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Chapter Text

 Izumi is three years old and sitting outside of a police station, she knows she should go in and talk to an officer, but she is scared. 

It's early or late depending on your perception of time, to Izumi who has had trouble sleeping for as long as she can remember it didn't really matter to her. It was six in the morning, judging by where the sun was, and she had been there since three. 

Lost in her own mind, figuring out what she should say, Izumi almost missed the cough that she assumed was to get her attention without scaring her. 

"You okay kid?" A man in a long tan coat asks her. 

"Un, just...trying to figure out how to tell I'm in trouble...but not in trouble." She tells the man, he looks confused at her words before he's crouching in front of her. 

"Okay." The man's face is open in a way she's not used to as he speaks. "My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa, I'm a detective, let's go in and see if I can help." 

Izumi takes a deep breath and takes hold of the detective's offered hand, as he stands he pulls her to her feet. His hold is gentle, it's not something she's used to, but it's good. 

Izumi is so focused on looking around her at the messy desks with tired looking adults behind them, and listening to the adults shout back and forth at one another she doesn't really pay attention to the man holding her hand. 

When they cross into a cluttered office the detective let's go of her hand, his soft words stop her from panicking. "Take a seat, I'll just go get something hot to drink." 

Doing as directed Izumi crawls on to the chair in front of the messy desk, it's hard for her, she's small, closer to the size of a two year old and the seat of the chair is the same height as her chest. 

Once she's seated semi comfortablely she just waits, tapping out the rhythm of her favourite nursery rhyme. When the tall man finally came back he had two big cups, one had the same sharp smell of the stuff that Hisashi drank in the mornings, she couldn't smell the other with the sharp smell overtaking it. 

With a half filled cup in her hands she peers inside only to find that it is hot chocolate, the last and first time she had been given hot chocolate was when Inko had left her at a coffee shop for hours. 

"Okay kiddo, let's talk." The detective's voice cuts through her thoughts, it makes Izumi jerk a little in surprise.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Izumi." She tells him, it's only proper manners, she had learnt this from watching people on the street. 

"Inko and Hisashi left me here, they don't want me. Hisashi said I'm not his, and Inko does what Hisashi wants. It was three on the clock in the car." Izumi is careful with her words, she knows that she can't call Inko and Hisashi her mom and dad. 

"Who are Inko and Hisashi?" The man asks her. 

"My... caretakers?" She doesn't know how to describe them, they had given her two small meals a day and three dresses, they took her places and always came back hours later. 

"Your parents?" The man asks. 

"I...no? Inko says that I was a mistake, Hisashi says I'm not his blood….uh Inko said to do a test to tell you who my dad is." Izumi parrots the words she had been told thousands of times, and what she had been told when she had been told to get out of the car. 

The man sighs deeply, Izumi isn't really sure what that means, so she stays quiet. 

"Okay, so we will order a paternity test, and you can stay here with me until it happens." He's running a hand through his hair as he picks up the phone on his desk. 

Izumi shrugs at him and takes a sip of her hot chocolate. It's good, not as good as the cafe she had been left in, but so much better than the odd tasting water she usually got at the house. 

Izumi had no idea how long she had been waiting with the detective when there was a heavy knock at the door. 

"Come in." The man said he sounded tired, and Izumi wondered if he had trouble sleeping like she did. 

A cat-person came into the room, they were followed by what looked to be a woman with a wooden arm that was holding a big silver case. 

"Izumi, this is officer Sansa, he will take care of you when I can't." The words drag Izumi's attention back to the detective, she nods letting him know he was heard. 

"Sansa, Shiba-san, this is Izumi-chan. We need a rush paternity test against all known males in the system." Izumi follows the words being said, she understands what's happening mostly, but she doesn't know how a test will tell her who her dad is. 

The woman, Shiba-san, drops the big case on the floor near Izumi. It makes her jerk back in surprise, almost dropping her cup. 

Izumi watches as the woman starts to ruffle through it, there are lots of things she doesn't know in the case, she wants to ask but knows that questions aren't really welcome. 

Shiba-san makes a noise, it's triumphant and short but it makes Izumi look at what the woman is holding. It's a long package that has paper on one side and clear plastic on the other, Izumi can't really tell what's inside cause Shiba-san's hand is covering most of it. 

"Izumi-chan, we need you to open your mouth, the swab that Shiba-san has is going to rub the inside on your cheeks." Tsukauchi-san brings her out of her observation of the woman, and Izumi wonders how this is a test. 

With a shrug Izumi opens her mouth wide, and waits. 

The wired little stick with fluff on the end feels odd in her mouth. The fluff makes it itchy and dry, and the stick keeps hitting her teeth and tongue.

Shiba-san is humming a tune that's covering the whispered murmuring coming from the two men in the room. When the sound cuts off and the 'swab' is pulled from her mouth Izumi is both happy and overly curious. 

"When is the test? Do I get to study first?" Izumi asks, it's not directed at anyone really, just in general, and to make sure that was actually the test as she had assumed.

Shiba-san snorts as she's closing her case, but Izumi ignores her when she sees officer Sansa move in the corner of her eye. 

"The swab was the test, Izumi-chan." Sansa told her, his voice sounded like he was purring. 

Izumi misses when Shiba-san leaves, she's too distracted by trying to pick apart the expression on the cat-persons face, it was hard, but then she realized that much like Tsukauchi-san she really only needed to look in his eyes. 

"Alright Izumi-chan, Sansa is going to get some breakfast for us, then he is going to watch you for a bit." Tsukauchi-san tells her, his eyes are soft and worried, but Izumi has no idea why. 

Chapter Text

Aizawa Shōta blinked slowly at Tsukauchi Naomasa, the detective was standing on his door holding the hand of a small child, looking somewhere between having a full nervous breakdown, crying, and worryingly serious. 

“Tsukauchi, what can I do for you?” Shōta asked, his voice rough with having been forced out of a nap. 

“Aizawa…” The detective started, paused, took a deep breath and tried again. “Aizawa, could we please come in and speak to you and Yamada?” The hand that was being held by the small child jerked a little to show who ‘we’ were. 

Opening the door further, Shōta turned his back on the detective as a way of granting them entry. He turned on his heel and made his way to the kitchen. He felt like he was going to need several pots of coffee to deal with whatever the slightly older man was going to dump on him. 

The quiet thump of shoes and click of the door shutting were the only indication of the two following his silent invitation. The light steps that he could hear coming closer rather than further away told him that Tsukauchi was headed to the living room of his home was enough of a warning to have Shōta calling his husband instead of texting, he felt like this qualified as an emergency. 

It took all of six rings for the other man to answer. "Shō! What's up?" Yamada Hizashi sounded a little breathless as he answered. 

"Tsukauchi is here, with a kid." Shōta grunted into the mic of his cell. "Come home." He ordered the blonde, and hung up before even giving the blond a chance to say anything. 

Shuffling his way into the living room with his coffee cradled in his hands, and eyeing Tsukauchi with wry dark eyes, Shōta stiffly sat in his favorite spot on the loveseat that was kiddy-corner to the couch that was being occupied. 

"Yamada is out. I called him to come home, if this can't wait for him then we can get it over with." Shōta told Tsukauchi after he had made himself comfortable. 

He watched closely as Tsukauchi eyes the kid sitting next to him, still gripping his hand tightly. The detective looked closer to having that breakdown the longer he looked at the kid, it was honestly starting to worry the underground hero a little. 

The silence felt like it dragged on far longer than the forty-seven seconds Shōta counted. 

"Probably best to wait, you both will need some support." The last part was muttered under Tsukauchi's breath, and Shōta figured that he wasn't supposed to hear it. 

The next twenty minutes were spent with idle chatter, both adults in the room getting tencer as each minute passed. At twenty-two minutes the front door opened and shut, the sound of heavy boots clunking on the floor as they were taken off and dropped pushed the expression on Tsukauchi's face closer to resigned and sad. 

"Ah, hello Tsukauchi. You needed me home?" Hizashi's voice called from just outside of Shōta's peripherals. 

"Yamada, Aizawa." Tsukauchi's tone was a forced flat, Shōta recognized it as the one that was used for grieving families. 

"I offer my condolences Aizawa. Your sister Midoriya Inko was found dead yesterday morning, the investigation is still open and I cannot share much more." Shōta froze, he hadn't spoken to his sister since his wedding, not that they had much contact before that even. It had caused all kinds of issues when Inko had shown up and recognized Hizashi as someone she had had a one night stand with when they had met at a college party when Shōta and Hizashi had been sixteen. 

"That being said, Midoriya Inko's will stated that her daughter Izumi would go to you and or her biological father first, in the event that she was not welcome there she was to be put in foster care." Many things in Tsukauchi's tone were sending off very loud warning signals that Shōta wasn't sure he even wanted to hear much else. 

Hizashi had grabbed his hand from where he had seated himself next to Shōta when the news of his sister's passing was delivered, he squeezed tighter when the kid was brought up. 

"Yamada, your daughter was dropped off in front of the police station six days ago where officer Sansa and myself have been taking care of her, until her paternity test came back." At this Shōta felt Hizashi stiffen next to him and wondered why that was being said before Tsukauchi finished talking about his niece. 

"I would like to introduce you to Izumi. She is your niece Aizawa, and your daughter Yamada." The strain in Tsukauchi's voice was very clear, and Shōta idly wondered how his sister had hidden a full on child from him for almost four years. 

"What?" The question was quiet, but full of hysteria. "No...I...what?" Hizashi tried again before Shōta felt his husband's body just collapse in on itself. 

The words Tsukauchi had said were making their way through Shōta's brain but they weren't fully being processed. 

The sniffle caught his attention finally, it was the first sound he had heard from the kid. Giving his head a firm shake Shōta finally took a look at the kid. 

The kid's hair was a wild mess of waves and curls, it was black but it looked to have lime green highlights naturally sprinkled through it, her eyes were the same toxic green as Hizashis' they even had darker green that spiraled out from the pupil. 

The freckles that were dusted across pale skin reminded him of his own mother, she had been of mixed nationality, holding citizenship in both Japan and Canada. His own freckles would show up when he had been in the sun, which made him avoid the giant ball of burning gas even more, no matter how much he missed and tried to remember his mother. 

