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Chapter Text

Aizawa Shōta had been expecting a lot of things when he was called to the annual hero meeting.

He was expecting Hizashi to be overdramatic, that his husband would flail and lamen how he was ‘so proud that his antisocial partner had come to a meeting that wasn’t mandatory, where he had to talk to people’. (Nevermind the fact that Hizashi had literally dragged him here against his will). He was expecting Nemuri to join in on the dramatics, sweeping him up in a bear hug, face shoved into her chest. Both Hizashi and Nemuri were much too affectionate, it was disgusting. (And no he didn’t like it- shut up Hizashi).

He expected Nezu to appear soundlessly in the chair opposite him, paws clasped together with a wide smile, reveling in the chaos that always seemed to spawn anytime Hizashi and Nemuri got together. He expected Toshinori to come as well, bringing some type of tea or something else for them to share, even though he wasn't technically a hero anymore (yet he still came to every meeting, and they still accepted him with open arms).

He expected Endeavor to arrive, scowl at the gathered heroes, grab a copy of the files that they were to look over and then swiftly leave like the asshole he was. Then, he expected the other heroes to trickle in slowly, among them Gang Orca, Fatgum, Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, and a few others from the top ten.

He expected a red feather to arrive silently, the little red feather waving at him cheerfully before darting off to open a window. Miruko and Hawks would then stumble in through the window a few seconds after it had been opened, wrestling and fighting like the children they were.

What he didn’t expect was for a group of villains to be idiotic enough to try and attack the meeting.

Really it was just illogical, trying to attack a room full of heroes, and expecting to win. Maybe they had too much confidence in their quirks (similar to so many heroes these days).

...Or maybe they were just stupid.

Either way, it was embarrassingly easy to capture them, Hawks sending out his feathers to restrain them and remove the workers from the surrounding areas as one villain with a particularly destructive quirk attempted to bring down the building (and really now he was getting concerned for the villains because what kind of dumbass would try to bring a building down on themselves?). A strong kick to the head from Miruko brought down the villain, and the destruction to the building halted. Before they knew it all but one of the villains but one had been cuffed, Rock Lock’s quirk kept the cuffs, and by extension the villains, in place.

The last remaining villain was sweating, terrified as he lifted a hand at them threateningly his hand shaking.His quirk must have something to do with his hands, best to avoid them.

Miruko took a step forward, the villain stumbling back further in response, hand still held in front of him like a shield. He swiveled so that it was pointing at her instead.

“S-stay back!”

She paused, uncertain. “I said stay back!” The villain was getting desperate, he was cornered by heroes, and his friends had been taken out already. This was a tricky situation for the heroes, they didn’t know his quirk, and a desperate villain could be dangerous for everyone involved.

Hawks stepped forward, hands raised in an attempt to look non threatening. He was slouching a bit, head tilted lazily, and even though Shōta knew that Hawks could easily make it across this room in a second, Shōta himself almost relaxed. Almost.

“Hey man, calm down, we can talk this out.” Hawks drawled, the villain taking another miniscule step back, swinging to face Hawks. For a second the villain relaxed, unconsciously mirroring Hawk’s relaxed posture, before tensing again. His eyes flicked from hero to hero looking for an escape.

He turned again quickly taking aim-

And fired at the villains.

If it were one of the heroes, they could have dodged, but the villains were stuck in one place, a potentially dangerous beam of light heading straight towards them from the man’s palm.

Before they could blink, Hawks was in front of the villains, taking the blast.

There was a thump as a body hit the floor and Hawks skidded back a couple feet, before his body came to a stop.

He wasn't moving.

Shōta wasn't sure he had realized how much the hero moved before he was still. Hawks was constantly moving, chatting someone’s ear off, wings flapping slightly or feathers darting around.Everyone paused for a moment, before Shōta (the first to recover) activated his quirk, darting forward and cuffing the villain.

Best Jeanist ran to Hawks, carefully flipping him over and checking his pulse.

“He’s ok. Pulse is steady, just unconscious.”

There was a breath of relief, Miruko slumping, before she stomped forward to the villain, grabbing him by the collar.

“What the fuck did you do to him!” She yelled, shaking him roughly. The villain looked a second away from pissing his pants staring up at the angry Rabbit hero. Miruko shook him again, “what is your quirk!?”

“De-aging, he’ll be fine though, I promise! Pleasedontkillme”

Shōta wanted a nap.

“H-He’ll just shrink in a couple seconds, he’ll be fine!”

“What age?”

“Five!”

Shōta really wanted a nap.

Rock Lock spoke up then, “Now we gotta take care of a brat? I’m out.” He turned to leave just as a whimper echoed throughout the room.

All heads turned to the small (god he was tiny, were five year olds supposed to be that small?) winged figure dressed in dirty clothes.

He blinked.

Hawks blinked back, his face blank.

They broke eye contact as Best Jeanist crouched down, trying to look as small as he could. “Hello young one, there is no need to worry. We are pro-heros, there has been an accident, but there is no need to worry.”

Hawks blinked at Best Jeanist confusedly. Hesitating before he opened his mouth to speak, “Heroes aren't real though.”

What.

Chapter Text

Rumi didn’t know a lot about Hawks’ childhood, but what kid didn’t know about heroes? She remembered when she was young that she’d certainly had a favorite hero (Nana Shimura was badass, okay? Definitely the best hero and no one could change her mind). She remembered how she would jump up and down watching the news footage of heroes, transfixed by the action blabbering on about how they were ‘Just so cool mom!’

Now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure that you learned about being a hero in school as well. She remembered assignments about analyzing your favorite hero, math problems about pro heroes salary and villains stealing an obscene amount of watermelons (for whatever reason…). For Hawks to not know about heroes was… concerning to say the least.

