Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hitoshi dared to say that he had a pretty good day and in his opinion, that really should say something. After all, it was his first day of high school and first meetings never end well for Hitoshi. Either it was just getting to know someone his age, as his dad tried to suggest once, or just to formally introduce himself to someone older. Hitoshi, with his perfect resting bitch face and nonchalant attitude that made him seem like he held absolute zero interest in whatever the person was saying, always either scared them or made them uncomfortable enough to slowly edge away from the conversation. Which, rude, he tried his best, but he was born this way, what was he supposed to do?

Oh, and his quirk probably played a huge role into making him as antisocial as he was too, he couldn't forget about that.

The point was, Hitoshi was not good with people and meeting a bunch of overpowered teenagers with heroic flashy quirks and trying to befriend them sounded like an absolute nightmare for him. He fully expected them to either ignore him for the rest of the day or, god help him, started to corner him after school, which, wouldn't had done them any good considering they were in his dad's class.

So color him surprised when he did get cornered but instead of shoves and threats he got a bunch of new numbers to add to his, admittedly kind of pathetic, contact list.

'Did I just make friends?' The purple haired teen asked himself numbly while walking down a secluded street, hand still clutching his phone tightly.

Staring at the three newly added contacts, he still couldn't quite believe it just yet. They had known his quirk the moment he used it on Urakaka to negate the ball's gravitation for him. Yet they still wanted to befriend him. And it was so .... easy. They talked about mundane things and the conversation just flowed so naturally. No one seemed to mind that he stayed mostly silent, only adding in a sentence or two after a while.

Hitoshi let out a tiny smile to himself. Perhaps UA was going to be different after all.

At that exact moment Hitoshi saw a familiar looking face in a group of teenagers heading toward his direction. The purplette squinted his eyes a bit, trying to make sure he was right before doing anything. The face from the distance squinted up at him in copy, a flash of confusion appeared before it was quickly replaced by a sneer of anger.

Fuck. Just the day I decided to ditch dad and go home by myself. Hitoshi thought to himself bitterly before turning around and making a mad dash across the street.

"Get back here, you fucking villain snitch!" An enraged scream sounded out before rapid footsteps echoed behind the teenager.

Yeah, as if people just listen to their pursuers and do what they want. Hitoshi snorted internally before making a sharp turn toward an, hopefully, area with more people in it. It was not that Hitoshi was scared of his ex-school bully. He just really didn't want to deal with this particular problem anymore now that he was in a new school. Beside, the bastard had like another five people with him. Hitoshi knew his strength and weaknesses, alright?

The purple head dashed toward a seemingly wide street and took a turn before stopping dead in his track.

Before him stood a wall. Tall enough that probably only his dad or people with flight ability would be able to get across.

Who approved of these ridiculous constructions?! He cursed his luck and was about to give in his fate and prepare to hit a nut or twelve when he felt someone tugging harshly at his pants.

Startled, Hitoshi tensed up and readied for the worst when he turned around and found himself face to face with a toddler. Wide green eyes stared at him and a pair of little hands pulled on his pants anxiously. Fluffy green hair bounced with each pull and despite the circumstance Hitoshi found himself wanting to sink his fingers in those curls. The kid's eyes started to water the longer Hitoshi hesitated so he snapped out of his trance and focused on the situation at hand.

The child seemed to want Hitoshi to follow him. Not wanting to upset him further and to make sure the kid was safe, the tall teenager trod after the kid. What if he was lost? Or there was some kind of villain holding his parents hostage? Hitoshi found his hero persona screaming in his head. The toddler was full on running but with his short legs he wasn't exactly very fast as Hitoshi just walked slightly faster after him.

The kid took him into a narrow alley that he didn't even realize was there before and promptly snatched his hand, more so two of his fingers since his palm was much bigger than the kid's.

They emerged to the other side of the street and the child pulled him into what seemed like a playground. He lead Hitoshi near a few large cement pipes before the kid froze.

He looked at the pipes once then glanced up at Hitoshi and then back at the pipes again with a look of absolute indignation on his face at which Hitoshi would have snorted at if he wasn't so confused. The expression lasted for only two seconds though as the kid pulled his fingers again and they sat down behind the pipes, facing the wall.

Hitoshi had no idea what was going on. So he wasn't lost? Nor were his parents taken hostage. As he just sat there and debating on what to do, Hitoshi heard footsteps and angry yelling coming closer and then faded away as it seemed like the bullies also missed the hidden narrow alley as he did. Well, at least he succesfully avoided that can of worms.

Wait.

Did the kid take him here to hide because he saw them chasing him?

Hitoshi looked at the kid in question properly for the first time. He was small. Like tiny. He looked like he was four. He was wearing a faded out blue short and a too big wine colored hoodie. The old and worn out hoodie must have been at least two sizes too big as it swallowed the kid, nearly hiding his shorts. Hitoshi's hero persona frowned in concern as he saw the boy's legs. They were twigs thin with what seemed like tiny scars here and there. Hitoshi looked up at the kid's face and he noticed a fair amount of light freckles adorning his cheeks and nose. If Hitoshi was honest, he would admit that the kid was cute.

Right now though, he had absolutely no idea what to do as the toddler stared at him with shiny eyes and trembling so bad looking like his biggest regret was to take Hitoshi here to hide from his ex-bully.

Hitoshi didn't like kids. Not really. He was just indifference about them. They were whiny and mostly brats and he found them sometime annoying but he tolerated them. The kids always shared his sentiment anyway.

The important thing was that Hitoshi had no idea how to act around them. He was awkward and serious and found himself more likely to become a limelight hero than to baby talk a toddler.

Ok, that was an exaggeration but you get the point.

He stared at the kid in front of him for a few more seconds and when the kid looked like he was about to bolt, he decided to ask.

"So ... did you take me here to hide from those guys?"

The green child startled and his eyes seemed to widen, as if he wasn't expecting Hitoshi to ask him such a normal question.

"Uh-uhm, yes, I uhm, I thought th-that you might need help, c-cuz they looked really angry and there were a l-lot of them." The child stuttered out, eyes downcast, red clunky shoes scuffing the dirt beneath them.

"Well, ... thanks, I guess, you really helped me out there." Hitoshi replied awkwardly, that was incredibly sweet of the kid but he was unsure what else to say. He only hoped this extended only to school bullies and the kid wouldn't go around helping people from actual villains.

The child beamed at him with so much happiness Hitoshi thought he went temporarily blind.

"R-really? I'm super glad I was of use then! They m-made me think of people at my school," The kid told him, still smiling brightly.

Ok, that was kind of concerning. So apparently this poor kid was being bullied and Hitoshi was no expert in children, but the way he said that he was "of use" screamed wrong. He decided to ask about the bullies first.

"So the other children bully you at school?"

Right, so that was blunt as fuck and the child flinched back. God, when he becomes a hero, he should never be assigned to work with children. Ever. Hitoshi was mentally screaming at himself when the kid shrugged.

"Y-yeah I guess, normaly I would hide in these," He said, patting the pipe behind his back, "It is a v-very good hiding place, but you were too big ... " The kid frowned a bit, a tiny pout on his face. Cute.

Huh, so that was what the look of indignation was about earlier.

Normally people probably would suggest going to the teachers for help when it came to bullying but Hitoshi knew all too well about their stance in the matter. If this kid was being bullied because of his quirk for so long, since he seemed to have mastered the art of escaping and hiding, he probably did his best and the teacher probably ignored him. Hitoshi felt sympathy for the kid, he did. Before he could say anything though, a small and meek voice caught his attention.

"W-why did they chase you, if you don't mind me a-asking!"

Hitoshi paused a bit, considering if he should tell the kid before slowly replying.

"Well, he didn't like my quirk," he ended up saying, "And because of my dad, he got a black mark in his record and got banned from most hero school."

To Hitoshi's surprise, the boy looked awed at that. However, his eyes held curiosity and Hitoshi sensed the silent question before he managed to voice them. He pondered on whether to tell the kid and probably have him running away in fear or just wait for his question.

"It's brainwashing," Hitoshi sighed, having decided to just tell him since the question would only come up later anyway, "If someone answer my question, I can take control of them." Hitoshi admittedly held his breath for a tiny bit waiting for the kid's reaction. He liked the little guy and the last thing he wanted was for the child to run away from him screaming in fear.

The kid shot up from his place on the edge of the pipe and Hitoshi feared the worst but the little broccoli just stared at him, mouth slightly agap and eyes blown wide in ... awe? What was happening?

"Th-that is so cool!" He squealed, hands flailing around as if to help burn off the surge of energy he just suddenly produced.

"Y-your quirk is one of the coolest I have ever heard! You would be so good at heroes work! L-like calming down victims and take down villains without needing to fight a-and-" The kid rambled on and he looked at Hitoshi with so much admiration that he would unashamedly admit that he teared up a little bit. Just a tiny bit.

Did Hitoshi say that he didn't like kids? Well he was a fucking liar who lied. This was his little brother now. He would and will fight anyone who so much as looked at him wrong.

The boy suddenly let out an adorable litte 'eep' before closing his mouth shut with an audible 'click'.

"'m s-sorry for mumbling..." He looked down, refusing to meet Hitoshi's eyes, with his hands behind his back looking like he was caught stealing a cookie.

Well, the sight despite being cute cut at his heart a little bit as the pictures in Hitoshi's mind started to form and from the look of it, nothing pretty was being shown.

"Kid?" Hitoshi reached out hesitantly as the kid in question turned up to finally look at him, eyes shiny. He made sure the greenette could see his hand as he slowly sinked his fingers down the kid's hair and gently rubbed his head. The fluffy curls were even softer than how he imagined them to be.

The child freezed for a moment before he relaxed and seemingly melted into the touch. Head pressing against his palm a little, eyes closing in content. Hitoshi distantly wondered if the kid was about to purr.

"There was no need to apologize," Hitoshi said, still rubbing the boy's head, "Beside, you were right, I am training to be a hero after all." Hitoshi couldnt help but add. Granted, it had only been one day but he needed the kid to know that his thinking was correct and there was no need to feel sorry for them. He also wanted to impress the kid even more. Who can blame him?

Green eyes snapped open and again, Hitoshi couldn't be just imagining the stars in there.

"Y-you are gonna be a hero?"

"Yeah, I'm in the biggest hero school in Japan right now."

The boy stared at him as if he was All Might before letting out a low whisper of 'so cool'.

Hitoshi chuckled and retracted his hand, almost missing the little pout the kid gave in reaction.

"So, do you want to be a hero when you get older?"

Hitoshi thought that was a safe topic since the child clearly liked the idea of meeting a hero in training but he had never been so wrong. The kid flinched back harshly and pointedly looked back down at the ground.

"I uhm, I c-can't," He stuttered with a meek voice.

Oh this was bringing back a lot of memories for the purple haired teenager. The mistrust and the bullying. The chance that the kid probably had a 'bad' quirk, according to society's standard, was alarming high right now.

"Is it," Hitoshi paused a bit, not sure if it was alright to ask the kid. He hoped him sharing his villainous quirk helped to ease the boy at least a bit. "Is it because of your quirk?"

Yeah that was a wrong choice. Hitoshi seemed to make a lot of those in a short span of fifteen minutes today.

The boy freezed up and shrunk in on himself, eyes open wide with fear, his body trembling slightly.

It was such a drastic change that Hitoshi was caught off guard, freezing in time with the boy.

"I-I uhm, I have t-to go now, pleasebesafeandbyeherooniisan!" The kid rushed out and before Hitoshi could register what he was saying, the little boy dashed out of the playground.

"Wait!" The teenager yelled out and hurriedly stood up to chase after the kid but he completely vanished behind the corner of the street.

Hitoshi cursed internally and vowed to train on his reaction time. He was not slow by any mean but the little broccoli was seriously fast. How? He caught up to him earlier just fine when they were running away from his bully.

The purple head let out a tired sigh, brushed the specks of dirt on his pants from sitting on the ground and started heading home.

Did the boy call him hero onii-san? He felt his cold dead heart melt a tiny bit for the little guy. He was worried for him though, the kid was seriously thin and small. Hitoshi was sure going to look out for him from now on.

Now how do you tell your single gay dad that you wanted a little brother?

Chapter Text

Izuku hid for a little bit longer for hero-nii to leave. The garbage container smelled kinda bad but he could hold on for a little longer. Hero-nii was really cool, and nice! He even patted his head! Izuku felt bad for running away from him but he really didn't want to reveal his quirk status and have the older boy to hate him too. It was too big of a risk, he decided. He probably was never gonna see him again but still, finally leaving a good impression on someone felt nice! Hero-nii even said that he helped him escape!

The six years old let out a tiny giggle before clapping a hand to his mouth. He peered around the container trying to spot a head of purple. Only when seeing that there was no one waiting for him did he dare to come out.

Izuku patted his hoodie to remove any dust that managed to stick on and began hopping back to the orphanage, his home for the past two years.

There was supposed to be a couple coming in today looking for adoption. Izuku hoped he had stayed out for long enough to miss them. He would never be picked anyway. A lot of people come to the orphanage monthly and they never chose Izuku, often leaving him feeling really bad afterward so he tended to avoid them all together.

The moment he opened the door Izuku felt eyes landing on him. He freezed up and shakily glanced around to see a strange couple looking directly at him. The man was tall and a little intimidating and the woman was wearing brightly colored clothes with a big pink shawl hanging around her neck. She smiled big and toothy upon seeing him.

"Aww and who is this little boy, how come you weren't with your peers when we came in?" She asked cooing at him a little.

Izuku looked down at his shoes, he knew where this was going.

"Ah, that is Izuku," A woman in a gray apron answered them. Eika-san was in duty today it seemed, " Izuku, come greet Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka."

The little boy hesitantly stepped closer to the couple and mumbled out a quite hello, eyes trained on the woman's pink shawl instead of her face.

"So what happened? Did you forget that a potential family would come to see you today?" Mrs. Tanaka asked him, still smiling her toothy smile.

Izuku didn't answer though, he lowered his gaze to the floor instead.

He could hear Eika-San let out a tired sigh.

"You might want to sit out on this one. Mrs. Tanaka, he's quirkless." Eika-san informed them.

Thick silence followed the statement.

Izuku shrunk in on himself and he felt his face burning up. He heard the woman let out an awkward cough before starting to speak.

"I apologize, quirklessness is so rare nowadays, "She chuckled humorlessly, "However we want a normal child to care for, we are not financially able enough to afford a charity. Once again, I apologize." The woman sounded genuinely apologetic and Izuku's heart twisted painfully.

"I know, I have read your request." Eika-san sighed again as she waved her hand in a 'you can go now' motion toward Izuku, signaling that she wanted him gone for now.

The boy’s chest felt incredibly tight as he tried his best not to let the tears fall. He nodded slowly, still looking at the ground, before treading away toward his shared room.

He should have stayed out a little longer.

__

The next day started out normally for Izuku. He got up a bit earlier than the other kids, ate breakfast super fast so that it wouldn't be snatched out of his hands, walked to school with the other kids his age, hided in the supply closet during lunch. Mister janitor gave him half of his sandwich so it was really nice!

He was thinking that it was a pretty good day but of course Kaeda and his group started to approach him after school, demanding to settle score since he ran away yesterday.

Izuku had no idea what kind of score he was talking about, it was not like chasing him and tripping him was a game. If it was, it would be a very one-sided game, cuz Izuku was not having fun. The rocks Kaeda produced hurt.

So Izuku did what he always does. He ran. The boy knew the street like the palm of his hand. He twisted and turned to different corners, the bullies barely catching up with him. He dashed toward the familiar playground and slipped inside one of the big cement pipes there.

The six years old held his breath as he heard the angry shouts fading away. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure why they haven't managed to find out about his hiding spot yet. It had been two months! And even if there were not many people hanging around this playground, it was not like it was super hidden.

Izuku peeked his head out from the pipe to scan his surrounding. Clear!

He happily hopped out when something on the ground caught his eyes.

Curiously Izuku picked it up and it looked like a small doll made of fabric attached to a keychain.

The doll was almost entirely black except for its face, eyes and ... neck? The eyes were made of two red buttons and there were a few strands of grey wool piercing through the doll's neck. On it's head rest a bunch of stitched up pieces of black wool so Izuku assumed it must be the hair.

Izuku was a honest boy, he thought the doll was kind of ugly.

It's head had a weird lump on the side so it looked like it was swollen. Every features looked misplaced. The eyes were placed too far apart from each other so they reminded him of a fish. And Izuku had no idea what the grey strands were. Were they hair? Older people had grey hair, right? But do hair grow from the neck like this?

The boy shrugged it off, people have all kind of different quirks. Growing neck hair must be one of them.

Izuku climbed to the highest pipe and sat there, examining the doll. He wondered where it came from. Now that he had been looking at it for a while. He thought that it was kind of cute. You know, like when people have ugly pets but they coo at them like they were the most beautiful creatures ever? Yeah! Like it was so ugly it's cute!

The doll was ugly and that made it cute, he decided.

The six years old let out a little gasp. It must have been hero-oniisan's doll! People rarely ever come here and even if they did, they never went near the pipes.

He wondered how the older boy was doing. He hoped he wasn't being chased by bullies again. They looked really angry, not Kaeda's angry but real anger. He shuddered at the thought.

Well, if hero-nii was chased again, he knew where to hide!

Then Izuku would get to meet him again!

The boy swang his legs back and forth in excitement, tapping slightly against the pipe. He'd get a chance to give back his doll too! See, he can be useful sometime!

As much as he hated it, Izuku would have to be super fast, he didn't want to linger around for too long and get asked about his nonexistent quirk again.

"Uhm, hello?" A voice startled Izuku out of his thoughts.

He looked down from his high place on the pipe and saw a little girl about his age standing there, gazing up at him curiously.

She had pretty long white hair and was wearing a red dress. There was a tiny horn poking out from her forehead.

"H-Hi," Izuku greeted back, jumping down to the ground. He pouted a bit when he realized the girl was almost a head taller than him.

"My name is Eri, what's yours?" Eri-chan asked him cheerily.

"It's Izuku," He answered shyly, head ducking a bit.

"It's nice to meet you, Izuku!" Eri-chan smiled at him brightly, "My papa has something to do nearby, do you want to play together?"

Woah, she wanted to play with him? Izuku was gaping at her in surprise. It had been so long since he got to play with a friend!

"Sure!" The boy agreed easily, smiling so wide it hurt his cheeks a little, "W-what game are we playing?" He hoped it wasn't the game Kaeda thought they were playing together.

"I have my doll with me, let's play house!"

Izuku frowned. He didn't know how to play house. He knew most of the girls at his school liked to play this game but he was never invited so he had no clue what it was about.

"I-I don't know how to play house." He admitted, cheeks turning red with shame.

Eri-chan just smiled at him kindly, "It's ok, I'll show you," She said before pulling him toward the sand area. She picked up a stick and drew a square on the sand.

"That's our dinning table!" Eri-chan declared while pulling out a figurine of a man dressed in tight leather with weird banana looking hair.

"I have a Present Mic doll, what doll do you have there?"

Present Mic looked like a hero! Izuku looked down at the doll in his hand, he wasn't sure what kind of doll this was supposed to be. A neck hair growing fish person? So he just shrugged and showed it to Eri-chan.

To his surprise she gasped, as if recognizing the person the doll was supposed to depict, "That is Erasehead-San!"

"Erasehead?"

"Yeah! he is a hero too!" She cheered happily.

Oh no, if Eraserhead was a hero then Izuku just called a hero's doll cute ugly! He puffed out his cheeks and started to pet the doll. He swore to not call it ugly again.

"So we both have male dolls, it's ok, we can both be dads." Eri-chan put Present Mic on the "table" and Izuku copied her motion.

"It's real simple! You just pretend to be a family and act out what families normally do," She explained.

"O-oh, can I have a big brother then?"

Eri-chan looked to be in deep thought for a moment and shrugged, "You can, but he wouldn't be living with us."

"Oh, ok"

"Here," She grabbed a rock and put it on the "table" aswell as the doll, "You can have a son!"

So the square was the table and the rock was his son. Got it! So what now? Izuku voiced out his question while grabbing Eraserhead's hand and gently started to pat the rock with it. Cuz that was what fathers do! He thinks.

"See! you're doing very well," Eri-chan complimented gaining a tiny blush from the boy.

"Now you can pretend that you have just returned from work!"

"I h-have just returned from work," Izuku spoke with the most adult-y voice he could muster. As an afterthought, he added in, "The bad guys were very bad."

Eri-chan giggled "You have to say 'I'm home' to announce your arrival."

Izuku pat the rock again with Erasehead's hand, "I'm home, son," He then reached out to pat Present Mic's hair, "I'm home, h-husband."

Eri-chan seemed happy, she complimented him again and started to explain more of what they were having for "dinner". Izuku listened with rapt attention, determined to master this "house" game.

They continued to play for a little while when a man with dark hair approached them. He wore a black face mask and a green jacket with purple fur. Izuku thought the colour combination was very strange but who was he to judge?

The man picked Eri-chan up while stroking his fingers through her hair to loosen up some knots in there. Oh, this must be her Papa!

Izuku stood up and greeted the man shyly. His eyes crinkled a bit indicating he was smiling under his mask, probably. He reached out a gloved hand and gently ruffled Izuku's hair, thanking him for playing with his daughter.

Izuku felt himself blushing. That was the second head pat he had received in just two days! He waved goodbye to Eri-chan when she turned to leave with her dad. Overall Izuku thought he had a very good day! House was a very fun game and he hoped he could play it again with Eri-chan.

Izuku glanced down at the doll in his hand. He still had to give it back to hero-oniisan. He had no idea where to find him though, he'll just have to settle on waiting for him here. Hopefully, hero-nii will come back looking for his doll.

Chapter Text

"Watch it, Eyebags," Bakugou growled as he shoved Hitoshi aside, making him stumble and spill some water on his blazer. Urakaka quickly handed him a handkerchief while ranting about 'what is wrong with that guy'.

To be honest, Hitoshi had no idea either.

Frankly Hitoshi was already about 60 % sure the guy was some kind of bully just by looking at his attitude from the first day. Yesterday that percentage had risen to roughly 80 % when the angry pomeranian nearly exploded his ass to smithereens during the battle trial. And he definitely attempted a second try even after the battle was over. All while screaming about cowardice and demanding a rematch.

Yeah, he was unsurprisingly an easy target for Hitoshi's quirk. Just a few jabs at his supposed weaknesses had the guy practically foaming at the mouth. The match was over in a span of 7 short minutes.

After Hitoshi woke up in Recovery Girl's office it was already past 5 pm. He didn't sustain any heavy injury but he passed out immediately nonetheless. Curse his chronic lack of sleep.

Much to his annoyance, Hitoshi found the blond waiting for him outside the infirmary. After a very one-sided conversation of Bakugou screaming that he was going to beat Hitoshi's loser ass the next time they fight, Hitoshi decided that this guy was not a bully, just an idiot with an inflated ego and probably emotional IQ of a rock.

After declaring their rivalry (?) the pomeranian stomped off with a huff and Kirishima trailing after him, shooting Hitoshi an apologetic smile.

UA certainly had it's variety of students, he noted. Still way better than his middle school.

Thanks to Bakugou, Hitoshi didn't have time to wander to a certain playground searching for his keychain. Yep, just his keychain. Definitely the only thing he had in mind.

So Hitoshi threw the empty bottle of water to the trash can, politely declined Urakaka's and Kaminari's offer to walk to the train station together, gathered his bag and headed toward the teacher's podium.

"Hey uncle Zashi, can you tell my dad that I'm ditching him today too?"

His uncle looked up from behind his trademark tinted glasses with a slightly confused expression.

"Sure, kiddo, what do you got going on?" He looked at Kaminari and Urakaka behind Hitoshi, likely realizing that he wasn't going with his friends.

"I have someone to meet and something to figure out," Like the whereabout of his keychain. Or the adoptability of a certain unnamed child, because Hitoshi was an idiot and forgot to introduce himself as well as ask for the kid's name.

Without waiting for his uncle's response, Hitoshi threw his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the classroom.

__

Ok, so Hitoshi might have been too eager about this whole thing.
He glared at the pipes, noting that there was no ugly DIY Erasehead doll nor wide eyed personification of a broccoli lying around.

Granted, the keychain was something he only wore around to annoy his dad, he pretended to not know that the man was secretly flattered, but still, it had emotional merit. Losing it made him feel just a tad bitter.

Hitoshi let out a sigh as he leaned against the pipes. Now the broccoli on the other hand. Maybe he was worried over nothing. Maybe the boy was small and thin because he had fast metabolism or something. Still, he was bullied, and who the fuck let their four year old going around grabbing people's pants anyway?

If he managed to find the boy, he would have to have a word with his parents. He could mention the bullying and ask them to not let their son out of sight. Maybe if they were too busy he could even offer to babysi-

Hitoshi groaned and slapped a hand against his forehead. What was wrong with him? He couldn't believe he was suggesting that to himself of all people. How did meeting some random toddler for like five minutes manage to reduce him to this state?

While Hitoshi was questioning his sanity, he caught sight of an approaching group of kids. He perked up immediately and started to scan around for a head of green.

A tiny kid was suddenly pushed forward ahead of the group making him trip and fall to the ground. Hitoshi's felt a flash of excitement when he recognized the broccoli boy, but it quickly vanished as he saw another kid stepping up, picking a piece of rock from his stone covered hand and promptly threw it at the greenete. The rock made contact with the small boy's forehead and he let out a yelp, hands raising and wrapping around his head protectively.

To Hitoshi's growing concern and horror, he could see a thin trail of blood trickling down the boy's cheek.

Ok, that's it. These little demons should be very glad Hitoshi was a hero in training and a decent human being so he won't start to beat the shit out of them. As much as he urged to right now.

"Do you know," Hitoshi growled out as he stepped toward the group, "That using quirk without a license or permit in public is illegal, even more so when you hurt someone with it?" Maybe he should have used simpler language because he was probably speaking to a bunch of six year olds but Hitoshi gave no shit right now.

The little demons seemed to understand him enough, as the leader, the one with rock covered hand, sneered at him.

"And what does it have to do with you, Zombie eyes loser?"

Was this little shit related to Bakugou somehow? He surely had his attitude.

Hitoshi let his inner Aizawa take over as he felt the corners of his mouth turned up in a sadistic smile.

"Do you know what my quirk is?"

The mini Bakugou looked at him with apprehension but defiance remained clear in his eyes.

"It's brainwashing, I can take control of people," Hitoshi said slowly, stepping closer to the kid, "I can make you do anything I want right now."

The villainous nature of his quirk sure had it uses as the bully's face paled visibly. He still didn't give up though.

"S-so? You said it yourself! Using quirk here i-is not allowed!" The child spat.

Hitoshi let his smile widen even more. The Aizawas iconic smile. His dad would be proud.

"Well luckily," He pulled out his student ID and showed it to the brat, "I'm a hero student so I can use my quirk how I see fit."

It was not that simple, he would need to pass the provisional license exam first but the little shit didn't need to know that.

The brat's face paled even more as his lips started to quiver. He shot broccoli boy a dirty look befefore scurrying away with his friends.

"Whatever, the quirkless freak is not that fun anyway."

Quirkless?

The word struck Hitoshi like a lightning rod. He had read about the statistics when he was little. They straight up gave him nightmare once. However, the latest data in Japan was from roughly twenty years ago, it would be incredibly rare if not impossible to have a quirkless child these days and age.

And Hitoshi hated that it made so much sense now. Why the little broccoli was so anxious and flinchy.

Hitoshi hesitantly looked back at the kid. The poor boy still sat on the ground, hands wrapping around his head, eyes staring at his shoes, glistening with tears but refusing to let any fall.

Hitoshi's heart hurt for the boy.