The kid's ears were starting to turn red much like his own do when he is overly emotional. That observation finally kicked his numb body into moving. 

Still holding his husband's hand in a death grip he dropped off the loveseat and onto his knees in front of the kid who was holding onto Tsukauchi so tightly that her knuckles were white. 

"Hey kid, did Inko ever talk to you about me?" Shōta asked, trying to distract the kid from the coming tears.

The kid ' Izumi' he forced himself to recall shook her head and nibbled on her lip like she wanted to say something. 

"Do you know who I am?" He tried, it was highly unlikely that the kid knew him, but the nod shocked him into staring at toxic green eyes longer. 

"How?" Was out of his mouth before he could stop it. 

"Pictures. Inko had pictures with names and days on the back." Okay there were a lot of things in that sentence and tone that needed to be analyzed later, but Shōta pushed it aside to get some other questions answered. 

Nodding, Shōta asked his next pressing question. "Do you know who he is?" He jerked his head towards the silent blond that was in a still unresponsive heap next to him. 

Izumi nodded again, her ears taking on a deeper red color. "Pictures?" Shōta asked, getting another nod in return. 

Squeezing his eyes closed tightly and shaking the hand that Hizashi was still holding roughly, Shōta was in no way prepared for the next words that were spoken. 

"It's okay if you don't want me, Inko and Hisashi didn't want me, that's why they left me at the police before Inko was found dead." It was so quiet that Shōta wanted to convince himself that he had imagined it. 

Shōta stilled, he wasn't sure what to say, and he was pretty close to either a panic attack or disassociating much like he husband was doing. 

Tsukauchi cleared his throat, it jerked Shōta out of his thoughts long enough for the detective to say. "We came for introductions and to share the information, Izumi will be staying with either myself or Sansa until you two have made your decision. I know it's not protocol...just give me a call later." 

That said Tsukauchi scooped the kid ' Izumi' into his arms, settling her on his hip as she smashed her face into his shoulder, and quickly left the two pro-heros alone. 

The click of the door shutting sounded like an explosion to Shōta, it jolted him again just enough to turn to Hizashi and work on bringing the man back to the real world. 

Yanking hard on the hand still gripping his own, he unbalanced Hizashi enough to get a stutter in his breathing. 

"Zashi. He's gone, you gotta come back." Shōta demanded quietly. 

Wrapping his free arm around Hizashis' chest Shōta started to tap out the rhythm of an English song that Hizashi had used to randomly belt out in highschool. Giving himself and Hizashi something to focus on would be the only way to keep them grounded, usually it was Hizashi bringing him back but it worked both ways. 

Shōta was just starting the song over for the third time when Hizashi shifted against him and groaned. 

"I'm so sorry Shō. I didn't know. I swear." We're the first words that spilled from Hizashi's mouth. 

"Oh shut up you overgrown cockatoo." Shōta gently in his own way told his husband. 

"You have a daughter that was hidden from you, I have a niece that was hidden from me. My sister is dead, Tsukauchi said nothing of Inko's husband." Saying it wasn't helping it sink in, but he needed to say it. 

"She, Izumi, knows who we are in relation to her. She should be around four?" That question seems to jolt Hizashi a little, and a look between concentration and befuddlement is plastered across his face. 

"Un, three going on four at the oldest." Is the very quiet reply to the question about Izumi's age. 

Shōta pulled in a deep breath and held it for a few seconds before letting it out in a rush. 

"Tsukauchi and Sansa are taking care of her, and Tsukauchi asked us to call him later." Shōta told Hizashi the last piece of information.

Feeling the nod against his chest, Shōta just kept tapping the song out. 

"I'm sorry about your sister Shō." Hizashi whispered into the fabric of Shōta's sweater. "I know you weren't close, but, still." 

Shōta shrugged, "Honestly, part of me forgot I even had a sister." He told Hizashi bluntly. "So her death isn't going to bother me too much." It was harsh, but Shōta was being honest. 

"Okay, next thing." Hizashi pulled himself away a little but still kept close enough in Shōta's personal bubble so that they could comfort each other. 

"Izumi?" Hizashi asked, Shōta nodded when he realized that it was a question of her name. "Izumi was dropped off at the police station, she had a paternity test done to find her father. I am her father." Hizashi's breathing picked up again. 

"Okay, just stop, let's look at this differently." Shōta spoke quickly. "My sister is dead, she had a daughter, her custody was given to us in the will. I know we have only been married a year…" Shōta paused to take in a deep breath and release it again. "Do you want to take in the kid?"

Hizashi stayed quiet for what felt like forever. "Can we talk to her first?" Was the tentative question. 

Shōta let out another sigh, this one partly relieved and nodded. 

Chapter Text

"Tsukauchi." Comes the greeting from the other end of the call, Shōta and Hizashi have him on speaker as they sit curled up together two days later.  

"It's Aizawa." Shōta informs Tsukauchi. Hizashi is tence next to him, but his breathing is still steady. 

"You told us to call." Hizashi adds. 

"Right, any questions about my visit?" Tsukauchi asks, he sounds so done with life to Shōta. 

"Tell us about the girl." Shōta all but demands, he won't call her by name yet, he knows that when he does he will get attached and he can't afford that right now. 

"Izumi-chan is three, she didn't know her last name, no quirk yet, she is very smart like a mini adult." Tsukauchi's voice is fond, it seems like he got attached in those six days. "The questions she has answered painted a life of serious neglect, she didn't call Inko 'mom', uh, I don't really know what else you want to know…" 

"She...she's really mine?" The question from Hizashi is quiet, but just loud enough to be heard. 

"Yes." 

Shōta sighs and grabs Hizashis' hand. "Can we meet her?" He asks resigned. 

"Are you taking her?" Tsukauchi's question is sharp, he sounds on edge, Shōta wonders why. "I mean...fuck." This time Tsukauchi sounds even more done with life. 

"The kid is sweet, she has trauma, I don't want you to meet her and have her get close to you if you aren't going to take her." In the span of space for the detective to take a breath Shōta is growling. 

"Hold on!" Tsukauchi snaps. "I mean that if you two aren't ready to take on a kid, not that you would purposefully hurt her." There is an even longer sigh. "Look, I got attached like an idiot, but I can't adopt her." 

Hizashi whimpers and smooches his face into Shōta's shoulder. The room is quiet, nothing being said on either side of the call, but a door clicks open from the detective's side. 

"Tsukauchi-san, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." Shōta hears the girl's voice and the shuffling of paper. "I like patterns, I know you said that the papers had scary stuff on them, but I couldn't help it." There is a heart breaking sniffle. 

Tsukauchi's voice is still clear, he must have had them on speaker as well, but they make no noise as they hear the conversation. 

"Izumi-chan, can I see what you did?" More paper is shuffled, it's driving Shōta crazy with curiosity. "Oh." It's an awed sound that the man makes. "I didn't see that before." 

The sniffles are getting a little more constant. "It's okay Izumi-chan, you were wrong to not listen to me and look at a case file, but you solved it. Just next time listen when I tell you not to read something okay?" Tsukauchi sounds so soft, like the kid has him wrapped around her fingers. 

"Yes Tsukauchi-san." They hear a quiet mutter. 

"Ah Izumi-chan, I...there are some people who want to know about you, will you just talk about yourself for a little?" Tsukauchi seems like he's trying to find a solution to the meeting problem, and Shōta is kind of relieved. 

"Uh, okay…" the words are hesitant and the pause is only a few dozen seconds long. "I like puzzles, and Sansa-san. Hot chocolate is yummy. I'm three years old. Inko told me that I am stupid, but Sansa-san says I'm smart…" 

Shōta kind of wants to bring his sister back to life and slap her. 

"I like bunnies and kitties, but not dogs. I don't want a quirk like Inko. Uh, I have an uncle that Inko didn't like, but in the pictures he always seemed like a kind person. I saw a picture of him with a blond man, the back said that it was their wedding, you told me that the blond man was my dad." 

Hizashi stiffens next to him, it prompts Shōta to wrap around him more firmly. 

"The blond man looks kind. I like Tsukauchi-san, he doesn't yell or hit me. I don't like being alone. Sansa-san keeps calling me kitten, but he says a kitten is a baby bunny. Oh I like music." 

It's quiet for a few beats. 

"Thank you Izumi-chan, I will make sure my friend knows all of that." Tsukauchi says and there is a little thump of something landing on the floor, then the door clicks closed again. 

"She sounds sweet." Hizashi says at the exact same time Shōta says. "I still want to meet her in person." 

It’s silent again, and Shōta wonders if his demand is going to be met. 

"We can arrange that, I promised to take her to the cat cafe tomorrow. She likes soft things, and says it helps keep her in the now." Tsukauchi tells them with a deep, almost wounded sigh. "Meet us there at around four?" 

Shōta makes a noise of agreement and hits the end call button. 

"Zashi, I don't care that you have a kid. I love you no matter what happens." Shōta tells his blond. 

"I love you too Shō, I just...I wish we had known before." Hizashi whimpers into his shoulder. 

Shōta drags his husband down to cuddle in a better position, he hums softly and feels Hizashi relax against him. It takes a little longer for him to fall asleep, but he does eventually, the soft slow breaths of his loud blond lulling him. 

Chapter Text

Izumi is so excited to be going to the cat cafe, when Sansa-san had told her it was a place to get hot chocolate and spend time with kittens she had begged Tsukauchi-san to take her. 

Now she was standing just outside of the building all but shivering in her excitement. Tsukauchi-san had told her to wear the pants that he had bought her, he said it was because cats were strange creatures and he didn't want one to do something that could make her uncomfortable. 

Izumi didn't really care to be honest, cats were soft and fluffy, she knew that they could be mean sometimes, but all living things were like that. 

Tsukauchi-san sighed a little as he pulled open the door for her, she knew that particular sigh was only something he did when he felt he was 'soft'. Izumi didn't really understand, the only soft thing about Tsukauchi-san was his hair, and sometimes the sweaters he wore at home. 

"Go find a seat, Izumi-chan." He told her, and walked toward the counter to hopefully get the promised hot chocolate. 

Izumi skipped her way over to a large pile of pillows, it looked like a nest that she could maybe shift around a little for maximum comfort. 

