started.

Thirteen ended quickly, and he was about to start directing them when a chill ran up his spine. They froze when he turned, staring down at the plaza below them. A swirl of black was forming, widening widening widening until a face peeked out, engulfed by hands.

His heart chilled even as he spun around, yelling for the students to huddle together and flaring his Quirk. The trio instantly responded even if the others were confused, Katsuki and Tenya forcefully moving the others back and together while Izuku unhooked his staff.

The group, fifty, sixty at least, spread out through the plaza while two stood by the portal they had come through. He readied his capture weapon, preparing to leap.

“Thirteen, start evacuation procedures, and try to contact the school! Kaminari, you too!”

“D-Sensei, you can’t be serious! Your battle style relies on one-on-one or small group combat- there’s thirty! ” He looked back at Izuku. The teen was shaking slightly, obvious if you looked at his staff. His resolve firmed.

“A hero always has more than one strategy, Midoriya. Thirteen, I’m counting on you.”

He dove down and began the attack. He couldn’t spare more than a thought, a prayer that the class would be safe, that Thirteen would manage to evacuate them all as he took out three in succession, landing in the middle of the crowd. They were muttering about his Quirk and skill, watching warily as his tool floated around him.

The screams of the students rang out above him. He wanted to close his eyes, curse, break a skull as the ringleader chuckled, cracking his knuckles. “Ah, music to my ears. I wonder which will be the first to be eliminated?”

He couldn’t. He fought on. The villains were unprepared for his level of skill, simply charged forward and expected the best as long as they kept to numbers. He ducked underneath one, hurled one into another, kicked, nullified, punched, kept to close quarters and fought and took them down metre by metre.

He hissed at the pain in his eyes. It was stinging, a sign he needed to let them rest for a time. He couldn’t.

The only one left standing was the presumed ringleader. He glared at the man as he surged forward, shooting out his capture weapon, but the man caught it, yanked it, didn’t move as he slammed a hit into his solar plexus.

A hand grabbed his elbow, agony screamed up his arm, “ Don’t bite off more than you can chew, Eraserhead, ” The villain crooned. He sent him reeling with a punch as he jumped back, mob converging again.

“Aren’t you a bit unsuited to this sort of battle?” Swerve, dodge, tuck the injury close, don’t let it be hit, “Up close, aggressive maneuvers, not your specialty at all. Did you jump in to reassure your students?” An uppercut to one, groin hit to another, jumping over a swinging tail, “Too bad it doesn’t matter. My little pet will take care of you quick.”

He looked up just in time for the hand to come down, for him to slam into concrete, for his arm to explode and his head to fuzz and a scream to rip from his throat.

“ DAD! ”

Activity slowed to a stop above him, a vibration right near him as something impacted. Shouta felt ice creeping into his chest, his stomach swoop down, his head just barely lifting to see the villain approach a frozen Izuku right near the beast, standing astounded no nono a hand lifting him by the neck, a head tilting

“Protective little daddy, aren’t you? Who would have thought that Eraserhead had a kid? Doesn’t have that same shitty Quirk of yours, though. Different one- looks familiar.”

No

The thing slammed his head down again, and he could feel bone shattering, the sensation of his face giving out, “You wanna give another little demonstration, kid?”

The sound of something dropping, a swish of air before the villain was calling out in a bored voice, “Noumu.” And the thing dropped him to the ground, sending pain pain pain rocketing up as Izuku made a high noise. “Interesting little trick. Definitely familiar.”

He opened one eye, didn’t know how he managed, the other white noise, something not moving right, the thing had Izuku by the neck, crackling with energy and struggling, glancing between it and the villain and him and he begged, pleaded as best he could for him to escape run play dead go please no

“Hmm, you know, even if All Might doesn’t show up, you’re a pretty good consolation prize. Hit at two heroes at once, ruin a few lives all with one kid. What do you say, Kurogiri?”

No No No No No No

“It is up to you, Tomura.” The villain grinned, running two fingers down Izuku’s face. He whi m pe red squirmed away don’t fucking touch him

“Say bye-bye, then, baby hero. This’ll be the last you see of daddy dearest.”

Shouta Izuku scr ea me d the black swallowing gate exploding his vision greying Izuku screaming he reached out with a twisted arm even as blood poured and everything went dark

And the portal closed .

Shouta inhaled and blinked to see the ceiling of the hospital. His eyesight was fuzzy and everything from the nose up ached, as though he had been slammed into a wall a few dozen times.

Shouta stared at the ceiling until something shifted next to him, making a small noise. He let his head tilt, slowly looking left. Inko looked back, eyes red-rimmed with bags.

“Hey,” She whispered.

