Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It had been a really long week, even being only Thursday night (or Friday morning by now, since it was 2am), and Izuku wasn’t ready to go home from the dorms for the weekend. His mother was forcing him to come this weekend even though it was only his first week living on campus. Izuku was borderline panicking at having to go back. At first, his mother didn’t care that he would be living away from home, telling Izuku in private that she would be better off without a disgrace bringing her down anyway, but then she realized that she didn’t have Izuku there as a puppet anymore. She didn’t have control over him when he was at school. He wasn’t sure that he could go home and handle everything she would throw at him after bottling it up for a whole week.

So here Izuku was, at 2am in his dorm room, shaking and silently crying as he dreaded what was to come tomorrow after school. He just wanted it to stop, the harassment from his mother, constantly lying to his classmates, the fact that he always knew he would never be good enough to be a hero, that the quirk All Might had given him was a complete waste on him, and the fact that he had everything going right for him finally, but he still couldn’t just get over himself. Did he want to die? No. Well, not exactly. Would he be better off not existing? Probably? He wouldn’t bring anyone down anymore. He wouldn’t be a burden anymore. Everyone would be free of him. So Izuku pulled open the drawer on his nightstand and grabbed the notebook on top, or more specifically, he took out the blade hidden behind the cover. He wasn’t even really paying attention to what he was doing at that point, just making cut after cut after cut and focusing on the crimson pouring out and the beautiful sting it brought with it.

He was only brought to his senses when he started to feel lightheaded, a small pool forming on his bedsheets as it soaked in. Izuku started to panic; he never went this far, why did he do that? He fucked up. Big time. He tried to think of anything he could do, just something, but he was smart enough to know that he needed help from someone. Kacchan? No, it would crush him to see Izuku like this. He wasn’t super close to anyone in his class; they were so loud all the time, and he didn’t want to get close to people that he would only bring down. It unfortunately didn’t leave him with many options. Grabbing a black shirt and wrapping it as tight as he could around his arm, Izuku left his bedroom as quietly as he could and headed for the only help he could think of- Aizawa.

He padded down the hallway and into the next hallway over, the one with only one room for his teacher. Sensei didn’t stay on campus every night, but he had stayed grading papers and had fallen asleep about 11 before the students went to their rooms, so at least Izuku knew he would be there. He knocked on the door gently, hoping to wake Aizawa only and not other students. Thankfully, he succeeded as he heard a groan and footsteps before the door opened.

“What, problem child-“ The teacher froze as soon as he saw Izuku with the shirt around his arm, blood on his fingers as it was soaking through the fabric. “Shit, get in here. Now.” Aizawa pulled Izuku into his room, which thankfully being a teacher’s dorm had its own bathroom attached to which Izuku was lead. Izuku was sat down on the edge of the bathtub, Aizawa digging in the cabinet to take out a first aid kit.

“Midoriya, what the hell did you do?” He didn’t get an answer out of his student other than a new round of sobs, tears mixing with the still steadily dripping blood. The teacher sighed, taking Izuku’s hand off of his arm to take off the shirt and assess the damage. He paled when he pulled back the soaked fabric. He couldn’t fix this, but even worse, there were scars and cuts both covering the kid’s skin, some cuts days old and some scars years old.

“We have to call Recovery Girl. Keep holding pressure the best you can.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket, calling Chiyo as fast as he could. “It’s gonna be okay, kid. It’ll be okay.”

Izuku was starting to feel dizzy, head falling forward only for him to snap back up as he fought to stay conscious. Aizawa noticed and took over holding pressure on Izuku’s arm.

“Eraser you better have a damn good reason for-“

“I need you right now. The 1-A dorm building. There’s a student bleeding out on my bathroom floor. Get here, quickly.”

“On my way.”

She hung up, Aizawa setting his phone on the floor. “Hang in there, Midoriya. Help will be here. Just stay awake, you hear me?”

Izuku mumbled something unintelligible before slumping forward onto his teacher, passed out.

“Dammit…” Aizawa slid him down to the floor, laying him on the cool tile. “You little shit; you better not die on me. Not you too.”
It was only 5 minutes before Chiyo got there, but it felt like an hour had passed. She got to work bandaging to begin with, administering her signature kiss to close the wounds before turning her attention to his teacher, still covered in his blood.

“How the hell did you not notice this, Eraser?” As if he wasn’t beating himself up enough…

“He never showed any signs. You’ve seen him. He’s always been shy, and he stutters some, but he never came in with bruises, he never showed adverse reactions to his home life… We all missed it.”

He looked at the kid’s pale face, instinctively brushing back a green curl. “I’ll talk to Hound-Dog tomorrow. When do you want to see him again?”

Chiyo huffed. “No more than 48 hours.” Her face softened a little, “Keep an eye on him, Eraser. He’ll need you when he wakes up.” She left after that, Aizawa taking the time to clean Izuku up the best he could, changing his shirt and wiping off the blood around the bandages on his arm and off of his hands. He noticed Izuku was wearing a binder, too, and decided that since the kid would be out for quite a while, it wasn’t safe for him to keep it on. He was as careful as he could be, and once the binder was off, he put Izuku in a big hoodie, one Mic had given him actually with a cat on the front, and gently laid him in his bed before heading back to the bathroom to start scrubbing the floors. Izuku didn’t need to see this when he woke up.

By the time he was finished, Aizawa noticed that it was almost 5am. Some of the students would be up soon, so he decided to take some paperwork into the common area to start filling out about the incident and brew some coffee. He would have to go to Nedzu before class anyway, and class started at 8am. Scribbling down a note for Izuku in case he was up before Aizawa got back, he left the room and headed out to start the day.

On his way to see Nedzu, Aizawa stopped by his husband’s office, checking the time. 7am. He had an hour until classes started, granted that Nedzu didn’t let him cancel them for the day, which seemed like a good idea to avoid questions and to have someone watch over Izuku. He didn’t even bother, just walking into Mic’s office and hugging him from his chair.

“Hey, good morning. I figured you had fallen asleep at the dorms again, but a call this morning would’ve been nice.” Hizashi chuckled, looking up to see Shota’s face and quickly realizing something was wrong.

“Sho, what happened? Are you okay?” He stood up, pulling Aizawa into his arms and growing even more concerned when he hugged back, burying his face in Mic’s shoulder.

“’Zashi… I almost lost a student last night. M-Midoriya, he… he showed up at my door at almost 3am, bleeding everywhere. It was horrible. His arms…” He couldn’t bring himself to even describe it, but it was enough for Hizashi to get what was going on.

“Fuck, Shota. Old? New? Both?” Aizawa’s answer was what he expected but nonetheless concerning. “Both. Some years old. I don’t know if he was trying to go through with it or just went too far. Recovery Girl stabilized him, and he’s asleep in my dorm room. I have to go to Nedzu next to inform him and try to cancel my classes for the day.”

Instead of trying to pry further, Mic just asked, “Do you want me to go with you?” Aizawa shook his head.

“I doubt the rat would let both of us out of classes, and the kids need at least someone that can tell them everything is okay. Midnight can cover for me but not both of us.” He looked at the time, 7:20. He had to go.

“I’ll text you and let you know what he says. Just tell the kids Midoriya is sick but okay.”

Mic gave him one last hug, “Okay. Please keep me updated. I’ll message you in between classes, and I can join you for lunch too. I love you.”

Aizawa mumbled a “Love you too” and head out.

Approaching Nezu’s office, he knocked, the doors opening with the first tap on the wood. Creepy rat.

“Eraser! To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you this morning?” Nedzu’s cheery tone, fake or not, was already got on Aizawa’s nerves.

“There was an incident with one of my students last night. Midoriya Izuku, he showed up at my dorm last night injured. The injuries were self-inflicted, but it’s unclear whether or not he was trying to commit suicide. Recovery Girl is already involved and has recommended for him to see Hound Dog as soon as he is able to.”

Nedzu’s smile dropped as Aizawa spoke, likely calculating what to do. “I see. This is most troubling. I’m glad that Recovery Girl is already involved and that Hound Dog will be. Where is the student now, Eraser?”

“He’s in my dorm room, recovering. I left him a note with my phone number in case he wakes up.”

Nedzu hummed, mulling over the situation still. “We will need to contact his mother, but he is definitely safer under our care. Gods forbid the commission get involved…”

Aizawa cleared his throat. “Actually, sir, I request that we hold off on contacting his mother. There were scars seemingly years old. I would like to wait until Midoriya wakes up to ask him whether or not he has a safe home environment.”

“So, you suspect Midoriya has been abused?”

“Yes, sir. I do. His timid and over-apologizing demeanor now with the added evidence of mental health issues as well as the new development of his quirk gives belief that he may not be entirely safe at home.”

Nedzu nods in agreement. “So be it. I trust your judgement as one of the best teachers at this school. I’m canceling your classes for the day and sending the 1-A students home for the weekend. It will be your choice what to tell them the reason is. For now, you are to be the one to watch over Midoriya and handle the beginning of the investigation.” The principle opened the doors with a button on his desk, “Keep me updated. You’re dismissed.”

Aizawa bowed before turning to leave, “Thank you, sir.” As he left the office, he could only sigh in relief. He sent a text to Hizashi, checking the time again. 7:45, good. The students would already be heading to class, so he would have to send them home from there.

As soon as he walked into the room, he could feel the unease from the students, likely about their missing classmate. They all settled into their chairs, anxiously waiting for even a shred of information.

“You’re being sent home for the weekend. Apparently, I’ve been working you ‘too hard’ according to the principle. Take the time to study and practice. If anyone would like, I permit you to get together and spar with the extra time. No one is allowed in the dorms this weekend, so spend the weekend with a classmate if you must.” The kids started to murmur amongst themselves, confused. He heard a couple ‘what about Deku?’s before he cleared his throat to silence them. “Midoriya is just sick this morning. He will be with Recovery Girl, but no one is permitted to visit him until instructed otherwise as he is contagious. Class dismissed.”

Aizawa knew he couldn’t handle any questions, so he just walked out, leaving the students to rumor amongst themselves as they packed up to leave. He knew they would be headed to the dorms shortly after him, so he needed to get back before they did so they wouldn’t know he was there. One thing was for sure though, he needed to move Midoriya. He knew his students; they would snoop around and try to find answers. They’re smart, and at least one of them, likely Bakugou or Todoroki, would have figured out something was off.

He sent another text to Hizashi-

Sent: I’m bringing the kid home. I can’t leave him in the dorms.

He surprisingly got a text back immediately.

Cockatoo <3: ok hun! let me know if I need to bring anything for you two
Cockatoo <3: ill come by at lunch to check on u

Aizawa couldn’t help but smile a little. At least he had a good husband to help him with all of this. Arriving back at the dorms, he was glad to see that none of the students were close behind him. Maybe he had enough time to get Midoriya out the back to the teacher’s parking lot. Unlocking his dorm room, he walked in to see the kid still out like a light. Hopefully, he would sleep another hour or so. Taking a second to listen for any students, he carefully scooped his student into his arms. Shit, he was light. Too light for the amount of training he’d done and how much muscle he had built up. Another concern to add onto the pile. He waited another moment before taking the back staircase and heading towards the parking lot.

His thankfulness over not getting caught by students was negated when he was setting Midoriya into the backseat of his car.

“Eraser? Why do you have young Midoriya? Don’t you have class?”

Great. The oaf himself, All Might. He turned with a glare,

“Why are you almost half an hour late to school as a teacher, All Might? There has been an incident with Midoriya, and Nedzu has me watching over him for the time being. Why are you so invested in my student, anyway? You show him so much favoritism, All Might. Don’t think the other teachers haven’t noticed.”

All Might backed off some, “I-I’m just as concerned as I would be about any of my students!” Aizawa snorted in response.

“Get to class, All Might, and know that I’m watching you. Whatever the relationship is between you and Midoriya, stay out of my way.” He shut the car door, not even giving the other hero another glance before he got in the car himself, put the key in the ignition, and left. He didn’t regret the interaction; if anything, it was more than due time for someone to call All Might out for his obsession with one singular student. It was odd, and a little creepy.

He pushed it out of his mind for now. He could antagonize the hero later, but right now he needed to make sure his student was safe.

Chapter Text

Thankfully, the drive to the apartment was short, and being a building designed to house both regular citizens and heroes, Aizawa had access to a special entrance where no one would be able to see him carrying inside an unconscious child. He parked right beside the door, taking Midoriya out of the backseat and carrying him in. Aizawa opted to carry him with one arm, Midoriya cradled against his side not unlike one would carry a toddler on their hip. It was easier to open doors that way, and it wasn’t like the kid was heavy. He was maybe a whole 90 pounds or so sopping wet. He wasn’t prepared to have to ask Midoriya about all the piling concerns, but maybe he could wait until Mic came home at least for lunch in a couple hours.

Stepping into the apartment, he was immediately bombarded by his cat, Mochi. The white fluffy feline was meowing at his feet and rubbing against his legs, obviously having missed his owner as he hadn’t come home last night.

“Hi, Mochi. I missed you too.” Aizawa kicked his shoes off, noticing that Midoriya wasn’t wearing any, but that was again another problem for later. He laid the kid down on the couch, covering him with a blanket and sitting down in a chair next to him. Finally, he could relax. It wasn’t long before he drifted off to sleep sitting up, whether he had wanted to or not.

Midoriya felt something… stepping on him? He came to rather slowly, the groggy feeling hitting him like a truck as he cracked his eyes open. He let them adjust to the sunlight flitting into the room slowly before opening them all the way only to be staring into the face of a rather large, fluffy cat. He was trying to figure out if anyone at the dorms would have brought in a cat before he started to remember everything that happened the night before. Oh, right. That explained the stinging across his right arm, but he was in a hoodie now that he definitely didn’t own as well as missing his binder, indicated by the fact he woke up without his ribs killing him. The cat made himself the center of Izuku’s attention again by tapping a paw on his cheek.

“Hey, kitty. Who do you belong to?” His voice was rough, and he gave a small cough to try and clear it. He went to sit up slowly, the cat moving itself into his lap. Looking around the room, Izuku tried to figure out where he could be, since he definitely wasn’t at UA anymore. Then his eyes settled on the still asleep Aizawa on a chair to his right. That explains it, he must have been taken to a safe house or something. The commission wouldn’t take well to UA having a suicidal student, and especially not one that made an attempt. At least he was getting some answers, but Izuku wasn’t sure if he should wake his teacher or not. He had woken him up last night, so letting him sleep seemed like the best option. Izuku busied himself by taking note of the layout of the apartment they were in, absently petting the cat that was now curled up and falling asleep in his lap.

Izuku himself was on a couch in the middle of the main room, and there was an open plan kitchen in front and to the left of him, close to the door. An island separated the main room from the kitchen space itself, 4 stools around it. By the big window across the wall to his right, there was a hallway that lead back presumably to bedrooms and a bathroom.

Speaking of the bathroom… Izuku realized he really needed to pee. He gently moved the cat to a space on the couch beside him, standing up a little too quickly and getting hit with a wave of dizziness. Izuku put a hand on the arm of the couch, trying to steady himself before he took a few shaky steps into the hallway. Thankfully, he could see the bathroom door open and used to wall to keep himself upright until he closed the door behind him.

Aizawa woke up to hearing a door click close, groaning and thinking briefly that it was Hizashi, and he could go back to sleep before remembering that he was in the living room with Midoriya. He rubbed his eyes, pulling his head up to look over on the couch, briefly panicking that Izuku was missing before he heard the toilet flush. Oh, he had just gotten up for the bathroom. He heard the sink next, then the door open followed by a thud. Aizawa jumped up and ran over to the noise, seeing Izuku on his hands and knees.

“Kid, are you okay?” Izuku looked up at him with a shaky smile,

“Y-Yeah, I’m just a little dizzy still.” He didn’t even need to ask before his teacher helped him to his feet, providing support as he lead him back over to the couch and sitting beside him.

They sat in awkward silence for a minute or so, the cat making his way back into Izuku’s lap, before Shota spoke up.

“We need to talk about what happened, Midoriya.” Izuku felt his throat tighten and face heat up.

“I know…” A pause, “I’m sorry, Sensei.”

“No, Midoriya. You have no need to apologize. Someone should have noticed.”

Tears filled Izuku’s eyes, and he opened his mouth to protest before getting cut off by Aizawa.

“No. Midoriya,” Aizawa saw a change in Midoriya’s face at the use of his surname, “Kid… what even happened? This has been going on a long time, that much we can see. We want to help you; I want to help you. Please let me.”

Izuku could see a level of concern on his teacher’s face his gruff exterior had led Izuku to believe he was incapable of. He could theorize all day why his teacher was being so nice to him, but at the end of the day Izuku wouldn’t believe a word of it.

“You shouldn’t help me, and you shouldn’t want to. I’m a disgrace to UA. A teenager that can’t control his quirk, a waste of the time and effort you all have put into me. My parents made sure I always knew that I wouldn’t amount to anything, and they were right. I can’t even tell you the worst part of it all because it would betray someone I really look up to.”

Well, that was extra concerning. “Midoriya-“

“It’s Izuku. Please, just call me Izuku.” Adding another question about the advertence of his surname to the ‘for later’ pile, Aizawa continued.

“Izuku, you have so much potential. You’re just a kid, and you have so much time ahead of you. I also literally made sure you didn’t bleed to death in the dorms last night, so I’m pretty sure anything you’re hiding isn’t worth keeping a secret anymore.”

The mention of last night’s predicament sat bitterly on Izuku’s tongue. He knew that he was a breaking point. Something would have to give, and telling at least a teacher at UA that’s already sworn to secrecy about All Might’s condition would be one of the least dangerous to tell. So here goes.

“I was born quirkless. I didn’t have a quirk up until about 8 months before the UA entrance exam.”

Confusion spread across Aizawa’s face, “That’s impossible, kid. Late bloomers are pretty uncommon, but you had to be-“

“I wasn’t. They checked the toe joint when I was a kid, multiple times at my parent’s request. I was born entirely quirkless. That is, until someone saw potential in me that I couldn’t see in myself.”

He took a shaky breath and tried to still his trembling hands, opting to busy them again by running his fingers through the fur of the cat still on his lap.

“Do you remember the sludge villain that attacked a middle schooler? And the stupid kid that tried to save them before All Might showed up? I was the stupid kid that ran in to try and do something. It was dumb, reckless even, but the heroes were all just standing there doing nothing, and I couldn’t just watch that kid die. It was my fault that the villain was there, anyway because earlier that afternoon, it had attacked me, and All Might captured it until I ruined it. I made him drop the containers the sludge was sealed in. It was that evening after everything had calmed down that All Might had found me again. He said that I had potential, that I could be a hero, and he made me an offer. At 14 years old, the number one hero offered me his quirk. I thought it was impossible. Quirks aren’t transferrable. Except for All Might’s quirk, One for All. The quirk builds power by stockpiling it between each holder, and I’m now the ninth.”

Aizawa was trying to process everything at once. A kid without a quirk was somehow given what’s likely the only transferrable quirk currently known, but it also came from the number one hero. That at least explains why All Might has such a big interest in the kid, but it certainly puts more blame on All Might for not knowing something was seriously wrong after being close it Izuku for almost a year. He was definitely calling the oaf later to see if he had any information, and to yell at him for being yet again, so dense.

“So, All Might gave you his quirk, and then what?” He prodded, trying to at least get up to speed with the quirk issue.

“He trained me for the entrance exam. We spent 8 months cleaning up a beach from trash, discarded appliances, you name it. Then I took the exam, got in, and spent the last few weeks leading up to school and even a while after school started to keep training with him. I felt so behind, that I needed to catch up to my classmates. I was also given a meal plan to follow, but I couldn’t get everything he had on there.”

There was a place Aizawa could start to dig into. He had to be careful, but he needed answers.

“Why couldn’t you? Was it your mother? I’d assume without knowing what’s going on she might be hesitant to change her current shopping habits.”

“Oh. Um… She wasn’t very… present. My mom just uh, she works a lot.” A very obvious lie. Now that he thought about it, the fact that when getting permission for the dorms, the teachers weren’t actually able to visit Midoriya’s house, was odd. Especially with how accident prone Izuku is. They just got her signature on the necessary paperwork.

“Izuku. I need you to be honest with me. You won’t be in trouble, no matter what is going on.”

There’s another pause from the kid. He knows that lying to Aizawa would only make things worse, and he did at least believe him about One for All.

“She drinks a lot. She’s usually passed out when I get home, but when she’s not unconscious, I get yelled at a lot. I have to cook, clean, and pick up after her tantrums. One time, she um… she broke a bottle over my head because I was late with dinner.”

Shit, he was right. Izuku had been abused, and likely for a very long time. Aizawa was very glad he trusted his instinct now. No way in hell he’s letting the kid go back to that.

“Can you tell me any more about things she did or said to you? I know it’s hard, and you can stop when you need to.” He glanced at the clock, 11:30am. Mic would be headed home for lunch in about half an hour.

Izuku shook his head, “No, I-I think I can keep going. She mostly just called me worthless because I didn’t have a quirk and because my father left her since he didn’t want a quirkless kid. He left right after I was diagnosed, and she tried to be normal, but then she started to blame me for it. Not too long after that she started drinking. I got bullied in school, too, but the teachers didn’t care, and she didn’t care; she thought I deserved it.”

Aizawa sighed, “Izuku, you didn’t deserve any of that, and I’m very sorry that I’m probably the first adult in your life to tell you that. You have a lot of potential, kid, but you also deserve to be treated like any other person, quirk or not.” He knew he couldn’t fix years of damage in an afternoon, but he can set up an appointment with Hound Dog, maybe even this afternoon since it was still early.

“I can tell you though that you won’t be going home. I can’t risk the safety of one of my students like that. You’re under my care per Nedzu as well, so I hope you don’t mind staying here for a while.”

“Can I ask you something, Sensei?”

“We’re in my house Izuku, please call me Aizawa, but yes of course you can.”

“R-right, Aizawa. What’s the cat’s name? I think he likes me.”

Aizawa couldn’t help but chuckle just a little, reaching over to give Mochi a head scratch from his place in Izuku’s lap.

“His name is Mochi because he’s so soft and fluffy. The name was my husband’s idea, actually. We found this little furball matted and cold in a storm drain and took him in.” He checked the clock again; Mic would be heading home right about now. Shota pulled out his phone to send a text.

Sent: Hey, kid is awake. He’s started talking about his home life.
Sent: I’ll fill you in later, but it’s not good.
Sent: Can you bring home something for lunch? I’ll call in some takeout if you pick it up.

Setting the phone on the table in front of him, Aizawa looked back to Izuku. He could see the tension the kid was still carrying, and he couldn’t even imagine how nervous he would be telling all of this to a teacher, especially Shota with how rough he was on the kids.

“Are you hungry? How do you feel about takeout for lunch?” Shota asked, trying to see how Izuku reacted to the proposition.

“A-anything you want is fine, b-but don’t worry about spending money on me…” That was about the type of response he expected, but the kid deserved a good (high calorie) meal.

“My husband is coming home for lunch, anyway. Also, you’re under my care per the principle. If it helps, think of it as me doing my job.”

Izuku nodded to that; he couldn’t really argue with his teacher just fulfilling the task he’d been given.

“Good. I’ll let you look at a menu.” He picked up his phone again, reading the message back from Hizashi.

Cockatoo <3: sure! im glad hes up :v
Cockatoo <3: our usual place?
Sent: Yeah, the usual. I’ll put it under your name.
Cockatoo <3: ok! im leaving now so see you in 20 :P

Aizawa pulled up the menu, handing his phone over Izuku, who was still hesitant to take it.

“Kid, between my husband and I, we work 5 jobs. We have plenty of money to buy take out once.”

He could actually see some of the tension ease from Izuku’s shoulders, and he scrolled through for a minute before picking out a basic lo-mien dish. Aizawa made the call, making sure to put the name under Yamada. That definitely caught Izuku’s attention.

“Yamada? You mean like… Present Mic?”

“The one and only. We don’t wear rings for our own safety, but yeah, I was lucky bastard to marry him.”

“I wouldn’t guess that you would marry someone so loud.”

Aizawa shrugged, “Opposites attract, I guess. Why don’t we turn on the news to watch until Hizashi gets here?” Izuku nodded, sitting back into the couch. He was actually… relaxed here. It wasn’t something Izuku was used to, but he didn’t mind it.

Chapter Text

The newscaster was droning on about something non-hero related, so Izuku was just playing with Mochi until Mic arrived; Aizawa had gotten out his laptop to start working on what looked like, from what Izuku could see, a case report for him.

“Sho, I’m home!” Mic came through the door with a plastic bag full of food, still in his full hero costume. He did just come from the school, so it did make sense, but it also explained why he was a few minutes late. He turned his attention to Izuku and Mochi.

“It looks like you met our cat! He’s such a sweetheart.” Hizashi scooped him up out of Izuku’s lap, kissing him on the top of the head before setting him in the floor.

“And how are you doing, little listener? Shota hasn’t bothered you too much has he?”

Izuku wasn’t entirely sure how to respond. It was still weird seeing the two so casual, so… domestic. Theoretically, he knew that even pro heroes had normal lives outside of their jobs with families of their own, but it was still awkward almost to see his teachers so casual with him.

“U-um… No, sir, it’s- I’m alright.” Aizawa was already up to get the bag from Mic, setting it on the island to open up and dish out.

“Please, Midoriya, call me Yamada outside of school.”

“Izuku. Uh, please call me Izuku.” Yamada only smiled,

“No problem, kiddo. I’d imagine you’re still a little weak; need a hand?” He held out a hand that, to the adults’ surprise, Izuku took without hesitation, letting his teacher help him over to the island. He was still a little shaky, but he felt a little stronger than earlier as he woke up more. Aizawa handed him a container and a pair of chopsticks.

“There’s some gyoza too if you want any, so help yourself.”

Izuku was still a little hesitant, waiting until the adults started eating before he dug into his own food. It didn’t go unnoticed by either hero. Thankfully, the rest of the meal was uneventful with only some small talk about classes and grading between the teachers. As they were finishing up, Izuku had realized that he’d eaten maybe half of his food, and Aizawa noticed the flash of panic across his face before he reached over to set a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

“Izuku, don’t feel bad. You haven’t had proper sized meals for a while, have you? It’ll take time to build back up. Would you like to save that for later?”

Izuku nodded, trying to ignore the concern that Yamada was showing, but he was glad he hadn’t said anything about it. It was almost embarrassing.

“Alright, I’ll put it in the fridge for now. It’ll be on the top shelf for you when you’re ready for it.”

Trying to lighten the mood back up, Yamada picked up Mochi from where he had been circling around their feet.

“Hey, Izuku, did Shota show you that Mochi will play fetch with toy mice?” He led him into the living room, showing Izuku where the toy box was and all of the things Mochi liked to play with.

This left Aizawa to be able to sneak off into the bedroom to start making phone calls. First, Nedzu to update him.

Ring ring- click!

“Eraser! I assume you have updates on Midoriya, yes?”

“Yes, sir. Midoriya is now awake, and he started talking about his home life. I was correct in my judgement that he has been abused by his mother. From his statement, she’s a physically and emotionally abusive alcoholic. She also has neglected to provide him basic necessities, which we have evidence of as Midoriya is very thin and was unable to finish a full meal, indicating lack of proper nutrition.”

“I see. I will notify the school social worker so we can open a case. For now, Midoriya will stay in your care until further notice, although I expect him back at school on Monday, situation allowing.”

“If you need a written statement or photo evidence, let me know. Also, he hates being called Midoriya and has asked for us to use his first name.”

“Ah, as he wishes. Tell Izuku that UA is on his side. Take care, Eraser.”

There was a click as the principal hung up. At least that call went well. Now, to yell at a certain blonde idiot.

The phone rung a full four times before there was finally an answer.

“Aizawa! How is young-“

“Cut the shit, All Might. I know what you did to Izuku.”

“Wha-? Eraser, I can assure you that-“

“No. He told me everything, or at least I hope he did. Do you even know how much pressure you put on this kid? Did you have any goddamn idea how bad his home life was? You find a kid one day, watch him do something stupidly reckless, and you decide to give him your quirk. He was 14, All Might. FOURTEEN.”

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t think to ask. I just-“

“You just did something reckless without thinking it through. How did you know the quirk wouldn’t kill him? He gets injured all the time because his body physically can’t handle it! You absolutely stupid do you have to be?!”

There’s silence on the other end of the line for a moment.

“I fucked up, Aizawa. I see that now. I saw that every time Young Midoriya would get hurt. I made a huge mistake, and it keeps me up at night knowing how much danger I’ve put him in.”

“It should. You know what? After school today, you’re getting your ass over here and apologizing to Izuku. You’re telling him anything about that quirk that he doesn’t know, you’re answering any questions he may have, you’re answering any questions I have, and you’re going to be responsible for helping with the extra training he’s going to need so he doesn’t keep breaking his own bones. Am I clear?”

“Y-yes. Crystal clear. I will let you know before I leave the school.”

“Good. Oh, a heads up? Stop calling him Midoriya, he hates it.”

Aizawa hung up the phone, sending a text message to All Might with his address for later before pulling up one last person to call.

Hound Dog answered the phone on the first ring.

“Hello, this is Hound Dog. How can I help, ya?”

“Hey, Hound Dog. It’s Eraser. I have a student that needs to see you, and I wanted to know when the earliest I could get him in would be.”

There’s a hum in the other end of the line and some typing on a keyboard.

“Looks like today is full up, but I can get them in first thing Monday. How about 8am?”

“I really wanted him to go in today, but Monday should work. Thank you, Hound Dog. I’ll be bringing him in myself.”

“Good to hear. Can I get a name for the student so I can make the appointment in the system?”

“Yeah, it’s Midoriya Izuku. I’ll also let you know so you can make note of it that Izuku hates being called by his surname, so just call him Izuku. Oh, and forward the email confirmation to Nedzu as well, please.”

”Alright, no problem. I’ll see both of you on Monday then. Have a good one, Eraser!”

“You too, Hound Dog.”

With that, Aizawa had everything set up for now that Izuku would need immediately. Next would be furnishing a room, making sure he had everything for school he needed, getting the other things he has from his house, oh god; he’s sounding like a parent now. He joined the other two in the living room, Hizashi on the couch and Izuku in the floor with Mochi, dragging around a feather toy for him.

“Hey, Izuku. All Might is going to come by later to talk about a few things.” Izuku tensed up, Mochi taking the toy out of his hand and running off with it.

“T-talk? It is um… is it about One for All? Was he mad that I told you?” Aizawa could hear the shakiness in his voice; the kid had flipped like a switch and was about to cry again.

“No, he wasn’t mad. He doesn’t have a right to be mad because he put you in this situation. Do you understand that?”

“But I was the one that said yes. I wanted to do it.”

“Whether you wanted to or not was irrelevant. What All Might asked you to do, especially in such a short amount of time, was not okay. He’s an adult, a pro hero, and the number one pro hero at that. All Might never should have put you on the spot like that to take on such a huge responsibility. You were 14. Hell, even now you’re barely 15. You’re a child, Izuku. He had no right to force you into such a big decision.”

Izuku hadn’t thought about it that way. He had always loved All Might and looked up to him, even since he was practically a baby. He guessed it was unfair for All Might to ask him after only knowing him less than a full day to just agree to take a powerful quirk without knowing the consequences.

“So, is he coming over after school?”

Aizawa nodded, “Since Hizashi is here, would you like to tell him what’s going on? You can trust him if you’d like to tell him, but I won’t force you to either. It’s your story to tell.” Izuku looked up to Yamada then back to Aizawa. Both of them made him feel really safe. He couldn’t even explain why they did, he just knew that he felt like he could tell them anything.

So, he relayed the story from earlier that afternoon, watching the same concern for him that Aizawa had in Yamada.

“Izuku, I’m so sorry that happened to you. I wish I had noticed something, so we could’ve helped you sooner. Would you like a hug?”

It caught Izuku off guard. No one really asked him that. He wasn’t close enough to any of his classmates for them to hug him, and his mom for sure wouldn’t ever do it.

“I think I would like that…” Yamada immediately got up, sitting on the other side of Izuku than Shota, and hugged him from the side. It didn’t take long for Izuku to hug back, relishing in the positive physical contact. He hadn’t had any in a really long time, and he didn’t realize how much he missed it.

Pulling away from the hug, Izuku felt almost refreshed.

Yamada looked at the clock, “Alright, little listener, I have to go back to school. I don’t have a class during the final period, so I’ll bring my grading home today.” He gave Shota a peck on the cheek, standing up grabbing his keys. “I’ll see you two in a few hours. Don’t burn the building down while I’m gone.”

Aizawa stood up too, “Alright, kid. Why don’t we watch some TV for now? There might be something hero related on the news since there wasn’t much earlier.” They moved back up to the couch, the TV turned back on. There was actually a fight downtown that was getting some coverage, and Aizawa didn’t actually stop Izuku as he started analyzing the heroes on the screen.

Even once the fight was over, it left Izuku bubbling about it for the next half hour. Aizawa was just glad to see the kid smiling about something. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be able to last when he got a text from Nedzu.

Rat: The detective on Izuku’s case is requesting photo evidence. Either you take them, or the police has to.

Dammit. Just as the kid was really calming down. The next few days were just going to be one hurdle after another it seems.

Sent: I’ll get them.

That was the only response he gave for now, looking over to where Izuku was on the other end of the couch, relaying to Mochi how some animals have quirks too and listing off ones he knew of. This would not be a fun conversation.

Chapter Text

Aizawa had to think for a second about his to ask this. There really wasn’t a good way to do it gently.

“Izuku, I just got an update from Nedzu on the case UA is building for you. I don’t want to freak you out or anything, but the police are asking for photo evidence. You do however have the option for me to be the one to take the photos rather than the police.”

He watched Izuku’s reaction closely, seeing it change from outright panic to overall fear and uneasiness.

“I want y-you to do it.” Izuku didn’t add on the reasoning, but Aizawa could guess it was a mixture of the fact that Izuku was trans and likely didn’t want anyone else to see his body, but also because he had opened up for likely the first time to someone that didn’t react badly, and so it was also about trust.

“Okay. We’ll need to get the scars on your arms as well as any other scars or injuries you may have from her. It also wouldn’t hurt to show how thin you are, if you’re okay with an overall front and back photo. You won’t need to undress all the way or anything, and I have you binder for you in the pocket of the hoodie you’re wearing. Come on.”

He got up, a scared Izuku following him back to his and Hizashi’s bedroom. “Here’s a t-shirt for you. I’ll step out so you can change.” Aizawa handed Izuku just a plain black t-shirt. It was a little big, but it was better than being in just a binder.

“You okay in there?” Izuku hadn’t even realized that he was starting to space out.

“Y-yeah. Um… you can come in now.” He sat down on the edge of the bed, Aizawa sitting beside him with a first aid kit.

“It’s a good chance to change those bandages too. We can start with one arm at a time. No need to rush, though; we have all day.”

Izuku hesitated before he moved to sit cross-legged on the bed, facing Aizawa, before he held out his right arm. This one was the worst of the two, so might as well get it out of the way first. He watched, almost fixated, as his teacher unwrapped the gauze carefully, revealing mostly healed cuts over crisscrossing scars. He didn’t miss the small exhale from Aizawa as the last of the gauze unraveled.

“We just need a quick photo, and then we’ll wrap it back up. Are you holding up alright?”

Izuku shook his head. Honestly, he wasn’t okay. He knew it was bad, but he was finally starting to realize exactly how much damage he had done over time.

“I’ll try to be quick. Remember to breathe, kid.” He snapped a photo with his phone, using flash to make sure it was good enough to not need to take again. “One down, one to go."

Wrapping it back up didn’t take as long as wrapping it, thankfully. The next arm was the same: unwrap, photo, wrap back up.

“Are there any other scars we need to see?” Izuku nodded,

“There’s a scar on the back of my head from a broken bottle.” He turned around, moving his hair out of the way to show a jagged line of scar tissue maybe 3 inches in length. Aizawa grabbed a photo of it to, adding a note what it was from to send with it.

“Last thing, would you be okay taking your shirt off to show your current body condition?”

He really didn’t want to. He really really didn’t want to, but more than he didn’t want to have the photos done, he wanted his mother to rot in jail. Without a verbal response, Izuku stood and slipped the shirt off.

“Just be quick please.” Aizawa nodded, standing up himself.

“Stand straight up, arms by your sides.” A photo. “Good. Turn around.” Another photo, and scars all over the poor kid’s back could be seen, some were burn marks while others were from cuts and slashes. “That’s it, all done. I’ll get these sent to the police for the case.” He handed Izuku the shirt to put back on.

“Just make sure you remember to take your binder off before bed tonight. I wouldn’t want you to bruise any ribs.”

Izuku fidgeted with his hands for a minute before asking a question that had been on his mind.

“How come you and Mic-sensei are so… okay with me being trans? No one else ever really has been…”

There was yet another thing Aizawa wanted to hurt all of the adults that had been around Izuku for.

“Because it’s a totally normal thing. Trans individuals are no different than anyone else. The amount of discrimination against the LGBT community in general is disgusting. Look at me, I’m a gay pro hero, and Hizashi is bi. We’ve fought long and hard to be treated as equals, and I can tell you that no one deserves to be seen as less than for something they have no control over. So, if anyone gives you any trouble, come to one of us or Nedzu, and it will be taken care of.”

The way Izuku had been treated just continued to make Shota more and more pissed off. He was just a kid; he didn’t deserve any of it.

“Oh… no one ever told me that. I was actually, um… really surprised when the UA application asked for preferred name and pronouns and even more surprised when none of the teachers misgendered me.”

“UA is one of the more progressive hero schools, that’s for sure. How can a student put all their focus on being a good hero if they’re in an environment they can’t feel safe in?”

“That makes sense. I know it made middle school really hard for me.”

Trying to lighten the mood back up, Aizawa made an offer.

“Can you help me with something, Izuku? Our spare bedroom has ended up with a lot of Hizashi’s old recording equipment. We need to move it out so it can be your bedroom and move the equipment to our closet for now. Think you can do that?”

Izuku light up, “Yeah, I can do that!” There was a pause, “Do I get to decorate it? It’s okay if I don’t get to, I just wasn’t really allowed to at home…”

“Of course, you can. Just run any color you want to paint the walls by us first. As for décor, posters, anything like that, go nuts.”

He could see the excitement Izuku had, “Let’s get started then! Yamada should be here in what,” He counted on his fingers for a second, “approximately 1 hour and 22 minutes! We can surprise him by having it already done.”

Aizawa couldn’t help the small chuckle that escaped him. “Alright, alright. Well, we better get going then. Go to my closet and there should be a large blue plastic bin. Go grab that to start with. I think we have some broken down boxes we can tape together already un here.”

Izuku nodded enthusiastically, trying, and failing, not to run back down the short hallway.

They got to work, Izuku coming up with good ideas for sorting and packing up everything and Aizawa doing most of the heavy lifting after Izuku realized his arm wasn’t quite healed enough yet. They were finishing up trying to fit the boxes in a closet when Yamada came home.

“Look at my two strong men! Shota, you could’ve waited until I got home, you know.”

It was Izuku who responded, “I thought it would be nice to surprise you! After all, you did work today, so it wouldn’t be fair for us to do nothing all day.”

“Well, that was very nice of you, Izuku!” Hizashi instinctively reached up to ruffle Izuku’s hair, making him flinch back, hands in front of his face. “Shit, kiddo, I’m so sorry, I-“

Izuku dropped his gaze to the floor. “I-it’s okay, Yamada. I, um… I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick.” He rushed past both adults, the bathroom door shutting behind him a few seconds later.

“Sho, I didn’t mean to scare him, I just… I wanted to show him I was proud. Dammit.” Aizawa pulled his husband into his arms.

“You didn’t mean to. I’m sure he knows that. Knowing the kid, he’ll blame himself before he blames you.” He hugged him a moment longer before pulling back. “Come on, let’s make sure he’s okay.”

Aizawa lightly knocked on the door, hearing Izuku crying on the other side.

“Izuku? Are you okay?” They just heard the kid start sobbing louder. “Kid, I need you to say something, or I’m coming in there.”

There was another minute of just Izuku crying before Shota entered. Hizashi stood at the doorway before he heard Shota’s reaction.

“Dammit, ‘Zashi I need a towel, now.” He immediately went to go grab one, already knowing what was going on.