"Hey kid," He called out gently, dropping on his knees to be more on level with the kid, "Look at me."

The child hesitantly raised his head, staring rather at Hitoshi's forehead than his eyes. He'll take it.

"Can you put your hands down so I can see your wound?"

The kid looked at him now. Confusion clear in his eyes. He slowly pulled his hands away and Hitoshi cringed at the red smear.

"D-did you hear him?" The kid asked him timidly.

"Yes," Hitoshi answered. Now that he had a better look at the wound, he could see that it was luckily just a small cut. The rock likely just grazed his skin. The blood also had stopped oozing out, "And I don't care."

The kid's eyes widened as he stuttered out a quite 'why'.

Hitoshi stood up, his joints popping loudly. He was only fifteen for Christ's sake.

"Because, quirks are just tools," He repeated the words his dad had once said to him years ago, "And I don't care if you do things with a hammer, an axe or your own hands, as long as you get it done," Ok, it was not the exact same words but it carried the same meaning nonetheless.

Hitoshi leaned down and pressed a finger against the kid's forehead. "And it seemed to me that you did very well the other day saving me," Hell yeah, Hitoshi was nailing it with his little speech.

It didn't seem like the broccoli completely believe him but he stared at him like he was All Might again.

Then came the tears. Big fat blobs fell down the kid's chubby cheeks. He looked down at his shoes again, as if hiding his tears, mumbling a quite 'ok'.

Sighing Hitoshi let his palm drop on the kid's head, rubbing it gently as the boy pushed against it again. He felt the corner of his mouth quirk up in a smile.

"So, what's your name?" Hitoshi asked after retracting his hand.

"Oh, I'm Izuku!" The boy beamed at him, all traces of sadness gone except for the tear tracks left on his cheeks, "W-what's your name onii-san?"

Hitoshi definitely didn't internally coo at that. He didn't. Look at his face. He didn't.

"Since you gave me your first name, you can call me Hitoshi."

"Ok, Toshi-nii!"

Wow look at that tree. It is so green. You should look at it more. Definitely don't look at Hitoshi's face right now.

The older boy let out a cough trying to disperse the fondness he would definitely let escape had he not done so, "Can you take me to your parents? We need to clean your cut."

Izuku flinched and Hitoshi felt dread creeping up his throat. Was the boy not safe at home? According to the statistics, that would be a very possible scenario. Before he could ask him about it, Izuku pulled on his hands, leading him toward the pipes and promptly slipped into one of them.

Hitoshi's confusion didn't last long as the greenete wiggled out of the pipe with a small fitst aid kit in his hand.

Why did he have an aid kit hiding in there?

The boy showed Hitoshi the kit with a proud look on his face.

"I can do it by myself, I s-saved up for this!" Izuku announced proudly.

Yeah as if Hitoshi was going to let him do that. Kids like him should be saving up for toys not med kits for fuck's sake.

So the teenager offered to address Izuku's wound. The kid stared at him with starry eyes all the while Hitoshi helped him clean the cut.

As he was sticking a bandage to Izuku's cut though, the kid's nose started bleeding giving Hitoshi a brief moment of panic before he was assured that it was normal, Izuku just tripped earlier. Yeah right, Hitoshi would bet his wallet that it was that Bakugou-resembling kid again.

"Oh yeah, Toshi-nii, I think I found your doll!" Izuku suddenly gasped as he pulled out Hitoshi's keychain.

Oh, so he hadn't lost it forever.

"It is very c-c-c-" The kid struggled with his words before he finally stuttered out, "C-cute! It is very c-c-c-cute!" He told Hitoshi trying his best to smile but his eyes were glistening with tears again.

Hitoshi couldn't help it, he burst into laughter. This kid was too pure.

"You don't have to lie about it, Izuku," Not if just the idea of lying upset him to tears. The purple head said as he subtly wiped the corner of his eyes, "You can say that it is ugly."

Izuku gave him an adorable pout as he patted the doll's head but he didn't refute the teenager.

Hitoshi chuckled and thanked the boy for keeping the doll for him. He then tried to offer to take Izuku home to which the kid reluctantly agreed.

Upon arriving, Hitoshi saw the reason why. He was living in an orphanage.

Hitoshi felt terrible for the little guy but he couldn't help a flicker of hope igniting in his gut.

If this wasn't a clear sign, he didn't know what was.

Izuku grasped at his hand, he shyly looked down at his shoes and lightly tapped them against the ground, a blush slowly crept its way up to his cheeks.

"U-Uhm, c-can you come to p-play w-with m-me sometime?"

The boy was fully red now, together with his green hair and freckles he looked like a strawberry.

Yeah, as if anyone had the heart to say no to that.

"I'll come." Hitoshi will come back and he won't be going home alone.

"Promise?"

Hitoshi pulled out his keychain and he pushed it into the kid's hand.

"I promise."

Time to have a proper talk with his dad.

__

Hitoshi sat with his legs crossed on a grey couch, hand holding a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

He perked up as he heard the clicking sound of keys scratching inside the lock. Moments later in stepped Aizawa Shouta, aka Underground infamous pro hero Eraserhead.

"Dad," Hitoshi spoke with the most serious voice he could muster. It was not much different from his normal voice but having lived together for eight years, his father immediately sensed the change in his tone, "We need to talk."

Aizawa paused for a bit then quietly closed the door behind his back. He carefully stepped forward, knowing that the conversation was going to be serious. As he should.

He slowly raised his hand, which was still holding the apartment's keys, toward the counter.

"Hitoshi," Aizawa started carefully, his face showed no emotion but Hitoshi could see the concern behind his eyes, "I'm listening."

The teenager leaned forward, putting his cup of coffee on the table. He clutched his fists together, chin resting on them, elbows pushed against his knees and with the straightest expression on his face, Hitoshi told his father, "I want a kid."

Aizawa promptly dropped his keys onto the floor.

Chapter Text

Shouta didn't think much of it when Hizashi had told him Hitoshi had once again left the school without him. The kid was young, but he was a teenager, he didn't need Shouta to coddle him. In fact, he encouraged it, Hitoshi most definitely could spare some time outside doing whatever it was that teenagers do with their friends.

When Hizashi said that he was going out alone, Shouta also shrugged it off. It was not unusual for his son to get tired of social interaction and wanted to spend time alone for a day. He got that from Shouta himself really.

He wished he had thought more of it and at least be prepared when his son droppped this bomb on him.
__

"Dad, we need to talk," Hitoshi told him, face dead serious, the moment Shouta walked through the front door.

Shouta paused for a bit, Hitoshi rarely ever approach him with his problems head-on like this, always needed Shouta to dig it out of him. Whatever this was, it was serious.

He closed the door behind his back and carefully stepped toward the teenager, cautiously reaching out a hand toward the counter to drop his keys on it, every movement purposefully measured.

"Hitoshi," Shouta said slowly, he didn't know what was going on, but he did not want to risk Hitoshi changing his mind and closing himself off again, "I'm listening."

The teenager leaned forward, putting his cup of coffee on the table and promptly decided that lately, Shouta's life had been unacceptably too comfortable.

"I want a kid."

Shouta barely registered the sound his keys made with the floor. He made no move to pick them up.

What the actual fuck?

His brain was trying to process the information that his teenage son had just graced him.

A kid? Like an actual living and breathing kid?

Why would Hitosh-

Shouta's brain screeched to a halt.

Did he get someone fucking pregnant?!

Father and son stared at each other, no emotion was visible on their faces while Shouta felt like strangling someone. Most likely Nemuri. Long time friends be damned.

Or maybe it was his fault for letting Nemuri handle 'the talk' when Hitoshi was younger. He thought it was a good idea at the time. Nemuri being Nemuri was a better choice for this kind of talk than him.

Well, he was dead wrong. He should have just sucked it up, ignored the awkwardness, sat his son down and talked about ... the birds and the bees. As much as he hated the idea. Maybe then this wouldn't have happened.

How did he not notice this? As long as he knew, Hitoshi barely had acquaintances let alone friends. This was not the kind of teenage activity Shouta was encouraging his son to do. He was not prepared to be a grandpa at the age of thirty, damn it.

Sighing, feeling suddenly absolutely exhausted of life itself, Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Alright, to which girl's parents do I have to talk to?"

Hitoshi seemed slightly taken back, he raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"

"You wanted to take responsibility, didn't you?" Shouta asked, eyes glaring at a little dent in the ceiling. What had he done wrong for things to turn out like this? "So tell me, who was it?"

Hitoshi eyes widened comically, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally realizing what his father meant.

The teenager groaned and covered his eyes with his hands, a quiet 'I should have phrased that better' could be heard.

He let out a loud sigh before looking at his dad, face once again absolutely deadpan. Despite the situation, Shouta was impressed.

"What I meant was," He pointed a finger at him, "You,"

Alright, the good thing was, it seemed like there was some kind of misunderstanding but now Shouta was just confused.

"Me?"

"You want a kid,"

Ok, what the fuck was happening.

Again, Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose, "Hitoshi," He grunted, feeling exhaustion already deep in his bones, "Context, please."

His son grinned and started to tell him about an anxious little boy, who despite his inicial fear of Hitoshi still helped him hide from his ex-bully.

"So," Shouta sighed, "You want me to adopt this random child just because you liked him?"

"It was not just that!" Hitoshi defended.

"Hitoshi, you have met him only twice and unless you haven't noticed, I have two jobs and you being in UA most of the time, who is going to take care of a four year old?"

"He was not four years old, "His son frowned, "I just thought so because he was really small, but he mentioned his school, not a kindergarten, and there were these bigger kids picking on him,"

He was that small? Despite his protest, Shouta found himself worrying about this unknown child.

"I can pick him up after school and if I can't, then we can ask maybe uncle Zashi or auntie Nem, I know most of their classes end earlier than the heroic lessons, so they have a few hours free in the afternoon,"

When did Hitoshi gather all this information? School had only started three days ago, Shouta hated that the little shit was being logical and he was starting to waver.

Hitoshi gave him his best equivalent of puppy dog eyes, which was ... just his usual resting bitch face with slightly wider eyes. Not very effective to others but Shouta felt himself faltering even more.

"Hitoshi-"
"He is quirkless." His son effectively cut him off and Shouta's brain freezed over once more.

Quirkless?

Shouta had never heard of a quirkless child before. The youngest quirkless person he had read about was in their twenties. And there was this quirkless not four year old-but small enough to be one living in an orphanage nearby?

"Well, fuck," Shouta swore, knowing that this was the end of their debate. A rather one-sided one if he was to say. His son had all the advantages.

"Tell me more," He racked a hand through his messy hair, feeling way older than he was at the moment.

Hitoshi grinned like a Cheshire cat.

__

"Hizashi, I won't be going with you and Nemuri to that coffee shop tomorrow, I have to deal with Hitoshi's problem first,"

"Oh, that's fine, is the kiddo ok?" Shouta could hear the concern in Hizashi's voice from the other end of the line.

An idea popped up in his head, he pulled the phone a little farther from his ear, "Oh Hitoshi is fine, he just decided that he wanted a kid."

Before the inhumane screech could reach his ears, Shouta ended the call and snorted.
__

Izuku woke up slightly confused. There was a dull drumming in his head and his eyes felt weirdly tight.

He glanced around the shared room he remembered falling asleep in and realized that he was alone.

Oh no, this meant that he woke up late!

The six years old hurriedly got up and made his bed, ignoring the slight ache in his head. He grabbed his cup with a small green toothbrush and rushed to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He could hear chattering and laughter coming from the dining room so if he was fast, maybe he'd still be able to get breakfast.

After returning from the bathroom Izuku pulled out Eraserhead from his hoodie pocket and hid him under his pillow. It wouldn't be good if Eraserhead got snatched by the other kids. He had to protect him for Toshi-nii!

He would probably have to put Eraserhead in his backpack once he leaves for school. He wouldn't want him discovered by the kids here. They look through his stuff and destroy them sometimes. Not that he had many but still.

Izuku patted his pillow a few times to make sure Eraserhead stayed in his place before rushing downstairs toward the dining room.

The room was already packed with kids, sitting around two large tables, talking and laughing happily.

Izuku tentatively walked toward the kitchen and grabbed a tray for himself. He saw Eika-san leaning against the kitchen counter, her attention fully fixed on the phone in her hand.

He hesitantly approached her and muttered a quiet 'good morning'.

Eika-san glanced up from her phone and shoot him a look of annoyance. She clicked her tongue loudly and moved toward a big pot on the counter. She used her quirk to pull an aluminium bowl toward herself, scooped what looked like miso soup into it and handed him the bowl.

"You were late," She told him, attention already back on the phone, "We have no rice left."

Izuku frowned at his little bowl of soup. He wasn't picky or anything but soups were not good food for him.

The greenete balanced the bowl on his tray and walked toward the end of the table near the door.

Before Izuku could even sit down though, a hand reached out and pushed him harshly, making the boy stumble and drop his tray onto the floor. The soup spilt out marring a puddle on the grey floor black.

See, soups were not good for him, he couldn't just pick it up and eat it later. Had he brought Eraserhead with him, he would have gotten dirty!

He glanced up at the table and saw everyone looking at him. Snickering.

"Deku is so useless, he can't even carry his food right!"

Izuku looked down, his fingers tightening around the hem of his hoodie.

"Oh, maybe if he had more bowls, he can learn to carry things better!"

Before the boy could react to that, he felt something hit his face. He fell backwards on his butt, his nose stung and he could feel something warm and wet trickling down his lips.

He heard a few more laughter calling him weak while someone hissed out that he was dirty and bleeding all over the place.

"Izuku,"

He looked toward Eika-san.

"It's your mess, clean it up." She said in a bored tone, eyes still glued on her phone, fingers drumming against her arm.

Izuku shakily stood up, wiping the blood on the sleeve of his hoodie. At least the blood wasn't very visible on it. The colour hid it well. He grabbed the two bowls on the ground with the tray and trod over to the kitchen sink to drop them in it. He then opened a cabinet underneath the sink, pulling out a mop and a tattered rag.

The sound of excited chattering and clicking of chopsticks continued throughout breakfast. No one took another glance at the little boy who was cleaning his meal and blood from the sticky floor.

Chapter Text

Shouta was surprised at how easy it was to set up a meeting in the orphanage where Izuku lived. He expected some documents, some time waiting for his request to be approved but no, just one phone call and an email containing a copy of his licence and he was set to meet Izuku two days later.

The fact that he already had an adopted son and a fostering license probably helped to speed up the process by a lot but it was too fast. He wasn't sure if he should feel relieved or suspicious. It was more likely the latter.

So Friday came, after having to practically peel Hizashi off of him, Shouta finally managed to get home to change his clothes and prepare for the meeting. Hitoshi was already waiting for him at the door wearing a simple black jacket and ripped jeans. His expression seemed casual as always but Shouta could tell from the determination in his eyes. His son at the moment was no teenager, he was a man on a mission.

Shouta snorted at the image.

"You didn't tell Hizashi," Shouta said, remembering his closest friend hounding him for information in panic all while sending a confused Nemuri accusing glares.

"Nah, I'll wait until uncle could meet Izuku and I'll introduce him as my son."

Jesus, where did this kid get his humour from.

"Good idea." Right, guilty as charged.

Having to leave his capture weapon at home and with his neck uncovered, Shouta felt strangely exposed so he grabbed a black turtleneck and pulled it over his head. He also took a hair tie and put his hair in a messy bun. Overall, Shouta thought he looked like a perfectly normal upstanding citizen. Hizashi would probably beg to differ but he was not here right now so his opinion hardly mattered.

Satisfied with his set up, Shouta turned toward his son, "Lead the way, Hitoshi."
__

Izuku's stomach growled loudly as he worked on his art piece.

He tried his best to hold his breath, clutching his belly with a fist and sucking it in as much as he could. Izuku had learned that if you did this, your stomach would stop growling. It was a useful trick, he didn't like it when people laugh at him because of the noise in the middle of class.

It worked, his stomach ached for a bit but it seemed to settle down after a while.

The greenette turned back to the piece of paper in front of him. He rarely get a clean white sheet to draw with, so he had to make use of every little space!

He grabbed his black crayon and started to doodle in it.

The kitty he saw the other day was very cute, she even let him pet her! She was black so she would be easy to draw. Eraserhead was black as well so he'll also add him in the corner. The closet he got locked in yesterday was also black. He couldn't see anything because of how dark dark dark it was and everything around him was tightening tightening tight-

Izuku blinked a few times, he looked down at his artwork and frowned. The whole sheet was covered in black jagged lines of crayon, hiding his little kitty drawing behind them. Izuku stared at the page for a few seconds before flipping it over and starting on a new drawing.

Think about something else, right, like Eri-chan! Her hair was really pretty. Or Toshi-nii! He didn't care that Izuku was quirkless. He wondered when the older boy would have time to come visit him. Would he like to play house too or were there other games he'd prefer? Izuku wasn't sure, he didn't know many games.

Oh, maybe he can draw Toshi-nii and show it to him the next time they meet! He was very tall and very purple. Izuku didn't have any purple crayon though, he will have to find some later.

Having found his new goal, the greenette dived into his mission with great focus, he completely missed Eika-san calling out for him. Only after having her hand slammed down on his drawing did Izuku flinch back and hesitantly looked up in confusion.

"Izuku! I called you three times!"

Izuku blinked at her.

Eika-san let out a sigh, "Come with me, there are people who want to meet you." She left through the door without waiting for his answer.

Izuku looked longingly at his unfinished drawing before standing up and trod after the caretaker. Who would want to see him? Was it Toshi-nii? But Eika-san said there were 'people'.

The moment Izuku stepped outside the play area, he spoted a head of purple. The boy almost squealed but contained himself and settled on rushing toward the teenager and bouncing in place.

"Toshi-nii!"

Izuku wanted to hug him but onii-san was so tall! Plus he wasn't sure if it was alright to do that yet. He let him grab his hand last time though so Izuku did just that. He grasped the purplette's fingers and happily swang them back and forth.

Toshi-nii chuckled and squatted down to his level.

"Hey, Izuku, how are you?"

"I'm good, I h-have been drawing!" Izuku answered, smiling brightly, "Did you come to play with me?"

"Yeah, something like that, I also wanted to introduce you to someone," Toshi-nii said, looking to his right, where another really tall person stood.

The man had black hair tied up in a bun and there were dark circles under his eyes. He looked very tired and there was something puzzling in his expression that Izuku couldn't quite decipher.

He seemed kind of intimidating. Toshi-nii wanted him to meet this person though so Izuku had to try his best! The greenette put on his biggest smile and made a small wave at the man.

"Hi, M-mister." He was still nervous though.

The man squinted his eyes at him and Izuku started to feel even more nervous than before. Black-haired man eventually huffed and squatted down as well.

"Hey kid," His voice was rough and deep but held gentleness in it. Izuku liked it.

"Izuku, this is my dad," Toshi-nii told him. Huh, he had met a lot of people and their dads lately. Only two but still, "Do you want to know a secret?" Onii-san voice lowered to a whisper. He leaned forward a bit and Izuku followed his move, curious. He was very good at keeping secrets!

"He is Eraserhead."

__

Shouta watched as the kid's eyes increasingly widened and he stifled a snort. The kid stuffed his hand in his hoodie pocket, pulling out the horrendous creature Hitoshi called a keychain and staring at it for a few seconds. He then gazed up at Shouta and let out a tiny gasp.

"You are Eraserhead, " He whispered in awe, still staring at him with stars in his eyes.

It was kind of cute if Shouta was to admit. He wasn't going to though so he just nodded at the child. "That's me, you can call me Aizawa."

"I-I'm Izuku! It's nice to meet you Mister Erase- A-Aizawa-san." Izuku ducked his head, hand fiddling a bit with the doll, "I-I'm sorry for calling Eraserhead u-ugly."

Shouta couldn't help but snort at that. The kid was correct, the thing was truly a creature from hell.

"You don't have to worry though, you are way prettier than him!" Izuku smiled up at him, flashing a thumb up clearly convinced that what he said was a compliment. Well, he was right of course but that was not really how you compliment someone.

This time it was Hitoshi who snorted out loud. Shouta gave him a halfhearted glare before sighing and reaching out to ruffle Izuku's hair.

"Thanks, kid, I appreciate it." Shouta watched as the boy leaned into his palm while beaming at him, his freckles bunching up together.

Shouta squinted his eyes again. Too bright. He could see why Hitoshi was so attached to the kid.

As he was absent-mindedly stroking through Izuku's soft hair, the caretaker, Eika Suzuki, approached him.

"So what do you think Aizawa-san?" She asked him, smiling a too wide smile that Shouta did not like one bit.

"He seems like a good boy," He answered carefully.

"I was informed that you are aware of his condition, are you still interested in taking him in?"

Shouta could feel Izuku stiffening under his touch and he smothered a flash of anger.

"Yes, I am. He is also perfectly fine, with or without quirk," He glared at her. The nerve of this woman, not only spouting bullshit but also spouting it with the child in question being right here, "Now if you could, I would like to know him better."

The woman's smile freezed up before she gave a quite huff, turned on her heels and left.

Shouta turned back to Izuku, the poor kid had been trembling the whole time. The boy stared up at him, eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"D-did you m-mean it?" He asked, lips wobbly.

Shouta felt his heart ache with the sight, he straightened up, as much as he could in this position, and looked directly into Izuku's eyes, trying to convey his sincerity.

"I did, Hitoshi told me," Shouta told him, softening his voice, "And I share the same opinion as him, I don't care."

Izuku's tears finally fell over, he raised his hands and rubbed his eyes with tiny fists, "Y-you also w-wanted to t-take me in?"

Shouta huffed out a fond sigh, "Yeah, kid."

Izuku nodded, sniffling. He turned his gaze downward, still not releasing his fists, as if scared to even catch a glimpse of Shouta. He hiccupped, his voice raising slowly, coming closer to a wail, "B-but I d-don't want to be a-a b-b-burden!"

Shouta felt a painful twist in his ribs. Who taught this kid these kind of self-depreciating thoughts? Shouta swore he just wanted to talk. It seemed like Hitoshi shared his sentiment as he saw his son's jaw tightening next to him from the corner of his eyes.

"Izuku, look at me," Shouta told him, poking gently at the kid's small knuckles. Why was he so tiny, was he eating right?

Izuku pulled his fists away from his reddened eyes and gazed up at him hesitantly.

"You were never a burden and never will be," Shouta said, hardening his eyes a little bit to emphasize his thoughts, "And anyone who ever said so was wrong, got it?"

The kid nodded and his eyes were welling up with shiny tears again. He then raised his hands a bit, holding them hesitantly in mid air, as if asking for a hug, "C-can I have a h-hug?"

Oh, he was asking for a hug. Shouta was never one for such obvious show of affection but this time it just seemed right, so he leaned forward and pulled the boy into his arms, tucking his face in the crook of his neck.

The boy wrapped his tiny arms around his shoulders and he finally wailed, sob after sob choking out of him making Shouta's shoulders vibrate slightly. He gently patted the boy's back, occasionally rubbing circles on it. He didn't plan on adopting the boy, just fostering him until he could find a better solution but he was seriously reconsidering his choices.

After a while, the kid's cry stopped to sporadic sniffling. He leaned back a little and promptly rubbed his cheek on Shouta's stubble. The action was so random and weirdly wholesome, it almost made him snort again.

Izuku started to wiggle so Shouta let him go, albeit a bit reluctantly, which, ridiculous.

"T-thank you for the h-hug," He mumbled out, facing Shouta but his gaze was on the ground.

"You're welcome kid," He watched in amusement as the kid's already pink tinted face started to redden even more. He turned to Hitoshi and grabbed his hand to fiddle with it. The sight was incredibly endearing and it had no reason to look as natural as it did.

At the moment, the kid's stomach growled loudly and he shrunk in on himself a little.

Shouta frowned, he didn't bring any juice pouch with him today, but he could go get it in his car.

"When was the last time you eat, kid?"

To his absolute horror Izuku started counting on his fingers. The kid paused a bit as if thinking something over before shrugging.

"I had dinner the day before yesterday."

Shouta clenched his teeth so hard, it almost ached. That meant Wednesday, today was Friday in the late afternoon.

"That's the day I took you home," Hitoshi said slowly, his voice lowering to a threatening manner.

"Y-yeah, the next morning's breakfast was s-soup so I couldn't eat much," Izuku pouted, oblivious to the burning rage he just instilled.

Shouta didn't know what problem there was with the soup, he also ignored the clear dismissal of lunch and dinner, for now. He just stood up, headed toward the entrance, went out to his car and grabbed a watermelon flavoured juice pouch. When he came back, Izuku was showing Hitoshi what Shouta guessed was his drawing.

"-is you and this is Erasehead! Not Aizawa-san, because he would be much prettier!" The kid rambled happily, Hitoshi nodded seriously before telling him that he did well.

Shouta took a glance at the paper, there were two blobs, one with hair, or what he assumed was hair, sticking straight up, other with hair sticking all around it's head. He couldn't even tell them apart beside the hair so he wasn't sure how the kid would make him 'prettier' if he was to draw Shouta.

"Drink this, Izuku" Shouta called the boy over and opened the pouch up for him, "It's juice."

The boy grabbed the pouch and gave it an experimental sip. His eyes widened after a second before starting to suck the juice like a man dying of thirst.

Shouta chuckled and squatted down again to Izuku's level.

"Izuku," He addressed the boy, voice low and measured, "Would you like me to foster you?" Shouta made sure to look the boy in the eyes, trying to tell him that he was serious. Honest.

Izuku stopped sucking on his juice, he looked down at his hands and shyly mumbled out a 'if it isn't too much trouble'.

"You're never going to be too much trouble, kid." And Shouta believed what he said, even if he was going to be a problem child, there was no way Shouta would give him up.

The boy teared up again, Shouta reached out to ruffle his hair before standing up and headed out to find the caretaker.

"Go play with Hitoshi, I'll be back in a minute."

He found the woman in another room, leaning back against the wall, hands tapping furiously at her phone.

He waited to see if she would notice him but after a few moments of silence Shouta just cleared his throat to gain her attention.

"I would like to foster Izuku as soon as possible, please start on the documentation."

She stared at him with what looked like incredulity before reaching under a cabinet and pulling out a single paper.

"You just have to sign this and the boy is yours, you can take him home right away if you want."

Now it was Shouta's turn to stare at her incredulously. No check up? Inspection? He knew he had his licence ready but what the hell?

"That's it?" He seethed out beetween his teeth.

The woman looked at him with what almost seemed like confusion on her face.

"Yes, the boy is very lucky someone even wanted to take care of him, there is no need to make the process more difficult."

Was this even legal? Was it illegal for him to hit a civilian? Tsukauchi would probably cover it for him, right? Shouta gritted his teeth harder and let out a long suffering sigh. He needed to be calm for this.

"Are you aware that Izuku's last meal was from two days ago?" Shouta asked, giving her one last chance out.

Eika didn't seem to get it, she just crossed her arm and huffed out an annoyed breath, "There are scheduled times for meals, children need to learn to appreciate rules, it's not my fault he was late to almost every meal."

"And you don't have a mind to check up on him and ask him the reason?"

The woman scowled now, "Look, Aizawa-san, are you going to take him in or not?"

Shouta glared at her, feeling anger slowly bubbling up in his veins. He snatched the paper, signed it and slammed the pen down on the table. If this was how Izuku had been treated, no wonder the kid thought he was a burden.

"You will hear from me again." Shouta stated coldly before turning around and heading toward the room with his kids in it.

Now he wanted a hug from Izuku.

Chapter Text

Izuku was rather fidgety throughout the drive from the orphanage. The kid was looking down at his hands most of the time but he would occasionally took a peek at Shouta and shyly glanced back down when their eyes meet through the rear mirror. Almost as if he was making sure the man was still there and he was not imagining things.