“Hey,” He rasped. His throat felt as though someone had stuck shards of glass in it. She grabbed a glass of water without a word, letting him sip from it.

“They had to rebuild your orbital floor,” She said quietly. “If your eyesight doesn’t clear up in a week, then whatever damage there is, is permanent.” She took the glass, placing it back on the nightstand.

They sat in the silence. The hollowness was an oppressive echo.

Someone. Explained, what happened, after he fell unconscious. While he was fighting. The students and Thirteen had been teleported to different areas at random, thrown into the thick of it with more villains. They hadn’t taken into account their Quirks, according to Asui, which meant they hadn’t had any information on the class. A small comfort, that they hadn’t infiltrated the systems that deep.

The different groups defeated those in their area as best they could, with Thirteen being injured in the crossfire and Tenya running off to get help once an opening appeared. They all made their way to the plaza, with Mineta, Asui, and Izuku being the first to reach it.

Then the “Noumu” appeared. Then he was attacked. Then Izuku screamed, and Shigaraki Tomura took an interest in him, and disappeared with him in a portal of smoke.

Then All Might appeared, just in time for Izuku to disappear and the children to lose all hope.

Shouta sat and sat and sat when he heard that, processing it, absorbing that, this man, after endangering his son, making him reckless, acting as though he should still be allowed near him-

A minute earlier, and Izuku would be here.

All Might opened the door to his hospital room, slipping in looking more haggard than usual, run-down, shaky, and Shouta saw red.

“Get the fuck out.”

“Aizawa. I-”

“Used up your time limit without thinking, didn’t keep in mind the security breach we already had, could have prevented the students being traumatized and Izuku from being taken if you had just fucking thought- ”

An ugly expression crossed All Might’s face, and he was sure it rivalled his own, under the bandages as he stepped closer, looming. “When are you going to let go of this pettiness? You aren’t the only one affected . He is my successor , friends with half the class, the whole staff practically- hell, Midoriya-san is-”

“Sobbing in the station because our son is gone, thanks to your enemies.”

All Might faltered. Stared at him. Shouta leaned back against the pillows, suddenly tired, closing his eyes and trying to block out everything. There was the sound of footsteps, before the chair next to him creaked.

“...Tsukauchi says they may have a lead.”

“The bar the underlings mentioned, yes,” Shouta said tiredly, “Except we have no idea where it is, if it’s even in Musutafu or the surrounding prefectures, or if they’re lying.”

“His Quirk doesn’t allow for misdirection.”

One hollow comfort in the sea of flames.

“There are, at present, seventy-two members of this so-called League of Villains in custody, with four still at large. Most have been arrested before for minour crimes, with the largest offence being one Saito Tooru, arrested for five charges of homicide and then lost in transit due to improper Quirk suppression.”

“And the ringleaders?” Tsukauchi grimaced, shuffling through his files.

“There’s no one on record by the name of Shigaraki Tomura, or with the Quirk you described; the “Noumu” you mentioned is also an unknown. The “Kurogiri” figure and the “Sensei” we were able to glean off of some of them aren’t to be found either, thanks to the obvious aliases.”

Shouta leaned back, rubbing at his neck. Any headway they had made was slow-going, aliases and loyalty making it difficult to pin down anything useful. At most, they had worked out that Shigaraki was at the helm of the operations, but was being guided by someone else, going by the moniker of “Sensei”, which just wasn’t pretentious as shit at all .

The villains they interrogated couldn’t fathom what Shigaraki would do to Izuku, though; they described the man as unpredictable, off-kilter on good days and unstable on bad. For all they knew, Izuku could be in a ditch somewhere, or, more ominous, used as “raw material”.

He dreaded what that meant.

All Might approached Shouta and Inko about his suspicions, how he may know who “Sensei” was. The fog in his thoughts couldn’t deepen at the possibility of the two-century year-old cryptid having his son.

He let Inko take charge, saying he couldn’t have possibly have known the man was still alive, that she knew he wouldn’t have endangered Izuku knowingly like that without precaution and preparation. That was what the training had been, after all, preparation. She could be thankful for it now, at least, seeing as it had prevented the attack from, well, turning out worse than it had. They could be dealing with bodies along with a kidnapping, after all.

He stayed silent and let the guilt eat them alive.

He went back to class. Ignored Hizashi yelling at him, Nemuri threatening to put him under. He didn’t have anything else. Resting would only leave him to stew in his thoughts, and he couldn’t help in the investigation. Inko didn’t need his help, busying herself during the day as she was with work and reassuring their parents. He was useless, except for this small thing.

The class went silent when he walked in. They were all there, grouped in tiny clusters that he couldn’t tell would remain over the year or not. Unharmed, untouched, and something loosened incrementally in him to see them; he hadn’t failed in this, at least, even if Thirteen had been injured, even if Izuku was gone.