“How the hell did you even dig a blade out of a razor so fast?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Izuku muttered the apology over and over. Hizashi showed up with the towel, only able to catch the flash of crimson as Aizawa grabbed the towel and started holding pressure.

“It’s okay, Izuku. It’s okay. It’s not that bad. We don’t even need Recovery Girl for this one. We can just bandage it up and wait until we see her tomorrow.”

With Aizawa in front of him, Izuku was able to start calming down, down to a sniffle when he looked up to Hizashi, still hovering in the doorway. He didn’t want Yamada to feel bad for only trying to help; Izuku didn’t even know that was a trigger for him, so how could Yamada?

“I’m sorry if I scared you…” Of course, Shota had been right that Izuku blamed himself for the incident.

“Oh, honey,” He stepped into the bathroom, crouching down beside his husband in front of Izuku, “This is not your fault, so you don’t need to apologize. It was an accident, and now we know better for next time, yeah? I’ll grab the first aid kit, and then we can patch you up.”

“Please come back.” The timid request surprised everyone, even Izuku. He didn’t mean to say it, but it just kind of slipped out.

Yamada only smiled, “Of course, Izuku. I’ll be right back.”

“First aid kit’s in the bedroom still.” Aizawa called after him, pulling up the towel a little to check on the bleeding. “It’s just about stopped.”

Hizashi came back in with the kit, already getting it open and pulling out some gauze and medical tape and handing them over to Shota. It was pretty easy to wrap Izuku’s arm back up, and once all was said and done, Aizawa took Izuku back into the living room and Yamada went to get Izuku a glass of water.

Aizawa checked his phone, seeing a message from All Might that he was on his way about 5 minutes ago.

“All Might should be here in about 10 minutes. Are you still up to see him this afternoon?”

“Y-yeah. He’s probably worried about me since I’ve usually messaged him by now about training for the weekend.”

“It’s your choice, and if at any point you want him to leave, just let us know.”

Hizashi handed Izuku his water, sitting down with him in the middle and his husband on the other side.

“Hey, kiddo, do you want someone to go get your phone for you? I’m assuming it’s still at the dorms. I don’t mind to while you two talk with All Might.”

“All Might is bringing it with him, actually. He put it in his text message earlier that he grabbed it when Izuku never texted him back, apparently.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot he had a key to my dorm since we got the extra key for our parents and all, I just gave mine to him instead.”

Aizawa’s phone buzzed with another message, “He’s outside the building.” A knock followed a minute after with Hizashi getting up to let the hero in.

“Come in, All Might. You can have a seat in the chair over there.” Yamada pointed to the armchair beside the couch, and Izuku gave him a little wave from his seat beside Aizawa on the couch.

“H-hi All Might!”

“Izuku, my boy! I’m very glad to see you’re okay.” Izuku wanted to get up and hug him, but he figured now wasn’t the best time with the anger radiating off of Aizawa.

Yagi sat in the aforementioned chair, unsure of what Eraser had in store for him. He was pretty angry on the phone earlier.

“Eraser, I… I know I have a lot to explain, but first, Izuku, I’m so deeply sorry of the position I put you in. It was unfair for me to put such a burden on your young shoulders. I hope you can forgive me and allow me to continue being your mentor.”

Izuku sighed. He knew he shouldn’t forgive him after the conversation he had with Aizawa earlier, but he did anyway. It’s just how he was.

“I forgive you, All Might. I don’t know why, but I do, and I do want you to keep being my mentor.”

“But you better start talking. Now. Spill every detail you have that we might need to know about One for All.” Aizawa tacked on.

Toshinori leaned forward on his bony knees, a deep sigh coming from his chest. “You’re not going to like it, but here goes.”

He went on to explain the origin of One for All, how it came to be from All for One. The story of the two brothers and how All for One is still out there, searching for a way to kill the holder of the one quirk he can’t have. He told about his own mentor, how he lost her, and the man that took him in after. Granted, Izuku already knew most of this, but if Aizawa was mad before, he was now seething.

“You mean to tell me that you put a literal child in the way of an all-powerful supervillain that can literally take people’s quirks away?” He took a deep breath, “How fucking stupid can you be, All Might?! You see a 12 year old kid, decide that they have the ‘heart to be a hero’, and then before telling them the dangers and consequences, thrust them into a life that can get them killed before they even turn 18. What were you even thinking? Oh wait- you weren’t. You never do!”

Meanwhile, Izuku is both feeling his anxiety rise from the yelling, but he also started thinking a little bit more about everything that All Might was saying. Aizawa was right- it was really dangerous. Since being given One for All, so many things had happened that he hadn’t really stopped to take in everything he had gotten himself into. His breath started to quicken, Hizashi noticing and sliding a little closer to Izuku.

Aizawa was still yelling at the idiot when he heard Hizashi cut in.

“Shota! The kid, you’re scaring the hell out of him. Calm down.” He tried to look Izuku in the eyes, failing to do so as he started really panicking. “Shh, little listener, I need you to breathe. I’m going to touch you, okay?” Yamada wrapped an arm around Izuku, basically pulling him into his lap. Izuku instinctively wrapped around Hizashi, trying to shield himself from the yelling.

Aizawa did his best to calm down. He pointed at All Might, “This isn’t over for you. You owe him your goddamn life Yagi.” He turned to Izuku, “I’m sorry, kid. I didn’t mean to yell. I was very angry and it was wrong of me.”

The two adults continued to comfort Izuku until he came around, looking over to All Might with puffy eyes.

“Can I tell him about last night?”

“You can tell him anything you want to, honey.” Hizashi ran a hand through his curls, the action being calming for the kid.

“I tried so hard not to let you see that I was struggling. You’ve been my hero since I was a little kid, but now I understand that it didn’t help anything since I ended up here anyway.”

He sat up, still leaning against Hizashi, but he wasn’t half in his lap anymore.

“I almost killed myself last night.” The words felt sour on his tongue, amplified by the shock on All Might’s face. Izuku held out his bandaged arms, “See? I always wore long sleeves to cover up the scars, not to avoid a sunburn. I don’t blame you for not noticing, though. I had to work really hard to hide it, especially the days my mom would beat me, and I was extra sore. For a while, it kept me going, you know? You were always so nice, and you’d bring lunches, and you were the only adult I thought I could rely on for something. Then when school started, I couldn’t see you as much, and I felt so alone again. I thought I was a failure. I feel like I don’t deserve this quirk, the quirk of the number one hero. I’m not even the best one in the class. I’m trans too. Did you even know that All Might? I wanted to tell you. I wanted to tell you everything, and I couldn’t. It made me feel even worse that I couldn’t tell the one person I could trust that everything was falling to pieces around me.” Izuku broke down into tears, “I just don’t wanna be alone anymore!” He crumpled back into Hizashi.

All three adults shared the same look; their hearts broke for the kid.

Chapter Text

They let Izuku calm back down, Hizashi rubbing his back and gently rocking him. However, it had proved to be a bit too much for him as he cried himself right to sleep. Yamada carried him into their bedroom for now, tucking him in gently and smiling as Mochi made his appearance to cuddle up against Izuku.

Aizawa, unsurprisingly, was the first to speak back up.

“We need to make a plan. First off, you’re going to be doing weekday training with him under mine or Hizashi’s supervision. You gave him the dangerous quirk, so now you get to make sure he can use it without breaking anymore bones. He breaks a bone, I break that bone on you, got it?”

“S-sounds like a plan.” All Might agreed; he couldn’t tell if the threat was empty or not, but with access to Recovery Girl, he wouldn’t put it past the man to torture him.

“Good. Nedzu has put him under our care while the school does a formal investigation and case report. I already had to send photo evidence to police, but hopefully that means we’ll get custody.”

“What do you mean ‘we’ll’ get custody? Wouldn’t Izuku be sent to a foster placement?” Yamada answered this one,

“Shota and I have foster licenses! We’ve had them for years, hoping we could have a placement, but the system is wary of placing ‘normal’ kids with two pro heroes. However, with Nedzu pulling some strings and the legal side of things already being handled, we should be able to gain custody pretty easy.”

Aizawa added on, “Plus we know for sure there’s enough evidence for the court to rule in our favor given the fact that not only is the kid covered in scars, he’s barely 90 pounds and overall short for his age, clear signs of malnutrition and neglect.”

Yagi just nodded, still trying to take in how badly Izuku had been while he hadn’t noticed a thing. Sure, the kid had always been pretty shy and reserved, but he also would light up like the sun when given the chance to do or talk about something he liked.

“I’m honestly glad that Izuku trusts you two so well. I thought he trusted me well enough, but maybe I was wrong. All I saw was an opportunity to give the kid the life he had always dreamed of while also being able to find a suitable next holder for One for All.”

“Honestly, All Might, I know Shota has already said what he thinks about the situation, but I understand why you did it. Izuku is so determined, so thoughtful, so giving. He wants to help those around him so much it’s in his blood. While you definitely didn’t handle the situation well, you chose a really good kid.”

Yamada grabbed Shota’s hand, “And we always wanted a kid of our own, right? A kid with a dangerous quirk that’s training to be a pro hero sounds like the perfect kid for us and our own chaotic lives.”

Aizawa squeezed Hizashi’s hand. “Maybe you’re right. For now, though, we have to keep him safe and help him start to heal,” he turned to All Might, “and that means you need education on a certain couple of topics.”

“What do you mean? I know I’m not the best teacher, but I think we have a decent training system-“

“Not that, idiot. How much do you know about transgender people? Izuku is trans, and with that comes extra things we need to be aware of to keep him safe. Do you even know what a binder is?”

All Might scratched the back of his head, “I very honestly don’t know a whole lot about it… I know I did see that Izuku wore what looked like an undershirt a lot, even in the middle of summer.”

“That was probably his binder. So, for Izuku, he’s a transgender male. This means while he was born and assigned female at birth, he’s actually a boy. Considering his mother, I’m assuming he never had any therapy or medical intervention. For kids, they can take puberty blockers, which are exactly what they sound like. Izuku not having access to those means he’s likely in the middle of or about to really start female puberty.”

“But if Izuku’s a boy, wouldn’t that be really… uncomfortable for him?” This was definitely not a comfortable conversation for Toshinori, at least, but he wanted to make up for his past mistakes and help Izuku as much as he could.

“Maybe you’re not a complete idiot. Yes, it’s probably horrible for him. Trans men wear a compression top that’s called a binder to flatten out their chest to appear more masculine. They’re not the safest thing in the world, but they can be perfectly fine to use as long as the rules that come with binding are followed. This means that he can’t wear one and train or exercise in it; it poses a risk of bruising or breaking ribs. For you, this means you need to ask him and make sure he’s being safe when you two get ready for training.”

All Might nodded. That at least made enough sense. It would probably be hard to breathe in, so taking it off would be safer.

“Is there anything else I need to know?” He asked, hoping he would at least have time to learn more about trans people before he would have to talk to Izuku directly about it. “Just don’t treat him any differently. He’s still a boy like any of the other kids in his class. We can handle the rest of it for now, but you should probably do some of your own research. I can email you some good websites and articles.”

“Thank you, Aizawa, I would appreciate that.” All Might’s phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to check it. “Gentlemen, I do deeply apologize, but it appears I am needed by my company.” As he stood to leave, Izuku was walking back into the room, rubbing at his eyes.

“All Might? Are you leaving?”

“Yes, my boy. I have business I must attend to.”

“Oh… I thought you were gonna stay longer…” The disappointment is clear in the kid’s tone, and Yamada jumped in.

“Well, kiddo, we can’t keep him if he has to go somewhere. We have to start shopping tomorrow anyway for your room. Why don’t we invite him to come with us, if Shota is okay with it?”

The grunt from Shota was noncommittal at best, but Izuku did perk back up.

“Can you come with us, All Might? Please?”

How could Yagi say no to those big green eyes?

“I will do my best, my boy. Oh, before I forget, here’s your phone. Just let me know what the plan is, and we can go from there, yes?”

Izuku took his phone, slipping it immediately into his pocket. “Okay, All Might! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Yamada stood to open the door for him, “Thanks for coming over even though Shota likely threatened you. You mean a lot to Izuku, and neither of us want to take you out of his life entirely if we can help it. Just… start thinking through things more before you make a decision, yeah?”

All Might nodded, thanking them for allowing him to come visit before leaving.

Izuku plopped down on the couch, opening his phone before silently handing it to Aizawa.

“What is it kid?” He looked down at the screen. Shit. There were multiple texts from his mother, in varying degrees of degrading and threatening.

“Don’t panic, Izuku. This is actually a good thing. We can use these as more evidence. Here, open the app the messages are in and take screen shots of all of them. Don’t respond to them at all, just screen shot it and send them to my phone. I gave the class my number for emergencies, so you still have it right?”

Izuku nodded, screenshotting the messages and sending them to Aizawa. Even with his teacher telling him it was a good thing, he couldn’t help but feel a knot form in his stomach. It was still so awful to see that kind of thing written about him. Tears started to gather in his eyes again, soon spilling down his cheeks.

“Don’t worry kiddo, you won’t have to see her anymore.” Hizashi sat back down beside him, letting Izuku hug into his side. “Do you want to talk about it some more, or would you like a distraction? We could always watch a movie, make some popcorn, and just forget about it for now, yeah?”

Izuku shook his head, “I-I think I want to talk about it.”

“You don’t have to, Izuku. We won’t force you to. As it is, you’re going to have to say everything again to the police anyway, so if you want to wait so you don’t have to keep repeating it, that’s just fine.” Aizawa reached over to rub his back, noting how he initially flinched but soon relaxed at the contact.

“N-no. I th-think it’ll help” He argued. Izuku mostly didn’t want to have to go to bed still thinking about it. The room was cleared out now, so he’d likely be alone to sleep tonight. Maybe talking about it now would make it easier to cope with later. I mean, that’s sort of what therapy was even.

“Sh-she’s always saying a lot of the same stuff. She thinks I’m useless because I didn’t come home this afternoon, and I’m supposed to be cleaning the house today. The big one she uses against me is the fact that she found out I’m trans, a-and… she thinks it’s a waste of time, that I’m going to ruin my life or something. Sh-she calls me slurs a lot too, especially when she found out I liked boys. Th-the first binder I had she also cut up so I w-would have to wear, um… the other things. It’s like… she keeps telling me that I won’t amount to anything, but she stops me from being able to do things too…”

“Do you want to know what I think, Izuku?” Aizawa asked.

“S-sure…”

“I think your mother is an uneducated bitch who doesn’t know her mouth from her ass since she sure likes to talk out of it.”

Both Izuku and Hizashi looked at him for a second.

“Shota! Don’t say stuff like that in front of the kid!”

Izuku meanwhile, had started laughing harder than he had in years.

“It’s true, ‘Zashi! Besides, I’d rather teach the kid how to curse properly. He’s a teenager! He’s gonna do it anyway, so he might as well do it right.”

“Shota Aizawa, that is not how you should look at it. You should be teaching the kid how to express emotions without swearing! It’s a valuable skill.”

“Oh, valuable skill my ass. Let the kid say fuck, Hizashi. Not like he hasn’t lived through enough to earn the right to.”

“SHOTA.”

The two bickered back and forth, Izuku giggling between them for a while.

“Stop, stop, please I’m gonna pee myself!” Izuku wheezed out, standing up to go to the bathroom.

Hizashi huffed, “He started it.”

Izuku was still laughing a little on his way to the bathroom. Closing the door behind him, he stopped to look in the mirror, noticing that he was… smiling. Actually, genuinely smiling. It looked so different from the fake smiles he always wore like a mask. Doing his business and walking back out to the living room, Izuku hovered in the hallways a second, seeing Yamada leaning back against Aizawa’s shoulder. They looked so… happy. And peaceful. It almost made Izuku sad to see what he should’ve had his whole life, but he shook it off. He had them now.

“Oh, Izuku! Is there a certain type of movie you wanted to watch?”

“Do you guys have any horror movies?”

He watched Yamada deflate and Aizawa light up. “We sure do, kid! Paranormal, zombie, or psychological?”

“Psychological!”

Yamada groaned, “You two are going to give me nightmares.”

They settled in, Yamada offering to make the popcorn, and the movie started up. With how exhausted Izuku was, he only made it about halfway through before he started falling asleep. Yamada was already passed out beside them when Aizawa nudged his shoulder.

“Go ahead and go take your binder off.” He whispered, “I’ll get Hizashi up for bed. Do you want to sleep with us or try to sleep on your own tonight?”

“I can… sleep with you guys?”

“I wouldn’t have offered if I didn’t mean it. Go on, I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”

Izuku stood up, stretching a little before going to take off his binder, grabbing the hoodie from earlier to change into. By the time he even made it back to the bedroom, Yamada was yet again snoring, now under the covers and minus his glasses, and Aizawa was laying on the other side of the bed.

“Side or middle?”

“Middle…” Izuku offered, still unsure he was allowed to. Aizawa lifted up the blanket, “Well get in here. You’re going to need plenty of rest for tomorrow.”

He nodded, climbing in beside the heroes.

“Goodnight, kid.”

Chapter Text

While Izuku may have fallen asleep easy enough, it proved much more difficult to stay asleep. He kept waking up, and the third time he drifted back to sleep, one of his all too frequent nightmares made an appearance.

There was a spotlight on him. Izuku shielded his eyes from the light in order to see where he was; it was a courtroom, and he was on the witness stand. His mother was behind one of the tables in front of him, Aizawa and Yamada behind the other one. The judge beside him was shadowed, and he couldn’t see his face. There wasn’t a jury or anyone in the seats to watch. He felt so small. The judge slammed down a gavel, making Izuku jump.

“The court has made it’s ruling. Midoriya Inko- you are innocent. Izuku will be placed back under your care.”

He watched Aizawa start fighting against officers that had appeared to hold him back, Yamada screaming words he couldn’t hear- there was just ringing.

His mother walked up to him, dragging him out of the stand by his hair and slapping him across the face when he struggled.

Then he was home with her, sitting at the dinner table. She was drunk, yelling at him. He could still only hear the incessant ringing, even as he stood up to defend himself. She stood as well, pulling up a knife in her right hand. He didn’t even register her leaping over the table, burying the blade to the hilt in his chest. The ringing in his ears got louder as she stood over him, the world fading to black.

“Izuku! Wake up, it’s just a nightmare!”

He heard the distant voice behind someone screaming. Who was yelling so loud at this hour? Then he realized it was him, replacing the screaming with outright sobbing. He reached blindly for the first person he could grab, which happened to be Aizawa, who in response just wrapped his arms around Izuku, pulling his up to his chest. Yamada sat up to rub his back as well.

“Shh, it’s okay. You’re safe. You’re safe.” Shota tried to soothe him, a hand coming up to run through his hair. “I’ve got you, Izuku. You need to breathe, in and out.” He modeled a slow, steady breathing pattern for Izuku to copy.

He started to realize where he was, the sleep-rough voice of his teacher penetrating the engulfing panic and allowing him to start copying Aizawa’s breathing.

“I-I’m s-sorry…”

“You don’t need to apologize. It was a nightmare; they happen. Are you okay?”

“Sh-she took me away from you, a-and… she um… she st-stabbed m-m-me…”

He didn’t even need to elaborate, as the adults could guess well enough it was about his mother.

“She can’t hurt you here, kiddo. You’ve got two pro heroes right here with you, and more that are fighting for you right now.” Yamada was still rubbing light circles on Izuku’s back, sharing a concerned look with his husband. They knew that things like nightmares were a possibility, but waking up in the middle of the night screaming was something else entirely.

“I don’t want to go back to sleep…” Izuku cried, finally sitting up to look at his teachers.

“You did sleep most of yesterday, but you need to rest to heal.” Aizawa gently chided, looking over at the clock to see it was only 3am. “Can you try one more time? If you wake up again, I’ll stay up with you, okay?”

Izuku mulled it over for a minute, “I-I guess… You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Yamada?” He looked over to him as well, still sniffling.

“I promise too, kiddo.” He reached up to brush a tear off of Izuku’s cheek, “Let’s go back to sleep for now, and I’ll make pancakes in the morning.”

“Okay…” Izuku still didn’t sound very convinced, but after everyone got settled again, he was asleep in no time. The sigh of relief from Shota and Hizashi was palpable as they started to drift off to sleep themselves.

Izuku was thankful when he woke up to a beam of sunlight across his face and Mochi curled up against his stomach. He reached down to run a hand through his fluffy fur, earning a soft mew as he woke the cat up.

“Good morning, Mochi…” Izuku sat up to stretch, the now awake cat jumping off the bed to head towards the kitchen. He followed suit, the smell of the promised pancakes drawing him in the same direction.

Yamada was standing over the stove, signing to some pop song and flipping pancakes while Aizawa was at the island, sipping on a mug of coffee. Hizashi was the first to notice Izuku come into the kitchen, turning to look over at him with a smile that was just a little too bright for 7am.

“Good morning, kiddo! Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. Do you want a drink? Water, juice?”

Izuku stretched and yawned, sitting beside Aizawa and cringing slightly at the way the chair squeaked across the tile. Noises were always just a little worse to deal with in the mornings.

“Um… you have orange juice?”

Yamada responded by just pouring Izuku a glass and setting it in front of him. “One glass of juice! How many pancakes do you want?”

While everything smelled great, Izuku wasn’t sure how much he’d be able to eat. “C-can I start with one and then get another after?”

Shota chimed in this time, “It’s what you want Izuku, you don’t need to ask permission. We won’t force you to eat more than you’re capable.” The thought of a nutritionist crossed his mind, but Izuku would likely protest if he mentioned it, so he just made note to bring it up to Hizashi later.

“Oh… th-then one pancake please, Yamada.” Izuku tried to make his second attempt polite but didn’t phrase it as a question. He saw how both of them smiled, even though Aizawa tried to hide his behind his coffee cup.

“Alright, here you go!” Yamada set his plate in front of him and grabbed two for himself and his husband before bringing over some syrup and sitting down.

The way Izuku lit up before drenching his one pancake in syrup was an almost painful reminder for the two that Izuku was still so painfully young for everything he’d been through and even had to face currently. He’s just a kid, using more syrup than pancake, holding his juice glass with two hands, and excitedly chatting about what hero merch he wanted to put in his room, since they were shopping today.

“Before we go to the mall, though, we need to stop by the school and see Recovery Girl. She wanted to check up on you this weekend.”

“Oh. Right.” Watching Izuku go from bubbly kid to trying to make himself as small as possible in his chair was heartbreaking. Kid couldn’t catch a break.

“Don’t worry, it won’t be long. Do you want to see if All Might can meet us there?” Yamada tried, hoping if maybe he had more familiar support there, it might help.

“No, that’s okay. I, um… I don’t think I’m ready for him to see all of my scars.” All Might was still his favorite hero, despite everything he’d come to realize about the situation he put Izuku in. It was like a final admittance for anyone to see the physical results of his life this far. He tried to shake himself out of the thought pattern coming up, but it was still really hard to do. Luckily, Shota seemed to catch on.

“Have you thought about a paint color for your room?”

“I thought maybe I could paint it a light green? I wanted to ask about putting some of this sticker things on the walls that were plants or flowers… I know that I shouldn’t like things like flowers, but I just think they’re really pretty…”

“Who told you that you couldn’t like flowers?” Yamada questioned, but it had already dawned on Shota why he thought that.

“Izuku, just because you’re a trans boy doesn’t mean you can’t still like feminine things. Being a man doesn’t suddenly take to like things just because society paints them a certain way. Wear what you want, like what you want, be who you want.”

“Damn, Sho.” Hizashi caught himself, turning red at swearing in front of Izuku, “I-I mean. Shota that was a really nice thing to say, and it’s true Izuku. Only you get to decide who you want to be.”

Izuku frowned for a minute before he replied. “No one has ever told me that. My whole life, it was you can’t. I couldn’t be a hero, I couldn’t be a boy, if I was a boy, I couldn’t like boys, everything was no. I don’t want to be told no anymore. I’m sick of it. I just want to be me.”

“We won’t ask you to be anyone else.” Aizawa actually gave Izuku a smile, Yamada doing the same.

“How about you two go find something to wear for the day, and I’ll get plates cleaned up.”

Izuku nodded, Shota actually following behind him for once as he made his way back to the bedroom.

“So, I’m not sure how much I have that will fit you, but luckily we still have a box of clothes from when Hizashi and I were in high school. It might be a little big, but it’ll be better than anything else.” He dug in the back of the closet, pulling out a pretty plain cardboard box and setting it on the bed. “Help yourself, kid.”

Izuku excitedly dug into the box, finding a pair of jean shorts and a pale-yellow t-shirt.

“Good choice!” Hizashi had made his way back into the room, heading to the closet to pick out his own clothes for the day. “Oh, what’s your shoe size? I have something that will go really well with those.”

“A 25, why?”

“Perfect! Here, try these!” He was handed a pair of brand-new white converse, “I ordered them online a while ago and got the wrong size, but I kept forgetting to return them. You can keep those, and we’ll get you another pair at least later today.”

Izuku was excited enough about being able to pick out his outfit that he wasn’t too concerned about being given the shoes. “I’m gonna go change!”

He practically ran to the spare bedroom, his bedroom now, and got dressed. He looked in the mirror hung over the back of the door. He did really like it, but something was missing he couldn’t place.

There was a knock on the door followed by Aizawa’s voice. “Does everything fit okay?”

Izuku just opened the door, “I think it does. Do I look okay?”

Yamada came down the hallway, himself dressed in some light wash jeans, a black crop top, a leather jacket other than the one for his hero costume, and some dark burgundy boots. “You look great! Since the shirt is a little big, you could do a French tuck. Want me to show you?”

“No one ever taught me how to tuck in a shirt at all…”

“Here, it’s not too hard. Undo the button of the shorts, then just put the hem of the shirt under the waistband…” Yamada made some small adjustments with Izuku’s permission until both of them were happy with the look.

“All done! Go ahead and get your shoes on, and I’ll get the car keys.” He left a kiss on Shota’s cheek before he walked to the other room.

Aizawa himself was in all black: black utility combat boots, black jeans, black t-shirt with a few distressed patches.

Izuku was tying his shoes when he made a comment that made him a little nervous. “I really like how Yamada is dressed. Do you think he could teach me how to put together outfits like that?”

“He absolutely loves fashion, so he would definitely help you out. Be careful though, he’ll treat you like a dress-up doll if you’re not careful.” He chuckled, closing the bedroom door behind Izuku as the met Yamada in the front room.

“Are my boys ready to go?” Yamada handed Izuku a water bottle too, “Here, just in case. I carry one for myself. Shota insists he doesn’t want one but...” He leaned down a little, “Between you and me I think it’s just so he has an excuse to share mine.”

“I heard that. Come on, I’ve already texted Recovery Girl and she’s waiting on us. Plus, we want plenty of time for Izuku to shop.”

And with that, they headed out to start the day.

Chapter Text

“Ah, Midoriya, it’s good to see you up and about, boy.”

Izuku tensed up at the use of his surname; he was already nervous enough about being here, and the first thing out of Recovery Girl’s mouth already tripled his anxiety. Thankfully, Aizawa stepped in seeing him freeze up.

“He prefers to be referred to by Izuku, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s not a problem, Eraser. Hop up here, kid. I’m hoping we won’t need to do much more, and I won’t need to see you again for this.” The chiding tone wasn’t doing anything to help, but Izuku did as told.

She got to work unwrapping both of his arms, clicking her tongue at seeing the fresh cuts from the day before. “I assume you’ve already made an appointment with Hound Dog, Eraser?” Aizawa nodded, “Good.”

It didn’t take long to assess the wounds. “Everything is healing nicely. I can finish healing them now if you don’t mind being tired the rest of the day, but things are well enough that we can leave them to continue healing on their own.”

“Um… I-I’d rather let them heal o-on their own, please.”

“Very well. I’ll put some fresh bandages on and you’re free to go. I want to see you again no later than Wednesday unless it starts getting infected.” She wrapped them up skillfully and quickly, Izuku thankful as he was eager to leave.

“Th-thank you, ma’am.” He unconsciously grabbed Yamada’s hand as he was closest, and he could feel how clammy he was.

“I did have one thing to ask you about before we go.” Aizawa added on. Izuku’s grip on Hizashi’s hand got harder.

“If you two are going to talk for a minute, I think Izuku and I are going to go to the car.”

“Okay, be there in a minute.”

Izuku practically dragged Yamada out of the room, taking a huge deep breath once they were a little down the hall.

“That was awful.” Izuku felt tears prick at his eyes, wiping them away before they fell.

“You seemed pretty anxious in there. Was it her looking at everything or her using the wrong name?”

“Both.”

Yamada noticed him fidgeting with his hands but trying to hide it. “Do you fidget a lot?” He saw Izuku stop and put his hands in his pockets.

“S-sorry. I’ll stop.”

“Hey.” Yamada stopped to kneel in front of Izuku, “All I asked was a question, kiddo. It’s okay to fidget with things! They can help you focus or even calm down. I only asked because I keep one on me to use sometimes too because it helps me focus. Here, why don’t you try it out?”

He handed Izuku a bright yellow fidget cube, the kid immediately testing out all of the different sides. He ended up really liking the switch and the very light clicking sound it made. “Is that a little better?”

“Yeah, actually. Can I have one to keep?”

“Of course! If we can’t find anything today that you like, we can definitely look online too.”

They made it back to the car, Izuku sending a message to All Might about the rest of the day.

Sent: Hey, can u come with us today?

Skeletor: Yes! My schedule is actually free today! Do you have a time yet?

Izuku looked to Hizashi, “All Might needs to know when he needs to meet us. Oh, and I guess where we’re going.” Yamada looked up from his own phone, “We should be there in about half an hour. It’s the mall on the west side of the city, I can never remember the name.”

Sent: Yamada said half an hour, so 9:30?

Skeletor: I’ll be a few minutes late. Which mall?

Sent: The one on the west side of the city. Idk the name

Skeletor: I know the one! I’ll see you there my boy :D

“He’ll be a little late but he knows the mall you’re talking about.” He put his attention back on the cube for a minute.

“Something’s on your mind. You can ask anything, Izuku. You will never get in trouble for asking a question, okay? And Shota is headed to the car too, so we’re leaving in a minute.”

Izuku sighed, taking a minute to put his question into words. “Why do you guys want to buy me things, anyway? I know Aizawa said he was taking care of me for his job since Nedzu said to, but you’re doing more than that.”

Aizawa was walking up and heard Izuku’s question, meeting Hizashi’s eyes briefly before nodding that he could answer truthfully. “Well, kiddo, we actually wanted to foster you, and down the road talk about adoption.” Aizawa stepped up beside his husband, letting him finish, “We think you’re a really great kid, Izuku, and you deserve to have a good, stable life. With the goals you have and the position you’re in, having two pro heroes as your legal guardians would be one of the best situations for you. We just want to give you the support you need.”

“We care about you, kid, and we want you to be in our lives. It’s that easy.”

Izuku didn’t start crying immediately, but it sunk in pretty quick. Somebody was telling him that they wanted him; it was the one thing he had always really wanted, and he had it right in front of him. Family.

“Oh, honey don’t cry. You’ll make me cry!” Yamada kneeled down, wiping tears off of Izuku’s cheeks before pulling him into a hug. Izuku managed to stop long enough to pull back and ask a question.

“You’re not going to send me away?”

“No way, kid. You cause too much trouble for that.” Aizawa joked, earning a scoff from Hizashi.

“As if! Our perfect angel would never! At least not without us involved first.”

This got a laugh from everyone, even Izuku. “C-can we go now? I don’t want to be late.”

“Hop in, kiddo. Just remember to buckle up; ‘Zashi drives like a Nascar driver.”

“I do not!”

“Do too.”

“Shota, you’re insufferable. Your driving isn’t any better! You almost hit a squirrel!”

“At night. In the rain.”

Izuku settled in the backseat, listening to the couple bicker. It was somehow comforting. They weren’t being really mean to each other, just teasing and joking around a little. He wondered if they’d be comfortable enough with him someday to do the same. Izuku hoped so, but it was also a scary thought to be with them that long. Living with his mother, he could never be vulnerable, always on guard, but with them, he could relax. It made him more anxious than being constantly vigilant because at least then, he saw everything coming. He had already messed up once when he couldn’t predict Yamada would lift a hand towards his face. It was just to ruffle his hair, sure, but he still didn’t see it coming. Things were so… unpredictable now. It was scary. Although, he did have them on his side, protecting him. That was the biggest difference he guessed; life might be harder to predict, but he had help navigating it.

“Well, we made it here in one piece, happy?”

“Yes. Yes, I am. Now, let’s get going since we need to go to a few different places. Izuku, you ready?”

Aizawa looked over his shoulder to the kid in the backseat, looking like he was lost in thought. “Izuku? Kid, we’re here.”

He snapped up, “Huh? Oh, yeah. Let me see if All Might is here.” He scrambled to get his phone out, face a bit flushed from being startled.

“It’s okay, kiddo; take your time. You’re not in trouble for spacing out a little.”

Checking his phone, Izuku saw a message from All Might from about two minutes ago.

Skeletor: I am here!

Skeletor: I’ll be waiting by the food court entrance.

“He’s here, by the food court.”

“Ha! I told you he would pick the food court! You owe me five bucks.” Hizashi celebrated, Shota grumbling about how it was the most crowded parking lot and a stupid one to pick. All Might was definitely easy to find even though he had gotten better at blending in to avoid atttention.

“Ah, Izuku! Good morning!”

“Good morning, Yagi!”

Yamada looked a little puzzled at All Might, “You let him call you Yagi?”

“Well, using my hero name in public would only attract attention.”

Aizawa looked down at Izuku, seeing how nervous he was. “The crowds getting to you? Here, take my hand so you know you won’t get lost.” Surprisingly, the kid practically snatched his hand in a death grip. Shota hoped he’d relax the more used to it they got.

Yamada crouched down to speak softer, “Remember, we can go home at any time you want to. This is for you, not us, so don’t make yourself push through it if it gets really bad ok?” Izuku nodded in response, still staying close to Aizawa. “Still have the cube?” He gave another nod. “Good, you can use that too.”

“It might help to make a plan first.” Shota suggested, “Let’s separate needs and extras. We need clothes, shoes, basics for Izuku’s room, and toiletries. Extras we might find along the way, but that might be something like video games.” He gave Izuku a second to process it, Hizashi already looking at a map to identify where the stores they needed to go to were at. “Is there one you want to do first?

“I think I want to look for room stuff first.” Izuku was still looking out into the crowds around them. He wasn’t really allowed to go anywhere up until now, so while he had been in some crowds before, staying in them instead of just pushing through wasn’t something he was used to.

“This way, then!” Hizashi lead the way with the map, Aizawa and Izuku behind him, and Yagi in the back. Toshinori couldn’t help but feel a little left out, but he was also amazed at how seamless the couple was with handling Izuku. The kid was terrified, and yet they could just read him like a book and seemed to just know what to say. If it was just him, he’d probably have just tried to joke around and distract the kid, but they validated his feelings and worked around them to make sure Izuku was as comfortable as possible. It made sense when he saw it in action, but Yagi also knew that he needed a lot more experience with kids before he could really be a part of Izuku’s life like he wanted to be. They were foster parents technically, so maybe they had taken classes? Was it just from being teachers that they learned how to deal with this stuff? As much as he wanted to start asking questions, today wasn’t for him.

He did think a little more though about the research he’d spent most of the night on at Eraser and Mic’s request. There really was a lot he didn’t know, it turned out. Between the scientific articles and the personal anecdotes, it was honestly a little scary to him that Izuku might live such a difficult life, as if he didn’t have enough on his plate already. He also thought about all of the long and hard summer training sessions they had without him knowing the safety rules for wearing a binder, that Aizawa had confirmed Izuku had likely worn the whole time. It was a miracle he hadn’t been injured during those long months.

“So, if you’re going with a light green for the walls, bedding that will match are things like other, darker greens, greys, blacks, blues, or purples.”

Izuku looked at the shelves of bedding in front of him, slightly overwhelmed by all of the choices. “I think I want grey.”

“So that narrows it down some, the greys are all right here. Light or dark?” Hizashi prompted, trying to let him make his own decisions but also helping to keep him from getting too overwhelmed.

“Is there a color in between?”

Yagi, having tuned back into the conversation, saw one on the top shelf that was a nice medium grey with darker striped. He pulled it down, “This one is a medium color, and it has stripes if you like those.”

Izuku brightened up a little, finally letting go of Aizawa’s hand to take the bedding set from Toshinori. “I think the stripes are cool! Can I get this one?”

“Of course, it’s for your room. Do you want to see if there’s any blankets you like? They don’t have to match, just pick one you like.”

Now that Izuku had at least made a choice that was received well, he started to just be his bubbly self. He picked out a blanket with cats on it, and soon enough, they were onto the next store. Thankfully, he kept getting more comfortable as the day went on. He picked out most of a new wardrobe, finding that while he wanted to experiment with a more androgynous style eventually, he was more comfortable presenting mostly masculine for now. It was a nice change of pace to be able to just pick out things he liked without anyone telling him outright no, just offering suggestions and warning him about things like cotton shirts shrinking in the dryer, so maybe he wanted a size up.

It was only about 2pm by the time they finished, but Izuku was pretty exhausted and hungry. One pancake and some juice was not enough for even half a day, he was finding. As much as he wanted to ask about going out for lunch, he did still feel pretty guilty about the amount of money they’d spent on him today. Even All Might offered to split some of the costs, offering to cover the toiletries and one pair of the shoes he got; his reasoning was that since they were tennis shoes, he’d be using them for training. Izuku could tell he felt a little left out with Aizawa and Yamada mostly running the show today, but he was still grateful that All Might was trying to show he cared.

With today going so well, though, he decided to take a chance. “Can we get food?” There was a second of panic before he got an answer.

“Absolutely! Do you want to eat in the food court? There’s an ice cream place nearby too we can go to after.” Hizashi’s rather excited response prompted Izuku to let out the breath he was apparently holding.

“I would like that a lot.”

Chapter Text

After the excitement of a late lunch, dessert, and then getting the hefty amount of bags from the car to the apartment, Izuku was thoroughly and truly exhausted. Aizawa had gone to work on something on his computer in the living room, Yamada watching TV beside him and just on his phone, and Izuku just wanted to be alone for a while. He had been around a lot of people today, and he needed some time to reset and decompress. So, he was in his room, the door shut, and Mochi napping on his brand-new comforter. Izuku had his phone out, watching clips of the past week’s hero fights and using one of his new notebooks to start analyzing.

It was exactly what he needed, and he got so focused on his work that he didn’t realize that about 3 hours had already passed. A knock on his door made him and Mochi both jump, the cat annoyed at being woken.

“Can I come in?” It was Aizawa.

“Y-yeah, come in.” When he opened the door, Mochi decided to leave the room since his nap was interrupted, Shota petting him as he walked by.

“I wanted to let you know dinner will be ready in about half an hour, and I wanted to talk to you for a minute.” He sat at the end of Izuku’s bed, a small sigh following. “The police are requesting to see you tomorrow for a statement. I don’t want to force you to talk, but they won’t take no for an answer.”

Izuku looked down at the notebook still open in his lap. “Do I have to see her?”

“They’ve already questioned her, and when they showed up, she was drunk. She actually was arrested for assaulting an officer. When they tried to ask about you, she got violent and started swinging. At the very least, it helps our case to keep you away from her.” Shota paused, not sure how to phrase the next thing.

“There’s a ‘but’ here, isn’t there?” Izuku sounded dejected, and he’d already guessed what was coming next.

“Yeah, there’s a ‘but’. We have to prove that you’re safer with us than going into the system. It shouldn’t be too difficult, but we can’t talk about anything related to One for All. At least since you’re a UA student, you’ll still be able to live in the dorms until the end of the semester at worst. Best case scenario, they let us take you in as a foster, and as soon as that paperwork goes through, we can file for adoption immediately. If that’s something you want; we won’t do it without your consent, but we can’t guarantee they won’t try to move you at some point. The system is cruel sometimes.”

Izuku could almost laugh, “You’re the first adults to show any interest in me, let alone care enough to actually ask me for my input on anything. If you two want to adopt me, I’m all for it.” He smiled up at Aizawa; this was the first place that actually felt like home, and there was no way in hell he was giving it up without a fight.

Shota snorted, “I told Hizashi he had nothing to worry about. You’re a good kid.” He stood up to leave, “Make sure you take a shower before dinner, and you’ve been in that binder over 8 hours. Take it off.”