She walked closer, elbowing through the circle of heroes that had gathered around her friend.

“Of course there are heroes, kid.” she said, kneeling down to his height.

Hawks blinked owlishly, small wings flapping lightly behind him. He fiddled with the edge of his shirt, before nodding timidly.

Fucking weird.

Usually in her experience, kids just didn’t stop asking questions. She knew for a fact that her little cousins had been little shits at this age, bouncing and asking things like, “Why is your hair white? Did you dye it?” No, it's natural. “But why?” Because my mom had white hair, so I ended up with white hair. “But why?” You see when two people love each other very much they f-”

But Hawks had just accepted her answer without hesitation. Best Jeanist sent a look her way, also concerned. He shifted uncomfortably from where he was still crouched, before lifting a hand to sweep his hair to the side again as a nervous habit.

As Jeanist raised his hand, Hawks flinched back hard, squeezing his eyes shut, wings coming up to create a flimsy barrier between them. The wings were two small to reach all the way around him, making an ineffective shield. The feathers glinted in the light as they sharpened, leaving clean slices through the long sleeves of his shirt, blood wetting the edges, the crimson staining the dirty t-shirt. Hawks quickly unsharpened his feathers before he could cause more damage.

Best Jeanist froze.

And Rumi-

Rumi didn’t know what to do.

Because Hawks was just so small– his long sleeved shirt dwarfed him, sleeves rolled up messily so that they wouldn't cover his hands. There were careless slashes in the back of the shirt for his wings. He had a pair of shorts on that were fraying at the edges, loose threads hanging off that looked like they had been picked at. He seemed to be covered in a layer of grime, and Rumi wondered again what exactly her friend had been through.

If she looked closely she could see an almost faded bruise on his cheek, she could see the way that his hair looked painfully knotted and tangled, streaked with dirt– and was that blood?

But the worst of all were his wings.

She knew Hawks took great pride in his wings. They were his weapons, and what he was known for, the blood red wings that always seemed angelic. Not angelic like the soft looking angels draped in white cloth, but the kinds of angels that radiated power, the kinds of angels that were said to bring justice.

He didn’t look like an angel now.

His wings were puffed, feathers in disarray to a point where it looked painful. Their usual vibrant red was missing, hidden underneath the dust and mud sticking his feathers together in clumps. There were some spots where the feathers were missing, little pin feathers poking out of the flesh, and blood crusting around the edges. Other feathers were fluffy, more down feathers than anything. It was– if she was being totally honest– not a great look on him.

Everything about the image was setting off alarm bells in Rumi’s head and judging by the faces of the other heroes, she wasn't the only one.

Aizawa shuffled forward, keeping his movements slow as he crouched down to Hawks level. He took care to clearly telegraph his movements as he extended a hand for Hawks to shake. Hawks stared at the hand, uncomprehending (honestly what was Aizawa expecting).

Aizawa cleared his throat, before beginning to speak in a soft tone, “Hello. I am Aizawa Shōta, pro-hero Erasehead. What is your name?”

At this, almost every hero perked up visibly. Hawk’s real name was a well kept secret from the rest of the world, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. It was practically initiation for the new heroes to try and find out, and she swore that people got more creative each year.

Currently, her favorite attempt was when a newbie had tried to seduce him, realized it wasn’t working, and promptly pulled out a bucket of fried chicken from somewhere (Rumi later found out that they had a minor teleportation quirk) and tried to bribe him. Hawks had hired them on the spot, before stealing the chicken and flying away.

They had also come the closest to actually getting Hawk’s name.

“Keigo.”

There were shuffling sounds behind her as someone exchanged money.

Best Jeanist chose to speak next, “That is a lovely name Keigo.”

Hawks- Keigo, didn’t react to the praise, though his wings twitched slightly.

Best Jeanist’s eyes flickered to the cuts that Keigo had on his shoulders, “Perhaps we should clean those before we continue our conversation,” He rose from his squat, slowly this time, he offered a hand for Keigo to hold as he turned to the nearest chair for Keigo to sit on. Again, Keigo just stared at the hand. Jeanist seemed unfazed, walking towards the table. Keigo and Aizawa followed them silently.

Without prompting, Rumi turned and began corralling the rest of the heroes out, handing off the villains to Gang Orca as they left. She was sure that they would be able to handle the press as well as the police on their own.

She felt a tap on her shoulder, Rock Lock was standing there, bag slung over his shoulder. He ruffled through the bag briefly before pulling something out, it was a small All Might plushie, slightly worn.

“I have a kid, they leave stuff in my bag sometimes, say it’ll protect me.” his face turned fond, eyes distant before he refocused, “I thought the kid might like it.” He gently passed it over.

Sometimes she forgot that Rock Lock had a family. He acted aloof, was rude and straight to the point. But he was careful in a way that heroes usually weren't; he had something to return to, and it showed.

Rumi offered a small smile, “Thanks man.”

He nodded, before exiting.

She gave up quickly on trying to get Toshinori, Present Mic and Midnight to leave. And she wasn’t insane, she wasn’t going to try and get Nezu to leave.

She yanked on one of the All Might plushie’s hair puffs, a bit nervous about going back to Kiego. She really wasn’t sure how to approach this situation.

Best Jeanist and Aizawa seemed to know what to do at least, still in the process of trying to assure Keigo. Keigo himself was still silent, wings twitching in discomfort as he stared up at the two heroes.

Midnight and Present Mic were standing awkwardly to the side, whispering among themselves, all fluttering hands and nervous glances. Toshinori had left to get a first aid kit and judging by the footsteps coming this way, he had found one.

Nezu was just… watching.

His paws were folded delicately, and had a large grin on his face, but he seemed more… subdued then usual. It was possible that this situation hit a little bit too close to home for him.

