Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was a warm evening in Musutafu, and the Midoriya house hold was a buzz in excitement. In the small apartment a little boy with emerald eyes and forest green hair was bouncing around on his toes as he squealed in excitement. Tomorrow morning his mother would be taking him to the quirk doctor to see what quirk he had, or if he even had one at all.

Now the boy may be young but he's a bright child who is well aware that good things are not guaranteed for everyone. People face hardships, and no one faces more crap in their lives than the quirkless. However rare quirklessness was, there was always a small possibility.

Quirks were seen as status' in todays world. Those who had them were either put on a pedestal or pushed to the side for a 'villainous' quirk. It was unfair but this little boy wished to change the unjust system and be a hero to those who have no one else.

"Mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy!!!!" the boy shouted jumping up and down with an almighty figurine secured tightly in his small hand as he yelled for his mothers attention, who was drying the dishes that they had used for that evenings dinner.

"yes Izuku?" replied the woman, looking down at her hyper son, setting down the drying towel and giving a chuckle at his antics.

"Tomorrow I get to go see if I have a quirk!" the boy shouted, finishing his sentence with a smile that could blind.

"why yes it is," the woman chuckled yet again. "but you'll be too tired to go if you don't go to sleep! Now, off to bed Izuku. You'll need you're energy for tomorrow!"

The boy stopped bouncing and widened his eyes at the realization that it was past his bed time and ran off to brush his teeth and crawl into his bed.

Inko smiled as she turned back around and picked up the towel, listening to the pitter patter of his socked feet running down the hall to the bathroom.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Izuku and Inko had finished getting dressed and were headed out tho door for Izuku's quirk test, and they couldn't be more excited. Inko, being a mature adult, was trying to get the young boy to focus on the task at hand, but the boy was too excited to be able to wrap his head around what needed to be done.

After slipping on his small red shoes, and grabbing his allmight figurine, he grabbed his mothers hand and pulled her out the now open front door.

"LETS GO LETS GO LETS GO MOMMY!!!" Izuku screamed as he dragged his mother down the hall of the apartment building, down the stairs, and out the lobby door to their waiting car.

After Izuku buckled his seatbelt, and his mother did hers, he looked out the window, which he was just able to see out of because of his booster seat, and thought of his possible quirk.

Kacchan, his friend? Classmate? Bully? already had his quirk and was showing it off to the other kids. Other kids adored him for his quirk. It was flashy, powerful, and "a perfect quirk for heroism", however people seem to forget that a quirk isn't all you need, and what he's missing is anger management.

As Izuku was deep in thought of Kacchan quirk, his mother pulled into the small parking lot of their local family doctor for his quirk test. He didn't realize where they were until his mother came around to his door and bent down, tapping the glass lightly to get his attention. Hearing the sudden tapping Izuku whipped his head around and jumped slightly, not realizing she had even left the car yet. Getting out of the car he grabbed her hand and allowed her to lead him into the building and to the waiting room while she checked in for their appointment with doctor Ujiko.

Sitting in the slightly uncomfortable chairs, he waited for his mother to finish talking with the receptionist. at this point it looks like they've past the topic of the appointment and are talking as if they've known each other for ages. Honestly who knows, parents seem to have hidden quirks for running into "friends" out in public and successfully turn a "short errand" into an hour long chat between friends while Izuku, and sometimes the others children, wait patiently. However Inko's and the other lady's chat was abruptly brought to a halt when a nurse, who seemed to have a type of fish quirk, came around the corner. "Midoriya's?"

"That's us!" Inko called back to him as he nodded his head and turned around, waiting for us to follow behind him.

Following the man down the hall, Izukus curiosity got the better of him, and being obsessed with quirks, his mind ran wild with the questions he had for the man. 'He has gills of his neck so, how well would he breathe underwater. he seems to be breathing well on land..' 'his skin has a golden tint to it, is his quirk a specific fish type?' 'he has black rubber gloves on but.. ARE HIS HANDS AND FEET WEBBED!? omg does he have fins!?' Izuku thought, or at least that's what he thought happened until he ran into the back of the mans legs and looked up to see both adults had stopped and were looking at him. His mother looked like she was holding back a laugh, whereas the man seemed alarmed but was trying to hid it but attempting to keep a straight face.

"Izuku sweetie you were mumbling again" said Inko while finally letting a slight giggle out.

"sorry..." Izuku mumbled and looked at the ground, embarrassed that the man had heard him obsessing over his quirk.

"well..." Izuku heard and looked up to see the man with a man on his neck, rubbing it awkwardly as he spoke, "despite having a fish related quirk.. I have a fear of water, so I've never tried to use my gills." Izuku looked at the man in shock, as did Inko. After all having a quirk related to something you feared, that must be horrible.

"As for the other questions," The nurse continued on, as Izuku pulled out a notebook from... somewhere? and began to write down information. The man paused when he saw this occur, "uhm.. well anyways.." they kept walking down the hall, listening to the man explain the drawback of his quirk along with what he could actually do with it, "when I came here as a child I was told my swimming speed underwater would be quite fast, but as I said earlier, I'm too afraid to test that theory. And as for what's under my gloves..." pulling off his glove Izuku stopped his note taking and looked up at him with excitement in his eyes, "I do indeed have webbed hands."

At this point they had reached the room where Doctor Ujiko was waiting in a swivel chair with his right arm resting and his body shifted slightly, as to be leaning onto it. "thank you Akihiro, you may return to the waiting room to help others get to their appointments." Ujiko said while waving off the man who simply nodded and walked out of the room, waving to Izuku as he left.

"Now then," Ujiko said while turning his attention to the two greenettes who were taking seats across from him, "lets find out your quirk shall we?"

The man got out of his chair with a grunt and walked over to a counter behind him and grabbed a small needle, and walked over to the family.

"Please place your arm here, on this cloth on the arm rest of your chair." Ujiko told a buzzing Izuku who compiled to the request. Ujiko used an alcoholic wipe to quickly wipe at the skin on the inside of his elbow, before carefully inserting a small empty syringe to extract some blood for testing. Removing the blood filled syringe, Ujiko gently placed a circular all might bandaid on the boys arm before turning around and walking into a separate room.

The Midoriya's stayed alone in the room, quietly awaiting Dr. Ujiko's return from the back room. one minute, two minutes, three, soon ten minutes had passed and the man had not returned to them.

When the man finally returned to them he held a stack of papers in his hands and his eye brows were furrowed in confusion, while his lips were parted in what seemed to be shock. However neither Midoriya could tell the true expression it was because of his odd goggle like glasses preventing them from seeing his eyes.

"miss Midoriya what are yours and the boys... fathers quirks?" the doctor questioned, slightly pausing as he mentioned the father who was not present at such an important time in a Childs life.

"oh, well I can pull small objects to my body, nothing too grand, but it helps around the house so it's useful enough."

"I see. As for the father?"

"well my husband breathes fire. Why do you ask?"

"Your son here has a rather unique quirk, one I have never seen before in all my years here at the clinic. Now it's rare for a child to not have a quirk that resembles that of their parents, but it has happened before. Here is all the information we have on your sons quirk."

The doctor then handed Inko a two page packet with the quirk description, drawbacks, side effects, and safety precautions all typed up neatly and stapled together.

"Thank you sir."

"As for its name, the quirk finder identified it as stolen sight"

As Inko read over the description of the quirk she furrowed her brows in confusion. "The name poorly states his quirk"

Izuku, who had been quiet until this point, began trying to grab the paper to see what his mother meant, "MOMMY!!! stop moving the paper away from me!!" and eager Izuku yelled out as he desperately reached for the paper being held away from him.

"Izuku honey calm down. Here you can read now while I talk to this nice man, ok?"

"mhm mhm!!"

"I think it's safe to say your son will be quite the power house if he truly desires to be so," the doctor said as he turned to gaze at the small boy giddy with excitement as he read his powers himself "and with such a power, will come many enemies who wish for it to be their own. good luck ma'am, good luck little Izuku. Now then. Akihiro will walk you to the front door. good day Midoriyas."

And with that the two green haired people left the office, shouts of excitement could be heard from the smaller as they left through the front door. Dr. Ujiko watched as the family of two got into their car and drove off, waving to the small boy who happened to see him from the window of the back seat who flashed a smile to the man. Ujiko smiled softly at the boy and watched their car disappear out of sight, but not out of mind. Walking to the back room the Doctor picked up his phone and closed the door behind him, locking it quietly as he dialled in the number he wished to reach, and held the phone to his right ear.

"Hello? yes its me. I just had an interesting patient. Seemed to be hell bent on bringing justice in the future. Sounds just like his uncle, does it not...."

"All for one"

Chapter Text

Hisashi let a deep sigh escape his lips as he put down his phone after a particularly gruelling conversation with the doctor.

His son had a quirk. A powerful quirk. which left him in a difficult situation.

On one hand, a quirk like that would make plans much easier, eye contact instead of physical touch? It was perfect.

On the other hand, if raised correctly alongside Tomura, his son could grow to rule alongside his successor in chaotic harmony.

However the last option would most likely be a harder goal to achieve considering the doctor's words.

'Seemed to be hell bent on bringing justice in the future. Sounds just like his uncle, does it not....'

Dammit.

Even in death, whether it's intentional or not, his brother still meddled in every aspect of his life.

First that damn quirk he unknowingly made.

Then said quirk providing rival after rival, that always got more persistent, to the point where one destroyed his face beyond recognition.

And now, just being related to his son, to have blood similar to that wretched man, his son is showing to be the embodiment of those he hates most.

His son had the heart of a hero.

What luck.

Of course having the heart of a hero isn't the only problem to fix. Oh no. If he's being completely honest, dreaming to save others and be a hero is the easiest thing to fix. dreams can die over time (and under the right 'circumstances'). The real problem was Inko.

Shortly before Izuku's first birthday, Inko had discovered who he really was. What he did to others. Where their income really came from.

Needless to say, she had been furious.

They had argued for hours about it, and how she wanted him to either give up villainy, or lose her and their son.

However, when have Villains ever listened to rules? Couldn't he have both? Lock them in a sealed off area, safe from the dangers that lurked outside? The dangers that he had indirectly made for them being related to him? All while planning All Might and One For All’s ultimate downfall?

Damn right. He can and he will.

…

Or not…

Inko one night disappeared when Hisashi had been away on a ‘adoption’ of sorts, and when he had returned home with a small frightened child to introduce to them both, she had been long gone. Bed empty and cold, and no sign of his son anywhere.

But now he knew where they were. He had his doctor set up a quirk clinic around Izuku's second birthday to wait for when a child fitting Izuku's description came in.

And now he had found them. He wouldn't let this golden opportunity slip through his fingers.

"Kurogiri, call in Giran. I have an announcement to make to the villain society."

Whether in the end, the result is his son being a ruler in the making, or a newly quirkless. All Hisashi knew was that soon he would have his baby boy back in his arms where he belonged. Where no one in the world could cause him pain and suffering.

Soon he would have his family in his grasp once more.

And this time he wouldn't let him escape go.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Izuku woke up full of energy, the only thing on his mind was his quirk. his quirk hadn't yet shown itself. After arriving home from the doctor, poor Inko had to sit at their small dining table while looking into Izuku's eyes as he made faces trying to activate his quirk. Nothing happened. Nadda. Zip. Four hours had been spent with the two sitting across from each other as Inko watched her son make faces. He use his hands and make motions around his face, hitting his head with both hands, making finger guns and aiming at either side of his head, and the thing that was the most exhausting, the fact he was shouting things such as "ABRA CADABRA" when widening his eyes to a size that seemed inhuman to stare at his mother. She swears he looked like some kind of bird you'd never want to see outside your home.

Izuku jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen to look for his mother, only she wasn't there.

"That's weird, mommy is always here when I wake up to make me breakfast" Izuku pondered aloud as he looked around their apartment for any signs of his mother.

When he found her she was passed out on her bed, no, only her torso was on her bed. She was sprawled out like a starfish with her arms falling off either side and her feet dangling off the edge with one of her slippers still on while the other was on its side on the floor, presumably having fallen off while she slept.

"MOMMY WAKE UP!" the boy screamed as he entered the room. Inko shot up from her peaceful slumber and whipped her head around the room looking for any sign of danger until her eyes rested on her son beside her bed.

"huh- oh uh... morning.. *yawn* Izu....ku..." she responded as she struggled to stay awake.

"Noooo mommy it's morning already!" Izuku whined as he watched his mother begin to close her eyes and drift off again "HMPF!" he huffed as he climbed onto her bed and began to jump.

"Stop being tired and wake up already!"

"Izuku... you can't say stop being tired and expect it to work sweetie..."

Inko opened her eyes once again, this time slightly more awake as Izuku stopped jumping and flopped onto his side to look into his mothers eyes to make sure she was actually awake and not sleeping with her eyes open somehow.

And that's when it all happened.

Izuku went to grab his mothers phone from beside her bed when it started levitating and coming closer to the two in short, slow movements. Izuku turned around with an unimpressed look at his mother, as he suspected her to be using her quirk to pull her phone over rather than risk him dropping it.

but then he saw her face. her eyes were wide and she looked utterly shocked. This expression was soon replaced with enthusiasm as she realized what was happening.

"IZUKU!!" she squealed as she jumped up and wrapped the small boy In her arms, rapidly showering him with small kisses all over his face as he giggled.

"Honey, your quirk kicked in! you used my quirk!"

Izuku's smile grew larger and larger before he hugged his mother tightly, and both of them were overjoyed at the discovery.

Then they heard a thud and Inko let out a sigh as she remembered that she had taken her son's attention away from her phone that was in mid-air.

Izuku also seemed to realize what the thud meant and instantly pulled away and started to tear up and apologize to his mother.

"I-I'M so sorry mommy I forgot about the phone!" he yelled out as he rolled himself off of the bed and grabbed the phone from the ground and handed it to his mother.

"no, no honey! I got excited and we both forgot about it in the air haha" she smiled sweetly at her panicking son before reaching out for the phone, slowly taking it from her son and wiping his tears with her sleeves.

Looks like she needed to buy a new phone.

~~~~~~~~~~

The next day Izuku returned to school with a bounce in his step as he waved goodbye to his mother, and walked into the preschool.

Many of the children around him have already developed their quirks, or were in the various stages of doing so. Such as the people who were developing mutant quirks and were in the development stage where their physical features changed to adjust to their quirk. Like that one kid over there, Tsubasa, his wings were still small and he still needed to take pain medication every few hours to ease the soreness from between his shoulder blades of the still developing red wings, despite having them for around a month at this point in time.

Everyone who has received their quirk so far, no matter how grand and flashy, or subtle and minuscule, all the children were celebrated upon arrival at the school after receiving their new superhuman ability.

So to Izuku, he couldn't wait to show off his quirk and what he could do. He waved goodbye to his mom and ran at full speed over to the gathering of boys playing near the play structure, his best friend at the centre of it all.

"Kachan!!!" The small green haired child exclaimed as he continued to run over to the group.

"Oh? Hey Deku." The blonde replied, turning his attention to the approaching boy, ruby eyes meeting emerald green.

And then the start of a miserable few years began. The small sweat he had broken with his short sprint to the boys started to explode in his palms, shocking everyone around.

"w-what the heck Deku?!?!"

"What...?"

"HOW IS THIS HAPPENING?!"

All kinds of shouts of disbelief rang out across the playground, meanwhile Bakugos face was blank. no emotion could be seen, but this soon changed. his face flashed various emotions before finally settling on anger.

Pushing past the other boys that surrounded him, and separated the two boys, Bakugo marched up to Izuku. Malice was clear as day showed on his face as he fisted his small hands around the collar of Izuku's shirt and pulled him close to his face. "WHAT DID YOU DO YOU DAMN NERD?!?"

Izuku let’s out a quiet squeak of surprise as he's lifted slightly into the air, eyes wide as he frantically tries to respond to the sudden anger laced questions being spat out at him.

"I-I-It's my q-quirk Kachan!" he stammered out, bringing his hands up to try and loosen the tight hold on his shirt.

Izuku watched as Katsuki scowled at him before giving a sharp tug at the hem of his shirt before promptly pushing the greenette to the ground below.

"tch. not as amazing as mine I bet. yours is just a cheap knock off of mine!" the blonde turned on his heels, beginning to push past the other kids surrounding them as he left.

"oh! explosions aren't my quirk."

"HAH?!" Katsuki whipped his head around to look at the boy picking himself off the ground, pulling on the end of his shirt out to better inspect the damage to the collar, pouting at its prominent creases.

"my quirk! it's kinda complicated, and I'm going to need a little more time to fully understand it. but I know I can copy and use people's quirks! and I'll be able to use them forever! I just need to look directly into your eyes and BAM! we can both use the same quirk! isn't that cool Kachan?!? We can be heroes together! you can be number one and i'll be your sidekick and!!!-"

"STOP TALKING DEKU!"

It was only then that Izuku looked up and saw everyone glaring at him, but none making direct eye contact with him, each with a look of disgust or terror rapidly etching across their faces.

"you're a monster..."

"a villain!"

"you can't be a hero with THAT quirk!!"

"give up Deku. you'll never be a hero now. only a villain could ever do what you can. and only a useless, pathetic, Stupid Deku like you would believe otherwise."

The last hurtful remark coming from the one person, the one kid, the friend he cared for most. The last remark... was only the beginning of a crappy new life.

Not all men are created equal. Not all quirks are celebrated. And... all good things come to an end.

...Including his friendship with 'Kachan'.

Chapter Text

“Now then. Is anyone here aware of why this meeting was called?” All For One announced to the room of villains of all ranks that he had Giran bring in, Tomura standing beside his chair as he silently watched the meeting as a learning experience.

“No sir,” one of the lower level thugs answered for the group. “Giran had called and mentioned that all criminals that had free time were to report to you for a meeting. We were never told what the purpose of this meeting was.”

“I see…” All For One hummed as he looked across the room. All eyes seemed to be cast to the floor, pointedly avoiding direct eye contact with him, or where his eyes would have been anyways.

“In that case let me enlighten you,” he called out before pulling a picture from his pocket, holding it out for all eyes to see. In the photo was Izuku, eyes slightly dull as he clutched the straps of his too-big-for-his-body backpack in a tight grip, obviously nervous. The burns and bruises clear as day, spreading out across his body. “This is a picture of my son that I had Kurogiri secure for me as the boy was let out of school.”

Some noises of shock were heard from the group as they lifted their heads to view the photo before quickly ducking them back down after they got a good enough look. Whether the shock was from the clear signs of abuse the boy was facing, or the fact that the ruler of the underworld had a son, he couldn't be sure. However, one person's response stood out to him.

“And? Why should we care about your son?” another low level called out, eyes still glued to the floor, but arms crossed and teeth clenched in a way that shows his irritation.

The room gasped at the statement and those close to the man backed away slowly from him.

“Now now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. I haven't finished telling you about my motives with this yet,” All For One voiced. “Now, this boy's quirk is similar to my own. He can copy a quirk to use indefinitely by looking into the eyes of the recipient. Now I’m not sure if anyone here has caught on to why I’m telling you this, but I find it to be quite an obvious answer if you truly give it thought. Now would anyone like to take a guess?”

When no one raised their hands All For One sighed deeply, resting his left elbow on his arm rest and plopping his head into his hand as he surveyed the room. Waiting for someone, anyone, to have a brain and figure out this incredibly simple question.

“A room full of self proclaimed villains and no one can think of a reason that a five year old child may be the main topic at a criminal meeting? How utterly pathetic.”

All For One scanned the room thinking of who to call upon to get their answer, before settling on the ballsy one from before.

“You, the mannerless one from earlier,” he called out, pointing to the man in question. “Give me an answer.”

“WHAT DID YOU CALL ME YOU OLD BASTARD?!” the man roarded out at him, looking up to look at All For One’s face.

“I called you mannerless. You are in my home at this time and you had the gall to be disrespectful after I opened my establishment to you. Kurogirir even served you all some wonderful beverages from our personal bar, might I add.”

“Tch,” the thug looked back down to the ground. “I don't care. It’s a five year old kid. Only thing it's probably good for is stress relief..”

As he finished his statement a blood curdling scream ripped through the air, coming from the thug as he clawed at his head. Pulling out locks of hair in his desperation, the man continued to scream bloody murder as blood started to dribble from his mouth, dripping off his chin before the man collapsed, unmoving on the ground before Kurogiri warped the lifeless body away.

“Would anyone else like to say such things?” All For One called out to the terror struck villains that still occupied the room.

No one could respond to his question. Everyone was too busy staring at the spot the man had collapsed, small blood puddles laying in his place. At this, a small smirk etched across his face as he gleefully looked down at Tomura. The boy was giddy at his side, also staring at the space, however as everyone looked in fear, Tomura stared at the space in admiration.

“Did you enjoy the show Tomura?” he playfully called down to the young boy.

“Yes Sensei!” Tomura replied giddily, eyes never moving from the unoccupied space in the crowd as a large grin spread across his young face.

“Good. This is an important lesson for you to learn. People such as that wretched man are replaceable,” he addressed Tomura before turning his attention to the remaining villains. “As for the rest of you.” he called out sternly, taking great pride in the way they all jumped slightly, redirecting their eyes from the empty area to their feet.

“Let this be a lesson to all of you, the next person to speak out of line will meet a similar fate. Now since no one has provided me with an answer to my question, I'll take the reins and explain for you all.

“With a quirk like this, my son could rule alongside Tomura. Such a due would no doubtedly send the heroes for a spin and offset the way society currently is. And on the off chance we can't convince him, his quirk would be perfect to give to Tomura to use as his own.

“Either way this boy is priceless and will be obtained at all costs. So now let's talk about the threat we currently face if we wish to bring him here. His mother is a stubborn woman who slipped past even I.” he announced, holding up another photo, this one of Inko walking beside Izuku on their way back home from school.

“Do not let her looks fool you, she is cunning and will fight to keep her child safe at all costs. Do not take her lightly.”

He set down the photos he held in his hand as he rested his head in his hands once again. “Now” he called out to the room. “Let us discuss the plan.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Everyday upon seeing her son bruised and bloody when she picked him up from school, Inko's heart would break a little.

She had tried to ask him what was wrong, but he insisted he was fine and that they just played a little too roughly at recess. So she went to the teachers. They wouldn't even look her in the eyes, but even then she could tell what their true thoughts were on her son.

The way their noses wrinkled and eyes quickly clouded over in disgust for a brief moment before they flash her a smile and tell her how splendid her child was to teach.

It was terrifying to see how fast people can change and turn on you. Just last week Izuku had been a kid who everyone would want to befriend and play with on the school yard, but after getting his quirk it seemed that people would ignore his existence, distance themselves from him as if he had some incurable, infectious disease.

It was hard to see her son so vulnerable to those around him. To see the fear in his eyes when she would drop him off at school in the mornings, and the look of utter relief when she would be waiting at the gates to pick him up when school finished. Almost as if he thought that she too, would turn on him and abandon him.

She knew he was hurting inside. She knew he was having a hard time with everything happening. But she couldn't stop any of this from happening. The only preschool in the area was the one he was currently attending, and unfortunately with her schedule she couldn't take him to one further away.

What she could do was be there for him. Give him more love than ever before. Support him and his dreams. Tell him he could be a hero and prove everyone else wrong because he had a hero's heart. Oh if Hisashi could see this now. See them now.

A Villain's son, destined to be a great hero. His wife is in full support of his dreams. She could practically see the fury and disgust in his eyes, and oh how she enjoyed the thought. Not only would their son be a hero. He would be a hero with the same quirk that his father had used to cause pain and suffering.

When Izuku had gotten his quirk and the doctor gave them the run down, she had been slightly terrified. Not of her son, never of her sweet baby boy.

She was scared that even if her husband was not well known, and thought to be dead, someone may connect the dots and think Izuku to be dangerous. Before the appointment Inko had spent hours hoping and praying that his quirk would be similar to hers, or possibly that it could have been fire breathing as Hisashi had told her his quirk was.

That horrible liar.

Sure she knew it wasn't actually his quirk, merely a stolen one from some poor soul from years before they had met, but she could still hope.

That was until it was all confirmed for her through Izuku.

However, fathers quirk or not she would love him all the same and help him achieve his goals in life. Because that's what a loving mother does..

So as Inko looked across the living room at her son, holding his All Might figurine close to his heart as he laid fast asleep on their couch.

She couldn't help the loving feeling swell in her chest. This was her family, her baby, the love of her life. She would do anything and everything to keep that smile on his face for a lifetime.

She crossed the room to where he was sleeping and bent down, lifting him from under his knees and shoulders, holding him protectively against her chest as she made her way to his bedroom to tuck him in.

She placed the small boy in his hero theme bed, tucking the sheets up to his chin to keep him cozy as he slept through the night.

Inko turned around after placing a soft kiss on her son's temple before she began to take her leave. That is until a groggy voice called out to her in the dimly lit bedroom. The only light source being from a small All Might themed night light in the corner of, letting her vaguely make out Izuku's tired green eyes staring up at her from his bed.

“Mommy?” He called out to her.

“Yes dear?”

“Can you sleep with me tonight? Please…”

“Of course Izuku. Here move over a little bit” She spoke gently as to not wake up Izuku anymore than he already was.

She lifted the covers of his comforter and slid in beside him, pulling him to her chest as she began to softly sing out a song for Izuku.

“Hands put your empty hands in mine. And scars show me all the scars you hide. And hey, if your wings are broken. Please take mine 'til yours can open too. 'Cause I'm gonna stand by you

Oh, tears make kaleidoscopes in your eyes. And hurt, I know you're hurting but so am I. And love, if your wings are broken. Borrow mine so yours can open too.

'Cause I'm gonna stand by you.”

She finished off the verses of part of the beginning of the song with another small kiss to his temple as she listened to his soft, steady breaths.

“Mommy..?” Izuku spoke, looking up at her with half lidded eyes. Clearly on the verge of sleep.

“Yes?”

“Why does everyone hate me now? Is it because of my quirk? Are people going to be mean forever?”

And oh did that hurt to hear him ask her.

“I’m not sure Izuku.. Some people fear things they can't understand. I’m sure with time everything will be back to normal.”

“Mmm… ok mommy…”

“Do you think..,” Izuku attempted to speak out, fighting off sleep for just a little longer in order to ask his question “I could be a hero?”

Inko looked down at her son, eyes finally shut but not fully asleep yet. Oh how she loved this boy more than anything.

There wasn't a doubt in her mind as she looked over the face of her sleeping child.

“The finest hero the world will ever see.”

And with that the two greenetes drifted off into a deep sleep, both wrapped in the other's embrace as they slept through the night.

Chapter Text

The next morning Izuku woke up still wrapped tightly in his mothers arms. 

He didn't have school today and he knew she didn't have work, so he let her sleep and simply laid against her chest. 

Taking the loose pieces of her green hair into his hands, he began to run his fingers through her slightly tangled hair. Silently braiding the ends that he could reach.

They stayed like this for a while now. Izuku playing with his mothers hair, and Inko still soundly asleep. That is until Izuku came upon a particularly tough knot in her hair and tugged a little too hard, stirring Inko out of her peaceful sleep.

“Hmm? Izuku? Hun… what are you doing?” she murmured out groggily, clearly still half asleep.

“Sorry mommy… I was playing with your hair. Did I hurt you? I'm sorry” he replied, releasing her hair from his small hands.

“Oh no baby, it's ok. We should probably get up now though, huh? We don't want to spend all day in bed now do we?” 

“Can we go to the park?”

“I don't see why not.” 

Inko released Izuku from her hold around him as she slowly stood from the bed, stretching out her arms once she was standing.

Inko turned around to watch Izuku follow her lead, crawling off the bed and copying her stretch with a grin on his face as he brought his eyes up to meet hers.

And if she said that wasn't the cutest thing she had ever seen, it would be the biggest lie she's ever told.

