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Chapter Text

“Put your hands up, listeners! Look alive! I’m your host, Present Mic and you're listening to Put Your Hands Up Radio!” Yamada Hizashi smiled to himself as he leaned in close to the microphone. “Before we sign off for the night, I got room for one more dial-in! Let’s see which one of you little listeners I’ll be talking with next!” 

It was almost second nature to Hizashi as he flicked a few switches and randomly pressed one of the red glowing buttons that signalled a call on the line. 

To him, this was just another Friday night of doing one of the things he loved most: connecting with others and helping where he could. He had been doing the show ever since he graduated from UA, and in all honesty, he hoped that he’d be able to continue to host it for the rest of his life. 

Hizashi’s expression instinctively brightened as he heard the familiar click of the call successfully coming through. “Hi! This is Present Mic from Put Your Hands Up Radio! Who do I have the pleasure of talking with tonight?” 

The small pause before that initial answer was always an exciting one for him. He allowed his mind to run as he thought of who might be on the other line this time. He mainly got teenage and young adult girls who would squeal a little bit and ask questions about his private life (which he artfully dodged) before eventually coming to their true reason for calling and asking for his advice on something. Sometimes he’d get the same thing, but with boys and non-binary folks. The ones that he truly treasured were the sincere people who were simply looking for a person to listen to them, to hear their story, and help brighten up their day. Those were the ones that made the whole gig worth it. 

Hizashi’s eyes widened as an extremely young voice gasped on the other line. “Wow! You actually answered! I didn’t know if this would actually work!” 

He chuckled at the awe in the kid’s voice. He could imagine the tiny tot sitting in their room with stars in their eyes as they clutched the phone to their ear. “That’s right, kiddo! It worked! You got me all to yourself for the next ten or so minutes, ya dig? Why don’t you tell me your name and how old you are?” 

There was a small pause before the voice responded, “Mama says I can’t tell people my name unless I know them real well or they could be mean. S-So you can call me, Deku, Mr. Present Mic! I’m four!” 

He felt his eyebrows narrow at the nickname. It wasn’t uncommon for guests to call in anonymously and go by another name instead, but Deku ? Why would a four-year-old want to be called useless? The kid sounded reluctant to give it, yet also seemed to accept the name. Hizashi wasn’t sure if he liked what that could imply. “Are you sure you want me to call you that? That’s not a very nice nickname,” he gently asked. 

There was some shuffling on the other side as though the kid was trying to settle in somewhere. “It’s okay! It’s what my friend calls me. He says if you cover up the top of my name that it looks like Deku. S-So it’s my nickname. Yeah..” 

Hizashi frowned at how casually the kid told the story, as though it wasn’t a big deal. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe he was reading too deeply into this. Still, his gut was telling him that Deku, as young as he is, was already being hurt by those around him, and his gut was rarely wrong. "Sorry, little listener, but I don't know if that's something I can call you. Let's get you a rockin' new nickname picked out! Tell me a little about yourself."

"O-Oh," the child stuttered out in shock. "Um, w-well, I-I have green hair."

Hizashi grinned widely at the new information, "Perfect! From here on out, I dub you Green Bean! So tell me, what's shakin' kid? Isn't it a little past your bedtime?" He asked as he glanced over at the clock.

“I-”

There was a loud bang on the other side that made the kid’s breath hitch and even caused Hizashi to jump. Two muffled voices could be heard shouting. 

“Stop it, Hisashi! Your son is sleeping! Stop making this bigger than it is-” a woman’s voice pleaded before she was cut off by a man yelling. 

“No! That thing is not my son! I want nothing to do with some runt who’s-”

“I just want to talk! I-I like learning about quirks and your quirk is so cool, and I’ve been a fan of yours for years!” Green Bean quickly rambled in an attempt to cover up the fighting in the background. The shuffling noise returned, as though he was burrowing deeper into wherever he was hiding. 

Hizashi tensed as the situation became obvious to him. The kid had called him to distract himself from whatever was happening in his home. The radio host took in a breath of courage before daring to ask, “Green Bean, I’m really honoured that you look up to me. I have to ask though...Are you safe right now?” 

There was a small whimper as the voices, though more muffled than before, picked up once more. “I’m safe. Mama and Daddy are just talking. C-C-Can we talk about your quirk now?” 

The answer was far from satisfying, and the kid was clearly trying to deflect the subject, but there wasn’t really anything Hizashi could do to help him right now anyway. If talking quirks helped cheer the kid up a bit, it was the least he could do. “Of course, Little Listener! My quirk is called Voice. It allows me to create high-frequency sound waves that can disable my opponent.” 

Hizashi didn’t get a chance to say much else because suddenly the boy was going off talking a mile a minute about the techniques and strategies that Present Mic used in battle and how cool it is. The radio host was genuinely shocked by the quality of the observations that the kid was making. He was pointing out things that even some people that had met and knew Hazashi hadn’t noticed about his quirk. 

‘Kid, must have an intelligence quirk’ he thought to himself. 

The two continued back and forth, with Hizashi answering any of Green Bean’s questions that he could without giving away any dangerous information. There was something about the excitement and genuine awe and curiosity in the kid’s voice that just drew in anyone listening. He sounded bright, and Hizashi couldn’t help the warm feeling that grew in his chest for this kid that he hardly knew. 

All too soon, Hizashi’s assistant waved to him from the other side of the studio, signaling the end of the time slot for the call. He couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. “Sorry, Little Listener. It looks like that’s all the time we have today’s call.” 

The other line went quiet for a minute, and Hizashi knew he wasn’t alone in his disappointment. “O-Okay! That’s alright. Thank you so much for talking with me, Mr. Present Mic! This was so awesome!” 

He chuckled a little at the adoration in Green Bean’s tone, but tensed as the muffled shouting came through from the background again. Hizashi felt his heart clench in worry for his new Little Listener. “No problem at all, Green Bean. You’re a really smart kid and I loved talking with you and having you on the show! I’d love for you to call in next week so we can talk more if you’d like?” 

He prayed that the kid would agree. He needed some kind of reassurance that Green Bean really was safe, especially with his parents ‘talking’ the way they were. He always was a people person, but as a teacher, he had a special soft spot for kids. This one was reaching out to him, and Hizashi refused to let him down. 

A surprised gasp came from the other side. Green Bean didn’t sound surprised in the sense that he was shocked and excited about the invitation to call. No, this was more utter disbelief; as though there was something in Hizashi’s words that he had never heard before. 

“R-Really?” Green Bean said softly. His voice sounded tight as though he was close to tears. “You th-think I’m smart? And you actually wanna talk again?” 

Hizashi almost didn’t want to know how a kid could have so much self-doubt at such a young age. 

“Yeah, kiddo. I really really do,” he reassured softly. There was a small choked noise that came from Green Bean, as though he was trying to keep himself from crying. This kid. One call and Hizashi wanted nothing more than to wrap him up in his arms and never let him go. “Promise me you’ll call again next week? Maybe at an earlier time so you can actually go to sleep at a proper time?”

With a small, wet, chuckle, Green Bean agreed. Hizashi let out a breath of relief, knowing that at the very least, he’d get to hear from him again next week. “Alright, Greenie. I have to let you go. But you have a good night and go to bed alright? It’s way too late for Little Listeners like you to be awake.” 

There was a sniffle and a small “okay,” that only seemed to put emphasis on just how young Green Bean was. Hizashi smiled as he could hear what seemed to be the tot crawling into bed. “Goodnight, Present Mic. Thank you so much for talking with me and listening to me,” his smile grew as Greenie let out the most adorable yawn. 

“Not a problem, Little Listener. I’ll talk to you next week. Goodnight,” with a reluctant heart, Hizashi hung up the call. 

He took a deep breath to regather himself. He didn’t know what, but there was just something about this kid that spoke out to him. Something that told him that this caller was going to be a bigger part of his life than even Hizashi himself could realize. Ten minutes on the phone with him, and the radio host would have to admit that he had already become attached. 

He couldn’t wait until next week. 

Shaking away his thoughts, Hizashi put on a wide grin and enthusiastically began to close off the show for the evening, but couldn’t help but wonder who “Green Bean” really was.

Somewhere, in a small apartment in Musutafu, hiding under his blankets, Izuku Midorya clutched his mother’s phone tightly to his chest and smiled to himself in disbelief. 

Both of them were equally unaware of the future that they would hold together.

***

“Oh Shou~” Hizashi sang as he opened their bedroom door. 

Seeing as it was half-past three in the morning, the action would be extremely inconsiderate for most households. Luckily, Hizashi and his husband were anything but ordinary. 

Shouta Aizawa let out an annoyed groan from where he had been getting ready for bed. The tired man had probably just come back from his patrol, and undoubtedly wanted nothing more than to sleep. 

Hizashi kissed his cheek before moving over to get ready himself, “Did you listen to the show today?” 

Shouta gave a non-committal grunt as he collapsed onto their bed. Though Hizashi didn’t need a verbal response- they both knew the answer was yes. 

“So that means you heard my newest caller?” 

Shou cracked open his eyes and raised an eyebrow. “You mean the terrified four-year-old that called in at one in the morning? Yes. I noticed,” Shouta spoke in his usual tired drawl, but Hizashi could recognize the tinges of concern that were weaved within it.

The radio host winced as he slid off his leather jacket. “Yeah,” he blinked down at the jacket in his hands. 

The little listener really was scared in the beginning. He clearly did his best to hide it, which in itself was worrying as no four-year-old should have that skill, but the fear was very apparent. Hizashi thought of the way that Green Bean frantically tried to change the subject when the voices started shouting. He remembered the disbelief in the kid’s tone when he had asked him to call him back. His child-loving heart both softened and hurt for Greenie the moment he answered the call. 

A long, pale hand wrapped around Hizashi’s wrist, causing the man to jump. Shouta looked up at him from the bed, with fatigued, but sincere, dark eyes. “It’s okay, ‘Zashi,” Shou whispered lowly as he drew his husband closer. “It’s illogical to stress about it right now. There’s nothing we can do,” 

Hizashi pouted as he plopped into the bed beside his husband. Shouta was quick to wrap an arm around him and pull him into his side. The soft gesture brought instant relief to the blond as he sighed and nuzzled into the touch. “But Shou, he was so scared. What if he’s not safe? What if-” he yelped as he received a flick to the forehead. 

Shouta stared at him with an all-too-familiar unimpressed gaze. “He promised to call next week. There’s no point in worrying until then. There’s nothing you can do.” 

Hizashi whined as he leaned back into the mattress. He hated when Shou was right. 

Shouta chuckled and pressed a kiss to his temple. “Go to sleep, ‘Zashi. We both have to teach in four or so hours, and you get grumpy when you’re sleepy.” 

Hizashi huffed and moved to snuggle against his husband. “That’s rich coming from the man who expelled his entire class and sleeps through homeroom,” he giggled as another flick was directed to his forehead. 

Sho was right, worries about Greenie could wait another week, for now, he'd hope for the best and pray the kid stayed safe.

Chapter Text

In the future, Hizashi would say that he spent the week after his call with Greenie fretting with concern, annoying Shouta by reminiscing on the cute little toddler that melted his heart with a single phone call, and wondering if the bean was okay. 

But the truth was that between three jobs, a class full of chaotic children, and a husband who has the tendency to come home with stab wounds, the ten-minute call he had with Green Bean had completely slipped his mind until he was sitting behind the booth once more a week later. 

A voice that sounded suspiciously like Shou told him that it was stupid of him to worry about it when he'd be talking with kiddo in a couple of hours anyway.

Regardless, he couldn't help himself from bouncing his knee and tapping his fingers anxiously during songs and commercial breaks. 

By the time his signature Dial-In segment had begun, Hizashi found himself staring at the blinking lights of his switchboard, questioning if Green Bean was behind any of them. He answered the first call — a sixteen-year-old girl was worried about her first date and having to hide her mutation from her partner. He answered the second call — a forty-year-old man is entering his mid-life crisis and doesn't know what he wants anymore. He answered the third call — a ten-year-old kid with a shape-shifting quirk doesn't know who they are anymore. With every call, Hizashi would hold his breath and hope desperately to hear that small, shy voice come through, anything to reassure him the kid really was safe. 

Hours passed, the studio clock stroke midnight, and no sign of the Green Bean. 

Hizashi sighed as the board lit up with another call, and slid on his headphones as he flicked the answer switch and forced himself to smile. "Hiya! This is Present Mic from Put Your Hands Up Radio! What's rockin', Listener?"

"H-Hi Mr. Present Mic, sir."

Hizashi nearly fell out of chair from how quickly he sat up. He clutched his headphones tightly to his head — as though doing so would bring him closer to the child on the other end. 

"Green Bean! How ya doin' kiddo? I was gettin' worried that ya'd ditched me."

For the first time since entering the studio, Hizashi felt himself relax as he heard the kid gasp and stutter out apologies on the other end. "I hadn't ditched! I wouldn't! I promised I'd come back, a-a-and it's important to come back when you promise th-those things or you'll make people really sad!" And just like, Hizashi's concern was back. "I-I just had to wait for Mommy to fall asleep so I could take her phone and she worked late so it took a long long time!"

The radio host masked his worry with a chuckle, noting that the kid sounded significantly less afraid this time, and shook his head as he leaned back into his chair. "We've got to work on your sleep routine, Green Bean. A four-year-old should not be staying up this late this often. You need to catch your z's or you're never going to get big and strong."

The kid groaned, "You sound like Kacchan! He's always going to bed so early. But he misses your show and all the hero specials on TV!"

"Well, you should follow Kacchan's example. Sleep's important for little sprouts like you if you want to become a strong hero someday," Hizashi said light-heartedly. He frowned as the other end went quiet in response. "Green Bean?" He questioned as the silence lingered on. "You good, buddy?" 

Then, in the smallest voice Hizashi had ever heard, the Greenie whispered. "I-I wanna be a hero." His voice cracked at the last word. The sentence was carried with such fragile hope, uncertainty, and fear that it stole the breath from the radio host's chest. There was a small sniffle on the other line, "I-I-I'm gonna be a hero o-one day. Like you a-and All Might and I-I-I'm gonna help people and give them hope. Make them-them feel safe," there was a determined firmness to his voice, despite the trembling in his tone. "I wanna make them smile e-even if they're r-really sad or alone a-and need a hug."

The last line felt way too specific for Hizashi's liking. He just wished he knew if the tot was talking about himself or someone he knew. "That's a good goal, Little Listener. Your heart's in the right place. If you work hard and go to bed on time," he added in a teasing voice and was rewarded with a soft giggle. "Then you can become a hero."

A stifled whine rang into his ear before Green Bean quickly repressed it. "Y-You mean it? You r-really mean it?" The poor tot sounded on the verge of a complete breakdown.

Hizashi wondered what the child had been told to warrant such a response from a simple reassurance. But then he remembered his own childhood, and the muzzles, and untrusting glances he'd get if so much as inhaled too deeply. He remembered the horror stories that Shouta had told him about his own upbringing and being labeled as a villain. He felt his fingers curl into fists at the thought that Greenie was potentially going through something similar. 

"Really," he answered softly. "Anyone can be a hero kid, so long as they've got the right intentions and they're willing to put in the hard work. A hero is a person who helps others, and so long as that's something you truly want to do, then you can do it," his heart cracked as the kid sobbed, heavy, soul-shattering cries that showed just how badly he needed to hear those words. He gave the poor kid a moment to regather himself. "When you become a hero, Green Bean, what's the first thing you'd like do?" 

Greenie hiccuped as he calmed himself and thought over the question. "I'd smile big at everyone and say 'I am here!'" 

Hizashi nearly cooed as the four-year-old mimicked All Might's signature laugh. "Big All Might fan, huh, little guy?"

"Yeah!" Green Bean excitedly confirmed. "All Might's the best! He's so big and strong and he saves everyone with a smile! He always saves the day and keeps everyone safe, no matter what! And his quirk is so cool, even though nobody knows what it is. People have tried to guess, but no one's figured it out! That never happens with heroes! Some people thing it's-it's," he let out a big yawn, "it's super strength, b-but that doesn't explain how he does his SMASH or-or-" 

Hizashi chuckled as the kid yawned again. "How about this, Greenie? You've had a long night. You and I can talk more about All Might and other quirks next time if, and only if, you call in before 10pm. Deal?"

"Okay, Mr. Present Mic," it warmed the radio host's chest to hear the warm, joy underlining the kid's tired voice.

Hizashi smiled gently. "Call me Mic, Little Listener. No need for formalities if you're going to become one of my frequent callers."

There was a pause on the other line. "W-Would you be okay if I-I was a free-went-kit caller?" Greenie awkwardly spoke around the strange, large word. 

This kid was going to give him cavities one day. "Yeah. I'd love to have you call in as much as you'd like, Green Bean. I love chattin' with ya. Just make sure your Mama's cool with it and we can party whenever you'd like," Hizashi hyped. 

Greenie laughed before yawning again. "Y-You're funny, Mr. Mic," that was close enough. "I'll call again next week. Promise." 

Hizashi grinned, "I'm going to hold you to that, Green Bean. See ya next week!" He let Greenie say goodbye one last time before reluctantly hanging up the call. "Sounds like we might just have a new segment on our show listeners," he quipped as he leaned in towards his mic. "I always love hearing from all you Little Listeners out there. The Dial-In line is still open for another hour or so, but in the time, it's time to boogie!" 

***

Hizashi pondered on his conversation with Green Bean as he and Shou prepared for work the next morning. He could feel his husband's eyes drilling into his back as he silently flipped some eggs — Shouta hummed and sipped on his coffee. "You're awfully quiet this morning," he teased lightly. "Something on your mind?" 

The blond nodded as he plated their breakfast. "Just thinking about Green Bean."

Shouta mumbled his thanks as Hizashi passed him his plate and sat down across from him. "Right. I wasn't able to listen in last night since it got a little busy. Did he call?" 

"Yeah he did," Shouta raised an eyebrow at the distant tone in his husband's voice. Hizashi sighed and played with the food on his plate. "I'm worried about him. He called in at midnight, which isn't all that great in itself. We talked about heroes a little, and the poor listener got really choked up. Someone is discouraging him. I originally thought that he'd have an intelligence quirk, and maybe he still does, but it's either weak or has some kind of twist that others look down on."

The dark-haired teacher frowned at the idea. "What makes you think that? Did he say something? Did his parents say something while he was on call again?"

If the topic wasn't so serious, Hizashi would be amused by his grumpy, Mr. I'm-not-Soft, husband obviously becoming concerned about this kid he's never even met — but then-again, Hizashi was in the same boat, so he couldn't exactly judge. "Yes and no. No fighting this time. He mentioned his mom came home late and was sleeping, but didn't say anything about his dad," Shou's eyes narrowed slightly at that, but he remained quiet. "But, when I mentioned that he could become a hero with some hard work, he needed a lot of reassuring and the just broke down once it finally seemed to click. I don't like it." 

Shouta leaned forward in thought as he continued nursing his coffee. "Do you think it's the parents?" 

Hizashi groaned around a mouthful of eggs. "I don't know. It's hard to say since I've only talked with the kid twice, and the only time he doesn't like to talk about much else other than quirks and heroics. I just- I don't know enough about his situation yet to certainly say whether or not he's safe at home." 

Shouta reached across the table and gently took his husband's hand into his own. "It's alright. You're doing what you can. From what you've told me, you helped the kid a lot just by talking with him last night and believing in him. You'll get him to open up, I know you will because that's what you do, but in the meantime just keep taking his calls and being there for him." 

The blond hummed and pressed a gentle kiss against Shouta's knuckles. "You're right." 

Shouta smirked and went back to his breakfast. "Of course, I am. One of us have to be." 

He laughed as Hizashi squawked and threw a napkin at him. 

Chapter Text

Saturday lunches were a sacred tradition for Hizashi, Shouta, Nemuri and Tensei. 

Ever since they graduated UA together, Hizashi had declared that they should meet up once a week to catch up and to try to maintain some semblance of a social life within their busy work schedules. If something for work came up and one of them couldn't make it, it was no big deal, but as a general rule, they all did their best to attend. 

It's how the four pro-heroes found themselves in a new cat cafe that had just opened up — it was Shouta's choice this week. 

"Tenya's been getting used to his engines fairly quickly," Tensei boasted as he sipped on a glass of grapefruit juice. "I mean, he's not running into walls nearly as often as he did when they first appeared, so mom and dad are seeing it as success." 

Nemuri smiled softly, "He's an eager little tyke. I'm sure he'll get a grasp on it in no time," her dark eyes flickered across the table to Hizashi. The blond wasn't even attempting to look like he was paying attention as he thumbed through something on his phone. "Speaking of children, how's your kiddo doing, 'Zashi?" 

Hizashi's head snapped up at the sound of his name. "What?" 

Shouta snorted and took his husband's phone from him. "She asked how Greenie's doing. You would know if you weren't so caught up in ..." He raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the phone, "Parenting 101 — how to get your kid to open up to you?" 

Nemuri cooed as Hizashi snatched the phone back. "This is precious. You're going all Papa Bear on us." 

Tensei smirked over the rim of his cup. "More like, Papa Mic. Have you caught some of their recent segments? It's adorable. The kid's only been on the show for a few months now and he's got Hizashi wrapped around his little finger." 

The pair cackled as Hizashi pouted to himself. "Stop it. Green Bean's the youngest caller I've ever had, it's only natural that I'd be a little more concerned about him." 

"Of course," Shouta reassured with amusement gleaming in his eyes. "It's only logical ... It's not like you've bought an autograph book to collect hero signatures for him."

Nemuri gasped as she leaned forward in excitement. "You did not!" She squealed as Hizashi's cheeks turned red. "That's so cute!!! Gimme! I want to sign it, so he has a signature from his Auntie Midnight!"

Tensei tilted his head as the radio host pulled out a small, green book and handed it over to Nemuri. "Not that this isn't cute, but I have to ask, why are you buying the kid stuff if you haven't even met him?" 

The table quieted down as they all turned to look at Hizashi. The blond shrugged and swirled his cup of coffee. "I don't know. It's just ... Green Bean is different. He's a big enough hero fan that I figured maybe I'd see him at a convention one day. He's smart, like crazy smart, and he's filled with passion. He's a great kid,"

Nemuri snickered as she smirked at her friend. "So when are you going to get the adoption papers?" she locked eyes on Shouta, "Have you two discussed how your work schedule will work once you have your new son?"

Shouta rolled his eyes and groaned into his mug. "He has a mother and we don't even know his name. We are not adopting him. Not to mention neither of us have the time to commit ourselves to raise a child."

Nemuri blew a raspberry at the underground hero, "You're no fun, Shou! Let us play pretend," she turned her playful gaze turned to Hizashi "So your son is wicked smart and bright. Sounds exactly like you when we were in UA. I don't understand what's got you on edge, reading parenting articles during lunch."

Hizashi frowned as he pocketed his phone. "From what I can tell, he doesn't have the easiest life. The kid doesn't say much about himself, but I worry about him." 

The turbo hero frowned at that, "What do you mean? Any time I've gotten the chance to listen in, Greenie always seems happy."

"Exactly!" Hizashi exclaimed. "He's been on my show for nearly half a year now. Any other repeat callers that I've had would've opened up a little by now, ask for some advice about their quirk, work school, anything. But Greenie doesn't. He comes on, talks about heroes and quirks, avoids any questions about himself, and then leaves. The only things I know about him are that he's four, he has a friend he calls 'Kacchan,' and he gets called 'Deku.' I don't even know what his quirk is, which odd considering how much he talks about everyone else's," he huffed as he took a sip of his coffee.

Shouta hummed, "The kid's also got some confidence issues that come up a little too frequently to be normal nerves," everyone turned to him and raised an eyebrow. The underground hero sighed in defeat. "What? I listen to the show. I notice things." 

Nemuri shook her head in amusement, "Sure Shou," her expression sharpened as she turned to the radio host in thought. "I mean, have you ever asked him about his quirk?" 

Both Hizashi and Shouta tensed at the question. "Not exactly," Hizashi nervously scratched the back of his neck. "I've asked a few questions that were open enough for him to mention his quirk if he was comfortable, but he just kind of skirts around the question. Whatever his quirk is, he's clearly not comfortable with it, and I don't want to risk pushing him away. Not when the kid uses the show as a distraction for whatever's going on at home."

Tensei's eyes widened at the implication. "Do you think he's being abused?" 

Hizashi's jaw clenched — despite talking to Green Bean for months, he still didn't have a certain answer to that question. He'd never forget the trembling fear in Greenie's voice and the roaring shouts happening in the background of the kid's first call. While the man's yell had never returned, sometimes, if Greenie was quiet, Hizashi could pick up on the sound of a woman crying or raising her voice at someone in a one-sided conversation. He remembered his brief interaction with Greenie from the night before:

Greenie suddenly stopped mid-rant on his discussion about the Water House team and the benefits of hero team-ups and partnerships in contrast to a hero attempting to face someone alone, when a muffled tear-filled shout came through. The tot paused, ignoring Hizashi calling out his name, as though he was trying to listen in on the conversation. 

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mic," Greenie whispered, "I have to go now. Mama's sad and I have to give her a hug." 

Hizashi frowned at the statement. "Is your Mama sad often?"

There was an unsure pause. "N-No. Not normally. She and Daddy used to laugh and play with me all the time. But Daddy's on a trip. Mama just ... Mama just misses him is all. And she gets sad. So I try to make her not so sad," his small, young voice mumbled over his words — half-distracted by the woman's growing shouts. 

Hizashi didn't like the idea of the toddler interrupting whatever emotionally charged conversation his mother was currently having. He opened his mouth to try and convince the kid to stay on the line with him, but was quickly interrupted. "I'm going to go cheer up Mama. Have a good night, Mr. Mic! I'll see you next week," and before he could get out another word, the phone clicked and Greenie was gone.

The radio host could read between the lines — he knew that Greenie's father most likely wasn't on a trip and was probably never going to come back. It seemed like the bean's Mama was trying to her best to shield that from the toddler. Although sad, none of that indicated that Green Bean was currently unsafe at home.

Still, there were moments. Signs in Greenie's uncertainty in himself and his place with others, his doubt in his own skills, and the way he would occasionally talk down about himself that Hizashi knew were learned habits. Someone was hurting this kid, but he didn't know who or how — worse than that, he didn't what he could do about it other than support him from afar. 

Shouta could see the concern bleeding onto his husband's face and took the question for him. "It's hard to say. As I said, he shows some troubling behaviour, but we don't know if that comes from his home life or if there's an outside factor."

Tensei let out a heavy breath and leaned back in his seat. "Poor kid," he reached over and grabbed the book from Nemuri. "He's four right? That's Tenya's age," he mumbled to himself as he wrote out a note and signed the book. He looked up at Hizashi and slid it over to him. "I hope you get to him at some point. If he takes the time to call every week, you must mean a lot to him."

Hizashi sighed as he put the book back into his bag. "We'll see. In the meantime, I'll just keep answering his calls and reading those stupid parenting articles to try and help him however I can." 

Tensei paused and fiddled with the mufflers in his arms in thought. "Tenya was a little shy with some of his classmates when he started elementary school. He was nervous that he wouldn't be as cool as they thought he should be because he's an Iida. Mom gave him some stickers of his favourite cartoon to give to people as conversation starters and he came back home eagerly talking about the new friends he made," he gave the blond a sympathetic smile as he shrugged, "I don't know how much that helped, but maybe using his interest in heroes and quirks to try and learn more about him? Look into the heroes that he's the most interested in, see what you can learn about them so you can add to his comments. At the very least it'll help him feel more comfortable." 

Nemuri nodded in agreement. "There's nothing better than when someone is genuinely interested in what you have to say. Don't underestimate how much it means to this kid just to have you listen to him, Zashi. With the self-esteem issues the kid has, I wouldn't be surprised if you're one of the only people who do."

Shouta huffed, "I've been telling him that since the beginning." 

The radio host sighed, "You guys are right. The kid knows he can come to me, and that's what matters. I should be happy that there isn't any emergency-level issue that he's brought forward. That's a good thing, right? Means that he's safe," the reassuring words did nothing to loosen the knot in his stomach. 

Shouta frowned as he noticed the distressed expression on his husband's face. "Hey," he murmured lowly. "It's all fun and games joking about Green Bean being your kid, but remember that he's not actually yours. At the end of the day, he's just another caller. I know you. I know you want to try and fix the world for every sad soul that reaches out to you, but you need to remember to separate your work and life. If things get too worrying, we'll see if there's more you can do then, but for now you're doing all you can." 

Tensei nodded. "Exactly. Relax. Enjoy your lunch with your friends," he smiled at the blond as he clinked their glasses together. 

Hizashi smiled half-heartedly to himself and wondered how he got so lucky to have friends like this. 

***

On the other side of town, Izuku Midoriya was having a bad day. 

He shouldn't have walked in on his Mama's phone call with Daddy. He knew that they needed to talk about "adult stuff" that his Mama didn't want him to hear, but Mama was crying. What kind of a future hero would he be if he just let his Mama cry by herself? He didn't want to prove Present Mic wrong.

Crying by yourself was the worst. Izuku knew that better than anyone. 

He never got the chance to cheer her up. He was just about to walk into his Mama's room when he heard it:
"Don't you dare blame this on Izuku! Whether or not he has a quirk does not excuse you for abandoning your family! "

It didn't take much for him to piece together what the sentence meant: Daddy was leaving them, for good. 

And it was his fault. 

Izuku sniffled as he coloured in All Might's hair on the birthday invitations he was making. 

It was fine. It wasn't. It was okay. Nothing would be the same again. He wasn't alone. He had his Mama, Kacchan and the Bakugous. Would they leave because of him too?

And, he realized with a start, he had Present Mic, of all people. 

Present Mic was kind. He was a good listener and never stopped him when he talked too much and answered all of his questions. 

Sure, Present Mic didn't know who Izuku really was or about his ... situation, but at least for now, Izuku could pretend that Present Mic would stay with him. 

Chapter Text

Usually, Green Bean was a source of nothing but high energy and giggles — though there were times when it did seem a little forced. He’d come barreling into the call with all kinds of questions for Mic and list the things that he had done that week.

Hizashi loved it! It added a sense of domesticity to the show and reminded him of all the things that he wanted to protect in this world. But he couldn’t help but be worried about the Little Listener. After all, nobody could be happy all the time, no matter how hard they may try.

Hizashi knew that better than anyone. Everyone had to break down at some point.

After nine months of cute, happy, calls with Green Bean never daring to reveal much about himself besides his immense interest in heroes and his insane quirk analysis, Hizashi was worried.
He knew that what Shouta said was true, he needed to separate his work from his personal life and leave Greenie in the studio, but it was so hard! The kid was absolutely adorable and Hizashi couldn't help but want to do everything he could to make the kid laugh.

