Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I am offering an extra credit opportunity,” Aizawa started. “I need someone to watch Izuku while I'm patrolling. Two requirements to get the credit: one, you keep him safe and unharmed, and two, don't destroy the place. Anything you break you pay for. And for fairness sake, no one is allowed to sit more than once a week unless literally no one else can or will. Is that clear?”

“Yes sir!” The class answered. Uraraka bounced in her seat, excited. Actually, many of the girls were.

“Sign up sheet is on the board. President, you're in charge.” Aizawa stepped away from the podium and sat down next to Izuku, who was quietly playing on the floor.

The class almost caused a stampede. Iida waved his hands around, shouting “Everyone in single file!”, but no one really paid attention to him. Pretty quickly, the schedule was nearly full, except for two slots. Iida questioned the class about those days: no one was available. The whole ordeal took up the rest of the period. When the bell rang, Izuku covered his ears with his hands, and tears pricked his eyes. Aizawa quickly scooped him up, along with a few toys. He murmured quietly to the three-year-old as he walked out the door, pausing only to let Present Mic fuss momentarily over the boy.

Chapter Text

“NO!” Izuku screamed, slamming his hands on the tabletop. “NO! NO!”

“Come on, bean sprout,” Aizawa sighed. “Please, just eat the grapes.”

“No!” Izuku yelled again. “Won't!”

“Well, why not?”

Izuku was quiet for a minute. “I don' like grapes.” He said.

“Fair enough,” Aizawa sighed again, and picked up the plate. He replaced them with baby carrots, which Izuku happily munched on.

-Later-

As Aizawa and Izuku were walking down the hall, Izuku started crying softly into Aizawa's scarf.

“What is it, bean sprout?” Aizawa asked quietly, glancing around to see what the issue was.

Izuku pointed a small finger at a familiar, small purple pervert.

“Don’ like grapes.” Izuku said. Aizawa stiffed a laugh and hurried away before Mineta could question what had happened.

Chapter Text

Izuku looked up at the slightly taller girl in front of him. She stared back, clinging to Aizawa’s leg.

“Hey, bean sprout,” Aizawa said softly, squatting down to be level with him. “This is Eri. Can she play with you today?”

Izuku’s eyes brightened. “Yeah!” He squealed happily. New friend!

Then he paused and remembered his manners. “Hi, Eri-chan. I’m Izuku.” He smiled brightly and bowed to her.

Eri bowed slightly back. “Hi...” she answered quietly.

“Come on!” Izuku pulled Eri over to his corner in the currently empty classroom. He showed her all his toys. Then, he started teaching the four-year-old how to play heroes. She excitedly waved around an action figure of the American hero, Cow Lady. Izuku was playing with an All Might doll.

“Who's your favorite hero?” He asked her.

“L-lemillion.” She answered, eyes brightening. “He saved me.”

Izuku looked confused. “I don’t know Le- Lemelon, is he new?” he muttered. “Or underground? Does Otou-san know him? Can I meet him? What’s his-”

Aizawa cut into the three-year-old’s muttering, which Eri had been watching, fascinated. “Lemillion is Mirio, bean sprout.”

“OH!” Izuku smiled brightly again. “Cool! Mirio-san saved you? What did he save you from? When?”

Eri picked up a toy. “He saved me from my uncle, Chisaki. He was really cool! He came in like, ‘Where’s Eri-chan!?’ and punched him. He gave me his cape!”

“Whoa!” Izuku’s eyes sparkled. “Mirio-san is awesome!”

Eri nodded, but he smile faded. Tears came into her eyes. “He lost his quirk b-because of me…” she cried. Izuku’s eyes widened.

“Nooooo, don’t cry!” Izuku whined, tears pricking his own eyes. “It’s okay! Mirio will get his quirk back! It’s not your fault!” he hugged her, crying too.

Aizawa sighed and picked up both kids. They both cried into his shoulders, leaving tear-stains behind, but Aizawa couldn’t bring himself to care. He sat at one of the desks and softly bounced them for a good while before Eri’s tears finally dried. She hiccuped and clung tightly to Aizawa, who rubbed her back. Izuku also eventually faded out, immediately falling asleep. Aizawa tried to stand but found he couldn’t.

“Hey, Eri?” He asked her quietly. She glanced at him with bright red eyes, sniffing. “I gotta put you down, okay? Izuku fell asleep.”

Without anything more than that, Eri slid off his lap and stood quietly. Aizawa stood and walked out the door and down the hall a short ways, Eri following the whole time. He opened the door to the teacher’s lounge and put Izuku down on the little mattress in Izuku’s corner. Eri watched silently. Once Aizawa had detached the green koala from his body, he turned to Eri and held out his arms. She ran into them. Aizawa gave her trembling body a hug.

“Are you okay?” he asked her. She nodded and sniffed. “Do you want to stay here with Izuku-chan?” Another nod.

“Okay,” he rubbed her back. “I’ll be right back, okay? I’m going to go get some papers and another blanket. Can you watch Izuku for me?” Eri looked up at him and nodded again.

Aizawa walked to the doorway, glanced back and swiftly walked to his classroom. Eri looked down at Izuku. She sat down next to him.

The boy was a curious thing, she decided. And her friend.

Almost like what she imagined a little brother to be like.

Chapter Text

“Oh, no, Izuku!” Yaoyorozu gasped, picking up the three-year-old. “Look at you! Oh, Aizawa-sensei is going to kill us!”

“Paint!” Izuku squealed, wiping a bit of red on Momo’s cheek. She sighed.

To get to the washroom, Momo had to go through the common room, where a majority of the other girls and a couple guys were hanging out. They stared at Momo as she crossed the room.

“What happened?” Uraraka asked. “Do you need help?”

“Yes, please. Izuku found a bunch of paint. Luckily, it was non-toxic, I checked. But he made a huge mess and if you guys could clean it up, I’d really appreciate it!”

“On it!” Kirishima said. “I’ll get the cleaning supplies.”

“I’ll come, too!” Hagakure followed the boy.

“Psh, brat.” Bakugou walked up to Momo and looked down at the kid. “Hey, Deku.” Izuku looked up at the boy with big eyes. He smiled. “Kacchan!” he cheered, adding a little orange to Bakugou’s black shirt. The older boy growled.

“Okay, time for a bath, Izuku!” Momo said, turning back toward the washroom. Izuku started wailing.

“No bath!” he cried, twisting in her grasp. Momo omphed when he kicked her in the stomach. A couple more moments, and he had escaped.

“Oi!” Bakugou chased after him. “Get back here, Deku!”

“No!” Izuku giggled, tears still on his cheeks, mixing with blue and green paint. “No bath!”

Momo ran in another direction, knowing that the hall looped around back that way.

Then she heard an explosion. She paused, then started running faster, panic on her face.

Oh Bakugou, you didn’t-!

She rounded the corner and stopped, gaping at the sight. Bakugou was holding his hand in front of Deku, making little explosions. Izuku watched curiously, then reached out a hand to touch. Bakugou caught his hand.

“No, don’t do that, Deku.” he grumbled. “I don’t want to deal with you burning yourself.”

“Pretty,” Izuku murmured, mesmerized.

“Yeah?” Bakugou asked, a little surprised. “Well, guess what? I know how to make a bath cool with this. But I can’t show you, I don’t have a test subject.”

Izuku looked confused for a second, trying to figure out what Bakugou meant. Then he gasped. “I’ll be a test subject!” He jumped up and down, hands up in the air.

“Stupid Deku, only someone brave and awesome can be a test subject.” Bakugou closed his fist, extinguishing the sparks.

Izuku pointed at himself, smiling widely. “I’m awesome! And brave!”

“Are you, brat?” Bakugou frowned, thinking. “Hm… huh, I guess you are. But you have to be really, really brave.”

“How brave?”

“Braver than All Might,” Bakugou said, putting his big hands on Izuku’s small shoulders. Izuku pouted. “No one’s braver than All Might,” he muttered.

“Nani?” Bakugou asked. “You want to be a hero, right?”

Izuku nodded determinedly.

“Then you have to be brave. And awesome. Like me!” Bakugou stood up and struck a pose. “I’m going to be the number one hero!”

Izku looked up at him in awe. Bakugou smirked. “So, are you brave and awesome enough?”

Izuku nodded quickly. He tried to strike the same pose as Bakugou, failing brilliantly. Bakugou will forever deny that he loved that.

“Then we must go to the washroom!” Bakugou declared. “It’ll be our lab.”

“To the lab!” Izuku ran down the hall.

“Wow, Bakugou,” Momo said.

“Ha?” Bakugou whipped around to see Momo standing behind him. “What do you mean, Ponytail?”

Momo smiled. “I didn’t know you had a soft spot for Izuku.”

Bakugou growled. “Tell anyone, and I’ll blow your fucking face off.”

“Noted,” Momo nodded. “Now, you have an experiment to conduct. Hurry, before Izuku gets bored.”

“Psh!” Bakugou stalked off.

Needless to say, Aizawa was very confused as to why his adopted son was following the most explosive kid in his class around.

Chapter Text

“Sorry Father, but I’m busy.” Todoroki said into the phone, watching Izuku build a castle with wooden blocks.

“Shoto, you better not hang up-”

“Good-bye.” Todoroki hung up, sighing. His father wanted him to come home for the weekend, but Todoroki had signed up to watch Izuku on both Saturday and Sunday. Not so coincidentally when his father had “scheduled” a training weekend.

He didn’t even hesitate in obliterating his father’s plans.

“Todo?” Izuku asked. “Your otou-san is Endeavour, right?”

“Yes, he is.” Todoroki answered emotionlessly.

“So why is your quirk ice?” Izuku crawled over to him.

Todoroki shook his head. “My quirk is actually half-cold half-hot. The ice is from my mom.”

“Ooh. Is that why Kacchan calls you Half’n’half?” Izuku tilted his head to the side.

“I guess so.” Todoroki sighed.

“So Todo can make fire, too?”

“Yes.”

Izuku’s eyes widened. “Show me! Show me!”

“I’ve sworn off it.” Todoroki said.

“But if you don’t use it, then when you do, it will be out of control!” Izuku argued.

Todoroki shrugged.

“Did your dad give you your scar?” Izuku asked suddenly.

Todoroki stilled. “No, he did not.”

“Then why don’t you use your quirk?”

“It’s not my quirk, it’s my father’s.” Todoroki softly asserted.

Izuku fiddled with a building block. “Why?”

“It just is.”

“But it’s yours?” Izuku looked confused. “It belongs to you.”

Todoroki sighed. “My father uses his quirk to hurt people. I will not use his quirk.”

“Why not just use it to help people? You want to be a hero, right?”

Izuku asks hard questions, Todoroki decided. “Of course I want to be a hero.”

“How can you be a good hero if you only use part of your quirk?” Izuku furrowed his little brows together. “Otou-san says heroes give it their all everyday.”

“...You’re very wise for your age, Izuku-kun.” Todoroki finally said.

Izuku giggled. He handed Todoroki the red block.

“So can I see your fire? Pretty please?” Izuku asked his with wide puppy eyes.

Todoroki sighed again and ignited his left hand, holding a ball of fire in his hand.

“Oh!” Izuku stared at the flames, mystified. “Pretty!”

He reached out to touch it, but Todorki gently grabbed his wrist and nudged him away.

“Careful, Izuku.” Todoroki sighed, mind flashing to his older brother. “Fire hurts.”

Izuku nodded distractedly, still staring at the fire. Todoroki put it out.

“See?” Izuku said excitedly. “It’s your power, Todo!”

Todoroki blinked. “What?”

“You made the fire, Todo! Not your stinky poo-poo otou-san.” Izuku took the red block back and toddled back to his castle. He put the red block at the very top.

“You’re going to be the most awesomest hero, Todo!” Izuku said brightly. Then he froze. “Don’t tell Kacchan I said that.”

Todoroki felt a chuckle well up in his throat. “I won’t,” he promised.

Chapter Text

“You should take a break, Iida-kun.” Uraraka Ochako greeted the other, a little bean sprout in her arms.

“A student should get their work done in a timely manner.” Iida Tenya replied. “It is also good practice for when we have paperwork.”

Uraraka sighed. “But you’ve been working on Yamada-sensei’s essay for hours! Just for a while?”

“Uraraka-san, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. However, if I do not finish this essay, I may run into a block of some kind.”

“Iida, what’s a ‘ssay?” Izuku interrupted. Iida glanced up at him, then refocused on typing his essay on the English novel “Lord of the Flies”.

“It’s an analysis of the main focus of the paper, Izuku.” Iida replied.

“Oh, ‘kay.” Izuku still looked confused.

“Come on, Iida. Just five minutes? Izuku hasn’t gone outside the dorms all day.” Uraraka tried.

“...I suppose taking a short break couldn’t do much harm. After all, it is good to take short pauses between working.”

Uraraka gave him a deadpan expression. “That’s what I’ve been saying.”

“Outside!” Izuku yelled. A couple heads (Sero and Kaminari) turned away from Bakugou’s tutoring session across the room, prompting Bakugou to let off a small explosion to regain their attention.

“Yes, Izuku, we’re going outside.” Uraraka soothed. “We’re going right now.”

Iida closed his laptop and stood. The trio walked to the front door, and Iida opened it to let Uraraka through with Izuku.

It was a pleasant sunny day, with only a few clouds present. It was a nice change from the storms they had a few days ago.

Izuku squirmed, wanting to be put down. Uraraka obliged, setting him down on the grass. Uraraka and Iida sat down on the steps leading up to the door. Izuku giggled, picking up a leaf and showing it to Uraraka.

“That’s very pretty, Izuku.” Uraraka smiled at him. Izuku squealed and handed the leaf to Uraraka.

Izuku pushed himself to his feet and took off out into the lawn. Iida made to go after him, but Izuku stopped and picked up another leaf and brought it back to Iida this time.

“Oh, thank you, Izuku.” Iida said, smiling also. Izuku looked overjoyed. He took off again.

Soon enough, Uraraka and Iida had too many leaves to hold. Uraraka took her leaves and carefully began weaving them together in the beginnings of something similar to a flower crown.

The first time Uraraka tried to take some of Iida’s leaves for the crown, Izuku grabbed her wrist as tightly as a three-year-old could manage.

“Those are Iida’s leafs,” Izuku said seriously.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Uraraka gave Iida an exaggerated pouty face. “Can you ever forgive me?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Iida said, feigning contemplation. “He’s right, these are my ‘leafs’. Precious gifts from Izuku. I cannot let anyone take them.”

“Does Ura want more leaves?” Izuku asked, still clinging to Uraraka’s wrist.

“I do,” she replied solemnly.

“I’ll find you some!” Izuku declared. “But don’t take Iida’s leaves while I’m gone.”

“I won’t,” she promised. Izuku ran off, picking up as many leaves as he could.

“Please let me use your leaves.” she muttered once Izuku was out of earshot. “Izuku won’t be able to get enough before the sun goes down.”

“Of course, Uraraka-san. But don’t let Izuku see.”

So Uraraka kept taking leaves when Izuku wasn’t looking. Soon enough, Uraraka had finished the leaf crown, complete with a few pinecones and acorns Izuku had found, and a dandelion he had pulled from the ground. Uraraka place her creation proudly on Izuku’s head.

“Aww,” Uraraka cooed.

“Well, this is just too precious to process.” Iida said.

Uraraka pulled out her phone and snapped a couple pictures. She sent one to Aizawa and reminded herself to send one to the 1-A group chat later.

“Send me that,” Iida said quietly. Uraraka giggled and did so.

“Can I see?” Izuku said, trying to see by pushing himself up on Uraraka’s leg. She tilted her phone and showed Izuku.

“Ochako-san?” a voice from the front door called.

“Tsuyu-chan!” Ochako turned to look at her. “Look at Izuku!”

“He’s cute, kero.” Tsuyu said. “Do you remember where you put the stapler? I need it for the homework All Might-sensei gave us.”

“I thought I put it on the kitchen counter?” Uraraka frowned.

“You did, but it’s not there anymore. Kero.” Tsuyu nodded.

“Hold on, I’ll help you look. Can you watch Izuku, Iida-kun?”

“Of course.” Iida replied. “Good luck.”

“Thank you!”

Uraraka disappeared into the dorm.

Izuku suddenly whined. Iida turned to look. Izuku was trying to pull the leaf crown off.

“Hold on, Izuku-kun.” Iida carefully lifted Uraraka’s creation off of Izuku. “Was it itchy?”

“Yeah,” Izuku nodded firmly. “It’s pretty, though.”

“It is,” Iida confirmed. “Uraraka-san did a good job on it.”

“I’m going to get more leaves!” Izuku suddenly decided. He ran off again.

Iida watched him for a few minutes until there was a sudden sound drew his attention away. Before he could figure out what it was, he heard Izuku gasp softly. He whipped his head back around.

Izuku was carefully picking something up off the ground. Iida let out a little sigh of relief. He was afraid Izuku had fallen or something.

Iida turned back to see what the noise from before. Ojiro waved at him from the dumpster, and Iida waved back. The sound must have been the dumpster lid slamming shut. There really was no quiet way to close those things.

There was a tugging on his pants leg. Iida turned back to see Izuku with one hand clutching his leg and the other holding something.

Once Izuku saw he had Iida’s attention, he cupped the thing in both hands and held them out to show Iida. It was a caterpillar.

“Buwfwy!” Izuku proudly proclaimed. Iida smiled softly at Izuku’s mistake.

“Eventually, Izuku. Why don’t you put it down? We have to go inside, anyway. It is getting dark, and I must finish my essay.”

Izuku nodded and walked slowly back to the tree he had found the caterpillar at. Iida could see the care the bean sprout placed the caterpillar down. Then Izuku straightened up and ran back to Iida. Iida picked up the three-year-old and went inside.

Iida carried Izuku to the couch, then sat down, setting Izuku next to him. He then picked up his laptop and opened up, going back to his essay.

Izuku did not run off, as Iida was expecting. Instead, Izuku was captivated by the glowing screen of the laptop and the rapid appearance of characters he did not recognize. Izuku slowly crawled onto Iida’s lap. Iida let him.

The next time Iida looked at the clock, it was 9:31 pm and Izuku had passed out over two hours ago. Iida slowly shut his laptop and shifted Izuku into a position where he could be carried. Then, carefully, he stood and walked to the room next to Aizawa-sensei’s room on the second floor on the girl’s side (it was completely unoccupied. Aizawa claimed it so he could, and quote “keep a better eye on the problem children” and “give Izuku a place to sleep overnight”. So he lived there now) and laid Izuku in his bed. He made sure the nightlight was on, then quietly shut the door behind him.

He pulled out his phone and opened the 1-A group chat.

Sanic: Izuku is in bed, so no more loud noises

There were a few immediate replies, but Iida ignored them. They would be, as per usual, requests for photographs.

Iida retrieved his laptop and retreated to his room. He would clean up his essay in the morning.

Chapter Text

“Do you like apples, Eri-chan?”

Eri looked at Izuku. She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes! They are my favorite!”

Izuku nodded approvingly. “What about strawberries?”

Eri paused. “What’s a… strawberry?”

Izuku gasped. “Otou-san! Eri hasn’t had a strawberry before!”

Aizawa sighed. “Well, that’s unfortunate.” he glanced up from his laptop. Izuku and Eri were sitting on opposite sides of the coffee table, a dollhouse between them. They were playing with the All Might and Cow Lady dolls again.

“We have to get her some!” Izuku yelled.

“They are not in season right now, Izuku.” Aizawa continued typing away. “But we’ll make sure to get her some in the summer.”

“Izu-chan, have you ever had a… um…” Eri made a small circle shape with her fingers. “What’s it called?”

“What color is it?”

“It’s orange.” Eri said.

Izuku giggled. “It’s called an orange, Eri-chan.”

“Oh.”

“Have you had a blueberry?” Izuku stood up, making All Might fly onto the roof of the dollhouse.

“No.”

“Otou-san, can we have some blueberries?”

Aizawa sighed and stood, setting his laptop onto the couch. He went to the fridge (Eri and Izuku followed him, bringing their dolls) and pulled out their box of blueberries. He scooped out a couple handfuls and ran them under water, effectively washing them. He put them in a bowl and set the bowl onto the table between the two children.

Izuku immediately scooped up a bunch and shoved a few in his mouth, chewing happily.

“Chew with your mouth closed, bean sprout.” Aizawa said, giving each of them a napkin.

Eri picked up one of the berries and put it in her mouth carefully. Aizawa watched her expression as she bit down. Her eyes widened comically when the flavor exploded in her mouth.

Eri smiled at Izuku. “It’s sweet!”

Izuku nodded vigorously. “‘Ere, ‘ave sommor!” he pushed the bowl toward her.

Eri ate some more.

Aizawa turned away, a small smile on his face. At least the kids liked healthy foods.

Chapter Text

Izuku giggled when Class 1-A fell down the cliff thanks to Pixie-Bob’s quirk. Aizawa grinned at his kid.

They climbed back onto the now much-emptier bus and drove the rest of the way to the campsite. Izuku started to look back at the cliff when he heard screams. Aizawa ruffled his hair, drawing his attention away from whatever was happening. Izuku smiled.

“What's for dinner?” he asked. Mandalay smiled at him from across the aisle.

“We’re having katsudon.” she answered. Izuku cheered.

“That’s his favorite,” Aizawa explained.

“Oh, yeah!” Mandalay gestured to the boy next to her. “Izuku, this is Kota! Maybe you guys can be friends!”

“Oh! Hi, Kota!” Izuku waved. “I’m Izuku! ...But you knew that, huh…”

Kota glared at him and continued staring at his shoes.

Izuku frowned. He will make this kid his friend!

“Uh, Kota? How old are you?” Izuku asked. “I’m three!” he held up three fingers proudly.

Kota held up four fingers briefly, never moving his gaze from his shoes. Izuku gasped.

“Wow! Do you have a quirk? What is it? What does it do? Can I see? What-?” Aizawa cut him off gently.

“He can’t answer if you don’t give him time to,” he muttered quietly. Izuku shut his mouth and watched Kota carefully. Kota glanced up at him again, briefly, but stayed silent.

Izuku pouted from the lack of answer. “I hope I get my quirk soon. I wanna be a hero- like Kacchan and Otou-san!”

Kota turned his head slightly away from Izuku. Izuku’s shoulders slumped, and he gave up.

For now.

-*Later*-

“Kota, where are you going?”

Kota scowled. “None of your business.”

“Oh, this is cool.” Izuku looked around curiously. “I’ve never been in a forest before. It’s so green!”

“Yeah, you’ll blend right in,” Kota couldn’t stop the words from slipping out of his mouth.

“What? Oh!” Izuku grabbed some strands of hair in front of his face. “You mean my hair, right?”

“Idiot,” Kota turned around. “What do you want to be a hero for, anyway?”

Izuku blinked, not expecting the question. “Um… because I want to help as many people as possible!” He smiled. “Like Otou-san and Kacchan and Momo and Ura and Iida and-”

“Okay, okay, I get it.” Kota grumbled. “But you shouldn’t be a hero.”

“What?” Izuku’s eyes widened. “Why?”

“Because it’s dangerous.” Kota replied stiffly. “And heroes are selfish.”

“Some of them, yeah,” Izuku huffed. “Like Endeavor.”

Kota looked back at him in surprise.

“But we get to choose what kind of hero we get to be!” Izuku grinned. “I want to be like All Might, and save people with a smile!”

“Tsh,” Kota looked away. He started climbing up a bunch of rocks.

“What’s up there?” Izuku asked.

“My secret base.” Kota said. “Only me and you know about it.”

“Ooh! Then is it our secret base now?”

Kota sighed. “Only this week, while you’re here. But I’m in charge, okay?”

Izuku nodded, and started climbing after him. “Okay!”

-*Later, again*-

Kota and Izuku looked out in horror at the bright blue fire in the forest.

“...What’s happening?” Izuku asked quietly. Kota didn’t answer.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting little kids here.” A voice came from behind them. Izuku and Kota looked back to see a big blond man watching them from the shadows.

Izuku put himself in front of Kota, body trembling and hands in small fists. “W-who are you? What's happening?”

“You don't need to worry about that,” the man took a step toward them; Kota and Izuku scurried back. “Shigaraki won't notice a few brats missing. It's been a while since I killed someone.”

Kota gasped as light fell over the man's mechanical eye. “Y-you killed my parents.”

“Ah. You're Waterhose's kid, huh? They didn't stand a chance.” Muscle fibers sprouted from his body and wrapped around him.

“Scary.” Izuku whimpered. Kota grabbed Izuku’s shirt and urgently tugged him back, but both of their legs were frozen.

The man came closer. The two kids tried to run, but they couldn’t. Izuku’s legs trembled.

The man grabbed Izuku and pulled him into the air. Both Izuku and Kota screamed. Kota tried to grab Izuku back.

An explosion ripped through the area. Smoke filled the boys’ secret hideout. When it cleared, Bakugou appeared, holding Kota. He set him down and rushed back to help Izuku.

“DIE!!” He screamed, lighting another explosion in his palms. Izuku whimpered from the heat. The man squeezed Izuku’s small body, making the boy cry out. The man hummed, looking at Bakugou. “You were on the list, huh…”

Bakugou bared his teeth and prepared to attack again. The man waved a finger. “Ah ah ah,” he said. “You wouldn’t want to hurt the kids, would you?”

“Fuck you, bastard!” Bakugou spat, but the man was right. Bakugou couldn’t do anything without potentially hurting Izuku.

Think, Bakugou! He positioned himself in front of Kota. He didn’t care much for that kid, especially since he punch him in the balls, but he made Izuku happy, so…

Bakugou pressed his palms together and let off a bunch of explosions. Pressing his hands together kept the explosions from going too far, and let out a bunch of smoke. Bakugou grit his teeth. That hurt like a bitch.

Fairly quickly, he had made a decent smoke-screen. Bakugou plunged into the screen.

Despite the smoke-screen, it was fairly easy to tell where the massive man was, mostly due to his laughter and Izuku’s crying. Bakugou’s going to pretend that Izuku’s tears didn’t hit him right in the feels.

To Kota, all he saw was Bakugou disappearing into the smoke. He was hidden behind a boulder. The smoke was gradually clearing, and soon Kota could see the scary man and Izuku’s green hair. Suddenly, Bakugou appeared behind the man.

Bakugou clapped his hands on either side of the man’s head, letting off two large explosions. Startled, the man dropped Izuku, who fell a good few feet. He shrieked on landing, hitting the ground rather hard. Despite that, Izuku scrambled away and hid with Kota.

“Fine,” the man growled. “I’ll kill them after I kill you!” He glared at Bakugou, who glared right back.

Bakugou lunged, but the man, now with both hands free, easily pinned Bakugou into the ground. Bakugou managed to free one hand, but the man towered over him, muscle fibers layering themselves over him rapidly.

Bakugou’s vision was growing dark, slowly but surely. This might be it, he realized. Then, he quickly shoved the thought away.

Suddenly, water crashed into the villain’s side. Kota, looking scared, had his hands up, standing out of his hiding spot. Izuku stood behind him, looking scared but determined. He was grabbing his side, Bakugou noticed.

“Come on, Kacchan!” He yelled. “You can win!”

That’s all Bakugou needed. “Damn- right- I will-” he gasped, summoning the biggest explosions he’s ever created to date. Izuku and Kota both covered their eyes.

After the smoke cleared, Bakugou carefully opened his eyes and saw the villain unconscious across the clearing.

“Kacchan!” a little green bean slid to a stop next to him, hugging his chest the best he could. Kota stood on Bakugou’s other side. “You did it!”

“Did you doubt me?” He scoffed, lifting a very sore, bruised arm and rubbed Izuku’s back. “Stupid Deku, I’ll always win.”

“That’s a very interesting quirk you’ve got, Horns.” Bakugou told Kota. "Could be useful, I suppose.”

Kota squawked at the nickname.

Bakugou stood and picked up Izuku, groaning at the strain of his arms. Izuku whimpered, hands going to his side. Bakugou gave him a concerned look, then lifted Kota onto his back and took off running for the center building, where the kids would be safe.

“I can walk,” Kota said when the building appeared in their sight. “If a villain appears, me and Izuku-kun can’t fight.”

“Alright.” Bakugou said gruffly.

They almost made it. Bakugou sent Kota in and was trying to detach Izuku when a scarred villain appeared, trying to grab Bakugou. Blue fire erupted around them.

“Shit,” Bakugou snarled. “Hold on tight, Deku.”

Izuku did as he was told. Bakugou used his explosions to fling himself into the air, over the ring of flames.

Attention, everyone! A voice said in Bakugou and Izuku’s heads.

“Mandalie,” Izuku whispered, clinging to Bakugou almost painful tightly. Bakugou gave a soft smile at the kid’s mispronunciation, hiding the two in some bushes.

We have figured out the villains’ target! Mandalay said. They’re looking for one Bakugou Katsuki!

“The hell?” Bakugou muttered, wrapping his arms around Izuku. A twig snapped nearby, making Izuku squeak in surprise. Bakugou covered his mouth and shushed him.

If Izuku hadn’t been with him, Bakugou would have attacked whoever it was that made the sound, no hesitation. But he couldn’t let Izuku get hurt.