As he shut the door, Izuku sarcastically called after him “Whatever you say dad.” He stopped for a second, a hand clamping over his mouth in embarrassment even though he was alone. Izuku didn’t even mean to say that, it just came out, but the more he thought about it, the more he could see calling the man ‘dad’.

With Izuku showering, it left Aizawa and Hizashi in the kitchen finishing up and plating dinner.

“Did you hear him call me ‘dad’ earlier? It was sarcastic, sure, but the fact that he was joking around is good. He’s getting comfortable.”

Hizashi gasped dramatically, “How could he call you ‘dad’ before calling me ‘papa’?! I’m wounded.” He laughed, “Jokes aside, I’m glad he’s settling in. I’m just so worried about him all the time. He’s had such a rough life, Sho. I just want to hug him forever and keep him safe.”

Shota chuckled, “Welcome to being a parent. You’re supposed to worry about him. Hell, I know I do, especially seeing him in class constantly getting hurt.”

“We really need to come up with a way to make sure that stops happening. Not only is it very unhealthy, if he’s still a foster and they see him getting hurt constantly, they’ll take him, Shota.”

Aizawa wrapped his arms around Hizashi’s waist, “Don’t worry, we can figure it out. We fought the system once for us; we can do it again for him, yeah?”

Hizashi sighed, leaning back against his husband. “Yeah.”

“Is dinner ready?” Izuku walked into the kitchen, his hair still sopping wet and a towel draped over his shoulders.

Shota took one look at him and sighed, taking the towel and drying his hair off more. “You’re going to get water everywhere, and didn’t I tell you to take your binder off? I see the strap poking out.”

“I took it off to shower though! I just… really don’t like being seen with it off.” He looked down at his All Might socks, embarrassed.

“Izuku, you don’t need to worry about us seeing you any differently no matter what you’re wearing. We just want you to be safe and comfortable. Also, that thing smells like weeks worth of teenage boy, and I’m washing it. Go take it off, grab a hoodie from our closet, and by then dinner will be ready and set out, okay?”

Izuku hesitated. “You sure you won’t see me any different?”

“I promise, kid. Now, go. We don’t want any bruised or sore ribs.”

Izuku listened that time, going to get a hoodie first. He picked out one that was Present Mic merch, changing into it and leaving his binder on his bed to be washed. Aizawa was right; it did smell horrible. He went to go join them for dinner, thankful nothing more was said about it.

The whole thing actually built a little bit more trust between them; Izuku remembered his earlier epiphany about vulnerability, and the way they treated him just continued to prove it. From there, the evening proceeded like Izuku assumed a normal family evening at home would. They ate dinner, watched some TV, and then he was reminded to brush his teeth before bed. Normal, relaxed, yet so unfamiliar.

It left Izuku alone in bed at the end. His door was cracked just in case, Mochi curled up beside him, and a nightlight projecting a light galaxy on the ceiling. He needed to sleep, but he couldn’t. He wasn’t sure that he wanted to after the nightmare he had last night. It would be easy to just watch hero videos and work on his analysis for the next 8 hours or so, but he wanted Aizawa and Yamada to be proud of him, and taking care of himself was part of it. Eventually, he did drift off, the last number he saw on his clock being about midnight, but it wasn’t too long before he woke up in a cold sweat.

Izuku couldn’t even remember what the nightmare was this time, but he could still feel the fear and anxiety it had brought with it. He got up out of bed, going to the kitchen for a glass of water. Going back to his room felt like a monumental task, so instead he just sat in the living room in the dark for a few minutes. When he ran out of water, he got up, put the glass in the sink, and hovered in front of his bedroom door. He looked down the hall to Aizawa and Yamada’s room, taking a deep breath before going over to knock softly on the door. A sleepy Hizashi opened the door, and Izuku let the dam break, tears slipping down his cheeks.

“Oh, Izuku. Come here, kiddo.” He pulled Izuku into a hug, “Was it another nightmare?” The increase in tears followed by a choked sob told the blonde all he needed to know. “Alright, let’s get you back into bed. Do you want to sleep with us?” Izuku only nodded, not trusting his voice. Hizashi just led him over, letting Izuku settle under the blanket before laying down himself. “Goodnight, Izuku.” This time, it was much easier to fall asleep, and thankfully, he didn’t wake up again until morning.

Again, he was able to wake up to a sunbeam across his face. No blaring alarm, no screaming from his mother. Same as the day before, he got up, headed into the kitchen, and Yamada was cooking breakfast, this time some eggs, bacon, and toast. He seemed to like American style meals, not that Izuku was complaining.

“We need to lave for the station in about an hour, so go ahead and get ready. Do you have any questions about what’s going to happen?” Shota wanted to make sure that Izuku was as prepared as he could be.

“N-no… but there’s something I want you to know before we go. It, um… it might be better to tell you before you hear it there.”

Hizashi and Shota shared a look of concern, not even hiding the concern. “Kiddo, did something else happen? Remember, you don’t have to tell us anything you don’t want to.”

Izuku put down his fork even after he had barely touched his breakfast. “Yeah. Something I haven’t told anyone about other than my mother, and she didn’t react well.” He kept his eyes down, already choking up. “I first came out in middle school, right? None of my classmates took it well, let alone the teachers. The bullying only got worse because I was a quirkless freak playing dress-up to them.”

He swallowed back a sob. This was the hardest thing he’d ever had to say. It felt like the world was closing in around him, everything was cramped and hot and- “They assaulted me. I-In the bathroom, they…” A sob, “They held me down and wanted to see if I was a ‘real boy’. Two boys held me down while the th-third pulled my p-pants down a-and they…”

He broke down completely at that point, literally falling out of his chair to be caught by Aizawa beside him. Yamada rushed to their side of the island, helping his husband lower Izuku down to the floor in between them, both of them just holding him as he sobbed. “I said no, I screamed; no one did anything!” Izuku had his eyes shut tight, curled in on himself. “No one fucking did anything!”

It took a good 20 minutes of stunned silence from the heroes before Izuku had seemingly cried all he could.

“I’m so so so sorry that happened to you, Izuku.” Shota’s voice was rough from where he was fighting back his own tears. “The adults that sat by and did nothing will pay. I can promise you that. I don’t give a damn if I have to hunt them down my goddamn self.”

Hizashi wanted to say something about how that wasn’t professional, that he’d get caught, but he could. He wanted to do the same thing, to make them atone for what they just sat by and let happen to a child.

“I-I wanted you to know b-before we got there… a-and I didn’t want the f-f-first person to know to be th-the police.”

“Thank you for trusting us. As terrible as this situation is, you were still able to talk to us, and that means a lot, Izuku.” Hizashi held Izuku’s freckled cheeks in his hands, “I’m so proud of you. We’re both proud of you. You are so goddamn brave, and I want you to never forget that, okay?” Izuku nodded, fresh tears still rolling down his and Hizashi’s cheeks both.

“Unfortunately, we have to get ready, and being late wouldn’t help our case.” Shota was the first to stand, offering a hand to Izuku first and then his husband.

“Um…” Izuku fidgeted with his hands, “C-can I not be alone right now? I, uh, I don’t think it would be good for me.”

“That’s just fine, kiddo. Come on, let’s go pick out something for you to wear while Shota gets ready, then we can switch, would that be okay?” Izuku nodded, letting Hizashi lead him into his bedroom to pick out an outfit. Aizawa took the opportunity to send a quick text to Nedzu.

Sent: We’re headed to the station soon.

Sent: Izuku was sexually assaulted in middle school. He broke down about it a few minutes ago because he wanted to tell us before he told the police.

Rat: That school will not survive another month of operation. Thank you for letting me know, Eraser.

As much as it did feel like breaking Izuku’s trust, he would know by this afternoon anyway, and the quicker they would be able to get that school dismantled brick by brick, the better.

Chapter Text

In the waiting room of the police station, Izuku was painfully aware of the uncomfortableness of the plastic chair he was in. Aizawa on one side, Yamada on the other, who’s hand he was holding.

“Why did they want us here so early just to wait for an hour?” Izuku questioned, his unoccupied hand clicking buttons on his fidget cube.

“It’s a police station, Izuku. Things can be unpredictable. Have you decided which one of us you want to go back with you?”

Izuku looked to Aizawa, “You. I trust Yamada a lot too, but… I don’t know. I guess I’ve been around you more.”

“You don’t have to justify it, kiddo. It’s your choice, that’s it.”

An officer approached the trio, Izuku, shrinking in on himself. “Are you the ones here for questioning?”

Shota was the one to answer, setting a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “Yes, sir. This is Izuku, and I’m pro-hero Eraserhead, primary guardian.” He flashed his hero ID just in case.

“Follow me.”

Izuku’s legs felt like cement blocks as he drug himself out of the chair and down a hallway. The room he was taken to was softer than the waiting room with a couple of couches, a box of toys, and a shelf with some basic art supplies. He could tell it was made for kids to be less scared, but as he sat down, Izuku could feel his heart pounding.

They waited in silence another 5 minutes or so before a man in a suit walked in with a file, notepad, pen, and tape recorder.

“Ah, you must be Izuku!” The man held out a hand for Izuku to shake, and he did so despite the fact he was shaking so much he couldn’t keep even his hand still long enough for a handshake.

“Eraserhead, I would say it’s good to see you, but with the circumstances, I’m afraid it’s not.”

“At least it’s you and not some stuck-up ass from the Hero Commission.” Aizawa clarified, “This is Detective Yuri. I’ve worked with him before on other cases.”

The detective sat down across from them, setting out the tape recorder as well as getting his pen and pad ready. “Shall we get started?” Izuku only nodded. “Okay.” The record button was pressed.

“This is Detective Yuri, questioning Midoriya Izuku for case number 649233. I am joined by the victim being questioned, if you would please state your name?”

“M-Midoriya I-Izuku.” The detective gave him a thumbs up, mouthing ‘Good job’ to him. Izuku let out a small breath he’d been holding.

“I am also joined by the victim’s current guardian, if you would please state your name?”

“Aizawa Shota, pro-hero Eraserhead.”

“Thank you both. Now, we will begin the interview by having Izuku tell us about his life with his mother and anything relevant. Whenever you’re ready.”

The detective looked up at him, both encouragingly and sympathetic. He had a very soft smile, but it wouldn’t last. Izuku looked at AIizawa beside him, who only nodded to prompt him to speak. So, he began.

“When I was a little kid, everything was great. I had my mom and dad, and I loved heroes. I really wanted to be one when I grew up, and my parents encouraged it. Then when I turned 4, I was diagnosed quirkless. The doctor said that there was no way I would ever get a quirk, and my dad didn’t like that. I-I don’t remember a whole lot, but he was different after that. He left my mom and I before my 5th birthday, but the day he left… He was mad. Really mad. My mom was crying, begging him not to leave, and he hit her. I ran to my room, but I could hear them yelling. I just tried to hide. When I came back out, my mom was still crying. She tried to smile and tell me things would be okay, and I believed her. It didn’t take too much longer before she started to resent me. She never hugged me anymore, and the things I would do I thought she liked, I got yelled at for. By the time I was in middle school, she had started drinking. I was responsible for the house, too. I cooked, I cleaned, I made sure that with what money she did make, the bills were paid. It was scary, and I hated it. If something wasn’t up to her standards, she would yell at me more, or if she was in a bad mood, she would hit me. Sometimes she would just use her hands, or if she was really drunk, it was just with whatever she was holding, usually a bottle of some kind. I had to learn how to bandage things up since I would get cuts from the broken glass. It wasn’t too hard to hide it though, since the teachers at school didn’t care what I did. I was just the quirkless kid. I was bullied constantly. Some days, I couldn’t tell if the bruises were from her or the kids at school. The worst though were the burns from a kid with a fire quirk. I told my mom once about the bullying, and she just told me I deserved it. After all, in middle school was when I came out as transgender, and it only gave her more ammo to use. She told me I was a freak, and I wouldn’t ever be a boy. That was around when I started self-harming, too. At the end of middle school, I also got attacked by a villain on my way home from school. It was the same day one of my classmates told me to… to ‘take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in the next life’, but I met a hero that saved me, and he told me he believed in me. I started training really hard to get into U.A, so much that I started losing what little weight I had. I wanted to stay out of the house, so I would just train all day after school and just all day on weekends. When the school year ended, it was even easier to just train and train and train. Of course, my mom never noticed. She was too drunk and busy telling me I was worthless and would never be her son. Then, I actually got into U.A. because my quirk came in. Turns out, I was just a really really late bloomer. My mom still doesn’t want much to do with me though, other than to keep up with the same things I’ve been doing for years. Quirkless or not, it turns out that she still hates me for my father leaving her, and because I’m a trans freak to her. So now I was in my dream school, had a powerful quirk, and I still felt… empty. We moved into the dorms, and I thought maybe something would get better, but after only a week, she demanded I come home. I’d been gone all week, and that was unacceptable to her because I wasn’t cooking her every meal and cleaning the house for her. I panicked, I guess, and I started cutting. I don’t know if I was actually trying to kill myself or not, but I saw how bad it was, and I went to Aizawa-sensei for help. And, well… here we are.”

There was a minute or two of silence as the detective kept writing, Aizawa beside him silently fuming again at hearing the treatment he went through, but also angry with himself again for not noticing that one of his students was so clearly struggling, and he hadn’t done anything until it was almost too late.

“Thank you, Izuku. That must have been very hard for you to do. Can I ask you a few questions?” The detective prodded, trying to judge by body language how Izuku was doing. He was carrying so much tension, and he didn’t want the kid to have a breakdown.

“I-I guess so…” A new wave of panic came over him, the anxiety that hadn’t left the whole time they had been there somehow still increasing.

“Your father, you say he left when you were four, yes? What is his name?”

“Yes, when I was four. His name is Midoriya Hisashi.” The answer was scribbled down.

“Alright, and you said the teachers at your middle school, they turned a blind eye to the bullying you endured. Can you give me the name of your middle school? And did any teachers ever witness the bullying happen and refuse to stop it?”

“I went to Aldera Middle, and… yes. They saw most of the verbal bullying happen even in the classroom, and one of them e-even walked in on…” He choked, a comforting hand on his shoulder from Aizawa helping him continue, “One teacher walked in on some boys p-pulling my pants down in the bathroom. They wanted to see if I was a ‘real boy’, so they held me down and, did… that.”

“I see. Thank you for letting me know, Izuku.” He wrote that down too.

“One more question. How have you been with your current guardian? Has anything improved?”

Izuku actually perked up for that question, his tone of voice even changing to be less timid and scared, more confident. “Y-yeah! It’s been great with Aizawa! His husband is really nice too, and they respect my boundaries, let me decorate my room however I want, and… it feels like home when I’m with them. It’s safe like I’ve never felt before.”

The detective wrote a final set of notes before closing his notepad. “Alright, Izuku, that’s all I have for you. I want to thank you again for telling me everything. As a final reminder to the tape, this is Detective Yuri interviewing Midoriya Izuku.” He clicked the recorder off, smiling up at Izuku.

“That’s all we have to do today, kiddo! I’ll send you up front to the social worker so we can make your placement as a foster official. From here, we need to finish the case, and prepare to present it to a judge.” He turned to Aizawa, “The lawyer defending Izuku will be in contact with you through your social worker. This should be a pretty open and shut case, so hopefully you won’t be bothered too much. Ms. Midoriya is still in police custody, and the charges for assault have been added to this case.”

Shota nodded, standing with the detective to follow him, Izuku copying and glad they were getting ready to leave. They left the room, and Izuku was immediately less on edge. Not only does the detective think the case will be really easy, but he was getting officially placed with Aizawa and Yamada. They arrived at a desk with a very cheery lady behind it, Yamada already there.

“Hey, Izuku! Did everything go okay?” Yamada held his arms out, offering a hug that Izuku took without a second thought.

“It was hard, and I’m still anxious, but I’m glad it’s over.”

Giving him a good squeeze before letting him go, Yamada turned to his husband. “I’ve already gotten the paperwork done, Sho. We just need your signature in a few places.” The lady behind the desk showed him where to sign, where to initial, where to print and date, and they were done.

Finally leaving and stepping outside, Izuku felt like he could breathe again, but there was still something bothering him.

“Can I ask you guys something?”

“Anything, bud. What’s up?” Yamada smiled at him, Aizawa nodding in agreement.

“I, um… I wanted to ask if, since now I officially live with you and all, do I have to go back to the dorms? I, uh… I don’t- maybe it’s not- um-“

“You’re scared to go back and feel alone there, right?” Shota filled in.

“Y-yeah. That. I just don’t want anything bad to happen now that everything… it actually feels like things are going to be okay, and I don’t want to lose that.”

“We’ll have to ask Nedzu, but given the circumstances, he might be lenient. If he says you do have to stay in the dorms, I’ll make sure to stay in my room there with you, and we can come home on the weekends. Will that work?”

It wasn’t the answer Izuku wanted, but at least they were trying to make the best of it. “Okay… I also just… don’t want to go back there yet.”

The implication still hung heavily on their shoulders; it would be hard for a kid to start healing, then go right back to the room he tried to end his life in.

“Why not see if Hound Dog can help, too?” Yamada suggested, “If he says it’s a bad idea to go back right now, Nedzu would be more inclined to let you stay out of the dorms for now.”

“That’s actually a really good idea, ‘Zashi. Leave it to you to have the best ideas.” Shota wasn’t much for public displays of affection, but he did grab his husband’s hand and give it a small squeeze.

“I’m seeing Hound Dog tomorrow, right?”

“Yep, at 8am, so you won’t be in home room. Do you want me to tell the students to lay off of you?”

“I think that would be best. Oh, and my uniform is still at the dorms. Can I have a short-sleeve shirts for my uniform, too? I opted for long sleeves, but they’re always really hot, and… I’m tired of hiding.”

“Anything you want, kid. We can get some while we’re at school tomorrow.” Shota checked the time, and it was still only about 2pm. “Well, we have the rest of the day. Would you like to go straight home, or would you maybe want to go to a game shop? Hizashi won’t shut up about Animals Crossing, and now that we have a little scamp of our own, a video game system might be nice to have.”

Izuku got excited, “Yamada likes Animal Crossing?! That’s so cool! Can we go, can we?”

Both adults couldn’t help but chuckle; he really was still just a kid.

“We wouldn’t have offered if we didn’t want to go. Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Chapter Text

“How are you so good at Mario Kart?! I thought you’d never played before?” Yamada complained, having lost for the 5th time in a row.

“I don’t know, it just kind of makes sense how the controls work. Plus, the handling on my character is better than yours, so I don’t run into walls all the time.”

Yamada pouted at his loss, grabbing another slice of pizza from the open box in the coffee table.

“Wrap it up, you two. It’s almost time for bed since it’s still a school night.”

Izuku looked at the clock on his phone screen, it was already 9:30. They had set a bedtime for Izuku at 10, but it was just a time that he had to be at least in his room, even if he wasn’t asleep at 10 on the dot. It was also flexible for things like special occasions, if Izuku had friends over, for lots of circumstances. Even with the amount of wiggle room in the rule, Izuku was thankful for the structure.

“I’m going to go brush my teeth. I can feel the sugar from all the soda.” Izuku moved Mochi off of his lap, standing to stretch.

“Okay kiddo. I need to start getting ready for bed too. Hug?” Yamada was big on hugs, that was something Izuku was already picking up on, but he wasn’t complaining. Izuku was finding that he liked hugs too. He returned the offer, even though he knew he would get another one when he actually went to bed.

“Take a shower if you have time. You’re a teenage boy, and it’s important.” Shota called after Izuku, not looking up from his laptop where he was busy catching up on grading he had ignored over the past few days.

Izuku sighed, getting clothes from his room to change into if he was going to shower. He really hated showering, but Aizawa was adamant that he take one at minimum every other day. Izuku understood why and the importance of it, but it was still a big hit to his dysphoria. Thankfully, no one questioned him when he turned the lights off to shower or why he could shower the fastest in the house, averaging under 10 minutes while Hizashi took about half an hour and Aizawa took about 15. Izuku seemed to pick up on details rather easy, even when he wasn’t paying very much attention. Maybe that’s why he was so good at analysis?

Izuku was still toweling off his hair when he walked back into the living room. He sat at the island across from Shota, mindlessly scrolling through his phone.

“Aizawa? Since on paper you’re my legal guardian now, can I start medically transitioning?”

The question both did and didn’t catch Shota off guard. “I suppose we can put in the forms to get the process started. It won’t be immediate because since you’re still a foster, we have to get permission for things like that. If Hound Dog can give you a diagnosis though, it would certainly make the process easier.”

“So, that’s a yes?” Izuku asked, a little disbelieving that it was really that easy.

“If it’s something you need, I don’t see why not. Hound Dog is a licensed psychiatrist, so he can provide any letters we need. I want you to be prepared though, any doctor you see will ask a lot of invasive questions. Especially since you’re really early in puberty.” Izuku gave him a slight glare, earning a sigh from Shota, “Kid, I’ve been around teenagers for many years as a teacher. I can tell. You know it’s a good thing though, right? We can get you on blockers and save a lot of headache.”

Izuku was still a little pouty, but he did agree. “Blockers would be good. I’m already scared enough about what’s going to happen.”

“I can’t imagine how hard that would be for you. Well, I’ll email about the forms we need, and we can submit it as soon as we get everything filled out.”

Izuku studied Aizawa’s face for a moment after he finished speaking, expecting some kind of hint that he was lying, that he didn’t believe any of his own words, but… Izuku couldn’t find anything other than Aizawa.

“Okay. Th-thanks.” Izuku looked back down at the article he had open on his phone about a new hero, clicking the screen off before setting it down. In that moment, he felt as empty as the screen. Blank and dark. “I’m going to go to my room.”

Yamada saw Izuku walk past, “Are you coming back to say goodnight?”

Izuku’s lack of response as the door closed behind him spoke enough. The adults shared a glance before silently deciding Hizashi would follow him. Hizashi knocked gently on the door, an ear pressed to the wood and hearing muffled sobs, like the kid was holding a pillow over his face. “Izuku?” When there wasn’t a reply, Hizashi asked gently, “Can I come in?” There was a croaked ‘yes’, and Hizashi opened to door to see Izuku sitting cross-legged in the middle of his bed, hugging a pillow with his cat-print blanket draped over his shoulders.

“Do you want to talk about what’s wrong?” He sat down beside Izuku, letting the kid lean into his shoulder.

“I don’t feel anything. I asked Aizawa if I could medically transition, and he said yes.”

“That’s great, kiddo! Of course we would help you with that-“

“I know! You’re perfect and life is so much better here even though I’ve literally not even been here a week!” Izuku snapped, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks, “But I Don’t. Feel. Anything! I should feel happy, sad I tried to fucking kill myself, just- SOMETHING!” Izuku started crying harder, dropping the pillow to hug Hizashi instead.

“Kiddo… Let me tell you something about me. I’m not always the bright sunshine of mine and Shota’s relationship. The whole persona I have being the loud, upbeat guy all the time, it’s not always easy. Sometimes… I have to force it.” Izuku wiped his eyes, looking up at Yamada skeptically. He continued, “I have depression, Izuku, and I know how you feel. A lot of people think depression is just being sad, but it’s more than that. Usually, you just feel kind of numb. It doesn’t matter what happens, everything just stays kind of gray.”

“Th-then how do you deal with it?”

“You… don’t. You know that it exists, and you cope with it the best you can. For me, I go to a therapist, and I take an antidepressant. It helps replace the chemicals my brain doesn’t make, and it makes it easier to cope.”

“So… do you think going to Hound Dog will help?” Izuku started fidgeting, Hizashi noticing and grabbing Izuku’s fidget cube and placing it in his hands.

“Yeah. I’ll be upfront that therapy doesn’t work for everyone, but just being here and talking about things is already helping you. Talking to a professional might be even better.”

“Do you think I’ll have to take medication too?”

Hizashi sighed, “I don’t know. I can’t tell you that because I’m not trained for it, but what I can tell you is that you’re not alone. Any time you feel alone, any time you need me, just call, okay? Promise me that you’ll call.” He worried that he laid it on a little thick at the end, but Izuku took a deep breath, setting his cube back down.

“Th-thanks, that actually made me feel better. Um…” Izuku pulled the blanket tighter around his shoulders, “Can you stay until I fall asleep?”

“Can I have another hug?” Yamada teased, earning a giggle and a tackle-hug from Izuku.

“Oh, I better tell Aizawa goodnight. I’ll be right back.” He climbed out of bed, padding back into the kitchen to where the man was still working. “Hey, I’m going to bed.” Aizawa looked up from his paperwork, finally shutting his laptop. “That time already? I need to head off too, then. You want a hug?” Izuku responded by bear-hugging Shota, earning a chuckle and a hair ruffle. “Woah, careful, kid. You’re pretty strong you know.” Izuku looked up at him, still hugging, “Goodnight, Dad.” He immediately ran back to his room, leaving Shota stunned briefly, watching the mop of green hair disappear behind his closed door.

Hizashi heard what he’d said, and put on a smile. He knew that logically it made sense for Izuku to trust Shota more, but Hizashi just wanted to be a part of Izuku’s life too. But what he couldn’t predict…

“Yamada? I have another question for you. If I call Aizawa ‘dad’, what would you want me to call you?”

“You know, I always had my heart set on ‘papa’, but I think it’s more fitting for you to choose.”

“I like Papa. I can have a dad and a papa.”

“Well if we’re on the subject, do you want me to read to you? It’s a thing that dads do, after all.”

Izuku was already climbing into bed, “You’d do that? Shouldn’t you be going to bed?”

“I don’t mind a few extra minutes for you, kiddo. You get comfy, and I’ll grab a book. How do you feel about an American classic? I can translate it, being an English teacher and all.”

“You know I’m fluent in English, right? The perfect scores in your class wasn’t a hint?”

Hizashi was a little shocked, “Izuku, you have perfect or near perfect grades in all of your classes. Everyone just thought you studied a lot. How did you…?”

Izuku shrugged, “Before I really got into hero analysis, I had to have some kind of hobby that wasn’t loud enough to bother my mom. Turns out with all of the apps out there, learning a language wasn’t too hard when you put in hours a day.” Hizashi wasn’t sure what to say to that, settling for, “Yeah, you put in the work, and you can do anything. We can read the book in English then.” He stepped out to head to his bedroom, grabbing a copy of To Kill A Mockingbird off of his bookshelf. Shota poked his head out of the master bathroom, brushing his teeth.

“A book in English? Two questions: are you reading to him because that’s adorable, and two, are you translating it for him or?” Yamada thumbed through the pages, “He’s fluent. You think you know a kid, but I swear, there’s so much to Izuku we still don’t know.” Shota picked up on the dejected tone, walking over and pulling Yamada back against him by the waist. “I know, but now we have all the time in the world to find out. Now, go read to our impressive kid, and then get in here for bed.” Hizashi sighed, “Alright, alright.”

Back in Izuku’s room, the poor kid was barely awake. It wasn’t surprising, since he’d slept terribly the last few nights and he’d had such an emotionally exhausting day to begin with. Hizashi sat down on the edge of Izuku’s bed, big, sleepy green eyes blinking up at him from the blankets. “Alright, chapter one…”

He was barely able to get though half of the first chapter before Izuku was out. Hizashi tried to be as quiet as possible leaving the room, shutting the door behind him softly. Shota was already in bed, the only light on in the room the soft yellow glow of a bedside lamp. Hizashi climbed in beside him, Shota rolling over to face his husband.

“Seems like he fell asleep pretty quick.”

“He’s had a hard few days given that it’s been an emotional rollercoaster, and he keeps waking up with horrible nightmares.” Hizashi sighed, “He asked me what I wanted him to call me, since apparently you’ve got ‘dad’. You don’t think he’s pushing himself to do it do you? Maybe he’s still afraid we’ll leave him, so if he starts calling us his parents it would make us guilty enough to not do it or something.”

“You’re overthinking it, ‘Zashi. Izuku’s never had a stable parent figure. All Might could’ve been the first father figure he’s ever had, and even then, he wasn’t the best one, so now that he has us, he’s clinging onto it. He’s still just a kid, and every kid wants someone that makes them feel safe. If we can do that for him, and he feels comfortable enough to call us his parents, I couldn’t be happier for him.”

Hizashi thought about it for a minute, still not totally convinced. “I just don’t want him to force himself to do anything for us. The extra stress might, you know… lead him into a relapse. I know that relapse is a normal part of recovery, but I can’t help it. Just seeing what he did the other day, I keep thinking about all of that blood.”

Shota thought about the straight, thin scars on Hizashi’s own thighs, realization dawning on him. “Are you scared that you’ll relapse if Izuku keeps doing it?” The question hung thick in the air for a moment.

“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s been so many years, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it more in the past few days. I want to be strong for him and for you, but it’s still something I struggle with.”

Shota moved closer, pulling Hizashi into his arms. “You can always come to me if you need to. Remember that. I do think you should bring this up with your therapist the next time you see him, though.”

“Yeah, I will. Maybe I can share some of the old coping strategies I used with Izuku. The last thing I’d want him to do would be to just keep doing it and hiding it from us.”

“That’s a great idea. I’m sure Hound Dog can give him some too, but you did have a couple creative ones.” Shota chuckled. “Remember the time you got red food dye all over your bed in high school, and I accused you of having a girl over since I was a stupid kid and thought it was period blood?”

Hizashi let out a small laugh of his own. “That was pretty awkward to explain at the time, but I’m glad we can laugh at it now.” He paused for a second. “I love you, Shota. So much. Our little family feels… complete now.” He yawned, cuddling into Shota’s shoulder, “It’s nice…”

It wasn’t long until he was asleep, the steady breathing and warmth of his husband leading Shota to follow close behind.

Chapter Text

As soon as they got to school, Yamada had to head to his office and start his day, leaving Aizawa and Izuku to walk to Hound Dog’s office. Izuku stopped when they got to the door, grabbing Aizawa’s arm to stop him too.

“What’s up, kid? Nervous?”

“Very. I want to do this because I know it’ll help me, but everything in me is screaming to run away.”

Aizawa set a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, “I’d come in there with you if I could, Izuku, but I do have a class to teach. It’s not going to be easy, but just remember, Mic and I will be there for you at the end of it. There’s no wrong answers as long as you’re truthful.”

Izuku nodded. He couldn’t mess this up. All he had to do was tell the truth, and he’s already done that a few times, even to a detective. He stood up a little straighter, stepping in front of Aizawa to grab the door handle.

“You’ll come get me when I get out, right?”

“I promise I’ll be here. It’s just for a class period. Go on; you don’t want to be late.” Aizawa started walking towards his class with a wave, leaving Izuku alone to take one last deep breath before walking into the office.

It wasn’t a small office like some of the teachers had, but instead it was big enough to be rather cozy. Hound Dog had his desk on the left, sort of tucked into a corner with a bookshelf behind it. The other side of the room had a couch with an armchair facing it and a window in between that looked out towards one of the many fields that were between different parts of the campus. Hound Dog looked up from his computer when Izuku entered, standing to greet him.

“Izuku, good morning! As you know, I’m Hound Dog, and I’m looking forward to talking to you today. Why don’t you go ahead and sit down wherever you’re comfortable, and then we can get started.”

Izuku sat down at the end of the couch closest to the window. At least the wildflowers were blooming, and he would have something to look at that wasn’t eye contact or staring at the floor.

“Since this is your first appointment, I want you to take a few minutes to fill out this survey. It might seem a little silly, but this can tell me some things about you so we can figure out where to start and what to work on.” Hound Dog handed him a clipboard with the survey and a pen, “Would you like some water? I’m going to get one myself.”

Izuku was already filling out the form, not really paying attention to what Hound Dog had asked. He just said “Sure” offhandedly. He didn’t look up until he heard the door shut behind the counselor, just shaking it off and still answering the questions in front of him. They weren’t difficult by any means, but it did make Izuku think about some things he would rather not have. It was a lot of ‘did this thing happen to you’ and ‘do you experience this’. It was slightly comforting that he could answer ‘no’ to some of them, for things like being super paranoid or hearing voices. He was a little shocked to see things he didn’t really think about being relevant, like if he got hot and sweaty when he was nervous, but Izuku did figure out that it was asking for diagnostic criteria for different mental illnesses.

He was finishing up as Hound Dog came back in, handing him the clipboard as Hound Dog handed him a bottle of water. “Thank you for doing this. Do you mind giving me a minute to look over it? You can think of any questions you might have for me in the meantime.”

Izuku nodded, pulling his knees up to his chest. He was just hoping he wouldn’t have to talk about very much today. They only had an hour anyway, how much could they do with the remaining 40 minutes? Thinking about it though, Izuku did have questions. He’d never done anything like this before, and it was unfamiliar and scary; he couldn’t predict what was going to happen, and he didn’t like that.

“Okay, that told me a lot about some things we should focus on. Now, Izuku, did you have any questions for me?”

“Do I have to tell you everything?” Izuku started with the one bugging him the most.

“You don’t have to tell me anything, but I can only help you with information you give me. I’m not here to judge you. I’m only here to help.”

“What about medication? Am I going to have to take something?”

“Medication is a possibility, but I won’t know until we talk some more. I won’t be prescribing anything today if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“So… how does all of this work? Do you ask me questions, or do I just talk about things for you to respond to?”

“That one is up to you. You can always come in here and talk about whatever you want to, or if you aren’t sure where to start, I can ask some questions to get you thinking.”

Izuku paused, staring out the window for a second. He wasn’t sure which one he wanted. He had so many things he knew he should say, but none of them seemed like the right one. “Can we start easy? I don’t know if I can talk about some things yet.”

“We can do that. This is about you and what you need. If you need to just start somewhere small to get comfortable, that’s okay. How about you tell me how your weekend was? You did just move into a new house; how has that been?”

That was something Izuku could talk about. “It’s actually been… really good. Aizawa and Yamada are both super nice. They give me space, and if they have to say no, they explain it. They don’t sugar coat anything either, but they always tell me that… it’ll work out, and that they’re there for me and support me. As soon as I got there, they’ve been helping me. I got my own room, decorations, clothes, shoes, and we even got a video game system. I honestly never thought I’d live in a normal house like this.”

Hound Dog scribbled down some notes. “I’m glad you’re adjusting well. It sounds like they really care about you, but I want you to also understand, providing basic necessities is something you always should’ve had, and the adults that didn’t provide that failed you.”

“I know that it shouldn’t be as big of a deal as it feels like it is, but my whole life, everyone just turned a blind eye. It’s like no-one treated me like a person because not only did they just look at me like I was a dumb quirkless kid, I’m also transgender, which made them see me as a freak, too… I was just a kid. I wanted people to like me, to see I was so much more than just that.”

“What about how people see you now? Your guardians obviously think very highly of you, but what about your classmates?”

Izuku shrugged. “I don’t really talk to them that much. It’s been easier to just not get close to them because that way they can’t hurt me.”

“Well, how do you know if you don’t try?”

That one hit a little close to home. Of course, he wouldn’t know unless he tried, that was obvious, but wasn’t it easier to just deal with how it was than risk getting hurt?

When Izuku didn’t seem to be answering, Hound Dog offered a relatively simple task. “Why don’t you try to have just one conversation with one of your classmates? It doesn’t have to even be long. Maybe talk about homework, lunch, anything you want to.”

A small dinging alarm chimed on Hound Dog’s watch. “Ah, that’s our 5-minute warning. Before you go, Izuku, let’s talk about where to go from here. You did great today, and I think we should keep doing sessions. What do you think?”

It was already over? That was way easier than Izuku thought it would be, and he even felt… okay. He didn’t feel totally better or anything, but it was good to have someone acknowledge his feelings and offer advice. “I would like to come back.”

“Fantastic! I think you would benefit from coming to see me twice a week for now, and as we’re able to establish good coping mechanisms and a solid support system, we can space them out more. How about Monday and Friday?”

“Monday and Friday sounds okay.” Hound Dog got up to schedule their meetings in the computer system, a second alarm dinging on his watch. “There’s our time. Try to have that conversation by Friday, and we can talk about how it went. That can be your homework for this week.” He stood up again to hand Izuku a card. “That has all of my contact information on it. You can always have Eraser or Present Mic schedule appointments with me for you, but if you need extra support throughout the week, don’t hesitate to call or send me an email. I’ll see you on Friday, Izuku.”

As suddenly as it had started, the appointment was over. Izuku was relieved to see Aizawa standing outside in the hallway as he shut the door to the office behind him.

“How did it go, kid?” Aizawa asked, walking with him to get to his first class for the day.

“It was… good. I didn’t think it would be that easy, honestly. He let me ask questions, then he asked me questions, and I just kept talking. I thought it would be a lot harder to say anything, but I know that I have you and Papa if I need it after. Hound Dog was also surprisingly nice compared to how scary he looks sometimes.”

Aizawa stopped for a second, Izuku turning to look up at him. “That’s really good to hear, Izuku. I’m glad it went well. Will you be okay going back to class? I’m sure if I talked to Nedzu we could-“

The worried rambling earned a playful shove from Izuku. “Dad, I’ll be fine. I think some normalcy would be good, anyway, after how everything has changed just over a weekend like that.”

“Right…” Shota paused for a second, “You’re really okay with calling us your parents? You don’t have to, you know. You’re not hurting our feelings or making us care about you less if you call us by our names, you know.”

“Honestly, I was scared about that at first, but I keep thinking about it, and I dunno… It’s kind of fitting. You’re the only real parents I’ve had since I was four, so I think you’ve earned the title."

The warning bell rang, signaling 5 minutes before class started. “Oh shoot, I’m going to be late!” Izuku took off running, Shota calling behind him, “Don’t run in the halls!” before he disappeared around a corner.

Izuku did make it to class, but just barely. The bell rang as soon as he was in his seat, but he couldn’t help but feel the eyes of his classmates all over him. Unfortunately, it was like that for the rest of the day. No one came up to ask him anything or try to talk to him, and some of the stares died down over the course of the day. There was one person, however, who just kept staring daggers into his back. Kacchan. Of course, it would be him. He was smart enough to know that something wasn’t quite right with the whole situation, and while Todoroki was smart enough too, he didn’t care enough to dwell on it very long. When the final bell rang, Izuku packed up his bag, about to head off to Papa’s office so they could go ask Nedzu about him not staying in the dorms for now. Izuku wasn’t lucky enough to make it out the door before he was cornered.

“Hey, nerd, what the hell is going on? You’re not special enough for them to close the dorms for the weekend just to be ‘sick’. You owe me some goddamn answers.”

Izuku panicked, stammering and unable to get an actual sentence out before Bakugou barked again “TALK.”

He took a deep breath, dropping his gaze from Kacchan’s piercing eyes to the floor. “There was an accident, and they had to close the dorms to take care of it. I legally can’t tell you much more than that.”

Bakugou knew there was more to it, but hearing the fact that the law, and likely the police, were involved, it caught him off guard. “I bet Auntie Inko was glad to have you home. She always kept you there.”

Hearing his mother’s name only brought tears to Izuku’s eyes. What could he say to that?

“Deku? Quit crying, stupid. You’re too much of a crybaby.” The words didn’t have much malice behind them. Did he… actually care? It wouldn’t be too surprising considering they did used to be best friends, but after elementary school…

“Shut up. You can’t tell me what to do. I have to meet with Mic-Sensei, anyway. You’re going to make me late.” Izuku didn’t mean to sound as harsh as he did, and it had the exact consequence Izuku wanted to avoid.

“Fine! Don’t say anything! Keep being stupidly secretive the rest of your life! See if I fucking care. Just… tell Auntie I said hi. The old hag misses her.”

“I can’t do that.” What was he doing, why was he saying this? “She’s in jail. I don’t even live with her anymore since she abused me.”

“How dare you talk about Auntie like that-“

“Are you that dense, Bakugou?” The use of his actual name made him take a step back, physically and metaphorically. “All of the bruises and shit I came to school with? The way I constantly flinched, even when I wasn’t getting beat up by your lackeys? You’re too observant to not notice that, but you were too far up your own ass to do anything but ride the high of everyone loving you for your quirk. I struggled so much, and I wanted nothing more than my friend to actually stand up for me! But you never did. You stopped caring about me.” Izuku stopped talking to grab his book bag, walking over to the door before he stopped, turning back to say one last thing, “I always forgave you because I know you’re a good person, somewhere in all of that rage. About the dorms closing? I tried to kill myself. Happy?”

“Deku, I-“

“Don’t fucking call me that. My name is Izuku. Use it.”

