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Shouta stood in front of the many screens, eyes glued to the winged teen. Keigo was...using his wings to smack the robots. And now...oh, oh god, he was taking on a zero pointer...for fun? He was grounded. Keigo was SO grounded. Until the day Hitoshi graduates.
"You can't ground him until 'Toshi graduates," Hizashi, also in his own hero uniform, said with a laugh. The underground hero sent him a small glare.
"I can if I try hard enough," he grumbled. Out of the many uses the wings had, his son just had to use them as though they were baseball bats? He wasn't certain, but he was fairly sure that blunt-force trauma was not the intended use of wings.
Eraherhead continued his grumblings, pointedly ignoring the amused looks from his coworkers. He also ignored the look on Nedzu's face. Yup, he was not dealing with whatever his boss was planning. The rat could leave him out of it, thank you very much.
His only refuge was that Keigo would be placed in a different class.
Shouta sat with Hitoshi curled up in his lap on the couch, while Dabi sat in front of Hizashi who was on the other couch with Keigo tucked under his arm and into his side. Keigo's letter from UA was supposed to be arriving that day and everyone was excited.
They all sat, watching something that Dabi had picked out on the television as they waited. Hitoshi, he swore, was nearly more excited than the potential student himself. Practically vibrating on Shouta's lap at the idea of having a hero as an older sibling.
(Yes, Shouta reminded him that both himself and Hizashi were Pros. No, it did not calm the boy down at all.)
The barely audible sound of mail being delivered had both teen and child shooting up and racing towards the door, ignoring Shouta's call of "No running!".
"IT'S HERE!"
Hitoshi raced back, pouncing onto Shouta's lap. The man grunted from the impact. Keigo, meanwhile, slid to a stop just before he hit the coffee table and tore open his package. Quickly, he turned it on and watched at the hologram form of the principal came up, informing them of the blond's passing the exam and his class.
Class 1-A.
Class 1-fucking-A.
Keigo was in Shouta's class. Shouta would be dealing with his antics at work and at home.
Fuck.
"YOU DID IT, KEI!" Hitoshi jumped up immediately, tackling the older teen, who used his wings to defend himself. Naturally, the two were soon wrestling in the middle of the living room. Shouta simply picked his coffee off of the table as it was thrown across the room by Keigo, who apparently decided he needed more space.
Dabi and Hizashi sat there, both amused, until Hitoshi called for his eldest brother's help. "Yeah, yeah, short-stack. Big brother's coming to the rescue!"
And with that, his oldest joined the fray.
Shouta and his boyfriend shared fond looks over their kids' heads.
"Keigo, feet off of your desk and keep your feathers to yourself."
Clad in his hero costume and yellow sleeping bag, Shouta stared tiredly at the group of overpowered teenagers. Keigo was in his seat, yes, but had apparently decided that using his feathers to hold another boy up to the ceiling was appropriate behaviour.
The other student - Nakamura, if he remembered correctly - fell to the ground with an audible thud. Shouta suppressed a sigh.
This was going to be a long year.
He stood, still cozied up in his sleeping bag, and looked at the students with a deadpan expression. "I've been watching you all for six minutes and none of you noticed me. If I was a villain, you would all be dead. A villain isn't going to wait for you to stop goofing off to attack, they will take any opening they have. As a Pro Hero, you must always remain vigilant and aware of your surroundings."
He pressed the button to reveal their gym uniforms. "Go change and meet me in the field."
With that, he took off out the window.
Keigo, he knew, was fully aware that Shouta was there the entire time. The one thing he couldn't shake from what the boy had learned from the commission. Why he decided to continue acting out rather than pointing out Shouta's presence was still unknown, however. After a couple of seconds of consideration, he decided it didn't matter. By the end of the year, Keigo would learn to start behaving in class as though he were a pro hero already.
Shouta would ensure they all did.
Unsurprisingly, Keigo was the first one changed and on the field, three minutes after Shouta himself had arrived.
It was after twelve minutes that he finally had them all twenty gathered around. He took the time to lecture them all, Keigo excluded, about how time was crucial and could never be wasted. Then, he got to explaining the Quirk Apprehension Test he would be having them do. As expected, Keigo did best in the 50 meter dash, standing long jump, and distance run.