“Sensei, should you really be here…?” Yaoyorozu trailed off at his expression. He went to his podium and tried to carry on as usual.

It didn’t work. The students were well-mannered, quiet, and it rankled at him. By lunch, he was glad they would be carted off to All Might, if only because that showboat would be able to lift their spirits and give him time to hole up somewhere else.

He was packing up his papers, ready to head to the staff room until class resumed again, when Tenya and his small group came to a stop in front of him. The teen looked tense, just as stressed as he and the rest had been the past few days, and Shouta hoped that Tensei and Hizashi were distracting him some, keeping his mind on other things.

Shouta blinked at the arms that wrapped around him, squeezing tightly. Tenya looked at him, hesitated, before shaking his head.

“Don’t lose hope, Aizawa-san. It’s Izuku. He’ll be alright.”

He tried to hold onto that as he checked his messages for news once more.

Four days after the attack and two into plans that were going nowhere, things simultaneously went down the shitter while soaring up.

A video was sent to the faculty emails using a throwaway address. The thumbnail was pure black, no hint to what the video held, no subject for the email, nothing. Nedzu gathered them up before most of them played it- Shouta himself had been in a physical at the time it was sent, and thus didn’t know why a few of the staff had grim expressions, Tsukauchi looking like he had aged decades. He could guess.

Tsukauchi silently pressed play when they were all there, the screen resolving to an image of Izuku, bound and shadowed under dim lights. He looked tired, thin, with strange wounds visible through the tears in his costume. Shigaraki was standing just out of sight, humming off-key, and there was a lurking shape in the background, sending chills through those who noticed it.

“ You know-w, for some reason, I expected All Might’s student to be more impressive. As fucking annoying as he is, at least, but you’re just... boring.” Shigaraki finally stepped into view, still covered with hands as he reached out and mussed Izuku’s hair, thumb deliberately lifted. Izuku flinched, trying to scoot away. Didn’t answer or speak, only blinked, four times in succession.

Shouta sat up, at attention.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. Tell me, heroes, do you remember my pet from our last meeting? It was the one that one hit K.O’d daddy dearest. Good times!” The shadow lurched forward, heavy breath fogging over Izuku’s head. The boy began to shake, silently, staring steadily downwards as he blinked, two quick flutters before holding them shut twice. “Sensei made it specially for All Might, you know. To kill him.”

“But, did you know? It was a person, once. Easy to make, once you’ve got a body. No consent required.”

The hand slipped back to Izuku’s head again, grabbing green locks and tugging.

“I wonder how much it’ll hurt, All Might. Having your successor be your killer.”

Cut to black. The room was deathly silent.

Shouta was going to hug his father until his ribs creaked, the next time he saw him.

When a snap echoed out, he glanced up, brought out of his trance. All Might had snapped the arm off his chair, gripping it so tightly it splintered.

That well-known smile was a snarl, now.

“We’re already attempting to trace the message, but it’s likely it was sent through a proxy, or somewhere common like an internet cafe,” Tsukauchi said. He stared down at the files in his hands. “But it’s unlikely that-”

“Kamino.” The room jumped and turned as one, staring at Shouta. He swallowed and tried to push down the blind hope rising.

“Aizawa-san?”

“My father had me learn the old Wabun code from the Pre-Quirk Era, since no one uses it nowadays beyond historians. It was supposed to be for emergencies, if I was ever targeted by one of his old cases and needed to send a message no one else would understand.” He nodded at the screen, swallowing again. “I taught him it when he started nursery, and then again when we started training. Rewind it and you’ll see him blinking out the kana for kamino. ”

Tsukauchi did, once they had pulled up a reference. And then everything exploded into action.

There were many rundown, unremarkable bars in Kamino Ward. There were fewer situated away from the main traffic on the smaller roads. Even fewer surrounded mainly by apartments and warehouses.

There was only one that Ragdoll picked up as containing Midoriya Izuku.

Shouta couldn’t join the attack force.

Shouta punched a wall until his knuckles bled.

All Might approached him outside the meeting room while they were determining the team to retrieve Izuku, Shouta having stepped out to breathe because it was too much, at once. The main team was Ten Offices, jumping at the bit to help and well-acquainted with hostage situations already. All Might himself was on it as well, of course, the mighty Number One, needing to fucking-

He cut himself off from the train of thought, focusing on the blond instead. He had been right. This wasn’t the time for pettiness.