~~~~~~~~

Now at 1:30 in the afternoon, fed, dressed, and ready to play, the Midoriyas could be seen walking down the street to the park at the end of the road. 

Izuku's hand held firmly in his mothers as they crossed the street at the crosswalk, walking along the path that led to the play structure.

Kids screamed and laughed as they played before seeing the two entering the park. All activity coming to a halt.

Inko could feel Izuku shrink down on himself at all the eyes cast upon them, followed by hushed whispers from adult to adult. Their eyes trailed the two as they continued their walk to the swing set furthest away from the judgmental eyes.

Once the activity resumed in the park, Inko helped her son up onto the swing and knelt down to talk to him. His gaze set firmly on the sand beneath them, tears starting form in his eyes as he bit down on his wobbling lip.

“Oh honey… it's ok. These people wont know what hit them when you become the greatest hero out there.” She brought her hand up to cup his cheek gently, thumb wiping away the lone tear that trailed down his cheek.

“Do… do you really think so mommy..?” His hands tightened their hold on the chains holding his seat up, knuckles turning white.

“I do. So let's not worry about them and have fun ok?”

She received a nod in return before she walked behind Izuku, starting to push the swing higher and higher. Only getting further motivation to keep pushing from the delighted squeals Izuku made as he reached the top of the push before falling back down.

“Higher!” Izuku yelled out as he came back down from a push, eyes gleaming brighter than they had when they had arrived.

The two were in their own world. Tuning out the other children at the park, and only listening to the cheerful words and squeals of each other as they enjoyed their time together. 

This continued for the next two hours of them being at the park. Inko finding pure joy in hearing Izuku's delighted shouts from above. It was peaceful.

That is until another parent came up to them, aggressively tapping Inkos shoulder to the point she was sure a small bruise would form later in the day. She didn't remove her gaze from her son, still pushing his swing, and Izuku still delighted as ever, as she addressed the highly unwelcome newcomer.

“May I help you…?” 

“Yes. tell your brat to hush down. It’s disturbing everyone else who's trying to enjoy themselves here.” The newcomer harshly spat out.

Well that got her attention real fast as she spun on her heels, shoving the other parents lightly so they could talk without getting hit by Izuku's swing.

“Excuse me? First of all my son is trying to have fun just as the rest of us here are. As for why you approached me, the other children here are much louder than my son and I.”

Inko replied with a very forced smile at the end, clasping her hands together and looking over to the woman.

The woman tucked her long black hair behind her ears before rolling her teal eyes. Inko could admit, if this woman wasn't such a (and please excuse her language for the only word she could use to possibly describe this woman was...) bitch, she would have found her rather beautiful. Shame her beauty was greatly outshined by her nasty attitude towards a child, her child no less.

The woman crossed her arms before glaring at Izuku, whose swing was beginning to slow from the lack of a pusher. “Yes well… our children aren't future villains now are they?” she finished with a smug smirk.

‘Inkos' eyes widened. Has the woman found out about Hisashi? Did she know who Izuku's father really was? Did she-’ Inko thought.

“I mean, that's all he could ever truly be with such a quirk.”

Oh. this was about his quirk huh? She was just the quirkist. Nothing related to Hisashi was at play here. That was both a relief and infuriating.

She would have understood slightly if that had been the reason for her obvious disgust towards her son. People feared what they did not understand, and most people often forget that a person is not their parents. But no, this was about a part of Izuku that caused her hatred, not his father. Not even something Izuku had done, this was all about a physical trait that he couldn't control and choose.

“Are you implying that due to a quirk, which are physical traits that are not choosable, my son doesn't deserve happiness nor will his life amount to anything other than working as a villain?” 

“I’m glad you understand me, truly you must have thought the same at some point,” the woman smiled at her. Eyes gleaming in a victorious shine as her assumptions were made. “Hell we all take pity on you dear. No mother as kind as yourself should have to deal with such a wretched disappointment-”

“I think that's enough from you. You have labelled my child as a villain. A child who's been nothing but kind to those around him, so when he becomes a great hero I hope you look back on this and feel nothing but shameful regret. Izuku dear, I think we should leave, the nuisances at this park are too much of a bother to deal with today.” Inko looked over her shoulder to Izuku, watching him hop off his seat that had reached a full stop.

He walked over to her, slipping his hand into hers, looking up to reveal the tears that had formed in his eyes. A grateful smile was apparent on his face.

“Well then, I think we better leave. Ms… I’m sorry I never caught your name?” Inko looked over to the woman. She nervously shifted her weight from one foot to another, clearly still in shock for being called out.

“Yuiko Ito” she murmured out, eyes falling to her feet.

“Well then Ms. Ito, please look at my son and apologize for your appalling behaviour” She pulled Izuku infront of her, the boy now looking up at Ito.

Ito rolled her eyes before finally lifting her head to make eye contact with Izuku. Her nose wrinkled as she gazed upon the boy, disgust clearly shown across her face.

“I dont owe an apology to a villain such as yourself.” she then stormed off, her swaying side to side as she left.

When the woman was far enough away from them, Inko looked down at her son. She had expected to see him saddened by her parting words, tears falling, eyes glued to the ground.

What she did not expect was to see him beaming one of the biggest smiles she had ever seen on his face, eyes full of excitement, and practically bouncing on the balls of his feet.

“Izuku?” she giggled when his attention snapped up to her, his smile somehow shining even brighter than before. “What's gotten you in such a good mood?”

“She looked me in the eyes! I can use her quirk! Mom, we need to go to the store. I need a new notebook! Mom, this quirk is so cool!!” 

Izuku was now fully bouncing up and down, his little hands clutched tightly into fists against his chest.

“Oh? What quirk do you have now Izuku?” She bent down to look at him. 

Placing her arms on his shoulders to stop his bouncing so he could tell her properly.

“Mommy she has a transformation quirk! LOOK LOOK!!!” He shouted out before she watched him begin to slowly change his appearance.

Inko watched as Izuku’s height went up enough for her to need to stand up once again to reach his eyes. His green hair growing longer and straightening out, half of it being pulled back into a small bun. His figure rounded itself out into a more hourglass figure. Even his clothes changed.

Before she even knew what was happening, she was looking upon her own face.

“Oh wow,” she breathed out. “You’re me! Izuku is amazing! We have to take a picture together!” 

Inko reached into her pocket, clumsily fumbling her phone as she eagerly pulled it out. Opening the camera app, she pulled the Izuku Inko close to her side, both sporting similar smiles at the camera.

She went to take another photo when she felt Izuku at her side shrink back down.

The next photo was of a very shocked looking Inko and a very smug looking Izuku still holding onto her side.

Izuku looked up at his mother before bursting out into a fit of giggles. Inko followed soon after she had regained her composure.

She lifted Izuku up onto her hip, using one arm to secure him to her, and the other to hold out her phone once again. Snapping a photo of two wide smiling greenetes

“Cmon Izuku, let's go get you those notebooks now! When we get home we can experiment what this all works on.”

“Okay mommy!” 

Inko set Izuku back down on the ground before putting her phone away and taking his hand in hers once again.

They began to make their way back out of the park and to the streets, smiling and waving at Ito as they passed by her and the other parents at the park. The woman only crossing her arms and huffing out air as a response.

That was fine with the Midoriyas though. They didn't need anyone other than each other in the world. Sure they had the Bakugou family, but the visits between the two families were less and less frequent than they had been before Izuku got his quirk. 

That was perfectly ok with that too though. They had each other. They were happy. 

And as they walked down the roads of Musutafu, discussing Izukus latest quirks he had accidentally acquired, and about what they should eat for dinner seeing as the time was rapidly passing them by, the two felt like nothing in the world could put a damper on their moods.

But all good things come to an end.

As the two passed by an alley, two arms shot out of the shadows, one wrapping around Inkos mouth, the other around her waist, and both pulling her out of the light.

She immediately dropped Izuku's hand to prevent him from being dragged along with her, eyes wide as the possibilities crossed her mind at an increasing speed.

‘Was this Hisashis doing? Were they after Izuku? Was this the end for them?’

“Mommy?” a scared little boy's voice carried through the air. Immediately capturing the attention of the man who had grabbed her. A Sinister smile spread across his face as he looked out at the boy.

Looking out at Izuku Inko could see the fear in his eyes, the wobbling of his lower lip, and the frantic swerve of his head as he looked around for her.

“I thought you'd be harder to catch with how All For One talked about you” Ther man holding her back whispered into her ear, his warm breath making her shiver.

At the mention of her husband Inko began thrashing in the man's hold. They needed to get out of there. They couldn't go back to him!

“Whoa! Now we're talking! Wonder if the brats gonna put up as much fight as you are now. The brat better make this interesting if the boss made us come all the way out here just for him huh?”

Inko began screaming, the sound muffled by the hand still clasped over her mouth. They wanted her son? Inko wouldn't allow that. She wouldn't let Izuku, her sweet sweet boy, fall into the hands of such a heartless monster.

Footsteps could be heard from behind her as she watched another man come up from behind. Hands stuffed into his pockets and eyes fixed on her son at the entrance to the alley.

As the man got closer Inko’s struggle became more panicked, trying to get free from the man holding her down as the other got too close to her child. 

As the other man began to pass her, Inko did the only other thing she could think of at that moment. 

She used her quirk to tug as hard as she could on the passing man's scuffed combat boots before biting down as hard as she could on the man holding his hand over her mouth.

The man holding her shrieked out in pain as he completely let go of her, clutching his bitten hand with the other as he wiped the gushing blood onto his sleeveless shirt. Blood smears now covering the front of the worn down grey shirt. 

As she scrambled to her feet she pulled on last time on the second man's boots, watching him fall to the ground with a thud as she sprinted past him.

She continued to run, almost knocking Izuku over had she not scooped him up in her arms as she continued to run by. Izuku letting out an ‘oof’ as she grabbed him in her passing.

The shouts of the men could be heard behind them as Inko ran faster than she ever had before. Izuku now sobbing into her shoulder as he clutched her shirt tightly in his fists, the wind blowing through his fluffy hair and sticking to his cheeks where the tears had fallen.

The streets were practically empty at this point. The area they lived in was typically pretty cleared out at this time of day. That meant that Inko’s only option was to outrun them.

Inko turned the corner just as a large sharp claw stretched out, almost skewering her had she not just turned the corner. It must be one of the men's quirks.  

This just made Inko increase her speed. With a quirk like that they could easily be caught while running away. She picked up her speed, held Izuku even tiger, and began turning random corners in an attempt to lose the pursuers.

When Inko had gotten a good enough distance away from the men she gently pried Izuku's hands off her shirt and set him down on the ground in front of her. 

Kneeling down in front of her son, tears started to prick at the corners of her eyes. She knew she had to let him go. To say goodbye to him, but it was so hard. She still wanted to see him grow, to be there when he started high school. To watch him be a hero. To see him be happy.

But this was all being robbed right out from under her by the man she had trusted. The only good that man has ever done is give her Izuku, and now the same man was taking her away from him.

She pulled Izuku into a tight hug, letting her tears spill over the edge and roll down her cheeks.

“Izuku honey, mamma loves you so so much. Honey, take my phone ok? Mind the broken glass on the screen? I want you to run fast and far,”

“Mommy..?”

“Use your quirk if you need to ok?”

“Mommy, why are you saying this? Please don't leave me!” Izuku cried out, tears falling faster than before down his face, pooling on the sidewalk below them as they dropped off his chin.

It hurt Inko to do this. To cause her son pain like this, but hopefully in the future he will understand why this needed to be done. That this was the only way she could keep him safe.

“But don't ever come back for me. No matter what. Find help and be safe” She gave her phone to Izuku before pulling him in for one last hug and kissing his temple for the last time.

“Be safe, Izuku, and don't ever go home again, ok? I need you to stay away from there. Go to the police. Find a hero. Just get away from these people chasing us and don't ever let them find you.” She lightly pushed Izuku away from her chest, looking into his beautiful green eyes that resembled hers.

“Tell them your father is after you. He's a villain who goes by All For One and you aren't safe ok? Now go, Izuku. And remember I love you so much. So so so much.”

And with that Inko watched her son run off into the distance, his sobs fading away as he got further from Inko.

She brought her hands up to her chest, clutching the front of her shirt and bringing her head down to the pavement as she broke down. Her body shaking as choked sobs escaped her lips.

Footsteps quickly approached from behind her so she wiped her tears and stood up, turning to face the angry men.

“Where the fuck is the brat?!?” The one who had been trying to get Izuku in the alley yelled out.

“Gone..”

“What the hell do you mean ‘gone’?!” The other screamed, pushing past the first one to get to Inko.

When he was close enough he grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back to look him in the eyes. 

“Tell me where you sent him!”

This time Inko didn’t respond to him, merely locking eyes and scowling at him. These were the men who would carry out the order to take her baby from her, or vice versa and take her from him.

Both made these men horrible people who didn't deserve her answers. So they won't receive any more than they had.

“Ugh. Boss said that only the brat and your body were to come back to him. And since he said body i take it that means either dead or alive.” 

The man dropped her to the ground before motioning to the other to hand him whatever was in the other's pocket.

When the item placed in the former's hand was a gun , well Inko couldn't stop the gasp that came from her. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers before she squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for the shot.

“We’ll find that brat once we finish with you. All of this, the running, the biting , and your death, will all be in vain. All For One always gets what he wants.”

Inkos thoughts were filled with a smiling Izuku and all the time they had spent together. She thought of Mitsuki, Masaru, and Katsuki who would come over every week for Sunday dinners with her and Izuku before the kids' quirks came in. She thought of Izuku's first time walking, first words, first time she gazed upon his beautiful face.

Inko smiled, a real smile, how had she gotten so lucky to be blessed with them all in her life? Even if it wasn't for all that long she was grateful.

A shot rang out and with that Inkos world went silent.

Chapter Text

‘All good things come to an end’. A single sentence that throughout the past week, had Izuku realize they formed the truest saying he had ever heard.

However he had never expected it to go as far as to make him leave his mother behind. The one person who loved him in this world. The person who cared for him when he was hurt. The one person who thought he would be a great hero, and not some lowlife villain.

But now he had to leave her.

Izuku kept running. He wasn't sure where he was even going at this point, his eyes were too filled with tears.

He tripped on loose cement blocks in the sidewalk every now and then, stumbling forward before he regained composure and kept running away. That is until he heard a gunshot from behind him.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind. That was his mother. His mother was hurt- or worse, killed.

Tears streamed down his face even faster and he wanted nothing more than to turn around and go back to his mom, to make sure she was still alive and the shot missed her. But he couldn't. She told him to run and never look back, so that's what he did.

He tripped on a hole in the sidewalk, scraping his knee and hissing at the sting he felt follow it. 

He wiped his tears against his shirt before standing up again and continuing to run, this time he could see where he was going.

Fast approaching footsteps came from behind him, growing closer and closer as he continued to run through the streets and into a big parking lot.

A tall building loomed over him as he ran for it. ‘Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall’ hanging on the wall over the entrance.

 Running through the crowd, Izuku shoved people out of the way as he ran inside to the entrance. Deliberately ignoring the shouts of the men behind him. 

“Hey!! Kid get back here!” 

“Stop running brat”

But he didn't stop. Those men hurt his mommy and he refused to slow down for them to hurt him too. He promised her he would stay safe and find a hero.

Izuku turned his head while he ran to look back at his pursuers. They were quickly catching up to him in the crowd.

He let out a squeak and pushed even harder on the people around him until he finally broke out of the crowd. He ran further into the mall, swerving around people, and turning corners to try and throw them off his trail. 

Izuku turned a corner to see that he hit a dead end. The only thing around this corner was a camping goods store.

“Nowhere to run now runt! HAH!? Are you gonna stop yet?!” Izuku whipped his body around to face the two men. The shorter one who had pulled his mom into the alley angrily stomped towards him while the other casually strolled up behind him.

“NEVER! You hurt mommy didn't you!” Izuku screamed before turning and running into the store's entrance beside him.

“Kid running is pointless at this point.” the taller sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he followed into the store behind Izuku. 

But Izuku didn't care. He would never stop running away if it meant he could escape from these people. He would find a hero and he would go back to his mommy and everything would be normal again. He was sure of it.

Izuku ran past the tents display and into an aisle that had sleeping bags hanging off the shelves like cocoons.

He unzipped a big yellow one and climbed into it, ducking down to keep out of view from the opening at the head.

Izuku felt his tears return to his eyes as he clamped his hand over his mouth to try and conceal his heavy breathing and choked sobs from people around him. If anyone found him that means the men would find him too.

Izuku started to shake in the sleeping bag. He was terrified. He wanted to go home to his mommy. This isn't normal. This isn't fair .

Izuku was so lost in thought he didn't even hear two mens voices walking up near him, stopping right outside of his sleeping bag.

He did however notice the zipper of his sleeping bag begin to unzip as light flooded the previously dark space. 

Izuku covered his face with his arms and sobbed harder.

This was it. This was where it all ended for him.

