Chapter Text

Chapter One

“Ranan, are you underneath that giant pile of cats?”

“No.”

“...Then why is the giant pile of cats speaking English?”

“...Mew?”

Ricky sighs, moving the cats one by one off of his daughter, “Cmon, you can't sleep.”

Ranan immediately pouts at him, “But theyre so cute and sofftttt…” She whines as he picks her up, holding her under the arms.

“Too baaaaaad.”

“You're so mean.” She huffs, wiggling out and walking over to one of the cafe tables to start munching on her croissant.“We were having a very good time in there, you know.” She pouts as hard as physically possible at him.

“Well, yes, but you need your breakfast, mija.”

She slumps in her seat, huffing as she drinks her boba tea. Ricky picks his brown sugar milk tea up, and does the same.

Then immediately chokes because one of the hottest men he's ever seen strolls in, with one of the most gorgeous women he's ever seen. They have two kiddos, one with green hair, and one with blue. 

“Papapapapapapapapa-” The green haired boy says. He looks to be around Ranan’s age. 

“ Yessssss, Izuku?” The man laughs at him. 

“I want a chocobun.”

“It’s 10 am.”

“Yes. That is correct.” He blinks up at his father adorably and the man sighs, looking at his wife. She just shrugs. He sighs again. 

“ Fine, you can have a choc-”

“Yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!”

Ricky can feel his face. Red hot. Wow. Men. Men are great.

“..Padre.” Ranan snaps her fingers and he snaps back into reality, blinking. 

“WUh- Huh- Uh- Si, mija?” He looks back at her. She slowly, judgingly lifts an eyebrow.

“..Whatcha lookin at?”

“Nothing.” He sits down and focuses on his boba.

She looks over at the family, then back at him, leaning back in her chair with a smug grin. “Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo-”

Ricky buries his face in his hands.

“You were an accident.”

She busts out laughing, and Ricky sees the man look over at him, make eye contact, and smile.

Goddamnit. 

“ You're bright red, dear father.”

“Why are you like this?”

“You're the one who raised me.”

“...Goddamnit.”

The green boy is already cuddling a cat, giggling happily. The man and his other child sit down at a booth table in the back. The beautiful green haired woman is also petting a kitten. 

Why are people so pretty…

“Mister?” Ricky jumps a lil as the green haired boy suddenly appears next to him. “Hi. Your quirk is pretty.”

…

“Huh??”

“Kid, I think you've got the wrong guy. Padre doesn’t have a quirk.” Ranan sips on her boba tea.

“Yeah he does!!!” He points at Ricky’s head. “It's gold.”

“I. I don't have a quirk-”

“ Zuku-'' The man scoops his son up, laughing awkwardly. “Sorry sir- Izuku what have I told you about just talking to strangers?”

“I was talkin bout his quirk!! Look how pretty it is!” 

The man looks down at Ricky, green-blue eyes glowing a lil as he blinks. “ ...oh..”

Ricky can feel the blood rush to his face. He feels faint. 

Ranan looks increasingly confused as she sits up a lil. “Wh. Dad doesn’t. Have. A Quirk..?”

“Yeah he does!! It's a gold Quirk… something mental..?”  Izuku chirps. 

Ricky’s head is spinning. “I. Uh. Uhm-”

“Boys.” The beautiful woman walks up, frowning. “Stop bothering this poor man, can’t you see how faint he is? Poor boy looks like he's about to pass out! Are you alright dear?” She looks down at Ricky.

Ricky, almost as if on cue, passes out, falling out of his chair. 

“ OH FUCK-”

Ricky wakes up in his bed, surrounded by the scribbled canvases he used in the past week.

Also that hot guy is sitting by his bedside. 

Wow, it sure is warm in here. 

“Good morning.” He chuckles a little. “Your daughter helped us get you home. She even offered to pay for gas.” 

Ricky nods, flushed. “She’s... she’s a good kid.”  “What happened? Exactly?”

“You didn’t know you had a Quirk, did you?”

Oh. Right.

He shakes his head. 

The man nods in understanding. “That makes sense. It's not exactly an obvious Quirk. You have the ability to tell the future via your art.” 

He gestures to the canvases, most of which Ricky had splashed out with black paint, frustrated in the dead of night. “..It’s beautiful, by the way.”

“...Thank you…”

“My guess is that the stress was too much for you, and you ended up blacking out.” 

“Ah..” He nods a lil, trying to sit up. The man immediately, gently, pushes him back down with one strong hand.

Santa Maria…

“Inko is making tonkotsu ramen. Meanwhile, you should stay down. You're quite ill.”

