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Izuku's tongue poked out of his mouth as he stirred the milk with a spoon, humming quietly when he saw that the coffee had blended in with the milk. His dad allowed him to drink coffee for tonight, seeing as he had a couple of tests the upcoming week to study for, and he couldn't survive on just the tea he usually drinks.
Usually, Shouta wasn't very fond of Izuku drinking coffee, saying it was 'going to stunt his growth'. In Izuku's very humble opinion, his dad was a hypocrite. The underground hero couldn't last a day without drinking at least two cups of coffee, but hated the idea of his son drinking it.
Izuku smiled at the thought of his dad, who was currently grading one of his classmates paper, hearing him sigh in exasperation every once in a while.
"Are you okay, dad?" Izuku frowns when he saw the older man rubbing at his forehead, exhaustion written all over his face.
"All good, kiddo. Kaminari's handwriting is hell to read though." The man stated tiredly, taking a big sip of his son's cup, smirking when he heard him whine.
"Dad, it's my cup!" Izuku whined, pouting when the man just raised an amused eyebrow at him.
"Technically, I bought the cup. So it's mine." Shouta said, snorting at the huff his kid let out.
Izuku pouted at his father, whining when he felt him ruffle his hair.
"Dad! I just showered, now it's gonna be all messy." He mumbled, patting his hair down.
"It's always messy, sweetheart." Shouta dryly pointed out, turning back to the utter hell that was grading. He had a headache just looking at the letters too close each other, or the weird looking doodles on the side of the paper.
They worked in silence for a while, each paying attention to his own work. A couple of months ago, Izuku wouldn't have felt that comfortable to whine to his guardian, let alone study while he's in the room.
Shouta Aizawa was the only one Izuku would feel this vulnerable with. The man somehow managed to gain the teenager's trust, even with his dreadful past concerning teachers and adults.
But this man, this tired, harsh man, became the one constant in his life. And Izuku found that he didn't really mind it.
Shouta allowed this once guarded and cautious teen to act his age. No heavy responsibilities over his shoulder, just a kid trying to be a kid.
Izuku allowed himself to indulge in that childish side of him he never let out. Not because he didn't want to, but due to the fact that no one ever cared enough to indulge him as well.
His mother was never there. She let all those bullies at school to constantly torment him, make his life a living hell. Maybe she didn't know, maybe she didn't care. And the teachers? Well they'd never care for a quirkless kid like him, they only added on to his pain.
All the times he was called in front of his class, to be humiliated and made fun of just because he wasn't what they wanted. The times where they turned a blind eye to the explosion marks covering his skin. The times where he was called after a test, only to be accused of cheating because there was no way a quirkless like him would score a hundred percent.
The times the one he thought would protect him, only failed him instead.
Shouta helped him. This underground rough hero got him to let go of the walls he built around his heart, and let him be what he is. A child.
He cared for him. He protected him. He loved him.
Dad.
Dad.
Dad.
That's what dad does. He tucks him into bed every night, checking on him every hour or so. He kisses his forehead in the morning when they're heading to school. He pulls him into his arms when he has a nightmare, mumbling sweet things into his ears until he slept. He lays him over his lap when he misbehaves (or puts himself into danger, again), and then spends the evening comforting him.
His dad. Because that's what Shouta is.
Izuku was so lost in thought, that he failed to notice Dusty’s paw pushing the coffee cup off the table, jumping when the cup shattered into pieces on the floor.
Shouta stood up, turning to his kid, only to see him frozen as he stared at the floor.
"Kiddo, you need to stand still so the glass doesn't hurt your feet, okay? I'll be right back." Shouta's words weren't processed in Izuku's head, who fell to the floor as soon as the man went to the kitchen. The teenager then proceeded to pick the pieces of glass and placed it into his hand, tears streaming down his face as he mumbled to himself.
When was the last time something like this happened? Middle school. Middle school.
He broke it. He broke Kachaan's water bottle.
It was an accident.
No, no it wasn't. He remembers that day. When he accidentally fell into the floor, his hand bumping into Kachaan's desk, the bottle shattering right in front of him.
Teacher. What did the teacher do? He made him pick it up.