…

Wait, why is nothing happening?

~~~~~~~~

Shouta Aizawa did not want to be at the mall. He hated all of them with a passion.

They were loud, crowded, and worst of all, a breeding ground for teenager activity.

He was a teacher, he didn't need to be dealing with teens in both his work life and personal life. Being at a mall was a sure-fire way to have to deal with them whether he liked it or not.

Shouta couldn't keep track of all the times he's had to stop a group of teens from harassing someone, from shoplifting, or that time he had to get a group of teens out of the photo booth. How a group of thirteen teens managed to fit into a two person photo booth? He wasn't sure. Was he impressed? Only at the fact someone could do something so stupid. Was this the only time it happened? Absolutely not.

But that was part of a hero's job. Saving people when they needed it. Even if it was saving them from a stupid non-life threatening situation they brought upon themselves.

So when he found a small child, no older than six, crouched in a sleeping bag. Let's just say he wasn't all that surprised. Kids liked to hide in clothing racks in stores, why not the sleeping bag he wanted to buy? Just his luck.

What was surprising was the look of fear he saw in the child's eyes before he covered his face, as if he expected to be hurt.

He held up his hand to silence his boyfriend from talking any further as he crouched down to the kids level in the sleeping bag to talk to him.

“Shouta! Why’d you do that-” Hizashis eyes widened when he saw the small child tucked fearfully in the sleeping bag before them. 

“Hey kid? Are you ok?” Shouta reached in to ruffle the boy's hair.

The kid whipped his head up when he heard his voice and a small smile broke out onto his face as he broke down in harsher sobs than before.

Shouta stumbled back and stood up. He pushed Hizashi in front of the child in a silent way of telling him he needed to handle it. 

Shouta may be a teacher but he worked with mentally stable (for the most part) teens, not emotional children.

“Hey kid? Can you tell us what's wrong? Where are your parents? Did you get separated?” Hizashi began to comfort the kid, holding his hands and rubbing circles on the backs of them as the kid tried to stop his tears.

“They're- *sob* they're after me! They hurt my mommy! and - and they're trying to take me away now!” He choked out to them.

That set off immediate red alarms. Who was after him? What happened to his mother? Are these people in the store looking for him as they speak? No, probably not. This store was tucked away in a section of the mall where few people go, and the ones that do come here already know of its existence. Seeing a small child come here through the crowds of people at the front would be near impossible. 

“Izuku~? Where are you? Papa wants to go home now! THE GAME ISN'T FUNNY ANYMORE!!!”

After hearing the voice, the kid widened his eyes and clamped his hand over his mouth.

He jumped into Hizashis arms, tackling them both to the ground.

Well at least Shouta can assume this is Izuku by how he reacted to the man a few aisles down. But why is he so scared of his so-called ‘papa’? Could this be who's after him? No. The man claimed to be his father, outing yourself in the middle of a store as the person trying to get the kid, parent or poser, would be a foolish choice on their behalf.

“Please don't let them take me” he heard Izuku whimper into Hizashis shirt as his boyfriend lifted Izuku into his arms as he stood from the ground.

“They hurt my mama…”

“It's ok kid we won't let him hurt you” Shouta comforted. Ok so maybe they were the culprits…

 He walked up to the kid who was sitting on Hizashis hip, his lover's arms wrapped securely around the young child.

“Ah! Izuku! We found you now! I’m so sorry for the trouble our son has caused you fine gentlemen.” Shouta and Hizashi quickly turned to face the man walking down the aisle, a larger one in tow from behind.

“C’mon Izuku! Come to daddy and papa! We don't want to trouble these two men more than we already have hm?”

Shouta watched as the man opened his arms wide, as if he was expecting the child to run and give him a hug.

The whole thing was so convincing he almost told Hizashi to give the kid back to his parents.

“I Dont… I dont have a dad.. I- I never have..” 

Shoutas eyes widened as he heard what the kid whispered, and by Hizashis shocked face, he could tell that he heard it too. These must be the people he mentioned were after him. If these were not his actual parents, was this an attempted kidnapping? What did they want from the child? 

“I’m sorry but do you have some form of ID to show that you are, in fact, this child's parents? No child should be so fearful of their guardians” Shouta walked to stand between Hizashi and Izuku, and the two newcomers.

“Sorry we don't. This was supposed to be a short trip to the mall so we didn't expect to have to verify our relationship to Izuku.” The taller of the two replied, stepping beside the shorter one from before.

“You're Not my daddy! Or papa! I dont have one! Leave me alone and tell me where you put my momma!” Izuku yelled out, his tears back and running down his cheeks at full force.

Shouta could see the two men begin to sweat as they looked between Izuku, Hizashi, and himself. They looked unsure of what to do next.

“Hehe… Izuku hun we need to go home now” the shorter tried stepping closer to Izuku. Tone laced in desperation as he tried to get Izuku to go with him.

Izuku dug his head in the crook of Hizashis neck as he continued to cry. 

Shouta pulled out his phone from his back pocket and unlocked it with finger ID from behind and out of sight from the other two men.

Using muscle memory he sent out what was hopefully his location, to what he hoped was another hero or officer in the area. He just needed to hold out for a few minutes before someone could come and take these two to Tsukauchi where this can all be figured out once and for all. Just a few minutes… he hoped.

“Ok. we’ll give your child back to you,” Shouta tried not to flinch at Hizashis glare and Izuku's heart wrenching sobs that just multiplied greatly “but first why don't we sit down at the lawn chair exhibit and talk for a bit. It's rare we get to see such a nice kid that I tolerate. I wouldn't mind learning more about him.”

“Well.. er. I suppose that's ok. But just for a few minutes!” the shorter, and frankly more irritating one of the two, replied to him.

Don't get Shouta wrong, all child abductors are irritating and overall horrible people. But c'mon! This dude wont shut up! And he's so loud! And his boyfriend is known for his loud deafening quirk! That says something, people!

Hizashi sent Shouta one last glare before walking towards a red lawn chair on the exhibits platform, Izuku still held tightly in his arms.

Shouta sat beside him and watched the other two hesitantly take their seats across from them.

“So what would you erm.. Heh, what would you like to know sir.” The annoying one asked, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as he avoided eye contact.

“Well let's start with his quirk. He looks to be around the age where his should have developed by now.” Shouta crossed his arms and leaned back into the backboard of his chair, eyeing the men across from him awaiting a horribly wrong answer.

Only the man seemed to widen his eyes and smirk slightly before looking up and actually making eye contact this time. Confidence written all over his face as he answered.

“Why, it's quite interesting you see. With the mere look into your eyes he could copy your quirk and create an arsenal of powerful quirks at his disposal. How many quirks have you now Izuku? Three I believe?”

Izuku stilled in Hizashis grip, eyes wide in fear as he shook, no tears fell this time.

“H-how.. How did you know that? I've only used one of those ones in mommys room.. And I just got the other one today..”

Shouta and Hizashi tensed in their seats. Why would they know this if they weren't his parents? How long had they been watching Izuku? And to what extent did this all go to?

“I see… that sounds like a quirk that would be  perfect for a hero Izuku! Is that what you want to be when you get older?” Hizashi asked, looking down at Izuku with a smile that was impossible to not return.

Izuku looked up at Hizashi, making eye contact and smiling in return. “Yea-”

“Of course it is! Our young Izuku has the heart of a hero here! However, we think we’ll have him go into the family business with his father!” The loud thug cut in.

Izuku froze in his seat again, smile instantly wiped off his face as he slowly turned around to face the man who spoke.

“No… no no I don't want to be- NO !” Izuku yelled out using Hizashi’s quirk and buried himself into his neck once more.

Hizashi and Shouta sat stuned for a second about the use of Hizashi’s quirk coming from Izuku before they remembered what his quirk did.

“Oh Izuku! Look, you've acquired your fourth one! Oh and it's only been..? Dear how long since his quirk doctor appointment?” The shorter turned to the quiet one, snapping his fingers as he tried to recall a detail he shouldn't know in the first place. Izuku was not their child, and when he got his quirk should have been of no concern to them.

“Hm.. today is the eighth day is it not?”

“Ah yes dear now I remember! Oh! Izuku, we should go home and celebrate the occasion! Come on dear, let go of the nice man so we can begin our walk back.” 

The two men stood from their seats and made their way over to Izuku, the taller of the two leaning down and attempting to pry Izuku off of Hizashi.

“Izuku, this isn't a game. It's time to leave.” the taller one spoke in a dead voice.

Izuku stayed silent, not even looking up from where his head was still buried. 

The man started to tug harder on Izuku while the other pried Izuku's hands off Hizashi’s shirt.

“Hey let him go! He's scared you can't do that to him!” Hizashi jumped to his feet, already trying to get Izuku back to him when Izuku started to scream bloody murder.

The men dropped Izuku and in their moment of shock Shouta stooped down and swiftly picked up the boy, cradling him against his chest to calm him down.

“Hey Izuku, it's ok. We won't let them take you.” He spoke softly into Izukus ear as his screams turned to sobs once more. Poor kid, today must be the most traumatizing day of his life.

Hizashi looked at him with an expression of shock before it turned into the smuggest little smirk he's ever seen on his boyfriend.

That can be dealt with later however, because right now Shouta can see mall security along with Tsukauchi running into the store.

“Shit… we gotta get out of her now!” the annoying one spoke out before grabbing the larger one and dragging him away.

They didn't make it very far because as they turned to bolt to the entrance of the store and make their escape a wall of security blocked their path and cornered them before snapping quirk cancelling cuffs onto the men's wrists.

Shouta watched security lead the men out of the store. Izuku still tucked safely into his arms.

“C’mon Shouta. Lets go follow Tsukauchi to the station.” Hizashi leant over his shoulder and whispered into his ear.

“Ok. Wait, why are we whispering?” Shouta looked over his shoulder at his boyfriend as he raised an eyebrow.

Hizashi just smirked at him and pointed to Izuku in his arms. “ Izuku fell asleep shortly after you picked him up.”

Shouta looked down in his arms to see Izuku had, in fact, fallen asleep. He held Shoutas shirt tightly in his little fist, mouth slightly parted, and snoring softly. The kid looked so peaceful. If his red eyes weren't so prominent on his light skin you would have never thought this kid had gone through such an ordeal just moments prior.

Shouta held Izuku a little tighter to his chest and started to follow Hizashi to the store's entrance when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

Turning around he saw a store employee with three boxes stacked up in her left hand. She struggled to keep them from getting knocked onto the ground while she balanced them on one hand long enough to tap his shoulder with the other.

“May I help you?” Shouta spoke quietly so as to not wake the sleeping child in his arms.

At this point Hizashi stopped walking forward and turned around to stand by his side.

“Sorry to stop you on your way out but um… well the staff here would like to give you these as a gift.” She held out the boxes to Hizashi who took them off her hands.

He watched Hizashi open the top box and start laughing before bending down so Shouta could peer inside.

The first box had the yellow sleeping bag Shouta had wanted to buy when they came here. Shouta couldn't help the puff of air he let out in amusement.

“The staff here saw what you two did today and we wanted to give you something as a thank you. Even if You were just keeping your son safe it's amazing how you handled the situation.” The store clerk tucked a strand of hair behind her ears as she looked to the floor, avoiding eye contact.

Hizashi let out an even louder laugh at what she said, immediately startling the woman.

“Oh um I'm sorry I-I didn't mean to assume anything! It's just you all looked like a family so we had thought you two were together!”

“Oh we are together. But this isn't our son. We found him in a sleeping bag trying to hide from those men. We just did what any good citizen would do. But thank you” Shouta replied since Hizashi was still currently unable to on account he was now on the floor clutching his stomach laughing.

“Oh! I see… well then I hope you still enjoy the gifts anyways. We saw you had been looking at them earlier so we thought it would be a nice family gift.” 

“Yes *wheeze* yes thank you” Hizashi stood from the ground, wiping the first off his pants and smiling at the woman as she turned and left.

“What's in the other two?” Shouta asked, peering down to the two still unopened boxes.

“Well let's have a look.”

Hizashi bent down to the floor and opened the next box, pulling out a big green sleeping bag, the colour matching Izuku's hair. The size was much, much larger than Izuku, and since the clerk had seen Shouta taking an interest in the yellow one, the two could only assume it was for Hizashi. 

Hizashi moved the box to the side and opened up the last box. Inside was a small black sleeping back, a perfect size for Izuku to snuggle up in.

“Seems like they gave each of us a sleeping bag the colour of another's hair…” Hizashi grumbled under his breath. “Oh well! These are so cute Sho!”

“Hizashi. Izukus is still sleeping.”

“Ohhhhh Sho can we put him in his sleeping bag? Pleaseeeeeeeee???”

Shouta looked into his boyfriend's eyes, already knowing he was going to cave. He’s never been able to deny him anything when he uses that face. 

Sighing, Shouta holds Izuku out in his arms just enough for Hizashi to start working the boy into the small black sleeping bag.

They tucked his feet in before Shouta adjusted his grip to allow Hizashi to pull it up and over the boy's arms. Hizashi zip up the long zipper at the front before pulling the black hood over Izuku's head. Strands of bushy green hair stubbornly showing from the hood no matter how many times they tucked them back inside.

It was oddly adorable.

When Hizashi finished putting Izuku into the sleeping bag Shouta pulled the boy bag into his chest protectively, watching with an unamused expression as Hizashi whipped out his phone to take endless pictures of the cocooned boy and Shouta.

“Hizashi we still have to go see Tsukauchi about all of this,” Shouta sighed as he began to walk away once more. “Hopefully we don't miss him and can talk a little before Izuku wakes up again. Also please grab the other sleeping bags.”

“You betcha Sho!” Hizashi called out to him before bending down to pick up the three boxes from the ground. “Wait Sho wait up! Shoutaaaa!”

Hizashi chased after his boyfriend and the child, catching up with them in the hallway and pouting up at his boyfriend when he smirked his way.

Together they made their way to the entrance of the mall. Three sleeping bags, and a child in hand.

This was not at all how they had expected their impromptu shopping trip to go, but if they were being honest, neither of them could find it in their hearts to be disappointed with the outcome.

For if they had not come to the mall that day, at that time, if Shouta had wanted a different coloured sleeping bag, they would have never met Izuku. 

And the two men didn't dare think of the alternate outcome had they not been there to save the boy when he needed it.

Chapter Text

Aizawa walked through the mall with Hizashi at his side and Izuku clutched tightly to his chest, still sleeping soundly in his new sleeping bag.

The shoppers have been cleared out for the most part, minus the ones who were kept back at the camping store until they took away the men.

They kept walking down the hall until they reached the exit and walked up to the man in the beige trench coat and matching hat. Said man turned to greet them as he heard their footsteps approaching him.

“Ah! Aizawa, Yamada, you've made it back I see. Although I did assume you two would make it back much earlier than you have, and- oh?” the man cut off his rant when he saw the boxes being held in Yamadas arms.

“Oh Aizawa,” Tsukauchi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. “Please tell me you didn't go shopping after a near child abduction with the child still in your care. You two should know better than to-”

“I can assure you we did not. As we were about to leave, a store clerk came up to us and gave us these as gifts of gratitude for helping Izuku back there.” Aizawa replied in his monotone voice, rolling his eyes at the absurd accusation the detective made.

“That's true!” Hizashi cut in from Shouta’s side. “What kind of heroes would we be if we went to finish our shopping before we went through standard procedure? Although we did stop to put little izuku here into his sleeping bag but c’mon! LOOK HO w cute he is!!” 

Shouta sent a quirk powered glare at his boyfriend before deactivating his quirk and looking down to see if Izuku had woken up from the sudden loud noise.

“You woke up Izuku, Hizashi.”

The three men turned their attention to the small child in Shouta’s arms as he opened his mouth and let out a small yawm before slowly opening his eyes, gazing up at the three faces peering down at him.

They watched as Izuku blinked a few times before snuggling back into the sleeping bag against Shoutas chest.

“Izuku? Kid you awake?” Shouta called out to the half asleep child in his arms.

“‘M tired… want to sleep again..”

“Sorry kid, but unfortunately we have to take you to the police station for some questions about the men who tried to take you.” Shouta glared at Tsukauchi when Izukus eyes snapped wide open and he struggled against the confinement of the sleeping bag to sit up for a better view.

The kid was tired dammit. Screw standard procedure, let the poor child sleep!

“Where are they..?” Izuku’s shaky voice cut Shouta out of mentally scolding Tsukauchi… for now.

“The men were apprehended.” Tsukauchi responded to the boy.

“Appre… what?” Izuku squinted his eyes in confusion. “Also what am I wearing..?”

“OH! The lady at the store we were in gave us all matching sleeping bags!” Hizashi pulled out his sleeping bag from one of the boxes he had set on the ground and proudly presented it for Izuku to see.

“But yours is green… This is a black sleeping bag. Sir, I don't think they match?” 

Hizashi let out a jolly chuckle before pointing between Izuku's green hair and his green sleeping bag. “Mine matches your hair colour!”

“Shouta's match’s mine!” He pointed to his yellow bun of hair.

“And yours matches Shoutas!”

Izuku looked up to look at the black hair falling around Shouta’s shoulders before he looked up and the two made eye contact. Emerald eyes met onyx before Izuku hastily averted his eyes, a steady blush growing on his face from embarrassment.

“Oh…”

The four sat in awkward silence for the next few moments. None of them knew where to go from there.

“Ahem…” Tsukauchi grabbed their attention when he cleared his throat. “Should we get going?”

“I suppose the faster we can get this done the faster we can all go home” Shouta stated, starting to walk out of the mall.

“Home..” He heard Izuku whisper against his chest.

“Yeah kid, we can all go to our homes soon. Once we finish at the police station we can get a hold of your mom and go from there.”

“Right..” Izuku replied, turning his head to the best of his ability in the sleeping bag. Shouta watched Izuku as the small boy watched the two men who had tried to abduct him get put into the police cruisers, the annoying one shouting and resisting arrest.

Shouta was about to ask the kid why he seemed so upset to be going home when shouting came from the police cars.

Shouta quickly turned his attention over the scene just in time to watch as the shorter villain managed to get the quirk cuffs off and begin running away from the officers.

The man turned around and shot small beams of light from the tips of his fingers, scorching all it came in contact with. The officers dived behind the cruisers as the beams shot for them, preventing them from getting any closer to the man to arrest him once more.

Shouta was preparing to activate his quirk when the perpetrators quirk vanished, a look of rage and confusion passing the man's face.

He whipped his head around before his eyes fell on Shouta and Izuku, still near the entrance of the mall.

Shouta heard Hizashi and Tsukauchis hurried footsteps approaching him from behind, most likely alerted to the situation by the angry shouts of the villain and the procedures being barked out into walkie talkies from all the officers still in hiding.

“DAMMIT BRAT WHEN DID YOU GET THAT QUIRK?!? AND WTF DID YOU DO TO MY QUIRK!” Shouta looked down at Izuku and almost dropped him when he saw Izuku's eyes open wide, tears forming from the lack of blinking. The few strands of loose hair levitating up in the air as high as they could get when still having most of his head covered by the hood.

Shouta let out a huff of amusement at the sight, Izuku must have copied his quirk earlier when they made eye contact.

“Good job kid.” Shouta congratulated him, earning the attention of Hizashi and Tsukauchi from behind him.

The two men looked over his shoulder at Izuku who was still using erasure.

“WOAH! Shouta he's using your quirk! Oh my Kami! He's a mini Sho!” Hizashi shouted out in excitement while Tsukauchi just stared at Izuku, his mouth open and eyes wide. 

Right, Tsukauchi hasn't learned what Izuku’s quirk was yet. Shouta supposed this would look a little alarming if you weren't in the loop.

“It’s Izuku's quirk tsukauchi, he can copy quirks with eye contact. We aren't sure if it can be switched off, or anything past its basic function and what happens with the quirks.” Shouta explained to the confused man, looking up from Izuku to the scene of officers pining the villain to the ground and putting cuffs back on before successfully shutting him into the cruiser and driving off.

“I see… That's quite the quirk you have there, Izuku.”

“Yeah.. Sir, your quirk kind of hurts to use.” Izuku said, looking up at Shouta before blinking a few times.

“Yeah sorry kid, takes awhile to get used to. How did you know how to use it anyways? That part of your quirk?”

“I’m not sure, when I copy a quirk I just… I don't know. Ugh!” Izuku huffed out, seemingly growing more frustrated when he couldn't think of how to phrase it. “I just know what to do. Kinda, some things are still fuzzy when I use it, and I never know how to use it until I just do.”

“That's so cool Izuku!” Hizashi yelled out, swiftly taking Izuku from Shouta and lifting him into the air.

Izuku let out a little squeak of surprise before giggling along with Hizashi before being brought down into a tight embrace.

“Sorry to break up this touching moment, but we do need to get to the police station and take Izuku's statement if we want to lock those men up.”

“Right. Hizashi stop poking Izuku's face, we need to get going.”

“Aw but Sho! Look at his little cheeks!”

Shouta Ignored his boyfriend and began walking away to their car.

~~~~~~~~~~

They walked into the precinct after a short drive in their car, a tired Izuku stil cuddled up in his sleeping bag.

Having a look around they found the man they were looking for and swiftly walked up to him, after all, this needed to be done before Izuku fell asleep.

“Tsukauchi, we should do this now before the kid falls asleep in Hizashis arms.” Shouta alerted the man of his presence.

“Ah I see the two of you have arrived. Very well follow me. Interrogation room or my office?”

“I think your office would make Izuku feel safer. An interrogation room could be a frightening thing for a child, especially when they’re still half asleep.” Hizashi cut in, nodding his head to Izuku in his arms. 

Tsukauchi nodded his head and turned to leave, silently leading them down the hall to a large door.

He turned the door knob and held it open, allowing Shouta, and Hizashi to enter first with Izuku before he followed behind.

Shouta sat down  on one of the two chairs set directly across from the office desk. Hizashi followed behind him, sitting on the one to his right with Izuku.

“Izuku it's time to come out of the sleeping bag ok? We need to ask you some questions and you can have a nap afterwards.”

Izuku nodded his head to the best of his ability and allowed Hizashi to unzip the sleeping bag. Hizashi unzipped the front zipper, pulled down the hood, and passed Izuku to Shouta while he rolled the sleeping bag up.

As Shouta looked into the green eyes of the child sitting on his lap he realized he had no idea what to do. 

Should he hold him? Hug him? Leave him?

This is why he didn't deal with young kids, they freaked him out… but no way in hell would he let Tsukauchi see his unease at holding a child.

Shouta moved his arms to wrap around Izuku and pull him to his chest to support him and prevent him from falling to the ground.

Hearing clicks of a camera he turned his head to glare at his boyfriend who had his phone out and pointed at the two of them.

Before he could argue with him to delete the photo, a soft click came from the door and Tsukauchi came and sat at his office. 

Shouta watched the man reach into his desk and pull out a recording device and set it infront of the three on his desk.

“Izuku I need to record the conversation, is this ok with you?” 

Izuku looked up at Tsukauchi and nodded his head. “Yes…”

Tsukauchi moved to hit start on the recorder when Izuku stood up in Shoutas lap, using his shoulders as support. 

“Kid, sit down or you’ll hurt yourself.” Shouta warned.

He moved to bring the kid back down into a sitting position, but before he could touch him the kid jumped onto Hizashi beside them. Said man grunted from the impact of the sudden small weight before smiling down at Izuku and wrapping his arms around the now seated child.

Tsukauchi and Shouta just looked at each other, neither knowing what to do at the moment.

“Well then… Now that you seem more comfortable Izuku, let's get this started.” Tsukauchi pressed down on the record button before starting the introduction.

“Saturday June 9th 20XX, 4:45pm. Conducting interrogation is detective Tsukauchi Naomasa interrogating Izuku, family name currently unknown. Present during recording are Aizawa Shouta, and Yamada Hizashi. Izuku please state your full name and age.”

Izuku looked up from the recorder to meet Tsukauchis eyes.

“Midoriya Izuku, I’m uh… I’m five years old…”

~~~~~~~~

“Izuku, can you tell us how this all started?” Tsukauchi asked him.

Izuku thought back to earlier in the day. The park… It was such a fun time he had spent with his mother. Was that really how all this had begun? Because he wanted to go to the park? Was it because of his selfishness that he may never see her again?

Izuku didn't realize he was crying until his head was tilted to the side and Yamada wiped away his tears with a tissue.

“The park… I wanted to go play at the park so mommy took me there. We played for a long time until a lady came up and said mean things about me before mommy stopped her and got mad.” Izuku tightly balled his hands into fists in his lap.

He looked down at them and then back up, this time looking out the window.

He watched a bird fly by and listened to the muffled sounds of traffic through the closed window, allowing himself a moment to think about everything that happened before the mall.

He was grateful no one rushed him to finish and all sat patiently. He was even more grateful they looked elsewhere when he stopped talking to give him some space.

“We left the park after mommy and I took some photos on her phone when I copied mean lady’s quirk…”

Oh that reminds him, he reached into the pocket on his shorts and pulled out his mothers cracked cell phone from within.

“As we were walking she disappeared. We were in front of a dark outdoor hallway kind of thing… So I looked in but couldnt see anything.”

“Izuku do you mean an alleyway?” Yamada asked from behind him.

“I don't know what it's called. It was between two buildings, is that an alleyway?”

“Yes. thank you, please continue when you're ready.” Yamada ruffled his hair. 

Izuku leaned into the touch and Yamada took that as a sign to continue as Izuku spoke again.

“I looked around me and then she came rushing out of the place and grabbed me and ran. We ran for a while with the people chasing before they were gone. But then mommy set me down and told me to run away and not go back home.” Izuku's eyes started to tear up at the memory, it was a lot scarier to be there at the time, but now it just made him sad to think of.

“You're doing so well Izuku.” Tsukauchi spoke, effectively pulling Izuku out of his thoughts. “Is this when your mom gave you her phone?” 

Izuku nodded his head slowly. “She kept saying she loved me a lot, and I didnt want to make her sadder than she was so I ran like he said. I kept running until I heard a big bang from behind me.”

Izuku inhaled a shaky breath before continuing. “I think they hurt mommy..”

Yamada's hand stopped playing with Izuku's hair after he spoke. Izuku looked up to see Tsukauchi stopped writing in his notebook, and Aizawa was looking away from them.

“Izuku… Did your mom say anything else?” Tsukauchi asked, eyes lifting from the paper in front of him.

Izuku thought about their encounter. It was a lot of ‘I love you’ and ‘please stay safe’, what was he forgetting. Oh…

“Mommy…” Izuku gulped down the lump that began to form in his throat the more he talked. “Mommy told me to find help from the police or a hero, and to stay safe…”

Izuku tried to continue but couldnt find the will in that moment to say what the danger was from.

Tsukauchi finished writing down some more notes before turning back to Izuku.

“Izuku, did your mother say what the danger was? Or possibly why you two were targeted?”

Izuku shook his head. “No, mommy didn't say anything about tar-get-ing” Izuku sounded out the words as he spoke.

“Targeting means why they were after you.” Yamada chuckled a little at the way Izuku spun around to look at him like he read his mind. “You seemed a little confused about the word kid.”

Izuku turned back around to answer, seeing as he now knew what the question had meant. “Then yes, mommy said my dad was after me.”

Tsukauchi quickly wrote down the information Izuku just gave him. “Thank you Izuku, do you know your dad's name?”

Izuku tightened his grip, hands now stinging from the crescent shaped cuts from his nails on his palms. 

“My mommy told me my dads a villain. A bad guy. But I don't know his real name.”

“Do you have a name he goes by?” 

“My mommy told me to tell you All For One is after me.”

Tsukauchis face drained of all its colour before he switched off the recorder and ran out of the room.

Chapter Text

Naomasa ran out of his office after he stopped the recording. His mind was racing.

For years they were searching for him and waiting for him to resurface again!

He needed to tell Toshinori about this right now.

He turns the corner into the precinct break room. After doing a quick scan to ensure no one else is in the room, he pulls out his phone and scrolls through his contacts. Finding the one he needed, he hits the call button.

Riiiiiiing.

Riiiiiiing.

Riiiiiiing.

‘Pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up!’

Riiiiiiing

Riiii-

“Hello? Naomasa?”

“Toshinori.”

Naomasa sighs into the receiver of his phone. He brings his unoccupied hand up to his face to pinch the bridge of his nose between his thumb and middle finger.

“I need you to come to the precinct. Now. It's urgent.”

And with that, he pulls his phone away from his ear, hitting ‘end call’ before he ever hears a response.

Kami, he should have made more coffee this morning.

~~~~~~~~~~

Shouta continues to stare at the door Tsukauchi ran out of. What the hell was that?

The man rushed us here so he could take care of the situation properly and then rushed out of the room the moment Izuku mentions the person who's tracking him down?

Does Tsukauchi know who is behind all of this? Shouta had never seen the man so pale, just what exactly should he be expecting.

Shouta turns his attention to Hizashi and Izuku, the former comforting the latter.

When Tsukauchi rushed out of the room Izuku had thought he did something wrong and promptly burst into tears.

Hizashi was now standing in the middle of the room with Izuku held tightly against his chest being rocked back and forth.

It was a little odd to see a five year old being treated like a mother would treat their newborn, but as long as he wasn't wailing those heart wrenching sobs, Shouta wouldn't judge.

The door to the room opened once more and Shouta glared at, who he hoped was, Tsukauchi.

“Sorry for that. I just needed to make a call. We will be joined by another shortly.” The man walked across the room, taking his seat once again and ignoring Shoutas glare.

“Mind explaining the reaction you had to that, Tsukauchi? The kids freaking out because he thought he did something wrong, the least you could do now is an apology and explanation.” Shouta leant back in his chair, crossing his arms.

Shouta turned his head to Hizashi still rocking Izuku in his arms and nodded to the chair beside him. Hizashi settled back down in his chair with a now sleeping Izuku still against his chest.

Shouta sighed at the two before returning all his attention to Tsukauchi.

“I deeply apologize for my behaviour. When Izuku wakes up I shall give him a proper apology.”

Shouta softened his glare and turned to look at the door to the room once more.

“Why did you suddenly run out? Does the name Izuku mentioned mean something we aren't aware of?”

“I think we should wait to talk about that part, I have someone on their way to the station to join the conversation.” Shouta looked back at Tsukauchi with an irritated expression.

“Yes, because I’m sure Izuku would just love more people hearing his trauma.” He rolled his eyes.

Tsukauchi looked at him briefly before blowing over his statement and moving on.

“I did, however, talk to officers while I was out there and have a search party out in the streets looking for Midoriya Inko or any traces where she could be.”

Hizashi hummed in acknowledgement from beside him.

The next few minutes were filled with awkward silence between the three men, the only noises being Izuku's soft snores.

Shouta pulled out his phone and began to scroll through his news feed. The mall incident was already being covered and reported on as they speak, several articles were also published mere moments after they had left the parking lot.

Shouta clicked on one article that was covering the incident when he sees a photo of him holding Izuku against his chest, the boy using erasure on the escaped villain.

Shouta’s blood boiled. Not only did the media jump at the chance for a story, they also published a photo of a victim and an underground hero without anyone's knowledge?

Kami, this is why he can't stand media personnel.

He shows his screen to Hizashi who furrows his brows as he reads the headlines. Once he gets to the photo under the article title his look of disapproval quickly turns to anger.

He turns away from Hizashi and sets the phone face up on Tsukauchi’s desk before sliding it across to the man.

“This needs to be fixed soon.”

Tsukauchis peers down at the phone, frowning at what he sees before sliding it back over to Shouta. “I’ll have an officer talk with the publishers to have it taken down immediately.”

Shouta opens his mouth to thank Tsukauchi when frantic knocking interrupts him.

Shouta’s eyes widen when he sees All Might in civilian clothes enter the room, his electric blue eyes immediately finding Tsukauchi and rushing to his side.

“Naomasa! What's so urgent that I need to come here immediately?!” All Might yelled out once he got to Tsukauchi’s side.

Tsukauchi stands from his chair and lays a hand on All Might's shoulder.

“Toshinori, we have a problem.” Tsukauchi moved his gaze to land on the three seated before him. “This is Midoriya Izuku, Yamada Hizashi, and Aizawa Shouta. You need to explain your quirk and its history to them.”

Shouta rolls his eyes at what Tsukauchi siad. What does All Might’s quirk have to do with Izuku?

All Might or Toshinori, as Tsukauchi called him, looked hesitantly over at them before his gaze fell on Izuku. “Naomasa, I won't tell a child. It's too dangerous.”

“Right yes and that is why…” A knock came from the door once again. Tsukauchi crossed the room and opened it to let Sansa into the room. “Sansa will be watching over Izuku while we talk.”

Sansa crossed the room and took the sleeping Izuku from Hizashi before the latter had the chance to protest. Sansa left the room immediately after, leaving the four men alone to talk.

“Right… well I would like to know why I should tell them before I spill a top government secret?” Toshinori hesitantly spoke as he dragged a chair from the corner of the room up beside Tsukauchis behind the desk.

“Yes I suppose an exclamation is in order,” Tsukauchi sat down in his chair beside Toshinori. “Aizawa and Yamada here found Izuku hiding from two men trying to abduct him at the mall.”

A small gasp escaped Toshinoris lips and the man sat just the slightest bit straighter than he had been before.

“The men were apprehended and no casualties came from the incident,” Tsukauchi continued. He moved his arms into a position atop his desk to support his head in them as he continued on. A fire was a light in his eyes, one hard to miss no matter who you may be. “Izuku told us his father was after him and his mother sent him off to find help while she held them back. We have a team out searching for her but seeing as both men had been at the mall, it's unlikely that we will find her.”

Toshinori hummed and nodded his head along to the conversation as he absorbed new information on the boy, Izuku, from earlier. Toshinori sighed and tilted his head down to the floor, toeing the edges of the carpet under the desk. “That poor boy…”

The room stayed silent for a few moments, the three who had known the situation giving time to the newcomer to fully grasp the situation at hand before continuing on. However before tsukauchi could open his mouth to continue on with his explanation, Toshinori raised his head to look at the detective and spoke first. “Forgive me if this sounds even the slightest bit disrespectful, but this case seems to be a simple attempted family abduction? A government secret seems highly unneeded for a father going to extreme lengths to see his son.”

“Unfortunately after getting Izuku's statement of his side of the story, a simple attempted family abduction is far from the largest problem at hand. For the issue at large, and the reason why you have a role in this meeting, is not simply Izuku's father, but who he is.” Tsukauchi held a long blink as he leant back in his seat before opening them once more. “All For One is the biological father of Midoriya Izuku and is chasing after the boy.”

Shouta and Hizashi, who had remained silent during the seemingly two person conversation, raised an eyebrow and stole a side glance at one another when Toshinori choked on air at Tsukauchis words.

Few people have seen the symbol of peace so fazed, and oftentimes it had been after a particularly hard case with major casualties. Not about a boy's father tracking him down like an owner would a pet.

The hero before them continued to hack on nothing-ness for a few moments more while tsukauchi stood from his chair and walked out of the room. The man returned soon after with a bottle of water in hand which he then passed down to Toshinori who gulped down the beverage in mere seconds.

“Ay uh… you good there?” Hizashi awkwardly cut in. His head tilted in concern as he carefully watched the hero regain his composure. Said hero's face then turned all shades of red when he realized his reaction and gave a brief apology to no one in particular as he screwed the lid back on the empty water bottle in his hands.

