Chapter Text
Shouta sighs heavily as the kids explore around the building, his phone vibrating dangerously in his pocket before he goes in to tune the notifications from Nedzu’s security systems.
Hizashi gives him a sly look from the kitchen, putting stuff he’d bought away while waiting for the students to wander in to inquire about dinner. He very obviously loves the space, but doesn’t quite come out and say it, and instead tries to give Shouta an embarrassment overload from his wiggling eyebrows and cocky grin.
“Come on Shou, this is exciting! Besides, you’ll be a great Dad… I mean, ’Monitor’.” He glares at Hizashi, who doesn’t let his grin disappear for a second.
He shakes his head, bringing up a quick log of where everyone was. Uraraka and Hagakure were poking around upstairs, Koda and Mashirao were exploring the forest around the dorms, Shouji and Tokoyami were still setting up their rooms, and Hitoshi was in his room napping. As for Izuku and Denki… well, he was looking right at them, using the remote to scroll through the channels on the dorm television.
He was debating how useful it would be to try and talk to Izuku, about how he had cavalierly destroyed his fingers during a glorified training exercise… but he held his tongue, knowing it might not be taken the right way. Besides, the boy seemed fine for now, despite his right arm being in a dark blue sling. There were just too many things to discuss, so many things he needed to talk about with the boy, and there was never a good time to do it.
His phone chimes again, telling him their guest has made her way to the elevator to come down. He doesn’t change that alert setting, and instead sighs heavily before walking back to the security station.
It was a hidden door on the first floor, inside of which was a series of monitors showing him the public areas of the dorms. He quickly cycles through the footage, seeing Inko is indeed done packing things into one of the fifth floor rooms and is starting to do her own walk arounds. He also takes the time to note where the girls are poking around, noting how Uraraka seems to be looking for something specific, not just wandering around.
He sighs, leaning back and rubbing his eyes to try and get the stinging to stop. He had to get sunglasses if he was going to be watching these monitors so often, or get industrial strength eye drops. He briefly took a moment to regret volunteering to do this, but there’s a smile on his face, one even he isn’t aware of.
He steps back out… stopping as Arashi wanders into the room, looking around. She flicks her ears, then walks around the office chair he’d brought in here to watch them. She looks under the desk where the monitors were, and immediately runs up and into the pile of yellow fabric that was stuffed under there. She crawls into the mouth, and quickly makes herself at home before looking at him.
He walks out of the security room, leaving the door just open enough that Arashi could escape if she wanted. He goes back towards the main living room, seeing Koda and Mashirao having a whispered conversation as they walk in through the sliding door to the backyard.
They make their way to the seats around the television, and Shouta smiles a bit as Koda nervously talks with the two sitting there. The four quickly start up a conversation, one which slowly gets Koda to release the tension he’d been holding the entire day.
The elevator dings open, and Shouta walks over as Inko walks out. He stops next to the elevator building, stopping as she adjusts the light purple jacket she had on over her deep red blouse. “I just finished unpacking… and if I can be of any help, just ask.”
Shouta nods, tapping on his pocket while looking over at the couch. “I can handle it… but if I ever miss anything, and I know that trying to track twenty kids I will eventually miss something…”
Inko nods, a wistful smile on her face as the door closes behind her. “Raising one kid, there’s so many little moments you never know you miss until years later. Now multiply that by twenty, add in a grand conspiracy with the most powerful villain in the world and the smartest creature on the planet… not that I’d ever give this up, but I wonder where I’d be if I didn’t know what all was happening.”
Shouta takes a moment, imagining how much less stress he’d have if he didn’t know about One for All. He takes that thought… and tosses it away, not wasting the time growing it any further.
The elevator dings, and Inko quickly steps out of the way as Shouji and Tokoyami walk out. The two nod to him, then quickly notice Inko quietly standing behind them.
They don’t jump back, but there’s definitely that undercurrent of tension as they politely bow to her. They focus on the ground, missing the split second smile on Inko’s face. “Um, Midoriya-san. We weren’t… we didn’t expect you to be here.”
Inko laughs a bit, and the kids look up to her facade slipping ever so slightly. “Oh, you don’t have anything to worry about. Nedzu just asked a few people to help Eraser while you all settle in, making sure everything is in working order. Besides which, a villain attack caused a minor outage in my apartment building, so I needed a place to stay anyway.”
The boys take the words at face value, and turn as Uraraka and Hagakure walk in. Uraraka stumbles when she recognizes Inko, but the invisible girl keeps moving towards the group on the couch without missing a beat. “So, do we all vote on what’s for dinner, or does someone just start making it and we all have that?”
