Work Text:
When it first happened, one could argue the two men simply had no idea what their newly adopted five year old would do. It was the first thing he had actually ASKED to do instead of simply wanting to but staying quiet, and it had seemed harmless enough, so of course they had said yes, following dutifully behind their kid as Izuku went to open the door, excited to see what lay behind it, knocking so dramatically.
Hizashi and Shouta were very, very lucky that it was only Nemuri. The kid, upon seeing a complete stranger (although given the only people he knew were in the room with him, no matter who was at the door, it would have been a stranger, so what else he had expected was a mystery to all), but still, the moment little Izuku made eye contact with Nemuri, his eyes darkened.
"No! Stranger Danger!" Izuku half yelled half squeaked- all his yells would come off that way given he was a child, but it was the first time the two men had heard the boy yell, so they were thoroughly distracted by that. And the fact that Izuku had slammed the door in Nemuri's face, right as the woman had stepped forward and started to kneel to introduce herself.
When Hizashi had Izuku gathered up into his arms, Shouta opened the door, and the three found themselves staring at Nemuri, blood running from her now crooked nose. That... wasn’t great. The four remained silent, apprehension filling their features, although Izuku's formed from something far different to the stunned surprise of the other three, as he squirmed in Hizashi's hold, tears bubbling over and he did his best to cover his eyes and ramble apologies.
Shouta found himself taking the kid, bouncing Izuku slightly in an attempt to calm him while Hizashi focused on helping Nemuri.
As Shouta bounced the kid slightly and hummed reassurances, he sighed internally. They would have to have a talk about the correct way to go about handling the stranger danger rule. They obviously didn't want their kid to be so naïve as to completely trust anyone, especially not given the added danger of him being the child of heroes and therefore a target if anyone found out who he was. Still, they couldn't have Izuku slamming doors into the faces of every stranger who came by. It was a balancing act they had never prepared for, but they hadn't exactly prepared for any of this parenting stuff, so they thought they were doing fairly well for now at least.
---
The second time Izuku bounded excitedly to the door, they had expected it to go much smoother. It wasn’t Nemuri, but Izuku knew that, and over the last year he had gained some actual understanding of stranger danger and the fact that others were allowed to come to the door.
So, despite not expecting anyone and therefore not knowing who was on the other side of the door, they followed, letting Izuku answer it.
Perhaps they should have been ready for the ear splitting scream that erupted the moment he opened the door. Izuku had never been a normal kid after all. Still, it came out of seemingly nowhere and the two had no clue who was behind the door that only Izuku had seen out of, so, moving on pure instinct, Hizashi wrapped their kid up into his arms, creating a protective bubble, while Shouta whipped out his capture scarf and opened the door, defensive and ready for an attack, only to be stopped short at the sight of Hound Dog, frozen in place, hand still up in a fist as though halfway through the motion of knocking.
"Hound Dog?" Shouta asked, trepidation clear in his voice.
"I was just coming by to drop off some notes on the kids for your first year but... is now a bad time?"
Shouta looked worriedly over to his husband, still cradling the now crying and shaking kid. Hizashi just shrugged.
"Just, uh, give us one moment?" Shouta asked, and Hound Dog nodded easily, pulling the door closed in front of him so Shouta wouldn't have to close it on him. That was... thoughtful? He supposed? Shouta shook off the uncertainty, moving to stand behind Hizashi so he could meet Izuku's eyes over his husband's shoulder, "What happened kiddo?"
"He's gonna eat Bones!" Izuku sobbed, and Shouta had to hold back a snort at that. Right. Dog quirk. Izuku sees dogs as predators towards cats because kids understand it in that way, and it probably didn't help that their cat was called Bones, which is something dogs are stereotypically known to like.
"He won't eat Bones, I promise. It's just a mutation quirk. You know about those. He's still human, he just looks like a dog, yeah?"
"He- He won't eat Bones?" Izuku sniffled, and Shouta nodded, ruffling the kids hair.
"I promise."
"He's right Listener, besides, Hound Dog is actually a little scared of cats, apparently one swiped at him when he was a kid. He won't go near Bones," Hizashi assured, and Izuku visibly relaxed, rubbing at his tears with his sleeve.
