Chapter Text
Sweat dripped down the back of Izumi Bakugou-Midoriya’s neck as she swung her fist. The blisters on her knuckles stung with every blow she landed on the punching bag. Her jaw ached from gritting her teeth in attempt to block out the pain.
The blonde panted as she jumped back, legs automatically shifting to widen her stance. She grunted, feeling her center of gravity shift as kicked her leg out in a smooth arch before it slammed into the bag, sending it swinging back and forth. Izumi stood back and watched it sway, tracking the pendulum movement. She clenched her fist as it brought itself back to center, taunting her. No matter how many times she punched, kicked, elbowed, or body-slammed the thing it pretended nothing ever happened. For every blow she landed it mocked her.
You mean nothing to me , the punching bag seemed to whisper. No matter what you do, now matter what you try, you always end up back where you started. Not for the first time, Izumi contemplated blowing the stupid thing to fucking smithereens. But the thought of having to explain to Papa why she blew up her punching bag for a sixth time had her keeping her quirk in check.
Izumi jolted as she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning around so quickly she almost fell on her ass in the process. On instinct her fist careened forward to clock her assailant in the jaw.
Said “assailant” grabbed her wrist mid-punch and held it back effortlessly. Fucking bitch. By the way Nori’s shoulders were shaking, in combination with that stupid wide-ass smile, Izumi could tell her sister was laughing at her.
Flustered at having been caught so off guard, Izumi’s movements were more haphazard than usual as she signed, “What do you want, bitch?”
“Where are your hearing aids?” Nori signed back, ignoring her question.
Izumi glared at her sister. “What, like I need them to work out? I left them in my room, it’s not like I expected anyone to walk in on me.” The blonde looked pointedly at her sister at that last part.
Nori had the decency to look a little embarrassed, tucking her a stand of wavy green hair behind her ear. It was getting pretty long these days and Izumi had heard several times over the past couple weeks of her sister’s desire to cut it, but she kept putting it off because of how busy she was—first with passing her finals, then with graduating and getting her official Hero License, and now with figuring out which agency she’s going to join up with. It was enough to make even Izumi stressed out, and she only experienced most of it second hand when Nori called her during her free time.
“Sorry, I guess you’re used to having the training room to yourself by now,” Nori signed. “You never used to startle as much before. I’ll try not to sneak up on you. I’m still getting used to being back home. It’s a bit weird, right?”
Nori flashed her that awkward-yet-endearing smile Izumi knew for a fact had made several of Nori’s UA classmates fall in love with her. Izumi had the texts to prove it.
“Yeah,” Izumi agreed. “But I’m glad you’re back. I missed you.”
Nori’s gaze softened. “Missed you too, little sister.”
If Izumi hadn’t known her sister as well as she did, she might have missed the mischievous grin that spread across her face. Still, she was to late to dodge the hand that came up and ruffled her spiky hair, dislodging her make-shift ponytail in the process.
Izumi squeaked and batted her sister’s hand away.
Nori’s shoulders shook once more in laughter. Fucking snooty ass fucking bitch.
“You still haven’t told me why the hell you came in here,” Izumi signed, stepping away from her sister and out of hair-ruffling territory. Not that it would have mattered if Nori wanted to get quirks involved.
“Oh, right, I almost forgot!” Nori’s face lit up with excitement, and Izumi wouldn’t have been surprised if she started barfing up rainbows. “Look! It finally came!”
From behind Nori’s back, a white envelope floated forward by Nori’s quirk and into Izumi’s hands.
Izumi stiffened as her sweaty hands grasped the letter, staring at the red UA seal on the front of the envelope.
Her test results. She felt queasy.
When Izumi finally tore her eyes away from the damned thing, she almost regretted it when she saw Nori’s giddy expression. “I already texted Dad and Papa! I’m going to start on dinner—your favorite of course—and after they get home and we eat, we can watch you open it as a family. What do you say?”
Izumi swallowed and forced herself to grin. She shoved the letter halfway into the waistband of her pants, signing. “Yeah, sounds good.”
“Great! I’ll get started on dinner then.” Nori pivoted to walk out of the training room but stopped. “You should probably shower first. You stink.”
Nori wouldn’t have needed to know sign to understand the middle finger Izumi aimed at her.
About an hour later, a freshly showered Izumi trudged down the stairs in a pair of baggy pants and a black tanktop that reads “Can’t think straight” in the colors of the pansexual flag. Papa had gotten it for her at a pride event he and Dad attended a few years back that she was upset couldn’t go to. Izumi and her siblings couldn’t go to a lot of things with their dads. Not publicly at least. Izumi had thrown quite a few fits when she was growing up about that, but her parents had been adamant about keeping their kids out of the spotlight until they were old enough to choose if they wanted to be in it in the first place. And despite her tantrums as a kid, and the fact that she basically wasn’t allowed around her parents in public, older-and-therefore-wiser Izumi (though her sister may debate the wiser part) was grateful they’d pushed so hard. She hated to think she could’ve been hounded on the street every time she tried to walk to school.