Shouta felt bitter in his mouth. The kid's belonging was laughably scarce. He owned a total six pieces of clothing, two of which he was already wearing on himself. A pair of black pants, two plain colour T-shirts and a big, fluffy and surpringly new-looking scarf.

Still, those were no way enough for all year wear.

When Shouta asked if he was cold during winter, the boy had admitted that he was a bit cold so he just tried his best not to stay outside too much and occasionally he would get old clothes from the other children that grew out of their sizes. Izuku also shrugged off the fact that apparently those same kids also sometime would take his clothes and cut them up, these six pieces were the only ones left. Shouta was seething.

Other than that, he had a few hygiene essentials that looked too worn-out and empty Shouta would be surprised if there was any product left inside. He reluctantly put them in the bag and swore to buy Izuku whatever he needed, or wanted, as soon as possible, preferably tomorrow.

Shouta glanced at the rear mirror again to see Izuku's eyes dropping slightly as he tried to stiffle a yawn, his hands still clutching Hitoshi's fingers. The teenager had decided to sit with him in the backseat and Izuku wasted no time snatching his hand and starting to fiddle with it. It was honestly endearing. Hitoshi might deny it all he want, but Shouta knew he was good with kids.

Good was a strong word but he could handle them without causing too much trouble, unlike the few adults Shouta was friends with. Unfortunately.

Or maybe it was just Izuku that was the exception, Shouta wasn't too sure.

When they reached home, Izuku was already half sleeping. With just a soft nudge from Hitoshi had the boy's eyes snapping open. He looked around frantically, his hands tightening around the teenager's fingers, until his eyes finally landed on Shouta's. A flash of confusion appeared before it was replace by what he assumed was relief.

It must have been quite overwhelming for the poor kid, knowing that he would get fostered and getting actually fostered in just a few hours. However, Shouta could not in good conscience leave the boy there for longer. He was starving for fuck's sake!

Shouta smothered a burst of anger at the memory. He will deal with that problem at a later date.

For now though, he needed to finally get the kid some actual food. For a six year old, Izuku was seriously tiny.

Shouta opened the door leading to their apartment and ushered the kids inside. Izuku lingered near the entrance for a little bit, staring at everything in the living room with absolute awe on his face.

There wasn't really anything impressive to look at. Shouta would even say that the room was a mess since they usually have their cleaning time on weekends. They also didn't expect to be able to take Izuku home so soon. Still, the kid stared at everything as if he was seeing them for the first time.

He was really easy to impress, wasn't he?

After ordering dinner Shouta went to look through the closet, trying to find Hitoshi's old clothes to see if they would fit Izuku, though he doubted it.

He was correct, the smallest T-shirt Hitoshi wore when he was seven hung off Izuku's shoulder almost entirely. The kid would have to wear his own clothes for today, they weren't the cleanest but they'd have to do.

When their dinner finally arrived, Shouta watched in amusement as Izuku stuffed his cheeks with dumplings, not totally unlike a hamster. Shouta had to put two couch pillows on Izuku's chair for him to eat comfortably. Had he not done that, only his chin would reach the dining table. The kid had to put his elbows on the table to balance himself but it was good enough for now.

Unfortunately for Shouta in all other circumstances but this one, he had a couple of friends that are just a little bit ... invasive. A little, meaning that they would barge into his apartment mostly uninvited, eat his food, hang out with his son and sleep in his home. Sometime Shouta would find them in his apartment before he even let them in. Most of those time Hitoshi wasn’t even home to unlock the door for them. He swore they must have a copy of his keys somewhere, otherwise it would be seriously concerning.

With that being said, when Shouta chose this place, he purposefully picked a three bedrooms apartment, just in case Hizashi or Nemuri decided to crash in his home for the day. It turned out to be perfect as Izuku arrived. They could fix the room up for the kid and Shouta also get a perfect excuse to ban his friends from sleeping over whenever they wanted. It was a win win situation.

So after dinner, even though it was still quite early, he told Izuku to go take a shower while Shouta prepared the bed for him. Seeing as he almost fell asleep in the car, the boy would probably need it.

Izuku walked out of the bathroom just as Shouta finished changing the pillow cases.

"You were fast." He raised a brow at him, hand throwing yet another pillow on the bed. Kids like soft stuff, Hitoshi did too when he was little.

"I didn't want to use up too much of your hot water." Izuku shrugged.

Damn, now that just won't do.

Shouta sighed and motioned for Izuku to get in bed. The kid looked a bit confused but he complied and climbed on top of all the pillows. He let out a little 'woah' as his hands touched the soft fabric.

"Kid, you don't have to worry about the cost, my job pays plenty and some extra hot water won't mean anything," Shouta told him, hand pulling the blanket over the kid and tucking it under the pillow piles, "If there is anything you are not sure about, just ask me, alright?"

Izuku pushed his nose under the blanket until only his eyes were visible and did a timid nod.

Shouta reached over and ruffle the kid's hair, "Good night, Izuku."

"Uhm, d-did you ..." The boy's voice lowered to a low mumble, Shouta couldn't catch what he was saying so he asked him to repeat himself.

"D-Did you just t-tuck me in?" Came Izuku's stuttered reply.

Shouta was confused, was Izuku uncomfortable with him tucking the boy in?

"Yes, did I make you uncomfortable somehow?"

The kid pulled the blanket completely over his head and let out a tiny squeak, "N-no! I didn't know i-if I was right and just w-wanted to make sure!" He peeked out a bit from the blanket this time, green eyes shiny, "T-thank you ..."

Shouta painfully realized that the concept must have been quite unfamiliar to Izuku as he was living in the orphanage for a long time. He couldn't help reaching over once more to rub Izuku's head, seeing the boy's reddened ears.

After a quite 'good night' Shouta turned the light off and closed the door quietly behind his back, only to see Hitoshi leaning against the wall to Izuku's room.

"So," He drawled, pretending to pick the dirt underneath his nails, "We keeping him?"

Shouta sighed, already knowing the answer, "We're keeping him." He confirmed and he sure as hell meant it.

Hitoshi flashed his victorious creepy grin that Shouta definitely wasn't proud of and headed to his own room.

Problem children, the lot of them.

__

Izuku woke up with a jolt, his head was pounding. It happened yesterday too, that was why he was late for breakfast that morning, again.

He curled a bit into himself. Eika-san will be mad at him if he won't wake up now but his head hurt so bad he just wanted to hide under these soft pillows forever. Wait, soft pillows? Izuku snapped his eyes open and looked around himself. Half grey walls, half white, big bed and so many pillows! Right, he was at Aizawa-san's home! He still couldn't believe he got picked, there were so many other better children but the man had chosen him. Oh, it was probably because of Toshi-nii, cause the older boy liked him.

Izuku let out a little gasp, Toshi-nii liked him! The greenette suddenly felt super warm at that and all the blanket and pillows seemingly became too hot for him.

Izuku waited a bit for his headache to subside before kicking of the blanket. He bounced on the bed a little, it was super soft.

After having made the bed, it took extra time cause it was so big, Izuku trod outside toward the bathroom. Aizawa-san had shown him yesterday where everything was, including the little wooden stool Izuku used to reach the sink.

Having brushed his teeth and done with his morning routine, the six year old sneaked into the kitchen from where he had heard noises a few minutes ago. Would Aizawa-san be mad if Izuku was late for breakfast?

He found Toshi-nii in a pink apron mixing something on the stove instead.

The boy felt a sudden burst of happiness coursing through him and he hopped toward the teenager.

"Good morning, Toshi-nii!"

The older boy turned his head to look at Izuku before giving him a small smile.

"Good morning, Izuku, did you sleep well?"

Izuku nodded his head excitedly, the bed was so soft it felt like he slept on nothing! Oh, and he was super warm too! He told the teenager as much and received a chuckle in return.

"Go sit at the table, I'm almost done with breakfast."

Izuku went to do as told, he grabbed the two pillows on the couch, put them on top of a chair and climbed up on them. By the time he finished, Toshi-nii had already put a plate of scrambled eggs and two pieces of toast in front of him. He also handed him a glass of orange juice. It was the classic breakfast Izuku saw in the movies sometime!

Izuku's mouth watered as he looked up to onii-san for permission. The older boy looked a bit confused at first but he eventually nodded and made a go-ahead motion with his hand.

Having received permission to eat from Toshi-nii, Izuku wasted no time shoveling the food into his mouth. The egg was practically melting on his tongue, it was so warm and soft it almost made him cry.

At that moment Aizawa-san stepped in, he looked super tired and his hair was all over the place. He mumbled out a quite 'morning' to Izuku as he passed by but stopped in his track as he spot Toshi-nii in the kitchen. He seemed surprised seeing onii-san here, Izuku wasn't sure why.

The older boy huffed and glanced away as if embarrassed and Aizawa-san just snorted.

"Being a good older brother, I see," He reached over to pat Toshi-nii on the head. Izuku was right, fathers do pat their son's head!

The teenager muttered out something Izuku wasn't able to hear and handed his dad his portion of breakfast. Aizawa-san sat down and glanced at Izuku.

"How was your sleep, Izuku?"

The boy perked up and repeated the same thing he told the purplette a few minutes ago.

Aizawa-san chuckled, "Well, I'm glad you got some of your energy back," He bited into a piece of toast, "Because we will need it later at the mall, shopping for your stuff."

Well, if Izuku didn't cry before because of the food, he was now.

__

Shouta hated the mall, it was too noisy, there were too many people and he couldn't make note of all of them at once. He understood the importance of shopping though, plus Izuku desperately needed to actually own something so he shall tolerate this trip for now.

It was incredibly hard for the kid to actually pick something for himself. The huge part in play was probably his reluctance to be a 'burden' as he put it. That mentality still needed work. Another part though, Shouta noticed that the kid sometime just genuinely didn't know. He truly was confused about the different types of clothes or toys when asked. Shouta's heart ached as he imagined how Izuku had lived his life until now.

However, his whole demeanor changed when the kid spotted a hero merchandise shop. Izuku squealed and jumped in place, he turned to look at Shouta flashing puppy dog eyes at which Shouta swore even Nedzu would falter. He felt weak.

"C-can I go over there to look, please?"

And who was he to say no?

Izuku rushed into the shop, looking around with stars in his eyes. After a while he grabbed a figurine box and shyly raised it up for Shouta to look at. The first time he had specifically asked for something. To Shouta's surprise, it was a Present Mic figurine.

"Do you know who he is?" Shouta was genuinely curious, though he probably shouldn't have been, Hizashi was popular, especially with his radio show.

"Yeah, he is Eraserhead's husband!"

Shouta almost choked on his spit.

Hitoshi didn't have such luck, he spat out the coffee he was drinking as he was half coughing half laughing his ass off.

After several seconds of trying to calm himself and fighting off the blush that he definitely did not get, Shouta calmly asked Izuku to explain what he had meant. It turned out that Izuku had met Eri before, Overhaul's daughter, sweet kid, unlike her father.

Shouta sighed and told Izuku to go look around more as they still had some time left. This kid was going to be the death of him.

"So~" Shouta spoke too soon, this kid was going to be the death of him.

"Now that I have a little brother, am I acquiring another dad too?" Hitoshi smirked at him, the little shit.

Shouta glared at his son while he continued to smirk at him smugly. He mourned for his lost reputation as a tough and not-to-mess-with underground hero. At least he still had his students to torment.

Chapter Text

They ended up buying quite a lot of hero merchandise for Izuku. Now, it wasn't because he asked for them specifically, it was just plainly obvious which one he liked by the way the kid stared longingly at certain pieces, so Shouta just followed one tactic, whatever the boy looked at for more than three seconds, he bought it.

Izuku ended up noticing the pattern though, he blushed deep red, tugged on Shouta's sleeve and mumbled out quite 'thank you's. He stopped insisting on not having Shouta wasting his money on him so he counted that as an improvement.

The boy was confused as why there wasn't any Eraserhead's merchandise around but after a brief explanation of underground heroics, Izuku accepted it easily. He said he could always borrow Eraserhead from Hitoshi if he ever wanted to play house again.

Shouta did not want him to play house again. At least not with the setting the boy was fixated on.

Other than the merch, they also bought an adequate amount of clothes for the kid. That included a bunch of weird gag T-shirts with the word T-shirt, Pants or other clothing items written on them, Shouta did not understand the supposed humour but Izuku seemed to like them and that was what mattered the most.

After the trip Shouta ordered an early dinner because he did not have the energy to cook anything at the moment. It was strange how he could jump across rooftop after rooftops at night without being tired but just a few hours of shopping managed to knock him out instantly. Luckily it was the weekend.

Shouta had put all Izuku's new clothes in the washing machine while assembling his new chair. It was higher than the ones he currently had and should provide enough comfort for the boy while eating.

It worked, Izuku no longer had to balance himself on the couch pillows. The kid was happily munching on a piece of chicken wing while Hitoshi took a napkin and wiped at Izuku's cheek, where the sauce had managed to stick on. Had Shouta not met Izuku and seen Hitoshi's obvious fondness for the boy, he would have laughed at whomever was even suggesting the idea.

That aside, Shouta had things to do. First, he needed to contact his friends. Hizashi had been messaging him nonstop asking about Hitoshi's supposed child and Shouta needed to give him something. Knowing Hizashi, he won't be able to hold on for much longer and most likely will barge into his apartment first thing tomorrow, being his free day and all. It would be bad if he scared Izuku with his sudden arrival. Second, he had to prepare for the rescue training on Tuesday. Having Hizashi and Nemuri over to distract the kids while he does some work sounded like a good idea.

So Shouta pulled out his phone and send the same message to both of his friends, knowing that if one went in, another will follow.

Anxious child in the apartment. Call first if you want to visit.

That should be enough, right?

__

"Izuku, you're my son, got it?"

Izuku nodded seriously, his fingers balled into tiny fists, determination shined in his eyes.

Hitoshi pat his head and straighted up his blue cotton overalls. His dad had made sure to ask Izuku about uncle Zashi and auntie Nem arrivals. Izuku was anxious at first but upon hearing that he'd get to see Erasehead's husband in real life all his nervosity melted away. Well, almost all of it. He was excited though. Hitoshi ignored the burning glare sending his way, he was too used to it by now.

Hitoshi was leaning back on the couch, beside him, Izuku was playing with the buckle straps on his overalls when the door bell rang.

Izuku jolted, glancing up at Hitoshi nervously. After meeting his eyes the boy paused for a bit before puffing out his cheeks and raised his fist into the air in the 'plus ultra' motion.

Hitoshi chuckled and copied his move.

Plus Ultra.

Aizawa stepped toward the door and opened it with ease, revealing Hitoshi's uncle, pro hero and radio host Present Mic, in all his glory. Not very glorious, his blond hair was messy, his sweatshirt wrinkly and oversized, showing of the tattoo wrapping around his neck. He didn't even bother to change his glasses, orange shades glistening in the sunlight.

Just behind him stood a tall woman in a tight fitting sweater, square red glasses sitting on her nose, spiky dark purple locks high in a ponytail, or R-rated pro hero Midnight, Hitoshi's self-proclaimed favorite aunt. He only had one aunt.

"Shouta! What is going on, is the kiddo ok? He kept my messages on read and-" Hizashi asked frantically, eyes glancing around the apartment as if searching for a specific something, or someone. Once his gaze landed on Izuku, his questioning abruptly stopped.

"Just go in Zashi! I told you, whatever is going on, I have no part in it! Right, Hitosh-" And another unfinished question, this time it was his favorite aunt, who was stunned.

Hitoshi slowly sit back up, hand reaching toward Izuku patting his head once, and twice.

"Uncle," he nodded toward Hizashi, "Auntie", he looked at Nemuri, "Meet my son, Izuku."

Silence. Dead silence. A snort could be heard coming from his dad's direction but the two people in front of him made no move.

His uncle's face was growing into a mix of confusion and mortification while his aunt looked like she was in denial.

"He- he is a little ... older than I expected."

Hitoshi gave the man points for trying to act normal.

"Well, I have only just been informed about his existence." Hitoshi told them dryly, finger twirling around one of Izuku's curls. The boy was staring at the adults, mainly his uncle, with stars in his eyes.

"That- that is gr-great ..." Hizashi's face was looking more and more miserable, his brows furrowing fully while he still tried to smile with trembling lips.

Nemuri glanced desperately at Aizawa, her index finger pointing at herself with slight tremor. His dad's expression betrayed nothing, he was that good. His aunt seemed to be trying to ask if it was really her fault. She looked almost like she was about to cry.

Hitoshi felt kind of bad for them.

"I am Toshi-nii's s-son!"

Welp, there went their little prank.

It was going a bit too far anyway. He'd rather have it stopped before everyone in the apartment complex goes deaf.

His uncle's face turned to pure confusion before his eyes widened. He snapped his gaze toward his dad and back at Izuku again. His aunt seemed to have caught on as well. She breathed out a sigh of relief before leaning down to Izuku's level and smiled at him sweetly.

"Oh? And who is Shouta to you?"

Izuku blinked, he looked at Aizawa and then at Hitoshi as if gouging for their reactions.

"M-my grandpa!" The boy let out proudly after a few seconds of hesitation.

His aunt cooed at him while Hizashi flashed his dad a mischievous grin, signing 'another one?'. Aizawa just grumbled in response.

"And do you know who we are, little listener?"

"You're Toshi-nii's uncle a-and pretty Miss is his auntie!"

Nemuri let out a dramatic gasp and Hizashi smiled, "If I'm your dad's uncle, then who am I to Shouta?"

Izuku scrunched up his nose, "His brother?" He paused, eyes widening, mouth slightly agap.

His uncle let out a hearty laugh while Izuku glanced up at Hitoshi, eyes teary, "S-Sorry, Toshi-nii, I messed up, h-he's supposed to be Aizawa-san's h-husband!"

Oh boy.

Hizashi freezed up, a blush was slowly creeping from his neck up until it covered his whole face and he let out an unholy screech. His aunt was trying so hard not to laugh, her shoulders were visibly shaking.

Only until his dad threatened to kick them out did his uncle stop. He cleared his throat with a cough, face still slightly pink, turned to Aizawa and proceeded to wink at him.

"Anything to please you, my dear."

Hizashi barely dodged the couch pillow thrown at his direction.

__

They eventually calmed down after the whole fiasco. His uncle was happily answering every questions pouring out of Izuku's mouth while his dad had dragged Nemuri aside to talk, likely about Izuku's situation. The little guy was clearly very excited to compare the differences between the figurine he got yesterday and the real Present Mic.

Hitoshi thought they barely looked alike, aside from the long blonde hair, mustache and the iconic orange shade.

Aizawa ended up kicking them out after a few hours, grumbling about distraction and having to prepare for next week's teaching plan.

After dinner, his dad prepared a small bento box for Izuku tomorrow's lunch consisting of two onigiris, edamame beans and a few grapes. The boy looked at the lunch box with awe and then promptly bursted into tears.

Hitoshi was panicking when his dad got on his kness, he wiped Izuku's tears with his thumb and asked him what was wrong. Apparently with no money or food with him, Izuku never eat lunch at school, only sometime the school janitor would catch him sneaking around and share his lunch with him.

Hitoshi could tell his dad was not happy with the news. After plenty of head pats he sent Izuku to bed. While putting the lunch box in the fridge, he glared at it as if it contained explosive. Hitoshi himself could feel anger building up in his veins. No fucking wonder why Izuku was so small, he barely ate.

That night, if Hitoshi spent hours searching up different lunch box ideas then only his internet history would know.

__

There was something rather satisfying about going to a primary school to pick up your little sibling.

Hitoshi wasn't sure how to describe the feeling. The action by itself made him feel giddy, waiting at the front gate, watching the flood of children pouring out chattering happily, trying to catch a sight of green hair.

Something about the setting just made him feel strangely peaceful.

The longer Hitoshi waited, the more peacefulness dissolved and changed to worry.

The afternoon sun was casting a warm orange glow on the metal gate, the last child Hitoshi saw exiting was from roughly ten minutes ago. Izuku was still nowhere in sight.

The teenager started to pace around the premise. Was there a different exit? Did he miss the little guy?

"Ya lookin' for someone?"

Hitoshi snapped his gaze toward the voice. It belonged to a middle aged man with graying hair holding a broom.

"Oh yeah, I'm searching for my little brother, school let out over twenty minutes ago and I couldn't find him anywhere." Hitoshi told the man, he looked like someone in charge of school maintenance so maybe he would know?

"How does he look like?"

"Small, green hair, green eyes, face full of freckles?"

The man's eyes widened slightly, he stared at Hitoshi for a few seconds before squinting at him.

"Kid 's got no family as far as I know." He glared at him suspiciously.

Hitoshi admittedly got a little taken back at his stare. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Yeah, we, er, I mean my dad took him in three days ago."

The man looked stunned, his eyebrows raised high in surprise before settling back to place. He waved at Hitoshi in a 'come with me' motion before turning around and heading inside the school.

The teenager dutifully followed him.

"Kid probably got locked up by them brats again."

Hitoshi stopped in his track, eyes staring at the back of the man's head.

He stopped in front of a ratty looking door, stuck a key in it and opened it softly with a 'click'.

Light flooded into the small dark space and Hitoshi's wide eyes met Izuku's teary ones. The kid was hugging his knees on the floor, his face was a mess of snot and tears. Upon seeing Hitoshi, the boy freezed up for just a second before standing up silently and gave him a wobbly smile.

"H-Hi, Toshi-nii."

Izuku grabbed his hand and turned to look at the man standing beside them, "T-Thank you f-for letting me out again, Mister Ishiyama."

Ishiyama just sighed, he looked straight at the teenager, "'s no problem, kid. Just take care of yourself."

Hitoshi nodded wordlessly before leading Izuku out of the school.

Once they were out of the gate, Hitoshi turned to his little brother, he squatted down and put a hand on Izuku's shoulder.

"Are you hurt?"

Izuku shook his head. Hitoshi scanned him briefly for any injury he might be hiding. Seeing none, he awkwardly offered, "Do you want a hug?"

Izuku nodded, new tears already gathering in his eyes, clumping his eyelashes together. Hitoshi raised his hands in mid air and the little broccoli dived right in, hugging his neck, face burrowing in his shoulder.

"I-It was really d-dark and I was s-scared." He stuttered out between sniffles.

Damn those little demons, it was too bad he couldn't just beat them until they listened. Hitoshi settled on patting Izuku's back.

"It's fine now, I got you," he reassured him, "Let's just go home to see if dad allows us to order dinner out, ok?"

Hitoshi felt the boy stiffening in a his arms a bit before he relaxed.

"Ok."

Chapter Text

'I can't have him go back there' Shouta thought idly as he watched Izuku scribbling in the notebook they had gotten him two days ago.

Hitoshi had excused himself after dinner to have some online study session with his friends. He was reluctant to leave Izuku's side at first but after meeting Shouta's knowing gaze, he just nodded and headed to his room.

The greenette was sitting with both his socked feet on the couch, knees supporting the notebook he was drawing on. His face was free of any negative emotion, a stark difference from a mere two hours prior when he came home with puffy red eyes and wobbly lips, apologizing for not being able to eat the bento Shouta had prepared for him.

Shouta was angry. He was angry at the little brats who took his new ward's lunch and locked him in a dark closet. Had Hitoshi not come to get him, how long would the kid have to be in there, alone and scared? He was angry at the teachers for not helping Izuku. Apparently it was not the first time this had happened, Izuku had to constantly sneak around the school to not get caught, what were his supposed teachers doing?

Shouta knew it was illogical but he was also angry at himself. He knew it would be better for Izuku to stay home for a few days, having all these sudden changes in his life must have been overwhelming. Maybe then he'd be comfortable enough to tell them about his school situation.

However, it was not possible with both Shouta and Hitoshi being in U.A. almost the entire day. He couldn't just leave the kid home by himself. He knew that but still, he could have done something.

So he couldn't have Izuku going back to school only to have his lunch snatched and get himself locked up again. He couldn't leave him alone in the apartment. He also couldn't bring him to U.A. and leave him in the teacher's lounge all by himself either. Maybe later, but the poor kid had just gotten a bit more comfortable with Hitoshi and him, Shouta doubted having to stay with a bunch of strange adults all day would help the situation.

Maybe Nedzu would let Izuku stay in Hizashi's class tomorrow? It was far from ideal but Shouta had no choice at the moment, he needed to be with his class for the rescue training and Izuku seemed to like Hizashi enough.

Shouta reluctantly pulled out his phone and texted the one person, or rat, he avoided contacting at all cost. Well, as much as he possibly could.

He let out a tired sigh and Izuku looked up from his notebook at Shouta with curious eyes.

"It's nothing, kid," Shouta told him, hand  reaching over to ruffle the kid's hair. Izuku leaned into the touch and nodded, he raised his own small hand up and gave Shouta's a few pats as if he was the one in need of comfort.

This kid. Shouta felt the corner of his mouth quirk up in a fond smile.

Still, he needed to come up with a solution.

"Izuku," he called the boy, "At least until I manage to contact your school, I don't want you to go back there tomorrow."

Izuku gave him a confused look. He whispered out a quite 'why'.

"Because I don't think it is a good place for you. We'll figure something out later but I want you to be able to study in a safe environment, alright?"

Izuku continued to stare at him for a few seconds before suddenly flushing red, he turned away from Shouta and gazed down to his notebook.

"O-Oh, I'll stay here then."

"I can't leave you home alone all day, kid." Shouta told him, a bit baffled.

The boy clutched his notebook tighter into his chest, "I-I won't be bad, promise!" He then held up his pinkie finger, "I will even clean up things if you want!"

Dammit, can't this kid go one day without hurting his heart?

Shouta pushed away the urge to break something and covered the boy's still raising hand with his own.

"Izuku," he started carefully, "The reason why I don't want you staying home alone is not because I don't trust you, but because I care about you and I don't want anything bad to happen to you while we're out, do you understand?"

"B-but it's safe here, nothing bad is gonna happen..."

"You will be alone for at least eight hours, kid, anything could happen. Beside, wouldn't you be lonely?"

Izuku rubbed his nose with his other hand that was not currently being held by Shouta and nodded. Shouta could already see the kid's eyes glistening.

His phone pinged. It was probably Nedzu so Shouta fished his phone out of his pocket and looked at the message.

I do not see a problem with it. However, if you are so concerned about the boy, why not take him to the rescue training tomorrow?

Well, now that Shouta thought about it, that might not actually be the worst idea. Izuku would be able to be around people he's comfortable with. Shouta would just need to make sure he only watches and not go near anything dangerous.

Not entirely happy with the plan but since there was no way around it, he turned to Izuku.

"How about this," he squeezed the boy's hand, "I and Hitoshi are going on a field trip tomorrow with my class. It's rescue training for the heroic course students, do you want to come and watch?

Shouta could see the moment the kid's eyes change from uncertainty to excitement. He was literally vibrating in his spot on the couch.

Shouta chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair once again.

The USJ is only barely 10 minutes away from U.A. and there will be another two heros there, one of them is even All Might. What could possibly go wrong?

__

Izuku churned in his bed, his head was aching again. Aizawa-san had tucked him in today too! He told Izuku that he'd be able to see the hero students tomorrow and the greenete was super excited. He wondered how Toshi-nii looked like in his hero costume. He bet the older boy would look awesome!

Izuku squished a part of his fluffy blanket into a bundle and hugged it close to his chest. It was so soft and warm, unlike the usual scratchy thin material he used to cover himself at night.

He recalled the event of the day in his head. Toshi-nii had used the term 'dad' for both of them. And he didn't even seem to realize it! It just sounded so natural. Aizawa-san also said he was worried about his safety at school and that he cared about Izuku.