If anyone finds Bakugou, please protect him! The message continued. Furthermore, all students have permission to use their quirks for self-defense! That is all!

Bakugou resisted snarling. He didn’t need protection. Izuku, however…

Another twig snapped nearby, closer this time. Izuku flinched, burying his face in Bakugou’s neck. Footsteps were coming closer; maybe four people, by the sound of it. Bakugou silently adjusted his position so he was crouching in a battle stance, one arm still wrapped around Izuku, the other held out and ready to explode at a moments’ notice.

Todoroki, Asui, Tokoyami, and Shoji came out of the bushes, all stopping in surprise when they saw Bakugou and Izuku.

“Bakugou? And, is that Izuku?” Todoroki asked in surprise.

“Shut up, Half-n-half.” Bakugou snarled. “You idiots nearly gave us a heart-attack.”

“Are you okay, Bakugou?” Asui asked.

“I’m fine. I don’t need your help.” Bakugou snapped.

“No one said that.” Todoroki replied coldly.

“We should start heading to the main building.” Asui said.

After a few minutes of arguing, Izuku spoke up.

“Um… Kacchan? Where’s otou-san? I-is he okay? And everyone else?” Izuku whimpered. Everyone shut up and looked at the little boy.

“...I don’t know, Deku,” Bakugou admitted, his voice much softer than before. “I don’t know.”

Slowly, the group started walking. They were about halfway there when-

“Hey… where’s Bakugou?” Shoji asked.

“Tokoyami, too.” Asui said. “Kero.”

“Well, that’s a shame.” a voice said. The group - now a trio - looked up. Another villain was perched in the trees. He held up two blue marbles.

“Give them back!” Todoroki demanded, stepping forward.

“Now, why would I do that?” The villain smirked behind his mask. “You’ll have to come get them.”

The trio dashed after the villain, who was cackling and making a show.

-*a few minutes later, with Bakugou*-

Bakugou was confused, to be frank. One second, he and Izuku were walking with all the extras, then he was being held by the neck and pulled into a portal.

Izuku squeaked as they fell onto the floor of somewhere. Bakugou wrapped his arms around Izuku protectively and sprung to his feet. His eyes darted around.

The room was filled with villains. Bakugou growled. Izuku whimpered and clung tightly to Bakugou’s shirt.

Once again, Bakugou would try to fight, but Izuku was there. So, that option was out of the question. For now.

A blue-haired guy came forward and made a grab for Izuku. Bakugou shot back, hitting a wall. He did his best to shield Izuku.

“Brat,” the man said, voice scratchy. “Compress them,” he said, directed at another villain.

Then Bakugou and Izuku were in another room. It looked like a bar. There were villains hiding in the shadows, watching. It was unnerving.

One of the villains stepped forward, coming into the light. Bakugou wrapped his arms around Izuku again and glared at the blue-haired fucker from before.

“You're awake! I apologise for the rough trip bringing you here, but I didn't think you'd come willingly.” the man smiled creepily behind the hand mask.

“Damn straight.” Bakugou replied. “The hell do you want?”

The villain tsked. “One shouldn't use such language around a child.”

Bakugou covered Izuku's ears and snarled. “Fuck you.”

“No thanks. I would like to extend an offer.” The crusty villain said. “Join my ranks. We'll help you achieve anything you've ever dreamed of!”

“Fuck no,” Bakugou spit, hands still pressed against Izuku's ears. Izuku stayed quiet, despite the discomfort that came with his ears begin covered so firmly. He knew how important it was for him to not speak.

“Dabi,” the villain said.

There was a blur of motion. Bakugou snarled, holding tightly onto Izuku, but the boy was ripped from him.

“Fucking- give Deku back!” Bakugou snarled.

“Join us, and he doesn't get hurt.” the purple-scarred villain stated boredly, igniting a finger with blue fire. Izuku stared at it.

“You lay one finger on him and I'll blow you to pieces!”

Dabi put his lit finger right in front of Izuku’s face, prepared to poke in between his eyes. Izuku stared at the flame curiously. He reached up a hand and grabbed Dabi’s finger. “Pretty fire… like Todo’s!”

Dabi blinked, looking surprised at the small child he was holding. “...What?”

Izuku looked up at him with big, green eyes. “Your quirk is really pretty.”

“Deku, don’t talk to him!” Bakugou snapped.

Dabi looked at Shigaraki, at a loss of what to do.

Shigaraki wasn’t paying attention to Dabi or Izuku. Instead, he was staring at Bakugou. “So? What do you say?”

“Like hell I’ll join you.” Bakugou growled.

“Fine. Dabi, burn the brat.”

Dabi bit the inside of his lip. This wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“Sorry, kid.” Dabi whispered, twisting his wrist to touch Izuku’s right arm.

Izuku shrieked when the flame touched his bare skin. He let go of Dabi’s finger and cried. “Stop! Stop, it hurts!”

Bakugou yelled and unleashed a large explosion, shaking the room. Dabi removed his finger and put out the flame.

“Sorry, kid. Fire isn’t just pretty. It’s dangerous.” Dabi whispered. He felt bad. He couldn’t help but think of his younger siblings. Damn, it’s been a long time since he’d last seen them.

Izuku’s sobs faded rather quickly into whimpers. His eyes were squeezed shut.

Bakugou growled. First chance he gets, the fire bastard is going down.

Izuku opened his eyes, tears making his eyes seem to glow acid-green. Izuku grabbed Dabi’s fingers and inspected them, paying special attention to where the purple skin was stitched to pale, healthy skin.

Dabi pulled his hand away, accidentally brushing against Izuku’s burn, causing the three-year-old to whimper quietly.

“Now, you better think carefully about your answer,” Shigaraki grinned viciously. “Or the child gets burned again, in a far more painful place.”

Bakugou hissed, then fell silent. What could he do? Like hell he’d agree, but he couldn’t let Deku get hurt.

...He didn’t really have a choice, did he?

Shigaraki’s grin became wider when Bakugou’s face fell into a resigned expression.

Bakugou opened his mouth. “I-”

Knock knock. “Kamino pizza delivery!”

BOOM!

The wall blew out, bricks and debris flying everywhere. Bakugou dropped, reflexes taking over. Dabi turned to shield himself (himself, not the kid, he told himself). Wood shot in through the hole and secured itself around the villains. The new hero, Kamui Woods, hung from one hand by the only exit.

White fabric whipped to Izuku and ripped him from Dabi’s grasp. The child landed in his adopted father’s arms.

“Otou-san!” Izuku gasped, immediately curling his fists into his dad’s comfortable uniform. Tears leaked out of his eyes, leaving tear stains in Aizawa’s outfit. Aizawa’s grip on his son tightened.

All Might approached Bakugou, who groaned as he stood up. “Well done, young Bakugou.” he congratulated.

“Tch,” Bakugou’s eyes were trained on Izuku. “Is Deku alright? The fuckers burned him.”

Aizawa immediately started checking his son for injuries. His face darkened when he discovered the small burn on Izuku’s arm. He glared at Dabi. “That’s going to leave a scar, asshole!” he shouted. Izuku flinched at the sudden noise and clung tighter to his dad.

Shigaraki smirked. Suddenly, black slime burst out of a blonde school-girl’s mouth, the same quickly happening to the other villains. The heroes shouted in alarm, the yells only growing more intense when Bakugou did the same.

Izuku suddenly released Aizawa and put his hands over his mouth, eyes screwed tightly shut. The same black stuff slipped between his fingers, and then he was gone.

“FUCK!” Aizawa shouted, eyes glowing red with the use of his quirk. He pushed past the other pro heroes. Endeavor watched on with a disapproving look in his eyes. In his opinion, Aizawa wasn’t pushing his son hard enough. He was using his son wrong.

Aizawa could guess what the man was thinking and stormed past, pushing past him. Screw that guy.

All Might followed, leaping into the air in the direction of chaos.

-*with big-bro Bakugou*-

Bakugou coughed out the foul liquid, spitting it out rather violently. “That's foul.” He hissed.

There was a thump behind him, then crying.

“Deku!” Bakugou snarled, whipping around. Izuku was on the ground, wailing.

Bakugou scooped the boy up. He quickly tore his school-issued jacket and tied it tightly around himself and Izuku in a way that would not allow the kid to be taken from him again.

Izuku whined a little at the pressure. “Kacchan, my chest hurts,” he whispered. Bakugou’s eyes widened. Izuku must have been hurt from the fight with Muscular. Bakugou snarled, wrapping his arms gently around the kid.

Suddenly, All Might fell from the sky. Most of the villains surrounded Bakugou, trying to grab him. Bakugou held on to Izuku with one arm and used his free hand to keep the villains at bay.

It wasn’t working very well.

Bakugou couldn’t keep this up forever. Several times, a villain managed to get behind him and land a hit. It was a miracle none of them hit Deku.

Speaking of Deku, boy could that kid scream. Bakugou wished Deku didn’t have to be in a situation where he had to scream that much.

This is my damn fault. Bakugou thought. If I’d left him with Horns-

Bakugou jumped to dodge a stream of blue fire, then ducked under a sharp knife. He let loose an explosion in the blonde school-girl’s face.

He caught a glimpse of All Might fighting some guy with a fish-bowl-like helmet. Why was he hesitating?

Oh, right, Bakugou and Izuku were in the way…

He had to get them out of there.

But how?

Bakugou managed to get farther away from the villains than he had since this whole thing started. Suddenly, a huge chunk of ice appeared from the side of the destruction of Kamino. Iida and Kirishima shot out the top of the icy ramp.

“COME ON!!” Kirishima yelled, holding a hand out for Bakugou.

“Hold on tight, Deku!” Bakugou yelled, but he doubted the child heard. Bakugou let go of Izuku, trusting his jacket not to rip, and summoned a large explosion, launching the two into the air. Bakugou immediately returned his arm around Izuku and used his free arm to control his trajectory.

Bakugou clasped hands with Kirishima. “You… dumbasses!” He yelled.

Izuku continued to cry into Bakugou’s shirt.

Soon enough, they landed and disappeared into the crowd. Kirishima and Iida shed their terrible disguises.

“Look!” Kirishima pointed at a huge screen on the side of a building. On screen, someone was appearing from the smoke. It was a bony man wearing All Might’s torn suit.

“Is that… All Might…?” Iida asked quietly.

The figure raised a fist in the air - a clear sign of victory. Then he pointed at the camera. “You’re next!”

Everyone started cheering. Bakugou felt Izuku move, and looked down to see him watching the screen in awe, tears still in his eyes.

Bakugou wiped blood away from a cut on his face. They should go to a hospital.

-*at a hospital*-

Something touched Bakugou’s shoulder, shaking him gently.

Bakugou slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head from his arms. Aizawa looked down at him, blank-faced.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Bakugou shrugged. “Bruised my arms a bit, and got cut by that psycho bitch. I’m more worried about Deku.”

Aizawa nodded at that. He looked at his kid, who was sleeping in the bed that Bakugou had rested his head on. “How is he? The doctors haven’t told me yet.”

“Dehydrated, burned, and a couple cracked ribs.” Bakugou scowled. “Fuckers should have left him alone.”

“Watch your language. But thank you for protecting my son.” Aizawa said. “He could have been way worse.”

Bakugou stared at the little bean sprout. He looked like he was having a good dream. He was drooling a bit.

“I don’t want to think about it.”

Chapter Text

Jirou, Satou, and Koda were in the living room, tuning into Present Mic-sensei's radio show. Jirou because she was an avid follower, Satou for the weekly cooking recipe, and Koda because Mic had hinted at a hint for the homework that day.

Currently, a popular rock song was playing. Jirou and Satou were happily singing along (though Satou was significantly less passionate about it) and Koda was just watching quietly, enjoying the impromptu concert.

Eventually, however, the song ended and the trio had to quiet down to hear what Mic was saying.

"-And now it is time for our cooking segment! For any new listeners, the radio show features a cooking recipe for our younger listeners, like our friends in college who are just learning to cook for themselves, or people that just want to learn in general! This week, I'll be telling you how to make katsudon pork cutlet bowls, so those of you interested, start recording!"

(A/N: Viewers are warned that I have not tried to make this before. I have no idea how accurate this is to actual katsudon, I just Googled the recipe. Cook at your own risk!)

"So this recipe makes enough for four people-"

"Ojiisan? What are you doing?"

The three listeners mentally paused. They would know that voice anywhere.

"Iz- uh, green bean, what are you doing in here? Where's your otou-san?"

"He's sleeping. Are you making katsudon? Can I help?"

Present Mic laughed nervously. "Um, I don't think your otou-san would like that very much…"

"Oh. I'll go ask him then!"

"Isn't he asleep?" Satou muttered. Jirou snorted.

"No no no, don't wake him up," Present Mic sounded almost panicked for a second. "You're otou-san is scary when he's woken up."

"So I don't need to ask him?"

Mic was quiet for a second. "How about we ask my listeners, huh green bean?"

"Yeah! Hiiii!" Izuku giggled. Jirou, Satou, and Koda giggled as well.

"Alright, well, I've opened up a live stream. Everyone, please vote on whether we should risk the wrath of a father in order to let little green bean help us today!"

Jirou and Koda opened the livestream on their phones. Satou (who had left his phone upstairs) leaned over Koda's shoulder to read the messages and the polls.

"I'm voting he stays." Jirou said.

"Aizawa-sensei's not going to like this very much," Koda replied as he also voted for Izuku to stay. The poll revealed that 99% of people voted the same.

Jirou scrolled down the messages:

(A/N: Any usernames were made up. If I happened to accidently copy anyone, it was simply coincidence)

Vectorwind: awww, what a cute sounding kid!

burned420: he sounds familiar somehow… #letthekidcookfood

Dittoditto: I will protect it *strongly agree* I want to see it grow up healthy *strongly agree* I want to tell my friends and neighbors about it *strongly agree*

veritaserum: safety first, ask his mother

imnothawksjustlooklikehim: #letthekidcookfood #makechickenlegsnexttime

AllInAll,NotABadDay: kids manipulative, I love it

ImNothingIfNotAGentleman: let him cook, he'll be a five star chef one day

Nat-suo-fast-69: #LETTHEKIDCOOKFOOD

"Pffft," Jirou rolled her eyes at the new hashtag.

"I bet that's going to trend for a while…" Satou muttered.

(A/N: Once more reminding you that I don't know how accurate this is to actual katsudon and have never made it myself so it might not even be good idk)

"So, the ingredients… ah, yes, here we are. We need two center-cut, boneless pork chops, and pound them to a centimeter thick. We need salt, pepper, two eggs, flour, one cup of panko, oil, an onion... it says to slice thinly, guess I'll cry… one and one-fourth cup of dashi soup stock… one-third cup of soy sauce, two tablespoons of mirin, one tablespoon of sugar… and four cups of steamed rice…" there were some fumbling noises as Present Mic seemed to be lining up the ingredients as he listed them.

Satou was scribbling like a mad-man.

“Right, so, the first step is to season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Izu- Green bean, can you pass me the salt?”

“Here, ojiisan!”

“Thanks, little listener. Okay, that looks good. Next, we’re supposed to sprinkle with flour all over the pork chops…”

“I wanna do it!”

“Alright, alright,” Present Mic chuckled. “Here. Don’t put too much on.”

“I won’t!”

“Okay, while you do that, I’m gonna crack this egg- that’s the next step, by the way. The egg goes in a small bowl, and the panko goes in another… okay, there. And the egg is beaten…”

There was a short pause. The three listeners could hear Mic mixing up the egg.

Thump! “Oopsie…”

“Oh dear… no, don’t cry little listener! It’s okay! You did a great job with the flour. We’ll clean up the mess later, okay?”

Another pause. There was a sniffle, then “Okay…”

“Okay. Sorry about that, everyone. Green bean just dropped the flour bag on the ground. Now we look like a couple ghosts!”

“Ghosts? Where?”

“There aren’t any ghosts, green bean. We just look like them.”

“Oh!” Izuku giggled. “Whoo!”

“So scary. Anyway, the next step is to put a thin layer of oil on the pan. Done! No, don’t touch it, green bean. That’ll hurt you.”

“What are you doing?”

The three jumped and looked at the new speaker. Bakugou looked at the three expectantly.

“We’re listening to Mic-sensei’s show.” Jirou explained.

“Izuku and Mic are making katsudon.”

“Oh? Izuku’s on?” Bakugou looked interested.

“-Crisis averted. Green bean, don’t touch hot things. They hurt real bad.” Mic’s voice cut into their conversation.

“So, is Izuku ‘green bean’?” Bakugou asked, sitting down next to Koda on the couch. Koda seemed to shrink into himself.

Jirou nodded.

“Please be quiet now, I need to listen,” Satou muttered, leaning closer to the radio.

“Right, so the next step. Where did those instructions go… Ah. Next step is to… coat the pork chops in the egg, then coat them in panko. Okay, so, green bean, do you want to do the panko?”

“Yeah!”

“Alright. Here you go.”

A slight pause, then: “Ojiisan, why are you calling me green bean?”

“Um, well, because… when you’re on the radio, everyone has a code name? It’s too keep your real name a secret. And green bean is yours.”

“Oh. Then am I supposed to call you something else?”

“You can call me ‘ojiisan’ like you have been, but my code name is, uh, Present Mic.”

“That’s your hero name! *gasp* Wait, is that why you have a hero name? To keep your real name a secret?”

“...Kinda?”

“That’s cool! You’re like a spy!”

“It’s good that Mic is keepin Izuku’s identity secret.” Bakugou muttered. “I don’t want anything like Kamino to happen again.”

Jirou, Koda, and Satou felt like they were missing something. No one who wasn’t present knew about what exactly had happened at Kamino other than the rescue was successful, and whatever the news covered.

“The next step-” Satou hurried to start writing. “- is to cook the pork chops for 5 to 6 minutes, then flip and cook for 5-6 more minutes. I guess it is time to wait, huh?”

There was a bit of a sizzling sound.

“Well, it is time for a commercial break, anyway. If you have any questions as to what we’re doing, feel free to send them in! I’ll answer the best I can.”

And then an ad for some kind of vacuum started playing.

Jirou and Koda started quietly talking about the assignment All Might had given them earlier that day. The two of them were supposed to work on the range of their quirks, and Koda had found a secluded place to practice. Satou was going over his notes, borrowing Koda’s phone, looking to see if he had missed anything, and was typing his questions out. Bakugou got out his phone and started scrolling through his social media.

#letthekidcookfood was trending everywhere. Bakugou wondered what that was for.

Soon enough, the radio show was back on. Izuku’s voice could be heard trying to sing the jingle from the previous ad.

“Welcome back to the cooking segment of this week! To people just joining us, we are making katsudon bowls. And today, I have an unexpected partner-”

“Hiiii!”

“...now, I have to cut up the pork chops - they’re called tonkatsu now - into strips, so green bean, do you want to try to read the questions?”

“Okay! Uhm… how long do you c-cook the… something?”

“Well, dear listener, we cooked the tonkatsu for 5-6 minutes. I hope that is what you were asking.”

“Um… h-how old is… ojiisan, what does this say?”

“Let me see… the question is ‘how old is green bean?’ How old are you, green bean?”

“I’m three!”

“Yup! Now, what does the next one say?”

“Hm… what is g-green bean’s real name? It’s-”

“A secret, remember?” Mic interrupted. “Alright, that’s enough questions. After you’ve cut up the tonkatsu, we’re supposed to put the dashi soup stock, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar into a pot and boil it. Okay. Give me a second.”

Some shuffling could be heard.

“Alrighty. So, for one serving - this makes four servings, total - pour a quarter of the soup and a quarter of the onion slices into a pan and let them simmer.”

More shuffling. Something hit the microphone, and a soft “sorry” came from Izuku.

“Did he just apologize to the microphone?” Satou asked.

“That’s adorable.” Jirou… not quite cooed.

“Tch,” Bakugou found it cute, too - not that he would show it.

“Okay, now we put a serving of tonkatsu on top, then pour a beaten egg over it.”

“Can I mix the egg?”

“Sure, green bean.”

Another pause, then “Uh oh.”

“That’s okay, green bean. Are you done?”

“Yup!”

“Okay! So, all that’s left is to boil everything on medium heat, then serve on a bowl of steamed rice!”

“Yay! Katsudon!”

“Yes, yes, go sit down outside. I’ll bring you a bowl in a minute.”

“Okay!”

The four listeners heard pattering feet, and a door close.

“Well, this is the end of our cooking segment! I found this recipe on thespruceeats.com, if you need to find a written version! For any of my students listening for that clue I mentioned, trying looking on page 243, in the second to last paragraph. Thank you for listening!”

And a song started playing.

“...Where is Present Mic’s studio, anyway?”

Chapter Text

“All Might.”

“All for One.”

Toshinori glared down at his master’s murderer. All for One grinned back.

“Look at you. You’re not going to be able to save people like you used to.” AfO sounded positively delighted. “All you do is look on at the villians you yourself caused to increase and be stricken by your powerlessness as you pass the rest of your days!” The villain cackled.

“But won’t you tell me…” AfO tilted his head questioningly. “How is my son these days?”

Toshinori froze. “...You have a son?”

“Yes, of course. His mother died in a traffic accident, you see, they were hit by a drunk driver. Child protection services got there before I did, and I decided it would be best if he didn’t have to live this life.”

Toshinori did not like where this was going.

AfO frowned. “But then he was adopted by a pro-hero. I didn’t appreciate that, but I supposed that that was safer for him, so I let it be.”

Toshinori stood. “You better not say your son is who I think you are saying.”

“All Might, step away from the glass.” The loudspeaker said.

“Oh, but I am.” AfO gave All Might a big smirk. “How is my dear boy, Midoriya Izuku?”

“Aizawa.” Toshinori hissed. “It’s Aizawa Izuku.”

“That is to be expected.” AfO sighed. “But my boy will always be a Midoriya.”

The thick metal door slid open. “All Might, it is time.” the loudspeaker said.

Toshinori turned to the door, his hero cape swishing behind him. Before exiting, he paused. “I suppose,” he glanced back at AfO. “That that is for Izuku to decide - when he is older.”

Toshi left the cell, and the door closed behind him. He pulled out his phone.

*at UA*

“What.” Aizawa answered his phone in the middle of class. Iida shot him a scandalized look.

“Aizawa.” All Might greeted him. “We need to talk.”

“Can’t right now, I’m in the middle of class.” Iida made a ‘then why answer’ motion when Aizawa said that.

“It’s about Izuku.”

Aizawa paused, glancing at his adopted son. “What about him.”

“All for One just told me, that apparently, unless there is some other young Midoriya, Izuku is his son.”

Aizawa was quiet.

“Of course, we couldn’t know that for sure. He’s a villain, and he could be lying-”

Aizawa hung up the phone. He looked out to the class. “Class dismissed.”

Class 1-A stared in shock. Aizawa walked to the corner where Izuku was playing quietly and sat down next to him.

“Otou-san!” Izuku smiled when he noticed Aizawa next to him. “Look what I made!” Izuku showed him a black pipe cleaner man, with a gray pipe cleaner around its neck.

“Oh, now, who is this man?” Aizawa asked.

“It’s you, otou-san!” Izuku giggled. “Here, it’s for you.”

Aizawa smiled as Izuku placed the pipe cleaner man into his hand. “What are you drawing, Izuku?”

Izuku gasped and turned his paper over. “It’s a secret!”

Aizawa glanced back. The classroom was empty. Good. He turned back and hugged Izuku tightly.

“Otou-san!” Izuku giggled. He hugged him back.

“Yes.” Aizawa whispered into Izuku’s fluffy green hair. “Yes, I am your otou-san.”

Aizawa kept his pipe cleaner self on his desk from then on. He would carry it in his pocket at all times, but he didn’t want it accidentally destroyed while working, so the desk was safer.

Chapter Text

Izuku was lost in the park. His otou-san was nowhere to be found.

So, of course, Izuku made it his mission to find his otou-san.

Izuku had been wandering for absolutely forever (five minutes). He felt like he was going to cry.

Meow.

Izuku wiped his eyes and looked toward the bush that just meowed at him. “Hello?”

A black cat head poked out of the bush, startling Izuku enough that he fell onto his tush. Izuku gasped. “Kitty?”

Meow?

Izuku reached out to pet the cat, but remembered what his otou-san had taught him.

Let them come to you.

Izuku held out his hand, and, after a moment's hesitation, the cat came out and sniffed his hand.

The cat licked his hand. Izuku giggled. “That tickles.”

The cat continued licking his hand, then crawled into his lap. Izuku stared in shock.

Izuku carefully scooched to lean against a nearby tree. The cat didn’t seem to mind.

“You’re so cute!” Izuku whispered excitedly at the cat. It was black and white, and quite tiny. It couldn’t be more than a few weeks old. “I think I’m going to call you… Kitty.”

Kitty stretched up and licked Izuku’s nose. Izuku giggled.

Growl.

Izuku looked up to see a black dog growling at him, pulling on its leash. Its owner was trying to get it under control and to continue their rather pleasant walk.

Izuku stared at the dog, wide-eyed. It was huge! Izuku grabbed the cat (the cat hissed a little) and tried to look small.

The dog kept barking and growling, and pulling on its leash. Suddenly, the owner gasped as the leash was finally pulled free from their grasp. The dog ran, barking wildly, at Izuku and Kitty.

Izuku screamed and curled up around Kitty.

The dog leapt at Izuku, jaws wide, about to bite him, flying closer and closer-

Something- someone- collided with Izuku and Kitty, and they rolled a short ways over the grass. Izuku grabbed onto his saviour and cried into their shirt.

“Alright, calm down, kiddo. You good?” A man’s voice asked.

Izuku sniffed, then nodded. He looked up at his saviour and gasped.

“You’re Hawks!” Izuku yelled excitedly.

“Yes, I am.” Hawks preened.

“You’re so cool!” Izuku gushed. He hugged Kitty. “How fast can you go? How many feathers do you have? Is that eyeliner or part of your mutatution? What’s your-”

“Breathe, kiddo.” Hawks ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Where are your parents?”

“I can’t find otou-san.” Izuku admitted. “I was trying to find him.”

“Excuse me?” The owner, a woman, came running over. “Oh, I’m so sorry about my dog. Cherry is a wild one, but I didn’t think he would attack a little kid like that!”

“I think he was going for the cat, ma’am.” Hawks answered politely.

“The cat…? Oh!” The woman gasped when she saw Kitty. “I’m so sorry, little one.” She told Izuku. “You did a great job protecting that cat.”

“You’re a real hero, kiddo.” Hawks smiled. “Now we gotta find your otou-san.”

“Okay!” Izuku replied, taking Hawks’ hand.

“Ahem,” the woman pointed upward. Izuku looked up to see the scary dog being held in the air by a bunch of red feathers. “Can I have my dog back?”

“Ah, right,” Hawks brought the dog back down gently, a feather handing the woman the leash back.

The woman lead her dog away.

Kitty hissed and jumped out of Izuku’s hands. The cat darted into the bush. Izuku gasped, tears welling up. “Kitty! Come back!”

“I don’t think you would have been able to keep Kitty, anyway, kiddo.” Hawks said. “Come on, kid. Have you ever flown before?” Izuku shook his head.

Suddenly, gray material wrapped around Hawks and yanked him away. Izuku gasped.

Hawks came to a sharp stop in front of Aizawa, who’s eyes were red and his hair was floating.

A large amount of feathers fell to the ground. Only the feathers still attached to Hawks’ wings stayed where they had been.

“Otou-san!” Izuku yelled, running up to his adopted father.

“Oh, so this is your kid, Eraserhead?” Hawks asked calmly. “He’s cuter than I would have expected.”

“What the hell were you doing with him?”

“Relax, friend.” Hawks was definitely unconcerned about the current predicament. “I was just saving him from a scary dog.”

Izuku nodded vigorously. “It was so scary, otou-san!”

Aizawa sighed and released Hawks, deactivating his quirk. Immediately, Hawks’ feathers rose back into the air.

“I didn’t realize your son was the great Green Bean, Eraserhead.” Hawks smirked. “Will we be hearing him on the radio again anytime soon?”

“What?”

Hawks flew away cackling.

Aizawa frowned. Then, it clicked. “Hizashi!!”

Chapter Text

Izuku was walking back to his otou-sans’s classroom from the bathroom when the bell rang.

All of the classroom doors down the hall opened simultaneously and students started pouring out. Izuku was swept away in the wave.

Next thing he knew, the bell rang again and all the older students were gone, and Izuku had no idea where he was.

He felt tears start to well up. Izuku was at an unknown location inside the school, and there was no one around. He sat down and cries.

“Deku?”

Izuku sniffed and looked up. Bakugou was standing in front of him, blank faced.

“Kacchan!” Izuku leapt up and ran to him, hugging his legs. “Help me!”

“What are you doing here, idiot? Aizawa’s class is that way.” Bakugou gestured down the hall. Izuku shook his head.

“There w-was so many people! A-and I don’t know where I a-am, and, and-”

“Calm down.” Bakugou crouched to be level with Izuku. “You got caught in the flow, huh?”

Izuku nodded, then paused. “Flow?”

Bakugou shrugged. “All these extras ended up pushing you here. You lost?”

Izuku nodded, hiccuping.