Tsukauchi sat back down in his seat behind his desk and nodded his head in the direction of Shouta before tuning and mirroring the action at Hizashi, all while side glancing at Toshinori while he spoke. “This brings us to the reason your story is needed, Toshinori.”

The man swallowed before looking between Hizashi and Shouta and beginning his story. “The beginning of the quirks brought chaos to the world. Human rights became a subject of debate rather than law. Being normal was no longer here nor there and the world couldn't make sense of what this would mean for the future. Amongst the chaos rose a man who gathered together the quikless and quirked alike to form the first real taste of villainy the world would see, his name was All For One.”

Shouta stiffened in his seat. All For One is the name Izuku had given for his father and unless the man's quirk was an age related one, there would be no way for him to stay alive to this day. A copycat perhaps?

Toshinori sighed as he slumped further down in his chair before continuing on. “His quirk allowed him to steal others' powers from them at will. Use them for himself, pass them on, return them, or simply keep them but have them inactive, he could do it all with little consequence. The man quickly overtook Japan and ruled from the shadows.”

“Working in the Underground as a hero, we hear some shady stories from criminals hopped up on drugs or from whispered conversations in alleys,” Shouta said. “The biggest and most confusing one is of a man who is seen as both a miracle and a living nightmare . A man who takes ‘blessings or curses’ and passes them on or bears the burden as said by criminals. However everytime we go to get more information from this, the captured ones are found dead in their cell, or the ones from alleys are never seen again. Are you telling us this isn't just a myth from the underground?”

Toshinori adjusted himself to be sitting upright in his chair once more. “I see you’ve heard of him.”

Shouta gave a curt nod in the man's direction. He was irritated that this had never been brought up to underground heroes. Knowing this information would have been a great help and less confusing when pursuing information from men and women who just babble on about how ‘they musnt know’.

Hell, he had spent nights awake with other heroes attempting to piece together what that meant before all trails were cut and all mentions of the man ended abruptly.

“You see, All For One had a brother,” Toshinori carried on, glancing up at Hizashi and Shouta every so often. “The man was sickly and quirkless, but he was mentally strong and refused to give into his brother's villainous actions. All For One gave him a stockpiling quirk, for good will or with the intention to break him into agreement, we will never know unless we hear it from himself.”

‘Whether he gave him a blessing or curse’ Shoutas mind supplied him, storing the information away for if villains on the street bring it up once more.

“However,” Toshinori started to fidget with his hands, eyes darting around the room looking anywhere but the other three occupants. “The brother had his own quirk, a quirk that was useless on it’s own but when it merged with the one given by his brother, a new quirk was made. One For All. A quirk unable to be stolen.”

Toshinori threw both his arms outwards on either side of his body with force, creating a shape similar to that of a ‘t’. His eyes burned with passion. “All For One and One For All, opposites carved from the same stone with very different intentions behind them.” He pulled his arms across his chest and clasped his hands together before he dropped them limply to his side, and any passion behind those electric blue eyes was replaced with a sad fondness.

“The first user wasn't strong enough to defeat his brother, so he passed it down to another user to continue the fight. User to user, fight after fight, the power continued to rival that of its origin. However it still wasn't strong enough and every user came up short.”

Hizashi gasped from beside Shouta. When he turned his head he saw his boyfriend wide eyed with his hands covering his mouth in shock.

Shouta wasn't that much better off. The only difference in their reactions being Hizashi was more physical when displaying his emotions where Shouta hid his well enough to be difficult to decipher.

“You don't mean,” Hizashi gulped, slowly removing his hands from his face and placing them in his lap. “That all these people died? Do you?”

Toshinori turned his head to look out the window nearby. He gave a solemn nod, tears beginning to form in his eyes before he quickly wiped them away. He turned his head to Tsukauchi beside him who gave an encouraging nod and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder to help him through the rest of the story.

“Eight users, me being the most recent, have all had this quirk. Seven have perished along the way, and now it is my duty to be the next to fight.” his head hung low, staring down into his lap while he fiddled with his hands.

The room was silent while the detective and number one hero allowed the two others to process the information they had just received.

A villain hundreds of years old, a quirk that could be passed on, and now a child being tracked down by the biggest villain to ever poison the earth with his presence. It was a lot to digest in such a short period of time.

Shouta leaned forward in his seat. He dragged a hand down his face as he gave an exasperated sigh into it as it passed over his mouth. To think they had been dragged into something as complex as this by doing something as simple as shopping at the mall.

Seconds turned into minutes, and with it the tension in the room grew with the silence. The clock ticked and tocked, its sound echoing throughout the room loudly as it was the only thing making any noise at this point in time.

The silence was broken after Tsukauchi deemed the time given to be sufficient enough for understanding, as he cleared his throat with a faulty audible ‘a-hem’ and voiced his thoughts. “To this day no one has ever found his civilian name, for he only ever introduces himself by the name of his quirk. Maybe now that we know his son, a blood test can be made and we can finally put an end to his hold on the underground and lock him away for good.”

Shouta took a deep sigh before opening his mouth to agree with the detective before a knock came from the doorway.

The room grew silent once more as everyone looked back and forth between each other, a silent agreement to put a hold on this conversation being made through eye contact and short nods.

Tsukauchi called out to whomever was on the opposite side of the door to enter. An officer with ashy white hair and smokey grey eyes opened the door. His uniform had ‘Watanabe’ written on a small silver name tag located over his heart and white cloves covered his hands, presumably related to his quirk as few officers around the precinct wore gloves with their uniform. In his hands was a small stack of papers that he held rather securely in his arms.

“Ah! Watanabe, do you have any updates on Midoriya Inko?” Tsukauchi called from behind his desk.

Watanabe fully entered the room and closed the door with a soft click behind him. He turned back to face the four men before him. His eyes were filled with dread and a frown tugged at the corner of his lips, threatening his otherwise neutral expression.

The man crossed the room to stand in between Tsukauci and Shouta at the end of the desk and placed the papers he carried down in front of the detective who picked them up and began to riffle through them, his face becoming grimmer with each page he flipped.

“Watanabe please give us a run through of the investigation.” Tsukauchi said.

The officer answered him with a short ‘yes sir’ before he began.

“We brought a team over to Kiyashi Mall to begin the search. Seeing as it's where the boy was found, we deemed it to be the best starting point. We split up into smaller groups for hopefully faster results. My group of 6 went south of the mall before splitting at a cross section, myself and another officer went down a connecting street.”

Watanabe took a moment to collect his thoughts and swallow down any hesitation he may have been feeling. “My partner and I were unfortunately the successful party and called all units down to our location.”

Shouta, who had been keeping his eyes mainly looking at the floor, snapped his head up to look at the officer. The choice of words used were not ones that sat particularly well with him and judging from how Hizashi’s head also whipped up from the ground, he felt the same.

“What we found on the sidewalk was a bullet casing and gunpowder,” Watanabe reached down to the paper the detective still held in his hand and pointed to something Hizashi and Shouta unfortunately were unable to see. But if Toshinori’s reaction was anything to go by, he was slightly relieved they couldn't see it from where they sat. “And next to that, was a concerningly large puddle of blood.” Watanabe pointed at a different part of the paper. Toshinori and Tsukauchis eyes followed Watanabes hand along the paper.

“No body was found at the scene. However, the amount of blood that we found would be too much blood lost for a human to survive.” Watanabe hesitantly and quietly spoke.

Tsukauchi placed the paper down on the desk, giving Hizashi and SHouta the opportunity to lean forward and see for themselves.

The gunpowder was difficult to spot along the pavement, but the blood and shell of a bullet were clear as day in the photos. Shoutas stomach sank slightly. Watanabe had been correct when he said the amount of blood lost would be fatal.

Shouta continued to stare down the page. A woman was now dead as far as they knew, and a villain as old as quirks roamed the streets. However all Shouta could currently think about was fluffy green hair and big green eyes that had just had the worst day of his life and would now have to be one hundred times worse after they inevitably shared the news.

With everyone's attention solely on the paper, no one noticed or heard the door slowly creak open and soft footsteps entering the room before it was too late and Watanabe was speaking once more. The atmosphere was thick with his next words.

“Midoriya Inko has been pronounced dead.”

And only now did the adults in the room finally notice the arrival of the newcomers when sniffles and broken sobs filled the moment of silence. Heads whipped towards the door to see Izuku stumble back into Sansa behind him. Sansa’s paws covering Izuku's ears but ultimately failing to block out the words that just crushed the poor boy's world.

Shouta stood from his seat, as did every other man in the room upon seeing the boy standing there with a panicking Sansa.

Hizashi rushed forward and swiftly scooped Izuku into his arms and cradled him on the floor against his chest. Muffled screams were soon heard as the boy mourned the loss of his mother.

Watanabe and Sansa left the room quietly as Izuku continued to scream and cry and curse the world with all his might. Before he knew what he was doing, Shouta was seated beside Hizashi and was running his fingers through the boy's wild hair, comforting him the best he could.

Kami, this kid just couldn't catch a break.

Chapter Text

Izuku uninterestedly looked around Aizawa and Yamada’s living room. The two had decided to take him in as a foster child for the time being while they tried to find a safe place for him to go when he's still being hunted down.

The walls were a dreary beige and few picture frames garnished the walls, the opposite of his apartment with his mother. At his real home there were family photos and memories on every wall.

On the couch to his side three cats laid lazily. A white Persian cat was sleeping draped over the back of the couch, one paw batting at the air lazily as it slept. A second cat, this one a one-eyed grey Siberian, was perched on the arm rest. Still awake, its one eye followed Izuku's every move with caution to the newcomer in its home. And lastly, the third being a calico kitten. It was curled up near the grey one against the arm rest, sleeping peacefully and blissfully unaware of Izuku’s presence.

Izuku walked further into the room, stopping in front of a large photo hanging on the wall above a short cabinet against the wall with a young looking Aizawa and Yamada accompanied by an Indigo haired girl, a navy-blue haired boy, and a boy with fluffy baby-blue hair.

Three of them were posing and smiling at the camera while young Aizawa was on the floor in the background. You can clearly see him tangled in a grey scarf, a quirk powered glare flashing at three of them. The navy haired boy was crouched beside him, pulling at the scarf in an attempt to free him while also laughing.

Izuku kept his face blank as he looked over to the two men who watched him curiously.

“How did Aizawa get caught up in a scarf? It also looks really hot out, why was he wearing one?” His voice came out low and cracked, still sore from screaming.

Aizawa crossed his arms and leant against the wall behind him. “It's a capture weapon.”

“Why are you wearing one?” Izuku pushed further.

“My quirk isn't one that is particularly good with combat.”

“Why do you need to… the thing you said?” Izuku struggled to repeat the word.

Aizawa tilted his head to the side, one eye-brow raised in a questioning manner. “Combat?”

“Yeah…” Izuku gave a slight nod of his head over to Aizawa. His green curls fell across his face as he did so.

“It means fighting, kid.” Aizawa huffed out a sigh. “And it was in hero school, fighting is a necessity on the job.”

Izuku looked between Yamada and Aizawa, not quite sure what to say now.

Izuku loved heroes. Had he met these two before today he would have been bouncing off the walls to get an autograph or draw them for his mother to later put up on their refrigerator.

Had it been any other day before this one. But it wasn't. So, he wouldn't.

Izuku nodded his head at the answer before glancing back at the photo to study it for a moment more. He turned his head back with his next question ready.

“Who are they?”

Yamada crossed the room to stand beside him. His electric green eyes alight with something akin to fondness. A small smile present on his face as he stared longingly at the photo Izuku had pointed out.

Aizawa, however, averted his gaze and pushed himself off of the wall, walking away from the two of them and into the next room over.

“Those are our friends Nemuri,” He pointed to the girl with wild Indigo hair. “And Tensei.” He pointed to the dark-haired boy beside Aizawa in the background. “We all went to UA together in our second year.” Yamada spoke slowly, the fondness from his earlier expression now seeping into his tone as he spoke of his friends.

Izuku stayed quiet for a few more moments as he studied the photo in more depth than he had before when his eyes met the remaining person that hadn't been mentioned before. His curiosity only grew when it became clear Yamada wouldn't give any information on the boy if Izuku didn’t directly ask for it. And so he raised his small arm and pointed it outwards to the boy beside Yamada. “And him?”

The man beside him dropped his arm to his side. Izuku looked up to see Yamada’s eyes now clouded over in sadness. His smile was less present than it had been seconds ago.

“That was our friend Oboro.”

“Was?” Izuku returned his eyes trained on the boy in the photo. Blue hair that looked soft to the touch and the most joy-filled smile Izuku had ever seen present on anyone's face looked back at him. Blue eyes filled him with comfort and a sense of belonging when he looked into them.

Izuku reached his hand out to the frame, fingertips lightly brushing over the glass where Oboro was located.

“Oboro got into an accident during a work study in our second year at UA.” Izuku dropped his hand to his side, immediately brought out of his daze by Yamada’s words.

“Unfortunately, he didn't make it out, Shouta was the one to find him…” Yamada said. Memories of screaming children, crashing concrete, and a black casket with a single painted cloud containing his lost friend's name painted within flooding the hero’s mind.

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Izuku quietly spoke. The eyes in the frame now seem less lively to him than they had before.

“Thanks kiddo, but it's in the past now. All we can do is move forward with him in our hearts.”

Izuku raised his hand to his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath it. Yamada was right about that. No matter how much you want to change the past, all anyone can do now is move forward with the people they love in their heart. So Izuku will do the same.

Whether it be Yamada and Aizawa wanting their friend back, or him longing for his mother’s warm embrace, none of them could bring back the ones they truly wished to be with.

“C’mon kiddo let's go check out the rest of the apartment.” Yamada called out softly to the somewhat dazed boy beside him.

Izuku nodded his head and followed the older man around the apartment. He followed him through the living room to the kitchen, and the dining room. He followed him down the hallway leading to their bedroom with the bathroom across the hall, and finally they arrived at what was to be Izuku's room.

Each room they had visited seemed, for the most part, to be the same. Beige walls, few decorations and photos atop them. Everything neat to a point with nothing to be seemingly out of place or not in its element. In a way Izuku felt like the house resembled that of a doll house more than a place where a family would live.

Izuku opened the door to see bare beige walls. The corner of the room had a cleared work desk with a reading lamp on its surface, a stool tucked underneath. Black Curtains with white trimming flowed in the breeze coming from the open window. A double bed with black sheets was set against the far wall, a white painted nightstand with three candles on it to its side. A painting of a Sakura tree hung overhead.

Izuku focused on the group of three candles on the nightstand. Each one lit inside their class holders of differing height. He watched the flames dance around in the jars, flickering close to extinguishment from the breeze coming in through the window.

His chest felt a slight tug at the sight of the candles burning, but he pushed down the feeling and scanned the room once more.

“Sorry it's not much kiddo, but when you're ready we are able to go get stuff from your old place to put here.”

Izuku crossed into the room, sparing the blonde a raspy ‘thanks’ as he passed by. He made his way over to the nightstand and pulled his mother’s phone out of his pocket, placing it down in front of him.

Looking over his shoulder he saw Yamada still waiting by the door, eyeing him with a sad expression on his face. The man offered a slight smile before pulling the door closed as he left.

Izuku walked over to the desk and silently pulled the stool over to the side of the bed. He pushed himself onto the stool, and from there was able to get into the bed.

The flame of the candles flickering mirrored in Izuku's dull green eyes as he watched on in silence. The earlier tug returned to his chest.

Small puffs of smoke emitted from the tips of the flames, only adding to the tugging in his chest. So finally, he gave in to what his quirk instincts were telling him, and he allowed the tugging sensation to release from his chest and spread throughout his body.

Activating a new quirk would forever remain strange to him. The feeling itself could be uncomfortable depending on how long he refused to activate the quirk.

Izuku didn't flinch when the smoke from the flames began to flow over to him in majestic wakes and twirls, his quirk already giving him a sense of familiarity with the quirk. Said familiarity allowed him to understand the basics.

Smoke manipulation quirk:
Allows users to manipulate smoke from flames.

Well he supposed that was basic enough…

Izuku rolled onto his back, allowing the smoke to wind around his lifted arms.

Izuku laid motionless and thoughtless for several minutes in silence before a rumbling sound broke the peace.

It was then that Izuku remembered he hadn't eaten since lunch earlier, and after running for so long he was even hungrier than he normally would have been.

Izuku closed his eyes and thought of the last meal he had had with his mother. Her bento boxes made with extra love, her smiling face when he had somehow gotten rice in his hair, and the sound of running water from the kitchen when they had finished eating.

Opening his eyes again, he saw the smoke no longer trailed up and down his arms in a lace-like fashion. Now he saw the smiling face of his mother, the exact bento box from lunch that day, and water running from a tap resembling the one in their apartment's kitchen.

Tears began to form in the corners of his eyes and sniffles were soon to follow. He brought his arms down to cover his face with his hands as he curled up into a ball on the bed, losing control of his quirk in the process.

Smoke started to be sucked from the candles on his nightstand until the candles blew out from the intensity of the pull, creating even more smoke to be pulled over. Smoke began to cover him like a warm blanket, wrapping comfortingly around him.

Fire alarms began to go wild as the smoke accumulated over Izuku as he sobbed into his hands to muddle the noise.

Shouting came from the kitchen of the apartment from both of the men who had brought him here.

‘What the…’

‘Sho! What if it's a ghost!’

‘Zashi… it's not a ghost dammit. Did you leave your hair straightener on again?’

‘Nope! Not this time.’

‘Ok what about candles. Any of those lit?’

‘Just in Izuku's… room…’

A shriek was heard from outside his room and before he knew it, the door was slammed open and both men came rushing in.

Izuku felt the absence of his quirk, causing him to look up from his hands to see Aizawa’s eyes glowing past the now clearing smoke. He blinked once at the man before lowering his head once more to stare at the now put out candles. Hot wax cooling in puddles at the bottom and smoke still trailing from the unlit wick.

Footsteps approached his bedside. His eyes stayed focused and unblinking at the candle as he was lifted into the air and into Yamada’s hold. He merely adjusted his head to keep his view of the candle.

“It was the officer's quirk… the one who said that…” He cut himself off and shoved his face into Yamadas shoulder, hiding the sniffles and muffling his sobs.

Yamada’s hold on Izuku tightened protectively. He sat down on Izuku's bed and rubbed small circles on Izuku's back as he hugged him.

Aizawa followed behind him, sitting a little further away from the two of them. He was visibly uncomfortable with being in the room at the moment and opted to keep quiet, offering an awkward shoulder pat to Izuku which Yamada promptly pushed his hand off and shook his head. Aizawa merely shrugged at him.

Aizawa stood from the bed after a few minutes of sitting there motionless. Without saying a word he left the room and returned to the kitchen.

“Hey Izuku?” Yamada whispered down to the boy in his arms, sniffles and sobs finally coming to an end.

Izuku hummed in acknowledgment, not removing his face from Yamada’s shoulder.

“Are you ok?” Izuku shook his head.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Yamada frowned slightly when he received another denying shake of the head from Izuku.

“How about… we go to the kitchen and get some food?” Izuku nodded his head against Yamada’s shoulder.

They stood from the bed and the man carried Izuku out of the room and down the hall. He watched rooms and the occasional picture pass him by as they walked further from his new room.

Entering the kitchen, they were greeted with the sight of Aizawa cussing about as he ran across the room attempting to save the boiling over rice, the burning chicken, and the already burnt broccoli. He slipped on a fallen rag on the floor as he turned to run back over to the rice, falling to the floor and knocking over a pitcher of water. Water poured out over Aizawa who didn’t bother to get up, opting to stay laying on the floor as water poured on him and all hell broke loose on the counter.

Izuku and Yamada stood in the doorway with a shocked expression on their faces as they stared at the man lying on the floor. Aizawa sighed and turned his head over to them, his eyes widening when he noticed the newcomers by the door. He scrambled to stand up from the puddle but once again slipped and fell to the floor, groaning as he made contact.

Yamada snickered at the sight before them and put Izuku down in favour of crossing the room, avoiding Aizawa's glare and the mess all over the floor, and proceeded to pull a slip out of an envelope magnetted to the side of the fridge.

Yamada pulled out his phone and dialed in a number before setting the paper back and talking on the phone.

Izuku looked away from Yamada and walked over to Aizawa to help him off the floor. The man took his hand gratefully and pulled himself up. As he was about to thank the boy for helping him, clattering metal could be heard and everyone's attention snapped to the rice. Its lid was clammering up and down on the rim of the pot, the sound of metal on metal filling the air as hot water flew in every direction. The sound of sizzling water of the burner filled the air, accompanied by a thick scent of burning.

A hand flew over to the stove and turned it off before any further damage could occur and both the black haired man and green haired boy whipped around to see Yamaha with his arm outstretched over the pot and turning off the burner before casually resuming his call as if the kitchen hadn’t been close to setting a blaze mere seconds ago.

Yamada turned to face them, smirking as he made eye contact with the black haired man beside him as the two stared at him with open mouths and wide eyes.

————

Apparently Yamaha had decided to order take out instead of cooking up an entire new meal.

Once he had hung up the phone the man walked across the room and hit Aizawa over the head with a wooden spatula he had picked up off the counter as he passed. Forbidding Aizawa from any future cooking attempts in ‘his rocking kitchen’ he spun on his heels and left the two other occupants, and the huge mess yet to be cleaned, behind him.

Dinner was quiet as the three of them sat around the table in the dining room, yet no one bothered to make conversation as they ate. Izuku was immensely grateful for this fact as he was in no mood to talk about earlier events or anything in general.

Chopsticks softly clacking together accompanied by quiet slurps filled the room before Izuku finished his food and thanked the other two men before excusing himself to return to his room for the night.

Izuku opened the door to his bedroom and walked in, shutting the door behind him. The scent of smoke still stubbornly hung in the air. Izuku lifted his hand to his face and vigorously fanned the air around his face to no avail, as doing so only brought more to him. He pulled the hem of his shirt up to his nose as he crossed the room to the bed and picked up the stool he had used earlier to climb onto his bed.

Izuku struggled to carry the stool to its destination, but with a plentiful amount of effort and alternating between carrying the stool and covering his face to breath, he arrived under the window sill.

Izuku tilted his head backwards to fully look at the window before taking another deep breath into his shirt and hoisting himself up onto the stool. He reached for the window in front of him and unlocked it at the side before pushing upwards on the glass with all his might as it opened slowly with his efforts.

He continued to push until enough space was between the bottom of the open window and its sill before he removed his hands from the glass, leaving small hand prints behind before he stuck his head out and relished in the fresh air that hit his face. Minutes passed as Izuku kept his head out in the soft June breeze, his green curls softly hitting his face and forcing his eyes shut to keep his hair from hitting them.

He thought of the day he had just had. What was supposed to be a fun day away from the mean kids at school turned out to be so much worse than a few simple bullies. Izuku squeezed his eyes tighter when he felt the familiar prick of tears behind his eyelids. He hopped down from the stool leaving the window open behind him as he returned the stool to beside the bed where it had previously been and climbed it yet again.

As Izuku laid in bed he stared out the window at the darkening sky, watching as dusk passed and the sky became black with twinkling stars painting across it. His mind ran wild with memories of bedtimes with his mother he will never have the pleasure of reliving, of the stories he would never hear again, and the soothingness of her voice as she sang him to sleep on particularly hard nights.

He bunched the covers surrounding him in his fist as he curled his body into as small a ball as he could manage before opening his mouth and receding the words of a song he longed to hear come from someone else to calm him. Someone who he knew would never sing for him again.

“Hands… put your empty hand in…. Mine..” Izuku sang out softly. “And scars, show me all the-” He was cut off by a sob that got caught in his throat as tears began to fall in steady streams down his face before pooling on the sheets below his chin.

He stuffed his face into the pillow as he continued to cry, attempting to stifle sobs in the pillow but not being fully successful as he broke down.

He cried over the loss of his mother, the loss of his friends, the loss of his life as he knew it. Now he had to live with two men he didn't know, the fact they were heroes be damned. The fact they saved him be damned. They weren't his mother and he was alone no matter what people told him.

His tears slowed the longer he cried until he sniffled once more and unfolded his body slightly to look out the window once more.

As he stared at the moon Izuku called on something within him and not long after felt the still foriegn feeling of bone structures rearranging in his body and new sensations on his body as it grew and morphed into one that was not his own. He felt the end of the bed with his toes as his legs stretched to a new length and pulled them up to his chest.

He lifted his hand to his hair and parted it to let a small section fall over his shoulder so he could see the added length and straightness of the hair.

He felt the clothes he had been wearing shift into new ones that he vividly remembered enough that he could see them when he closed his eyes, removing the need to look down to confirm his transformation into his mother.

He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around himself before he started once more, in a voice not his own but more comforting than anything he has ever known. He sang with the voice of Inko Midoriya, and for a moment he let himself forget that it was him singing and not truly was it his caring mother.

He opened his mouth and started from the beginning once more.

“Hands, put your empty hands in mine.” Her voice sang smoothly through him. He listened to the song being sung and let the nostalgia wash over him. The phantom embrace of his mother holding him in her arms provided a comforting warmth in his heart. “And scars, show me all the scars you hide. And hey, if your wings are broken please take mine ‘til yours can open too.”

Izuku remained silent for a few moments, simply going through his memories of his mother in his head. A sob ripped through his throat before he sang the next line of their song. A line he had found comforting and a line that had been an unspoken promise between them was now nothing more than a lie and a reminder that nothing good ever lasted for him, that all good things come to an end for him. It was a reminder of all he had held close only to lose.

Still, he allowed the words to pass through his lips before he slipped into a sweet dreamless sleep. “Cause I’m gonna stand by you…”

On the other side of Izuku's door, Hizashi Yamada stood with his forehead against the door and silent tears falling down his face as his boyfriend laid a hand on his shoulder. Both men were content to merely stand in each other's company as they listened to the small child break. So close to them, but just out of their reach.

Chapter Text

Silence is good, Izuku thinks as he lays in the room he had been given. No, this was not his room. His room is filled to the brim in hero merchandise, not cherry blossom paintings. His room has photos of him and his mother in the spaces that aren't occupied by All Might's blinding smile, here all he had was her cracked phone and memories. Home was quiet, and he liked home, therefore he liked quiet. His mother was a soft spoken woman with the exception of the times she got worried for his sake and burst into flowing tears and hurried words to calm them both down, but when that wasn't happening their house was relatively quiet.

This new place only seemed to be quiet in the dead of night before he fell asleep to a whole other brand of silence in his dreams. Dreaming allows him to block out the world around him in real life where bad things happen to good people and forces them to leave their children behind to live with people they don't know. 

So it shouldn't be a surprise when the silence falls away and he's awakened to screaming. Pure. Fearful. Shrieks. Of horror. 

He lifts the covers off of his body and hurriedly runs out of the room, bumping into the door frame as he passes in his haste to get out.