Keigo’s head whipped up, turning slightly to face the door (she noticed he hadn’t turned his back to them once). After a few tense seconds, All Might opened the door and stepped in, a first aid kit clutched tightly in his hands.

He quickly strode over to where they were sitting, setting the first aid kit down with a thump. Keigo eyed it warily, as if it would bite, but stayed silent.

While Best Jeanist started to sort through the first aid kit, Aizawa began to talk.

“We need to clean these,” he said, gesturing to the cuts on Keigo’s shoulders, “For that you have to take off your shirt. Is that okay?”

Keigo blinked again, head tilting to the side slightly. It was a birdlike movement, his golden eyes oddly focused. Hawks tended to walk around with half-lidded eyes, slouched in a way that made him seem cocky yet unthreatening. This Hawks was clearly too young to have learned to do that, and his stare was a bit unnerving. He acted like a predator. He looked down at his lap again, nodding timidly. He stopped tugging at the hem of his shirt, and instead started fiddling with his hands (she then noticed that instead of finger nails, he had small talons, black and deadly looking. Cool). His hands, shaking slightly slipped, and a talon sliced easily into the palm of his hand, blood beading in the shallow cut.

Rumi stepped forward, extending the tiny All Might doll, a peace offering.

His eyes went wide at the sight of the doll, mouth forming a tiny o. His wings extended behind him, small bits of dried mud flaking and falling off at the movement. As if without his permission, his hands shot forward grabbing the doll, and cradling it to his chest, looking down at it in amazement. She was pretty sure someone squealed behind her at the sight (honestly, same. Keigo was a cute kid).

Keigo looked up with shining eyes, “This is for me?” He sounded shocked. He looked back down at the toy. He pet one of All Might’s hair tufts, “soft” He sounded amazed by the revelation. All Might himself looked like he was having a minor heart attack from how cute the scene was.

Aizawa took this as his cue to convince Keigo to let them treat his wounds.

“Keigo, can we fix these now?”

Keigo hesitantly nodded, extending an arm, the other hand still clutching the doll.

Aizawa took his wrist gently, and Rumi heard Keigo inhale sharply, she stepped closer.

“Does your wrist hurt?” She tried to replicate the soft voice that Aizawa had used. She was only maybe succeeding.

He nodded. Aizawa glanced down and then hissed through his teeth. Hidden under the dirt was a large hand shaped bruise. Even Best Jeanist paused from where he was taking out the supplies and wetting a cloth with disinfectant to stare at the angry looking bruise.

Aizawa clenched the hand not holding Keigo’s wrist (he had a kid too right? The one that had been rescued from that Overhaul bitch, this must be bringing back memories for him).

Sensing Aizawa’s current struggle, Best Jeanist started to talk instead,

“What happened?”

Keigo blinked down at the bruise, as if seeing it for the first time.

“I made dad angry.” He shrugged his shoulders, and went back to staring at his All Might plushie.

Jeanist kept pushing, “Why was he angry?”

This time Keigo didn’t even look up, “‘Cause I went outside. And that's not allowed.” he pouted, puffing out a cheek. He lowered his volume slightly, muttering. “I didn’t even do anything, I just wanted to get some food and see if my wings were big enough yet.”

“Big enough for what?”

Keigo turned to look out the window wistfully. It was the first time he had turned his back to them.

“To fly.” He stared out the window for a second longer before turning back to face them, yanking his arm from Aizawa’s grip, “I can go fwoosh!” He used the All Might doll, sweeping it across in a gesture that represented soaring. “But then I go wahhhh…” the All Might doll started to lose altitude, “and then BOOM!” He made an explosion with his hands, sending the All Might doll flying. A feather darted out to catch it, and quickly brought it back to his waiting hands. Suddenly he looked nervous at his outburst, curling into himself slightly, and bringing the doll back to his chest. He hastily placed his arm back into Aizawa’s grip muttering a quick sorry.

This she could deal with, she knew how to handle shy kids.

“That sounds awesome! Your quirk is so cool!” she stomped her foot lightly in excitement.

Keigo brightened, “Yeah! Flying is so much fun! Also look!” he scrunched his face up in concentration, tongue poking out slightly as he concentrated. A flurry of feathers detached from his wings, picking up the All Might plushie again and manipulating it into throwing a punch. She cheered.

Spurred on by her excitement, he made the All Might do flips in the air, fighting imaginary enemies. She added in the sound effects. Yelling and mimicking explosions.

Keigo let out small giggles at her dramatic screaming.

Yeah she was the fucking best at dealing with kids.

Chapter Text

From there on it was easier, to a degree. Miruko was surprisingly good with kids (surely a familial connection had helped her develop this skill, this was learned behavior). Nezu’s eyes flicked from person to person, quirk processing data at a rate faster than the average humans, observations that were not worth his attention at the time were filed away, (Aizawa is favoring his left side, injury during patrol? All Might was shuffling from side to side, possibly guilt. All Might always did show classic signs of maladaptive and toxic guilt, something that was unfortunately common in the hero profession). Yet most of Nezu’s attention was on the man of the hour, Hawks, or rather, Keigo.

Nezu must admit that he had not paid as much attention to the number two hero as he should have. Hawks was annoyingly good at coming off as a simple person. Someone who was cocky and sure of himself, someone that drew attention to himself like a magnet, yet always seemed to escape attention. It was a curious mix. For what did they really know about Hawks? They certainly knew more now about Keigo, but Hawk’s persona was one of a person who couldn’t keep secrets. Too much of a loudmouth and an idiot. The Hawks they were seeing now were none of those things. And Nezu could tell that it was throwing people off guard. The different responses, tone, personality. Everything down to Hawk’s posture and accent were different from Keigo.