Despite Hizashi's personal wishes, nothing in Greenie's calls really changed. Green Been still called in later than most children should be awake and asked every question under the sun about heroes. Hizashi tried to listen to Tensei and use heroes as a way to gain a closer connection with the kid and gain his trust, but Greenie still remained as tight-lipped as ever.

If he wasn't so frustrated by it, he'd almost be proud of the kid's skills and knowledge on safety and privacy.

Green Bean had become a popular segment on Hizashi's show on heroes and quirks, and nothing more. He was no longer considered an average caller by the station's staff. Instead, Greenie's little phone calls were marketed as Green Bean's Hero Corner. Greenie had been elated by the official title, Hizashi not so much — he didn't want the kid to think that having a segment meant he couldn't come to him with anything.

Their radio show host and hero expert dynamic remained exactly as it was, until one call changed everything.

Green Bean called in later than normal and Hizashi instantly knew that something was wrong.

“Ladies, Gentlemen, and Fine Persons, it would appear that it is that time of night where we hang out with everyone’s favourite encyclopedia of hero knowledge! Green Bean! How are you doin’ tonight, Little Listener? Calling in later than usual I see,” Hizashi teased lightly as he noted the clock hands were resting at a minute past midnight.

Usually, this would garner a laugh in response, or at least a scrambled mess of excuses for Greenie’s frankly terrible sleep schedule. But he got none of that. Instead, a barely audible muffled sob and sharp inhale came from the other line.

Hizashi was instantly on alert. He turned up the call audio so that he could hear better to assess the situation. “Greenie? You there, kiddo? Is everything okay?”

The sniffles came again, even sadder than before. Hizashi was just about ready to march out of the studio and track his kid down when a small, tired voice finally came through. “Mic, wh-what would a p-p-party have to have for you to come to it?”

The radio host frowned at the question and tensed at the obvious tears that wobbled behind the kid’s voice. “I’m not sure I understand the question, Little Listener. Are you alright? You sound upset.”

“I’m okay,” was the quick, and obviously false, response that Hizashi received. He had to bite back a sigh of frustration and wondered what he had to do, that he hadn’t done in the months that he’s known the anonymous child, to make him trust him. “I meant i-i-if you were invited to a b-birthday p-p-party, what would it have t-to have for you to go? C-Can you tell me? P-Please? It’s important.”

The question was innocent enough, yet Hizashi couldn’t stop the ball of dread that was wounding itself tighter and tighter in his stomach. “Okay, kid. It’s alright, I can answer that,” he spoke softly to try and calm the panicking that he feared was happening on the other line. “Let’s see. I suppose it’d have to have balloons and cake. There’d probably be some cool games set up and of course a killer playlist playing,” Hizashi answered simply. In this case, as he didn’t know the reason for the question, he figured the more basic and relatable the description, the better the chance that it’d help Green Bean.

His efforts, however, were in vain, as his response was only met with a whimper. Hizashi’s hands balled into fists in worry; the buzzing in his pocket told him that Shouta was equally as concerned.

“B-But,” Hizashi’s heart broke as a child’s cry, broken and raw, rang through the studio. “But I-I-I had all of that! A-And I mentioned it on the invitations! S-S-So why did no-nobody come?”

Hizashi felt ice fill his veins as his breath caught in his throat in realization, “Green Bean…” he began almost mournfully as the kid that he had grown ever so attached to continued to sob on the other line.

“I-I invited the entire class, and Mama worked e-e-exrta hard so that we could put together th-the best party ever. I worked on the invitation f-for months! We r-rented the new All Might movie, a-a-and had Hero and Villain games planned, and I-I even bought your karaoke machine with m-my allowance for everyone to play with. M-Mama spent an entire day making a big c-c-cake and we had everything set up for two o’clock when everyone w-was supposed to arrive but...but…” Hizashi placed a hand over his mouth in mortification as Greenie’s cries got louder. “But no one came! Not even Kacchan!”

“Oh kid,” Hizashi breathed out as he finally moved his hand away from his mouth. His heart hurt so badly for Deku. He wished, not for the first time, that he had the ability to travel through the phone lines to Green Bean and hold him. He didn’t understand how anyone could not like the kid. Greenie was sweet, compassionate, brilliant beyond his years and so very kind. How could a kid like that not have a single friend show up at his birthday?

“I’m so sorry that happened, Little Listener. Those kids don’t know what they’re missing. That party sounds like it would’ve been the best thing in all of Japan! Anyone would be lucky to spend time with you.”

Greenie was clearly trying to regain control of his emotions on the other line as he hiccuped and sniffled. “I should’ve seen it coming,” he mumbled so quietly that Hizashi was almost certain it wasn’t intended for him to hear. “I don’t know why I even tried.”

And that was just heartbreaking. If today really was the kid’s birthday, that put the listener at five years old. No five-year-old, or kid for that matter, should ever have that much resignation and self-loathing in their voice. It killed Hizashi to know that there was nothing he could do but talk to him.

“Hey now, don’t say that. It was your birthday, right? You’re an incredible kid. You deserve the biggest and best birthday there is!”

There was a beat of silence. The only thing that let Hizashi know the kid hadn’t hung up was the small sniffles that still came through sporadically. Eventually, a tear-filled voice finally spoke up, “Y-You really think that, Present Mic? You don’t think I-I’m weird, o-o-or stupid, or-or useless?”

What the hell has his Little Listener gone through? Hizashi’s hands clenched tightly onto the studio table as flares of anger burst inside of him. He didn’t know who Greenie was, and he didn’t know who had dared to hurt this bright light of a child so badly, but he swore at that moment that the second he found out, and he would find out, there was going to be hell to pay.

“Yeah, Green Bean. I really really mean it. I care about you, kiddo. Talking to you this past year, you’ve really taught me a lot. You’re an amazing kid, and you’re going to do incredible things someday,” Hizashi closed his eyes as he heard Greenie cry in relief in response to his words.

The radio host snapped his head up as an idea came to him. He whipped out his phone and quickly texted instructions to Shouta, Nemuri, Tensei, and as many heroes as he dared while talking to the toddler. “Hey, Greenie? Do you still have any of that yummy cake your mom made?”

“Y-Yeah?” Hizashi smiled softly at the confusion in his voice.

“I know it’s late. But would you be able to get yourself a piece and put a candle on it?”

Green Bean must have nodded because the only answer he got was the sound of shuffling, doors opening and closing, and dinnerware clattering. Hizashi patiently waited, letting Greenie take as much time as he needed. Eventually, he heard a chair scrape against the floor and the kid say, “Okay. I-I got the piece of cake and candle ready. What’s going on?”

Hizashi grinned as he noticed his soundboard light up with incoming calls. “Well, I’m glad you asked Little Listener! It’s your birthday, and everyone deserves to have a happy birthday, so I invited some friends of mine to join our call and celebrate with us. I’m going to bring them in and we’re all going to sing you ‘Happy Birthday’. Does that sound alright, Greenie?”

The kid’s breath hitched in shock. “You wanna sing me happy birthday?”

Hizashi promised that from that moment out he was going to do his freaking best to instill some form of self-love into this child if it was the last thing he did. “Of course, Green Bean! I told you, I care about you! And I’m not the only one here to celebrate your birthday with you!”

With the push of a few buttons, one by one other guests began to join the call:

“Hey there Cutie! This is Midnight speaking.”
“Good evening and happy birthday Green Bean! This is Ingenium.”
“Hi. Eraserhead speaking.”
“Hello! This is FatGum!”
“Why hello there, Green Bean. Youthful Heroine, Recovery Girl, here to wish you Happy Birthday!”
“Hi there, kiddo! It’s GunHead.”

On the other line, Greenie was frantically repeating “oh my god” over and over again at so many heroes coming together. Hizashi chuckled at the kid’s fanboy tendencies and was just glad to hear that he had stopped crying. “Alright! We’re gonna start singing, and if there are any listeners out there tonight who want to join us, feel free to do so and send in a clip to us here at Put Your Hands Up Radio as we wish our beloved Green Bean a happy fifth birthday! Ready everybody?”

On his count, all the heroes and fans alike joined together to sing for Green Bean. It only lasted a minute, but by the time they finished, Greenie was full-scale sobbing once more.

“Woah! Kid, you alright?” GunHead asked before Hizashi got the chance.

“Yeah, I mean I know Eraserhead isn’t the best singer, but he’s doing his best, Little Listener,” Hizashi smirked as Shouta quickly protested.

Any banter went quiet as Green Bean tearfully laughed on the other end. “I-I’m just really happy! This...This is the best. Thank you! Thank you so much!”

Hizashi felt himself soften a little, even as Midnight cooed. “Aw, it’s our pleasure, little one. I’m sorry you had such a bad day today. Just know that as your honorary Auntie Midnight, I wish you the best of birthdays and if I could track you down and hug right now I would. All of us would, for that matter. Papa Mic, just will not shut up about how adorable you are and how smart and clever your analysis is and-”

“And that’s enough of that.” Hizashi blushed as he hung up Midnight’s call and muted all the others. Damn friends, outing him to his kid. “Our time’s just about up for the night, and you should be getting to bed, Little Listener. Birthday or not. I hope that you have a better day tomorrow, and remember that I’m cheering you on, kid.”

Greenie giggled, “Thanks again, Present Mic. You just made this one of the best birthdays ever. Thank you so much!”

Hizashi smiled, feeling some relief knowing that he was able to help ease the kid’s pain. “No problem, kid. I’ll talk to you next week. Happy Birthday and good night,” he hesitantly hung up the call and took a deep breath before putting his “host voice” back on. “Thanks again to all of you listeners out there and the heroes that joined us tonight to wish our little analyst Happy Birthday! We’re going to move right along with happy mood and play some happy tunes with a real old song from the pre-quirk era, ‘All You Need Is Love’ by the Beatles.”

Hizashi slid off his headphones and queued up a few songs before sighing heavily and leaning back in his chair. He ran his hands over his face as he thought of the pure devastation in Green Bean’s voice earlier. His kid needed him, and Hizashi wanted to be there to comfort him. If he wanted to truly do his best in doing that, he needed to know more.

He took out his phone and sent a text to Shouta. "I don't care what it takes. We're going to find Green Bean."

Chapter Text

"No."

Hizashi groaned as his straight-faced husband stood before him with his arms crossed over his chest. "We talked about this. It's insane, 'Zashi. We are not tracking down some random kid."

"But it's not some random kid! This is Green Bean!" He whined as he moved closer to Shota. "You were listening on his birthday. I know you were worried too when he started crying because you texted me. He needs someone to reassure him and support him!" 

Shouta huffed and rolled his eyes as he walked around his husband. "One bad birthday doesn't give us the right to search for him like that. He has a mother. A good one at that, if the cake and party description that the kid gave is anything to go by. He'll be fine."

Hizashi scowled, "But we don't know that for sure! I mean, come on! Greenie is five and regularly has unsupervised phone calls late at night with what could be a strange man, as far his mother knows! That doesn't sound all that great to me!"

Shouta raised an eyebrow at him. "Now you're just grasping at straws."

So maybe he was. Deep down, Hizashi knew that technically, Shouta was right — of course, he was. There was no legal reason for him to begin a thorough investigation into the identity of Greenie.

But three weeks ago, for the first time in the near year that Hizashi had known him, his Little Listener reached out to him in his time of need and actually opened up. Immediately after the event, Green Bean had tried to brush the whole thing off and apologize, but Hizashi made it very clear to him that he was glad the kid called in and hoped he would do so again if he ever needed anything in the future.

Hizashi may not be an expert in kids, but he knows Greenie is way too young to be this good at hiding his emotions. He's too young to have nobody show up to his birthday party. He's too young to think he has to keep his mother happy. 

More than anything, Hizashi wanted to find this kid and let him be exactly that — a kid who shouldn't have to worry about what other people think. The only thing standing in his way was Aizawa "It's irrational" Shouta. 

"He needs our help, Shou." Hizashi pleaded softly. 

Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose, "And you're already giving it to him."

"But it's not enough," Shouta looked up at the sound of his husband's firm tone. "I've been talking with this kid for a year, Shou. A year. Most of the younger listeners only have the attention span to hang around for a couple of calls at most, but Greenie keeps coming back. And despite all this time I've spent with him, he still second-guesses any praise I give him," he sighed as he looked down at his hands. "I just- I need you to trust me on this."

Shouta paused before gently taking his husband's hands into his own. "You know I trust you more than anyone else. You're the smartest person I know and your instincts are rarely wrong," Hizashi's head snapped up as he looked at Shouta with wide hopeful eyes. "I don't know Greenie like you do. That's true. But I'm still hesitant to start such a big investigation because with the lack of information this would be big, for a non-emergency situation."

Hizashi thought over Shouta's words for a moment before his eyes widened in realization. "Then you should talk to him yourself."

He had never seen Shouta look so bewildered. "What?"

Hizashi beamed as he tightened his hands around Shouta's. "You're right. You don't know him that well because you have to split your attention between the show and patrol when you listen in, if you can at all. So, how about I arrange to have you on as a special guest for Green Bean's Hero Corner in a couple of weeks? I let Greenie know we're doing a section on Underground Heroics, so he can be ready and do his thing, meanwhile, you'll get to interact with him firsthand and see for yourself. "

Shouta frowned, "You want me on the show?"

Hizashi nodded eagerly. "Think about it! Besides singing him happy birthday, you haven't gotten to talk with him. The kid would love having another pro on the phone and if we work together, maybe we can get a little information from him to help with the investigation!"

"You mean the investigation that isn't happening?" Hizashi whined at his husband's response. Shouta sighed and dropped the blond's hands. "Look. I'll do the show because I'm admittedly curious about Green Bean myself. But unless he raises any red flags, we're not searching for him. Deal?"

Hizashi hesitated. The odds were against him — Greenie didn't often open up and even if he did, there was a chance Sho would find a logical explanation for it. But, he wasn't wrong in saying the kid would love to talk with Shouta. Even if he didn't know much about Eraserhead, Hizashi knew the kid would go ballistic upon their introduction. Not to mention he'd finally get to see his husband "meet" his little listener … 

"Deal," Hizashi confirmed with a smile.

Two weeks later, Hizashi was practically vibrating his seat as the Dial-In segment began and Shouta waited on the other side of the recording glass. 

He knew that somewhere, Greenie was feeling the same nervous-excitement course through his veins. When he had pitched the idea of a segment on underground heroics to the listener last week, he had been beyond thrilled. Green Bean was constantly impressing Hizashi with the amount of intellect and skill that the kid showed at just five years old. He had no doubt that the kid would be able to impress his husband as well. 

10 o’clock struck, and Hizashi grinned as his lightboard lit up, and his assistant gave him a thumbs up — Green Bean was in. He locked eyes with Shouta and waved for him to join him in the booth. 

“Alright, party people! In just a minute we’ll have one of the smartest Little Listeners I have the pleasure of knowing joining us on our call — that’s right folks! It’s time for Green Bean’s Hero Corner!” He pressed a button to play a small sound effect of All Might’s laugh, layered with cinematic music as he merged Greenie into the call and passed Shou a set of headphones. 

A light giggle graced their ears as Greenie’s call came in. “Hi Mr. Mic! Thanks for having me back.” 

Hizashi smiled softly, “Anytime Little Listener. You know I love chattin’ with you. So tell me, what’s on your setlist for tonight's special feature?”

“We’re talking about underground heroes!” Greenie beamed enthusiastically. “A-A lot of people don’t know any underground heroes by name or even know that they are real, but they are! They stay more hidden than daylight heroes like you and All Might.” 

Hizashi glanced over at Shouta — he didn’t seem too phased by anything the kid was saying yet, but Hizashi knew this was just the beginning. “That’s right! Now, Greenie, why do these heroes stay hidden? I mean, isn’t it more fun to get all the attention and fans?” 

He could hear the faint sound of pages quickly being turned in the background as the kid spoke. “I mean, sometimes people are scary, so it’s okay that some heroes don’t like it. But that’s not why underground heroics is a thing! Some people have quirks that it would be really really bad if a villain found out about a re-wire-ment for it to be used and they’d be able to beat them right away! Underground heroes are also the good guys that do cases that are … that …” he huffed in annoyance. “Mr. Mic, what’s the word for when there’s something that you - you have to be really careful with?” 

The corners of Hizashi’s mouth twitched in amusement. “Delicate?” 

“Yes! Del-ee-cate. Thank you Mr. Mic!” Hizashi nearly snorted at how cute the kid is. “So sometimes underground heroes do del-ee-cate missions that it would be bad if daylight heroes did them because they’re too recognizable and flashy. No offense, Mr. Mic. But you’re not very sneaky.” 

This time, it was Shouta who snorted as Mic chuckled. “No offense taken, kiddo,” he smirked at his husband as he turned on the other mic. “Now, I brought in a surprise guest to talk with us on underground heroics. This rockstar is an expert in his field and can answer any questions you might have ten times better than I could. So, without further ado, Green Bean, meet the Erasure Hero: Eraserhead!” 

“Hi.” Shouta drawled into the microphone. He winced as Hizashi elbowed him and sent him a sharp look. “How are you doing, kid?” 

There was a sharp inhale on the other line. “You’re one of the heroes that were there on my birthday — thank you so much for that, Mr. Eraserhead, sir. It really meant a lot and I’ll treasure it forever! I didn’t recognize your name when you said it s-so I used my computer time to try and look for you but nothing came up. I th-thought that maybe you were new to heroics but of course you’re an underground hero! It would be really bad if I could find something about you!”

Shouta quirked an eyebrow as he leaned onto his elbow on the table in front of him. “Yeah. It would be bad. You don’t have to thank me though. I was just doing Mic a favour. But I’m glad you had a good night.” 

Though Shouta was trying to hide it, Hizashi could hear the slight amusement that tinged his voice if you knew what to listen for. It didn’t surprise him — it was impossible not to love Greenie. 

“O-Of course! Sorry!” Greenie sputtered. “I-It still was really cool. But, um, we should talk about heroes! C-Cause this is Hero’s Corner! Um,” there was a pause as the sound of flipping pages was heard once more. Shouta gave Hizashi a curious glance, the radio host just shrugged in response. “I know a lot of things have to stay secret because bad guys could be listening, but is there anything you can tell me about your quirk?”

“My quirk is called erasure. I can use it to nullify people’s quirks,” he stated plainly.

“Nu-lli-fy,” Green Bean sounded out slowly. “So - So that means you can get make people’s quirks go away?” There was the faint sound of scribbling as the kid gasped. “That’s so cool! I mean, there’s all kinds of uses for that! If someone’s quirk just appeared and they lost control, or really anyone who - who - who lost control of their quirk, or if someone is using their quirk to be mean to other people or-” Greenie “ooo”ed and “awww”ed as Shouta blinked slowly in shock of the immense excitement. “You must be a really great hero!”

Shouta had a hand on his headphones and was staring at the mic dangling in front of him. Most people when they saw him assumed he was either homeless or a deviant. That opinion would quickly shift to villain the second they heard about his quirk. Even now as an underground hero, he still had a hard time with the people side of the job — it’s hard to comfort a victim when the victim thinks you’re another lackey. 

The last time someone told him he was a great hero, that wasn’t Hizashi or his friends, was Nezu when he accepted him into the hero course. 

“I’m …” Shouta began unsurely. “I’m glad you think so.” He cleared his throat and shook his head, trying to brush off the warm feeling in his chest. “Those are some smart quirk applications you thought of, Greenie. Did you come up with those on the spot?” 

Greenie paused for a moment before answering, “Yes. I-I know it’s weird. I’m sorry.” 

Hizashi and Shouta exchanged a frown. “Why are you apologizing, Green Bean? Eraser and I were super impressed!” Hizashi spoke softly. 

There was a bit more quiet on Greenie’s end as he shuffled around. “Well, um, I do that alot. I-I just, I see a new quirk and I get excited and want to talk about it w-with people, but it creeps them out and I get in trouble for talking too much,” Hizashi’s frown deepened. He opened his mouth in concern, but was quickly cut off. “But it’s okay! I have my notebooks now! Th-That way I can still get out my, um, my thoughts on people’s quirks without being weird a-and if they look like they need help with their quirk, I’ll leave my notes in their cubby. Usually, they throw them out, but I try.” 

“Greenie …” Hizashi gently began, concern pooling in his stomach.

He didn’t get the chance to finish reassuring him before Shouta cut him off. “I don’t think you’re weird,” Hizashi’s head whipped around to look at his husband. The man’s eyes were firm with a familiar sheen of determination. “I think you're smart, probably smarter than everyone in your class. Sometimes people are scared of people who are smarter than them or of things they don’t understand, but that doesn’t make you weird or bad. It makes them close-minded for not seeing that you’re a great kid, even if you do like to talk about quirks.”

The kid’s breath hitched as Shouta spoke. “B-But then what about teachers? I’m not smarter than an adult cause I’m just a kid, a-and-” there was a click as Greenie shut his mouth. “I’d like to talk about something else now,” he mumbled and Hizashi internally cursed himself as the kid's walls went back up. “Wh-What else do you want to talk about Mr. Eraserhead, sir?” 

Shouta’s mouth twitched as he tilted his head. “You like quirks right? Why don’t you tell me about yours?” Hizashi stared at his husband with wide eyes.

Nothing came from Greenie’s end. The kid went completely silent the moment the question left Shouta’s lips. The underground hero narrowed his eyebrows. “I’m just curious is all, kid,” he added on cautiously. 

“This is Hero’s Corner,” Greenie began in a near whisper. “N-Not Deku … Not Green Bean’s corner, a-and I’m not a hero, s-so we should talk about something else,” his voice trembled with every word he spoke and Hizashi could hear his breathing begin to pick up a little. “H-How about … um … I don’t know,” he whimpered. “W-We can talk about other underground heroes o-or a mission you did lately o-or-”

Hizashi didn’t like the growing panic that was bleeding into the kid’s tone. “You okay, Green Bean? Do you think you can take a deep breath for me?” 

Another whimper came through. “I-I-I’m fine! I’m good,” Greenie let out a clearly staged yawn. “Wow! I’m tired. I should probably go to sleep. Night Mr. Present Mic! Night Mr. Eraserhead! Thank you for coming on Hero’s Corner to talk with me. This was really cool. Thanks!” 

“Kid, wait.” Hizashi’s plea went ignored as the line clicked and Greenie disappeared. Shouta sighed and leaned back in his seat 

Hizashi temporarily brushed off his concern and forced on a smile as he turned to the mic. “Well folks, seems like our little hero analyst is off to bed. A big special thank you to our guest Eraserhead. Time to wind down and take things slooooow a bit, but before we do, here are a few words from our sponsors!” he slammed a button that played the pre-recorded advertisements before yanking off his headphones. “Shit.” The radio host cursed. 

Shouta groaned as he ran a hand down his face. “I’m sorry, ‘Zashi. I didn’t mean to scare him off.” 

Hizashi sighed and plopped into the seat beside his husband. “It’s alright. At least now we know his quirk is a really sensitive subject for him. Just … I think we also got confirmed that he’s facing some form of mistreatment at school at the very least.”

Silence lingered between them as they both stared up at the ceiling in thought. 

“Hey ‘Zashi?”

“Hmm?” he hummed tiredly in response.

“We need to find this kid.” 

Hizashi couldn’t stop the small smile that came onto his face.

Chapter Text

Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa didn’t ask for much in life.

He was a simple man, with simple needs. If he could make it through the day without anyone dying and his sanity mostly intact, he could consider the day a win. 

This didn’t mean that he didn’t have preferences, however. He preferred to have fifteen minutes of peace in his morning routine, to drink his coffee and watch the sunrise. He preferred cases that had witnesses for him to actually use his quirk on, rather than a dead-end. He preferred to actually be in the office for his scheduled eight hours and not be buried in paperwork for an extended night shift. 

He preferred not to walk into his office to find an unimpressed Eraserhead and grinning Present Mic leaning against his desk. 

The detective sighed, throwing back the rest of his coffee, regardless of how it scolded the back of his throat. “What is it this time?” He grumbled as he made his way behind his desk. 

“Tsukauchi! My man!” Mic smiled charmingly at him.“No need to act so cold, dude! Just here for a little chat.”

Tsukauchi raised an eyebrow and shifted his stare over to Eraser. The underground hero sighed as he crossed his arms. “We have a case we need your help with.”

Tsukauchi narrowed his eyes at the vague, but honest, statement. Eraser had never been one to skimp out on details - he preferred to get directly to the point to work as quickly and efficiently as possible. Something was off. “What kind of case? Did you file a report already?”

The two pro heroes exchanged a glance and the uneasy feeling in Tsukauchi’s stomach only grew. “Well, it’s complicated,” Mic laughed nervously as he scratched the back of his neck. “We’re looking for a kid.”

“So a missing person’s case? That’s not usually my department.” Both of Mic and Eraser knew that. They had never come to him for a missing person before, what were they thinking doing so now? He watched as the radio show host shifted from foot to foot and Eraser’s typically-relaxed stance became tense and uncomfortable. He ran a hand down his face as he slumped down into his chair. “Whatever it is, spit it out. I have paperwork to do.” 

Mic winced, “Right. So, the kiddo isn’t exactly missing .” 

The detective’s eyebrows shot up as he blinked at the duo. “Mic has a frequent anonymous guest on his show that we’re worried about and would like to track down. Logically, the first place to start would be police records,” Eraser finally supplied. 

Tsukauchi frowned at the explanation. “Abuse?” 

Mic’s lips pressed into a thin line as he nodded. “Yes,” False, “Maybe … We’re not sure yet.” True . Just what were these two trying to do? Mic let out a heavy sigh, “We know the kid is being abused somewhere. Verbal abuse for sure and potential emotional abuse. Greenie isn’t one to open up much, so we don’t have anything concrete. But I know something is wrong!” 

“Greenie?” Tsukauchi spoke slowly. He eyed the two suspiciously. “What do you actually know about the kid?” 

The blond gulped nervously, “Well … He turned five on July 15th, he has green hair, the number he calls with has a local area code, and he’s extremely skittish about his quirk.”

“Which is?” The detective attempted to urge on.

“We don’t know,” Mic admitted as he avoided eye contact. 

Tsukauchi decided that he very much did not get paid enough to deal with situations like this. He groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “So you want me to help you track down a minor without probable cause or any explicit evidence that could excuse using valuable resources, with only the kid’s age, birthday, hair colour and phone number as a lead?” he laughed humourlessly to himself. “Not only is that illegal, but it’s near impossible.” 

Eraser nodded, his face not budging from the serious expression that always painted it. “We know. It’s why we came directly to you. I wouldn’t be getting involved if I didn’t think this could be something serious. You know me, Tsukauchi. You know us. There’s something about this kid,” the detective held Eraser’s gaze, his own dark eyes reflecting into the underground hero’s as he searched the determined gleam that shone within them. “We’re not asking you to tear about Japan for him,” Eraserhead added. “Just plug the information into the system, and see if anything pops up. We can take care of the rest.”

The detective pursed his lips as he glanced over at his computer screen. Even downsizing his part as much as they had, what the two heroes were asking of him was still very much illegal. Private information and records were only meant to be accessed if the person involved was missing or part of an actual case. By no means should he search through them for an unnamed child as a favour for friends. 

But Eraserhead was right. He knows them. Eraserhead was infamous in the station for the frankly ubsurd number of street criminals that he brings in everynight. He had worked with Present Mic on enough missions to know that the voice hero’s intellect was not something to be underestimated. He knew that more than anything, he could always rely on them and their instincts as professional heroes — and this time their instincts were asking him to find a kid. 

Tsukauchi sighed before defeatedly looking over to them. “I can’t do anything with the information you’ve given me. You want me to check for the kid in the system, I need a name. First, last, anything. I need confirmation that he is in this city.. Lastly, I know you said he’s skittish about his quirk, but I need it. There are thousands of children living in this city. The more you can give me, the more I can narrow it down. Until then, there’s nothing I can do.” 

Eraser nodded as Mic let out a groan from frustration. “I figured as much. We’ll see what we can do.” 

Tsukauchi nodded, “Good luck. I hope you find what you’re looking for.” 

That night, Hizashi and Shouta made up their game plan. 

They knew Green Bean wasn’t just going to tell them everything upfront, but the pair weren’t so desperate yet that they would track the kid’s phone calls. So they needed to gain his trust; show the kid that he could tell Present Mic whatever he needed to. 

Throughout the next few months, Hizashi began to have special editions of Put Your Hands Up where they would discuss certain social issues. He had Gang Orca on to discuss discrimination against mutations. He and Vlad King shared their personal experiences with quirk discrimination against so-called “villainous” quirks. He gave a few presentations and resource shoutouts for child abuse helplines and bullying. He did everything he could to ensure that whatever was bothering Greenie, he’d know that Hizashi was here and open to supporting him. 

But for all of their preparations, it seemed the kid had done his own planning. 

Ever since the quirk question, Green Bean had been even more closed off than before. He didn’t dare talk about his personal life, even in passing, and quickly dodged any personal questions thrown his way — he would deflect them instantly before diving into an increasingly-impressive analysis of a recent hero battle. 

Another recent development was Greenie’s change in phone numbers. Three months after the incident, he called in later than usual with a number that the station staff didn’t recognize. Hizashi didn’t want to look too deeply into — people change their number when they get new phones all the time — but it did nothing to help the unease swirling in Hizashi’s gut. 

After four months of failed attempts at getting the kid to finally open up to him, it became clear that this wasn’t going to work. 

“I don’t want to literally track him, you know?” Hizashi solemnly lamented to Shouta as he poked around his dinner plate. “He’s not a criminal. He doesn’t deserve that. But … the way we’re doing things now? It’s not working. I don’t know what to do.”

Shouta silently chewed on his food as he thought over his husband’s words. “Have you tried a competition?” 

The radio host froze. “What?” 

Shouta shrugged and leaned onto the table. “A competition. Greenie’s a hero nerd, right? Throw a competition limited to his age demographic, make them have to answer some super unknown fact about a hero or quirks and make the prize be a piece of signed limited edition merch. There’s no way Greenie will be able to resist and he’s smart enough to win. When he sends the information to get the prize, you’ll get his name and address. Game, set, match.” 

Silence filled the dining room as Hizashi gaped at Shouta. Silverware clattered on the table as Hizashi shot to his feet and slammed his hands against the surfact. “WHY DID-n’t we think of that sooner?!?!” Hizashi screeched while Shouta quickly activated his own quirk to cancel out his husband’s excitement. “That’s genius! We’ll just have to pick something that only Greenie would be able to figure out. Something so obscure that only the biggest of hero fans could guess. All Might would be too easy, so we should pick a different hero…” Hizashi mumbled as he began to pace around the table. 

Shouta watched his husband in amusement. “You just did a talk with Fat Gum about body positivity, right? It wouldn’t be too out there to choose him; not to mention he’s only been around for about as long as we have. His name is still fresh to the scene.”