“Yeah, well… that comes with the tumor..” He laughs dryly, trying to make a dumb joke.

Understandably, instead of laughing, the man frowns, brow creasing in concern.

“Ah…”

“...That was a bad joke, huh?”

He laughs just a bit. “Only a little.” 

“ Fuck.” He leans his head back, staring at the ceiling. “Wow, I'm bad at this.”

“This?”

“Uh-” He goes red again. “You know. Socializing.” 

“...Uhhuh.” He grins a little. “What’s your name, by the way?”

“...Enrico Estrella. But you can call me Ricky. Everyone does. Yours?”

“Hisashi Shigaraki. It's nice to meet you, Ricky.”

Fuuuuuuuck my name sounds so nice in his voice…

Ricky is trying SO hard not to just pass out again. 

There’s a knock at the door, and Mrs. Midoriya walks in with a bowl of delicious smelling ramen. “Hi, hon. How are you feeling?”

“Better..” Ricky manages to mumble.

She walks over and helps set him up so he can sit at a lil bed table and eat. Her hands are soft.

 “What’s your name, ma’am?”

“I’m Inko Midoriya. It's nice to meet you,” she says, smiling. “Your daughter and our boys are playing downstairs. They seem to get along well!!”

“That's good. Ranan’s not good at making friends. Or socializing, if I’m entirely honest. Humans in general are a tricky subject for her.” He sips at the soup, and then desperately has to try not to happy stim. It's so yummy, just the way he likes it, with extra spice and garlic. Ranan must have helped her. 

“This is so good..” He mumbles, drinking more soup. “Thank you so much, Inko.”

“Of course, honey. You gave us all quite a scare. Hisashi tried to call the ambulance, but your daughter insisted on just taking you home, so we decided to stick around just in case.”

Honey.

GodDAMNIT.

“Thank you, that's very kind of you.” He smiles. “And the soup is delicious.”

She smiles happily, sitting down next to her husband.

Right. Get ahold of yourself, Ricky, theyre married, you can’t fuck either of them. C'mon man. Get yourself together.

“Padre?” Ricky looks over at the door to see Ranan poking her head in. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, honey, don't worry. I think I just got a little stressed.” He laughs a lil, 

She nods, smiling and satisfied with that answer, and runs off. 

I have a quirk. Holy shit.

I can address that later. Hot people first.

“So, you live around here?” Ricky asks. Hisashi shakes his head.

“We live on the other side of town.” 

“Ah, okay. Y’all were just hanging out? Sorry for ruining your family outing,” He laughs a lil. 

Inko chuckles a bit. “It’s alright dear, the kids made a new friend and we got to meet you!! And besides, we did get our food.” 

“That's good.”

Wait, did they like. Wait for their food to be done before driving me home thats so fucking funny what-

There’s a sudden crash, then a very distressed, “DDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD-”

“Santa Maria.” Ricky buries his head in his hands. “IS ANYONE BLEEDING?”

“NO.”

“DEAD?”

“NO.”

“UNCONSCIOUS?”

“...NNNO?”

“YOU SURE?”

“YEAH.”

“THEN I DONT GIVE A SHIT. YOU'RE FINE. WALK IT OFF.”

“Wh-” Inko blinks. “Ricky, that's not very nice.”

“She’s got the healing factor of a fucking X-man she’ll be okay.” Ricky goes back to his soup.

Ranan looks down at the still sniffling green haired boy, nudging him with her hand. “Hey. You okay?”

He holds a thumbs up up. “ Yeah.”

“This is why we don't run indoors.” The other Midoriya child, Tomura laughs a lil. “Because then we smack our cute little faces on door frames like dummies.”

“ You're so mean to me.”

“Love you too, baby brother.” 

Izuku gets to his feet, rubbing his forehead a lil. “Your dad didn’t care much.”

“He thinks I’m the one who smacked into the wall probably, so he’s pretty sure I’ll be fine. And you’ll be fine too.” Ranan laughs a lil, poking his arm. “I mean look at your dad. He’s built like a tank. If you hear ringing though, tell me.”

“Okay.” Izuku sits on the couch, munching his choco croissant. “What else should we do?”

“Have you ever watched Top Gun?” Ranan walks over to the DVD bookshelf. “Or Blazing Saddles?”

“Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii don't think that’s…Appropriate-”

“Boring ass.” Ranan pulls out two different DVDs. “I mean, I also have a switch, we could play Animal Crossing, Mario Kart, or Minecraft. Or Undertale.”

“Bad idea. Nii-Chan will rage destroy your controllers.”

“Hey!”

Izuku gives him a Look that clearly translates to am I wrong? Bitch?