Bakugou sighed. “I better not get detention for being late. I can’t have that on my record if I’m going to be the best hero who ever lived.”

“But you already are the best hero?” Izuku said.

Bakugou shook his head. “No, Deku, All Might is the greatest hero.”

“But you’re pretty great.” Izuku mumbled.

Bakugou sighed and stood. He held out his hand for Izuku to grab. “Come on.”

Izuku took his hand and wiped away his remaining tears. Bakugu started walking down the hall, and Izuku followed just a step behind him.

Soon enough, they reached a door Izuku recognized as his otou-san’s classroom. Bakugou shifted the strap of his bag, then pushed the door open.

The class (whatever class Aizawa teaches when 1-A isn’t in homeroom…) turned to look at the door. Izuku wandered in, and Bakugou followed.

“Bakugou.” Aizawa greeted. “Why are you here?”

“Deku got lost.” Bakugou grumbled. “So I showed him the way back.”

“Oh. Well, thank you for bringing him back, Bakugou.”

Bakugou shrugged, then turned to leave. He paused in the door.

“Write me a pass, teach.” Bakugou said.

Aizawa sighed and slapped a post-it note excusing Bakugou onto his forehead. Bakugou scowled.

Izuku giggled.

Chapter Text

“Haga-san?” Izuku asked, toddling to the couch where the invisible girl was sitting. “Do you know where Otou-san is?”

Hagakure looked away from her phone and realized, shockingly, that Izuku had managed to make eye-contact somehow. “Uh, I think he’s at a meeting. Do you need help, Izuku?”

“No,” Izuku hummed. “I just want a snack.”

“Okay, I’ll get you one.” Hagakure stood up and walked to the kitchen, Izuku trailing behind her. “What do you want?”

“Can I have a banana?” Izuku clamored onto a chair at one of the tables.

Hagakure got two, one for Izuku and one for herself.

Izuku fumbled peeling his banana at first, but managed on the third try. Suddenly, he giggled.

“It looks like Ojiisan Hizashi’s hair.” Izuku giggled.

Hagakure laughed as well. “Yeah, it kinda does look like Present Mic-sensei’s hair.”

The giggling died away. Hagakure finished her banana quickly and pulled out her phone, checking the news.

“Haga-san?” Hagakure looked up and saw Izuku once again managing eye-contact with the invisible girl. “I’m all done.”

“Good job!” she praised. “Why don’t you throw the peel away?”

Izuku nodded, grabbed his peel, and slid off his chair. He pressed the button to open the trash can and threw the peel away. Then he ran back to Hagakure and hugged her leg.

“Thank you, Haga-san!” He said brightly. Then he ran off, going to do who knows what.

Hagakure frowned to herself. Did Izuku mean to make eye-contact, or was it a coincidence? She shrugged. She may never know.

It felt nice to feel seen, though.

Chapter Text

“TokoyamicanyouwatchIzukuthanks!” Mina opened Tokoyami’s door and set Izuku down inside, then left, leaving the two to stare at each other awkwardly.

Tokoyami sighed, then put out the candles he had lit (Dark Shadow helped as best as he could). He had learned his lesson last time not to leave fire around Izuku. Poor bean sprout had a burn on his finger for weeks.

Izuku wandered over to a cabinet with a lock. Tokoyami watched warily. He kept all of is occult-y stuff in there, and Izuku had yet to ask about the cabinet.

Today was not his lucky day. Izuku grabbed the lock and look up at Tokoyami with big puppy eyes. “Yami-san?” he asked. “What’s in here?”

Tokoyami sat down and pulled out a key. “It’s my box of secrets.” He answered. “We can’t play with most of the stuff in here, okay?”

Class 1-A had figured out that satisfying Izuku’s curiosity required supervision and should be dealt with immediately, otherwise Izuku would find a way to answer his own question. In one memorable occasion, Izuku had scared Oijiro and had nearly been hit with his tail. Izuku had been wanting to see if the tuft of hair on his tail got bushy when he was scared. Izuku was happy to report that it did, and Oijiro was horrified with himself for almost hitting a toddler.

Tokoyami pulled out his deck of tarot cards. “Look, see these?”

“Pretty pictures.” Izuku grabbed one of the cards. Tokoyami internally winced when Izuku accidently bent a corner.

“Yeah. I used them to read the future.” Tokoyami made spooky fingers to emphasize. Dark Shadow, who had come out when Izuku arrived, did the same. Izuku giggled.

“You can read the future??” Izuku asked. “Show me, show me!”

“Alright.” Tokoyami shuffled the cards, then held out a fan of cards, face-down. “Pick one.”

Izuku pointed at one. Tokoyami placed it face down in front of him. “Another one.”

Izuku picked another one, then one more. Tokoyami placed them down next to the first one.

Carefully, Tokoyami flipped over the card on the left. “This one represents your past.” he explained. "The picture means…" he paused. The picture means your loved ones have suffered without you noticing. "...that your loved ones will do anything to protect you."

Tokoyami flipped over the middle card. "This one is about your present."

"Present?! I get a gift?!?" Izuku gasped, eyes wide.

"No, Izuku, this kind of present means right now." Tokoyami explained patiently. "This one means…" Pain marks you in places you don't show. Tokoyami glanced at the bandages covering Izuku's arm, and the burn that scarred villain had given him. "...it means you are really brave and strong."

Izuku simultaneously puffed up in pride and looked embarrassed.

Tokoyami flipped over the last card. "This one represents your future."

He internally sighed. "This one means that you have both joy and fear in your future." He said quietly.

"...That makes sense!" Izuku said. "Cuz' I wanna be a hero!"

Tokoyami, dark-emo-bird Tokoyami, totally did not smile at all when Izuku said that.

"Can I tell the future?" Izuku asked.

"You can try, if you want." Tokoyami replied, shuffling the cards. He handed the stack to Izuku.

Izuku tried to copy his actions and shuffle the deck, resulting in cards going everywhere. Tokoyami tried to help Izuku gather them back together, but the little bean sprout insisted that he could do it by himself.

When Izuku finally reassembled the stack (Tokoyami cringed at the amount of upside down cards), he held out a few cards in a fan (because, after several attempts, Izuku decided he could not hold up the whole stack). Tokoyami tapped one, and Izuku set it down with some struggle. They did this two more times.

Izuku picked up the first card. “This is your past.” he tried to copy Tokoyami’s tone. He flipped the card over. “It means… um… you’re friends with this goat man!”

It was wrong, but Tokoyami thought it was pretty cute.

“This one is your gift - I mean… it’s your now card.” Izuku flipped the card over. “Um… oh! The birdie must be Dark Shadow! And you’re friends, too!”

Again, wrong, but Tokoyami wasn’t going to say that.

“And this card is your future.” Izuku flipped the card over. “Ooh, treasure chest! You’re gonna be rich, Yami-san!”

That… wasn’t too far off, actually. Tokoyami hoped it’d come true. It sounded like a pretty nice future.

Izuku looked immensely pleased with himself. “I’m gonna tell otou-san!” he said excitedly.

Dark Shadow picked up the boy so Tokoyami could clean up the cards, and proceeded to fly him around the room. Izuku giggled the whole way.

Chapter Text

“Shit!”

Mina, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero all turned to look at Bakugou, who was reading a book and listening to music. He glanced up when he felt their gazes on him. He tugged his headphones down to around his neck. “What?”

“Dude, watch your language around Izuku,” Kirishima gestured to the toddler, who had just knocked over his block tower and was trying to rebuild it.

Bakugou looked offended. “I didn’t say anything.”

The four looked at him skeptically. Izuku bumped into his tower again, knocking down a few blocks. “Shit,” Izuku said quieter.

Five pairs of eyes focused on the little bean sprout, shocked. Four sets of eyes slowly turned to look at Bakugou in accusation.

“You think I taught him that, extras?” Bakugou snarled. He shut his book and slid off the sofa to sit next to Izuku. “Where’d you hear that from, Deku?”

Izuku looked up at him, looking happy that someone was playing with him. He handed Bakugou a few blocks. “Help me, Kacchan!”

Bakugou sighed and placed a block onto the tower. The rest of the Bakusquad watched. “Deku, who taught you that word?”

“Toshi!” Izuku giggled. “He said it was like saying oops. He said I shouldn’t say it around otou-san.”

“Izuku, don’t used that word around anyone, okay?” Mina said, coming down to help them build the block tower.

“Little bro, who’s Toshi?” Kirishima asked.

“Otou-san’s friend!” Izuku said happily. “He’s nice. He’s a teacher here!”

“Ah, okay.” Kaminari and Sero said at the same time. Kaminari pulled out his phone and pulled up the UA website. He went to the teacher page.

The tower had reached a height where Izuku had to stand up to reach the top. Kaminari frowned at his phone.

“There isn’t any ‘Toshi’ on the teacher list, or anyone who looks like they could have that as a nickname…” Kaminari whispered to Sero. Sero looked confused, then pulled out his own phone.

“What does Toshi look like, Izuku?” Mina asked.

“Otou-san calls him a blond skeleton sometimes.” Izuku answered distractedly.

Kaminari and Sero scrolled through the teacher list again, then looked up at each other. Nothing.

Kirishima sighed and stood up. “I’ve gotta ask Aizawa-sensei something, guys. Be back in a second.”

“Bye-bye!” Izuku waved.

Kirishima searched the dorms, then left to go to the teacher’s office. Aizawa looked up from his computer, looking vaguely annoyed.

“Um, sorry to bother you sir.” Kirishima looked uncomfortable. “But I - we think Izuku’s been talking to a stranger… outside of school...”

Aizawa raised his eyebrows. “What happened?”

Kirishima shrugged. “Izuku said a swear word, and said that some guy named Toshi taught him it. Izuku also said this Toshi guy is a teacher here, but we couldn’t find anyone named Toshi…”

Aizawa sighed. “I know him. He taught Izuku a swear word? What did he say?”

Kirishima looked uncomfortable. “...Shit.”

Aizawa’s nostrils flared. “I’m gonna kill him.”

“...I’m just gonna go now...” Kirishima backed out of the office. Aizawa waited until he couldn’t hear his footsteps anymore before picking up the phone.

“Hello-”

“Toshinori!” Aizawa growled. “Watch your language around my son.”

“...I’m sorry, Aizawa. It was an accident…”

“Uh huh.” Aizawa hissed, unimpressed. “Don’t do it again, All Might.”

He slammed the phone down.

Chapter Text

Aizawa sighed. He really needed to wash that onesie.

Izuku was running around in his All Might onesie. Everytime he passed Aizawa, he could smell the kid, even if he had just taken a bath.

The problem was, how was he going to get it away from the kid long enough to wash it?

It was Yaoyorozu who came up with the answer.

She recruited Tokoyami and Jirou to help her with her project.

“I just don’t understand what you need my help for,” Jirou said, following Yaoyorozu into her room. Tokoyami followed behind her. “It seems like you have it under control.”

“I have no idea what children like.” Yaoyorozu said.

“And you think I do?”

Tokoyami sat down. “So, you need me to draw it?”

“Both of us lack the skills, Tokoyami,” Yaoyorozu said.

“Do you have any paper?”

Yaoyorozu grabbed a couple sheets and handed them to Tokoyami. “Okay, so I was thinking…”

-*later*-

Aizawa inspected the onesie Yaoyorozu gave him. He couldn’t see any seams, which made sense, and the material felt soft enough that Izuku could wear it comfortably. But would he want to?

The onesie was a teal-green, and the hood had bunny-like ears. The whole thing looked like a hero costume.

Luckily, Izuku loved it. He wore it all the time, alternating with the All Might onesie. Once, he stole Shinsou’s mask and hung it around his neck (it was too big to wear normally) and wore his red sneakers. He ran around the dorms, pretending to rescue anyone he came across (he avoided Mineta as much as possible. Once, he told the grape that the older student was a villain as he rescued Uraraka from him)

Izuku ran into Bakugou in the hall. Bakugou caught him and lifted him onto his shoulders.

“Stupid Deku, you’re going to trip someone!” he scolded.

Shinsou ran up to Bakugou, asking Izuku to please give his mask back, AIzawa would kill him if he didn’t have it at practice. Izuku gave it back, but only when Shinsou promised he could use it later.

“So, what’s your hero name, Izuku-kun?” Kaminari asked later.

Izuku thought for a moment. “I’m Deku!” he yelled. Bakugou smirked to himself.

Chapter Text

Cough, cough.

It started as just a tickle in the back of his throat. Izuku didn’t pay much mind, other than the wish for whatever it was to go away.

Cough, cough.

Aizawa looked at his adopted son in concern the third time Izuku’s tiny coughing interrupted class. Other than the coughing (that Izuku was NOT covering, no matter how many times Aizawa had reminded him), Izuku seemed totally fine. Perhaps it was just Aizawa’s imagination, but the little bean sprout seemed a bit sluggish, though the poor kid had had a nightmare the night before.

About halfway through the day, Izuku was passed out on the floor. Unusual, but not surprising, given the night prior. After the class left to go to Ground Gamma with All Might for some combat training, Aizawa walked over to his kid and felt the kid’s temperature. His eyes widened.

Izuku was burning up.

Aizawa carefully picked up his little bean sprout and exited the classroom, heading for Recovery Girl’s office.

“Chiyo-san,” AIzawa greeted the nurse.

“Shouta! Come in my dear. Is that young Izuku? Is he alright?”

“I think he’s sick.” Aizawa confessed. “He’s been coughing all day and his temperature is really hot.”

“Hmm…” Recovery Girl pulled out a little thermometer and took Izuku’s temperature. This involved sticking the end into Izuku’s ear, which woke the three-year-old up.

“Otou-san?” Izuku muttered sleepily. “My head hurts…”

“I know, Izu.” Aizawa said gently, arms unconsciously tightening around Izuku. “Chiyo-san is going to make you feel better.”

Recovery Girl was writing some things down. She paused: “Did Izuku sleep well last night? Has he been around any other sick kids?”

“Not that I’m aware of.” Aizawa muttered. “And he had another nightmare last night. We stayed up for a long time.”

Recovery Girl nodded. “Lack of sleep weakens your immunity system. He’ll be fine, but a few days of rest away from your class is an absolute must. Also, you should try to sleep as much as you can in order to not get this cold yourself.”

Aizawa nodded in affirmation. Recovery Girl pulled out a bottle of medicine and measured out a child’s dose of Ibuprofen. After some struggle, Izuku reluctantly swallowed the medicine and happily accepted the lollipop Recovery Girl offered him.

“Just one question,” Aizawa paused, thinking of how to phrase his question. “Why… why not just use your quirk and just let him sleep it off?”

Recovery Girl shook her head in mild disappointment. “He needs to recover from this on his own, otherwise he will catch a cold again quickly. His body can handle it.”

“Okay… thank you for your assistance,” Aizawa stood up (Izuku had fallen asleep again. Aizawa carefully removed the lollipop and put it in the trash) and left the nurse’s station.

*time skip*

Aizawa took the next few days off to watch over Izuku. The kid didn’t really do much more than sleep and watch movies.

On day 1, Izuku couldn’t do anything more than sleep.

On day 2, Aizawa could tell that when Izuku was awake, he was completely zoned out.

On day 3, Izuku’s coughing got way worse. He started coughing up phlegm and crying. Aizawa and Izuku spent a large portion of the day next to a toilet, as Izuku came close to throwing up multiple times.

On day 4, Izuku was completely mute. His throat hurt too much to speak. Luckily, his persistent headache had faded from a loud pounding to a dull ache.

On day 5, Izuku mostly slept. The worst was over, but the bean sprout still felt hot and cold at the same time, and the rough coughing persisted.

Throughout the week, Aizawa continued giving Izuku the medicine. One day (day 6) Izuku felt well enough to wake Aizawa up at 6 o’clock in the morning for cartoons by jumping onto his bed and climbing all over the tired parent.

Aizawa decided today was as good as any to go back to work.

The next day, Aizawa woke up coughing. With a sigh, he realized he had probably caught what Izuku had. He called into work and told them he was sick, and sent Izuku to live with his ojisan Present Mic for the next week.

Quite a few students weren’t in school the following weeks, including a large portion of class 1-A.

Chapter Text

Class 1-A were out shopping for camp gear, so the dorms were quiet for once.

Aizawa was on the biggest couch and writing a report of his last patrol for the police. Izuku was on the floor, papers all around him and his trusty crayons at his side.

They sat in the rare quiet for a long while. At one point Aizawa sighed quietly and pulled out a cat hair clip Izuku had picked out for him and pinned his bangs out of his face. The sigh drew Izuku's attention, and the little bean sprout smiled when he saw his gift to his otou-san.

Aizawa noticed Izuku watching. Izuku noticed Aizawa had noticed Izuku watching. Izuku stuck out his tongue, making a "blep" sound.

Aizawa smiled and bleped back.

They went back to their own work. Aizawa mentally thanked whatever/whoever/whichever God was listening that Izuku could entertain himself.

Chapter Text

Tsuyu was walking to the elevator from Hagakure’s room when she caught a sound coming from Jirou’s door. Curious, she paused.

Had to have high high hopes for a livin’!
Shooting for the stars when I couldn’t make a killin’!
Didn’t have a dime but I always had a vision.
Always had high high hopes…

Ah. Jirou was singing again. Not uncommon, but she tended to freeze up when she knew she had an audience. Tsuyu was about to continue on her way when another voice joined Jirou for the next verse.

Had to have high high hopes for a livin’!
Didn’t know how but I always had a feelin’
I was gonna be that one in a million.
Always had high high hopes…

Izuku-kun? Tsuyu paused again. Jirou was singing with Izuku-kun? What??

Jirou stopped singing. Izuku was soloing.

Mama said
Fulfill the prophecy
Be somethin’ greater
Go make a legacy
Manifest destiny
Back in the days
We wanted everything, wanted everything!

Jirou joined back in.

Mama said
Burn you biographies
Rewrite your history
Light up your wildest dreams
Museum victories, everyday
We wanted everything, wanted everything.

“Sing it, ‘Zuku!” Jirou cheered.

Mama said, don’t give up, it’s a little complicated…
All tied up, no more love, and I hate to see you waiting…

Izuku’s voice faded out a bit. Jirou picked up the slack.

Had to have high, high hopes for a livin’
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killin’
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes

Had to have high, high hopes for a livin’
Didn't know how but I always had a feelin’
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes…

Then, Jirou stared soloing. Izuku sounded a bit out of breath as he cheered.

Mama said
It's uphill for oddities,
The stranger crusaders.
Ain't ever wannabes
The weird and the novelties.
Don't ever change
We wanted everything, wanted everything.

Stay up on that rise
Stay up on that rise and never come down
Stay up on that rise
Stay up on that rise and never come down

Mama said, don’t give up, it’s a little complicated
All tied up, no more love, and I’d hate to see you waiting
They say, it’s all been done, but they haven’t seen the best of me
So I’ve got one more run, it’s gonna be a sight to see!

Had to have high, high hopes for a livin’
Shooting for the stars when I couldn’t make a killin’
Didn’t have a dime, but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes...

Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing
Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision
Always had high, high hopes
Had to have high, high hopes for a living
Didn't know how but I always had a feeling
I was gonna be that one in a million
Always had high, high hopes

Jirou finished the song without Izuku. Tsuyu leaned closer to the door.

“I’m sorry I stopped,” Izuku was saying quietly. “You sing great!”

“Oh, thank you, ‘Zuku-kun.” Jirou sounded embarrassed.

“I wish I could sing that good.” Izuku lamented.

“You just need to practice.” Jirou said. “You’ll get there one day. No one is born a good singer.”

Tsuyu smiled to herself and continued on her way. After all, it wasn’t really her business.

Chapter Text

Mina turned on her phone and hit record. She was so going to win this bet against Sero and Kaminari. Izuku’s favorite color was totally green.

“What’s your favorite color, Izuku-kun?” Mina asked.

Izuku didn’t look up from his picture. “I like red.” He answered distractedly.

“Really?” Hagakure sounded baffled. “Why?”

“It’s pretty,” Izuku looked at her.

“But what about green…?” Mina paled at the thought of all the money she had just lost.

“I like green,” Izuku focused on his picture. He grabbed an orange crayon and scribbled in… something. “But red is my favorite.”

Hagakure’s and Mina’s minds flashed to their experiences with villains and the excessive amounts of blood they’ve seen.

“Red is such a…” Hagakure struggled.

“...Scary color.” Mina finished.

“It is?” Izuku grabbed the red crayon. “But its so… so…”

Mina and Hagakure waited patiently for Izuku to find his words.

“Strong!” Izuku’s eyes lit up. “And brave! Like you guys!”

Mina’s eyes widened and Hagakure started crying quietly.

“And like Kiri’s hair and Kacchan’s eyes and Ura’s notebook and Todo’s hair and Iida’s keychain and Momo’s costume and Otou-san’s eyes…” Izuku continued to name every single one of their classmates and then some and their red things.

“...like Eri’s eyes! She’s brave, too. And Kota’s hat is red! He saved Kacchan, you know? And Mirio-san’s cape is red…”

Izuku paused for breath. Mina smiled, her eyes watering. “...Red is a very important color for you, huh?”

“Yup!” Izuku beamed. “You know, pink is just light red, so you are completely red all over! And Haga, you’re invisible, but you’re backpack’s red!”

This went on for a while. When Izuku finally finished, he had also finished his picture. Hagakure took a picture of Izuku proudly holding his picture of himself and his dad. Mina ended the recording and sent it to Aizawa-sensei and the class group chat.

“Hey, Izuku,” Mina got his attention. “Your shoes are red, you know? That means your pretty strong and brave, too.”

Izuku smiled.

Chapter Text

Todoroki had lost Izuku in the mall.

“I’m dead. Literally, so dead when Aizawa-sensei finds out about this.” Todoroki muttered, checking the bathroom stalls frantically. He accidentally opened a door that wasn’t locked, and, well, that was mentally scarring.

He checked the food court, and the kids’ toy store, and the Build-a-Bear, and the Hot Topic, and the anime store, and the…

Todoroki was contemplating whether it was worth it to go into the Victoria’s Secret when a tiny body collided with his legs. “Todo!”

Todoroki quickly scooped Izuku up. “Please don’t run away small human, dying via angry father is not how I want to go out.”

Izuku giggled. “Look what I found!” He showed Todoroki a round rubber ball. “It bounces!” Izuku explained, dropping the ball.

Todoroki felt his heart stop as the child dropped the bouncy ball. The ball hit the floor and shot out into the mall. Izuku wiggled out of Todoroki’s arms and chased after it.

“No- Izuku!” Todoroki jerked forward to grab Izuku, to prevent him from being lost in the crowd again, then immediately froze. Izuku had crashed into a stranger’s - no, this wasn’t a stranger. Fuckfuckfuck.

Scarred arms scooped up the toddler and handed him the ball, whispering a “don’t drop it again”. Ocean blue eyes flicked from the little bean sprout to Todoroki.

Todoroki’s eyes went wide as, for a second, his mind flashed to his father’s eyes, and the next second, he recognized this man, this man was one of the villains-

Todoroki would have done something, anything, if it hadn’t been for the ft that they were in a public area.

“Todoroki Shoto.” Dabi greeted. “An odd place to meet again, but as the Americans say, it’s a small world.”

“Yeah, sure.” Todoroki’s voice stayed even. “Thank you for catching him.” he held his arms out expectantly.

Dabi smirked. “Don’t lose the kiddo again. Next time, you won’t be getting him back.” Dabi handed Izuku back over to Todoroki.

“I won’t,” Todoroki sighed in relief. He hadn’t expected Dabi to actually give Izuku back. “But don’t think we’d just let you villains take him.”

Dabi rolled his eyes. “Sure.” he started walking away. He gave one of those anime half-waves. “Say hi to Dad for me.”

Todoroki’s brain short-circuited.

Chapter Text

It was pretty late out. After a very tiring day on training, Bakugou was watching a movie with Izuku. He was laying on the couch, and Izuku was staring at the TV, fascinated by the hero documentary that was playing.

Bakugou was falling asleep. The hero documentary was boring, and the day had been long. He jerked back into consciousness once when Izuku decided his chest would be more comfortable than the floor. The little bean was heavy, but not unwelcome.

A sleepy Kirishima came downstairs for a drink of water and noticed that the TV was on, for some reason. It was playing a violent crime show. Kirishima winced as loud siren sounds suddenly blared out of the speakers. He muted the TV.

With the light of the TV, Kirishima found Bakugou asleep on the couch, Izuku passed out on his chest. Kirishima wondered for a second why Bakugou would let Izuku watch a violent crime show when he realized they must have been watching a movie or something and said movie was over. Kirishima chuckled to himself.

Kirishima reached down and ruffled Izuku’s hair softly, then hesitantly tapped Bakugou’s shoulder. When the teen didn’t immediately wake up (he must be really tired, Kirishima thought), Kirishima gently pet Bakugou’s hair.

Kirishima couldn’t help admiring the aspiring hero. He was strong, powerful - Kirishima shook away his creeping self-deprecating thoughts. Kirishima also admired the blond’s looks, especially his eyes. The two of them both had red eyes, but Bakugou’s were so much brighter and so expressive. Bakugou was never afraid to speak his mind, and Kirishima thought that was very manly.

Kirishima could admit to having a small crush on the explosive blond.

Right now, though, Kirishima was more focused on the newest quality of Bakugou that Kirishima loved.

Bakugou was great with kids. Somehow.

Often times, when Kirishima was kept up at night by his thoughts, he found himself imagining a life with Bakugou. He imagined raising a kid with Bakugou - maybe two or three.

Oh great, he was thinking about it again. Kirishima sighed softly, removing his hand from Bakugou’s hair.

“Kiri…?” a young voice said.

“Yes, it’s me,” Kirishima replied quietly. “Let’s get you to bed, huh?”

“But wha’bout Kacchan?” Izuku tried to wriggle off of Bakugou, Kirishima simply picked him up instead.

“Kacchan is sleeping, Zuku. But if it makes you feel better, I’ll bring him to bed after we take care of you, ‘kay?” Kirishima started walking toward Izuku’s room.

“‘Kay,” Izuku yawned, rubbing his face into Kirishima’s neck. His small hands clung to Kirishima’s night shirt.

Kirishima returned to the living room after tucking Izuku in. He fully intended to keep his promise to the little bean sprout, but he paused before waking the angry blond. He wondered how mad Bakugou would be, whether he should be prepared for an explosion or not.

“...’s kinda creepy to watch people sleep, Shitty Hair…”

Kirishima jumped at the sound of Bakugou’s voice. “Uh! Yeah, sorry. That wasn’t manly at all…”

“Mhm.” Bakugou shifted until he was propping his head in one hand. “What’re you doing down here, anyway?”

“Drink of water.”

Bakugou’s gaze flicked to the TV. Kirishima glanced over as well. Someone was getting arrested in the crime show. Kirishima reached over and grabbed the remote, turning the TV off and plunging them into darkness.

Bakugou huffed internally: now he couldn’t see Kirishima. The TV light had reflected oddly in the red-head’s eyes. It made Bakugou wonder what Kirishima’s eye looked like when he was using his quirk.

Next thing Kirishima knew, Bakugou’s hand was in his hair (which was down) and briskly ruffled it. Kirishima made a noise of indignation, reaching up to grab Bakugou’s wrist.

“What are you doing?” He complained. “Now it’s all tangled!”

“I was just returning the favor.”

“...You were awake the whole time?” Kirishima flushed. This was so embarrassing!

“Damn TV woke me up. I’m surprised it didn’t wake Deku immediately, actually.”

“‘Zuku made me promise to get you to bed.”

“So I heard.” Bakugou sat up all the way. All Kirishima could see of him was the reflection of the hallway night-light in his eyes.

“I will be keeping that promise.”

“Of course you will.” Bakugou replied easily. “Lead the way.”

This is a bit out of character for him, Kirishima thought. Must be because Bakugou was tired. “Alright then.”

Kirishima led the way to the elevators, because he figured Bakugou was too tired to take the stairs (not that the blond would admit it) and pressed the button to their floor.

“You know, you’re really good with kids.” Bakugou said.

Kirishima blushed a little. “Oh, really? Um, you are, too.”

The rest of the elevator ride was silent. When they reached their floor, Bakugou produced the key to his room. Kirishima had left his own room unlocked.

“Oi, Shitty Hair,” Bakugou called from his door.

Kirishima looked over curiously. Bakugou was looking away from him, with an expression that was a mix of “I’ll probably regret this” and “Please say yes”. “Do you want to stay the night?”

Kirishima’s heart leapt. “Yes, I would like that.”

Chapter Text

Izuku thought bugs were pretty neat.

The little bean sprout was crouched by a tree in front of 1-A’s dorms, watching an ant hill. He noticed the ants were going around a large crack in the dirt. He grabbed a little twig and laid it over the gap. Eventually, an ant discovered the new path, and soon enough, there were ants travelling back and forth over the bridge. Izuku giggled in delight.

“Ko-Ko, come look at this one!”

Koda Koji flinched a little as he peered at the grasshopper in Izuku’s hands. Agh, he hated bugs. Nasty things. Blargereg.

“Is he saying anything?!” Izuku asked excitedly.