Hizashi’s face lit up as he nodded enthusiastically “YEAH!!! That’s it! That’s exactly what we’ll do! And, I’ll give out an old, signed jacket of mine as the prize! It’ll be perfect!” Shouta yelped as he was suddenly tackled by the loud blond. Hizashi peppered his husband’s face with kisses as he laughed. “This will work! We’ll finally get to find out who our Green Bean is! Oh you dark, beautiful, GENIUS, I love you so much!” 

Hizashi had gotten the production board’s approval two weeks later. He couldn’t get himself to stop smiling as he sat down behind his mic, ready to make the announcement that he hoped would change both his and Greenie’s lives. “Alright, Listeners! We got somethin’ crazy set up for all of ya, so listen closely! In one month, on May 20th, any kiddo out there between the ages five and ten will get the opportunity to win their Present Mic jacket, signed by yours truly, as well as a full-sized Fat Gum hoodie! The rules are simple. On the day of the contest, little listeners will have two hours to call in and try to guess what Fat Gum’s favourite food is. First-person to answer correctly is our winner! It won’t be easy — Fat loves food, but can you guess which one he loves most of all? Good luck!” 

He beamed brightly as he played the fade out music and quickly switched on the queued music. 

This was it — he could feel it. This was how he was going to find Green Bean. 

***

Simultaneously across Musutafu, a small blond boy with too many emotions bottled up inside of him was sitting in the back of his parent’s car on the way home from yet another stupid fashion show. 

He’d normally be asleep by now, but his parents had insisted that he needed to be the one to help model their latest children’s line.
Stupid hag. 

His head perked up as he heard the familiar sound of Present Mic’s enthusiastic voice fill the car. “Turn it up!” He barked out to his parents. 

“A please would be nice, Katsuki,” his father scolded even as he turned up the volume of the radio. 

Katsuki rolled his eyes but froze as he heard the explanation of a competition, a competition about heroes , fill the air. A sharp, menacing grin filled his face — that hero merch was as good as his.

Chapter Text

It was lunchtime. 

And lunchtime meant that Izuku could finally go out and play heroes and villains with Kacchan and the others!

Sure he wasn't allowed to sit at the same table as them while they were eating anymore, because their teacher said she wanted to keep a close eye on him, but he'd get to eat the lunch that his Mama made him last night before she headed off for her late shift! And yeah, maybe, Kacchan always assigned him as the villain that they'd spend lunch hour chasing him around the playground, but at least he still got to play.

Like today! Today Kacchan finally let him play as a hero for the first time since his diagnosis! Obviously, he couldn't play as All Might, that honor always went to Kacchan, but he had hoped he could maybe get to be Present Mic, or even Mr. Eraserhead!

Instead, one of Kacchan's friends put a sticky note that read "Invisible Man" on his head and laughed as the others ran ahead. 

Izuku had ran alongside them, and tried joining in when they began to plan how to they were going to take out the villain and started describing their ultra-cool attacks, but none of them would respond. They just acted like he wasn't even there, and that his voice was nothing but a whisper in the wind. 

That was okay. It was fine. Really. 

Because today, at least he was one of the heroes. He'd just ask to play as Present Mic next time. Yeah!

So Izuku sat on the ladder of the monkey bars, watching as Kacchan and the others excitedly attacked a big stick with their quirks and cried out SMASH. The group of children laughed as the stick fell apart. 

"Wow, Bakugou! You're so cool!"

Kacchan smiled as he proudly put his hands on his hips. "Of course I am! And I'm going to be even cooler once I win Present Mic's Jacket tonight!"

Izuku couldn't help but perk up at the name of his friend. "You're entering Mr. Mic's competition too, Kacchan?" He excitedly asked as he approached him from behind.

The blond frowned as he tilted his head and finally looked over at him. "Hah? What did you just say Deku?"

The smile on Izuku's face grew as he bounced in excitement. "You're talking about Present Mic's Hero Contest right? He's giving out one of his jackets that he even signed himself, and some Fat Gum things, to anyone who can guess Fat Gum's favourite food! I've been doing my own work during my computer time for weeks and I think I finally figured it out based on his-"

He was cut off not by a spark, or sizzle, or even a flash, but a resonating BOOM as a small explosion knocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling back against the playground's harsh gravel. He let out a cry, as for the first time in his life, he felt the lick of flames bite into his exposed skin.

And for a single moment, Kacchan looked afraid. He saw the small burns now littering Izuku's hands and the tears welled in his eyes. His ears rang from the lingering sound of his quirk detonating against the kid who he's known since birth. He couldn't hide the worry and regret that pool in his expression — not from Izuku. 

"K-Kacchan..." Izuku called out timidly, reaching out to comfort him, and all that regret was quickly replaced with pure rage.

Kacchan glowered over top of him, his hands still glowing orange as his blood-red eyes glared down at his childhood friend. "Shut up, Deku! I don't need your stupid nerdy help! I'll win the stupid contest all by myself!"

Izuku shook his head as his eyes widened. "B-But Kacchan, that's not what I was trying to do! I'm just excited that we're both going to-"

One of the kids beside Kacchan laughed maliciously as he sneered down at Izuku. "Seriously? You're going to try and compete? You? The quirkless deku, who can't even get a quirk like a normal person." Izuku's heart dropped as the others all joined in on the laughter. "You're kidding me, right? Why would a super cool pro hero want to talk to a nobody like you? You're just going to waste his and everyone else's time."

"Not to mention you could infect him and take away his quirk! Then he wouldn't be able to be a hero anymore and it'd be all your fault!" Another kid pointed out with their nose wrinkled up as they took a notable step away from the green-headed child.

Kacchan scoffed and rolled his eyes. "That's not how phone calls work, dummy. Plus you can't catch quirklessness," he returned his ire to his victim as his lip curled in disgust. "All you can get is freaking annoyed." He stepped forward as he gripped Izuku's uniform into his hand and lifted the trembling child off the ground. "Listen up, Deku. That prize is mine, alright? It belongs to the best, and that's me. It shouldn't go to some useless freak who can't even eat lunch without a teacher!"

Izuku can't help but whine as he feels his friend's palm heat up in the peak of his emotions and tries to pry it away. "Kacchan! Stop! Please!"

He hesitated — their eyes meeting with a lifetime of joined memories between them — but then someone called out. "Put the Deku in his place! Show him who's really the best!" 

Something clicked behind that crimson gaze, and a glowing palm raised in from of him. All Izuku could do is close his eyes as sparks fill his vision. 

***

The last time Hizashi had been this excited might, in full honesty, have been his wedding day. 

Today was the day! After nearly a year and half of knowing Green Bean, he was finally going to get to learn the identity of his precious Little Listener. He swore that the second he did he was going to rush to the kid's address and deliver his prize to Greenie himself, and then he'd hug the kiddo as tightly as he could and never let him go. 

It was perfect!

His assistant smiled as he let out an excited YEAH as he skipped into the studio. "It's almost time for the competition callers to start rolling in. It's going to be pretty chaotic, but you're used to that. Ready, Mic?"

"Let's Rock-n-Roll, Baby!" He cheered as he threw his headphones on. 

He was damn-near bouncing out of his seat as his signature intro music played through the studio and the red lights flashed on above the door. "YEEEEEAAAAAAAH!!! Good evening Listeners of all ages! I'm your host, Present Mic, and this is Put Your Hands Up Radio! Tonight is the night that you've all been waiting for! It's time for the much anticipated Hero Contest, where you kiddos between the ages five and ten can call in and let us know what you think Pro Hero — Fat Gum's favourite food is for a chance to win a Present Mic leather jacket that was owned and signed by yours truly and a mega awesome true-to-size Fat Gum hoodie! Are you, READY?!" He grinned like a mad man as he watched his switchboard light up like a Christmas tree. "Alright, Listeners! Let's get this party started!"

Hizashi spent the next hour going through kid after kid eagerly attempting to guess the BMI Hero's favourite food. The answers ranged from completely ridiculous guesses like six patty cheeseburgers to close guesses that stuck in the street food area that Fat typically ate like yakisoba, dango, and ikayaki. Thankfully, no one had guessed it thus far, and Mic had the sneaking suspicion that no one would until his Greenie finally showed his face.

He excitedly slamed down on the next button and leaned back. "Look alive, kiddo! You're on the air! Want to tell our audience who we're talking to?"

"I'm Bakugou Katsuki and don't forget it because I'm going to be the number one hero someday!" 

Hizashi couldn't help but laugh at the sheer amount of aggression that was coming from a child. "It's awesome to have you here! You clearly are quite the hero fan, Bakugou! Do you think you've got what it takes to answer our question?" He leaned back in his chair, ready to hear whatever obscure answer would come from this fireball's mouth.

The kid scoffed. "Of course! What kind of a lame fan to you take me for? Fat Gum's favourite food is takoyaki!"

Hizashi's smile fell. He made eye contact with his shell-shocked assistant. 

That was right. The kid was right. The kid, who wasn't Green Bean in the slightest was right. 

"So, did I get it right?!"

Hizashi quickly pulled himself back together and did everything he could pull back on a smile. "That's it! Wow, kid, you sure know your stuff!"

A loud, brash laugh came through the line, filling the studio with celebratory joy, but the radio host couldn't bring himself to join. He could feel his phone going off in his pocket — no doubt with panicked texts from his friends and reassuring ones from his husband. 

They all knew how much this meant to him. They were so close. So close. Green Bean's identity was right there!  
But now wasn't the time to lose his cool. He had a little listener on the line, after all, whose day had just been made. The kid didn't do anything wrong by beating the game that Hizashi had rigged for others to fail. He deserved congratulations at least. 

He spent the next few minutes chatting with the frighteningly loud and ... passionate Bakugou Katsuki before transferring him over to the private line so that his assistant could get his private information to mail him his prize. Hizashi took a shaky breath, "Thank you to everyone for competing with us this evening! It's been a blast to get to hear from you! Remember to stay tuned for some jazzy grooves and our fan-favorite Dial-In segment, and Green Bean's Hero Corner with everyone's favorite hero expert! Stay Rockin'!"

He hit the off switch as he slid down into his chair and carelessly removed his headphones. 

It didn't work. All that planning; all that hoping and dreaming that today would be the day he would finally get answers and get to learn about his kid; all of it for nothing. 

He forced himself to take a few deep breaths as the commercials played in the background. "Keep it together, Yamada," he mumbled to himself. "It's not over. You still have Green Bean. There's still hope. You just need to come up with a new plan," he sighed and shook his head fiddling with the cord of his headphone. "Just be patient. You'll figure this out in time."

***

In the darkness of his room, with only the glow of the phone his mother had bought him to use in case of emergencies while she was at work, Izuku listened with tears running down his cheeks to the familiar drawl of Present Mic's voice. 

Only this time he felt no comfort from the tone. Just a heavy ache as he thought of the day's events and fiddled with the All Might band-aids that now covered his hands. 

He stared down at the phone screen — the studio number already typed, just waiting for him to press call. 

His hands trembled and ached, and his small chest hiccupped and heaved.

He turned off the phone.

Chapter Text

It was 4 a.m. and Hizashi could not stop pacing in his kitchen. "He didn't call." He mumbled to himself as he fiddled with his finger. 

Aizawa sighed from where he sat at the table, a cat mug filled with coffee sitting firmly in his grasp. "There's probably a good reason for it. Maybe he fell asleep earlier, or his family was on vacation, or—"

He cut off as Hizashi slammed his hands on the table and glared at him. "Green Bean has never once missed a call in a year and half. A year and a half, Shou! Something had to have happened." The radio host moved to grab his directional speaker off the table. "We have to find him. What if he was mugged, or his house was broken into, or what if his house collapsed and he's stuck under there like-" His panicked words faded into sobs as Aizawa hugged him from behind. Without hesitation, he turned around to fully embrace his husband and soak in the warmth that he was offering. "We were so close," he cried. "So close and now he's gone!" 

Aizawa gently shushed him as he rubbed circles into his back. Though he was clearly trying to hide his own concern for the young hero analyst, Hizashi could feel his heart racing just as quickly as his own. "He's not gone, Zashi. Have more faith in him than that. It was just one call. Logically speaking, the chances of him calling back next week and frantically apologizing for today are high." He pressed a kiss to the top of the blond's head and felt himself relax as Hizashi melted into him. "In the meantime, we do what we were already doing, and we keep looking." 

Hizashi took in a shaky breath as he nodded and pulled away from his husband. "You're right. You're right," he ran a hand over his face, quickly disposing of any evidence of his tears. "I shouldn't panic yet. Everything is probably fine. Before I know it, next week will come and I'll be talking with Green Bean all over again!"

Only, the next week came. As did the one after that and the one after that. 
And Green Bean never called. 

To Hizashi, it was as though the kid had just vanished from the face of the planet. One day, they were bantering back and forth about the logistics of capes and whether they were a hindrance to heroes and worth the aesthetic appeal. The next, Hizashi was sitting in his booth alone, purposefully ignoring the concerned glances his staff and friends kept sending him. 

He already knew that he was a mess; he didn't need their sympathy to further prove it. 
With the way that the radio host had hardly been able to sleep, and was frantically scouring the internet for theory boards and forums that discussed Green Bean's identity, you would think that he had lost his own son.

Hizashi instantly shut down the thought. 

He hadn't realized until now just how close and how much love he held for the little boy with stars in his eyes and awe in his voice. He celebrated holidays, birthdays, and special occasions with the kid. They had inside jokes with one another. For Kami sake, he had spent the last year getting that stupid signature book signed by every hero he met on the off chance that he would one day get the chance to meet his kid! He shouldn't be as surprised as he was at the revelation, and yet when his paternal feelings made themselves known to him, it only made Green Bean's disappearance all the more painful. 

Today hurt more than most. It was July 15th. Somewhere out there, his Green Bean was hopefully celebrating his sixth birthday. Hizashi wondered if he'd try throwing a party again this year.

Would there be balloons with different hero logos on them? Would he take out the Present Mic Karaoke machine that he said he bought last year? Would he have at least one person singing him happy birthday?

All day, all Hizashi could think of were the sobs that he had heard from his little bean last year. It filled him with shame that he wished he could hear them again this year, because at least then, he'd know that Greenie was okay. At least then he'd get to hear from him again. 

The radio host sighed as the clock struck and his assistant gave the signal for the Dial-In segment to begin — something that he would once be so excited for, but now felt a sense of grief towards. He slipped on his headphones and carefully flicked the mic on. "Rock on! Good evening, listeners! I'm your host, the one and only Present Mic, and you're listening to Put Your Hands Up Radio! We're about to slide on into our signature Dial-In series where you awesome listeners can call in and chat with yours truly! Let's bring in our first caller now to kick off our night!" Mic hit one of the glowing buttons and forced himself to smile. "What's shakin' Listener?! You're live with Present Mic! What can I help ya with tonight?" 

For the briefest second, there was a pause — a hitch of breath. And for a single, miserable second, Hizashi allowed himself to hope. 

"Hi Present Mic!" That hope quickly vanished as a teenage-sounding, female voice bled through his headphone. "I'm a big fan of yours and your show! I've been watching since your very first episode! I, uh, well, since I'm such a fan, I noticed that Green Bean's Hero Corner hasn't happened in a while. If I'm correct, today would be Green Bean's birthday and I guess I'm just a little worried. Do you know when Hero Corner is going to start up again? Is Greenie okay?" 

Hizashi felt himself freeze as his hands clenched tightly onto the table. He opened and closed his mouth several times, desperately trying to form an answer for the questions that he had been asking himself repeatedly for the past two months. "Oh! Thanks for being such a fan listener! It's always great to hear from your guys. It's crazy that you've been around so long." He rambled instead as he tried to search his brain for an answer. "And, um, well we're not sure when Hero's Corner is coming back. Green Bean hasn't been around for a bit. So I, uh, I guess the answer is Hero Corner will be back when Green Bean is ready to come back."

He could practically hear the listener frown on the other line. "But you're a hero! Green Bean's just a kid. Isn't there something you can do to, I don't know, check in on him? I have a little sister who's his age, and I get worried about him."

The radio host forced himself to swallow down the lump forming in his throat. "Even heroes have their limits. We work within the law, remember. It would be wrong to invade Greenie's privacy like that, especially since he's just a little tyke." 

There was a moment of silence. "That makes sense," the caller mumbled with a heavy sigh. "I guess I just miss him. It was always nice to hear Greenie get so passionate about heroes! The news is scary sometimes, and people are always so quick to focus on the bad stuff, so it really helped to just be able to relax and focus on the positivity and happiness that Green Bean always brought."

Hizashi smiled sadly. "I know exactly what you mean. I miss him too," he spoke softly as he took a few deep breaths. He tried to shake off the heavy sadness that clung onto him like a wet towel. "How about this listener? Me and you, and anyone else who wants to join us, we're all going to sing Greenie "Happy Birthday," just in case he's listening. How does that sound?"

And they did, but it just wasn't the same as last year's. 

Last year was filled with playful determination, happiness, and celebrations. Last year he got to hear Greenie laugh, knowing that it was him who put a smile on the kiddo's face. Last year he was able to make Green Bean's dreams come true
This year was layered with longing, grief, and the faintest glimmer of hope. This year he was so terribly lost and he hadn't the slightest clue on how to fix it. This year, he was alone.

He somehow managed to pull through it and wish the listener goodnight. His hands trembled as he leaned close to the mic. "Thanks again for the call, Listener. And Green Bean, if you're out there, just know that we all miss and love you and we cannot wait for you to come back and hang out with us again," He couldn't trust himself to say anything more — not with the way his throat was threatening to suffocate itself. He quickly began playing the queued list of songs for the evening and quickly ripped the headphones off his head. 

He leaned forward, digging his elbows into his knees as he buried his face into his palms. He didn't cry. He hadn't even met the kid, he didn't deserve to cry. He just sat there as disgustingly cheerful music played in the background and let himself silently shake. 

The sting of listeners asking about Green Bean never faded. 

Not then, on his birthday. Not a few months later when the leaves began to change. Not when his own students approached him in the hall and asked about the extended hiatus around Hero's Corner. Not when the snow fell on the ground and the holidays began to roll in and then rolled out. Not when cherry blossom's sprouted and bloomed and another school year began. 

It had been nearly a year since he had seen any sign of Green Bean's existence. 
Logic told him to let the kid go. Listeners came and went all the time. It's not like the six-year-old was his son. 
But his ever-bleeding heart said that after a year and a half of weekly calls, he was in every way that counted. 

***

When most people think of hero work, they think of people using their flashy quirks on the streets to take down a morally corrupt villain. They think of dazzling, media-trained smiles and quirky catchphrases purposefully made to be marketable. 

They didn't think of four half-exhausted specially trained persons sitting around telephones and computer screens, endless cups of coffee to their right, and an isolated break room to their left. But that's exactly where Iida Tensei finds himself precisely twice a month. 

The Hero Helpline, despite the name, was not designed to help heroes. It was for citizens who needed help and perhaps advice that perhaps couldn't reach out to the proper aids in real life and were too scared to call the authorities. Recovery Girl had designed the program in her early days to help extend the duties of hero work even further to aid those whose pain and danger wasn't necessarily visible in broad daylight. 

Tensei thought the cause was extremely noble and signed up as a volunteer almost immediately after he got his hero license. In his years within these four, dark, walls he's heard it all. Kids calling in with homework questions, lonely seniors who just need someone to talk to, people in about abuse situations, and those who were fighting their own demons.

It was hard. It was exhausting. But Tensei could sleep at night knowing that he was making a difference and truly helping people. 

He took a sip of his coffee as he glanced at the clock. Another hour or so and he'd have another shift in the bag. 

The phone rang, and Tensei nearly spilled his coffee all over the damn place. He cursed under his breath and quickly set his cup down before answering the phone. "Hero Helpline, this is Ingenium speaking. Who am I speaking with, and how can I help?"

For nearly thirty seconds the line was silent — not even the sound of breathing to be heard — and Tensei had to check to see if he had actually answered the line in time. A green light blinked back at him. 

He frowned as he pressed the phone closer to his ear. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

Finally, a stifled gasp was heard, putting the hero on high alert. His breath caught as a young, familiar, voice rang through. "H-Hi Mr. I-Ingenium, sir. I-I um ... I was, um, I-" His heart stopped as a small pain-filled squeak filled the line. "T-Theo-readily if a person was to have a- ow. A second-degree burn, h-how would you treat it?" His words were caught in his throat. "I-It's just I know heroes are all required to have first aid training and normally I- I mean, I've read that Band-Aids won't work for i-if the skin is all bubbly and gross cause it will make it hurt more, but I also feel that it shouldn't- um theo-readily of course - shouldn't be left out in the open and so what should I do? I'm sorry if I'm wasting your time!" The kid practically vomited out the last bit, hammering down the nail of dread, relief, and pure shock through Tensei's heart. 

There was no doubt about it. This was Hizashi's precious, long-lost, Green Bean.

And he was hurt.

Before the kid even had time to finish his sentence, Tensei whipped out his phone and shot off a text to one of his oldest friends with shaking hands. 

"I found your kid. Get to Hero Helpline, now."

Chapter Text

Hizashi huffed as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Aizawa Shouta," he scolded. "Would please care to tell me why your actual meals for work for the past few days are still in the fridge, while the utility belt of your hero costume is stuffed full of empty jelly pouches?" 

A distressed meow screeched through the air as their calico cat, Sushi was scooped up from the floor and held directly in front of said Aizawa Shouta's face. "Aizawa isn't here," Sushi said in a gravelly deep voice. "But I think that jelly pouches are a wonderful meal and provide any nutrients needed that would hypothetically be needed to get tired husbands through a patrol," one of his paws lifted up into the air by a pale, scarred hand. "Not to mention quick and efficient." 

Hizashi ran a hand down his face at the beginning of the age-old argument that has existed between the two of them since high school. "You can't survive off jelly pouches, Shou!"

Ping!

"Shouta isn't here. Just your the bestest boy, Sushi," the cat began to squirm as his paw was made to point at Hizashi's phone sitting on the table. "You should get that." 

The blond sighed as shot a stern glare at his husband. "Not until you promise to start eating properly on patrols and take your required breaks."

Ping!

Shouta pouted as Sushi jumped out of his lap and fled across the room. "Traitor," he mumbled. He let out a loud groan as he stood from where he had been crouched on the floor with the cat, and several of his joints cracked. "Fine," he grunted. "I'll make more of an effort," he walked over to Hizashi and lazily wrapped his arms around him. "Sorry for stressing you out."

Ping! Ping!

The couple glanced over at the phone with narrowed brows. Shouta frowned as two more notifications went off. "That's ..."

"Odd." Hizashi finished, quickly making his way over to the device. "Everyone at the studio and the agency knows I'm off tonight, there shouldn't be anybody-" He stilled as the phone screen blinked on in his palm and the spam of messages were revealed to him. 

His heart tied a rock to itself and plummeted to his stomach. He didn't think he was breathing. Hell, he wasn't even sure if his heart was beating at the moment. 

"Zashi?" Shouta called out, his voice thick with concern. "Hizashi, what is it? What's wrong?" Without a word, Hizashi dropped his phone and darted to the front door, barely taking a second to rip his jacket out the closet, and slip his shoes onto his feet — a wide eyed Shouta followed him all the while. "Woah, woah. What's going on? Zashi. Babe. Talk to me. What is it? What was on your phone?"

Hizashi was trembling as Shouta placed his hands firmly on his husband's shoulders and forced him to face him. Frantic acid-green eyes found obsidian. "Green Bean. Tensei found him. We have to-"

Shouta snatched the car keys from the counter and began dragging his husband out the door before Hizashi even had time to finish speaking. "Where?"

"Hero Helpline." Shouta sent a worried glance back to the blond. "I know," Hizashi sighed. "Tensei says he's hurt. Just. Get us there. Please. This the first lead we've had on him in a year and-"

"Breathe," Shouta gruffly comforted as he slid into their car. "I'm going to get us there. You focus on learning what you can about the situation. The helpline is programmed to automatically take phone numbers and addresses in case of emergencies, so regardless," the car's ignition roared to life with a flick of his wrist. "We're going to find him. He's not going away again."

As the car lurched forward and the tires squealed, Hizashi couldn't help but finally breathe at those words. 
Even if the kid was hurt, tonight, Hizashi would finally save his kid.

***

Tensei let out a breath of relief as his two best friends came racing into the call center. 

It had been a fight just to keep Green Bean, or Izuku, as he had learned, on the phone. The kid kept spiraling and trying to hang up, stating that it was a waste of time, that he should've figured it out himself and never called in the first place, and did a tremendous amount of apologizing. 

It frankly hurt Tensei's heart. 

He waved his friend's over and gestured to the computer screen that listed all the information they had on file thus far. The kid's name is Izuku. He's 6 and three quarters. He lived in one of the shadier parts of Musutafu. He seemingly has a second-degree burn of some kind somewhere on his body. He is extremely skittish, self-deprecating, and insecure. 

Hizashi's breath hitched as he read his Green Bean's name for the first time and squeezed Shouta's hand. 

"Hey, Izuku?" Tensei gently began as he put the call on speaker. Small sniffles and hiccups could be heard over the line. Hizashi's grip grew tighter. "I need you to take a deep breath for me, kid. I want to help you. What kind of a hero would I be if I didn't help those who reached out to me?"

"Not a very good one," Gree- Izuku mumbled. Hizashi placed a hand over his mouth to prevent any sound from coming through as he finally received confirmation. He'd know that voice anywhere. This was without a doubt, his kid. 

Tensei smiled softly. "Exactly. Thing is though kid, I'm, uh, I'm not the best when it comes to burns. So I have someone else here that's going to walk you through this and talk to you. Okay?"

A confused whine came through the phone speaker. "B-But I thought- ow. I thought the heroes com-uni-ssion made burn healing a class all heroes had to take after Endeavor became number two?"

Curse this kid and his endless hero knowledge. Tensei nodded. "That's right. They did. But I'm a little out of practice, to be honest. I don't usually work in the same district as the big guy. But my friend here, knows all about it. I'm going to put him on, okay?"

With a small whisper of consent, Tensei momentarily muted the call and turned to his friends. "It's him. He's got a burn. I know nothing else about the situation because I have spent the last ten minutes doing nothing but convincing him not to hang up. I'm a little worried. He made it seem like he was familiar with his kind of injury." 

"Oh Green Bean," Hizashi breathed as he looked at the phone. He took a deep breath, shaking out his hands as he took Tensei's place behind the phone. "It's alright. We're going to help him."

Shouta placed a firm hand on his shoulder, and kissed the top of his head. "You got this, Zashi."

With an unsure nod, he unmuted the call. "Hey there listener, this is Present Mic. I heard you've got a pretty bad burn, huh?"

Shouta's hand tightened on him as silence filled the room. Hizashi could feel his palms line with sweat as he instinctively began bouncing his leg. The light remained green. They hadn't scared him off yet. "Listener?" Hizashi tried again. 

A stuttered breath finally came through — one that guaranteed tears. "M-Mr. Mic?"

Hizashi could almost cry. He desperately clung onto his husband's hand to prevent himself from doing exactly that. "Hey Green Bean! Long time no see. It's so nice to hear you again."

Harsh cries filled the room as the kid broke down. Sobs filled with bitter regret and grief that didn't belong in a six-year-old's voice followed by an endless string of apologies. "Woah! Easy Green Bean. It's okay. It's okay. Y-You have nothing to apologize for kiddo. Okay? I am here. I'm right here, Greenie. I'm not going anywhere," despite the tears, Hizashi couldn't help but feel relieved. He found his kid. 

After a little more reassuring, the sobs finally died down to sniffles. "I-I left you," Izuku whimpered. "I didn't say goodbye or give you a reason. I-I ditched you when I promised I wouldn't. Y-You should be mad."

This kid was going to break his god-damn heart. "I'm not mad. I'll be honest, I was really worried about you, kiddo. But all that matters is that I'm talking with you now," his eyes flickered over to the computer screen as he reminded himself of the purpose of the call. "I want to catch up with you, and hear all about what you've been up to this past year, but right now let's focus on the matter at hand, yeah? Think of it as your very own mission!"

There was a small hiss of pain. "Y-Yeah. Usually I can- I-I mean my friend gets smaller burns all the time, and those aren't so bad. H-He said that he, um, puts some medicine and some Band-Aids on them, and they're okay! But, um, h-he said that his burn this- this time is... It's scary. And- And it hurts. A lot. And it's really gross. A-At least that's what he told me!" 

Hizashi really didn't like the sound of any of this. And by the way that Shouta's grip was now near-painful on his shoulder, neither did he. "Greenie, I need you to be honest with me. There is no friend, is there? You're the one who's hurt?"

Silence, once again.  And then- "Yes," came the barely whispered response. "I-It was an accident though! That's all!"

He exchanged a glance with Shouta. "What happened?"

"What h-happened? Oh. Um. Y-You know just, uh, burned myself making dinner!"

Two thoughts ran through Hizashi's head. 1) That was very obviously a lie. 2) Did his six-year-old kid actually make his own dinners? His poor parental heart was growing heavier and heavier by the second. "We'll get back to that," he said instead, deciding to focus on the injury at hand before the cause. "You really shouldn't be dealing with something like that on your own kiddo. Do you think you can get your mom to help?"

"No!" was Izuku's quick response. He felt Shouta tense behind him — this was looking worse and worse. Hizashi didn't want to think this was an abuse case. From what he could remember, the few things Izuku had told him about his mom were all positive. But a lot can change in a year. "I-I mean, I can't. Mom's not home." 

Hizashi nodded, remembering the kid mentioning something about his mom's weird work schedule when they had first started talking. "Alright. Can you show it to the adult that's looking after you?" The line went much too quiet for Hizashi's liking, and Shouta quietly cursed behind him. "Greenie. Are you home alone?"

Izuku stuttered and stammered trying to find his words, while Hizashi and Shouta were trying to find their minds. They were right. This whole time, their worst fears were right. "Mom's just at work! Dad's not around, s-so she needs to work a lot to make money. And, um, and we have a hard time finding a babysitter sometimes. But it's okay! I'm really big now, and I can make all kinds of things in the microwave, and she leaves lots of notes saying what I can and cannot do and-"

Shouta slammed down on the mute button as Izuku continued to ramble about his mother and their very obvious routine for Izuku to stay home and looked at Hizashi with furiously determined eyes. "Transfer the call to your cell. I already put his address in my GPS. We're going to take him to god damn hospital and then we'll figure out what to do about the fucking mother."

Hizashi's heart flipped as nodded at his husband and unmuted the phone. "Green Bean. Listen. I don't feel safe with you being home alone when you're seriously injured. Is it alright if Eraserhead and I come over? The Helpline has your address, and we want to make sure that you're okay and that you get to a hospital for your injur-"

"No hospitals!" Came the once more panicked reply. "Please! I can't! Mom works there a-and even if she didn't they don't ... I can't go because I'm ... I just can't!"