Her hearing aids were once again nestled in her ears to avoid any more sneaking-up-on-her situations and the...envelope had been deposited on her desk to be retrieved after dinner. For now, Izumi made her way to the kitchen and dining room.
As she passed by the living room, she could hear loud obnoxious videogame music coming from the T.V and she peered in the room.
“Die you damn zombie! Die! ” Kai screamed from his place on the couch, slamming buttons on the controller in time with the game sound effects, red eyes narrowed in concentration.
He was still dressed in his gakuran. Izumi rolled her eyes. He’d probably gone straight to playing games after school again and forgotten to change out of it.
Despite his aggressive mannerisms, curled into Kai’s side was little Akio, the four year-old entranced by the game, his big green eyes wide and mouth formed into a big smile, making his freckled cheeks look even more adorable than usual.
Izumi walked into the room and stood in front of the T.V. “Kai! You know Akio’s not supposed to be in here when you’re playing games.”
Kai didn’t even pause the game, instead looking around her as he continued to button mash. “Nori said to watch him, but this is my game time. I’m fucking multi-tasking. Now move, bitch!”
He leaned to the side to get a better view of the screen, spiky green hair falling in his face in the process.
“Oh, I’m a bitch, am I? I’ll show you a bitch, you little shit!” Izumi caught her brother’s fearful eye as she turned towards the game console and unremorsefully hit the off button.
“ No! I wasn’t fucking done with that level Fuck you!” Kai glared daggers at her and Akio whined at the loss of the game.
“One, you’re not supposed to curse around Akio,” Izumi said, counting off on her fingers. “And two, don’t you have some chores to do? Dad and Papa are going to be home soon and didn’t Dad saying if you didn’t have them done by the time he was done with work today he was going to take away your phone for—”
Izumi didn’t get to finish her sentence before Kai leapt out of the room, leaving Akio pouting on the couch.
His bottom lip puffed out as he tried to look mad. “I liked the zombie game. ‘Zumi is a meanie.”
Izumi sat down next to him on the couch, looping on arm around him to tuck her brother into her side. “Nooo, I thought you said yesterday I was—” Izumi raised the pitch of her voice. “‘The bestest sister ever...don’t tell Nori.’”
Akio maneuvered his pudgy arms in attempt to shove her away. “Today ‘Zumi is a meanie!”
Izumi tightened her grip and pressed a kiss on top of his head, right into his messy blonde locks with light green streaks. “I guess I’ll just have to prove I’m not a meanie by doing this!”
She attacked him with kisses, pressing her lips to his puffy cheeks, forehead, chin, and button nose over and over again until Akio was giggling loudly and said, “Okay! ‘Zumi is the bestest sister! The bestest sister!”
“Damn right I am,” she said, pressing one last kiss to his head before letting him go. “Now, up and at’em, Beansprout. Papa and Daddy are going to be here soon—didn’t you want to show them what you drew in at daycare today?”
Akio’s eye’s lit up and he pushed himself off the couch, running out of the living room as fast as his little legs would take him.
Smiling as she watched him go, Izumi turned to still-lit T.V screen and turned it off. Big sister duties fulfilled, she left the room and headed to the kitchen where Nori had already started on the yakitori.
“Need any help?” she asked as she stepped in the kitchen.
Nori turned around and pointed a wooden skewer at Izumi. The image was rendered less intimidating seeing as there were already a few pieces of raw chicken stabbed on the thing. “Uh-uh, no way. Get out of my kitchen. This meal is in your honor, so don’t you even think of helping.”
“Okay, okay,” Izumi said, hands up as she backed away. “I get it. No helping. Sheesh.”
She was about to turn around and head back to her room when she heard the lock of the front door click before it was pushed open, revealing Izuku Midoriya, otherwise known as number one pro hero Deku, already changed out of his hero suit. His green hair was slightly damp, so he probably changed and showered at his agency before coming home. Which he only ever does on special occasions so when he gets home he can spend every second with his family. Great. What a lovely freaking reminder of the impending doom that is the letter sitting on Izumi’s desk.
“Hey, Papa! How was work?” Izumi asked, plastering on a smile as she walked up to him.
“I think it went well,” he said as he hung up his coat. “Stopped a robbery this morning, did a couple interviews, and then this afternoon I got to visit a middle school to talk to them about hero work.”