Her shifting of the pillows to allow for support but still give the feeling of a nest didn't take long, but it did attract the attention of a big fluffy gray cat. 

Once Izumi was settled comfortably the big cat climbed into her lap, he was almost the same size as she was. 

"Hello kitty!" Izumi chirped quietly. "I'm Izumi." 

With light fingers Izumi started to pet the top of the cat's head, it took her a little but she saw a baby blue collar hiding in all of the cat's fur. With her free hand she gently turned it to look at the tag. 

"Mor-phe-ous." She sounded out the name carefully, it wasn't a word she was familiar with, it made her fingers itch to know what it ment. 

When Tsukauchi-san came over to where she was he had the men they had visited yesterday with him. Izumi wanted to be surprised but she knew from when she agreed that this was a set-up of some sort. 

Not really bothered by it, Izumi asked the group of men. "What's a Mor-phe-ous?" 

Tsukauchi-san looked a little confused when she met his eyes, she looked at the black haired man who the photos had said was her uncle. He looked just as confused, Izumi sighed at that and looked at the blond. 

"Morpheous is the god of dreams." The blond answered her quietly, Izumi smiled at the man. 

"Oh!" She exclaimed happy with the answer. Turning back to the cat in her lap she says. "You must bring good dreams then." 

Tsukauchi-san is sighing again before he drops into the nest beside her, he's holding two plastic cups, one he passes to her. 

Izumi sniffs the little opening where she thinks that what's inside will come out and gives a happy hum when she smells hot chocolate. 

"Thank you Tsukauchi-san." She chirps before taking a careful sip. 

"Can we sit Izumi-chan?" Her uncle asks her, she just nods at him.

He sighs and Izumi wonders why all the adults seem to do that so much. 

"Hi, I'm Izumi." She says to them finally, remembering that she should be polite no matter how scared she is. 

"Hi Izumi-chan, I'm Hizashi, and this is Shōta." The blond speaks, there is something about his voice that Izumi likes, it's soft and deep, there's something in it though that draws her attention. 

"And I'm Tsukauchi." Izumi giggles lightly at the detective trying to make a joke. 

With the adults finally sitting more cats come over to investigate their little group, Izumi is beyond happy when a pure white cat lays next to her in a loaf. Quick light fingers find their collar and look at the name. 

It's another word she doesn't know, but she still carefully sounds it out. "Se-le-ne." She looks at Hizashi for an answer as to what it means. 

"Selene is the goddess of the moon. Looks like the cats are trying to make you sleepy." He tells her, Izumi can't stop the giggle that wants to come out. 

Shōta snorts and sighs into his own plastic cup, Izumi kind of wants them to just tell her why they are here, she needs to know what's going to happen to her. But she keeps quiet and pets the fluff that's taking up more of her lap than she has to give. 

All of them are quiet, more cats joining them as they sit there. Izumi feels the awkwardness in the air but she's refusing to pay attention to it. 

"So, Izumi-chan." Her uncle, Shōta-san starts talking. "I know I asked before if you knew who we were, but can you please tell us what you know?" 

Izumi tilts her head to the side and looks at the man through her bangs. 

"You are Inko's brother." She tells him simply, turning to face the blond. "You are my dad." Her words are blunt but Izumi believes that she needs to be. 

The blond 'Hizashi-san' she reminds herself, jerks backwards a little and his lips start to wobble. 

"Ah, yes." Shōta-san says slowly. "We didn't know about you." 

"I know. Inko liked to tell people I was her cousin. She didn't want people asking questions." Izumi tells them. "It's okay if you want to forget about me, I know something is wrong with me." 

Hizashi-san jerks backwards again, then he learchs forwards and grabs her hands. 

"Nothing is wrong with you." Hizashi-san tells her, his eyes are wet as Izumi meets them. "If I had known I had a daughter I would have been there to take care of you, even though I was still in school when you were born." Tears are falling down Hizashi-san's cheeks. 

"Oh." Is all Izumi can get out, Hizashi-san is still holding her hands, but she's lost on what to do or say. 

Shōta-san clears his throat, catching Izumi's attention. 

"It's not that we don't want you Izumi-chan, it's that we don't think we can be good guardians." He tells her, and Izumi is a little confused about how that matters. 

"What?" She asks as she looks at Tsukauchi-san, confused. 

The detective seems to understand what she's asking, his lips are set in a hard line that Izumi has learnt means he's unhappy. 

"How Inko and Hisashi treated you wasn't right. Yamada and Aizawa are scared because they are very young to take care of a little girl." Tsukauchi-san tells her, Izumi nods. 

"But…" She begins to argue, then stops when she remembers what Sansa-san had told her about how parents are supposed to be. "Oh." She finishes lamely. 

Shōta-san sighs, and it sounds a lot like the one Tsukauchi-san when he wants to do something but is scared of the outcome. 

"I'm okay with your choice. I mean I don't know how a family is supposed to be, so it's not like I'll miss anything." She tries to soothe the adults, but it doesn't seem to be working as Hizashi-san starts to cry harder. 

Izumi doesn't know what to do, but following some instinct she carefully slides out from under the cats and wraps her arms around Hizashi-san's arm that isn't pressed against Shōta-san. 

"Please don't cry!" She begs the blond. It seems to make him cry harder so Izumi takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and sings an English song that one of the nice grandma's taught her. 

One Tin Soldier -The Original Caste

"Listen, children, to a story

That was written long ago

'Bout a kingdom on a mountain

And the valley-folk below."

On the mountain was a treasure,

Buried deep beneath the stone,

And the valley-people swore,

They'd have it for their very own."

Izumi loved singing, this song the grandma had said was a prequirk protest song. Izumi didn't really understand, all she knew was that the words and melody tasted good on her tongue.  

"Go ahead and hate your neighbor,

Go ahead and cheat a friend,

Do it in the name of heaven,

You can justify it in the end,

There won't be any trumpets blowing,

Come the judgment day,

On the bloody morning after,

One tin soldier rides away."

The verses of the song tasted sad and angry, it gave the same feeling of a slow burn spice, the kind that sneaks up on you after a few bites of food, but it stays with you even after the meal.

"So the people of the valley,

Sent a message up the hill,

Asking for the buried treasure,

Tons of gold for which they'd kill,

It came an answer from the mountain,

With our brothers we will share,

All the secrets of our mountain,

All the riches buried there."

The chorus of the song always tasted like 'giving up' and 'it's your own fault' did. It was a flavor Izumi liked but she hardly found anything with the same mixture as this song.

"Go ahead and hate your neighbor,

Go ahead and cheat a friend,

Do it in the name of heaven,

You can justify it in the end,

There won't be any trumpets blowing,

Come the judgment day,

On the bloody morning after,

One tin soldier rides away."

Coming to the last verse of the song Izumi finally notices the arm she's hugging has stopped shaking, but she doesn't care, she wants to finish her song. 

"Now the valley cried with anger,

"Mount your horses! Draw your sword!",

And they killed the mountain-people,

So they won their just reward,

Now they stood beside the treasure,

On the mountain, dark and red,

Turned the stone and looked beneath it,

"Peace on Earth" was all it said.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,

Go ahead and cheat a friend,

Do it in the name of heaven,

You can justify it in the end,

There won't be any trumpets blowing,

Come the judgment day,

On the bloody morning after,

One tin soldier rides away.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,

Go ahead and cheat a friend,

Do it in the name of heaven,

You can justify it in the end,

There won't be any trumpets blowing,

Come the judgment day,

On the bloody morning after,

One tin soldier rides away."

She lets the last note of her song fade, and cracks her eyes just enough to have the men's expressions. 

Chapter Text

When Izumi wraps her arms around his bicep Hizashi is a little startled, he knows he's a crier, and maybe he should have tried to keep it under control better. 

"Please don't cry!" The little girl begs him which makes him cry harder thinking about a three year old trying to comfort him.

He hears Izumi take a deep breath, and then she's singing an unfamiliar song in English. The words are somewhere between heart breaking and resigned. Hizashi is so confused on how this little girl can get those feelings across. 

By the time she's stopped singing Hizashi has stopped crying and he knows his face shows his wonder and confusion. He's pretty sure the others are looking at her the same but Hizashi can't drag his eyes off his daughter. 

"That was very pretty." Tsukauchi says, his voice sounds a little choked up, he must not have heard Izumi sing before just then. 

"You sing very well, Izumi-chan." Shōta speaks, Hizashi can tell his throat is tight with emotion, and to emphasize it his ears are turning bright pink.

"Mmmm." Izumi hums at them as her cheeks pink a little but doesn't seem to believe either of the men. 

Hizashi struggles a little but he really wants to talk to this tiny human, he takes a large gulp of his cooling tea before asking softly. "Do you like music?" 

Izumi's eyes are open now and looking right at him, close up he can see that she has darker green spirals in her iris, they are almost unnoticeable  unlike his own darker green rings around his pupil. 

"Un, a nice grandma that lived by Inko taught me lots of old old English songs." Izumi tells him brightly. "They taste good, songs that have lots of feelings taste good." 

Hizashi furrows his eyebrows, asking. "Taste good?" He looks at Shōta quickly before focusing back on Izumi. 

"Uh huh, that song tastes salty but with a lot of slow spice. Like some words I say taste different." Izumi says, Hizashi doesn't understand but he wonders if it's her quirk showing early.

"I don't taste music." Hizashi tells Izumi as he arranges his expression into a pout. "If I sing do you still taste the words?" 

Izumi shakes her head, her green hair bouncing with the force, and pouting. Hizashi can see himself in every line of her plush lips, almond shaped eyes, and button nose. He also sees little bits of Shōta in her high cheekbones, wild hair, and defined jaw. 

Sometime during the short conversation Izumi had let go of him and backed out of his personal space, Hizashi kind of just wanted to pull her back in and hold on. 

They hold eye contact, Izumi doesn't seem to find his eyes weird like many other children and it relaxes Hizashi just a smidge. 

"Why are you here if you don't want me?" Izumi asks, her voice is so even and unbothered Hizashi had to struggle not to start crying again. "Or are you here to take me to the orphanage?" 

Shōta takes a deep breath at the first question, the second has him releasing it like he's been sucker punched in the guts. 

"Children are a big responsibility." Shōta is trying to say something but Hizashi doesn't know what. 