Nezu shifted from where he sat on a window sill. Unfolding and refolding his paws. He saw Yamada send him a glance at his slightly out of the character demeanor. Nezu was not one to show others how they felt, he preferred to keep his cards close to his chest. And it appeared his shifting, and he was sure his whiskers were twitching at this point as well, had given away his discomfort. Pity. Yamada had always been good at reading others. Perhaps Nezu should feel lucky that Aizawa was preoccupied with Keigo, he would surely get questioned if Aizawa had noticed. Nezu sipped on the tea that had materialized beside him, trying to project to Yamada that he was fine. Worrying would do no good, they had others to worry about.

He set his teacup down with a clink. Before making eye contact with All Might. He sat down a second cup of tea beside him, a silent invitation. All Might glanced at Keigo, who was still happily playing with Miruko, before coming over.

He came to stand beside Nezu, taking the teacup in clumsy hands. Nezu had to admit that perhaps he always gave All Might the smallest tea cups he had available, if just to watch the way that he had to give the tea a large portion of his attention, so as not to break the fragile porcelain. It was even more amusing when he was in his larger form, which would not be happening again he supposed.

But no matter, he had more important things to ponder.

“What do you think of Keigo?”

Toshinori paused, looking up from his teacup for the first time. He seemed to mull something over in his mind, visibly struggling with words.
“Young Keigo is…” he hesitated again, “concerning.”

Nezu sipped his tea, but kept his eyes on Toshinori. A silent invitation to keep talking.

The other man seemed to get lost in thought, shadowed eyes, glazing slightly.

“There is the obvious. The boy has bruises, the flinching and constant apologizing.” Nezu nodded in agreement at this. “Classic signs of abuse. But I must wonder why he didn’t tell us? Were we not all friends?” He made a sweeping gesture, eyes lingering on Miruko, who had seemed shocked and uncomfortable by the revelation of Hawks’ childhood, even though she was the closest to him.

Nezu took another sip.

“I don’t think we were, All Might.” the other looked up at this, mouth opening to argue, Nezu raised a paw to silence him. “Don’t argue, we weren’t. Hawks has always been distant, and I had foolishly put that down to simple arrogance. That he believed that he was better than us.” Again, Toshinori looked uncomfortable with this information, but stayed quiet. “And perhaps it is, but Hawks certainly have more layers to him than expected. But that is not quite what worries me. I would not expect Hawks to tell us about his past, if it was dark and he had moved past it. That is his choice, and I will not pry into it, though I do wish to know if those who have done this have been properly… punished.” He let a little bit of the bloodlust he was feeling show on his face, All Might sweating uncomfortably at the sight, “I do not want to make him relive any trauma, but I do wonder what happened between the age he is at now, and when he began to be a hero.”

Toshiori was visibly confused by this statement, brows furrowed, casting his eyes in even further shadow, giving him an odd look.

“Let’s be honest, Toshinori. The hero system is flawed.” He raised a paw again for silence when Toshinori began to speak, “It is. And some days I fear that it will not be able to change. So I ask you, how did Hawks, who not only show signs of abuse but also signs of living in severe poverty, get to the top ten so quickly?”

“There are others that have done so Nezu, it is not as impossible as you are suggesting.”

“Yet none has ever been quite so… fast” he let his own lips quirk in amusement at the unintentional reference to Hawks’ nickname before he continued, “Hawks does not have a school, he quite literally appeared out of nowhere, climbing the ranks in a show of incredible speed. Something that he would have needed some degree of help to do. His arrest rates are high, and did not ever have a period in which they dropped. He started off near flawless and stayed that way. Yet he didn’t go to a hero school, or at least hasn’t mentioned it. And I know that he didn’t go to UA. So where did he get his training?”

“Perhaps he trained on his own? Or another hero took him under his wing?” Allmight suggested.

“And that hero didn’t mention that they had trained the now number 2 hero? Our rankings depend greatly on popularity, even just being associated with Hawks is enough to raise your ranking. And while there is still a possibility that he had trained by himself, he is too professional to have done that. His movements are practised and precise. And he started off with his own agency, one funded by…” his eyes narrowed, whisker twitching in thought, “the Hero Commission.” he turned fully to face All Might, going as far as to put down his tea cup, the larger hero mirroring his actions, “But why would Hawks be on their radar? They are not known for being charitable people, and they didn’t announce anything so it could not have been a move to get more popularity.”

All Might caught on quickly, “You think they, what, took advantage of him?”

Nezu nodded, “It’s not impossible. The simple fact is that to be as good as he is, he would have needed to start training young. And since he can’t leave his house at this age…”

“Something had to have changed. I get what you mean Nezu, but it could just as easily be anything else, I mean, it doesn’t have to be that drastic!”

Nezu smiled at All Might, making sure to bare all his teeth.

“That is true! Thank you, I will take that into account.” With that obvious dismissal, All Might returned to talk with the other heroes, leaving Nezu to plot. Yes, he would have to look into Hawks’ situation indeed.

Chapter Text

Shōta was officially done today. All he wanted to do was go back to his house, kiss his kids and husband goodnight, crawl into his sleeping bag and never emerge again. No- scratch that. He wanted to take Hawks,- fuck, no it was Keigo- wrap him in a fluffy blanket, and hide him away in Shōta’s home where he knew he was safe. Keigo was technically, legally over 18. So it wasn’t child kidnapping! It would just be… regular kidnapping… fuck he needed a new plan.

He would have asked Nezu for advice on how to legally kidnap someone (he would definitely have the answer), but right now it seemed the mouse-like creature was too busy glaring at All Might, while the man in question zoned out, oblivious. The fact that this had been their number one hero for so long was honestly, a bit pathetic.

Miruko was still playing with Keigo gleefully, and Best Jeanist had fully taken over treating Keigo’s wounds, of which there were many. Way too many. The poor kid was slowly becoming a mummy with the amount of bandages he was being wrapped in, a look that reminded Shōta a little too much of Eri.