“Don't look at me like that.” He huffs, sitting down next to his baby brother. “...Let’s watch a movie.”

“Okay!! Uh… You know what I think you'd like Free Guy!”

“What’s that one about?”

“It’s about a video game NPC who gains sentience and becomes the main character and fights back against the capitalism-ization of online spaces and videogames.” 

“...Yeah, throw that one on.” 

As it turned out, Ricky and the Midoriya-Shigarakis ended up getting along splendidly. They started going to brunch together, while Ranan hung out with the kids at their house. 

Every time Ranan went over, she was absolutely fascinated by all the cool things. To be fair, Ranan had grown up constantly on the verge of homelessness. They lived stimuli check to meager paycheck to stimuli check, even in Japan, since Ricky couldn’t get a good job being constantly sick as he was. Most of their belongings had been gifts from friends and family back in Harlem. And the Midoriyas were very wealthy. 

They hung out so much, Ranan, Izuku, and Tomura became almost like siblings. Eventually, Izuku introduced Ranan to his best friend, a little blond boy he called his cousin, named Nieto Monoma. He and Ranan were largely neutral towards each other, but Ricky got the feeling that they had a bit of a rivalry. 

Ricky very much enjoyed brunching with the Midoriyas. They were kind, sweet people. They offered to help out with apartment payments, even if Ricky refused every time. He was, unfortunately, a prideful man. He did not enjoy accepting monetary help. 

He did, however, accept all the food Inko kept cooking for him. It was so delicious- how could he refuse?

One day, Inko asked Ricky if he'd be interested in maybe painting her, for a rather generous payment. A very generous payment, if Ricky was honest with himself. More money than he'd ever had at one time in his life. 

And that is how Ricky found himself in the Midoriya’s attic, sketching Inko Midoriya’s portrait and trying desperately to be normal about the beautiful woman he was painting. 

She sat patiently, dressed in a simple green gown. Her green hair was put up in a gorgeous updo, adorned with delicate golden jewelry. Her makeup accented her features gorgeously, and Ricky really just wanted to shove his canvases aside and okay that's enough thinking for today, Enrico. 

When he finishes the base sketch, he looks up over the canvas. “Why don't we stop here for today, get some lunch?”

“Sure!” She smiles.

“Alright, one second.” He takes a quick photo of her, so he can work when she's not here, and then gets up, pulling off his apron. 

“How is it looking so far?” She tries to get a peek, but he covers it before she can see.

“Ah-! No peeking.” He grins.

She pouts a bit. 

“Okay… Wanna go get some ramen?” He sighs affectionately.

“Yes please.”  She immediately brightens up, clapping her hands a little. 

“Great!!”

Inko takes him out to a very nice ramen shop, changing into some more casual clothes she had brought in her bag. 

“So, Ricky,” Inko asks over her drink. “What was New York like?”

“Hmmm… loud, smelly, annoying, and dirty.” He shrugs. “But also, home. Fun when it wanted to be. Harlem was kinda alright. My family was there, so they always helped out where they could. But we were just generally broke. Still are.”

She frowns a little. “You know, we can help out if you need.”

“No, no. It's fine, Inko, trust me.” He smiles softly. “I can handle myself.”

She still seems worried, but nods, going back to her soup. “If you say so, Ricky.” 

One day, while Ranan was over at the Midoriya’s, playing Tug of War with a dog that Ricky was pretty damn sure was not a dog, Ricky was cooking with Inko, when he heard the door open.

“Hello?”

He looks up from his chopping, tilting his head, Inko gasping and running out of the kitchen and immediately scooping up and hugging a small boy, around the same age as Izuku and Ranan, if not a bit older. He has blond hair, a little shaggy. He smiles happily, hugging Inko back.

“Hey bosslady!!” He chirps up at her.

Inko laughs and kisses his forehead.

He looks over at Ricky and tilts his head. “…Who are you?”

“Ricky. Nice to meet you, kid.” He smiles at him. “What’s your name?”

“Hunter.” He answers simply.

“Hunter’s Izuku’s friend.” Inko explains. “He lives here with us, but lately he's been off on a camping trip.”

“Ahh, I see.”

Hunter looks into the backyard from across the house, looking incredibly concerned. “...Is that a 6 year old playing with Stitches?”

“She’s 10, actually. Just real small.” Ricky laughs. “Don't let her catch you saying that, she’ll kick your ass.” 

He snorts a little, rolling his eyes. “Sure.” He walks out into the backyard, barely getting out a “Hey pipsqueak-” before suddenly screaming like the demons of hell themselves were on him. 