His kid was going to get the biggest of hugs the second he got his hands on him. For now, Hizashi tried to control his breathing. "We'll see how bad your burn is when we get there. If it needs better medical care than either Eraser or I are capable of, we may need to take you to a friend, okay? For now, just don't touch it and put it under some cold water. Can you do that?"

He shouldered his cell and got to work transferring the call as he heard a faucet turn on over the sound of Izuku's sniffles. "Okay. B-But you really don't have to come here."

Hizashi couldn't help it; he laughed — a crazed, half-hysteric, half-mournful, but mostly full of disbelief, laugh. "I'm afraid that's not an option Green Bean. I've been dying to meet you for over two years. I'm going over there to help you, and there's nothing you can do to stop me." Izuku giggled in response.

He swatted at his husband's hands as Shouta gently herded him out of the building. Tensei looked at the two with a knowing look. "Good luck! I'll text Tsukauchi to send you adoption papers!"

"Thank you," Shouta answered, much to Hizashi's surprise before yanking him out of the door. 

Hizashi barely had time to sit down before Shouta had spun out of the parking lot with a much darker expression on his face and his knuckles white against the steering wheel. 

It hit Hizashi in that moment, as Izuku quietly rambled in his ear, that this was happening. They were going to get Izuku, and there was going to be hell to pay.

Chapter Text

Hizashi could hardly breathe as they pulled up to a tall beige apartment building — Due, in part, to the immobilizing anxiety and concern thrumming through him, but also partly due to the seatbelt that had just slammed against his chest as Shouta drifted into a parking spot.

"Sorry," Shouta mumbled as he turned off the engine — one hand still death gripping the wheel. "So what's the plan?"

That was the question of the night. With how Green Bean, how Izuku, was acting, he couldn't guarantee that the kid was being honest with him. There was no telling the state that they'd find him in, and that horrified him. 

Hizashi let out a shaky breath as he ran a hand through his hair. "I... Go in. I guess. Go in, and see him, and figure out what's going on."

Shouta's hand — an ever-grounding, calloused thing that has always been a source of comfort for him in even his darkest day — gripped tightly onto his own. "Hey," he grumbled. "He's going to be okay."

Hizashi flipped his palm so that he could hold Shouta's hand in turn. "But what, if he's not?" he whispered. He internally cursed the tremors running through him. "What if we go in there and he's all bloody and bruised and there's no food in his cupboards or toys like he deserves? What if- What if it's really bad, Shou? I mean, we've dealt with toxic homes before but this is different. This is Green Bean, and I didn't even know his name two hours ago, and now we're here! What if we really were right about everything?" 

"Then we save him," Shouta answered with hesitation. "We make sure that whoever hurt him can never do so again, and we make sure that he's taken care of," he paused for a moment, lips thinning as he avoided his husband's eyes. "I ... I know we haven't talked about it. But, you know my thoughts on the system, and we both know how much potential this kid has, if it really is as bad as we fear," it was Shouta's turn to tremble. "I think we should take him in. I know we don't actually know him or anything that's going on, but we have our emergency foster licenses for a reason and-" He was cut off as Hizashi lunged forward and captured Shouta's lips with his own. 

He gently pulled away with a small smile. "Of course, Shouta. Like you said, no matter what we find in there, we're going to help Green Bean the best we can." 

Shouta blinked for a second, looking adorably similar to the confused cat for a moment before his cheeks flushed a bright red and he nodded. "Right. Right. Good. We should ... We should go inside."

The two heroes, hand in hand, slowly made their way up the outdoor steps to the unit number flashing on Shouta's GPS. With a final glance to one another, Hizashi raised his hand and knocked on the door. 

There was a gasp and the sound of hurried footsteps as all visible lights in the apartment quickly went out. 

Hizashi narrowed his eyebrows and knocked again. "Green Bean? It's me. It's Present Mic. I told you I was coming, remember? I have Eraserhead with me."

"We're just here to make sure you're alright, kid," Shouta added.

They waited. One minute, and then two, and then, just as Hizashi was getting ready to knock once more a small click ran through the air. The door cracked open.

The biggest emerald eyes that Hizashi had ever seen peered up at him from underneath a mop of barely-tamed green curls. "Mr-Mr. Mic?"

It was like time stood still as he slowly soaked in the sight of the kid, his kid, that he had been searching for for two years. He wasn't sure what he had expected it, but whatever it was the level of cuteness that six-year-old Izuku possessed well surpassed any ideas he could've had. He couldn't see much as he was still cowarding behind his apartment door, but he could make out a scattering of freckles across his round, chubby cheeks. Some, he noticed, were a great deal lighter than the others — almost like they were scars.

He slowly knelt down to the kid's height and smiled at him. "Hey, Green Bean. Or I guess I should be calling you Izuku now, huh?"

Those large green eyes glistened at the hero's words as they frantically glanced between the two men. "I-I-I ... You really came?" he whispered in complete and utter disbelief. 

Hizashi frowned - trying to ignore the twang in this heart and the anger simmering in his stomach. He had always encouraged and lifted up Green Bean, and yet, in the course of one year, something had shattered his faith in the hero. He knew better than to take it personally, but it still stung. 

"I'm here," he breathed the words, and they seemed to finally sink in as he did. He was here. "I'm here to help you, Izuku," the kid's breath hitched. "Eraser is too, because we care about you and want to make sure that you're safe."

The door was thrown open as Izuku launched himself forward into the hero's arms, and Hizashi didn't hesitate to hold him as closely as he could. 

It felt right.
It felt right to feel the two trembling hands clinging tightly to his shirt. 
It felt right to rest his cheek against a head of curls and murmur reassurances. 
Having Izuku in his arms felt like a part for him that he didn't know had been empty became whole. 

But then, a small wince of pain caught his ears, and he remembered why he was there. 

He quickly pulled away and scanned Izuku for the damning injury — only immediately finding an All Might shirt and band-aids scattering across his hands and knees. "Oh gee! I'm sorry, Listener. I got so excited, I forgot you were hurt. Think you can let us in so we can take a look?"

Izuku's eyes widened as he nodded enthusiastically. "O-O-Of course Mr. Present Mic! Y-Yeah! Just, um, just come in!" The two heroes followed the kid into the house and tried to subtly take in the space.

They had been expecting to see the walls bare, maybe with a few holes or damages done to them, a lack of toys and personal items, and perhaps some empty bottles — all things that they classically found in abuse households, but to their pleasant surprise, the Midoriya house had none of those things. 

The space was warm and comforting, if not a little small. The coffee table in front of the T.V. was littered with a couple of notebooks, loose drawings of heroes and crayons as the news played in the background, covering live footage of hero fight. Hizashi noted the small All Might-encased phone that sat on the table's corner. The walls were absolutely filled with countless pictures of a happy Izuku — both as he appeared now and much younger baby Izuku that nearly made Hizashi coo — along with a kind-looking green-haired woman. As they made their way towards the kitchen, where a wet cloth and half-empty first-aid kit sat on the counter in front of a step stool, Hizashi spotted a long, colour-coded list taped onto the fridge, listing instructions, rules, and emergency numbers. Most notable, however, were the near a-dozen child-safety locks placed on various cupboards, switches, and knobs.

Shouta's tense stance seemed to relax ever so slightly as he took it all in.

Izuku climbed up the step stool and grabbed the still-open first aid kit as he brought it over to Hizashi. "I-I'm, um, I usually use band-aids when I get hurt, b-but one of Mama's old school books said that "breaking the skin" and putting tight bandages on bad burns is bad, and I-I-I didn't know what to do, cause it hurt a lot, so I called Hero Helpline, j-just thinking that they could tell me what to do," Izuku blushed as he played with the Band-Aids on his hands. "I didn't think you'd have to come here. S-Sorry for taking up your time."

"You're not taking up our time, Kid," Shouta reassured as he ruffled Izuku's hair. "Like Mic said, we're here because we want to be."

Izuku stared at the underground hero for a moment, lips pressed tight, before sharply nodding. "R-Right," he mumbled as his hands fiddled with the bottom of his shirt.

Hizashi tilted his head as he peered down at the child. "Can you show us your burn?

Izuku hesitated. "W-Well, I know you said to put it under cold water but- uh- but I couldn't get it under the tap s-s-so I just put a cold cloth on it until you got here," Hizashi had expected the kid to roll up his sleeves or pant legs, to remove one of the many Band-Aids covering his skin, but instead he carefully began to peel off his shirt.

The burn was about the size of a billiard ball near the center of his chest— an angry red thing that glistened and bubbled. The skin around it wasn't much better. It wasn't quite the same second-degree levels as the main one, but seemed to slowly fade out as though something had detonated against him. To make matters worse, now that his top was removed, Hizashi could see a few small burn scars spread across his arms. 

Hizashi was speechless. 
Shouta, not so much.

He immediately got to action, moving to the kitchen to grab a fresh cloth and soaking it in cold water. "You did the right thing not disturbing the skin. Here," he gently pressed the cloth against the injury. Izuku flinched back and yelped at the contact, instinctively grabbing Shouta's hand to stop him. The underground hero paused, his expression softening as he carefully took the child's hands off of him. "Sorry. I should've given you a heads up. I'm used to my homeroom brats. You're younger though. This ... This might hurt a little," he waited until Izuku gave him a nod this time before trying again. 

"Izuku," Hizashi practically whispered. "What ... What happened?"

Izuku gulped as he cautiously watched Shouta's hands at work. "I-I-I told you it was an accident. I burned myself making supper."

"There are child locks on the stove," Shouta quickly countered with an unimpressed raised brow. "We can't help you if we don't know what's going on, Greenie. Tell us the truth."

Green Bean hissed through his teeth as Shouta applied a little more pressure. "I-It ... It really was an accident! We were playing heroes and villains again. I always play the villain so the others can practice their quirks. Kacchan's going to be an amazing hero one day, but he just ... I-I guess I played the villain extra good 'cause he got, um, excited I guess. Yeah."

Hizashi's brow furrowed at the familiar nickname. "Your ... Your friend did this to you?"

Izuku's eyes hardened at the accusing tone bleeding into the radio host's voice. "It was an accident," he firmly stated. "Kacchan would never hurt me on purpose. He gets excited or I annoy him sometimes and he loses control of his quirk. But Kacchan is a hero! He's going to be the best! H-He's my best friend. He wouldn't hurt me."

Shouta sighed as he lifted the cloth off the burn and reached for the medical bandages from the first aid kit. "And why didn't your teachers help you with your injury? 

Izuku immediately dropped his gaze to his hands, fiddling with his hands as he shrugged. His lips were turning white from how tightly he was pressing them together. 

Silently, Shouta gestured for Izuku to lift his arms and began to loosely wrap the bandages around him. "This will do for now. We should still take you to a specialist to see if there's any medicine they might recommend to quicken the healing," Izuku flinched the moment the word 'specialist' left his mouth. Hizashi and him exchanged a nervous glance. "Do ... Do you not like doctors?" Once again, Izuku only shrugged. 

Hizashi smiled sadly and ruffled the kid's hair. "It's getting pretty late. We should get you to bed."

Izuku frowned at the wording as he looked up at the blond hero. "What?"

Shouta snorted. "We can't just leave you here alone kid. Not while you're like this. You said your mom was working, so Mic and I will stay here until she comes home." 

Green Bean shook his head as he yawned. "B-But-"

"But nothing," Hizashi interrupted and gently began to herd Izuku towards the door with the All Might nameplate on it. "I spent a year and a half talking with you well past midnight. I'm well aware of what your sleeping habits are Greenie. Sooooo, not cool. When you're feeling icky like you are today, ya got it lay low and taking things slow, ya dig?"

Izuku opened his mouth to argue but was cut off as his bedroom door was opened and the two heroes were practically blinded by red, blue, and yellow. Both of their jaws dropped at the number of All Might posters plastered on the kid's walls. Hizashi chuckled as he made his way in. "You really are All Might's biggest fan, huh?"

Izuku pouted as he made his way into his room and pulled his shirt back on. "I-It's not just All Might! I like other hero's too!"

"Like Present Mic," Shouta smirked as he lifted up a clearly well-loved Present Mic plushie that had been sitting on his bed next to the Present Mic radio on his nightstand. "I think you have a fan, 'Zashi."

Hizashi couldn't help but coo as Izuku blushed and snatched his toy back. "I-It's soft!" he fiddled with the arms of the toy a bit more before sitting down on his bed. "I-I'm ... I really am sorry for leaving without saying anything Mr. Mic. It's ... It's not nice when people do that. It sucks."

The radio host frowned and sat down beside the kid. "It does, but I forgive you," Izuku looked up at him with big tear-filled eyes. Hizashi couldn't help but wrap an arm around him. "Honestly, I'm just so happy that I finally got to meet you. I've been trying to figure out who you are for years, kiddo!"

"Really?"

"Really really," Hizashi softly reassured. "You're my favourite listener. I want to get to know you more, be there for you when you're sad, not just for hero's corner. You're ... You're a good kid, Izuku. A special kid. And I care about you," he smiled as Izuku tightly wrapped his arms around his waist once more. Hizashi leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to the top of his head. "Get some sleep. We'll be here to make sure you're safe." 

With a ruffle of his hair, Hizashi and Shouta left the kid to get ready for bed and made their way out to the living room. Shouta huffed as he plopped onto the couch — Hizashi wasn't too far behind him.

"That was ..."
"I know," Shouta grumbled. "On one hand, the home situation seems at least a little better than we thought, but that burn ..." The underground hero sighed as he shook his head. "I can't believe another kid did that to him, and he's still defending the brat." 

Hizashi nodded, allowing his head to fall onto his husband's shoulder. "We'll talk to his mom about it.

Shouta tsked and glanced over at one of the photos of the mother-son duo. "We're going to be talking to her about a lot of things."

Shouta yelped as he felt a sharp pinch in his side and glared down at his half-sleeping husband. "We will," the blond mumbled. "But she's not even home right now. Regardless of what's about to happen, we won't be able to deal with it if we're both exhausted. Take a nap with me."

He rolled his eyes as he shifted into a more comfortable position and pulled the drowsy blond closer to him. Hizashi's words were only logical after all. The kid was safe, healing, and sleeping in the room next door. For now, all danger was out of the way. Everything could be dealt with when they woke. The hero slowly closed his eyes and allowed his mind to drift off to sleep. 

***

"IZUKU?!" The two heroes jumped up as a frantic shriek came from the entranceway. "Izuku!! The door was unlocked, what's going on?! Are you-" A petit, distressed woman rushed around the corner, only to freeze as she spotted the two strange men on her couch. 

The heroes barely had time to react as a dark expression came over the woman's face. She lifted her hand, and the nearest vase, shoe, book, and pair of scissors were suddenly hovering dangerously close to their faces. "Who are you, and what the hell are you doing in my home?" 

Shouta quickly used his quirk, all items instantly dropping to the floor as he rose to his feet. "Izuku's mother, I assume?" Her body went rigid as she nervously glanced toward her son's room. "My name is Eraserhead, the erasure hero. This is Present Mic, I'm sure you know who he is,"  The woman paled several shades as tears suddenly lined her eyes. "We need to talk about your son."

Chapter Text

The woman was almost ghostly white as she dazedly placed herself between the two heroes and her son's room. "I ... Show me your licenses. You s-say that you're heroes, but you sure as hell don't look like it. So show me proof," she tried to say firmly, but there was still a quiver in her tone. 

Hizashi nodded — It made sense that she wouldn't recognize them. Eraserhead was an underground hero, and neither of them were in costume right now. They both took out the little plastic cards and held them out to her. Rather than moving forward to take them, she raised her hand once more and the two cards moved closer to her. 

They waited in silence as her eyes flittered between their image and them. She swallowed thickly as acceptance seemed to sink into her shoulders. She handed them back their cards. "Okay. So you really are pros," she stated as she crossed her arms over her chest. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing in my home, or how you know my son," her gaze sharpened dangerously and a certain tension that only ever came from mothers defending their young bled into the air. "You can imagine why I might be concerned that two grown strangers were with my six-year-old son without my knowing."

"And you can imagine," Shouta piped in sharply, his own obsidian eyes narrowing into slits at the hidden accusation, "Why we might be concerned to have found said six-year-old child being neglected and left to take care of himself overnight," Hizashi placed a hand on his husband's back — abuse (and similar) cases always struck hard with the dark-haired hero.

The woman stepped back as though she had been struck, what little colour had still been in her face, quickly drained from her at those words as guilt and shame filled her expression — she looked like she was going to be sick. But she kept herself composed, even as her hands trembled at her side. "We should take this conversation to the kitchen," she mumbled as a shuffling noise came from the door behind her. "I'll meet you there. I just need to check on Izuku."

And they listened — albeit reluctantly. They waited in the kitchen, keeping a careful ear toward the muffled whispers coming from the bedroom. Several minutes later, the woman came out with teary eyes as she joined the, 

Without saying a word, she grabbed a box of tea bugs from the cupboard and began to gather mugs. "Tea?" she offered solemnly.

"That's alright," Hizashi replied patiently as Shouta ignored the question. 

Her grip faltered on her mug a bit. The woman took her time, shakily making her drink and cupping it in her hands before turning to face them. The tears that had been so stubbornly clinging to her eyes were finally falling down her cheeks. "I suppose introductions are in order," she said nervously. "My name is Midoriya Inko, I'm Izuku's mother," she took a sip from her mug as her gaze grew more distant in thought — falling to the countertops rather than the heroes themselves. "I love my son," she choked. "He is the best thing to have ever happened to this earth, and I just know that he is going to grow up to be absolutely incredible. He's so good and has a heart that's too big for his little body and a brain too big for his head and is simply remarkable in every way. He never fails to make me proud," she spoke with watery words. 

Shouta opened his mouth, no doubt to make a snide comment, but was stopped by his husband's hand on his shoulder. "Then explain to us how this happened?" Hizashi softly asked and more tears welled in her emerald eyes. "Why did Izuku need to call the Hero Helpline because he has a second-degree burn on his chest, didn't know what to do, and 'couldn't go to a hospital?'"

Inko froze at the words, her breath hitching. "He ... He what?"

"Second-degree burn," Shouta added bluntly. He curled his hand into a fist and held it up against his chest. "About that big. Right in the center of his chest. He said it was an 'accident' caused by a so-called friend named 'Kacchan.'"

An expression of utter terror washed over Inko as she hurriedly set down the mug in her hands to cover her mouth. "Katsuki," she breathed, silently shaking her head. "He ... He has an explosion quirk. B-But he's just a kid. They're best friends. They grew up together. Katsuki wouldn't ... H-He gets a little hot-headed at t-times but he wou-wouldn't ..." 

Hizashi and Shouta exchanged a small glance as a sob slipped from her lips. "He has burn scars," Shouta explained with little to no sympathy in his voice. "This is hardly the first time this has happened. Did you honestly not notice that your son was being abused at school?"

Inko ran a hand through her hair. "Oh Kami," she cried. "Izuku's been insisting that he can wash himself now. H-He's always been independent a-and he's turning seven in three months, s-so I didn't think anything of it. H-He'd have a few scraps on his hands or knees, b-but kids are clumsy and Izuku's always been a little reckless s-so I thought ... There was never anything like ..." her voice wavered as she grabbed a tissue. "Why didn't he c-come to me? How ... How did I miss this?"

The heroes let her cry. Hizashi spared a careful glance back to Izuku's room — remembering all too well that the kid had an admittedly bad habit of listening in on his Mother's conversations to know how to better help her. 

Hizashi took a deep breath and looked at the pitiful woman. "So you didn't know about the bullying," she flinched at the word. "What about the neglect?" Inko sniffled, wiping at her eyes as he spoke. "Why not get someone to watch over him?"

"I tried," she croaked. "Kami, I tried so hard. It's not like I want to leave him home alone. I would be with him every second of the day if I could, B-But it's just me and Izuku," she sighed and traced the edge of her mug. "I love the Bakugous, but their busy enough with little Katsuki and their own careers. The hospital I work at barely lets me bring Izuku in for check ups. They'd fire me if I tried to bring him to the staff daycare, and I need this job. A-Anytime I try to hire a nanny or someone to watch him, they either drop out or raise their prices to be completely unreasonable the moment they find out about his status."

There was so much in Inko's words that had only formed more questions inside of Hizashi, but one came to the forefront of his mind. "His status?"

Inko tensed, her eyes narrowing dangerously at the two of them. Without even saying a word, Hizashi knew there was a threat behind that stare and the subtle twitching in her fingers. "Yes," she said cautiously. "His quirklessness."

Those two words slotted into Hizashi's mind like final puzzle piece that made up the image of Midoriya Izuku. His self-doubt. His skittishness. The bullying. The avoidance of his quirk. As much as it hurt, all of the little abnormalities about Izuku that had been haunting Hizashi for months suddenly made sense.

His kid was quirkless.

He felt Shouta squeeze his hand, and quickly shook himself out of his own thoughts. Inko was glaring at both of them. "If that's a problem, you can both leave right now," she spat.

"No!" Hizashi quickly yelped. "It's not a problem! Of course, it's not a problem. It doesn't change anything," he sighed as he stare continued to remain suspicious. "Look. You asked how I knew your son earlier. Ever since Izuku was four, he's been calling into my radio show every week as Green Bean," Inko's eyes nearly bulged out of her head at the information. "I talked with him weekly about heroes and quirks for one and a half years. He stopped calling in suddenly in May of last year. I've honestly been looking for him ever since. I ... I care a lot about Izuku, and something as small as a quirk isn't going to change that."

Inko let out a heavy breath, falling back against the counter. "How much has he been hiding from me?" she mumbled to herself. "Kami, what kind of a mother am I?" she shook her head as she swallowed thickly and looked up at the pair. "So what now?" she asked with exhaustion flooding her voice. "You found him. You know everything — more than me certainly. What happens now?" her bottom lip wobbled as she looked at them. "I can't lose him. I won't lose him."

Silence spread across the kitchen as each of the adults stewed in their thoughts. "There will be a discussion on what action needs to be taken," Shouta began. " You clearly love and care about your son, but Izuku needs more than this. He deserves better than what's currently being given to him," Inko hands balled into fists as her breath caught in her throat. "But not now. Not when you're exhausted and there are still listening ears about," a distinct squeak came from the room behind them. "Do you have the day off tomorrow?"

Inko hesitated, "I-I can ... I can call in sick."

Shouta nodded. "Izuku seems to be afraid of hospitals, but I'd feel better if he received professional treatment for his injuries. Get some sleep, and then meet us at UA tomorrow. He will have to miss school, but considering what's been happening there, perhaps it's for the best. We'll have Recovery Girl look at him while we discuss what will be happening from here on out."

Inko took in a shaky breath and nodded. "O-Okay. Okay," she laughed sadly as she wiped away her tears once more. "I suppose I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

Hizashi solemnly shook his head. "Not in this. I'm sorry."

Her lips pressed in a thin line as she looked over at one of the pictures of her and Izuku hanging on the wall. "It's already two in the morning. We should all get some rest if we're going to meet tomorrow."

Hizashi knew a request to leave when he saw one. He nodded and began to make his way towards the door. "Of course. We'll see you tomorrow Mrs. Midoriya." 

The woman gave a sharp nod, refusing to look at the duo. Shouta and Hizashi silently made their way out of the house, hesitating only for a moment by Izuku's bedroom door before continuing out to their car. 

They didn't say anything to each other the entire drive home. They just squeezed each other's hands and sat with the heavyweight resting in each of their hearts, purposefully ignoring the empty adoption papers sitting in their email inbox. 

They would talk about it later — when the sun had risen, coffee drunk, and cats in their laps. They would think about the kind green-haired woman, so identical to her darling son, with a heart overflowing with love who was forced to make an impossible choice between what she knew was right and her family's survival. They would talk about the future and the impossible decision that they themself would have to make. 

***

Inko laid in her bed, tears flowing heavily from her eyes, and sleep was nowhere in sight. 

She knew that the heroes' concerns were valid. She knew that what she was doing was wrong and horrible and illegal. She knew that her baby boy was being forced to grow up much too quickly by a society that would rather she kick him to the curb. She couldn't help but wonder just how much he had suffered and kept from her to ease her own pain. 

"Mama?" A quiet voice came from her bedroom door. 

Inko quickly wiped at her face as she sat up and smiled sadly at Izuku — his eyes drooped with sleep as he clung to his Present Mic doll. "Yes, baby?"

Izuku shifted nervously and he fiddled with the toy. "Did ... Did I get you in trouble again?"

The mother's heart instantly shattered, and for what felt like the hundredth time that night, tears flooded her eyes once more. "Oh Izuku," she whimpered, "Come here, baby." 

The boy rushed to his mother's side, scrambling up her bed and carefully nestling himself against her side. She didn't hesitate in pulling him closer to her, paying care not to disturb the bandages she could see poking out his pajama collar. She pressed a firm kiss against his forehead as she squeezed her eyes shut — doing all that she could to transfer all her love and affection into her boy. "Listen to me, bunny," Izuku peered up at the whispered name of endearment. She tenderly cupped his freckled face in her hands and gently brushed his curls with her fingers. "No matter what happens, none of it is your fault, okay?" her voice cracked as confusion pooled in her son's eyes. "You've done absolutely nothing wrong. I ... Mama did something that she shouldn't have," her lip trembled at the confession. "But it's not your fault. It never has and never will be your fault."

Like the Midoriya that he was, Izuku's own eyes began to water at the sight of his mother's tears. "W-Will you be okay? I can be better, Mama! I-I'll stop annoying Kacchan, a-and I'll be quiet in class a-and-"

Inko held her boy as tightly as she could as silent sobs that she refused to let out shook her body. "It's not you, baby," she cried. "I promise. You are perfect. You're so so good for you Mama. It's me who's not doing enough," she kissed his head once more and carefully rubbed his back as Izuku began to cry into her shoulder. "I promise you, regardless of what happens, everything is going to be okay, and I will always love you, Izuku. More than anything in the whole wide world!"

Izuku sniffled as he wiped his own eyes. "M-More than All Might?"

Inko smiled and brushed the tip of her nose against Izuku's. "More than a thousand All Mights."

The boy giggled as he snuggled closer to his mother. "I love you too, Mama. More than a million All Mights!"

Inko squeezed her child once more, pulling him close as they both laid down to rest — neither daring to pull away from the other. She had no idea what tomorrow would hold — by this time tomorrow, she could be in a prison cell for all she knew. But for now, at least, she had her Izuku and he had her, and just for tonight, that would be enough.

Chapter Text

Hizashi paced along the wall of the entrance gate. "Elementary schools start at 7:50, right?" He fretted as he glanced over at Shouta. 

The underground hero sighed, flipping through the folder that he and Hizashi had pieced together not that long ago. "Yes. It's only 7:30. I'm sure they'll be here soon. Relax, 'Zashi. It's ... We're going to figure it out."

Well, that was reassuring.

Another fifteen minutes passed a ball of green suddenly came barreling around the corner. "MR.MIC!" 

A smile split across Hizashi's face as he quickly knelt down and opened his arms, just in time to catch the child jumping at him. All traces of the anxiety and guilt that had been eating away at him since meeting Inko, quickly vanished as he held Izuku in his arms. "Hey there, Green Bean! I see someone's having a rocking morning."

Izuku bounced on feet as he beamed at the two heroes, "Yeah! I get to spend the whole day with you and Mr. Eraserhead and Mama, and we're going to UA! All Might went to UA! Did you know that?"

"IZUKU!" All three of them snapped their attention upward as Inko finally rushed around the corner. She somehow managed to both relax and become even tenser than she already was at the sight of the blond hero holding her son. "Oh," she breathed as she approached them at a much slower pace. "I ... I see he found you."

That pang of guilt returned within Hizashi as he noticed the heavy eyebags on the woman and her strained smile. He slowly rose back to his feet as he nodded solemnly at her. "Looks like we have ourselves a speedster on our hands," He tried to joke as he ruffled Izuku's hair, but his words only seemed to make things worse.

Izuku's smile dimmed for a moment as he glanced between the three adults and acknowledged the growing tension between them — he slowly pulled away from Hizashi and moved to stand behind his mother, gripping tightly onto the back of her jacket. Hizashi blinked in confusion as the little boy stared back at him with a calculative gaze.

She smiled fondly at Izuku before finally turning her attention to the heroes. "Sorry if we kept you waiting. We had to take a little longer getting ready to change Izuku's bandages," she locked eyes with Shouta, "Thank you, by the way, for helping him. I-I know it shouldn't have been your place but ... I'm happy he had the two of you there."

Shouta stiffly nodded and finally got up from the wall.  "It was no issue. Just doing my job as hero," despite his distant words, his ever-present scowl softened just the slightest as he glanced down at Izuku. "We should head inside. Recovery Girl's waiting."

"RECOVERY GIRL?!?!" Izuku screeched, suddenly filled with energy once again. "We're going to meet Recovery Girl? Is she nice? Is she really as short as she is on camera? Why is she at UA? Is someone hurt? Is she-"

Inko giggled sadly as she placed a hand on her son's shoulder. "Slow down, Izuku. If you ask nicely, I'm sure you can ask Recovery Girl all of your questions when you meet her."

The words only seemed to make Izuku even more excited as he darted out of his mother's grasp and sprinted toward the gate. "YES! Come on! Let's go!"

Shouta sighed light-heartedly and quickly swiped his card before Izuku could trigger any alarms. "It is much too early for him to have this much energy," he tucked his folder under his arm and began following the excited child, leaving Hizashi and Inko in the back of the group.

The two nervously eyed one another as they walked side by side. "Any, uh, Any troubles getting Izuku ready this morning?" Hizashi tried to ask lightly as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I know it was a long night for him last night. I was honestly expecting him to be half asleep when he got here."

Inko couldn't help but snort at the statement. "And miss getting to see everything about UA? Never," she smiled lovingly as she watched Izuku run circles around a hunched-over Shouta. "Going to UA has always been a dream of his. He loves heroes, especially you and All Might," the light in her expression dimmed as Aizawa casually sent out one end of his capture weapon and wrapped it around Izuku's waist like a toddler leash, causing the child to gasp and begin asking a billion questions. He could hear Shouta groaning from here. She glanced over at the blond man beside her. "I haven't told him why we're really here besides seeing you and Eraserhead."

Hizashi silently nodded, that heavy feeling beginning to sink back into his skin. "I think he knows something is going on. Kids are observant like that. We can talk to him together after our meeting." Inko gave no reaction — only swallowing thickly and looking ahead as she fiddled with the strap of her purse. Hizashi couldn't blame her — he was the one with the least at stake here and he felt like he was going to throw up. 

"MOM!" Izuku yelled from up ahead. "Look at the size of the door! It's HUGE!" Both of their bodies relaxed at Izuku's blinding elation.