Were those men back again? Did they come to take him? Or was a new threat making itself known to him. Did he need to run away again, have those men protect him like at the mall only for him to run away like his mom told him to and then get the news later that day that they had die-

He runs past the kitchen only to abruptly stop after passing the entrance. Without moving his head from where it was looking in front of him, he slowly backpedalled to the kitchen door, and then ever so slowly turned to look at the scene before him.

There were no new men in the house. No dangerous threat. No blood, or weapons, or bullies. Just an ant. A little black ant runs around the counter avoiding Aizawa trying to smack it to the best of his ability with one of his slippers while Yamada clings onto his back for dear life.

“Kill it! Get it out, Sho!” the blond man yelled from his perch, pointing at the insect as it avoided death by the slipper once again.

Aizawa gave up on squashing the bug for the time being but still tracked its movement with its eyes while he addressed his human backpack. “‘Zashi,” he gave an exasperated sigh “I can't kill it with you hanging onto me.”

Aizawa shimmied out of Yamadas hold on him. The latter slid down the others back almost comically before shrieking again when another ant curiously made its way over to him on the floor.

‘Oh,’ Izuku thought ‘he was the one shrieking.’

Yamada jumped to his feet and ran past Izuku, not even noticing the boy standing by the doorway before running to his room and slamming the door behind him.

With free range of his movement, Aizawa continued to kill off any ants he saw around him before putting his slipper back on and turning to face Izuku.

“Oh,” the man said “good morning.”

Izuku simply nodded in response to his greeting before entering the room and standing awkwardly by Aizawa. The man only looked down at him and blinked before going to pour himself a cup of coffee.

Izuku saw another ant crawl up the side of the counter and curiously watched it move around. It crawled up over the edge of the counter and dashed past the coffee pot where it made its fatal mistake. Aizawa saw the small insect and promptly squashed it under the bottom of his coffee mug before he sluggishly moved to wipe it off with a paper towel.

Izuku continued to watch Aizawa putter around the kitchen drinking his coffee while squashing the occasional ant that dared cross his path as he made his way to a cupboard across the room and pulled out two jelly pouches, offering one to Izuku. He took it, muttering out a soft ‘thanks’ and began to slurp the contents of the pouch.

“You don't talk a whole lot, do you?” Izuku startled at the sudden question but shook his head as a response anyways.

There wasn't anything he felt that he needed to say or that he wanted to talk about. His tongue felt heavy and opening his mouth seemed like too much work to speak. He was more than content to let other people talk for the time being.

Aizawa hummed and took a big sip of his coffee before making his way over to the dining area and sitting down, gesturing to the seat across from him for Izuku to sit down as well. He obliged and hurriedly walked over to join him.

The two allowed the silence to carry on for a little longer before Aizawa began to speak again. “I know you probably don’t want to be here, but we’ll go at your own pace and make this as easy for you as we can. Ok kid?”

Izuku nodded.

That ended the conversation and the silence quickly overtook the room again. Izuku finished his jelly pouch and fiddled with the trim of his shirt  to entertain himself while Aizawa finished his own breakfast. 

Izuku began to notice that Aizawa would glance at him when he thought Izuku wasn't looking his way. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat as the minutes passed and the glances became more frequent. Aizawa took a final sip from his coffee before setting the now empty mug on the table and turning to actually look at Izuku, not just glancing at him from over his mug in short intervals. He opened his mouth to speak and Izuku straightened ever so slightly to listen to him.

But Aizawa never got a chance to say whatever he was going to because right when the man began to speak, a loud scream ripped through the apartment, effectively startling both of them.

Yamada came running out of the room and leapt across the dining table, knocking Aizawa over with him as he babbled nonsense while letting out the occasional shriek.

Izuku stared wide-eyed at the two on the floor, slowly blinking as he tried to comprehend what exactly was happening. 

Now Izuku has seen a lot of things in his short life. Kacchan once blasting himself into a wall when he aimed his explosions too low, learning his mothers name isn't ‘mom’ (and boy had that been a crazy surprise), and even watching a man repeatedly try to enter his home before simply crawling through his window. Actually now that he thought about that one, it was probably a robbery and he just watched. Izuku mentally shrugged. Oops. Anyways, seeing two grown men, pro heroes no less, sprawled out on the floor after one all but shrieking like a mad man and pouncing on the other, is a whole new brand of crazy and definitely not something he expected to see. Ever. not once did he ever expect this, especially over what he could only assume was another ant.

Izuku looked away from the men for a second and directed his eyes to the empty juice pouch he had set on the table and narrowed his eyes in irritation. Dammit, he couldn't even have a normal breakfast at this new place.

“SHOUTAAAAAAAA!!” Yamada screamed loudly without the use of his quirk, ignoring Aizawa trying to gently push his face away from his ear. Izuku winced in sympathy. How had Aizawa not gone deaf living with this man? “THERE'S ANTS EVERYWHERE! ANTS, SHOUTA!”

Yamadas face was contorted in a mix of disgust and terror as he continued to panic on top of his boyfriend, either still not aware of Izukus presence, or simply choosing to focus o the bigger problem. Which were apparently, to him, ants. Of all things for a pro hero to be scared of. Izuku almost smiled at the thought of a man who has faced numerous villains being so deathly afraid of ants. 

Izuku tuned back into the others' conversation when Aizawa finally managed to get Yamadas death grip off of him and sat the two of them up, rubbing comforting circles on the others back as he sighed and pulled out his phone from his pocket.

“I’ll call some exterminators when we go to the kids' apartment. They should be done when we get back.” He grumbled slightly as he dialled in a number on his phone and began speaking to who Izuku assumed to be the aforementioned exterminator. 

Izuku sat up a bit straighter in his seat at the mention of his apartment. He hadn't thought he'd be able to go back after everything, and was fully prepared to make due with only having his mothers old phone and whatever she had on it.

But now he was hearing he could go back? Even if it was only for a few minutes. Even if he could only grab a few things before being ushered back out the door to face things he had never had to before, with people he had never known before yesterday, he was grateful and beyond ecstatic.

Tears began to build up in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away but more and more came too fast and with too many and he couldn't stop them all. Soon the two other men  noticed and their attention was now solely on him as his tears turned to sniffles and harsher sobs. 

Yamada stood from where he was on the floor and quickly walked over to Izuku and sat down with him, rubbing his back in a similar way that Aizawa had done for him. When he began to calm down the man scooped him up and sat him in his lap before rocking them side to side while holding him close to his chest.

A small part of Izuku was ashamed to admit it, but it was comforting and he made no attempt to push Yamada away from him.

Aizawa and Yamada stayed quiet, letting Izuku cry out his emotions and giving him a tissue to blow his nose when he had finished crying and was calm again. He looked up across the table to Aizawa who was now done on the phone and watching him patiently. 

Izuku sniffled again and began to speak. “Are we-” he swallowed and cleared his throat when it came out scratchy and quiet before trying again “are we really going to my house?” he asked hopefully.

Aizawas face softened slightly and nodded at Izuku. “After Hizashi has eaten his breakfast and we’ve all gotten dressed and ready, Tsukauchi, the officer from yesterday, will meet us there and we can get anything you’d like.” He paused and gave Izuku time to speak if he’d like but when he didn't get a response, he continued. “Does that sound like something you’d like to do Izuku?”

Izuku nodded his head rapidly.

Izuku heard Yamada chuckle and felt the vibrations from the man's chest on his back, a reminder he was still sitting in his lap. Izuku's face flushed a deep red and he instantly stood from where he was and rushed back to the guest room, Yamadas laughter and soft chuckles from Aizawa followed him back to his room only to be muffled when he shut his door.

He let his back fall against the door and slid down it until he was seated on the floor. He was going to get to see his home again.

The beginning of a smile began to tug on the edges of his mouth but he immediately slapped his checks lightly to prevent it and stood to get ready for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~

Izuku opened the door to the room and walked out into the hallway, tripping every few steps on the pant legs that were far too long for him. The decision for Aizawa and Yamada to bring him to their home was spontaneous, meaning Izuku had no real clothes his size. 

He found a pair of pants and a t-shirt in the smallest size he could in the dresser drawers in the room he was using, but even though they were the smallest ones available, they were for an adult and much too big for him. The pant legs he had to kick in front of him with each step he took and the shirt he wore was down to his knees and hanging loosely off his shoulders. He had to pull on the neck line every so often to keep the shirt on and not sliding down his body to the floor like the pants wanted to do.

He waddled down the hall with his hands bunched around the waist of the pants to keep them from falling down until he reached the living room. 

When he entered the room the first thing he noticed was that he was alone. Well, not completely. The calico kitten he saw yesterday was curled up on the couch and watching him with their head tilted to the side. Izuku made his way over to the couch and sat beside the cat, sticking his hand out to allow the cat to sniff his hand and begin to familiarise itself with him. 

The kitten sniffed his hand for a few moments before deeming him safe enough to get closer and snuggled its head against his hand. Izuku blinked at the action and when the kitten began to nibble his hands in protest, he realised what it wanted and began to stretch behind its ears.

A floorboard creaked from where Izuku had entered the room and he whipped his head up, startling the kitten in the process and resulting in it running out of the room. “aww! “ Izuku whined at the loss of his furry friend's presence. He watched it leave before looking at the newcomer and giving the most displeased look he could muster.

Aizawa wasn’t the least bit bothered by his stare and walked over to the couch to sit beside him anyways. “You like cats?” the man asked from beside him.

Izuku nodded his head after he made sure Aizawa was watching to see if he gave a response.  Aizawa hummed. “Her name’s Alley”

“Allie?” Izuku questioned.

“Yup. Though it's not the name you might be thinking. We found her in an actual alley so that's what we named her.” Aizawa shrugged at the end of his explanation while Izuku just looked at him with a judgemental stare.

“That’s not a very fun name.” Izuku stated.

A snort came from the entrance and both of them turned to see Yamada watching from the doorway, a fond expression on his face as he watched the two. “You’re right kid, but Shouta here sucks at choosing names and for the life of him can’t choose anything with pzazz.” 

Aizawa stood from the couch and Izuku took that as his cue to join and follow to get his shoes on, but he forgot about how long his pants were and immediately tripped when he tried to step forward.

Aizawa caught him before his face smashed the ground and righted him once again, giving him a once over for injuries before looking at the large clothes and turning to Yamada. “Scissors.”

Izuku's eyes widened and he began to flail his arms around wildly “N-no you don't have to cut anything!” he flailed his arms in front of his body as he tried to pursue the men to simply leave the pants the length they were. It didn't work. Yamada returned with the scissors and handed them to Aizawa. “Really! You might need them for guests or another person! I can’t ask you to do this!” he tried again before jumping back when Aizawa reached out for the pant leg.

“Kid,” Aizawa sighed heavily as he ran his hand without scissors down his face. “There's plenty of other pants in that room for people but we need to get going and can't have you tripping and getting hurt, ok?”

He held out his hand for Izuku to take to guide him back over safely without falling. Izuku hesitated before taking the offered hand and going back over.

Izuku watched Aizawa begin to trim the pants around where his ankles were and put the scissors on a table nearby when he was done. The cutting was a little uneven but they would work until they got Izuku his own clothes.

“Sorry…” Izuku mumbled as he kicked at the ground sheepishly.

“It's fine kid.” Aizawa said as he stood up again and began to walk to the front door to put his shoes on.

“I feel bad though”

“Don't worry kiddo!” Yamada called out as he made his way over to Izuku and held out his hand for him to take, which he did immediately. Yamada beamed at him when he did this and led Izuku over to his shoes and helped him into his bright red running shoes before doing his own.

With one final scan around the apartment and grabbing their keys from off the hooks, the three of them left the apartment and locked the door behind them.

They walked through the hall of the floor they were on until they reached the elevator and took it down to the parking garage where their car was. Aizawa helped Izuku buckle up in the back, grumbling to Yamada about how they needed to get a carseat soon, before going to the driver's door and getting in.

The car's engine roared to life when Aizawa turned the keys and Izuku watched as the dim orange lights of the underground parking gave way to bright sunlight as they left the parking lot and drove down long roads filled with bustling traffic. 

People walked along the sidewalks either by themselves, with pets, friends or partners, or children. Families who walked by left a sour taste in his mouth and left a horrible envious feeling in his gut before they drove past them.

One family.

Two families.

Three families.

Four families. 

After the fifth family Izuku had to turn his head and watch the clouds go by instead of the people. Big fluffy white clouds filled the sky with all sorts of shapes and sizes, not passing the sun enough to cover it and darken the area. These types of days were always his mothers favourites. 

One rule they had in the house was that unless one of them was sick or at school or working, days like this were outside days and were to be spent together doing activities. It was one of his favourite things his mom did with him, so he was glad he could be outside today and be able to keep this rule going, even if she wasn't here and even if Izuku was only going from one apartment to another before going back inside.

The last thought made him frown deeply and he looked down at the car floor instead of out the window. Too many reminders filled the streets. Too many things he could never do with his mother again.

After driving for some time and Yamada singing along to the radio, they arrived in a familiar neighbourhood and soon saw a familiar building looming over their car as they parked in a visitors parking space and made their way to the doors. The detective from yesterday was there and waiting for them, he gave Izuku a smile when they approached.

“Hello Izuku, how was your first night with the Aiyamas?” He asked with a small smile on his face.

Izuku looked at him confused before looking at the two men beside him. “Aiyamas?”

Yamada looked down at him with a big smile and pointed between him and Aizawa hastily. “That's us! Tsukauchi gave us that name a few months after we met him.”

“Which is ridiculous if you ask me.” Aizawa grumped from beside him, giving Tsukauchi the stink eye.

Tsukauchi smirked at him before he replied, “what is it you always say?” he tapped his chin with his finger in a mock pondering pose before looking back at Aizawa with a mischievous gleam in his eyes “It’s only logical?”

Yamada yelled a loud ‘HA!” at Aizawa who just muttered quietly under his breath.

Izuku brushed past the men and entered his building, walking through to the starwell and beginning to hike up the stairs to his floor and turning down the hall to his door. He heard the other three scramble behind him quietly.

He lifted his hand to the wall and allowed his fingers to brush against the familiar ridges and grooves in the wall as he walked further down the hall to his door. 

They all stopped in front of his door, no one speaking as they let Izuku gather his thoughts and go at his own pace.

“The apartment is getting cleaned out later,” Tsukauchi said from behind him. “They're giving us about an hour to get whatever you’d like from here before the authorities come by to clear out the rest.”

A hand came down to rest on top of his shoulder before Yamada spoke “If there's anything you need help carrying, or getting just let us know ok Izuku?” 

Izuku looked up at the men behind him, each one with soft eyes and a reassuring expression on their face. “Ok.”

And with that, Izuku turned the knob and opened the door to his home, taking a moment to relish in the moment of everything he’s ever known coming into view once more. The photos on the wall, a plant of two resting on shelves or side tables, the non existent colour scheme that made the house feel more welcoming and less like a store window display. 

He walked further into the apartment and immediately walked past his room and headed to his mothers. 

“You guys go with the kid, I have to start looking for his legal papers in case they get tossed later when it’s getting cleared out.” he heard Tsukauchi say from behind him. Aizawa and Yamada both gave some form of affirmation before following Izuku into his mothers room.

“Need help with anything?” Aizawa called from the doorway.

“Not in here.” Izuku spoke quietly, too afraid to disturb the peacefulness of his mothers room.

“Well,” Izuku turned around to look at Yamada as he spoke. “Would you like us to get your room cleared out for you?” 

Izuku nodded his head. Yamada beamed at him before ushering Aizawa out the room, ignoring the laters protests, and closed the door behind them. 

Izuku closed the door after they left and looked around the room. It seemed so much emptier than it had been yesterday. The curtains were open, letting in a bright light that illuminated the majority of his mothers room, shining gleams onto picture frames and casting shadows behind furniture. 

He jumped on his mothers bed, feet swinging over the edge as he bounced a few times before the mattress adjusted to his weight. It was a lot more comfortable than the one at the ‘Aiyamas’ house. He briefly wondered if they'd let him take it with them but shot the idea down quickly. They were already taking care of him, bringing unnecessary things into their home was where they would surely draw the line.

The alarm clock beside the bed blinked the time back at him. It had been five minutes. Fifty five more until he was never able to return here again and everything they couldn't grab would be tossed. He jumped back out of the bed and got to work.

Pictures his mother had hanging up around the room were grabbed first and placed on the bed for him to put into a bag before they left. One by one, photo by photo, wall by wall, the room began to look a little emptier, less homey. 

Stacks of picture frames piled up on the bed before he moved to grab other things he’d seen his mother love when she was still with him.

While cleaning, Tsukauchi had stopped by a few times to search the drawers and closet for his papers before finding what he was looking for and moving on again. Neither spoke to each other during those times, both opting to continue their own searches in peace and leave the other to their thoughts.

By the time Izuku was finished packing up what he could take with him from his mothers room he had gathered all the pictures of them that hung on the walls, her jewellery box given to her from his grandma before she had passed away when he was young, books that he had watched her re-read over and over again (even if the majority of each book was words he didn't understand or couldn't read yet), and finally an art book that he found tucked away in her night stand filled with designs or doodles.

Yamada and Aizawa stopped into the room to help him pack things into big garbage bags and place them by the front door while Izuku stood in his mothers room for the last time, drinking in the memories of early morning and waking her up to play with him, or crawling into her bed when he had a nightmare for her to soothingly fun her fingers through his wild hair until he fell asleep in her loving embrace. 

He turned on his heel and walked out the bedroom door, pulling it closed with a ‘click’ before walking off to help Yamada and Aizawa in his room before he had to leave the apartment for good. 

The halls and rooms of the only home he’s ever known have never felt so bare.

Chapter Text

Kayama Nemuri, despite what her hero persona ‘Midnight’ suggested, absolutely adored children. No, not in that way, she wasn't a pedophile and was absolutely disgusted that anyone would believe as such. What she meant was that she loved caring for them. It was one of the main reasons she had accepted her former principal’s offer for her to join UA as a staff member. While she honestly didn’t know how she felt about having her own someday, she was thrilled to discover she could be the fun loving aunt to her best friend's new foster child.

The kid was small and adorable with a wild green mop of hair on his head and the most pinchable freckled cheeks she had ever seen. A smile was all he was missing, so it became her personal mission to make him beam brighter than the sun. 

Shouta and Hizashi had to leave for the afternoon to discuss Izuku’s case with the detective, so they left him in Nemuri’s care reluctantly before scurrying off to the station. Which was ridiculous, if you asked her. They've known her since they were second years and they dare be unsure of her? How rude of them.

The kid had looked at her skeptically before she suggested taking him to a nearby ice cream shop a few blocks away. Watching as the unsure look in his eyes washed away and was replaced with eagerness before practically dragged her out the front door.

Needless to say, Nemuri knew this kid was adorable. Her point was only further proven as she looked to her side to see the kid frantically trying to kitten lick the sides of his cone as more chocolate ice cream dripped down its sides and coated his hands. The warm sun beaming down on their bench outside the ice cream shop made this task difficult for Izuku as no matter how much he turned the cone over in his hands, more dripped down on the opposite side for him to try to quickly spin it around and lick it up again. 

He was eating so fast that his face was now covered in the sticky dessert and she had to hold in her giggles at the scene as he pouted at the cone before going back to stop the dripping. 

He finished his ice cream, long after she had finished hers, and was a sticky mess. She gave in and laughed, causing the boy's face to scrunch up in confusion.

“Why are you laughing?” He asked her timidly, eyes narrow in suspicion.

She pulled out her phone, opening the camera app and snapping a photo before flipping the camera for him to use it as a mirror. “Kiddo, you even got some in your eyebrows! How on earth did that happen?”

Izuku blinked in surprise before wiping at his face, forgetting his hands were also a mess, making the whole thing worse.

Nemuri dropped her phone in her lap and took the boy's hands gently in her own to stop him from further smudging his face with drying ice cream. “Hold up, buddy! You’re making it worse.” She dropped one of his hands and brought her own up to her mouth, licking her thumb before wiping away the smaller parts that were too close to his eyes.

“Ewwwww~!” Izuku batted away her hand from his face and stuck his tongue out in disgust at her action.

She laughed again. “Well had you not made it worse I wouldn't have needed to do that, now would I?” she raised an eyebrow at him before shaking her head fondly and standing from her spot. “I’ll be back, ok kid?” She waited for his nod of acceptance before ruffling his hair and walking into the store to get a pack of wet wipes from the counter before returning to him outside. 

She opened a package and handed it to him, helping him when he missed a few spots before standing to throw them away in the trash can, just inside the shop entrance.

“Ready to head back to the apartment, kiddo?”

Izuku tilted his head down, seeming to shrink slightly into himself. She waited for him to give her a response at his own pace, after all, she just met the kid and rushing him was a sure fire way for him to clam up around her. She wanted to be the fun aunt, not the scary one.

A bird chirping close to them drew Izuku out of whatever he had been thinking and he looked up to watch the bird as it flew by them and into its nest on a corner beam, under the cover of the shop.

He turned his attention back to her, more sure of himself this time and asked her a question. “My mommy and I had a rule for days like this.” 

Nemuri blinked and sat down on the bench beside him again. “Oh? And can I ask what the rule was?” she prodded further.

Izuku bit slightly at his bottom lip as he fiddled with his hands in his lap. “Nice days were supposed to be outside days. Can we not go back yet?”

Nemuri softened her gaze at him and took one of his hands in hers, slowly standing from the bench, causing Izuku to rise with her. “Of course we can, hon!”

She looked out across the road in front of her. There wasn't a whole lot to do around this area, only one or two small parks that were often crowded and a walking trail circling the park. She told him as such but he was perfectly content with merely circling the park a few times along the trail, that's where they set off to.

They crossed at the intersection and onto the pathway at the park, Izuku's little hand gripped firmly on her own as she led him around.

All was silent between the two as they walked. Trees rustling and far off children playing, filling the wordless silence they have created for themselves. 

Nemuri didn't like silence.

“How do you like living with Aizawa and Yamada?” she kept her gaze forward, side eyeing him a little while waiting for a response.

Izuku hummed at her side, “you mean the Aiyama’s?” if that wasn’t a teasing undertone in his voice then Nemuri would finally admit to being old and hard of hearing.

She scoffed a little at that, not unkindly of course, rolling her eyes a little when she remembered the only other person who ever calls the two men as such. “Ah, you’ve been hanging out around Tsukauchi too much haven’t you?”

Izuku blushed beet red from beside her and sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck, “only a little,” he whispered softly.

“Well then how's living with the ‘ Aiyama’s’ ?”

His grip on her hand tightened slightly as he tensed beside her, lowering his gaze to the path and kicking at some pebbles in their way.

“They’re ok I guess.”

She was proud to say she could revoke her earlier statement of possibly getting too old now because she was sure if any other person was the one talking to the kid, they wouldn’t have heard what he said with how softly he spoke.

She hummed, “Not great then?”

She jumped back a little when he ripped his hand from hers and shook both of them in front of his body while wide-eyed. 

“No, no! They've been great it's just…” he dropped his hands to his side, clenched in fists and shoulders hiked up to his ears as he tensed up again.

Well shit. Nemuri mentally cursed herself for making the kid shrink back on himself again, the opposite of what she had been trying to do.

Regardless, she allowed him time to think it through and give her a response if he’d like to. 

A sniffle came from Izuku and he wiped at his glistening eyes to rid the tears threatening to spill from them.

“I miss my mommy.”

Nemuri stooped down to her knees and gently brought the kid into her chest for a hug, placing his head over her shoulder gently and rubbing one hand on his back while the other rested in his hair. Small arms hesitantly reached up to  wrap around her back and return the hug. 

“Do you want to talk about it sweetie?”

Izuku nodded against her shoulder and she stood up, taking his hand in hers and leading them to a bench off the trail under a tree's shade where other trail walkers couldn't hear their conversation. 

“Kayama?” Izuku called out to her.

“Oh please, call me Nemuri.”

“o-oh , ok. Nemuri, do you still talk to your mommy and daddy?” 

Nemuri took a moment to think back a bit. Her father had passed away when she was young, leaving her and her mother alone early on in Nemuri’s life. She didn't remember much of him, only really knowing him from old videos and photos or old memories missing chunks from having slowly been forgotten over the years.

Her mother had been the one to watch her grow. She helped her in school, supported her dream of heroics, and had been the only one at the time to believe her when some boys at school had gotten too handsy with her.

All in all, who she was today was really because of her mother and her support throughout her life. Even now she still likes to video call with her once a week for updates on each other's lives and text her when she needs advice.

“My mother, yes.” She replied to the boy waiting patiently beside her.

“What about your daddy?”

“My dad died when I was young, around your age I believe.” Silence engulfed the two for a few moments.

Izuku kicked his feet in the air, swinging them up and then under the bench again in thought.

“Was it hard?” he asked after a few moments.

“Mmm,” Nemuri pressed her lips together, thinking of what to say to the boy. Saying she didn't really remember him could cause the boy to panic about forgetting his own mother in the future, and that wasn't something that needed to be weighing on his shoulders. “It was at the time, especially for my mother, but I grieved and eventually it became easier to deal with.”

Izuku tilted his head to the side in confusion. “What do you mean? Doesn't it hurt?”

“It did, yes,” she replied softly. “But it eventually becomes less and less over time. I learned how to accept what happened but still carry with me the memory of him.”

“So the pain will go away?” The desperation in that one little question broke Nemuri’s heart a bit and she swiftly pulled the boy into another hug, holding him tighter than she had before and speaking softly into his ear.

“Yes,” the one word had Izuku crying again in relief, shoulders shaking as sobs wracked his body and he clung onto her like a lifeline. “And we’ll all be here to help you through it, ok?”

Izuku stumbled over his next words a few times before he could get them out between his sobs. “Ok, thank you.”

