Chapter Text
Izuku was not having much of a fun year.
First of all, he just started his second year of middle school. Normally that'd be all fine and dandy, all he had to do was stick with Kacchan and nobody would bother him.
Except they put Kacchan in a different class this year.
Izuku was fucked.
But oh well, he'd just have to deal with it.
Hopefully next year he'd be in the same class as Kacchan again.
✧
Yeah, no, he wasn't sure if he would survive until next year. It was only a week into the school year and he'd already been shoved into three closets, attacked (with and without quirks) at least a dozen different times, and his lunch has been dumped almost every day.
To make things worse, his phone just started ringing.
It was literally the first class of the day, who could be calling him? Was it a poorly timed spam call?
"Midoriya." Right, apparently this particular sensei (he hadn't memorized all their names yet) required students to answer calls on speaker in front of everyone whenever a phone went off in class. Just his luck.
"Yes, sensei." Carefully, he stood up (after digging his phone out of his bag) and answered the call on speaker.
"Is this Midoriya Izuku?" Probably not a spam call then, seeing how the person had his name.
"That would be me, yes." Something made his stomach twist during the pause after what he said. Everyone waited silently for the next response.
"I regret to inform you that as of ten minutes ago, Midoriya Inko has unfortunately passed away due to a villain attack at-" Izuku didn't hear the rest because he dropped his phone in shock.
There was no way Mom was dead.
He- he just saw her at the school gates. She dropped him off.
Quickly, he picked his phone back up and took it off speaker, damn the possible consequences.
"You're- you're lying! She just- I just- that can't be right! You- you must be mistaken. There's no way she's dead! Don't j-joke about that!" His voice wobbled dangerously, getting progressively higher pitched and more hysterical. This had to be a prank call from some stupid classmate that somehow got his number. Vaguely, he registered the sensei talking to someone on the (severely outdated) radio thing, probably the principal to let him know of Izuku's impending detention or something.
"I'm afraid what I'm saying is true. If you could, where are you right now? I'll send some officers to escort you to the station so we can discuss the next steps from here." Fuck, this was actually real. His vision swam as tears gathered in his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
A few escaped anyways.
"Midoriya, tell them to meet you at the office. You have a free pass for the rest of the day, and it can extend to the end of the week if needed. Bakugou is already waiting." Izuku looked up in shock to see the sensei (he should probably learn their name soon) standing behind their desk awkwardly, looking anywhere but at him.
Izuku stared for a few seconds, before nodding numbly and gathering his stuff. As he rushed out the door and towards the office, he finally let more tears fall as he informed the (assumably) police officer of the schools address. By the time he was in front of the door, he'd hung up.
Taking a couple deep breaths, he opened the door only to immediately be grabbed.
"Izuku, what the fuck is going on? Why the hell was I called to the office? Why are you here? Why do we have the day off? What happened?" Kacchan shook him a little as he fired off questions rapidly, barely giving Izuku a second to respond. He only stopped when he noticed the tears running down his face. Slowly, he pulled Izuku forward until they were both sitting down.
"Explain," he demanded, his tone harsh but his expression worried.
Izuku finally burst.
"I- it- its Mom! I- I got a- a c-call dur-ring class a-and th-the pers-son on the other-er end to-old me that Mo-om w-was caught i-in a villain attack and that sh-she di-i-ied!" Izuku wailed, clutching at Kacchan's arms. He looked shell shocked as he gathered the green-haired boy into a tight hug.
They sat like that the entire time they waited, Izuku's cries slowly dwindling. By the time the tears stopped flowing, two officers walked into the office. Izuku almost started crying again at the sight of them, but tried to keep himself pulled together.
As they followed them into a police car, Izuku kept a tight grip on Kacchan's hand. It was the only thing keeping him grounded right now, and thankfully Kacchan understood that now wasn't exactly the best time to start up his sarcastic complaining. Instead, he stayed by Izuku's side the entire time as a pillar of silent support.
Most of their time at the station went by in a blur for Izuku. When he was asked questions that hurt him too much to answer, Kacchan would for him. He checked back in fully when they started talking about how to handle his living situation.
"Don't even bother, his deadbeat of a father fucked off to America nearly a decade ago, so I doubt you'll be able to convince him to take Izuku now. Your best bet is to let my parents take him in." Kacchan looked pretty frustrated, so maybe he'd already been arguing for a while.
"I'm sorry, but we do have to contact his father. Even if what you're saying is right, we can't just give Midoriya to your parents. There's a lot of paperwork involved and he would have to spend time in the system before the transfer would be approved."
"Fuck that! Just let me parents take him in! I don't give a damn about whatever bullshit paperwork had to be done, I'm not losing my best friend because some negligent asshole let him die in the foster system!' Kacchan looked like he was going to yell more, but Izuku squeezed his hand to get his attention (and save the poor young woman who was just trying to do her job).