This little brat’s hands are sweaty! The grasshopper complained.

Don’t call people brats, that’s not very nice. Koda scolded. “Um… why do you put him down, okay? He doesn’t like being held.”

“Oh, okay,” Izuku gently set the bug down. “Your quirk is really, really cool, Ko-Ko!”

Koda blushed. Izuku told everyone that, many times, but Koda still got embarrassed.

“Koda-san! Izu-kun!” Uraraka called from the doorway. “Dinner is ready!”

“Come on, Izuku. We have to go wash our hands!” Koda said quietly. Izuku looked up at him with a bright smile.

“Race you!” Izuku took off. Koda hurried to keep up.They enjoyed some nice meat buns All Might had brought to the dorms.

Chapter Text

Izuku’s fourth birthday was coming up. The little bean sprout was very excited about it. His quirk was coming soon!

He wondered if it would be like otou-san’s. That would be awesome, he decided. Or ooh, like Kacchan’s! Or Yaomomo’s, Izuku always thought her quirk was super amazing. Wouldn’t it be cool if he could have both? That would be neat.

Anyway, Aizawa and Izuku were just finishing shopping for groceries.

Izuku clung tight to his otou-san’s finger as the two made their way through the mall to the cat cafe, where Aizawa would be meeting Present Mic, Midnight, and Ingenium - Tensei, not Tenya.

The mall was busy that day. It didn’t help that a portion of the mall was closed for construction. Izuku watched in wonder as a man used his levitation quirk to lift himself up to adjust a sign in front of the half-constructed store.

Something smelled good. Like candy! Izuku looked around for the source of the smell, but he didn’t see anything.

“Otou-san, is there a candy store here?” Izuku asked.

“No. Why do you ask?”

“I smell candy!” Izuku jumped up and down excitedly. “Can we get candy, please?”

“No, Izuku. We have to meet with your ojisan and your obasan.” Aizawa had a very hard time telling Izuku no, but alas. (A/N: Honestly, writing that was hard, too)

Izuku frowned, eyes welling up with tears. He wanted that candy! “Otou-saaaan…”

Izuku started dragging his feet, leaving Aizawa to drag him. Aizawa stopped quickly, sighed. People were starting to watch them. “Izuku, stop that.”

Izuku cried, reaching toward where he thought the candy smell was coming from. He made a grabbing motion.

Suddenly, his mouth was full of warmth. The heat tasted a bit like sugar. Izuku liked it.

However, on the other side of the mall, the construction man fell crashing to the ground as his levitation quirk failed him. Many shouts came from that area of the mall. Someone yelled to call 911.

At the same time, though, Izuku started floating up toward the roof. He gasped in fear as his feet left the floor.

“IZUKU!” Aizawa screeched when he noticed oh-my-god-my-son-is-flying-shit. Immediately, his capture-weapon flared up and dragged Izuku into his chest. Aizawa clutched his son to his chest.

“Otou-san!” Izuku wailed.

The crowd was murmuring. That little kid started flying. Okay, not unusual, kids’ quirks do appear at that age. What was odd was that that man had the same quirk - and it suddenly stopped working. Like it just vanished.

Aizawa also noticed. Did… did Izuku just steal that man’s quirk?

Immediately, he hated himself for thinking that. But still, Aizawa hesitated. He’d like to think Izuku didn’t steal the quirk, but honestly, Izuku probably didn’t mean to.

Aizawa whispered to his son. “Do you think you could give it back?”

Luckily, Izuku seemed to understand what he meant. Izuku pointed back at the man and made a face like he was spitting something out. Aizawa felt Izuku drop down as gravity took ahold of him.

Well, that settled it. Aizawa gripped the almost-four-year-old tighter and went to go talk to the police.

Chapter Text

Shinsou Hitoshi had graduated UA with Class 3-A 9 years ago. He had been teaching at UA (after Nedzu had blackmailed him) for 6 of those years.

Today was the first day of school. Shinsou was back to teaching the first-years (A/N: my headcanon is that the homeroom teachers teach the same class all three years). Ugh, the first day was always the worst.

Shinsou entered the classroom and waited for the students to notice him - almost 4 minutes. Yikes.

Shinsou sighed and stood at the front of the class. “Welcome to the Heroics Department of UA, this is going to be difficult, yadda yadda yadda. You all came here to be heros, so start acting like it.” He caught sight of a head of green hair. “Aizawa, what are you wearing?”

“Hm?” Izuku looked confused. He glanced at his uniform, then looked back up at Shinsou questioningly. “What do you mean?”

“...” Shinsou looked pointedly at the capture weapon Izuku had around his neck.

“Oh.” Izuku blushed. “Oh, okay.”

“And fix your tie.”

“Yes, nii-san.”

Whispers filled the classroom. Shinsou frowned, banging a fist on the podium. The class immediately shut up.

“Now.” Shinsou sighed. “Get changed into your PE uniform and meet me outside in 10 minutes.

“Hey, teach!” One of the other students stood up sharply, her hand in the air urgently. “What about opening ceremonies?”

“UA has a freestyle way of teaching. The teachers can do almost anything they want. Also, we don’t have the time for an orientation if you want to be good heroes. Now go, you have only 8 minutes now. Better hurry if you want to make it.”

Izuku immediately stood and tore out of the classroom. “Follow me!” he shouted at his classmates. “I know where the lockers are!”

The girl who stood up earlier looked frustrated. “Everyone line up in organized lines!” she shouted futility. The rest of the class was already chasing after Izuku. The girl groaned, then followed.

Izuku was, no surprise, the first boy done changing. He exited the changing room to see the girl from earlier was also done changing; she was just exiting the girls’ locker room.

Immediately, she confronted him. “Why would you do something so unorganized?! We’re at UA, we need to act like we should for attending such a prestigious school! You’re dragging down everyone’s reputations!”

She’s like Tenya-kun, Izuku thought. “We were on a time limit…? And I knew where the lockers were already.”

The girl was quiet for a second. “I see,” she said finally. Suddenly, she bowed. “You have seen the true nature of this situation! Hero work is always chaotic! It would be good to get used to it early! Rest assured, I will figure it out before you next time!”

What. “Um, okay… what’s your name?”

“Higuchi Azumi! My quirk is called Safe Space! And you?”

“Aizawa Izuku. What does your quirk do?”

“I can create impenetrable force fields of various sizes!” she boasted.

“That’s amazing!” Izuku’s eyes sparkled. He pulled a notebook out of nowhere, already scribbling away. “Can you make more than one at once? Can you move them? How far away can you make them? Is there any negative drawbacks? Any positive ones? Can you-”

Higuchi blinked at him slowly. “Um, I have not tried making more than three at a time! And I can move them around mentally!”

“So cool!”

The rest of their classmates had joined them in the hall. Someone coughed. “Um, we only have one minute left.”

“Hey extras! Line up in an orderly manner, chop chop!” Higuchi called, hands on her hips. Everyone groaned and squashed together in a line - though, it was not quite single-file.

Finally, they were all gathered in front of Shinsou-sensei.

“Alright.” Shinsou adjusted his papers. “So, I assume all of you have done physical tests at your middle schools, yes?”

There was a murmur of assent.

“Good. Aizawa, come here.”

“Yes, nii-san!” Izuku said cheerily. He walked into the circle. Shinsou handed him a ball.

“What was your high-score in the ball-throw?”

“63 meters.” Not the farthest. Izuku always had trouble gaining muscles.

“Alright. I want you to use your quirk to get the ball as far as you can.” Shinsou stepped back.

Izuku frowned at the ball. He’d done this before, by borrowing Kacchan’s quirk. However, he did not know his classmates’ quirks, other than Higuchi’s. He could smell the others’ quirks - there were several quite powerful ones. Those were tempting, but Izuku didn’t know what they did or if they would even help him.

He’d make due with Higuchi’s.

Izuku subtly made a grabbing motion at Higuchi, borrowing her quirk. A warm, sugary taste flooded his mouth. He formed a force field around the ball and tried to mentally push it away from him. He was luck this quirk was easy to handle. It would be embarrassing if he had struggled.

The ball drifted quite far before the force field flickered out. Izuku wondered if it was the distance or a time limit that made it go away.

Shinsou looked at his measuring device. 207.8 meters. Not bad. He showed the class.

“WHOA!”

Higuchi was gaping at the display. What were the odds that two people had the same quirk? She growled. She would prove herself better!

“The hero course seems pretty fun!” One student said.

“Fun?” Shinsou hummed. “It can be, I suppose. But in the real world, there is no time for ‘fun’. As such, whoever scores the lowest will be expelled. Is this understood?”

“Yes sir!”

“Aizawa, give Higuchi-san her quirk back now.”

“Yes, nii-san!”

Higuchi frowned. Give… back…?

Izuku walked back to join the class. He stopped next to Higuchi, tapping her shoulder and making a gagging sound. Higuchi suddenly felt whole again. She hadn’t even realized she had been missing something.

“Sorry about borrowing your quirk without asking.” Izuku said, watching the next classmate step up and chuck the ball. “But I didn’t know anyone else’s quirk so I didn’t know what would help me best.”

“You… stole my quirk?”

“Borrowed.” Izuku’s eyes flashed. “I would never keep someone’s quirk for myself. It doesn’t belong to me, and tasting all that sugar all the time would kill me.”

“What.”

“Side-effect of my quirk.” Izuku waved it off. “When I borrow someone’s quirk, it’s like I’m eating really sugary caramel or something. It was tasty when I was younger, but now it just makes me feel sick.”

“Well then.” Higuchi suddenly looked very mad. “Next time ask permission, idiot!”

“Okay, okay!” Izuku shrunk, holding his hands up defensively. “Sorry!”

“Aizawa, Higuchi.”

“Yes, sensei?” They both asked. Shinsou quickly brainwashed both of them.

“Be quiet and wait your turn.” Shinsou commanded. The two loud students obediently sat down, gazing into nothing.

The physical tests wrapped up quickly. Izuku and Higuchi came back to themselves when it was their turns. Izuku was frustrated with Shinsou, but Shinsou just put him back under again. Shinsou would never understand why Izuku wouldn’t learn to not talk to him.

Izuku finished in fourth place, and Higuchi ended up in twelfth. The last place person, a girl who’s quirk made them super seductive, was expelled. Higuchi wondered why the girl’s quirk didn’t work on Shinsou, but Izuku knew it was because Shinsou was quite happy with his husband, Kaminari. He was more inclined to wonder how she had even got into UA in the first place.

Chapter Text

“This is Halloween, this is Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!”

Jirou and Izuku sang as they walked down the hall in their costumes. Jirou was dressed as a vampire, and Izuku was going as a ghost.

Jirou jumped down the last of the stairs. Izuku shrieked and giggled from where he sat perched on her shoulders.

“It’s our town, we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song!” Mina, Kaminari, and Sero joined their procession down into the common area. The rest of the class turned to face them as they entered, smiling widely as they joined in.

“La. La. La. La-la, La. La. La. LA-LA, LA. LA. LA. LA-LA, LA. LA. LA. LA. LA!!!” The entire class finished.

Izuku was still giggling when Jirou finally set him on the ground.

“Everyone!” Iida drew everyone’s attention to him (Izuku continued giggling, singing “La la la” over and over again. Jirou was concerned that she accidently broke him.) Iida pulled out a stack of papers, distributing them around. “I have made a map of the surrounding neighborhood, and planned our route to maximize our candy haul!”

(A/N: Hush, this is absolutely something Iida would do.)

“Shut up, Four-Eyes!” Bakugou blew up his copy. “I don’t need a map! I’ll get more candy than the rest of you extras!”

Iida did nothing more than adjust his glasses and hand another copy of the map to Kirishima. “I expect you’ll need the extra by the end of the night.” He told Kirishima.

“ARE YOU IMPLYING THAT I’M GOING WITH SHITTY HAIR?” Bakugou yelled.

“Aw, Bakubro, you already said you were!” Kirishima smiled. The rest of the Bakusquad made puppy eyes at Bakugou.

“Ugh. Fine! Come on, Deku, let’s go beat these extras into the ground.” Bakugou scooped up Izuku and left the dorms, the Bakusquad giggling after them. The rest of the class hurried to follow.

Izuku rode on Bakugou’s shoulders, squealing and clinging to the fake wolf ears attached to Bakugou’s head. Bakugou didn’t wince as it pulled his hair, ‘cuz he’s a manly man.

(A/N: My inner Kirishima took over for a second there. Ah well.)

Things went smoothly. They got stopped many times, for people cooing over their costumes and inquiries about the hero course. Many of them got stopped for pictures and autographs. One memorable encounter was when a middle-schooler came up to Bakugou and asked for both his and Izuku’s autograph. Now, Izuku doesn’t know how to write yet, so she got scribbles instead. Still, it was bean sprout’s first autograph. The girls of the class aww-ed.

Then they came to the last house Iida had on his map.

“You didn’t say it was a haunted house, Iida-kun!” Uraraka gasped.

“Yes, well,” Iida adjusted his glasses. “I figured you all would like the surprise. It shouldn’t be too scary for Izuku-san.”

Speaking of Izuku, he was calmly chewing on one of Bakugou’s wolf ears. Bakugou was toting two very full pillowcases of candy. He didn’t seem very bothered by Izuku.

After a short wait (maybe five minutes) the group entered the house. The guide split them up into pairs and sent each pair one at a time. Izuku was moved from Bakugou’s shoulders to his arms, and he clung to Bakugou’s shirt.

Deity above, Iida was so wrong. Izuku burst into tears in the second room. Bakugou asked the actors in there for a way out. Well, they couldn’t go backwards, that would disrupt the flow of traffic. They couldn’t go forward because of Traumatizing Images™, so one of the actors offered to take them through the actors’ stage area. Bakugou, seeing no other way to get out, grudgingly accepted.

“Here, it’s just through here.” The lizard-looking guy (he kinda looked familiar…?) said, gesturing down a brightly lit hall. Bakugou saw the door at the end, the window showing the bright lights of UA just across the street.

“Thanks, or whatever.” Bakugou growled.

He took three steps when a purple portal opened in his face. Bakugou’s eyes widened, and he quickly tried to backpedal, but the lizard dude plowed into him, sending the two of them and Izuku through the portal.

Bakugou appeared outside, in the middle of the street. A patrolling police car jerked to a screeching halt right before it hit him. Bakugou whirled around to face the building, running at the doors and banging on them - they were locked.

“YOU FUCKERS! GIVE HIM BACK!”

Izuku was gone. And it was the villains who took him.

Bakugou knew he recognized that fucking lizard.

Chapter Text

The villains’ arrival was signalled with candy spilling all over the floor.

“That was so much fun!” Toga giggled, happily scooping pieces of candy off of the floor. She skipped her way to her usual barstool, picking up candy as she went.

“I can’t believe the best plan you had was to make a freaking haunted house, Shiggy.” Dabi hummed, sticking a watermelon-flavored Dum-Dum into his mouth. “All of that for some brat.”

“Not just any brat.” Shigaraki growled. “It’s Sensei’s kid.”

“Really?” Spinner asked, looking at the child he was holding. Izuku wasn’t crying just yet. Spinner carefully wiped away the leftover tears from the house.

Kurogiri nodded beginning to pull out glasses from the bar and make the villains’ favorite drinks. “It’s true. Boss told us to get his kid back, no matter the cost.”

Izuku wriggled around in Spinner’s arms. “Down!” he demanded. Spinner looked at Shigaraki for permission, and the childish adult nodded his assent, muttering for Spinner to keep the brat away from him.

“I thought All for One was still in Tartarus?” Dabi asked.

“He is.” Kurogiri confirmed. “But our infiltrators have managed to communicate with him undetected.”

Izuku toddled around, picking up and inspecting each candy closely, before putting each one back down on the ground. He continued doing this until he picked up a gummy Lifesaver, and taking the candy over to Dabi. He tugged on the adult’s coat, getting his attention.

“Open, please?” Izuku asked, holding the candy up to Dabi. Dabi hesitated for a second, then took the candy, removed the wrapper, and handed the candy back to the toddler. Izuku plopped his butt down there, nibbling on the gummy. Dabi set the wrapper on fire (Izuku stared entranced at the blue flames).

Toga “aww”-ed at the scene. “He’s so cute!” she squealed. “I want to drink his blood!”

“No.” Shigaraki growled. “Sensei would flay us alive if his son is injured.”

“Dabi burned him that one time.” Twice remembered.

“I’m not afraid of that old man.” Dabi snapped. “My own dad is worse. Besides, Shiggy told me to do it.”

“Don’t call me that!” Shigaraki yelled.

Dabi opened his mouth to yell back, but paused when his phone vibrated. He smiled at it, reading the message on the screen.

Shigaraki scowled. “Don’t ignore me, you burnt chicken nugget.”

Toga bounced excitedly. “Is that your mystery boyfriend, Dabi??”

Dabi glanced up from his typing, scowling. “I don’t have a boyfriend. I’m not gay.”

“Oh no, he’s in denial.” Twice gasped. “He’s telling the truth!”

“Tell us who he is, Dabi!” Toga tried to steal the phone from him.

“Uh-uh, no way am I telling you guys.” Dabi quickly locked his phone and held it high over Toga’s head.

Izuku finished his candy and stood to find another suitable piece. He found another gummy by Kurogiri’s feet, and held it up for the man to open. Kurogiri took it and Izuku grabbed onto his pant leg while he waited patiently.

“I expected, I dunno, crying or something,” Spinner said as he sat at the bar next to Shirgaraki. “Why is this so easy?”

“Gimme that,” Shigaraki said, swiping the candy from Kurogiri. He pressed five fingers to the candy, fully intending to reduce the thing to ashes, but nothing happened, strangely. Shigaraki lifted one finger and reapplied it. No change. His gaze drifted to the little brat.

Kurogiri’s pants were disintegrating from where Izuku’s hand had been gripping. Izuku’s other hand was stretched out toward his candy, and, subsequently, Shigaraki.

“Give me my quirk back, you little brat.” Shigaraki snarled.

Izuku jumped at the harsh tone. His hands were not longer holding onto anything, and there was now a rather large hole in Kurogiri’s pants.

Izuku’s eyes filled with tears and he let out a quiet whine.

Shigaraki snapped and lunged over the bar, reaching for Izuku.

Kurogiri quickly warped Shigaraki to his room. He looked at Spinner with exasperation in his eyes. “Why would you jinx it?”

Izuku let out a tiny wail as he tried to grab onto Kurogiri’s bare leg. Kurogiri saw it coming and quickly put a portal in the way, and Izuku’s hands harmlessly passed through.

“Child, you would do well not to kill us.” Kurogiri said.

Shigaraki’s scream from his room could be heard quite clearly in the bar. Izuku made a face and stuck out his tongue, and Shigaraki promptly fell through the roof. Tiny pieces of ash softly fell from the new hole in the ceiling.

Dabi and Toga were cackling from where they were lurking.

“Well, everyone go pack their stuff. We need to leave, the heroes already know where the bar is from rescuing the Bakugou boy.” Kurogiri collected their glasses. “I hope you enjoyed your break.”

Shigaraki pushed himself off the floor. “I’m the boss, Kurogiri.”

Izuku calmly chewed on his gummy candy.

Chapter Text

They’d had Sensei’s son for almost two weeks now, and had lost him in the woods three times since they decided to hide there.

Shigaraki dragged a hand over his face. This little brat wouldn’t stop running off! This is getting ridiculous.

Toga skipped into the clearing where they had set up camp, spinning one of her needles around by the thin tube it was connected to. “Hey Shiggy!” she greeted cheerfully.

“Did you find the brat yet?” He muttered.

“Nope! But I found this neat rock. It’s the same color as your hair!” Toga tossed the tiny pebble at Shigaraki. He caught it and immediately disintegrated it. Toga pouted.

Dabi came into the clearing, holding Izuku and talking to someone on the phone.

“No, of course I won’t tell you where I am.” Dabi huffed into the phone. “Idiot bird, you’re a hero. I can’t just give away our location. You’ll arrest us.”

Izuku wriggled around in Dabi’s arms. Dabi simply shifted his grip. Izuku whined.

“The kid’s fine. Keep asking, though, and he won’t be for long.” Dabi sighed. “Don’t call me unless you have actual information next time.”

Dabi hung up the phone.

“Was that your booooyfrieend?” Toga cooed, stealing Izuku from Dabi’s arms.

Dabi glared. “No. That was Hawks.”

“Why do you have a hero’s number?” Shigaraki scowled.

“He’s a double agent,” Dabi replied. “At least, that’s what he is pretending to be.”

“Why tell him we have mini-Sensei?” Shigaraki asked.

“I didn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know.” Dabi tapped on his phone screen a few times, then slipped his phone into his pocket. He made a finger-gun at the pile of charred wood in the center of the clearing and shot blue flames, setting the pile ablaze. “I have business in the city tonight. Do you guys want anything?”

“Ooh, can you get more hair-ties? Mine are breaking.” Toga said. “Also, ice cream?”

“Nothing from me.” Shigaraki said.

Dabi nodded. “Chapstick for Dusty McCrusty, then.”

Shigaraki shot up, glaring at Dabi. He lunged, hand outstretched. “Don’t call me that!”

Dabi simply dodged. “Kurogiri?” he called into thin air.

A portal appeared behind him. Dabi smirked. “‘Y’ALL UGLY!’” he quoted, jump backwards into the portal, vanishing into thin air.

Toga and Izuku giggled. Shigaraki scowled. “Stupid vines.”

-a few minutes ago, somewhere else in Japan-

The hero sighed as the other line hung up. He looked down on the bustling city, the ordinary people who were blissfully unaware of the horrible things happening to others. Murder, rape… kidnappings…

Hawks sighed. These past few weeks, he’d been on the case for Eraserhead’s missing kid, the little bean sprout he saved only a few months ago from the dog in the park. This case would’ve been closed as ‘presumed dead’ at the five day mark, if it hadn’t been for Hawks connection to one member of the kidnappers.

His phone suddenly buzzed. He glanced at the glowing screen. The coordinates of a location sat proudly in a message from Dabi.

Hawks’ breath caught in his throat. A meeting?

-a few hours later, in the middle of nowhere…?-

Hawks sat perched in a tree. A column of smoke rose from a gap in the trees ahead of him.

He was wrong. Not a meeting. A fight.

Hopefully he could get that kid back. But first, some back-up.

Chapter Text

Hawks quietly watched the clearing from his perch in the trees. It was dark. He hoped the other heroes would get there soon. He wasn’t sure he would be able to catch all of the villains without endangering the hostage - the little bean sprout.

To be honest, Izuku was quite happy with his current situation. He’d borrowed Dabi’s quirk (which could not end well, Hawks thought) and was playing with a stick, the end ablaze.

“Come on, Dabi-nii!” Izuku pulled him along with one hand. “We hafta stop the vampire queen!”

Toga giggled from her perch on top of a stack of wood pallets. “Be wary, adventurers! I’ll suck you dry if you come too close!”

“Oh.” Izuku hesitated, looking up at Dabi. “What do we do? Nii-san, she’s going to drink our blood!”

“Set her on fire, kiddo.” Dabi shrugged.

Izuku’s eyes widened and he spun around. He liked the taste of Dabi’s quirk; it was spicy, like the katsudon Kacchan makes! A brief moment of sadness crossed Izuku at the thought of the older boy, but he shook it off quickly. He’d see him again soon, Dabi said so! And he trusted Dabi. Probably unwisely. He still had a mark where he was burned before……

Izuku ran up to Toga’s stack of wood pallets and pressed his hands to it. He furrowed his brow, concentrating, and blue sparks emitted from his palms. Izuku drew his hands away, hissing in pain, but the fire was set.

Toga shrieked good-naturedly, casually dancing on the burning wood. Dabi offered Izuku double-high-fives. “Nice job, buddy.”

Izuku eagerly slapped them, then yelped in pain, tears appearing in the corners of his eyes. Concerned, Dabi quickly grabbed Izuku’s wrists, turning his hands to inspect his blistered palms.

“Oh boy.” Dabi groaned. “That’s gotta hurt.”

Izuku nodded, sniffing. Suddenly, he gagged, and Dabi felt his quirk return. Dabi scooped the toddler up and walked to his bag, pulling out some ice and bandages. He gave the ice to Izuku, who held it carefully between his hands. Dabi sat down in the grass next to the boy, preparing the bandages.

Toga hopped down from the burning wood just as the flames reached her feet. “That was fun!”

“We just burned the last of our wood, though.” Dabi pointed out.

Toga stuck out her tongue. “So what? We’re in the middle of the forest!”

“Okay, then go get some wood. I’ll help once I wrap the kid’s hands.”

Dabi wasn’t stupid. He knew Hawks was watching. It was a bit unnerving, to be honest. Like he was being hunted.

It was a good thing that he was on Hawks’ side. Otherwise… well.

Hawks watched Dabi taking care of the kid. Honestly, it was adorable. Dabi must have younger siblings or something. Not that he’d say.

There was a small thunk as somebody settled on the tree branch next to him. Hawks glanced over to see the Dragon Hero, Ryukyu, watching the scene before them.

“Everything’s in place.” She muttered. “The purple guy is your informant?”

“Yup.” Hawks confirmed. “And he’s got the kid right now. Couldn’t wait for a better time.”

Ryukyu tapped the small radio in her ear. “Operation Bean Sprout is go.”

Hawks and Ryukyu, and several other heroes, burst out of hiding from around the clearing. Hawks immediately tackled Dabi while Ryukyu grabbed Izuku and ran.

“Sorry,” Hawks muttered to Dabi. “Don’t want to blow everything.”

“Of course not,” Dabi said easily. “Neither do I.”

Dabi’s hands sparked violently and Hawks had just enough time to get out of the way. Dabi flipped backwards, putting distance between the two.

“Toga! Go after the kid!” Dabi yelled.

Toga squirmed from where she was pinned to the ground by Fourth Kind. “I can’t!!”

“I got him! He’s lost forever!!” Twice yelled, running in a dead sprint after Ryukyu.

“Who are you?” Izuku asked Ryukyu quietly.

“I’m one of your otou-san’s friends, honey.” Ryukyu told him. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you home soon.”

“Oh, wait for Twice!” Izuku gasped, looking behind Ryukyu. “He’s nice! But mean sometimes.”

Oh boy, Ryukyu speed up. “We can’t Izuku, don’t you want to see your otou-san? He misses you!”

“Oh, yeah!! I’ve missed him, too. Shiggy said I would get to be with my ‘real’ otou-san soon.”

Ryukyu almost felt her heart stop at that.

The entire time Izuku had been gone - over a month now. Aizawa had been a mess. Depressed, would barely talk to anyone, would lash out randomly at anyone who breathed too loud. Present Mic had said Eraserhead hadn’t slept at all. Vlad King had to take over homeroom for Class 1-A and 1-B, it got so bad.

Aizawa would be absolutely devastated to find out that Izuku wanted to meet his real father.

But, on the other hand, Ryukyu had to wonder - who exactly was Izuku’s real father? He must be a villain, given the situation, but she knew only a few people actually knew. He must be pretty high up in the villain world if these villains were working for Izuku’s biological dad (that’s what Ryukyu assumed, anyway).

A villain popped out of the bushes ahead. Ryukyu swiftly shifted into her dragon form, carefully clutching Izuku in her talons. She leapt into the air and flew away.

Meanwhile, Hawks was making swift work of the villains, with the exception of the portal villain and the blue-haired leader, who was disintegrating his feathers one after another.

The high-school girl went down almost immediately. The lizard guy went down soon after. Dabi didn’t even try to escape being pinned to a tree, knowing that a fall from that height would certainly not end well.

Suddenly, Hawks felt a pinch on his arm and all of his feathers fell to the ground. Dabi let out a yell as he was suddenly released. The portal villain caught Dabi and teleported himself, Dabi, and the leader away.

“What on earth…?” Hawks muttered, looking down at the numerous red feathers on the ground.

Fourth Kind ran over. “Hawks! What the heck was that??”

“I don’t know…” Hawks’ voice was progressively getting higher. “Fourth… I can’t activate my quirk.”

Fourth Kind reached over and plucked something off his arm. “You got hit with something.” he revealed a dart sitting in the middle of his palm. “Like Fatgum’s intern.”

Hawks’ heart jumped. “You think it’ll come back?”

“Probably.”

Hawks sighed.

-Meanwhile, Ryukyu-

“Are you okay, Izuku?” Ryukyu landed softly at the front gates of UA, turning back into her human form.

Izuku looked up at her, eyes sparkling. “Your quirk is so cool. Can you breathe fire? How fast can you fly? How high can you go? Do you eat-”

“Jeez kid.” Ryukyu rang the buzzer. “Don’t forget to breathe.”

“Can I draw you in my notebook?” Izuku asked. The gate slid open, and Ryukyu scooped Izuku up to carry him inside.

“Sure.”

Izuku cheered. “I’ve got a lot of colored pencils, so your picture is going to be awesome!”

Ryukyu spotted a figure in the distance, closing in fast. After recognizing the length of fabric the figure was hastily wrapping around their neck, Ryukyu relaxed. This person was not a threat.

“Where is he?!” Aizawa demanded firmly.