As the group slowly made their way through the halls and towards the nurse's office. Izuku didn't stop talking the entire time. For every step he took, he seemed to have another five questions. Hizashi could tell it was beginning to wear on Shouta, but Inko merely took the boy's hand in her own and answered every question to the best of her ability without blinking an eye. 

She made it look so easy, as though anything involving Izuku came naturally for her, while Hizashi had jumped through hoops and valleys just to get the boy to trust him enough to meet him. He shook his head, trying not to let it get to him as he knocked on the nurse's and carefully opened it. "RG? We got a special guest here to see you."

The familiar, short elderly woman hobbled her way out from behind a screen as she smiled warmly at the quartet. "Ah! Hello. Yamada mentioned that we might have a little one here today, though he failed to mention you'd be so cute!" Recovery Girl chuckled as Izuku's face turned bright red. "None of that now, lad. Let's get you sitting up here and see what's wrong."

Izuku hesitated. In all of his excitement to meet the heroine, he had forgotten what she really was — a healer. Hizashi watched as the boy nervously shifted from foot to foot, curling in closer to his mother. 

Inko immediately picked up on his shift in energy and knelt down beside him. "It's okay, bunny," she whispered. "Recovery Girl isn't going to hurt you. She just wants to take a look at your burn like Mama did this morning and Eraserhead did last night. She wants to help."

Izuku anxiously glanced between the two women, clinging tightly on to his mother's hand. "Will you stay?" he mumbled, staring at their joined hands as he fiddled with her fingers. 

"Of course," she replied easily, before hesitantly glancing at the other adults in the room. "If that's okay." 

Hizashi nodded, "Of course. We'll stay until you feel comfortable, Greenie."

Green Bean still seemed to hesitate, gripping tighter onto Inko. He gently pulled on his mother's shirt, as Inko knelt down to his height — Izuku cupped his hands as he whispered in her ear. Inko expression flickered from realization to solemn sympathy. "She already knows, bunny. They all do," she softly reassured as she ran a hand through his curls, even as he tensed. "She's not going to treat you any differently."

Rather than being comforted at Inko's kind words, Izuku narrowed his eyebrows. "You said that about Mrs. Suzuki!"

Inko frowned, confusion and concern filling her expression as her eyes flickered to bandages peaking out of her son's shirt. "Izuku, does ... Does Mrs. Suzuki not ..." She sighed, closing her eyes as she unconsciously pulled Izuku just a little bit closer to her.

Shouta frowned deeply. "Who's Mrs. Suzuki?"

Inko didn't bother to look at him as she continued running her hands through Izuku's hair and trying to comfort him. "Izuku's homeroom teacher. I've met her before. She always seemed so nice," the mother mumbled as her brow furrowed. Izuku quietly nuzzled in closer to her. 

Hizashi internally cursed as he wondered just how many people had failed this kid.

"If it helps," the elderly heroine piped in. "I can talk you through everything I'm doing and how my quirk works. I won't do anything without you knowing." 

Izuku's expression lit up at the promise of an explanation of the hero's quirk. "O-Okay," he stuttered as he finally let go of Inko and moved to sit on the hospital bed.

Recovery Girl smiled fondly at him, "Thank you, Midoriya. Would you be able to take off your shirt so I can look at your burn?" Izuku pressed his lips into a thin line, his gaze cautiously looking back at the other adults in the room once more before he carefully took his shirt off and set it down beside himself. The healer nodded to herself as she inspect the bandages before meeting Izuku's eyes. "I'm going to begin removing the bandages now, alright?"

Hizashi had already seen the burn once, but it still didn't change the over-powering concern that plowed into him as the injury was revealed once more. Recovery Girl pursed her lips as she saw it. She looked at Izuku — hands balled into trembling fists as his eyes remained downcast toward the floor. "You're very brave, Midoriya," she said gently. "I'm going to heal your injury now. What this means, is I will kiss you on the cheek and activate my quirk. You'll probably feel very sleepy afterward, okay?"

Izuku tilted his head at the explanation. "Why does your quirk make people sleepy?"

Recovery Girl chuckled at the curious gleam in the child's eyes. "It speeds up your natural healing process, meaning it uses a lot more of your own energy quite quickly. Does that make sense?" Izuku seemed to think on the question for a moment before nodding. Having answered all the boy's questions, the healer leaned forward and gently pecked his cheek. Everyone watched as the burn slowly scabbed over before fading into a darkened mark on his skin.

Izuku's eyes instantly drooped as he slumped back against the bed. "Woah," he yawned. "That's really- really cool," before he could say much else, sleep finally took over him.

Inko's breath hitched as she watched her son fall limp against the bed. "Is that normal? Is he alright?" Hizashi couldn't blame her for her nervousness. He was well aware of how the nurse's quirk functioned, but he still felt a ball of unease wound in his stomach at the sight of Green Bean being so still and quiet.

Recovery Girl hummed as she wrote a few notes onto a clipboard. "He'll be fine, deary. I think the poor boy didn't get much sleep last night, so my quirk took a little more out of him than expected. There's nothing I can do about that scar, but at the very least, he'll be healthy," she paused as she reached a part in her paperwork. "I expect, Aizawa, that you will explain to me exactly how this little boy ended up so injured later on?" Her words were less of a question and more of a demand as her hardened stare fell onto the underground hero. 

"Of course," Shouta agreed, his own dark stare not leaving the sleeping child on the bed. "Just know that it's being taken care of and won't happen again."

The older woman's defensive stance relaxed as Inko tensed. "Right," Recovery Girl began as she headed toward the door. "I'll leave him in your watch then while I file some paperwork," with the click-clack of her cane against the polished floors and the creaking of the office door closing, the three adults were left in awkward tension.

The fluorescent lights buzzed above them as silence lingered in the room.

Hizashi cautiously looked over at Inko — they hadn't even said a word yet and tears were already lining her eyes as she clutched tightly onto the shirt that Izuku had taken off. 

Shouta sighed — it wasn't an uncommon sound from the man, but this one just sounded so dreadfully exhausted. "You are aware that legally, as heroes, we should be reporting you, correct?" Her shoulders hitched as she quietly nodded. Hizashi knew that Shouta wasn't one for illogical feelings, yet there was something almost sympathetic in his eyes. "But," Inko's head whipped around to look at him. "We're both aware that this isn't a normal neglect case. You acted purely out of unfortunate necessity." 

Fat tears fell down her round cheeks as she swallowed thickly. "I-I wouldn't have done it if I had any other choice. I ... Y-You have to understand."

"And we do," Hizashi reassured. "But you understand we can't just ignore this, right? For Izuku's sake."

Quiet washed over them as Inko sadly nodded. She reached forward and carefully took one of Izuku's hands into her own, her thumb caressing the tops of his knuckles. "S-So ... So what does this mean? Are," a choked sob finally slipped from her as she hunched forward. "Are you going to take him from me?"

The two husband's exchanged glances, Hizashi reaching forward and seeking Shouta's hand with his own. "We want to find a compromise," Hizashi finally spoke. Confusion and disbelief painted the woman's expression as she blinked at them. "You love Izuku, and Izuku adores you. It wouldn't do anyone any good to completely separate the two of you. But, he can't be allowed to be left alone like before."

"So we want to propose this to you," Shouta took a few sheets of paper out from the folder he had tucked under his arm and handed them over to her.

With shaking hands, Inko took the papers. Her breath caught in her throat as her emerald eyes stared at the heading. Her shock rapidly transformed into frustration as she glared at the two heroes. "No. B-But you said-"

"Read the full thing," Hizashi gently urged.

Inko suspiciously glanced at the two of them before taking a deep breath and looking down at the document. Hizashi didn't breathe for the entire two minutes it took her to read it. 

Eventually, Inko set the papers down on the bedside table and turned to the couple with a carefully neutral expression. "A custody agreement," she began with a slight waiver in her voice. "You ... This says Izuku would sometimes live with you. That you would both also be listed as his g-guardians for all intents and purposes. We don't even know you."

It was a valid and honest concern. Inko had only met the two heroes yesterday, and yet Hizashi feels as though he's always been a part of Izuku's life. "True," he finally said. "But you know that we care for Izuku."

"Do I?" she snapped. "You didn't even know about his quirk status, but you said you've known him for over two years! How do I know this isn't some charity stunt or that you aren't going to get bored of him a-a-and just break this agreement the second something new comes along? Izuku is sensitive, not because he's quirkless, but because he lets himself care so deeply about everything around him and I adore that about my son, but I refuse to allow others to take advantage of that," she crossed her arms as she glared at them. "Why should I trust you?"

Each word that Inko spoke struck deep against Hizashi's heart. He knew that he didn't know Green Bean that well — he had been trying desperately to amend that for years. He knew that the only person in the room whose trust he had at the moment, was his husband. He glanced over at Izuku, sleeping with his head tossed slightly to the side, and he felt that familiar flare of something so innately paternal burn within him — the same spark that had first ignited the first time he ever heard Greenie's voice. 

"Izuku didn't open up to me often. He prefers to talk about heroes and their quirks rather than himself because I think he believes that people will leave if they learn about him." Inko's eyes widen as she looked at him. "But one night, about a year and a half ago, he called, and he was strangely calm. He didn't want to talk about heroes that week. He wanted my advice on how to make someone happy," he remembered the call clearer than anything. "He said that he knew someone who was sad because the person she loved very much left and that this person was trying to be happy for her son, but that he could tell she was hurt," Inko's came up to cover her mouth as didn't dare to look away from Hizashi. "I didn't know anything about his home life, so I told him what I would want someone to do for me. I told him that sometimes people feel sad because bad things happen, but it's not one person's fault or another, and that he should just be there for you."

Inko trembled as she tried her best to keep in her cries. "Y-You-" she whimpered before taking a moment to breathe. "Hisashi had just left. He ... He didn't want either of us after Izuku's diagnosis," she spat the words with tearful venom. "I was trying so hard to keep myself together for Izuku, a-and I thought it was working. B-But he was different. He was quieter and he kept avoiding me. I-I think he thought that he was the one making m-me upset," she seemed devastated at even just the thought of those words being true. "B-But then one day, he came up to me, and for the first time since Hisashi had left, he just held me and told me it was okay to be sad. W-We took the day off together, got ice cream, and spent the day just cuddling and watching All Might movies. It gave me the opportunity to explain everything to him and helped us get closer," her eyes glimmered as she stared at the hero in disbelief, "That was you?"

Hizashi shook his head, "I won't take all the credit. I just gave him a little advice. But my point is that while I want to get to know him more, I do know Izuku, at least a little bit, already. I know that he has a hard time opening up to others. That he's smart and kind. I know he loves superheroes and that one day he's going to be with the best of them."

The mother froze at those words as her lips parted in shock. "You ... You think Izuku could be a hero?"

"Why couldn't he?" Shouta fired back. "As Hizashi said, the kid has a great head on his shoulders already and he's still young. If he remains dedicated, gets some training, and receives the right support, he could be incredible."

Sobs finally spilled out of her as she looked down at the papers once more. For a moment, Hizashi wished that he had been born with a telepathic quirk instead; at least that way he wouldn't be sitting in this pool of impatience. "... It says that you would have him on the days where I work, and that if both of you are busy he would be attending the daycare here?"

"It's top of the line," Hizashi quickly reassured. "Plenty of heroes, even those who don't teach here, entrust their wards to UA. I promise you, it's the safest place Izuku could ever be."

She shakily nodded. "A-And he would come home with me on my days off? Would I be allowed to visit in between my shifts?"

"Yes," Shouta affirmed, taking Hizashi's hand into his own. "We'd prefer if you gave us a heads up, but you'd be more than welcome in our home. At the moment, we plan on temporarily renovating our guest room to accommodate Izuku, but eventually, we'll move into a bigger house. There'd be a guest room for you to stay in if needed."

Inko swallowed thickly as she thumbed through the documents once more. "And you'll love him?" her eyes bore straight into their souls. "You will take care and support him in everything he does, and make sure that he is safe and knows that I am still his mother and still very much a part of his life."

"I can't speak for Shouta, but I already love Izuku as though he's my own," Hizashi finally confessed. "I swear to you Midoriya, if we do this, we're going to be doing this together so that Izuku never, not even for a second, feels alone or like there's no one he can reach out to again. Let us help both of you."

Her emerald eyes looked straight through him, combing and searching for any traces of lies or tricks — but Hizashi knew that she would find none. Finally, she looked away, her eyes squeezing shut as her body slumped forward. "Alright," she croaked so softly, Hizashi could barely hear it. The two heroes gripped tightly onto the others' hands as tears dripped from Inko's cheeks and onto the paperwork. She pulled a pen out from her purse, and glanced over at the boy asleep in the cot. "For Izuku."

Ink met paper. A name signed on a line. Three breaths released into the air.

Midoriya Izuku was now, and forever, under the guardianship of Midoriya Inko, Yamada Hizashi, and Aizawa Shouta.

Chapter Text

Without a doubt, Recovery Girl had given Izuku the best sleep he'd ever had. 

As he yawned, carefully stretching his arms and ignoring the slightly tight pull of his freshly healed chest, Izuku was thinking of a dozen different questions he wanted to ask the healer. There was so many cool things that her quirk could be capable of that Izuku had previously glazed over because he was so focused on learning more about All Might!

He swore to himself he would never make that mistake again!

"Izuku?" he whipped his head around at the sound of his mother's voice. She sat across from his bed in an orange foldable chair, but something was wrong. 

Her voice was tired and overly soft — in the same way, that it was the night of his quirk diagnosis. Izuku had long come to recognize the signs of his mother crying, red-rimmed eyes, glassy tears still lingering in them, and he frowned as he saw them in her now. 

Additionally, Izuku noted the lack of heroes in the room and couldn't help but feel his shoulders slump in disappointment. "Where did Mr. Mic go? Did he and Mr. Eraserhead have to go work?"

Something in his words seemed to upset his mother, which simply didn't make sense. Mr. Mic and Mr. Eraserhead were heroes! They helped Izuku. They were two of the nicest people Izuku had ever met. He had always thought, while calling in to Put Your Hands Up Radio, that Mr. Mic and Mama would get along great!

"No baby," she said in response as she pulled the chair closer to Izuku's bed and took his hand in hers. "They're outside. I asked them to step away for a second so that we could talk."

Izuku frowned, glancing at the door where he noticed the faint silhouette of a person standing nearby. "Am I in trouble?" his teachers usually pulled him aside alone whenever they scolded him. While his mother had never done that, it'd always been the two of them, so it was never really an option. 

Inko's lips tightened into a thin line as she shook her head. "Not at all. Remember that okay? This isn't a punishment, or because you did anything wrong. I'm going to explain a few things to you that are going to mean some really big changes for both of us. It's going to sound scary, and you might feel sad, or angry, confused, and that's alright. But know that none of these changes are your fault. They are meant to keep you safe and happy."

The explanation left Izuku's stomach in knots and temporarily made his breath stop short. He balled his hands into fists, summoning all the courage and bravery of All Might, before nodding his head.

Inko let out a shaky breath, squeezing the hand that she held. "Mama hasn't been taking care of you properly."

Izuku's frown grew — That wasn't right. Mama was the best person to have existed in all of ever! She was nice, and bought him All Might toys, and made him laugh, and made super yummy katsudon, and built blanket forts. If Mama didn't take care of him properly, what did that say about everyone else?

"I ... I haven't been giving you the care and attention that you need. I've been leaving you home alone and having you take care of yourself, and that was very very wrong of me."

Confusion clouded Izuku's mind. "But I'm a big boy now and Mama needs to go to work."

Inko winced at the familiar words she had told him when she very reluctantly and guiltily first began the arrangement. "I never should have told you that or put that expectation on you," Izuku's nose scrunched up. "You're still a kid, Izuku. You're only six-"

"And three quarters!" 

"And three quarters," Inko corrected. "You shouldn't have to worry about making food, or tucking yourself in, or any of that. You should be playing at parks, and making friends, and just play without having to worry about worrying me or anyone else." She felt Izuku's hand tighten around hers. "Present Mic and Eraserhead noticed this and talked with me about it. We ... Like I said. There's going to be some changes in our lives now."

Izuku squirmed slightly on the bed as he looked at his mother, "Wh-What kind of changes?" he mumbled. 

Inko silently ran her thumb over his knuckles for a moment, gently tracing the shape of bunny into his skin. "W-Well ... Present Mic and Eraserhead are going to help Mama take care of you. Instead of staying home alone, you're going to be staying with them from now on."

A flash of excitement conflicted with the swirl of puzzlement that battled within Izuku. The idea of seeing Mr. Mic and Mr. Eraserhead more often was super exciting — it definitely beat being home and playing by himself all day. But his Mama's face was so sad that Izuku knew he was missing something. "Like a babysitter?"

Her bottom lip wobbled as she shook her head. "A b-bit more than that, Bunny. They ... They're going to also be your guardians now, and on days when Mama has to work, you're going to live with them."

"Gaurdinans?" Izuku asked unsurely.

"Like a mom or dad," she gently explained. "They'll be able to give you permission to go to places, and take you the doctor's or any other appointments, and love and care for you just like Mama."

Panic filled Izuku as he lurched forward and grabbed tightly onto his mother's hands "But I already have you! You're my Mama. Why do they need to be my gaurdinans? Are you leaving like Daddy?" tears welled in his eyes and quickly overflowed down his cheeks.

Inko didn't hesitate to pull her child tightly into her arms and hold him as tightly as she could. "Never, Izuku." She said firmly as she ran a hand through his hair. "I will never ever leave you, okay? You're still going to get to come home and be with me, and I will visit you every single chance that I get. I promise, bunny, I'm still your Mama. I'm not going anywhere."

"Then why?" Izuku's wobbly voice muffled against her sweater as he gripped desperately onto her. 

Inko swallowed thickly and tried to keep herself from shaking. "Because you deserve to always know that someone is there to help you," she kissed the top of his head, "to love you," she kissed a way the salted tears on his cheeks, "and support you," Izuku whined as she kissed the tip of his nose. Inko smiled gently at her son as she cupped his face in her hands. "You deserve all those things, even when I'm at work. Present Mic and Eraserhead are going to help me with that. They're going to love and take care of you just as much as I do."

Izuku sniffled, "That's impossible."

Inko let out a wet laugh as she wiped at her own tears. "True. But they're going to try really hard to get close."

The mother-son duo sat in silence, soaking in each other's comfort and embrace as the words slowly sunk into Izuku's mind — He both understood and was completely lost at the same time. But he knew one thing, he didn't want to let Mama go.

Eventually, Inko carefully pulled away. "We should go talk to them," Izuku tensed in her arms. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm going to stay by your side, okay? But this way, you can ask them any questions you have about all of this. " 

Izuku pouted and shook his head. "I don't wanna. Can we just sneak through the window and hide?"

Inko chuckled and ruffled his curls. "I wish we could, bunny. But sometimes we have to do scary things we don't want to do," She lifted the boy out of her lap and set him onto his own two feet. "When we do those things though, we have the people we love to help us and make it easier" She rose to her own to feet and held her hand out to him. "Ready?"

Izuku hesitated, and glanced longingly at the window once more, before shakily nodding and taking his mother's hand. He allowed himself to walk slightly behind her as they made their way out of the room. 

***

"She agreed," Shouta mumbled as he leaned heavily against the hallway wall.

"Yeah," Hizashi breathed.

"She signed the custody agreement."

Hizashi dazedly nodded. "Izuku's in our care."

He could hear Shouta's breath catch in his throat as he froze, "Holy fuck, we're parents," he looked at his husband with wide eyes. "We're parents. We. Me and You. Eraserhead and Present Mic. Pro-Heroes," a hand ran through his hair. "Were we too rash about this? Can we actually do this?  I've never taken care of kids as young as Izuku. Kids hate me. What are we doing?"

"Hey," Hizashi quickly interrupted, gently prying his husband's hands from his hair. "Slow down. Where was all of this when you were practically threatening me with fostering him last night, huh?" He tried to add light-heartedly even as anxiety thrummed through his own heart. 

Shouta huffed, "That was different. I was thinking irrationally-"

"You were thinking with your heart," Hizashi corrected and poked at his husband's chest. "We both know that this is the right thing, Shou. Whatever happens next, we'll figure it out, and we won't do it alone. We're together in this okay?"

Shouta was silent for a moment, his dark eyes searching Hizashi's green ones before he sighed and allowed his forehead to slump against his husband's. "Okay,"

They both jumped apart as the door swung open and a weepy Inko and visibly nervous Izuku came into view. 

Hizashi nervously smiled back and waved at Izuku. The boy didn't move — choosing instead to continue staring and blinking at the two heroes with his big emerald eyes. 

"Do I have to call you dad, now?"

Shouta choked as his eyes bulged from his head. Hizashi quickly gave him three hard thwacks to his back, even as his own face blushed red. "N-No! I mean, you don't um, you don't have to. B-BUT I- uh, if you wanted to-"

Shouta wheezed, gripping desperately onto Hizashi's leather jacket with one hand, and making it increasingly difficult for him to maintain his hopefully reassuring smile. 

Neither Inko or Izuku seemed overly impressed by the display.

"What he means, sweetie," Inko began to explain as she took a small Endeavor-themed water bottle out from her purse and handed it to the underground hero — Shouta flushed and mumbled his thanks, "is that it's completely up to you. They are your guardians now, but you also don't really know them yet. It's okay to take your time to get used to everything."

"That," Shouta added helpfully.

Izuku slowly nodded. "A-And I'm going to live with you?"

Hizashi felt himself relax a little as Shouta finally recollected himself. "For the most part, yes. But you're still going to see your mother all the time."

"Just like I promised," Inko carefully reassured.

Izuku hesitated, squirming slightly as he pulled his mother closer. "When does it start?"

The three adults exchanged a glance. "Well," Hizashi began, "your mother has work tomorrow, which means you'll be at our place then. But we'd like for her to be there for your first day with us, so we'd like to invite both of you to help you get set up and spend the night."

Izuku's head snapped up at the words, "Both of us?"

Shouta nodded, standing a little straighter now. "Of course. Our goal isn't to separate or hurt you. We ... We just want to take care of you."

Izuku glanced between the two heroes and his mother. "A-And ... And um ... And y-you know ab-about-about me? That ... Th-That I'm-" Hizashi's heart clenched as Izuku's voice tripped on his words. "That I'm-I'm q-quirkless?"

Flashes of phone calls with Green Bean echoed in his brain. The times Izuku pulled away from him, the times he'd stutter away from personal questions, the times he'd run away to hide a part of himself. Hizashi knelt down so that he could meet the boy's eyes. "We know. And it doesn't change anything. You're still my Green Bean."

"Even though I'm a weak Deku?" Izuku whimpered.

Inko narrowed her eyebrows as she placed a hand on her son's shoulders. "Don't talk like that, bunny," she softly urged. "That's not true. Who told you that?" Izuku didn't reply — he merely turned his face into his mother's skirt and clung onto her leg. Inko gently placed a hand on Izuku's head. "Is ... " she paused, pursing her lips as though the mere thought of the words left a sour taste in her mouth. "Was it the same person who gave you the burn?"

Izuku tensed before slowly nodding his head. 

All three adults in the room collective let in a sharp inhale, doing their best to remain calm, though thoughts of murder was running through all three of their minds. "Right," Shouta muttered through gritted teeth. "Thank you for being honest with us, Izuku. We'll see what we can do to make that stop."

And it would be stopping, Hizashi was going to make fucking sure of that. Izuku would not be stepping a single foot back into that god-forsaken Hell school (that he had the sneaking suspicion this was only the tip of the iceberg for). Izuku was going to be happy, dammit! And that meant no bullies or quirkist little shits!

"We should get going," Inko interrupted. "It's past noon now, and I need to make sure Izuku gets lunch and has everything he needs for ... um, f-for the sleepover," she gave a thin sad smile, but for the first time since signing the papers, there were no tears in her eyes. "I'm sure you both have some things you need to prepare as well. How about we each take our time and meet back at your place for supper?"

Hizashi nodded and carefully hid his trembling hands behind his back. "That sounds perfect," he awkwardly smiled at Izuku and offered him another wave. "I'll see ya later, Green Bean."

Emerald eyes locked on to him, and Hizashi could see a thousand emotions swimming through them. "B-Bye Mr. Mic," he murmured — his eyes still searching Hizashi for answers that the hero didn't yet know the questions to. 

He waved one last time as the mother-son duo made their way back out of the halls of UA. 

He and Shouta stood there silently, like idiots, for another half hour.

"We should go home," Hizashi finally breathed. Shouta let out a grunt in response, but made no sign of moving. "We need to get Izuku's room ready."

"What do nearly-seven-year-olds even need in their room?" Shouta grumbled, burying his face deeper into his scarf.

Hizashi shrugged as his dazed mind finally allowed him to begin to move forward. "Dunno. But we better find out," a small smile painted his face as reality finally set in, "we have a kid."

Chapter Text

Hizashi's tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth as he carefully set down the final, meticulously folded, green napkin on the table. He smiled brightly as he stood up and looked at the beautiful layout he created. "There," he dusted the imaginary dirt off his hands as he glanced back over his shoulder towards the kitchen. "How are the child locks coming along, Shou?"

There was a crash and a loud groan. 

Shouta stomped out of the kitchen, child lock and screwdriver still in hand and a pout on his face. "How badly do we think we actually need these stupid things? The kid's nearly seven and has been home alone more than some of the brats we teach. I say we ditch the locks."

Hizashi chuckled and took the tools from his husband with a soft peck on his lips. "He's still in elementary school, Shou. There's still all kinds of danger he can get into without these. Besides we both now that you're a total softy for the kid and you're not going to let a little thing like child lock prevent you from protecting him to the best of your ability."

Shouta's cheeks flushed pink as he crossed his arms. "I'm not soft," he grumbled. "I hardly know the kid. You're the soft one."

Hizashi snorted as he fixed the lock onto the medicine cupboard door handles. "Whatever you say, Soft-zawa."

"That doesn't even make sense!" 

The blond howled as his husband grumbled in a dark corner of the room. "We basically adopted the kid, Shou. You don't have to be all gruff. You know you can't hide your feelings from me. Now go be a dear and check on supper, yeah?"

With an aggravated huff, the underground hero silently did as told. 

Left alone with his thoughts, Hizashi couldn't help but reflect on the past 24 hours. He had a son. Green Bean wasn't just some adorable, faceless voice. He was real, and more importantly he was finally going to be under Hizashi's care. There was so many things he wanted to do with him, so many places he wanted to take him, but ... He thought of the burn scar lingering on Izuku's chest and the anxious cloud that seemed to follow him around wherever he went. While he could be assured that Greenie was physically safe now at least, he already suffered so much. He wanted to solve every one of Izuku's worries in an instant and banish anyone that ever hurt him, but Hizashi knew that reality was much more complicated than that. There was a long road ahead of all of them. 

A timid knock sounded from the entrance way, and despite everything, Hizashi couldn't help but smile. 

"One step at a time," he thought. "I'll fix this, one step at a time."

***

Izuku gulped as he clutched tightly onto his bag and watched his mom knock on the door.

Today was confusing. 

On one hand, he got to go to UA, see Mr. Mic and Eraserhead, and meet Recover Girl! They were so cool, and nice, and weren't at all annoyed by him. 

But on the other ...

He glanced over at his Mama.

The two of them had a long talk when they got home about what life would look like for Izuku from now on. He'd mainly live with Mr. Mic and Eraserhead. He'd have to listen to them and go to UA with them every now and then. He'd only get to go home with Mama on her days off. 

Izuku's tummy was doing flips just thinking of it all. 

Inko took his hand into hers as the door flung open. Mr. Mic smiled widely at them. "Midoriyas! Come in! Come in!"

The mother-son duo solemnly toed their way into the apartment and began removing their shoes. Inko's eyes widened at the sight of the large, styled apartment.  "You have a beautiful home," she complimented before handing a small crate of mandarins to the hero. "For you. Thank you for having us in your home."

Mic cooed as he took the fruit. "There's really no need for this, Mrs. Midoriya, but thank you," he glanced over to Izuku and held out the crate. "Do you want to take this to Shouta? He's just in the kitchen. "

"Shouta?" Izuku questioned as he delicately took the crate from him.

"Eraserhead. I suppose we haven't told you our real names yet," Mic chuckled awkwardly — it was a strange sight in itself to see the confident hero so nervous. "I'm Yamada Hizashi. Eraserhead's real name is Aizawa Shouta. He's just checking on dinner and will be able to tell you where the fruit goes if you want to bring it to him." Mic- Hizashi - said.

Izuku hesitated. It was silly, but somehow he felt by taking the mandarins and bringing them, and himself, into the home, he'd be accepting his life as a member of this strange household. 

He jumped as his mother's warm hand landed onto his shoulder. "It's alright, Izuku. You're allowed to say no."

Yet still, Izuku hesitated. Was becoming part of Mic and Eraserhead's family bad? Was it good? Mama had told him that staying and relying on the two heroes wouldn't make them any less family, and that she would still be there for him, but it was different. So much was changing.

"Meow?" Izuku blinked as he felt something warm nuzzle up against his leg. Two yellow-green eyes blinked up at him. "Meow," the cat tilted his head as he placed his paws on Izuku's leg and stood on his hind legs.

Hizashi smiled as he kneeled down and scratched behind the cat's ears.  "It seems you have the approval of the apartment's royalty. Izuku, meet Sushi. " 

Izuku carefully set down the crate of fruit and reached forward to pet the cat, only to pause as the feline pulled away. He pursed his lips and flipped his hand over letting Sushi sniff his fingers before the pet eventually began to but his head against them. Izuku giggled and ran his fingers through the animal's fur. "Hi Sushi," he whispered.

Hizashi beamed at him and picked the crate of mandarins back up off the floor. "Tell ya what, Green Bean. How about I go bring these to Shou, and you and your mom can follow me and help give Sushi his supper?"

That ... didn't seem so bad. It was just helping. Izuku loved helping people, and he loved cats. It wasn't Sushi's fault that Izuku was feeling all weird and droopy. He shouldn't have to go without food just because Izuku was being dumb.

He gave a firm nod and patted Sushi's head once more before rising to his feet and taking his mother's hand. "I can do that."

"Right on, little man! Follow me!" 

Izuku followed closely behind his mother, Sushi prancing ahead at the promise of food, and took in his new home with wide eyes. The apartment was big and clean. There were photos of Hizashi and Eraserhead on the walls, sometimes with other people that Izuku didn't recognize, sometimes with classes, and a few from when they were younger with one other person. Their furniture was nice, nicer than his and Mama's. He noted the familiar sight of child locks on some of the doorknobs that they passed and thought that he caught a glimpse of a stuffed animal on the living room black couch as they walked past it. He wondered if they had other kids like Izuku that they'd helped out — that had to be it. 

He nearly walked into his mother's back as they reached the kitchen. Izuku gulped as he looked around his mother and saw Eraserhead stirring a pot by the stove with his hair up. 