Overall, he had placed first by over ten points.
He ignored the fact that they had the commission to thank for Keigo's placing first. Keigo had deserved a normal childhood, not whatever fucked up one that the HPSC thought was appropriate.
He would never admit to them doing anything right if it was the last thing he did.
Four students were expelled on the first day, leaving Shouta with sixteen. The boy that had been held to the ceiling with feathers was one of them.
Keigo had won the Sports Festival. Everyone was proud and celebrated with chicken - as per Keigo's request. When asked, the next week, what hero name he wanted he had chosen Hawks.
And then came the internships.
It was the worst fight Dabi and Keigo had ever had when Keigo came home to tell them that he was going to intern with Endeavor. The number 2 hero had sent the boy an offer, and Dabi had completely snapped. Blue flames erupted from various parts of his body, and he was shouting at the student.
Hitoshi cried and ran to hide behind Hizashi. Shouta acted quickly once he realized that Dabi, for the first time, was actually trying to injure his brother. He threw himself between the two, quirk active.
"DABI!" He snapped. Keigo was taking deep breaths behind him, clearly trying to reign in his panic. Shouta...was confused. He was angry, yes - pissed, in fact - but more than anything, he was so, so confused at what could have made Dabi react like that to Keigo deciding to intern with Endeavor.
He watched as the oldest stormed up to his room.
"Dabi..." Shouta shook his head when Hizashi went to follow.
"Give him space. Let him calm down." He turned to Keigo. "It was not your fault. I don't know why he reacted like he did, but trust me when I say that you did nothing wrong."
It was that night when Dabi came to him, quietly asking to be brought to the hospital. The hero didn't hesitate to climb out of bed, detangling himself from the still-shaken Hitoshi, and drove the black-haired boy to the hospital.
It was while they were driving back, after spending ten hours waiting and eventually getting the burns cleaned and bandaged, that he told him everything. His true name being Todoroki Touya, being the oldest child of Endeavor. The harsh training he had gone through before eventually being cast aside for his youngest biological brother - and how he ran away.
They spent hours in the car, Dabi - no, Touya, he said he wanted to be called now - crying in his arms. Shouta silently cursed Endeavor. Nobody hurt his kids and got away with it. Nobody.
Todoroki fucking Enji was going down like the piece of shit he was.
"You can't let him," Touya said hoarsely. "You-ou can't fucking let that-that asshole hurt Keigo. Keigo's been through t-too much. H-h-he can't get ahold of him, he'll break him!" Shouta shushed him gently.
"I can't promise anything," he whispered. "Not without telling him. All I can do is suggest other heroes, but I can't make Keigo change who he interns with."
As much as it hurt, he knew there was nothing they could do. If Keigo truly wanted to learn from Endeavor, none of them could stop him.
And when they eventually went inside, Shouta waited outside of Keigo's room which Touya had instantly stormed into. He listened quietly as Touya woke the other, sobs returning as he explained everything to his brother. Shouta, deciding to give them privacy once the cries of both assured him there would be no fighting, went downstairs to make coffee. The sun was up, and there would be no going back to sleep now.
"I'm interning with Best Jeanist."
Shouta nodded in understanding. The number three hero, five years Shouta's senior. He'd never actually met the man, but figured that he had to be better than Endeavor. Anybody, he decided, was better than Endeavor.
Hitoshi, now the only one who was still unaware of Endeavor's actions towards his oldest sibling, was confused but stayed quiet. Despite his young age, Shouta knew that Hitoshi knew Endeavor was now hated in their household. He wasn't stupid and had watched Keigo toss all Endeavor merch he previously owned. Torn posters, blankets, pillows, clothes and figurines. Anything with the man had been removed from the house.
Hitoshi was young but was not dumb. "You'll explain when I'm older?"
Hizashi nodded. "We'll explain when you're older, listener."
When raising three boys, there was rarely a peaceful day. There were fights, there was drama, and even dragging some of them home from a long night of vigilantism (not that he didn't understand, he did! Shouta was honestly just glad that now one of them would at least be able to do it legally soon). But they were his. They were a family.