"Uh huh. But I take care of myself, I can get a job and everything, I just want a place to live, you don't have to be re-spon-sa-ble for me." Izumi cuts him off, shaking her head. 

"I'm sure you are very responsible." Shōta says. 

Hizashi is sure Shōta has a point even though he's going in circles.

"If you come to live with us, your only job will be to be a kid." Shōta tells her. "Do you know what our jobs are?" He then asks as an afterthought. 

Izumi shakes her head, Hizashi isn't all that surprised. 

"I'm an underground hero,that means I work late at night." Shōta tells her and nudges Hizashi a little. 

"I'm the hero Present Mic, I also just started a radio podcast, hopefully soon it will be a radio show." Hizashi says with a smile. 

Izumi's eyes are wide, and then she goes on to quote in the closest her high soprano can. "Hey, listeners. It's Present Mic signing on." 

"Yes, exactly." Hizashi says half dazed that Izumi listens to his show. 

"Ah." Izumi gives a short sound of understanding. "That's why you don't want me, you're too busy." She says this like it's the answer to all life's questions as she nods slowly. 

"No!" Hizashi yelps at the same time Shōta says it firmly. 

"No." Shōta says again. "We just want you to understand our jobs are dangerous, and it's likely we will get hurt. That's not something you should see." He tries to explain. 

"But, I have seen people hurt." Izumi starts her argument and Hizashi feels his stomach drop. "Hisashi used to bring men home, and Inko made me help fix them before I had to clean up the blood." 

Hizashi feels like he's going to vomit. 

"I can do stitches really good now." Izumi informs them. 

"That's not what I mean, Izumi." Shōta says, Hizashi can tell Izumi is at the end of her patients.

"Then what do you mean, do you want me or not, stop trying to make me feel better, and just tell me!" Izumi finally breaks, instead of trying to be calm. 

"Stop trying to give me something and take it away at the same time!" Tsukauchi is trying to unearth himself from cats and pillows to get to where Izumi is standing. 

"YES OR NO!" She screams loud enough to almost rival Hizashi using his quirk before she turns and runs from the cafe leaving three stupefied men behind. 

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Tsukauchi all but roars at Shōta. "This is why I didn't want you to meet her unless you were going to take her! You can't fucking use logic on a three year old!" 

Tsukauchi takes a deep breath then calmly adds. "She's right, figure out your answer 'yes or no' you have the week, that's as long as I can give you. I have broken protocol to not put her in a foster home, I can't push it off much longer." 

Hizashi sees the resignation in the detective's face, sees how attached the man had become to her, sees his anger at the two of them and he understands. 

"Shouldn't you go after her?" Shōta asks, he sounds angry but Hizashi can't tell if it's at Tsukauchi or himself.

"No, Sansa has been parked outside the entire time, but I am leaving." Tsukauchi's words are clipped, then without offering a 'goodbye' he's striding out the door. 

"Fuck." He hears Shōta swear but he's looking out the window to watch as the detective walks across the street. 

Chapter Text

Izumi is angry, she's angrier than the time she saw a random boy on the street kick an alley cat, she's angrier than she's ever been. 

When she runs into an adult's legs all she wants to do is scream at them to ‘get away’.

When the adult catches her by the shoulders and then pulls her against something warm and solid, Izumi fights it a little, she's angry and doesn't want to be comforted.

The deep rumbling purr is what breaks Izumi from the angry fog, the adult was Sansa-san. 

Sansa-san was safe, had never hurt her with words or his hands, so she pushed her face more firmly into his chest and wrapped her arms around his neck, enjoying the vibrations of his purr. 

"Shhh." Sansa-san never gave Izumi empty words, he had never told her 'it will be alright', Izumi wished that Sansa-san could take her. 

"Why are adults so dumb?" Izumi asks the cat-man, she's curious as to Sansa-san's answer. 

"It's cause adults don't see things like kids. Adults usually think too much and it makes them say or do things they don't mean." Sansa-san tells her, he's holding her and rubbing her back in soothing circles. 

"Well, Shōta-san is very dumb. He kept talking bout how if I went with them, but then he would say something to make it sound like they didn't want me." Izumi explains the reason for her question.

She hears a car door open but she refuses to let go of Sansa-san as he tries to set her in the back seat, he huffed a laugh and climbs into the car still holding her. 

"Sleep, Izumi-chan. You must be tired after dealing with dumb adults." Sansa-san tells her, Izumi decides that it's very good advice before she closes her eyes as the cat-man pets her hair. 

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

When Izumi wakes up she's in Tsukauchi-san's guest room where she had been staying since she was left at the police station. 

She's still angry, but under that she's hurt and sad. Izumi sniffs as she feels the pressure behind her eyes, and the heating of her ear, that tells her she's going to cry. 

There is a soft knock on her door, it opens, and before she can hide her face and tears Tsukauchi-san has seen her. 

"I'm sorry Izumi-chan, I don't know why I agreed to let them meet with you if they weren't ready to take you in." The detective apologizes to her, and Izumi just shakes her head. 

"Not your fault they are dumb adults, they probably pushed until you gave in." Izumi is quick to say through her sniffs and tears. 

Tsukauchi-san sits on the edge of her bed and pets the top of her head. "I was a dumb adult too, so I'm sorry." He tells her softly. 

Izumi doesn't bother trying to argue with him; she just lets her tears run freely as he gathers her into a hug and holds on to her tightly. 

"I told them they had a week." Tsukauchi-san admits as he's rubbing her back. "If you are put into foster care I will try to have a friend adopt you, or try myself." 

Izumi is a little relieved to hear that the man was willing to do so much for her. 

"I may even be able to talk Nezu into taking you on as a ward of UA." He tells her, she knew that Tsukauchi-san wouldn't say that unless it was true, he had praised her intelligence more than once, just like Sansa-san had. He had compared her to Nezu as well, then she had made him explain who Nezu was and had been shocked to be compared to a being so intelligent. 

"Okay." Izumi sniffed again as she worked on calming her tears. 

The rest of the day was spent with Izumi working on a book of word and number puzzles that Tsukauchi-san had given her, most of them were pretty easy but Izumi enjoyed them anyway. 

Tsukauchi-san was busy looking over some case files that after Izumi had solved one he would stop and ask her opinion on his theory before he would start up again. He never let her see the pictures or read any of the gross details but sometimes he would read out some of the clues to see if she could put it together. 

---------- 

A few days had passed calmly before the detective got a phone call, when he checked who it was his face took on a hard look Izumi wasn't used to seeing before he smiled at her and went to his office. 

Izumi was curious as to who would make the man look like that so she crawled across the floor to sit by the cracked open door. 

"Tsukauchi." She heard the detective answer the phone curtly. 

Izumi pouted a little when she didn't hear the other side of the conversation. 

"Have you decided?" Izumi squinted a little, just from that question she knew who was on the other end of the call. 

"I see." 

"Yes, we can discuss this tomorrow."

"Sansa will be taking her for the night."

"No you may not." 

"Really Aizawa? Right now you have no guardian rights." 

"Yamada doesn't either, he was not in a relationship with her mother six months prior to conception." 

Izumi blinked at the wall, a little taken back at how angry Tsukauchi-san sounded. 

"When you sign the paperwork." 

"I hope I can still be a part of her life." 

Izumi hopes the same thing, both Tsukauchi-san and Sansa-san were amazing people and they took care of her better than anyone else ever had. 

"Good. Tomorrow then." 

Izumi scrambles back to where she was sitting before the call not wanting to get caught listening in. 

Chapter Text

Naomasa sat in his living room looking over emails from work when the doorbell rang. He heaved a loud sigh as he went to get the door for Aizawa and Yamada, he was still unimpressed with how they had acted at the cafe but he also understood where they were coming from. 

"Yamada, Aizawa." He greeted them, leaving the door open he went back to his living room grabbing glasses and a bottle of wine. 

He heard the door click closed but no footsteps, not that he expected to hear them but knowing where they were in relation to himself would be nice. 

Dropping himself in the armchair that sat at a ninety degree angle from the couch, Naomasa put the glasses on the table and unscrewed the cheap wine. 

"Sit first, then we can talk and drink." He told the two men as he poured the alcohol into the glasses. 

"Was she okay?" Yamada asks in a far more timid tone than Naomasa had ever heard from the man. 

"No, she cried herself to sleep twice." He said bluntly, he had promised himself that he wouldn't hold back. 

Yamada whimpered and Aizawa let out a long sigh before snatching two of the glasses from the table, he downed his in one gulp before wordlessly asking for more, Naomasa poured him more before sipping at his own. 

"What did you want to talk about this time?" He questions, both men know his quirk isn't one that can be deactivated. 

"To apologize, and to actually speak with you on your thoughts of us taking her." Aizawa said, his face was blank but to Naomasa's trained ears he could hear the waver in his tone. 

"Honestly?" He asked as he sat back and looked at them, both nodded. 

"I would rather keep her, but CPS doesn't like single parents with a dangerous job, really unless Midoriya's will hadn't explicitly said she should go to you two, you wouldn't have the option of taking her in." He sees the moment that his words actually register in their brains, Aizawa stiffens and Yamada's face crumples. 

"But, because of the will you are the first option before foster care. I have a feeling when her quirk comes in she will be passed from home to home and possibly muzzled. If you decide not to take her in, I will be contacting Nezu to ask him to make her a ward of UA." Then he sighs and slumps. "You two are the best chance she has at having a loving family and a semi-normal childhood, I think you would be good dad's." His voice is resigned and tight as he admits that. 

Yamada is openly weeping again and Naomasa throws the box of Kleenex at him in mild exasperation. 

"I want to know my daughter, but we are so scared. You know our files, neither of us grew up with good role models." Yamada is able to say around his sobs, Aizawa accepting the blond man's weight as he pushes into him. 

"Yea, well sometimes not having the best role models makes you the best role model. Make sense?" Naomasa knows he's not much older than the two, maybe six or seven years but he's been in his profession that many years longer, he sees worse than they do sometimes, with civilian on civilian violence. 

The three sit in silence for a while, it's not awkward or strained but Naomasa can see Yamada and Aizawa having a conversation in a mix of eye contact and sign language. 