"Hey Shou, Inko brought us a gift!" Hizashi cheered as he grabbed a fruit bowl from the cupboard and began transferring the mandarins over to it. 

Eraser's eyes flickered over to his husband before they doubled back to the two Midoriyas. He gave them an awkward nod as his lips pulled into a thin line. "Thank you, Mrs. Midoriya. You're very kind," 

Inko laughed lightly, "It's my pleasure. And please, y-you're both doing so much to help Izuku and I. Call me, Inko."

"Only logical, I suppose, with how much time we'll be spending together. You can call me Shouta," he looked down as Sushi began chirping and rubbing against his leg. The grumpy man's expression melted as he bent down and petted the cat. "Looks like it's someone's supper time." 

Izuku squeezed tightly onto his mother's hand as he stepped forward. "Mr. Yamada said I can help get his supper."

Shouta cocked an eyebrow at the child, "Did he? You're about to become Sushi's best friend then. He's a damn glutton," he grumbled, taking a moment to squish the cat's cheeks. Izuku couldn't help but giggle as Hizashi scolded his husband for swearing. Shouta rolled his eyes and smirked at Izuku before gesturing towards a closet with his head. "His food is in there. You should find a big, yellow container with kibble in it and a bunch of cans of wet food. Can you grab them for me while I get his bowl?"

Izuku frowned and glanced at the stove behind the man. "But you're cooking. I can get it. You have to watch food closely on the stove or it will get really hot and burn and catch on fire and then the apartment would burn down," he said firmly as he finally let go of Inko's hand and headed toward the closet. The adults blinked at the morbid statement as Izuku grabbed the kibble container and hefted it into both his arms before wobbling back over to Shouta. He looked up at the underground hero with a serious expression. "Does Sushi prefer chicken or turkey?"

"Salmon, if we have any left," he mumbled, turning back to the stove. 

Izuku wrinkled his nose at the information. "But his name is Sushi. Sushi has salmon in it. You feed him himself?"

Hizashi snorted at the question and placed two shallow porcelain bowls by Izuku. "That's how he got his name, Greenie. Little gremlin would throw a fit if we didn't give him a little fish everyday."

The answer didn't seem to fully satisfy Izuku, as he narrowed his eyes at the cat for a moment longer before shrugging and going back to the closet and grabbing a new can. He stood on his tippy toes and glanced around the kitchen with a small frown on his face. "Where's your can opener?"

"Here," Aizawa opened a drawer and handed the gadget over to him, before going back to stirring supper. 

Izuku silently nodded in thanks and sat on the floor beside the large food container — his first mistake. As he was attempting to get the can open, Sushi quickly caught on to who her chef for the evening was and ran over onto the child's lap. Izuku grunted as the cat chirped rubbed herself against his chest. "S-Sorry Sushi, you have to wait," he softly spoke as he carefully set the can down and lifted the cat off of him and to the side. He had just managed to pick the can back up again when Shushi had already climbed her way back onto him. He narrowed his eyes and repeated his actions. "No thank you. Stay there, while I get your food-" He didn't even have the chance to finish speaking this time before she was all over him again. 

Hizashi chuckled as he quickly began recording the interaction on his phone. "I don't think she's going to let you go, kiddo."

Izuku pouted and sighed. He gave the cat a small smile and patted her head before reaching his arms around her and finishing opening the can with an expression of pure concentration. Aizawa's expression softened as he looked down and watched the kid by his feet. It took Izuku some time, but with a little wrestling with Shushi and enough determination, he mixed together the cat's food and served her her supper.

Inko smiled fondly at her son as he came back to stand beside her. "I think you made a new friend," Izuku's eyes widened as he looked back over to the happily feasting cat. Inko chuckled and draped an arm around the boy while the two house owners began plating their meal. 

"I hope you're all hungry!" Hizashi cheered as Shouta handed him another plate. "We weren't too sure what to make, but we've got an udon beef-vegetable stir-fry and some miso soup."

Inko quickly moved by the hero's side and took two of the plates from him, so he could grab the bowls of soup. "Sounds wonderful. Thank you very much Mr. Yamada." 

The newly-made family slowly brought the food out to Hizashi's immaculately decorated dining room table. They all said "itadakimasu" before digging into their meals. Izuku gasped as the delicious savory, yet still slightly sweet, flavors danced on his tongue and began shoveling the noodles into his mouth like he hadn't eaten in months. 

"Izuku!" Inko scolded and grabbed his elbow, forcing the boy to momentarily stop. "Slow down. You're going to choke. You need to chew your food, bunny." Izuku felt his cheeks burn bright red and slowly resumed eating as Hizashi snickered around his own mouthful of food. 

He took an exaggerated amount of time to pick up his next bite with his chopsticks. "This is really good," he bashfully complimented.

"Thank you," Shouta mumbled as he took a sip from his water. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of left overs. Maybe you can take some to school tomorrow to share with your friends."

Izuku's eyes widened and instantly fell to his plate as he played with his food. "O-Oh. Um, th-that's okay," he hunched his shoulders up, praying to All Might that Shouta would drop the subject. 

Luck had never been on his side. 
All eyes at the table drifted over to the nervous child as Shouta tilted his head. "Hm? There's no way we're going to eat all this alone. It really is alright for you to take some with you."

Izuku silently nodded he continued to pick up and drop a piece of carrot over and over again. "Y-Yeah, b-but um ... I can't share with the other kids. I um ... I don't sit with them."

He felt a weird flare of something run through him as he noticed the adults exchange glances over top of his head. Mrs. Suzuki and the other teachers did that all the time when he came back in from recess or handed in his schoolwork. They never thought he noticed, but he did. It made him feel hot and like he had more feelings than what fit inside his body and like he could shout at them — but he wasn't Kacchan. He knew what would happen to him if he said too much or fiddled too much. 

He just hadn't expected to feel that way with his mom and two pro-heroes. 

"Baby, what do you mean you don't sit with the other kids? Don't," Inko paused, her jaw tensing for a moment as she took a deep breath before smiling at her son, "Don't you sit with Katsuki?"

Izuku shook his head. He didn't look at the adults. He didn't want to see them looking at him like he was just a toddler — easily breakable and too little to know anything. He didn't want to see the same weird "worry" in his mother's green eyes that he constantly saw in Mrs. Suzuki's. "I'm not allowed."

He could feel their stares burning into his skin, and stabbed a mushroom with his chopstick. "Why aren't you allowed, Izuku?" Shouta questioned softly. 

Izuku's mouth felt dry and he hated it. They weren't asking bad questions. The answers weren't bad things either. They were just the rules and the truth. So why did it make Izuku feel so much? "Mrs. Suzuki says I need to sit with her at lunch so she can keep an eye on me. She cuts up my food to make sure I don't choke a-and says that I need help, b-but I swear I don't need it! I'm a big boy! I can feed myself and make my own food and do things myself! I'm not a baby!"

He didn't look up from his plate. He couldn't. 

"What else does Mrs. Suzuki say you have to do?" that was Hizashi's voice — clipped, but somehow still gentle. 

He didn't want to talk about this anymore. He didn't want Mr. Mic to know just how uncool and weak Green Bean really was. More than that, he didn't want them to realize what Mrs. Suzuki had and begin treating him the same way. If they did, he'd run away!

He shrugged in response to Hizashi.

The silence that followed rang louder in his ears than any of Kacchan's explosions. 

"How about this Green Bean?  Tomorrow, you can stay home with me. Your Mama has to go to work, and Shou has something boring old hero stuff to work on, but you and I can chillax to the max and have the best day ever. No mean-old Mrs. Suzuki and even better, no school!"

Izuku's finally looked up at Mic's words. There wasn't the icky concern on his face, like he'd worry. There was something strange burning deeper in his eyes, but more than that, he looked down at Izuku with nothing but the same love that he had looked at Izuku with since the moment he had met the man. 

Maybe, staying here when Mama was at work wouldn't be so bad. 

He grinned at the hero and nodded as he gripped firmly onto his chopsticks once more. "I'd like that."

Hizashi's smile doubled in size as he leaned forward across the table and ruffled the sprout's hair. "YEAH! That's the spirit, kid! We're gonna have the best day ever! Promise!" He leaned back into his seat with a proud huff as Izuku giggled. He looked across the table to a relieved, but notably nervous, Inko. "Can you pass me the extra bean sprouts, please Inko."

"Not at all," she gently passed the bowl over. Izuku felt himself relax as an odd, yet comfortable ease seemed to settle onto the table. Inko and Shouta chatted between bites of noodles with Hizashi occasionally piping in with his own thoughts. Sushi came up to him under the table and brushed against his ankles. Izuku hid a grin as he began eating once more — all by himself. 

Yes, he decided. Living here wouldn't be so bad at all.

Chapter Text

With a warm, full stomach, it didn't take long before Izuku started yawning. 

Inko couldn't help but smile at the sight. "Are you getting tired, bunny? It's been a long day. Maybe an early bedtime tonight wouldn't hurt."

Izuku scrunched up his nose at the idea. "No. It's like super super early still. It's only seven!" Inko internally cursed herself for allowing her son's sleep schedule to get so horrid. 

Luckily, Inko had an entire routine in place for exactly this occasion: she and Izuku would get into their coziest pajamas, turn on an old All Might cartoon, and cuddle until Izuku eventually passed out. It was a routine the two of them hadn't done in a dog's age, but one that they both cherished dearly. She smiled fondly at the memory and bent down to speak to Izuku when another voice cut through. "Why don't we give a tour of the house first, Green Bean? Afterward, you can hunker down and see if you can catch any z's," Hizashi chirped excitedly.

Inko felt her heart falter at the sudden reminder of the situation she was in. She wasn't at home. Izuku was no longer only her baby. She forced herself to continue to smile as Izuku glanced over at her for permission. "Go ahead, baby." With a wide, albeit nervous, grin, Izuku jumped out of his seat and over to Hizashi, taking his larger hand into his smaller one. Inko and Shouta walked a couple of feet behind them Hizashi eagerly began his grand house tour in the bathroom. 

It was a strange feeling. Izuku had never really been one for sleepovers. When he was younger, Izuku and Katsuki much preferred Inko's small apartment to the Bakugou household for one reason or another. As he grew older, Izuku simply didn't ask for people to come over as often. Inko had thought it was because he wanted to spend what time he had with Inko alone with her, though she knows now that was wishful thinking. Regardless, this, watching Izuku be introduced to a new space for him to use and find comfort in, was odd. She tried to push down the feeling, and focus on the awe-filled eyes Izuku had as Hizashi showed him the All Might toothbrush that he'd have while he was here. 

They moved a short hallway. "And through that door is mine and Shou's room. If we're sleeping and you ever need anything, just knock before you come in, okay? And through there is your room."

Your room. Izuku's room. Not just a sleepover. An actual room because he will live here. Inko took in a deep, shaky breath, doing her damnedest to stop the burning feeling rising behind her eyes as she spotted the forest green nameplate on the door. The door cracked open simultaneously with the pain lancing through her heart as she caught sight of the abundance of hero merch that laid inside — items that she knew Izuku had wanted for years but she simply couldn't afford to get, now all laid prettily on a display shelf. Izuku let out a loud squeal before rushing into the room, freaking out over each and every item as he shared the hero's history.

Inko wanted to be happy with them. This was good. Inko was getting the help she so desperately needed. Izuku was getting the love, attention, and home that he deserved. But. ...
But ... 

Inko jumped as Shouta cleared his throat beside her. "It looks like these two will be distracted for a bit. Would ... Would you mind coming with me to help clean up supper?"

She blinked at the dark haired man before glancing back over to Izuku — the shy, hesitant little boy that he had been when they first entered the house, was now gone and replaced with the smart excitable child that she knew and loved. "Izuku?" The lump in her throat grew just a little bit tighter as he looked back at her with sparkling eyes and his face beaming brighter than she had seen in months. She gave him a wobbly smile as she gestured to the door. "I'm going to help Shouta clean up a little bit. You be good and play with Hizashi a little, okay?" 

"Okay, Mama!" He whirled back around and continued the rant on Crimson Riot that had been in the middle of without second thought. Inko gave Hizashi a nod, purposefully ignoring the concerned glint in his eyes before walking stiffly out of the room with Shouta. 

The two silently returned to the dining room. Inko did her best to muffle her sniffles as she gathered the dishes from the table and made her way over to the sink. Shouta silently slid into the space beside her as she began running the tap. 

"I ... I'm not the best when it comes to comforting people," he murmured as he watched the bubbles rise up in the sink. "But you looked like you needed a moment."

Inko swallowed thickly as she rolled up her sleeves. "I'm sorry. I know you and Hizashi were probably wanting today to be happy and everything but ... It's a lot."

Shouta nodded his head as Inko turned off the sink. "No, I understand. I ... I've been scared all day." Inko's head whipped around as she stared at the normally collected man in shock. "This is happening fast for everyone."

Silence filled the kitchen as they quietly began to wash the evening's dishes, though without the slight tension that lingered before. They moved fluidly with only minimal awkwardness and reaching for items at the same time. For some reason, it helped ease the overflowing grief that had been consuming Inko all day. 

"You know," Shouta piped up as he put away a glass. "we are not replacing you as Izuku's parents," Inko's mouth clicked shut as she looked over at the gruff man. "You don't want that. Izuku most definitely doesn't want that. I, personally, am not ready for that. We will love Izuku. We will give him a home and care for him with everything we can. But that won't change the fact that you, and you alone, are his mother," the tears that she had been fighting so hard to keep back finally started rolling down. "We're not going to be perfect, and I'm sure that there will be some bumps where we cross some boundaries but," a sob caught on her throat as Shouta's dark eyes caught onto hers. "we will work this situation out together. As a family." 

Inko couldn't help it. She rushed forward and pulled the man into a hug as she sobbed into his chest. Shouta froze, his arms awkwardly hovering above the crying woman before he very awkwardly began to pat her back. "Thank you," she whimpered. "I-I didn't know how much I needed to hear that."

Shouta cleared his throat and gently moved Inko out of his embrace. "Nothing about this whole thing is easy. We're all going to need to talk with one another to make it work," he paused before returning to putting away his dishes. "I'd recommend also talking with someone else. Perhaps a professional," Inko tensed at the implication. "Being a parent isn't easy. A single parent even more so. Hizashi and I both have people who we talk to. Based on what Izuku has told us, it wouldn't hurt to have him see a therapist either. But we can all discuss that later. Just give it some thought."

Therapy. She knew it was helpful, obviously, she was a nurse. But she had never considered it as something that she herself would need. Therapy was for people with big, trauma-inducing issues. Sure, Inko had faced her fair share of hardship, but she always thought she could handle it. 12-hour shifts in a workplace that could give a rat's ass about her. Dealing with her deadbeat of a husband. Keeping Izuku safe and their living situation a secret. The fear of being an awful mother. She could handle all of it. She did handle it, completely alone. 

But maybe now ...

"Hey guys," they both looked over to see a grinning Hizashi in the doorway. "Izuku's just getting changed into pjs. I figured you'd want to come tuck him to bed, Inko," a little more of the lump in her throat eased at the casual sincerity in the man's eyes.

Maybe she wouldn't have to do this alone anymore. She smiled and pulled the plug in the sink, letting the dirty water be washed away until all that remained were fluffy, white, soap suds. "Of course. Thank you,"

Hizashi waved off the thanks with ease. "Not a problem. Izuku wants his Mama anyway. He wants to show you a couple of things he rearranged," Inko felt her chest warm a little as she and Shouta followed the blond back into the room. 

Izuku was bouncing around, not in any of the new pajama's that Hizashi had bought him, but in his old All Might onesie that was starting to get just a little too small on him. Inko giggled at the sight as Izuku rushed over to her, grabbing her hands with his own. "Mama! Look look! I got to move things around and put up my things from home!" Izuku dragged her closer to the bookshelf from earlier. "I moved some of the things onto the desk that Mr. Mic- I mean Hizashi - got for me. So now there's room for my notebooks and, best of all, my All Might!" Inko looked at the display with wide eyes, starring at the All Might figurine sitting front and center - the same one that Izuku had had since he was two years old.  

"Oh Izuku!" Inko cooed pulling her baby against her and peppering his cheek with kisses. "It looks so good! You did wonderful, bunny." 

Izuku preened at the praise and nuzzled into his mother's embrace.

Taking advantage of their closeness, Inko scooped Izuku into her arms, causing the boy to squeal. "As happy as I am that you're enjoying your new room, it's time for some to settle down and go to sleep," Izuku let out a playful scream as he dropped onto the bed. He giggled and squirmed as Inko tickled his belly before throwing a blanket over his head. Izuku looked up at his mother with pure adoration as he popped his head back up over the covers. Inko gently ran her hands through his hair before kissing his cheek. "There you are. All tucked in. Ready to go to sleep?"

Izuku hesitated, his eyes flickering back to Shouta and Hizashi hovering in the doorway. His cheeks flushed red as he leaned in close to his mother. "Can you sing me our lullaby?"

Inko blinked in shock. She hadn't sung Izuku to sleep in years. The last time she had was the night Hisashi left. After that, Izuku kept telling her he was too big for lullabies and that he'd just like a kiss on the head and sweet goodnight. Any sadness that had been lingering in her was replaced with blossoms of joy and maternal pride.

She pressed another kiss to Izuku's cheek as she sat down on the bed beside him. "Of course I can," she whispered softly. She noticed Izuku's eyes still flickering to the doorway "Did you want Hizashi and Shouta to stay too?"

Izuku paused for a moment before nodding. "They can stay. B-But this is only Mama's song! No one else's!" He insisted looking very seriously at the two men. 

Hizashi grinned and took a seat in the chair by the desk. "Sure thing, Little Listener," Shouta silently nodded in agreement and flicked off the lights before turning on a small nightlight in the corner of the room. 

Inko took a deep breath as all eyes fell on her. "Come, little bunny, don't be shy. It's time to tell the day goodbye. Hush, little bunny, don't you cry. Mama's gonna give you the big blue sky," she straightened out the blankets surrounding Izuku as she sang, making sure they weren't too tight, but not too loose. "And if that big blue sky clouds over, Mama's gonna give you a patch of clover. And when that patch of clover is done. I'll give you a meadow where you can run."

Izuku let out a loud yawn as he snuggled deeper against his pillow, reaching out a hand for his mother to hold. Inko smiled and gently took it in her grasp, remembering all too clearly the nights when his tiny hands would grip tightly onto a single one of her fingers. "Hush, little bunny, don't you cry. Mama's gonna show you a firefly. And if that firefly takes wing, I'll take you where the blackbird sings. And when the sun is sinking fast,"

"We'll tunnel softly through the grass," Izuku sleepily added, drawing a laugh from Inko as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"Come, little bunny, come what may. I'll watch you grow from day to day," Izuku's face scrunched up as he tried to fight the oncoming drowsiness. Inko delicately ran one of her fingertips down the bridge of his nose and watched as his face grew lax once more. "And when the spring has come and gone, I'm still gonna love you all year long," she finished quietly before bending down and kissing the crown of his head once more. "Goodnight, my dear boy." 

"Ni' Mama," Izuku mumbled, gathering his blankets in his arms and he settled into his bed. "Ni' Mr. Mic. Ni' 'Raser,"

Hizashi let out a soft, content sigh as he watched the mother and son. "Goodnight, Green Bean."

"Sleep well, Izuku," Shouta added from the door as he rose back up from where he had been leaning. 

With practiced ease, Inko carefully rose from the mattress and silently gestured for the other two to follow her out of the room. Once the door shut, she allowed her shoulders to slump and her forehead to fall against the cold wood. She let herself stand there for a moment and just process — tonight would be her last night tucking in Izuku until her next day off. Not that she had the opportunity to tuck Izuku in that often before, but this was different. He wouldn't be home, curled up in his room, safe in their apartment after this. He would be on the other side of town, with two heroes, in their home.

She sniffled a bit and wiped her eyes before turning to Shouta and Hizashi. "Should we go to the living room?"

Hizashi quietly nodded before leading the way.

Hizashi and Inko quietly sat in the living room while Shouta went to make tea for everyone. The blond tilted his head as he inspected the woman. "You're a very good mother."

Inko's head snapped up at the sudden compliment, "E-Excuse me?"

"I mean it. Everything you do with Izuku just seems to come so naturally. You're everything to Izuku. I'm ... I'm happy we were able to make this agreement. I really do think it'll be the best for everyone," the radio host explained as his husband returned and handed Inko her mug. 

She couldn't help but frown, looking at into her tea as she sighed. "But I didn't know about the school. The bullying, his teachers. Izuku's been hurting for so long and I had no idea!" she narrowed her eyes as she suddenly looked at the two heroes once more. "You can't bring him back there again tomorrow. I refuse to allow him to take another step into Aldera." 

"Ah, good. I was hoping we'd all be on the same foot about that," Shouta spoke flatly, but with a certain spark of anger behind his eyes. 

Hizashi showed no such restraint with his emotion. The clicked his tongue as he shook his head. "I have half the mind to go there and blast that stupid school to the ground. I mean between allowing his classmates to bully him and the blatant infantilization that Izuku described, there's nothing good about that place."

Inko blinked at the sudden hostility from the blond. "You ... You won't actually do that though, right? O-Or is that something heroes are allowed to?"

"No. Hizashi won't be demolishing any buildings regardless how badly he may wish to," Shouta sent a quick, firm glare over to his spouse. "But that's not to say they won't face consequences. I want to start an investigation into them as soon as possible. If they're treating Izuku this way, I have no doubt there are other students with weaker quirks who may be receiving a similar treatment."

"I just can't believe I missed this! I mean not just Katsuki but the teachers too. I've met Mrs. Suzuki. Sure, she's a little off, but I never thought-" Inko shook her head. It was to imagine the idea of more children being harmed like her precious Izuku. Did they get separated from their peers during lunch too? Were they also hunted for sport on the playground? A shiver ran down her spine at just thought. "Do you ..." she felt sick even just thinking of the words. "Do you think the teachers physically hurt him too?"

"If they did then they'll need a lot more than a jail cell when I'm done with them."

"Zashi," Shouta scolded. "What he means to say, is if they did we'll make sure Izuku is brought to justice. Regardless, Aldera won't get away with this," Hizashi grumbled and took a sip of his tea. "Tomorrow while you're at work, Hizashi will stay here with Izuku since they have a closer bond, and I'll go investigate the school. Hopefully, I'll be able to find some things to get the legal side of things started. In the meantime, we need to figure out where Izuku will be continuing his education." 

Inko let out a heavy sigh as she leaned back into her chair. "I don't know. Aldera was closest to our apartment and was where little Katsuki was going so I never considered any other school. I can't afford a private school-" She frowned as she got sight of Hizashi and Aizawa exchanging a glance. "No. Don't you think for a second I'm allowing you to pay for his entire education. Regardless of where he goes, I will be contributing."

Hizashi raised his arms in defense. "We meant no offense, Inko. But please remember that between Shouta and me, we have five jobs. We have too much for just ourselves. We'd gladly give a little extra if it meant assuring that Izuku could go to a better school. That's all."

Shouta hummed, reaching over and grabbing his laptop from a side table. "Okay, so we compromise. Izuku can't go back to Aldera. But that doesn't mean he needs to be in a super fancy, expensive private school. We have a friend with a little brother who's Izuku's age that goes to Soumei Elementary School, but that doesn't fit our criteria. So let's examine our options," he flipped his computer over to the others. "This is a list of elementary schools in our area. Take a look."

With shaking hands, Inko took the computer from his hands and squinted her eyes as she looked at the list. "There's so many," she breathed. "H-How do we chose? I mean, how do we know that the schools on this list don't end up exactly like the last one?" 

"Well, we can always visit or interview them before enrolling Izuku," Hizashi explained. "It will take a little longer, but it will ensure that Izuku's safe. It's still in the middle of the term right now, so he might miss a few days, but Shou and I can help the little listener out so he doesn't fall behind." 

The tired mother pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes as she sighed. "I just ... I don't want to fail him again."

Hizashi placed a hand on her shoulder as he spoke, "Why don't you take our room Inko and get some sleep? You have work tomorrow, and we can start working through this list when we're not all so drained."

"Oh! I-I couldn't! That's your space. I can take the couch. Really," Inko fretted.

"We insist," Shouta piped in. "You're our guest, and you have a full shift tomorrow. Go sleep. The couch is a pull-out. We'll be fine."

Inko pulled her lips into a thin line as she observed the two of them before rising. "Thank you. Really. I ... I may not fully show it, but I truly do appreciate all that you're doing for us."

Hizashi smiled at her. "It's our pleasure. Get some sleep Inko. We'll start working things out tomorrow," With a hesitant glance over her shoulder, Inko made her toward the bathroom to get ready for bed. 

The couple collectively let out a deep breath as they turned to their couch and began to prepare their bed for the evening. Shouta kept an eye on the frown that seemed to be fixed on his husband's handsome face.  "You're still thinking about it," it wasn't a question. 

Hizashi sighed as they finished unfolding the futon from the couch. "This whole time, he was being bullied. I spoke with him weekly for over a year. He knows I'm a hero. I could've helped him. Why didn't he tell me?"

"We were tormented kids like him once, Zashi. As much as it hurts to admit, he probably didn't think it was a big enough issue to need saving from. Hell, he barely stayed on the line with Tensai to get help, and he had a second-degree burn covering his chest," Hizashi winced at the reminder. Shouta's expression softened as he reached over and rubbed his husband's back. "What matters is we're here now."

Shouta opened his arms as Hizashi turned and buried his face into his neck. The two stood there, soaking in one another's embrace as the crickets outside began to sing. "You're right," Hizashi whispered. "Promise you'll give them hell tomorrow?"

The underground hero hummed and kissed the top of the blond's head. "Tomorrow I'll learn what the hell they've been doing to the kid. Then we'll give them hell together."

Hizashi chuckled, "Oh, I like that plan, much better." 

Somewhere, in the depths of the city, a certain white-furred principal's ear twitched and a smile crawled onto his face. Something interesting was coming his way. He could taste it. 

Chapter Text

Aizawa Shouta, despite what most people believed, loved mornings. Mornings were quiet. They were filled with coffee. They were still and calm. And after the day he had yesterday, it was exactly what he needed. 

Shouta let out a deep breath as he leaned back in his favourite armchair with a cup of his most expensive brew and Sushi purring in his lap. He knew that later he would be dealing with whatever hell hole Izuku had been forced to endure for the past couple of years and would likely have to speak with a collection of unsavory characters. Later, he'd have to be Eraserhead; the cold, gruff, underground hero who never let his emotions sway his actions. For now, he had his cat and he had his coffee. He could just relax and-

"Oh. Good morning, Aizawa." 

Shouta closed his eyes, soaking in what little silence remained, before sighing and turning his head to see Inko, dressed in nurse scrubs, standing fretfully in the doorway. "Good morning, Inko. And it's Shouta, if you don't mind."

"Oh, r-right," she flushed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she entered further into the living room. Her eyes flickered over to Hizashi's slightly-snoring form, passed out on the pull-out. Her lips pulled into a tight line as she took in his gangly limbs being curled in at awkward angles to fit on the mattress. "Thank you for allowing me to use your room last night. Though, I really wouldn't have minded staying out here. S-Surely I would've fit more comfortably on your futon than your husband is."

Shouta waved off her words as he took another sip of his drink. "Non-sense. You're our guest. Besides, there was no way Hizashi was going to get a normal amount of sleep last night anyways. He was too wound up from the day," he glanced over at the clock on the wall as he noticed the bag in Inko's hands. "Getting ready for your shift?"

The green-haired woman nodded. "Y-Yes. I brought everything with me so I could spend as much time with Izuku as possible before I left," she smiled softly as she glanced back at the guest room. "I guess I forgot to consider that he's not usually up this early," she paused as she took in the hero. "I'm actually quite surprised to see you awake, Shouta."

That was fair. The morning sun was barely peaking in through the windows. Normally, even Shouta wouldn't be awake this early. But Hizashi wasn't the only one who had a hard time with sleep last night. 

He shrugged half-heartedly, "I don't mind mornings."

Inko nodded nervously, glancing over back towards the guest room. "You ... You're going to the school today," there was a strange, paradoxical gleam of anxiety and rage in her eyes as she turned to face him once more. "Right?"

Shouta set down his coffee mug, sitting straighter in his chair as he ran his fingers through Sushi's fur. "I am." Inko lips pressed into a thin line, her expression becoming the very picture of unsatisfied. "I can't tell you much just yet," Shouta sighed. "I don't know what I'll find there." 

"Do you have a plan?" Inko inquired instead, her eyes remaining locked on his. 

"Of course I do. I'm going in under the ruse of being a health inspector. I'll have a hidden camera and mic on me to record any evidence. This isn't my first investigation, Inko. I know what I'm doing. I want these bastards brought down as much as you do." 

The green-haired woman finally relaxed at his words, a visible sigh of relief leaving her body. He couldn't blame her. He barely knew Izuku and even he felt a glimmer of guilt at knowing that a child whom he and his husband knew had been regularly mistreated, even under their watch. He couldn't imagine just how badly she must feel. 

Finally, Inko nodded. "I'm going to say goodbye to Izuku then, and head out," there was a pause — brief second of doubt as she turned to the hall. "You ... You'll look after my baby, won't you? Promise me you won't let something like this happen again."

Shouta took a moment to stand, setting a highly-protesting Sushi down onto the floor, before bowing lowly before the woman. "I will do everything in my power." With a shaky breath, Inko bowed to Shouta in turn before silently going to see her sleeping son. 

Shouta huffed as he plopped back down into his chair. He knew that he and Hizashi were in this for the long haul, but with every passing second, the situation felt more and more real. Still, Shouta couldn't bring himself to be mad about it. A kid was safer. Hizashi would no longer have to stress about Green Bean. And Inko would receive the support she so very desperately needed. There was no losing in this. If he closed his eyes, he could dare himself to imagine a future within this new life — the four of them in a bigger home. Izuku training hard to make it into UA, without fearing his quirklessness. Hizashi and Shouta standing there beside him, helping him adjust to a new support weapon he had selected. Inko watching proudly from the sides. 

It was nice. But it would have to wait. 

For now, he had a school to take down. 

***

Aldera Elementary was deceptively nice on the outside. Sure, it wasn't super fancy or did have a little wear and tear here and there, but over all it looked like a respectable establishment.

Shouta hated it already. 

He took a deep breath and double checked his equipment. The conversation he had with Nezu on the drive here was dreadful, but necessary. He knew the principal had a knack for taking down corrupt systems, but he also knew the rat was too intelligent for his own good. He had figured out that the case was deeply personal in an instant. And from there, his nosy fucking boss would not leave him alone until he told the full story. He got the equipment he needed to go undercover, yes, but at the cost that he was now obligated to bring Izuku to meet one of the most intelligent beings on the face of the earth.

You win some, you lose some.