He left on that note, leaving the stunned Bakugou without a chance to respond. Good, maybe it would make him think about all of the shitty things he did to Izuku. He wasn’t lying either when he had said he forgave him. Izuku did forgive him because he knew that he could be better, and he really wanted him to be better. Using his sleeve to wipe tears off his cheeks, Izuku knocked on the door to Papa’s office.

“Hey kiddo! How was your-“ He noticed the tear tracks and puffy eyes, “Oh, honey… what happened?”

Izuku let his dad hug him, but he didn’t respond at first. What did just happen?

“Did someone say something to you? We can always talk to Nedzu about it if they’re harassing you.”

“I talked to someone. That’s it. I don’t want to talk about it right now.”

Hizashi sighed, hugging Izuku a little tighter before letting him go. “Okay, kiddo. If you decide you do want to talk about it, Shota and I are here for you. Come on, let’s get this meeting with Nedzu over so we can go home, okay?”

Izuku nodded, not really in the mood to talk anymore.

Chapter Text

The doors to Nedzu’s office opened as eerily as ever, the animal principle beckoning Hizashi and Izuku into the room.

“Come in, come in! Would either of you like some tea?” Hizashi took the reigns, Izuku still unresponsive.

“No, thank you, sir. We just wanted to talk with you about the possibility of Izuku staying off campus for a while.”

Nedzu sat back in his chair, hands folded together. “I see. Well, as his foster parent, I’m sure you likely know what is best for the student, Mic. Do you have a specific time frame in mind?”

Yamada visibly relaxed at getting a positive answer already, “We do not. We were hoping Izuku’s first few sessions with Hound Dog could give us a better idea about when Izuku should be stable enough to return to the dorms. We also think that putting a time frame on it would cause excess anxiety on top of recovering and the court case.”

“Ah, you are probably right. My mistake. Izuku, is there anything you would like to add?”

Damn. He had hoped he would be able to let Papa handle the talking. “I-I agree with Pa-Present Mic.” Nice save, genius. “I feel like returning to the dorms too soon could cause a relapse, and I want to be able to put my f-full focus on my studies again as soon as possible.”

Nedzu smiled, obviously pleased with that answer. “Very well. You may stay with your foster parents for now. Mic, I expect you and Eraser to continue to keep me updated with Izuku’s progress. We can reevaluate after a month to see where we stand. Izuku, I don’t want to force you to come back until you’re ready. If you need any days off of school as well, please let someone know.”

Izuku definitely had not expected that kind of response from Nedzu. He gave a bow, responding with a “Yes, sir!”

They left a couple of minutes later, Izuku pretty quickly coming off of the high from being able to stay at home for now. He was just staring at the ground still, definitely noticing the worried glances from Mic as they walked back across campus to Aizawa’s office.

Yamada knocked before opening the door, Shota not even looking up from paperwork, acknowledging them coming in with a grunt before noticing his husband wasn’t cheerily greeting him as usual. He looked up, rubbing his eyes before meeting Hizashi’s, the glance exchanged telling him all he needed to know. Something happened with Izuku. Seeing how dejected the kid looked, he decided not to ask about it.

“Did Nedzu give the okay?” He asked, standing from his chair and gathering what he needed to take home.

“Yeah, we’re going to give it a month before we reevaluate, and even then it’s to just check in how Izuku feels about going back to the dorms, not a deadline for him to go back.” Shota nodded, closing up his bag. “You two ready to head home then?” Izuku only nodded, and Aizawa could sense the frustration from his husband. “Alright, let’s get going. It’s late enough as it is.”

The ride home was tense, the adults talking about school, lesson plans, grocery shopping, whatever they could to fill the awkward silence. Arriving home wasn’t much better, Izuku just going to his room and leaving his parents to worry.

It wasn’t long until Hizashi started making dinner, Aizawa at the island grading papers.

“Did he tell you anything about what happened?” Shota pressed, sparing an occasional glance at Izuku’s closed bedroom door.

“Not really. He only told me he talked to a classmate and said he didn’t want to talk about it. I just hope nobody gave him a hard time, but by the fact he’d been crying right before he got to my office, I’m sure someone did…”

Shota sighed, “I probably know who did it, too, but we need to let him talk in his own time. Forcing him won’t help. I just hope he’s okay in there.” The implication of what could be happening hung thick in the air for a minute.

Hizashi spoke first, “Please at least check on him.” He sounded borderline panicked himself, Shota getting up to take his husband’s hands.

“Hey, deep breaths. I’m sure he’s as okay as we can expect. I’ll check on him, but if he doesn’t want to come out, I won’t make him. We have to trust that he knows what to do if it starts getting too bad, okay?” Hizashi nodded, wiping a tear from his eyes as Shota pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I’ll let him know that dinner will be ready soon and see that he’s okay.”

Izuku barely heard the knock on his door from how loud he had music through his headphones. Wiping the snot from his nose where he’d been crying, Izuku paused the music and just answered verbally first. “Yeah?”

“Hey kid, it’s me. I wanted to see how you were doing, and dinner will be ready soon.”

Ah, it was Dad. “I’m okay I guess, but I’m not hungry.” Izuku pulled his blanket around his shoulders tighter; he really didn’t want to eat, the nausea that gripped him from being so nervous about facing Bakugou tomorrow making food sound awful.

“Izuku, you need to eat at least something. If you don’t want what Hizashi made, you can pick something else, even if it’s a granola bar and some crackers, but I can’t let you just not eat.” Aizawa reasoned; he and the kid both knew that he wouldn’t get any better by skipping meals. Izuku just really couldn’t handle the thought of food right now.

“I said I’m not hungry. I don’t feel good.” Izuku shot back, a little harsher than he meant to.

“Do you feel sick or is it because of today? You don’t have to say why, but if you need me to get something for you, I can.” Shota knew it was probably the latter, but he wanted to double check. He knew that emotions caused physical responses, and those could at least be treated with medicine.

As much as Izuku still didn’t want to talk about what’s going on, he still answered the question. “Because of today.”

“Can I at least feel your forehead to double check?” Sure, it was a slightly underhanded move to get Izuku to open his door so Shota could see him, but they really needed to make sure that the kid hadn’t harmed himself. Thankfully, Izuku opened the door, still sniffling as he looked up at his dad with red, puffy eyes.

“Oh, Izuku…” He hadn’t really meant to say it out loud, but Shota hated that he was right to assume his kid was crying this whole time. Doing as he said, the hero put the back of his hand on Izuku’s forehead, brushing his curls out of the way to do so. He was warmer than Shota expected, brows furrowing. “Let’s grab a thermometer just to be safe. Do you want to come to the bathroom with me or stay here?”

The thought of even walking to the bathroom was exhausting, let alone doing it. “I think I want to stay here…” Since when did Izuku get so tired…? Shota could sense something was off, and he reached out a hand to steady the kid before moving to lead him back to bed.

“Are you sure you feel okay? You seem a little out of it, kid.”

Izuku realized that standing up had made him feel a little worse, but then again, he’d been crying so much he was probably dehydrated. “I th-think so. I’m just tired, I guess.”

Shota let Izuku lay down before he grabbed the thermometer, anxiously waiting for the little beep to read it. When it showed a normal temperature, he let out a small sigh. “Alright, no fever. I am going to make you drink some water and get at least a snack.”

Izuku groaned as he sat back up, rubbing his eyes. “I still feel kinda sick, though.”

Sitting down beside him, Aizawa tried to see if Izuku would talk about what happened now that he was at least speaking enough to be a stubborn teenager. “Maybe talking about it will make you feel better. It’s worked so far, hasn’t it? It’s bothering you enough to make you nauseous,” he lowered his voice a little, “And you have us both really worried Izuku. We want to make sure you’re safe, and if someone at school is making you feel unsafe, it’s important we know.”

Izuku guessed that Aizawa was right. He tried to come up with a reason not to talk about it, but it just came back to the fact that he was no nervous about seeing Bakugou again that he was just scared to talk about it in general. “I talked to Bakugou after class today. He demanded to know why I was out on Friday, and he figured out that it was connected to the dorms being closed for the weekend. I told him the truth. He tried to defend my mother because she knows their family since we went to school together as kids. I snapped when he tried to say anything good about her, and I yelled at him. I’m just really nervous about having to see him tomorrow now. Hound Dog told me to try to talk to a classmate, but that’s not how I wanted it to go…”

Somewhere in his explanation, Izuku had moved to lean against Shota’s shoulder without realizing it, but his guardian didn’t really get to enjoy it any. Of course, it was Bakugou. That brat was too smart for his own good sometimes, but that was one of the reasons he made it into U.A. “So you’re scared that he’ll be angry with you for yelling at him? How did he react when it happened?” Aizawa was proud of the kid for standing up for himself, but he needed to know a little more.

“He seemed… sad, almost. I think he knew I was right when I told him about being abused and how he either missed all of the signs or was too far up his own ass to care. I think it made him realize how shitty he was to me, or it at least made him feel guilty about it for once.” Izuku didn’t bother censoring himself; after all, Dad didn’t bother to.

“Then I don’t think he’s going to be mad at you, but I’ll make sure the teachers know to keep an extra eye on him for you.” Izuku frowned at hearing that the teachers putting in even more work for him, Shota picking up on it, “It’s no trouble for them, Izuku. Trust me, some of them could use the extra vigilance with how much has happened to your first years.” It didn’t make Izuku really feel any better, but it did make him think more about the fact that he just wasn’t used to people caring for him, so it felt like more than it was.

“I guess so… Can we join Papa for dinner? I want him to know I’m okay too, and I want to apologize for giving him the cold shoulder earlier.”

Shota chuckled a little, “I’m sure he understands, but I’m sure he would appreciate it.

Chapter Text

The next day at school was going relatively smoothly. Bakugou didn’t even spare Izuku so much as a glance, and the rest of his classmates were back to practically ignoring him. As much as it stung a little now that he had a taste of positive relationships with others, Izuku really did want to get to know his classmates a little more. As much as he wanted to dive into it though, Izuku was still struggling with everything that was going on.

The lawyer representing Izuku had called Aizawa that morning, and even with the conversation going really well, Izuku still felt sick with anxiety about the case going well. They finally had a court date, but it was another month out, and the waiting was somehow worse. Even with both of his guardians trying to reassure him, Izuku was still sitting in class distracted, his mind torturing him with all of the possible outcomes if they lost. He couldn’t take it anymore. Izuku got up and left the room, Ectoplasm thankfully, having been informed about some of the situation, didn’t bring any extra attention as he practically ran out. He made it to the bathroom just in time to puke into a trashcan. As good of a cook as Hizashi was, breakfast didn’t taste great the second time. Izuku got just enough of a break to get his phone out to send a text to one of his dads. He knew Hizashi was on lunch this period, so he texted him first.

Sent: need u, bathroom by 1a

He didn’t even receive a message back, just Yamada running into the bathroom as he heaved again. “Oh, honey.” His papa was by his side in an instant, rubbing his back soothingly. “What happened?”

Izuku’s throat was raw, making it hurt to speak. “Couldn’t stop thinking… about the case… made me feel sick…” That was all he could get out before another wave hit him. “Yeah, really bad anxiety can make you sick. Just take your time, and when you can walk, I’ll take you home.” Yamada was already sending Aizawa a text about what was going on, letting him know to tell Nedzu he’d be leaving.

“N-no, you have class-“ Izuku couldn’t even finish his sentence before dry heaving.

“Izuku. Your health is more important right now, okay? We already have permission from Nedzu to take you home if we have to. Plus, my next class is on a field trip today and after that I only had planning. You don’t need to feel like an inconvenience because you’re not. I promised to take care of you, right? So that’s what I’m going to do.”

Izuku nodded. Papa was right, after all. It was still going to take time for Izuku to internalize the fact that he actually wasn’t a burden like he’d been told most of his life. He had finally stopped dry heaving too, standing up despite being really shaky. “I-I think I can walk.”

“Alright, let’s get you home. We need to stop by my office real quick, is that okay?” Izuku nodded again, leaning against Yamada for support. When they got there, Izuku plopped down into the desk chair, checking his phone to see a worried text from Dad.

Dadzawa: you ok? Zashi told me you threw up

Sent: better now, but yeah I got really anxious and it made me sick :<

Izuku was surprised to get an immediate response.

Dadzawa: let me know that you two get home okay please. need anything on my way home?

Sent: ginger ale please and shouldn’t you be teaching?

Dadzawa: I am teaching

Sent: no youre texting

Dadzawa: yes

The conversation got a smile out of Izuku, and when he put his phone away, hopefully leaving Dad to do his job, Papa was ready to go. “Do you want to go get your bookbag from class? I can go in and get it for you.”

“Y-yeah, I have math homework to do.” Yamada rolled his eyes, “Izuku you just spent the last 20 minutes puking, and you’re worried about math homework?”

Izuku shrugged, standing back up and finding that at least his legs were a little more stable, even though he was still kind of weak. “I just don’t like to fall behind.” Yamada picked up his desk phone to call the classroom, asking for the bag.

“Hey, one of the students offered to bring it here, would you prefer that so you don’t have to walk all the way back there?” Izuku nodded. It was probably the gravity girl, the one he helped during the entrance exam. “They’ll be here soon. Do you want to take your binder off since we have a minute? I have an extra hoodie since my office gets cold.” He didn’t want to add the fact that both he and Shota started keeping an extra in their offices for Izuku, too, in case he needed to take off his binder at school.

That was actually a good idea. “Yeah, it does feel a little tight. Can you help?” Izuku stripped his shirt, Yamada helping him wiggle the compression top over his head since his arms still felt like jelly. He pulled the hoodie on, the comfort of it making him feel just a little better.

There was a knock on the office door, Yamada opening it to see Bakugou holding Izuku’s bookbag. He stepped past Mic, holding out the bag to Izuku directly, not meeting his eyes. “Here’s your bag. I’m sorry about yesterday.” Izuku took the bag, still processing that Bakugou brought his bag. “You’re still a nerd, but here,” the blonde held out a slip of paper, “It’s my phone number if you want to text me.” That was all he said, escaping the room in a hurry once Izuku took the paper.

Yamada was just as confused. “I wonder what that was about. You okay, Izuku?” The teen nodded, reading over the digits on the paper in his hand. “He actually apologized.” Hizashi smiled, “Yeah, he did. Maybe there’s hope for that kid after all. Come on, let’s get you home and rehydrated.”

Izuku didn’t know what to make of it. He followed Hizashi to the car, just thinking about the argument they had. Did he really get through to Bakugou? He was so hotheaded, it was a miracle that for once something had gotten through to him at all, but to give Izuku his number? It was more confusing than anything, to him and Hizashi both. They talked about it a little more on the car ride home, speculating what the fire-y kid could be thinking about.

Once home, Izuku was set up on the couch with some Gatorade, crackers, and Mochi in his lap. Yamada was on one of the armchairs, playing some game on his phone while Izuku watched cartoons. Izuku got out his phone typing in the number and sending a new text message.

Sent: hey, I guess it’s been a long time since we last talked, huh?

Maybe talking to Bakugou wasn’t as much of a disaster as Izuku originally thought.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t like Izuku expected an answer right away, but he had at least hoped for one once school was out for the day. He tried to tell himself that Bakugou was just busy, but he was more concerned with the fact that maybe he was just jerking him around. That would be more like the Bakugou he knew. Either way, it was pretty easy to stay distracted once Aizawa got home. Not like he could ignore either of his dads if he wanted to; they were all over him making sure he was okay. After a couple of hours, and Izuku proving he was able to eat a sandwich, they backed off some, letting Izuku go to bed early.

Of course, he was just in his room doing hero analysis. It was pretty close to midnight by this point, but Izuku wasn’t really planning on going to school tomorrow either. He also napped half of the afternoon, so he wasn’t tired anyway. Then there was a notification at the top of his screen: a text message. Izuku sat straight up in bed, his heart pounding.

Hot Head: yeah, it’s been a while.

Hot Head: I think I miss you, Izuku.

Izuku stared at his phone screen until he was sure his retinas were going to burn off.

Sent: I want to forgive you but it might take a while

Sent: You really hurt me

It was another fifteen minutes before he got a response.

Hot Head: I know, and I know that it’ll take time.

Hot Head: I just wanted you to know that I’m sorry.

Sent: Thanks. I appreciate it.

Hot Head: why did you go home early today, anyway?

Sent: Threw up. My foster dad freaked out and made me come home.

Hot Head: oh.

Hot Head: are you okay now though? shouldn’t you be asleep?

Sent: probably. I might not go to school tomorrow though.

Sent: it’s still hard to be in a classroom right now

Hot Head: do you want me to bring you your homework?

Sent: my guardians can handle it

Hot Head: ok.

Hot Head: well some of us will have to go to school, so I’m going to bed

Hot Head: goodnight Izuku

Sent: goodnight

The conversation was so… normal. Izuku wasn’t sure what to expect, but it wasn’t that. He laid in silence for a few minutes, staring up at the galaxy projection night light. At least Hound Dog would be happy that he talked to a classmate, got in a fight with them, and resolved it all by himself. It was nice though to talk to someone about something other than his past or all of the craziness going on currently. He decided he could get used to it.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up to a soft knock on his bedroom door.

“Good morning kiddo! You feeling any better?”

It was Papa. Izuku got up, opening the door and immediately hugging Hizashi. “Woah! You okay?” He hugged Izuku back, concerned that he’d had a nightmare or something.

“Yeah. I feel a little bit better this morning, but I’m not sure I want to go to school today. I got really overwhelmed yesterday…” Izuku looked up, arms still tight around his papa. Yamada could tell the kid was anxious.

“Izuku, you do need to see Recovery Girl today. Let’s talk to Shota first too, okay?” Hizashi ruffled Izuku’s hair as he pulled out of the hug, Izuku sighing a little.

“Alright…” He walked towards the kitchen with Yamada, sitting down beside Aizawa on the couch. “Dad, I don’t want to go to school. Yesterday was awful…”

Shota looked to Hizashi, who just shrugged. “I’m sure ‘Zashi reminded you that you need to see Recovery Girl. Do you want to see if we can set up an extra appointment with Hound Dog to talk through yesterday? You can see Recovery Girl after, and we can reevaluate from there. If you’re up to it, I’d like you to be in classes, but if you still aren’t doing great, you can spend the rest of the day in my office doing hero analysis. Sound fair?”

Izuku thought it over for a minute, but he felt panic start to rise as the thought about going back to campus at all. Why did he feel like this? Going to the school itself was safe, and he knew it was safe. Why couldn’t he breathe? Why was everything so dark-

“Izuku. I need you to breathe. You’re having a panic attack. Izuku, can you hear me?” Shota was now crouched on the floor in front of the kid, doing his best to get his attention. Izuku was hyperventilating, thoughts spiraling. They were going to hate him. He was useless- he couldn’t even go to school! He would fail all his classes, have to drop out, and be even more of a disappointment. “Hizashi, I need you to go get me a rag with cold water on it, now.” It hurt to watch Izuku struggle like this, eyes blown wide and muscles tensing as he was practically gasping for air. Tears started to pour down the kid’s freckled cheeks, Aizawa grabbing his hands and squeezing. “Izuku, breathe. Copy me, in… and out. Come on, you can do it.” Hizashi returned with the rag, setting it across the back of Izuku’s neck. The sensory input started to bring him back, thought pattern breaking. “There you go, kid. Now try to take in a slow breath.” He watched Izuku pull in a staggered, but slow breath. “Good, now let it out slowly.”

Once Izuku could breathe again, everything started coming back into focus. Dad was on the floor in front of him, holding his hands and seeming relieved. He could hear Hizashi on the phone in the kitchen, telling someone they would be late today. “D-dad? Papa? What.. what’s going on?” He pulled the damp cloth off of his neck, Shota taking it from him to set on the coffee table. “You had a panic attack, and a pretty nasty one at that. How do you feel now?” Izuku looked down at his hands, still held by Aizawa’s much larger ones. “I was… you asked about school, and…” The fog started to lift and Izuku remembered what was happening, swallowing before answering his dad’s question. “Tired. I feel tired, and I think I’m shaking a little. I don’t know what- why- I…” He wanted to explain himself, but he really couldn’t. “I don’t know why that happened,” Izuku’s eyes filled with tears again, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

Shota pulled Izuku into a hug. “Shhh, it’s okay. You don’t have anything to be sorry for.” He let Izuku cry into his shoulder for a few minutes, Hizashi coming over to sit beside them, rubbing Izuku’s back. Once he’d calmed back down, Hizashi got up and brought him a glass of water, which Izuku gulped down. “You need to see Hound Dog today. I’m asking this because I need to know; can you go to campus? It’s okay if you can’t, there’s no pressure here.”

Izuku rubbed the condensation on his glass, “I think I can. I don’t want to be scared of a place I know is safe, and I really don’t know why I reacted like that.” Shota stood up, nodding. “If you’re sure, then okay. I’m going to go call Hound Dog and get you an appointment. Do you want somebody to stay with you to get ready, or are you good by yourself?”

Izuku stood up too, testing his legs a little. “I should be okay… Do I have time to take a shower? I forgot last night.” Shota was a little hesitant, turning to Hizashi. “I called the school and already let them know we’d be late. Go ahead if it’ll make you feel better.” Izuku nodded, heading off to his room.

It was another hour before they made it to the school, Izuku straight to Hound Dog, and both teachers to their respective classes. The rest of the day was surprisingly smooth. Izuku said his therapy session went well, and he even learned a couple of grounding techniques to try. Recovery Girl also cleared him to remove the bandages on his arms, healing the wounds the rest of the way before they went home. That morning’s fiasco seemed to be just a hiccup, and both adults relaxed as the day progressed better. They had a little bit of a family game night, Izuku demolishing both of them in Mario Kart before bed. Izuku even talked with them about how Bakugou was trying to be nicer, and overall, Izuku seemed to be feeling better. His dads knew better than to get comfortable.

Chapter Text

They made it to Friday night without another incident, but a half asleep Hizashi opened their bedroom door at 3am to a heavily crying Izuku. “Izuku, what’s wrong? Was it another nightmare?” Izuku shook his head, trying to speak but crying harder every time he tried to get the words out. Hizashi brought him into the bedroom, sitting him down on the bed. “Breathe kiddo. You have to tell me what’s wrong.” At this point, Shota was sitting up and turning a light on. Once the light was on, Shota immediately saw the problem. “Oh, shit. Hizashi…” He was still so occupied with trying to shush Izuku that he didn’t hear his husband at first. “’Zashi! Look. Down.”

“Shota, I get that it’s late, but that’s no reason to-“ His eyes trailed downwards, listening to Shota’s request, “Ah, fuck.” There was a large, dark red wet spot on Izuku’s boxers. No wonder the kid was so upset. Aizawa was already getting up out of bed, going to get fresh clothes for Izuku and start the shower on his way down the hall, leaving Hizashi to calm Izuku down.

“Kiddo, I’m so sorry, but we can deal with this, alright? It’s a totally natural body process, even for men. I promise that you are not the only man to deal with this.” Izuku was starting to calm down enough to speak, but he did it was so quiet Yamada could barely hear him. “I don’t want to be a girl, Papa. I’m not one… I’m not…” His heart broke for the kid, shushing him as he helped him to his feet. “I promise that you’re not honey. You’re a strong, handsome boy, and your dad and I will always see you that way. Let’s get you in the shower to get cleaned up, alright? I promise you’ll feel better clean.” Izuku nodded, letting Hizashi lead him to the bathroom.

He froze when they got there, starting to breathe heavier. Yamada noticed, intervening before it turned into another panic attack. “Look at me, Izuku. Do you want help getting undressed? I know there’s a lot going on right now, and it’s okay to need help.” Izuku was still choked up, but he managed to get out the tiniest “Please.” Hizashi nodded, “Alright, arms up. We’ll do the shirt first.” Izuku was moving basically on instinct, likely disassociating at the moment. “Great job, kiddo. Okay, boxers next.” His breath hitched when he saw Izuku’s thighs- they were covered in cuts. Fresh ones, too, no more than a couple days old but some even fresher. Hizashi swallowed, not commenting on it as he just opened the shower curtain, gently guiding Izuku into the shower. “I’ll be right outside the door when you’re done, okay?” He felt his own tears start sliding down his cheeks as he closed the bathroom door behind him.

Shota had a fresh change of clothes for Izuku in hand when he saw his husband crying. “Hey, woah. What’s wrong, ‘Zashi?” He gently cupped the side of his face, brushing away tears with his thumb. Hizashi looked at him with tear-filled eyes, “He’s still cutting. His thighs, Shota… they’re covered. It’s as bad as mine was.” Shota’s expression changed from worry to sympathy. “”Zashi… don’t blame yourself, okay? We knew this was a possibility; most self-harmers go through a lot of relapse early in their recovery. This is not your fault. It’s not my fault. It’s no one’s fault. Go back to the bedroom, okay? I’ll give Izuku some clothes, and he’s going to need you.” All Hizashi could do was nod, hugging his husband as tight as he could before going to their bedroom to try and compose himself. Shota was right; as upsetting as it was, they knew it would happen. He wiped his eyes, going into the master bathroom to get into a stash of pads they had just in case. Looks like he was right to have picked some up when he went to the store the other day. He met Shota back in front of the bathroom, handing him the retrieved pad. “He’ll need one of those, for now.” Shota kissed Hizashi on the cheek, giving him one of his rare genuine smiles.

They heard the water turn off, and a couple minutes later, Izuku opened the door with a towel wrapped around him. “Alright, here’s some clothes for you, and I’m going to need to teach you something.” Aizawa showed him how he could put a pad in his boxers to keep from leaking anywhere before leaving him to get dressed on his own. A still sniffly Izuku walked out of the bathroom a minute later, “Can I have some painkillers? It really hurts.” Shota responded, “Of course. Why don’t you go lay down and I’ll bring you some with a glass of water?” Izuku nodded, looking up at Hizashi. “Can I sleep with you guys, Papa?” Hizashi smiled at him, “Of course, hun. Come on, let’s get you tucked in.”

Once Izuku was tucked into the bed, Hizashi laid down beside him, brushing his fingers through the un-tamable curls. By the time Shota brought him the pills and water, Izuku was already half asleep. He downed them before laying back down, Shota now taking the other side before clicking the bedside lamp off. “Goodnight, Izuku. We love you, kiddo.” Hizashi said softly, Izuku falling asleep pretty quickly. His parents followed shortly after despite their worry for the kid.

Izuku woke up first, immediately groaning with pain. He was supposed to do this for a whole week? He turned over, holding back a laugh at Dad’s snoring before he nudged him awake. “Dad? I need more pain meds…” Shota sat up beside Izuku, mumbling something about check the medicine cabinet. “Thanks.” Izuku climbed over him out of bed, Shota stretching as he followed after. Maybe he shouldn’t leave the known suicidal kid to get pills on his own. He saw Izuku on his tip toes, possibly about to climb on the counter when Aizawa just grabbed the bottle for him, motioning for Izuku to hold out his hand. He poured two liquid gel caps into Izuku’s palm, “You can only have 2 every four hours. Go get some water, and I’ll get Hizashi up for breakfast. You want to eat here or go out?” It might help Izuku to stay distracted, and if he was craving something it gave more options. “Can we go get waffles? I want one with chocolate chips.” Shota nodded, “Yeah, of course. We can go by the store and get anything you want to snack on, too. Start getting dressed, kid.” He ruffled Izuku’s thick green curls before heading back to his room.

Hizashi was still snoring when Shota walked in. He placed a kiss on his husband’s forehead, a hand on his shoulder as he woke up. “Morning, sleepy. We’re taking the kid out for breakfast, so you probably want to get up.” Hizashi nodded, sitting up but trapping Shota in a hug. “Good morning to you too, hun. Where we going?” Shota shrugged, “Ask Izuku; he wants waffles.” The three of them got ready separately, meeting in the kitchen as they were about to leave.

“It might be a little warm for a hoodie, Izuku. Are you sure you’re going to be okay wearing that and jeans?” Hizashi fussed over him, handing him a water bottle to take. “Papa, I’ll be fine. I just… I feel really dysphoric today.” No one needed to clarify why. “Okay, but remember if you need to come home just say the word.” Izuku nodded, keeping his gaze down. Hizashi went to the bedroom for something last minute, and Shota took the opportunity to ask Izuku something. “Izuku, you know you can tell us anything, right? I know this is all really new still, but we would rather know if there’s something bothering you.” The teen still didn’t look up from where he was fidgeting with his cube, only nodding in response again. Shota held back a sigh; he didn’t want to seem frustrated, never mind the fact that he was. “Even if you relapse. We don’t want you to feel like you have to hold back. You won’t be in trouble.” Again, Izuku nodded, pulling out his phone instead now. Hizashi was back soon after, and they left for the day.

Chapter Text

It was a Saturday, so shops were pretty crowded. If Izuku seemed on edge this morning, he was downright one bad moment away from another panic attack. He was practically latched onto the adults, switching between them occasionally. The first time they saw him relax all day was when they finally got out of a crowd for a few minutes.

“Hey, why don’t we stop by the park on our way home? Shota, you know the one; it was where we had our first picnic!” Hizashi had Izuku for the moment, and he looked down to try and catch Izuku’s eyes, which neither of his dads had been able to do all day. He still wasn’t able to, but he got an answer out of Izuku. “Are there swings? I would like that…” Hizashi tried not to get over excited, “Yeah, there are some! It’ll be quieter there anyway.”

It was a short enough walk, and still close enough to the apartment to walk home. Thankfully, it was also pretty empty, with just a couple of joggers. Izuku just stood there for a minute, not sure what to do.

“What’s wrong? You alright?” Shota asked, not expecting the response. “I’ve um… I’ve never really been to the park before. I’m not sure what to do.”

“Well, you wanted to swing, yeah? Let’s go over to the swings.” Shota pointed off to the right where there was a swing set in an enclosed sand area. Izuku hadn’t been on swings since he was a little kid, and he actually got excited, almost dragging both Shota and Hizashi over. It was refreshing to see the kid enjoying himself, making Shota push him so he could get up high enough to touch some tree branches. It was once he was getting tired that they were all sitting in swings, gently swaying back and forth when Izuku looked up to see both of their faces.

“Dad, Papa? I’m… I’m sorry.” He started with that, feeling a knot form in his stomach again. “For what, honey? You haven’t done anything wrong.” Hizashi tried to say, Izuku shaking his head. “I know. I just… I haven’t felt great today, and don’t think I didn’t notice how worried you two have been all day. I also um…” Izuku swallowed, remembering what Dad had told him that morning, “I relapsed. I’ve cut every day since Wednesday. It’s just been so hard, and it feels better to do it. It shouldn’t feel… good. But it does, and I don’t know how else to deal with anything. I just… I don’t want to do it anymore, but I don’t know how to stop.”

Hizashi had to take a moment to compose himself, Shota picking up the slack. “Izuku, thank you for telling us. I know it’s hard to do, but we can help. There’s other coping strategies you can use to mimic the pain from cutting, the sight of blood, sensory input, or sometimes just being able to distract yourself long enough for the urge to pass can help a lot.”

“I can always tell you which ones worked for me, too. Some of them are good ideas, but in practice… they’re a little silly.” Shota was a little surprised that Hizashi was able to speak up about it, but Izuku's reaction was expected.

“You mean, you…?” Hizashi nodded, “Yeah. I did. Most of high school, and even into my first couple of years as a pro-hero. It took a long time, and a lot of therapy to truly stop. I even attempted once. You remember the conversation where I told you I have depression? It got so bad, and I didn’t know what to do. I took a bunch of pills, and I just laid on the floor until Shota found me. Spent a week in the hospital, and just a couple years later I ended up married, living with the love of my life, and adopting a kitten. So Izuku, I just want you to know… it gets better, okay? It might not ever fully go away, but you can always find ways to overcome it.”

Izuku was crying by this point, and Shota had to admit even his eyes watered thinking about his husband lying in a pool of his own sick, unresponsive. “You’re not alone, kid. We want to help you however we can because you deserve the world.” Shota spoke up that time, voice shaking just enough to be heard.

“I should probably talk to Hound Dog about it too, right?” Izuku asked, getting up to hug his Papa, who stood up to hug him back. “Yeah, little listener. You probably should. Ready to head home? The sun is going to start setting soon.” Izuku nodded, wiping his eyes on his sleeve.

The walk home was more lighthearted, the trio joking around as the sun started to drop in the sky, darkness falling right as they were getting home.

“Can I try to train with All Might tomorrow? I haven’t asked him yet, but I don’t think he’ll say no. I guess I’m getting kind of restless, and…” Izuku’s voice dropped, “I want to see him, too.”

Shota and Hizashi shared a glance, Shota being the one to answer. “I don’t see why not. It’s getting late though, so if you’re going to text him, I’d do it now. Just promise me you’ll take it a little easy.”

Izuku nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah, of course! I’ll be careful, I just want to do something.”

Hizashi spoke up next, “Just remember to follow the safety rules, even if All Might forgets, okay?” Izuku nodded again, excitedly sending his mentor a text.

Sent: Hey r u free to train tomorrow? Aizawa and Yamada said I could

Skeletor: Of course, my boy! How does 10am at the beach sound?

Skeletor: I’ll bring lunch :D

Sent: sounds great!! Thanks! :3

“He said yes, and he’s going to bring lunch!” Izuku was practically bouncing, “10 am at the beach. Oh man, I can’t wait!” Izuku’s excitement led him to be nowhere near tired enough to sleep when bedtime rolled around, so Izuku decided to try something.

Sent: I get to start training again tomorrow

Hot Head: good, maybe you won’t be so scrawny the next time I get to fight you

Sent: don’t be mean :<

Sent: I never got to eat enough so now it’s hard to gain weight

Hot Head: oh

Hot Head: sorry. I didn’t know

Sent: well u do now.

Sent: I’m just glad to get out of the house without my guardians

Hot Head: you going to tell me who they are?

Sent: nope.

Sent: not yet, anyway. still waiting for the right time

Hot Head: you’re safe though, right?

Sent: yeah, I’m safe here

Hot Head: just wanted to make sure

Sent: aww you actually care about me? I could’ve sworn you hated my guts

Hot Head: shut up nerd. you’re just my only good competition

Sent: whatever you say bakugou

Hot Head: how are you doing though?

Hot Head: I’m not sure how to really ask without mentioning what happened

Sent: I’m alright. could be better

Sent: it’s all really stressful between the court case and having to try to go back to school

Hot Head: are you coming back to the dorms?

Sent: not yet. I don’t really think I can go back there yet

Hot Head: that makes sense

Hot Head: I don’t know how to handle this type of thing sorry

Sent: I’m not asking you to

Sent: it’s nice to just talk without having to mention any of it

Hot Head: well that I can do

Hot Head: did you do the math homework?

Hot Head: I hate algebra

Sent: yeah I finished it in class

Sent: do you need help? maybe we could meet after school

Hot Head: I can’t on thursdays

Hot Head: I have anger management therapy on thursday

Sent: that’s fine

Sent: my therapy is during classes which sucks

Hot Head: don’t you have like all A’s though?

Sent: yeah but that’s not the point

Hot Head: nerd.

Sent: bully.

Hot Head: hey it’s getting late so I’m going to go to bed

Sent: ok :<

Sent: goodnight :)

Hot Head: night, Izuku

Chapter Text

The smell of the salty air was refreshing, and being able to take a deep breath of it almost took away from the fact that Izuku wasn’t allowed to wear his binder. Thankfully, by going up a shirt size and wearing a different article of clothing Papa had dubbed the ‘safety binder’, Izuku was at least comfortable enough to leave the house.

“Izuku, my boy! It is very good to see you!” All Might waved, walking over to greet Izuku and Shota, who had walked him to the beach. Hizashi had to go to work since he’d been out for a week.

“Good morning!” Izuku ran over, nearly toppling over Yagi with a bear hug. “Woah! Be careful,” he laughed, “Don’t want to crush what I have left in there.” The teen pulled back immediately, apologizing.

“It’s okay, Izuku. Aizawa, it is good to see you as well.” Shota only grunted in response, turning his attention to Izuku instead, “Be careful. Call me when you’re ready to go home.” Izuku attacked Shota with the same bone-crushing hug, “I’ll be fine, Dad! See you this afternoon.” Shota nodded, giving All Might a death glare, quirk kicking in for added scare factor. “Don’t let him get hurt. Remember, what happens to him, happens to you.”

With that, it left the mentor and his student ready to start training, but All Might was… nervous. Every time he looked at Izuku it reminded him of what his student had been through, all while he just watched and did nothing. The kid was still practically skin and bone, save for the slight pudginess that was starting to come back to his freckled cheeks. Not only that, but Toshinori couldn’t help but have his eyes drift to Izuku’s exposed arms, too many and too deep of scars overlapping all of the boy’s skin. He took a deep breath, trying to smile like he always did.

“Let’s start with a warm-up run! Think you can handle a few miles?” Izuku could feel his insides still cramping, remembering his dads’ warnings to be careful and not push too hard.

“Actually, can we start with just two miles? I don’t actually feel great today.”

“Are you alright? I mean, we don’t have to actually train just so you can see me-“

“It’s not that.” Izuku interrupted, “I um… I got my first period, and, uh…”

All Might put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “You don’t have to explain, Izuku. I know that has to be hard for you.” All of the research he had done had told Toshinori that anything related to the gender that a trans person was born as and not the one they identified with caused distress. “We’ll start with the two miles and see how you feel after. You’re not wearing a binder, right?”

Izuku was very clearly a little less excited, but he still got a smile back out of the kid. “No, I’m not. Da- Aizawa made sure that I wasn’t before we left.”

“I heard you call him ‘dad’ earlier, Izuku. It’s fine to call them whatever you like. Come on, let’s get going.” Toshinori started a jog, a slightly flustered Izuku catching up to him pretty quick. It felt so good to be moving so much again for Izuku. All Might let him set the pace, and they kept it pretty steady for the first mile and a half, and then Izuku decided to kick it up for the next half mile, hitting a sprint for the last stretch as a test to see what he could handle.

“That felt awesome!” Izuku sat in the sand, looking out to the waves coming in with a sigh. “It’s okay to stare, you know.” He commented offhandedly, catching All Might off guard. “Wh-what do you mean, I, uh, I-“ Izuku rubbed across his arms, “I saw you staring at them earlier. It’s okay, everybody stares. I know it looks bad, All Might. I wish I’d never started in the first place, but it’s a little late. I didn’t know how good the wind would feel out here without long sleeves, but I really like it.”

All Might wasn’t sure what to say. He sat down in the sand beside his student, trying his best to read him. Izuku seemed… alright on the surface, but it was like something was looming over him. He was tense, visibly weighed down. “Izuku, I know you have Aizawa and Present Mic, but you know you can talk to me too, right? I feel sick every time I think about everything I missed because I was so focused on you as a student that I forgot to check in on you as a person, and I’m truly sorry for that. I want to do better.”

Izuku drew lazy swirls in the sand as he listened. “Well, you’re doing better now, right? That’s all I can ask, I guess. I just don’t want to bother you with anything since you have your own problems, like your health and all. I don’t want you to worry about me, is all.”

“I’m always going to worry about you, Izuku. I’m your mentor, as you’ve allowed me to stay, and I want what’s best for you. As much as I’ve been learning about being a teacher, one of the most important things is making sure your student is able to grow as a person, too. That part is what I failed at.” Toshinori looked down to Izuku from where he had been staring into the ocean. “I want you to feel comfortable with me, whether or not that involves talking about anything or not is up to you, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me.”

Izuku sniffled, a few tears dripping off of his nose and into the sand. “I just don’t want you to think less of me. I want to feel as strong and capable as you think I am, but I don’t feel that way. I feel small and broken. It’s so hard, All Might, just to feel like I deserve any of the things happening right now. Every time I look in a mirror, I see her, and I hear all of the things she said to me. Do you know how much it hurts to do anything when you feel like you don’t deserve to even be alive? It feels like I should’ve died last week, and I think the only reason I haven’t tried again is because I haven’t had the chance.” Izuku looked up at All Might, tears and snot running down his face, “I’m so tired. I don’t want to keep fighting.”

Toshinori pulled his student into his arms, his heart breaking as Izuku sobbed in his arms. He just kept shushing him, letting him cry as long as he needed. It was heart-wrenching to hear any 15-year-old say that they wanted to die, but hearing from Izuku was infinitely worse; he couldn’t help but cry some himself. After a while, Izuku had calmed down to only small hiccups, All Might letting his grip soften and then letting go completely, even though he wanted to hold tight and never let go.