Nemuri lets Izuku cry on her shoulder for as long as he needs, both of them merely enjoying the comfort the other brought, before walking back to the apartment to play with the cats until Hizashi and Shouta returned home from their meeting.

~~~~~~~~~~

Briefing rooms always sent mixed signals to Shouta’s brain. They had a quiet atmosphere most of the time and smelled like coffee. That was the enjoyable part. But the darker side of the room was the information disclosed in its walls: murders, kidnappings, and other crimes that took years to grow accustomed to seeing upclose to be able to stomach.

Shouta had been in these rooms for all sorts of reasons. Working the crimes that he did, and at the time of night that he did, often meant he dealt with the grit and grime of crime that people often overlooked because it wasn't a flashy villain fight that a hero like All Might could punch his fists at to make it go away.

But never had Shouta had to be in the room as the guardian of a victim. Never had Shouta had to work alongside the number one hero as they hunted down the location of a centuries old villain that was after his child. Never before had Shouta had to deal with knowing a National secret over a quirk that was passed on like some sick version of hot potato.

Never, never, never.

God, what he would give for some normalcy right about now.

“Wait, wait, wait! Pump the brakes there!” Hizashi shouted a non-quirk amplified shout from beside him up to Tsukauchi at the front, currently paused mid pose, pointing to evidence on a board as he caught everyone up to speed on Izuku's case.

A gray haired man with a cape adorning his yellow and white hero costume, Sansa, All Might, Shouta, Hizashi, Tsukauchi, and a green and yellow haired man who All Might had Introduced as his sidekick.

“You’re telling me that the body not only disappeared,” Hizashi continued on, leaning forward to press himself against the table the more worked up he got. “But that there’s nothing to suggest the body was moved at all?! ”

Tsukauchi gave a short and serious nod at the front of the room. “Precisely. Midoriya Inko has been pronounced dead. Based on the blood splatters, DNA collected, and nearby security footage, she was shot in the head.”

Tsukauchi pointed to a few photos pinned on the board, one of a bullet casing laying on the sidewalk, one of blood splatter lining a building off of the sidewalk, and one of a gruesomely large puddle dripping from the sidewalk into the roads and running into a nearby sewage drain.

“Based on all the quirks the old fucker stole I wouldn’t be surprised if he had a few teleportation ones here or there.” The silver haired man, Gran Torino as he had introduced himself, spoke up.

All Might's sidekick, Sir Nighteye, hummed and nodded his head in agreement. He pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose with one hand and looked at the evidence board. “This is a man who killed seven previous users of a quirk just to get his hands on it and, at one point, ruled over the entirety of Japan. We should have expected something like this. We should also be more focused right now on questions that don’t have such a simple answer.”

Rude. Shouta glared at him from his seat. This would be a long meeting and an even longer case. He prayed for his sanity that once it was over he would never have to associate with the man again.

Gran Torino snarled at Nighteye and kicked his leg under the table, eliciting a shocked yelp from said man. “Watch it, boy.”

All Might and Nighteye simultaneously shuddered. Shouta liked this man.

“Right…” Tsukauchi said unsurely from his spot before pulling out a remote and pointing it at a small tv in the corner and pressing play. “This is security camera footage from an apartment building across the road from where it happened. It captured the entire event for us to see.”

Everyone in the room held their breath as they watched Izuku and his mother run frantically from the men chasing them before Inko stopped and handed Izuku her phone, speaking to him and giving a tearful goodbye. Then Izuku hesitantly ran off on his own, leaving Inko behind and running in the direction of the mall.

Shouta felt something tighten in his chest as he watched the mother and son pair part from each other for the last time, dragged apart too soon from one another by a man's cruel greed. It was sickening and Shouta hoped Yagi would let him have a chance at kicking the man's ass when it came time. 

Shouta turned to Hizashi to see him scowling at the screen when the two men caught up to Inko, questioning her before pulling out a gun and ending her life. One bullet and one pull of some criminal's finger was all it took for a boy to be left alone and confused as his whole world collapsed around him.

His heart went out to the boy. Izuku had truly seen things no five year old child should have to.

Tsukauchi fast forwarded the video and paused before hitting play just in time to watch Inko Midoriya’s body seem to lower into the sidewalk, leaving everyman in the room slightly confused.

“Is there a different view of the situation?” All Might called, brows furrowed in frustration at the whole ordeal.

Sansa and Tsukauchi both shook their heads together, Sansa speaking up. “No, we’ve checked every footage on the street but none were high enough up for us to see what was going on.”

Shouta squinted his eyes at the screen. There was a small thing that was inconsistent with the rest of the sidewalk that hadn't been there before the body began its descent. 

“Wait ,” Shouta spoke, cutting off whoever had been speaking. “Look there.” He stood from his seat and walked to the screen, pointing at a slim dark purple spot near Inko Midoriya’s half disappeared body.

Tsukauchi rewound the video and played it again. The purple moved. And grew slightly the more Inko sank before dissipating when she was no longer visible.

“A quirk…” Gran Torino breathed out. “We have our transportation method now.”

“Yes, but now we need to figure out more about said quirk-” Nighteye was cut off by a knock at the door.

It opened and another officer came in, whispered in Tsukauchis ear and left afterwards.

Tsukauchi frowned at the news he was given and turned off the tv while gesturing for Sansa to cover the evidence board.

“I’m sorry to end this here, but there’s another case that I’m needed for in an interrogation. I’ll email you all at the next meeting time, good day gentlemen.”

And with that, he and Sansa left the room, leaving the remaining men to gather their things and make their way out to the parking lot.

Hizashi and Shouta said their respective goodbyes with each individual before getting in their own car and driving home for the night.

“So,” Hizashi started after a moment of uncomfortable silence. “What do you think of the new developments?”

Shouta scoffed from the passenger seat, never looking away from where he was glaring out the window. “If I ever get the chance to, I’m beating the bastard to a pulp.”

Hizashi chuckled beside him. “Agreed.”

And with that they drove the rest of the way home in silence. Upon entering their apartment they were greeted with the sight of Nemuri and Izuku cuddled up on the couch watching a movie, all three cats laying with them.

Hizashi cooed at the sight before taking off his shoes and jacket, plopping himself on Izuku’s other side and joining in on the cuddle. Shouta huffed fondly at the sight and took a discreet photo before joining them on Nemuri’s other side, and watching the rest of the movie all together.

Chapter Text

Five months. Those are the words taking up his mind as Izuku crosses off another date on the calendar in the room he’s been staying in. Five months that he’s been with Aizawa Shouta, and Yamada Hizashi. Five months since his mother left him to figure out a path alone, with a quirk that feels more like a burden than the blessing the whole population makes it out to be. 

In the span of five months Izuku learned the limits of his quirk. It couldn't be used to copy someone else's if that person was wearing something over their eyes, and mutant type quirks were also a no go for him. As for a quirk already added to his personal library, their drawbacks applied to him as well. He found this out when using Aizawa’s quirk on Yamada when the man saw a moth outside and he got dry eyes after a few minutes of on and off quirk use. 

Outside of his quirk, he was removed from his previous school when the Aiyama’s noticed the plethora of small scorch marks to his clothes and skin or injuries that were too distinguished to be a playground accident. Applications to new schools littered the entirety of the dining table, forcing them to eat their meals on the couch in the living room.

In his five months of staying here his birthday also came. While his past birthdays were spent with his mother and the Bakugou’s as they opened presents and cut into an All Might shaped cake, this one was obviously different in a multitude of ways. Yamada came into his room early in the morning and threw balloons in the air, and Aizawa made pancakes for breakfast. It was a normal morning so far.

That is, until Nemuri came flying through the apartment door with gifts piled high in her arms. She had dropped them on the couch and ran to Izuku, lifting him high in the air and spinning him until the world spun along with him.

Loud and energetic people were no new territory for Izuku. He grew up with the Bakugou’s, where two out of the three were hot headed and never liked to be quiet for long, so the sudden outburst from Nemuri coming through the door wasn’t as surprising as he expected it should have been. What was surprising, however, were the two new people who quietly followed her into the apartment.

The dark  blue haired man from the photo in the living room that Izuku saw on his first day, entered the living room holding a gift himself. Following him was a boy whom Izuku could only describe as a miniature version of the first man but with glasses and a more serious expression. 

Yamada had introduced the two newcomers as Iida Tensei and Tenya and promptly shooed the two kids over to the couch to talk.

Tenya, from what Izuku could see, was not as sociable as his brother. While Tensei enthusiastically spoke with his friends in the kitchen, Tenya and Izuku sat in awkward silence for what had felt like an eternity before Izuku suggested they play heroes in his room.

That was when Tenya seemed to open up a little more, being more fun as they flew their action figures around the room. Safely, might he add. Tenya showed his appreciation for rules, safety, and realism when he set boundaries for their figures in terms of ability to keep the figures from harm.

The birthday song was sung, the cake was eaten, the presents were opened, and the guests left. Yet, despite it having been his birthday, and despite now being six years old, Izuku still hadn't smiled once. Not even when Izuku opened a present from Yamada and Aizawa with three printed and framed photos of him and his mother from their last day together at the park, when Izuku used a new quirk. Instead it left his face in an even deeper frown as he lifted them gently from the box and thanked them while tears streamed down his cheeks.

No laughter to fill the air, no small upturn of his lips during one of the rare happy moments he’s spent here. He could see that Yamada and Aizawa were getting concerned from the way Yamada would deflate after a failed joke, or the way Aizawa would look at him expectantly during a domestic moment together. But he couldn't. It wasn’t like before where he chose to not smile or laugh because whenever he thought of doing so, guilt consumed him at the thought of being happy without his mother. No. He’s tried, he really has. 

He spent nights in front of the bathroom mirror to stare at his reflection when everyone was asleep. His mind would wake him by playing sick images of his dead mother in ways he didn't think he could have imagined, and he would make his way to the bathroom attempting to replicate his mothers smile on his impassive face. A smile that Mitsuki Bakugou would pretend to shield her eyes from to hear his giggles when she deemed his smile too bright for her. A smile that he began to fear he would never see reflected back at him again. Because no matter how he tugged at the corners of his mouth to lift them into a smile, his eyes gave it away. The forced smile would only fall when he removed his hands and let them drop back down to his side.

He had even begun searching the internet for smile related quirks in hopes he could use his own to bring it back. However the idea was quickly scrapped. Not only did he have no means of getting to the various cities with reported quirks that he was looking for, but actively seeking out a quirk for such selfish reasons left an uncomfortable pit in his stomach that he really didn’t enjoy.

Now months after his birthday, Izuku looked into the mirror in front of him and tugged at the corners of his lips for the final time this morning, only mildly disappointed when the forced smile refused to stay glued together after he let go. 

A knock at the door followed by Aizawa’s reminder to finish up soon had him hurrying to half-heartedly brush through his matted curls and join the two other men on the couch for their breakfast.

A hero documentary was playing on the TV when Izuku enters the room and slots himself between Aizawa and Yamada. Yamada pulls Izuku into his side with one arm while balancing his plate in the other.

“Good morning Izuku!” the man beams down at Izuku when he awkwardly hugs back with one arm. “Did you sleep well?”

Izuku shrugs, “Fine, I guess.”

He doesn't miss the way Yamada’s smile dims slightly and the loosening of his side hug or Aizawa’s sigh from beside them. A plate handed to him from Aizawa works well to distract him from the guilt he feels at not being able to provide the response they so badly want from him. 

A good night's sleep, and a smile. That's all Izuku’s ever known these men to want from him while he’s been here, yet no matter how hard he tries to smile and fails, he thought he could at least give them the other. 

“So, I was thinking,” Yamada starts up a conversation again when it’s clear the last was too far dead to recover. “Sho and I were planning on baking today, would you care to join us?”

Izuku paused to think for a moment. Baking was a calm activity for the most part and always had a good end result. Despite wanting to crawl back to his room and sleep longer to shake the bone-deep tiredness he felt from another nightmare interrupting him, he couldn't find the words to turn it down. After all, who would turn down the chance to bake?

He opens his mouth to respond when he’s reminded of the sight of Aizawa fumbling about the kitchen on his first night and ruining the food that had been cooking while he was with Yamada in his room. “I thought Aizawa wasn't good in the kitchen?” 

Aizawa scoffs a little at that and gently nudges his shoulder with his elbow. “I can’t cook to save my life but baking? I can do that just fine. So what do you say kid?”

“What are we making?”

Izuku almost drops his food when Yamada squeals in delight and launches himself to swoop Izuku and Aizawa into a big hug, squeezing them all together until the other two were frantically tapping his arms for release.

~~~~~~~~~~

True to his word, Aizawa turned out to be a pretty decent baker in Izuku’s opinion. He was no Yamada of course. Yamada proved his skill with each step while they made the cake. From egg cracking to pouring the batter, he always took it a step further and did a fun little trick to show off for Izuku.

With one cake in the oven, they began to work on the next. 

“Hizashi, can you grab the next cake mix please?” Aizawa called over his shoulder from his spot at the counter beside Izuku.

Hizashi did an energetic finger gun accompanied with a wink and a, “you got it Sho!” before turning to the cupboards and bending down to riffle through their contents.

Izuku put his hands on the edge of the counter and stood as tall as he could to peer into the bowl of ingredients Aizawa was beginning to mix together, wanting to help but too nervous to ask.

The older man seemed to have noticed this because soon his hand made its way to the top of Izuku’s and helped to guide him in front of Aizawa’s body where he was then lifted by his armpit’s into the air.

“Can you see into the bowl now?” Aizawa’s gruff voice came from behind him.

Izuku nodded and then an egg was being gently placed into his hand, and his weight was shifted to Aizawa’s hip so he could help Izuku hold onto it.

“Do I get to crack it?” He asked timidly from his new perch on Aizawa’s side.

“Mhm.”

“I don’t know how to crack an egg.”

“Then let me show you.” Aizawa removed one of his arms from where it was resting under Izuku’s leg for extra support and picked up an egg of his own. He cracked it over the edge of the bowl hard enough for there to be room for him to pull it open with his hands. “I’ll need your help for this one, I can’t open an egg with one hand like Hizashi can. Will you help me?”

Izuku reached over to the egg Aizawa was holding and gently grabbed on to the other end of it, “Okay.”

“Thank you, now hold on tight,” Izuku squeezed the egg tighter with his little fist before Aizawa corrected him. “Not that tightly, we don't want shells in the batter.”

Together they opened the egg and watched its contents spill into the bowl before Aizawa allowed Izuku to try on his own.

He had to hit it off the bowl a few times since the first ones were too weak to completely crack it, but eventually he cracked it enough for him to push down on the crack and open it like Aizawa had shown him before. Sticking his tongue out in concentration, Izuku managed to get the egg in the bowl with no shells falling in; however, he did manage to get a fair amount of yolk covering his hands.

“I did it!” Izuku exclaimed with pride.

“Awesome!” Yamada popped up beside them and inspected their shared work, a nod of approval sealing their judgement. “High five kiddo!”

Izuku side eyed Aizawa who merely smirked encouragingly at him, and before Yamada knew it, his hand was smacked with one covered in raw egg.

“Oh that was just cruel you two!” He yelped as he took Izuku from Aizawa’s arms, careful to not get any egg on his clothes, and then took them both to the kitchen sink to wash off the yolk covering their hands.

While Izuku and Yamada cleaned their hands in the sink, Aizawa began to take the cake mix from its box and cut open the bag.

When Izuku was set down after his hands were washed, he peered into the oven to check the progress of their first cake. The batter was still fairly uncooked, having not been in for long, and Izuku frowned at the lack of change from when it first went in.

“Why’s it still small?” He asked with a pout, eyes never leaving the baking cake.

Yamada chuckles behind him, and he’s once again scooped up in the man's arms and then placed on his hip. One of Yamada’s arms holds him securely in place while the other lovingly pokes his stomach in an attempt to tickle him and make him laugh.

“It’ll rise, Izuku! You just need to have patience.”

Aizawa turns to them and rolls his eyes fondly at the sight before giving a deadpanned “hypocrite” to Yamada and turning around once more, ignoring his boyfriend's undignified squawk of protest.

Yamada turns his attention back to Izuku and smiles down at the boy in his arms. “Don't worry kiddo! When we take it out the cake will have gone boom!” He threw his free arm out in an exaggerated gesture of an explosion, whacking Aizawa in the face when the man had turned around, bowl in hand, to hand off the mix for Yamada to begin working on with Izuku.

In a state of shock and at the suddenness of the hit, Aizawa throws the bowl in the air and sends the flour-like mixture everywhere. He scrambles to catch the bowl again quickly and sets it on the counter before turning to stare at their new disaster of a kitchen. 

Frozen, with his mouth hanging open, and arm still spread out in its previous gesture, Yamada stares at the kitchen floor covered in cake mix. The mix covers the cupboards, floors, counters, and the clothes of those in the room. Yamada looks at Izuku and pauses again when dust fills the air at the movement, cake mix falling from his hair and rims of his glasses.

Aizawa groans in annoyance and merely sits down on the dirty floor in acceptance. “How, Hizashi?”

“I- Well- Agh!” Yamada groans and slumps down to the floor with Izuku.

Izuku pushes himself away from Yamada slightly to get a better look of the mess on the floor surrounding them. Slowly, he reaches his arm down, causing Yamada to have an awkward hold on him, and begins to play around with the cake mix.

“Izuku? What are you doing?” Izuku doesn't respond to Yamada's question, instead he leans back up and boops the man's nose, leaving a small fingerprint of dust behind.

Yamada sneezes, throwing his head to the side to sneeze into his unoccupied elbow that wasn't holding Izuku. More dust fills the air as cake mix unsettles from Yamada’s hair. A chain reaction of sneezes follows from everyone in the room, causing even more mix to fly into the air and settle only to be thrown back out when the sneezes continue.

“Oh this is-” Aizawa is cut off by himself sneezing once more “ridiculous!” He fans at the air with his hand and quickly stands from the floor to get away from the thick cloud of powder slowly filling their kitchen.

Yamada quickly follows suit and lifts himself and Izuku up to get away from their sneezing fits.

Izuku hides a fist full of cake mix he had grabbed before being lifted up behind his back, waiting for the next perfect time to strike.

“Oh you're a little devil now aren’t you?” Yamada playfully chides him with a boop to the nose.

“No I’m not.” Izuku says innocently, tilting his head to the side to sell his act.

Aizawa rolls his eyes and ruffles his hair roughly, not about to fall for the six year olds obvious act. “Uh huh.”

“This is going to take forever to clean.” Yamada whines as he looks around his once spotless kitchen.

“Well, it’s your fault.” Aizawa flicks his boyfriends forehead as he passes them to grab the broom and begin cleaning.

Chuckling nervously, Yamada, being the optimist he is, tries to make the situation more enjoyable and less chore-like, “Oh c’mon Sho! Think of this as a family bonding activity!”

Something about that sentence makes Izuku’s heart warm slightly in a way he hadn't felt for months. As much as he didnt want to admit it. As much as he didnt want to think that maybe he needed to move on. These two men really are his family now, aren’t they?

And maybe, just maybe. Izuku was starting to like the sound of that.

Aizawa returns with the broom, a small hand-held blue one that would take forever to clean this mess. Izuku wonders why they didn't have a bigger one to use, after all with how many accidents seem to happen in this house it seems like it would be a great investment.

He watches as Aizawa bends down to begin sweeping and deems this the perfect time to use his secret weapon. Quickly before Yamada can realise what he’s doing or Aizawa can stand back up, Izuku is throwing the little handful of cake mix he has over Aizawa’s head and absolutely loving the way the room is instantly thrown into stunned silence.

Aizawa slowly stands up and turns to glare at Izuku, there's no real malice behind the glare but Izuku pulls himself closer to Yamada slightly, playfully sticking his tongue out at Aizawa.

When the man turns his attention to his boyfriend, the man is only greeted with loud belly laughs as Yamada bends at the waist laughing. Izuku clutches onto him harder to keep from falling to the floor as Yamada's shoulders shake and he struggles to keep a handle on his volume.

“Oh you think that’s funny do you?” Aizawa squints and scoops down, picking up two large handfuls of cake mix and waiting for Yamada to right himself upwards again before showering the two in powder.

Izuku shrieks in surprise at the sudden ambush now clouding the air, and it’s Aizawa’s turn to chuckle at the sight of two pairs of green eyes blown wide.

It doesn't take long for a three front war to break out in their kitchen. After Izuku wiggled out of Yamada’s hold and onto the ground, he began repeatedly throwing handfuls of cake mix at the adults and using his small size to his advantage to dodge and hide from their counter attacks.

Pans were taken from their hanging points on the wall to be used as shields and spoons were used as precision catapults to launch at each other from across the room.

Aizawa threw cake mix at Yamada, only for the man to swing the fridge door open and hide behind it until the assault halted. The handful that was intended to hit Yamada splattered across the inside contents of the fridge and Izuku could only watch as Aizawa’s attacks became more frequent when he noticed his jelly pouches had been caught in the crossfire.

A sense of belonging filled Izuku as he watched his new, what could he even call them now? His fathers? Parents? He didn't know but he liked the sound of both of them. The feeling he hadn't felt in months, one he had been trying to force for so long and that he never thought he could have again, began to bubble up inside him. The corners of his lips twitched in an attempt to raise a smile and Izuku stood still, encouraging the action to fully continue and allow him to smile again.

The door to their apartment slammed open as Yamada had thrown another handful at Aizawa. The latter man ducked and the cake mix went soaring through the air and exploded across their guests face as she opened her mouth wide to give an exaggerated greeting to the family.

No one moved, no one spoke, no one breathed. Everyone in the room knew they had just sealed their doom when they completely coated the R-rated hero, Kayama Nemuri, in cake mix…

The woman raised one hand to her face and slid it down to get as much powder off her face as she could, face scrunched up and eyes wound tight to stop it from compromising her vision.

When she had cleared enough to be able to open her eyes again, she looked back and forth to each person in the room before halting on Yamada’s still raised hand and guilt stricken face.

“Yamada,” The aforementioned man squeaked in distress and ran to hide behind his boyfriend as the woman stalked dangerously across the house, closing the apartment door behind her with a threatening ‘click’ “Hizashi. What did you just do?”

“It was an accident, Nemuri, I swear!” He said, peeking meekly over Aizawa’s shoulders.

Nemuri looked around the kitchen at the disaster of a mess and at their dirty powder coated clothes. “And look at Izuku! He’s covered!” 

She rushed over to him and roughly scrubbed at the powder on his face like his mother used to do. Izuku squirmed to get away from her hold as he continued to try and clean his face.

When she deemed it clean enough for now she turned her attention back to the other men and ran over to them. She took the wooden spoon Aizawa had been using as a catapult and began whacking them each on the head with it.

Watching Aizawa and Yamada be berated by Nemuri was the final push Izuku needed and he burst into laughter, a smile so wide it hurt his face as it practically split in two.

God, Izuku had forgotten how good it felt to laugh.