"Hey, are you back with us? You conked the fuck out for a while there." Izuku snorted at Kacchan's worry. He was such a mother hen.
"I'm fine now. I think. But, uhm, are we talking about my- my placement?" Izuku chewed his lip as he thought. He didn't know his dad very well, just that he moved around his fourth birthday plus some pictures around the house. Even if he did agree to take custody of him, there was a good chance he'd either bring Izuku to America or leave Izuku to spend some time in the foster system anyways while he came back to Japan, neither of which sounded appealing.
"Yes, we're currently trying to get in contact with your father. If he either never responds or decides to give up custody, then we'll discuss what other options you have." Yeah, both of those sounded feasible.
Well, they did, until Midoriya Hisashi walked through the doors of the police station.
"I'm here for Midoriya Izuku?" he asked the front desk, looking for all the world the picteresque image of a worried father.
"What the fuck," Kacchan whispered. Izuku nodded in understanding. The cat-headed man just pointed at the two, at which point Hisashi turned to greet them.
"Hello Izuku, you probably don't recognize me, but I'm your father. I'm sorry it's been so long, and these aren't quite the circumstances I was hoping to see you again under." His tone was soft as he kneeled in front of the two boys.
"I've, uhm, seen pictures." Was surreal the right word for this? Or perhaps calling it a fever dream would be more accurate.
"How the hell did you get to Japan so fast? Pretty sure you were just in America, last I fucking checked," Kacchan questioned, radiating distrust. Hisashi blinked before he seemed to recognize him.
"Katsuki? You've gotten quite big! But to answer your question, I was already in Japan. I was planning on making a surprise visit to Izuku and Inko when... Well." The mood shifted sharply into something more somber, and Izuku felt tears threatening the corners of his vision again.
But really, what the fuck was his life? His mom dies and his dad just happened to be in Japan for a perfectly timed visit to be free to take custody of Izuku without much complications?
Fishy as hell if you ask him.
Of course, he wouldn't question it too much for now. He was just happy to not be inevitably kicked out onto the streets by the first foster home he was placed in.
As Hisashi went through the paperwork, as well as every other moment they had alone, Katsuki expressed his opinion of the man very clearly.
"Something's off, Izuku! I'm telling you, his current everything is utter bullshit. I don't trust him. I mean, c'mon! He disappears for a fucking decade and suddenly he's in Japan just in time to take custody of you? It doesn't make sense."
"I don't trust him either, Kacchan, but currently he's my best and only bet for staying out of the system as much as possible. Besides, he seems nice so far." Kacchan just grumbled in response.
Izuku didn't want to admit how much he agreed with him.
Before he knew it, he was heading back to his old apartment to grab his stuff, leaving Kacchan to wait for Mitsuki to pick him up.
✧
"Alright, I want you to grab everything you think is essential, or too sentimental to leave behind. Unfortunately I don't have much room in my car, so try to limit yourself." Bullshit, Izuku saw how spacious that car was. But he didn't really have a place to argue, so he just went around graving the important stuff. Obviously he packed clothes and toiletries, he grabbed an All Might figure his mom got him as well as a custom Eraserhead figure Kacchan commissioned. As much as it hurt him, he would probably have to leave the rest of his merch behind.
Moving on (after grabbing his favorite blankets and pillows), he carefully stepped into his mom's room.
It was normal.
Upsettingly so.
He didn't linger for long, even though he knew he would regret it. He just grabbed a few framed pictures, his mom's favorite cardigan, and the three photo albums in her closet. He tried his best to stuff them into the backpack he was bringing alongside his duffel and school bag, but it wasn't working all too well, so he put what he couldn't fit into his school bag.
As he moved to leave the room, he noticed his mom's little jewelry stand.
She had never worn jewelry that often, they were mostly just shiny trinkets she liked to look at. That was probably a part of the latent bunny traits from her great grandfather.
He stared for a second longer before giving in and grabbing a random handful, shoving it into his pocket without looking and hurrying out into the living room. His father wasn't in there anymore, so the man was probably waiting in the car.
Izuku paced around, doing a last sweep of the house. He ended up grabbing a few more pictures of him and his mom from around the living room, before finally deciding that it was time to go.
He moved to leave, hand on the doorknob, but hesitated. He looked back, taking in the apartment one last time.
He was never going to come back.
He would never again sit on the couch late into the night, waiting to greet his mom after a long day at work.
They would never dance around together in the kitchen, screaming along to old songs and trying not to burn dinner.
His mom would never help him patch up injuries from school.
He would never see his mom again.
His mom was gone.
She was dead.
Furiously, he scrubbed the tears out of his eyes. He couldn't have a breakdown (again) now, his father was waiting for him in the car.
Still, he took in first home he'd ever known for a final time, before locking the door behind him.
It was going to be the last home he'd known for a long while.