“I believe there is something vital we have both forgotten to do,” The man said. He eyed Shouta carefully, seriously, before dropping into seiza. Shouta stared. “It is because of my irresponsibility that your family is suffering. As Izuku’s mentor and teacher, I must apologise for not taking precautions, and failing to guard from such advances.” His form deflated, resolving into that sickly skeleton in the open hallway. Any could pass by and see his transformation. “But as his mentor, and the one who guided him over this past year, I promise you, Aizawa-san, I will not allow him to walk the same path I and my teacher did. Even if I must lay down my life to do so, I will rescue him.”

…

Shouta tugged him up, pulling him to the side as Kawaguchi and Akasawa walked past, eyeing the duo. He waited until they entered the room to speak again.

“Don’t do that,” He said bluntly. All Might reared back, blinking at him. “Izuku looks up to you too much for me to be fine with you getting yourself killed. There’s a reason this is a team effort.”

Shouta looked at the man, worn but standing strong for his son, and let out a slow breath.

“I apologise,” He said carefully, “For letting this go on as long as it did. I will never approve, or likely even forgive you, for hiding your relationship with Izuku for so long, or the injuries that resulted from it. But you kept him from losing himself to the expectations of others, and gave him a chance most never receive.” He stared Yagi in the eye. “Obliterate them, for taking him.”

They went back into the meeting room. The operation began tonight.

Shouta sat in the chair, microphone in front of him and journalists milling about as the conference was set up. His face was free of bandages for the first time in a week, the only sign of the attack left his sling and the new scar running below his eye. He traced it idly as setup continued, eyes roaming over the crowd.

“Shouta-kun.” He looked to his right, where Nedzu was seated. The mouse was solemn, as he had been for the whole stretch of this fucking mess, but quietly confident, settled in a way he himself couldn’t manage. “They’ll rescue him. Trust Toshinori and Akarui-san.”

He sat back and breathed in deeply. It was all he could do, beyond this distraction. It would have to be enough.

Thirteen settled into the chair next to him, and the flash of cameras began. Shouta braced himself, and faced forward.

Mission start.

Chapter Text

The portal closes on his father lying in a pool of blood, staring with one eye as he reaches out, and Izuku ignores his limit and forces all the power he can into his arms, trying to make the thing let him go. It doesn’t work, it squeezes tighter, and he has to stop for fear of suffocating.

They step into a bar, quiet and rundown, the ringleader of this whole fiasco sighing exaggeratedly and stretching his arms above his head. Izuku flinches when one comes near, remembering the mess that had become his father’s elbow after he was grabbed.

“That was a fucking bust. Went for the boss and only got the shitty mobs.” He suddenly turns, eyeing Izuku from under the shrivelled hand on his face. “Although we did get something out of it, even if he’s pretty wimpy.”

Izuku stills as he comes close. The monster’s grip was beginning to become painful. A hand reaches out and touches his face, two fingers making him turn as he tries to avoid them.

“Your Quirk is freakily similar to that piece of shit’s. Are you his kid too somehow?” A finger presses on his cheek, nail digging in. Izuku flinches away. “Answer, brat.”

“N-no.”

The albino tsks. “Too bad. That would have been a killshot right there. Oh well, I’ll talk to Sensei about what to do with you.”

They shove him into the basement, taking away his phone and overt equipment and leaving him to shake in the cold and figure out what to do.

They overlook the fact Izuku isn’t a hapless teen. He supposes he should be grateful for that, as it allows him to escape early in the morning.

It’s haphazard, done after chipping at the small window in the basement for hours on end with a knife hidden in his suit and his bare hands, when that didn’t suffice. He just barely manages to wriggle out, gritting his teeth as the stone scrapes at his stomach and back. When he’s out, he takes off at a dead run.

He knows first and foremost that he needs to figure out where he is. They might find him again, and he needs the information regardless. When he comes across a storefront, just being opened by an stocky, elderly man, he asks where is, because he’d gotten turned around during work and just wanted to make sure, you know?

The man takes in his uniform and the injuries and assumes he’s a new hero, just getting used to the workload, and answers he’s on the west end of Kamino Ward, right near the warehouse district.

He thanks the man and tries to make it to a more crowded street. A portal opens in front of him before he can, engulfing him and sending him sprinting into the wall of the bar. He winces, rubs at his head as he spins around to face them.

The figure in front of him is new, with an intimidating mask covering their head and neck. They’re watching him with a tilted head, or what may pass as tilted, the albino watching avidly off to the side.

“You’re tenacious; you have that to you, at least. That work of yours downstairs must have taken hours.” He steps forward, and Izuku leans back, staring up up up and he must be as tall as Toshinori-san, with how much he looms. “I wonder, do you have any idea who I am, Aizawa-kun? Are the Yuuei staff informed on your new teacher’s history?”