The boy felt his cheeks warming up and he pulled the blanket over his head.

They were serious about taking him in, weren't they? If Izuku was bad, would they give him back? He had seen it at the orphanage, it was rare but sometime a kid would leave with foster parents and come back after a few weeks because they didn't want them anymore. Would it happen to him too?

Izuku will try his best to be a good boy then! He could help out around the apartment, maybe help Aizawa-san with cooking? Or he could play with Toshi-nii to cheer him up if he ever felt sad because of the bullies!

Izuku was six, he really wasn't sure what else he could do. He just had to try to not give Aizawa-san any trouble and reason to send him back.

Though for some reason Izuku had a feeling that it would be seriously out of character for the man to do so. Either way, he wouldn't risk it.

The greenette pushed his face deeper into the bundle of blanket. It was warm.

__

Izuku digged his fingers into the hand that was securing him in place. There was chaos around them. He could see the central plaza in the distance.

Izuku was scared. He knew Aizawa-san told him to stay with Thirteen but their suit was disintegrated and they weren't moving at all. The pink skinned onee-san was holding him so tightly it was hard to breath. He could barely register it though.

The scary looking man monster was slamming Aizawa-san's head down again again again. Blood was spilling out all over the cracked cement surface. There was so much red red red.

There was something buzzing in his head. Pounding. Screaming. Begging to be let out. His vision blurred for a second, the pressure behind his eyes threatened to pop pop p o p. He wanted everything to stop.

He saw Toshi-nii. Near the water. He had never seen such expressive emotion on his face before. Fear. When Aizawa-san's head was slammed down again. The expression on the teenager's face changed into rage. He was being barely held back by another teen. Then came the man's hand. Centimeters away from his big brother. Centimeters away from certain death. Disintegrate to nothingness, only dust remains.

Izuku screamed.

A high pitched wretched cry. The hand made contact with it's target. Nothing happened.

The man paused, turning slowly to meet Aizawa-san's eyes. A crazed smile stretched on his lips. He said something Izuku couldn't hear. He could only see the huge man monster monster raising Aizawa-san's head up high again.

Izuku wanted it to stop. He wanted these villains to stop hurting the only people other than his Mama to had ever really cared about him. To STOP hurting his family.

He bited hard into the hand that was holding him. A pained yelp sounded out but Izuku paid it no mind. He didnt register the cries echoing behind him, yelling for him to get back. He didn't register the throbbing pain in his head nor the stream of something warm trickling down over his lips. He ran toward the plaza, he just wanted to be closer to his family.

He slammed into the solid wall of flesh. Punching it with tiny fists and frail arms. Tears and blood mixing on his face.

"Stop hurting 'Zawa!!"

The white-haired man seemed stunned. The muscly appendage holding Aizawa's head stopped in mid-air. The underground hero's eyes widened.

"Izu-! Get out of here!"

"An unexpected NPC," the villain smiled. There wasn't an ounce of kindness in there, "You present me another kid after barely managing to save one."

Aizawa-san, despite all the blood leaking over his eyes, glared at the man.

"Don't you fucking dare!"

"Let's see if the death of this one changes anything."

The villain flicked his wrist and the last thing Izuku heard was a scream. A devastating scream of the man Izuku started to see as a father he never had. He could only feel for a fraction of second the agonizing pain as the massive fist punched him at the side, crushing his ribs, sending him flying through the air.

Izuku briefly wondered if his newly found family would miss him. He had felt so much love in the past few days. Aizawa-san gave the best head pats, he felt so protected around the man, Toshi-nii made him feel so important and cared for. Even Mister Hizashi and Miss Nemuri had been so kind to him. He hopes they wouldn't be too sad without him there like he would be without them.

Would he be able to see Mama? He couldn't remember much of her but he thinks she was kind.

'I hope Mama likes me' was the last thought on Izuku's mind before his skull cracked against the cement wall and there was nothing.

Chapter Text

Everything started out fine. Izuku gushed at Hitoshi's hero costume despite it being only a simple black jumpsuit that glinted purple at the right angle.

You look more like a hero than Aizawa-san! He had told them innocently, eyes shining with nothing but admiration.

Hitoshi had snorted out loud while his dad had huffed out a fond breath.

The class had obviously cooed at Izuku, honestly who wouldn't? Well, aside from some obvious individuals that is.

The boy had been shy, despite being clearly impressed by all the hero-to-be teenagers around him, Izuku had chosen to hide behind Aizawa's legs, only poking out slightly to give Kirishima a timid wave. The red head looked like he had won the lottery.

Then the random purple portal appeared and everything went to shit.

Hitoshi had been sent to the flood zone together with Kaminari and Asui-Tsu. It was clear the villains did not know about their quirks, since with just one zap from the electric boy had their bodies floating on the water surface like dead fishes. Kaminari had assured him that they didn't actually die and Hitoshi decided to trust him. There was nothing else they could do anyway, he had chosen to ignore the problem at the moment.

They reached the central plaza and Hitoshi felt his heart dropping to his stomach.

Aizawa was being held down by some kind of monstrous creature. Monster, because there was no way this was a living and breathing person with it's bulging eyes and exposed brain. The underground hero's hands were bended unnaturally, the skin on one of his elbows cracking like porcelain, blood oozing out sluggishly from the wound.

Then the creature held his father's head high into the air. And slammed it down.

Hitoshi knew Aizawa was strong, he trusted him whole-heartedly but against that thing, he couldn't help the fear creeping up his spine. His dad will be fine. He will be fine. He had been fine all these years.

The monster raised Aizawa's head up high once more. A loud crack sounded out. The cement broke. Pieces of rock shoot out from the impact together with little droplets of blood.

The white-haired villain said something but Hitoshi could barely hear it. Something about a Nomu and anti-symbol of peace.

He was left staring at his father's bloodied frame. The man who had taken him in when no one else wanted to after his biological parent's death. The man who had been his family for eight years and had become an irreplaceable figure in his life. He distantly felt a firm grip on his bicep, probably Kaminari.

The Nomu raised it's hand, revealing Aizawa's mangled face and Hitoshi moved.

He launched himself toward the trio. Maybe he could trick the villain into answering him because he can't lose him hisfatherhecantlosehimhecantlosehim-

"Hey Handfuck! Too scared to fight alone!?"

His voice cracked at the end of the question, the grip on his arm tightened and he found himself being held back from rushing forward.

The villain paused for a bit before turning his way, "I wonder," a sadistic grin appeared on his face, "Whether he would show up if I killed some kids."

He didn't answer the question.

Hitoshi's mouth dried and before he could react, the villain was in front of them, palm wide open reaching toward his face. He distantly heard a loud wail from somewhere before the hand made contact with it's target.

Hitoshi had seen the effect of the man's quirk, the cracks, the blood. He expected the burn, the pain but nothing happened.

Kaminari yanked him back from the man's grip and he felt himself let out a trembling breath.

"You're pretty cool, Eraserhead." The villain turned toward Aizawa. His father had his eyes wide open, quirk flashing red.

"Nomu."

The creature raised his dad's head up high again and a small blur crashed into it's leg.

Hitoshi froze. It's Izuku.

"Stop hurting 'Zawa!!"

The boy wailed, tears streaming down his blotchy red face, mixing with the blood over his lips.

"Izu- Get out of here!"

Hitoshi pushed away the hand currently holding his arm in a death grip. He rushed toward the Nomu. Izuku can't be here, he can't be here but Hitoshi is too far, too far-

The wind hissed against his ears and Hitoshi couldn't hear anything but the horrified scream coming from his father and the sickening crunch made from the impact of the Nomu's fist with his little brother.

Hitoshi's throat clogged up. He could hear his own heart pumping. His eyes burned and he let out a choked sob.

Aizawa may survive a hit from it but Izuku was a six year old underfed child.

The Nomu crushed Aizawa's head against the ground again, cutting off his voice mid-scream.

Hitoshi is losing them. His father. His little brother. He was too weak too weak too weak-

A loud crash echoed through out the plaza, a strong gust of wind hit his face and Hitoshi found himself being picked up together with his father's mangled figure.

"Fear not, for I am HERE."

Hitoshi numbly looked up from the number one hero's arm. All Might wasn't smiling.

__

Toshinori felt anger surging through him as he held Young Shinsou and a bloodied Aizawa in his arms. He almost had been too late.

"My little brother." The boy croaked out, trembling finger pointing at a certain spot by the wall. His face was sticky with tears and dust but he didn't seem to realize it.

Toshinori looked toward the direction and felt his heart stop for a second. A tiny red shoe lied by a pile of rubble.

Bile rised to his throat and the anger inside him amplified tenfolds.

He jumped toward the wall and dropped his student and colleague down.

"Young Shinsou, please look after them, go to the entrance when you see a chance." He didn't dare take another look at the rubbles.

The boy didn't answer him, he was staring blankly at the small shoe on the ground. Toshinori didn't wait for a reply, he gritted his teeth and dashed away.

In a second he was holding the remaining two students near the white haired villain and dropped them off at a safe distance.

"The Symbol of Peace!" The villain laughed out loud, as if delighted to see him, hand scratching furiously at his neck, "And I thought you'd never show up!"

Toshinori ignored him. He rushed toward the villain, twisted his hip, focusing his power and threw a sharp hook at his face.

His fist met solid muscle. He could feel the vibration rippling through his skin the moment of impact. His opponent however, didn't move an inch.

The second villain had blocked his attack. Toshinori took a glance at his face and he fought back the nausea twisting in his stomach.

"Meet the Anti-Symbol of Peace," a scratchy voice sounded out from behind the wall of muscles, "A bioengineered Nomu."

Does that mean that he's not human?

Toshinori jumped back, crossing his arms, One For All thrumming in his veins.

"Carolina Smash!"

The pressure ripped his sleeves apart but the Nomu remained standing.

No effect?!

He could hear the low chuckle coming from the white-haired villain.

"Nomu was designed exclusively to counter you. With it's shock absorption you aren't even scratching at it's skin."

Toshinori whipped around. He flexed his arms and tightened them around the Nomu's stomach.

"Thanks for the info!"

He lifted the giant over his head, titled his back and slammed the creature on the cement surface.

Only it never reached the ground.

Something digged sharply to his side and Toshinori felt blood flowing up his throat and spilling over his lips.

"Good timing, Kurogiri!"

Toshinori glanced down. The Nomu was emerging from a purple portal on the ground, fingers twisting in his ribs.

"So you decided to seal the Nomu's movement since your attacks have no effect on it," the villain cracked a too wide smile, "A good plan, too bad it is as powerful as you!"

The fingers digged deeper into his side and Toshinori fought back a grunt. Too close to his injury.

A sudden roar reached his ears. The portal wavered.

"Don't fucking move, or else I'll blow you straight to kingdom come!"

Young Bakugou? The boy was snarling, fingers gripping the purple villain's metal plated neck.

"...Not only have you beaten our level but you are also at full health," the white-haired villain grumbled out, "Nomu, take out the brat, we need our transportation back."

Toshinori felt the grip of the monster loosen, he wasted no time pulling his arms away and jumped back from the portals.

Nomu lept toward Bakugou. The boy's eyes widened and Toshinori was late once, he wasn't going to be late again.

He ignored the throbbing pain at his side and rushed toward the pair.

He pulled the boy out just in time as the Nomu's fist passed by the place Bakugou was at milliseconds before, sending out a wave of wind pressure, destroying a boulder nearby. It raised an arm.

"Stay put, Young Bakugou!"

Toshinori crossed his arms protectively over his chest as the massive fist nearly crushed his forearms. He grounded his feet but the force pushed him back by several meters, tearing up the cement on the path.

It's strong. A strength too great to come just from muscles alone.

The Nomu raised it's hands and in a blink of an eye it was in front of him. He caught both of it's fists in his own, feet digging deeper into the ground and he could feel his old injury burning.

"You shouldn't underestimate Nomu's strength. Super strength and super speed are plenty to rival even you."

Multiple quirks? There was no way!

A sudden wave of coldness washed over Toshinori and he saw the entire right side of the Nomu freezing over. Cold air visible in the puffs of dust.

From the corner of his eyes he spot Young Todoroki, right hand raised toward the beast, thin layers of ice creeping up his elbow.

The villain clicked his tongue, "Another one, kids these days are really something."

Toshinori gritted his teeth, tasting the coppery feel of blood on his tongue. He was about to yell at his student to retreat when an idea popped up in his head.

If I can't damage it regularly then this may help.

Toshinori clutched his fist tighter and tighter. In one fluid motion he threw his arm back, releasing the Nomu's grip, focusing One For All in his hand and punched the frozen side of the monster with all his power.

The creature let out an ears rumbling screech. An entire arm and the right side of it's chest shattered to pieces. Blood splattered out across the number one hero's body.

Toshinori let out a silent shaky breath. Did he do it?

He couldn't waver just yet.

"So, villain? What else do you have?"

To his uneasiness, the white-haired villain's dried lips stretched into a wide smile.

"You know what, All Might?" He picked at a scab on his neck, "You and I both thrive on violence. Yet society takes one look at us and declares us scums, all while worshipping the ground all you heroes walk on," he took a step closer to the hero.

"Violence only breeds more violence. We're the same, All Might," the villain was no longer smiling, his eyes opened wide in manic, "You think you have won? Let me tell you a secret, Nomu."

Nomu shakily perked it's head up, waiting.

The villain stretched his hands out to both side, as if presenting something glorious. "Hyper regeneration is the last quirk Nomu had been given specifically to deal with you! It is the perfect sandbag!" He let out a maniacal laughter.

Toshinori felt a chill running across his spine.

That's impossible! THAT MAN was supposed to be dead!

"Rise, Nomu!"

The creature let out a loud roar, blood spurting from it's mangled and crumbling flesh, the muscles on it's body started to tremble.

Toshinori tensed, readied for the worst.

His eyes widened as the monster's cry got weaker and weaker until it stopped and the Nomu dropped onto the ground. It's body twitched for a few times before stilling and it did not move again. A puddle of blood was now growing steadily under the dead corpse.

"... Nomu?"

The only reply the villain received was silence.

"What-what have you done to Nomu?!"

Toshinori wasn't sure what was supposed to happen but he could feel the wound on his side chipping away his remaining energy. He didn't have much time left.

"Bring on whatever you have left!"

The villain scowled, he scratched furiously at his neck, blood building up under his nails.

"This is not how it's supposed to go ..." He mumbled, voice low and raspy, "This is not- You cheated," he let out a wail at the end, "You cheater!"

His enraged scream got cut off by the hissing of the wind. A flying bullet grazed his cheek, burying itself into the ground.

"Tomura Shigaraki, the plan failed, we need to leave."

The now named-Shigaraki's face twisted in rage, "I may have failed ... But the next time we meet, you're dead, All Might."

Before Toshinori could do anything, Shigaraki and the purple villain disappeared in a portal and his own vision got blocked by a rising wall of cement.

__

The moment All Might left, Hitoshi clutched his father's hand and shakily pressed his finger on the man's wrist.

Thump.

The teenager let out a trembling breath. He glanced at the red shoe on the ground.

He has to check. He has to check but he can't hecanthecant. He doesn't want to see it. There was no way Izuku survived that. He doesn't want to see his little brother's CORPSE.

Hitoshi choked back the bile rising up in his throat. His vision blurred. Oh, he was crying.

Wait, what if Izuku survived, what if he was on the border of life and death waiting for help while Hitoshi was here wallowing in self pity?

Hitoshi frantically stood up. He rushed toward the rubble, kicking a few rocks away in the process.

He found Izuku lying on the side. Blood matted his hair and soaked up his T-shirt.

All kinds of emotion swiveled inside Hitoshi. Horror, sadness, guilt, rage but he pushed all those away, hand reaching toward the boy's head.

Blood stick on his fingers but Hitoshi paid it no mind. He gently rubbed the area, searching for any kind of unseen injury.

He couldn't feel anything.

Hope slowly rised up in his gut, he pressed a finger under the boy's jaw.

Thump. Thump.

Hitoshi's eyes widened. He curled his fingers under Izuku's shirt and lifted it up.

Blood covered the boy's skinny chest but he found nothing but smooth skin.

Chapter Text

Hitoshi wasn't sure how long he waited for the paramedics to arrive.

The teenager just occasionally brushed Izuku's blood matted hair with trembling fingers and check for the boy's pulse under his jaw.

It beat strongly against his touch every time.

Hitoshi didn't know how Izuku had survived the impact but he wasn't going to question it. His little brother was alive, that was all that mattered. He couldn't find any injury visible on the boy but he didn't dare moving him in case of spinal damage, even if all Hitoshi wanted at the moment was to embrace him in a crushing hug.

After what felt like forever but also in a blink of an eye Hitoshi heard rapid footsteps of people moving into the plaza. Heroes, police officers, paramedics.

He screamed at them, eyes still glued on his brother's still form, afraid that he'd just stopped breathing the moment Hitoshi take his eyes off him. Even if he had barely talked during the battle, his throat felt like it was on fire.

The paramedics immediately rushed toward the trio and the rest was a bit of a blur for Hitoshi. After assessing all of their injuries, Aizawa had been lifted into a stretcher and rushed toward the hospital together with Izuku and Hitoshi.

The teenager didn't sustain any real injury, only scrapes and scratches. A part of him weighed heavily with guilt. Shame. He had been completely fine while his father most likely had almost died. Another part of him drowned in rage. Hitoshi was angry at the villains for almost killing his family. He was angry at himself for not being able to do anything to help them. If only he had been stronger.

And Izuku ... Izuku was completely fine. He was covered in blood but he was fine, in fact he was healing himself. The small bruise on his shoulder that Hitoshi had missed at the beginning was fading and fading and the moment the paramedics loaded the boy into the emergency vehicle, it was gone, leaving behind nothing but spotless skin.

That did not happen before. Hitoshi had seen the small scars on Izuku's legs, he had personally cleaned up the cut on his forehead when the bullies hit him with a rock. Whatever happend at the USJ, it was new.

The paramedics had asked him about the boy's injury, apparently some of his classmates had seen the moment when Nomu's fist crushed his little brother's ribs.

Hitoshi had no answer for them, he was just as lost.

__

It was close to evening when Izuku woke up. Uncle Zashi had gone out to answer a call, likely from auntie Nem. They hadn't let both of them in and Hizashi had promised to let the heroine know about his dad's condition as soon as they received the news.

Hitoshi was sitting on on a plastic chair in the corner of the room when Izuku's eyes blinked open. He immediately stood up and rushed to his little brother's side.

"Mama?" The boy's voice slurred, sitting up a little on the bed.

"Izuku?" Hitoshi addressed him gently. He considered holding the kid's hand but decided against it in case he was still disoriented. Which was probably a good idea as Izuku stared at him with wide and confused eyes.

"T-Toshi-nii?"

"Yeah, it's me, I'm here." Hitoshi reassured him, throat already closing up a little. His little brother was really fine. He reached out to pressed a button to call for a nurse.

Izuku's eyes widened even more, he continued to stare at Hitoshi for a few more seconds before wrapping both arms around his head, covering his view, and let out a choked sob.

"N-No!" The boy wailed, tears already streaming down his cheeks.

Hitoshi felt a rush of panic coursing through him. He raised his hands in an attempt to comfort Izuku but they ended up just hovering above the hysterical child.

"Izuku! What's wrong?"

The boy kept on crying, small fists rubbing furiously at his eyes.

"Y-You are here, that m-means that y-you d-d-died t-too!"

Ah shit, Hitoshi should have known the moment the kid called out for his mom.

He put his hands on Izuku's shoulders, now assured that the boy needed some kind of physical contact, and gave them a firm squeeze.

"Izuku, look at me," the boy shaked his head, eyes still covered by his hands, "I'm alive, I'm safe and you are too."

The six year old finally peeked out from the gaps of his fingers.

"S-Safe?"

"Yeah, we are safe now." Hitoshi gave him a small smile, a tired one, but a smile nonetheless.

Izuku lowered his arms. He pressed his lips together, as if trying to hold in his voice, and promptly dived toward Hitoshi, hands wrapping around his neck.

"'Z-Zawa-san?"

"Dad's also safe. He's still sleeping right now and we can't visit him yet but he is fine." Hitoshi told him, fingers carding through the boy's damp hair. He tried not to imagine the sticky blood on his fingers mere hours prior.

Hitoshi felt Izuku stiffening a bit in his arms before the boy relaxed and nodded to his shoulder.

The room was quite save for the sporadic sniffles and hiccups. The boy's tears never ceased, his arms still wrapping tightly around Hitoshi's neck.

The teenager's back started to ache but he didn’t have the heart to pull out of the hug, he didn't want to, so he lifted his little brother up by the armpits and picked him up so that the boy was sitting on his forearm.

"Izuku, I'm so glad you're ok," Hitoshi pressed a hand to the greenette's back, voice hardening a little, "But don't ever run into danger like that again."

Izuku just tightened his hold on him, a cold nose pressing firmly into his shoulders.

Hitoshi held onto him just as tight.

__

"Midoriya Izuku, date of birth: February 15 23XX, age: 6, biological mother: Midoriya Inko, status: deceased, biological father: Midoriya Hisashi, status: also deceased."

Naomasa looked up from the file at his friend. Toshinori's face was a mixture of concern and trepidation.

"I know what you're thinking Toshinori." The detective let out a sigh. He pulled out a manila folder from under the desk and slided it across the surface to the number one hero.

"Midoriya Hisashi, quirk: Firebreath, used to be a manager at QuiTech, a small company focusing on dealing with support equipment in the construction industry," he said slowly, eyes tracking the now deflated All Might's reaction as he flipped through the papers, "He had demanded a paternity test the moment the kid was born and despite it's confirmation, he still left his wife shortly after to go to America. Died two years later in a car crash."

All Might let out a tired sigh. "I can see the test result. So, there's no way he's ..." He gulped audibly, "All For One's son?"

"Unless the result was fabricated, unlikely." Naomasa said, leaning back against his chair.

He wasn't sure what to think of the whole situation. The idea of All For One having a son and leaving said son in an orphanage for an entire 2 years seemed absurd to him. But then again, the mere thought of the biggest villain to have ever lived since the Dawn of quirks being alive out there and simply blending in with the population sent a shiver down his spine.

He understood Toshinori's concern though. He had personally interviewed almost everyone involved in the attack and all their answers matched one story. The villain's goal was to kill All Might. Their primary weapon to do so was some kind of bioengineered creature called Nomu. And said creature had multiple quirks.

According to Toshinori, the villain with disintegration quirk-Shigaraki had stated that the Nomu possessed Hyper regeneration. Said quirk also failed to activate at the crucial moment, thus rendering their plan useless.

Normally he'd just assume that the villain was delusional and move on with it. This time however, the evidence didn't allow him such comfort.

The forensic team had gotten a field day upon finding multiple quirk factors in the Nomu's cell sample. Naomasa had to put all of his authority to use for them to brush it under the rug.

"I just ... wanted to be sure. What chance is there for the Nomu's regeneration to fail and at the same time a child suddenly manifested a regeneration quirk to save his own life?"

"Slim, Toshinori, slim," Naomasa grabbed the now cold cup of coffee and took a sip, "However, we can't assume the kid's relation to AFO based on just his quirk."

"I know that," the number one hero slumped in his seat, "I'm just concerned, that's all."

"The bad news is that my forensic team had confirmed the Nomu's multiple quirks so," Naomasa looked at his friend in the eyes, wincing a little as the next words left his mouth, "We have to take into account AFO's possible survival."

Toshinori's face sagged, he pressed the heels of his palm to his forehead and let out a long suffering sigh.

"The villains we have in custody right now are all small time criminals. They know nothing about this League of Villains and even less about their leader. This group of villains are now deemed extremely dangerous and if we are correct about their relations to AFO then UA might be in danger."

Toshinori looked up from behind his hands, "What can we do?" He then asked with strained voice, "Should I ... resign the teaching position at UA?"

Naomasa admittedly got taken back at his friend's suggestion. The blond was very adamant about this work position. He didn't think Toshinori would willingly give it up so easily to prevent a possible disaster that was still full of hypothesis like this one. He most likely blamed himself for the attack.

"That wouldn't help anyone unfortunately. You're just a moving target, better to stay in a school full of pro heroes that is practically a fortress than to change the villain's attention elsewhere. Beside, even without you, the students that directly faced the villains might have already become targets themselves."

The number one hero's face sagged even more. He managed to look much older than he really was.

"Nedzu had planned to make UA a boarding school. The plan was supposed to launch next year but due to the circumstances he had decided to move it up to better protect the student. The dorm with Cementoss help will be finished next week."

Naomasa pulled out another paper from the drawer and showed it to Toshinori.

"Another thing to be considered is Midoriya Izuku's living situation. If his quirk is even remotely similiar to All For One then the boy may become potential target for the villains, if they come to know about it's existence."

'If they haven't already' Naomasa thought bitterly.

"With that being said, I will personally take note of his newly manifested quirk. Nedzu is considering sheltering the boy in UA but he has to wait for further discussion with Eraserhead to finalize the decision."

Toshinori looked confused, "Young Aizawa, why?"

Naomasa raised an eyebrow. He underlined the 'legal guardian' section with a pen.

"Because Eraserhead is the boy's foster father."

Toshinori's face paled visibly. He gulped and unconsciously rubbed a hand on a spot on his shirt under which lied his injury. A drop a sweat formed on his forehead.

"I'm dead, Masa, and All For One won't be the one to kill me."

Naomasa could only lean forward on his chair to pat his friend's shoulder in sympathy. Or as a silent prayer for his survival. Or perhaps both.

__

"Izuku?"

Izuku watched behind Toshi-nii's legs as Aizawa-san called out for him. They had been informed that the underground hero had woken up. He had been almost hysterical, growling at everyone and demanding for Toshi-nii's and Izuku's presences. He was worried about Izuku!

After a brief explanation of what had happened from Hizashi-san, Aizawa-san had visibly calmed down. He held Toshi-nii's hand and whispered reassurances to him as the older boy's eyes teared up.

Then he called out for Izuku.

The man's voice was hoarse and it held an edge of urgency. He was heavily bandaged from his neck up while his right arm was hidden inside a bulky cast. They told him Aizawa-san had to wait for his eyes to heal completely before removing the bandage. He had no vision for now.

Izuku trod forward and grab the hero's already healed hand. He placed the man's palm on top of his head and pressed it down his hair.

" 'm here." Aizawa-san couldn't see him so Izuku had to show him he was there some other way.

The boy could feel the man's fingers twitching a bit before moving and starting to card through the fluffy locks.

Mister Hizashi looked like he was screaming inaudibly into his elbow though Izuku wasn't sure why.

Aizawa-san retracted his hand from Izuku's head and put it on his shoulder, pulling the boy closer to the bed.

"Are you really uninjured?"

Izuku nodded before realizing that the man couldn't see him.

"I'm ok."

The grip on his shoulder tightened by a fraction.

"As long as you're fine, Izuku." A shaky exhale could be heard from the man. A few seconds of silence passed by before Izuku bursted into tears.

"I'm s-sorry!"

The hand on his shoulder tightened up again.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I-I jumped into d-danger without t-thinking," he grasped desperately at the man's hand, "a-and I caused you t-trouble a-and you had to w-worry about me, b-but I d-didn't want you to l-leave me all a-alone again!"

Izuku sobbed, every emotion had suddenly become too much for him. Tears blurred his vision, he just didn't want to lose the people who he had grown to associate with the word 'family'. He didn't want to lose their love, didn't want to lose the warmth of family he barely had time to get used to.

Izuku distantly felt himself being picked up and placed next to Aizawa-san on the bed. The boy saw that the man was now closer to his reach so he just shuffled close to the hero and curled up under his arm, hugging his waist.