"We'll take the problem child." Aizawa breaks the silence, Yamada is beaming but there's a worried edge to his smile. 

"Great, come to the precinct for the paperwork tomorrow." Naomasa says quickly then he's standing and adding. "Now get out, I want to finish off my emails and drink some scotch." 

----

Naomasa is sitting at his desk cradling his head in his hands regretting that last glass of scotch when his office door clicks open. 

Izumi has her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth and eyebrows scrunched in concentration as she carries a togo cup from the coffee place that Sansa likes to stop at in the mornings. 

Sansa is behind her holding a tray with two other cups and a paper bag, he's smiling at the little green haired girl as she slowly creeps her way to Naomasa's desk. 

Naomasa turns in his chair so the space in front of him is free, Izumi was headed right for it knowing that he would turn for her as he had done many times before. 

"Izumi-chan made sure we stopped for your coffee, she said you had to meet with dumb adults last night." Sansa speaks from inside the doorway that he just closed. 

Naomasa snorts quietly, of course Izumi knew he had met with Aizawa and Yamada last night. 

"Yeah, but they weren't so dumb last night." Naomasa says, giving a lopsided smile to Izumi as she holds his coffee out to him with her own sunshine smile. 

Izumi takes quick steps to get to the beanbag chair that one of the officers had 'accidentally' purchased and placed in his office. Once she's comfortable with a book way above her age level in her lap, Sansa gives her one of the other two cardboard cups and a muffin. 

"Oh?" Sansa asks curiously. 

Naomasa took a deep drink of his coffee to give himself a moment to sort his thoughts. Izumi and Sansa both say nothing as they keep their eyes on him. 

"The dumb adults," Naomasa can't help but snort at the title. "Are scared, they are pretty young too, just barely twenty." He sighs again, pinching the bridge of his nose. 

Sansa grunts, it sounds far more disappointed than Naomasa is used to from his partner. 

"Izumi-chan, can I be blunt?" He asks the little girl who's watching him with sharp eyes, it unnerves him a little how much like an adult she is. 

"Please Tsukauchi-san." Her words are soft, but he can already tell she's prepared for disappointment. 

"Aizawa's parents, your grandparents were not kind people, they were quirk supremacists and used to hurt Aizawa. Yamada was moved from foster home to foster home where he was usually muzzled because of his quirk." Izumi's face is horrified as he tells her this.

"They are scared of not being good enough, and that's on them. They will be in today to sign paperwork for custody, you won't go with them today but probably pretty soon." Sansa hissed so quietly that Naomasa wasn't sure he had actually heard it or not. 

Izumi was looking at him wide eyed before tears started to travel down her cheeks. 

"I won't leave the building." Izumi blurts quickly as she stands up quickly holding her book to her chest and bolting out of the room. 

"Izu-" Naomasa gets up and goes to follow her only to have Sansa stop him. 

"Just, let her go for now. We talked last night about the possibilities. Izumi is a strong girl, we kept her with us too long and she's just as attached to us as we are to her, and now she feels a little abandoned again even if it's only been two weeks." Sansa tells him with a firm grip on his bicep. 

"Fuuuuck." Naomasa groans and drops back into his desk chair. 

"Yep, she knows where to get what she needs, but we just need to let her be for now." Sansa pats his shoulder before heading to his own office. "Izumi-chan knows where we are when she's ready."

Chapter Text

Izumi spends the rest of the day up in the vents, she moves between Sansa-san's office and Tsukauchi-san's, watching them work both together and apart. 

It gives her a chance to see when her dad and uncle come in to sign the papers for her. 

"Where is she?" Yamada-san asks the detective, who shrugs. 

"You lost her?" Aizawa-san hisses. 

Tsukauchi-shan shakes his head and replies. "No. Izumi-chan is in the building, just not sure where." He tips his head enough that she catches him looking at her through the grates to the left and behind Yamada-san. 

Aizawa-san huffs, sounding mildly upset but not surprised. 

"Here." Tsukauchi-san says as he passes two big brown envelopes to the two men. "Read, initial, and sign. You two can pick up Izumi-chan when you have a room ready for her." Izumi scans the detective's face, his eyes are sad and Izumi wants to yell at the dumb adults. 

"You and Sansa better be ready to babysit, no way are we trusting anyone else with Izumi." Aizawa says with a growl, Izumi can't see his face but he sounds threatening. 

"Anytime." Tsukauchi-san doesn't look as sad anymore and even though she's being taken away from him she will see him again, that soothes a little of Izumi's hurt. 

All three men focus on the papers in front of them, pens scratching on paper in short bursts. 

"We have a room in mind, but we wanted to ask how we should decorate it." Yamada-san asks, breaking the silence and putting his papers back into the envelope and on the desk. 

"Izumi seems to like darker colors or neon, so dark gray or black with neon orange or blue would be something she would like. Books, have lots of books, not children's books, like I mean books you would give to teenagers or adults, I wouldn't be surprised if she graduated from highschool by the time she's ten." Tsukauchi-san says with a laugh, she didn't really understand what he found funny but assumed it was Yamada-san's and Aizawa-san's expressions

"Izumi-chan loves the beanbag chair that someone got for her." His head tips towards the black bag that Izumi would admit she loved napping and reading in. 

"Normal kid things would be good, but you will also need something other than books to stimulate that genius brain of hers, I ask her questions about cases and she usually solves them pretty easily. Nezu would love her." 

There is a pause, then someone groans and Aizawa-san's head falls backwards. 

"The rat? He likes no one." Aizawa-san says to the ceiling, Izumi can see that his eyes are closed and he looks pained. 

"No really, I gave Izumi a book on word puzzles ment for people with intelligence quirks and she finished the book in two days, I could only solve the beginner puzzles." Aizawa-san's head jerks back up to look at Tsukauchi-san, the room is really quiet and Izumi wonders why briefly.

"Genius child, dark and neon, books and things to 'nest' in." Yamada-san sums up everything Tsukauchi-san had told them, the detective nods along. "Great, we will go shopping right away. What necessities does Izumi-chan already have?" 

"Sansa and I bought her hygiene supplies, but we will probably keep those for when we babysit, Izumi would only let us buy her two weeks worth of clothes, she's got one pair of shoes." Tsukauchi-san frowns, Izumi hadn't wanted too much if she was going to foster care, she knew that things would have been taken from her. 

"You and Sansa keep what you've got, send us Izumi's sizes and we can pick some things out, shoes will be something that she's going to need to try on, so that can be done later." Yamada-san starts to ramble, and Izumi thinks that maybe it's genetic. 

"Out of my office. I'll send you sizes, just remember kids grow fast." Tsukauchi says and gives a tired sigh after both men leave. 

Sheepishly Izumi pushes her shoulder against the vent grate to open it and turns on her tummy with her feet out first to slide down the wall. 

"Sorry Tsukauchi-san." Izumi whispers and walks over to him. 

"I would have done the same." The detective tells her with a small laugh as he reaches out and ruffles her hair. 

Chapter Text

Once Hizashi is sitting behind the wheel of his older than dirt sports car he looks over at Shōta feeling a little lost. 

"Where to first?" He asks.

"Let's go for paint first, then we can go for furniture." Shōta looks at him tiredly when he replies.

Hizashi starts the car, as it rumbles to life he's quick to start sprouting off ideas on decorations. 

"Dark gray walls, with neon decorations, maybe find ash wood for the furniture to lighten up the room more, bright bed sheets and dark blanket, oh the little listener said she likes music, so music notes on the walls, or we can find a song we can put on the walls, we will need lots of bookcases, ah we probably have to look into some schools too, and clothes, no cry shampoo, do kids use skin care, we should get stuffies, oh and games, it's good we both have well paying jobs…" 

The only input he gets for Shōta is random grunts, so Hizashi takes it as him agreeing. He's nervous about actually having the kid move in with them, but as Tsukauchi said they were her best chance. 

----

Hizashi sighs in satisfaction, it had taken them three days to empty out the room at the other end of the hall from their own and repaint it. 

The walls were a gunmetal gray, they had random music notes in neon colors along the wall opposite of where they had placed the new queen sized bed, Hizashi had protested the size of the bed until Shōta started to 'logic' his protests, that buying the bed that large gave extra storage with the drawers under the mattress and box spring, and that they wouldn't need to replace it as Izumi got older.  

Under the window by the foot of the bed was a short square dresser that was waiting to be filled, by the top of the bed was a nightstand with a lava lamp that Hizashi hadn't been able to resist, and two floor to ceiling bookshelves. The wall that was painted with the music notes only had a desk placed in the center, they had painted the closet door the reverse color to the wall, making it a bright mix of the neon paint as the base with gray music notes. 

Hizashi was pleased with the room, now all he needed was to go out and buy some things to fill it. He had spoken to Shōta about only buying necessities at first as well as things to keep a young girl happy, then they would shop online, or go back out for more when they went to get Izumi more shoes. 

Leaving the room making a mental list of stores he needed to visit Hizashi paused mid step and wondered if he should get Izumi a guitar, both Shōta and himself knew how to play, and it could be a good bonding experience. 

With a sharp nod to himself Hizashi added the music store to his already long list before swiping his keys off the table near the door and went to go do his shopping. 

----

Hizashi pouts at his husband's unimpressed look, he may have gone overboard, but at least he had stayed within the agreed amount of clothes. 

He had purchased fourteen outfits, and a month's worth of underthings, including things like tights to wear under dresses and skirts that he had bought, he also had gotten five sets of pajamas, they had agreed on that, and Hizashi had stuck to it, he reminded himself the whole time that children grew fast, and Izumi would need new clothes in six months at the longest. 

But it wasn't the wardrobe or the six different kinds of shampoo, conditioner, curl definer, body wash, toothpaste and ten fun washcloths and towels, that had Shōta looking at him in exasperation. 

"You bought her an acoustic guitar, a bass guitar, a mixing board, laptop, game system, tablet, phone, and how many books and plushies?" Hizashi winced a little at hearing the growl in Shōta's voice. 

"Okay, so the tablet can probably go back, and the mixing board. But Tsukauchi said to get her books and things to keep her brain occupied, so I bought her three series that I found on a crazy sale because they are super old, and even when they were new they weren't crazy popular, so like twenty books, it was less than the tablet, but I bought the tablet to buy one of those book apps. And plushies I only got like, five, five is not that many." Hizashi argued, he could probably return the bass guitar as well, but it had been on sale and after learning acoustic it would be a good next step. 