The white of the bandages stood out against the rest of Keigo, making the dirt smudged on his face and clothes seem darker. The kid looked filthy, hair stringy with grease and wings darkened with dust. He would definitely need a shower.

Shōta had a shower.

…Now if Shōta could just somehow sneak Keigo out… a surprise adoption of sorts. That wasn’t the same as kidnapping, right? Right. He glanced at his husband, to see him already staring back at him with a pleading look. Huh, guess they were on the same page. He nodded his head slightly, in agreement. Next to Hizashi, Nemuri wiggled her eyebrows at them, wildly misinterpreting their exchange.

Next, Shōta looked to Nezu again, slightly unnerved to notice that the principal was already staring back at him, beady eyes focused and a unnaturally wide smile on his face.

… Shōta decided to take that as him being on board as well. Or at least, willing to help, maybe. Shōta honestly couldn’t read Nezu that well.

Shōta glanced over again to see Nezu nodding, unblinking with that same grin stuck to his face. He shuddered.

Finally, he turned back to the bird of the hour: Keigo. Best Jeanist had finally finished Keigo’s mummification, complete with some off-white bandages that looked suspiciously like strips of jeans. He was about to comment on the jeans-turned-bandages when Nezu spoke up from behind him.

“Now that we have dealt with that,” he gestured to the freshly repaired Keigo, “ I think it’s time for the next matter.” Nezu said calmly, a claw tipped digit lightly tapping against the tea cup he held.

All Might raised a brow from beside him, “And that is?”

“Why bringing our dear Keigo home, of course!” Nezu chuckled, the sound coming out a tad bit too squeaky to be called human. Shōta slumped a bit. It appears Nezu wasn’t on his side at all with surprise adopting Keigo.

“Now wait a minute!” Mirko spoke up, stomping her foot, and making Keigo jump a bit. “We aren’t sending him home are we? I mean look at him!” She gestured angrily towards Keigo, who peered down at himself curiously, raising a hand to pick off a piece of lint from his shirt. Keigo frowned slightly, clearly not seeing anything wrong with himself and turned to look at his reflection in the window. “He can’t go back to that house. And not only because it probably doesn’t exist anymore!” Keigo snapped out of the trance he had fallen into looking at his reflection, eyes widening in alarm.

“I-It doesn’t exist anymore?” Keigo’s eyes started to well up with tears. Aizawa panicked a bit, and he saw Mirko’s ears swivel backwards, folding against her head. She looked at Keigo with a panicked expression, clearly unsure of how to fix her slip up.

Nezu simply continued smiling, though his smile softened as he addressed Keigo.

“I’m afraid that your parents are… currently unavailable, and will no longer be taking care of you. As such, we will-” Nezu started, before pausing as his words finally caused Keigo’s tears to overflow and fall to the ground. The child quickly raised his arm to his face, wiping away the tears on his bandages. He looked up, but the tears kept dripping down his face. Obviously frustrated, Keigo wiped his face again as his tears kept coming.

It was at that moment that Shōta saw Eri again. An almost overlapping image, of Eri hospitalized just after her rescue with her endless bandages and sad eyes. He didn’t remember moving, but was in front of Keigo instantly.

“Hey,” Shōta said to Keigo, “Talk to me.” Keigo hiccuped again and tried to bring his small wings to shield his face. There were a few seconds of silence, only broken by Keigo’s hiccuping sobs. Finally, Keigo responded.

“I don’t know.” He whined, “I should be sad, right?” He looked up at Shōta, searching for something in his expression. “I should be sad that they are gone right? I should- they gave up so much for me. I- I was the one who couldn’t be useful. It’s my fault!”

“It’s not your fault Keigo.” Shōta said softly, reaching out hesitantly. Keigo’s wings jerked, a few feathers sharpening.

“NO! No, you don’t understand. I’m- I’m not sad. They’re my parents and I should be sad.” Keigo trembled, clenching his hands into tiny fists, “So why am I feeling relieved?”

“You don’t have to feel sad.” Keigo looked up, teary eyed. “It’s okay if you don’t feel sad. It’s okay if you feel relieved” Shōta sighed. “I don’t know much Keigo, but I do know that you deserve to be loved. You deserve to be safe, and healthy and happy. You deserve to go outside and make friends and have stuffed toys. And if they didn’t give you that-” he paused, “If they didn’t give you that, then that was wrong.” With that, Kiego leapt into Shōtas arms, burying his face into Shōta’s shoulder.

Shōta held him gently as Kiego wept, his crying fading until Kiego’s head lolled to the side, asleep.

Shōta then turned to the rest of the group, quickly shushing Miruko when she went to speak. He turned his attention to Nezu, the creature looking back at him thoughtfully. Shōta opened his mouth to speak, but was intercepted by Nezu.

“I believe we have found the person to take care of Keigo, haven’t we?” He said, nodding towards Shōta. “Well, Aizawa?”

“Yeah. I’ll take him.” He cast a glance Hizashi’s way, who shot him a double thumbs up. He turned back to the principal. “We’ll take him.”

Chapter Text

HELLLOOOOOO

Just so you know, next chapter should be going up by tonight or tomorrow. You may have noticed that I deleted the last chunk of the latest chapter.

That's because I deadass forgot about it and when I wrote the next chapter I accidentally rewrote the whole getting home scene. And I like that one wayyyy more. I tried to find a way to make it work but it just... didn't... sooooooo

Yeah.

ANYWHO!

You may also notice that I have added some new tags.... some hints at the next chapter I guess >:)

Chapter Text

“Yeah. I’ll take him.” Suddenly it struck him that maybe he should have consulted with his husband beforehand. He cast a glance Hizashi’s way, who shot him a double thumbs up. He turned back to the principal. “We’ll take him.”