"Izuku," Aizawa-san wrapped his uninjured hand around Izuku's shoulder, pulling him closer, "We're not leaving you."

Izuku hiccupped beetween sobs and burrowed his face to the hero's side.

"And if anyone was to apologize, it should be me. I wasn't strong enough to keep you safe."

Izuku shaked his head furiously.

"Y-you saved Toshi-nii a-and everyone, you're the s-strongest!"

Aizawa-san let out a suspiciously wet chuckle and he pat Izuku's head again.

"Thanks, kid." The hand on his head paused for a moment and Aizawa-san pulled him even closer into his chest.

"Promise me something, Izuku," The hero's voice took on a slightly harsher tone, "Other than me, there are other people who care about you and are willing to care for you. As long as I'm around, I'm never going to leave you. But if another situation similar to this one happens, promise me that you won't pull something like this again."

Izuku's eyes snapped toward the man's face. His lips wobbled and he choked on another sob.

"B-but-"

"No but, promise me, Izuku."

Izuku looked down, he pushed his face further into Aizawa-san's chest and nodded, tears dampening the hospital gown while the man's hand continued to stroke through his hair.

Chapter Text

Izuku watched as a group of teenagers huddled together at the end of the hallway. He recognized them as the students from Toshi-nii's class. All of them had their backs turned to him.

Pink skinned onee-san was looking behind the corner as if afraid they'd be caught doing something bad, she was the one holding Izuku during the attack. He shivered at the thoughts. Izuku also recognized the red-haired onii-san, his name was Kirishima, but he didn't know the names of the other two students. The black-haired one was tugging at the girl, a slight panicked expression on his face while the blond was scowling, arms crossing in front of his chest looking like this was the last place he wanted to be at.

Izuku was just going to get a salty pretzels pack from the vending machine two doors away from Aizawa-san's room when he spotted the group. Toshi-nii had gone out to buy something for a 'personal project' of his, he wouldn't tell Izuku what it was, and Aizawa-san had reluctantly let the six year old out to get himself a snack. The automat was not far, Izuku was a big boy, he could do it!

The doctors had taken Aizawa-san's bandages off today morning, if everything goes well, he should be able to go home early in the evening, or so they said. Izuku had been living with Toshi-nii and Hizashi-san in the apartment for the past few days, sometime Nemuri-san would also join them. They had all made a pile of futons and blankets in the living room to sleep there. Toshi-nii said he didn't want to sleep alone. Izuku agreed.

They spent most of their time visiting the hospital to keep Aizawa-san company, occasionally bringing him homemade food. All made by Toshi-nii of course, the teenager had kicked Hizashi-san out of the kitchen the moment he tasted the soup the blond had made. Izuku thought it was fine but everyone had different tastes, he supposed.

Izuku peered at the teenagers in front of him curiously. Were they hiding from someone? Should Izuku help them?

Oh, maybe they came to find Toshi-nii or Aizawa-san! He wasn't sure if they could see them though, something about family visit only. The greenette suddenly felt heat flushing his cheeks, he was considered family!

The boy trod closer to the group, shuffling his feet a little bit but no one noticed him. They're Toshi-nii's friends so it's fine, right? He then raised his hand and hesitantly tugged on the red head's pants.

"Uh-uhm, w-what are you doing?"

The teen let out a shriek and Izuku found himself being stared at by four pairs of eyes. The boy shrunk into himself.

A few seconds passed and no one said anything, Izuku started to get more and more nervous.

Just then the pink skinned onee-san got on her knees and reached a trembling hand out toward Izuku.

"Green bean ... you- you are ok?" She asked with a shaky voice.

Izuku supposed he was 'green bean', he didn't have time to ponder on the weird nickname because onee-san's eyes were getting teary.

"I-I am ok!" Izuku hurriedly flexed his arms, scrolling up his sleeves to show spotless skin, "You see, no i-injury at all!"

All the eyes focused on the boy's arms widened and he fought back the urge to squirm.

Then Izuku was suddenly embraced in a crushing hug. He let out a little squeak and froze entirely at the unexpected contact.

Onee-san seemed to realize so she quickly released Izuku. She smiled at him, finger wiping off a drop of tear at the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry Green Bean, I'm just so happy that you're fine!"

"Yeah! Little Man, we're all glad to see you doing well!" The red head beamed at Izuku, eyes also watery.

The boy blushed deep red again and he hided behind his arms. He wasn't used to so many people caring about him all at once.

"But how did you," the black haired teenager faltered a bit with his words, "Escape?" He winced a little and started to scratch the back of his neck.

"I dunno." Izuku shrugged. He just knew from the story that All Might came and defeated the scary looking man monster and saved Aizawa-san. How cool is that? The All Might had saved them!

The teenagers paused for a bit and turned to look at each other, seemingly conversing without spoken words, they then looked at him with a smile.

"We haven't introduced ourselves properly to you, have we? My name is Ashido Mina, you can call me big sister Mina!"

Izuku brightened up immediately, "Ok, Mina-nee!"

The girl let out a quite gasp and covered her mouth with a hand.

"I'm Kirishima Eijirou!"

Izuku giggled, "I know that, you waved at me on the bus."

A sharptooth smile bloomed on Kiri-nii's face and Izuku gaped. His teeth are so cool!

The red-head let out an embarrassed laugh and he reached down to ruffle Izuku's hair. Oh, he probably said it out loud.

"Thanks, Little Dude."

Izuku ducked his head, embarrassed that he let his words slip. Kiri-nii seemed happy though, so he probably didn't mind.

"Name's Sero Hanta, nice to meet you, my guy." The black-haired teen leaned forward a bit, reaching out his hand toward Izuku.

Oh, a handshake! Very grown-up!

Izuku grabbed the teen's fingers and happily shook them up and down, "I'm Izuku, nice to meet you too, Sen-nii!"

The tall teenager leaned back a little, made a move of 'I have just been shot' and clutched at his chest. His friends snickered at him.

Izuku let out a tiny giggle. They're so dramatic.

The boy let his gaze land on the last teen standing next to the group, expectantly. The blond's scowl softened a bit at his stare but he was still intimidating.

Eventually he huffed and glanced away, breaking the unofficial staring contest.

"Bakugou Katsuki."

Izuku wasn't sure how to call this onii-san. From the moment Izuku saw the group in the hallway till now, he only had two emotions on his face. Surprise and annoyance, probably. He still looked pretty annoyed right now, though a bit less than before. Still intimidating.

"H-Hi, Bakugou-san." Izuku waved at him, a little less enthusiastic than a minute prior.

The teen's nose immediately scrunched up in disgust (?). The scowl on his face deepened.

"Hah? Why the fuck am I the only one without a nickname?"

Kiri-nii swatted his arm, "Bro, language!"

The blond grumbled indiscernibly and Izuku was left confused. He thought onii-san was a serious type of person who wouldn't appreciate things like this. Now that Izuku looked at him grumbling and bickering with his friends, he didn't seem all that serious and intimidating anymore. The six year old smiled happily and started to bounce on his feet.

"You want a nickname?"

The teen crossed his arms and glared at him.

"No."

"Would Suki-nii work?"

"I told yo- I fuc-friggin dare you call me that!"

"Katsu-nii?"

"That's too close to my normal friggin name! And do I look like a deep fried slab of meat to you?"

Izuku pouted, he had never received so many complaints about his naming ability before.

"Gougou?"

The blond bared his teeth and Izuku had a thought that Kiri-nii's sharp teeth would fit this onii-san perfectly.

"You think I'm a friggin dog?!"

For some reason Izuku could imagine Toshi-nii raising an unamused eyebrow while letting out a dry 'Yes'. He shaked his head to clear the thoughts.

"You're very picky, onii-san."

The teenager opened his mouth, probably to yell something but was cut off by loud clickings of shoes.

"Shi-shoot! They're coming!" Sen-nii frantically looked behind the corner and pulled on Mina-nee's arm.

The pink girl's eyes widened for a second before squatting down and giving Izuku a quick hug.

The boy squeaked but having already somewhat gotten used to the teengers, he raised his hand to pat her on the shoulder blades.

"Izuku, we gotta flee now, but I'm so so so glad to see that you're ok, can you at least tell me if Shinsou and Aizawa-sensei are fine?"

Izuku nodded, "They're fine, Aizawa-san is going h-home today."

Onee-san let out a sigh of relief before standing up and pulling her friends away while waving at Izuku.

"Bye, Mina-nee, Kiri-nii, Sen-nii," Izuku saw the blond giving him a side glance so he beamed up at him, "Bye, Kacchan!"

The teen stopped in his track for only two seconds before he was tugged back by Kiri-nii.

Izuku hopes Kacchan liked his nickname.
__

Shouta stared at the email from Tsukauchi containing the date and paperwork for Izuku's quirk evaluation with mixed feelings. The detective was here yesterday to question him about the attack. He couldn't contribute much to the already existing information other than providing more details about the villain's thought process but the man was thankful nonetheless. Psychological profile was also important after all.

And Izuku ... the kid wasn't quirkless. He manifested a quirk at the USJ to save his own life.

The bitter feeling of failure and guilt cramped his stomach. Shouta pressed the heels of his palm to his eyes and let out an exhale. His newly healed eyes stung a bit but that was small damage compared to completely losing his vision.

Izuku could have died. Hell, he probably was on the verge of dying and Shouta could do nothing about it. Forced to watch his son's death from merely an arm away and he could do nothing.

Also All Might , just thinking about the man made Shouta's blood boil. Where the fuck was he when the villains surrounded his students? The man was a teacher now, what kind of important business did he have to not show up to a planned event without even one notification?

Shouta felt like the vein on his forehead was about to burst out of frustration when the door to his room opened and Izuku stepped in.

"I'm back."

Shouta forced the anger down and school his face to a neutral expression. He waved the boy over.

"Izuku, come here."

Izuku trod over and climbed onto the bed next to him.

"Did you get the pretzels?"

The kid raised his hand holding a small packet of salty treats to Shouta. He ruffled the greenette's hair, "Good job."

Izuku closed his eyes in content and leaned over to Shouta's side.

Now for the hard part. He needed to tell Izuku about the quirk evaluation that's tomorrow. Why was Tsukauchi in such a hurry, Shouta wasn't sure but there was something in play here that the detective refused to tell him. Friends or not, Shouta will pry it out of his teeth if he had to.

"Izuku, do you ..." He started slowly, catching the boy's attention, "Do you know why you're completely fine after the attack?"

Izuku looked down to his feet.

"I'm not sure."

Shouta swallowed a lump suddenly forming in his throat, "It's because you've developed a quirk and it managed to save you just in time."

Izuku's eyes snapped to his face. He just stared at him for a moment before squinting his eyes in confusion.

"I-I'm quirkless."

"That's on the paper, kid. Sometime a quirk can come in late or ..." Shouta paused to pull the kid into his lap, "Under a highly stressful situation."

Izuku started to tremble and Shouta leaned forward, wrapping his arms around the boy and resting his chin on his head.

"B-But the doctor s-said so!"

"That's why we're going to confirm everything tomorrow in a quirk evaluation. Are you alright with that?"

Shouta felt his sleeves starting to get wet with tears and he internally cursed whatever entity out there was making Izuku suffer so much. Event after events, the poor kid couldn't catch a break to breath.

Eventually Izuku nodded between hiccups. Shouta tightened his embrace on the boy and murmured out.

"Remember, kid, whatever result ends up being, I'm right here with you."

Chapter Text

Shouta held Izuku close to him for the rest of the day. The kid didn’t talk much after the conversation about his most-likely-just-manifested quirk. After the man was discharge to go home, Izuku just sat next to him on the couch drawing some squiggles in the notebook of his. Shouta wasn't sure if it was because he was distracted by his own thoughts or because the squiggles actually meant to look like something.

Either way, he made sure to tell the boy that he could talk to Shouta about anything and that no matter what happens tomorrow, he'd stay by his side all the time.

After possibly the third time telling Izuku that the result won't matter, the kid put down his crayon and notebook and stared intently at his feet.

"... What if you were wrong?"

Shouta straightened up, he pushed away the laptop on his lap, giving the boy his full attention, "What do you mean?"

Izuku shuffled in his seat, hands grabbing the hem of his shirt in tight fists.

"W-What if it was just a co-coinci-dence a-and I'm still q-quirkless," The kid gulped, he now looked at Shouta, eyes brimming with unshed tears, "W-Will I go b-back to the o-orphange then?"

The question was like a knife stabbing at Shouta's chest and twisting, digging at his ribs.

Of course that was what he was worried about.

Something inside Shouta shriveled at the thought that Izuku even considered for him to send the kid back to that god awful place. It stung but God, did it make sense and Shouta fucking hated it. He pulled Izuku over, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible.

"No, Izuku," He brushed the boy's hair away from his eyes, forcing the anger, the hurt away from his voice, "No matter what happens, you're staying here with me and Hitoshi. I care about you. We care about you, do you understand?"

Izuku just blinked at him, eyelashes wet, mouth pressed into a thin line. A drop of tear fell down his cheek but he was not making a sound.

"Izuku?" Shouta asked, worried.

"E-Even if I stay quirkless?"

The underground hero huffed out a breath. Just how many times does he have to tell the kid the same thing? Well, as long as Izuku wanted to hear it, Shouta will repeat himself over and over again until the words imprinted themselves in his mind.

"Yes, Izuku," Shouta pressed a finger against Izuku's nose, "I didn't care about your quirk status one week ago, I certainly don't care about it now."

Izuku's lips finally wobbled and he latched at Shouta's arm, hugging it close to his chest.

At that moment Hitoshi stepped in from behind the door, Shouta had heard him coming in a few minutes ago but the teenager probably didn't want to disturb the conversation they were in. Seeing how the kid had been acting around Izuku this past week, Shouta was so fucking proud of his son. He couldn't remember ever being so responsible toward little kids like Hitoshi when he was his age.

Hitoshi squatted down in front of Izuku and wiped away his tears with a finger.

"Dad's right, Izuku," he cupped the boy's cheek with one hand, "You're stuck with us now. No evil quirk doctor can take you from us."

Izuku stared at Hitoshi for a few moments and then at Shouta before pulling the teen's hand down to his chest, hugging it together with Shouta's.

"T-Thank you." He finally muttered out between sniffles.

For the rest of of evening the hero got himself a tiny six year old basically sticking himself to his legs following him around the apartment step after step, not that Shouta was complaining.

__

"You ready, Izuku?"

Izuku looked unsure but nodded after a few seconds of staring at Hitoshi. The kid grabbed Shouta's hand and he could feel the boy trembling slightly but his eyes shined with determination.

Shouta couldn't help letting out a tiny smile. Progress, he was fucking proud. "Alright, let's go in."

Shouta pushed the door to the clinic open, ushering Izuku in. Hitoshi waved at the kid and he hesitantly waved back before the door closed behind them. Shouta paused for a second, a little taken back at the surprisingly cozy aesthethic. The room barely looked like a clinic. One cream colored wall lined with family pictures of a trio, a blond woman and blond teenager with a black haired man with icy blue eyes. Another wall was almost entirely covered with plastic plants. At the corner of the room sat a blond woman with droppy brown eyes behind an office table.

"Hello Aizawa-san, please have a seat" she stood up and shaked hand with Shouta, Izuku shrunk back a little and started to hide behind his legs so she just smiled at him, "My name is Monoma Kumi and I'll be the person to evaluate Midoriya-kun's quirk."

"The information that I was given stated that you already know about the circumstances?" Shouta raised his tone in a question, being purposefully vague.

Monoma nodded, she pushed the glasses sitting on her nose a bit higher, "Yes, the detective had given me all the needed information regarding the USJ incident including little Midoriya's quirk manifestion."

Shouta could feel Izuku's grip on his pants tightening so he put a hand on top of the kid's head, rubbing it soothingly.

"I understand, what do we have to do?"

Monoma smiled, a sharp and slightly crooked smile but there was something warm in there. She went around the table and leaned down to face Izuku.

"I just have to touch Midoriya-kun with all of my fingers for about thirty seconds, then my brain will work out his quirk's mechanic. Are you alright with that, Midoriya-kun?

Izuku stared at her with wide eyes, his lips opening and closing rapidly. If he was making any sound, Shouta was sure he'd be muttering a storm right now. Probably about her quirk. His thoughts drifted back to last week when Izuku asked about his quirk. The kid had been confused, apparently he was convinced Erasehead's quirk was some kind of hair growth, Shouta didn't even want to think about what had given him the idea. But after discovering his real quirk, the boy had looked at him like he had hung the moon and stars, shooting off question after questions about his quirk, sometime about things that Shouta himself had never even thought about. Honestly, he had gotten a little intimidated. Just a tiny bit.

"Okay." Izuku's soft voice snapped Shouta out of his thoughts. The kid was holding out his hands toward Monoma.

No rapid fire questions this time. Guess he was still nervous.

Monoma smiled big at him, all sharpness suddenly gone, leaving behind nothing but a warm and kind woman.

"Thank you, Midoriya-kun. You're a very brave boy."

Izuku blushed as she put all fingers on his arms, a soft blue light emitted out and Shouta waited with baited breath.

After about a minute Monoma stood up and let out a shaky breath.

Not good.

"Monoma-san?"

The woman's fingers reached behind her head and started to knead at her scalp. "Ah, yes, it was a successful evaluation. Midoriya-kun indeed has a quirk."

Izuku's eyes widened and he turned to grab at Shouta's hand again.

"His quirk is very ... unique," she looked at Shouta with troubled eyes, "It appears to be the ability to temporarily take another person's quirk."

Izuku's grip on Shouta's hand tightened while the hero's brain was trying to process the information. Temporarily take another quirk. Not copy. Not erase.Take. Talk about powerful quirks. But that was beside the point. The point was that Izuku probably unknowingly took the Nomu's quirk and it just happened to be the right one to save his life. Tsukauchi had told him, well, the detective was being hounded by him for information and accidentally spilled out that the creature had multiple quirks. Honestly Shouta wasn't that surprised.

The thought that Izuku was just lucky enough to take the right quirk at the right time sent shiver down his spine. Something inside him screamed and hissed and demanded Shouta to wrap the boy up in a bundle of blanket and never let him out of his sight again.

He gritted his teeth and pushed away the thought but he couldn't help squeezing Izuku's hand a little tighter.

"That means ... Izuku took the creature at the USJ's quirk?" He didn't say 'one of the creature's many quirks'. He didn't know fully what Tsukauchi had told her.

"Yes, it appears to be that way," Monoma said softly, leaning down a bit toward Izuku again, "Midoriya-kun, do you happen to have headaches lately?"

Izuku looked at her, surprise clear in his face, "H-How did you know, Miss?"

What headaches? Why didn't Shouta know about this? The kid probably thought that it was not worth the attention and didn't want to be a 'burden' again. A scowl made itself known on Shouta's face. He would need to talk to Izuku about this later.

"Because after processing your quirk, I've gotten a headache too." Monoma chuckled and she looked at Shouta, brow creasing slightly.

Distress.

Shouta regarded her for a moment before nodding. He turned toward Izuku.

"See, Izuku, it wasn't scary, was it?"

Izuku's wide eyes started to water, he shaked his head 'no' a let out a low whisper of 'I have a quirk'.

Shouta reached out a hand to rub his kid's head, "Are you alright with waiting with Hitoshi outside for a bit while I finish some paperwork?"

Izuku looked at him with confused eyes but then nodded. Shouta gave him a quick hug before opening the door and giving him to Hitoshi. The kid rubbed his cheek on his stubble again. Fucking adorable.

Now that Izuku wasn't there anymore, Shouta turned his attention toward the quirk doctor. He squinted his eyes at her.

"There is something about Izuku's quirk that you didn't want to talk about with him being here."

Monoma hesitated for only a fraction of a second. She pushed her glasses against her nose and started to speak.

"First I want to tell you about my quirk in more details. Many people think I just see information about quirks but that's not true at all," she raised her hand toward the chair in front of the table, inviting Shouta to sit down so he did, "What my quirk does is giving me access to the part of the human's brain that is responsible for quirk's manipulation. In short, I'm able to sense how another person's quirk works without having it myself."

Shouta hummed to indicate that he understood.

"With that being said, I can't tell you the full potential of Midoriya-kun's quirk. I can only tell you about it's most defined function and that is being able to temporary take another quirk, anything else is hypothetical and I would be speaking from my ideas as a quirk doctor and scientist." Monoma rest her chin on her knuckles.

"In children, the brain develops the most between 2-7 years old. The reason why Midoriya-kun's quirk manifested so late is because his brain needed the extra time for development to handle the ability to manipulate all kind of different quirks," she paused, "At once." She gulped and Shouta froze.

"He can use more than one quirk at once?"

"That's what his brain tells me but as I said at the beginning, I can only see the most visible aspect of the quirk. Midoriya-kun would need quirk training to figure out more. Either way, it is a lot for his brain to handle and I suspect that it took a toll out of him, hence the headaches. Over time, once his brain develops enough for the quirk's function, the headaches should stop on their own. "

"Even without the USJ happening, Midoriya-kun's quirk would eventually come in anyway. The stress just pushed it up." Monoma's brow furrowed a little.

Shouta let out a sigh. Why was Izuku declared quirkless if the kid was just a late bloomer? What kind of sorry excuse of a quirk doctor did they send him to?

"All quirks have some kind of base where they come from. In Midoriya-kun's case, it was probably from his mother's side," Monoma whipped out a file from under her desk, "Midoriya Inko, quirk: Minor Telekinesis. However, I have never seen such blatant disregard of such a powerful quirk before. I have read the description, her quirk allows her to pull small objects toward herself. The mechanics of her quirk and telekinesis are completely different. I wonder which bastard had suggested her such a misleading name!"

Monoma visibly looked frustrated for a second before schooling her face back to a mild expression, "Back to the point. Her quirk by itself was already extremely powerful. Everything in this universe is made of 'small objects', in theory she could easily pull anything apart as long as atoms count as 'small objects'."

Monoma paused to let the words hang in the air. Shouta couldn't help his shudder.

"Another powerful aspect of her quirk is the possibilities for mutation. 'Pull' things toward oneself is such a vague concept that gives way to so many possible quirk mutations. Pulling energy toward oneself? Energy absorption. Pulling people toward yourself? Attraction. What about pulling quirks toward yourself?"

The word sinked in and Shouta's eyes widened.

"That's Izuku's mutation."

"Yes, that is my theory as well."

That was one hell of a quirk but something still didn't make sense. Shouta chewed on his cheek.

"But you said he could only temporarily take someone's quirk," Shouta leaned forward on his chair, "Izuku still has Hyper regeneration."

"…And you're sure about that?"

"Positive, the kid scraped his knees yesterday. Wound was gone before we could put a bandage on it."

Monoma's face stilled, eyes distant, as if she wasn't in the clinic at the moment. After a few seconds she let out a shaky sigh and reached up to pull her glasses away, putting them on the table.

"I also have a theory about that," she said slowly.

"According to the information I received, this Nomu creature died very shortly after Midoriya-kun was injured?"

Shouta squinted his eyes, "Yes, that is also what I was told."

Monoma bited her lips, "If Midoriya-kun managed to take the creature's quirk before he was hit and the 'temporary' part of his quirk hadn't ran out. When the quirk was still inside Midoriya-kun and the original host suddenly died ..."

Monoma trailed off but Shouta had already caught on what she was trying to say.

"... The quirk wouldn't have a place to go back to so it stays with Izuku." He finished, dread already creeping up his throat.

"...Yes, that's what I think."

Shouta closed his eyes, turning his head up to the ceiling and cursed.

"Fuck."

Chapter Text

"What are you thinking about, Izuku?"

Izuku was sitting on Hitoshi's bed, folding the same T-shirt probably for the fifth time. The kid seemed, dared Hitoshi say, rather excited after coming out of the clinic, whispering quietly about his newly manifested quirk as if he still couldn't believe it was real.

Hitoshi was happy for him of course, hell, without it, his little brother wouldn't even be here right now. That was something the teenager refused to think about. However, he couldn't help being worried about the reactions from other people once they know about Izuku's quirk. He couldn't imagine them being all positive.

After coming home and giving Izuku a tight hug, Aizawa had pulled Hitoshi aside to explain the situation.

It made sense. And Hitoshi briefly felt like puking up his lunch. Izuku was so fucking close to death. There was something twisted about the fact that he took his would-be-killer's quirk to save his own life while granting the enemy death instead. It was like they switched places.

Hitoshi took a glance at the kid and couldn't help a flicker of fear running down his spine. The quirk was still there. Once belong to the creature that had almost killed his whole family, now just nestling calmly in this tiny little boy as if nothing had happened.

After that, his dad had gone out to talk to the detective, leaving Hitoshi and Izuku to their own devices. The teenager had decided to finish packing up, they were moving into a dorm after all. Izuku helped him but the the kid had gone quite again.

"You know you can talk to me, right?"

Izuku stopped re-folding the T-shirt and started to chew on his lips. After a moment he mumbled out something Hitoshi couldn't hear so he stepped closer to him and sat down next to the boy.

"Can you repeat that?"

Izuku immediately latched at his fingers and began to pull on them lightly.

"I-I don't know how to feel ..."

Hitoshi supposed it must have been overwhelming for the poor kid. He hesitated for a moment but eventually put an arm around Izuku's shoulder and pull the boy closer to himself, silently encouraging him to talk more.

"E-everyone said I was u-useless before." Izuku paused for a bit, he then raised his head, eyes already teary, and hesitantly asked, "Am I u-useful now j-just because I have a q-quirk?"

Something painful twisted in Hitoshi's chest, he squeezed Izuku's hand.

"You were never useless, Izuku. No one is. They said that because of ignorance. They were a bunch of bigots and assholes and aren't worth your time." Hitoshi turned to rub Izuku's head.

The boy's eyes were red but he wasn't crying.

"That's not fair."

Hitoshi let out a sigh, "I know it isn't. The truth is, there are a lot of people like that in this world, you'll probably meet more of them in the future but here's the thing," Hitoshi looked Izuku in the eyes, serious, "You will learn to ignore their words and focus on people who actually care about you, all right?"

Izuku's eyes widened, the kid looked at him as if Hitoshi was the single best thing that had ever happened to him and the teenager felt a sudden knot in his stomach.

Izuku let out a wobbly smile, he released Hitoshi's hand and balled his own into a tiny fist.

"Ok, Toshi-nii!"

The teenager felt his own mouth quirking up.

"Just don't tell dad I said a bad word."

That gained a tiny giggle from Izuku and Hitoshi mentally pat himself on the back.

"I, uhm, I also wanted to ask something."

Hitoshi raised a brow and waved a hand, motioning for Izuku to continue.

Izuku fiddled with his fingers for a few seconds before finally finding his courage.

"A-are there other q-quirkless kids like me? Can w-we help them?" Izuku's cheeks were getting more and more red, his words were pouring out faster and faster, "I-It's just that people a-are sometime very m-mean and I w-was sad a lot and If there are others like me then I don't w-want them to also be sad like I was, I couldn't help b-before but now I have you and Aizawa-san andyouarefamilyand-"

Izuku was practically a strawberry now with how red his face was.

Hitoshi didn't let the kid finish his rambling. He pulled Izuku into a tight hug, feeling his eyes burning a little.

He felt shameful. Such a kind hearted child like Izuku and Hitoshi was briefly scared of him. No, not of Izuku. But of the quirk inside him. Hitoshi thought that out of everyone, he'd be the one to be able to understand Izuku the most. What a 'great' big brother he was.

"No, Izuku," he whispered, "As far as I know, there are no quirkless children in this generation."

Izuku was tensing up but he soon relaxed and melted into the hug. He raised his own arms to hug Hitoshi back, face burrowing into his chest.

"That's good then."