“Otou-san!” Izuku wriggled out of Ryukyu’s arms and dashed to his father. Aizawa immediately scooped Izuku up and hugged him close. Izuku grabbed Aizawa’s face between his hands. Sternly, he said, “You look tired, otou-san.”

Aizawa laughed weakly. “I’m fine. Are you hurt?”

“I’m oh-kee.” Izuku grabbed Aizawa’s scarf.

Aizawa noticed the bandages wrapping his hands. “What the f-...What happened to your hands?”

“Burn!” Izuku squealed.

“Let’s take you to go see Recovery Girl,” Aizawa decided. The two disappeared into the building. Ryukyu turned and left the campus with a broad grin on her face.

A few minutes later, her phone buzzed.

Unknown Number: Thank you for bringing him home.

Chapter Text

Aizawa laid back in his bed with a heavy sigh. It had been a long, long day. Bakugou tried to fight everything that moved, Iida couldn’t be any less square, and the Bakusquad decided to launch model rockets off the top of the dorm, scaring the teachers into thinking there was a shooter on campus (they also woke Izuku up from his nap. Unforgivable.) Aizawa really just wanted to sleep.

Izuku had been put to bed a few hours ago. Aizawa was caught up on grades. The activities for tomorrow were ready. Aizawa could sleep easily.

Aizawa drifted off into sleep.

……

…

….. …

And he suddenly woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning with the feeling of being watched.

Carefully grabbing his capture weapon, Aizawa slowly turned to face the room, scanning for an intruder. He spotted a small figure at the foot of his bed.

Demon. Tiny demon.

“Otou-san? Otou-san, are you awake?”

Oh. Not a demon.

“What’d you need, bean sprout?” Aizawa groaned, sitting up and turning on the night.

Izuku looked at the ground, tightly hugging an All Might plush. “I- I’m thirsty.”

Aizawa sighed, then stood up. Izuku followed him down to the kitchen. Aizawa ignored the several students who were playing MarioKart and pulled out a plastic cup with Hawks printed on it.

Izuku quietly sat at the table, staring at the TV in awe. Kaminari finished first, jumping up on the couch and hollering victory. A capture weapon immediately flew over and gagged him.

Aizawa was too tired for this.

“All done!” Izuku quickly jumped out of his chair and raced to the stairs. Aizawa picked up the cup and dumped out the remaining water, then followed Izuku to put him back to bed. He stopped at the stairway, glaring at the video game group.

“Go to bed. Consider yourselves doing extra laps tomorrow.”

The game was quickly shut off and the students left immediately.

Such a long day.

Chapter Text

Izuku had Aizawa’s quirk.

Sero learned this the hard way.

He’d been hanging out upside down, like you do, doing the math assignment that was due the next day. Thanks to Bakugou, he’d gotten a lot better at this kind of math. He actually knew what he was supposed to do!

And then he fell from the high ceiling to the floor. Luckily, he landed on a couch.

Someone giggled behind him.

“Oh, Izuku-kun!” Sero grinned at him. “What’s up?”

“The sky!” Izuku giggled.

“Kami taught you that, didn’t he?” Sero smiled.

Izuku nodded. He blinked, and his hair fell into his face.

“Hey wait.” Sero’s eyes widened. “Did you get your quirk?”

Izuku nodded happily.

“It’s just like your dad’s!” Sero smiled. “Wait, but aren’t you adopted?”

Izuku climbed onto the couch, reaching for the tape hanging from the ceiling. He was using the back of the couch as support. Sero snapped a quick picture and sent it to the group chat.

Biderman: izu has his quirk now!!!!!!!

uwuravity: wait 4 real???!!!

Sonic: What is it?

Pikapika: yoooo rly?

Tototototototo: good for him

sparky sparky boom man: YOU BETTER GIVE DEKU A REAL CONGRATULATIONS HALFNHALF BASTARD

Pikapika changed Tototototototo’s name to HALFNHALF BASTARD

uwuravity changed HALFNHALF BASTARD’s name to Tototototototo

Tototototototo changed Tototototototo’s name to trash

uwuravity changed trash’s name to Tototototototo

uwuravity: stop it.

Tototototototo: sure

Sero closed the messages and turned to Izuku, who was trying to climb onto the back of the couch to grab the tape. Sero quickly tugged the tape down and handed it to Izuku, who happily put it in his mouth.

“Whoa, wait, don’t do that!” Sero tried to grab it out of Izuku’s mouth, but it was stuck. “Oh no.”

Izuku made a face, like he was trying to spit something out. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he whined.

“No no no no,” Sero groaned. “Aizawa-sensei’s gonna kill me.”

“Oh? What for?”

Sero’s blood ran cold. “Ai-Aizawa-sensei.”

Aizawa glanced between Sero and his young bean sprout. “What happened.”

“Um, Izuku tried to eat some of my tape and, well, it um, stuck his mouth together?” Sero offered.

Aizawa sighed. His eyes lit up red and his hair defied gravity. He easily removed the tape from Izuku’s face.

That reminded him. “Aizawa-sensei…”

“What now.”

“O-oh! Just, um. Izuku got his quirk.”

“Yeah, I know.” Aizawa scooped Izuku up, rubbing his back to get him to stop crying. “And you are on house arrest tomorrow.”

“Y-Yes sir.”

Chapter Text

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

“After 15 minutes, we are legally allowed to leave.” Kaminari spoke up.

“That is not a sign of a responsible student!” Iida stood, chopping his hands at Kaminari.

“It is a sign of an irresponsible teacher, though.” Kirishima checked the hall for any sign of Aizawa. “It’s pretty unmanly.”

“It is unusual for Aizawa-sensei to be late.” Yaomomo agreed.

Tap tap tap.

Bakugou startled at the tapping from the window next to him. He frowned at Aizawa, who was hanging outside, Izuku on his back like a monkey and a huge sack in hand. “The fuck?”

Hagakure hurried to open the window. Aizawa heaved the sack through first, then swung inside with practiced ease. Izuku giggled, running to the sack when he was set down.

“Izuku brought gifts for you lot.” Aizawa said.

“Cho-co-lates!” Izuku carefully sounded out the word. He tugged at the knot impatiently. “Otou-saaaaaan!!”

“Calm down, problem child.” Aizawa leaned down and opened the bag. Izuku grabbed a bunch of tiny bags and began distributing them to the students.

“Valentine's Day!” Mina cried. “I can’t believe we forgot.”

“We can celebrate after classes.” Uraraka comforted.

“Satou-chan, are you going to make a cake? Kero.” Tsuyu asked.

“Of course.”

“Oh my,” Yaomomo stared at her chocolate. “Are these handmade?”

“Yup!” Izuku answered cheerfully. “Ojisan helped!”

The class gave a tiny, collective sigh of relief. It wasn’t that they didn’t appreciate Izuku making chocolates, it’s just that… well, making chocolate was a lot for a small 4-year-old to handle.

Aizawa waited patiently for them all to eat their chocolate, then started the day’s lesson. Izuku quietly played in his corner, unaware of his fate on White Day…

Chapter Text

“Can I use your scarf, otou-san?”

Aizawa looked down at the small bean sprout next to him. Said bean sprout was weaponizing the puppy eyes to great effect.

“It’s not a scarf, Izuku. It’s called a capture weapon.” Aizawa focused back on grading the idiots of 1-A’s papers. “Unfortunately, I’m not supposed to let anyone play with it.”

“Aww…” Izuku slumped. “Okay.”

“I’m not supposed to,” Aizawa continued, “But that’s more of a… guideline, than a rule.”

Izuku looked confused. “What?”

Aizawa took off his capture weapon. “Go nuts. Just don’t go outside.”

“Yay!” Izuku put his head through the loop. He was absolutely drowning in the scarf. Izuku ran off, the scarf trailing on the floor behind him.

He may have borrowed Aizawa’s quirk, too.

And, well, if the students of Class 1-A were running around screaming about a tiny sensei, that really wasn’t any of Aizawa’s business.

Chapter Text

“...” Todoroki watched Izuku pick up a block and stack it on his tower, carefully trying not to make it fall. The final block slid into place, and Izuku cheered.

“I did it, Todo!” Izuku jumped on him. “I made a castle, see!”

“Yes, I see.” Todoroki replied monotonously, allowing Izuku to climb all over him. “It is a very good castle.”

Izuku hopped up and ran back to his castle. “Hey, Todo!”

“Hm?”

“I’m Kacchan!” Izuku laughed. He smacked the castle, sending it to the ground. “Boom!”

“You shouldn’t blow up buildings, Aizawa-kun.” Todoroki sat up and began picking up the blocks. “Heroes build, not destroy.”

“Oh.” Izuku frowned. “But Kacchan makes things explode. How does he build?”

Todoroki shrugged. “Like the rest of us, I suppose.” He stacked a few blocks. Suddenly, an idea hit him.

“Aizawa-kun?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to build a fort?” Todoroki asked.

Izuku gasped. “Yeah!!”

Now, Todoroki had never actually built a pillow fort before. His father never really let him, but he’d seen it in TV shows, and, well, how hard could it be?

Pretty hard, actually. Todoroki and Izuku collected a bunch of pillows and blankets and moved the couches around to be the walls. None of the sheets stretched across all of the couches, so they stole a chair from the kitchen and set it in the middle. But the sheets tended to-

“Aizawa-kun, watch out!”

“Ah! Help me, Todo! I’m stuck!”

The sheets fell on top of Izuku and Todoroki many times. Eventually, Todoroki started using Izuku’s blocks and some spare pillows to keep the sheets from falling.

It worked.

Todoroki sighed. Finally… “I think it’s done.”

“No!” Izuku cried. “We hafta decorate the inside!”

This led to Todoroki filling the inside with some fluffy blankets that hadn’t been used for the roof and a few pillows. Izuku crawled inside with a string of fairy lights (presumably commandeered from Mina) and Todoroki managed to find an outlet.

Izuku giggled and settled into the thick blankets and Todoroki felt himself smiling a little.

“We should watch a movie in here, Todo-”

“What is this shit?” a voice came from outside the tent.

Izuku gasped. “Kacchan said a bad word!”

“Bakugou,” Todoroki greeted.

“Todoroki,” Bakugou glared back.

“Kacchan! We made a fort! See?!” Izuku hugged Bakugou’s leg.

“It’s… alright.” Bakugou huffed. “But it would’ve been the best fort ever if I’d helped, Deku.”

“We’re gonna watch a movie! And, ooh, do you think otou-san would let us have a slumber party?” Izuku babbled excitedly.

“Maybe.” Todoroki replied neutrally.

“Tch.” Bakugou turned away.

“Nooo,” Izuku whined, latching onto Bakugou. “Where are you going?”

Bakugou looked down, a little surprised. “Well, you and Todoroki were going to hang out, weren’t you?”

“You might as well stay, Bakugou.” Todoroki patted a space next to him.

“Ugh,” Bakugou sat down. “Fine.”

Izuku grabbed a copy of The Princess and the Frog. Todoroki put it in the movie player, and the trio settled down to watch: Todoroki on the left, Bakugou on the right, and Izuku in the middle.

It is unclear which classmate found the three first, but Kirishima had a sneaky picture of his crush/boyfriend (what were they?) peacefully sleeping next to the bi-colored boy and the little bean sprout.

Chapter Text

March 14.

White Day.

Poor Izuku didn’t know what was coming.

He was sleepily playing with an All Might figure when students began trickling into the classroom. Aizawa had run off to the copier (“I swear to all that is holy if Yamamda used up all of the paper again-”), so there was no one to stop the events about to occur.

“Izu!!” Mina yelled as she entered the room. “Happy White Day!!”

She set a little present in front of him. Izuku picked it up, curious.

“Pretty bow.” He smiled at her.

“Open it!” She said.

Izuku pulled off the bow and stuck it in his hair, then ripped off the wrapping paper. He gasped.

“Cho-co-late!”

“Yup!” Mina skipped off to her seat. “Don’t eat it all at once!”

Izuku eagerly grabbed a few pieces and stuffed them in his mouth.

As more students poured in, Izuku slowly collected a rather sizable pile of chocolate boxes.

“HA!” Bakugou dropped a whole picnic basket of chocolates next to Izuku. “I beat all of you extras! And they’re handmade!”

Kaminari leaned toward Sero and whispered. “Isn’t Yaomomo rich?”

“Hm, so are Todoroki and Iida.” Sero muttered back.

“Oh boy.” Kaminari sweatdropped. He looked sadly at his tiny chocolate box.

Kirishima, who had been listening to their conversation, whispered. “Hopefully Iida reigns them in-”

The large classroom door opened with a loud bang! Iida proudly led the way in, Yaomomo and Todoroki following behind.

“Geez…” Hagakure broke the silence. “How much chocolate did you buy?”

Yaomomo set down her beautiful bouquet of chocolate flowers (each individually wrapped) and her gift bag to Izuku’s right. “Not enough,” she muttered. “But it’s the finest they had to offer.”

Iida adjusted his glasses, setting a large box on the opposite side of Izuku. “My brother reached out and got the best chocolate sculptors and got the top 25 heros for Izuku.”

Todoroki set down an even larger box next to Iida’s. “I got 100 chocolates themed after All Might, all paid for by my father’s credit card.”

Izuku made a noise of satisfaction as he bit into Uraraka’s handmade chocolate. He hugged Tsuyu’s gift, a stuffed frog that was holding a heart.

“That reminds me!” Yaomomo dashed out of the classroom, passing Aizawa in the hall.

“What the-” Aizawa dropped his papers when he saw the mountain of chocolate.

“Otou-san!” Izuku jumped up and ran to Aizawa. “Cho-co-lates!”

“Yes, I see,” Aizawa said faintly. He noticed the wrappers on the ground. “How many did you have!?”

“Um,” Izuku frowned. “This many!” He held up ten fingers.

Aizawa sighed. “No more for today, bean sprout. Let’s go see ojisan, okay?”

“Okay!”

Aizawa handed Izuku off, then turned to his class and glared. “Now, what possessed you lot to get Izuku this much chocolate?”

“Um…”

“Well…”

“It is customary to return a gift to someone who gave to you on Valentine’s Day, sir!” Iida spoke up. He winced. “Unfortunately, it evolved into a competition…”

Bakugou growled.

Aizawa’s glare intensified. “As much as the gesture is… appreciated, next time this happens, your punishment will be tripled.”

“Punishment, sir?” someone spoke up.

“Ah, yes, I didn’t mention.” Aizawa straightened, towering over his class. “You will be moving these to the teacher’s lounge, then deep-cleaning the dorm.”

“But sir-!”

Aizawa’s quirk activated. “No buts. Go. Now.”

“I’m back~” Yaomomo walked back through the door, carrying a giant teddy bear.

Aizawa turned his wrath toward Yaomomo. She sweatdropped.

“I guess I missed something?”

Chapter Text

“I AM HERE!”

All Might burst into the classroom, sporting his usual grin.

“You’re late.” Aizawa deadpanned.

“Uh…” All Might paused.

“I have a meeting with Endeavor,” Aizawa scowled. “About Todoroki’s training. I’m not going to expose my son to that burning trash heap more than I need to, so if you don’t mind watching him for the period, I’d appreciate it.”

“Of course!” All Might grinned at Izuku, who was staring, awed, from behind Aizawa’s leg. “I’ll take good care of young Aizawa. Do not worry, old friend!”

Aizawa nodded, then moved toward the door. He stopped. Izuku clung to his leg.

“Hey, bean sprout,” Aizawa knelt down. “Do you need something?”

“Um…” Izuku mumbled shyly. “Where are you going?”

“Otou-san has a meeting, bean.” Aizawa said gently. “I’ll be back before you know it, okay?”

Izuku glanced up at All Might.

“Are you nervous, bean?” Aizawa asked. Izuku nodded. “Don’t worry, All Might is really nice.”

Izuku nodded, but he didn’t let go.

Aizawa gently grabbed Izuku’s hands. “Hey, you know the students will keep you safe, and Yaoyorozu and Iida can call me if you need something, okay?”

“Okay,” Izuku answered quietly. Izawa let go of his hands and, after a final wave, Aizawa vanished.

Izuku immediately welled-up with tears.

“Oh no,” All Might said.

Aoyama, who sat right next to the door, immediately stood and picked up Izuku. “Shh, mon chéri,” he hummed. “We’ve got you.”

The class murmured its agreement.

All Might was suddenly aware that he was way out of his depth. But he had a class to teach. “Alright everyone! Put on your hero costumes and meet me on Ground Beta!”

*on Ground Beta*

“Alright!” All Might began. “Is everyone here?”

“Where’s Deku?” Bakugou growled.

“Ah, young Bakugou! Young Aizawa agreed to help me with this exercise. Today, we are doing Hostage Drills!” All Might held out a hat. “Use this to get into groups of 3, then you will take turns working together to safely extract a hostage from a delicate situation.”

“All Might.” Yaomomo spoke up, tone serious. “Where is Izuku?”

“Young Aizawa is waiting for me at the ‘crime scene’! It is too dangerous to jump around with a small child.” All Might grinned, proud of his “responsible” babysitting skills.

The class looked horrified. Bakugou lunged forward. “You can’t leave a three-year-old by themselves!!!”

Now, All Might has faced many terrifying villains in his day. He didn’t get #1 for nothing. However, in the face of these young heroes-in-training, he couldn’t help the shiver that went up his spine.

Iida dropped the hat unceremoniously. “He will have wandered off by now.” Iida said. “So this is now a Search-And-Rescue.

“And All Might,” He turned to face the teacher. “You are a suspected kidnapper. Better run.”

The class had barely covered rescue training, but in that moment, everyone vividly remembered the procedures. They efficiently split up into pairs and ran off in separate directions.

Bakugou grabbed Todoroki and stormed off after All Might.

“I would have expected you to bring Kirishima with you, Bakugou.” Todoroki said.

“Shitty Hair and the rest can find Izuku.” Bakugou growled, not noticing his use of Izuku’s real name. “So I’m going after All Might. But,” he glared at Todoroki. “He’s strong. So I’m bringing you for back-up.”

“I see.” Todoroki nodded. “All Might will have headed for the crime scene, to try to fix his mistake.”

“I know that, Half-and-Half.”

“You’d be able to see it from the air,” Todoroki suggested.

Bakugou paused. “Fine. Keep up if you can, Candy Cane.”

Bakugou launched himself in the air with his explosions. Todoroki followed closely behind with his fire and his ice.

“You aren’t holding back, hah?!” Bakugou yelled.

“I will use my fire for Izuku.” Todoroki responded.

They flew for a bit until Bakugou caught sight of bright yellow crime-scene tape. “THERE!!”

----

Jirou jerked her head up. “Over there.” she said, voice hushed. “I think it’s Izuku.”

Uraraka, using her quirk to reduce her gravity, sped away in the direction Jirou indicated. “Izu-kun, are you in there?”

“Ura-san!!” Izuku yelled, running over to her. Uraraka knelt down and welcomed him back with open arms. Izuku grabbed her astronaut-themed uniform and sobbed into her chest. “I got lost! I got lost and I couldn’t find you or Momo or Todo or Kacchan-”

“Aww, Izu-kun, it’s okay!” Uraraka scooped him up. “We found you, so it’s all okay!”

“Ura-san, why did All M-Might leave me alone?” Izuku looked up at her. “Did he have to go fight s-some villains?”

“How about we go find your otou-san?” Uraraka suggested. Jirou caught up to Uraraka, panting slightly.

“There’s some explosions on the South side,” she said. “It’s a safe bet that Bakugou found him.”

Uraraka nodded. “Out the North gate, then. Good, that’s closest to the main building.”

---

The girls may have burst into the meeting with some words to share, and Aizawa may have been irritated by the interruption of the meeting he’d been trying to get for ages, but that was nothing compared to the anger he felt toward All Might.

As soon as Todoroki and Bakugou saw Aizawa, they backed off from their fight against All Might.

“Giving up, boys?” All Might straightened.

“They know when they are in the way.” Aizawa growled. All Might stiffened at Aizawa’s icy tone.

“Ah! Aizawa!” All Might turned, giving his best smile. “Is the meeting done already?”

“No.”

“Oh,” All Might frowned. “Then why are you here?”

“Because I made the mistake of assuming that the Number One hero would be able to keep an eye on a small child and not leave them alone in a strange environment.” Aizawa glanced at the two students. “Go back to the classroom. Bring the others.”

They left.

Aizawa activated his quirk and prowled forward.

“Aizawa,” All Might shrunk to his skeletal form. “I swear, I didn’t mean to leave him alone, it’s just, it’s too dangerous to travel through the air with a small child-”

“Then walk.” Aizawa flicked his capture weapon, wrapping it around the skeleton. “How did the Number One hero come this far without learning how to handle young children?”

“...It never came up?” Toshinori gave a weak grin. “I’ll learn.”

“Until then,” Aizawa removed his weapon and deactivated his quirk. “You won’t be left alone with my son.”

Aizawa swept away. Toshinori pulled out his phone and began looking for child-care lessons. Young Izuku was just too cute to not want to babysit.

Chapter Text

Izuku couldn’t find his crayons.

“Kacchan,” Izuku grabbed the teen’s pants. “Kacchan, where’s crans?”

“Deku, I’m busy.” Kacchan didn’t look away from whatever work Otou-san had given the older kids that day. If Izuku was honest, he didn’t really understand what “class” was. He knew the kids sat at those hard tables and watched Otou-san draw on the board, and then they would go outside for a while. It wasn’t fair, Izuku wanted to go outside, too! Otou-san says it is “too dangerous”, but playing outside can’t be that dangerous, can it?

That’s why Izuku was drawing a picture of Outside. Clearly, Otou-san wasn’t getting it. He wants to go outside! He wants to go to class and play with them!

Where are his crayons?!

“Kaaaaaaaaacchaaaaaaaannnnnnn…” Izuku whined.

“What do you want, you little brat?” Kacchan finally paid attention to him.

“Where are my crans?”

“I don’t know, ask Ponytail or something.”

“Okee.” Izuku ran out of the room. “Momooooo!”

“Oh, there you are, Izu-kun.” Yaomomo picked him up. Izuku giggled, he liked being tall like the other kids. “What do you need?”

“Do you know where my crans are?”

“You mean ‘cray-ons’?” Yaomomo said the words slowly.

“Yes, my crans!” Izuku bounced excitedly. “Where are my crans?”

“I don’t know, but I can make you some.” Yaomomo said. She pulled her long sleeve up. Izuku watched, fascinated, as she used her quirk.

“Thank you, Momo!” Izuku took the crayons and ran off. He was going to make the most awesomest picture. Then Otou-san would let him go outside for sure!

Chapter Text

Happy Easter!!

Sorry, this isn’t an update. I’m going to spend the day with my fam in our tiny home. I hope you guys have a good holiday! Stay safe, and stay at home when you can!

I want to say thank you for the reception of this collection of one-shots, both on FFN.net and AO3. It’s incredible. You guys are such awesome people. Digital cookies for everyone!! (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::) (::)

I’ll keep this short because I know long-winded author’s notes can be annoying, and I know most people don’t really read them anyway. I know I’m a bit sporadic and am not very consistent, but you guys are my motivation. You guys are the reason I keep doing this. I hope I haven’t disappointed you!

Check out my other stories on fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own (same username, BlackPolaris)

See you guys next week! Thank you for being so awesome!

Appreciate you all! ~BlackPolaris

Chapter Text

Izuku stared at Kirishima’s phone screen intently. “Kiri, what’s that?”

“What?” Kirishima looked at the toddler in surprise. “This? Uh, it’s discord. I can talk to my friends on it.”

“Whoooooa, that’s so cool.” Izuku tapped the screen eagerly.

Kirishima chuckled at Izuku’s message: dkfhsoife hi

Chapter Text

Shouji Mezou finally had time for himself. The last week had been pretty busy, what with the school festival and all, but it was all over and Shouji could relax.

He used his many arms to quickly tidy his room - no sense in leaving it, he’d have to do it eventually. When that was done, Shouji picked up a couple sets of knitting needles and went to work.

Click click click click, knit and purl and knit-

“Shouji-san?”

Shouji paused. “Aizawa-kun? What are you doing awake?”

“M’ name’s Izuku.” Izuku muttered. “Can’t sleep. What’re you doing?”

“Does Aizawa-sensei know where you are, Ai- Izuku-kun?”

“Otou-san is gone with ojisan and obasan.” Izuku reached up to touch Shouji’s knitting work. “What is it?”

“It’s knitting.” Shouji said.

“Cool!” Izuku smiled. “I bet you can make a lot of knitting with your hands.”

“Yes.” Shouji set down his projects and tried to steer Izuku out of the room. “Let’s take you back to your room, okay?”

“I wanna make a knitting!” Izuku said loudly.

“Shh! You’ll wake up Kirishima-san and Bakugou-san.” Shouji hushed Izuku. “And it’s knit.”

“Oh,” Izuku said, quieter. “I wanna make a knit, please!”

Shouji sighed. There was no way he was going to get Izuku to go to sleep like this. “...Fine. Come on.”

He grabbed a pair of large needles and some thick rainbow-colored yarn and started casting on. He did the next few rows, then slowly showed Izuku how to do the knit-stitch. After supervising Izuku’s first few tries, he let Izuku do his own thing.

“Shouji-san, I got to the end! Now what?”

“Turn it over and do the same thing.”

“Okayyyy!”

A few more minutes passed before:

“Uh oh.”

Immediately, Shouji looked at Izuku. Izuku was poking at a swiftly unravelling part of the project. Shouji reached over. “Here, let me fix that for you.”

Shouji deftly fixed the mistake, explaining it to the bean sprout. “You just dropped one of the loops. Don’t worry, it’s usually fixable.”

“Thank you, Shouji…” Izuku took the project back, stifling a yawn. Soon enough, he was asleep.

Shouji retrieved the project (the needles were dangerously close to Izuku’s eyes) and scooped the young kiddo up in his arms.

A few more nights of Aizawa being gone and Izuku had made a rainbow scarf, which he wore constantly.

Mini-Aizawa had returned.

Chapter Text

Sometimes, it is too easy for Aizawa to forget how young his child is. It feels like Izuku has been a part of his life for longer than a year. At the same time, it feels like he was signing the adoption papers yesterday.

Yaoyorozu’s family had graciously invited the class to spend the night and following day at their mansion, so that the class could cram in a bunch of studying before their final exams. The Yaoyorozus had also invited the two Aizawas to come for a while, but Aizawa had declined. He had a meeting with the other teachers about the finals and Izuku was going on a playdate with Eri later.

The dorms had a rare quiet night with the students gone. Thankfully, Izuku had slept through the night without any nightmares, so Aizawa managed to get a decent rest for once.

Aizawa softly opened the door to his kid’s room, not bothering to keep the soft smile on his face. Izuku was his pride and joy. He could be a little demon sometimes, but Aizawa wouldn’t trade him for the world.

“Wake up, bean sprout. You don’t want to be late to play with Eri-chan, do you?”

Izuku made a noise of dissatisfaction and grabbed his blankets tightly. “Izzz warm…”

“Come on, kiddo.” Aizawa carefully yanked the blankets back. Izuku squawked in indignation. “Up you get.”

They made their way downstairs. Aizawa turned to the kitchen. “What do you want for breakfast?”

“Soup!” Izuku cheered.

“Breakfast foods, Izuku.”

“Breakfast soup!” Izuku attempted to grab a box of Cheerios, accidently dropping it and spilling the cereal all over the ground. “Oh no…”

Aizawa automatically grabbed a broom and dustpan, still reeling at the two words Izuku had just uttered. Breakfast soup.

It made sense. Aizawa wasn’t sure if Izuku even knew the word ‘cereal’. He made a name for it by himself by comparing it to soup, and the fact that it was for breakfast.

Did Aizawa fail at his job of being a parent? He didn't teach his kid a word as simple as ‘cereal’. Yamada and Nemuri better not hear about this…

Actually, hang on. Those idiot kids of his - the students, he means - they probably taught Izuku that. It might be some meme or something. Aizawa gave up on keeping up with those a while ago.

“Here’s your cereal, Izuku.” Aizawa, emphasizing the ‘cereal’, set a bowl full of (dry) Cheerios and a bottle of milk in front of Izuku.

“Silly otou-san, it’s called breakfast soup!” Izuku giggled.

“It is not.” Aizawa shook his head. “It is called cereal.”

“Nemuri-obasan says it’s breakfast soup!”

“I promise, it’s called cereal.”

Anyway, Midnight wasn’t heard from for a while. Wonder where she went. What a mystery.

Chapter Text

“Here’s his things, I probably missed something so if you need something just text or call me, okay?” Aizawa handed Izuku and a large backpack over to Mirio.

“Don’t worry, sir!” Mirio saluted. “You take care of the villains, we’ll be just fine here!”

Izuku wiggled his way out of Mirio’s arms. “Eriiiii!!!”

An excited shout came from the other side of the apartment. “IZUUUKUUU!!!”

“The Wild Wild Pussycats should come by with Kota in a little bit.” Aizawa explained urgently. “I can’t guarantee we’ll return… but if I-”

“I’ll take care of Izuku until you come back.” Mirio interrupted. “And you will come back, Eraserhead-sensei. Go protect your fellow heros. I hope your students do well.”

“So do I.” And with that, Aizawa left.