Shōta threw his hands in the air. "Fine, return the mixing board, she can use the one in the studio in the basement. The tablet too, you can put the app on her phone." 

Then he sighed and rubbed his forehead, and admitted. "The phone was a good idea, we can put a tracker in it, and it can be used to call us or Tsukauchi in an emergency."

Hizashi squealed as he flung himself at Shōta for a hug. "I'll go right away, promise I won't buy any more." He kissed Shōta quickly before grabbing the two things to return and skipping out the door. 

----

Hizashi may have told a little lie, or well at the time it hadn't been a lie. When he returned the mixing board he had a brilliant idea. Izumi likes his podcast, maybe she would like to help him with it. Then he spotted the child sized black and yellow headphones that would work perfectly. 

Shōta gave a tired sigh and opened his mouth to say something but Hizashi quickly cut him off with an explanation that was 'logical'. 

"If she's going to use the basement studio all my headphones will be too big, and I planned on offering to have her help me sometimes on the podcast, it was logical to get her a pair of headphones that would fit her, they are sized for ages three to twelve." 

Hizashi fidgeted a little, he wasn't very good at the 'logical' thing, but he hoped that it was enough to not have his husband make him take them back. 

Shōta sighed and nodded. "Your argument is sound. No more until Izumi is settled, she needs shoes and more clothes before anything else." He said firmly. 

Hizashi nodded, he agreed with Shōta, really he did. Once they got to know Izumi better and as she developed more her wants would be met, they both got paid well. 

They had also spoken about getting a cat, hoping that an animal would help settle Izumi a little more. Hizashi knew that it was also an excuse that Shōta had been looking for to get his favorite animal, he wondered briefly if they should adopt the two that had cuddled Izumi at the cat cafe. 

Chapter Text

Izumi knows she's pouting, she's holding Sansa-san's hand and Tsukauchi-san had just rang the doorbell for the Yamada Aizawa house.

The two officers and two hero's had agreed that they would spend Saturday morning together for Izumi to get at least a little settled into her new home before the two officers left. 

She honestly didn't know how to feel, the fear of not having a home was gone, but there were other things making her chest tight. Turning a little, Izumi buried her face in Sansa-san's thigh, for a small amount of comfort. 

When the door opened words between the adults were exchanged but Izumi ignored them.

Sansa-san moved, but Izumi didn't. Someone huffed before she was scooped up in strong arms and carried into the house, she didn't know who was holding her, having shoved her face into their shoulder automatically. 

"Hello again Izumi-chan." Yamada-san's voice said as the chest she was held against vibrated. 

"Hello Yamada-san." She returned politely without moving. 

The chest vibrated again this time in laughter, as a hand started to rub up and down her back as she felt the man start to walk and then sit. He didn't let her go and Izumi didn't fight, she hadn't slept well last night and was tired enough that she knew a nap would be needed soon.

"These are Izumi-chan's medical records." Tsukauchi-san says with the ruffle of paper and clothes. 

"And these are to give Izumi-chan a legal family name." Sansa-san adds with more ruffling. 

It catches Izumi's attention enough that she leans back and turns to look at Sansa-san. 

"I get a family name?" She asks a little in shock. 

"Mmm, yep. You even get to choose which you want out of three options." Yamada-san says with a smile as Izumi whips around to look at him again. 

"Aizawa, Yamada, or Midoriya." Aizawa-san says from next to herself and Yamada-san. 

Izumi looks at him with wide eyes as she thinks, not really noticing her mumbles were loud enough to hear. "Don't want Midoriya, I wasn't family, I don't look like Yamada-san or Aizawa-san, so I don't know if I will be family either, maybe I could make up my own. Miyawa? No, that's not nice. Yadoawa? No, I don't like that either. Aizada? Eh, not terrible but I still don't like it." 

"Yamazawa?" Yamada-san's voice cuts through her thoughts. 

With wide eyes Izumi blinked at the man in sight confusion at having her train of thought derailed, then she slowly nodded at the blond man, it sounded better than the others, and it gave her a Mash up of two family names of people who seemed to want her. 

Izumi quickly looked at Aizawa-san to check that he was alright with this decision, she was met with a toothy grin and a nod. 

"Maybe we should legally change our names to match but just introduce ourselves with our original names." The dark haired man said, holding eye contact with her. 

Yamada-san gasped joyously before he turned to Aizawa-san and all but squealed. "That's a great idea Shō!" 

Izumi turned to look at Tsukauchi-san and Sansa-san with wide eyes as she silently questioned if this was really happening, both men grounded her in answer making  Izumi roll her eyes at the entire situation. 

"With all that out of the way, why don't we show you three around!" Yamada-san said excitedly as he bounced on the couch with Izumi still carefully held against him. 

"All right, lead the way." Sansa-san agreed, and slapped his thighs before he stood. 

Izumi held tightly to Yamada-san's shirt as he surged to his feet and started to walk with a large bounce in his steps, it felt to Izumi like she was on a carnival ride she had read about.

She couldn't help but giggle as they bounced up the stairs, and down a hallway to the furthest door on the right, he didn't open it though. 

"This is the attic, it's used for storage." Yamada-san said brightly as Izumi's giggles calmed. 

Taking one big bouncing step across the hall Yamada-san pushed open the next door. "This is mine and Shōtas room, you can come to us whenever you need." 

Yamada-san walked to the next door in a much calmer fashion and pushed the door open. "This is our office?" His tone was questioning, Izumi looked over at Aizawa-san for confirmation, when he nodded at her she smiled back. 

A big step across the hall had Yamada-san pushing open another door. "This will eventually be some sort of room." He said when the door showed a bare room. 

"Probably a guest room." Aizawa-san said from behind them. 

Across the hall again Izumi wondered if the man holding her was moving in the most logical fashion or if he just enjoyed bouncing back and forth. A quick look at the sunshine smile on his face Izumi quickly decided that he wasn't a logical man. 

"Bathroom." Yamada-san said cutting through her inner thoughts again, the room was white with colorful towels, a bigger bathtub than Izumi had ever seen and a closet door that she assumed held spare towels.

When they stepped out of the bathroom Yamada-san waved his hand at the last door on the same side dismissively. "Linens closet." He said in a voice just as dismissive. 

They paused at the last door in the hallway, Yamada-san put her on her feet and took a deep breath. Izumi looked between him and Aizawa-san, they both looked nervous. Izumi gave a little huff as she pushed the door open and stepped in the room. 

Her feet moved her to the center of the room without conscious thought, she turned slowly taking everything in, it was almost magical. 

"Your room." Aizawa-san said, Izumi dropped to her bum and hid her face in her hands. 

She didn't know why she was crying, but she knew it wasn't a sad cry. 

Four sets of feet quickly converged around her, and four male voices overlapped each other in a mash up of something she couldn't understand. 

"Mine?" She choked out through her tight throat and looked between each adult's face.

Yamada-san's face cleared of panic and into something understanding. "Yours." He agreed. 

Izumi nodded and stood again, the men all watched her as she walked around, she started at the desk, then opened the closet to see a few outfits already waiting for her, next her fingers skimmed over the books already waiting to be devoured by her eyes and brain, she moved across the room and opened and closed every drawer in the dresser mentally noting where each thing was. 

The bed was the last thing in the room, it was bigger than any bed Izumi had ever slept on, fist the tugged open the drawers by the floor, one was empty but the other held some stuffed animals, Izumi looked over them before she pulled a soft bright purple bunny out and held it to her chest before pushing the drawer closed. 

"It's the most perfect thing I've ever seen." She tells them, she still feels tears rolling down her cheeks but the smile that's starting to hurt her lips with how wide it is is the most genuine she's ever given. 

Her heart feels warm and full when she looks each man in the eyes, they all have a shine to them that Izumi knows is tears but they look happy too. 

Izumi moves to stand in front of Aizawa-san, her bunny still in her hold, she tentatively asks. "Hug?" 

Aizawa-san doesn't even think as he pulls her to him, one hand on her upper back and the other on the back of her neck, he holds her close and she enjoys the sound of his heart beat.

Chapter Text

Izumi had been with them a week, Shōta was a little surprised at how well she slotted into their lives like she had always been there. 

There had been a few bumps along the way. The first and largest had been learning that Izumi could cook had caused a mild panic when Shōta had woken before Hizashi one morning to the smell of bacon and eggs. He had launched himself out of bed and down the stairs, when he got to the kitchen he had frantically checked Izumi over for any injury before he sat her down finished breakfast and begged her to never cook alone again. 

The second had been when Shōta had gotten home from a particularly hard patrol, he had a large cut on his bicep and a deeply split lip. He had stopped all motion when he saw Izumi sitting on the couch with a textbook he recognized as one of his old junior high English books. She had taken one look at him and ran to the kitchen. She brought the big duffle bag of first aid supplies they kept in a cupboard, dropped it by the couch and started to push on Shōtas hips and legs to get him to sit on the couch. 

She had then opened the bag and brought out everything to stitch his arm and glue his lip, then she got to work. It had been a far better job than he or Hizashi would have done, but the fact she was awake worried him, they had been told at the cat cafe that she had known how to patch people up so it wasn't that much of a surprise as finding her away at three in the morning. 

It was Saturday again, and Hizashi had told Shōta of his plans to introduce Izumi to his audience that listened to his podcast.

The three of them sat around discussing names they could use.

"Mini Mic." Hizashi exclaimed.

Shōta snorted, before snarking. "Why not mini eraser?" 

"Why do I have to be mini anything?" Izumi asked then, she had been refereeing their verbal back and forth over names. 

"Present Michelle." Hizashi suggested next. 

"Sound eraser." Shōta shot back. 

"Lorelei!" Izumi suddenly shouted, making both himself and Hizashi turn to look at her. 

"Oh, I like it!" Hizashi exclaimed and pulled Izumi into his lap. 

"Anything for you and Mom to stop fighting." Izumi told them with a serious expression, and scrunched eyebrows. 

Shōta choked on air, looking at Izumi with wide eyes before asking. "Mom?" 