"Yeah," Hitoshi rubbed the boy's shoulder, mentally kicking himself in the butt a few times. That quirk belonged to a monster but it did good, it had saved his little brother's life and it was Izuku's now, "That's good."

__

"You're telling me," Shouta gripped the cup he was holding with white knuckles, "That there might be a two hundred years old villain out there being after my six year old foster son?"

"Yes." Tsukauchi answered without a twitch of an eyebrow even if Shouta could feel his own eyes twitching.

"And the reason is because his quirk is possibly the closest thing to this high-class-villain's own quirk?"

Tsukauchi let out a sigh, "That's right, the boy's quirk is highly dangerous in the wrong hands."

Shouta growled at the other occupant in Tsukauchi's office.

"Last thing, how this all happened in the first place was because this villain was originally after Mister number one hero here, wanting to settle some sort of two hundred years old feud between the two of you."

All Might let out a wince and he raised a hand to scratch the back of his neck, "The battle had been going on for generations, I'm just the latest holder of the quirk that he wanted ..."

"It's just a precaution but we think it's better if Midoriya could stay at UA for the time being. Going to a normal public primary school right now might be dangerous for him." Tsukauchi told him, a hint of regret in his voice.

Shouta could feel anger bubbling up inside him, rising and rising, threatening to tip over.

He was just tired and a bit apprehensive when he came to the station half an hour ago. However, upon seeing the number one hero's face his already bad mood plummeted.

Tsukauchi had chased All Might out of his office so he and Shouta could talk about Izuku's quirk. They shared a brief moment of longer-than-necessary eye contact that definitely didn't make the situation seem even more suspicious. Not at all.

After telling Tsukauchi the result of Izuku's quirk evaluation, the detective's face paled visibly. He let out a shaky breath and just sat there for a few seconds. Shouta was just about to give in and use force to pull out whatever he was hiding when Tsukauchi asked him if it was alright to invite All Might inside. Apparently they had some information Shouta needed to know about. Finally.

The next thirty minutes was excruciating for the underground hero. He learned about All For One, One For All and the battle between them, the ongoing war for the past two hundred years that almost no one knew about. About the supposedly-dead-but-probably-not super villain with a quirk to give and take quirks from others. About All Might's secret quirk and the reason why he wanted to teach at UA in the first place.

Honestly, it was a lot to take in. Shouta could see why this information was classified. If this underground boogeyman's existence becomes a public knowledge, it would certainly throw society off balance.

"Because you're Midoriya's foster father, I think it's only fair that you know about the potential danger your son may face."

"I'm sorry, Young Aizawa, it is my fault that the students got in danger, as well as your son getting targeted."

Shouta fought back the urge to punch the number one's hero in the face.

"Yagi, Izuku didn't just get injured. Had his quirk not manifested at the right time, he would have died." Shouta seethed out between his teeth.

Yagi looked stunned for a moment before ducking his head.

"I apologize."

Trying his very best not to straight up lauch himself at the number one hero, Shouta schooled his face but his voice betrayed the fake calmness.

"Where were you?"

"Where...?"

"Where were you when the villains invaded the USJ?"

Yagi winced, he absent-mindedly rubbed a palm on his T-shirt.

"There was a robbery on the way there, some people needed help and I felt like I couldn't leave them alone..."

Shouta whipped out his phone from his pocket, scrolling down a few saved feeds. The room stayed dead silent all the while he was searching for the specific article. Upon finding it, he practically shoved the phone up Yagi's face.

'ALL MIGHT CAUGHT PURSE SNATCHERS, SAVED THE DAY!'

"By robbers, you mean petty thieves." Shouta growled out.

Yagi at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"But I'm a hero, Young Aizawa, no matter how small the crime, I can't just stand by and watch."

Shouta's patience wore off and the next thing he knew, Yagi was holding a bloody nose.

He had punched the number one hero in the face and it did almost nothing to sooth his anger.

He could feel Tsukauchi's grip on his shoulder, holding him back. Unnecessary. Shouta was not a savage, he knew when to stop.

"You're also a fucking teacher, Yagi! The field trip was a planned event! If you haven't noticed, Musutafu is a big city and you're not the only fucking daylight hero here. You could have left the thieves to the other three heroes patrolling the exact location you caught your "robbers". If you can't do two jobs at least semi-decently at once then don't do them at all!"

Shouta let out a long exhale through his nose and yanked his shoulder away from the detective's grip.

All Might looked completely stunned, his black eyes opening wide and his mouth slightly agap.

After a moment of the number one hero just staring at Shouta gaping like a fish, he ducked his head down into a low bow.

"I'm sorry. It was shortsighted of me and I shouldn't have let my hero's responsibility interfere with my teacher's duty. It was due to my negligence that the students were put in danger and your son had almost died. I sincerely apologize for my mistake."

The sincerity in his tone almost made Shouta's anger worse. He almost wished for the blond idiot to keep on insisting that he was right, just to get a few more punches to his face.

The underground hero let out a long suffering sigh.

"Get your shit together, Yagi. There are time and space for everything, get your priorities right."

All Might raised his head, an almost hopeful look on his face.

"You still approve of me teaching at UA?"

Shouta scowled, "Better UA than having you painting a target somewhere else less secure."

The number one hero barely managed to smother a relieved smile and Shouta resisted the urge punch it right off his face.

Just then a knock sounded out from behind the door and a police officer hesitantly stepped in.

"Detective, I have brought in the latest news."

The detective took the newspaper from the officer's hand and his eyes widened.

That couldn't be good.

Tsukauchi let out a long exhale and turned toward Shouta.

"I'm sorry, Aizawa. It seems like the option to keep Midoriya at UA for the time being is no longer a suggestion."

Shouta glared at the words written on the first page of the newspaper.

"UA ATTACKED BY VILLAINS ..."

"....teachers injured..."

"...six year old boy miraculously survived..."

All Might face paled upon seeing the words.

So much for trying to keep Izuku's quirk a secret from the escaped villains.

The cup cracked in the underground hero's grip.

Chapter Text

"Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? Who knows! But most importantly, I'm Nedzu, the principal!"

Aizawa-san just grunted out a greeting while Izuku looked at the principal of U.A. in wonder. He was so small, Izuku was taller than him! And that said something. But of course, height says nothing about a person and the last thing Izuku wanted was to appear rude in front of the principal of the biggest hero school in Japan.

So he ducked his head into a bow, "M-My name is M-Midoriya Izuku, it's nice to meet you, Mister Nedzu, sir."

Nedzu waved a hand in front him and jumped up on his seat behind the table.

"Have a seat Midoriya-kun, and there is no need to be so formal, I assume Aizawa here had told you about your living situation."

Aizawa-san squinted his eyes at the principal while Izuku climbed up the chair seated in front of him.

"Y-Yeah, Aizawa-san said that to keep me safe, I can't go to n-normal schools anymore."

He shuffled his feet a bit. The underground hero had told him that he'd still be educated, which was good news, Izuku liked learning, he just couldn't go back to his old school anymore. He did feel a bit uneasy but Aizawa-san said that he'd be able to see him and Toshi-nii much more often so it was all good! There wasn't anyone he'd miss in his old school anyway. Maybe Mister Ishiyama, Izuku wondered if he could visit him sometime.

"It's just temporary, Midoriya-kun. I'm aware of the importance of social interactions between children your age but desperate time calls for desperate measures. I'll be looking to hire a tutor for you while you stay here under U.A.'s care."

The idea of having a private tutor made Izuku shiver but he tried not to show it.

"U-Uhm, am I still gonna l-live with Aizawa-san?" The boy took a subtle peek at the underground hero standing beside him. He wouldn't want to be separated from him and Toshi-nii.

Aizawa-san raised a hand to pat Izuku's head soothingly. On second note, maybe he wasn't being as subtle as he had thought.

Nedzu's smile softened by a fraction, "Don't worry, Midoriya-kun, you'll be living in the teacher's dorm with Aizawa. We have arranged a two bedrooms dorm in the teacher's quarter."

Izuku nodded, feeling a lot better after the reassurance. Aizawa-san had told him the same, but he just wanted to be sure. Nedzu-san was his boss after all.

"Is there any other question you may have, Midoriya-kun?"

Izuku shuffled his feet again. There was actually something he was curious about.

"Uhm, I wanted to know something a-about you, if you don't mind me asking," he gazed up to the principal. Small fluffy ears twitched a little, whiskers fluttering. The chimera nodded at Izuku, urging him to continue. Izuku felt Aizawa-san's hand tensing a bit on top of his head.

"H-How old are you?"

The ever constant smile on the principal's face faltered for a second, he blinked at Izuku and before the boy could start getting nervous he bursted out a laugh.

Did he ask a silly question? But with the principal's appearance he had no idea how old he was. Like, what if Izuku started calling him oji-san and he was actually way younger? Or older? Wouldn't that be disrespectful? He just wanted to address Nedzu-san properly!

Aizawa-san let out a snort and Izuku realized he had spoken out loud again.

The boy blushed deep red. Nedzu-san just kept laughing at him!

"My, my, how refreshing. The first question you asked about me was not about my appearance but my age," Nedzu-san smiled now, somehow seeming much more relaxed and genuine than a few minutes prior, "You can certainly call me oji-san, Midoriya-kun, just know that I'm older than your father."

Izuku squeaked, he was sure he could actually feel the heat coming off of his face.

"So, now that we've established my approximate age, do you have any other question regarding your living situation?"

Izuku shook his head.

"Wonderful! I will contact a tutor as soon as possible to make sure your education wouldn't be delayed. I'm sure you're tired now, why don't you go with Aizawa to visit your living space?"

Izuku nodded and jumped down from his seat, grabbing Aizawa-san's hand in the mean time. The underground hero turned to pat his head again and Izuku leaned into it.

He was glad that the meeting went well, Mister Nedzu wasn't scary at all!

__

Shouta watched as Izuku blushed like a strawberry at the mention of him being the boy's father. It was cute and the fact that the kid didn't deny it or say anything about it made something warm bloom in his stomach. After all, silence meant agreement, right?

Ok, no, but in this case, Shouta was inclined to agree with the statement.

Izuku waved goodbye at Nedzu with an excited 'Bye, Nedzu-oji-san!' and Shouta could see in the principal's eyes that he was fond of the kid.

He was glad that Nedzu didn't offer to tutor Izuku himself. Thank God for that. He was not letting his six year old son being corrupted by that rat.

"Please have a look at the document I have sent you." Shouta said, eyeing the computer sitting on Nedzu's desk.

Last night Shouta had sent the principal an email with a file containing information about Izuku's orphanage and the newspaper that dared mentioning the boy despite Tsukauchi's clear warning about the possible danger of doing so.

In rage, he had most likely let his emotion do the work and let out more of his personal opinions than usual but he could care less. It was not like he was wrong.

Nedzu nodded firmly and the creepy smile was back on his face.

Good.

Closing the door behind his back, Shouta turned to Izuku.

"Some students are probably going to be in the dorm as well, are you alright with meeting them?"

Izuku glanced down at his shoes and mumbled out a quite 'I want to see Toshi-nii'.

Shouta chuckled and tugged the boy a bit closer to himself.

"I still don't know Nedzu-san's age."

Right, Nedzu's age. Shouta opened his mouth to tell Izuku about how old the rat actually was before stopping dead in his track.

Wait, what is Nedzu's actual age?

__

"I have a question."

Hitoshi hummed for Jirou to continue.

"What exactly is that?" The girl inquired.

They were all sitting on the couch in the common room, staring at the plushie Hitoshi had carefully placed next to himself.

"Izuku's present."

Urakaka excitedly clapped her palms together, "Oh, right! Since Aizawa-sensei also lives in the dorm, Izuku-kun will also be around, right?"

"Yeah," Hitoshi confirmed, feeling a slight warmth at the thought, "He wanted an Eraserhead toy but no one sells it so I figured I'd just make one for him."

The brunette squealed and punched his shoulder, gushing about 'what a good older brother he was', making Hitoshi look away in embarrassment.

"Yeah, well, that is wholesome and all but," Jirou hesitantly poked at the plushie, "Why does it have ... eight eyes?"

"I couldn't find big enough buttons."

The girl made a face at him, clearly unimpressed, "How about using only one button for one eye?"

Hitoshi raised a brow at her, "Then the eyes wouldn't be big enough. I wanted it to resemble mini-Eraser as much as possible."

Kaminari looked at him with a troubled expression, scratching his cheek.

"No offense, dude. While your keychain looks like it crawled out from hell, this one looks like it ruled the place!"

Hitoshi could hear a little snort Jirou made at that comment. Izuku should be here soon and he wanted to be there for the kid. Some of his classmates can be rather ... explosive and energetic, it would be bad if they end up overwhelming the poor boy. He also wanted to give Izuku his new Eraserhead plushie, maybe as a welcome to the dorm gift or something.

To be fair, everyone was new at the dorm so a welcome gift was kind of pointless but Hitoshi just wanted to give his little brother a present, all right? Give him a break. Also it was not that ugly, was it? Had his crafting skill really not improved at all after all these years?

Having lost himself in thoughts about the plushie's appearance, Hitoshi almost missed Bakugou walking by, grumbling something about 'Shitty hair not leaving me alone for one goddamn minute'.

"Bird Brain!"

Hitoshi snapped his eyes toward Bakugou, who was now standing near the couch, eyes glaring at the stuffed toy sitting innocently on it.

Tokoyami peeked out from behind the pantry door, where he was previously organizing his tea collection, "... My name is Tokoyami. Regardless, how may I be of your service?"

Bakugou scowled at the bird-headed boy and pointed at the sofa.

"If you hate Aizawa so much, keep your voo-doo doll in your room and curse him by yourself!"

Ok, ouch. Point taken. Izuku liked mini-Eraser so he should still like this one, right?

Tokoyami stepped closer to the couch and his eyes widened. A quite 'masterpiece' was heard before the bird-headed boy let out a cough.

"This is not mine, though I would like to know who had crafted such an outstanding piece as well."

Thanks, Tokoyami. At least someone appreciated his effort.

Jirou snorted out loud and quickly covered her mouth.

Bakugou turned to squint his eyes at Hitoshi, "Yours then?"

"What makes you say that?"

The blond scowled at him.

"He's your dad." He said, as if that explained everything.

"You think everyone carries around a random toy made to look like their father and shows it off to the world? Kind of weird, no?" Hitoshi asked lazily.

Kaminari stared at him with an incredulous expression on his face. He opened his mouth to say something but Jirou clammed her hand over it.

Yes, what a hypocrite, he knows. He had that figured out a long time ago. Shut up Kaminari.

Bakugou snarled, he raised his hand as if wanting to pop some explosions out of habit, "I don't care whose toy it is. Just don't leave it here. If I see it one more time, I'm going to throw it at Shitty hair for him to chew on!"

Before Hitoshi could reply, the door to the common room opened, revealing Aizawa and Izuku. The boy was half hiding behind his dad's legs again.

"Brats," Aizawa greeted, about as much of a greeting it could get coming from him.

All eyes turned to the underground hero and Hitoshi saw Izuku trying to completely dissappear behind the man.

"Sensei! You're fine!"

Aizawa grunted, "Yes, I'm fine." He seemed grumpy as always but Hitoshi could see his expression softening a tiny bit. He stepped aside to reveal Izuku and put a hand on his shoulder, earning a little squeak from the kid, "Now, you all know Izuku. He's going to live here with all of you for ..." He paused, as if thinking something over, "As long as I live here. Be nice to him."

Izuku hesitantly looked around the room, his eyes met Hitoshi's and he brightened up immediately.

"H-Hello." He stuttered out and waved at everyone currently present in the common room before running straight at Hitoshi, crashing into his leg.

"Hey, Izuku," Hitoshi smiled at him, he could see from the corner of his eyes a shaking Urakaka, clearly holding herself back from gushing at the boy, "How did the meeting with the principal go?"

"G-Good! Mister Nedzu was very nice!"

"That's good to hear," he chuckled, "Also, remember that 'personal project' I told you about?"

Izuku nodded seriously, making a motion of zipping his mouth.

Hitoshi pulled out the Eraserhead plushie and pushed it into Izuku's hands. He could hear sputtering in the distance, probably his dad having a sudden spike of headache again.

"I was making this, it's yours now. You wouldn't have to borrow Mini-Eraser anymore when you want to play house."

Izuku stared at the plushie with wide eyes and Hitoshi was admittedly waiting with baited breath. Would Izuku hate it?

The boy's lips began to tremble and he looked up at Hitoshi with stars filled watery eyes.

"I love him," he then dived in to hug Hitoshi's leg, "Thank you, onii-san!"

The teenager felt an involuntary smile stretching on his lips, he leaned down to ruffle the boy's hair.

"Hah! So the ugly thing was supposed to be yours."

Hitoshi tensed and glared at Bakugou. This was the exact reason why he chose to be here instead of welcoming Izuku back in private.

"It was a present for Izuku." He told the blond coldly. If Bakugou had any problem with it, he better spit it out now.

"Hi, Kacchan!"

Come again?

Bakugou squinted his eyes at Izuku but eventually nodded at him.

"Sprout. Your toy is ugly."

"Don't be mean to him, Kacchan!"

Excuse Hitoshi, who is 'Kacchan'?

"You let him call you that, Kacchan?" Kaminari snickered, conveniently popping up behind Hitoshi and answered the question for him.

Bakugou snarled at the other blond, "Only the little shit can call me that!"

Where did this cutesy familiar sounding nickname come from?

"Broccoli, you keep your toy with you at all time, got it? That thing creeps me the fuc-frick out!"

Izuku pouted, he started to pet the plushie's hair, mumbling about "too many nicknames at once" while Hitoshi was still staring at Bakugou, dumbfounded.

Hitoshi was glad that Bakugou, the biggest concern out of all of his classmates, seemed to get along well with Izuku. Yeah, he was definitely happy. Nothing else here.

Bakugou turned to look at Hitoshi. Seeing his glitched out expression, the blond proceeded to smirk at him.

Oh, he wanted rivalry? He shall get rivalry.

Chapter Text

Shouta's eyes fluttered open and he blinked a few times to clear his vision.

He was surrounded by comfortable darkness. The moon peeked through the gap between his curtains, painting a horizontal line of light across his bed.

It was ... calm. Why did he wake up?

He sat up straight and glanced around the room. For just one moment he didn't recognize his surrounding and felt a brief jolt of panic, but then he realized that he was in his dorm room. Pale white walls instead of light grey, his costume halfhazardly thrown on the bed, half falling off onto the floor, memories of the past two days flooded his brain, reminding Shouta of why he was in the dorm in first place. Izuku's quirk, the press, the whole All Might and the underground's boogeyman situation.

It was chaos.

He pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes, exhaustion already seeping through his bones despite having just woken up. The man took another glance around the room. Nothing seemed amiss yet he couldn't help an uncomfortable feeling settling in his stomach. Like something was wrong but he couldn't figure out what.

Shouta turned to grab his phone, squinting as the sudden brightness hit his eyes.

2:12

It was early. There were still a good four hours and half until he was supposed to wake up.

Turning his phone off, the underground hero let out a sigh. He couldn't shake off the feeling that something was not right. Might as well go check on Izuku, it was their first night staying in the dorm and the kid might be uncomfortable with all the changes.

Shouta grunted and pulled himself out off bed. The wood creaked under his movements and his ears caught on a little gasp coming out from behind the door.

Shouta froze for just one second.

He walked toward the door, tentatively tugging it open only to come face to face with ... well, nothing. He lowered his gaze and found a trembling child in front of him, sniffling, hands clutching tightly around his new toy.

Concern immediately caused his brows to crease.

"Izuku?"

The full force of a small six year old crashed into his legs and Shouta ... stood his ground. The kid was tiny after all.

Izuku was sobbing, one hand still holding his plushie while the other grabbing a handful of Shouta's pants leg in a tight fist.

"Izuku, kid, what's wrong?"

The boy released his grip on him for just a second to allow Shouta to squat down to his level, opening his arms in invitation, before barreling into him again.

Izuku didn't answer, only burrowing his face in the man's shoulder, soaking up his T-shirt with tears. Shouta hesitantly raised his hand to ruffle the kid's hair, brushing away a few strands sticking to his forehead due to sweat.

"Did you have a nightmare?"

Izuku didn't react for only a moment before nodding lightly against his neck.

Shouta let out a sigh.

He scooped the boy up and started to pace around the living room, hand rubbing circles into his back.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Izuku was silent for the longest time, one hand wrapping around his neck, the other still clutching his plushie tightly.

Then the kid whispered out the tiniest sound.

"Y-You d-died."

Ah, shit. Looks like they both won't be sleeping again any time soon.

Shouta pat the kid's back a few times. "I'm right here, aren't I?"

Again, Izuku didn't answer, he just pushed his face deeper into the crook of Shouta's neck.

A deep exhale escaped the underground hero's nose. "I don't suppose you want to go back to sleep anytime soon?"

A shake.

Shouta hummed while continuing to pace around the room, occasionally bouncing Izuku on his hip so he wouldn't slip off.

"That's all right, I'm right here with you."

The only reaction he got was more sniffling. Shouta paused in the middle of the room, hand reaching up to rub Izuku's head.

"Were you about to wake me up just before I found you?"

The kid's grip around his neck tightened, not enough to be suffocating but definitely enough that Shouta could feel the pressure, and then he abruptly pulled away from the hug.

" 'm s-sorry! I just w-wanted to make sur-"

Shouta hurriedly pressed his hand to the boy's back so he wouldn't accidentally fall off.

"Wait, what I mean is, I'm glad you decided to wake me up."

Izuku stared at him, confused.

"Remember what we talked about after the quirk evaluation?"

"Y-You said that if I'm h-hurt or upset I should t-tell you."

Shouta nodded. "That's right, I was very worried to know that you didn't tell me about your headaches," not a great tactic, Shouta felt like he was guilt tripping the kid but he needed Izuku to know that people cared about him, "That's why I'm glad you decided to wake me up. Don't apologize."

Izuku ducked his head, "I-I'm sorry."

"What did I just say?"

"Sorr-"

Shouta squeezed the kid's tear stained cheeks with two fingers, cutting him off mid-apology. He let out a tiny squeak, staring at Shouta with wide eyes.

"No more apology."

He released his fingers and Izuku pouted, burrowing his face into his neck again.

Shouta felt the corners of his mouth quirking up into a small smile. He headed toward his room, plucking the blanket from his bed before turning back to the living room. He plopped down on the couch and threw the cover over both Izuku and himself.

"Let's watch something."

The boy pulled away to look at him, tilting his head in curiosity.

"What do you want to watch?"

Izuku seemed unsure for a few seconds before averting his eyes to the side, mumbling something incoherent.

Shouta strained his ears to hear the boy better, "Can you repeat that?"

"Can we watch ... All Might?"

Shouta suppressed a groan. Of course he wanted to watch All Might. It was always All Might. The man's face was everywhere. Shouta's favorite brand of orange juice had somehow managed to strike a commercial featuring All Might and now everytime he opened his fridge, the number one hero stared right at him, blond hair merging with the yellow of the damn juice.

There was also that one time when Nemuri had somehow managed to drag him to the pool, Shouta had no idea how she did it either, and as he was casually trying to drown himself in the chlorine filled water, All Might's face was also leisurely floating right beside him. Needless to say, it was nearly traumatizing. Some questionable individual had idolized All Might so much to wear his face on their swimming brief. Now Shouta understood why merchandise on clothes are especially popular, T-shirt? Nice. Shoes? Cute. But why briefs? That was weird as fuck. Scratch All Might, why would anyone want to wear someone's face on their briefs? Practically on top of their d-

"D-Do you not like All Might? We can w-watch something else too, it's ok."

Izuku's soft voice broke Shouta out of his thoughts. The kid was looking down his hands, fingers fiddling with the toy's loose hair.

Dare Shouta say it? Questionable merchandise aside, the man was simple-minded and irresponsible. Hitoshi and Izuku had almost died  because he neglected his duty.

To him, All Might was tolerable at best.

"No, we can watch All Might. I also like him."

Damn it, Shouta.

Izuku beamed at him, sadness temporarily forgotten as he leaned forward to wrap short hands around his neck again.

"I knew it! E-everyone likes All Might!"

Izuku smiled. His sacrifice was not in vain.

Shouta suppressed an exhausted sigh as he opened his phone to search for some All Might cartoon and connected it to the TV in front of the couch. Izuku climbed out of his lap and settled down next to him, swinging his legs slightly in anticipation.

"Oh! All Might: All hail The Lord of Darkness is really good!"

Is that really an All Might cartoon?

Shouta reluctantly put on the show and Izuku was enraptured right at the beginning, eyes wide and shining with excitement. The kid still pressed himself tightly against his side, occasionally glancing up as if to make sure the man was really there, but he seemed much more cheerful now. Shouta was glad.

__

Shouta awoke with snickering by his ears. He couldn't feel his neck and his left arm felt like it was being held under a rock the entire night. He groaned and reluctantly opened his eyes, only to find Hizashi by his side, hand cutchung his phone, smiling a too big smile, too energetic for someone like Shouta, especially in the morning.

Groggy with sleep and exhaustion, the underground hero glared at him.

"What are you doing?"

"Shouta! Good morning to you too."

Shouta grunted and sat up, the weight by his left arm was still present so he glanced down to find Izuku by his side, hugging his arm like a pillow. He was still sleeping.

Oh right, the kid had a nightmare.

"Why did you guys sleep on the couch?"

Shouta sighed, he gently pried Izuku's fingers off of his arm, picked up the kid's plushie and pushed it toward him. Izuku automatically wrapped his hands around the toy, hugging it to his chest.

"Izuku had a nightmare."

Hizashi's face softened into a sympathetic expression, "Poor kiddo, he must be pretty tired then."

Shouta hummed. He stood up to stretch, his sore muscles cried in relief, and turned to grab his phone on the table.

7:04

A little bit later than how he usually wakes up but it was manageable. The dorm saved him a whole fifteen minutes of driving so more sleep for Shouta. He also had no classes that day except for homeroom so he should be free for almost all morning. After that Monoma will be at UA to help Izuku understand his quirk so he should prepare for it as well.

Shouta was about to head to the bathroom when he heard snickering again. Glancing at Hizashi, he noted that the blond was looking at his phone, smiling like an idiot.

Shouta squinted his eyes, "What are you smiling at?"

Hizashi turned to look at him, eyes filled with mirth. He skipped toward Shouta and showed him his phone.

It was a photo of him sleeping next to Izuku.

The kid was curling up under his arm, hugging it, one chubby cheek smushed against his chest. His plushie carefully placed next to the boy, tucked in under the cover, face angled perfectly toward the camera, which was frankly creepy as hell.

Shouta raised an eyebrow at the sight of himself. His head was tilting backward, one eyelid opening slightly, showing the white underneath. His mouth was also not completely closed, hanging open with a bit of saliva drooling down at the corner.

"I look like shit." He concluded, wiping his chin with a hand.

Hizashi let out a boisterous laugh and Shouta glared at him. The blond winced and apologized quietly, glancing at the little boy lying on the couch.

Izuku was still soundly asleep. Good.

"Don't wake him up," Shouta ran a hand through his hair, "And send me the photo."

Shouta might have looked like shit but at least Izuku was cute.

Chapter Text

"So this is the infamous class 1-A!"

Hitoshi raised a brow at the blond leaning back against the entrance to their classroom. His head was tilted upward in a 'I'm better than all of you' manner, as if looking at them from a regular angle was somehow insulting.

Hitoshi had seen this coming, or at least something similiar to this. The upcoming sport festival was announced today and it was about as exciting as he had expected.

Hoards of students from different courses crowded outside the classroom, blocking the entrance. From the window Hitoshi could see that the majority of them are from general education. It made sense, while support and business had their own specialized subjects, the general course's program focused on a bit of everything without a speciality.