"Midoriya. You will be picking this up. Worthless people like you don't deserve a broom to help them. Pick it up. I want this class to be clean by the end of the period."
Worthless. Worthless. Worthless.
He remembers glass digging into his palms, how he cried the way home because his hands were hurting him so much. He was bleeding. There was too much blood.
Just like now. He stared numbly at his bloodied hands, feeling himself shake at the thought of his dad seeing him like this. He was going to return him. He won't want him anymore. He can't even clean properly.
"Oh baby, what are you doing?" Shouta breathed out, heart dropping when he saw the blood on his kid’s hands.
The man quickly gathered him in his arms, placing the kid on the couch before pulling out a first aid kit from one of the drawers next to the TV.
"Hey, hey calm down, kiddo. It's okay. It's just a cup, darling. Just a cup." Shouta cooed, cupping Izuku's face in his hands when the boy shook his head.
"I am sorry! I am s-sorry! I didn't mean to." Izuku cried out, breathing heavily as the man soothed him by rubbing his arms.
"Shh, baby. Let me just bandage your hands, okay? Then we can talk about this. No one is mad at you. No one." Shouta firmly said, moving to get the alcoholic wipes from the kit.
"This will sting a bit, sweetheart." He told him, expression softening when his kid whined at the feeling.
Once he was finished, he placed multiple bandages on the cuts he acquired, pressing a kiss to his hand to calm him down. Shouta moved to sit next to him, pulling Izuku into his lap in the process.
"You're okay, honey. Everything's okay." He muttered, rocking the kid back and forth till soothe him. He closed his eyes when his son only kept mumbling out apologies.
"Hey, no apologising. It wasn’t your fault. It's just an accident, love. It can happen." Izuku buried his head in the crook of the man's neck at the words, feeling himself calm down at the sensation of calloused hands rubbing his belly.
It was a thing they developed after one of his nightmares. A few weeks after adopting him, Shouta helped him through one of his nightmares that left him inconsolable. The man had no idea what to do, so he placed his palm on the boy's bare stomach, and rubbed gently until he began to breath properly. Ever since then, it was a tactic that Shouta used whenever his little boy couldn't sleep, or to calm him down when upset.
"You wanna tell me why you freaked out so bad, hon?" Shouta softly asked, pressing a kiss to his head.
"I-I broke a bottle once at school. Teacher didn't like it." Izuku mumbled, sniffling into the man's shirt.
"Oh?" Shouta's eyes narrowed, already plotting in his head to take down the school his son was in.
"Made me p-pick it up, then gave me detention for weeks." The more Shouta heard about this sorry excuse of a man, the more he wanted to beat him until he was unrecognisable.
"I hope you know he was wrong for doing that. No one deserves that." Shouta said, frowning when his son didn't look him in the eye.
"Hey, talk to me." Shouta tilted his chin, cupping the kid's face so he can look him in the eye.
"It was . . . when I was still quirkless, so it doesn't really matter." The boy mumbled those words with such defeat it broke Shouta's heart to see his normally determined baby so broken.
"No," Shouta stated, a hint of the sterness he uses at school showing. "It doesn't matter if you were quirkless. A teacher's job is to protect you, not to intentionally cause your distress over a fucking cup. You are just like everyone else. That teacher had no right to hurt you like that. Am I understood?"
At the nod Izuku gave him, Shouta pressed a kiss to the top of his head.
"You don't deserve any of that bullshit, baby. None of it." He whispered, feeling his son whimper into his chest at the words.
They stay in that position for a while, Izuku's tears stopping as his dad held him close.
"No, darling. Don't do that, it'll hurt your eyes, baby." Shouta cooed when he saw Izuku rubbing his fists over his eyes.
"Not a baby." Izuku grumbled, yet proceeded to let himself be carried to his bedroom, legs swinging next to his dad's side.
"Yes, you are. You're my baby." Shouta teased him, placing him on the bed gently.
"Feeling sleepy, huh?" Shouta snorted, watching the kid fall back into his pillows with a hum.
"Goodnight, sweetheart." Was the last thing Izuku heard before his brain gave up, his eyes closing after such a long day.