“Mirio!!” Izuku and Eri came running back to the front door, each grabbing Mirio’s hand and pulling him into the apartment.

Both of his parents were heros. They were gone to help with the operation. Mirio and the kids had the place to themselves.

Mirio hoped it wouldn’t stay that way.

“Mirio, can you cut up this apple please!” Eri handed the fruit to him.

Mirio smiled. “Yes, of course! Do you want an apple too, Izuku?”

“Yeah! With peanut butter!”

Mirio pulled out a knife and cutting board, swiftly cutting up the two apples and giving them to the kids.

“We should make a fort!” Izuku declared.

“A… fort?”

“Yeah!” Izuku bit one of his apples and made a box shape with his hands. “You make a building out of pillows! They’re super-duper comfy!”

“Oh!” Eri lit up.

The apartment door buzzed. Mirio walked to the door, leaving the two to plan their fort and finish their apples.

“Hello!” Mirio greeted.

“Hi. Mirio, right?” Mandalay greeted. “Sorry, I’ve gotta go. This is Kota -- Kota, where- oh, there, why are you hiding? -- Here’s his overnight bag, and my number if you need something. Everyone else already went ahead, so-”

“Good luck, Ms. Mandalay.” Mirio nodded. “I’ll take care of Kota, don’t worry.”

“Thank you for this, on such short notice, too. Kota, you behave yourself for Mirio, okay? I love you.”

Kota nodded, somewhat reluctantly. “Come back, okay?”

“I will. I promise. Bye, kiddo.”

Mirio let Kota into the house, setting his bag in the living room. He returned to the kitchen to see the three kids sitting in a circle, a paper and a red crayon sitting on it.

“We should have lots of pillows inside, and make it really big!” Izuku said, reaching for the crayon.

“Idiot.” Kota snatched the crayon away. “We need to know what our materials are first. Then we can plan.”

“If we take the sheets off the beds we will have twice as many blankets.” Eri mumbled.

Izuku gasped, and pointed at Eri. “You’re right! Then we can use the soft stuff for inside!”

“Whoa, kiddos.” Mirio said, grabbing the empty plates off the table. “We are not going to take the sheets off of my parents’ bed.”

“Okay, just my bed then.” Eri said. “And Mirio-kun’s.”

“Do you have any fairy lights, Mirio-san?” Kota asked the older boy.

Mirio thought about it for a second. “Mm, probably.”

“Go get it.” Kota ordered. “And the other supplies to.”

Mirio chuckled. “Aye aye, sir.”

They had the fort built in a short amount of time, considering the size of three of the four builders. Kota and Izuku hung the fairy lights with care, and Eri helped Mirio pick out a movie to watch on his laptop.

“That one.” Eri pointed at a movie that had a girl on a broomstick, flying with birds over a sprawling town.

“Kiki’s Delivery Service?” Mirio nodded approvingly. “Sounds good to me.”

They watched the movie, (“I wanna be a witch,” Izuku said decisively. “And ride a broom like Kiki.”), then Eri demanded Mirio teach her how to braid hair, using Izuku and Kota for models. Izuku gigglingly tugged on the tiny braids. Kota scowled and pulled them out everytime Mirio finished one. Eri then smacked him, and tied each of them off with a colorful ribbon. Mirio braided Eri’s hair, ending it with a pretty red bow. Then Eri (with Izuku’s assistance) decorated Mirio’s hair with many colorful hair clips.

Izuku fell asleep at some point.

“Mirio-kun, can we make cookies?” Eri asked.

“I bet I could make better cookies than you two idiots could.” Kota grumbled.

“I don’t think so!” Eri replied confidently.

“Are you guys just going to leave Izuku out?” Mirio asked.

“He can be the judge!” Eri suggested.

They looked at Kota, to see if he was in agreement.

Kota sighed. “Sure, whatever.”

And so the bake-off began, leaving Izuku snoozing in the fort. Mirio helped the two get things off of high shelves, and made sure they didn’t make too much of a mess or burn the place down. Kota insisted on doing everything himself, even reading the directions (which he was surprisingly efficient at. Only a few times did he grudgingly ask Mirio to read a few of the harder words) Eri asked Mirio for help with a lot more.

After a flour spill, a few dropped eggs, eating half of the chocolate chips, and trying to eat the cookie dough (“Nope, nope, only adults can do this,” Mirio ate a spoonful.) and about an hour of waiting.

“It’s ready.” Mirio said. “Go get Izuku.”

The two crept into the fort, then jumped on top of Izuku. “COOKIES!”

“Arghgitg” Izuku woke abruptly to the air being squished out of him. A few tears welled up. “Mirioooooooo!”

Mirio appeared. “Did you guys jump on him?”

Izuku wailed, nodding. Eri and Kota glanced at each other guiltily.

Mirio sighed. “Come on, Izuku, let’s go get some cookies, yeah?”

“Cookies?” Came the tearful reply.

“Yup.”

“He’s gonna like mine better!” Eri cheered.

“No he isn’t.”

“Yes he is! I’m his favorite!”

Kota scoffed. “No way.”

“Yes way!”

Izuku ate both cookies with equal vigor. “More?” he asked Mirio hopefully.

“Nope,” Mirio answered, mouth stuffed with cookies (A/N: mood). “You’ll get sick, kiddo.”

“Which one was your favorite, Izuku?” Eri asked.

“Um…”

“The second one, right?” Kota asked.

“No, it was the first one, right?” Eri pushed.

“I… they were both yummy!”

“But which was better?”

“Same cookie!” Izuku giggled.

“They did use the same recipe.” Mirio muttered.

“Oh.” Eri frowned.

Kota shrugged. “I’m still his favorite.”

“No!” Eri yelled. “I am!”

“I am!”

“I am!”

“Idiot, you’re wrong!”

“You’re an idiot!”

“You’re both my favorite.” Izuku said absently. “Like a, um, Kota-ani and Eri-ane!”

The two froze. Mirio almost spit out his cookies in surprise.

“Uh.” Kota spoke first. “You’re my favorite, too, Izuku…-otouto.”

“That’s what I was gonna say!” Eri chimed in. “Izuku-otouto!”

Izuku giggled.

Chapter Text

In the back of his mind, Aizawa knew Izuku would have questions. He just didn’t think it would be so soon.

“Otou-san, what’s Mother’s Day?”

Aizawa dropped the plate he was washing into the sink - luckily, it was plastic, so it didn’t shatter into a million pieces. Aizawa sighed, then rinsed the bubbles off his hands.

“Mother’s Day…” Aizawa dried his hands off. “It honors mothers all around the world.”

“Oh.” Izuku thought about it. “Do I have a mother?”

Aizawa’s heart clenched. Izuku didn’t remember his mother. It made sense, but…

Aizawa couldn’t forget her.

It was almost three years ago. A small group of villains had been trying to topple a skyscraper for some reason or another - Aizawa couldn’t remember the details.

He knew All Might tried to be there. The hospital staff had needed to physically restrain him, to keep him from going out. He was still recovering from losing his stomach and half of his respiratory system a few days earlier. Honestly, why he thought that was a good idea was beyond Aizawa.

But oh, the clearest memory he had was of a green-haired lady, out for a walk with her newborn son.

The chaos hadn’t begun yet - but the woman still looked quite distraught. Her boy had been sleeping in the stroller, unaware of the events that in just a few short minutes would leave him orphaned and alone.

The villains had, for the most part, succeeded with their endeavor. The base of the tower exploded - the screams joined the choir that haunted Aizawa’s life. At this point, Aizawa knew the plan had failed. They needed to evacuate the civilians.

So, Aizawa did his best. His capture weapon swept civilian after civilian as far away as he could.

“Run!” He yelled at them. “Don’t just stand there, run!!”

The building - the sound it made, it was chilling. Aizawa saw several civilians were still in the way. It wasn’t going to be enough, Aizawa realized with dread.

Years of experience prevented him from locking up. Aizawa grabbed the arm of the green-haired lady, intent to pull her and her kid away.

“Wait,” she gasped. “Wait, no! I need-”

“Ma’am,” Aizawa gasped. “What you need is to get out of here, now.”

“Take him.” The lady thrust her son into Aizawa’s arms. “He’s safer with you.”

Aizawa hurriedly pulled her along. The building crashed into the pavement - the force knocked them to the ground. Aizawa curled around the small child, trying to protect him from the spraying glass. He secured his capture weapon around the child’s mouth - the fabric should keep him from inhaling too much of the glass.

“Ma’am!” Aizawa felt around for the lady.

“H-here…” she coughed wetly.

She was pinned under two heavy pieces of concrete. The only thing preventing her from being crushed was the fact that the two pieces were braced against each other, forming a tent-like shape.

“Hold on, ma’am, I’ll get you out.”

“No,” she coughed. “Get Izuku out of here.”

“Ma’am, I’m not going to leave you here.” Aizawa insisted, threading his capture weapon through the mess.

“He has no one else.” She said. “His father died only a few days ago. Please promise you’ll keep him safe.”

“Ma’am, you’re going to be okay.” Aizawa flagged down a group of paramedics.

“No.” She smiled. “This is karma, isn’t it?” She chuckled. “Izuku deserves to have a good life. Take care of him.”

Aizawa lifted the concrete off of her, and the paramedics pulled her out. Aizawa’s eyes widened at the amount of blood.

“I got skewered.” She laughed. “Stabbed through the back by a piece of metal. Subtle, Hisashi, subtle.

“Take care of Izuku, hero.”

Aizawa nodded.

She died in surgery.

If only I’d gotten her out faster. If only I hadn’t taken the kid. We would have gotten farther away. If only the plan had worked. If only-

A small hand grabbing his shirt and a whine drew him out of his stupor.

Midoriya Izuku. Age, 8 months. Parents, deceased. No known relatives.

“I promised.” Aizawa murmured. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of you.”

“Otou-san, that doesn’t answer my question!” Izuku giggled.

Aizawa jerked out of the memory at Izuku’s words. He must have said that last part out loud.

“Your mother,” he began. “Was a very stubborn woman. She did what was right, even if it hurt.”

“I do have a mother?!” Izuku gasped.

“Yes,” Aizawa ruffled the bean sprout’s hair. “We can visit her later, if you want.”

“Yes!” Izuku scrambled for the table, grabbing a couple crayons and a sheet of paper. “I’m gonna make her a card!”

--*timeskip*--

“Izuku.” Aizawa stopped outside the cemetery gates. “I need you to understand something.”

Izuku didn’t say anything. He just stared at the gravestones beyond the bars.

“Okaasan is dead, isn’t she.” Izuku said quietly.

Aizawa sighed. “Yes, she is. But she loves you, so much.”

“Can we go say hi?” Izuku asked, looking up at Aizawa.

“Of course.”

Chapter Text

HI YES I’M SORRY!!!

I really dislike Author’s Notes… but I also feel bad leaving you guys out of the loop, SO. An explanation, then:

The last couple weeks I’ve had AP exams and finishing up school and stuff. That took all of my attention and Sunday crept up on me both times! I didn’t have a chapter, and, well, I was busy.

There was meant to be a chapter this week, but I won’t be able to finish it today >:( I’ve been practicing for my road test, it’s a bit all-consuming (for me, anyway)

There isn’t going to be another update for a few weeks because I’m moving house! Military and all that fun stuff. Unfortunately, this means there probably won’t be a chapter until the end of June/beginning of July.

Until then, please feel free to give suggestions and check out my other stories! Don’t forget to bookmark/kudos/comment!

Fanfiction.net: BlackPolaris

Instagram: projectprismatic

Discord: https://discord.gg/MRKznGc

Youtuber Reader (King Weeb): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP7IbhLzTfjJT_butBQqRgw

Appreciate you all! ~BlackPolaris

Chapter Text

If there was one thing Shinsou had learned from Aizawa, it was that being a parent and a teacher was extremely difficult.

If there were two things he’d learned from Aizawa, it was that the man had mastered the art of being two things at once.

Aizawa’s kid, Izuku, was sitting on a blanket with a few toys while Aizawa put Shinsou through intense training to catch up with class 1-A. The bean sprout had accidentally ripped one of his plushes, and demanded it to be fixed immediately.

And that was why Aizawa was sewing shut a stuffed version of himself and sending Shinsou into the grass over and over again at the same time.

Shinsou pushed himself off the ground once more, grass staining his uniform. He grabbed his training capture weapon and lunged at Aizawa-sensei again.

Aizawa dodged to the side, tripping Shinsou as he went. He stuck the sewing needle into his sleeve and pulled out a vibrating phone. In a monotone voice, he said, “What.”

Shinsou didn’t recognize the voice on the other end. Still, his sensei couldn’t do three things at once. He ran at him again.

Aizawa’s capture weapon whipped out and hung Shinsou up in a tree by his ankle. The silent glare at his student kept Shinsou docile, waiting for his teacher to hang up.

“Shinsou-san?”

“Oh. Baby Aizawa.” Shinsou looked down (up?) at the toddler. “Do you need something?”

“What’s your quirk?”

“Uh…” Shinsou internally sighed. “Brainwashing.”

“Huh?” Izuku frowned. He rubbed his head. “Is my brain dirty?”

“What?” Shinsou laughed at the unexpected question. “Why do you ask?”

“You wash brains, don’t you? I have never had a brain wash before. Otou-san says I need to take a bath every day to be clean, so my brain must be really, really dirty now.”

“Oh. Oh.” Shinsou facepalmed. “Sorry kiddo, I think you misunderstood. Brainwashing means I can control people with my mind.”

“Oh.” Izuku sounded confused. “So, my brain’s not dirty?”

“No.” Shinsou chuckled. “It is really clean.”

“Your quirk sounds really cool, Shinsou-san.” Izuku said. “Can you show me?”

“Maybe later,” Shinsou replied. “When I’m not training with Aizawa-sensei.”

“Otou-san’s talking to someone, though. You’re not training right now!” Izuku argued.

“I’m upside down right now.” Shinsou explained. “And I don’t have anyone to brainwash right now.”

“Yes you do! You’ve got me!” Izuku said, excited at the idea of seeing a new quirk.

“You won’t be able to see it then.” Shinsou grinned.

“Oh.”

“Playtime’s over, children.” Aizawa said, putting his phone away. “I have some work to do out in the city. Shinsou, do you mind watching Izuku until I get back? Around 9-ish.”

“Uh, sure.” Shinsou nodded.

Aizawa recalled his capture weapon, letting Shinsou fall with an oof. “Izuku goes to bed at 6.”

“Good luck, Eraserhead.”

-*short time skip*-

Shinsou quietly closed the door to Izuku’s room. It was weird, being in the 1-A dorms. Well, really, it was exactly the same as his dorms, but 1-A had this, like, energy about them.

Shinsou never felt so out of place.

And he was going to be living with these people next year.

“Oh hey! You’re that guy from the Sports Festival - er, Shinsou, right?”

A blond guy was peering up the stairs to the Aizawa’s floor (the unused floor on the girls’ side of the dorms, mostly to keep a certain someone out).

“Uh, yeah. And you are…?”

“Oh, yeah, you probably don’t remember me. Everyone else really takes the spotlight! I’m Kaminari Denki.” The blond grinned.

“I’m sure you stand out plenty.” Shinsou said (maybe, possibly, a teeny-tiny bit bitterly). “You’re in 1-A, after all.”

“Can’t deny that! But hey, what are you doing on Aizawa-sensei's floor?”

“Putting Baby Aizawa to sleep.” Shinsou replied. “Sen- Eraserhead had some hero work to do, so I took the kid back here.”

“So you’re on babysitting duty.” Kaminari chuckled. “Kouda and Iida are gonna be upset, it was Kouda’s day today.”

“Then why is Iida going to be upset…?”

“Well.” Kaminari laughed. His voice grew mocking, and he made chopping motions in the air. “You see, Shinsou-san, there is a system-”

Kaminari was interrupted by a piercing cry from the bedroom Shinsou had just left. In a flash, Shinsou, closely followed by Kaminari, was at Izuku’s side.

“Uh,” Shinsou hesitantly picked up the crying child. “Um. Shhh. Shhh. It’s alright, uh, you’re safe…”

“He’s having a nightmare.” Kaminari suddenly said.

“Yeah, no duh.” Shinsou snapped. He winced. “Sorry. Help me out? I have no idea what I’m doing.”

“Oh, yeah, of course.” Kaminari picked up one of Izuku’s toys - Shinsou didn’t recognize it, but it was probably some hero - and began dancing it in front of Izuku.

Shinsou noticed abruptly that Izuku was awake - somehow, he thought he’d still been asleep. Izuku soon calmed a little, distracted by the toy just out of his reach. Kaminari handed it over when he reached for it.

“You know,” Kaminari said. “I never realized that, despite how much trauma the rest of us have, Izuku has been through just as much.”

“Uh.” Shinsou didn’t know what to say about that. “Hey, wait, Baby Aizawa was at all those villain attacks?”

Kaminari nodded, strangely solemn. “Every single one. It’s a lot for anyone to handle, and Izuku is only four.”

“Where are you going with this?”

Kaminari shrugged. “I guess my motivations changed.”

“How so?”

“I mean, isn’t it better to work to prevent kids from experiencing the same things we did? Than anything else.”

“I suppose it’s a high priority.” Shinsou shrugged.

Kaminari sighed. “Protecting childhoods. Yeah.”

Chapter Text

“As many of you know from your internships,” Aizawa said. “Heroes often have side work, like modelling. This boosts their popularity and, more importantly, provides the public with a familiar face. People often feel safer with someone they know, even if, with heroes, the person the ‘know’ is just a front.

“Today, a visitor is going to come speak with you about service animals. Some of you may want to consider training service animals as a side job, but all of you need to know how to handle them correctly.” Aizawa gestured to the door. “You’ve probably heard of her, but this is the Rabbit Hero: Miruko.”

“Hello!” The Rabbit Hero greeted. She was leaning on the doorframe casually. “How many of you have ever interacted with a service animal before?”

A few hands raised. Miruko smiled and stepped further into the room, revealing a covered cage being pulled behind her on a small cart. “Good! This’ll be so much- AGH!!”

Aizawa swooped in behind Miruko, scooping up a startled Izuku. He’d grabbed Miruko’s tail out of curiosity, but now he looked like he might cry.

“I am so sorry, Miruko.” Aizawa bowed as much as he could with a child in his arms.

“Eh, it’s alright.” Miruko sighed. “He was just curious. So, what’s your name, little boy?”

“Izuku.”

“Izuku, huh? Have you ever seen a rabbit before?”

“Yeah!” Izuku smiled. “Ko-Ko has bunnies in his room! I’ve never seen a bunny quirk before! That’s really, really cool!”

“Isn’t it?” Miruko smirked. “Do you want to help me pull off the sheet?”

“Yeah! Yeah!” Izuku squirmed his way out of Aizawa’s grip and bounced excitedly to the covered cage.

“1, 2, 3!” Izuku (with Miruko’s assistance) pulled the blanket off to reveal three rabbits of varying colors calmly sitting in the cage.

“Wow!” Izuku whispered, awed.

“Why don’t you play with the bunnies while I lecture the class?” Miruko suggested.

Izuku’s eyes widened. “Yes please!”

Aizawa and Izuku made themselves comfortable on the floor while Miruko shut the classroom door and let the bunnies out. Izuku giggled as she placed one in his lap.

Miruko glanced slyly at Aizawa. “I didn’t know you had a kid.”

“I do.” Aizawa deadpanned. “Now teach my idiot students.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Miruko turned to the class. “Now, service animals are…”

Chapter Text

Izuku didn’t cry very often, but when he did, he wailed.

Aizawa was running out of tricks to keep the little bean sprout from waking up the dorms in the middle of the night, from disrupting the class during a test, from making a scene in public, etc.

1-A had taken their dinner to the common area, leaving Aizawa and Izuku to have the kitchen to themselves.

“Come on, bean sprout.” Aizawa held up a spoon full of peas in front of Izuku. “You’ve got to eat.”

“No!” Izuku wrinkled his nose and turned away. “Want chicken!”

“We don’t have any chicken.” Aizawa answered tiredly. “Eat your peas.”

“No!”

“I’ll take your All Might figure away if you don’t eat your peas.”

Izuku looked at Aizawa in shock, then pulled a face. Aizawa breathed a sigh of relief-

“No peas!” Izuku yelled, smacking the plate and scattering peas everywhere.

“Izuku!” Aizawa gasped. “That’s it, no more All Might doll!”

“No!” Izuku screeched, lunging out of his chair. Aizawa caught him and wrestled him back into his seat.

“You are going to stay here and eat your food.” Aizawa said slowly, clearly. “Or I’m going to have to take away your Eraserhead toy, too.”

Izuku froze. He slowly reached for his spoon and clumsily put some peas in his mouth.

Aizawa nodded in satisfaction. “I’ll be right back, okay?”

“‘Kay,” Izuku mumbled, tears in his eyes.

Aizawa left. Izuku’s lower lip trembled and tears started leaking from his eyes. He quietly ate another small spoonful of peas. A small whine escaped him.

Tsuyu walked into the kitchen to refill her water in time to hear Izuku’s steadily building wails.

“Izuku-kun, what’s wrong? Kero.” She asked, kneeling down beside him.

“I- I- Otou-san is taking away All Might!” Izuku cried.

“Oh,” Tsuyu said. She got up and grabbed one of Izuku’s hero-themed cups. She filled it with water and placed it in front of Izuku.

“H-Huh?” Izuku said.

“To refill your tears, kero.” Tsuyu explained.

“Oh.” Izuku, with Tsuyu’s help, drank some of the water. His sobs were momentarily stifled.

Soon enough, Izuku’s eyes were dry, if a bit red. Tsuyu placed the cup into the sink.

Aizawa came back into the kitchen, eyeing Izuku. “How did you get him to stop?”

“Drink of water,” Tsuyu shrugged. “It works on my siblings. Kero.”

Chapter Text

“Aaaaaaand BOOM!” Mina snapped the last bow into place. “Looking fabulous, Izu!”

Izuku giggled at his reflection, a hand drifting up to grab at the bows in his hair. “Pretty!”

“Why thank you,” Mina gave an extravagant bow.

Izuku picked up one of the spare bows and held it out to Mina. “Can I play with your hair?”

“Sure!” Mina sat down in front of the couch. Izuku shifted so he was kneeling on the couch behind her. He grabbed a hair brush and started brushing.

Mina winced as the brush caught on her horns, but stayed still. Izuku set down the brush, evidently satisfied, and got to work on his masterpiece.

About fifteen minutes later, Kaminari walked into the room and burst out laughing.

“Kaminari!” Mina whined. “Don’t laugh!”

“You look ridiculous!” He cackled. “I love it!!”

Izuku peered around Mina’s head. “Kami?”

“Hey Izuku-kun.” Kaminari wiped away a tear. “What’s up?”

“Can I play with your hair too?” Izuku asked innocently.

“...Why not. I know it will look awesome, Izuku-kun!”

Soon enough, Sero and Kirishima were drawn into the make-shift salon in similar ways. When he was done, Izuku had fixed bows on Mina’s horns, tied Kaminari’s and Sero’s hair into a handful of tiny ponytails, and attempted to braid Kirishima’s hair. Everyone’s hair was covered in a variety of sparkly clips, ribbons, and bows.

“Why do you have so many hair thingies, Mina?” Sero asked.

“I was wondering the same thing,” Kaminari nodded. “This is… excessive.”

“Hey!” Mina frowned. “I’ll have you know that they are all different, and match different outfits.”

“But you never wear them-”

“Hush!”

“Hey, Bakubro!” Kirishima called. “Come join us!”

Bakugou took one look at their magnificent hair-dos and spun around on his heel. “Hell no.”

“Kacchan?”

The rest of the Bakusquad stifled their laughter.

“Oi, Deku, what are you doing with all that crap in your hair?” Bakugou hissed.

Izuku held up one of Mina’s big bows. “Can I play with your hair?”

It was getting harder for the Bakusquad to quiet their giggles.

Bakugou scowled. “...Fine. But Deku, if you put anything pink in my hair, I will have to do something… drastic.”

Bakugou sat down and Izuku immediately put a huge, elaborate pink bow in his hair. Some glitter came off and fell into the blond strands (lost forever, or at least a week). Several ribbons ended at the base of his neck. Izuku then began adding some flower pins and star patterned clips.

Mina quietly took a picture and sent it to the group chat. Everyone’s phones pinged. Bakugou unlocked his phone and glared at Mina.

“You’re dead.” He growled.

“I know.” She answered smugly. “I know.”

Chapter Text

“Are you going to tell me why we are in Tartarus, Deku?” Bakugou growled. “This place is the worst.”

“You just don’t like it because they take your gauntlets away, Kacchan.” Izuku waved away a set of quirk suppression cuffs.

“I’m sorry, you have to wear these. It’s the rules.” The officer said apologetically, trying to pass off the chainless cuffs again.

“Oh, right.” Izuku pulled out a piece of paper and handed it over to him. “I was asked to remove someone’s quirk, so I really can’t wear those cuffs. I apologise for the confusion.”

The officer wrinkled his brow. “But this prisoner has been here for almost 15 years now. Why now?”

Izuku held up his official hero license. “Because I have this now.”

“Deku, what the fuck.” Bakugou said bluntly. “It’s not that hard to tell me that is why we are fucking here.”

“You should really watch your language, Kacchan.” Izuku teased. “What kind of role model are you?”

“You turned out fine,” he grumbled.

“Yes, well.” Izuku hummed. “You weren’t really a role model of mine, were you?”

Bakugou’s head snapped to stare at Izuku, a cold retort on the tip of his tongue, when he saw Izuku smirking to himself. “You’re a fucking brat, is what you are.”

Izuku let out a short cackle, but the smile soon faded from his face. “This isn’t the only reason I’m here, you know.”

“Are you gonna tell me, or am I going to have to figure that out myself?”

“We are here, heroes.” The officer said, stopping to unlock a door. “Do you need skin contact or anything to do your job?”

“No,” Izuku shook his head. “We’ll be staying on this side of the glass.”

“I’m coming in with you?” Bakugou’s brows rose.

“Yeah,” Izuku sighed. The cell door slid open with a hiss. “I’m about to get pretty emotional, so you're gonna have to stop me from doing anything too stupid.”

“Glad to be of help.” Bakugou muttered, semi-sarcastically. He paused. “Wait, why-?”

Izuku stepped into the cell, leaving Bakugou to follow him. He stopped in the dead center of the room, staring at the prisoner through the glass.

“Bakugou,” Izuku said, voice blank. “I would like you to meet my biological father.”

Bakugou’s eyes widened. He felt his throat close as he recognized the bastard that ended All Might.

“You’ve grown so much, Izuku,” All for One crooned.

A look of utter revulsion crossed Izuku’s face. “No thanks to you.”

“Is that any way to speak to your father?”

“You are not my dad.” Izuku spat. “A fucking sperm donor is what you are.”

“Hm.” AfO frowned. “Then why did you introduce me that way, I wonder…?”

Izuku growled.

“Oi, Deku,” Bakugou said quietly. “He’s all talk. He twists your words and throws it in your face.”

“I know that.” Izuku answered angrily.

“Why are you calling my son useless?” AfO asked. “No son of mine would be.”

Izuku’s hands balled into fists. “I’d rather be helpless and no one than let you claim me as your son. You do not get to call me that!”

“You cannot change who you are,” AfO’s cruel smile grew wider by the word. “You are, and always will be, my son.”

“YOU LOST THAT CLAIM WHEN YOU KILLED MY MOM!” Izuku lunged at the glass. Bakugou caught him before he could trigger an alarm. He grunted as Izuku’s nails dug into his arms. “YOU KILLED HER! SHE’S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU! IT’S YOUR FAULT I BARELY REMEMBER HER!”

“Your mother died in a car crash, Izuku.” AfO answered calmly. He gave a deceptively innocent smile. “How could that be my fault?”

“BULL-FUCKING-SHIT!” Izuku yelled. “I WAS THERE! OTOU-SAN WAS THERE! HE TOLD ME EVERYTHING!”

“Oh, Izuku, if I had known what was going to happen, don’t you think I would have stopped it?” AfO sighed. “Izuku, you were my everything.”

“Izuku, calm down. You’re just giving him what he wants.” Bakugou muttered. The teenager huffed in annoyance, but Bakugou saw some of the tension leave his shoulders.

“You wanted a successor.” Izuku hissed. “I ‘failed’ you, so you turned back to Plan B! Shigaraki deserved better than your manipulative support.”

“Yes, I admit I wanted a successor.” AfO said. “But Izuku, you were so much more than that.”

“My childhood was full of villain attacks.” Izuku growled. “I had nightmares of buildings falling on my head, of my mother being crushed. I was only a few weeks old! But I remembered!”

“Why are you here, Izuku? To yell at me? Tell me things I already know?” Suddenly, AfO gave off the feeling of dropping a disguise. “My boy, your mother was a means to an end. She gave me you, and you are perfect.”

“You are disgusting.” Izuku straightened. Bakugou let go of him. “And you deserve to rot here.

“And as much as I want to,” Izuku reached out a hand, barely ghosting the glass. “I can’t kill you.”

Bakugou felt a shiver go down his spine. What happened to the adorable little bean sprout Bakugou helped babysit?