“Not too busy then,” Izumi joked.
Humor shown in Izuku’s eyes as he laughed. “No, not too busy.” He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his daughter in a tight hug.
Despite how often Izumi cursed her height (a measly five foot fucking two) she didn’t hate it as much whenever her dads hugged her. With both of them over six feet, she always felt like she was safe with their big arms fitted around her. It felt warm.
Izuku pressed a kiss to Izumi’s hairline and let her go. No sooner than he did, a loud and squeaky “ Papaaaa” rang throughout the house as Akio came crashing into Izuku’s legs.
He grinned at his son and squatted down, grabbing Akio and lifting him up in the air, Akio shrieked and giggled as Izuku began attacking him with kisses.
Akio squealed and giggled, kicking his legs out as Izuku continued the assault, starting to tickle him as well.
“Papa, no!” Akio said between giggles. “No tickle! Papa’s cheating!”
“Cheating, Beansprout?” Izuku teased, as he wiggled his fingers at Akio’s bare feet. “That can’t be right. Is that a rule? Well what about…”
Without a word, Izuku started to lift off the ground, floating about a foot and a half above the floor, holding Akio against his chest. Akio squealed in delight.
“Cheating! No floating in the house! Daddy says so.” Akio said, looking his father in the eye with as much seriousness as a four year-old can muster.
Izuku sighed dramatically. “Well if Daddy says so then I guess I have to stop.” His feet returned to the floor and Izuku pressed one last kiss into his son’s cheek before letting him down.
Akio giggled again and ran off, only to come back a few seconds later holding a piece of paper.
“Papa, look what I made at daycare today! Look! Look!”
Izuku bent down to pick up the piece of paper as Akio shoved it into his hands.
Green eyes flitted over the paper and a soft, loving smile spread across his face. “Is this our family?”
Akio nodded vigorously. “I drew us all as heroes!”
“This is really good, Beansprout. Izumi, take a look,” Izuku said, passing the drawing to Izumi, who’d been watching the exchange the entire time.
Izumi gently held the edges of the paper as she looked at the drawing. While it was still a messy mix of crayon and colored pencil, the drawing itself was pretty good for his age, and Izumi could tell who was who pretty well.
On the far right, in her baby blue and and lilac colored hero costume was Nori, her purple ribbons levitating around her. Then was Kai, who didn’t really have a hero costume yet, but Izumi could tell it was him by the green hair, angry red eyes, and explosions coming out of his palms. Akio had drawn Dad next, standing taller than the rest of the family with his trademark orange, black, and big gauntlets. He too had explosions coming from his palms. Papa was standing next to him in his teal, green sparks covering his body. Izumi smiled as she saw the giant red heart Akio had drawn between Papa and Dad above their heads. To Papa’s left was Akio himself, who hadn’t shown signs of his quirk just yet, so he’d just drawn himself with a mask and a cape. And then to the left of him…
Izumi had to concentrate to keep the smile on her face as she saw herself in the drawing. She was wearing all black, with her long spiky blonde hair drawn up in its usual ponytail. That wasn’t the part that bothered her, though. It was the massive explosions coming off in giant messy strokes of orange, red, and yellow. The rest of her family had been drawn with their quirks showing, yes, but to a lesser degree. Izumi’s explosions took up the entire remaining left side of the page.
“This is great, Beansprout. I love the way you drew Nori’s ribbons,” she said, handing the paper back to Akio. “Why don’t you go pin it to the fridge?”
“Okay!” Akio said enthusiastically, sprinting toward the kitchen.
Izuku chuckled fondly as his son left. “He’s so much like me when I was a kid it’s uncanny.” He shook himself and turned to look at Izumi. “So where are the rest of your siblings?”
“Nori’s making dinner, and Kai’s doing his chores, I think,” Izumi said, putting her hands on her waist.
Izuku nods knowingly. “He might want to hurry up a bit. Kacchan called me on my way home to ask if we needed anything from the store. He might only be a few minutes behind me.” He rolls his shoulders, stretching his neck back and forth, “I’m surprised you’re not helping Nori tonight. Don’t you usually like cooking?”
Izumi scowled. “Got kicked out of the kitchen. Somebody didn’t want my help.”
“I’ll go help her myself then,” Izuku said. “Go relax in the meantime. You deserve a break after all your hard work.”
Izumi was left alone again as Izuku strode towards the kitchen. She felt some of the tension in her shoulders release now that she was by herself.
There’s that feeling again. That same queasiness in she felt in her stomach after the saw the envelope for her test results. It started up again when she saw Akio’s drawing, Damnit. What was wrong with her? If she hadn’t already done her workout today she might’ve gone back to the training room to destroy that stupid punching bag again.