“If you need someone, please call me, Izuku. Promise me you’ll call someone.” Toshinori pleaded, his tear-filled eyes staring into Izuku’s. “I p-promise. I’ll call someone.” His mentor nodded, hugging Izuku again before they both stood up. “How about we eat lunch, and we can talk about anything you want. How does that sound?”

The topic of conversation over their sandwiches happened to be about Bakugou, how he had started being at least neutral towards Izuku, if not amicable. “It’s almost sweet, like… he asked me to tutor him basically!” All Might chuckled, “Sounds like he has a crush on you, if kids are still like when I was in high school.” Izuku almost choked on his sandwich, “What?! No, no way. He’s bullied me since we were kids, I- There’s no way!” His cheeks were bright red, earning another chuckle from Toshinori. “Looks like you might have a crush on young Bakugou as well.” This prompted an even more flustered Izuku to try and deny it.

It was about 2 in the afternoon when Izuku finally had Shota come pick him up. They were walking home, and Izuku seemed in a better mood. “How did training go?” Shota prompted, hoping he remembered to take it easy. “Oh, well… We really only ran a couple of miles, and from there worked on stuff like breath control and flexibility. We actually… had an important conversation.” Shota was immediately in protection mode, “I swear- did he say anything transphobic to you because I will-“ Izuku interjected, “No! Nothing like that. We talked about how I was feeling, and I was honest with him. He made me promise that if I was thinking about trying again to call someone. I didn’t know he cared that much about me.”

Shota took a deep breath, “That’s a good promise to make. As much as I still don’t like him, All Might does care about you, kid. By the way, Hizashi should be getting home about the same time we do, and I’m warning you now- don’t let him hug you until he showers. He wears glitter when he works at the radio station.”

Izuku should be tired, but he isn’t. He’s been staring at the clock beside his bed, watching numbers tick by from 1am to 2am. Now it’s 2:34. He’s just been left to think in the dark, in the quiet. Pulling himself up in bed, Izuku swings his legs over the side, dangling his legs there for a minute before setting his feet on the carpet. It’s not totally clear even to Izuku where he’s going, but he opens the door to the bathroom, not even shutting the door behind him. The heels of his palms dig into the edge of the counter as he stares into his reflection. Too skinny, not skinny enough. Too many freckles. His eyes are the same color as hers; it’s a horrible color. Maybe he’s going to turn out just like her. He should push everyone away so he can’t hurt them. Better yet, he should just kill himself. Yeah, that way he won’t hurt anyone. Izuku found himself pulling the medicine cabinet open, mindlessly scanning over what it contained. He had to give his dads credit, they at least put any pills up high enough so that he couldn’t get to them easily. Next step was to break apart another shaving razor to get a blade out.

The sting of his skin digging into the blades snapped him out of the thought spiral. What the hell was he even doing? Izuku looked down at his nicked fingertips, small beads of blood welling up. He shouldn’t be doing this. He was better than this. Izuku wanted his dads, but it felt like he was rooted to the spot. He started to finally cry, stumbling back into the wall behind him and sliding down to the cold tile floor. He sobbed into his hands, trying to steady his breathing for a second. “Dad, Papa!” It only took about 30 seconds before both of the heroes were at the open bathroom door.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Hizashi was on his knees, one arm pulling Izuku to his chest while the other had Izuku’s bleeding fingers. Shota was the one to take in the scene as he went to the medicine cabinet. There was a half pried open razor on the counter with a single drop of blood on the blades. It was pretty easy to put the pieces together. “Izuku…” Shota dropped to his knees beside them, sitting against Izuku’s other side.

“I-I’m sorry... I was- I was gonna-“ He couldn’t get the words out, sobs breaking though every attempt. Hizashi just held him, pulling his fingers through the thick green curls. Shota could see it in his eyes, the same panic. “You were going to try again, weren’t you?” Izuku could only nod, a hand gripping Shota’s in a death grip while the other was still held by Hizashi. They sat there with the only noise being Izuku’s crying until he had cried himself to sleep. A couple of band-aids on his fingertips, and Shota carried the still all too tiny child to their bed, tucking him with Mochi.

The couple sat in the hallway, neither of them wanting to go too far from Izuku, but also not really wanting to go back to bed. “What do we do? Shota, he… I can’t imagine…” Hizashi tried to talk about it, covering his mouth as tears rolled down his cheeks. He rested his head on Shota’s shoulder, the man holding his hand just as tight as Izuku had minutes before. “We keep doing what we have been. He stays in therapy, we tell Hound Dog and Nedzu, and maybe… maybe we look at taking him out of school for longer.” Shota looked over at Hizashi, brushing a strand of hair from his face and tucking it behind his ear, “The important thing is he called us. As scary as it is, it’s still progress. He trusted us enough to let us in at his most vulnerable, yeah? So we just keep doing what we have been.”

Neither of the heroes were able to sleep the rest of the night. Hizashi called Nedzu at about 6:30 the next morning, letting him know that Shota would be in to teach, but he would only be on campus to take Izuku to see Hound Dog. The principle just wished them well and gave him instructions on who to send his lesson plans for the day to. Shota was sitting on the bed reading when Izuku woke up.

“When did I fall asleep?” Izuku’s voice was rough, and he coughed a little to try and clear it, sitting up to look at Shota. “You were still in the bathroom. ‘Zashi was holding you. We went ahead and tucked you in rather than waking you up.” Izuku frowned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed to stand. “Where’s Papa?” Shota closed his book, standing up with him. “Kitchen, I think. We’re not making you go to school today, by the way. You still need to go see Hound Dog, but Hizashi is going to stay out with you today. You can go grocery shopping with him.” There was a nod from Izuku, and he stretched before walking towards the kitchen with his dad following. This was probably going to be a rough day.

Chapter Text

Breakfast was mostly awkward silence, finally cut by Izuku asking a question. “So, I don’t have to go to school today other than to see Hound Dog?”

“No, kiddo. If you really want to, we won’t stop you, but we…” Hizashi locked eyes with Shota before turning his attention back to Izuku, “We think it might be best for you to take some time off. You’ll still get all of your work, and we can help you at home, but it might do some good to have you focus on yourself a little bit.” Izuku was chewing his pancakes and nodding.

“I think I might like that. One more question, and I understand if you say no, but…” He twirled his fork on his plate for a second, “Can I have someone from class bring it to me?” Shota groaned, “ I have a feeling we’re about to have another loud blonde running around this apartment. As if one wasn’t enough.” He earned a playful smack from Hizashi, who smiled at Izuku in return.

“Of course, honey. I think that would be a great idea!” Izuku was already about as red as he thought possible, choking a little on his juice. “Th-thanks. I just think it would be good to have a friend around.” He cut his eyes over to his dad with the accented word, “Bakugou asked me to tutor him anyway. We can go through everything together maybe.”

“I for one think that’s wonderful, Izuku. Are you going to be okay spending time with Bakugou like that, though? He did bully you for quite a long time…” The concern was obvious from both of them, but Izuku was pretty confident about his choice. Just texting with Bakugou had proven that he was at least trying to be better, and if anyone believed in second chances, it was Izuku.

“I’m sure. You’ll be here, right? If something happens, I have you here to help.” It didn’t seem to put either hero any more at ease, but they were still going to let him. They trusted Izuku’s judgement, but the implications if something were to go wrong would be, well possibly deadly.

Their day proceeded as normal as it could, and Hizashi was standing outside of Hound Dog’s office, holding tightly to Hizashi’s hand and feeling exposed: being at school without his backpack made him more anxious.

“You okay, Izu? You froze there for a second.” It shook Izuku out of his fog for a moment. “I’m just scared Papa… What if he’s mad at me for what I did?”

“Hound Dog won’t be mad. Remember, he’s here to help you; plus, you did the right thing by getting me and your dad! If anything, he’ll be proud of you for reaching out when you really needed it.” Hizashi tried to make him feel a little better, kneeling down in front of Izuku when he could still see the tension in his shoulders. He grabbed both of Izuku’s hands, getting him to look at him. “I’ll be right here when you get out, okay? I’m going to be right down the hall talking to Nedzu if you happen to need me. You got this, kiddo.” The hero stood up, Izuku trapping him in a hug before waving goodbye and walking into the office.

This left Hizashi to have the meeting with Nedzu to negotiate how they would be handling Izuku’s attendance and course work. He crossed his arms, hesitating in the hallway when he heard footsteps behind him, whipping around to see who it was.

“Hi, All Might.” Hizashi greeted dully, turning to face the other hero fully. “What are you doing down here; shouldn’t you be in class?”

“Good morning, Mic! Ah, I am actually here to see the principle, and my classes don’t start until second period. Why are you here?”

Hizashi sighed, “I was bringing Izuku for his appointment with Hound Dog, and I have to discuss the next steps for his current education plan with Nedzu. There was another… incident last night, and we’re pulling him out for a while.”

All Might’s face dropped, clearly worried for his student. “Is he alright? Or I guess… as alright as he can be?” His tone was much softer this time, and he was clearly searching Hizashi over for any clue he could get.

“For now, yes. He called Aizawa and I before he actually did anything; it might have had something to do with the promise you had him make, so I do thank you for that. It seemed to get through to him that asking for help is okay, even if he felt like he had to.” Hizashi hadn’t realized he had curled in on himself, but All Might definitely picked up the body language queues; Izuku was going to try again, but he had reached out this time. It was both concerning and relieving at the same time.

“I’m glad he trusts you enough for that. It’s so hard for him to even admit that he needs help, let alone ask for it.” Toshinori wasn’t really sure about what to say in response more than that, but he didn’t get the chance before a certain highly intelligent animal was walking down the hall towards them.

“The two teachers I need to see! Good morning gentlemen! I actually would like to talk to you both together, if you don’t mind. We need to discuss Izuku’s education plan, and that includes his current quirk training, so it will be easier to discuss it as a group. Mic, I assume you are comfortable enough now to start making decisions on Izuku’s behalf, yes?” Hizashi was only able to reply with a nod before Nedzu chimed in with an “Excellent!”, ushering the heroes into his office.

“Now, before we get started… Would either of you care for some tea?”

The meeting went surprisingly smooth. The schedule for Izuku was set, and he would be able to continue to attend therapy, although it was being adjusted to three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, train with All Might on Tuesdays and Thursdays during his early open class period, and it was set for Izuku to work through course materials at his own pace, whether that had him completing work over the summer to catch up or if it accelerated him through courses was entirely up to the pace Izuku decided to work at. The only stipulation was that he had to be finished with the year’s work by the end of the summer in order to stay on track to graduate. Hizashi was expecting for Izuku to finish the rest of the year’s work in a month or two given how fast the kid was in a paced classroom setting, so he advocated for Izuku to be able to start work for the next year should he finish early, which Nedzu all too gladly granted. It was a little concerning about what he might be planning.

Either way, it was time for Izuku’s therapy appointment to be over. The two heroes were leaving Nedzu’s office just as Izuku was stepping out of Hound Dog’s office, Hound Dog following him.

“Mornin’ Mic! You mind if I talk to you for a minute with Izuku before you two get going?” Hizashi was watching Izuku, noticing the tear tracts down his cheeks and puffy red eyes. “Y-yeah, of course. Is everything okay?” He instinctively put an arm around Izuku, who instinctively shoved his face into Hizashi’s side. “Well, that’s what we want to talk about.” All Might excused himself as the trio walked back into Hound Dog’s office. “So, as I’m sure you discussed with Nedzu already, we’ll be adding a Wednesday appointment each week, but I wanted to go over something we discussed today. Izuku, do you want to tell him?”

Even sitting on the couch, Izuku was still pressed up against his Papa, and his voice was hoarse from where he’d been crying. “W-we made a safety plan. It has a list of things I can try to cope, and then numbers and people I can call if those don’t work.” Hound Dog nodded, handing Hizashi a paper copy of the plan. “That’s a perfect explanation, Izuku. Now we have a visual way to see things that can help us.” Hizashi scanned over the document, feeling a little bit of pride at seeing him and Shota put into the plan as Dad and Papa. “I think this is a great tool to have. How about we put this up at home so all three of us can see it? If you need it, you can find it, or your dad and I can pull coping skills from it to try out. Does that sound like a good idea?” Izuku nodded, sniffling and wiping at his nose with his shirt collar.

“That’s all we needed to go over, Mic, but I just wanted to be sure you were aware of the plan so that we can all work together to use it as a tool for Izuku here.” Hound Dog stood up, Hizashi and Izuku following. “Thank you, Hound Dog. Alright Izu, you ready to go? We can talk about your new education plan in the car. Still up for the grocery store?”

“Yeah. I want to get some snacks for me and Bakugou; he wants to watch a movie later.” Hizashi nodded, waving goodbye to Hound Dog as they left the office.

Izuku took to the education plan really well when he learned he would get to take his classes at his pace, even getting ahead if he wanted to, and he would get one-on-one time with All Might to home in his skills for One for All. “So, even if I finish the work for the whole year, I can start the next one?”

“Yep! If you wanted, you could finish the course work for all three years, I suppose. After that, we can look at extra training sessions and such to get you fully prepped for hero work!” It was great to see Izuku getting excited again. His smile was just so bright when it was genuine. The grocery store was going just as well, and Izuku had some really great ideas for meals they could cook together; he already knew how to cook, and it made him feel helpful around the house.

He got a text from his dad:

Dad: Zashi hasnt looked at his phone

Dad: you guys doing ok?

Sent: we’re headed home from the store

Sent: I’m going to help Papa cook dinner :D

Dad: sounds great kiddo

Dad: is the other loud blonde coming over today still?

Sent: I guess so? I still want him to, if that’s ok…

Dad: yeah, it’s fine

Dad: just making sure you were okay after this morning

Dad: the dog filled me in on the safety plan at lunch

Sent: oh

Dad: im proud of you izu

Dad: the brat is coming home with me later

Dad: class is starting, see you when we get home

“Dad texted me since you didn’t message him back. Bakugou is coming home with him, too.” Hizashi picked up on something in Izuku’s tone. “You sound hesitant. If you don’t want him to come over today…” Izuku shook his head, staring out the car window. “I really want him to. He’s really easy to talk to about just normal stuff. I’m just nervous because I haven’t seen him outside of school since… since he was a bully.”

“So, you’re worried it’ll be awkward, huh? Well, at least the last time he talked to you in person was good, yeah? Your Dad and I will be right there if you need us, too, and if you want him to go back to campus at any point, you only need to say the word and he’s gone.” Knowing his dads had his back did at least make Izuku more comfortable with having someone over, but there was one more issue.

“I also haven’t um… I never told him it was you two who were taking care of me at all, let alone that you’re my parents now.” Hizashi hummed in response. “Well, you don’t have to tell him anything you don’t want to. If you want to wait to tell him that we’re your parents, then that’s fine. We won’t force you to let him know anything you don’t want him to know. Okay?” Izuku nodded, taking a deep breath. “Okay. Thanks, Papa.”

Izuku liked that he was getting to make the decisions about this, but it was a little scary too. What if he made the wrong choice? If he did tell Bakugou, would he see Izuku any different? Would it make him change how he was acting? Izuku just had so many questions about it, but no answers since until it happened, he couldn’t know for sure. By the time they got home, Izuku had decided he’d tell him the whole story. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but he felt like he could trust Bakugou again. It felt really good.

Chapter Text

Izuku was laying on the couch beside his Papa when he heard the door open, sitting up to see Bakugou and his Dad. He jumped up, running over to hug Shota. “Hey, Izu. You guys have until 10pm before Bakugou has to go back to the dorms, alright?” Izuku nodded, “Okay!” He turned to Bakugou, “Let’s go to my room, if that’s okay?” Bakugou nodded, clearly a little confused about the situation. Hizashi waved at him from the living room, kissing Shota on the cheek when he sat down next to him. “Oh, dinner will be ready by 7!” Hizashi called after the boys when he heard Izuku’s room door close.

Izuku sat down on his bed, Bakugou just standing awkwardly for a second before setting his bookbag down and sitting beside him. “So, um… I guess you probably want me to explain what’s going on, huh?”

It took the blonde a moment to respond. “Yeah. You hugged Aizawa-sensei and he just called you a nickname? I had guessed that Mic-sensei was one of the guardians you mentioned, but um… Are they dating or something?”

“They’re married, actually. They just don’t advertise it since it could put them in danger. As for me hugging him, I, uh… I really like hugs. My mother never did, and it’s nice, I guess.” “Aizawa and Mic-sensei are taking care of you, then?”

Izuku took a deep breath, “They’re my dads, actually. Technically, they’re only my foster parents, but we’re going to file for them to adopt me soon.”

Bakugou took in the new information, still trying to process that Izuku’s mother was abusive, in jail, and now Izuku was probably getting adopted by two really strong heroes. “How did you even end up with them, of all people? Two weeks ago, you were in the dorms with everyone else, and then you were just gone. I don’t know what pissed me off more, the fact that they wouldn’t tell us anything or that no one seemed to care.”

“I mean, it’s not like I really have any friends in the class… No one seems to like me.”

“Izuku, it’s not that they don’t like you; no one just knows how to talk to you, shithead. You’re always buried in those notebooks of yours, and not to mention that All Might likes you so much, they’re scared to get in trouble.” Izuku hadn’t thought about it that way. From his perspective, he was just trying to not hurt anyone else or, more importantly, he didn’t want to take the chance that they would hurt him.

“Do you think it’s too late?” Izuku could feel tears prick at his eyes; it was really all his fault that he was alone, wasn’t it? Even Bakugou wasn’t as bad as he thought he was. “It doesn’t matter anyway. I won’t be back in school for a while. My dads are keeping me out since it freaks me out so bad to be there.” Izuku was debating on telling him that he had almost tried to kill himself again when Bakugou spoke up.

“You could always see them outside of school if you really wanted to. My friends are pretty alright, like Kirishima. He would like you a lot since you’re both pretty hard-headed.” Izuku gave a snort, playfully punching Bakugou in the arm.

“Enough of the sappy shit. You’re here so I can tutor you. Where do you want to start?”

“Woah, he can swear! Never thought I’d hear that out of your mouth Izu~!” He mocked the nickname he had heard Aizawa use earlier, earning another, slightly harder punch to the arm. “If you don’t quit, maybe I’ll give you all the wrong answers!”

“Hey! I can always go back to bullying you, nerd!”

“As if! Aren’t you supposed to be in therapy, too? That doesn’t seem like the thing your therapist would like very much.”

They bickered back and forth for a little bit before settling down to work on that week’s math concepts. Izuku had taken the extra time that afternoon to finish the next two weeks’ worth of math, so he had already completed the assignments. Bakugou had finally figured out the problem he was stuck on when there was a knock on the door. “Come in!”

Shota opened to door to see the two boys on Izuku’s bed, homework papers scattered everywhere and Izuku laying on his stomach while Bakugou was leaned back against the headboard, notebook in his lap. “Dinner’s ready.” Izuku was immediately jumping up and heading into the kitchen, Bakugou getting stopped by Shota on his way out.

“Yes, sir?” Bakugou asked, nervous but a little peeved he was being pulled aside like he was in trouble. “Just call me Aizawa. This is my house, kid, not school. I just wanted to ask you how Izuku was doing? Does he seem okay?”

The fact that he was being questioned about Izuku’s behavior only brought up more concerns for Bakugou. He knew that Izuku hadn’t been doing that great recently, if the cuts down his arms healing weren’t an indicator already, but for his teacher to outwardly show concern had him a little scared for his classmate. “He seems alright. He wanted to know if the other kids in class hate him, and I told him they don’t. No one just knows how to talk to him. We were joking around after that, though, so I don’t know.”

Shota nodded. “Thank you, Bakugou. Hizashi and I are just worried about him.” Bakugou assumed he was referring to Mic-sensei. “Come on, let’s go eat.”

Dinner was one of the most lively it had been since Izuku had been living there. Mochi jumped onto the table at one point, Izuku and Bakugou ended up smearing cheese on each other, and Hizashi just laughed while Shota gave up on controlling the chaos. The boys were still laughing by the time they ended up back in Izuku’s room. It was around 9pm, so they decided not to get any homework back out. They were laying beside each other on Izuku’s bed.

“Hey Bakugou? Why did you decide to talk to me, anyway?” Izuku had wondered the whole time why his former bully suddenly seemed to care about his existence and then be nice to him, of all things. Of course, it wasn’t like Izuku was complaining, but his curiosity got the better of him.

“At first I was just angry. No one told us what was going on, the teachers were pretending like there was nothing happening, and then you just show back up. They wouldn’t just close the dorms for no reason, so I wanted to know what made you so special.” Bakugou paused, “Then after you told me why you were gone, I… It made me think about how horrible I was to you. I never really hated you, you know. I was jealous of how smart you are, how strong you are. You seemed perfect all the time. When I heard that you were hurting so much, it reminded me of how my life was in middle school. My mom and I used to get into huge screaming matches, and she would say awful things. My dad made us both go to therapy, and things have gotten a lot better. My therapist helped me realize that maybe instead of letting that jealousy make me lash out, I should try to get to know you better. That’s when I gave you my phone number.”

Izuku wasn’t necessarily surprised that Bakugou had some family issues since all of that anger had to come from somewhere, and it was almost nice to know they had something in common. “I’m glad you did. Everything has been so weird lately, and I’m still really not okay. That’s been hard to think about too, how I’m not fine and that’s alright. When I talk to you though, I can just talk about anything. You’re not looking at me like some charity case, as some broken little kid to protect and take care of. Don’t get me wrong, my dads are great, and they’re doing the best they can, but… it’s nice to have something that feels normal.”

Bakugou jumped a little when he felt Izuku’s hand in his own, and he looked over and into Izuku’s eyes. “Thanks for being here, Bakugou.”

“You know, you can call me Kacchan again if you want to. I miss it a little bit.” Bakugou prompted, Izuku shaking his head. “No, that nickname is for how things used to be. You need a new one.”

“Do you have one in mind?”

“Not yet…”

“You could start by calling me by my first name, if you want to.”

Izuku couldn’t help the blush spread across his cheeks, “Y-yeah, that would work. Katsuki.”

He looked at the clock on his bedside table: 9:55. “You should get ready to go. It’s almost 10.” Izuku sat up in bed, starting to gather up papers from the bed and his desk, handing them to Bakugou as he was getting his bag together. The boys walked over to the door, Shota there putting his shoes on. “You ready, Bakugou?” The blonde nodded, “Thank you for letting me come over, Aizawa.”

He turned to Izuku, “Goodnight, Izuku. See you later, yeah?” Izuku wrapped his arms around Bakugou. “Goodnight, Katsuki.” No one missed the red across his cheeks before he rushed off to find Hizashi.

While Shota was taking Bakugou back to the dorms, Izuku was laying on his dads’ bed while Hizashi was getting ready for bed, gushing about how well the night went. “You sure you don’t have a crush on him, Izu?” Hizashi laughed at how red it made him, “I knew it! You do have a crush on him!”

“Papaaaa! Fine, I like him! I don’t want to rush anything though and scare him off. Honestly, I’ve liked him since we were kids, but him being a bully for a few years made it really hard to try and talk to him.” Izuku pouted a little. Shouldn’t Papa know that teasing him about it was a little unfair?

“I’m just messing with you, Izu. If anyone would know not to judge who you like, it would be your father and I.”

?“Was it hard for you guys when you were in high school?” Izuku asked. The question was so innocent, but it really brought up some rough memories for Hizashi. “Yeah. It was really hard for us, but we’re here to help you, and things are a lot better now than when Sho and I were in school.”

Izuku nodded. He sat in silence for a little too long, Hizashi picking up on it pretty easy by now. “What’s wrong?”

He fidgeted with his hands for a moment before looking up to Hizashi. “Am I a burden to you and Dad?” The slight waver in his voice was enough for the blonde to drop what he was doing, going over to kneel in front of Izuku, taking his hands. “You will never ever be a burden to us, Izuku. Do you understand me? You are our son, and we care about you so much. We…” Hizashi sighed, “We love you, kiddo.” Izuku couldn’t help but cry, being pulled into his Papa’s arms. At least this time, it was a good cry. That’s all he ever really wanted to hear; somebody finally truly wanted him.

Chapter Text

With the next morning being Tuesday, it meant Izuku had to get ready for training that morning.

“Do I need to wear the UA training uniform since I’m technically going to school, or can I wear whatever?”

Shota popped his head into Izuku’s open bedroom door, toothbrush still in his mouth, “Wear the uniform at least to go in. If you want, wear something under it and change when you get there. I’m sure All Might won’t care.”

Izuku nodded, setting out the uniform and then a pair of shorts to change into later. He was really enjoying wearing shorts and short sleeves without fear. Even if he was stared at for it, he had to admit that it was easier to move around and much cooler.

Wandering into the kitchen, Hizashi had breakfast ready.

“Good morning, Izu.” Izuku walked over to hug his Papa, “Go ahead and get some juice. We’re running behind, and I still need to get dressed.”

“You’re staying at school and Dad is bringing me home, right?”

“Correct my little green bean! I’ll be home late too, since I need to go record at the radio station tonight, but I will be home before midnight. Shota is letting you stay up so that you’ll still get to see me before bed.”

Izuku finished his juice, but was really struggling with breakfast this morning. “Papa, do I have to finish this..?” Hizashi looked over, trying not to show concern about the fact that the plate was barely picked at. “You don’t have to, but I will ask you to take a protein bar with you to eat later. You can’t train without the energy to use.”

“I’ll take one. Thanks, Papa.” Izuku got up to clear his plate, side hugging Hizashi as he set the dish and his empty juice glass in the sink.

“Go get dressed and get your teeth brushed.” Izuku was at the door to his room when Hizashi called over to him, “Oh and All Might wanted you to check your text messages! He sent me one to remind you that he sent you the training plan for today!”

“Okay!” Izuku called back, closing his room door to get dressed. The training plan All Might sent was one they’d done before, but a little lighter to accommodate. Izuku couldn’t help but smile a little at the fact that his mentor was really trying for him. Back to getting dressed, he opted to just put the extra shorts in his bag, figuring that he could change in the locker room instead of suffering through the annoyance of wearing pants over the shorts since I was actually pretty warm out.

By the time Izuku had gotten dressed, brushed his teeth, and read over All Might’s training plan, it was time to head to school. Thankfully, they were able to use the teacher entrance, but it still left Izuku to walk through the hallways to get to the locker rooms. Hizashi walked with him, waving at and saying hello to students and teachers as they passed.

“Alright, Izu. Don’t let All Might push you too hard, okay? Shota will come pick you up directly from the training grounds.”

“Okay… Can I have a hug before you go?”

Hizashi didn’t hesitate to pull Izuku into a tight hug. “Good luck, kiddo. Remember to call if you need anything!” He waved as he headed off towards his class, leaving Izuku to walk into the locker room on his own.

Thankfully, he was a lot more comfortable changing in there now that weren’t other students around. No prying eyes, no one to question anything. That is, until Izuku heard a familiarly shrill voice.

“I knew it!”

Izuku whipped around, holding a shirt over his chest, only having put his shorts on at this point. It was the last person he wanted to see in here; Mineta.

“You’re a girl, I knew it!” He shrieked, pointing at Izuku like some zoo animal.

“N-no, I’m a guy- I just-“

“Oh, so you’re a tranny then! That’s even better. Just wait until the rest of the class hears about this!” Mineta started to laugh, taking a couple of steps towards Izuku, “Hey, everybody, Midoriya is a girl playing pretend!”

Izuku felt tears gather in his eyes, “Sh-shut up, y-you’re wrong! I-I-“

He just kept laughing, “Aw, what? You don’t want the class to know that you have a pus-“

“I think that’s enough, Mineta.”

The grape-haired kid paled, turning around at the booming voice. It was All Might, looming over him with one of the darkest expressions Izuku had ever seen on his face. His signature smile was absent, replaced by a scowl.

“A-all Might, I was just- she just- She’s not even really a boy, but this is the boy’s locker room!“ He stammered, trying to get out of trouble by shifting blame to Izuku.

“Misgender him one more time, I dare you.” All Might was seething. “Go directly to Nedzu’s office. Now. I will be there shortly to discuss disciplinary actions for stalking a fellow student, harassing a fellow student, and your disgusting discriminatory remarks and behaviors.”

Mineta opened his mouth like he was going to protest before All Might took a step closer to the boys, causing the student to scurry off like a scared rat.

Once the door to the locker room closed behind him, All Might let out a huge sigh. “Izuku, are you okay? I came to check on you when you weren’t outside on time.”

Izuku was shaking where he stood, practically frozen in place. He felt so exposed without a shirt on, but he felt stuck. He couldn’t move. Oh gods he couldn’t move, he couldn’t breathe, everything is spiraling around him-

All Might saw Izuku start shaking, not totally sure what to do when his student didn’t, or couldn’t, respond.

“Shit- here, okay, let me help.” All Might grabbed Izuku’s discarded jacket, draping it over his shoulders to cover him at least a little more before pulling out his phone to call Aizawa. He felt so helpless listening to the phone ring while tears started steadily rolling down Izuku’s cheeks.

”All Might, you better have a damn good reason for interrupting-“

“I need you in the boy’s locker room. There’s been an incident. He’s just standing here, shaking and crying. I can’t get him to say anything, and-“

“I’m on my way.”

All Might heard the phone click as Aizawa hung up. “Your dad is on his way, okay? Just- just hang in there.” He was scared to even touch the kid. It seemed like if anything else happened that he would just shatter where he stood. He kept just trying to reassure him that everything would be okay until Shota burst through the door, running to kneel down in front of his foster son.

“Izuku, kiddo, I need you to breathe. Match mine, in and out.” Aizawa started to model some deep breathing, gently taking Izuku’s hands into his own and squeezing them. All Might could actually see his student’s glazed over expression start to focus back in, and soon he started to match the breathing pattern. Once he was breathing somewhat normally, Aizawa gently guided him to a bench to sit down, helping him put his shirt on finally.

“What the hell happened?” He questioned, glaring daggers at All Might.

“I-I don’t know everything. When Izuku wasn’t on the track, I came to check on him, and Mineta was in here saying awful things. I sent him to the office, and Izuku just froze like that.”

Not wanting to trigger Izuku again, Shota accepted that story for now. “Go to the office. Let Nedzu know that we’ll be in there later for the details of the story and for Izuku to give his statement.” He sighed, standing up from where he had crouched in front of his son to face All Might, “You just watched him have a panic attack. There’s not a lot that can really bring him out of them, so you did the right thing calling me. Give us some time alone, please. Izuku will need it before we go talk with Nedzu.”

All Might nodded. “I wish I could do more for him… Please update me on how he is later.” He ducked out of the locker room, trying to process everything that had just happened.

Aizawa turned his attention to the still silent Izuku, noticing right away the fact that he was absentmindedly scratching at his arms. “Izuku, no-“ He pulled his hands away, trying to look Izuku in the eyes. They were so dull, like he still wasn’t all there. He can only assume he had been triggered by whatever Mineta had said to him, and knowing his past sexual assault, it made him worry about Izuku even more.

“Can you talk to me, Izu? Do you need me to get Papa?” He hardly referred to Hizashi like that, but it was a grasp to get any kind of response out of Izuku other than him staring into space. Shit- maybe this was something he needed Hound Dog for. It took a moment, but Izuku looked at him, eyes finally showing some kind of awareness.

“Dad…” He croaked out, tears still steadily rolling down his cheeks, “He… he called me a girl…” Shota felt his heart sink at his suspicions being confirmed.

“No, Izu, he’s wrong. I always knew that brat would say something stupid. You’re a boy, I promise. He’s going to be in a lot of trouble, okay? You’re just you, Izuku.” He tried to soothe, unsure of what else he could really say.

“I don’t want to see him again. It made me think of middle school… I could hear those boys and feel their hands and-“

Aizawa shushed him, pulling Izuku into a hug. “I think you had a flashback, kiddo. Don’t worry, you won’t have to see him anymore, but we need to tell Nedzu what happened so we can remove him from the school. That type of discriminatory behavior will not be tolerated. How about we go to Hound Dog’s office and tell him everything Mineta said? That way we won’t run into him in the principle’s office.”

Izuku leaned into his dad, reaching up a stiff and shaky hand to hug him back. “O-okay… Can we go home after? I-I don’t want to be on campus.”

“Of course. Let’s go get this over with, and we’ll take you home.”

Everything after that was a bit of a blur for Izuku. He repeated verbatim what Mineta had said, and it took everything for all three adults in the room not to throttle the brat when he didn’t even deny any of it. As much as Shota and All Might advocated for it, the most the principle could realistically do was a two-week suspension. Izuku spent the entire time with Hound Dog, the counselor going over a couple of their grounding techniques they had discusses before, but Izuku really wasn’t responding well to them.

“Izuku, I know there’s something else going on here that we haven’t talked about yet. We know that it helps for you to talk through whatever you’re feeling, so would you be okay sharing with me the significance of this event?”

Izuku had his green fidget cube in his hands, absently flicking the switch on one side back and forth. He knew the counselor was right, and thankfully, right now he was still so out of it that he didn’t really think before starting to explain to Hound Dog what it made him think of.

He recounted his middle school assault, the amount of speaking he was doing having been enough to ground him back into the situation.

“I-it reminded me of then since we were in the locker room… Mineta was saying stuff exactly like they had. All I could hear was their voices, and I could feel their hands all over me. I wish I could just scrub all of my skin off so I can’t feel it anymore.”

It was at this point that Aizawa had let himself back into he office, not bothering to knock as he had been in and out a couple of times already. Hearing Izuku talk like that really solidified to Shota just how much of a setback this experience would probably be. Would Izuku have to start over with being touched? Would he start flinching away from him and Hizashi again?

When he noticed his dad back in the room, Izuku actually stood up to go hug him, not missing the sigh of relief when he wrapped his arms around the hero.

“Hey, kiddo. Are you about ready to go home?”

“Did they expel him?” Izuku asked, pulling back to look up at Shota with tear-filled eyes. Of course, another student nearly re-traumatized him, and Izuku was worried about getting them in trouble.

“No. He got a two-week suspension, but he wasn’t expelled from the school. This is his third strike, though. The next time he gets into something, he will be expelled.” He could feel some of the tension drop from Izuku’s shoulders.

“Is Papa coming home with us?”

“Not right now, he has one more class to teach for the day, and he's supposed to go to the station tonight.”

“Can we stay until he’s done?”

Aizawa sighed, “Izuku, I don’t think it’s a good idea to-“

“Please, Dad? I don’t want to leave him here alone. Plus, if we have the car, he has to ride the train home.” Izuku could feel his already high anxiety spike again at the thought of leaving any opening for either of his dads to be in a bad situation. Anything could happen if he wasn’t with them, and Izuku couldn’t chance that right now.

Shota seemed to pick up on Izuku’s thought pattern as he watched his breath come a little shallower, a little more rapid. “Only if you’re sure you can handle it. Do you want to go wait in my office while I grade?” Izuku nodded in response, a little eager to get out of Hound Dog’s office after being stuck there a couple of hours now.

Hound Dog meanwhile was still taking notes until they mentioned leaving. “Alright, Izuku,” He stood to see them both out, “Thank you for sharing more about your past experiences with me today. Remember, call if you need anything. We still have our appointment set for tomorrow morning, so I’ll see you then.”

The pair left the office, Izuku holding his dad’s hand in a death grip, not caring who saw them. Thankfully with it being in the middle of class, the hallways were empty save for a student or two going to the bathroom or running an errand for a teacher. Once in Shota’s office, Izuku plopped down into a chair, not even realizing how exhausted he was until he fell asleep sitting up, head tipped back.

Next thing Izuku knew, he heard keys jingle. He cracked his eyes open, realizing he was being carried by Papa. They were whispering about something Izuku couldn’t quite make out, and before he realized it, he was being laid down in his dads’ bed.

“Papa?” He croaked out, Hizashi immediately shushing him.

“Hey, sweetheart. Don’t worry, honey. Here, let’s get your binder off and you can go back to sleep.”

Izuku just complied, letting Hizashi help wiggle him out of his binder and slip a t-shirt back on him before Izuku just drifted back asleep to the sound of his fretting fathers’ voices on the other side of the room.

Chapter Text

When Izuku woke up for real, it was dark save for a lamp on the bedside table on low. He set up, definitely feeling groggy as he rubbed the blurriness out of his eyes before walking into the living room.

“Oh, you’re awake.” It was his dad that had spoken up, his papa asleep on the couch while Shota was in one of the chairs beside it, working on what looked like grading worksheets.

“What time is it..? How long was I out?” Judging by the fact it was pitch black outside and Hizashi was snoring away, he knew it had been longer than he would’ve liked.

“It’s about half an hour past midnight, and we brought you home about 4, so you slept a good 8 hours or so. You hungry?”

Izuku shrugged, sitting down in the chair on the opposite side of the couch from Shota. He pulled his knees into his chest, remembering and taking in everything that had happened. “Hang on, wasn’t Papa supposed to be at the radio station tonight?” Izuku questioned, feeling dread creep up at being the reason Hizashi might have missed work.

“Yeah, and he did go after we got you home. You just seemed so concerned about him being safe that we thought it was best to get you here and see him here before he left for the evening. He was a little late, but he got home just a little while ago. Idiot didn’t even shower before passing out in here with me.” He chuckled, gesturing to the fact Hizashi was still in his hero costume, minus some of the accessories, but with what looked like glitter in his hair.

“Oh… should we wake him up..?” Izuku still felt bad about making Papa late, but shouldn’t he at least shower?

“He’ll be okay. How are you holding up?” Shota stood up to stretch, walking over to sit on the armrest of the chair Izuku was in. He reached up a hand to squeeze his shoulder, Izuku flinching away from it.

“S-sorry, Dad, I, um…” He felt his face heat up, embarrassed at his own reaction. Shit, he was backsliding. Shota gave a soft sigh, opting to kneel in front of Izuku instead.

“Izu, it’s okay. We will never be upset with you for reacting to something like this. How about we get you some water and a snack, then-“

“No, I-I’m not hungry.” Izuku interjected, clamping a hand over his mouth when he realized he’d interrupted.

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, “Kid, you haven’t really eaten all day today. Whether you’re hungry or not, you need to eat something.”

Izuku felt sick at the thought of having to eat anything. He already felt disgusting, still feeling traces of unwanted hands on his skin and shivering at the sensation. “Please, don’t make me.” He hadn’t realized it, but Izuku had curled up into a ball in the chair, shrinking back against the cushions and making himself as small as possible.

“Izuku…” Shota thought it over for a minute, “Do you think you could drink something for me? We have some protein drinks in the fridge already, can you try one of those?”

Izuku just shook his head, “N-no, just… just let me go to bed.” He couldn’t even explain why the thought of even drinking something made him feel so nauseous, but it felt like a weight off of his shoulders when Shota stood up and stepped out of Izuku’s way.

“Do you want a hug before you go?” Izuku didn’t miss the defeated tone in his dad’s voice; it held an edge of disappointment Izuku couldn’t shake.

“Y-yeah.” He wrapped his arms around Shota, a little relieved that he could still hug him without feeling too gross about it.

“Goodnight, Izuku. I’ll be in here for a while if you need anything.” Shota sat back down in the chair, Izuku watching him brush some hair out of Hizashi’s eyes over his shoulder.

Finally back in his room, Izuku laid down on top of the bedspread, just staring into the darkness of the ceiling. He wanted to make everything feel better, wanted to feel more in control; so he waited until he heard the lamp click off in the living room. Now was his chance. Opening his bedroom door just a crack, Izuku took a moment to listen for any movement before slipping out to the bathroom. Flipping the light switch, he blinked in the harsh light before his eyes focused on his face in the mirror. His gaze slipped down to his arms, letting out a shaky exhale as he thought about what he could do. Everything would feel so much better if he could just…

“Izuku? What are you doing up?”

He jumped, turning to see a half-asleep Hizashi standing in the door he had neglected to close.

“I-I was, uh, just-“ He didn’t even finish before Hizashi interjected, “You were thinking about self-harm again, weren’t you?” Izuku fell silent, dropping his head and nodding.

“Alright, come here. Do you remember what I told you at the park? Let’s try a coping skill to get through this.”

“W-wait, but it’s super late. Shouldn’t you go back to sleep, I mean, we have school in the morning, and…”

Hizashi shook his head. “No, kiddo, this is important, and I need you to realize that. Time doesn’t matter right now, but what does matter is making sure that you’re safe. Come on, let’s go to the bedroom. Shota’s asleep in the living room still.”