The breath in his throat freezes. All for One . He’s still alive. But the man doesn’t know him, not really, if he’s calling him Aizawa. He doesn’t know about his connection to Toshinori-san either, can’t know if he’s asking this. So he shakes his head guardedly.

“You’re a villain, and one willing to attack a school full of children. That’s enough for me.”

“Mm, that’s a pity. Maybe you would have been more prepared for this. Nevertheless, considering who your father is, your Quirk may be indispensable. So, my boy, apologies, but-” Izuku gets the sense that the man is sighing before he steps back, and he’s confused for a split second, wondering-

Before the black vines appear, and shoot towards him. They pierce his uniform, dig into his skin, but that’s not what makes him gasp in pain and try to curl, no- it’s the sensation of burning, his head exploding into a supernova as the man hums.

“Not Erasure, no- your Quirk… it’s that , isn’t it?” The laugh is unpleasant as he’s dropped to the floor, gasping and clutching at his head. “You’re Yagi’s successor. How… Ironic.”

“That scrawny-”

“Tomura. I am sure you are aware not to judge based on appearances?” The albino, Tomura, quiets down, and Izuku glances up through tears to see him shrinking in on himself, head ducking.

“Yes, sensei.”

All for One turns back to him, just starting to stand again, and the man hums. “We can’t leave you alone, since you’ll just escape again. There’s an easy solution to that, though.”

A hand reaches for him, and even as he flinches away it grabs hold, sends his mind spasming and his consciousness into darkness.

When he wakes again, he’s in the basement again, on a shoddily constructed palette. His uniform has been switched for drab clothes, an oversized hoodie and pants, and he shudders at the thought of one of them touching him while he was vulnerable, curling into a ball.

That’s when he hears the breathing, and looks over.

It’s looming, watching, the only colour to be seen its eyes and the brain matter peeking out. He freezes, and doesn’t move for the next few hours, until he falls asleep through the fear and stress.

They would find him. They would find him. They would.

They had nothing to go on, no way to know where he was.

Tomura doesn’t remember to feed him, much; he can tell the passage of time from the light coming through the window- left untouched from his escape he noticed, not that it mattered much. The beast watched his every move, and would twitch if he so much as shifted his foot off the palette. Kurogiri, the mist character, would appear every so often to drag him to bathroom, since they seemed “civilized” enough not to force him to those lengths, but food and water was still rare, in the next few days.

It wasn’t bad, though. He could deal with little to eat or drink. It was the… visits, that left him truly shaken.

“He must have told you about me, hm? After ruining me like this, I would hope so; I deserve some mention, after all.” Izuku stays silent, but his fingers clench around the glass in his hands, and his mouth twitches as he fights a scowl. It’s an irksome thing, a facade put up; the man has insisted on tea for every one of these small talks, as though they’re sitting down for a chat instead of playing hostage and kidnapper.

The man chuckles, noticing his reaction. “He did, he did. How did he paint me- as a mastermind of evil, destroying society with just a flex of my fingers? Some heinous devil looking to lead innocent lambs astray?”

“He said you were the one to kill his teacher, and almost kill him. I’d say that’s bad enough for me,” Izuku shoots back, before biting his lip, hard. All for One hums, a delighted noise.

“It really is, isn’t it? What about others? The public? You don’t care about them more?”

“I- of course I care about others! But there’s, it’s different when-” He cuts himself off. He didn’t get kidnapped just to get gaslit by some zero potential shitbag of a villain. All for One doesn’t seem to mind, drinking his tea calmly. He doesn’t seem to regard Izuku as a threat, so willing to bare his ruin of a face.

“Tell me, why bother caring? He’s certainly the number one hero, yes, but what has he done for you to make you care so much? He may have saved you, but he’s saved hundreds, thousands. And that Quirk is more a death sentence than a gift, believe me.”

It’s only a death sentence because of you , Izuku thinks. He grits his teeth and stays silent. All for One takes it as incentive to explain just how “dangerous” One for All is, each user ending in a gruesome way, one after another. Until Toshinori-san, staunch in his survival, and Izuku, only a year in.

All for One doesn’t care that he doesn’t respond, argue. It seems to be all about his reactions, for the man.

Izuku wishes that his father hadn’t been proven right. He wishes he was back at home, playing with Jelly while his father graded and his mother watched the news. That he was in school, talking to his friends and eating lunch with Toshinori-san.

He wishes he were anywhere but here.

It’s moving it’s moving no why is it moving stay away fuck-

Izuku whimpers as the Noumu shifts, still breathing heavily, still mindless. He doesn’t so much as twitch for a long while.

Tomura drags him out of the basement on day three or four of confinement, hissing at him for stumbling and sitting him down at the bar. He doesn’t understand why the man ties him up, why the Noumu is lurking behind, a metre away, until the camera is pulled out.