…

It was scarily easy to get Keigo to come home with Shōta and Hizashi. By the looks of it, Keigo hadn’t had much interaction with the outside world, and didn’t have a great home life. Still, the fact that the kid had just agreed to move in with Shōta and his family with no question was concerning. Shōta would have to remember to give him a talk on stranger danger later.

For now, he would be glad that the transition was so easy.

Within the hour Nezu had figured out a way to give Hizashi and Aizawa temporary guardianship over Keigo. It was a bit creepy how quickly he had managed it… but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. For now, the only question was which room Keigo should stay in.

A year ago Aizawa and Hizashi had adopted Shinsou, and then Eri soon after. Both of them had a room, though on weeknights Shinsou stayed in his dorm at UA.

They had a guest bedroom of course, but it felt wrong to put Keigo in there for some reason. Though Keigo was technically a guest, to put him in there would acknowledge that the situation was temporary, which Aizawa wasn’t sure he was ready to face. It would also give Keigo the impression that they were going to get rid of him soon, as he didn’t yet know about the whole ‘you are a de-aged version of our coworker’ situation. Maybe Aizawa could renovate the guest room? But what about when Keigo returned to normal?

I mean, who ever said you couldn’t adopt an adult? The law? No one listened to that anyways, at least no one in Aizawa’s line of work.

Yes, Aizawa could renovate the guest room, and then Keigo could stay there later. They also had an office in their apartment, one that neither Hizashi nor himself ever used. He could just slap a sofa-bed in there and call it the guest bedroom. Not that they had many visitors in the first place.

Yes the guest bedroom was unneeded, it would be much better as a bedroom for Keigo.

For now though, Keigo could stay with Eri. Eri had a bunk bed in her room, a green one she had picked out herself.

(Aizawa had tried to point out that she didn’t need two beds, and that she could get a single bed instead, a bigger one that would be more comfortable. But she had her heart set on the green bunk bed, and a plan for it. They had purchased the bunk bed and she decorated the ceiling above the bed and the wooden planks holding up the top bunk with glow in the dark stars and drawings. It was all quite cute, if Aizawa was being honest. And the drawings and stars helped her fall asleep, and calmed her down when she had nightmares. Little things within arms reach that reminded her where she was. That she was safe. He was sure it would help with Keigo too.)

“Shōta-“ he was shocked back into awareness by the sound of his husband's voice. “Are you all good back there?” Shōta was currently in the back of their car, Hizashi driving. In his arms was Keigo, who had fallen asleep quickly after leaving the meeting. The kid was muttering in his sleep, wings twitching every once in a while. He was also drooling on Shōta’s shoulder, where his head was cushioned.

“I am okay.” He finally responded to Hizashi, who was raising an eyebrow at him in the rear-view mirror. “How much longer until we are home?”

“Couple minutes. What are you thinking about back there?”

“What room he should stay in.”

Hizashi paused for a minute before hesitantly speaking up again.

“He’s staying in the guest room right?” Shōta looked away casually. “Right, Shōta?”

“He will.”

“He will? What do you mean by that?” Shōta suddenly found the buildings outside the car window fascinating. Had that cat cafe always been there? “He’s staying in the guest room, because he’s a guest, right?”

Shōta still didn’t reply.

“Shōta come on, he’s gonna grow up soon. We can’t keep him, he’s not a cat!”

“We kept Shinsou and Eri.”

“Because they are kids!” Hizashi whisper yelled, looking exhausted.

“I’m sure you could keep him.” A squeaky voice cut in.

“JESUS FU-“ the car swerved wildly as Hizashi jumped. The principal sitting next to Aizawa smiled, sipping his tea calmly. Hizashi cleared his throat, embarrassed. “Uh- sorry. I forgot you were here Nezu.”

“Ah yes, I am quite forgettable, aren’t I?” The crinkle to his eyes gave away that he was joking, but Hizashi couldn't see it from the driver's seat.

“No! No. You are not- I just, um-“ Hizashi stuttered, hair askew and slightly frantic to cover his screw up.

“You can drop me off here.” The principal said. Aizawa and Hizashi both paused.

“Here?” Aizawa asked, looking out the window at the city. They were still a good ways away from the school. Hizashi slowed the car to a stop, and pulled over to the side of the street.

“Yes. I am not going back to the school at the moment. I fear I must speak to a few associates of mine about an… issue.” The way his eyes darted to the still sleeping Keigo as he said this gave away who exactly he was talking about. He cleared his throat, and reached up to open the door, hopping neatly out of the car. He turned to them once more. “Thank you for the ride, and I wish you good luck on acclimating the newest member of your family.” He smiled.

“Uh- actually-“ Hizashi started, but Nezu had already shut the door and walked off into the dark city. He was left blinking at the closed door, mouth open dumbly. “We’re not adopting him…” he finished in a grumble, starting the car up again and peeling away from the curve to continue their drive home.

It was alright, Shōta’s husband would soon come to accept the newest member of their family.

——

When they got back to the house, the lights were still on. Shōta frowned, it was long past the kids bedtime, the lights should be off. It was to be expected though as the babysitter they had was not the best.

Hizashi unlocked the door and leaned down to take off his shoes, Shōta mirrored him, moving slower, wary of waking the sleeping child balanced on his hip.

They walked into the house, following the sounds of talking to the kitchen. There they found Eri and Shinsou, as well as the babysitter. Shinsou was face down on the marble counter, purple hair falling so that they could not see whatever expression he was making. Eri sat at the counter on a high stool as well, feet kicking the counter. The babysitter- traitor that he was- seemed to be questioning them, notepad in hand.

“Now, exactly what evidence do you have that you are not Aizawa sensei and Yamada sensei’s secret love children.?” Todoroki asked, a pen held at the ready.