Nemuri stopped beating on her friends and said friends stopped shielding themselves as they stared at the boy in disbelief before each smiled with him. Yamada shed happy tears as he ran forward to scoop the boy into his arms and laugh with him. Soon after the other two followed along and they were all smiling and hugging together, in a kitchen filled with cake mix covered floors and furniture, a family bond was sealed between the four.

~~~~~~~~~~

After their moment together Nemuri had gone back to scolding her friends about the mess they had all made and forced them to clean it all together while she used their shower to rid herself of the cake mix. She then stole Aizawa's clothes as hers went in the pile to be washed.

She returned to supervise their cleaning and sent Izuku off to clean himself up as well, only allowing Aizawa and Yamada to do the same when they had finished cleaning up the rest of the kitchen.

The cake in the oven had been long forgotten in their chaos and only remembered when Izuku mentioned the burning smell steadily filling the air. Nemuri rushed to get it out of the oven.

It was burnt to a crisp, and not a single part of it was able to be salvaged. 

While Yamada mourned the lost cake as he threw it out, Izuku gathered all the blankets he could find in the house and threw them on the living room floor before belly flopping onto the pile.

One by one, the adults joined him by his side and they spent the rest of their day watching various movies together until late into the night when they each gave into sleep at their own time. 

It wasn't until the sixth movie, a pre quirk era Disney movie entitled “Hercules.”, Izuku finally fell asleep, cuddled up to his new family.

Chapter Text

Izuku and Yagi sat in an awkward silence in the living room of Aizawa and Yamada’s apartment. Aizawa had been called in for his patrol earlier than normal, and Yamada’s radio show was starting again tonight after having taken a break to allow Izuku time to settle. This meant Izuku needed a babysitter.

Izuku had prayed Nemuri would be the one to come watch him. She was his favourite to hang out with when he needed someone to watch him, and she always knew what to do to make him smile. However, Nemuri was on a date tonight, and while he knew that she would drop it in an instant to come watch him, he couldn’t do that to her.

Enter Yagi Toshinori. The last resort that Aizawa and Yamada had taken, and the only one who had picked up his phone and was also available. He was also the only person that had been in the room when he learned his mom was dead that he hadn’t seen since hearing the news. Izuku would be lying if he said that it had nothing to do with the thick tenseness of the air, and his momma didn't raise a liar.

“So… have you ever heard of football?” Izuku shuffles further away from the man on the couch and judges him silently.

Yagi sees this and quickly corrects his mistake with a muttered ‘nevermind’ and the room is thrown into tense silence again.

Yagi bounces his leg nervously and shakes the floor with his strength. The two cats that had been laying on the carpet in the room go scrambling out, and Alley, who had been sitting in Izuku’s lap, practically flies to get away from the sudden shaking of their home. Izuku glares hard at Yagi until the man halts his fidgeting and coughs into his fist.

“What about heroes?” 

Now they’re talking.

“I love heroes!” Izuku bounces back to his previous spot on the couch at Yagi’s side, stars shining in his eyes.

Thankful for the conversation topic, Yagi turns to face Izuku. He pulls his long legs up onto the couch and crosses them, turning his full attention to Izuku.

“Oh yeah? Who’s your favourite hero?”

“All Might!!” Izuku yells out, pumping his fist in the air to mimic the hero's victory stance as emphasis. Yagi puffs his chest out with pride and copies Izuku’s pose with his hand raised high in a fist. “But lately Present Mic and Eraserhead have started to bump you out of that spot.” And just like that Yagi, and his pride, deflate all at once.

“Do you want to be a hero when you’re older too?”

“Of course I do!” Because what child did not want to be a hero? Certainly not one Izuku has met.

“That’s great!”

Izuku hums excitedly in response, his curls flying wildly with the force of his nodding head. “Plus with all the quirks I’ve been getting I can save a lot of people!” 

Izuku calms down with that last thought because quirks are always coming to him when he looks into someone’s eyes. He takes note of when it’s ok to look others in the eyes and when it’s not. But Yagi? No glasses, no contacts, no mask or cloth or anything. And Izuku has been looking in his eyes for the entire visit, hoping to have the power of the symbol of peace, to study it more and to search its roots. Izuku wants to do what no one else in the world has been able to do: discover All Might's greatest secret.

Yet no quirk has dug itself a hole in Izuku’s arsenal for itself, and no burning tug indicating a new quirk has been felt. It makes Izuku shift uncomfortably in his seat and Yagi takes notice immediately.

“Izuku? What’s wrong?” Yagi’s eyes are pinched with concern. A large hand reaches out awkwardly to Izuku but pulls away before making contact.

“Your quirk.” Izuku speaks quietly. He points at Yagi’s eyes and then turns his hand to point at his own. “You know what mine does, and I can see your eyes, but I don't feel your quirk.”

Izuku has no idea why Yagi’s face suddenly loses its colour and his face falls more than it already had been. Izuku does, however, see the panic in his eyes. Panic is an emotion Izuku has become quite familiar with since his mothers death, her own panicked eyes having been the last thing he saw of her before sprinting off into the distance until she was no more than a spec on the sidewalk, and then eventually, nothing at all.

The man in front of him takes his time coming up with an answer, and Izuku begins to grow impatient, tapping his foot on the ground in a similar motion to what Yagi had done earlier, only without the intense force. Yagi’s mouth opens and closes a multitude of times as he reaches desperately for an excuse.

When his answer is finally given Izuku misses it because of how softly it’s spoken, but before he can ask Yagi to repeat what he said, he says it again with more confidence. “I wear contacts.” 

A simple answer, but one Izuku knows is false. With a quirk like his, Izuku has grown used to identifying when a person wears contacts or not. From the glassy look in their eyes with them on, or how their eyes look a little too perfect, Izuku can tell the difference. Yagi’s eyes, while Izuku must admit the electric blue is very nice, are not contact level beautiful. Nor do his eyes hold a lifeless sheen to them that contacts often give their user. Yagi’s excitement with everything he says is shown through his eyes in a way contacts could never display.

(Plus, that truth quirk he got from the detective rings a rather large false through his mind, but Izuku would rather deduct a reason and determine true from false on his own than be given the answer.)

But Izuku isn’t one to pry, and he isn't about to bother the symbol of peace, for now anyways. Izuku will be the first to discover what the man is hiding.

The subject is dropped there and Yagi makes quick work of putting in a hero movie to distract Izuku from the topic change. It works, for the most part, and Izuku is content watching a hero cartoon until Yagi jumps out of his seat after seeing the clock. It's past Izuku’s bedtime, and picking Izuku up in his arms before racing to the boys room to tuck him in.

With Yamada’s radio station playing in the background and Yagi giving him a tight hug goodnight, Izuku falls asleep in just a few short minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~

Something that Izuku hasn’t told anyone about his quirk, is its most recent development. 

It's an odd development that came from dreamless nights where his mind supplied something other than dreams to fuel him till daybreak. Quirks and his subconscious mushed together to create whatever this was.

But, Izuku was too curious for his own good. Which is why after falling asleep in his bed, he wasn't surprised, nor was he afraid, when he opened his eyes and was somewhere that wasn’t home. His bed remains the same, as does the basic layout of his room all around him. But the walls are nowhere to be seen.

The spaces where his room had been blocked off by painted walls and hanging pictures, now had winding paths that faded into the floorboards of his room and led into a never ending maze of tall bookshelves. 

A form of organisation of sorts for his quirk he had assumed upon his first arrival.

He rubbed the remaining sleep from his eyes and gave himself a moment to prepare for tonight's adventure before jumping out of bed and running to the map located at the entrance to the main pathway. 

Looking over the map no new sections seemed to have been added, which makes sense to Izuku seeing as he didn't gain any new quirks today. Running his pointer finger along the map as he traced the paths shown, he landed on a section he had yet to look at and turned around to run down the path near the headboard of his bed behind him.

Running through the fire based quirk section Izuku took a moment to look at the fairly bare shelves surrounding him with the odd book on its shelf. Izuku couldn't wait until he was older and the shelves began to fill more with new quirks as he collected them.

Izuku’s running came to a halt when he spotted a book laying in the path having been knocked off its shelf at some point. Its orange cover and spine were bright and new with angry black block letters outlined with a fancy golden edge along each letter spelling out the name of the quirk: ‘Explosion’.

“Kacchan..” Izuku muttered under his breath and opened the cover to see a table of contents with the quirk summary, usage, and guide to its function on the page. 

Reading over the first few pages, Izuku had a hard time making out what it meant. Most words were big and confusing for him and he would need to ask Aizawa and Yamada what they meant next time he saw them. He decided to bring the book with him so he could keep it by his bed when he went back to sleep to wake up in the real world again.

He ran down the paths again  with his newly acquired book tucked tightly in his arms against his chest as he sprinted down paths and sharply turned corners.

He was enjoying the feeling of his hair flying and the sight of quickly passing bookshelves so much that he wasn’t paying attention and had to do a double take when he saw a man down another path leading off of his current one.

Izuku hesitantly turned down onto the new path and made his way over to the man. He was tall and skinny with white flowing hair that covered most of his face. He was sorting through a few of the books that were on the shelf and rearranging them as he went when he noticed the small boy standing beside him and turned to face him.

His hair fluttered away from his face and Izuku inhaled sharply when he was looking into bright green eyes that reminded him of both Yamada and his mother. A feeling of comfort and recognition wormed its way into Izuku’s chest and he smiled shyly up at the man. 

With shoulders hunched up near his ears and the book held even tighter from nerves, Izuku found the small push he needed to speak to the stranger.

“Who are you?” Izuku asked him.

For the nights that Izuku had been in this weird mental library of his, never before had he run into another person. He didn't even know anyone else was able to be in here except him, and even he wasn’t sure how he himself was here at all. The mystery of the quirk library was something he would have to look into more.

The man put the book he was holding back on the shelf and crouched down to Izuku’s level and gently took one of Izuku’s hands in his own and shook it. “I am Shigaraki Yoichi. It is nice to finally meet you Izuku.”

“Why are you here?” Izuku asked him hesitantly. He didn't even want to know how this man knew his name if he was being honest. It was one thing for a strange man to appear in his dream land, but for him to know his name and speak so familiarly with Izuku was a whole conversation that he wasn't sure he was well rested enough to deal with.

Shigaraki placed his hand on Izuku’s head and softly ruffled his hair. “Well, I suppose I wanted to finally meet you,” He stood back up and took Izuku’s hand in his. He lifted his pointer finger from where it was clasped around Izuku’s hand and gestured further down the path with it. “Walk with me?”  

Izuku nodded mutely. He adjusted his hold on the book still in his arms and allowed Shigaraki to guide their way as they continued down the path Izuku had originally been on.

Path after path, and turn after turn, they ventured deeper into the library until they came upon an area similar to Izuku’s own wall-less bedroom space. 

Shigaraki’s section was similar to Izuku’s in terms of branching out and fading from wooden flooring to the paths off in various directions surrounded by towering book cases, but that seemed to be the only similarity.

A large bed was at the centre of the ‘room’ with his own personal bookcases on either side instead of a bedside table. Old looking books with titles Izuku had never heard before and comic books of heroes that Izuku had never seen filled the shelves and left no space for further additions. 

“You have a room here too?” Izuku asked him.

Shigaraki hummed in confirmation and led Izuku over to a map of the library, not unlike the one In Izuku’s own area. “And to be able to find me, you just need to follow the maps. I’ll always be here waiting for you.”

“But why?” Izuku pulled his hand away from the other man and backed away. He hunched in on himself and lowered his gaze to the floor, refusing to meet Shigaraki’s gaze.

“I don't know you, and you don't know me.” 

“Well,” Shigaraki began softly. “I wouldn't say that’s entirely true.” 

Izuku scrunched up his face in confusion at his words. He was positive he had never seen this man before. No matter what he said, he must have mistaken Izuku for someone else.

“You see, your father is my older brother,” Izuku’s eyes widened in fear and he whipped his head up. Shigaraki was looking down at him from where he stood, and while Izuku didn't feel any bad intentions coming from him, he couldn't help the instinctual urge to run from him.

But Izuku was frozen in place and as tears flowed freely from his eyes he could only will his legs to move, to carry him away from this man who may very well have been in on his mothers killing.

Shigaraki, having seen the distress he unintentionally caused, quickly corrected himself and crouched down to Izuku’s level and pulled him into a quick hug. While one of his hands rubbed up and down Izuku’s back, the other kept the boy's head held firmly against his chest while he calmed himself.

“Do not worry, Izuku. Your father is an evil man and I disagree with all his actions that have hurt you and others,” He didn't miss the way Izuku melted into his embrace out of sheer relief. “I’m sorry for all you had to go through because of him.”

And despite the odd situation, and the fact that this man, apparently being his uncle, was a stranger, Izuku allowed himself to feel safe and loved. 

The two stayed locked in each other's embrace until Shigaraki noticed Izuku’s eyes sag with exhaustion. Pulling away from the hug, Shigaraki lifted Izuku and placed him on his hips as he walked him back to his bed. He carried the book Izuku had kept with him in his hand that supported the boy's weight while the other carded through the green mop of curls resting on his shoulder.

When he was finally back in his bed, Izuku quietly said goodbye to his uncle before drifting off into a short sleep while he went back to his real room. 

The last thing Izuku saw before he faded into unconsciousness for the second time that night was Shigaraki’s retreating form as he walked away down the endless paths of books.

As he gave into sleep and the darkness that began to creep up in his peripheral vision, Izuku could only think about how he hoped Shigaraki was right, and that they would meet again soon. And if allowed to, Izuku would ask him all the questions that had been piling up with each passing second. 

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up to birds chirping through his open window, English pop music, and the smell of breakfast being cooked in the kitchen. 

As he opened his eyes, he saw a small bird perched on his window sill. Its wings fluttering in between its harmonious chirps while remaining oblivious to its now fully conscious audience. 

The tune it played was soothing enough for Izuku to fall back asleep and get more answers from Shigaraki, but alas, he needed to get up for breakfast. 

He took a moment to stretch away the remaining stiffness in his joints and tried to not be disappointed when his sudden movement startled the bird and made it fly away. 

Rubbing the remaining sleep from his eye, Izuku swung his legs over the side of the bed and hopped off. 

As he entered the kitchen, he saw Yamada cooking enthusiastically to a song he couldn't understand as he flipped pancakes along with the pumped up beat. A quick sweep around the room found Izuku wondering where Aizawa was, but he shook it off and walked over to say good morning to Yamada. After all, Izuku had noticed how much Aizawa loves to sleep when he can, and so his absence during breakfast wasn't too uncommon. Chances were, he would be down shortly.

“Good morning, Yamada,” Izuku called out with a sleepy smile as he loosely hugged the hero's leg from behind.

“Good morning, Izuku! Did you sleep well?” Yamada turned around and bent down to swoop Izuku up into his arms. He nuzzled his cheek affectionately against Izuku’s, gaining a small giggle from the boy. “And no more Yamada, ok? Call me Hizashi.”

Izuku thought of how he should respond to Yamada’s- er, Hizashi’s question. He did, in fact, sleep well. He got to explore a new world that others didn’t get to, and he met his uncle for the first time, but he couldn’t tell Hizashi that so he settled for a simple answer stating his sleep was “ok.” The fact that last night's particular sleep was more than just that, well, only Izuku needed to know that for now. 

Izuku remained in Yamada’s hold until the last of the batter was crisped and flipped to perfection. It was then that Aizawa came down the hallway. His hair was more tousled and knotted than usual, and his sleeping bag was tucked firmly under his arm as he sat at the table.

“Morning, Sho!” Yamada exclaimed excitedly to his half-asleep boyfriend. He set Izuku down in the seat beside Aizawa before giving the man a peck on the cheek and going back to grab the plated pancakes. 

A plate of three fluffy pancakes was placed in front of each occupied spot of the table, and Izuku had to resist the urge to dig in before Yamada was fully seated with them. 

However, once Yamada was seated properly at the table, Izuku had no problem with stuffing his chubby cheeks full of his first pancake and wiggling excitedly in his seat. 

Aizawa snorted fondly and took a photo of Izuku before gently chiding him over his urgency, saying “Slow down Izuku, you’ll choke.” Aizawa took his knife and fork and cut the remaining two pancakes on Izuku's plate into smaller pieces for him .

With checks still full of pancakes, Izuku paused and slowly looked at Aizawa as he swallowed his food and waited for Aizawa to finish. 

“Are you excited for your first day back at school?” Yamada asked from across the table. 

“I’m going to school again?” The walk would take much longer to go to school than before, and he wasn’t sure he could deal with Kacchan’s teasing, not to mention the whispers surrounding his mother’s death and the blame that would surely be placed on him if they knew it was his own dad who ordered it. 

“You remember Tenya, right?” Aizawa asked from beside him. The man side eyed him while taking another bite of pancake. 

“Yes?” How could he forget the boy who had nearly chopped Izuku on the head when he didn’t realise he was beside him. 

“You’ll be going to a private daycare with him. It’s close to here and you'll already  have a friend.” Aizawa said.

Well, that solves his walking distance he supposes. His neighbourhood, and Kacchan, will all be left behind, but maybe it’s better that way. His old friend had made it very clear what he thought about Izuku the last few times they were together.

Yes, it was much better this way.

All good things come to an end. His friendship with Kacchan now officially being one of them.

“Ok,” Izuku says, and that’s the end of the conversation.

They continue to eat with Izuku and Hizashi making small talk while Aizawa listens quietly. It’s not a bad start to his day, but now Izuku has places to be, so he grabs his new uniform that Hizashi gave to him and runs upstairs to put it on.

~~~~~~~~~~

Izuku looks up at the building in front of him. It's a huge two floor white building with large windows for every floor it has. Stairs lead up to its overly large wooden doors, with white pillars frame the entrance that help to hold up the roof that juts out further than the walls.

Kids with neatly pressed uniforms, combed back and styled hair, and formal little black shoes walk past with their parents. The amount of looks thrown towards his creased uniform, wild curly hair, and bulky red shoes makes him want to curl into a ball or run home. 

Aizawa places a hand on his shoulder, having seen his nervousness, and gently guides him forwards and towards the entrance of the school.

The Iida brothers stood beside the doors waiting for them. Aizawa crouched down to be at eye level with Izuku. He fixed the collar of Izuku’s uniform and attempted to flatten his hair slightly with no success on that end. 

“You’ll be ok today?” Aizawa asked him, an eyebrow raised in question.

“Mhm.” Izuku replied nervously. He looked away from Aizawa and began to fiddle with his hands. Truth be told, he didn't know if he would be ok. Everyone here has had time to make friends and get used to the fancy over the top school. Izuku has not. 

But it was too late to turn back now, so he would bite his tongue and try his best. He had Tenya with him, how hard could it be?

“And you have your sleeping bag for naptime?” How could he forget it when Aizawa reminded him every five minutes this morning?

“Yes.” 

“Ok good. Stick with Tenya, he’ll help you get used to the school ok?” 

“Ok, Aizawa.” The man pulled Izuku into a quick hug before standing and taking his hand. Together they walked over to where Hizashi was with the other two. 

As they walked, Aizawa spoke down to him, “And call me Shouta. Ok, kid?”

Before Izuku could respond, the bell rang, and Tenya was grabbing his arm and racing the two in the school, muttering about punctuality all the while.

They rushed through the classroom doors and were greeted by numerous pairs of eyes watching them from their seats. Izuku shrunk into himself under their questioning gazes. 

He was about to try and leave through the door again when Tenya squeezed his hand reassuringly and helped him introduce himself to the class. He couldn't help but smile at his friend. 

New school, new home, new life . But at least he wasn't alone, he hopes he never will be.

~~~~~~~~~~

Nemuri was walking up and down the streets of her patrol route. It was a calm day, and little action was happening meaning most of her shift was spent speaking to fans and signing autographs. A tedious aspect of the job if you ask her, but speaking to other women who understood her persona’s meaning gave her a sense of fulfilment. A sense that her career choice was hands down the perfect one for her to get her message across. 

If All Might can be the symbol of peace, then she can be the symbol of sexual empowerment. 

Her shift was going great. Keyword being was. Because as she was signing another autograph for a teenage girl, a woman with snakes for hair comes ripping out of a nearby alley with a young boy screaming in fear in her arms. 

“HEY!” Nemuri yelled out. Citizens screamed and ran out of the way as the villain sprinted as fast as she could, her black flowing robe whipping behind her as she ran. Nemuri dropped the pen and paper in her hands and immediately gave chase. 

The child being held hostage in the villains arms was screaming and crying as he beat his small fists against the woman holding him to no avail. Nemuri almost stopped in her tracks when she got a good look at the child. 

For a moment, a split second of unadulterated fear, she had seen Izuku being taken away. Green curled hair, though not as wild. Freckles, though more than her nephew. Green eyes, though not as emerald. The resemblance was terrifying, but in the end it only urged her to run faster than she had been.

The snakes of the woman's hair pulled out her phone from her pocket and answered a call. Nemuri took out her own phone to call for backup. 

“What do you mean it’s the wrong kid?!” The villain screeched into the receiver of her phone that a snake was holding up for her. “Green hair, eyes, and freckles! This is him!” her voice growing louder the more frustrated she got with whoever she was speaking with. 

Her frustration caused her speed to slow slightly enough for Nemuri to begin gaining on her. Nemuri gripped at the sleeve of her costume and got ready to rip it and release her quirk.

The villain realised the closing distance between the two and took her phone from the snake before chucking it at Nemuri, hitting her spot on in the face.

The child only screamed louder as he saw his hope of being rescued trip in surprise and collapse momentarily. His screams were cut short as the snakes started nipping at him to scare him into silence.

Nemuri has dealt with a lot of shit in her time as a hero. Sexism on the job, rapists, murderers, and everything else anyone could think of. She prevailed time and time again. Villains with murderous intent and kill counts higher than the fucking sky, she’s taken down them all, and this one would be no different. No petty little phone throw would stop her from saving someone in need.

A dash of white from her peripheral catches her attention and she turns to see Shouta’s capture scarf get thrown towards the villain. Beside him are Hizashi and Tensei who immediately join her in the chase. All three are in civilian clothes and she suddenly remembers today was Izuku’s first day at his new school with Tenya. 

She focuses back on the fight when she hears the villain yell in frustration at having to deal with more heroes now.

The woman dodges the capture scarf but isn't fast enough to avoid Nemuri’s whip that extends and wraps around her ankle and trips her.

The boy in her arms screams again as the ground gets close to him, but Tensei runs up and takes him in his arms before he can hit the cement.

As Hizashi calms down the boy and speaks to the parents who come forward crying, Nemuri reads the snake woman her rights and puts her in cuffs. When the villain is taken away kicking and screaming, she turns her attention to the newly reunited family. She takes note of how neither of the boy's parents have green hair.

His must be either dye, or quirk related, and in either case it’s a main reason he was almost taken today.

Shouta and Hizashi come up beside her and follow her gaze to the family. Hizashi gasps and in that moment she knows they must be seeing Izuku too. Seeing the newest addition to their family crying after a near kidnapping. 

“So you see it too?” she calls out, eyes never leaving the crying boy as his shoulders shake in his parents tight embrace.

“That's all I can see.” Shouta replies, slightly shaken but not showing it.

“Had we not dropped him off a half an hour ago I wouldn’t believe it's not him.” Hizashi says.

They sit in silence as the police wrap things up and head down to the station to give statements and for the interrogation.

Tensei walks the family home after they are cleared to leave the station, leaving Nemuri, Shouta, and Hizashi alone behind a one way window to watch the interrogation. The snake haired woman sits at a table alone in the room while she waits for an officer to arrive. A scowl is present on her lips and eyes burn with anger that hasn't subsided since her phone call.

“Who’s on duty today?” Hizashi asks from her left side.

“Tsukauchi,” Nemuri responds, she looks over to her friend only to see his eyes alight with a mix of anger and worry, but she doesn't comment on it. “He’ll be in shortly to do the interrogation.” 

Shouta huffed humorlessly into his scarf. “That man never gets a day off, does he?”

“You’re one to talk,” Nemuri playfully chides him accompanied by an elbow jab to the ribs. Shouta grunts in discomfort but otherwise stays quiet. “Had you two not gotten a kid you’d still be out at ungodly hours nightly.”

“I’m an underground hero, that's my job. ” He comes back with.

Hizashi decides to cut into the conversation once those words pass his boyfriend's lips, so he playfully pokes his arm repeatedly and says, “Oh please, Shou! I’ve read your contract and nowhere does it say you need to be patrolling from dusk till dawn with a half an hour rooftop snack break in between.”

“I don't know how you do it, Shouta.” Nemuri says and then strikes a pose. She steps one leg out and places a hand on her hips while flipping her hair with the other, “I could never go without a full night's beauty rest.”

Hizashi laughs and copies her pose, flipping his own let down hair in a similar way she did. “It’s a wonder.” 

The moment is cut abruptly and before Shouta can respond, Tsukauchi is walking into the room and beginning the interview. He places a tape recorder on the table and begins.

They pass through standard procedure: date, names, quirks, pronouns, and then carry on to the actual investigation.

“Why did you grab that young boy?” Tsukauchi starts off strong and blunt. No one has time for child abductors, and especially not Tsukauchi who deals with them more often than anyone would like.

The woman across from him only scoffs and turns her head away arrogantly, “Why wouldn't I? He was alone and there for what I needed.”

Tsukauchi’s voice lowered dangerously at her response. “Ma’am, that's not how the law works.”

“I needed the brat for the reward money, who gives a shit about the law when you can get that kind of cash?”

The room stills and goes silent. Reward? Who would place a reward on a child? She goes to ask as such to her friends but stops when she notices Hizashi’s hand pressed over his mouth and Shouta’s slightly widened eyes.

She turns back to see Tsukauchi having a similar reaction. They’re hiding something from her, and one thing she hates is to be kept in the dark on her own case.

She doesn’t bring it up for the time being. Instead she focuses on the questioning and keeps an eye out for the tell-tale flinch of Tsukauchis shoulder when a lie is told. Oh, how she wished his shoulders were flinching when the woman spoke next.

“Some guy, king of villains, or some shit like that, I don't really know nor care,” she says nonchalantly, and her snakes hiss along in agreement. She uses her pinky finger to clean her ears while talking. Nemuri wrinkles her nose in disgust, honestly who does that. In public no less! “Says he wants his kid back and put a pretty penny on having him returned alive.”

“What was the man's name? Who did he send people after?” Tsukauchi asked. As a professional he did a damn good job of keeping the urgency out of his voice that Nemuri just knew was there.

“Uhhhh, Mido Ikuyo. No wait, that's definitely not right. Uhhhh, Midoriya Izuku, yeah that's it.” Nemuri gasped and whipped around to face Hizashi and Shouta who were pointedly looking away from her knowing gaze. Was this what they were hiding? That Izuku’s father was not only after him, but would go to such extreme measures? No matter. She would protect him until her last breath.

“Kid’s got a powerful quirk or something. Dear old dad wants to utilise it to it’s full ability, whatever the fuck that means.” She carried on, rolling her eyes in disinterest.

Tsukauchi stood from his seat and gathered his papers and the recorder. He turned on his heel and began to head to the doors. “Thank you for your cooperation, Miss.”

Some officers entered the room after the detective left and dragged the still-struggling woman to the holding cell until further notice. Tsukauchi entered the small room they were in and greeted them.

“Midnight, after what you just heard, I feel it’s time for you to join this ongoing case with myself and some other heroes.” He handed her a file filled with papers from an investigation. Opening the file, she was greeted with a photo of Izuku and a woman who looked awfully similar to him smiling at the camera in front of a daycare. 

This must be Izuku’s mother, Nemuri thought as she looked at the photo. The woman was beautiful and she could see the striking resemblance between her and her son. 

She flipped the page and got to the information surrounding the case. From Izuku’s mother’s death, his attempted kidnapping, Inko’s body vanishing, and to the crazed 200-year-old villain father.

Reading the information Nemuri began to see why the case had been so hush-hush and why she wasn’t in the loop. 

“Well, Nem?” Hizashi asked softly and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Will you help us protect our boy?”

And how could she ever say no to that?

“I’m in.” She spoke with finality, leaving no room for debate or question. Shouta stepped up on her other side and placed a hand on her unoccupied shoulder in silent thanks. 

Tsukauchi removed his hat and nodded his head in gratitude to her. “Well, Kayama Nemuri, pro hero Midnight, welcome to the case of Izuku Midoriya.”

Chapter Text

Izuku quickly realised that the other kids in their class didn't like Tenya. Which, to Izuku, was absolutely crazy. Tenya was smart, fun, and really good at playing tag, plus he was the nicest person Izuku had ever known that was his own age. His new friend was the first kid to ever hear of Izuku's quirk and not be scared off by it (see? nice!), and was even patient enough to calm him when the relentless questions of their classmates became too much for Izuku to handle.

Yet, while Tenya was super nice and was, in every way imaginable, the perfect friend, he was also a little odd. Don't get Izuku wrong, he’s odd too. He mutters, has a villainous quirk, has hair the colour of freaking grass, fidgets when he gets excited, and above all else, is the new kid. Yet it seems that none of those things are too off putting for his new classmates, which for him is great, however what does scare them off is Tenya.

Where Izuku is quiet and hides his oddness, Tenya is very verbal and expressive with his. He swings his arms when excited and making points, he talks loudly, and loves rules. All the things about Tenya that make Izuku happy and fascinated with his friend seem to annoy and anger the other kids around them. But that's ok. Izuku doesn't want to share Tenya anyways.

Coming to a new school and telling others about his quirk, he was expecting scared cries and angry uproar, not a crowd of excited students rushing out of their seats and overwhelming him with questions. It was a weird experience and he wasn't at all prepared for it.

Izuku desperately looked to the teacher for help as students pushed and shoved to get to him, but all she did was smile softly at him and turn to the board and write her name on it to help him remember later in the day. Tears welled up in his eyes when a student got close enough to grab his face and turn it to force him to make eye contact with the student in front of him. She was smaller than him with cropped auburn hair and faintly glowing golden eyes that seemed out of place on her darker skin.

As she held his head in place Izuku felt a new quirk slot itself into a space in his mind (he wondered if Yoichi could also feel the new addition just like he could), and as it all registered what was happening, Izuku broke. Tears flowed freely from his eyes as he broke away from the girl's hold violently and shrunk in on himself to hide his red eyes as he wiped the tears away. It was all too much, too soon, and he wanted it to end.

The teacher finally noticed the situation he was in and decided to finally, finally, help him. She crouched down to his level and landed a heavy hand on his wrinkled uniform in an attempt to console the young boy. But he just cried harder.

Izuku was well aware that his family have always been cryers, his mom had once told him it ran through each generation on her mothers side. Their tears themselves could be mistaken as a quirk on their own with the sheer force and volume that they flowed by.

“I MUST INSIST THAT YOU ALL BACK UP AND ALLOW OUR FELLOW STUDENT TIME TO RECOVER,” Izuku heard Tenyas voice chop through the alarmed whispers from their classmates and he looked up to his friend. Tenya was swiftly chopping the air as he spoke, a sign to Izuku that he was as overwhelmed in this situation as Izuku was.

A choked sob made its way up and past his lips and Izuku sobbed violently into the teacher's shoulder as she scooped him up in her arms to better soothe him. Tenya was so brave and Izuku wished he could be like that too. Whether these tears were from jealousy that Tenya could do what he himself couldn't, or from appreciation he didn't know. Then again, it could be both. Yeah, both sounded right.

Izuku watched Tenya herd the class away from them and practically force them all into their seats to give Izuku room. This was when Izuku noticed the annoyed looks and eye rolls that Tenyas kindness was receiving. Either Tenya himself didn't notice, or didn't care, because he continued to shoo them all away from the small boy being coddled by the teacher and worked to quiet the class so Izuku could work through his emotions in silence.

“Everything ok now, kiddo?” The teacher's gentle voice cut through his thoughts and he softly nodded his head against her shoulder. She placed him down gently and he immediately reached out and grabbed the back of Tenyas uniform shirt and gently pulled his friend to his side, shifting his hold from the shirt to the other boy's hand. Tenyas hand was slightly larger than Izukus was and Izuku couldn't describe the comfort it brought him.

“Are you ok, Izuku?” Tenya asked. His blue eyes sweeping over his friend, but never touching.

“Yes..” He couldn't help but look down at the ground when he realised that not only were the teacher and Tenya watching his reactions, but the entire class was still paying attention to him with rapt attention. It was uncomfortable and all Izuku wanted by this point was to disappear and try school again another day. But his parents already left and there was no way he was gonna make them come pick him up on his first day. After all they've done for him he at least needed to make it through one day of school. How hard could that be? He just needed to smile through it, like All Might.

Tenya didn't look too convinced with his answer but nodded his head anyways and led Izuku down to the last two seats in the front row, “This desk here is mine,” he pointed to a desk with his name written on a piece of paper taped to the front. A small navy blue water bottle rested on the desks surface with a pencil and eraser positioned neatly beside it. “And this one is yours,” He then gestured to the desk to the left of his own. Next to his friend's desk that very obviously had a user, Izuku's new one very obviously didn't. It was the exact same type of desk as all the other ones that his peers sat at, yet it had nothing that would indicate it was in use. No name taped on, no personal items, and no school items. In a way, it was quite inviting and Izuku happily sat down at his new desk.

The teacher got everyone's attention back on her and returned to the day's lesson on the board as Izuku pulled out his pencil and notebook. This was what he missed most about school, sure his old friends had been fun before his quirk came, but when he was in a lesson and taking notes, everything was fine with the world. Everything was good.