What was this feeling? And why wasn’t it going away? It made her feel gross, like an imposter in her own body.
Taking a deep breath, she grounded herself and forced the thoughts away. Later. She’d deal with it later.
With nothing else to do, Izumi made her way to the living room again and booted up the gaming console, shoving the disk of a random game into it, and sat on the couch with a controller. Hopefully whatever game she chose would help numb her mind enough for her to make it through dinner without feeling like a fraud.
Izumi sighed as she let dinner settle in her stomach, leaning back in her chair having cleaned her plate.
Kai was still grumbling from where he sat on her right, mad at having lost his phone privileges. “I was almost done, if you’d been here a few minutes later you would’ve been fine with it.”
“I wouldn’t have had to take your phone if you hadn’t fucking lied to me.” Katsuki raised an eyebrow from across the table, daring Kai to question him.
“Language, Kacchan,” Izuku admonished before returning to his conversation with Nori—something about hero ethics, Izumi wasn’t really paying attention.
Kai glared at the table, grabbing one of the wooden skewers off his plate and ferociously biting into the meat on it, chewing with his mouth open so that flecks of meat spew across the table. The sound of it made Izumi cringe.
“That’s it, I’m out,” she said, standing up and grabbing her plate, purposefully stepping away from her brother.
He looked up at her and grinned, flashy a toothy grin, chicken stuck in his teeth. Izumi made a face of disgust.
She started to head towards the kitchen to wash her plate and go up to her room when Izuku called out to her.
“Oh, wait, Izumi. When you go upstairs, remember to bring your acceptance letter down. You still need to open it.”
Oh, yeah. That. Fucking great.
“They’re just test results, Papa. We don’t even know if I got in.” A lie. A complete and utter lie.
“Bullshit. Like hell you wouldn’t get in,” Katsuki said while cutting the meat on Akio’s plate into smaller chunks.
“Yeah,” Akio said. “Like hell!” Izumi appreciated the effort but she doubted he even knew what was going on.
Izuku glared at his husband. “ Language . I thought we said no cursing around Akio.”
As her parents continued to bicker, Izumi finished cleaning up her dishes and found herself in her room, staring down at the envelope on her desk.
She remembered a few months ago when her parents had offered to give her a recommendation to UA. Izumi had said no, claiming she wanted to feel like she earned the spot herself. So she’d taken the regular entrance exam along with everyone else. Or at least, the regular written exam, and the regular physical quirk practical test. There’s a separate one for students whose quirks are more practical than powerful. She remembered Papa talking about how that hadn’t been the case when they wen to UA but after Aizawa had taken over as principal, he’d made changes to allow students with different types of quirks to be able to pass the exam.
So, in late February along with everyone else, Izumi had destroyed a bunch of robots, blowing up as many as she could during the time limit. She was pretty sure she nailed the written part of the test, and absolutely positive she passed the practical. There’s no way she couldn’t have.
Izumi knew she was supposed to feel happy, but all she felt staring at the unopened letter was dread. Like it was the final nail in the coffin to…what? What was so bad about a stupid letter? This is what she’d been training for her whole life.
Out of all of her siblings, she had the strongest quirk by far. Nori’s telekinesis was strong, yes, but only because of all the work she put into making her movements precise and raising her weight limit. And Kai had explosion, just like Dad. He was definitely strong. But Izumi…
Her quirk had manifested when she was still an infant. Apparently she’d woken up from a nap and started crying. The next thing her parents knew, the nursery was half destroyed in an explosion, the blasts powerful enough to leave Izumi with mass amounts of hearing damage that led to her needing hearing aids.
After things had calmed down, her parents had taken her to the hospital for her injuries. Luckily, they were mild. Apparently Izumi’s body had a slight built-in tolerance to explosions, which her parents had been very grateful for.
When she was finally healed, the doctors had run quirk tests.
Telekinetic Explosion is what the doctor called her quirk. Where as her Dad’s sweat was only explosive when it came from his palms, all of Izumi’s sweat acted like nitroglycerin, and she could blow it up from anywhere on her body. But it wasn’t just that she was a more powerful version of her Dad. His quirk had merged with Grandma Inko’s to give Izumi the ability to telekinetically manipulate her own sweat and blow it up on command. She could do everything Dad could do, and a hell of a lot more too.
So, yes, Izumi’s siblings were strong. But Izumi was on a whole other level from the rest of her siblings. Her quirk was made for hero work. Izumi had known this from a young age, planned for this.
Izumi grabbed the envelope off her desk, running her finger over the seal. It felt heavy in her hands. She didn’t understand. Why did this feel so wrong?
This was all she ever wanted. Being a hero was all she ever wanted.
...right?