The blonde turned and walked off, leaving a still contemplating Izuku to slowly follow behind and sit on the bed while Hizashi dug through a drawer. “Ah, here’s one. Here, Izu, give me a hand.” Izuku held out a hand, Hizashi slipping a hair tie on his wrist.

“Papa, I know my hair is a mess, but how is this supposed to help?”

Hizashi smiled, “Like this!” He pulled back the band, letting it snap back on Izuku’s wrist. This earned a yelp and an “Ow!”

“Hey, what was that for? That hurt.” Izuku pouted, Hizashi gesturing with an open hand until it dawned on Izuku.

“Ohhhh, I get it. It’s supposed to hurt.”

“You got it, kiddo. This one worked for me more than some of the others, so I thought it would be good to try first.”

Izuku gave a confirming hum, fiddling with the hair tie a moment while Hizashi started getting ready to shower. “Something’s on your mind, I can tell. What’s up?”

“How come I’ve never seen your scars? Your arms don’t have any.” Izuku didn’t look up, still fidgeting.

Hizashi felt his breath catch in his throat. Shit, he told the kid he used to self-harm, but he’s right. He almost never wears shorts or anything, so of course the kid wouldn’t have seen them. Mulling it over for a second, he finally sighed. “Yeah, you haven’t. Let me shower so Shota won’t kill me for getting glitter in the bed again.” He swapped out the sweatpants he’d grabbed for a pair of his husband’s athletic shorts. “Can you wait here for a few minutes? I’ll try to be quick.” Izuku nodded, idly snapping the hair tie again. “Alright. The door’s open if you need me, or you can go wake up Shota.”

With his Papa in the shower, Izuku kept snapping the hair tie harder and harder, eventually leaving a red line on his wrist. He wasn’t sure how much it really helped, but thankfully, Mochi made an appearance, the feline slinking into the room with a meow. The cat was a welcome distraction, Izuku finding some solace in running his hands through the thick fur, Mochi purring directly in his ear. It made him giggle a little, the cat standing on his chest to rub in his face and only making him laugh harder. He was thankful Mochi had hung around until the water shut off in the master bathroom, the cat knowing that meant water and running under the bed.

Hizashi was still toweling off his hair, stepping back into the bedroom with shorts on for the first time that Izuku had seen. “Well, they’re pretty faded by now, but mine were always on my thighs.” He sat down beside the wide-eyed Izuku. It was worse than Izuku expected, and he gained a little sympathy for how others had to see his own scars since he still had way more than Yamada did.

“They’re so light… will mine be like that?” Izuku found himself rubbing a hand over his arm, each ridge of scar tissue feeling even more pronounced than usual under his fingertips. “Well, everyone scars and heals differently, so we can’t know for sure. I’m sure they’ll fade over time, though. Heck, maybe medicine will advance even farther, and you could get rid of them completely, if you wanted.”

“I don’t know that I’d want to get rid of them… They’re proof that I made it anyway. No matter what happens, I’m still here.”

Hizashi couldn’t help but smile a little, swelling with pride for his son. “You’re absolutely right. No matter what happens, you’re still here, and your dad and I are right here with you.”

Izuku hugged into Hizashi’s side, “Thanks, Papa. Can we go to bed now? There’s only like 4 hours before we have to be up for school.”

“Shit, yeah. You want to sleep in here tonight?” Hizashi asked, already turning off lights. He turned around when he didn’t get a response after a minute or so, “Izuku?” The poor kid was already falling asleep, tucked up with Mochi, who had apparently made a reappearance to cuddle. Hizashi only chuckled, pulling the blanket over them before settling in himself.

Shota woke up first in the morning, Mochi pawing at his face to get up and feed him. The hero stood up with a groan, trying to stretch his sore back and neck from sleeping sitting up. He went to Izuku’s room first, pulling a hand up to knock on the door before he saw his and Hizashi’s bedroom door still open and both of them in bed. Good, at least it looks like the kid ended up getting some kind of rest, and Hizashi managed to shower off the horrible amounts of (bio-degradable) glitter he used for the radio station. He walked in to place a kiss on Hizashi’s cheek, watching his husband wake up with a soft smile.

“You get the kid up, I’m going to grab a shower.” Shota whispered, Hizashi pulling him down by the neck for another sleepy kiss.

As Shota shuffled towards the master bathroom, Hizashi sat up before reaching over to lightly shake Izuku awake. Izuku gave a small groan as he moved to sit up, rubbing his eyes before looking around to see he was in his dads’ room. The memories from the day before came back slowly, Izuku feeling his anxiety spike at the thought of having to go back to campus today to see Hound Dog.

“Good morning, kiddo. You want some breakfast? I was thinking we try out that new waffle maker we got.”

Izuku swung his legs over the side of the bed, standing up to mumble “Not hungry.” He could practically feel the concerning look Yamada was giving him.

“Hun, you didn’t really eat yesterday. You need to. I know you don’t have to train today, but that doesn’t mean you can get by without anything.”

Hizashi got up to stop Izuku from walking out of the room, taking him by the shoulders and almost letting go when he flinched slightly from the sudden contact. “Izuku, look at me sweetheart…” Hizashi crouched down, sliding his hands down the backs of Izuku’s arms to hold his hands. He couldn’t see his face for all of the messy green curls in the way, but Hizashi could tell something was wrong.

“How about some yes or no questions? All you have to do is nod or shake your head.” Yamada prompted, feeling a little relieved when he got a reluctant nod in response.

“Okay… Is there a reason you don’t want to eat this morning?”

A nod.

“Do you feel nauseous or sick?”

A shrug.

“That’s probably just because you haven’t eaten. Is there another reason you don’t want to?”

There was a pause before Izuku nodded to that one.

“Is it because of how you look?” Hizashi felt a lump in his throat asking that one, a little too familiar with the concept.

Hizashi was at least glad to get a head shake on that one.

“I won’t make you talk about it right now if you can’t, but is there any way you can tell me what you’re thinking?”

Izuku finally looked up to look Hizashi in the eyes, Hizashi immediately noticing how dull they seemed.

“I just feel so gross. I can still feel all of their hands all over me, and no matter how hard I scrub, they never come off.” Izuku felt himself ball his hands into fists, fingernails close to breaking skin on his palms, “I’m sorry, Papa…”

Hizashi felt his heart break. The assault, of course. With everything that had happened, it wasn’t a surprise that the thoughts he had about it all would be bothering him more. When Izuku had first talked about it, that seemed to be the least of his problems at the time, but now that they were working on making the other demons easier to face, the ones buried deeper started to show their fangs.

“No, Izuku, there’s no reason to be sorry. If anything, I’m sorry that you’ve felt like this and weren’t able to share it with us before now. The first thing I’d like you to do is to talk to Hound Dog about it since he has way more resources than we do to help you.”

“Do I have to go see Hound Dog today?” Izuku blurted out, immediately fidgeting with his hands.

“Izuku, you know you have appointments on Wednesday. Is there something wrong with your visits because we can try to find another counselor.”

Izuku shook his head, “I don’t want to go to campus. I don’t feel safe there anymore.” His voice dropped to just above a whisper, “Not after yesterday…”

Hizashi sighed, “How about we call and see if you can do a virtual appointment today, then?” It wasn’t ideal since one of them would have to stay home with Izuku, but he didn’t want the kid to have another panic attack, and by the way he was fidgeting and the fact that he had already started tearing up, Izuku was already well on his way to it.

It was about then when Shota was stepping out of the bathroom, walking over to the near crying Izuku and obviously worried mother-hen Hizashi. “What’s going on? Everything alright?”

That was all it took for Izuku’s dam to break, the tears that had been gathering finally slipping down his cheeks and a choked sob making it’s way up his throat.

“Shit, Izuku, I’m sorry kid…” Shota stood beside Izuku, “You want a hug?” Izuku didn’t even respond before burying his face in Shota’s chest. Hizashi stood up, rubbing Izuku’s back as he cried.

“He doesn’t feel safe going back to the school. I offered to call Hound Dog to see if they can meet virtually today. Can you stay home with him this time?” Hizashi asked, kissing Shota on the cheek when he agreed with a nod. “Thanks, love. I’m going to cook something, and maybe we can get Izuku to eat when he’s settled down.”

With Hizashi off to the kitchen, Shota moved them to sit on the edge of the bed, just shushing Izuku and letting him get it all out. When he calmed down enough to breathe normally, Izuku pulled back and wiped his eyes.

Think you’re up for some breakfast? I know it’s hard, and I don’t want to scare you, but if we can’t prove we can take care of you, the system will take you away from us, Izu. It’s okay to struggle, but we just want to make sure you’re safe.” Shota saw the realization of what was at stake dawn on Izuku.

“I-It’s not that I don’t want to eat, it just makes me feel sick thinking about it. It makes me feel disgusting.” He snapped the hair tie still on his wrist a couple of times, brow furrowing.

“Have you tried to eat at all? It might be easier once you give it a shot. I can also say from experience that if you just don’t eat for hours and hours that you’ll feel sick no matter what.” Shota had to shake off some of his own memories before he made his offer, “How about you at least try to eat breakfast, and if you still have trouble, we’ll get anything you want for lunch. Is that an okay plan?”

Izuku pondered it for a second, “Yeah, okay, but I want something else with it.”

“Alright, what else do you want?” Shota had a feeling he would regret this.

“I want to see if Bakugou can come over tonight and train with me and All Might tomorrow.”

Yep, he regrets it.

There was a long sigh before Shota looked over at Izuku, his eyes still puffy from crying as he gave his best puppy-dog eyes he could muster. “You have to make sure it’s fine with his parents for tonight, and I’ll send him to train with you tomorrow morning since that’s during my class.” Shota stood up, looking over his shoulder, “You owe me, brat.”

Izuku laughed a little when his dad ruffled his hair, standing up to follow him to the kitchen where Hizashi was trying to get a piece of bacon away from Mochi. Maybe today wouldn’t be so bad of a day after all.

Chapter Text

The drastic difference in the household as soon as Hizashi left was staggering. In under an hour, they went from laughing, joking, and overall being loud to the only sounds in the room being Izuku’s pencil scratching out math equations and occasionally a pen scribble or sigh from Aizawa as he graded an assignment Izuku guessed his classmates weren’t doing the best on from his dad’s reactions.

“Hey, Izu. It’s time for your appointment with Hound Dog. Where do you want to set up the laptop?”

Izuku didn’t have his own computer, so he would be using Shota’s. Izuku thought about it for a minute, realizing that he actually had an advantage from being at home since he could sit in the same room as his dad.

“Can I just sit on the couch with Mochi?” The cat squinted an eye open from his napping spot on the right side of the couch upon hearing his name, Izuku scooping up the fluff ball into his arms.

“It’s wherever you want, kid. Do you want me to go to the bedroom?”

Izuku just shook his head, plopping down onto the cushions while Shota set up the video call.

“Here you go. Just let me know if you need me to leave at any point.”

Izuku had grabbed a pair of Hizashi’s headphones, settling back with Mochi as the call started.

He’d be lying if he said that wasn’t one of the more difficult therapy sessions Izuku had been through thus far. There was no way he could’ve missed how his dad tried to hide the small glances over every time Izuku said something that was concerning for him. Maybe he hadn’t been living with Aizawa for very long, but Izuku was observant. That was kind of his whole thing in that he was always on guard, and he seemed to notice everything around him whether he really wanted to or not. It made him great at analyzing heroes, but it also meant that it was extremely difficult to just ignore anything that caught his eye.

Izuku stood up to stretch, glancing at the clock. He couldn’t help but feel just a slight sense of dread at it being only 9am. It would really be a long day at this rate. Shota seemed to pick up on the uneasiness from his kid, chiming in with an idea that could lighten the mood a little bit for both of them. Izuku had to be stressed after that, but Shota himself needed some type of distraction after hearing his kid struggle through therapy for an hour and talk about his trauma and how awful he felt about himself.

“Izuku, I know we haven’t had much of a chance to do any of my classwork, so I have a project for you.”

He watched Izuku straighten his posture, looking over with that telltale glint in his eye. Perfect. Shota grabbed his laptop, pulling up some saved videos he had from training his class.

“I have videos of your classmates here from training simulations they’ve done with All Might, and I have videos of each of them individually during conditioning they’ve done with me. I want you to analyze each student individually and compare their individual performance against how they work in teams.”

The gears were already turning in Izuku’s head, “Do I have a page limit?”

Shota grinned back at Izuku, “No, there is no page limit, but I want roughly equal levels of depth for each student, and they would all be roughly the same length. Within a page, whether it be more or less, is accurate enough for our purposes.”

“Time frame?”

“You have two weeks, but I expect you to keep up with the work for your other classes as well. Speaking of, I need you to give me everything you’ve finished tonight so we can take it in for your other teachers tomorrow.”

Izuku only nodded in response at first, still scrolling through the thumbnails of videos and mumbling to himself about organization, categories, and a couple other things Shota couldn’t quite make out. He snapped out of it when he realized his dad was waiting for a verbal confirmation.

“Y-yeah, I’ve got the other work. I finished everything that was given to me already, so can you bring home more?”

Shota’s eyes widened a little, “Kid, they gave you the work for the rest of the school year. There were four binders worth of assignments. You mean to tell me you finished all of it in less than a month?”

“Is that bad..? I mean, it-it wasn’t very hard or anything. I just kept working, and sometimes I’d do more when I couldn’t sleep since it was a distraction from everything else and-“ “Breathe, Izuku. We told you to work at your own pace. You did exactly what you were supposed to, so you’re not in trouble.” He watched the tension drop from Izuku’s shoulders as he let out a huge breath. Shota continued, “It just means that Hizashi and I need to have a meeting with Nedzu. Damn rat wanted us to update him as you started finishing the work for this year.”

He wouldn’t tell Izuku, at least not yet, but he was worried that the principle would try to take on Izuku as his own pet project; it wasn’t something Nedzu did often, but there had been cases in the past where he took on exceptional students, fast-tracked them through all of the standardized testing, and used them as tools. Shota knew it was the principle’s attempt at creating powerful heroes that knew the true horrors of the Hero Commission and were willing to combat it (albeit in a very sneaky, roundabout way), but he saw how those kids turned out. They got burnt out and retired early, or worse, they became villains or vigilantes. It was one thing to watch it happen to students and feel sorry for them, but it was another thing for it to be his own kid.

Shaking the thought aside, he turned his attention back to Izuku. There would be a time to warn him, but there wasn’t a need to bring it up until Shota was sure that’s where the rat was going. “I’ll let Hizashi know too so he can get the next year worth of work rolling for you. Since you’re fluent in English, he may just give you a research project like I am and call it a day.” It was then he realized that his words were falling on deaf ears, Izuku fixated on the screen in front of him. Shota sighed, shaking his head before walking to Izuku’s room and grabbing a fresh spiral-bound notebook and a pencil. Walking back to the living room, he just set the notebook and pencil down beside the laptop, Izuku snatching them up immediately. From there, Shota just kept himself busy while watching Izuku work in what, to him, just seemed like a flurry of pencil scribbles and watching videos over and over. He was surprised to see Izuku start breaking things down to frame-by-frame, somehow even catching details in that. Soon enough, it was the end of the school day, and Hizashi sent Shota a text.

Cockatoo <3: hey am i still bringing home my babys first crush?? *3*

Cockatoo <3: blondie said he hadnt heard anything about coming over today so im assuming izu forgot to text him

Sent: If I can tear him away from the laptop, I’ll have him call

“Izuku, you need to call Bakugou if you still want him to come over today.” Shota called across the room, honestly not sure if Izuku heard him until he saw his eyes peer over the top of the screen.

“Huh? It’s after school already? Y-yeah, I’ll call Katsuki.” Izuku stood up, legs a little wobbly from having not moved most of the day. He grabbed his phone from his room, already seeing a text from Katsuki.

HotHead: hey nerd Mic said I was supposed to come over today

HotHead: do I need to call my folks?

Izuku opted to not bother with a text reply, tapping on the contact to call him.

“What, nerd?”

“First, rude. Second, sorry I forgot to text you. I’ve been doing class work all day. Do you want to come over? My dads already said it was fine, so you’d just need to ask your parents.”

There was a second of silence from the line, and Izuku almost asked what was wrong before he heard a small sigh.

“My parents don’t really like when I make last minute plans. Can one of the sensei’s call them instead?”

Izuku felt some anxiety creep up; he didn’t even think about that. The last thing he wanted was to get him in trouble…

“Can you hand the phone to Papa-er- Mic?”

“One second.”

“Hey, Izu! What’s up, kiddo?”

“Hey, Papa. Sorry, um… can you talk to Katsuki’s parents for him? I don’t want to get him in trouble or anything, since it’s my fault he couldn’t ask earlier.”

“I will this time, but let’s try to remember ahead of time for the next one.”

Izuku felt a lump in his throat; he knew he wasn’t in trouble or anything, right? Why did this still scare him so much?

“Yes, Papa, thank you.”

“I’ll see you at home, kiddo.”

The phone was handed back to Bakugou, “So, he’s going to talk to them?”

“Yeah, he will. Just call them and hand Pap-… Mic the phone.”

“Okay. I’ll text you with what they say.”

“Alright. See you later, Katsuki.”

“See ya, Izuku.”

The line clicked dead as Bakugou hung up. Izuku took a deep breath, noticing that he was shaking a little. He walked back into the living room, his dad watching the news.

“Hey, Dad? This is a really stupid question, and I know the answer already, but I just really want to hear it from you so that I know for sure, and I stop worrying-“

“Izuku. Breathe, kid. Everything is okay. What happened?” Shota patted the spot beside him on the couch, Izuku taking the hint to come sit down next to him.

“When I called Katsuki, he said that his parents don’t like last minute plans, and he asked if Papa could talk to them instead so he wouldn’t get in trouble. Then, Papa said he would, but that I need to try and remember earlier next time.”

Shota listened and nodded, “So you were afraid that Bakugou would get in trouble, so you asked if Hizashi would ask his parents, and now you’re worried that you’ll be in trouble because you forgot something?” Izuku nodded frantically, hands on knees as he tried his best to hide the fact that he was still lightly shaking. “You’re not in trouble. We just want to make sure that this doesn’t end up a habit because it’s not the best to put on Bakugou’s parents all the time. Do you want a hug?”

Shota opened his arms to Izuku, not missing the tears gathered in his eyes when he wrapped his arms around him. “It’s okay, Izu. We know that you’re going to need extra reassurance. You never had stable parents, and it’s understandable that you’d expect things to go wrong. I just want you to know that even if you make mistakes, we’re here to help you, not just to punish you. Do you understand that?”

He felt Izuku nod, still buried in his side. “Good.” Izuku felt his phone buzz, pulling back to slip it out of his pocket.

HotHead: we’ll be there in 20 min nerd

HotHead: be ready for me to beat your ass in mariokart

Sent: as if, I can beat both of my dads and I won rainbow road on hard

“He’s coming over.” The sentence itself was almost a sigh of relief. Everything worked out.

“I don’t know what it is with loud blondes, but they always end up in my damn house.” Shota muttered, catching Izuku off guard enough that he earned a laugh for it.

“What are you laughing at? You’re the one that has a crush on him.” Izuku immediately turned red, pouting as it was Shota’s turn to laugh at Izuku, even if it was really more of an amused chuckle. “That’s what I thought. What do you see in that kid anyway? He used to bully you pretty bad, right?”

Izuku sighed, “Well… when we were little, we were really close friends. We were both obsessed with heroes, and Katsuki developed a really strong quirk younger than most kids. I looked up to him, and we always talked about being strong together when I got my quirk. Then I never got one, and he turned on me with his entourage of lackies. To be fair though, it felt like he was only doing it because it was expected of him… there was no venom behind his words for a long time. It got worse at the end of middle school, when things got really bad. He put fire behind his punches, literally, and he said something that really hurt me…”

Shota was immediately on guard again, clearly concerned. “What did he say, Izu?” He could feel a lump in his throat, and as much as he wanted to like the kid for Izuku’s sake, he could already sense some anger bubbling up.

“Take a swan dive off the roof and hope for a quirk in the next life.” Izuku put his hands up defensively, “He’s not like that anymore though, and it was years ago anyway! I-I know he’d never mean anything like that!”

Red. All Shota saw was red. How dare someone ever tell his kid to do something so awful.

“Izuku, he told you to kill yourself. There should be repercussions. Some brat doesn’t get to just bully my kid to the point that he did.” Shota didn’t even notice how Izuku shrunk back into the couch cushions. He had his hands up in front of him, eyes wide as he saw how furious his dad was and on the edge of another panic attack.

The front door opened.

“We’re home, Sho!”

Chapter Text

The first thing Bakugou registered was a sharp tug at the front of his shirt collar as he was lifted off the ground. The next was the dull ache as he was shoved back into the wall. He acted on instinct, hands coming up to pull off the one holding him by the collar and sweat gathering to ignite.

Izuku sat shell-shocked as Hizashi struggled to pull Shota off, none of them really hearing Hizashi’s yells to stop, to put him down, what the hell was he doing.

“You little shit, how fucking dare you tell Izuku to jump off a building! How DARE you!”

“Shota, what are you talking about?! Put him down! He’s just a kid!” Hizashi was still futilely trying to tear Aizawa’s hands off of the fabric he had clutched onto while Bakugou practically clawed at both of their hands in a panic.

“Who gave you the right to decide another kid’s life?! Did you think for one goddamn second what could’ve happened?”

Hizashi finally pried his husband’s hand off of Bakugou, using an arm braced against Shota’s chest to push him back a couple of feet. “You need to calm down. Bedroom, now. Go.”

It took Hizashi getting in his face for Shota to look around the room; Izuku was cowering on the couch, shaking, and Bakugou wasn’t much better. The normally angry kid was just terrified, a hand holding his shirt collar as he leaned against the wall, eyes wide and breath quick and shaky.

“Shit- I- sorry-“

“Just go, Shota. I’ll handle it.” Hizashi put a hand on his shoulder, his face still showing compassion even after his outburst. The hero just nodded, slinking off and closing the door behind him. Hizashi could handle the kids.

The first one he turned to was Bakugou. “Did he hurt you, little listener?” He remembered hearing a crack when the kid hit the wall, and he hoped it was just the drywall.

“N-no, I don’t… I don’t think so…” Katsuki stammered out, looking down at his trembling hands. He was still in shock, so he really couldn't feel much other than the adrenaline coursing through him.

“Let me know if anything starts to hurt. Here, can I see your back?” He had crouched down, gently taking the kid by the shoulder to turn him, “Lift your shirt a little. Just want to make sure everything looks fine.” Getting slammed into a wall by a pro hero was not a fun experience, and he was a kid.

Bakugou went to twist his right arm back to grab at his shirt hem, feeling something pop with a sharp pain. “Ow- fuck-“

“Shit- I think it’s dislocated. I know how to put it back, but it’s going to hurt like hell.” Hizashi stood up with a sigh, “Are you okay for a second?” A nod from Bakugou was all he needed to turn his attention to Izuku.

Izuku wasn’t really there. He had dissociated hard, and Hizashi couldn’t seem to get his attention until he put a hand on his arm.

“There we go, Izu. How are you holding up, kiddo?”

“H-he was so m-m-mad… I-I didn’t do anything, I didn’t-“

“I know, Izuku. You did nothing wrong, honey. Come here.” Hizashi opened his arms, Izuku automatically hugging him back for a minute before speaking up.

“Do you think you can help me with Bakugou? We need to fix his shoulder.” He kept it simple; Izuku was smart enough to figure it out on his own, and there was no need to put him even more on edge with the details.

Izuku nodded, pulling out of the hug already looking a lot better. “Alright, I need you to go get me an ice pack and a towel from the kitchen.” Izuku got up to complete his task, Hizashi taking the time to guide Katsuki to the couch and sitting him down.

“Like I said, this is going to hurt.” Izuku came back, handing his Papa a towel and an icepack wrapped in another towel. “Perfect, Izuku, thank you. Bakugou, I need you to bite down on this. I know it’s uncomfortable but trust me.” He did as told, biting down loosely around the offered towel. “On three, ready? One, two-“

Crack!

Bakugou bit down hard, the towel muffling his yelp of pain as his eyes shot over to look at Hizashi in betrayal. “Yeah, I know it’s a dirty trick, but you would’ve tensed up if I had done it on three. Lay down.” He pushed the kid back onto the cushions, gently lowering him down and setting the ice pack on his shoulder.

“Izuku, can you stay with him for a few minutes? I’m going to go get Shota.” Izuku nodded, already having grabbed Katsuki’s hand and rubbing his thumb across the back comfortingly.

Hizashi stopped in the hallway for a second, leaning his back against the wall. What the hell just happened? Why would Shota do something like that? He just had to pop a kid’s shoulder into place! A child. He took a deep breath, walking into the bedroom with a light knock on the door.

“Sho?” He saw his husband sitting on the edge of the bed on the other side of the room, slumped over with his elbows on his knees.

“How bad did I hurt him?” Hizashi heard his voice crack, accompanied by an unfamiliar stuffiness. He was.. crying? Hizashi had only see Shota cry a handful of times in the many years he’d known him.

“His shoulder dislocated. I got it popped back, but he’ll be sore for a while.”

“Dammit!” There was an audible crack as Shota slammed his hand down on the bedside table.

“Shota!” Hizashi hurried over to sit beside him, “What happened, hon? That’s not like you…”

Rubbing at his hand, Shota still couldn’t look up to Hizashi. “He told Izuku to kill himself, ‘Zashi… It was when they were in middle school, but I’ll be damned if I let anyone hurt our kid like that. It felt like I couldn’t control what I was doing, and all I could think about was protecting Izuku.”

Hizashi watched as tears dropped onto Shota’s hands, prompting him to reach under his husband’s chin and gently pull up. Shota didn’t resist, tear-filled eyes finally meeting Hizashi’s, the green almost glowing in the dim light.

“I’m not mad at you. I probably wouldn’t have had a great reaction either if I heard Izu tell me that.” He sighed, “But you have to go apologize to the kid. You almost broke his shoulder, Sho. Then we can talk about what happened with both of them.”

Shota nodded, wiping at his eyes. Hizashi let go of his chin, but not before kissing him. It was one of the rare moments where Shota was the last to pull away, wanting to linger on the contact as much as possible. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Meanwhile, Izuku had ended up laying on the couch with Katsuki, an arm draped over him and their legs tangled together.

“A-are you sure you’re okay..? I-I mean, I was scared h-he would…”

“Izuku. It’s okay. Nothing I can’t handle. I probably deserved it.”

Izuku huffed, pulling himself up onto an elbow, “But he-“

“No. You heard him, didn’t you? It’s the first time anyone’s actually given me any consequences for what I said to you.” Katsuki sighed, “I still think about it, and it keeps me up sometimes. What if you had actually done it? Would anyone have even blamed me?”

“Katsuki…” Izuku wasn’t sure what to say to that. He was right. Especially back then, no one cared what Izuku did. He very well knew that Katsuki wouldn’t have been blamed for it. They both heard the bedroom door click shut, followed by hushed whispers and the two adults coming back into the living room.

“I’m sorry, Bakugou. I overreacted, and I should not have acted as I did.” Shota started off with an apology, knowing that it wasn’t enough.

What he didn’t expect was how the kid responded back.

“It’s fine. I deserved that.” He moved to sit up, Izuku and Hizashi both moving to help him gently sit back against the couch cushions.

“What do you mean, kiddo? I’m sure that-“ Hizashi tried to interject, but Katsuki cut him off.

“It’s the first time I’ve even been confronted about it, let alone faced any consequences. I should never have said anything like that, and I should face some type of punishment. If that was it, so be it.”

Both of the adults were stunned, Izuku just putting his head down and holding Katsuki’s hand.

“I practically tortured Izuku for years. We were supposed to be friends, and I got so wrapped up in my own ego I couldn’t see past Izuku’s lack of a quirk. I told him to jump off a fucking roof, I need someone to hold me accountable.”

No one missed the slight tremble in Izuku’s hands, or the welling tears in both of their eyes.

Shota sighed, “It doesn’t make how I acted any more okay. Do you want to go home early? We can explain to your parents for you-“

“Can I just spend the night? Recovery Girl can handle it in the morning. We don’t need to involve them.”

While it wouldn’t be the first time that a student had been injured and fixed up without contacting their parents, Shota and Hizashi looked at each other uneasily.

“Are you sure, Bakugou? You won’t be in trouble for this.”

“Katsuki. I think I’d prefer that you call me Katsuki, at least while I’m here.”

“Alright, Katsuki. You really don’t want to go home?” Hizashi had a hand on Katsuki’s good shoulder, still concerned for the kid.

“Yeah,” He looked up to meet Izuku’s tear-filled eyes, “I’m sure.”

Hizashi nodded, standing up, “How about we order food tonight? In the meantime, boys, why don’t you two pick out a movie?” Shota gave a noncommittal grunt, mumbling something about having papers to grade before settling himself in at the island in the kitchen.

Izuku got up to grab the remote, clicking on a streaming service to look for a movie. He tried to hide when he wiped at his eyes, Katsuki rolling his eyes at the attempt.

“Izuku, I already know you’re a crybaby. You don’t have to hide anything.”

“’M not a crybaby…” Izuku mumbled, already scrolling through horror movies.

Katsuki actually laughed, “You’re a nerd and a crybaby.”

That started the two to playfully banter back and forth, Izuku joking back after a minute and even getting a little sassy.

Hizashi finally got off the phone from ordering food and talking to Bakugou’s parents, visibly sighing in relief seeing the boys joking around. It was still not a super common sight to see Izuku smiling, and he noticed his husband watching them too.

“Alright kiddos, food will be here in 20 minutes, and Katsuki, you’re good to spend the night. Izuku, how do you want to handle sleeping arrangements?”

Hizashi and Shota both had to hold back a laugh at how red Izuku immediately turned.

“U-um… we can sleep in my room, I guess? I-if that’s o-okay-“

The adults didn’t miss the blush across Bakugou’s cheeks either as he responded.

“Y-yeah that’s fine, as long as your, um… your dads don’t mind I, uh…”

Shota came in this time, “We trust you two. As long as we wake up with 2 kids in the house and not 3, you get to live."

Both of the kids turned even more bright red as Hizashi howled with laughter. “Sho, you can’t do that to them! Look, you broke our son!”

Izuku hid his face in his hands, mumbling something about dying from embarrassment while Bakugou just stared at the floor. It took way too long for the adults to stop laughing, the kids unable to look each other in the eye for a few minutes.

“We’re so getting you back for that.” Izuku met Shota’s eyes, and his dad shot him back a playful glare that said ‘try me’.

At that point, they were interrupted by a knock at the door with food arriving. As they were all getting settled in the living room to eat, Hizashi couldn’t help but sigh to himself.

Well, at least things turned out okay for now.

Chapter Text

The next morning had the boys on the training field with All Might. A visit with Recovery Girl cleared Bakugou to train, and they started off with conditioning. So far, neither of them had been allowed to use their quirks, and the frustration from Katsuki was apparent. They stopped for a water break, and Izuku pulled All Might aside.

“Hey, All Might? Can we maybe use our quirks soon?”

“Izuku…” He gave his mentor bright green puppy dog eyes, “I just don’t want you to get hurt. You haven’t used your quirk in almost a month now.”

“I have to start somewhere! B-besides, it’s just Katsuki. He wouldn’t hurt me on purpose. We can just spar!”

Toshinori was still hesitant. He remembered Aizawa’s warnings, but he also just worried about Izuku. It wasn’t healthy the way that the kid continually sacrificed himself, not only mentally but physically. He sighed before placing a hand on Izuku’s shoulder.

“Are you sure you’re ready to use One for All again?”

“Yes! I need to get back to training!”

“Alright… I need you to stop if anything feels off. Keep it at or below 10%. Bakugou!”

The blonde jogged up to join them, “Yes, sir?”

“You two are going to spar. I want 10 meters between you both to start. The goal is to pin the other to the ground. Best two out of three wins.”

The two teens nodded, setting themselves up facing each other as instructed. “Ready… Go!”

Katsuki was unsurprisingly the one to make the first move, sparks already building in his palms as he charged forward. Izuku responded by bringing up full cowl, the green lightning building flashing around his skin as he ducked, tripping his opponent and speeding past him using his quirk. As Bakugou picked himself up, Izuku was already on him, going to pin his arms down. A quick explosion from Katsuki’s right hand pushed Izuku back, a light burn on his exposed arm.

“Shit-“ Izuku mumbled, unknowingly pulling up more than his allotted 10% of his quirk. All Might hadn’t noticed, trying his best not to seem too overprotective of Izuku. Bakugou charged again with a yell, using a blast from one hand to propel himself forward and put more momentum behind his next tackle. This one successfully took Izuku to the ground before he wiggled out of Katsuki’s grip, spraining his wrist by pushing it too hard against the ground.

“Izuku, stop!” All Might caught that one, seeing how Izuku’s wrist buckled under him, but the kid wasn’t listening. The pro did however catch Katsuki’s attention, leading to Izuku jumping on top of him when he turned his head. Izuku pulled Katsuki’s arms behind his back, effectively pinning him to the ground.

“Ha, I did it!” Izuku turned to All Might for him to call the match, only to see him jogging over.

“Izuku, did you not feel that? Look, your wrist-“ Izuku looked down, seeing his left wrist swelling up pretty bad.

“I-I didn’t feel that happen. When did I..?” He let Katsuki up, cradling his injury and just staring down at it in disbelief.

“When the hell did that happen?” Bakugou added in, just as confused as Izuku.

All Might sighed, “Aizawa is going to kill me for this. Young Bakugou, can you escort Izuku to Recovery Girl? I’m… I’m going to go let Aizawa know what happened. Are you okay, Izuku?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine. It doesn’t even hurt…”

“Come on, nerd. Let’s just get it fixed.” Katsuki just seemed more irritated with the situation than anything. Izuku just let him lead, trying to figure out how he let this happen and better yet, why he couldn’t feel anything other than… relief?

Izuku wasn’t quite present as much as he was just running through the motions. Recovery Girl chided him yet again, healing the injury as it thankfully wasn’t too bad of a sprain, but Izuku really just couldn’t hear her. It wasn’t until the bell rang and his dad came to pick him up did Izuku come back to what was really happening.

“Hey, kid, you alright?” Izuku immediately got up to hug him.

“Can we just go home? Something feels wrong.”

“Does it still hurt? We can get something-“

“It’s not that.” Izuku’s gaze dropped to the floor. “Please, let’s just go home, Dad.”

That caught Shota off guard, but immediately raised some red flags. “Of course, Izu. Let’s get going.”

Shota let the silence hang in the air on the car ride home, and even the walk inside was silent, only to be broken by Izuku’s bookbag hitting the floor as soon as they entered the apartment. The next thing that followed was a choked sob, Izuku’s hands coming up to cover his mouth as tears started rolling down his cheeks.

“Hey, hey, come here…” Shota dropped to his knees in front of his kid, letting him hug around his neck and cry into his shoulder.

“Why did I have to fuck up again? I wanted to do one thing, and I messed it up! And you know what? It didn’t even hurt! If anything, it felt good!” Izuku pulled back, tears still streaming down his face, snot running freely from his nose, “Maybe that’s all I’m good for, getting hurt over and over again!” He held his arms out, “Go on, hit me! Please, just hurt me! It’s the only way I feel anything anymore! Just fucking hit me!”

Izuku just kept sobbing, Shota pulling him down to the floor and into his lap to hug and hold. He had no idea what to even say to that. It was for sure something that would need to be brought up with Hound Dog, but he had no idea what to do other than to just keep shushing Izuku and holding him.

It took a while for him to finally stop crying, but when he did, he just got up and asked to go work on his analysis project. Shota let him, but he asked him to stay in the living room. They both knew it was so that he could monitor Izuku since he didn’t have a great track record of being left alone after an episode like that. Once Izuku was set and working, attention fully focused on the laptop in front of him, Shota took a minute to step into the bedroom and call Hizashi.

“Hey babe, what’s up? Is everything okay with Izu? All Might told me what happened this morning.”

“Gods, ‘Zashi… Physically, he’s fine, but as soon as we got home, he had another breakdown. He was just outright sobbing, and he…” Shota paused for a moment, trying to gather up the right words to say.

“He what, Shota? Do I need to come home?” He could hear his husband’s worry even through the phone line.

“He wanted me to hit him. He stood there holding his arms out and he begged me to hurt him.”

“Oh, hun…”

“He swore at me too. Said it was the only thing he could feel anymore. I had no idea what to even say to him, Hizashi! He was just crying, and I had no idea what to do-“

“Breathe, Shota. You need to stay as calm as possible right now.” There was a sigh on the other end of the phone, “I’m coming home. I think you both need me.”

“We’ll be fine. Izuku’s working on the project I gave him, and I’ll… I’ll be alright for another few hours.”

“Nope. I’ve already decided. We’re a team, Sho. You don’t have to handle this alone, okay? Midnight has a free period, and I’m sure she won’t mind covering my last class since they’re just writing essays. I’ll be home in 20 minutes.”

“But-“

“No buts. I’ll see both of you in a few. I love you, Shota.”

Shota huffed, still not feeling like Hizashi should come home, even if he did really want him to. “I love you too, Hizashi.”

The line clicked dead as Hizashi hung up. Shota gave another sigh, heading back into the living room where he expected to see Izuku still on the couch. Instead, the couch was empty and Izuku’s bedroom door was shut. He tried to shove down the immediate panic as he knocked gently on his son’s door.

“Izu? Are you okay? It’s okay if you want some alone time, but I need you to show me you’re okay first.” He waited a moment for a response, fighting to keep the urgency out of his voice when he tried again. “Kid, I know you might be upset, but I’m going to have to come in if you don’t give me some kind of response.” He was again met with silence for a moment, and right as he was about to open the door himself, Izuku pulled it open just a crack, not even looking up at his dad.

“I don’t think I’m okay, Dad.” He turned and walked over to sit on the edge of his bed, Shota opening the door the rest of the way to follow him into the room.

Shota swallowed the lump in his throat, “Did you hurt yourself, Izuku?”

“Yeah…” The response was barely above a whisper, Izuku’s gaze dropping to the carpet. He dug his hands into the fabric of his shorts, the frustration at himself clear in body language alone.

“Let’s get you cleaned up then.” Izuku nodded, wiping at his eyes with a hoodie sleeve as he stood, clearly exhausted.

They were still in the master bathroom disinfecting when Hizashi made it home. He made his way back to the bedroom, doing his best to keep composure as he saw the fresh cuts Shota was cleaning on Izuku’s thighs.

“Papa!” Izuku lit up seeing Hizashi home early, having been unaware that he was headed home.

“Hey, kiddo. You holding up alright?” Hizashi gave Izuku a hug before he leaned against the counter beside him, Izuku leaning into his side.

Izuku didn’t respond, but he did flinch at the next round of hydrogen peroxide being poured over his thigh.

“We’re almost done.” Shota got everything covered with gauze, taping it down to finish. Izuku hopped down from the counter, already picking at the edges of the tape.

“Hey, Papa? Can we talk for a few minutes?”

“Of course, Izuku. Where would you like to go?” Hizashi made brief, questioning eye contact with Shota, who in turn shrugged.

“Um… my room. I want my cat blanket.”

They left Shota to clean up in the bathroom, Izuku and Hizashi both sitting on his bed facing each other. Hizashi helped him get the aforementioned cat blanket settled around his shoulders, but they sat in silence for another couple of minutes before Hizashi finally probed for what Izuku needed.

“Alright, so what’s up, little listener?”

Izuku sighed, mouth opening for him to speak only for him to close it again; this process repeated a couple of times before Izuku groaned in frustration, pulling at his hair.

“Hey, take your time, Izuku.” He gently uncurled Izuku’s hands, pulling them down to his lap. “Take a deep breath, and try again.”

Izuku pulled in a deep, but shaky, breath. “I feel really bad about what happened today, and I still don’t know how I got hurt. I just wanted to use my quirk with Katsuki, and I didn’t even feel my wrist when it got sprained… The only thing that I could feel was after the fact when it did start to hurt, but if anything… It felt really good. I just… I wanted to know if you’ve ever felt like that before, since you used to do the same things I do.”