~~~~~~~~~~

Recess at his old school was always him chasing after Kacchan and the other boys on the playground because no one would wait for him to catch up. Looking back at how they acted, Izuku begins to think that maybe they just never wanted to play with him to begin with. Because Tenya always waited, and Tenya had a speed quirk he could be using as an excuse. His friend even went as far as holding Izukus hand as they walked together over to a nice shaded spot in the yard where no one else was playing. Kacchan would have never held his hand like this, Izuku bitterly thought to himself before shaking away the ugly feeling that began to pool in his heart.

Tenya tilted his head to the side as he observed Izuku shaking his head and raised one of his thick blue eyebrows in question, but instead of an answer, Izuku just smiled brightly at him and began to drag his friend behind him as he raced over to the trees.

Izuku and Tenya started the beginning of recess by trying to avoid the other kids that won't seem to leave izuku alone. They often came up to him asking him to join them but refused to let Tenya join them too, and if Tenya wasn't playing then neither was Izuku. Once the other kids finally realised this, they avoided both of them for the remainder of the break.

Izuku didn't mind being left alone by the other kids, but while he and Tenya sat together under the big green tree in the corner of the yard, Izuku noticed his friends' downcast eyes and scrunched up face. Izuku had assumed that the other kids were not having an effect on his friend, but now he sees that that way of thinking would always be wrong. No one wanted to be cast out and disliked by everyone for just being yourself.

Izuku gently scooped Tenyas hands into his own, forcing the other boy to turn his head and look at him. Tenyas eyes held back tears of resignation, something Izuku was familiar with from his time with Kacchan.

“Let's go walk the track?” Izuku said quietly.

Once Izuku was standing up, he reached out a hand for his friend to take, a choice for him to make. Izuku wished that his old friends had given him choices and opportunities like this.

Hesitantly, Tenya reached up and allowed for his hand to slip into Izuku's hold and allowed himself to be pulled up and into a bone crushing hug by the smaller boy.

“Ok.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Wow…” Izuku couldn't help but sigh out as he gazed at the vast expanse of field before them. Kids played around on the grassy field while others took strolls or runs around the perimeter along the track. The yard certainly was much better than the old one at his previous school.

“The school receives funding from many families for more things to build and to make the playground bigger! At Least that's what Tensie told me during the last construction time,” Tenya says as he walks forward, shocking Izuku out of his momentary awe.

The two walked in silence for a while before Izuku began to take notice of how everyone who had been using the track had suddenly vacated the track for other activities, throwing not so subtle looks back at his friend in disgust. The track was barren except for the two boys walking hand in hand down the gravel paths.

“Hey Tenya?” Izuku asked, looking away from the other kids towards his friend. However, as he gazed slightly up to look at his friend he noticed how Tenya refused to look up from his shoes that scuffed the ground as they walked, how his tears had fallen from his eyes and how his face showed only pain and hurt.

Tenya sniffed slightly and used his free hand to wipe the tears from his eyes before looking back up and throwing on a smile, “yes?”

“...” Izuku remained quiet for a moment, simply watching his friend's behaviour before he asked his question. “Does it bother you?”

“Hmm? Does what bother me?”

“Tenya… The other kids, that they're all mean to you”

Tenya stopped walking and broke the hold they had on each other to rub his arm awkwardly. His form was hunched over and Izuku didn't miss the way he seemed to be trying to make himself smaller. It was a tactic he often used when he would be playing at his old school when kacchan got a little too aggressive in their games.

“Of course it bothers me,” Tenya replied so quietly that Izuku almost missed it over the sound of wind in the overhead trees. “The others… I don't know. I tried fitting in but I can't control how loud I am, or my sudden movements, and I think before I speak. They don't like that very much.”

“Why can't you stop doing those things?” Izuku asked, innocently cocking his head to the side.

“I just can't, Izuku!” Tenya cried out, more tears streaming down his already red face. “Don't you think that if I could I would have? I don't like being made fun of! I don't like being called a teacher's pet! But it's so hard and I can't do anything to help…”

Tenya made his way over to the fence outlining the end of school property and propped himself against it, sliding down so his knees were pulled up to his chest, legs propped slightly outwards to make room for his bulky engines.

Izuku suddenly couldn't contain his own tears and started to cry with his friend, sitting down beside him and awkwardly side hugging his friend as best as he could. He didn't know why he was crying, just that Tenya didn't deserve to be so hurt, especially not by the other kids that should have been his friends instead of his tormentors. They cry with each other until the other starts to sniffle and wipe away their drying tears, leaving old tracks marking their face. It's comforting, Izuku thinks, that he has a friend who can cry and not feel seen as weak.

“We don't need them, Tenya!” Izuku declares once they've been in comfortable silence for long enough. “We can leave the school and go have our own fun, who's going to stop us?” Izuku asks with a shrug of his own shoulders in wonder. The teachers are all focused on the big groups of kids and not the new kid with the responsible class leader. It was the perfect opportunity for them to leave and have their own adventures, just like the ones they read of in comics, the ones that their families are paid to have.

“Well,” Tenya hesitates, lips pursed and brows knotted in clear thought. The silence following almost makes Izuku retract his statement, worried that Tenya is now judging him for what he said and going to tell his parents that he had such an unheroic thought about breaking the rules.

“Ok, let's go have an adventure.”

But once again, Izuku is pleasantly surprised by his best friend. My, how he loved Tenya Iida.

~~~~~~~~~~

“What do you mean you can't find them?!” Shouta hears Tensei yelling at a teacher just in front of the school as they step out of the car. They had just arrived by the end of the day to pick up Izuku and take him over to Yagi’s for dinner, but first they needed to figure out why Izuku wasnt with the other kids ready for pick up, and what had Tensei so riled up.

The teacher Tensei had been yelling at cowered under his rarely seen rage filled gaze as they played with the hems of their sleeves, stammering out a response, “w-well, when we came back from last break, all the children were accounted for…” the teacher paused for a moment to collect themselves as they sat up straighter than before, forcing themselves to look into Tenseis eyes. “All were ready in line except for Tenya and-” the teacher turned their gaze to Shouta and Hizashi, jaw promptly slamming shut once they made eye contact.

Hizashi had had enough of the stammering and hard to get answers, it appeared, because the next thing Shouta knew was that his boyfriend was storming over to the teacher “Tenya and?” Hizashi spat out through gritted teeth, glaring down his nose at the teacher who bravely stood their ground. For all the years they had been together, Shouta only ever got to see this side of his boyfriend when someone he cared about was hurt, or when someone dared to disrespect his American Brittany Spears music. Believe Shouta, the second scenario could end more bloodily than the first.

“And Izuku.”

Suddenly Shouta couldn't breathe. He couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't comprehend. His son was gone. Missing. Away and missing from the one place he trusted him to be when a hero wasn't with him and now that trust was broken. They had told the teachers he needed supervision, they had told the teachers he needed to be taken care of specifically.

“You mean to tell me that in the 6 hours that we left him in YOUR care, you lost our son?!” Shouta heard Hizashi shouting through his haze filled mind. Good, at least one of them was still good enough to be taking action. Izuku was so small, and with who his father was and the quirks he had acquired he could be anywhere, god what if he never saw his little boy again.

“Well there's a lot of kids, and- and some of the fences have holes in them that haven't been able to be repaired because they were on the lower end of construction that the school wanted done. I’m sure tha-” the teacher tried to defend the school but was promptly cut off when Shoutas phone rang.

He had never reached for his phone so fast in his life, nor had he sent a prayer as he just mentally did, a prayer for this to be Izuku related, and for it to be good news. Without looking at the caller ID Shouta answered the call and frantically spoke into the receiver “Yes?”

“Shouta!” Nemuri screamed into his ear, forcing him to pull it away and put her on speaker to save his hearing. “You’ll never guess what I’m witnessing!” Nemuri shouted over wind in the background, making her receiver pick up gusts and blows that made it all the more difficult to hear his friend.

“Shouta tell her we’ll call back” Hizashi interrupted from his spot next to Tensei and the teacher, “we still need to find our son before someone… else does.”

“No, no, that's why I’m calling!!” Nemuri hastily yelled as Shouta was about to relay the message, “Izuku, and Tenya too!”

“Tenya?” Tensei asked, making his way over to the phone, Hizashi hot on his heels, “Nemuri tell us, where are our boys?” Tensei ordered her.

Nemuri huffed out a breath from her side of the phone along with a mumbled ‘man am I out of shape’. She must be giving chase then, Shouta thought, “I'm on the road leading to Hizashis radio station, and so are the boys!”

“Were on our way,” Hizashi was quick to respond and suddenly all three pro heroes were booking it to Hizashi and Shouta’s small car in the parking lot to drive to Nemuris location. “Update us as we drive Nem!”

“On it!” Nemuri called out, “Currently Izuku is on Tenyas back and they're running at 60 kilometres per hour in the middle of the road. They're keeping up with traffic but it doesn't seem like Tenya is able to slow down at all! If we can't catch them now then they're going to crash.”

Dread filled Shoutas' gut at what he heard. His son, who couldn't even cross the road alone, was getting a piggyback from a human car. In the middle of traffic. At rush hour. Izuku was so grounded when they got home. The impending if they got home Shouta couldn't bring himself to say, much less think to himself.

Breaking several traffic laws and going 20 over the speed limit at all times, they arrived to Nemuris location in ten minutes. The drive should have taken them sixteen normally.

As they stepped out of the car they saw it, Izuku and Tenya holding onto each other and screaming for dear life as they ran in the middle of the road , swerving to avoid fast moving cars and crossing citizens. Just as Shouta was about to give chase, Nemuri runs up from behind them and jumps on Tensei in a similar way Izuku is holding onto Tenya.

“Go dammit! Before we lose them!” she shouts in his ear, smacking the back of his head for good measure. And without needing to be told twice, Tensei and Nemuri are gone, chasing after their two boys at speeds Shouta and Hizashi simply could not match, at least, not on foot.

Jumping back in the car, Shouta and Hizashi watch and Nemuri and Tensei reach the boys and keep pace with them as they attempt to coach Tenya on what to do and where to go.

“Make a left here!” Tensei yells to his younger brother, leaving them down a dark street with less traffic than the one before, “now focus on slowing down!” Tensei yells once more.

The next few seconds are tense as Tenya visibly tries his hardest to think and work on slowing down until his face crumbles into utter fear, “I can't!! I can't do it brother!”

“Tensei!” Nemuri shouts against the whipping winds that slash her hair in wild directions, “run ahead and get ready to catch them!”

Tensei follows her directions and soon Nemuri is jumping off Tenseis' back and ripping her uniform to show her skin, releasing her quirk right as the boys run into it, effectively knocking them out and sending them stumbling into Tenseis and Nemuris holds.

“Izuku” Shouta yells as he jumps out of the car before Hizashi even has a moment to turn the car off. He runs over to his son and gently scoops him out of Nemuris arms and cradles him against his own chest, finally safe and where he needs to be. “Oh Izuku, never do that again.” Shouta tells him despite knowing that Izuku can't hear him in his quirk induced nap.

“Shouta, is he ok?” Hizashi rushes over, still working on shoving his keys into the too small leather pockets of his hero uniform.

“Yes Hizashi, he's ok.” Hizashi does his own scan over of their son to be safe before joining Shouta in holding their boy close in their arms, grateful for the steady rise and fall of their son's chest against their own.

“I think its time we get these two home and wait for them to wake up so we can discuss some punishments, eh?” Tensei breaks up the families moment by popping up between Hizashi and Shouta, a drooling Tenya seated on his left hip.

“Agreed.” Nemuri calls out from ahead of them, already on her way to continue her patrol that was so rudely interrupted.

Tensei follows her down the road back up to Hizashi and Shoutas car and slots Tenya in the middle seat before taking the one next to him.

“I suppose we should get this little rascal home, huh Shouta?” Hizashi says softly, poking Izuku’s nose and watching with adoration as Izuku's face scrunches up in his sleep.

“Yeah, It's time we get home.”

Walking hand in hand, with Izuku still cradled against Shoutas chest with his free hand, the family of three make their way back up to their car, missing the shadows watching from the roof.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Tomura Shigaraki,” Kurogiri addresses his young master of 9 years old, “How shall we proceed with this information?”

Tomura scratches at his neck in frustration. How dare that green haired brat go with those heroes when Sensei was so eager to get him back? He didn't deserve sensei's love and admiration. He didn't deserve all the surveillance and care sensei took in these plans. It should be him receiving this attention. Not this brat. Not ever this brat. Or anyone else. Sensei was his master, his father, his and his alone.

But he couldn't keep this information from him. Not after all he's done for Tomura. Tomura feels his heart grow heavy with the need to be loved like sensei loved this Izuku kid. To be loved like the woman in his dreams tells him he deserves. The one with hair black as night, and a sunny yellow cape on her hero costume. The only hero he’d let save him,and she wasn't even real. Pathetic.

“Take me to Sensei.” he draws out slowly, unsure of his decision, “let's tell him we've found his missing loot.”

Chapter Text

Hizashi sat across the room from Izuku with Shouta by his side, trying and failing to keep his laughter at bay as he watched his boyfriend attempt to scold their son. It was clear Shouta had never had to ground a child before, due to him always making Hizashi deal with the punishments, but this time Hizashi decided that it was finally Shoutas turn.

“You are grounded, Izuku.” Shouta finally said after nearly ten minutes of his initial lead up that Izuku was loved and cherished and this didn't change anything, all stuff Hizashi watched him stutter through as he struggled to find his point in the mix of emotions he must be struggling with.

Izuku, as any young child does, resists his impending punishment with a vehement dislike thrown towards his parents. Arms crossed and slumped down on the couch, Izuku's already existing pout wobbles and, finally, the tears come.

“No!” their son screamed, shaking his head so violently Hizashi almost got whiplash just watching it.

A deep sigh came from his left and then Shouta entered Hizashis sight as he stood and walked over, crouching down next to the boy, attempting to put a hand on his shoulder when Izuku slaps it away and tosses onto his stomach, burying his face in his pillow.

“No!!!” he screamed, much louder than previously.

It was becoming exhausting, Hizashi thought. He probably could have handled this so much better, faster, and with less tears than Shouta was, but this was his task, and Hizashi had to trust the process.

Shouta looked back at Hizashi, eyes begging for some help. Hizashi smiled back at him before shooing him off to deal with the issue himself as he sat and watched it all unfold. He was often the one having to break news to Izuku, it was time for Shouta to share in the suffering.

As much as Hizashi loved their son, he could also admit that Izuku was as stubborn as he was cute, and as temperamental as he was intelligent. And by that he meant Izuku was a raging brat when he didn't get his way. Brat may be a strong word to use for one's own lovely child but in this case it was the right one, thought Hizashi as he watched Izuku slap Shouta when the man attempted to sit with him on the couch over and over until his boyfriend gave up and sat on the floor.

His boyfriend bit his bottom lip slightly in thought, a nervous tic Hizashi noticed early on in their relationship, and one he found adorable in every way. He almost coed at the sight but had to hold back to retain the seriousness of the moment.

"Now Izuku,” Shouta began softly, his back against the couch, eyes looking forward and meeting Hizashis own, “You left school property with Tenya, caused a commotion, got stuck in a dangerous situation, and could have been seriously hurt.”

Hizashi nodded his head in approval at what Shouta was saying, an urge for him to continue so that they could get their child to bed for the night, it was already nearing Izuku's bedtime and they had still yet to make the grounds for his at home rules for the next few days, weeks, if his attitude persisted.

“What you did wasn't ok and we need to make some rules, first, there will be no tv-”

“No!!” Izuku screamed back, slamming the throw pillow over his head and muffling his protests.

“No friends over”

“NO”

“No late nights”

“NO”

“...” Shouta was clearly struggling to think of another punishment for Izuku to learn his lesson, so, taking pity on him, Hizashi jumped in, “And no All Might visits”

“NOOOO” Izuku sobbed into the couch, his little feet kicking in the air and back down at the couch in rapid motion as he fought against his grounding rules.

It seemed Shouta had reached his limit for patience as he huffed out a breath and stood back up, whipping around and taking the pillow off of Izuku’s head so he could be seen and heard while he spoke with him.

“Now Izuku you listen here, there will be no more temper tantrums tonight or you will be grounded longer than you already are.”

Izuku, extra mad now that his pillow was taken away, took the opportunity after Shouta spoke, to offer a response of his own.

And punch his father in the testicles.

Hizashi couldn't hold it back anymore and HOWLED with laughter as Shouta went down on the ground, holding his groin and fighting off the embarrassed flush that quickly spread over his face.

Izuku, using the opportunity his dad was out, ran off of the couch and down the hall into his room, slamming the door behind him. Hizashi just howled louder as he watched Shouta attempt to follow him while still clutching at his injury. His laughter only increased when all Shouta could manage was a waddle down the hallway after their son.

He stood from his seat on the couch and followed after the two, quickly catching up to Shouta and offering him his arm for the rest of the way.

They entered Izuku’s room without knocking only to see their boy throwing all his toys and flipping what furniture he could, making an absolute mess of his room that his parents would have to clean up later as Izuku still couldn't handle big messes like the one he was creating. But oh boy, he sure as hell would be helping them after this.

“Izuku Midoriya!!” Shouta shouted from the doorway, catching Izuku off guard and making him pause in his act of defiance.

Their son turned to face them with the biggest pout Hizashi had seen on someone and promptly stuck his tongue out at them before continuing his ministrations.

“That's it!” Shouta called out, pushing off from where Hizashi had been supporting them and walking to Izuku, grabbing the boy's arm before he could flip another stool over in his rageful fit.

Izuku's sole focus was now on trying to free his arm from his dads hold, ignoring Shouta when he tried to reason with him further. It didn't take long for Shouta to see the pointlessness of his attempts.

“You are grounded…. For…” the longer Izuku struggled to free himself, kicking and punching at his dad, the more Shouta was frustrated and wanting this to be over “til… college.”

“For til college?!” Izuku screamed, stopping his violent actions and staring up at his dad with big wide eyes.

“For til college!!!” Shouta screamed back at him, getting up in his face.

“But we didn't do anything!” Izuku screams his little heart out at his dad, his face growing red the longer he continues to raise his voice.

Hizashi tries to diffuse the situation between the two as he steps in, forcing the two apart from one another, “now you two, this needs to stop.”

Hizashi turns to Izuku and picks him up into his arms, cradling him against his chest until the tears stop pouring and the sniffles come to a halt, giving the poor boy some time to catch his breath. He pinches Izuku's little cheek with his free hand when his son looks up at him, his face back to its normal shade, apart from his blotchy eyes and nose.

“Now that we're all calm,” Hizashi begins before Shouta huffs behind him, forcing Hizashi to glare at his dejected boyfriend, “right, Shouta?”

His boyfriend rolls his eyes before nodding his head, eyes not meeting Hizashis but rather having a glare off with their child. Hizashi almost smacks him upside the head right then and there for his foolish behaviour.

“Now then. Izuku,” Hizashi says softly, returning his attention to the squirming toddler in his arms, the boy breaking his glare off with his dad to meet his papas eyes, “you did something dangerous and foolish, something that could have taken you away from us. Daddy was scared, and papa was too, that we wouldn't get to see our little ball of sunshine again.”

Izuku looked back towards his dad, a guilty look in his eyes before he buried his face in Hizashi’s shoulder, refusing to look at his parents while they spoke.

“We love you, Izuku, and we don't know what we would do if we were to lose you. Please don't do that again, but because it's happened, and because we love you, we need to keep you under close watch for the next little while. And you need to earn back the trust that you broke when you decided to disobey the schools, and our own, rules.”

“But they were being so mean to Tenya..” Izuku mumbles as he moves his attention from hiding his face to playing with his Hizashis long hair, “The kids treated him bad and I wanted him to be happy again. Recess didn't make him happy.”

“Oh Izuku,” Hizashis heart swells at the kindness of their son, he never knew Inko Midoriya, and he never would, but she gave them a blessing, and she raised their son, all three of theirs son, to be an amazing child. Though, Hizashi wished she had worked on Izuku’s temper before he went around trashing their home when he was upset.

Shouta, who had stayed in his spot and held his tongue, decided now was time for him to step in, “You're a wonderful little boy Izuku Midoriya,” he said, walking up and kissing their sons cheek before wrapping both Hizashi and Izuku in his arms. He held them close to his chest and Hizashi allowed himself to sag into the hug, content with these small domestic moments whenever they popped up.

Their moments in silence were broken by Izuku's monster of a yawn, eyes forced shut and mouth wide open as the day's events caught up to him, zapping him of his remaining energy and reminding his dads it was now well past bedtime.

“Come on, let's get you to bed, baby,” Hizashi spoke softly as Izuku continued to doze off in his arms. He gently tapped Shoutas arm, letting him know it was time to release the hug. He stepped out of his boyfriend's hold when Shouta’s arms went limp at his sides and Hizashi made his way over to Izuku’s bed, tucking his son gently under the covers and kissing his green curls goodnight.

He turned back around just in time to watch Shouta attempt, and fail, to stifle his own monster yawn, and chuckled when Shouta realised he was caught.

“Come on babe, it's your bedtime too,” Hizashi joked as he gently tugged Shouta out of the room, flicking off the lights and closing the door behind them.

~~~~~~~~~~

When they were finally back in their bedroom, dressed and ready for bed with the sheets pulled up around their chests, Hizashi decided it was best to bring up tonight's events now that they had time to finally talk about it in private.

“Y’know, you're a bad punisher,” Hizashi smirks at his boyfriend. He receives a glare in response before Shouta picks up his book from the bedside table and opens it to the last page he was reading.

“Uh uh,” Hizashi takes the book and places it on his own table, directing Shoutas attention back towards him, “we're gonna talk about it. I refuse to be the punisher everytime, and I will not come and save you every time you are. It's not fair to me or to either of our relationships with Izuku.”

Shouta sighs before rolling onto his side, absentmindedly grabbing a strand of Hazashi’s hair and twirling it between his fingers, “I don't know what I’m doing,” his boyfriend admits softly.

Ah, Hizashi could understand that. They became parents so suddenly, under odd circumstances, and not that long ago. It was a hard adjustment for anyone to make, much less someone so emotionally constipated like Shouta was.

“Can I tell you something?” Hizashi asked, his voice brought down just as softly to match Shoutas own. He scooted down from his seated position to be laying next to Shouta on his own side, facing his boyfriend at eye level, “I don't really know what I’m doing either. But we for sure can't let him see that or everyday will be a worse tantrum than tonight.”

That earned a chuckle from Shouta, “You sure seem like you know. You're one hundred percent his favourite of the two of us.”

“Well… of the two of us yes” Hizashi jokes, “But let's be honest, if he could trade us in for All Might he would do it in a heartbeat.”

“Heh,” Shouta breathes out, “after their first and only babysitting time, I doubt Izuku wants anything to do with Yagi when he’s out of costume.”

“Well I never said Yagi, did I? I think Izuku would want him as All MIght and only as All Might.”

“You might be right about that.” Shouta sighs , a dejected look crossing over his face. Breaking eye contact with Hizashi, Shouta looks at the ceiling, “But Yagi isn't his father, we are. And we need to figure this parenting thing out soon. We can't mess up this kid more than life already has.”

“Yeah,” Hizashi sighs back. Their son had been through hell and back, and until All for One was caught, he could very well face it again, but they both knew that they would be there for every step of the way. That their son would never be alone again like that day they found him hiding at the mall.

“Well for starters, I dont think getting on their level of childness will work,” Hizashi laughed a little, “I mean, for til college?”

“For til college. Believe me that brat isn't getting a reduced sentence on my watch.” Shouta replied in his best deadpan Eraserhead voice. There was another thing Hizashi loved abut this man. Eraserhead was closed off, and for good reason. As an underground hero, he needed to be to make it through the night. But once Shouta Aizawa stepped through the doors of their apartment, the walls came down and a family man stood where the cold hero had once been. His duality would forever astound Hizashi, just as Shouta himself would.

“No, I suppose changing it now would set a bad example, oh mr. hero” Hizashi said, scooching over and forcing himself into Shoutas arms before guiding his boyfriend's hands to wrap around him in a tight hug.

“Someones clingy,” Shouta remarked.

“Someones tired, you mean.”

“They come hand in hand if it's you.”

Hizashi yawned against Shoutas chest, “he won't actually be grounded until college will he?” Hizashi asked in his sleep induced state.

“Nah, just until that nightmare of a room is cleaned again.”

“Same thing.”

And with that Hizashi drifted into a restful sleep, his son in the next room, and his boyfriend in his arms, unaware of the dangers lurking in the shadows. Dangers that would soon be coming for their boy.