Chapter Text
“Where the fuck were you?” Bakugou asked as Izuku entered the school. He had stayed home yesterday after the whole ‘Surprise! You have a quirk!’ thing. Present Mic stayed home with him and they baked cookies and had a movie marathon. All pre-quirk movies so that Izuku’s surprise quirk wouldn’t kick in. When Aizawa got home they played Monopoly and then Uno.
“Why is that your business?” Izuku asked, genuinely and without hostility.
“It’s not, I guess. I was just worried. You don’t miss school, ever,” Bakugou replied, looking at the floor. Izuku looked him over for a moment before determining that he was being honest.
“Present Mic called it a mental health day,” Izuku told him.
“Mental health? Are you okay?” Bakugou asked, looking confused.
“Shit happened. I needed some time. I’m okay enough to be at school now,” Izuku answered honestly without revealing much.
“What happened?” Bakugou frowned, apparently concerned.
“Now that isn’t your business,” Izuku said, brushing past him to go to class.
“Izuku, please.” Izuku almost let the slip-up go because Bakugou never says please but…
“Midoriya,” Izuku corrected.
“Fucking damn it!” Bakugou exclaimed which made Izuku stop because it seemed like an overreaction. “I have known you for your whole fucking life! I should be able to call you by your name.”
Izuku glared at him. “Then maybe you should have while you had the chance instead of calling me useless. Pathetic. Stupid. Worthless. Deku!” Bakugou flinched with every insult. Shaking his head, Izuku continued to head for the classroom.
Bakugou continued to trail him, hovering at his desk when Izuku sat down. “What, Bakugou?”
“I’m sorry.” Oh, a please and an apology in one day. I guess the world is ending. “I’m frustrated because I’m worried about you. You’re right, you don’t have to tell me. This is the part where I just… be here? Right?”
Izuku’s face softened because that was progress. “Yeah, it is.”
“Mic, I was thinking,” Izuku started after school. Present Mic was grading papers while Izuku worked on his math homework.
“Yes, little listener?” Present Mic replied, giving Izuku his full attention.
“Auntie might know where my parents are. For the custody case. That detective said he needed to find them so you could adopt me,” Izuku said, nervous. He didn’t really want to hear from his parents.
“Would you like to meet with her and ask?” Present Mic asked. Izuku nodded. “Okay, we’ll call her and set something up.”
A few days after calling Auntie, on a Saturday, Izuku found himself waiting for her at a cafe with Aizawa. Nerves were starting to get the better of him when Auntie finally appeared. With Bakugou and Uncle in tow.
Auntie sat across from Izuku, Uncle sat across from Aizawa, and then they had to pull up an extra chair for Bakugou. He sat between Izuku and Auntie. “Izu-chan! I’m so glad you called,” Auntie said smiling. She looked at Aizawa. “You must be his other guardian?”
“Yes. Aizawa Shouta,” he said flatly, with an unreadable expression.
“Ah, well, my name is Mitsuki and this is my husband Masaru. The brat over here is Katsuki,” she introduced her family. Izuku noticed Aizawa bristled at that last statement but he nodded his acknowledgment.
“Thank you for agreeing to meet with us,” Uncle said in the same soft-spoken voice Izuku remembered. “Izuku stopped coming over when he was about five and although we tried to visit at his own home, obviously Inko had reasons why we couldn’t.”
“You never thought to check on him?” Aizawa asked, not even trying to mask his contempt.
“Are you trying to say this--” Auntie started, always charged up for a fight.
“Mitsu, it’s okay,” Uncle cut her off. He always played the role of peacekeeper. He looked back at Aizawa. “You’re right. We should have done more to get in contact with him. Something obviously wasn’t right and our closeness with Inko blinded us.”
Aizawa’s defensive tension seemed to decrease at that. “Mhm.”