Camera. Camera?

He stares as Tomura clumsily sets it up, barely avoiding disintegrating the thing at points. He wonders if the older teen is a fool, if All for One hasn’t considered other means of communication. “You- you’re going to send a video?”

“Why the hell not? Aggro the boss some, have some fun; it’s not like they’ll be able to find you. And it’s a little entertainment before we have sit camp for a while like fucking assholes.” Thank the gods, they apparently haven’t. The albino sneers at him, and Izuku flinches as a hand brushes him, fingers just barely touching no no don’t -

Tomura is overly fond of that. Izuku doesn’t think he’ll be very fond of touch, when this is all over.

The camera flickers on, recording, even as Tomura is still busying himself with setting the laptop aside. Izuku can see his own face on it, pale and worn.

“ You know-w, for some reason, I expected All Might’s student to be more impressive. As fucking annoying as he is, at least, but you’re just... boring.” Shigaraki steps close, mussing his hair, thumb deliberately lifted, and he flinches away, doesn’t want to be touched, no. The albino grins at the reaction. Izuku blinks, deliberately, staring into the lens.

“I suppose it doesn’t matter. Tell me, heroes, do you remember my pet from our last meeting? It was the one that one hit K.O’d daddy dearest. Good times!” The Noumu lurches forward, steps vibrating the floor, breath warming his back. Izuku tries to stop himself from shaking as he blinks again. He has to stay calm. Mi. Mi. Next is No. “Sensei made it specially for All Might, you know. To kill him.”

“But, did you know? It was a person, once. Easy to make, once you’ve got a body. No consent required.”

Izuku freezes, barely manages to blink out the last character as Tomura grabs his hair and yanks , pulling his head back with four fingers hooked, grinning down at him.

“I wonder how much it’ll hurt, All Might. Having your successor be your killer.”

No no nononothankyou he tries to move, get away from this lunatic and his monster, but the bindings hold him in place, and he realises just why they’re there as Tomura grins at him, gleeful and cruel.

He doesn’t want to breathe in when the cloth comes over his mouth and nose, holds his breath as long as he can. But Tomura stomps on his foot, and he involuntarily sucks in a breath at the pain, grimacing, flinching away.

Everything goes hazy, and then he’s out.

Izuku wakes up to sounds of destruction.

He’s in a dark room, lying on a bed with an IV in his arm and the smell of blood in the air. Sitting up, he realises that it’s probably his, going by the pain in both his elbows. He doesn’t want to know what they were doing, shudders at the thought as he slides out the needle. It’s hard standing, but he manages, keeping one hand to the wall as he walks through the doorway.

He’s in an apartment. Why is he in an apartment? He blinks around the room, taking in the multitude of boxes full of papers, the ancient landline on the wall, the small kitchenette.

Why is he in an apartment?

There’s another rumbling noise, the sound of something heavy slamming into something hard, and he glances over and down, out a window. It’s coming from below. In the street? Maybe he’s on an upper floor?

Finding the door out is easy. Walking down the stairs less so, but he manages. It leads to a back room, full of liquor and glasses with a small sink and counter, and he realises this must be the back of the bar. He hadn’t realised that there was anything above it, despite it obviously being more than one story.

He glances at the doorway across the room. The sounds are louder. He glances around the room. He’d rather not die the moment he sets foot outside. There’s a pipe under the sink, likely leading to wherever the bar gets its water. He rips a section long enough to use as a walking stick off. Then he opens the door.

The front of the bar is destroyed. That’s the first thing he notices, looking out. There’s rubble everywhere, the front of the street plainly visible, night sky a dark backdrop. The second thing he notices is the catastrophic battle going on .

Raindrop and the Chairman are fighting Tomura, keeping him at a distance while the men slowly wear him down, and Izuku can see from here that Raindrop’s Quirk is in full force, likely on par with horse sedative right now. The man’s also using his sword instead of the bokken he usually carries, and it’s confusing, sticking out in his mind as he looks around. Off by the basement doors, EXTREME and the Twins are taking care of the abomination, lulling it with illusions and bursts of energy. Kurogiri is already taken out, held by a furious Smokin’ Bomb, and it’s all confusing, until he looks back at the street and recognises, belatedly-

Toshinori-san and Tenth Flame, facing off against All for One. The villain has his back to Izuku, speaking, mask crumbled to bits and blood here and there, but it doesn’t seem to matter to the man as he stands there. Toshinori-san is hunched over, bloody, grimacing, and Izuku can tell from here he’s on his last legs, the battle’s taken more out of him than any in the last five years. Tenth Flame is no better, fire flagging as he stands there glaring, gloves clenched. They’re both close-quarters fighters, and it makes him wonder just what All for One qualifies as, for a split second.