Not to undermine their worth but the study program was designed to be more of a preparation for higher academic education, something people with intention to go to university would be interested in. While important, the course was not extremely popular among the UA hopefuls, overshadowed by the flashiness of heroic oriented programs. A lot of their students were applicants from support or heroic courses that failed the entrance exam and were just waiting for the opportunity to transfer.

That was also Hitoshi's second option, had he fail the recommendation exam.

With that being said, Hitoshi was not surprised with the appearance of the crowd of students outside his classroom. General education kids wanting to see who are they going up against in the sport festival, accessing their probability of success, most likely. Also with the whole villain attack, class 1-A was sure to trigger some sort of curiosity.

He briefly wondered if he had failed the exam, would he also be one of these students waiting outside, just to take a glimpse at the heroic department kids? Probably.

"To be honest, I expected more from you. Didn't you all survive a big battle with all the scary villains?" The blond raised his voice in a questioning tone, head tilting in mock curiosity, "You don't look like much to me."

Too used to petty provocations like this, Hitoshi couldn't help feeling a little amused at the situation. What did he expect? They were all a bunch of fifteen year old kids two weeks into high-school here. Did he think they would all need to look like mini-All Mights in order to survive a villain attack?

"Whatever, it's expected of class 1-A. After all, you're inferior to us, class 1-B. We shall be the one to emerge as the superior class during the festival!" The, apparently, fellow heroic student threw his head back and covered half of his face with his palm.

The blond's demeanor was so overly dramatic Hitoshi wondered if he was just putting on an act, trying to be an ass just for the sake of it.

"Fuck off, mob, it's pointless to try, I will be the one at the top."

Hitoshi didn't even have to look at the direction of the voice to know who it belonged to. Good job making enemies, Bakugou.

The still unnamed blond didn't seem taken back at the insult at all. In fact, he looked like he expected it.

"I came to hear from the class who knocked around with villains. But I don't want to hear from some snot-nosed punk like you!" Another student emerged from behind the blond to sneer at Bakugou. Silver hair and huge ... eyelashes? The newcomer didn't bother with theatrics like the one from 1-B, instead opting to scream right at Bakugou's face.

"Don't embarrass us heroic students during the main event! You hear me?"

Also an 1-B student it seemed. Wow, the heroic department was getting along nicely.

Bakugou just stared at the duo impassively before shoving the blond aside, whispering something under his breath, too quite for Hitoshi to hear, before disappearing in the crowd of students outside the classroom.

"Arrogant bastard!" The silver head growled while the other teenager just sighed, pressing three fingers to his forehead in fake disappointment.

"Your self-importance knows no bounds," he shaked his head slightly, "It's all thanks to the headstart you guys had gotten that the media will pay extra attention to you during the festival. It won't last long because we, 1-B, will ..."

Hitoshi's attention was lost the moment the guy said "headstart" and "attention". Something between irritation and anger began to bubble in his stomach. He felt his right eye twitching and his leg itched to kick something, preferably the still unnamed blond's face.

Was he really insinuating that they were lucky to be attacked? Because what, the media was going to treat them like celebrities now?

They were scared. Despite Tsu's seemingly nonchalance attitude, Hitoshi could see her trembling hands when they first approached the Nomu. Kaminari was on the verge of tears when he was trying to hold Hitoshi back from charging at the hulking beast. At least, that was what the blond had told Hitoshi after everything was over because frankly, he didn't really see anything beside his dad's mangled bloody body at the moment.

And that was the point, wasn't it? People could've died. Thirteen was critically injured, his father barely survived, his six year old little brother even closer to the verge of death than his father.

And this fucker came here, not knowing anything beside the poorly written articles, and dared spouting bullshit like this?

" ... the center of attention! The underdog of heroics-"

A loud smack cut off the blond's self-centered speech and temporarily halted Hitoshi's increasingly growing irritation.

"Stop it."

Black scleras and yellow irises glared at the other teen, hand still raising in the air indicating that Mina Ashido indeed did just slap a random student.

"This is not a competition. The attack wasn't some kind of rare opportunity that we were lucky to get before you guys," she stepped forward, inching closer into the blond's space while he took a step back, "People got hurt. Really hurt. You don't get to say things like this just because you don't know all the facts!"

She was nearly screaming at the end, hands pulling back at her sides, clenching in tight fists. Eyes hard and unwavering.

"Yeah, not cool, dude." Kirishima furrowed his brows while Sero stepped closer to Ashido, using his height advantage to glare down at the blond.

The rest of the class remained silent but Hitoshi could feel the disapproving stares sending the 1-B's students way. His previous irritation seemingly melted away at the sight.

The blond seemed stunned for a second, his own eyes started to harden before another loud smack sounded out and he doubled over, face planting on the floor, and went limp.

Shit, while Hitoshi 100 % approved of the slap, killing him might be a bit too much.

"I'm so sorry for Monoma's action. Please dont pay him any mind. He tends to speak before he thinks and his thinking time limits to two hours a day. I'll deal with him once we get back to our class."

A girl with orange hair pulled up in a ponytail approached, apparently, Monoma and hiked him up by the back of his collar, seemingly unperturbed that she had just karate-chopped her classmate to unconsciousness.

She bowed slightly at Ashido, face scrunching up a little, as if embarrassed, before literally dragging the limp blond out to the hallway, the other 1-B student trod after her like a scolded child.

"What a prick! At least the girl was nice." Ashido huffed and crossed her arms in front of her chest while Sero patted her shoulder.

'Good job, Ashido' Hitoshi didn't say but he had a thought that if he had to be friendlier toward more people in his class, the Bakusquad didn't seem like too bad of an option. Minus Bakugou that is.

__

"Zawa-san, I don't feel any different."

Izuku walked beside Shouta while looking at his palms intently without blinking, as if they held all the questions in the universe.

They were on their way to one of U.A's gyms to meet Dr. Monoma. Normally, for quirk's training and counciling people would go to public quirk gyms but due to the nature of Izuku's quirk, it was logical to assume that the less random people were to witness the kid's quirk, the better.

"It's probably because you're not actively using your quirk."

Izuku nodded, staying silent for few seconds before glancing up at Shouta.

"W-what will we do?"

Shouta hummed and slowed down his pace, "Dr. Monoma will probably help you activate your quirk and make sure it doesn't put too much strain on your brain."

"And you'll erase the q-quirk if anything goes wrong, right?"

Shouta didn't miss the way the kid said 'the' quirk, not 'his' quirk. It was understandable, considering he was left believing that he didn't have one for so long. Not that long, 2 years, but it was already one third of Izuku's life. He only hoped that he'll learn to accept it after the session.

"That's right."

Izuku balled his hands into fists, a gleam of determination in his eyes.

"I'll try my b-bestest then."

Shouta felt the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. He reached down to ruffle the boy's hair.

__

Izuku couldn't do it. He did try his bestest but it wasn't enough!

The boy squeezed his knees tighter to his chest. He was so frustrated because he kept failing. So he ran out of the gym when Aizawa-san was still talking to Miss Monoma.

The doctor's fingers were on his hand everytime Izuku tried to activate his quirk, searching and feeling, trying to find out whether there was a change in his brain.

She couldn't find anything.

Aizawa-san had even used his quirk on Izuku, saying that maybe he would recognize the difference between the feeling of having a quirk and suddenly not having one, maybe that would help him activate it.

He still couldn't do it. The only feeling he had through out the session was shame.

And now Izuku sat in a wide hallway, next to a vending machine, the only marking point of this maze of a school because he had no idea where he was.

The boy felt his eyes starting to burn with tears. His fingers tightened on his knees. He should have brought Eraserhead with him.

The first drop of tears finally rolled down his cheek and Izuku suppressed a sob.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

Izuku let out a tiny yelp and glanced up to find burning red eyes staring down at him.

"K-Kacchan?"

"Of course it's me," he huffed, "Now, what the fuc-frick are you doing?"

Izuku scrambled to stand up, rubbing furiously at his eyes to get rid of the tears.

"I-I got l-lost."

The blond glared at him for a few seconds and Izuku tried his best not to squirm.

Kacchan sighed after a moment and pulled out his phone.

"I'll tell Aizawa to come pick you up."

"No!" Izuku yelled in alarm, hand raising to tug hard at the teenager's sleeve.

"What the f-"

"You can't tell him!"

"And why not? You going to just sit there all day then?" Kacchan crossed his arms, out of Izuku's reach but he did put away his phone.

Izuku frowned, shame pooling in his stomach.

"I don't want to s-see him yet. He's going to be d-dissapointed ..."

Kacchan raised a brow, "So what now? Do I call Eyebags over then?"

Izuku blinked at him, confused.

"Shinsou, Eyebags, whatever."

At the mention of Toshi-nii, Izuku felt his eyes starting to water again. What if he gets disappointed too? To be honest, Izuku couldn't quite imagine it, but it was not like there wasn't a possibility, right?

Kacchan must have seen something in his tears because he groaned and glared down at Izuku, a questioning gaze on his face.

"What the fuck do you want me to do then?"

He said a potty word again but Izuku was too emotionally distracted, and a little intimidated, to care. He shuffled his shoes and stared right back at Kacchan, eyes wide and hopeful.

A few moments passed without neither of them saying anything. Kacchan's squinted eyes got narrower and narrower. Finally, he blinked, more like squeezing his eyes shut, and turned on his heels.

"Fucking fine, follow me for lunch then."

Izuku beamed.

"But I'll let Aizawa know that you'll be with me. Wouldn't want him burst a blood vessel trying to find you or something."

Izuku nodded. That is fair, Aizawa-san worries a lot.

__


They ended up sitting on the edge of a large window behind the school. They didn't have much time to eat lunch because Izuku was a slowpoke, according to Kacchan. He even threatened to leave the boy behind a few times.

Well, according to Izuku, Kacchan wasn't being very fair because including his hair Izuku was about as tall as the teenager's leg. It wasn't a good comparison.

There were a lot of students in the hallway, lunch hour and all, and they kept bumping into Izuku, causing him to slow down to evade them. He even fell flat on his butt one time.

Kacchan was growling at the other student, telling them to 'watch where they were going'. In meaner words but Izuku wasn't going to repeat that.

The blond had ended up grabbing his hand to tug him along. Izuku noticed that his hand was much warmer than other people's.

So here they were, sitting behind the building to finish their lunch. Well, Kacchan's lunch, Izuku was supposed to have lunch with Aizawa-san.

"So, why do you think Aizawa would be disappointed with you?" The older boy asked, picking up a piece of sausage to put on the bento lid, serving as a plate for the six year old to eat.

Izuku shuffled his feet, bouncing them a little against the bricks.

"I- uhm, I was supposed to use this q-quirk that saved me last week b-but I couldn't."

Izuku gripped the bento lid tighter in his hands, the lone piece of sausage forgotten.

"So what? You failed?" Kacchan speared the sausage with his chopstick and raised it toward the younger boy's mouth. "Eat your food."

Izuku obeyed, chewing the meat slowly and nodded.

"I f-failed."

Kacchan clicked his tongue, "And you're giving up already?"

Izuku's eyes widened, "N-No! I-I just, uhm, Miss Doctor wasted her time c-coming here but I c-couldn't do anything at all! Aizawa-san tried to help aswell but I still failed after hours! Monoma-san was a-about to leave and I couldn't try again and I didn't want to see Zawa-san's expression so I ran and I met you a-and-"

Kacchan pressed his hand to Izuku's hair and turned his head to face the older boy.

"You didn't talk to Aizawa after that?"

Izuku hesitantly shook his head.

Kacchan sighed, he dropped his hand from the boy's hair but raising it up toward his forehead. And flick it.

Izuku yelped, instantly putting down the bento lid to cover his forehead, staring at the teenager with wide betrayed eyes.

The blond clicked his tongue again, "Stop looking at me like that, you dumb shit." He put down his own bento and glared at Izuku.

"Listen, Cabbage. Everyone fails. I used to burn my hands all the time and my quirk kept flickering on and off. No one has a perfect record. The point is that I don't ever stop training and look at where I am now."

Izuku tilted his head, "On a window behind a school?"

Kacchan flicked his forehead again.

"In the best hero school, dumbfuck."

Izuku ignored the bad word, rubbing the slightly sore spot, where Kacchan had flicked him.

"So don't you dare giving up now after just one failure, you hear me?"

Izuku felt his eyes burning, "I won't, b-but what if Aizawa-san is disappointed in me?"

"Didn't you hear me?" The blond sneered, annoyance clear in his voice, "Everyone fails, including him. If he is disappointed in you, then he's a massive asshole."

Izuku supposed that made him feel better.

"S-So Aizawa-san won't be dissapointed in me because he's not an as-"

"Dont repeat that!"

"Ok"

They fell into silent after that, Kacchan picked up his bento and continued eating while occasionally putting out different pieces of food for Izuku.

He really liked the egg rolls. They were even better than Toshi-nii's! Izuku of course told Kacchan this information and the blond's lips stretched into a kind smile (?), more of a maniacal grin now that Izuku thought about it ...

They had about 15 minutes until the lunch break ended when Izuku asked to see Kacchan's quirk.

The sparks of fire and small burst of explosion were so pretty Izuku wanted to touch them! But he knew explosions were dangerous so he settled on with gushing and praising the older boy's quirk. This ended up with the blond's nose high in the air and earned Izuku a head pat.

No wonder his hands were warmer than normal!

They turned to leave the area when there was 10 minutes left of the break. Izuku would need to return to Aizawa-san now and he surely hoped Kacchan was right. That Aizawa-san won't be disappointed in him because he was not an asshole.

Chapter Text

Tap tap.

Shouta glared at the stack of papers lying in front of him. Essays that he had to grade. Start grading.

Tap tap.

No matter how many times Shouta tried to focus on his work, his mind kept drifting back to the brief message his student had sent him.

Your kid's with me. He's fine, just doesn't want to see you. Gonna give him back before lunch ends.
Bakugou

A direct, straight to the point message containing all crucial data, leaving behind unnecessary information. Definitely something Shouta would normally appreciate in distance communication because God help the person attempting to have small talks via text with him.

In this moment however, he wished Bakugou had been a little more specific. Giving him some extra details, like where did he find Izuku? Why did the kid dissappear? Or most importantly, what did he mean 'just doesn't want to see' Shouta!?

Tap tap.

"Shouta! Stop it with the damn pen!"

The inicial panic when he couldn't find Izuku was dissipating only to be replaced with what could probably be defined as anxiousness.

Why did the kid not want to see him?

Tap tap.

"Shouta! I swear to God!"

The underground hero abruptly stood up from his chair, earning a startled gasp from Nemuri, who had also moved out from her seat, hand raising in mid-air, likely about to snatch the pen out of his fingers.

Was Izuku mad at him? Did he unintentionally do something to upset the kid?

Shouta absent-mindedly stretched out his arm away from Nemuri, who was, again, trying to reach the pen in his fingers.

No, that's illogical.

Shouta would have known if he indeed had done something so horrible that even Izuku wanted to avoid him, right?

Yeah, this was Izuku. It was way more likely for the kid to blame himself when things go wrong than being upset with someone.

Shouta dropped back to his seat with a sigh, tossing the pen at Nemuri for her to catch and promptly pulled out another one from his drawer.

Tap tap.

The heroine's right eye twitched.

Shouta wondered when Izuku was coming back. In a chance that the boy really was mad at him for some reason, what would be a best make up gift?

"Shouta, I'm going to throttle you with your big stupid scarf!"

Three knocks sounded out behind the door and Shouta spun his chair around, effectively dodging whatever attack Nemuri was throwing at him.

He hurriedly walked toward the door and ripped it open to reveal Bakugou standing passively in the hall, both hands stuffing in his pockets, an ever constant scowl on his student's face.

Shouta glanced around, noting that there was no one present except for Bakugou.

"Where is Izuku?"

Bakugou squinted his eyes and looked behind himself.

"Broccoli, quit being a baby!"

A tiny fist came from behind his student to clutch at the boy's blazer. Izuku peeked out from his human hiding spot to peer at Shouta, expression shy and uncertain. Much like the first time the kid had met him.

Was this Shouta's fault?

"Are you m-mad?"

Yes, yes. This was his fault. Of course the kid thought he was mad so he was reluctant to see him. It was so obvious Shouta had no idea why the thought hadn't come to him earlier.

The underground hero crouched down and extended his hand toward the boy. He wasn't sure why he did this. This was usually something he did to stray kittens, for them to sniff his hand and judge whether he was trustworthy or deserved a few scratches to the face.

Izuku was not a cat.

The action, however, did manage to fulfill its intended purpose as the boy timidly stepped out from behind Bakugou to stand in front of Shouta, hands behind his back and eyes downcast.

Shouta carefully dropped his palm on top of the kid's head.

"No, I'm not mad," he gave the dark green mess a few ruffles, "And I also have no reason to be. You did well."

Izuku's brows furrowed and he tilted his head to the side.

"But I f-failed."

"And? You tried, you failed and you can always try again. No one is perfect, kid. Everyone experiences failures at some point in their life."

Izuku's eyes widened. He snapped his gaze toward Bakugou, who just rolled his eyes at the boy, and looked back at Shouta again.

"You're also not d-dissapointed?"

The underground hero huffed and pinched the kid's cheek.

"Not in the slightest."

Izuku ducked his head to hide his face but Shouta could still see the slowly widening smile on the boy's lips, "Kacchan was right..."

"I'm always friggin right!"

It seemed like Bakugou was able to talk some logic into Izuku. Who would have thought that his brash and constantly angry student would be good with kids? Not Shouta, that was for sure. Perhaps Izuku will get along with his demons of a class much easier than he had anticipated.

Izuku turned back to Shouta and flashed him a blinding smile.

"I knew you weren't a massive asshole!"

Shouta took back his words and he regretted ever trusting Bakugou to look after Izuku.

"Oi! I told you not to repeat that!" Bakugou snapped at the kid and turned to Shouta, was that nervousity in his voice? Shouta wasn't too sure as he was still busy staring at his kid in utter disbelief.

Izuku just looked confused.

"But Kacchan, I told him that he isn't an asshole. It's a compliment!"

"That's not how it fu-friggin works! And stop saying the word!"

Bakugou at least had the decency to censor his own speech as his student tried his best not to explode on the confused kid.

Defeated, Shouta stood up, picking up Izuku in the meanwhile into his arms, "Bakugou, 2000 words essay on proper heroes conduct toward young civilians,” and turned around to leave. 

He paused momentarily, "And thank you for taking care of Izuku, you’re dismissed."

Before receiving any reaction Shouta shut the door behind his back, leaving the blond  in the hallway with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

_

Shouta sighed heavily.

Hitoshi had just came to pick Izuku up from the teacher's lounge, considering Shouta's piled up work that day. Truthfully, Shouta was reluctant to let the kid go. He was asking about possible punishment and needless to say, Shouta was horrified. The more he asked, the worse Shouta had felt. He just wanted to burn that damn orphanage to the ground. Nedzu will definitely have a field day with the new information.

They ended up talking for over twenty minutes and Shouta made sure to explain the meaning of discipline to Izuku, why it was wrong for the caretakers to punish the kid like that. Apparently they only did it to Izuku.

Shouta scowled at the memory.

After that they had spent the afternoon in the teacher's lounge. Izuku obviously stared at the staffs with absolute wonder but was too shy to offer more than a greeting. He was especially amazed at the sight of Ectoplasm and kept glancing at him with stars in his eyes. It was hard to tell with Ectoplasm but Shouta knew the hero was flattered by the slight upturn of his mouth and the slightest dropping of his eyes when he caught the kid's gaze. He must not have many young fans.

Nemuri kept the kid busy for a while with drawings but she had to leave eventually for hero's work. In fact, by the time he had given Izuku to Hitoshi, most of the staffs had left. Most of them.

All Might had been acting rather suspicious all afternoon. He kept moving in his seat and occasionally would glance at Izuku with something akin to anxiousness. He looked like he wanted to do something but for some reason couldn't do it. When everyone had left and All Might still lingered around, Shouta had decided that enough was enough.

"Yagi, what is it?" Shouta asked blandly.

The other hero looked startled but eventually started to walk toward him.

"Young Aizawa, how was the ..." Yagi trailed off but Shouta already had an idea what the number one hero had wanted to ask.

He stared at the blond passively for a few moments, waiting to see if the man was going to finish his question but Yagi just spluttered something about 'genuine worries' and 'not at all related to the battle between him and you know who', never ended up asking the actual question.

Shouta let out a tired sigh.

"Izuku couldn't activate his quirk during the session." He said simply.

Yagi shut his mouth with an audible 'click'.

Something glimmered in the number one hero's eyes and Shouta for all his years of being observant and trying to read people couldn't decide whether it was relief or sadness.

A few seconds of silence passed between them before a violent cough escaped Yagi's throat. He hacked into his handkerchief, a flash of red appeared and the cloth was shoved quickly into his pocket, reminding Shouta of the number one hero's declining health.

"Well, I'm sure Young Midoriya will learn to control his quirk soon enough." He wiped the corner of his mouth with his hand when a thin trail of blood managed to escape.

Maybe it was the result of the tiring long day, maybe because he could actually sense the sincerity in Yagi's words, maybe both, but suddenly Shouta felt the need to supply the number one hero with more information than he asked for.

"The doctor said that it was normal. Children who develop their quirks late tend to have a harder time controlling them. It is to believed that the later the manifestion, the harder it was to fully explore the quirk."

Yagi's eyes widened slightly in surprise, likely not having expected for Shouta to follow-up with the conversation.

"I see, I have heard of something similiar."

Shouta hummed, he grabbed his sleeping bag and turned to leave the teacher's lounge. Yagi strolled casually next to him.

After a few steps Shouta decided that it was his turn to ask the number one hero something.

"Why did you mention the years long battle?"

At this the blond sheepishly scratched the back of his neck.

"I, well, I have to confess that I may have speculated the possible blood relation between Young Midoriya and you-know-who," seeing All Might talking about the underground's boogeyman the same way the main villain of a famous pre-quirk book series for children was mentioned was hilarious to say the least but Shouta decided not to mention that. He could understand why he talked that way. They were still in the open after all, "So I did a little digging for the boy's background."

Shouta raised an eyebrow at the number one hero.

"It is of utmost importance to verify the boy's origin. While actual blood relation is unlikely, the fact that he manifested such a dangerous quirk, and so similiar to him at that, should be taken into consideration ..."

Shouta stopped abruptly in his track and turned to face Yagi fully, hardened eyes glaring bullets at the taller man.

"Yagi, I surely hope you're not suggesting that Izuku may pose a threat just because of his quirk and his 'unlikely blood relation' to him."

The shrunken form of All Might flinched and then raised his hands slightly in the air in surrender.

"I admit that the idea did cross my mind at one point," the sound of air being sucked in quickly through teeth could be heard when Shouta's eyes began to glow red, "But I never let it affect my decision! And I think differently now!"

Shouta dropped his quirk. He sent the number one hero one last glare before turning away to continue on his path to the teacher's dorm.

Yagi remained still in his spot for a moment longer before continuing to walk beside him.

"Even if Young Midoriya really was related to him somehow, he is his own person. I understand that well enough."

Shouta stayed silent.

"When I talked about the boy's dangerous quirk, what I meant was," Yagi paused for a bit, as if thinking something over, "Beside the obvious danger of villains wanting to take advantage him, people won't react well to his quirk, Young Aizawa."

Despite not looking at the other hero, Shouta could feel his gaze boring into him, "I was concerned for him, truly."

The remaining irritation toward Yagi evaporated at the moment and Shouta sighed, long and heavy.

"That's why, for now, only very few people know about it. It's not even in the registry yet. The doctor was also a trusted acquaintance of Tsukauchi."

A smile bloomed on Yagi's gaunt face, "I'm relieved to hear that."

Silence panned between them for a minute when Yagi started again.

"There's something I have been wondering," he paused mid-sentence and Shouta grunted for him to continue, "If it was of knowledge that late quirk manifestion does exist, why was Young Midoriya declared quirkless?"

A good question. Shouta had wondered about it himself.

"I was able to procure a more detailed version of Izuku's medical file. It didn't say much but there was a statement about Izuku's double toe joints and it's relation to the kid's 'quirklessness'"

Shouta glanced at the number one hero, purposefully leaving his reply open for more questions.

Yagi furrowed his brows at him in confusion.

"But if I'm not wrong then that theory had been discarded long ago."

Shouta nodded in approval. He could appreciate a hero's knowledge outside their field.

"Ten years ago to be exact. A theory turned out to be just a theory. Basing a person's quirk status entirely on their pinky toe is outdated and simply inaccurate."

"Then why?" Yagi asked, genuinely curious.

Shouta scowled, "Izuku's quirk doctor retired due to old age shortly after his 'diagnosis'. There was no way of contacting him."

The number one hero rubbed his chin with one hand, looking thoughtful, just as they reached the teacher's dorm.

"Then it would make sense that he followed such an old belief. He probably got used to it and didn't check new medical discoveries."

Shouta just hummed in answer, opening the door leading to the common room. That was the same conclusion he and Dr. Monoma had come up with.

"I'm glad I got to talk to you, Young Aizawa." All Might smiled at him, the corner of his eyes creasing, before excusing himself to go back to his room.

Grunting a goodbye to Yagi, Shouta started to head to his own dorm, preparing early for his patrol. The conversation with the number one hero lingered in his mind for the rest of the day.

Was it truly only due to negligence that Izuku was declared quirkless?

Chapter Text

"Dunce face, get the fuck out of the kitchen. You're useless!"

"Have you never seen someone peel a fucking onion?!"

"That goes into the meat, you fucking dimwit!"

Seeing Bakugou bossing everyone around in the kitchen was not what Hitoshi had expected after coming back to the dorm with Izuku in tow.

The yelling was predictable. What was a surprise was Bakugou seeming to actually know what he was doing. Who knew the angry pomeranian could cook?

"Kacchan is yelling." Izuku pointed out the obvious, small hands holding on to Hitoshi's larger ones, with which he was covering the boy's ears.

Izuku had been quite anxious leaving his dad's side earlier. Hitoshi roughly knew about the situation from Aizawa, he even had to reassure Izuku that, same as his dad, he was in no way dissapointed in the boy.

Izuku had looked more at ease at that.

Though when they got close to the dorm the kid began to get nervous. Hitoshi had suggested to take him straight to his room and bring him dinner later but Izuku had stubbornly insisted to stick by his side.

It was fine, Hitoshi will just fight anyone who upsetted his little brother.

"Yeah, don't listen to him."

Izuku still called Bakugou that cutesy nickname that didn't match it's owner one bit. Hitoshi wasn't even sure why the blond let him, considering he almost exploded Kirishima's hair the first time he called him 'Bakubro'.

He wasn't actually trying to make Izuku like him, right? He wasn't actually serious about this weird who's-better-your-brother or-a-douche-that-your-brother-unfortunately-shares-classes-with contest, was he?

"That's it, you're all a bunch of useless fucks! Get the hell out of my kitchen!"

"Bro, it's not yours!"

"It may as well be mine!"

Hitoshi sighed. At least Bakugou seemed to refraine his colorful language when Izuku was around last time. He couldn't ask for more.

Hitoshi released his hands from Izuku's ears and lead the boy inside. The previous chattering from the common room quitened down significantly once his classmates spotted his little brother.

Izuku immediately tried to hide behind Hitoshi's legs before a pink blur rushed toward them and engulfed the kid in a crushing hug.

"Shinsou! Izu-kun! Oh my gosh, I wasn't even here yesterday to welcome you. How are you doing?" Ashido asked cheerily. Seeing as Izuku flinched slightly at the sudden touch, she instantly pulled back to kneel in front of him.