Hizashi wished he could meet Izuku’s eyes, but they were trained down at his lap, dark green curls further obscuring his face. “In short, yes. I have felt like that before. Sometimes, it was the only way I could feel much of anything. At least if there was pain, there was something, but I want you to understand that it’s not the only way to deal with this. We can try medication if you want to, but we can fill your time with constructive things that get the same type of reaction.”

Izuku looked up now, “Like what?”

“Well, working out is a really good place to start. We can either find a way to let you use the weight room at the school, or we can get you some free weights to have here at home. We can also try more of those coping strategies to deal with urges as they come up. I’m guessing the hair tie didn’t work out?”

“I, um… I kind of forgot about it.”

“Let’s go to the kitchen, and I’ll show you a good one.”

Hizashi held out a hand, pulling Izuku to his feet and leading him to the island. Shota was sitting in the living room when they entered, but he got up to come see what they were doing. He sat beside Izuku, watching Hizashi with just as much confusion.

He hummed as he got into the cabinet, pulling out a shot glass and setting it in front of Izuku.

“Hey, Papa, I um… I don’t think alcohol is a good solution.”

“Yeah, ‘Zashi, I’m agreeing with the kid on this one.”

Hizashi laughed as he opened the fridge, “Who said anything about booze? That’s not what I’m getting.”

He shut the fridge door, turning around with a smile and a bright yellow bottle. His husband and son watched wordlessly, and slightly in horror, as he poured a shot full of pure lemon juice. Shota recognized what he was doing now.

“Alright, take the shot, Izu.”

“No way. There’s no way that-“

Hizashi didn’t even let him finish, shrugging and taking the shot himself. He winced, banging his hand against the counter for a few seconds before looking back up with his eyes watering.

“Yeah, that never gets any easier.” He wiped at his eyes while he poured a second shot, “Now, it’s your turn.”

Izuku picked up the glass warily, looking over to his dad in hopes of some kind of help from him.

“You won’t know if it’ll help until you try.”

Izuku narrowed his eyes at the smirk Shota had on his face. He was enjoying this a little too much. Reluctantly, he tipped back the glass, immediately feeling the acid drain most of the moisture from his mouth.

“Holy shit-” He croaked out, slamming the glass back down on the table, coughing. Shota laughed, Hizashi just taking the glass to the sink.

“If you think it’s so funny, you do it!” Izuku huffed, getting up to get himself some water.

“I’ll pass. He made me do it once. Never again.” He got up from the island, going back to the living room.

“Shota, you bet me that you could do it without making a face, and then had to pay me $50 when you couldn’t.”

That got a laugh out of both Izuku and Hizashi, Shota turning red and mumbling under his breath about it as he sat back down on the couch. Izuku joined him, patting his lap for Mochi to come sit with him only to be ignored by the half-asleep feline.

“So… can I ask something?”

“Izuku, you know by now that you can ask anything.”

“I know, it’s just…” He took a deep breath, “You guys really aren’t mad at me? Since I keep hurting myself, I mean… You’ve done so much for me, and it doesn’t feel like I’m really getting any better.”

“Oh, Izuku…” Hizashi sat down beside him, pulling him into a hug, “You’ve only been here, what, a month? We don’t expect major progress to happen that quickly. It could take months or even years for you to really feel like you’ve made much of a difference, and that’s okay.”

“Honestly, kid, you’ve been doing a lot better since you got here. You may not see it, but we do.” Shota added in, not looking up from his phone to hide his proud smile.

“Yeah! You made a new friend, you learned how to ask for help, and you’re so much better at communicating what you feel. That’s a lot to have accomplished, kiddo. Besides, we care about you no matter what, yeah? We want the best for you.”

Izuku felt himself tear up, “I just don’t feel like I deserve it.”

“And that’s the years of damage your mother did talking, Izuku. You absolutely deserve it.” Shota got up from the chair he was in, sitting on the other side of Izuku from Hizashi. “We love you, Izuku. We brought you into our family, and that means we’re here for you no matter what.”

He looked up to meet Shota’s eyes for once, seeing tears in them for the first time ever. Izuku threw his arms around him, “I love you too, Dad.” He let go to turn around and hug Hizashi again, “And I love you too, Papa.”

“I love you, Izuku.”

Chapter Text

The next morning, Izuku woke up to Hizashi knocking on his bedroom door. “It’s 7:30 Izu, Dad’s leaving in a few minutes for school. He has a surprise for you before he leaves, so don’t wait too long.”

Izuku rubbed at his eyes, pulling himself out of bed and heading towards the kitchen. Hizashi was pulling him down a bowl for cereal, Shota getting his bag packed for school.

“I have some good news, Izu. We got the okay from the state for you to start medically transitioning.” Shota handed Izuku his phone; he blinked at the screen for a minute as the words came into focus. It was an email detailing the next steps of paperwork, but more importantly it was giving permission for Izuku to see an endocrinologist. It took a few seconds for the realization to really set in. After all, he was just woken up, but he couldn’t help but get excited.

“Are you serious?! They said yes!”

“They sure did, kiddo!” Hizashi chimed in, “As pro heroes, we were actually able to pull a few strings and get you an appointment later this week.”

The smile that spread across Izuku’s freckled cheeks was contagious, even Shota giving a soft smile as he ruffled Izuku’s mess of hair.

“I have to head to school, but we’ll talk more about our options when I get home, alright? Where we want to go determines what type of paperwork we need.” Shota let Hizashi give him a kiss on the cheek when he said goodbye, leaving Izuku to excitedly talk Hizashi’s ear off as he ate breakfast.

“IDo you think I’ll get put on blockers or will they want to put me on testosterone? I’m a teenager, so I don’t know if I’m old enough to take T yet, but I know that blockers will at least keep anything from getting worse, and after my first experience with it, I’m definitely ready for that much. Do you think that we can ask about top surgery too? Wearing a binder isn’t really safe to do hero work, and I know it’s still a while off, but getting my hero license means I can get called at any time and-“

“Breathe, honey. I know you’re excited, and I’m excited too, but you need to finish your cereal before it gets soggy. I know you won’t eat it once it loses the crunch. We have plenty of time to work out details and come up with a list of questions for the doctor. Why don’t we sit down together and write them down after you talk to Hound Dog?”

Izuku somehow took that as a cue to rush through eating the rest of breakfast, leaving his bowl on the table and literally running to shower. He called over his shoulder as he ran off, “Okay, Papa!

Hizashi gave a small sigh, followed by a chuckle as he finished his coffee. He stood and stretched, taking Izuku’s discarded bowl to the sink to rinse out. When he really thought about it, Hizashi was nervous for Izuku. Medically transitioning was a big step for him, and while he and Shota knew Izuku was ready, the field of medicine hadn’t gotten much better for trans people. A doctor might look at his mental health and deny him the next step until they thought he could handle it. It was bullshit, to be frank, but he knew all too well the types of discrimination that were still prevalent in medicine. As a bi man with a husband, he felt like he was asked about STI’s every time he went to the doctor, even though they were married and in a monogamous relationship. It was ridiculous, but at least they were prepared for it.

The shower cut off, and Izuku opened the bathroom door. “Hey, Papa? Can you help me with something?”

Hizashi dried his hands off, walking into the hallway. “What do you need?”

“Uh, well… Just come in here, please.”

Walking into the bathroom, Hizashi saw Izuku with half a roll of gauze strung out, a band-aid somehow stuck to his cheek, and hydrogen peroxide spilled on his shirt. “D-dad usually helps me re-do the bandages, but, um…”

“Dad’s at school... Alright, come here.” He wouldn’t admit it in front of Izuku, but it was honestly kind of triggering for him to wrap up self-harm injuries. It reminded him of his own scars, the familiar itch of wanting to open them coming back. Somehow though, it was a little cathartic. He grabbed a fresh roll of gauze and got to work.

“You know, we can teach you how to do this on your own.”

“I know… It’s just…”

Hizashi looked up over the top of his glasses briefly before he smiled, turning his attention back to bandaging. “It’s nice to have someone do it for you, isn't it?” He finished Izuku’s sentence for him, getting an embarrassed nod as a response.

“I understand. You’ve had to take care of yourself for so long, and now that someone is here to do it for you, it helps you feel like we care about you.” Hizashi finished taping down everything, “Alright, there you go. Izuku, as long as we’re here, neither me nor your dad mind to do things like this for you, so don’t feel bad about it. Hug?”

Izuku nodded, standing up to let Hizashi pull him into a hug.

“Careful there, don’t crush me.” He joked, ruffling Izuku’s hair. A quick check for the time on his phone let him know they only had about 10 minutes before Izuku’s appointment with Hound Dog.

“Alright, little listener. I need you to go get the laptop and set up for therapy. While you’re in your appointment, I have something to work on, and if you’re okay with it, we’ll go run a couple of errands once you get done.”

“That sounds kind of nice… I’ve only been here and school the past few days.”

“Perfect! Let me know if you need anything.”

The two went their separate ways in the house, Izuku settling down with the laptop in his bedroom and Hizashi sitting at the island with a notepad and his phone. He had some research to do.

Izuku joined the video call for his appointment. He took a deep breath before the call finished connecting; he really wished these appointments were at least a little farther apart.

“Good morning, Izuku. How are you today?”

“I’m okay, I guess.”

“You sound hesitant about that. Is there something you’d like to talk about to start off today?”

“There was a small accident yesterday, and it turned out to be okay. I even got approval to see an endocrinologist to start medically transitioning.”

“That’s great to hear! You seem upset about it, though. Would you like to walk me through everything that happened?”

Izuku took him through the training accident, his dads helping him after they were home, and the new coping skill he did with Papa.

“So, even with all of these good things happening, it’s still difficult for you to be excited about them, right?”

“Y-yeah… I can’t really feel anything most of the time. Bad things happen and I feel really guilty about them, but when good things happen they just… happen. Nothing really changes.” He picked at his nails for a moment, taking a deep breath before asking the question that was really on his mind. “Do you think medication would help? Papa told me that he takes it, and it helps him.”

“Well, Izuku, it’s something that we can try. The thing about medication is that when you first start them, you won’t really feel very different. It takes about a month for them to start working at a level that you would be able to tell a difference, and there is a chance that you can feel worse before you feel better. I don’t want you to take medication just because someone you trust does. I want it to be a decision that you make for yourself only because you want it.”

Izuku took in the new information. So there was a chance it would make him feel worse? He weighed his options, and came to a conclusion.

“Well, even if they make it worse for a while, I have my dads here. It’s just been weeks of feeling the same, and if there’s a chance that it’ll work, I want to try.”

“If that’s what you’d like to do, then we can look into it as a next step. I’d like you to try a new skill until our Monday appointment, and if you still feel the same then, we’ll start medication.”

“Okay.” That was a decent compromise, he supposed.

“We have about 20 minutes left. Let’s go over a new strategy to try when you get to that point of not having the emotional response you expect. What do you currently do when that happens?”

“I, um… I usually end up self-harming…”

“Instead of immediately doing that, I want you to do 10 push-ups first. If after 10 you still feel the urge to hurt yourself, do 10 more.”

“So… you want me to work out?”

“One thing that makes physical self-harm so addictive is because it releases endorphins, and those endorphins can help both physical and emotional pain go away. It also directs your attention away from what you’re feeling. Physical activity can do the same thing.”

“So, it’s kind of like the hair tie and lemon juice things Papa showed me,” Izuku dropped his gaze for a minute to where he was fidgeting with his blanket. “What if it doesn’t work?”

“Izuku, there’s something I want you to understand about my job as a therapist. My job is not to tell you what to do. At the end of the day, what you choose is what you’re going to do. However, it is my job to give you tools and strategies to reach your own goals and keep you safe. We’ve already established that one goal you have for yourself is to stop cutting, right?”

“Yeah… it makes everyone worry about me, and it’s kind of dangerous.”

“Exactly. So I will continue to give you ways to achieve that goal, but I will never be upset with you for what you do, even if you were to choose to try none of the skills I give you and continue to self-harm. It might change how we need to respond to your situation, but it would never make me mad at you or disappointed in you. It’s up to you to decide and put in the work.”

That caught Izuku off guard, leaving him silent for a moment. Overall, it made sense. Hound Dog wasn’t with him every day to make sure he was trying the things he was supposed to. It really was up to himself to do it. When he thought about it, everything they were doing was a lot like training; even though All Might was the one training him, it was still Izuku’s responsibility to actually run the laps, lift the weight, etc. Thinking about it in that way made everything seem just a little bit easier.

“Alright, Izuku. There’s our time for today. Is there anything you need from me before our next appointment?”

”N-no, I don’t think so. I’ll try the push-ups and the lemon juice trick Papa taught me.”

“Good to hear. Call me or have Aizawa or Mic call if anything comes up. Have a good day, Izuku.”

Izuku let out a sigh of relief after the call ended. They never failed to make him anxious. He stood up to stretch, opening his bedroom door to look for his Papa.

Hizashi noticed Izuku’s bedroom door open, looking down the hallway from his spot at the island.

“How did your appointment go?”

“Um, it was fine, I guess.” He didn’t really want to talk about it since he was still trying to wrap his head around everything Hound Dog said.

Thankfully, Hizashi took the hint. “So! Are you ready to get out of the apartment for a while?”

Izuku took a deep breath, trying his best to smile, “Yeah. Let’s go.”

Hizashi stood and just watched for a moment as Izuku was putting his shoes on, Mochi circling his feet and getting in the way. He was so worried about the kid.

Sent: we’re going to run errands, need anything love?

Sho <3: no I’m good. Appointment go okay?

Sent: not sure. dont think so.

Sho <3: well… just watch him. Call if you need anything.

Tucking his phone into his pocket, Hizashi couldn’t help but feel a pit in his stomach. Something was off. Very, very off.

Izuku smiled, picking up Mochi like a ragdoll to move him before looking over at Hizashi, smile still holding.

Why couldn’t he place it?

Chapter Text

Izuku was playing some random mobile game on his phone while Hizashi was checking off a grocery list. They’d been to the pharmacy for Shota’s eyedrops, the pet store for Mochi, and now were picking up something to make for dinner. It was.. mundane. Boring, even.

“Alright, I think we’re ready to check out! Is there anything you wanted, Izu?” Hizashi asked, eyes rolling when he didn’t even look up from his phone. He chuckled, in a singsong voice suggesting “Well, beef liver stew it is then!”

“Wait, what?” Izuku looked up in horror, earning a full laugh from his guardian.

“Just making sure you were paying attention! Did you need anything else before we go home? Your dad should be there when we get back.”

Izuku shook his head, opting to just put his phone away for now. The battery was low anyway.

It was when they got back to the car that Izuku did speak up. “Papa, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Izuku. What’s on your mind?” Hizashi felt the feeling from earlier creep back up.

“You guys are really adopting me? Even after all of the trouble I’ve caused? All the money you’ve had to spend on me? I haven’t done anything in return…”

“Hey, no.” Hizashi looked over briefly, doing his best to keep his eyes on the road while trying to read Izuku. “You are not ‘trouble’, you are not a financial burden, and you certainly don’t owe us anything. You are here because Shota and I want you to be in our lives.”

“I don’t know why.” The mop of green curls pressed against the passenger side window was all Hizashi could see, and the pit in his stomach continued to grow.

“You have so much potential, honey. You’re incredibly bright, talented, and you have an amazing quirk that will help you be such a great hero one day! We just want to make sure you have everything you need to be the person that you want to be.”

There was a moment of silence that hung a little too thick in the air before Izuku’s voice, oh so quietly, filled the void. “I’m not sure that I’m cut out to be a hero. I can’t even help myself, so how could I save anyone else?”

The kid had a point there. While he was ahead in his studies, Izuku was definitely falling behind his classmates in terms of heroics and combat training. His supplemental sessions with All Might couldn’t compare with the hands-on experience they were still getting. “Well, I mean, you don’t have to decide right now what you want. You’re still enrolled in the heroics department, but if you want to change paths, we can make that happen too.” He sighed, “Don’t sell yourself short, though, Izu. You can do anything.”

Great job, Hizashi. Totally didn’t stumble through that one.

Izuku let out a small sigh, followed by an unenthused “Yeah, I guess.”

The rest of the drive home was silent.

Izuku was sitting on the couch with an open notebook and a blank page, tapping his chin with a pencil. The same scenario kept playing itself over in Izuku’s head. All Might sitting him down, talking to him about how he was doing, and even though it was better, there was something sad in the man’s voice. He asked for the quirk back. He wanted a new successor for One for All, a successor that had a real chance to use the quirk, to be a true symbol of peace. Then he had to talk to his dads, and he had to tell them he was quirkless again, and all of the work they had put into him was for nothing. He couldn’t be a hero anymore, not without a quirk.

The effect was two-fold; he both felt like bursting out in tears, but there was something else that felt like it was bubbling under his skin: anger. Why did he have to deal with this? How come he had to be born into a family full of abusers? Who the hell beat a child, anyway!? He didn’t even notice the green static dancing over his fingertips, Shota being the one to look up from his laptop and catch the crackles of light.

“Izuku? Are you okay?” He asked warily, honestly unsure of what was going on. The kid was staring intently at his notebook, practically scowling at it.

His dad’s voice fell on deaf ears, even as he gripped the pencil hard enough to snap it in half. He groaned in frustration, head in his hands as the static danced faster and brighter across his skin.

“Kid, I need you to take a deep breath. What’s going on?” Shota only had a couple of seconds to react as he watched Izuku’s fist draw back, jumping up to try and grab his arm. Izuku swung his fist into the wall, a burst of the light following through with it.

“IZUKU!” Shota yelled, managing to grab Izuku’s forearm and pull back, mitigating just a little bit of the power that was behind the blow.

“Huh, what?” Izuku’s head snapped up, looking wildly at first his dad, eyes tracing from where his hand was gripped tight to his arm to the mix terrified and concerned look. Then he scanned over to the wall, now sporting a hole that was at minimum a foot in diameter.

“Holy shit- I-I.. Dad I’m sorry- Fuck, I don’t, I don’t know what- what happened-“ Izuku stammered, yanking his hand away from the wall and his father’s grasp to pull into his chest. He had tried to jump up to his feet, only tripping over the couch and his own leg, scrambling backwards a couple feet on the carpet.

Hizashi had rushed into the room at this point, “What’s going on in here!?” The adult’s eyes met just for a moment, exchanging a look that said neither of them understood what was happening, before they both settled on Izuku, trembling on the floor clutching his right arm.

“Kid… what the hell was that?” Shota was the one to break the silence first.

“I-I… I don’t know. I was just thinking, and I got mad… I got so.. so angry…” Izuku’s eyes were still blown wide, and he leaned into Hizashi when he sat down on the carpet beside him. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to…”

Shota touched the exposed edge of drywall around the hole, still a little too stunned to say much.

“Are you hurt, sweetie? Let me see your hand.” Hizashi fell into his mother-hen mode, gently looking over Izuku’s hand to check for any signs of broken bones and the tell-tale red-purple color his skin was prone to. Surprisingly, there was nothing other than a touch of redness and maybe a slight bruise. “Shota, look.”

He turned to look at Izuku’s hand, still held by his husband, and he was just as shocked. “You didn’t break your arm.”

“Izu, what even got you so worked up?” Hizashi let Izuku take his hand back, rubbing soothing circles on his back while letting his breathing calm.

“I kept thinking about what could happen if I didn’t get to be a hero, and then I thought about how unfair everything has been. I didn’t deserve anything that happened to me.” As soon as he said it out loud, the realization hit him like a punch to the gut. “I didn’t deserve any of it.”

Shota joined them in the floor, sitting on Izuku’s other side. “That’s what we’ve been telling you all along. None of what has happened has been your fault.” Both of the adults had relaxed now that they had the information that Izuku wasn’t doing anything self-destructive, and they actually smiled at each other. Maybe they were finally getting through to him.

“Are.. are you mad at me?” Izuku looked between his fathers, still processing the fact that he unconsciously called up One for All for some impromptu redecorating.

“Well, it’s not something we want to repeat, but you didn’t just decide to put a fist through the drywall, either.” Shota stood up with a sigh, Hizashi being the one to directly answer Izuku’s question.

“No, we’re not mad at you, but we are going to make you help patch it.” He let Izuku nod in response before Hizashi added his own question, “Does this have anything to do with you appointment this morning? I know you didn’t want to talk earlier, but is there anything we can do to help?”

“I mean, kind of? Hound Dog just said something that kind of made me think.” Izuku pulled his knees up to his chest, “He made me kind of realize that everything I do is still my choice. I chose to ask for help. I chose to follow everyone’s advice. I’m the one choosing to try new stuff. It’s still really hard to get through some days, but I’m not giving up.”

There was a kind of fire behind Izuku’s eyes that neither adult had seen in him since he first started school at UA. Hizashi, of course was tearing up with how proud he was, while Shota grinned a little too wide. “So, what are you choosing to do next?”

Izuku pulled his right hand into a fist again, the tiniest crackle of green flowing over his fingers before dissipating, “I’m going to catch up to my classmates. I’m not entirely sure how, but I’ll get there. Maybe I can train one-on-one with you two and All Might; I don’t know. I’m just not getting left behind anymore.”

“Why don’t you just do another internship program with one of us? It’s not like Shota couldn’t sign you on and take you on a few night patrols here and there.” Hizashi suggested, “It’ll be some more hands-on experience that wouldn’t interfere with anything else too much.”

Aizawa was hesitant, “Do you think you’re up for something like that, Izuku? Maybe we should give you some more time to get your strength back…”

“Aw, come on Dad! It’s perfect! It’s not like I’m behind on any schoolwork or going to classes. Please?” Izuku begged, giving his best puppy dog eyes.

“You need a full medical clearance from Recovery Girl first, but okay. We’ll bring this up with All Might, too, so he can focus on some practical skills with you first.”

Izuku jumped up to celebrate, and his dads smiled at the joy in his laugh. Maybe this would really help the kid, being able to get back into what he was still training to do. Whether it really was the best idea or not, seeing Izuku actually excited about something was a refreshing change of pace for their little family.

“Alright, kiddo, it is still bedtime, though.” Hizashi yawned, hating to break the moment but it was still almost 11pm.

“Fine, Papa.” They both stood up finally, Izuku pulling Hizashi into hug and doing the same with Shota. “Goodnight, and… thanks.”

“For what, kid?”

“I don’t know, everything, I guess.”

The adults watched Izuku’s bedroom door close before they made their way to their own room, getting ready for bed themselves.

“Do you think this is the right thing to do, ‘Zashi?” His husband could see the concern furrowed into Shota’s brow, “What if he isn’t ready? What if something happens to him, and I can’t protect him?”

Hizashi slid across to Shota’s side of the bed and kneeled behind him, his hands coming up to rest on Shota’s shoulders and massage them. “Well, I suppose we’ll find out. We very well can’t keep him here forever, Sho. His stubbornness could even rival yours!” Hizashi’s laugh at that earned an eye roll from Shota, the man turning around to pin his husband to the mattress.

“Very funny. I’m serious, though. This is a pretty sudden change from what we’ve been managing. How do we know that it isn’t just another self-harm outlet? Getting beat up by low-level thugs?”

“For one, with you there with him, I’m sure that won’t happen, and secondly, you need to put some trust in the kid. He’s so incredibly smart, and he’s honestly got some natural instinct for hero work. Give him a shot, and if it doesn’t go well, we pull him and offer going back to school as an alternative. Sound like a plan?”

Seemingly satisfied, Shota huffed and got off of Hizashi, letting him sit back up.

“He’s gonna be okay, Shota. Neither of us would let anything really bad happen to him, and you know it. Now, come here and cuddle. I’m sleepy.”

Shota clicked the light off and wrapped an arm around his husband. Hizashi was right, they would do their best to protect him, so everything would be okay. Right?

Chapter Text

Going to bed the night before, Izuku was pumped. Finally being able to get back into hero work was something he really wanted to do, even if he felt that it would be pretty difficult. Although, when he woke up the next morning… Everything was the same.

He sat up, blinking the blurriness from his vision and rubbing his eyes. Izuku wasn’t entirely sure what he expected, honestly, but after making a breakthrough like that, he had expected at least something to feel different. Instead of getting up right away, he checked his phone to see a message from All Might.

Skeletor: Here’s the training plan for this morning!

Attached: 1 File 36mgb

Izuku sighed before clicking his phone screen off and finally swinging his feet over the edge of the bed.

“Izu, it’s almost 7:15!” He heard his Papa from the kitchen, voice as cheery as ever, and couldn’t help but groan. A knock on his door prompted Izuku to finally stand up, cracking his door to see his equally tired dad.

“’Zashi wanted me to check on you. You okay?” His father’s gruff morning voice sent a pang of jealousy and dysphoria through him.

“I don’t know. It’s really hard to get up today…” Being honest was the best thing to do.

“Yeah, me too, Izu. Will you come at least drink some juice or a protein shake? We do have to leave in half an hour.” Shota yawned, scratching at his still-unshaven stubble. Just another hit of jealousy.

Izuku just opened the door a little wider, stepping out in the hallway with a sigh. “Can I have a hug?”

“Of course, kid,” Shota immediately opened his arms and let Izuku practically tackle him into a bear hug, “You sure there’s not something you want to talk about?”

“I’m not sure yet. I think it’s just a bad dysphoria day, and I guess I expected to feel different after last night.”

They walked into the kitchen, Hizashi sighing in relief, “There you two are. We have to leave in less than 30 minutes-“ He turned to look at them, noting how Shota had an arm around Izuku, “Is everything okay, love?”

Izuku switched from Dad to Papa with another crushing hug, “I just don’t feel great today.”

“Are you still up for training this morning?” Hizashi sat down with Izuku, letting Shota get him a protein shake from the fridge.

“Yeah,” he nodded, “I could use the distraction, and I mean, I was serious last night. I want to be stronger and have more control of this quirk.”

“Alright. If you change your mind or need to leave early, you can go to mine or your dad’s office until Shota can bring you home.”

Chugging his protein shake, Izuku nodded. “Maybe I’ll feel better once we get started. Thanks, Papa.”

Hizashi gave him another hug, “Go get ready so we’re not late.”

The next hour or so was a rush between getting dressed, to school, and getting to the training field. At least they had Izuku using a teacher entrance, so he was sure not to have another unfavorable encounter.

“I’ll be back to pick you up just before lunch. If you get finished early, remember that you can go to our offices. Just send me a text if do.” Shota ruffled Izuku’s hair, leaving him with All Might to go teach.

“Izuku! You saw the plan for today, yes?”

“Yeah, I got it, but I had a question for you…” Izuku took a deep breath, “Can I use my quirk after warm-ups? I, um… I talked with my dads about doing some more hands-on work, and if I’m, ya know, if I’m going to be fighting people, I want to be sure I have better control.”

All Might was a little surprised, since Izuku was usually hesitant to use One for All, but he could see some of the fire in his student’s eyes. He hadn’t seen that in months, and it was so refreshing. In fact, something about Izuku’s attitude overall today seemed to be… different.

“I think that’s a great idea, my boy! I’ll adjust our plans today. Go ahead and start with laps, and I’ll let you know the changes.”

“Alright! Thanks, All Might!” The smile Izuku gave his mentor was another thing Toshinori was excited to see. He wasn’t sure where this was coming from, especially since the last time he saw Izuku was with the locker room incident, but watching him just run his laps, he could tell that some of that spark was back. He was starting to look like the Izuku that he passed One for All to, like the successor he had chosen, and like the hero All Might knew he desired so badly to be.

A sweaty and panting Izuku jogged back over after his three-mile run; they had increased back up to where Izuku was previously, and his 21-minute time was even a little better than his usual range.

“So! I thought about what we would do for you to use One for All today, and I thought it would be appropriate for us to spar!”

Izuku tilted his head in confusion, “But you don’t have time in your hero form. We’ve never sparred without it before.”

All Might smiled, “Exactly. You’re going to fight me just as I am. I may not be the same symbol of peace, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. Plus, you wanted an exercise in control, right? You can’t use One for All at more than maybe 10%. Find the threshold and manipulate it. Ready?” He took a stance to start, trying not to show his nerves at doing this. Of course he trusted Izuku not to kill him or anything, but there was definitely a chance this went a little far.

Izuku was feeling the same nerves. He didn’t want to hurt All Might! What if he goes too far again? Swallowing down his nerves, he took his own stance to start.

“Ready!”

Izuku was still hesitant, leaving All Might to make the first move, throwing a punch that Izuku was almost too slow to block.

“Come on, don’t let the old man show you up!” The almost playful banter came naturally for Toshinori, but he could sense it only added to Izuku’s hesitation. This was supposed to be a test though, so seeing how he responded was important.

The familiar static bubbled up under his skin as Izuku called up One for All, the green light dancing over his limbs as he started forward. He could do this! He had to do this. Throwing a punch of his own, All Might easily dodged it. Too slow and inaccurate. Damnit. He was just scared to hurt his teacher…

All Might took the moment of hesitation to grab Izuku by the arm and flip him onto his back. “You wanted to use your quirk, right? I don’t see you doing much with it, Izuku!”

Izuku felt the air get knocked out of his lungs as he hit the ground. Come on, body! MOVE!

He felt his quirk concentrate in the arm that was still in All Might’s grasp, flipping his had around the grab All Might by the wrist and pull him to the ground while using the momentum to get back to his feet. The thud he heard from his teacher hitting the ground this time made him cringe a little; okay, maybe that was a little too hard?

That thought was discarded when he turned to see All Might back on his feet, smiling… proudly? There wasn’t any hesitation from his mentor until he was coming back at Izuku, who found himself moving without thinking this time. He was falling back into his rhythm almost subconsciously, matching All Might’s attacks. Maybe he was playing a little defensively, most reacting to what was coming rather than making his own moves, but before Izuku realized it, his whole body was crackling with bright green static. Spread it out, don't let it bottle up in one area.

When he fully realized what was happening again, Izuku realized he had All Might pinned to the ground, both of them panting as the dust they had kicked up settled.

“Good job, Izuku.” All Might couldn’t help but compliment his protégé, reveling in the way Izuku beamed back at him while he helped his teacher up from the ground.

“I-I don’t know how I did it. I just… I let go. I trusted in the quirk and in you and-and I just did what felt natural-“ Izuku laughed in disbelief, hands flapping as he buzzed with energy: this time not from his quirk but excitement.

“You didn’t overthink it, and even more importantly, you trusted in your own instincts. Izuku, you spent so many years doing analysis that you over complicate things sometimes. It’s your habit to try and pick apart every detail, but in practical applications, you don’t always have time. The hesitation that spending that extra time causes will give your opponent an opportunity to strike.”

The next thing All Might said stopped Izuku dead in his tracks: “I’m so proud of you, my boy!”

Izuku felt his eyes water, tears dripping down his cheeks at the praise. Toshinori was going to comfort him, thinking he had said something wrong, when they heard clapping from over by the track. Both of their heads turned to the noise, not expecting to see a short rat-like man (man-like rat?) walking over to them.

“Ah, Izuku, I had been worried that some of your skills would dull with the time off, but I’m pleased to say you seem to still be right on track!”

“Principle Nedzu! I was unaware you would be joining us this morning.” All Might scratched the back of his neck after a brief bow, sharing a concerned glance with Izuku.

“No need for pleasantries, All Might. I just wanted to come by and see how Izuku was doing in your personal training sessions.” He turned to Izuku next, “How are your academic studies progressing? Eraserhead let me know that you finished the course work for the rest of this year, correct?”

“Yeah, um , I-I mean, yes, yes sir.” Izuku was doing his best to maintain eye contact, but he mostly found himself staring at the dirt covering his shoes.

“Most excellent! I will also be informing your guardians, but I will be adding in some extra work to your curriculum as you continue with the next years’ worth.” Seeing the confusion on the student’s face, he clarified, “Do not worry, it is not a punishment or busy work of any kind. I’m sure you will find it most helpful as you start working directly with Eraserhead on patrols.”

“How did you-“ Izuku started, only to be cut off by an all too creepy laugh from Nedzu.

“I know everything that happens with this school, Izuku.” He smiled just a little too wide. “Now, I must return to my office. I hope to see more of you on the school grounds, Izuku. All Might, keep up the good work.”

With the odd encounter over, it was almost time for Aizawa to come pick Izuku up for the afternoon, so they decided to end off with some stretching and just taking the opportunity to talk.

“I got approved to see am endocrinologist, too! I don’t know if they’ll put me on testosterone yet, but either way I’m excited, I guess.”

“You guess? I thought that would be something very important to you. I don’t know much about the process, but Aizawa gave me some resources-“

Izuku shook his head, “I am excited. It’s just… not every doctor is used to trans people, and I just want this so badly. Sometimes they make it really hard to do anything. It’s like… I’m so close to not feeling as bad about my body, but it could still be months away to actually get anything.”

He gave a dry laugh, “It’s actually kind of a bad dysphoria day for me… I feel a little better now, but this morning was really hard.”

If Toshinori was honest, this was way out of his element. He had no idea how most of this worked, and he wasn’t well trained in mental health, either. “I’m sure that Aizawa and Mic will be good advocates for you. You know, they didn’t have the easiest time, either, and they did really well for themselves.”

“We sure did.” Shota’s voice chimed in from behind the pair.

“Dad! It’s already time to go?”

“I just need to get something from my office first, but I wanted to get here when you two were done.” He looked to All Might, “You finished?” “We’re finished for the day, Eraser. I’ll see you two next week!”

As they walked back towards the main school building, Izuku felt a knot form in his stomach. “Actually, can I, um, can I just go to the car?”

Shota sighed, “It would be better for you to stay with me than go off on campus alone. Our security is good, but it won’t prevent any students or faculty from bothering you.” He stopped walking to turn and look Izuku in the eyes, “This won’t take very long, I promise, and it might help you to have some smaller, positive times on campus.”

Izuku started to fidget with his hands, “Okay…” He was still really apprehensive about it. Logically he knew that his dad was with him, so he was physically safe. As long as none of his classmates showed up…

Even just walking into the building, Izuku felt his heart rate pick up. He was practically glued to his dad’s hip, trying to stay as close as possible without tripping either of them. The same anxiety-based nausea that took him out of class last time crept back in too.

“Deep breaths, Izuku. I can hear you starting to hyperventilate.” Shota looked down to catch Izuku’s gaze, also silently offering a hand for him to squeeze.

It took maybe five or six minutes total to drop by the office, get Shota’s bag, and head back to the teacher’s parking lot. It wasn’t even that long inside the building, and Izuku almost started panicking again. He felt that dark cloud of self-deprecation loom over him before Shota spoke back up.

“That was a good job, Izu. I know that had to be hard for you. Think you could do it again and build back up to in-person appointments with Hound Dog?”

Izuku looked at his still slightly trembling hands; with the same resolve he had to keep up with his hero training, he could conquer these anxieties as well.

“I think so. Thanks, Dad.”

Chapter Text

A couple days had passed, and it was time for Izuku’s first endocrinologist appointment. Sitting in the waiting room was both exciting and terrifying, but at least his dads were both there.

The door opened for what felt like the hundredth time, “Izuku?”

He almost jumped up to his feet, his nerves keeping him a little on edge. His dads stood up behind him, Shota seemingly equally as uncomfortable but Hizashi putting a hand on Izuku’s shoulder as an offer of comfort. Izuku looked up at his dads, Hizashi offering a nod in the direction of the all-too-cheery looking nurse before they walked over.

After being led into a room, the nurse started the appointment. Basic height and weight measurements showed that Izuku was at least not completely underweight anymore, even if he was still on the small side.

“Alright, let me see your arm to take your blood pressure.” Izuku stuck out his right arm, not thinking about it until the nurse made a comment, “Oh, those scars on your hand… That must have been a pretty nasty accident! Did you have any surgery?”

The question was technically medically relevant, but it still tripped Izuku up, and he opened his mouth to respond, but no words were coming out.

“Yes, he had surgery on his hand to repair a crush injury. Izuku is a heroics student, and I assume you’ll respect his privacy regarding the circumstances around his scars.” Shota answered, no one missing the glare or then unspoken ‘or else’ that would have been tacked onto the end.

The nurse turned a little paler at that, but she just nodded and continued on with the measurements she needed. “Alright, Izuku, can you tell me what brings you and your…” she glanced up at Shota and Hizashi, “guardians in today?”

Izuku felt the tension in the room; those were his dads! Was she really…? “I-uh, I’m here with my dads to see about, um, about medically transitioning.” He stumbled through the words, nerves sky high both form the setting and how this nurse very clearly was not very accepting of them.

“I’ll put that here in your chart then. The doctor will be here shortly.” As soon as the door shut behind her, all three of them made some type of gesture of relief.

“Can you believe her?! This doctor was rated so highly, too…” Hizashi stood up to lean against the examination table beside Izuku, rubbing his back for support. “If the doctor says absolutely anything, we can leave, okay?”

Shota was still seething a little in his seat, “You’d think society would actually progress in healthcare for LGBT individuals, but no. We still get dumba-“

“Hey, language, Shota.”

“We still get idiots like her.”

“I know, honey. Maybe she’s new, or no one has spoken up about her. We’ll mention it to the doctor, just in case.” Hizashi offered, still feeling how tense Izuku was. No sense in making this harder for him than it already probably was by letting themselves get too pissed off. Well, unless it was warranted.

Thankfully, the wait wasn’t too bad, and soon enough there was a knock followed by a cheery younger man, maybe about Shota’s age.

“Hello, good afternoon! I’m Dr. Sato. You must be Izuku, then?” The doctor pulled out a small rolling stool to sit in front of a computer and pull up Izuku’s chart.

“Um, yes, sir.”

“Nice to meet you, kiddo! And you must be the dads?” The doctor held out a hand to shake with both of the adults, earning a smile from Hizashi and at least not a scowl from Shota.

“Yes, nice to meet you, as well!” Hizashi answered, knowing Shota would only give a grunt or something in response.

“So Izuku, you’re looking at medically transitioning. Tell me a little bit about your experience as a trans person.”

“Um, well…” Izuku stuttered through talking about how his mom wasn’t accepting, then the bullying at school, and more about some of the types of dysphoria that he experiences. Dr. Sato nodded along, making occasional notes on Izuku’s chart.

“Sounds like things have been rough for you, and I’m sorry to hear that.” He made a final note, rolling back from the computer to look at Izuku directly, “So today what I want to do is get some labs to see where your current hormone levels are, and from there we can discuss the right type of HRT for you to take. Dads, of it’s okay with you two, I’d also like to get a therapist note for both the state and for insurance purposes. I also want you all to sit down together, go over this document, and sign it.” The doctor handed Hizashi a small packet of information, “That details all of the changes and potential risks of taking testosterone. Go over that, and we can make another appointment for about 3 weeks out to get your prescription! Does that sound like a good plan to everyone?”

Izuku sat dumbfounded for a moment, “You mean it was that easy?”

“Sure is, kid! All we have to do is make sure that you have a support system, we monitor you closely at first with hormone levels, and we make sure that you’re happy with what’s happening. I’m a very firm believer in access to healthcare for trans individuals.” The last sentence was said more towards the adults.

“So dads, do you guys have any questions?”

“I don’t think so, at least not yet. Sho, do you have any questions?”

Shota huffed, “Your nurse was an ass.”

Hizashi lightly hit his shoulder to chastise him, but the doctor only sighed. “The blonde? You’re not the first to say that this week. She’s new, but I don’t think she’s cut out for our team. The next time you come in, I can promise that she will no longer be employed here. Other than that, any questions? Comments? Concerns?”

Hizashi glanced at Izuku and Shota before answering, “I think we’re set for the day! Thank you so much, Doctor.”

Setting up the next appointment and having blood drawn was pretty easy, and before Izuku knew it, they were heading out to the parking lot.

“So… that’s really it? I’m getting to start T?” Izuku was still a little in shock about the whole process. He could still hear his mother’s shrill voice filling his ears, telling him that HRT would ruin his body and make everyone hate him, but it was broken by his dad’s voice.

“That’s really it, Izu. All we have to do is wait for the blood work to come back.”

Izuku wanted to laugh, he wanted to cry, he wanted to call everyone he knew and shout it from the rooftops. Instead, he just looked up to Shota and picked at the band-aid inside his elbow. “What if I’m not ready for it?”

“You still have time to decide, hun,” Hizashi chimed in, “but you know that you will just keep going through puberty otherwise. Blockers aren’t a permanent solution, and you know what’s already happened.”