---
Izuku smiles, really glad to see Kouji opening up as the four of them talk. And that’s all he tries to think about, trying to focus on exactly that and nothing else.
Not the pain of his broken fingers, which were feeling better now. Just a constant dull throbbing, his heartbeat echoing all the way down his arm as he smiles through the pain. Not the terror of his house being robbed, and some of his notebooks being looked through and taken. Not the dread of the world’s most powerful supervillain apparently setting a target on him, and probably plotting to hurt the people he cares about now that he’s finally opened up and started to care about more people than his Mom…
Everyone looks over as Toru calls out, and he takes the moment to quietly grimace and shudder at the feeling of his hand burning. He’d been given something to numb it out, but those weird feelings of something under his nails and in his palm were both coming back, adding in to each of his fingers feeling like they’d been dipped in Katsuki’s sweat and lit up.
‘At least that last one makes sense… where are those other feelings coming from?’
“I’m kind of up for anything. How bout you, ‘Zuku?” He looks up, Denki gently knocking on his shoulder.
“Oh… anything’s fine with me.” He looks around, shrugging as he mentally takes count of everyone. He sees everyone but Hitoshi is now downstairs… including his mom, who everyone but Denki is looking at with a bit of apprehension.
She smiles, brushing her hair back and walking towards the kitchen. “I’d be happy to help with anything you’d like, Yamada-kun. I have a whole box of recipes I’ve collected over the years.”
Present Mic, who’d been behind a corner in the kitchen, laughs loud enough that everyone tilts their head and reaches for their ears. Even Dark Shadow materializes to do so, which get’s Izuku’s gears spinning as Present Mic says something back.
But he doesn’t focus on the exact words, focusing on the puzzle set in front of him. ‘Where does Dark Shadow go when he isn’t out? Also, how does he grow to giant size like during the Storm Zone but then shrink? Is Dark Shadow willingly feeding on material in the surroundings, and then actively not and shrinking when Fumi doesn’t need him? But if he’s stored under clothes, wouldn’t that make him really…’
“See, he’s really cute when he does his whispering thing.”
Izuku stops, a blush creeping onto his face at Denki’s sudden comment. He looks over, seeing Denki is in fact talking to Toru and Ochako, who were both… Well, he assumes Toru is wide eyed. Because Ochako definitely was, and Toru was propped up on her hand probably looking in his direction.
He covers his face with his left hand, his right reaching up to do so before being stopped by the sling it was in. He leans back, the hiss of pain stopping the embarrassed sound that wanted to escape from his mouth. “stop…”
“Not a chance.” Denki slides closer to him, sounding unbearably smug to make up for not being able to see the grin spreading across his face.
The girls giggle, then Toru goes over the couch to sit on Denki’s other side. “Izuku mentioned katsudon in the cafeteria the other day, and my dad made some that was really good. I honestly wouldn’t mind eating something like that again…”
Izuku peeks between his fingers, seeing Kouji giving him a sympathetic look while biting his lower lip to keep from laughing. He sits on the opposite side of the seating arrangements, and Mashirao moves over as Fumikage and Mezou wander over as the volume starts to get turned up.
“And Yuuei’s Sports Festival kicked off with a serious bang today, with the First Years showing off some explosive displays of power that put previous Third Year Classes to shame. There were several new members of Pro Hero Families who took the spotlight, including the son of Endeavor, Ingenium’s younger brother, and yet another member of the Aoyama family working their debut in Japan.”
Izuku looks at the screen, then smiles a bit at the familiar face. Daikaku Miyagi, a man in his later years with a Quirk that caused two horns to sprout from his temples. He’d always had a bit of ‘Quirkless Rights’ in the segments he got to write, which might go to explaining why he never really moved up in the industry. But it was nice, having such a public figure who spoke up like that.
His co-anchor, a woman in a white fleece jacket with brown hair that framed her face in uneven chops, nods while footage from the sports festival plays on the monitors behind them. “Yeap, a real big splash for a lot of these young heroes. Plus the Dance they did for the intermission, really helping show off the athleticism and multiple purposes for not as combative Quirks. Too bad most of them got eliminated early in the combat events… but they got to make their impact in other ways.”
Toru starts grumbling from Denki’s other side, her words getting too garbled before Izuku could hear them. But Denki and Ochako both mutter affirmations, though Denki seems mostly passive while Ochako sounds just a bit offended. Which was fair… the other anchor didn’t have to be so dismissive.