There was a camera in his tie pin that sent footage directly to his and Nezu's computer. He had a bug-mic attached under his shirt, as well as a couple of extra in his pocket to place inside the school. A fake-ID, specially made for him by Nezu, naming him as a member of the Musutafu Child Health and Safety Association was attached to his blazer pocket. He knew even with all the equipment in the world, there was always the chance that he wouldn't find anything, but Shouta would be damned if he didn't try. 

He sent a final confirmation message to Nezu before taking his first steps into the school. 

He was instantly reminded why he chose to teach high school. 

There was noise everywhere. Colours everywhere. According to the schedule he had, the school day hadn't even started yet, and still there were scatterings of demon spawns around him screeching and getting their slobber all over things. This is why he taught high schoolers. All Shouta could do was ball his hands into fists and make his way towards the office. 

Turns out, he hadn't even needed to enter the offices for his investigation to begin. 

Standing in front of what was clearly labeled as the reception area, was a woman with a tight, red bun, dressed in a colourful mid-length skirt and blouse with her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at the suited man in front of her. "I'm concerned, Mr. Minami. This is the second day in a row that she has called him in sick!" 

The man shrugged. "The kid's quirkless. I read they're more fragile and susceptible to these kind of things. I'm honestly surprised this is the first time it's happened." 

Ah. So they were talking about Izuku and Inko. Perfect.

The woman huffed and looked affronted by the man's words. "I know that! But you don't understand. It's the fact that this hasn't happened before that has me worried! Izuku never misses school! Not even when he should be bundled up and being pampered! Instead he was here and I was the one who helped him blow his nose when he had the sniffles! I was the one who looked after him and nursed him back to health! And on top of that, do you know how hard it is to get a hold of that woman? And now all of a sudden she's removing him from classes for several days and making appearances?" she shook her head. "Something is wrong. I already had my suspicions that Izuku was not being taken care of nearly as much as he needed to be, and now this."

The man sighed, sipping from his mug. "There's nothing we can do about it Ms. Suzuki."

Her jaw clenched at his answer, eyes averting and falling directly onto Shouta. Her posture immediately straightened and a smile came onto her face. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. Is there something we can help you with?"

Shouta nodded, and pulls out the ID badge, showing it to both of them. "Yes. My name is Kano Nori. I am a representative of the Japanese Youth Health and Safety Commission. I am here for a surprise inspection of your facility."

The two teachers had vastly different reactions. The man's eyes bulged out of his skull a little, a bead of sweat forming on his brow, but the woman expression completely lit up. "You're from Health and Safety? Oh, that's absolutely perfect!"

The man cleared his throat, giving a sharp look to the woman before looking at Aizawa. "My apologies. My name is Mr. Minami. I am the principal of this establishment. I ... was unaware that there would be inspection."

Shouta hummed and pockets the ID card, raising an eyebrow at the man. "That would remove the point of it being a surprise visit. Wouldn't it, Mr. Minami?"

He swallowed thickly and nods. "Yes. Right. W-Well, I can uh begin with a tour, if you need."

The woman immediately stepped forward. "I can do it. I know you mentioned being busy this morning. It'd be no problem."

Minami's brow furrowed. "Ms. Suzuki-"

"That'd be great," Shouta cut off and forced a small smile. "Thank you." 

The principal shook his head, eyes looking up pleadingly at the ceiling for a moment before he gives a very obviously fake smile to them. "Of course. If you two need anything, please do not hesitate. And Mr. Kano, if you have any questions at the end of your tour, please come to me directly and I'd be more than willing to answer." Minami gives one more sharp look to Suzuki before turning around and scurrying into the back rooms.

Ms. Suzuki grinned at him. "Thank you. I'm actually quite thankful you're here. There are multiple issues I've been wanting to address, and as you probably over heard, the principal isn't taking them very seriously," she frowned as she begins leading Shouta through the school. "We have a student who's quirkless. He's an adorable, sweet, little boy. Very eager and kind to everyone. His name is Midoriya Izuku," there's something off about the soft smile she gains as she describes Izuku. It makes Shouta's stomach flip. "I, of course, did some research on the quirkless once Izuku was placed in my care a couple of years ago, and I know all about the studies and research and how they just aren't the same as the other little ones. They need a little more time. A little more patience. They're not fully developed, and they have different needs that require a more gentle hand," she explained. 

And suddenly Shouta began to understand just a little bit more. She was one of those. One of the people who saw quirkless people as infantile dependents who could never survive on their own and who, regardless of their age, would never be able to live in society on their own. The "studies" and "research" she was referring to was uncredited "doctors" giving opinions based on their own bigoted beliefs and those who wanted to be able to say that they were better than someone else. He had dealt with a couple cases like this in the past. He had seen everything from the mild circumstances to the extremely horrific: A mother who still kept her 14 year old child in a toddler's room and barely let him leave. A 10 year old who's teeth had to be removed due to not receiving the proper nutrients or practice that they needed from the all liquid diet they had been kept on all their life. A 18 year old who barely knew how to speak because she had never been given a proper education due to everyone around her believing it would be a pointless endeavor since "nothing would stick" anyway. 

He mentally prepared himself for the worst, but also hoped that the kid lucked out for once in his fucking life and that it wouldn't be that bad. 

Oblivious to his realization, Suzuki continued. "And although I'm aware of all of this, there are some teachers who ... refuse." 

He glanced over at her. "What do you mean?"

Her frown grew. "Sometimes Izuku will come back from his other classes and there will be there red marks on the tops of his little hands," she explained, showing her own hands as example. "Or he'll be clearly upset and overwhelmed. I- Well I know that a lot of people don't have the best understanding of quirkless, but Izuku is still a child! They can't punish him so cruelly for not being able to keep up with the others. It's not his fault!"

Fan-fucking-tastic. So on top of this woman, Izuku also had to deal with the more common variation of bigots who were simply angry at quirkless people for daring to exist in the same space as them. He was being physically harmed by those who were supposed to care from him, and probably verbally degraded as well. No wonder the kid didn't want to reach out to them when all of this was happening. All authority figures aside from his mother had only ever treated him horribly or undermined him. 

Gods, it was a good thing Hizashi wasn't here. 

They finally entered a bright classroom filled with decorations and posters, and immediately a couple things caught Shouta's eye. A child's chair sat in the back corner behind her desk with a small box of infant toys, a small cubby, and a flamboyant sign that read "Izuku's Corner" on it. There was a closet door that was highly decorated, unlike the other plainer storage shelves and closets in the room, with space and hero themed stickers. And finally a single desk with a cushion brought away from the rows of desks that the rest of the class was situated in and was instead moved closer to her own — only 3 feet apart. His mind was already beginning to paint an image of what happens here. 

He turned to Ms. Suzuki. "You have a beautiful classroom. Why don't you explain to me what Izuku's day looks like?"

Her eyes glimmered as she nods. "Yes! Well, when Izuku arrives, I'll take him over to his corner and help him get his indoor shoes on, make sure his uniform is on properly and give him a little snack before getting him settled at his desk," she pointed to the desk in front of her own. "Then, when class starts, I teach as I normally do, though I keep a close eye on him for any signs that he's getting overwhelmed or too stressed from the class material."

Shouta narrowed his eyes a little bit, already noting how the special treatment must be extremely alienating and humiliating for Izuku, and tilts his head. "How can you tell if he's overwhelmed?"

She giggled and looks fondly at the desk. "Well, Izuku will usually start fidgeting a little more, or mumbling under his breath. First I'll just subtly bring him one of his toys or a colouring page and allow him to put his focus on that while I try to continue the class, but sometimes it's still too much for him and he'll get even worse. He'll start looking around, and his face will get all red. Poor little guy. That's usually when we bring him to his sensory room!"

The underground hero can't help but blink at what she's saying. "His ... sensory room?" He knew what sensory rooms were for, of course. UA had a few that could be used at student's discretion. They were typically for neuro-diverse people who were having a 'sensory overload' or were just too overwhelmed and need a place to quietly decompress for a second. But based on what he was told, Izuku wasn't overwhelmed. Just from listening to Mic's show, he knew that Green Bean did this thing were he mumbled when he became interested in a topic, speaking faster than most people could understand. He also knew the kid was anxious, so of course he would get flustered when she would publicly hand him toys in the middle of class designed for a toddler. His concern was growing more and more by the second. 

Suzuki's eyes widen, "Oh, you're going to love this!" she brought him over to the highly decorated door and opened it. Inside is a tiny room with a fully matted floor covered in blankets and pillows with coloured lights and- was that a fucking bubble machine in the corner? There were more of those soft infant toys spread around the room as well. As far as sensory rooms go, it wasn't horrible, but knowing that it was being wrongly used for Izuku put a bad taste in his mouth. Suzuki proudly spread her arms to show it off before entering and kneeling down to open a hidden drawer near the floor. "This is Izuku's sensory room. When he gets too overwhelmed by the class material, or if there's a test that everyone is doing, I'll put him in here." she presses a button and some faint mobile music starts playing and then, much to Shouta's horror, pulled out a pair of fleece baby blue mittens with adjustable straps around the wrists. "And obviously, I can't closely watch him when he's in here, and I don't want to risk him getting hurt, so I put these on him so he can't get into anything he's not supposed to, and then I'll close the door and let him calm down while I continue class!"

Shouta had swallow down every ounce of anger that flared up inside him at that explanation. "Izuku doesn't take tests?" He asked quietly instead, wondering exactly how much damage this woman had done to Izuku all while thinking she was helping him. 

The teacher snorted and shook her head, turning off the music and putting everything away. "Of course not. Are you kidding? A quirkless child like Izuku isn't nearly ready to handle the stress and pressure that comes with tests. Not to mention the material would be far too advance for him. It's why he's kept on a separate curriculum from the rest. At least he is in my classes. Again, there's those awful teachers who know nothing and don't care about him at all!" She tsked her tongue as she looks over at him. "I'm the only one that looks out for him. I've been petitioning since Izuku started coming here for him to be kept off the playground at recess because the other kiddos just don't know how to play with someone fragile like him, and he always ends up hurt. But no one listens. And then, there's his mother," she scowled, an aura of anger suddenly forming around her. "She always sends him with food that he could very easily choke on, his hair is always a mess, he brings books that are far too advance for him or toys that he could hurt himself on and I- I've tried reporting it to the principal but no one cares! They don't understand Izuku's needs like I do. He needs special care and no one is giving it to him," she lets out a breath and looks out the room back to Izuku's desk. "No one except me."

A chill threatened to run down Shouta's spine. Between her sharp tongue and the genuine anger and possessiveness that she held in her words, everything about this had Shouta on edge. He felt a strong urge to search her desk, her car, and her personal belongings for any sign of malintent. His hand twitched, wanting to do something anything to be able to confirm this or put an end to it before there was even a risk of her getting her ignorant, conceited little hands all over Izuku again. 

But he had to remain calm. He needed to get all the evidence first. For Izuku.

He took a deep breath, and pretended to scribble a few things down, nodding as the enter back into the classroom. He slowly moved closer to her desk, his hand falling into his pocket. "You seem to care a lot about him."

She hummed as she closes the sensory room, and Shouta took the opportunity to quickly place a small, transparent, adhesive chip — made by Powerloader for situations exactly like this — on the back of her laptop, trusting the technology to do it's job and get all the information on the device to UA. Suzuki turned back around with that same fond look on her face. "I care for all my students, but Izuku is special, I'll admit." Her smile becomes more natural as she gestures back to the classroom door. "We should finish your tour."

By the time Shouta left the building, he more than understood why Izuku didn't like his school and was uncomfortable by it. He was either seen as a baby or a pest, with no middle ground, by everyone in that facility. He had witness blatant shows of favourtism over the kids who had already formed their quirks and display the promise of strength. And though he had never seen the brat known as Katsuki that had burned Izuku, he heard words of praise about him from every other teacher that he spoke to. 

He was angry. He didn't understand how people could look at Izuku, this child who wanted nothing more but to learn and help others, and completely ignore all of that simply because he lacked a fucking quirk. 

He tore off his tie and threw it into the back of the car, taking a calming breath as he rested his head against the steering wheel for second. This is why he didn't get involved with his cases. He got too attached, things became too personal and-

Ring! Ring! Ring!

He groaned and pulled out his phone, answering the device without even opening his eyes. "Eraserhead."

"Hello Aizawa!"

He feels a wave of dread and exhaustion hit him at the sound of his boss's voice. He runs a hand over his face and leans back in his seat. "What is it Nezu?"

The principal clicks his tongue but answers. "I was quite eager to go through the evidence that you would gather from this very interesting case of yours, and I've been watching your little investigation live from the camera feed while you've been undercover." Shouta sighs; he really shouldn't have expected any differently. Nezu continues. "I was just flipping through the files gathered from Ms. Suzuki's laptop and ... I found something greatly concerning."

Shouta's eyes open at that statement, his free hand tightening on the steering wheel. "I'm coming over. I'll be there in ten."

Chapter Text

Izuku awoke to a bed that was too soft, walls that were too beige, and a house that was too ... melodic. 

To say the very least, Izuku awoke in a place that wasn't home and that did not sit well with him.

He sat up quietly in this strange soft bed, holding his breath and gripping tightly onto the All Might printed sheets. As he glanced around the room, seeing his bag hanging on a chair by a desk and his figurines organized on a shelf, memories began to slide into place with the sound of Mr. Mic's voice singing from deeper in the apartment being the final piece in the puzzle of his own making. 

Right. He was technically home. His new home. Here. With Mr. Mic and Mr. Aizawa. Without Mama. 

Mama.

His breath hitched at just the thought that she wasn't in the building and she wasn't going to be returning as she normally had. He could blearily remember he coming to see him early that morning before the sun had even risen. He could feel the familiar, warm brush of her lips against his forehead and shaky, but soft, caress of her hands on his cheeks. He barely blinked open his eyes — his eye lids too heavy with sleep — and saw the blurry shadow of his mother's form sitting beside him with a small, sad smile on her face.  "Be good, bunny," she whispered. "I'll call you after my shift, and you can tell me all about your day. I love you so much, Izuku. I'll see you soon. I promise."

Little Izuku's heart constricted uncomfortably in his chest as his throat tightened even more. He balled his hands into fists on top of the blankets, his brow furrowed as his thoughts and big feelings raced faster and faster and faster around his mind like a tornado. 

His mom was gone. Not forever, but she wouldn't be coming home tonight. She wouldn't be there to tuck him in, or leave little notes on the fridge, or decorated bento boxes made specially for him. She wouldn't be here for any of that. 

He had been so caught up in meeting not one, but two, heroes and all the dream-like interactions that came with it, that none of this had fully sunken in. 

Suddenly his large, plush room felt so much smaller and constricting than it had last night. He finally took a breath, but it came in short, heaved waves that shook his still sore chest. He tried bringing one of his hands to rub at his chest, to soothe the sweltering storm brewing inside him, and immediately let out a sharp cry of pain as it rubs against the fresh scars.

It was too much. All of it. Life was fine. He was happy with Mama and their way of things. He didn't want it to change, but it did, and he couldn't change it back. 

He jolted at the sudden knock on his door, a whimper being pulled from his lips that were pressed tightly together to keep the mess he felt inside, inside.

"Green Bean?" Yamada called from outside his room. "Are you alright?"

Izuku didn't want to answer. He couldn't answer. Answering meant opening his mouth and letting the things he felt lodged like a gumball in his throat out and it was all too much, too big, too sudden. 

At receiving nothing but silence a muffled whines in return, Yamada came to a decision. "I'm coming in, okay?" 

Izuku's eyes burned and the familiar wetness of tears tickled the tops of his cheeks as the door swung open and Yamada stood there in pajamas, blond long haired pulled messily on the top of his head, and small smile on his face that dropped the very second that he saw Izuku's state. 

He quickly rushed over to him, careful not too touch or get too close — something Izuku was almost thankful for since it would only add to the muchness of everything. "What's going on, Green Bean?" Yamada asked in a voice that seemed calm on the surface, but the panicked look in his acid green eyes said otherwise. 

Izuku desperately pressed his lips tighter together, even as his face became red from a lack of oxygen, and fervently shook his head. He couldn't speak. He couldn't breath! If he even so much as moved bad, bad, bad feelings inside him would erupt outward and that only ever made things worse! He had to keep it in.

His body flinched as a large hand rested down on his shoulder and green eyes met green. Yamada pulled his hand back and, somehow through all of this, maintained his gentle calm smile. "It's alright Izuku. You're safe. I need you to breathe, okay? You don't have to do anything else just-" He took in an exaggerated slow breath, then held it, and slowly let it out. "Just like that. Can you follow along with me?"

Izuku tried breathing in through his nose, but it came out shaky and ragged and cut itself off part way through. The tears behind his eyes grew thicker as he shook his head again, lips nearly blue at this point from how tightly he'd been pressing them together and the lack of oxygen. Yamada carefully moved before side, and placed a hand on his back, firmly rubbing up and down. "Try again Green Bean. Through your mouth. Focus on my hand, and what's around you, okay? You're alright," he gently encouraged, and Izuku's little body trembled. His face scrunched up as his lungs burned inside his chest until finally. 

GASP

A ragged sob shook Izuku's frame as the first choked breath broke through, followed by a series of quick, short ones. 

There was no signs of relief or fear from Yamada, there was no time for those things, as he continued rhythmically rubbing Izuku's back and softly uttering encouraging words while Izuku struggled to gain control over his breathing and crying. "Can I hold you, Izuku?" He barely heard the blond hero ask. But he did hear him, and in a split second, Izuku is throwing his arms around the man, retching sobs into his shoulder. 

Two arms quickly wrapped tightly around him as Yamada's long body curled around him. "I've got you," he whispered, continuing to rub his back. "I'm here, Izuku."

"Want- W-W-Want Mama!" Izuku wailed, gripping tightly onto Yamada's shirt. 

The older man tensed slightly, but otherwise remained unchanging as he nodded against Izuku. "I know. I know, Green Bean. You'll get to see her again soon, I promise-"

"It's not- not the same! She's not coming home! You changed everything!" He shouted, squeezing his eyes shut as he trembled. "I won't see Mama, a-a-and she's sad and- and- and-" He broke down into sobs once more, body curling up as he cried, finally letting out all the complicated feelings that had been possessing him since all of this began. 

Yamada didn't say anything back. Not at first. He just stayed quiet and continued soothing Izuku, allowing the little boy to get out all his feelings. But once the cries dampened and Izuku's voice became hoarse to continue shouting and his body began to slacken, Yamada gently ran his fingers through the boys hair. "I know it's hard to see right now, but I promise that all of this is only because your mother loves you very very much, and she, Shouta, and I all want to make sure you are happy, healthy, and safe," he gingerly reassured. Izuku remained buried in his chest, now resorting to silence rather than screaming. The blond hero sighed. "We aren't doing this to punish you Izuku. We- I want to care for you. You're a very special boy-"

"Because I'm quirkless?" Izuku grumbled, teary eyes finally looking at Yamada. "Be-Because I'm not like the others and not- not- n-not strong like Kaachan?" 

Yamada's calm expression cracked, a small frown tugging at his lips at those words as he instinctively holds Izuku a little closer. "No," he says firmly. "No, Green Bean, that's not-" for once in his life, words seemed to fail the Voice Hero. His eyes flickered around the room, looking for something to help him explain, when it him. He gently pried himself away from Izuku for a moment and walked over to the desk sitting in the room. He opened the top drawer and pulled out a small green book before heading back over to Izuku. He smiles gently at the boy and hands it over to him. "Open it." 

Izuku blinks at the book, sniffling as he takes it with shaky hands. "What's it?" he mumbles, inspecting the smooth cover. He hadn't received a gift from anyone other than his mom since ... well, he guessed Aunty Mitsuki had sent him a new figurine for his birthday along with a card and note apologizing for Kacchan being unable to make it to his party. ... He heard Kacchan bragging about tricking his parents into thinking he was sick for the second year in a row the next day.

But this was different. It wasn't his birthday for another few months. 

The radio hero sat back down beside him, and Izuku could practically feel the nervous excitement buzzing off of him. "Why don't you find out?"

He stared back down at the book in his hands, taking a split second to wipe some of the tears and yuckiness from his face and wiping it onto his pajamas before carefully opening the book. 

In golden ink, scrawled into the first page was a small message. "Dear Green Bean," Izuku read quietly, voice still a little tearful, and glanced up to Yamada. The man smiled encouragingly back down at him and nodded his head for him to continue. "I haven't met you yet, and Shou thinks I'm crazy for doing this, but I can tell you're a special kid — You're smart, and funny, and so darn cute. But I know you're going-" his brows furrowed as he read ahead a little. "G-Going through a hard time. You haven't told me what's going on yet, but I hope you will one day and that you know I'll be- be there for you when you need m-me. You mean ... y-you mean a lot to me. So, I wanted to do a little something for you for when the day comes that I finally get to meet my little- m-my little-" Izuku choked on his tongue as his trembling finger ran over the next word. "M-M-My little h-hero. St-Stay rocking, G-Green Bean. P-Present Mic," His eyes flicker down to the small date written at the bottom of the page a sob bubbles up from his chest once more as he looks at Yamada with wet eyes. "Y-You wrote this t-t-two years ago, Mr. Mic," his voice wobbled along side his lip as he looked at the man with confused eyes. 

All Yamada did was smile back and pat Izuku's shoulder. "Sure did. We had been doing Hero's Corner for almost six months at that point. I'd never felt as close with any of my listeners as I had you. You were only four, but you were coming on the show with enough excitement and joy to battle All Might's enthusiasm! You hero analysis was so impressive for someone your age that I was convinced that you had an intelligence quirk!" Izuku felt his face heat up a bit at that, which only made Yamada chuckle. "It was my favourite part of the week!" He admitted gleefully, squeezing Izuku's shoulder. "You impressed me since day one, Izuku. Long before I knew that you were quirkless. You wormed your way into mine and everyone else's hearts."

Izuku blinked at the phrasing of that last bit. "E-Everyone?" 

Yamada's eyes flicked back to the book with a knowing, mischievous grin and Izuku immediately began flipping through the pages.

All air remaining in his lungs was quickly rendered useless as page after page revealed thick, white paper with carefully written notes and signatures - but not just any signatures, hero signatures! All addressed to Green Bean! Him! And all with their own personalized greetings and notes referencing the show or having heard about him from Present Mic! Present Mic had been telling people about him! And it wasn't just one or two heroes, there were dozens! Some that he didn't even recognize, but that he could not wait to start researching once he was allowed computer time! Sure, it didn't have All Might's signature in it, but the book in his hands was priceless.

Izuku hugged it tightly to his chest, crying loudly once more as he tried to process the significance of the gift. "Y-Y-You did- did that for-for-f-for me?" He asked in between stuttered breaths. 

Yamada nodded, pulling Izuku in close to him once more. "Yeah, kiddo. And honestly, it was the only thing keeping me from going insane for a while. I wanted to know who you were so so bad. And I was worried when you had stopped calling in for heroes corner. Doing this felt like I was still talking with you and helping you somehow," he explained with nothing but pure, tender, honesty in his voice and that only made Izuku cry even more. 

He hadn't realized how much he had missed Mr. Mic too. Sure, his fingers itched every Friday when he purposefully sat himself on the other side of the room away from the phone, and he felt so much heavier and alone without his weekly phone call, but he told himself that Kacchan and the others had been right, and this was for the best. He leaned into Yamada's arm, finally regaining control over his sobs as a small smile came onto his face. 

They had been wrong. They were wrong about Mr. Mic. Maybe they were wrong about some other things too. 

"So ... Do you like it?" Yamada asked as he patted Izuku's back. 

He laughed tearfully and nodded. "I love it! Thank you Y-Yamada!" The name still felt weird to him - like whenever he had to say his mom's real name to other adults - but maybe it would get better in time. 

Yamada relaxed slightly at the assurance and grinned. "I'm so glad to hear that, Green Bean! Now come on! You get to try Present Mic's Rocking Pancakes! All cooked and ready just for you, little dude!" 

Izuku giggled and jumped out of the bed, walking alongside Mic towards the kitchen. "I-I've never had pancakes. Mama always burns them."

Yamada gasped dramatically and looked at Izuku with comedically wide eyes. "HUUUUUHHHHHH?! No pancakes?! No way, Green Bean! We are fixing that! You're getting all the scrumdiddliumptious pancakes your heart desires then you and I are going to go out, get a killer new wardrobe for you, and do what ever you want for the rest of the day!"

Izuku was practically bouncing at this point as they arrived at the table and Izuku spotted a giant stack of green pancakes shaped like stars. "C-Can we go back to UA? I didn't really get to see much." 

"Not only can we go to UA, I'm going to give the grand tour and introduce you to some of the heroes that work there!" Izuku's eyes were sparkling at this point, his tears long forgotten as his smile stretched across his face. "You know why, Green Bean? Because today is your first day as my little rockstar, and we're going to make it the greatest, rock-n-rollest, most radical day you've ever had! Can I get YEEEEEAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAH!"

Chapter Text

Beady, little black eyes stared into Shouta's soul.

Nezu sat behind his desk, hands folded neatly beneath his chin, but his normal chill-inducing smile was no where to be seen. That alone was usually reason enough for the person on the receiving end of the principal to feel fear and dread — knowing that the thing that brought that expression onto the rodent's was caused the possession of the homeroom teacher of his newly assigned ward, made Shouta blood become replaced by steel. 

He was an underground hero - one of the best. There was no room for fear, or dread, or anger, or disgust on the field. He had to always maintain to clear, logical mind. His logic had already wavered once in a situation regarding Izuku, and he's just thankful that it worked out in their favor. He won't do it again. Not when the kid's safety could be at risk.

"What did you find?" He asked pointedly, leaving no room for Nezu's usual amusements and shenanigans. 

It says something that his former mentor got directly to the point the flipped around his computer screen. "Look for yourself." 

The screen was filled with a number of opened files and images: pictures of Mrs. Suzuki and a nervous looking Izuku in his school uniform as well as his school photos, research "articles" made by bigots talking about the "mental and physical weakness" on biological level that quirkless people possess, a camera feed that Shouta recognizes captures that stupid sensory room, numerous emails to the principal requesting that Izuku be held back a grade, that he not be allowed on the playground at recess, that she be assigned as an educational assistant for him and attend his other classes with him, and complaints about Inko (all mostly thankfully left unanswered or given a non-chalant dismissal). 

Then finally, he spotted something that made his hands freeze on the mouse and caused his mind to halt. 

Records of a recently signed lease for a two bedroom townhouse, as well as the breaking of the lease of her former one bedroom apartment. 

His eyes flickered over Nezu. "Does she have a partner or family?" 

The rodent's nose twitched. "No," Shouta's stomach clenches. "She doesn't. She is solitary woman and barely has contact with her parents. Not many friends and no history of dating."

Shouta clenches his teeth, turning back to the screen, with his obsidian eyes now zeroed in and scouring for specific signs. 

The purchase of a single-sized bed with child rails. Children's bedding. Foam floor files. Children's toys. A request to take two months off work for a family emergency beginning this Friday — in two days. 

"She was going to kidnap him," he mumbled upon the realization. The thought rang through him like a police siren and — despite being a seasoned hero who has handled dozens of kidnapping, child trafficking and worse — he feels a thrum of protective anger and dread wash over him as he pictures it: Izuku would've been none the wiser. This was a woman who he was told would have his best interests at heart and who always assured him that she was doing all that she did for his betterment. He may hesitate, if only for his clear discomfort around her, but in the end he would listen his authoritative figure especially if she appealed to his desire to help other; say asked him to help her move some things from her car into her office. She could take him. Easily. Inko wouldn't have been home to notice that Izuku hadn't made it home from school until it was far too late, and god knows the police and justice system is far too corrupt to give a damn about a single quirkless kid going missing. They'd probably tell her that he most likely ran away and the case would be closed. 

Izuku Midoriya would've disappeared in broad daylight, and that would've been the end of it. 

What would she have done with him? Suzuki clearly cared — in her own disturbing way — about Izuku and obviously was extremely protective over him as a result. Would she allow him to return to school? Or keep him at home, raising him in isolation? How far would infantilization of him go? How much humanity and sense of self would she strip from him. 

"Shouta," his eyes snapped up to the principal. The ever present gleam of homicide is especially bright today. He's surprised he didn't notice it sooner. Nezu stared straight through him with a solemn, serious expression. "Your ward is safe. He's with Hizashi, yes?"

Shouta let out a slow breath and nodded, "Yes. They're both at home and-"

WOOP! WOOP! Unscheduled entrance and destruction in Ground Beta! WOOP! WOOP!

The two men blinked at the sudden alarm, and Nezu actually frowns this time as he flips his computer back to face him. His paws fly across his key board, his eyes narrowing, before he pauses, and a slow smile comes onto his face. "It seems they are, in fact, not both at home. Perhaps we should delay this conversation for just a little later." 

Shouta face scrunched up in confusion and leaned over to look at the screen. Staring back at him in black and white is Izuku alongside a good chunk of the UA teachers — his husband notably absent. This wouldn't be problem for concern — no. 

But the fact that a six year old was seemingly doing target practice with a fucking lazer gun. Yeah. That did it.

Aizawa instinctively activated his quirk before launching himself out of his seat and sprinting off down the halls of UA; Nezu's maniacal laugh echoing off the wall around him.

***

Hizashi's day was going great!

Sure, he and Green Bean had a bit of a bumpy start to the morning, but after getting some food in his belly and getting dressed for the day, the kiddo was doing much better.

Which was good. Hizashi nearly had a heart attack when he realized Izuku was having a panic attack. He had no idea what he was doing or if the calming strategies he usually used on his students would work with someone as young as Izuku, but thankfully it did! 

Compared to that, all the other problems the day presented seemed miniscule. Trying not to laugh when Izuku came out after getting dressed in one of the most ridiculous outfits he's ever seen (an oversized, old All Might t-shirt and the most atrocious plaid patterned cargo shorts he'd ever seen paired with the cat socks that Shouta had bought him while they were getting supplies) was a challenge, but he pulled it off by covering it up with enthusiasm. Convincing Izuku that it was okay and he wanted to buy new clothes and things for him was just a matter of patience and negotiation. Finding out that his car ride playlist was not child appropriate was as devastating as it was embarrassing, but the radio ended up having some pretty solid tunes for them to jam out to instead.

All in all, he had this "become the world's best guardian" thing in the bag! 

He had thought taking Izuku to UA would be the easy part. 

The kid was a hero fanatic. He could place him in front of the school's "Wall of Fame" and the boy would be entertained for hours. He wasn't going to do that, of course, but the point was Izuku would be happy and enjoying this part of the day no matter what he did. 

He forgot that his friends were utter menaces who existed only to make his life difficult. They had taken one step into the teacher's lounge and they had immediately jumped on them like piranhas.