“We also should have taken it more seriously when Katsuki seemed to grow hostile towards Izuku after he was diagnosed quirkless. We thought he was simply upset that they weren’t able to be a high-powered hero duo like they had planned to be,” Uncle continued unprompted.
“Izuku can be a hero. I don’t see why they couldn’t have been a duo. Of course, now, after the bullying…” Aizawa gave Bakugou a pointed look.
“He can’t be a hero!” Bakugou exclaimed and Izuku shot him a glare. Rude. “He’s quirkless!”
For a split second, Izuku thought Aizawa might mention his quirk and his heart dropped. He didn’t want Kac-Bakugou to know. “I’m a pro hero whose quirk has no combat applications. I fight quirkless. He doesn’t need a quirk to be a hero,” Aizawa insisted firmly.
“But surely that would be dangerous,” Auntie defended.
“Not with proper training and a good partner to protect his weak points,” Aizawa said, glaring at Bakugou when he said partner. The unspoken ‘you let him down’ weighed heavy in the air. Bakugou looked down at the table.
“If you put it that way it definitely seems safer,” Uncle commented. “Doesn’t it, Mitsuki?”
“I guess,” she admitted reluctantly.
“Uh, Auntie? I wanted to ask you something,” Izuku spoke up.
“What is it, dear?” she smiled fondly.
“Do you know where my parents moved to?” Izuku asked, anxious. “We need to find them for my adoption case.”
“You’re adopting him?” Auntie gasped, turning her attention to Aizawa.
“We are trying to. The fact that he has living parents makes it difficult. It needs to be confirmed that they abandoned him,” Aizawa explained stiffly.
“Would the fact that they moved to America without him prove that?” Auntie asked.
“They left the whole ass country?” Izuku exclaimed, surprised. Bakugou snickered while Auntie and Uncle looked at him in shock.
“What are you teaching him?” Auntie snapped, smacking Bakugou.
“Ow, fuck, it wasn’t me!” Bakugou growled, shielding his head.
“Who else would he pick that kind of language up from?” Auntie asked, looking ready to smack him again. Instead, Aizawa’s capture weapon wrapped around her wrist.
“If you hit your child again, I will request a wellness check from my friend at the police department,” he threatened.
“It’s just discipline,” she defended. The look Aizawa gave her immediately lowered her confidence in that statement. “H-he doesn’t listen.”
“Kids that are hit tend to be kids that act out,” Aizawa scolded. “If you really can’t interact with him without violence, maybe try family therapy.”
“That is an excellent suggestion,” Uncle interjected. Auntie and Bakugou both glared at him, which he ignored. “We will have to discuss it at home. While we are here, I’d like to help Izuku.”
“Right, sorry,” Auntie agreed. “Inko and Hisashi moved to Portland, Oregon I believe. I last spoke to Inko over the phone a month ago. We don’t talk as often now because of the international charges but she checks in. I could give you her number if that would help.”
“It would, actually. I can give it to the detective that’s handling Izuku’s case,” Aizawa replied. Auntie wrote the number down and for the rest of the visit, she asked about Izuku. Auntie and Uncle were respectful enough to steer clear of questions about his homeless life. Instead, they asked about things like grades and if he still liked heroes.
It was nice. Being here and interacting with people from a happier part of his past. Maybe he would ask to see them regularly. He asked Aizawa if that would be possible when they got home.
“It’s up to you, kid,” he shrugged.
“You say that a lot,” Izuku pointed out.
“Because it is. The only time I’m going to make decisions for you is for your well-being. Like if you wanted to eat only ice cream for a week, I’d say no,” Aizawa explained.
“Okay, well, I’d like to see them again,” Izuku decided. Aizawa simply nodded. "You really think I can be a hero?"
"Of course."
Izuku spent the rest of the day working on rewriting Number 13. Hizashi had gotten him a bunch of notebooks and different colored pens. It was pretty peaceful. Which was a good thing, in hindsight because on Sunday, the results from his doctor’s appointment would be emailed to them. They were not great.