Then All for One grabs Toshinori-san by the collar, pummeling him until his face is half-reduced to his normal form, and Izuku stops wondering. His head is still hazy from the drugs, but it doesn’t stop him from inching close, sliding behind the counter and avoiding the Chairman and his broad strikes. No one looks at him, focused as they are on their battles and not expecting him to be there. Or maybe they do, but somewhere else? Or not moving so casually?

He contemplates this as he comes to a stop in front of a particularly large pile of rubble, just a metre away from All for One. This close, he can hear the man gloating about Shimura-san, dying pitifully and alone, and Toshinori-san’s face is painful, hearing that, and that makes him frown even more.

That won’t do. That very much won’t do, but he doesn’t know what he can do, watching the villain squeeze tighter, Toshinori-san scrabbling at his throat. He leans more on the pipe in his hand then pauses, looking down at it. Ohhhh, that’s an idea.

Toshinori-san finally sees him when he comes up behind All for One, pipe hefted in his hands. He’s holding it like he’s seen Raindrop do, at those picnics the office would run for members and their families. One for All is concentrated all in his arms, and he knows his mom and dad will be upset later, but maximum power is for the best right now, right? Right?

There’s a dropping of a jaw, All for One turning just in time to have an arm come up, trying to defend, but it isn’t fast enough to stop the pipe, strong enough to stop One for All at max. There’s a loud crack, the sound of something giving way wetly, and then pain, rocketing up his arms, and black encroaching on his vision once more.

Three bodies fall. Only two are breathing.

Chapter Text

Izuku had multiple fractures in his arms, malnutrition, thin stab wounds ranging from a millimetre to centimetres in depth, and the perfect cocktail in his system to keep someone under for hours, possibly days. The doctors said he shouldn’t have even been able to move, with how much was in him.

Shouta stroked curly hair and was thankful, thankful that Yagi had given him that damnable Quirk. Thank god for superhuman metabolisms and strength.

The lanky man had actually disappeared at some point between arriving at the hospital and approving Izuku for treatment and sitting in the OR waiting room, hadn’t been present when they finally had a room for Izuku and were just waiting for him to wake up. The doctors hadn’t tried to push them out after visiting hours, seeing the expressions on their faces and knowing it wouldn’t be worth the effort.

So there he sat with Inko, breathing quietly to the sound of the monitor.

“He’s okay,” She whispered. She shifted, taking a hand wrapped in bandages. Her eyes were watering, or were those his? “He’s okay. ”

He was. They were.

Nedzu and Thirteen had been stunned when they watched Izuku suddenly appear behind All for One on camera. Shouta, familiar with the effects of Yuurei’s illusions, wasn’t surprised that someone suddenly appeared from under the smudge that had been slowly moving towards the main skirmish.

Shouta, familiar with his son and the lessons he had taught him, wasn’t surprised that he took the chance to take down a dangerous enemy when it presented itself. Mercy was reserved for those with potential.

(He was still getting the talking of his life for going onto a battlefield drugged. Izuku . )

Izuku woke up two days after his rescue, while Shouta was quietly talking with Yagi about where to go after his own press conference. The man had come… slightly clean with the public, admitting that he was retiring soon, and that he would be working at Yuuei full-time after that.

The effects of Yuuei’s own press release were still echoing. Nedzu said he didn’t regret it, even if the accusations were irritating. Shouta felt much the same, especially after seeing some of the more… vitriolic messages online, from hero hopefuls who hadn’t passed the entrance exam.

Nevertheless. What was done was done.

“It’s insane, how drastic the change has been,” Yagi admitted, stretching back. He was on the other side of the bed, arm in a sling and bandages wrapped around his head. Considering how much blood there had been, Shouta was slightly surprised those were the only signs of the fight. Healing Quirks’ effects, he supposed. “Taishiro and the others have all been contacting me again, and it’s insane how many are supportive. It’s strange, being...”

“Seen as an actual person, rather than a living action figure?” Shouta suggested. Yagi snorted but didn’t deny it, instead leaning over to adjust Izuku’s blanket.

The boy rocketed backward, hitting and cracking the bedframe with a terrified whine.

They froze. Izuku shuddered, breathing heavily as his heart monitor went insane. There were sparks crackling at his knuckles, a tensing of muscles, and Shouta reacted in an instant, flaring his Quirk and reaching out, placing a careful hand on Izuku’s shoulder . He flinched violently, stilling when nothing else happened.