“Well, I don’t think they are… at least we don’t look the same!” Eri said cheerily, feet still kicking the counter. At least she appeared to be in her pjs. “Like, we all have different hair! And eye colors! And other stuff too.”

“Yes, but these could easily be differences related to quirks. And, there is still the unexplained fact of the horns.” Todoroki responded, scribbling something down on his notepad.

“The horns?” Eri asked, head tilting.

Todoroki nodded gravely.

“Yes. As you can see-“ he pulled out a photo of Hizashi in his President Mic costume. He pointed to his ridiculous hair. “President Mic does in fact sport a horn. You, as well, have a horn, though yours seems to be made of a different material.”

Eri nodded, expression considering. Shinsou groaned, still facedown on the counter.

“That is not a horn.” His voice was muffled from the counter, “I’ve explained this.”

“It’s horn shaped.” Todoroki responded, as if that made any sense.

“Fine!” Shinsou finally rose from the counter, straightening up and pointing a finger in Todoroki’s face accusingly. Todoroki remained unbothered. “Then explain me! I have purple hair, while theirs is blond and black.”

“It is because of your quirk, clearly.” Todoroki stated.

“What does that mean??!!”

“Your quirk has to do with hypnosis and mind control. Thus, you are purple.”

“That doesn’t make any sense!!!???” Shinsou screamed, clearly fed up.

“I think it does! Mind control is always purple!!” Eri piped up, smiling.

“Fine! Well then, you must be Eri’s sibling! Seeing as you both have white hair!” Shinsou groaned, sarcasm dripping from every word.

Todoroki looked shocked.

“I-“ he looked down frantically at his notes. “I never knew- Father must have- Eri did you know about this?” Eri shook her head, visibly confused. “Well then, it appears that we have both been duped. I am sorry for not having been a better brother to you, you must understand that I did not know-“

“No you idiot!” Shinsou screeched.

“But then, is Aizawa sensei my father? Or it that you are-“

“Hello children! What are we discussing here?” Hizashi cut in tensely, smiling.

“Hello father.” Todoroki responded monotone.

“No-“

“Todoroki, I am afraid I am not your father. Not everyone with white hair is related.” Aizawa decided to bring an end to this conversation.

“Ah yes.” He looked sad for a moment, before muttering under his breath, a habit he must have picked up from Midoriya, “However all of my siblings have white hair, this proves that-“ Shinsou slapped a hand over Todoroki’s mouth to cut off his muttering, and sent a tired look Shōta’s way. Todoroki made a muffled sound of protest, and licked his hand. Shinsou yelped, removing his hand quickly. .

Aizawa decided to ignore them.

It was then that Shinsou noticed the sleeping child Shōta was holding.

“Whoa- uh… who is that?” He asked.

“A new sibling!?” Eri asked excitedly, hopping down from her stool and walking to take a closer look at the sleeping Keigo. She gasped. “Am I an older sister now?”

“No! No you are not.” Hizashi cut in before Aizawa could speak. She deflated, before looking hesitantly at Shōta.

“Hizashi is right, Eri.” She frowned. “Technically, Keigo is actually older than you so-“

“No! No- he’s not a new sibling at all.” Hizashi interrupted. “This is Keigo, he’s Hawks.”

Todoroki nodded seriously.

“I see. You have decided to take in Hawk’s secret love child. This is good, from the data I have gathered, though limited, top heroes do not tend to be good fathers-“

Well that was concerning.

“He’s not anyone’s secret love child!” Hizashi interrupted again.

“Ah, then he must be Hawks himself, who has been de-aged, likely by a villain’s quirk.” Todoroki said, scribbling down some notes.

That was surprisingly insightful of him, maybe Aizawa should look into finding him a mentor that could foster this budding talent, a detective hero perhaps?

“After seeing his deaged form, Yamato sensei quickly realized that his was his long lost child from another lover, who he had not seen since he was a baby-“

Aizawa took everything back.

“Thank you, Todoroki for that certainly wildly incorrect guess!” Shinsou strolled over to Hizashi and proceeded to steal his wallet, taking a handful of bills from it and shoving it into Todoroki’s hands. “Here is your money,” Hizashi squawked in objection. Ignoring him, Shinsou shoved Todoroki out of the kitchen and down the hallway, only pausing to grab Todoroki’s shoes and open the front door. He then pushed Todoroki out of the house, practically throwing Todoroki’s shoes at him. Todoroki scrambled to catch the shoes without dropping the money. “I’m sure your sibling has arrived to drive you home by now! Have a nice night, and see you in school tomorrow!”

“This is too much money-“

Shinsou shut the door in his face.

Shinsou stood there, hand still on the door. He slowly turned around, eyes wild.

“Please stop hiring Todoroki as a babysitter.” He said politely.

“Stop needing a babysitter and we will.” Shōta countered.

“We don’t need a babysitter! And he’s the same age!!”

“Actually he is older than you. His birthday is in January, while yours is in July..”

“Okay!” Hizashi stepped in between the two, arms out in a placating gesture. “Why don’t we all take a deep breath, go sit down, and explain everything calmly.”

“Can I have ice cream?” Eri asked.

“No.” Shōta, Hizashi and Shinsou answered simultaneously.

“Aw.”

—-

“-then you kicked out Todoroki, and now we are here.” Hizashi finished his explanation.

“Ohhhh- that makes sense.” Eri nodded from where she was curled up on the couch, leaning into Hizashi’s side.

“Oh my god Todoroki was almost right.” Shinsou looked shocked.

Hizashi nodded gravely.

“Is he almost right about anything else? Are we your secret love children?” Shinsou asked, only sounding half joking.