"H-Hi, Mina-nee," Izuku stuttered out. He rubbed his hands together and furrowed his brows in thoughts for a moment before deciding to return the girl's previous affectionate gesture, "I'm doing okay!"

Ashido squealed and held the boy even tighter than before.

"Ashido." Hitoshi nodded at her, "Aizawa has patrol so Izuku's staying with us today."

"Oh, it's Green Bean's first dinner with us then!"

Ashido released Izuku and the kid scrambled back to hold on to Hitoshi's hand again, squeezing himself to his legs trying to hide from the attention, seeing as the whole class was now gawking at him.

Likely having sensed Izuku's discomfort, Ashido let Hitoshi lead the boy to a farther off couch and turned back to her friends, easily continuing the previous conversation as if nothing had happened, succesfully steering away the attention on the boy.

The girl was a godsend, truly.

Hitoshi dropped on the couch next to Urakaka and Jirou with Izuku climbing up next to him. Urakaka cheered, greeting the boy with a bright smile while Jirou nodded at them.

"Hi Chaka-nee, Kyo-nee."

Jirou huffed and gave Izuku's hair a rough ruffle.

"You still gave me a nickname in the end, huh."

Izuku smiled timidly at the girl.

"I give everyone a nickname when I can."

Jirou raised a brow at him, "Everyone?"

He nodded proudly, "Everyone."

"What about Aizawa-sensei? You got a nickname for him too?"

Izuku's face fell a little, "Not Aizawa-san."

Jirou smirked and pointed a finger at the kid, "That's not fair, you know, how about I give you a suggestion for a nickname?"

Izuku perked up a little, likely about to protest but held back to hear what the girl had to say.

"How about Dad."

The kid squeaked, face glowing a bright pink, and turned to watch Hitoshi with wide eyes, "T-That's not a n-nickname!"

Hitoshi just raised a brow at him, "She's got a point, Izuku. You've been my little brother for a while now."

Izuku's cheeks turned red. He hided behind his arms.

"You two! Quit teasing Izu-kun, He will call Sensei his dad when he's ready." Urakaka scolded them, though there was nothing but mirth in her voice.

Jirou laughed out loud while Izuku buried his face into Hitoshi's side and let out a whine. Huh, this was new.

Hitoshi rubbed his back a few times, Izuku ought to call Aizawa his dad soon. The temporary fostering was on paper only, there was no way the kid was going anywhere else. Not if Hitoshi and his dad had anything to say about it.

Only now noticing that Urakaka was wearing a pink apron, Hitoshi quirked a brow at her, "Bakugou kicked you out too?"

The girl flexed her arms, smiling cheekily at him, "Nope, I finished my part. Soups are easy to make. Not even a peep from Mister-I'm-the-best-at-everything too!"

Oh?

Kirishima had somehow heard the conversation all from across the room and yelled over, "She's right! Bakubro even said that she's one of the very few who's allowed in the kitchen!"

"Good job, Urakaka." Hitoshi complimented, genuinely impressed, and earned a sheepish chuckle from the girl.

"You know," Yaoyorozu stepped closer to the four of them, "I thought that I was doing rather decently with the onions. Bakugou had banned me from making anything other than tea instead."

"You were the fucking worst one out of all of them, Ponytails! You treated the onion like a fucking orange!"

How did Bakugou even hear her from the kitchen, did everyone here have superhearing? Or were they just really loud?

Yaoyorozu blushed while Iida gasped in offense.

"Bakugou! It is entirely inappropriate to use such language in a presence of a child!" He chopped his hand in the air repeatedly.

"Shut up, Glasses!"

Ashido started a booing noise, "Boo! Bakugou, this is tyranny, if you don't start acting nice, we're gonna rebel and take back our kitchen!"

Kaminari raised a hand into the air, "Throw him out the window!"

Hagakure's voice rang out, "Defenestration!"

"Burn him at the stake!"

What the fuck was even going on?

Bakugou stomped out of the kitchen and his head was practically fuming.

"You lots go and finish dinner then!"

The noises immediately died off while several of Hitoshi's classmates clasped their hands together in front of them.

"We're sorry, please feed us."

Several seconds passed while they waited with baited breath to see if Bakugou would return to the kitchen.

The silence was broken by a giggle and everyone snapped their gaze to the source of the sound.

Izuku was trying to hold back his laughter by covering his mouth with both hands. He was unsuccessful though as his frame was shaking despite his best attempt to stay still.

Urakaka let out a high pitched squeal and she immediately smothered the kid into her arms.

That broke Izuku's control and the boy laughed freely. All the nerves seemingly evaporated from him and the sound rang out joyfully across the whole room.

"Y-You guys are funny."

The class seemed stunned for a second before erupting in an even bigger racket than before.

Several 'He laughed!'s, 'We're the best babysitters ever!'s and all sort of other variants could be heard before Bakugou roared and shut them all up once again.

The blond flounced toward Urakaka and shoved a plate of egg rolls to Izuku.

"Eat."

Izuku, having calmed down from his laughter, looked up at Bakugou in confusion while Sero chuckled a quite 'biased much, bro?'.

Bakugou payed him no mind as he continued to glare down at the kid.

"What? Didn't you say my egg rolls were better than Eyebag's?"

He then shot Hitoshi a challenging look and he kind of wanted to wipe the smug expression off the blond's face with a fist.

Izuku blushed, he looked down at his feet to avoid meeting Hitoshi's eyes.

"I-I did say t-that."

Well, say no more because there was no way Hitoshi was going to leave this at that.

He patted Izuku's head a few times and raised his hand toward Urakaka, palm up.

The girl let out a quite gasp and immediately took the apron off, handing it to him like a precious cloak.

"You good staying with Urakaka for a little bit?" He asked the kid.

Izuku stared at him with wide eyes for a moment before nodding repeatedly.

Hitoshi put on the apron and shoved pass Bakugou toward the kitchen. He tied the strings behind his back.

"You guys will get to choose your dinner today."

A wicked grin stretched on Bakugou's face.

__

More than half of the class ended up choosing Hitoshi's dish over Bakugou's, the main reason was the spices in his food being too intense for their taste.

Izuku had filled his plate with little bits of both dishes and after several minutes of thinking the boy had finally (a very tough decision, he said) decided that Bakugou's food was just a tad bit better.

Hitoshi didn't want to think back on the blond's expression.

He had won the 'public opinion' but what did it matter if Izuku still preferred Bakugou's food?

Hitoshi was not sulking, definitely not.

"Nii-san, I'm done brushing my teeth."

Hitoshi glanced over to see Izuku holding his plushie, standing next to his bed and looking up at him expectantly.

The principal had made Hitoshi's dorm a little bigger than the other student's specifically for this reason. It also contained another bed for Izuku to sleep in.

He really had everything thought out.

"Good job, get into bed now."

Izuku obeyed easily and climbed onto the soft mattress.

Hitoshi pulled the blanket over the kid and easily tucked him in including his plushie. Now that Hitoshi really looked at his creation, it would be kind if creepy if he woke up in the middle of the night to have the thing staring right into his soul.

He made sure to cover the toy's extra eyes with extra care.

"Did you have fun at dinner?"

Izuku perked up, "Yes! The food was super good and everyone was super nice!"

Hitoshi patted his head, "I bet Bakugou was the nicest one out of them, huh?"

Shut up, he was not still bitter about it. He might have lost the battle but he shall win the war.

Izuku stared at him in disbelief, "Kacchan's kind of mean."

He snorted. Fair enough.

"He can also be very nice!" The kid quickly defended, about to sit up in his bed.

Hitoshi quickly pushed him down and tucked him back in, "I get it, he picked you up when you got lost, didn't he?"

Izuku hummed in agreement, hugging the plushie closer to himself.

Damn Bakugou, either be a total asshole or don't. At least then Hitoshi can be fully annoyed at him.

"Thank you for tucking me in."

Hitoshi raised an eyebrow in amusement, "Do you also thank dad every night he tucks you in?"

Izuku pushed his face into the plushie's hair, ears tinted pink.

"G-Goodnight, Toshi-nii."

Hitoshi huffed, was the kid gonna get embarrassed everytime someone mentioned Aizawa as his dad?

He gave him one last hair ruffle.

"Night, Izuku."

Chapter Text

Izuku woke up feeling weird again. His head was not hurting like it used to but now there was this strange tingling feeling in his temples. The colors around him seemed a tiny bit brighter and the air felt denser, somehow.

Izuku rubbed his eyes, trying to get his vision back to normal to no avail.

He glanced to the other side of the room, where a human form was sprawled across an identical bed to his own, half of the blanket pooling on the floor.

Soft and even breathing could be heard from the sleeping teenager.

Should he wake Toshi-nii up? Aizawa-san did say to wake him up if he was upset. Izuku wasn't upset though, he just felt kind of weird. Not necessarily bad, just like an upgrade to his senses!

Yeah, Izuku was fine. There was no need to wake onii-san up. He needed the sleep anyway, Kacchan kept calling him Eyebags.

After making his bed, Izuku trod over to the blanket half laying on the ground, trying his best to pick it up without tugging on it, and draped it over the older boy's body.

He took a second to observe the still sleeping form. Satisfied that he didn't wake Toshi-nii up, Izuku patted the hem of the blanket a few times and exited the room.

After brushing his teeth in the bathroom, Izuku had returned to Toshi-nii's room to grab his Eraser plushie and notebook and went down to the common room.

The clock showed that it was 5:45 in the morning, no wonder he hadn't seen anyone awake yet. Izuku himself usually woke up later than this.

No matter, he could just hang around by himself for an hour. It used to always be like this back at the orphanage anyway. He was always alone. Except this time he was waiting! Waiting for Toshi-nii to wake up.

Izuku padded toward the fridge and opened it. Among all the vegetables,  various containers and bottles he spotted a familiar yellow bento box. A sticky note with the words For Izuku written with Toshi-nii's handwriting was stuck to the side. Another sentence was put down in smaller letters that read If you're not Izuku and are eating this, shame on you, Izuku will be sad and hungry.

Izuku understood all the words!

He wouldn't be sad though! It would be a shame if he couldn't eat what Toshi-nii made for him but if the person was super hungry than it was okay.

Izuku pulled the box out and opened it only to find a single boiled egg rolling lonely inside the empty container. Little bit of lettuce and some sauce stuck to the corner of the box indicated that there was definitely more food in there than one lone egg.

Oh, Izuku realized that he was indeed a bit sad.

He pouted, the person was probably very hungry, it was fine. They probably weren't doing it on purpose to pick on him. At least he hoped so.

Izuku took the egg (which was shaped like a cat and that made him happier already!) and put the box in the sink.

He had just hopped up on one of the couches when the door to the common room clicked open.

Warmth. That was what Izuku felt the moment the person stepped into the room. For a moment the air seemed to ripple, similar to what happens during especially hot summer days, but then Izuku blinked and the heat was gone. Well, almost gone.

Izuku looked up at the person in confusion. What had just happened?

Mismatched eyes, one blue and one gray, scanned the entire room before landing on Izuku and stayed there for a good five seconds.

Izuku squirmed. The teenager kept looking at him without saying anything and honestly Izuku was starting to feel kind of intimidated.

He summoned up all his courage and managed a small smile, "G-Good morning?"

The older boy gave Izuku another long stare before finally nodded and turned away.

Izuku let out a relived sigh. He held Eraser tighter to himself and peeked out curiously from behind the plushie.

He recognized this onii-san as one of Aizawa-san's students who was on the bus the other day. He had never seen him again after that though, not even at yesterday's dinner. Onii-san was making tea, it seemed. He was staring at the kettle the same way he did before to Izuku, as if he could somehow will the water to boil faster.

Izuku giggled. Maybe it was his quirk? He could still feel the remaining warmth from earlier and if Izuku was right and it came from this onii-san then it would make sense if his quirk was some kind of heat manipulation. Maybe fire control! It was a little funny though, the way he looked so serious doing everything.

The still unnamed student finished making his tea and turned to leave. Izuku's curiosity got the better of him and he stuttered out without thinking.

"Is your q-quirk related to fire?"

The older boy turned around so quickly the tea in his cup sloshed around and he almost spilled it onto the floor. Izuku didn't expect an icy glare directing his way though. He shrunk into himself.

"How do you know that?" The teenager asked, voice hard.

Oh no, Izuku made him mad. He just couldn't keep his mouth shut, could he? He scrambled up for an answer but what could Izuku possibly say? That it was because he was warm? That's just silly!

The student didn't wait for Izuku's answer, opting to furrow his brows in disdain and Izuku cowered even more.

"Don't compare me to him." He said calmly but his eyes held fire in them.

To whom?

Izuku wanted to ask but was honestly a little scared to do so. He ended up just staring at the older boy in confusion. A few seconds passed and the crease between onii-san's eyebrows smoothed out. He tilted his head slightly and squinted his eyes at Izuku.

"You know who my father is, don't you?"

Izuku hesitantly shook his head, clutching Eraser closer to himself.

Onii-san blinked a let out a quite 'oh'. He then took a moment to stare at Izuku again, face completely blank, before walking over to him. Izuku shut his eyes close and expected harsh words or even a hit but then he felt something on top of his head.

He tentatively opened his eyes to find the older boy looking down at him, expression still blank but he was ruffling Izuku's hair.

"Sorry."

He patted his head a few more times and turned to walk out of the common room without another word, leaving Izuku gazing after him in confusion.

What had just happened?

__

Izuku decided that the warmth he felt earlier was weird. Really weird.

He patted Toshi-nii's arm. It was warm and that made it more weird because Izuku swore onii-san was cold earlier. Even now there was a slight chill emanating from him.

He patted onii-san's arm again, higher this time. Still warm. Izuku frowned, the chill was also still there. Maybe he was just imagining it? It wasn't just nii-san, other students also had these strange air around them that Izuku hadn't noticed before.

"Who ate Izuku's food?"

Toshi-nii's voice snapped Izuku out of his thoughts and he turned his focus back to the conversation.

After the onii-san with mismatched eyes and hair had left, Izuku was practicing writing when Toshi-nii found him. They had breakfast together and nii-san went to pack Izuku's snack box. He came back with furrowed brows and a small scrunching of his nose.

"So?" He asked his classmates, most of whom had already eaten and were just hanging around the common room.

They all gave him wide eyes stares and turned to look at each other, all except Kami-nii, who visibly paled. He raised his hand and stepped toward them hesitantly.

"Yeah ... Uh, that was probably me ..."

Toshi-nii glared at him but quirked an eyebrow up, silently offering a chance to explain himself.

"Yeah, well, you see ..." Kami-nii laughed sheepishly, one finger scratching his cheek, "I couldn't find my phone charger last night and, well ..."

Izuku could see a vein popping up on Toshi-nii's forehead, "You attempted to charge your phone with your quirk, somehow overdid it and didn't mess up the whole dorm's electricity, fried your brain, got stupid to the point you forgot your ability to read and ate Izuku's food."

Woah, how did Toshi-nii got that much information just from one single clue? Izuku was impressed but that was mean of him to call his friend stupid! So he swatted onii-san's leg, hoping to stop him from being mean.

Izuku received a light head pat and got ignored instead.

Kami-nii looked a little paler now, "You got all of that right ..." He then took a step back and chuckled nervously, "Shinsou, my dude, I'm really sorry. Also, has anyone told you that your resemblance to Aizawa-sensei is sometime really scary?"

Toshi-nii gave him one last glare. He paused for moment, eyes squinting a little as if thinking something over before turning to Izuku, "Izuku, you woke up way earlier than everyone else, right?" Izuku nodded hesitantly. "Were you hungry?"

Izuku glanced at Kami-nii, who was looking like someone kicked his puppy, and attempted to salvage the situation, "I was just a tiny bit h-hungry. But there was an egg left so I was less sad. Promise!"

Izuku's eyes widened at how the blond wilted, shoulders sagging and lips trembling, looking very much like he was about to cry.

Before he could panic though, Kami-nii got on his knees and clasped his hand together in front of himself.

"Izuku-kun! I'm so, so, so sorry!" He then pulled out a wallet from his pocket and practically shoved his money into Izuku's hand, "Here! You can have my weekly allowance! And if you ever get hungry during the day, just come to me, alright? I'll personally escort you to the vending machine-"

Izuku was left trying his best to comfort the blond with shoulder pats, he almost missed a little snort escaping Toshi-nii's lips.

__

"Did they treat you well?" Aizawa-san asked.

Izuku nodded happily, swinging their joined hands back and forth. Aizawa-san had just come to the student's dorm to pick him up earlier. Izuku was going to meet his tutor today and he tried his best to think about it positively.

"Everyone was really nice. Dinner was super good too! I woke up early and met a pretty onii-san with a really cool q-quirk, or at least I thought it was his quirk, I'm not too sure. And Kami-nii ate my snacks but it was just an accident! He apologized and kept trying to give me money but I don't need it b-because I have you and then Toshi-nii threatened him and-"

Izuku rambled on and heard Aizawa-san chuckle in amusement. That just made him feel even more enthusiastic and he added a skip to his steps.

"-and I was practicing my writing since mister tutor is coming today!"

Izuku reveled in the head rub Aizawa-san gave him, completely ignoring the new but also weird aura suddenly surrounding the man, prodding lightly at his skin.

Maybe it was Izuku's quirk? He wasn't sure but he'd probably just have to wait and see. Maybe he'd be able to activate it soon and make Aizawa-san proud!

Chapter Text

Hitoshi ducked low, barely missing an elbow heading straight to his temple. He quickly grabbed Aizawa's arm, pushing it to the side, and turned to deliver a harsh punch to his opponent's ribs. His fist was blocked by the man's other free hand.

He quickly took a step back, dodging a knee to his stomach and skittered back another meter or two to create some distance between them. A drop of sweat rolled down his forehead and dripped into his eye, stinging it.

"You're not pulling any punches, are you?" He asked, wiping the sweat away while simultaneously shooting out his capture weapon toward his opponent.

His father's eyes glowed red, quirk full in effect. Damn, he was hoping for at least an exasperated sigh. Then it would still be considered an 'answer'.

Well, at least he tried.

"Neither are you." Came the dry reply as Aizawa effortlessly dodged the flying fabric. Within a blink of an eye Hitoshi was in front of him, leg raising to swipe at his dad's left knee. Aizawa immediately lifted his leg to block the hit, only for Hitoshi to change the direction of his attack mid-way, twisting his hip to deliver a hard kick to Aizawa's head instead.

The resounding smack of his foot colliding against flesh had his hope up for a second but then his dad grinned, right hand catching Hitoshi's ankle mere millimeters away from his face, and Hitoshi gulped.

Good thing they prepared the training mat beforehand.

Within two seconds Hitoshi found himself face first onto the mat with his wrists pinned tightly against his back.

He groaned. It was so close too.

"A feint after a feint. You've improved, Hitoshi." Aizawa said evenly, hands still pressing hard against his wrists, locking them behind him.

Hitoshi tried not to get embarrassed by the compliment. His dad doesn't give out compliments often and once he does, he fully means it. He coughed instead.

"Well, I'm still not enough, am I?" He mumbled bitterly after a moment.

A sharp exhale could be heard and the hands still holding his wrists together relaxed slightly.

"Hito-"

Hitoshi immediately latched on to the mental rope manifesting in his mind.

"Release me."

The pressure on his back vanished and Hitoshi slowly got up to his feet, rubbing his wrists. Aizawa got careless and probably dropped his quirk the moment he got Hitoshi pinned to the ground.

He felt a little bad tricking his dad like that but oh well, the sport festival was coming soon and Hitoshi needed all the tricks he could get.

He hummed, watching the now completely emotionless Aizawa, eyes glazed over and face blank, yet somehow looking more relaxed than his usual expression. He could see how this would seem creepy had he done this to another person, which was something he wouldn't do. Not without provocation at least.

"Give me a head pat."

Brainwashed-Aizawa reached out to him and robotically moved his hand up and down on top of Hitoshi's head.

He frowned. The movement was too mechanical.

"Very comforting, thank you." He said dryly.

Brainwashed-Aizawa of course didn't react.

"Your head pat sucked." He mumbled. Hitoshi never understood this part of his quirk. Despite knowing perfectly how to do certain actions, the brainwashed person always performed them the same way Aizawa did now. Stiff and unnatural.

There was no way he could ever manage any kind of spy mission using his quirk with this kind of draw back. Just one look at the glazed eyes and slack face and you know who is under Hitoshi's quirk and who isn't.

"Do a backflip."

Brainwashed-Aizawa did as told, landing effortlessly on both feet without a smallest stumble.

Yet when it came to actions that needed a lot of precision, they always managed to do them perfectly even with their robotic movements. That is if they had the ability to perform said actions even when they were awake. And Eraserhead definitely could do more than one backflip.

Hitoshi sighed and released the mental rope in his mind, effectively waking Aizawa up from his trance.

His dad merely blinked once before his brows furrowed and he threw Hitoshi a heatless glare. Though there was a barest hint of a smirk on his lips.

"Brat."

Hitoshi smiled, "Not my fault you let down your guard." He bent down to roll up the training mat, it was about time they cleaned up and go check on Izuku. Kid should be done with his lessons by now.

"What did I do?"

"A backflip." And a head pat, he didn't say.

Aizawa hummed and took a sip of water from a plastic bottle. While Hitoshi was drenched in sweat, his dad remained cool and dry. How unfair. "Felt like it. Any specific reason?"

Hitoshi shrugged, "Nah." He stuffed his towel into a bag and hiked it on his shoulder, "I just wanted to understand my quirk better."

His dad quirked an eyebrow at him, "Did it help?"

Hitoshi uncapped his own bottle and gulped down a mouthful of water before answering, "Nope, just like usual."

"You definitely improved on quirkless sparing though."

Hitoshi didn't say anything back, staring at the tiny bubbles moving up and down inside the water bottle, a sudden pressure building up in his throat.

Aizawa frowned, "Hitoshi?"

"It's just," Hitoshi rolled the cap between his fingers. He swallowed thickly when the plastic slipped from his hand and fell onto the floor, "Do you think I actually have a chance at the festival?"

Aizawa just looked at him for a moment in silence before putting a hand on his shoulder, "It'll be difficult in the final round," he said finally, "Since it's tradition for the last competition to be 1vs1. You'll be at a huge disadvantage against people with high burst power. However," he gave Hitoshi's shoulder a little squeeze, "You're fast, skilled, I taught you myself after all, and a brat that knows how to be annoying enough to get under people's skin," Hitoshi snorted at that and earned a chuckle from Aizawa, "So yes. I think you'll do fine."

The hand on his shoulder felt heavy, warm, reassuring and Hitoshi felt the need to explain himself even further, "I don't know-I mean ... it's not really about winning the festival. It's just ..." He fumbled with his words and Aizawa waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts, giving him another firm squeeze on the shoulder.

Hitoshi sucked in a breath after a while and slowly released it through his nose, "It's more of a reassurance to myself," he admitted. A flash of red, too much red. Grey bulging flesh. The ear-grating scream that seared itself into his mind. The disgusting sound of bones breaking, crushing. "Back at the USJ, I tried using my quirk but the bastard with the hand fetish just didn't answer. Completely ignored me. He and that-that Nomu thing almost killed you and Izuku, while I just stood there, completely helpless and usele-"

Aizawa cut him off by putting himself in front of Hitoshi, hands gripping his shoulders tightly. His dark eyes glimmered and when he spoke, his voice was hard and unwavering.

"Hitoshi," his name sounded almost like a growl and Hitoshi wondered if his dad was about to use his full name. That would be bad, really bad, "You're not useless. You're fifteen, a kid barely half a month into highschool. You're not meant to deal with villains for at least another two years. Least of all a bioengineered being created to fight All Might. You did good by surviving, by staying by Izuku's side and waited for help to arrive. If anything, it was me who failed to protect you both." His tone turned bitter toward the end and Hitoshi scowled, now offended that his dad was underapreciating himself.

"You saved my life! And practically everyone else's there by kicking more than half of the villain's asses!"

Aizawa chuckled. He wrapped a hand around Hitoshi's shoulders and pulled him toward himself in a side hug, a rare softness in his voice when he said, "And you saved mine by surviving."

Hitoshi felt his cheeks heating up in embarrassment, the knot in his throat untightened and he turned his face away to at least partially hide the still-spreading blush but he couldn't deny the warmth blooming in his stomach. He shoved Aizawa aside and pointedly ignored the amused look the man threw at him, "Sappy."

His dad let out a rare laugh but after a few seconds his eyes turned dead serious once more, "Don't ever say that you're useless again."

Hitoshi gulped, "Yeah, sorry." He looked down at his hands and squeezed them into tight fists, "I mean, I guess I just wanted to get stronger." He didn't want to feel that helplessness, ever again.

He turned his gaze to Aizawa, still embarrassed but determination glimmered in his eyes, "Thanks, Dad. I'm going to kick everyone's asses at the festival."

Hitoshi received a pleased grin and a rough hair ruffle. A much better one compared to the head pat from before.

__

Ever since he was four Izuku always believed that it was his quirklessness that made people dislike him. Izuku didn't understand it to be honest. He lived, breathed, ate the same way everyone else did, yet the moment people heard the word 'quirkless' their friendly gaze turned to pity and their smiles turned to snarls. Why did it matter? There were many kids with quirks so subtle, it was hardly noticeable at all but it was alright. Because at least they had a quirk and Izuku didn't.

At one point he wondered if his Mama also got fed up with him and that was the reason why he ended up in an orphanage. But that couldn't have been true. She was very sick. At least that was what they told Izuku when they took him away. He couldn't even say goodbye.

After a while his memory of Mama became a blur and everything left of her in his memory was an image of a slender, kind-looking woman with green hair and a smile so soft it always managed to bring him comfort whenever he got pushed down or yelled at by the people at the orphanage.

Either way, he was with his Mama when every kids were the same. Simple, childish and quirkless. After she was gone, Izuku realized that any quirk, even one as plain as being able to grow hair from an unusual place, was better than having none. Because only then, he would be seen.

No quirk was bad quirk, Izuku thought. Only quirklessness was deemed bad in people's eyes.

Right now though, Izuku wondered if he had been wrong all this time as he stared at his tutor, Mr. Hozuki, who was looking at Izuku with fear so clear in his eyes that he might as well had been looking at the huge and scary villain at the USJ.

"You-you took my quirk."

Izuku could only stare back in tears because he did take Mr. Hozuki's quirk. He didn't mean to. The aura coming from his tutor was so bright and warm he couldn't help but reach for it. But then the light was gone from the man and Izuku felt it settling snuggly in his chest instead.

"I-I didn't-"

"You took it." Mr. Hozuki continued, voice trembling with apprehension. He turned his palms up and down as if in search for his quirk and looked back down at Izuku in horror.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry. I d-didn't mean to!"

"You can give it back, right?" The man's eyes were wide and desperate. He stepped forward and Izuku automatically took a step back, hitting a chair on the way as he did so.

"I-I-"

The desperation in his tutor's voice was so clear now when he raised it at Izuku, "It's ok! You took my quirk s-so just give it back and it's going to be alright-"

Izuku let out a loud sob, "I-I don't k-know h-h-how. I'm s-sorry!"

"You have to try!" Mr. Hozuki was definitely yelling now, hands clenching into fists, "Whatever you did- Whatever cursed quirk you have-" His voice turned into a strangled cry, "You-you took mine, stole it! But it's ok! You-you can just give it back and everything is going to be fine again-"

Izuku tried. He tried to push the light back to it's owner but it kept slipping from his grasp. He was sobbing and Mr. Hozuki kept shouting and repeating that Izuku needed to return his quirk back to him. The man's voice was becoming borderline manic and Izuku was so scared he just wanted to hide in a hole and never come out again.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry. I'm s-sorry. I-I'm s-sorry-"

No quirk was bad, but if it was Izuku's, it could be.