“Izuku. You’re safe, you’re in the hospital. Yagi and Tenth Flame rescued you.” Green eyes slowly focused on him, blinking, and he smiled. “See? Everything’s-”

He wheezed as he was knocked back. Izuku sobbed into his neck. “Dad- dad- you- they- ‘m sorry, shit-”
Yagi slipped out as he rubbed Izuku on the back, murmuring nothing important into his ear.

The doctors kicked them out after they had determined Izuku was lucid. Shouta stood in the hallway and sipped at the coffee Yagi had gotten, perfectly content to wait for Inko.

“...Why did he. React that way, when he first woke up?”

“One of the villains had a Quirk that disintegrated with one touch, remember?” Yagi stared at him blankly, before realisation hit and he blanched.

“You- they-” He stopped, staring. “ Jesus. How are you so calm about that?”

Shouta hummed. “Well, the ones behind it are behind bars permanently or had their brains scattered onto pavement, so my frustration is already satisfied some. Any leftover will just be directed towards the shitfaced zero potentials claiming favoritism.”

Yagi blinked slowly. “You know, I think I’ve realised why your relation to each other was so surprising. Izuku can only really reach mildly unnerving, while you’re frequently genuinely terrifying.”

Shouta grinned at him.

Izuku was to be released the next day. Of those to cycle through the tiny room in a bid to see him before he disappeared into the apartment for a week or so, Katsuki was the one to get all but family banned from visiting, managing to and thinking it was a good idea to hide Jelly in his jacket and unleash the cat on Izuku’s bed when they arrived.

He doesn’t know how the blond managed to hide a full-grown, overweight cat. He doesn’t know how he managed to do it with a straight face. Mitsuki and Masaru wouldn’t answer him on how they didn’t notice it, too busy laughing.

Izuku and Katsuki ignored them in favour of petting the cat and looking smug, respectively.

Izuku caught up on the news when they finally went home, collapsing onto the sofa with a sigh and turning on the television.

Izuku made a noise like a dying bird and almost fell off said sofa when he saw footage of Yagi’s press conference, the man bowing and saying he would be retiring, followed by a still of Yuuei’s and the headline Eraserhead’s Hidden Family and All Might’s Retirement: Multiple Shocks Following the Rescue at Kamino .

Izuku clambered over the sofa, boggling. “I- they-!?”

“The subject of why you were taken came up,” Shouta said, “And it was decided before the conference that it would be safer to reveal that than mention All Might, yours or the villain’s connections to him.” His lips quirked, a wry smile coming to his face. “Nedzu also pointed out that you were old enough to protect yourself at this point, as you proved. As for Yagi's retirement, he made that decision himself.”

Izuku blinked slowly at that, sitting back. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Inko biting her lip, but really, what did they have to worry about? The boy had never been ashamed, after all.

“Does this mean mom and I can finally take your name?”

Shouta blinked, before snorting and beginning to laugh. Case in point.

“ MIDORIYA! ”

Shouta watched Kirishima go in for a tackle, only to be beaten by Uraraka and Asui, Tenya not far behind.

“Holy fuck, man, that broadcast-”

“Are you alright?? Are you still hurt anywhere-”

“PLEASE DO NOT WORRY US LIKE THAT AGAIN, IZUKU-”

“Wait wait, or is it Aizawa, now? Shit man, that was like, the biggest shock, I swear-”

Shouta cleared his throat, making them all jump back from Izuku and stare at him guiltily. He raised a brow as the teen wheezed, finally squirming out of Tenya’s hold.

“Uhhh, sure, yeah, it’s pretty much Aizawa now, uh, s-sorry Tenya, and no, everything’s pretty much healed.” Sero wrapped an arm around Izuku’s shoulders leaning in with a squint.

“Y’know, Mic’s weird thing with you makes sense now. I always just thought he was kinda, I don't even know, since you an’ Iida sometimes call him uncle. Weirdly friendly, I guess. In fact, Iida, what’s up with that ?”

“Ah-”

Shouta cleared his throat again. “Ask during break. Need I remind you all you still have class?”

They hurried to their desks. He shuffled the permission forms for the Sports Festival and grinned to himself. This was going to be entertaining.

Shouta put his head in his hands and laughed. He should have predicted this.

“ AND IT LOOKS LIKE AI-ZA-WA IZUKU HAS ROCKETED TO FIRST PLACE, LEAVING HIS CLASSMATES IN THE DUST !” Izuku clambered up from where he had been sent flying by the force of One for All and the mines, grinning as he covered the short distance to the finish line. “ THAT’LL BE A NAME TO REMEMBER FOR THE FUTURE, FOLKS !”

Yes, he had no doubt about that. Watching Izuku be surrounded by his friends, finishing and cheering themselves, he grinned so hard his face hurt.

It was going to be great watching, from here on out.