Chapter Text
It was a very exciting day for little Izuku bean. First, Kacchan got his quirk (it was so cool!), then his Dad came back for a visit and brought him a limited edition All Might figurine that was only sold in America! (He got one for Kacchan too, but that's fine!). Then he left the same day. (Not even up to 6 hours in the house, weird!) Then he got to go to the quirk counselor with Kacchan and learn about his explosions! He's going to be a good hero someday with that quirk; now he just had to wait for his to come in! Then the two friends went to a playground under the supervision of the shrewd Mama Bakugo to have fun after their long day.
"...ku!"
It was a very exciting day for little—too little—Izuku bean. His mom had hit him for the first time that morning, and he couldn't stop thinking about how it had hurt but felt it was his fault. He had taken her favorite pen to write in his notes without telling her. She was just training him not to steal, and she apologized and made katsudon later, so they were fine. Right?
"...zuku!"
If that was the case, why was she ignoring him and only focusing on Kacchan today?
"Izuku!"
He startled out of his thoughts to see the worried face of his best friend. "O-oh, I'm sorry, Kacchan, I was lost in thought..."
The red-eyed blonde didn't seem to buy the lame excuse but thankfully let it go. "You're mumbling again... and you're sitting in sand."
Izuku realized for the first time that he was sitting on a pile of sand and not a bench or even a flat stone. He quickly stood up, embarrassed, and dusted down his clothes. "Oh no... I'm all sandy now. I wish Mom wouldn't notice the sand on my pants, or she's going to be mad at me..."
Kacchan rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand. "That's your problem. Mom's calling us. It's time to go home. Keep up." And proceeded to drag Izuku to where his Auntie Mitsuki stood waiting.
He chuckled and let his explosive friend drag him, noting that he wore gloves now. "Must be because of his quirk."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Tch. Nerd." So he had heard me.
"You're a bigger nerd than I am, Kacchan!" Which was true, Kacchan was really smart.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am—"
"Boys!"
"Sorry, Mom." "Sorry, Auntie Mitsuki."
Aunt Mitsuki ruffled both our heads with a sigh and took our hands. "It's fine. Nice to see you two getting along, albeit in a very interesting way."
Kacchan huffed. "Of course we get along; 'Zuku is my future wife!"
"..."
"..."
"Pft—! Ahem—! That's lovely, Katsuki. I also think Izuku would look good in a wedding dress."
Izuku glanced bewildered from Auntie Mitsuki, trying not to laugh, to Kacchan, who looked like he'd just solved world hunger by the expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Kacchan, um...but I'm not a girl. I might look like one—, to you, I guess—but I promise I'm not one, so I can't marry you- Oh, don't be mad!" For his expression had twisted into one of anger, while Auntie Mitsuki was doing her best to remember to breathe during bouts of laughter.
"You're gonna marry me, 'Zuku! Or do you like someone else? I'll blow them up and show you I'm the strongest!"
"Kacchaaaaann!"
"Ahahahaha- *cough* "
"Mom!" "Auntie!"
---
Izuku was home without much fanfare. Auntie Misuki had stopped dying but still chuckled to herself from time to time. It was a relatively silent trip home. Inko met them at the door and exchanged greetings with Miksuki and fawned over Kacchan before Izuku was allowed in. He took off his shoes and headed to the table, where food was already on it. Katsudon. Yum. He dug into the food and looked up to see his Mom staring at him strangely. That was the beginning.
"I-is something wrong, Mom?"
She startled out of her thoughts and shook her head with a smile. "No, baby, hurry up; we're going to a quirk specialist. I want to see what's causing your quirk to be so late. Just look at Katsuki. Explosions...very strong quirk." She glared at me and said, "We can't have anything less for you than pyrokinesis. We can let the telekinesis slide if it's strong enough, but pyrokinesis is what you should manifest-"
"Mom?"
She looked at me like I just came out of thin air and grabbed my plate. "Shoes on, let's go."
He was thoroughly freaked out, but decided that he trusted his Mom. She was just stressed out. Yeah. Stressed out. But she continued to be dazed even as she was driving, muttering about soiling our bloodline or something, until we reached the clinic.