"Mom. You cook all the meals and put me to bed." Izumi said matter of fact. "It's only natural that you'd be mom, plus dad is actually my biological dad, it's only logical." 

Shōta felt himself flush, and hid his face in his capture scarf.

Hizashi grinned at him with a shit eating smile before he burst into gleeful laughter.

"Fine problem child." Shōta grumbled, he honestly didn't mind being called mom, he just thought it would take longer. 

"So Lorelei and Present Mic hosting Put your hands up Radio, sounds good to me." Hizashi broke the moment, Shōta shook his head and then made shooing motions to get them to go start the podcast. 

---- 

Like he usually did on Saturdays, Shōta turned on his laptop to listen in on the podcast as he looked through his paperwork and emails. 

"Welcome to an extra special show of Put your hands up Radio!" Hizashi's voice came through the speakers. "Tonight you have a new host joining us, everyone give a yeaaaaaaaaah for Lorelei." The sound of cheering came after from the mixing board recordings. 

"Hello listeners, I'm Lorelei. I'll be joining Present Mic on occasion to help." Izumi's high voice was clear, Shōta heard no nervousness in her tone, but she was usually pretty confident. 

"Tonight we are gonna start off with some songs Lorelei was taught and searched long and hard for, for your listening pleasure. Then we will take a few calls and head right on back to giving you some tunes." Hizashi had his Present Mic persona out in full force as he spoke, Shōta only hoped that Izumi's headphones regulated sound and also were sound proof enough to block out his quirk if he got too excited. 

The sound of flutes and drums came out of the speakers, it wasn't something Hizashi usually played but when the lyrics started Shōta rolled his eyes a little recognizing the song Izumi had sung to him at the cat cafe. 

One Tin Soldier -The Original Caste (also used in pervious chapters) 

"And that was One Tin Soldier by The Original Caste." Izumi explained. "It was from nineteen-sixty-nine." Shōta gasped at the same time Hizashi did.

"Woha listeners, did you hear how old that song is?" Hizashi asked, the amount of shock in his voice real. 

Izumi giggled and introduced the next song before it started playing. "This next song is called Most Girls, it's by Hailee Steinfeld and was released in twenty-seventeen." 

Most Girls - Hailee Steinfeld  

"A Love shout out to all you girls out there, nice choice Lorelei." Hizashi praised. 

"Thanks Mic!" Izumi bubbled. "One last song from me then calls?" She asked, Shōta noted she was also making sure that it was okay. 

"You bet!" Hizashi assured her. 

"This last one is called Love Bites by Halestorm, from twenty-twelve." Izumi introduced it before the song started. 

Love Bites (so do I) - Halestorm  

The song started with the sound of symbols and counting, when an angry female voice started singing Shōta was honestly shocked. 

He enjoyed it though, it wasn't something he was used to hearing on Hizashi's show, most of the songs usually played were poppy and upbeat.

"Hello listener, what question can we answer for you today?" Hizashi's quick greeting and question came quickly after the last notes of the song faded. 

"Is Lorelei your actual name or are you a new hero?" A young female voice asked. 

"Lorelei comes from German mythology, a woman threw herself into the sea and became a Siren. I'm not a hero, just a guest D.J." Izumi answers brightly, well that answers Shōta's question to where Izumi got the name. 

"Cool, thanks for the super old songs." There was a click of the person hanging up, Izumi burst into giggles as Hizashi greeted the next caller. 

"Your live on, Put your hands up Radio!" 

"Lorelei, what are your thoughts on quirks?" A surprisingly young voice asked. 

"Ah-" Hizashi started to say but then was quickly cut off. 

"Quirks are quirks. It's like how the grandma by where I live used to say, quirk was originally used to say something was different. Quirks are all different, none are bad or good, it's what you make of it. We are all humans at our core, we all are equal." Izumi's voice was firm, he could picture her face scrunching up a little at the question and how stupid she thought it was. 

"Oh." The caller sniffed. "Thank you." The call clicked before anything else could be said. 

The air was dead, Shōta felt the awkwardness that would be spilling off Hizashi.

"Let's talk about quirks for a little." Izumi said, breaking the silence. 

"I don't have a quirk yet." Izumi said as if it meant nothing, Shōta slapped his mouth to keep from laughing.

"I'm only three, but I was told once that your quirk decides if you are worthy, but that didn't feel right to me. Your quirk could be throwing glitter from your hands, could be vibrating the ground, making explosions, or even making people follow commands. It doesn't matter, your heart is all that matters." 

Izumi takes a deep breath and keeps going in what Shōta can't decide if it's brilliant or stupid. 

"Take the number one hero, All Might, in theory he could destroy all of Japan in one punch, he also could have taken a job in construction or demolition. Endeavour could have been the world's worst arsonist, or a firefighter, or even a chef. But it was their hearts that made them heroes, they want to make the world better." 

Shōta could feel himself gaping at his computer where the podcast was broadcasting from, he could also hear Hizashi crying. 

"So I may only be three, but I don't care what your quirk is, or if you're quirkless. All that matters to me is your heart." Izumi must have been tapping along with the beat of her own heart, it filled the silence for a little. 

Hizashi announced the next song with a watery voice broken up by sobs. "Our next song is…"

Chapter Text

Izumi had been with Hizashi and Shōta for over a year, she was four and a half. 

Not much had happened in the year, Hizashi had been contacted by a radio station and now had his own show that Izumi was brought on every Saturday. 

Her birthday had been a quiet dinner with all four of the men that took care of her on a regular basis, they had adopted two cats from the cafe that they had met at for her birthday, Morpheous and Seline were both happy cuddly cats that slept with Izumi most nights. 

At the moment she was watching as Hizashi and Shōta were going back and forth over school and daycare. 

"Zashi, love. I know she needs friends her own age." Shōta tried to soothe. "But she's far too smart, Tsukauchi said she would graduate by ten, I think honestly she could right now." 

"I know Shō, god knows where she got the smarts, but she needs to be with other kids." Hizashi argued with wide arm movements. 

Izumi had a solution that would make both men happy, but she was worried that it would also make them pretty upset. "Dad?" She called out to try and offer her thoughts. 

"And I agree." Shōta tried again, holding his hands up in surrender. 

"Then we put her in kindergarten." Hizashi said with a nod. 

"We can't, she will be so bored. Kinds are still learning not to eat glue at her age." Shōta argues, he threw his hands up over his head in frustration that colored his voice. 

"Mom?" Izumi called, trying to get his attention, again. 

Both of them make an angry sound and turn to her, Izumi isn't worried she knows that they would never hurt her in their anger. 

"I have an idea, I talked to uncle Nao about it." Izumi offers. "He offered last year to take me to meet Nezu, I think he would be a great teacher." 

Shōta's face scrunches a little, Hizashi looks like it could be the answer, then his face crumples. 

"What about making friends?" Her dad asks softly. 

"After school groups or care, we can also go to the park more often." Izumi answers easily, giving her dad a smile. 

"Why the rat?" Shōta groans in dismay. 

"He's not a rat, I think he's a bear, or maybe a genetically engineered creature, I would need to see him to know." Izumi argues with Shōta. 

Shōta groans and drops to sit on the floor at her words. "Fiiiiiine." He says with the most whine Izumi has ever heard from the man. "Call your uncle, this will be on him, we will both come with you, but I owe no favors to the rat." 

With a shout of happiness Izumi bounced up the stairs to get her phone and call the detective, he answered in three rings. 

"Izumi-chan." He greeted, a smile in his voice. 

"Uncle Nao! Mom and Dad have agreed to let me see Nezu." She told the man excitedly. 

"Ah, great. We have an appointment with him in two days, after the third year sports festival. I'll come to pick you up." Tsukauchi tells her. "I'm sorry but I have to go back to work." He adds quickly.

"Bye bye uncle." Izumi chirped quickly before they both hung up. 

Izumi skipped back down the stairs to share the information with her parents. 

----

Two days went past quickly, Izumi had been dressed up in a black dress that had more layers and ruffles than she had ever seen on a dress. 

The skirt was layered with black and bright green tulle, the bodice was black cotton with bright green stars scattered over it.

Her hair had been pulled up into a pair of high curly pigtails, her bangs hung just over her eyes. 

"Uncle Nao!" Izumi yelled and jumped at the detective when Hizashi answered the door. 

He caught her easily and brought her to sit on his hip. "Izumi, Are they ready to go?" He asked.

"I am. Hizashi, not so much." Shōta answered before Izumi got the chance. 

"Mom, dad helped me with my hair. It only makes sense that he will take a little longer." Izumi pointed out logically. 

Shōta rolls his eyes at her with a smile. "Don't bring logic into this." He says still smiling. 

Tsukauchi laughs at their arguing. 

"I'm done." Hizashi's loud voice calls from the top of the stairs. 

The drive from the Yamazawa home to UA was short, Izumi stayed quiet as they arrived, pulling through giant gates slowly, she eyed the huge building they were pulling up at. 

A white creature was standing on the steps. 

"Albino stoat, with rat genes spliced in." Izumi whispered. 

Once they had parked and made their way to the doors Izumi kept eye contact with the principal once they were close enough, she knew that to some it would be an intimidation tactic, but Izumi saw it as a way to be polite. 

"Am I a bear, a rat, a dog? It doesn't matter, I'm principal Nezu!" Izumi tilted her head, she didn't really understand why he brought up all those species. 

"Nezu, thank you for agreeing to meet with us." Uncle Nao said to the stoat.

"It is no trouble Tsukauchi, it's always good to see my old students and friends." Nezu broke eye contact to look over Hizashi and Shōta, he then looked her over as well. "But I do wonder why you've asked me to see this cub." 

Izumi dropped Shōta's hand and stepped forward and gave a short bow before she introduced herself. 

"Hello, I'm Yamazawa Izumi. I'm four and a half years old. I read your paper on the effects of nature versus nurture and I found that I agreed on many points, one of which was that no matter one's genetics it's how the mind and heart is nurtured that will affect the outcome." She gave a bright smile after finishing speaking. 

"How very interesting." Nezu said as he looked at her again, the adults were silent behind her.

"Let's go have some tea Yamazawa-chan." Nezu said abruptly and started to make his way into the school. 