“It’s just…” Izuku let silence hang in the air, not wanting to finish his sentence. It’s just that he didn’t deserve it. He already felt like a freak being quirkless, even after All Might passed on One for All, and now he was a freak that had to physically change his body even further than a quirk, take shots for the rest if his life… It sucked.

“It’s just what, Izuku?” Shota probed, watching the discontented scowl form on his son’s face.

“Nothing. It’s nothing.”

Hizashi was going to press further, but Shota shook his head to signal not to. He sighed instead, “Okay, but if you want to talk about something, you know you can talk about anything with us.”

Izuku nodded, trying not to let his thoughts swim too far into the darkness.

Getting in the car, he sent a text to both All Might and Katsuki.

Sent: I’m getting to start testosterone! :D

All Might responded first; wasn’t he supposed to be teaching?

Skeletor: Congratulations, my boy! I will discuss with Aizawa and Mic if we need to adjust your training accordingly.

Sent: Alright, and thanks!!

The whole ride home, he kept checking his phone for a message back from Katsuki, but the message status stayed on ‘delivered’. He just stuffed his phone in his pocket with a huff, trying to convince himself that he was just busy. It was a school day, after all. That had to be it.

“Hey, Izuku, you need to work on your hero studies project today. I need the data from it for an upcoming assignment.” The adults had picked up on Izuku’s silent frustration, so maybe offering for him to work on something that would be fun, at least to Izu, would help pull him out of this funk. Or at least, it would be a distraction to get through the worst part of it.

“Oh, okay. Those are almost done anyway.”

“What do you mean, almost done? You’ve barely had two weeks or so to work on it.” Shota knew he had a couple of really solid work days, but there was hours of footage to go through; it just wasn’t possible for him to have watched all of it.

“When I couldn’t sleep, I’d work on it. It passed the time, and I guess it made me feel a little less lonely.” He may have not really connected that much with his classmates, but Izuku did miss being around them sometimes. Not Mineta, but everyone else for sure. Living together even for a short time, he got to know them a little better with each of their habits. Izuku knew he wasn’t ready to go back to the dorms yet, but he couldn’t help to crave some of the just casual interaction with kids his own age.

“Honey, you know that you can come wake us up if you need to, right? You don’t need to just stay up all night by yourself…” Hizashi gently chided.

“I-I know, I know… I usually just fall asleep around two or three, so I didn’t think it was a problem. Sorry…”

“You don’t have to apologize, Izuku. Hizashi and I both have our fair share of insomnia. If it keeps up for too long though, we might look into medication. Sleep is important for everyone, but especially since you’re still growing, and even more so when you start testosterone.”

Izuku felt his heart rate pick up with anxiety, “Medication? Like sleeping pills?”

Hizashi picked up to answer, “No, not necessarily. You can take melatonin over the counter, too, or try different types of tea. There’s more options than just prescriptions.”

Letting out a small, relieved sigh, Izuku pressed his forehead against the glass of the car window, letting the conversation be replaced by whatever Hizashi had playing on the radio (definitely from his own station).

The adults though only had another thing on their plate to worry about. They had tried to let Izuku work his own way back into interacting with his friends and classmates, but it wasn’t ideal to have him so separated from them after all. It didn’t take Izuku long to doze off in the backseat, giving them a chance to discuss the situation.

“You’re on the same page, right? He’s got to be around other kids.” Hizashi’s anxiety was maybe a little too clear in his tone.

“No, I agree. He didn’t really interact much with anyone in class, so I just assumed the time away would be good for him. Izuku has always been so introverted, plus his relationship with the other kids was so strained, it seemed like having a hard reset was the right thing… Maybe we were wrong.” Shota mused, finding one of Hizashi’s hands come off of the steering wheel and find its way into his own.

“I feel bad, honestly. Maybe we should see if he can attend just one hero class with All Might? Or what if he went to class with you one morning and I took him home after?” Hizashi threw out some ideas, only for Shota to shake his head.

“You’re forgetting the one issue with classes: Mineta. After the locker room incident, Izuku doesn’t need to be anywhere near that little creep. Honestly, I think he should have been demoted out of the hero class a long time ago, or expelled.”

“To be fair, though, you did expel an entire class once, Shota.” Hizashi continued quickly before his husband had the chance to go off on that tangent, “But I think you’re right in this one. Mineta’s already on strike two, though. I hate to say it, but we could push him just a little to make his final mistake.”

“Right, but at Izuku’s expense? Maybe if we ask him first, but I don’t think that another transphobic experience like that would be good for him, planned or otherwise.”

“But,” Hizashi countered, “It could be an opportunity to show Izuku that he still has autonomy at school. You and I both know that if he had pressed it, Izuku very well could have gotten Mineta kicked out of the hero course.”

Shota looked at the rearview mirror, only catching a glimpse of Izuku’s green curls, “He’s kind to a fault, sometimes. That could work, though. If we got some of the 1-A girls involved, too, it would be easy… They’re all chomping at the bit to get rid of the perv.”

They finally pulled into the parking lot, Izuku stirring in the backseat. “Hizashi, I’ll let you explain later, then.”

Chapter Text

Another week had passed, and Izuku was finally getting comfortable in his routine. Schoolwork, training, tutoring Katsuki, and his appointments with Hound Dog. They had relaxed on the number of appointments, switching to Tuesday afternoons on campus and Friday on video call.

Of course, that wouldn’t last too long.

They were on their way back to the regular campus from the training grounds when it came up.

“Hey kiddo, we have to go meet with Nedzu tomorrow.” Hizashi informed him, Izuku turning his gaze from whatever hero article he had been reading.

“Why? I thought all of the extra analysis I was doing was what he wanted?”

“Oh, it is, don’t worry. It’s been a month, though. A little over, actually. We’re up to reevaluate whether or not you return to the dorms.”

Izuku felt his blood turn to ice and panic creep up the back of his throat. He must have stopped walking because suddenly his Papa was crouched in front of him, modeling some deep breathing.

“Woah, Izu. This doesn’t mean you have to go back, remember? If you’re not up for it, we won’t force you.” He took his son’s hands, “We want you to be safe, and if you don’t think you’ll be safe at the dorms, then you stay with us.”

Izuku felt like he was underwater, but taking a couple deep breaths helped bring him back to the surface.

“I’m not ready to go back. I don’t know that I can trust myself alone like that.” He left his fears about his fellow students go unsaid.

“And that’s okay.” The conversation ended with that, Izuku feeling that all-too familiar pit in his stomach again.

He thought about Katsuki’s offer to meet some of his friends, and honestly? He wasn’t sure that he really wanted to just yet. Things were easier with people he knew, with his Dads and All Might and Katsuki. He knew when they said things they didn’t mean. They didn’t get mad at him when he said something wrong.

Soon enough, it was in the middle of his appointment with Hound Dog for the day. (When did that happen?) Then came a question he hadn’t expected.

“Izuku, do you know of any stims you may have?”

“What do you means stims?”

Hound Dog adjusted how he was seated, “Do you tend to fidget with things a lot? Use any sensory tools?”

“I mean, yeah. Papa got me a fidget cube a while ago, and if I don’t have that, I fidget with my hands a lot.”

He watched his therapist scribble down some notes, “Elaborate on that.”

He shrugged, “I don’t know. I crack my knuckles a lot, and I pick at my nails sometimes. When either of my dads notices me doing it too much, they give me something else to focus on, like the fidget cube, or a pencil to doodle, or sometimes Mochi to pet.”

“I’ll ask you another question. Do you like heavy coats or blankets? Or just pressure in general?”

That one took a little more thought. “I’m not sure. I really like hugs? Being squeezed really tight like that can help me calm down. I like when Mochi lays in my lap, too.”

“Have you thought about getting a weighted blanket?”

“Wait, those exist?”

Hound Dog couldn’t help but chuckle a little, “Yes, those exist.” The five-minute warning bell chimed.

“For your homework this session, I want you to research different types of sensory tools. Pick out some you think would help you, and we’ll talk about them on Friday. Sound like a plan?”

Izuku just nodded, grabbing his bag from the floor.

“I’ll see you on Friday, then. Have a good rest of your week, Izuku.” They waved goodbye, and it was Dad who was there to pick him up today.

Shota stopped a moment to look Izuku over, letting him start walking ahead for a moment.

“You okay, Dad?” Izuku turned to look over his shoulder at him, looking concerned.

Shota smiled, only taking a couple of strides to catch up to Izuku, “Yeah, I’m fine.” He put a hand on his son’s shoulder, “You just look good, kid. Better than you have in a long time.”

Izuku didn’t even think about it when he smiled back this huge, toothy grin. He actually giggled a little when he lightly punched Shota in the arm. “Daaad. You’re embarrassing me!” It was clear he didn’t mean it, but the teasing he had started set the tone for the rest of the way home, including the car ride and even into the apartment, where Mochi quickly got caught up in the good mood, whether the cat wanted to be included or not.

By the time Hizashi made it home, things had calmed down, and the pair were sitting on opposite sides of the living room working. Izuku had the laptop, typing away on some type of analysis for Nedzu, and Shota had a lot of red pen ink on the stack of assignments he was grading.

“Good afternoon, son and husband!” He announced, using his radio voice to catch their attention. Izuku jumped before looking up from the screen in front of him, bleary eyed.

“You scared me.” Izuku responded, yawning through the words.

Hizashi chuckled, ruffling Izuku’s hair. “How are you already sleepy? It’s barely 4pm, Izu.”

The kid shrugged, turning back to the laptop screen and finishing his sentence before closing the lid. “Can I take a nap before dinner?”

Shota was putting his own papers away, “I don’t see why not. Just make sure you’ll be able to sleep tonight, too. Just because you don’t go into school everyday doesn’t mean that you should let your sleep schedule get too messed up.”

Izuku nodded, standing to stretch before he headed towards his room. He basically flopped down onto his bed, briefly asking himself why he really was so exhausted before he drifted off.

Once Izuku was asleep, the two adults caught up about their days, discussing the meeting with Nedzu tomorrow last on purpose.

“Well, Izuku sure doesn’t feel ready to go back. I know we have to push him to be independent at some point, but…” Hizashi trailed off, not wanting to say ‘but there’s a very good chance he relapses or attempts again in an uncontrolled environment’.

“No, you’re right. The dorms are set up with a communal kitchen, communal bathrooms, and he can lock his bedroom with a key. It’s not a question of if but when he gets his hands on something he shouldn’t.” Shota couldn’t help but sigh, “It’s best if he stays here. I just hate that he’s missing out on so much time to socialize with other kids.”

“We really need to find a way to get him back into the school more often. I know he goes for training and to see Hound Dog, but he’s still not even using the front entrance because of that little purple cretin.” Hizashi couldn’t help but bounce his leg as he thought, Shota putting a hand on his husband’s knee in sympathy.

“Then we need to get Mineta out of the picture sooner rather than later. Maybe that’s something to bring up in the meeting?” Shota offered.

His husband sighed, “But if I bring it up while Izuku is in the room, it could trigger another panic attack.”

“Maybe that’s what the rat needs to see.” Shota held up a hand before his husband could protest, “If Nedzu sees exactly how much of a damaging affect that brat has had on Izuku, or any student for that matter, maybe we can at least get him moved to 1B.”

“Would Izuku even be put back in a normal class at this point?” Hizashi countered, “He’s already finished this year’s course work. We can’t just push him into a year 2 class, either.”

Shota scratched his head, “I guess we just need to bring all of this up with the rat. I would like to have Izuku in classes with his peers. The 1A kids may be hellions, but they’re good kids.”

“They really are, Sho. Maybe you’re a good influence after all.” That one earned a scoff from Shota.

“As if. I’m definitely a horrible influence.”

“Well, bringer of death and destruction, I’m going to start on dinner. Wake the kid?” Hizashi stood, pressing a kiss to the top of his husband’s head.

“Only if I can plot the demise of the Hero Commission with him after.”

The statement was a joke, but it made both of them freeze for a second.

Hizashi was the one to speak up first. “You don’t think…”

“Holy shit,” was all Shota could get out of his mouth.

“The rat is grooming our kid to take on the Hero Commission.”

“’Zashi, we can’t know that for sure-“

“Have you seen the work he’s having Izuku do? It’s coding, hacking, finding weak spots and entry points, all kinds of espionage tactics. Don’t get me wrong, with his analysis skills, the kid is fantastic at it, but he’s being set up to be a limelight hero, not underground.”

“With his connection to All Might, he’s set up to be the Commission’s next pet,” Shota added, “Putting him in the perfect position to expose them.”

The silence hung thick in the air, Hizashi sitting back down on the couch.

They both started speaking again at the same time.

Shota saying, “We can’t tell him,” while Hizashi insisted, “We have to tell him.”

They both opened their mouths to argue before a half-asleep Izuku wandered back into the living room.

“Did you know you can have a nightmare in the middle of the day?” He rubbed his eyes, looking between his dads before adding another question, “What’s going on?”

Before Hizashi could say anything, Shota blurted out “Nothing, kid. Just a disagreement between us.”

Hizashi sighed, “Yeah, kiddo. Nothing you need to worry about.” He shot a small glare at Shota before opening his arms to his son.

“Do you want to talk about your nightmare, hon?”

Izuku shook his head, taking Hizashi’s offer for a hug. “Can I nap in here with you guys until dinner?”

“Izuku, if you nap too much, you won’t be able to sleep through the night later.” Shota gently chided, moving over so Izuku could sit on the couch between them.

Izuku shrugged, leaning against Hizashi and letting his eyes close again. “I’m just really tired.”

He felt the back of a hand on his forehead, and from the cinnamon vanilla scent, he could only assume it was his Papa.

“You do feel a little warm, honey. Shota, can you grab the thermometer?” There wasn’t a response, but Izuku did feel weight shift on his left side, his Dad getting up. He cracked the smallest smile at the fact that he could hear his dad’s footsteps; he walked so quietly that most people never heard him coming. It came with the territory of being an underground hero. That and he was so much like a cat that he apparently even walked like one.

He was occupied by the thought of Shota with cat ears when he heard Papa tell him to open his mouth, the cool weight of the thermometer placed under his tongue.

It was when he heard Hizashi click his tongue following the beep of the thermometer that he finally opened his eyes again.

“Well, it’s not much of a fever, but we should probably have you take some Tylenol just in case.”

Shota took back the thermometer, taking it back to the bathroom while Hizashi grabbed a blanket off of the back of the couch for Izuku. “Here, honey, you go ahead and lay down. I’ll get you some water.”

He turned to step away before Izuku grabbed the hem of his shirt. “Papa, I think I did this.”

Hizashi smiled softly, “Izuku, you can’t give yourself a fever-“

“It’s infected. Since you guys took away razors and scissors and everything, I picked at it. I kept tearing off scabs, and-“

“Shh, Izuku, you’re crying.”

He brought up a shaky hand to his cheek, gently wiping at it before looking at his damp fingertips.

“We’ll have to look at them to see how to handle this, okay?” A nod from Izuku was his answer. “Do you want me or your dad?”

“Dad.”

“Let’s go meet him in the bathroom, then.” Hizashi offered Izuku a hand to help him up, not expecting the question he got next.

“Can you carry me, Papa?” The small, broken voice sounded so much like Izuku did a month ago. He hadn’t even noticed how much more confident and stronger his kid usually sounded until that sentence.

“Alright, come here.” As a pro hero, it was no problem for Hizashi to lift his son into his arms, blanket and all. He was reminded at how small Izuku still was when he felt his arms wrap around his neck and his ankles lock behind him.

The thought that Izuku was still really just a kid hit him painfully hard after the conversation with Shota just moments ago. Just a kid being molded into the perfect child soldier. It made him sick to think about Izuku being thrown into the front lines. He was so fragile under those muscles.

He walked to the master bathroom, Shota pulling down the Tylenol. “Oh, I was coming back in there in a second.”

“Different issue. I’ll let him explain.” He set Izuku down on the countertop, taking note of how far off of the floor his feet dangled. He briefly noticed the cat socks that Izuku had definitely taken from their room. “I think I’m going to go make some soup. Let me know if you two need anything.”

Pressing a kiss to Shota’s cheek and then one to the top of Izuku’s thick green curls, Hizashi made his way back to the hallway before he let out a breath he’d been holding. Leaning against the wall and sliding down, Hizashi ran his hands through his hair. He couldn’t help the tears that slid down his own cheeks for a moment, wiping them on the back of his hand.

Everything was just so much between what the hell Nedzu was scheming, the fact that Izuku was still finding ways to relapse, and his own ever-growing urge to relapse himself. Taking a second to breathe, Hizashi pulled himself to his feet. He would busy himself making soup for his sick kid.

Sometimes, all you can do is ride the urge and wait for it to pass. Just let it pass.

Chapter Text

With Hizashi busy in the kitchen, Izuku and Shota were left in the bathroom. “We have to move the blanket to see, Izuku.” The response was just a huff through the teen’s nose in protest, even as his near death-grip on the blanket loosened enough for Shota to pull it off of him. “Izu, you really have to show me what’s going on.”

Izuku mumbled something unintelligible. “I can’t hear you, kid.”

“Gonna be mad at me.”

Shota sighed, “Izuku, I will not be mad at you, but for me to help you, I have to get to the problem.” He was trying not to let his frustration show through. It wasn’t that he was necessarily frustrated with his son, but the situation itself was not a fun one to deal with over and over again. While Shota himself never really struggled with self-harm, it was still emotionally taxing.

The teen rolled back the leg of his pajama shorts, revealing a handful of angry red wounds. Only one of them truly had any pus oozing out of it, but the amount of fluid was still concerning.

“Ouch, kid.” He winced in sympathy. Thankfully, he was much better at wound care now than he was early in his hero days, but he remembers the stinging heat from infections like this. “I don’t think you’ll need antibiotics, but we definitely need to clean these out. You’ll need to let them get some fresh air for a little bit, too before we bandage them up.”

Izuku nodded, keeping his gaze on anything but his thigh. “It’s gonna hurt, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Shota sat a comforting hand on the kid’s shoulder, “It probably will. We’ll have to wash them out, and I’d like to use some triple antibiotic on one of them. Think you can handle that?”

“I think so.”

“Here, it’ll be easier to do this in the bathtub. Hop down.”

Izuku found himself not really… there for the process. Moving to the tub to sit down felt like walking through molasses. He could faintly hear his dad saying something, but he couldn’t quite make out the words. Even the sting from his dad cleaning off his leg was muted.

“Izuku? You still with me?” Shota was finished, deciding to go ahead and wrap his leg anyway. It really didn’t need any debris getting in. By the thousand-yard stare that Izuku had, he was most definitely not still there.

Scooping the kid back into his arms was no problem, and it was reassuring that he didn’t feel so feather-light anymore. Although, he was still on the thin side with bones that were all too easy to feel. Shoving that thought aside, Shota carried Izuku to the living room, laying him down on the couch and catching Hizashi’s attention in the kitchen when he kneeled beside his son.

“You two alright?” he asked, noticing his husband and son both abnormally quiet.

Shota just sighed, “He started dissociating pretty hard. Can you get me a cold cloth since you’re in the kitchen?”

Once Hizashi brought it over, Shota placed the cloth on Izuku’s forehead, gently wiping back sweat-covered green curls. “Do you think we need to get him a specialist? Izuku’s been seeing Hound Dog, but it seems like he’s still not really left crisis mode.” Shota suggested, “Hound Dog is great for most of our hero students, but Izuku’s trauma isn’t all from hero work.”

Hizashi put a hand on his husband’s shoulder, “Maybe, but we have to ask Izuku, too. If he’s not comfortable with the change, it could just set him back instead.” He stood there a moment, just watching how worried Shota was over the kid. It was the type of tenderness only he really saw. His husband was definitely not the affectionate type, and while he knew him like this, most people only saw the persona he always portrays.

“Alright, I need to finish the soup.” He pressed a kiss to the top of Shota’s head, not missing the way a fraction of tension dropped out of his shoulders.

Shota was busying himself with carding his fingers through Izuku’s wild curls, gently combing through some of the knots it always managed to get. “Izuku, can you hear me, kid?” He asked softly, setting the now lukewarm cloth on the coffee table.

Izuku, meanwhile, was starting to feel some of the sensations. There was some cold, and wet? Then he felt the hand in his hair, and focusing on it helped start to ground him. The swirl of thoughts in his head were too much for him to even make out. They weren’t even coherent, but it just felt negative somehow.

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Izuku’s words were just a little slurred as he started to recognize his surroundings again, the first thing coming into focus was his dad’s worried face.

“You started to dissociate. Do you know your name?”

“’Zuku.”

“Good. Do you know my name?”

“Dad.”

“I’ll take it. Do you know what day it is?”

“Tuesday? I think?”

“Yep, Tuesday.”

Shota was satisfied, standing up from where he had been kneeling beside the couch. Izuku sat up as well, sliding over for his dad to sit beside him. There was a moment of awkward silence before Shota sighed and started the conversation neither of them wanted to have.

“Izuku… things seem to be getting worse for you with self-harm. I know you’re doing your best, but with this infection… I’m worried that it may get to a point where we aren’t able to keep you safe.”

The panic that shot through Izuku of course didn’t go unnoticed, Shota offering a hand for Izuku to hold, which the teen immediately caught in a death grip. “We’re not going to abandon you by any means. The last thing I want you to do is be shipped off somewhere outside of our control, but it’s worrying to say the least.”

Izuku took a second to process. “I really do want to stop. I’m just.. scared of it. This is the only thing that’s ever worked to make me feel better. I keep trying all of the stuff Papa and Hound Dog have been giving me, but they don’t feel the same.”

“I won’t lie and say that I understand what that feels like, but I know how scary it can be to feel like you’re losing something that important to you.” The hero took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “What if we restricted your access to all sharps? We get rid of everything in your room, lock up any razors or knives, all of it; anything you might be able to use goes away," another pause, "and we check every day for anything new. That way you aren't able to keep picking at old wounds like this. It might be really hard at first, but I feel like that’s out best shot at kicking this for good.”

At this point, Hizashi had made his way over from the kitchen, having been listening to the conversation. “Shota may be right on this one, kiddo. He did the same thing for me years ago, and it sucked. It sucked a lot, but I was able to start identifying coping skills that at least worked well enough.”

“I really don’t want to… but I trust you guys.” Izuku’s voice got quieter, “And I’m really scared of someone trying to take me away.”

The adults shared a pained look. Izuku was right, there. He was still technically a foster. If the state decided that they weren’t doing a good enough job keeping him safe, they could very well stuff him into some facility or another home.

“Then that’s what we’ll do.” Shota squeezed Izuku’s hand since it was still gripped tightly in his own.

“Although, since we’re taking something away from you, why don’t we give you something of equal value? That way it will feel less like a punishment and more like… a trade!” Hizashi suggested, “What’s something that you feel would be helpful to get your mind off of this? Within reason, of course.”

The teen took a moment to think about it. What would he really want to do? Honestly, there only felt like one option that could truly help keep his mind occupied. “I want to do more hero work.”

He could sense the hesitancy from his dads, so he continued. “Think about it! We already talked about me going on patrols with Dad, or I can try to do more training with you guys or All Might. Plus, working out more means I can fall asleep easier, and I won’t be stuck awake late at night like I have been.”

Damn, sometimes they forgot how downright crafty their kid was. The heroes looked at each other for a second before bursting out into laugher.

“Izuku, you’re such a smart kid.” Hizashi praised, pulling him into a hug.

“Yeah, and it’s going to be the death of me.” Shota added, slumping back into the couch cushions.

“That’s not an answerrrr!” Izuku groaned, squirming out of Hizashi’s hold.

“Izu…” Shota started, looking to Hizashi for confirmation they were on the same page. A nod from his husband was all he needed to continue. “I think it could be really good for you. Hell, the reason All Might gave you his quirk was because in that big, giant heart of yours, your main goal in life is to be a hero and help people.”

“Remember, though, you will have to be medically cleared first. You’ve been doing a lot better, but we have to make sure that you’re safe. If you go too hard too fast, you’ll only cause damage.”

“Right. I just know I’m really behind my classmates in combat training… I’ll never get where I want to be if I stay on the sidelines.” The determination was a healthy change to see in Izuku’s demeanor, but his dads couldn’t help but still be on the apprehensive side.

“You’re right, but you can’t look at this as a setback, either. Everyone moves at their own pace, and everyone has different circumstances to handle.” Hizashi added, “You were put through hell, and you still managed to get into UA, make it into the top class, and work directly with your idol!”

“I guess you’re right… I did do all of that.” Izuku sat back himself, frowning and clearly thinking about something.

“What’s wrong, kid? You seem a little stuck in your head.” Shota reached out to point his finger into the center of his son’s forehead, earning at least a smile from him.

Izuku playfully batted away his dad’s hand. “I don’t know, I just…” He took in a deep breath, dropping his gaze down to avoid eye contact, “It still doesn’t feel like I’m doing enough.” Shota and Hizashi shared a look, knowing this train of thought all too well.

Hizashi was the one to prompt further, “How so, hun?”

Running a hand through his hair, Izuku forced himself to look up at his dads; it was easier to hide, but hiding his coping skills is exactly what had gotten him into this mess. “I still feel responsible for being the ninth holder of One for All. I took the quirk from All Might knowing that it was going to be a huge responsibility, and instead of doing everything I can to keep up in school, train the quirk, and get ready to fight All for One, I’m… I’m sitting here. I can barely function, even here in an environment where you guys control everything.”

He paused for a second, but neither adult got a chance to interject before he continued. “I can’t go to school. I have to be in therapy twice a week. The one real training session in over a month I started to have got cut short. No matter what I do, I end up hurting myself in some way. I just want things to be how they were, but I know that going back to that isn’t really possible.”

Silence sat stagnant in the air for a moment. They all knew, on some level, that Izuku was right. Things weren’t going to be able to just go back, especially given that the environment created from those circumstances led Izuku to almost kill himself.

“As awful as it was, I felt like I was at least managing it. I had my routine, and as long as no one knew what was really going on under the surface, I could keep up well enough. No one asked questions. Everyone just left me alone…”

“I’m going to stop you right there.” Shota cut in, feeling only slightly guilty for the kicked-puppy look he got from the kid, “’Leaving you alone’ led to you bleeding out in a dorm bathroom floor, for one. The way you were coping was not sustainable. Point blank. End of discussion for that one.”

“Shota-“ Hizashi started, only to be cut off by his husband.

“I wasn’t done yet.” That came out as more of a snap than Shota meant it, “As for your quirk and All Might, you already know I don’t like anything about how that situation happened. All Might knew how dangerous it was, didn’t give you all of the information, and made you, a literal child, decide on the spot to change everything.”

The hero ran a hand through his hair while he took a breath, brushing it back from his face, “None of that even takes into account the abuse you’ve endured your whole life from your parents. Kid, anyone with half of the shit you have going on would be struggling. The fact that you’re still here and still pushing forward makes you one of the toughest kids I’ve ever known.”

Taking an opportunity to make the situation a little less tense, Hizashi gently took Izuku’s face in his hands, “Izuku, you have been so strong. You handled everything by yourself for so long, but you don’t have to anymore. Shota and I are here with you.” He moved his hands to run one of them through Izuku’s hair, “You’re still a kid. None of this should be anything you have to deal with alone. Please, allow us to share some of the burden."

Izuku didn’t realize he’d started crying until he realized he couldn’t see Papa’s face anymore through the blur of tears. He reached up to wipe his eyes, finding that acknowledging he was crying only led to a choked sob trying to claw its way out of his throat. Hizashi immediately pulled him into a hug, Shota coming in from the other side so that both of them had Izuku covered.

It was exactly what Izuku needed to hear. Of course, he had done everything alone. From a young age, he’d been cast to the side; all of the attention was put on his peers, on those who had quirks. Even now that he had a quirk of his own, borrowed from someone else or not, Izuku didn’t know how to let anyone past the walls he put up. It felt foreign to have someone shoulder some of the weight, and it was uncomfortable at best.

“We love you, Izuku. Will you let us?”

Chapter Text

The next couple of hours felt surprisingly normal. Maybe he just hadn’t fully processed the conversation yet. On the positive side, he made it all the way through dinner, which meant they could start building an action plan for what needed to happen next.

“So, how soon can Recovery Girl see me for the, uh… health check?” Izuku did his best to keep the uneasiness out of his voice, but of course the adults knew he wasn’t thrilled with the idea.

“We can check with her tomorrow if you’d like. If she can’t fit you in tomorrow, we’ll schedule something later this week. Does that sound okay?” Hizashi would be the one home with Izuku tomorrow, so it made sense for him to be the one to take care of it.

“That would be pretty fast.” The pit of nausea in Izuku’s stomach that he’d had pretty much all day only got worse. He was serious about doing more training and hero work, but he couldn’t help the anxiety that filled him at the thought of going to campus, especially with the quick turnaround of going potentially tomorrow.

Shota looked up from where he was washing out the soup bowls, “You can push it back if you need to, but just remember: the sharps are going away starting tonight.” The harsher side of his dad wasn’t one that Izuku had directed at him very often, and it was a little intimidating to be on this end of it again as not just a student, but his son. Granted, he now understood the rough exterior of his dad to be more so one of conviction and putting safety first, even when he was doing things like the fitness test on the first day of school.

“I understand.” It was for his own good. He had to trust them in that.

“Hey, don’t worry too much, Izu. I’ll be with you the whole time, okay?” Hizashi reached a hand across the table for Izuku to grab, “Just like before, all you have to do is say the word and we stop. We can also just call and schedule something instead of trying to put in on tomorrow, if you prefer that.”

Izuku took a deep, slightly shaky breath, “No, I think it would be better to just get it over with. Less time to be worried about it.”

Hizashi stood up and walked over towards the sink to put a glass in it, pressing a kiss to the top of Izuku’s green curls as he walked past. “Alright, hun. If you change your mind, let us know.”

He honestly wasn’t sure if he would change his mind or not. Either way, the whole situation still had him kind of freaked out. “Can I go outside for a few minutes? I want to make a phone call.”

Both adults looked at each other before turning their attention back to Izuku.

“By yourself?”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Both of their questions overlapped, making it a little difficult to tell who asked which question.

“Yeah, just for a few minutes.” Izuku paused, “I want to talk to All Might about something.”

That was Shota’s cue to turn back to the dishes, trying to hide his distaste for the man. Hizashi picked up the answer, “That should be fine, Izu. Fifteen minutes, okay? If you need longer than that, just send me a text message so I know you’re still safe.”

That seemed like a fair compromise. “Actually,” Izuku stood up, “Is it okay if I go down to the park that’s right by here?”

“Hmm, alright. Just be careful, and call us immediately if you need anything. I still want that fifteen-minute text, though.”

“Wait, before you go,” Shota dried his hands off, stepping over to Izuku, “Let me check-“ He placed the back of his hand against Izuku’s forehead, “Seems like the Tylenol did it’s job, and I’m sure eating something helped. If you start feeling any worse, come straight back.”

Izuku nodded, “Right.” He slipped his shoes on, stopping to pet Mochi when she rubbed up against his legs. “I’ll be right back, Moch,” he giggled at her, “See you in a few minutes.” The second statement was projected towards his dads, as well as the cat, before he left.

The adults immediately felt his absence, the only sound being the running water and clattering of dishes for a few minutes while Shota finished washing and putting them away. Hizashi sat at the table nursing a cup of tea, and Shota was still standing over the sink, leaning over and just staring into it.

“So… do we want to pick up from earlier?” Hizashi tried to break the tension, watching his husband’s shoulders drop with an exasperated sigh.

“No, honestly.” The answer was as blunt as expected.

“But Shota-“

“I’ve thought about it, and I think we should discuss our theories with All Might.”

Hizashi sucked in a breath; that was the last thing he expected from Shota. “Explain. You have very firmly stated your lack of trust in that man. Why pull him in on this?”

Shota finally turned around from, resting on his palms at the edge of the counter, “Izuku trusts him with his life, and he may be useful in helping us navigate how or if to tell the poor kid what he may really be studying for.” He paused to walk over to the table and sit across from Hizashi, “Besides… being the number one hero gets you some connections and information we could never hope to have gotten on our own.”

The darkness that filled Shota’s eyes when he was this determined in scheming about something always sent a shiver down Hizashi’s spine. It was easy for him to forget that his husband was an underground hero at heart; he was willing to fight dirty to get what he needed, especially if that meant protecting those he cared about. Using All Might as a resource was a means to an end. Nothing more.

“If you’re sure about it, then I’m in. We should probably meet here, though. Who knows what prying eyes and ears could be at UA? I wouldn’t put it past Nedzu to have the entire campus bugged at minimum, if not with every square inch under video surveillance on top of it.”

Izuku took a long, deep breath as soon as he was out on the sidewalk. It wasn’t quite dark outside yet, but with only an hour or so of sunlight remaining, the sky was painted with plenty of deep, orange hues, with some dusty pink over the horizon like a halo. He took in the watercolors of dusk for a minute before pulling his phone out of his pocket. Starting a fifteen-minute timer to remind him to text Papa, Izuku opened the contacts app on his phone to call All Might while he walked.

There was only one ring on the other side before the hero picked up.

“Izuku, my boy! Is everything okay? You hardly ever call.”

“Um, hey, All Might.” Izuku sighed, “I’m okay. I just…”

“You sound troubled.”

“I mean, it’s probably not even a big deal or anything-“

“Izuku.” The hero just said his name, but it was that tone of voice, the one that adults always used when they were really serious about something. “If something is bothering you, I want you to feel like you can talk to me about it. Even if it may feel trivial.”

“I know! I know. It still just feels like I’m bothering you. I’m sure being a pro hero you have a lot more to worry about than me.”

“You will always be someone I worry about, and I don’t say that to make it a burden on you. As you may recall, I specifically chose you to be my protégé. I chose to take responsibility for you, and that goes further than heroics.”

“I guess you’re right.” Izuku took a second before continuing, “My dads have agreed to let me do more hero-related work. I’m going to be doing more training, and I even get to start doing some patrols with Dad.”

“Well, that’s great! There’s nothing like the experience you’re able to get in the field when it comes to honing your skills.”

“Right. Hopefully, it’ll give me the opportunity to really catch up to my classmates.” Izuku explained the rationale behind his choice, hoping it would make him sound excited about the prospect. He just…

“You sound hesitant, though. What’s bothering you about it?”

He wasn’t excited about everything that came with it. “Doing more hero work is supposed to be a replacement for, uh… for some of the self-harm behaviors I keep struggling with. It’ll keep me occupied, and hopefully I’ll think about it less.”

It was All Might’s turn to be silent for a few seconds. “I see. Do you think this will help accomplish that?”

“I do. I guess I’ve felt kind of useless with everything going on, so it’ll be nice to do something for other people again.”

“I can’t help but feel like there’s another layer here. Something has you shaken up even more than that.”

Sometimes Izuku forgot how well All Might really knew him. “Yeah. Doing any of this means I have to get medical clearance. My health was already fragile before this all started happening since my body can’t really handle this quirk yet, but now…”

“Now Eraser and Mic are worried that you’ll only damage yourself further if you dive in and push yourself too hard. I can’t say that I blame them given your recent medical history.”

Neither of them needed to mention the continued broken bones and the amount of time’s he’s been hospitalized or very nearly so.

“Right, but being medically evaluated also means, um… that they’ll probably see all of my scars."

“What do you mean, the scars on your arms?” Izuku could hear the uneasiness now creeping into his mentor’s voice.

“No, not just those. I mean the ones that are all over me. My back and sides covered in scars from my mom, and maybe even some from my father, even though I don’t remember them. Not to mention that the scars from cutting are down my thighs as well as covering my arms. Plus, there’s the fact that I’ve been really underweight, just hidden by the muscle tone I managed to actually keep because of the sheer amount of training I’ve gone through. I know I’ve gained some weight back, but… It’s a lot for anyone to see.”

The implication that even All Might hadn’t seen all of Izuku’s scars went unsaid, but it was heavily felt by both teacher and student.

“It continues to pain me to hear how difficult your life has been and how much you have suffered at the hands of those who were meant to protect you; that I won’t lie about. Is there any way that I can help make this process any easier for you? Would you like me to be present for the evaluation?”

“Maybe? I don’t know…” On one hand, Izuku really didn’t want his idol to see it all. It made him feel weak and broken.

“Your scars don’t make you weak, Izuku.” Wait, did he say that out loud? “I know that you think it does, but think about my scars. You’ve seen the hole in my body where I was almost killed. Do you believe that the scars I carry make me weak?”

“Of course not! They just show how strong you are to have survived something so horrible and keep going anyway!” Izuku responded on instinct, but it took a moment longer for the realization of his own words to set in.

“Our scars are not evidence of times we were weak; they are proof of how strong we are to have survived the worst the world has been able to throw at us.”

All Might was always good with speeches and powerful statements, and this one was no different. Izuku didn’t get more than a couple of seconds to reflect on it before his phone buzzed in his hand; the timer.

“Ah! Hang-hang on a second, I need to send a quick text to Papa!” He scrambled to pull his phone away from his ear, sending off a quick text.

Sent: i’m ok! need more time

Papa: alright kiddo just lmk when ur done :p

“Sorry! I’m back.” Izuku took the opportunity to look around at where he was, realizing he had basically walked in a big circle around the block instead of going towards the park like he had originally planned. Oh well.

“No worries, my boy. Now, would you like me to be there to support you for your medical examination?”

Izuku stopped walking in front of the apartment building, looking up at it and thinking of his dads waiting inside. “Yeah. I think that would be helpful.”

“Alright, then I will be there. I’m assuming it will be done by Recovery Girl?”

“That’s what my dads said. I can let you know when it’ll be, but we’re not asking her until tomorrow.”

“Of course. Just keep me informed.” He paused, “Izuku, could you do me a favor?”

The request caught him a little off guard. “Oh! Uh, sure! What is it?”

“Could you send me a text message to check in? Just… at least once a day. I don’t need to know every detail, but something to let me know how you’re doing.”

It wasn’t something Izuku was expecting, but he’d be lying if he said it was anything but comforting to have All Might not only show him so much compassion but also prove that he really did care about him.

“Sure, no problem!” Izuku took one last look out at the darkening skyline, “Thank you for talking with me, All Might. I really appreciate it.”

“Any time, Izuku. You are always welcome to call me should you need or want to.”

“So, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, then?”

“Yeah, I’ll talk to you tomorrow, kid.”

They both said goodbye, and Izuku watched his phone screen for All Might to be the one to hit the ‘end call’ button. He took a deep breath, thinking about how well that conversation went. It’s not that he was expecting his mentor to have a bad reaction to anything, but he still wasn’t used to talking about things and the result being… positive.

Izuku sent another text to his Papa that he was headed back up to the apartment before walking back inside.

Hizashi checked the text message from his son, “Heads up, Izuku is on his way back inside. Do we have an agreement for moving forward?”

Shota set down his pen, reading over the notes they had been making together over the last few minutes. “Yeah. I think we have a plan. You’ll talk to All Might tomorrow?”

“Mhm. I’ll be sure that we’re some time where Izuku isn’t around. We might have to time it to send him out on patrol with you, just so there’s no suspicion.” Hizashi still wasn’t a fan of keeping this from his son, but he did want to be sure they were doing what was in his best interest.

“Good idea. I have a couple of patrol shifts this weekend that could work well.” Shota stood from the table, heading into the living room, “Come on, we should look like we’ve just been watching TV or something. Izuku’s too smart; he’ll notice something is up.”

“Honestly, I think I could use some TV and couch cuddles right about now.” Hizashi gladly followed his husband to the couch, letting out a sigh of relief at being able to cuddle into his side. While they may have not completely agreed on whether or not Izuku should be looped into their theories about Nedzu’s plans, he trusted his husband wholeheartedly and knew they both just wanted to do right by their kid.

The sound of the lock turning followed soon after, Izuku coming back inside.

“Hey, kiddo! Have a good conversation?” Hizashi opened an arm, offering Izuku to join them on the couch.

“I think so! We talked about him coming with us for the medical evaluation.” Izuku dropped onto the couch, “I know I probably shouldn’t have invited him without asking first…”

Hizashi reached over to ruffle Izuku’s curls, “No, honey, we know how important All Might is to you. If you want him there, then we trust your judgement.”

“Besides, he should be informed of your health if he’s going to be training with you.” Shota added, reaching over Hizashi to pat Izuku on the shoulder.

Neither adult wanted to acknowledge the fact that All Might being there did make it easier to talk to him about coming over. They didn’t want to discuss the actual subject matter on campus, but at least they could get a meeting with him set up sooner rather than later.