"Get out and behave. Don't do any of that freakish muttering you usually do."
"...Mom? A—are you okay?"
She smiled. A fake, scary kind of smile. One that didn't seem to reach her lips, much less her eyes. It was terrifying. But it was enough to keep Izuku quiet throughout all the checkups the doctor did on him, and even when he told us that I was quirkless.
"I see..."
That was all she said, and we were off again, homeward bound this time. Izuku had resolved to do something about the deafening silence and possibly ask her if she was feeling alright. "...M-mom—"
"Don't mom me, you quirkless waste of time! God, after all I went through to have you! How dare you become quirkless?!"
Izuku was beyond mortified. Surely she knew better? What was happening? "Mom—that's not how quirks work—I don't have a say in it—"
"Be quiet!", Then she paused, as if contemplating something, and smiled like she had reached an epiphany. "A say... that's it. I can always force you to manifest one! Let's see...for pyrokenesis, fire...hm...let's skip on that for now..."
We were driving over a bridge dangerously fast, and Izuku had all but strapped all the seatbelts of the backseat to myself in fear. "M-mom—! Be careful!"
She looked out the window and grinned. "Telekinesis. Wind." The car stopped.
"W-what's wrong? A—Are we out of gas? But—but it's the middle of nowhere!"
"Get out."
"W-what?"
He watched her exit the car and scrambled out after her. She grabbed his hand and led him to the bridge edge.
"Mom- please stop, I don't like this. Please.."
She ignored his protests and walked straight to the railing, dangling him over the edge. "Time to fly, little canary."
"Mom!"
Izuku felt like his chest was going to burst with how much pain he felt in it and how hard his heart was hammering. He felt a strange emotion stirring and decided to register it as betrayal.
As he blacked out while falling into the torrents below, looking up at his mom's blank face, Izuku realized two things. One, he wouldn't make it to school tomorrow.
And two, his pants were still dusted with sand.
---
Somewhere, a tired detective and a depressed underground hero received a call from a worried neighbor.
"We haven't seen them all week! Inko would never disappear like this! I called the police, but they said they were limited to reports of 48 hours, so I called this agency."
Tsukauchi rubbed his brow and glanced at his husband and best friend sitting across from him. "When was the last time you heard from them?"
The person on the line groaned. "Were you not even listening? I said a week ago!"
"Yes, I heard, but when?"
There was silence then, "Yes! I was babysitting Inko's child for the day. Our children are our best friends, you know. Then I dropped him off at home, and Inko told me they were going to a quirk counselor to look at Izuku's quirk development. She was worried that his quirk isn't coming in because it's too much for him to handle; his dad had a rather strong quirk...never mind! She never called back, and when I went to check up on them, they were gone! Their bags were all there, but no one was there!"
Tsukauchi tried not to sigh; missing cases were the worst kind of cases. Especially if they didn't want to be found. We'll do our best to help you, ma'am. Could you forward any info you have to this number? I'll be sure to look it over...when it's not 3am."
The woman at least had the decency to sound sheepish. "Err...right. Thank you, Detective. I will do that. Have a good night."
Tsukauchi put down the phone to put his head in his hands and heard Oboro giggle. "It's not that bad, babe. At least it's not like that other case where they only called the missing person in after a year."
Shota groaned as he tried not to think about it. "Please don't, 'Ro; I still have nightmares of looking for information on that case with nothing but a first name."
Tsukauchi stood up and stretched. "Well, no matter the case, it's 3am, and I'm going home. I need sleep. I'm pretty sure you have a husband waiting for you at home, Sho."
Oboro stood up as well to grab his stuff. "Pretty sure he's going to be mad that you're late; didn't he say he was making dinner for you today?
Shota tensed and shot up. "Shit! I'm so fucked! I'll see you tomorrow for this case or whatever!" He ran off out the door, leaving the husbands to lock up the agency.
Tsukauchi groaned at the stiffness in his back and called after him halfheartedly. "100 yen for the swear jar, Sho. Ugh. I need a massage."
Oboro grinned. "I can help with that!"
Tsukauchi took one look at him, then pulled him out of the agency.