"O- Okay," Izuku agreed hesitantly, and Shouta smiled, opening the door once more and greatfully taking the stack of papers that the hero had retrieved while they had been calming Izuku down. Hound Dog didn't come inside, and while they would apologise again to him later, they were grateful to not add stress to their kid.
---
To be fair to Hizashi and Shouta, it'd been nearly two years since then, so they had thought it was over. Izuku was almost nine, and he was... not well adjusted, that would be hard given the kid's past before Shouta had found him- but he was much more used to people.
All that to say, they hadn't even thought to stop Izuku bounding to the door in excitement upon hearing the knocking. Shouta at least was wise enough to trail after the kid, even if the action was based entirely on instincts rather than any meaningful matter.
When Izuku opened the door, revealing a newly debuted Hawks, the kid froze, staring at the young pro with wide eyes. Suddenly, Shouta was flooded with the memories of the last two times Izuku had opened the door and he moved swiftly forward, ready to do damage control, only to freeze once more at his son's rambling. Izuku was rambling, eyes wide and sparkling, as he dissected Hawks' quirk, or more specifically, broke down about 30 different ways to make his quirk ineffective and take him out. Hawks looked terrified, and Izuku just kept going.
"Izuku, kid," Shouta warned quietly, "That's some good analysis, but remember how we talked about how to properly present your analysis?"
Izuku spun around, eyes widening slightly before bounding away, mumbling something about needing to create a powerpoint. That should keep him busy for a while.
"Sorry about that, was there something you needed?" Shouta asked the young pro who was still stood shell shocked and staring after Izuku in disbelief. Shouta sighed, nodding for the hero to come in. If the commission had given Hawks his address, it must be important, and he couldn’t exactly return the hero broken by his kid.
Perhaps they should work on introductions with the kid. Something better then the immediate on the spot analysis that was scarily murder centred. Don't get Shouta wrong, he adored his kid's perhaps murderous theories, but it wasn’t exactly the most reassuring introduction.
---
In hindsight, working on improving social skills and introductions might not have been the perfect plan Shouta had thought it out to be.
Izuku was 13, and that meant he was going to middle school and usually got home a good hour or more before Hizashi or Shouta did, which was completely fine, because the kid enjoyed his quiet hours to work on his analysis, and it wasn’t like he didn't know how to look after himself. He was far more socially adept, now actually experienced with interacting with others given that he was no longer being homeschooled, so on the off chance someone did appear at their door without warning, Izuku would likely be able to handle it until Hizashi or Shouta got home.
That was a great theory, but apparently, in practice, that meant that when a notorious villain showed up at their door for some unknown reason, Izuku just happily invited him in, offering him tea and snacks and having a conversation about society and quirk discrimination and the negative impacts of hero worship.
So, when Shouta and Hizashi returned, they stopped short and stared openly at the scarred fire user lounging on their couch and lazily adding thoughts here and there to Izuku's rambling.
"Dabi," Shouta practically growled the name, his hands gripping his capture weapon tightly, readying himself to flare his quirk any moment now, "You are going to move away from my kid SLOWLY, no sudden movements, and don't even consider activating your quirk."
Izuku's attention which had previously been solely on the villain moved to Shouta, his head tilting and brows furrowing before that same gaze turned to Dabi.
"Relax Eraser, I'm not gonna hurt your kid. I'm actually actively against hurting kids. That's why I'm here. I have heard rumours of some boogeyman gathering an army of criminals planning to go after your school for some fucking reason."
"Please don't swear in front of my kid," Shouta groaned, as though that were even remotely close to being one of his actual priorities. It wasn’t. How could it be when there was a fucking villain in his apartment? Dabi at least snorted at that, clearly just as aware how batshit crazy that statement was in the grand scheme of things.
"Look, as lovely of a time as I've had with your kid- he's not as stupid as most hero brats are- I get the strong feeling that you aren't going to hear anything I say while he's nearby, so shall we take a walk?"
Shouta hesitated. He really didn't want to leave his kid after Dabi just spent who knows how long with him, but at the same time, a villain coming up to him with information wasn’t something he could ignore. Neither was Dabi knowing his address, but that was a seperate problem. He nodded, gesturing the man towards the door, stopping past his son and quickly checking in the concerningly calm boy, before following Dabi out.