“Yes, well it can’t all be about the young heroes. There was a Support Student who made it into the tournament rounds, even if she ended up conceding after her first round. But it wasn’t before making an impression, I’ll say that…”
The two go quiet, and a few seconds of footage play of Hatsume getting lifted into the air by the stilts that extended from the side of her backpack, her jet boots pushing her quickly into the air with the mad cackling of a fantasy witch. Tenya goes shooting past her, his own support gear keeping him in the ring.
The camera goes to the female anchor… who stares at her prompter, then slowly raises her hand to her mouth. She looks like she’s trying not to smile, but there’s real fear in her eyes. “No… oh, that is not right at all…”
There’s a moment, and she takes a breath as she tries to steel her nerves. There’s someone in the background of the station, and everyone gives each other a look of confusion.
“Well… that public humiliation wasn’t… wasn’t the worst thing to happen to… good lord… to happen to the Iida Family. Iida Tensei, Ingenium, was seen being rushed to the hospital after a joint search by his team and Endeavor in Hosu for the Hero Killer…”
There’s a split second there the anchor hides her face, before the program quickly does the rest for her. The television cuts to someone else reporting on the story, but everyone is frozen, looking at the screen in various stages of horror and confusion.
Izuku looks at the screen, feeling that everyone was looking for a way to broach the subject. “Did… did they make a joking segue to Tenya’s brother being attacked?”
There’s a quiet nod from the boys to the side, then Toru brings a hand up to her face. “What the f…”
---
“…for real, uncool.” Shouto looks over at Shisho, who was awkwardly loosening and tightening his tie to try and do something while they all sat in one of the waiting rooms of the Endeavor agency.
It was him, Natsuo, and Shisho in a room, waiting in a boardroom while the adults talked in the other room. His brother had made sure they’d all gotten into the same car, and he’d been told what had happened as they were driven over to the building. They’d been quickly guided to a conference room with dark wood walls, and then just sitting around for almost an hour according to the television. Shouto sat at the end of the table furthest from the door, while Natsuo and Shisho grabbed chairs and moved them against the door’s wall with a knowing nod to each other.
Shisho had decided to change into formal clothes, and kept looking at himself with his phone’s camera. He keeps checking for visible tattoos and piercings, which shouldn’t be as difficult as he was making it, given how many little metal rings he’d taken out when he’d walked into the room. He had a suit jacket tossed over the back of his chair, and his arm was covered in runic design that seemed to wriggle along his skin as he continued to fix his clothes. He’s sitting next to Natsuo, who’s dressed in the exact same casual clothes he’d been sitting in all day.
The guy looks over at him, and smiles as he quickly pushes up his glasses. “You don’t talk much, do you? Got any books you like?”
Shouto stares at him, then shrugs. He had changed to a plain white shirt and jeans after the Sports Festival, a bandage on his right side from where he’d gotten hit in the head by an ice block. “No.”
Shisho waits for him to continue, then awkwardly shifts in his seat when nothing else is said. He brings his hand to his head, massaging his temple with his index while splaying the others to block the light from reaching past his sunglasses. “Kay, not the talkative type.”
Natsuo looks over at him, huffing while trying to keep his face neutral. “Can you chill? If you’re the nervous wreck, what exactly do I bring to this arrangement?”
“Money, celebrity, more often than not sobriety…”
Natsuo smacks Shisho’s knee, smiling while covering his face. Shouto just quietly watches, eyes shifting up to the television for a moment as the story about Ingenium rolls.
The door to the conference room opens, and Fuyumi walks in with one of the sidekicks guiding her in. She nodded politely to them, then she quickly walked over to them. “Shouto, I’m so sorry I couldn’t watch the festival today! I made sure to record it… oh, and who are you?”
Shisho smiles at her as she looks him over, and pushes his glasses firmly back into place before offering his hand to her. “A friend of Natsuo’s. His roommate for about a year now, if you’re curious.”
Fuyumi nods, stammering for a moment. Shouto tilts his head… then takes a bit of a breath, things clicking for him. “Oh… well, nice to meet you. Natsuo isn’t over often enough to talk with us about how things are. At least he’s talking to someone.”
Natsuo looks up, a scowl forming on his face. He opens his mouth to speak… but stops as the door slides open, and Endeavor walks in. He had on the same business suit that Shouto remembered seeing him ironing yesterday, though the jacket looked ruffled and very unprofessional. He walks into the room, and quickly closes the door while looking at his three children. He focuses on Shouto for a moment, and Shouto stares back with as blank a stare as he can muster.
His gaze quickly flashes over to Shisho, giving him an appraising look. “Who are you, and what are you doing here?”