Chapter Text

Hizashi had been pretty stunned as Izumi talked about reading something Nezu wrote and understanding it. He follows his daughter and old teacher into the school and to the principal's office, he will be the first to admit he zoned out as the two smaller beings talked with each other about things way out of Hizashi's own reach.

He only tuned back in when he heard Izumi address him. "Right dad?" She asked as she looked at him. 

"Sorry songbird, you lost me at the beginning." He apologized, Izumi just smiled at him. She knew that he had trouble keeping up with her sometimes. 

"I was telling Nezu-san that we were struggling to find a balance between me making friends and schooling, that you're concerned about my social development." Izumi informs him, he knows she's giving him the barebones of the conversation. 

"Right." Hizashi leans forward a little to show he's actually participating in the conversation. "Izumi is far too smart to be put into classes with others her age, but I worry about her being unable to connect with her peers when she's older."

"I would take Izumi-chan on as a personal student." Nezu says and Shōta cuts him off.  

"No. We don't need her to learn ways to take over the world before puberty." Shōta's voice is firm, Hizashi hadn't thought of that. 

Nezu coughs and laughs. "As I was saying, I would, but I think putting her into either an online school or in a school for students with intelligence quirks would be a good choice. Having her learn from me would put her here in my office most days, and until she's a little older I feel what I would want to teach could make her more socially delayed." 

Hizashi nods. "What school for the academically gifted would you suggest?" Hizashi asks. 

"Ah, that's difficult, most won't accept students under the age of ten. Really online schooling is your best choice, I would suggest the Global Academy of Knowledge. GAK offers not only paced and unpaced classes, but they will suggest others in the area who are also in the same age range to socialize with." Nezu explains. 

"And we can always look into things like after school activities, like gymnastics or dance, daddy." Izumi assures him, Hizashi wonders if he had been overly concerned about her not wanting to make friends. 

"So GAK and something else that you would just be starting off learning with others your age." Shōta sums up what the two geniuses are suggesting. 

"Yes mom. I think it's best, GAK will teach me things I don't want to learn and still keep my age in mind, I also won't need to change school's according to level." Izumi answers. 

"I used GAK to get my teaching degree, and my numerous others, I still take classes on GAK." Nezu adds cheerfully, then his smile sharpens a little. "Both of you should look into getting teaching licenses for when Izumi is finally a preteen if you don't want her here on her own." 

"Fuck." Shōta whispers, Hizashi honestly doesn't know what his husband has caught from that, that he hasn't, but Hizashi agrees with a nod. 

"Good, now I must ask you to leave. I have many offers to sort for work studies." Nezu dismisses them.

Izumi is the first to stand and bow, a quick tug on his hand has Hizashi doing the same and following his daughter steps out of the building. 

"What just happened?" He asked aloud, he really hoped someone other than Izumi answered. 

"We were given a solution to our problem, and threatened to get our teaching license, and warned that Nezu would be teaching our kid to take over the world after she hits puberty." Shōta answered in a flat voice, he sounded so done to Hizashi. 

Behind them Tsukauchi was laughing quietly, Hizashi had forgotten that the man was there and their driver. 

----

Hizashi dropped onto the couch as he logged onto his laptop, he sighed deeply and started to search for GAK. 

"Izumi is in bed." Shōta said from behind him. "What are you doing?" He questioned after he dropped on the couch.

"GAK, looking at tuition for us and Izumi. Then I was going to look up activities, and maybe a quirk specialist, I'm a little worried that Izumi's hasn't shown up yet." Hizashi answered as he navigated the online schools page. 

Tuition was less than Hizashi thought it would be after having researched private schools, the cost only increased by ten percent every schooling level. 

Having both himself and Shōta sign up for university classes and Izumi into preschool and grade school would cost the same as putting Izumi alone in a private school for two years. 

He clicked open another page to search after school activities and found that there were more options than he knew what to do with, so he narrowed it down to just gymnastics. 

"Let's go back to school Shō. I dunno about you but the suggestion of being a teacher sounded cool." Hizashi exclaimed as he went back to the GAK application page. 

Shōta's shigh was long and loud and he tipped himself to rest his head on Hizashi's arm, but Hizashi felt the slow, almost reluctant nod. 

"Great!" Hizashi chirps as he starts filling in the forms, humming happily. 

Chapter Text

Izumi is five when her quirk fully comes in; it's a mundane Tuesday afternoon when it finally happens.

Hizashi had been far too excited about her finishing grade and middle school within six months and with honors from GAK. Her dad had slipped into using his quirk as he cheered and spun around the living room holding her tightly to his chest. 

"My songbird is so smart! My songbird is so smart! My songbird is so smart! My songbird is so smart! My songbird is so smart!" Hizashi had been repeatedly yelling. 

Shōta had not been in the room when Hizashi had slipped into his quirk but Izumi had heard the sound of his footsteps between words when a breath was taken. 

Just before Shōta bursts into the room the sound of Hizashi's cheers were cut off, as were any other movements from the blond. 

He was staring at Izumi with wide eyes even as his mouth kept moving, when Shōta finally did burst into the room his red eyes focused on the two when Hizashi started making sound again. 

"-od I'm not making any sound, oh, wait now I am." 

Izumi groaned a little, she felt sick, almost as if she had eaten too much. 

"I...don't feel so good." She told both her parents, and hauled herself higher so she was pressing her hips against her dad's shoulder in preparation to be sick and not get Hizashi covered in it.

Izumi gagged twice before a high pitched sound burst from her mouth loud enough to break all the glass in the direction she was facing. 

"Oh god, oh god, are you okay songbird?" Hizashi was panicking, his hands shaking where he was holding her legs and lower back.

"It's okay, breath, deep breaths, the both of you, that's it." Shōta said to them both, Izumi felt his hand rubbing in between her shoulder blades before she noticed she was sobbing.

Izumi leaned back as far as she could in her dad's tight hold. "Dad, daddy, are you okay?" She asked frantically as she started to pat at his shoulder, it was the only place she could reach. 

"Yeah, I'm okay." Hizashi told her a little dazedly. His hold loosened on her lower body enough that she could lean further back. 

Izumi noted that they were sitting on the floor before she grabbed Hizashi's face in her hands, making him look at her. 

"What happened?" She asked still with a little bit of panic in her voice. 

"Pretty sure your quirk has something to do with sound." Shōta answered her, his hand was still rubbing her back but supporting her as well. 

"Huh?" The sound was a little stupefied, as she twisted to face the dark haired man. 

"Kitten, open your mouth a little wider." Shōta instructed. 

Izumi did as asked, she opened her mouth wide and stuck her tongue out a little, her mom stared at it a little before he started to laugh. 

"Zah-zashi, look at the kit-tens tongue." He prompted the other, words breaking up as he laughed. 

With a roll of her eyes Izumi turned to face the blond again, his eyes zeroed in on her tongue before he too burst into giggles. 

"What's so funny?" She asked the two men, when all she got in answer was more laughter, Izumi huffed and stuck out her tongue again this time trying to go cross eyed to see what was so funny. 

Hizashi looked at her again before he fell over to lay on his side. Izumi still held in his grip following with a squeal. 

She opened her mouth again to ask what was so funny when the sound around them cut off again, she could still feel the clenching of her dad's muscles and the vibrations of his laughter, but there was no sound. 

Then Izumi noticed that she tasted dark chocolate and caramel on her tongue, she snapped her mouth closed again, and the sounds of deep breathing giggles came back. 

"Uh, mom?" Izumi called hesitantly.

Behind her Shōta hummed coughing and gasping trying to catch his breath throughout his laughter. 

"Your laughter had a taste, and I feel like I just ate a whole meal." Izumi explained what she was experiencing slowly. 

"Well, your tongue is neon blue." Hizashi finally tells her what made them laugh so hard, she freezes a little bit and slowly starts to break down what had happened in the last half hour. 

"I 'ate' dad's yelling earlier, then I 'vomited' the sound back up, just now I 'ate' the laughter and it tasted like caramel chocolates, but I feel like I just actually ate, I wonder if I can…" Izumi mumbles to herself, and wiggles to a better position to attempt reproducing the earlier result. 

"Do not force yourself to 'vomit' the sound up!" Shōta says sharply, Izumi turns to him with wide eyes. 

"It sounds like an odd mutation of mine and my grandmother's quirks and Hizashi's quirk, with part of my grandfather's quirk as well. We can work on ways to get the sound out if you want, but gagging like that when your stomach feels full will lead to eating disorders." He tells her, Izumi nods, agreeing with the sound logic.

"What was your grandfather's quirk?" Hizashi asks, still laying on the ground.

"He had a physical mutation, it made his tongue that of a blue tongue skink lizard." Shōta tells them with a smirk. "Though his was more of a royal blue than neon." 

Izumi gives her mom a flat look, partly annoyed at not having been told this before, then she decides to share some of her knowledge about that breed of lizard. "Well that also explains why I'm so smart." 

At the raised eyebrow she gets in return Izumi huffs and explains. "The blue tongue skink is an extremely intelligent lizard, they are born smart and within months can do anything their adult counterparts can do. They are also one of the most human friendly lizards." She gives him a little bit of a stink eye before turning to face her dad. 

Hizashi makes a sound of bewildered joy under her, and Izumi turns to look at him again. 

"I'm essentially eating the sounds and then spitting them out in something similar to your quirk, and my tongue is now blue. I highly doubt that eating sounds will replace actual food. Most intelligence quirks are there from birth." Izumi reworded the conversation, sometimes her dad understands exactly what's happening but for him to actually pay attention it needs to be repeated differently.

Her smarts didn't just come from the blue tongue mutation, Hizashi was a genius but played dumb so often he had even started to believe it. 

Shaking her head and patting her dad's cheek she wiggled out of his hold and went to get the broom to clean up the mess she had made. 

Izumi didn't make it far before she was scooped up in Shōta's hold.

"Nope, I was upstairs calling Tsukauchi and Sansa about going for dinner to celebrate your graduating from middle school. Go get dressed for dinner out, I'll clean up the glass. We have more to celebrate than just your graduation now too." He tells her as he carries her across the room and puts her on the stairs. 

"Really? Dinner with Uncle Nao and Uncle Sa?" When Shōta nodded his confirmation Izumi let out a shout of joy that was louder than it should have been before bolting up the stairs.