Meanwhile, Izuku was carefully removing All for One’s quirks: all except the ones keeping him alive. A bitter taste filled his mouth. There were undertones of sweet and spicy, savory and salty quirks made Izuku want to puke. He lowered his hand. “Urgh.” Izuku gagged. He turned away from the glass. “There were a lot more than I expected.”

“You alright, Deku?”

“Get me out of here.” Izuku stumbled as he crossed the threshold of the cell. “Where’s the nearest quirkless shelter?”

“Not too far.” Bakugou said. “Come on; we need to put some distance between you and here.”

“I think you just want your gauntlets back,” Izuku laughed weakly. “But really, someone get me a barf bag.”

Chapter Text

“Come on Sero, you can’t do this to me!”

“Dude, I’m not gonna give it to you!"

“Sero, bro.” Kirishima said from the couch. “Just give it to Kami. You know how he is.”

“No way.” Sero held it higher out of reach. “Kaminari, I traded away my Gyrados for this! I’m not gonna just let you have it!”

“But it’s Pikachu!” Kaminari wailed. “I need him!”

Mina arrived back at their little group and dropped a heavy binder next to Kaminari. “Are you done haggling yet, Kami?”

“No.” Kaminari grieved. “Sero’s being stubborn.”

Mina nudged the binder with a toe. “How many do you even have, anyway?”

“423.” Kaminari responded without hesitation. “424, if this goes my way- which it will!”

“The hell?”

“Hey Bakugou!” Kirishima smiled brightly. “How’s Izuku?”

“Ask him yourself, Shitty Hair.” Bakugou nodded to the little bean sprout, who had toddled his way over from the other side of the room.

“He has you wrapped around his finger.” Mina teased. “I bet you’d do anything he asked, huh?”

“Shut up, Raccoon Eyes.” Bakugou growled.

“He’d totally do whatever, no questions.” Sero laughed.

“What is it?” Izuku suddenly piped up, curious eyes staring at Kaminari’s binder.

Kaminari grinned. “Only the best Pokémon in all of existence! Pikachu!”

“Pi-chu?” Izuku repeated.

“Pi-ka-chu,” the blond corrected.

“Pi-chu,” Izuku giggled. “Pi-chu, Pi-chu…”

Kaminari laughed.

Sero grabbed one of his own cards. “This is Charmander, Izuku.”

Izuku grabbed the card, inspecting the picture. He dropped it on the table. “Not Pi-chu.”

Kaminari crowed victoriously. “Team Lightning all the way!!”

Izuku spotted the Pikachu card Sero and Kaminari had been arguing over earlier. “Pi-chu,” he cooed. He picked up the card and held it to his chest excitedly.

“Eh, that’s mine, Izuku.” Sero said.

“Oh, let him have it, Sero!” Mina snapped a picture on her phone. “Izuku’s first Pokémon!”

“It’s called a starter Pokémon, idiot.” Bakugou snapped.

“Oh, do you play Pokémon, Kacchan?” Kaminari asked.

“Don’t call me that!” Bakugou yelled. “Fu- freaking Pikachu!”

“Pi-chu,” Izuku hugged his new card.

Chapter Text

“Woooooow!” Izuku gasped. “That’s a lot of cheese, Aoya!”

“Oui~” Aoyama grinned. “The best for you, darling Izuku!”

“Cheese for me?” Izuku looked at him with wide eyes. “Want some?”

“All for you, darling Izuku.”

Izuku picked up a block of cheese and held it out to Aoyama. “Want some?” he repeated.

“Oh, you are too kind!” Aoyama accepted the cheese. He held it up. “I’m honored to be gifted such an exquisite fromage!”

Izuku giggled. Aoyama dramatically covered his heart. “Ah! Your laughter, c’est trop mignon! I could just die!”

“Noooo, don’t die!”

“Oh, if you so insist, I shall not let my sparkle dull!” Aoyama struck a pose. “Mon cher ami, would you care to share some of this delicious fromage with me?”

“Oui!”

Chapter Text

“Izuku?” A soft voice called. “It’s time to wake up, problem child.”

“Otou-san?” Izuku yawned.

“It’s your birthday, bean sprout.” Aizawa said.

Izuku snapped awake. “Cake!”

Aizawa chuckled. “Do you need help getting dressed?”

“Nope!” Izuku bounced out of bed and rushed to his dresser to grab the outfit that was already laid out and proceeded to struggle to put it on.

“See!” Izuku looked proud. “All by myself!”

Aizawa smiled and helped Izuku turn his shirt the right way around and buttoned his pants. “Now you’re ready, birthday boy.”

Izuku excitedly dashed out of the room, Aizawa following behind. Class 1-A waited in the common area, watching Izuku carefully climb down the steps. When he made it to the bottom, they cheered and threw confetti in the air.

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY IZUKU!!!”

Izuku giggled, trying to catch one of the pieces of confetti.

A timer beeped in the kitchen. Satou broke away from the crowd to take the cake out of the oven and grabbed one of the piping bags to begin frosting.

“Whoa.” Izuku said, looking at the pile on the table. “Are those for me!?”

“Sure are!”

Izuku toddled over to the pile. “So many presents…”

“Want to open them, bean sprout?” Aizawa asked.

“Yeah!”

“Open mine first!” Kaminari called.

“No, mine!”

“No, open mine!”

Izuku pulled down one of the smaller ones and sat on the floor to open it. Jirou grinned victoriously.

After like an hour of tearing paper and an endless amount of hero merch, Izuku made it through all the gifts.

Except one.

“Izuku,” Aizawa nudged the toddler. “Why don’t you go outside?”

“Okay, Otou-san!” Izuku said brightly. He grabbed one of his new action figures - Present Mic - and ran to the front door, stopping only to pull on his shoes.

Aizawa followed his son outside, the class cluttered behind him, giggling to themselves about some secret that Izuku was unaware of.

“...WHOOOOA…” Izuku gasped.

In Height’s Alliance’s front yard was an All Might themed bounce-house. Izuku ran over to it eagerly.

“Only a few at a time.” Aizawa told 1-A. “And don’t bounce too hard.”

1-A chattered excitedly and went out to join Izuku.

Chapter Text

You’d have to be blind not to notice the change in Uraraka.

“Wow! You’re all fired up!” Mina said.

Uraraka grinned, a fierce look in her eyes. “Yes! Gunhead is an amazing teacher!”

One by one, the students of 1-A filed into the classroom. There was (arguably) more chatter than usual, as everyone had just come back from their internships.

There was a soft knock on the door. Aizawa glanced over and saw Present Mic waving him over. He sighed. “I’ll be right back. Don’t destroy the place.”

“Yes, sensei!” The class chorused.

As Aizawa slipped out, Bakugou walked into the classroom. His head snapped up, as if he sensed danger or a fight. He eyed Uraraka with a feral grin that she returned.

“Oi, Bakugou~” Uraraka walked over. “Wanna have a re-match?”

“You’re on, Round-face.” Bakugou smirked.

The two jumped in fighting stances. The other students yelped and scrambled away. Iida lunged between the two.

“I must beg you to wait until Heroics class to fight!” Iida yelled. “The collateral damage from your fight at the Sports Festival was immense and destroying our classroom is not the wisest course of action if we want to be heroes!”

Uraraka snapped out of whatever trance the two were in, a guilty look on her face. Bakugou snarled and lunged forward anyway.

Uraraka grabbed his punch and twisted, flipping Bakugou over her shoulder.

“That’s enough!” Iida shouted, grabbed Uraraka to stop her from continuing the fight. “Go sit down!”

“Yes, mom.” Bakugou answered sarcastically. He rolled over and pushed himself off of the ground, then left.

Uraraka felt a little tug on her pants. She looked down to see Izuku looking up at her with sparkles in his eyes.

“How did you do that?” He asked.

“Oh, it’s easy!” Uraraka chirped. She held a hand out for his stuffed doll of Backdraft. “May I?”

Izuku passed the plush over. Uraraka slowly demonstrated the movements from before.

“Can I try!?” Izuku bounced excitedly.

Uraaka laughed. “Of course!”

Izuku smiled. Uraraka showed him the first stance, which he imitated rather well. She widened his legs a little. With a gentle push, she told him, “See? Now it’s hard to knock you over.”

Izuku giggled.

She walked him through each of the steps, then let him try it himself with the stuffed toy.

Aizawa walked back into the room in time to see Izuku slam the toy into the ground. He looked at Uraraka. “I was gone for five minutes. And you taught him how to judo flip a stuffed animal?”

Uraraka blushed.

Aizawa sighed. “I suppose it could have been worse. Go sit down. Class is about to start.”

Chapter Text

All Might. Yami-san. Aoya. Amajiki-san. Batman. What is one thing they all have in common?

Capes.

Izuku hummed, a frown on his face. He grabbed the yellow crayon and added lines to a stick-Amajiki-san. Why did they wear capes? That black-haired lady from that red superhero family movie (what was it called? The Awesomes? Something like that) said “No capes!” because they made bad accidents. So, why did they wear them?

Well, the obvious answer is to test it out himself. Because duh.

He couldn’t be All Might, or Yami-san, or Aoya, or Amajiki-san, because All Might, and Yami-san, and Aoya, and Amajiki-san were All Might, and Yami-san, and Aoya, and Amajiki-san, and they were close by. But he could be Batman, because Batman was not here right now so Izuku could be him!

He hopped off his chair and ran to his Otou-san’s room. He picked up a black sweater from the floor and tied it around his neck by the sleeves.

Izuku ran to the bathroom, his cape flying behind him. He looked in the mirror and giggled at the reflection. It was like he was a flying head!

He raised his hands up and growled at the mirror. “I’m Batman.” He giggled, hopping off his stool and running back into the living room.

“Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na-” Izuku ran into a pair of legs and fell to the floor. He looked up to see Otou-san looking down at him in surprise.

“What’re you doing, bean sprout?”

“Not bean sprout.” Izuku raised his arms again. He growled again. “I’m Batman!”

Otou-san snorted. “Oh, my bad. Are you going to go save people, Batman?”

“Yes!” Batman squealed. He dashed off again. “Na na na na na na na na na na…”

Aizawa snapped a photo.

Chapter Text

It was almost 4:30 in the morning, and finally the last lights in the dorms turned off. It would be another hour before they started turning back on, as the early birds began getting ready for their daily runs and routines.

No one was awake to see the hooded figure running across the lawn. The figure paused at the doors to the main building, fumbling with a keycard that would let them inside before the normal locks were disengaged. They slipped inside, a singular light illuminating the bundle in their arms.

The hooded figure entered the elevator and rose to the second floor, where the majority of first-year classes were. They disappeared into one of the rooms, flicking on the lights as they went.

Midnight pulled off her hood and set Izuku down. He blinked awake slowly. “Nemuri-obasan?”

“Hey, green bean.” She greeted. “You can go back to sleep if you want to.”

Izuku pushed himself up onto his feet. “Not sleepy,” he yawned. “Where’s otou-san?”

“He’s still sleeping.” Midnight ruffled his hair. “So you’re gonna hang out with me for a bit, okay?”

Izuku nodded. “Can I have some milk?”

Midnight paused. “Hm. Yeah, let’s go to the staff room and find out!”

The two walked down the dark halls, finally locating the staff room. Izuku insisted on turning on the lights, so Midnight picked him up so he could reach. They checked the fridge, and sure enough, there was a carton of milk waiting for them.

“Can I have crayons?” Izuku asked.

“Oh, do you wanna draw?” Midnight grinned. “I don’t have any crayons, but I do have colored pencils in my classroom.”

“‘Kay,” Izuku focused back on his milk. “I want to draw a picture for otou-san.”

“Haha!” Midnight laughed. “He’ll love it, kiddo. It’ll go on the board with all the others.” She gestured to the bulletin board full of Izuku’s masterpieces.

Izuku beamed.

They returned to Midnight’s classroom. Midnight gave Izuku several sheets of paper and one of the boxes of colored pencils she uses for that unit in her art class. Izuku immediately got to work.

Time passed with Midnight graded some papers and Izuku scribbled on the floor next to her, until the early birds finish their morning routines and the first few students are drifting throught the halls. Izuku had fallen asleep on his drawing, which Midnight gently moved away. Izuku would be upset if there was drool all over it.

….nk thunk thunk thuNK THUNK THUNK BANG

“Nemuri.” Aizawa gasped, fear obvious in his appearance. “Have you seen Izuku, he’s-”

“...Otou-san?” Izuku mumbled, waking up once more.

Aizawa sagged with relief. He started forward, then froze, turning to his fellow teacher.

“Why.” Aizawa growled. “Is Izuku. Here?”

Midnight pouted. “Well, you never let me spend quality time with my oi-kun, I had to take matters into my own hands!”

“There’s a reason for that!” Aizawa scooped up Izuku. “It’s a wonder they let you teach, what with the way you dress!”

“Aizawa, we’ve had this discussion before,” Midnight smirked. “Would you like to teach Sex Ed?”

Aizawa turned to leave.

“Hey, wait!” Nemuri grabbed Izuku's picture and rushed to catch Aizawa. “Don’t leave this behind.”

Aizawa blinked, then took it, looking vaguely surprised.

“For the record.” Midnight shrugged. “As an underground hero, you may not realize how often we spotlight heroes need to wear our costumes. And I don’t mean the outfits.”

Aizawa stared at her, unsure of what to say.

“Ah, shoo.” Midnight gave him a shove. “Class is starting soon.”

Chapter Text

Hey-o, sorry, this is gonna be an author’s note….

First off, three cheers for being symptom-free so far! Only a few more days to go.

B, as many of you probably know, Inktober is just around the corner. I intend to participate this year, and actually put some effort in, so that is going to take a bit of my time. Plus, I’ve got school and stuff. My creative writing class is requiring us to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, and I am going to embrace that challenge. Two month-long events in a row, I’m going to be so tired… But I will do my best! You can see my Inktober stuff on my Insta (@projectprismatic) and I’ll probably put some NaNoWriMo stuff on there too! Come check it out!

III, because of Inktober and NaNoWriMo, I will be taking a break from LBS. If I do write something, I will post it, but I’m not planning on it. Sorry, but I am determined.

Number 4, y’all are the best. Thank you for reading this fic, it means the world to me that people actually like my shitty writing. Thank you <3

Please take a moment to drink water! Take care of yourselves!

Appreciate you all! ~BP

Chapter Text

The things were almost as big as he was.

Kaminari snickered, making no move to stop Izuku from his investigation. Bakugou had left his gauntlets sitting out while he went to do a quick seeing-hearing test in Recovery Girl’s office, and everyone else was running around the field in a big free-for-all. Kaminari was sitting out for the exercise, due to having short-circuited earlier that morning and not really being combat ready. Instead, he made sure Izuku stayed out of the fighting area so that Aizawa could grade everyone’s performance.

But actually. The gauntlets were too big.

Izuku grabbed the top of the gauntlet and tipped the light-weight gauntlet enough so he could see inside. It was lucky that the gauntlet was so lightweight, Kaminari was certain the thing would crush the innocent bean.

Izuku huffed, clearly not satisfied with the view he was getting. He dropped the gauntlet to the ground, flopping down beside it to peak inside. Kaminari flinched at the hollow thud from the gauntlet, half expecting it to go off. It must have been empty, or there was some kind of safety latch somewhere that prevented it from leveling the field.

“Kami?” Izuku called. Kaminari hopped up and joined the little bean.

“What’s up?”

“How does Kacchan’s hero stuff collect his sweat?” Izuku asked.

“Uhh…” Kaminari blinked. He’d never really thought about it. “I don’t know.”

Izuku frowned, clearly displeased with the answer. He peered inside the gauntlet again before sticking a small arm inside.

“OI!”

Kaminari looked over to see Bakugou angrily storming over to them. Kaminari, eyes wide, took a step back.

“Deku, get away from my gear.”

Izuku looked up, eyes shining. “Kacchan! You’re back!”

Bakugou huffed. “Yeah, you little nerd, I’m back. Stay away from my gear, alright? It could explode.”

“BOOM!” Izuku squealed.

Bakugou huffed again. “Hey, Dunceface.”

“Eh?” Kaminari blinked, shocked by the sudden attention.

The gauntlet clicked into its proper place on Bakugou’s arm. “You’re a shit babysitter.”

Kaminari gasped, covering Izuku’s ears. “Watch your language, Bakugou!”

Bakugou rolled his eyes before leaving to go check in with Aizawa.

Kaminari chuckled, ruffling Izuku’s hair. Izuku looked up at him with wide, green eyes. “You are quite the Bakugou whisperer, kid. I can’t believe he didn’t yell.”

“Boom.” Izuku whispered, a huge grin spreading over his face.

Chapter Text

are they helium balloons?: image.png

are they helium balloons?: image.png

are they helium balloons?: image.png

are they helium balloons?: image.png

Sanic: Uraraka I must ask you to put away your phone while in class!

are they helium balloons?: image.png

are they helium balloons?: but look at him!!

are they helium balloons?: image.png

Yes a really good book: Aww, cute!

Sanic: Yaoyorozu, I expected better from you! This is not the kind of behavior a vice president should have!

Shawty I Don’t Mind: He looks like a cat, kero.

Present Mic 2: Electric Boogaloo: Hes like a cat!

Present Mic 2: Electric Boogaloo: Hey thats what i said!

Yes a really good book: I was using my phone as a calculator since I left mine at the dorms by accident. I do agree, we should pay attention to the lecture!

It was in that moment she knew: y do u need a calclatr were in engilsh???

are they helium balloons?: …

Present Mic 2: Electric Boogaloo: …..

Yes a really good book: …

Shakira: ….

Look at all those chickens: …

Jared, 19: …

Sanic: Ectoplasm-sensei has been teaching for the past 45 minutes!

It was in that moment she knew: ...oh

Present Mic 2: Electric Boogaloo: you got even the lurkers to comment on that

Yes a really good book: would you like to see my notes, Ashido?

It was in that moment she knew: plseae

It was in that moment she knew: please

are they helium balloons?: ASJDKJFIJFSODK

Present Mic 2: Electric Boogaloo: ?

are they helium balloons?: image.png

are they helium balloons?: hE ROLLED OVER LOOK AT HIM

Shawty I Don’t Mind: Is he sleep-talking, kero?

are they helium balloons?: yES

*distant nuke*: WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP

Present Mic 2: Electric Boogaloo: bakubro!

*distant nuke*: PISS OFF

Sanic: Bakugou-san, this kind of language is unbecoming of a UA student!

*distant nuke*: FUCK OFF YOU FUCKING FOUR-EYES

are they helium balloons?: image.png

are they helium balloons?: im going to die of cuteness!!!

*distant nuke*: Stop taking pictures of Deku while he’s asleep that’s creepy as fuck

Present Mic 2: Electric Boogaloo: whys he sleeping on yoru lap anyway uraraka?

are they helium balloons?: he just fell asleep like that during second period

It was in that moment she knew: shurely thatss uncomforyble

are they helium balloons?: let me ask you one question

are they helium balloons?: would you move a cat that decided to sleep on you?

It was in that moment she knew: no thaat would b sacrilegius

Sanic: Ashido-san, would you please turn on your autocorrect? Your messages are nearly incomprehensible and would be detrimental to future emergencies!

It was in that moment she knew: but th meme tho

are they helium balloons?: image.png

are they helium balloons?: aww he woke up!!

Shawty I Don’t Mind: You should all stop and pay attention while you’re ahead, kero. Ectoplasm-sensei is getting suspicious.

Sanic: Asui-san makes a very good point!

Shawty I Don’t Mind: Call me Tsuyu.

are they helium balloons?: fiiiiiiiine

Chapter Text

Aizawa sighed. He hated going to the doctor’s office.

The waiting room was decently empty - as per usual, a hero hospital is usually most busy in the emergency room - and Izuku had taken to trying to sprint away from Aizawa at any given opportunity. After the fourth time of doing so, Aizawa simply left his capture weapon wrapped around the rapidly-growing toddler, letting it act like a leash.

A white-coat doctor exited one of the many doors leading to the branching halls of the hospital. She looked around, calling: “Aizawa Izuku?”

“Here,” Aizawa waved towards Izuku, who was unhappily playing with a wire bead maze.”Come, green bean.”

“Nooooooo!” Izuku whined, clinging tightly to the bead maze. Aizawa paused halfway through scooping him up to pry his hands from the maze.

Izuku screeched. Aizawa nearly dropped him due to a particularly violent flail from the kid. The doctor, clearly used to this sort of behavior, smiled patiently from the door. Once Aizawa finally got Izuku under some semblance of control, he walked over to join her.

“Hello, Izuku,” the doctor said kindly. “How are you doing today?”

Izuku glared.

The doctor chuckled. “Oh, that’s an angry face! Why don’t you just sit over here, darling, and everything will be over before you know it!”

Aizawa settled into a stiff-cushioned chair and placed Izuku onto his lap. The little bean sprout squirmed, one last desperate attempt to escape.

The doctor came back, concealing the needle behind her back. Quietly, she muttered, “You’ll need to hold him still, alright?”

Aizawa nodded his affirmation, slipping his hand over Izuku’s wrist as he did so.

“So tell me, Izuku,” the doctor began, swiping a cool wipe over a patch of skin. “Do you like heroes?”

Izuku straightened. He looked over at the doctor, eyes mistrustful and hesitant. Dubiously, he answered with a small “Yeah.”

“Oh, who’s your favorite hero?”

“‘Raserhead.”

Aizawa grinned to himself.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of them,” the doctor said distractedly. “Why don’t you tell me about them…?”

“He’s my otou-san.” Izuku mumbled.

“Oh?”

“His quirk makes him get rid of peopl- aAHHHHH!” Izuku cut himself off with a scream as the needle entered his skin. Aizawa gripped him tightly, keeping him from moving long enough for the doctor to finish the injection and remove the needle. Luckily, the process was quick, and Aizawa was able to let Izuku free soon enough.

“There we go,” the doctor said kindly, placing a Hawks bandage over the tiny wound. “All done. You’re so brave, Izuku-kun.”

Izuku still wailed.

“You did good, bean sprout.” Aizawa whispered, hugging the green bean tightly.

“Here,” the doctor scooped up a roll of stickers from the counter. She unrolled it a few times, holding it out to show Izuku all of the choices. “Would you like a sticker?”

At this, Izuku stopped crying long enough to point to an All Might sticker. The doctor peeled it off and handed it to Izuku, who stuck it to his shirt with a sniff.

Aizawa stood, thanking the doctor. She nodded, then led them to the door.

“You did good as well, Aizawa-san.” The doctor told him. She opened the door that led back to the waiting room. “Shots are hard for the parent, as well.”

“It’s for the best.” Aizawa muttered.

The doctor nodded in agreement. “Have a nice day.”

“You too.”

Chapter Text

The child that woke Aizawa up on Christmas morning was not the child one would expect.

Izuku slept soundly, thank goodness. He hit the stage where it was harder to get him to bed than to get him to stay asleep a while ago. He’d been counting on the morning to sleep away and relax.

What he hadn’t accounted for was his 19 other children bursting into his wing to drag him out of bed.

“Get out!” Aizawa snarled, shoving Mina and Kirishima back out into the waiting group of students. “Izuku is still sleeping! I was still sleeping! Go back to bed!”

“Sensei, it’s nearly eleven o’clock in the morning!” Iida protested. “It is important to maintain a healthy sleep schedule, especially during the weekends and holidays!”

Aizawa stared at him with dead eyes. “Wake me at 1.”

“Sensei, it’s Christmas!” Uraraka pleaded. “We’ve been waiting for hours.”

“It’s Christmas, let me sleep.”

“With the amount of gifts under the tree, we’ll be there all day if we don’t start now.” Tsuyu pointed out.

“We have coffee in the kitchen, sensei,” Jirou bargained.

Aizawa pointed to her. “You know how to get to my heart. Fine, but you all leave while I get Izuku up.”

The class agreed with (hardly) suppressed enthusiasm, and Aizawa shut the door. He exhaled heavily through his nose before heading towards Izuku’s room.

When he opened the door, he saw Izuku quietly playing with an All Might doll in his crib. A smile tugged at his lips despite the sleepiness tugging at his eyes. He leaned down into the crib to pick up the boy. “Hey, kiddo, are you ready for Christmas?”

Izuku babbled, more focused on the All Might toy than what his otou-san was saying.

Aizawa helped the toddler change into comfortable pants and a red and green shirt. After checking that everything was fastened and in place, he let the kid play while he changed into his usual Christmas attire: jeans and a red long-sleeved shirt. He also tied his hair back into a low ponytail.

Once Aizawa deemed the two ready to go, he turned to Izuku and held a hand out. “Izuku, time to go.”

Izuku didn’t look up from his toys, choosing to instead enthusiastically smash the All Might doll into a short block tower.

“Izuku,” Aizawa repeated with a bit more force in his tone.

Again, Izuku ignored him, making the toy villain scream in fear before All Might beat him up.

I can’t believe I’m about to force a child to participate in Christmas, Aizawa thought, walking forward to pick Izuku up. As he lifted the toddler off the ground, Izuku screeched, kicking and flailing and doing everything in his power to get out of Aizawa’s grip.

“Whoa!” Aizawa caught both of his ankles in one hand. “‘Zuku, we’re just going to another room. You can take All Might with you.”

“Nooooo!” Izuku yelled, attempting to hit Aizawa with the doll. Aizawa dodged and shifted to hold Izuku farther away from him.

Aizawa carried Izuku and a few choice toys out of their closed-off wing and went to join the students in the common area. As soon as Aizawa placed Izuku on the floor, Jirou was at his side with a mug of coffee in hand. Aizawa took it gratefully.

The students tore into presents from their family members first. Many received clothes, much to Aizawa’s amusement. Christmas pajamas seemed to be a common tradition among the students. Several ran off to go change. Uraraka came back with snowman-print PJs, Mina with an ugly sweater made to look like a wrapped gift, Kouda with reindeer-print PJs, Hagakure with holly-print PJs, and Todoroki with a dinosaur-themed ugly sweater.

Aizawa grabbed a few of Izuku’s presents and set them on the floor next to the couch, separated from the students’ gifts. “Izuku, do you want to open a present?”

Izuku shook his head, now occupied with a Present Mic action figure. Aizawa let it go; there would be plenty of time for Izuku to open his own presents.

The students began their Secret Sant gift exchange with Iida, who gave Hagakure a set of hair clips she’d been gushing over at the mall. Hagakure gave Aoyama an assortment of foreign cheeses, Aoyama gave Tsuyu special face cream, Tsuyu gave Tokoyami a chain necklace, and so on. Aizawa turned to Izuku again after Ojiro gave Kirishima a coupon for a free class at his martial arts dojo, present in hand.

“Izuku, want to open a present?” Aizawa tugged the wrapping paper enticingly.

“No,” came the distracted answer. Izuku clamored over to Hagakure and pointed at her new hair clips. “Mine?”

Hagakure laughed. “No, your otou-san, has your gifts!”

Izuku frowned and pointed at the clips again. “Mine!”

Hagakure was silent, but Aizawa got the feeling she was looking to him for help. He pushed himself off the couch and grabbed Izuku before sitting again, tucking the suddenly screaming toddler under his arm. All the students froze at the sound of Izuku’s yelling, but Aizawa rolled his eyes and waved them off. Once the students returned to the gift exchange, Aizawa once again put a gift in front of Izuku.

Izuku stopped whining and glared up at him, offended by the wrapped box in his lap.

“Don’t give me that,” Aizawa said. He tapped the box. “Come on, open it.”

Izuku shook his head.

“Fine, I’ll open it.” Aizawa tore off the first layer of paper to reveal a colorful box.

Suddenly, Izuku leaned forward and grabbed the box. “Mine!”

Aizawa chuckled and relinquished the box. Izuku pushed the rest of the paper off, enthralled by the bright colors on the eight-pack of plastic HotWheels cars.

“Want to take them out, buddy?” Aizawa asked, already moving to pull the box out of the 3-year-old’s hands. Izuku’s grip tightened immediately, so Aizawa simply tipped the open of the box away from Izuku and cut it open with a nearby boxcutter reserved specifically for this task. He pulled the plastic packaging out of the box and started dropping cars into Izuku’s lap. Each time, he gasped in delight and picked it up to look closer.

Aizawa watched the students break into their own friend groups while Izuku drove the cars up and down Aizawa’s legs. Given how hard it was to get the kid to open just one present, Aizawa decided to save the other two for later. One of them was more for himself, anyway. Izuku would look adorable in the little dinosaur pajamas he’d found while out shopping.

“Sensei?”

Aizawa looked up to see Momo looking at him expectantly. She was holding a large box wrapped in white-and-green striped paper and a giant red bow. Iida and Shinsou stood on either side of her.

“We— that is, the class— wanted to give you this, for everything you’ve done for us this semester and for the next. We couldn’t ask for a better homeroom teacher,” Momo held the box out for him to take.

A fond warmth grew in his chest. Aizawa set the box on his lap, careful of the green bean sitting next to him. He peeled off the bow and stuck it to the arm of the couch before tearing off the wrapping paper.

The box was actually two boxes stacked on top of each other. The top box contained a large assortment of coffees and his favorite jelly drinks. He set the box on the floor with an appreciative smile before turning to the second.