Shisho stands, stepping out to be more visible before bowing his head. “Genson Shisho, Endeavor-san. Natsuo offered to take me to the Sports Festival as payment for getting him some textbooks for next semester early so he could study.”
Shouto looks at Natsuo, who’s staring at the middle distance instead of focusing on anything. He was carefully not looking at either of the red haired men in the room, almost like if he sat still enough he might vanish. Which didn’t work with Endeavor, but if it made him more comfortable, Shouto wasn’t going to say anything.
Endeavor nods, then takes a breath before taking a few steps from the door. “I… with the way this case is unfolding, it’s possible that any of you could be targeted as a way to reach me. With my Official License suspended, all I can do is act to defend you all should we be attacked, or act when given permission by a fully licensed Hero. Which means… things are going to be different for the foreseeable future…”
Fuyumi nods, notably correcting her posture and nodding vigorously as Endeavor spells out a lot of information that they already have. Natsuo rolls his eyes, and Shisho quietly sits down. He shifts his back, then looks down at his arm, noticing he hadn’t put his jacket on before Endeavor had come in.
“Among other things, Shouto is going to be moving into the dorms at Yuuei this Saturday…”
Shouto looks up, eyebrow raising before he can stop himself. Endeavor looks over at him, and Shouto can see how he’s also putting up the same kind of front. He’s obviously not on top of his game; Shouto can’t tell what the game is, only that Endeavor is extremely thrown off. ‘Maybe because you used your fire…’ Shouto almost smiles at the thought, then he looks at the ground to avoid giving anything away. He shouldn’t be happy he used his fire… but there was this weird vindication he was feeling.
But that stops as the door to the room opens. And he can feel a wave of cold flow through the room, not coming from Natsuo and Fuyumi. He pulls a bit back into his chair as a vaguely familiar woman walks in, and everyone turns to look at her. She had long white hair, combed to one side over a white fleece jacket she had buttoned up to the midriff.
Shisho visibly shudders, and slides on his suit jacket as Natsuo and Fuyumi both slowly walk towards her. She smiles at them, walking forward and opening her arms.
Fuyumi quickly runs over to the woman, throwing her arms around her and burying her face into her shoulder. “Mom… it’s so good to see you again.”
Natsuo goes in too, but Shouto sits there, trying to process everything that rears up in his chest at being told who she is. Because it’s an entire conflux of emotions, and he’s not quite sure where he should start with all of them.
His mom hugs both of them, then she pulls back to kiss them both on the forehead. “Natsuo… you’re almost taller than me, now! And Fuyumi… dear, you look like you’re not sleeping well. How stressful is your job?”
Shisho laughs a bit, and Shouto quietly chortles at the absurdity as Natsuo smiles. “Mom… you’ve barely been here five seconds, and you’re already nitpicking? Come on…”
Rei turns to him, quickly focusing on the side of his neck. “I am not criticizing you. You are my children, and I have a right to be concerned… just look at you. You look like you were mauled by a feral cat.”
She fixes the collar of his jacket, and Natsuo’s face flushes before he backs away and he starts fussing over his jacket. Fuyumi laughs, and Shouto looks over at Shisho, who unapologetically smirks at Natsuo.
Rei turns towards him… and there’s an incredibly obvious tension as her smile fades and she composes herself. He’s still drawn back in his seat, but he tries not to look angry at her… even though he thinks some part of the emotion in his chest is anger…
“Shouto… it’s been too long…” She doesn’t walk forward, a sad sort of acceptance at him not approaching her.
Endeavor opens his mouth, looking like he was about to tell Shouto to do something. But Rei holds up her hand, and he surprises everyone by immediately closing his mouth. He walks over to the table, and sits at the other head opposite Shouto.
“I know… there was no excuse for what I did, Shouto. I… I only hope you understand I never wanted to hurt you. If you could allow me to prove that… well, we all have mistakes that need to be fixed for this family to come together again. All of us.”
Rei pointedly looks at Enji, not noticing Natsuo and Shouto cluing in. But Shouto notices Natsuo catching a hidden meaning, and how he immediately looks at Shisho with a concerned look.
Then Shouto notices Shisho noticing his noticing, and how he tilts his head so Natsuo looks over at him. The two brothers share a look… and Natsuo just takes a breath as Fuyumi hugs her mother, completely oblivious to the absolute chaos about to unfold around her.
Enji, for his part, seems to notice all the little ticks… and then lets his eyes flash over to the vents. There was a small red thing up against the metal, then a quick, quiet rattle as it vanished.