“ Oh dear-” Inko manages to say through suppressed giggles. “You alright, Hunter?”

“HELP-”

Ricky busts out laughing, leaning on the counter. “That's what you get, gringo.” He washes his hands, and then heads out into the backyard to watch Ranan kick the little twerp’s ass. 

Eventually, he walks over and scruffs Ranan, carrying her back inside. “Hey kiddo. Want a popsicle? I froze some last night.”

“Yeah!!” She grins, happy stimming a little.

“Sweet.” He plops her down into a chair.

Hunter stomps back in grumpily.

“Someone mad they lost to a pipsqueak-”

“ Shut the fuck up.” Hunter snaps at Ranan.

“Hunter!” Inko scolds. “We do not use that kind of language!” 

“...Sorry bosslady..” 

She sighs affectionately, ruffling his hair. “Go get X, and I’ll get the kiddos, okay?”

“Yes ma’am.” He runs outside and she steps upstairs. 

“Boys! Hunter and X are home!!”

“YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!” Izuku runs downstairs, stumbling a lil. “Woah- Fruit!!!” He runs over and grabs some watermelon, hopping up and down. “Thanks, momma.”

“Of course, Izu.” She laughs, ruffling his fluffy green hair. Hunter walks back in, holding a bag, what looks like a crate, and a sleeping bag. He's accompanied by a very tall man made entirely out of purple smoke. 

Izuku immediately runs over and hugs Hunter..

Hunter laughs, “Izu, I need to put X down!”

“Hugs first!!!!!”

He laughs louder, bonking their heads together before wiggling away. He puts the crate down.

A little creature pokes its head out, blinking sleepily. It has blue hair and skin, bright orange eyes, and pointed ears. It looks like some sort of sea-thing.

‘ Mrrp?’

“Gatita!!” Ranan gasps, running over to crouch and look at the little creature. “Hi hi!!”

“...Ranan I don’t think that's a cat…”

“It went mrrp !! That means it’s a kitty!!” She smiles back at Ricky.

He sighs a little.

“This is X!! She’s the baby.” Izu smiles. “She gets grumpy if new people touch her though.”

Evidently, Hunter does not count as new people, as Hunter is petting X like a cat.

“Oh- Okay!! Hi kitty!!”

Ricky laughs softly, sitting down and eating some watermelon. Sillies.

Tomura and Hisashi both come downstairs .Tomura ruffles Hunter’s fluffy blond hair and Hisashi hugs both X and Hunter, Hunter looking mildly uncomfortable. 

X turns out to be even more Creature-Esque outside of the crate, with a long, scaled tail and oddly formed legs. She reminds Ricky a bit of something out of a movie. Or a cross between the Little Mermaid and Gollum. But much cuter. Or Luz’s basilisk sibling from the Owl House. But Blue. 

“I missed you two so much!! How was your trip?” Hisashi finally puts them both down.

“It went well, Boss. We had a good time.”

“Great! Wanna get pizza tonight?”

“Yes.” He answers quickly, grinning a lil.

“PIZZA!!” Izu cheers. 

Inko laughs, scooping him up. “Ricky, will you and Ranan be joining us?”

Ricky nods, smiling. “Pizza sounds great.” 

“Yay!!” Ranan joins Izuku in Wiggling, happy stimming. 

“...So who are y’all again?” Hunter raises an eyebrow at Ricky.

“Friend of Hisashi.” He smiles. “This is my kid, Ranan. Nice to meet you kiddo.”

They end up ordering pizza, and the kids run down to the basement to eat and play whilst the adults talk and drink. 

Ricky doesn’t drink generally, mostly because it fucks with his medication, but he also just hates the taste. 

Inko seems to like a nice gin and tonic, whereas Hisashi, surprisingly, seems to like daiquiris.

Ricky supposes he has a sweet tooth.

“So, Ricky, how has the medication been coming? Are you feeling well?” Inko frowns a little.

Ricky nods. “I feel great, actually. The doctors say I should be back to good health in the next two months.” He smiles. “I do have an appointment on Thursday. Is there a possibility you could watch Ranan?”

“Oh absolutely!!” Inko smiles brightly. “She’s a delight to have around.”

“Like the daughter we never had.” Hisashi smiles, taking Ricky’s hand in his. Ricky feels his face go hot, smiling back.

“Thank you, Hisashi, Inko. You two are very kind.”

“Of course, Ricky. Now. I think it’s getting late. You should head home.” He seems like he wants to say something else, but refrains, standing up.

“Yeah, you’re right.” He laughs a little, standing as well. “I’ll go grab Ranan.”