---
After that whole fiasco, they went back to the stranger danger strategy. They would rather Izuku react appropriately to a potential threat at their door- even if Dabi was now in a rehab program, had promised no one else knew Shouta and Hizashi's address, and the three had moved. So, Izuku went back to the stranger danger method, with a touch more refinement known as checking who it was before opening the door. That, of course, did not stop Izuku, who most definitely knew who the man was, and had known before opening, immediately slamming it in Endeavor's face. Clearly intentionally.
Shouta sighed, slipping past his son and opening the door, moving to apologise to the man only for Izuku to slam the door shut again. Shouta blinked at his son, whose arms were folded in front of him and his lips were pressed tightly together.
"We have to see what he wants," Shouta pointed out, opening the door, this time keeping a firm hand on the handle so it wouldn't be slammed shut. Thankfully, Izuku didn't try that. He did however, wait until the man was inside before dropping his folded arms into tight fists at his sides and glaring directly at the pro with murder in his eyes. Shouta, again, sighed, before carefully standing behind Izuku, his hands on the boy's shoulders in a way that was just right enough to alert Izuku that should he try to attack the pro, Shouta would hold him back.
"How does it feel to be a child abuser who could be taken down by a kid if it weren't for Eraserhead being here to stop me?" Izuku snarled instead of actually attacking like he so clearly wanted to.
Endeavor opened his mouth in what was clearly about to be a yell, but before he could say anything, his flames were dashed completely, a clear sign of Shouta's quirk at work.
"Do not yell at my son," Shouta warned, before dropping his quirk again. Endeavor gritted his teeth, but did not yell, speaking in a dangerously low voice that did little to scare Izuku. After all, no one could be as intimidating as Shouta after someone (usually Izuku) stole his expresso ice-cream, and that was something Izuku was more than used to.
"I don't know where you heard such ridiculous rumours, but if you dare spread them, I will make sure you regret it."
Izuku felt the way Shouta's hand tightened on his shoulders, clearly readying to snarl at the man for threatening Izuku so blatantly, but Izuku's cutting words beat him to it.
"Oh, like you dealt with Touya?"
"DON'T YOU DARE SAY HIS NAME!"
Shouta pressed Izuku into the couch behind him, sending a glare to tell him to remain seated before dragging the pro out of the apartment. If Endeavor left the building with a broken nose, that was not something for Izuku to know. Especially considering Izuku, who had never dealt well with yelling, was having a clear panic attack.
Well. That decided that. From then on, Izuku was officially banned from opening the door. Was that largely to protect whoever was on the other side? Yes, but it wasn’t the only reason the two protective dads had for it. Still, as they watched their kid grow in feral confidence and still completely lack any sign of social skills, that rule only continued to be applied.
---
It was only when Izuku, now a fully liscence pro hero- (underground and therefore far too broke to be bothered moving out, not that he really felt particularly inclined to)- was twenty two, that he was allowed to open the door again. Not because they trusted him any more than they had before- hell, given how much time at U.A. he had spent with Nedzu, they definitely trusted him LESS when it came to opening the door. However, this was an exception, and it was purely to scare away the reporters who had somehow gotten a hold of leaked information as to where Present Mic lived. Now, had it not been for all the press 1A had caused, Shouta would have been able to answer the door. Unfortunately, while he was not known to be Eraserhead, he was still recognisable, so him answering the door would only make it obvious that it was Mic's apartment. So, they sent the kid who had never been seen in any of the press- how Izuku had managed that no one quite knew- to go scare away the media.
Izuku had stared at his dads in complete shock when they had asked him to answer, before bright vibrant joy split across his face and he practically bounced to the door. Knowing both were out of sight, Izuku didn't hesitate to swing the door wide, grinning when the reporter had a clear mutation quirk. Oh it had been so long (read: 2 days) since he last got to analyse someone new's quirk to their face. Izuku's manic smile only grew as he bounded outside, the door shutting behind him, and practically circled the reporter, rambling excitedly about every aspect of her quirk until she practically sprinted away. Izuku snickered to himself before cartwheeling towards the next reporter, who took one look at him, looked at the shrinking back of the other reporter and turned to sprint away.
Izuku spun to the next victim, but within three minutes the corridor was clear and Izuku begrudgingly slunk back inside. Damn. He'd been hoping for a little more fun than that.