“What? No, Shinso you know that. However that does not mean that me and Shōta are any less of your parents, or that we love you any less.” Hizashi said, Eri snuggling into his side more with a smile and yawn. This was a conversation they had had before, and something they both found important that the kids knew.

“Bio dad say what?” Shinsou said under his breath, Shōta was only able to make out the words as he was sitting in the lounge chair next to him.

“What?” Hizashi said, too far away to hear.

“Oh my gosh, so it’s true?” Shinsou shook his head. “Can’t believe you guys would lie about that.”

Hizashi looked confused, and Eri giggled.

“Come on Eri, let’s get to bed.” Shinsou said, smiling. She sprung up, and kissed both Hizashi and Shōta on the cheek goodnight, before hesitating, looking at the still sleeping child nestled in Shōta’s arms. She, very carefully, pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“Goodnight new brother.” She whispered. Shinsou snorted.

“What did she say?” Hizashi asked. No one answered. “Shōta, what did she say?”

The kids waved once more, and walked off to put themselves to bed. (They were so old now- Shōta cut off that thought lest he get too emotional)

“Why does no one in this house listen to me?” Hizashi grumbled, before refocusing on Keigo. “Should we wake him?”

Shōta considered it.

“Probably. He’s likely too tired to shower, though he’ll definitely need to do it tomorrow. But he should change out of these clothes, and maybe wash his face.” Shōta squinted down at the kid.

He gently nudged Keigo awake. Immediately the kid’s eyes snapped open, talons gripping and cutting into the plushy All Might he had been loosely holding. His feathers sharpened, clearly a reflex. Shōta bit his lip so that he didn’t make a sound from a few of the feathers cutting into his arms and slicing his shirt. Keigo’s eyes only then focused, pupils dilating as he seemed to realize that he was safe. His feathers softened again.

“Hello Keigo. We made it home, and thought you might want to change into some clean clothes before going to sleep.” He very carefully did not pay mine to the way that the blood from the cuts on his arm had started to drip down his arms and fall to the chair he was sitting in. It was okay, the chair was red anyways. It would blend in.

“Oh- can I?” Keigo asked sleepily. Shōta’s heart squeezed at the uncertainty in his voice. He was gonna find this kid’s parents and beat the shit out of them.

Outwardly, he nodded.

“‘Course you can, kid. They might be a bit big on you though, I think we only have our daughter's old clothes, and she’s a bit bigger than you.”

“You have a daughter? I’m sorry, I guess I’m interrupting family time, I didn’t mean to.” Keigo looked down.

“You are part of the family now. You’re not interrupting anything Keigo.” Hizashi cut in.

Shōta knew his husband would come around.

Keigo seemed shocked at the news, though he didn’t oppose it. Shōta supposed it could be a little but shocking to be suddenly (emotionally) adopted.

After a moment the kid smiled silently, curling into Shōta’s arms again, clutching his plushy to his chest carefully. He didn’t say anything more, which was okay. They would support him from now on, Shōta promised.

—-

Once Keigo had changed and brushed his teeth, they tucked him into Eri’s top bunk. The kid had buried himself into the sheets, seeming shocked at how soft they were.

Then, they had backed out of the room, silently so that they didn’t wake Eri. They left the door open a crack, almost closed to give privacy, yet open enough so that they could hear if they called for them.

As they walked down the hall to their room, they heard Keigo call out a soft goodnight. Shōta shared a soft smile with his husband.

They split off to get ready for bed, Shōta making it to the bed first after brushing his teeth and bandaging his wounds. After a few minutes of laying there, Hizashi joined him. He slid under the covers, careful not to let in the cold air.

They lay there for a minute or two in silence, staring at the single glow in the dark star placed on the center of their ceiling. (Eri had insisted they keep one, sometimes Shōta would stare at it when he woke from nightmares. He had to admit, it helped).

“You realize that we can’t keep him, right?” Hizashi asked, still staring up at their ceiling. “And this isn’t me trying to be difficult. He’s an adult, Shōta. And he’s a notoriously private person, something I think we are both coming to realize is for a reason.”

Shōta said nothing.

“We can’t-“ he broke off, turning to Shōta. “We can’t make him stay. And I don’t want you to be hurt when he decides to leave.”

Ah- so this is why Hizashi was so against labeling Keigo as their son.

“He’s 22 Shōta… even if he is five now.”

“I know.” Shōta said.

“Do you though?”

“I do. But right now, he’s five and in need of someone to take care of him.”

“Yeah, right now, but-“

“I think Hawks needs someone too. Not just Keigo.”

That made Hizashi pause. Shōta continued.

“Keigo needs someone, yes, but so does Hawks. We can’t force him to stay, once he’s bigger. I won’t force him to stay once he’s bigger. But I want him to know that he can, if he wants.”

“So you are making him a room, huh?” Hizashi said.

“I am making room.” Shōta corrected.

And he was. He was going to make space for Keigo in their family. And then, when Keigo was Hawks, Hawks could decide if he wanted to stay in that space.

“Okay.” Hizashi said simply, closing his eyes. “What’s one more kid, huh? Shinsou could use an older brother.”

Chapter Text

Hey! Just wanted to let everyone know that I am continuing this, I just have no idea where to take it. I'm starting with editing the previous chapters to get a feel for what I was thinking while writing this, and trying to relearn the characters, but I don't know where the story is ending. I honestly don't have the energy to make a long and drawn out plot (which is really what my original plan was, looking at my notes app), but I still want it to have A plot.

AS SUCH

I decided I'd ask for suggestions. I can't guarantee I'm going to take them, but I'd really appreciate any suggestions or comments! Even if it's just something small like, "I liked this detail you gave, maybe expand on that?" or something. Even just little things you think would be cool to see! I'm trying to build up motivation to finish this, so again, anything helps :)

Thank you!!! <3