He burst out laughing. Momo, Iida, and Uraraka joined in easily. Several curious students looked over and, upon realizing what was happening, turned back to their friends with large grins.

“You shouldn’t have,” he said, already reaching for the box cutter.

“We saw it and immediately knew we had to give it to you,” Uraraka said.

They had given him a black, full-body sleeping bag, complete with a hood. Izuku peered over curiously, cars left mostly forgotten.

“Mine?” izuku asked, looking up at Aizawa with large, hopeful eyes.

Aizawa grinned, unzipped the suit and helped Izuku climb inside. The sleeping bag was far too big for the kid, but the kid was too big to disappear down one of the pants legs, so Aizawa didn’t pay too much mind to it. He’d just have to make sure Izuku didn’t try running in it.

“Told you we should have got a tiny one, too!” Aizawa heard one of the girls mutter.

“Comfortable?” Aizawa asked the bean. Izuku nodded, then squirmed to be let down. Aizawa steadied him one the floor. Once he was free, Izuku made a beeline for the green and orange sippy cup on the coffee table.

“Is Izuku going to open his other presents?” Uraraka asked.

“On his own time,” Aizawa replied. “He does things at his own pace.”

Chapter Text

“He doesn’t exactly look like Aizawa.”

“Well, what do you expect? He’s adopted.”

“No, wait, that came out wrong,” Mina huffed, leaning back against the wall. “He doesn’t act like Aizawa at all.”

“He wears Sensei’s scarf all the time,” Uraraka pointed out, passing a paper to Jirou.

“He can fall asleep anywhere, kero,” Tsuyu added. “Uraraka-chan, can you help me…?”

Uraraka nodded and leaned over to help her with a math worksheet.

“Yes, but… I mean, it’s Izuku! He’s like, sunshine incarnate.” Mina threw her hands into the air. “I just can’t see it.”

“I don’t see why you are speculating this in the slightest.” Momo said from her spot on the couch. “Aizawa is Izuku’s father. Whether or not Izuku acts like it is beside the point.”

“From my understanding,” Jirou murmured, “kids imitate the people closest to them-”

“See?!” Mina said, gesturing wildly at Jirou.

“-While it would make sense that Izuku would act like Aizawa, he also spends an awful lot of time with us.” Jirou pointed out. “Expecting him to only act like Aizawa is a bit unrealistic.”

Momo nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense.”

“But… All Might’s more of a role model for him than his own father,” Mina argued.

“Didn’t Sensei ban him from ever seeing Izuku ever again? Because he left him alone that one time?” Uraraka asked.

“Something like that,” Jirou muttered, scrolling through her Spotify. “Hey, do you guys want to see something cute?”

“Always!” Mina said, sitting down on the couch next to Momo, black eyes glittering in interest.

Jirou selected a classical playlist and turned her phone off, the beginning notes of a violin cover of Toxic began playing.

Uraraka looked at Jirou in surprise. “This exists?”

“It surely does,” Jirou replied with a grin. “Now, be quiet and listen.”

They did. For a second, no one heard anything, until the sound of tiny, approaching footsteps came from the kitchen.

A tiny head of green hair came first. Then green eyes, freckles, and finally a dirty All Might onesie. Izuku came running around the corner and slammed his hands on the coffee table.

“Toxics!” Izuku grinned, bouncing excitedly.

“Toxics?” Momo repeated, eyebrows furrowed. “What does he mean by that?”

“It’s what he calls the violins when they play this song,” Jirou explained, turning up the volume and setting the phone down in front of Izuku. “He’s not usually interested in them if they aren’t playing this.”

Izuku continued bouncing, his butt wiggling in a toddler way of dancing.

“Very cute,” said Tsuyu.

Bakugou stormed into the room, his usual scowl on his face. “Turn that sh- that garbage off!”

Jirou frowned. “We’re just listening to music-”

“Turn it off!” Bakugou growled. “I’m trying to listen for the oven timer and your trash is too fu- freaking loud!”

“Fine, fine,” Jirou sighed, picking up the phone and pausing the music. Izuku immediately stopped dancing, confused.

Bakugou’s lips pressed together -- not scowling, but not not scowling either -- and left to go back to the kitchen.

“Toxics?” Izuku asked, staring at the phone.

“No, ‘Zuku,” Jirou said. “Bakugou said to stop.”

Izuku was silent for a moment. Then, his nose crinkled and he gave Jirou the most violent glare she had ever seen on the three-year-old’s face.

Mina burst out laughing on the couch. “Oh my god, he really is Aizawa’s son.”

Chapter Text

“Pneumono-ultra-microscope… pneumonia-- pneumonomicrosilico-- this isn’t worth it.” Kirishima groaned, burying his face in his arms.

“If you fu- bloody paid attention in class and got English through your thick skull you wouldn’t need to do this,” Bakugou grunted as a certain green bean pulled on his ear. Izuku, who had previously been sitting in the older boy’s lap, was attempting to climb over Bakugou’s shoulder onto the couch. “Don’t give up now. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

“Pneumonoultramicre- microscopic-silicon… pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicoconiosis,” Kirishima frowned. “That didn’t sound quite right.”

“You forgot the volcano part.”

“New-moo-ltra,” Izuku bubbled, pulling the right side of Bakugou’s shirt down low.

“How am I supposed to spell this in front of the entire class tomorrow?!” Kirishima cried. “I can’t even say it correctly.”

“Sh- Crappy Hair, you almost had- ow- it that last time. Go slow.” Bakugou grabbed Izuku’s hand and tried to pull it away from his hair. Izuku whined and held tighter, little fist turning white. Bakugou braced his other hand on the side of his head and harshly tugged Izuku’s hand away. Izuku let out a scream, smacking his now free hand on Bakugou’s shoulder. He quieted down with a look from Bakugou.

“Pneu-mono-ultra-microscope -- microscopic -- silico-volcanic-con-eye-o-sis,” Kirishima said slowly.

“Coniosis,” Bakugou said.

“Coniosis,” Kirishima repeated.

“Conononosis,” Izuku giggled.

“Pneumono-ultra-microscopic-silico-volcano-conisos,” Kirishima muttered.

“Faster,” Bakugou ordered.

“Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis,” Kirishima said louder, “pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis, pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

“Pneumunumunumusis,” Izuku said.

“You can do better than that, Deku,” Bakugou said. “Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

“Pneumunumusis,” Izuku repeated, face screwed up in concerntration.

“Repeat after me: pneumono.” Bakugou gestured for Izuku to speak.

“Pneumono.”

"Ultra."

"Ultra."

“Microscopic.”

“Micrisisis.”

“No, microscopic.”

“Microsisispic.”

“Close enough,” Bakugou sighed. “Silico.”

“Silico.”

“Volcano.”

“Volcano.”

“Coniosis.”

“Consistis.”
“Put it all together, nerd. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

“Pneumonoulticrosisisilionis,” Izuku laughed.

Kirishima scribbled something on the notebook in front of him. He turned the book to show Bakugou what he wrote. “Is this right?”

Bakugou stared for a moment. “Your p’s are backwards and you forgot to dot your i’s.”

Kirishima sighed and started writing again. All of this for a few points of extra credit.

Chapter Text

Vlad King remembers very explicitly why he chose to teach high schoolers. Older people were just easier to talk to and bond with -- frankly, if he could teach college, he would, despite having never gone himself, but hero-ing is more like ROTC than a college-level class, if he was honest, and he wasn’t that big of a fan of the military -- and little kids were just plain gross. Take his niece, for example: when she had just gotten her quirk, she chewed on every piece of furniture like a dog and ruined the carpets. She slobbered all over his clothes, shoes, books, the TV remote; her attempt to bite him was the final straw, and Vlad stopped babysitting after that. She would be about his students’ age by now, he remembered. She had gone missing a little while ago, possibly having run away. Despite her destruction of his home, Vlad hoped little Himiko was doing well, wherever she was.

Anyway, Vlad wasn’t at UA to run a daycare. He expected his coworker to remember that, but clearly Aizawa didn’t, and now Vlad was stuck with a walking bundle of slobbery baby.

“I really am sorry about this,” Aizawa said, setting a rather large diaper bag beside Vlad’s desk, “but Nemuri quit on me at the last second. Said she was injured or something, I don’t know. Listen-”

“I am not watching your spawn,” Vlad said, watching the toddler disappear into the jungle of desks in dismay. “Get Mic to do it.”

“Listen,” Aizawa stressed. “All Might also ditched today, and I have a bad feeling. I- just please watch Izuku for me. He’s a sweetheart, I promise, really easy. We’ll be back for lunch, so you don’t even have to worry about feeding him. Just make sure he doesn’t, I don’t know, play with an electric socket or something while I’m gone.”

“Aizawa-”

“Izuku!” Aizawa called. “Come say good-bye to otou-san.”

The little bush of hair bounced out from the desk-jungle and ran straight into Aizawa’s open arms. “No!”

“Oh, greenbean, it’s just for a little while, and you’ll be hanging out with Vlad-sensei and Class 1-B. You’ve met Vlad before, remember?”

“No!” Izuku screeched. Aizawa just sighed before peeling Izuku’s arms off of his legs and stumbling backwards.

“Thanks-Vlad-I-owe-you-bye-Izuku-love-you!” Aizawa rushed out before snapping the door shut behind him. Izuku ran to the door, reaching up towards the handle as high as he could, crying loudly as he did so.

Vlad sighed and sat down heavily at his desk, pinching his brow and trying to ignore the echoing screeches from the kid. It was going to be a long day.

He pulled out a stack of essays and began grading them, wishing desperately that he had brought his headphones with him. There was about half an hour before students began showing up, and he was intent on finishing the last few papers so he could pass them back to his homeroom, no matter how loud the little pipsqueak was. As he worked through Kojiro Bondo’s paper on the applications of his quirk in post-villain attack reconstruction. As he marked a little check mark next to Kojiro’s paragraph listing the four categories of collateral damage (a topic he knew they had just covered in Heroic Law -- good on the kid for applying his learning to reality), the toddler finally ceased his banging and, horrifyingly, ran to Vlad to cling to his hero costume.

“Kid- let go!” Vlad grabbed Izuku’s hands and tried to peel them off, like Aizawa had done earlier, but instead had to marvel at the ridiculous amount of strength the tyke had in his grip -- Vlad literally had to rip the fabric from the little guy’s hands. Izuku only paused to inhale quickly before letting out another ear-piercing scream. Vlad sighed (he’s already done that so much today, and he was sure to keep doing it all day) and surrendered himself to a crying child. Izuku’s fists quickly returned to their grip on Vlad’s uniform and he buried his face in the fabric. Vlad suppressed a groan at the feeling of cool wetness seeping through the fabric to his skin. He scooped the toddler up and put him in his lap, rubbing small circles on the kid’s back. Izuku hiccuped and finally, blessedly, fell quiet except for his sniffles. Vlad shushed him for good measure and returned to his grading, quick to bounce the child whenever he started to kick up a fuss again.

Vlad made it through the rest of Kojiro’s paper and all of Monoma’s paper before any student finally arrived. Ibara Shiozaki arrived first, as per usual, giving her usual nod of greeting before heading towards her desk. There wasn’t typically any other interaction beyond that, but this wasn’t a typical morning. Upon seeing the little green bean one his lap, Ibara paused, staring at the toddler questioningly.

“We have babysitting duty today,” Vlad said. “Please do me a favor and make sure none of your classmates give the kid a hard time.”

“Of course,” Ibara said slowly. “Would it be okay if I came and said hello?”

Vlad grunted, and Ibara took that as a go-ahead. She came around the side of the desk and knelt down on the ground beside Vlad and Izuku. Vlad watched out of the corner of his eye, returning to Reiko Yanagi’s paper.

“Hello, Aizawa-kun,” Ibara said softly. Izuku only sniffed in return. Ibara was not deterred. “My name’s Ibara Shiozaki. How are you today?”

Izuku did not answer.

“Do you want to see my quirk?” Ibara asked. That seemed to get a response from Izuku. The kid turned his head to look at Ibara, but his grip (unfortunately) did not loosen in the slightest. Ibara smiled and made her vines curl up her arm, wrapping around her hand before finally allowing a bunch of small, white flowers to blossom.

Izuku watched with wide eyes. Ibara picked one of the larger ones and offered it to him. Izuku took it with a gentle hand, and Vlad was relieved to notice that the one that was still clinging to his shirt was loose enough to pull off.

“It is called ‘Vines’, and it allows me to control the vines growing on my head,” Ibara explained. “Have you gotten your quirk yet, Aizawa-kun?”

Izuku shook his head. “Does it hurt to cut your hair?”

“No,” Ibara replied. “It does not, thank goodness.”

“Does it need the sun? To photo- photo-smith-isis? Is green your favorite color? Can you make them longer, or do they have to grow by themself? What-”

“So many questions!” Ibara laughed. Izuku’s mouth snapped shut, and Vlad felt more than heard his “sorry” being muttered into his chest. Ibara shook her head. “No need to be sorry, little one. It just surprised me. Why don’t we leave Vlad-sensei alone to prepare for class, and you can ask me all your questions at my desk?”

Izuku nodded, and, without another word, slid off Vlad’s lap. Vlad let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, and watched Ibara lead an increasingly more excitable Izuku to her desk.

Slowly but surely, more and more students arrived in the classroom, each one doing a double-take upon seeing Izuku there. As more students came to class, Izuku gained more and more victims for his numerous questions, some of which were surprisingly thoughtful. Vlad had to hand it to Aizawa -- he’s raising a smart kid.

Everything was going fine until Monoma arrived. Tetsutetsu and Tokage had arrived a couple of minutes ago, and were both equally bewildered and amused by Izuku’s questions. The blond whirled into the classroom with his usual pomp, his nose upturned and a smug smirk on his face. Monoma raised his eyebrows at the cluster of his classmates, curious until he spotted the kid gawking at Tetsutetsu’s metal hand. His expression promptly turned into a scowl and Monoma pushed his way to the center of the group. “Well, if it isn’t the little 1-A brat.”

Vlad put down his pen immediately. God, he was on Hiryu Rin’s paper, he was so close to being done. Why…

Izuku turned and lit up when he saw Monoma. “Copycat-Bastard!”

The class collectively sputtered. Even Monoma was startled by such crude words coming out of such a small child’s mouth.

“Aizawa-kun,” Tetsutetsu wheezed. “Where did you hear that from?”

Izuku blinked at him innocently. “It’s his name! Kacchan said so.”

Tetsutetsu choked back a laugh. Tokage patted his shoulder consolingly.

Monoma’s face was steadily growing pink. “My name is Monoma Neito, not… not that.”

“Oh!” Izuku frowned. “Okay. What’s your quirk, Monoma-san?”

“I copy any quirk I come in contact with,” Monoma said. “Much more powerful than any quirk in 1-A, I’m sure.”

Izuku’s eyes sparkled. “Any quirk?”

Monoma hesitated. “Well, I suppose not ‘any’ quirk, it doesn’t do well with stock-pile types or mutant types, but-”

“That’s so cool!” Izuku babbled. “Can you copy Ibara-san’s quirk? Or Tetstutetsu’s? Oh, could you copy mine, even though it hasn’t shown up yet? Since quirks are part of our bio-lo-gee, maybe you copy that part of quirks instead of the quirk itself! Here, try it-!”

“Whoa!” Monoma leapt back as Izuku lunged at him. Izuku stumbled into the side of a desk, but quickly pushed himself up to chase after Monoma, giggling wildly. Monoma dodged as best he could, none-to-gently redirecting the kid when he came too close. Monoma looked around, catching Vlad’s eye. “Help me,” he mouthed.

Vlad considered the situation -- it would be so nice if he could finish what he was doing -- but unfortunately testing the kid’s theory about Monoma’s quirk falls under Aizawa’s don’t-let-my-kid-play-with-electric-sockets orders. If the kid’s theory was correct -- and boy, what if it was? They would have to test that at some point -- then the consequences could potentially be dangerous and should not be tested in his nice classroom. He rose from his desk and calmly approached the toddler, picking him up and throwing him over his shoulder like a sack of flour. “Everyone, go back to your seats,” he said. The class was quick to obey, and settled into their usual orderly morning routine.

Vlad leaned over his desk and read the last few lines of Hiryu’s paper, judged it to be good enough, and wrote his final grade on both the paper and in his gradebook to be transferred to the computer system later.

And just like that, the bell rang. Vlad, Izuku sat awkwardly (and he let Vlad know) on his hip, began taking role. The only one not there was Kendo Itsuka, who he had excused yesterday from homeroom for class president duties. The day proceeded semi-normally, Vlad only sometimes having to pause the lesson to grab a toy from the diaper bag for Izuku or to get his students to stop being distracted by the calmly playing child.

This peace didn’t even last an hour.

Suddenly, an alarm blared, one that Vlad had never heard before. The overhead lights shut off, leaving only the sparse emergency lights on. Metal shades slammed down suddenly over the windows, without warning and with enough force to slice anyone’s fingers had they been touching the window. Someone screamed, and Monoma, who sat next to the window, fell out of his seat, flailing.

Everyone started moving and talking all at once. Izuku seemed to pick up on the panicked atmosphere and let out a familiar screech, thick tears already pooling in his eyes.

“QUIET!” Vlag King yelled, his commanding voice cutting through the din. “Everyone, sit down and be very, very quiet.”

The students all did as asked. Yui Kodai, who was sitting closest to the crying Izuku, gently lifted the child and began talking to him in soft tones, calming him down.

Vlad King pulled out his phone and called the principal. The call immediately went to voicemail. Vlad tried again, and again. He growled and slammed the phone back on his desk. No use trying to dial 119 -- the alarm would have already done so.

This alarm was, if he was correct, a signal of one of the most dangerous situations that could happen at the school. This was no “intruder-on-campus” alarm -- this was a “armed-and-dangerous” alarm. It could mean anything from a bomb threat, to a shooter, to a villain attack. It was never anything good, and dammit, if Vlad wasn’t prepared to defend every student in the room with his life, then he’d be a piss-poor Heroics teacher.

Vlad King didn’t open the door, didn’t even peek out the eyehole. He simply locked it and gestured for the students to pack into the far corner. Yosetsu Awase and Sen Kaibara, the two who sat closest to the door, helped Vlad King stack their desks in front of the door. A glance back at the class showed that they had pushed Izuku all the way into the corner, squished between Ibara and Tetsutetsu. Ibara was soothing the boy, and Tetsutetsu looked ready to murder anyone who came too close to anyone in the class.

Vlad King shooed Yosetsu and Sen back to join the class. “I hope it goes without saying,” he said into the darkness, voice carefully hushed, “that all of you can defend yourselves and each other with your quirks. I hope you also realize that if it comes down to me or you,” he raised a hand to silence the rising arguments, “you will escape. You may be heroes-in-training, but you are not heroes yet.”

Just then, Vlad King’s phone rang, breaking the deathly quiet. Vlad leapt on the device, not even looking at the screen before answering. “Hello?”

“As touching as your speech was,” Principal Nedzu chirped, “sacrificing yourself for your students is currently not an immediate possibility.”

Vlad’s shoulder relaxed. “What has happened?”

“The USJ has been attacked,” Nedzu said grimly. “I understand you are watching the young Aizawa?”

“And my students, yes.”

“Very good.” There was the sound of clicking on the other side of the phone. “You are to stay here and defend the school, in case there is more to this attack than the USJ.”

“Who is going?” Vlad demanded. “All Might?”

“Already on his way.”

“Mic? Snipe?”

“Of course,” Nedzu assured. “There is no reason to worry, Vlad King. I must go now, but know that we have the situation under control. The lights will come back on soon, but the shutters may be down for the rest of the day.”

“Alright,” Vlad said. Then, he hesitated. “And the young Aizawa?”

“Keep an eye on him until this is over,” Nedzu hummed. “I will update you to any changes.”

And with that, the line went dead.

Vlad slipped the device into his pocket and turned to the class, who were watching with bated breath. “I’m sure you heard. USJ is under attack.”

He was pretty sure he heard one of the boys swear under their breath. He sent a glare in the general direction, but did not call them out. Instead, he said, “Classes will likely be dismissed for the day, but for now we are sitting ducks. You may talk amongst yourselves, but please do so quietly.”

With that, he sat down at his desk and stared at the opposite wall blankly. A slow whisper soon rose up amongst the teens, many of which had pulled out their phones and were messaging others -- possibly each other, possibly students in other classes, possibly their parents. Vlad did nothing to call them out.

The next two hours passed like that: the room remained dark, despite Nedzu’s promise, and Vlad continued to sit in quiet concentration, listening to the hall and half-expecting his phone to ring.

Izuku made his way around the room, letting himself be entertained by the students’ quirks and occasionally watching videos on their phones, quietly giggling to himself. Jurota Shishida eventually gave him his phone to play with, a game that looked like Candy Crush on the screen, except the candies were instead colorful gemstones. Izuku was delighted by the puzzle game and pushed away the students’ attempts to help him until he proudly showed them the blue-green wormhole the game took him through to get to the next level.

When Vlad’s phone rang, he was not the only one to jump. Vlad quickly answered the phone. “Nedzu.”

“Vlad King!” The Principal’s voice was notably more cheerful than his last phone call. “The situation at the USJ has been resolved.”

“What’s the damage?” Vlad asked immediately.

“Some shattered windows, some icy gravel, and a collapsed building. Not too bad in the grand scheme of things!”

“You know what I mean,” Vlad ground out.

Nedzu laughed. “I would not be making light of the matter if it was too serious. However,” his tone took on a somber note, “it is not like there were no casualties, either. No one is dead- none of ours, anyway,” he was quick to assure before Vlad could interrupt, “but All Might, Thirteen, and Eraserhead have all been hospitalized, as well as a few minor injuries among the students.”

“Eraserhead?” Vlad said uneasily, glancing at Izuku, who continued playing Bejeweled as if nothing was happening.

“A concussion, a fractured orbital bone, and… his elbow was- it was just gone, Vlad, it isn’t good,” Nedzu reported. “The doctors seem confident he will make a full recovery, so I must assume they have a restorative quirk at their disposal, but ordinarily I would not be so optimistic.”

“How long then?” Vlad said at last. “How long will I have the kid? Because I do not think Aizawa packed enough diapers from him to take an extended hospital stay.”

“Just a few hours,” Nedzu said. “Yamada said he could take Aizawa-kun for a while. Perhaps you could take Aizawa-kun to the hospital to see his father after all of your students have gone home? Aizawa would likely be out of surgery by then.”

“I can do that.”

“Good!” Nedzu chirped. “Classes are canceled for the day. Have your students contact their guardians -- I have also sent an email out, so expect some to leave sooner than you’d expect. Any students unable to contact their guardians within the hour can report down to the cafeteria, where Lunch Rush is preparing lunch and putting on a movie.”

“Of course,” Vlad agreed easily. “Have a nice day, Principal.”

Nedzu hummed. “You as well, Vlad King.”

Vlad hung up and turned to his students. “Go ahead and begin packing up your things,” he said, “and call your parents to come pick you up.”

The lights flickered on as he said that. A few students winced at the sudden brightness.

Izuku whined when Jurota took his phone back, but was appeased when Jurota promised not to erase Izuku’s progress. One by one, the students left to join their parents until only a handful were left. Vlad put all of Izuku’s toys back in the diaper bag, pulled it over his shoulder, and scooped up Izuku before leading the remaining students to the cafeteria, where Lunch Rush was playing Spirited Away. Izuku stared at the big screen, enthralled by the moving pictures. Vlad took the time to grab three lunches, one each for himself and Izuku, and one for Yamada, who surely wasn’t eating anything out of worry.

Getting Izuku into Vlad’s car was out of the question, really, since he had not car seat and he was reasonably sure you weren’t supposed to put a kid into a car without one. Luckily, they lived in Japan, and the train station was not far at all. Quite a few people aww-ed at Vlad fussing over the curious child, and a few waved at the boy. Soon enough, they reached the stop for the hospital. Vlad got off the cramped train with great relief, Izuku waving back at the people on board over his shoulder.

It did not take long for Vlad to find Aizawa’s hospital room, a nervous Present Mic pacing outside. When the blond saw the toddler, he lit up and rushed to take him from Vlad’s arms, which he was very grateful for.

“Zashi!” Izuku cheered, giggling as he immediately went to grab the man’s long hair in twin fists.

“Thank you for bringing him,” Mic said, effortlessly tipping his head so his hair fell out of reach. “I’m sure this wasn’t what you were expecting to do today.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t what you were planning, either,” Vlad said. “Anyway, here’s his bag. Tell Aizawa I hope he gets better soon.”

Izuku froze. “Otou-san is sick?”

Mic glanced up at Vlad, who winced. Maybe he should have told the kid what was going on. Oh well.

“Yes,” Mic said slowly. “Yes, your otou-san isn’t feeling very well, but we are here to make him feel all better, aren’t we?”

Izuku nodded, but his hands were anxiously pulling his shirt up towards his mouth. Mic grimaced and squeezed the boy.

“Don’t worry, bean sprout! All the nice doctors here made him feel much better, so now we just need to wait for him to heal. You wanna go see him?”

Izuku nodded again. Mic and Vlad exchanged glances again. Vlad nodded, and turned on his heel to leave.

He still didn’t really like kids, but perhaps he could make an exception.

Chapter Text

Summer break was, in Aizawa’s humble opinion, the best time of the year. No brats around, no papers to be graded, and he could finally sleep in. With his teaching job effectively non-existent, both his and Present Mic’s -- or Hizashi, now that they were free from work -- schedules were cleared, meaning they had more time to spend time together.

With Izuku, of course. Gotta take advantage of the weather while it’s nice, right? Haha…

Despite knowing Hizashi since their own days at UA and basically being married already, the whole dating thing was still pretty new. Aizawa knew that he was very close to just asking the idiot out before he suddenly landed himself with a baby, and, well, Izuku took priority, obviously. Hizashi was surprisingly helpful during those first few months. Being good with kids was a staple of being a daylight hero, he supposed.

Still, Aizawa felt a little strange bringing his son on his date, but he couldn’t deny the warmth in his heart, watching Hizashi interact with Izuku.

The three of them were walking to a park far beyond the gates of UA, Izuku riding on Hizashi’s shoulders while the adults walked side by side. Izuku chattered away at Yamada about shaved ice flavors.

“I like blue-bury a lot! It turn-ded my tongue colors!” Izuku said.

“Oh?” Hizashi hummed. “What color? Red?”

“No!”

“Green, then.”

“No!” Izuku laughed. “Blue! Blue!”

“Ah, blue,” Yamada nodded sagely. “Blueberries making the color blue. How did I not see it before? Shouta, have you heard about this?”

“Of course I have,” Aizawa replied. “It’s in the name: ‘blue’-berries.”

“Gah!” Hizashi stumbled, his movements exaggerated. Izuku twisted his hands in Hizashi’s long locks and giggled hysterically as he was thrown around. Hizashi shook his head mournfully. “Belittled by my own partner. How will I ever survive?”

Aizawa chuckled, then reached out a hand to grab Hizashi’s. Hizashi accepted it easily enough, giving him a gentle squeeze that sent tingles up his back. Izuku asked something, and Hizashi was quick to respond. Aizawa tuned them out, tipping his head back and soaking in the steady warmth of the sun on his pale face. Their joined hands swung between the pair as they walked.

“Otou-san?” Izuku’s voice broke through the peace. “What is that?”

Aizawa blinked and looked around. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary; it was just a neighborhood street. An elderly man was watering his flowers a few houses down, and a teenage couple were cuddling on a porch, watching a pair of birds in a tree.

“What’s what, sprout?” Aizawa asked.

Izuku pointed. Aizawa followed his finger to see the young couple. “Their lips were touching, like you and Yama-san.”

“Oh. They were just kissing, sprout. That’s what people who love each other very much do,” Aizawa said.

“But…” Izuku frowned. He looked like he was having a hard time finding the words. “That’s a girl.”

“Yes?” Aizawa glanced at Hizashi, one brow raised. Hizashi just shrugged.

“And that’s a boy!” Izuku said. There was an obvious conclusion in his tone, but Aizawa couldn’t for the life of him understand.

“Girls and boys are allowed to kiss,” Aizawa told him, still confused.

Izuku’s jaw dropped, eyes wide like Aizawa had just told him the secrets of the universe. “They can do that?!”

“Of course,” Aizawa responded quizzically. “Why wouldn’t they?”

“Oh!” Hizashi clapped a hand over his mouth, muffling a harsh snort.

Aizawa fixed him with a look. “Care to enlighten the class?”

“Sorry,” Hizashi chuckled. “It’s just that, he’s probably only ever seen you and I kiss. Two guys…”

Oh. “I see.” Aizawa gazed up at Izuku, who was staring at the couple in wonder. “Izuku.”

Izuku looked down.

“People can love whoever they want,” Aizawa said. “Boys can like boys, girls can like girls. But boys and girls can also like each other. Love is for everyone, okay?”

“Okay!” Izuku chirped. “Yama-san, can we get strawbaby ice?”

“Strawberry is an excellent choice, baby sprout,” Hizashi grinned. “I think that one will turn your tongue red!”

“My tongue is already red!”

“More red, then!”