Ricky walks down to the basement, about to call for Ranan before he hears her talking softly to the other kids. 

“I wanna be a doctor.. So I can help Papa get better, you know? He’s real sick... He's just good at hidin'. But we can barely afford the medicine, and rent, you know?”

Ricky’s heart nearly shatters, the young man having to hold back tears as he listens closer. 

“Yeah, well, I want to grow up to destroy society and rebuild it better. That way, your papa can afford the healthcare he needs to get better. And then we can get Mcdonalds whenever we want. And no one can stop us.”

Ricky laughs under his breath. Goddamnit Tomura. 

Ranan giggles. “You're silly.” 

“ I’m silly? Naw, kiddo, this whole thing is silly. It's so weird that we have to pay to live.” 

“...yeah…” 

“...Anyways. I'm gonna kill your minecraft dog-”

“ NOOOO-”

Ricky laughs, walking downstairs and scooping Ranan up. “Aight, let’s go kiddo.”

“Noooooooooooo, he’s going to kill my doggo!!!” She pouts. 

Tomura laughs.“Okay, okay, okay I won’t.” He sets down the controllers. “You gotta go home, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s this one’s bedtime.” He gestures to the pouty ten year old in his arms. “C’mon kiddo.”

“Night night Nii-chan..” She mumbles, yawning. “Night night, Izu..”

“Night night!!!” Izu waves, smiling brightly. 

AUGH. ADORABLE CHILDREN, MY ONLY WEAKNESS. 

Usually, Ricky Estrella is Fantastic about driving while sleepy.

But the exhaustion is starting to settle into his bones, and he can scarcely keep his eyes open as he drives home. 

Ranan is passed out sitting up in the backseat, hugging a Squirtle plushie that Izuku gave her. 

He’s been very tired as of late. He suspects it has something to do with both the cancer and the new meds he’s on. It makes him constantly on the verge of passing out, spacey, and forgetful, which is probably why he didn’t, at first, see the car going the wrong way on the road, heading straight for him.

Until he heard the honking and snapped back into reality. He swerves and fully drifts into a nearby parking lot. He comes to a stop with his hands gripping the wheel so hard he nearly breaks it. His knuckles are white. 

Ricky slumps in his seat, still holding the wheel as he pants, his ears ringing. 

I nearly died.

Oh God I nearly died and Ranan-

He quickly glances into the backseat. She’s still passed out.

He sighs, running his shaking hands through his hair, tears starting to run down his face out of sheer terror and relief.

Oh God I could have killed us both-

Ricky crosses his chest, Son, Father, and Holy Ghost, and rubs his eyes, putting his glasses down on the dash.

Santa Maria..

He can still feel the terror running through his veins, so he steps out of the car to try to get some fresh air, leaning on the car and holding his chest. 

He’s hyperventilating. He can’t stop, which only freaks him out further.

He tries sitting down against the car, curling into a ball and hugging his legs. 

I just nearly killed myself and Ranan.

This isn’t working.

Why isn’t it working? 

This usually works.

He feels a pair of hands on his arm and looks up to see a very concerned, very sleepy looking Ranan.

Tears roll down her face. Her mouth moves, but he cannot hear, his ears ringing far too loudly.

She reaches into the car and hands him her Squirtle.

Ricky takes it and hugs it. He pulls Ranan into his arms, starting to cry. 

“A-?” Her voice starts to fade in from the incessant ring in his ears. “- Pa? Are you o kay?” 

Ricky hugs her tighter, his heart rate slowly lowering. “ Yeah.. I’m okay, kiddo.. Just got scared.”

Ranan frowns, fishing in his jacket pocket, and pulling out his phone. He doesn’t protest, until she starts calling Hisashi oh goddamnit kid-

“Ranan?” He says over Facetime, his handsome face creased in vague amusement. “Hey kiddo, you good?”

“Papa needs a pick up.” She answers simply.

Hisashi suddenly looks very concerned. “What?”

Ricky grabs the phone, laughing awkwardly. “D-Don't worry about it Sashi, I’m fine, I just got a lil bit of a scare and had to sit down for a bit.”

He frowns. “I’m coming to get you. You look like you just saw Death.”

“No- There’s no need-”

“I’m already here.” 

Ricky almost screams, jumping as Hisashi suddenly just appears, scooping Ricky up, putting him in the passenger seat, then getting in the driver’s.

Ranan gets back inside with her Squirtle.

“Wh-I- WH-” He stammers, his face red.” WH.” 

“I’m driving you back to my place, getting you some soup. You’ll stay with us for the night.” It's not an offer. It’s an order.

And Ricky Estrella follows orders.