"Oh my gods, Zashi! He's even cuter than I imagined. And shame! Shame on you for not texting me sooner and telling me that you found Green Bean! I completely betrayed!" Nemuri scolded him as she held a shell-shocked Izuku tightly in her arms with her cheek pressed firmly against the top of his head. "Honestly. I thought I'd be the first to know — though I suppose you bringing him to see his godmother makes up for it, even if it is while I'm working," Hizashi could only groan as she turned her attention back to Izuku and pinched his cheeks. 

His already large eyes became even wider as he stared at her completely befuddled . "I- G-Godmother?"

Nemuri only let out another screech of joy and pulled Izuku in closer. "He sounds just like he did on the radio!"

Vlad thankfully stepped in and pried the female hero off the child and raised an eyebrow at her. "You're freaking the kid and everyone else out! Stop it!" He huffs and side eyes Izuku before getting the smallest hint of a smile on his face. "Nice to meet you kid. I'm Blood Hero: Vlad King, homeroom teacher for 1-B. Welcome to UA."

There was a single moment where Hizashi was legitimately afraid that Nemuri had hugged the soul out of the poor boy. He stood ram rod straight, jaw dropped, with his eyes darting around the room being the only sign of movement from him. He had taken a step forward, hand reached out to support him when suddenly a ear-splitting squeal that put his quirk to shame came out of Izuku. 

The tiny child immediately started bouncing from foot to foot, his face split in a grin so wide that it made Hizashi's cheeks hurt just looking at him. "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! YOU'RE ALL- YOU'RE ALL HEROES! YOU'RE- I'VE WATCHED ALL YOU FIGHT ON T.V. AND- AND- I mean I knew heroes worked at UA, everyoneknowsthatonlyheroesteachatUA, but that was different than actually being here and WOW!" He giggles in a way that makes Hizashi, and everyone else in the room, forget that this is the same kid who was making their ears bleed moments ago since they're too distracted by their hearts melting. 

Hizashi ruffles Izuku's hair. "Yeah kiddo. They're all heroes like me and Shou. I'm still your favourite though, right?" He waggles his eyebrows at his kid and nudges his elbow. 

Izuku merely blinks in response. "My favourite hero's All Might. You know this." 

The voice hero visibly deflated as the teacher's lounge erupted into laughter.

They were all interrupted as a very winded looking Snipe burst into the room. "Leapin' Lizards. Nezu's not answerin' my call and Mic's is runnin' me up the wall does any of you-" The cowboy paused as he processed the scene in front of him. A shocked laugh split from the man as he stumbled forward and wrapped an arm over Hizashi's shoulder "Well blessin's above! Mic! Just the man I need. Look, I'm subbin' for your class today. I thought it'd be no problem. I mean, it's general education students and I usual handle the upper heroics kids, so I thought it'd be no big," he grabs Hizashi by both his shoulders and pulls him in. "But what have you been feedin' those kids?! They're monsters! I can't get 'em to focus at all and they're all up the walls! Ya gotta help me! Ya gotta! It'll just take a sec! I'll even watch the youngin' ya got with ya!"

Hizashi blinks, processing the words being thrown at him. He opens his mouth to protest, but is once again interrupted by Nemuri as she comes up behind him. "Don't worry about it, Hizashi! Our darling little Green Bean, will be safe with us!" she coos and wraps an arm around Izuku once more. "You go take care of your other kids, and we'll take care of this one."

He knew Izuku would be safe with them. He knew that dealing with his class wouldn't take long. He knew what the logical choice here was. 

But it was his first full day with Izuku, dammit! He's supposed to be touring Izuku around UA and teaching him how to break into the pudding cabinet in the cafeteria without getting caught. That's why he took the day off in the first place!

He pursed his lips, hands clenching and unclenching, before he glances down at Izuku who has begun to look slightly uncomfortable from all of Nemuri's dramatics. He kneels down to find those green eyes with his own. "Izuku, what do you want? I can stay if you want me to. This is your day, and Snipe can pull up his big boy pants and deal with my kiddos by himself. That's no issue. But it'll just take a little bit if you're comfortable staying here with these buzzkills," he jokes, and jabs his thumb towards Vlad. 

Izuku squirmed in place a little, glancing nervously at Nemuri before he takes a step closer to Hizashi and leans in. "C-Can you ask her to stop yelling and pinching my cheeks?" he whispers so quietly that Hizashi can barely hear him. 

The blond immediately nods. "Of course, Green Bean. But you know you can ask her yourself, right? You're allowed to tell someone to stop doing something if it makes you uncomfortable."

Izuku merely averted his eyes at that. Hizashi's lips tighten, his heart sinking a little as he mentally made a note to teach the kid about consent and boundaries. He made an additional note to track down whoever taught him that he couldn't have them since it was obvious that someone did.

He looked over to Nemuri. There was still a small smile on his calm face, but in his eyes held enough coldness to freeze over the entirety of campus. "Izuku would like you to stop touching him without asking and taking down to him," he said firmly, leaving no room for arguments. Not that there would be. Nem was the school's sex education and consent teacher and counselor after all. 

As expected, Nemuri's eyes immediately widened and she gasped. "Oh I'm sorry Izuku! Of course. I'll be more mindful."

Izuku seemed to relax just a little bit more at the reassurance, which made Hizashi relax in turn. Finally, the kid smiled at him. "You can go to your class. I'm okay."

Hizashi hesitated just a little longer, wanting more than anything to stay, but a glance at Snipe told him all he needed to know about the state of his classroom. He sighed and stood back up. "I'll be as quick as possible, Green Bean, I promise. Then we'll go get lunch from Lunch Rush."

Izuku nodded firmly. "Okay. I'll be good but um ... c-can I ask them my questions?" 

Hizashi's smile finally reappeared, eyes flashing with mischief as he nodded. "Oh, you can ask them all the questions you want, Greenie," his attention turns to the other teachers. "Ya'll have fun. I'll be right back!"

As Hizashi leaves, Izuku turns to the teachers with his freshly bought notebook in his hands. 

For a moment, there's silence. 

Snipe scratches the back of his head. "Ya wanna learn how to shoot a gun?"

Vlad whips his head around to him. "He's four!"

"Well I dunno what to do with him!"

Izuku raises his hand. "Actually Mr. Vlad King sir, I'm six and three quarters," he clicks a pen and looks carefully at the three heroes. "Can I ask you s-some questions?"

Nemuri gave Izuku a gentle smile, forcing herself to remain much calmer than she felt at the sight of the serious expression on his tiny face. "Of course, love. What do you want to know?

"If you used too much of your quirk on a person, Ms. Midnight ma'me, would they just go to sleep o-or would they die from- from gas poisoning? And on that note, what is your quirk made out of? Is it like ni-tro-gan oxide or is it safer like meli-tonan?" He put his pen to his page and looked up at the hero expectantly. 

Three drops of sweat simultaneously dripped from the three adults in the room.

Vlad chuckled nervously. "Hey Snipe, weren't you offering to teach Little Izuku how to shoot a gun?"

"Wow! What a great idea! Come on, Izuku, this is going to be so much more fun!" Nemuri hurriedly said gestured for Izuku to follow them out of the room. 

The little boy frowned and walked slowly behind them, still holding his notebook. "B-But my questions!"

Snipe waved him off, removing a fancy gun from his belt and showing to Izuku. A sparkle gleamed across his eyes as he was suddenly face to face with official hero support equipment. "Tell ya what kid, you come with us and I'll teach ya everythin' ya need to know about using this here support item. It's special. Not like the ones I use on a daily basis, so I think ya might like it. Clear?"

"Yes!"

An hour later, Shouta comes skidding around the corner of Gym Beta just in time to watch Izuku fire a gun and widely miss with his completely moronic, absolutely brainless friends cheering him on. He instantly runs over and grabs the weapon from Izuku before any of them could even blink, single handedly unloads it, and wraps Izuku up in his capture weapon with the other. 

If it wasn't for Izuku's squawks of complaints, the room would otherwise be silent as Shouta slowly turned an absolutely murderous, quirk-fueled glare to his friends. "Do any of you care to explain what I just found you all doing?" He growls in a low, dangerous voice. 

Izuku blinked up at his guardian, suddenly stopping his struggles when he sees the anger on Shouta's face, and pales as he realizes that he did something wrong. "I-I- Mr. S-Snipe wanted to teach me h-how to fire a gun?"

Shouta whips down to look at Izuku and freezes when the kid lets out a small squeak of fear. He finally remembers that his quirk is activated and realizes just how terrifying he must look to him right now and gently releases him. He takes a deep breath to calm himself. "Thank you for telling me, Izuku. I'm not mad at you," Izuku still seemed to doubt those words. 

The underground hero slowly turned to look at the other teachers once more. "You lot, on the other hand, should know better! A gun? Are you serious? He's six, Snipe!"

Snipe held out his hands in defense. "Look, I dunno why it's that big of a deal! We were all watchin' him and he was perfectly safe!" 

The gun hero yelped and jumped behind Vlad as Shouta snarled and stepped forward. Nemuri quickly jumped between the men. "Okay, okay, okay! Calm down, papa bear," She chuckled nervously as Shouta's glare switched down to her. "He's okay, Shou. He's fine. Zashi swung by with him, and there was an emergency with his homeroom that he had to deal with, so we said we'd watch him for a little while. If I had realized you were even here, I would've brought him to you." 

Shouta huffed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "None of you are ever watching him again. You realize that, right?" He barely paid any mind to Nemuri's protests, his mind still reeling from all of this. Gods, he came to UA to figure out to save the damn kid, not put him in further danger. He takes out his phone and shoots a quick text to Hizashi explaining the situation then holds out a hand towards Izuku. "You all get back to doing your actual jobs of protecting children and not endangering them. I'm taking Izuku with me." 

The boy seemed to hesitate, but slowly walked back up to Shouta and took his hand before the hero led them back through the halls of UA. 

"A-Are ... Are you mad at me?" he murmured quietly, carefully avoiding Shouta's eyes. 

Shouta'd hate to admit it, but the question broke his heart just a little. There was still a lot he had to learn about how to behave around Izuku, especially knowing what he does now about the treatment he usually received from adults. But he'd learn. He had to. 

He hid his face in his scarf before gently ruffling Izuku's hair. "Not at all kid. Not at all."

Chapter Text

While Shouta was relieved to have Izuku back in his direct care again — especially after everything that he learned about Izuku's school — he was not looking forward to introducing this exceptionally smart and influential child to one of the most intelligent and equally chaotic creatures in the world. 

Izuku was still a little timid from seeing him loose his temper at his friends (if they can still be called that after this stunt, the morons), and walked ever so slightly behind him. While his shoulders were still hunched over and body small and closed off, from his couple glances back, Shouta could see Izuku's eyes still scanning over the halls of the school with an excited, bright gleam that helped him relax a little. 

At the very least, they can get Izuku's intelligence properly assessed and documented while they're here for when they're putting him into his new school. God knows those ass hats at Aldera hadn't bothered. 

He sighed as the doors to his boss's office swung open before they even reached them. He's not surprised. Nezu has eyes everywhere. 

He gently took Izuku's hand as they entered. Nezu is perched behind his desk, ears perked with curiosity and Shouta is convinced that if he checked the principal's little legs would be kicking happily behind that desk. He grins at the pair. "Aizawa, I see you found your ward alright!" he hops down from his desk and approched the two, sticking out his hand towards Izuku, who is staring with this look that Shouta doesn't entirely recognize. "Welcome to UA, young Izuku. My name is-"

"Principal Nezu," Izuku gasped. His big green eyes were sparkling with eagerness, but there's a strange hesitance that remained there. His hands trembled a little as he went to shake Nezu's hand. His body language remained on the defensive. It's ... odd at best, and concerning at worst. "Y-You're um principal here. I- I saw y-y-you talk on the news," the stutter brings a slight frown to Shouta's lips. Izuku was ... nervous. He supposed that made sense, escpecially if he knew of Nezu's status. He wished, not for the first time since meeting the green-haired child, that he was at all competent with calming children. 

Where was Hizashi when you needed him?

Nezu gave a nod, his smile growing slightly. "I am. I have spoken to the press multiple times. Comes with the job," he chuckled, his beady eyes darting to the same physical markers that Shouta had noticed. 

Izuku nodded and kept his head down, staying close to Shouta's side. The two teachers' made eye contact. Nezu tilted his head as he tried to observe the child before him. "Izuku ... Do I scare you?" he kept his voice strangely soft. 

Izuku's head whipped up and his eyes widened. "N-No sir! No j-just um I-I-I'm in your schoool without perm-iz-on and I- I need to be- be um- r-ris-risspect."

Ah. Fucking Aldera. 

Shouta knelt down to be closer to Izuku's level — his knees cracking as he does — and placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Nezu is principal, and it is important to show your elders respect, but you don't need to be scared of him," not entirely true. Everyone should fear Nezu at least a little. But Izuku didn't need to fear him in that way that he seems to be doing. "You're mine and Hizashi's guest, meaning you're invited into this school. Nezu has a duty to protect and look out for everyone in this school, and as a guest that includes you today."

Izuku's brow furrowed, his eyes squinting as if he knew what Shouta said is true, but he also knew what he experienced in the past. 

Nezu seemed to make the same observation and took a step back. "I understand that your past educators did not do right by you," Izuku stiffened at the words, glancing anxiously at Shouta. He squeezed the kid's shoulder. "I know it may take some time for you believe Aizawa and I when we say that myself and any of the teachers at UA are not going to harm or ridicule you in anyway."

Izuku blinked and leaned closer to Shouta. "Ridy-coo?" 

"Ridicule. To make fun of and make feel bad."

Izuku nodded and focused on Nezu again. The stout continued. "I don't expect you to believe me based on my words alone. So let's use action, shall we?" he walks back over to his desk and grabs a small packet of papers. "I have a small test for you."

Izuku's eyes lit up, before completely diminishing and he shied against Shouta again. "I-I'm not allowed to take tests. Mrs. Suzuki-"

"Mrs. Suzuki is wrong," Nezu said firmly and sharply, his grip tightening on the paper, but even so he doesn't drop his smile. "That woman was wrong in many, many ways Izuku. But most of all, she was wrong to belittle your intelligence and alienate you from your peers," Izuku looks confused at his words and he sighed and gestured for Izuku and Shouta to follow him to a small side room with a white board and a few desks — Nezu's personal classroom for his private students. "You can sit in here, and try your best to complete this test. Based on what Aizawa has told me and what I've heard on a certain radio show," Izuku's cheeks redden, "I believe you will have no issues with it."

Izuku glanced back at Shouta. He gave him a small smile, "Go. It's alright. I'll be out here when you're done." The kid gave a shaky nod and nervously makes his way into the classroom. 

Shouta sighed, plopping himself into one of the leather couches in the room. Nezu will keep an eye on the kid. He might as well take a nap while he can; god knows he's earned it after this day. His eyes fluttered close and he took a deep breath, beginning to relax and-

BANG!

Shouta jumped up, capture weapon at the ready as he whipped around to the now thrown open doors.

Hizashi stood there, panting and wide eyed in his own right. His panicked green eyes sweeping feverously around the office. "Izuku? Where's Izuku? I left him with the other teachers for twenty minutes and they said that you took him from them, and I didn't even know you were here, and-"

"Excuse me?" Both of their heads snapped over to Nezu giving a tight smile to both of them in front of his now closed private classroom door. "My new student is trying to take a test."

That immediately sets off an alarm in Shouta's head, and he narrowed his eyes, pointing an accusing finger at Nezu. "Hey. You can test him, because he frankly needs it, but he is not your anything Nezu."

The principal shrugged, and moved back over to his desk. "Time will tell," he chuckled to himself, pleased and smug as always much to Shouta's displeasure, and totters over to his desk. "Now. I believe we were in the middle of discussing something, Aizawa. It's probably a good thing Yamada has arrived to partake in this conversation."

The blond still looked completely lost and moved to stand by Shouta's side, taking his hand for comfort. "I'm confused," he glanced at Shouta. "What are you even doing here? I thought you were going to Aldera?"

Shouta huffed, falling back onto the couch and dragging Hizashi down with him. "I did. It was awful. Nezu helped me get evidence I needed, and found out things are even worse than they seem," he pointed to the closed classroom door. "Izuku's with me because our friends are useless."

This did not ease the worry on Hizashi's face, in fact the furrow between his brow only grew deeper. Shouta wished he had good news that would help ease it, but there isn't any at the moment. Izuku's reality was something that would turn both of them grey before they even hit thirty. Hizashi looks between Shouta and Nezu. "What did you find?" he speaks in a quiet, dire voice. 

Nezu sighed. "As was feared, Izuku has been discriminated against in many ways in his former place of study. Aizawa found proof of alienation from his peers, emotional abuse, and physical abuse," Hizashi's lips pulled into a thin line and Shouta could see the anger slowly building inside of him. "Most alarming, however, was the complete infantilization that he received from his homeroom teacher,"

"Mrs. Suzuki," Hizashi confirmed with a nod, though the words are spoken through gritted teeth. "Izuku mentioned something about her keeping him away from the others at lunch and cutting up his food, even when he didn't need it."

Shouta huffed, his own irritation flickering, "That's the least of her concerning behaviours. She treats him like a toddler and thinks he is completely incompetent of any form of independence and independent thought. If he gets 'too fussy' or if the class is taking a test or anything she deems too difficult for him, she has a 'sensory room' that she locks him up him. And," he paused, taking a second to take a calming breath and glance towards the room where he knew Izuku is right now. "We have reason to believe that she was planning to kidnap him at the end of the week."

Hizashi went silent. His poison green eyes fixed on the entrance to Nezu's private classroom. He knew that behind that door sat his ward — a child who trusted him to care for him and keep him safe for far longer than just the two days he had legally been in Hizashi's care — taking a test, completely oblivious to the peril that he had been in.

That was just what she was going to do to him. But what had she done already? Her abuse was public and open enough that Shouta was able to find physical evidence while just doing a basic scan of the classroom. What had she done that she kept more private? Just how far did this evil woman go just because Izuku didn't have a fucking quirk? 

His hands faintly trembled in tightly closed fists. "Where is she?" he hisses, voice low and thick with disgust.

"Yamada," Nezu began, but Hizashi is far past the point of calming. 

He stood and shook his head. "No! There's a psychopath out there who is actively planning to steal Izuku away and keep him hidden in her sicko wacko power fantasy! I don't care if we don't have enough legal evidence yet, I'll take her out myself! Where is she?" he shouted, moving to go to Nezu's desk where all of Shouta's findings were still laying. 

Shouta caught his husband's hand before he could get too far. "'Zashi, we will get her. But there's a right way that we have to go about this. Izuku is safe with us. She's not going to touch him."

Hizashi tugged his hand away and glared — not necessarily at Aizawa, but at the situation itself. "She's already hurt him Shou! She's the reason he doesn't trust adults! Her and all the other quirkest so called teachers with their fucking heads in the sand! She's the reason why he didn't come to us sooner!" he let out a stuttered breath and shook his head. "If ... If he had told me I could've ... I was talking with him weekly and I'm a hero and I never knew. If- If he thought he could ask for any kind of help without repercussions then- then I would've known. I could've helped him."

Shouta yanked Hizashi into his chest and pulled him close, wrapping an arm around him. "I know. Believe me, I know. They won't get away with this," he promised softly. 

Nezu nodded, his face now completely solemn once more. "Correct. Aizawa has provided me with more than enough evidence to at the very least open an investigation. Once the investigation is started, I will personally see to it that that school gets shut down, Yamada. You have my word." 

He stared at Nezu as his brain whirled and buzzed with thousands of thoughts and what ifs. It wasn't not just his parental instinct that he felt over Izuku kicking in, it was his instincts as a hero. He cannot allow this woman and this school continue to be around and "educate" children. He didn't want to know that this bigotry and ignorance is continuing to press this hate into the malleable minds of their students. He wanted nothing more than to go there and scream until the entire school is nothing but rubble on the ground. 

But Shouta's arm around him kept him grounded — the solid stone in Hizashi's raging ocean. He let out a slow breath and shook his head. "Fine," he murmured and kept his eyes on Nezu. "But I want updates every single step of the process," he sighed, and ran a hand through his hair before looking at Shouta. "We can't let him go anywhere near that school again. I don't want to risk it."

Shouta nodded, taking his husband's frustration seriously, and squeezes his hand in reassurance. "I wasn't planning to. We'll keep him safe, 'Zashi."

Just as Hizashi finally began to calm down, there was a timid knock on the classroom door before a small head of green poked his head out. "Mr. Nezu sir, I f-finished the test." Izuku's eyes flickered to Hizashi and widen. The kid smiles and tries to give him a sneaky wave. Finally being able to see him after learning everything that he has, there's a wave of relief that hits Hizashi. He wants to run up to him, hug him tightly and never let him go; but he remembers the boundaries that Izuku had established earlier. So he settled for waving back at him and watched as the kid approached Nezu and handed him some papers. 

Is this what it was like to be a dad guardian? He needed to get a better grip on his emotions; for Izuku's sake.

Nezu smiled at Izuku and takes the papers before moving over to his desk. As he began examining them, Izuku glanced over at the couple and frowns. "Why do you two look upset?" He almost immediately stiffened and looked at them with wide eyes. "Am I in trouble for playing with Mr. Snipes's gun?"

"What?!" Hizashi barely managed to refrain from using his quirk as he snapped his head towards Shouta. The other gave him a side eye that expressively says 'later,' and shakes his head at Izuku. "No. I already told you, you aren't in trouble for that. We were just talking about a case we're working on," he says. It's not a lie, it's not, but it's not the whole truth either. Hizashi didn't want to start a habit of lying to their kid ward, but he also knew that with their line of work they wouldn't be able to tell everything to a child. 

Izuku seemed to have accept that reasoning, although he still had that guilty, kicked puppy look on his face. Hizashi would have to do something later to make up for it. Maybe ice cream. Or a new figurine. Whatever the kid wanted, honestly. 

"Well this is interesting," everyone's attention swerved back over to Nezu, who was all but giggling with a bright glimmer in his small black eyes. "Just as I thought," he looked over at Izuku. "You are quite smart for someone your age, do you know that?" Izuku just stared at Nezu as if he has two heads. The stout chuckled at the reaction and waves the papers in his hand. "You've been done a great disservice at Aldera, Izuku. You didn't score perfectly, but then again, this is a test for those at two grade levels above yours," Hizashi wanted to roll his eyes because of course it was. Nezu glanced back at the papers as he continued. "Your math skills could still use a little work, your teachers fault no doubt, but your language and writing skills are quite extraordinary. Then of course there is your out-of-school skills of observation and analysis. I made sure to include a couple questions on there, and given your age, there were some impressive findings that you made," he smiled over at Shouta and Hizashi. "I believe he will be just fine to continue at his current grade level, if not be able to skip a couple grades in the future once his math skills have developed. Which, considering the lack of proper teaching and testing that he had received, is still far better than we could've anticipated."

Izuku is quiet through all of this. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he tries to process what's being told to him. Hizashi could only imagine what hearing all of this must feel like after having his intelligence undermined for so long. Even something that should be celebrated has the kid spiraling a little. Fuck, they needed to get this kid some therapy. 

He approached Izuku and offered a hand out to him. "Thank you. We'll keep that in mind while looking for schools."

Izuku's eyes finally lifted off of Nezu to flickered up to Hizashi. "Schools?"

Shouta nodded from where he was standing with his arms crossed. "Yeah kid. We don't want Mrs. Suzuki teaching you anymore. We want you to be safe at school. Safe everywhere."

Izuku seemed to ponder on the information. "I ... I won't go to school with Kacchan anymore?" 

Hizashi and Shouta exchanged a look. If it was up to Hizashi, the fucking dynamight brat that exploded his ward's chest wouldn't take another step within Izuku's sight ever again. He knew for a god damn fact that Shouta felt the same way. But it wasn't just up to them. It was up to Inko and Izuku too. And if what Inko had said earlier was anything to go by, they had history with the bully. They'd let her deal with 'Kacchan'. For now, they would just help Izuku settle.

"Most likely not," Hizashi settled on and crouched down when he saw the sudden look of distraught on Izuku's face. "That doesn't mean you won't see him again," He can see Shouta's lips thin at that statement, "it just means that they'll be a few changes. You won't be alone though. Shou and I will help you every step of the way, and hey! Maybe you'll be able to make new friends."

Izuku frowned a little more, and averted his eyes. "Okay," he mumbles and fiddles with his little scarred hands. Hizashi could tell there was more the boy wanted to say, but now was far from the time to push him. Not when they'd already brought him to wits end. "Can we go home now?"

Hizashi sighed, but nodsded It was a long day for all of them. Some food and rest was probably a good idea for all of them. "Okay," he agrees and hovers his hands close to Izuku's back as he stands. He nods at Nezu in thanks. "We'll talk more about this later. We'll be in touch."

Nezu nodded, and smiles at the small family. "Of course. I will see you all another time. Have a good afternoon, Izuku!" He chirped, but Izuku only hummed in return. 

Shouta joined them as the three made their way back towards their cars in silence towards. They were in for a long evening; Hizashi knew that much. 

So much for the perfect first day. 

***

Deeper in the city, Mistuki Bakugou was just finishing up the final steps needed for tonight's dinner. It wasn't anything complicated, just a simple curry, but it was hearty and spicy and everything her growing boy needed. 

That very growing boy was sitting at the dinning room table working on his homework with a scowl on his face. The expression wasn't entirely unseen, but that didn't mean that Mitsuki particularly enjoyed seeing her son's face scrunched up like a prune. She tapped her wooden spoon on the counter to get his attention. The boy huffed before looking up at her. "What?" 

She gave a huff of her own, "Mind the attitude, Katsuki. What's got you all frowny?"

"I'm not frowny!" He argued, even as his eyes drop back down to his paper and he shifted in his seat. "D- Izuku hasn't been in school lately," he mumbled and scribbled on his paper. "He's probably pukin' his guts out or somethin' like a wuss." 

Mitsuki couldn't help but chuckle at her son's aggressive concern. "I'm sure he'll be back in class soon. Just give him time to get better, then you two will be playing again before you know it."

Katsuki's frown only grew at her comment. If she had been paying closer attention, she may have noticed the gleam of guilt in his crimson eyes, but a knock at the door caught her attention. She sighed and lowered the heat on the stove before heading over to the entrance. "I'll get it!" She calls out to her husband as she reaches for the door knob. 

Behind it was a very welcomed face she hadn't see in far too long. "Inko!" She beams with a grin at seeing her long-time friend. "It's been ages! Come in! You're just in time for supper," she opened the door wider and moved for Inko to walk into the house. It's only then that she noticed that there's not a second, smaller pair of feet following behind the woman. "Where's Izuku? Katsuki said he hasn't been at school lately?"

It's only that she fully looked at Inko's expression and she feels winded by concern. In all her years, she doesn't know if she's ever seen Inko look quite as tired and as angry as she does now. Not even when Izuku got his diagnosis. Not even when her piece of shit of a husband fled to America.

She knew this was going to be bad. But even then, she couldn't have anticipated the words that left her friend's mouth. 

"Izuku is with his new guardians, because I've been deemed unfit to care for him on my own," Inko says the words neutrally, without a trace of emotion as her deep, green eyes remained fixed on Mitsuki's. "We need to talk."

Chapter Text

There is a hairline thin tension that dangerously suffocates the room, barely keeping hot tempers at bay as Inko kept her cold stare fixed on her oldest friend.

Mitsuki had never in a million years imagined herself in this position, and the speech-prohibiting lump in her throat is proof of that. She stumbled back at Inko’s revelation as though she had been struck, a hand moving up to grasp her chest in shock. “Wha- Inko, oh my god. They took Izuku? Come sit. We need to- I can call my lawyer and we can fight this. We’ll he get him back. Don’t worry, we’ll-”

“Someone took Izuku?”

Mitsuki’s head whipped around to see her son standing pale faced in the hallway. Great. She barely had her head wrapped around this and now she was going to have to try and juggle around not traumatizing her only child on top of this. “Katsuki, sweetie, why don’t you-”

“No, Mitsuki,” Inko interrupted and Mitsuki was going to get whiplash at this point. Her friend’s eyes are fixed onto Katsuki like hawk. Her emerald eyes swirling with all kinds of emotions that Mitsuki couldn’t even begin to understand. “I think it’s better that he stays right now,” Inko took one step closer Katsuki and the boy’s lips thin as he tried to stand still and meet her stare. “Yes, Izuku has been mostly removed from my household. I have agreed to a shared custody agreement with his new guardians who are going to help look after him, and set him up in a different school and neighborhood.”

Katsuki’s nose scrunched up in confusion and a flash of anger burned behind his eyes. “You gave him away? Why the hell would you do that?! He’s a Deku, but he’s still Izuku! He doesn’t need other stupid adults!”

“Katsuki!” Mitsuki scolded, glaring down at her son, but she doesn’t have the chance to say much else as Inko knelt down in front Katsuki, looking at the boy in indifference.

“A couple days ago, Izuku called the Hero Hotline,” she began. “He had a massive second degree burn covering the majority of his chest,” Katsuki’s breath hitched and his eyes immediately dropped from Inko’s and darted towards the ground. “Turns out the heroes that were sent had been talking to Izuku for a while. He had been calling them for years. They saw his injury, and that he was home while I was working and figured out that I was not able to take proper care of Izuku, and they are right. I can’t,” she admitted without so much as a tremor — the reality of the situation having sunken in throughout the day. “But they’re not why I’m here. You are, Katsuki,” she tilted her head at the boy, her brows furrowing in maternal disappointment. “How did Izuku get the burn? Or the *dozens* of burn scars on him?”

The accusatory tone in her voice has Mitsuki’s frown deepening as her own maternal instincts stood on end. “Hold on Inko. You cannot be implying what I think you are. Izuku and Katsuki are friends . He plays rough sometimes, yeah, but he would never do something like that.”

Inko didn’t acknowledge her friend. She kept her eyes on Katsuki’s now red face that is glaring at the floor with tightly balled up fists. The boy shook and tremored as the faintest trace of tears of frustration appeared in his eyes. It’s only when he still refused to meet her eyes that he continued. “He told me the two of you were playing with the other kids at school. That you must have gotten a little too excited while playing heroes and villains. Was that it?”

Mitsuki’s had enough. She pulled Katsuki back away from Inko and shoved him behind her. “Inko, stop. He’s seven . He’s not- You’ve seen him and Izuku! They’re best friends!”

“I’m not friends with him!” Katuski suddenly shouted in an explosion of frustration as his small body trembled with all the big emotions overwhelming him. “I’m not! He’s- He’s weak and I’m too strong and Mrs. Suzuki helps him with everything! He can’t be a hero so he can’t be my friend! Everyone knows it!” 

Mitsuki felt all the blood drain from her face as her son continued speaking. It’s almost as if she’s looking at a nightmare version of Katsuki. She knew he’d been having more and more temper issues since starting school, but she thought it was just boys being boys or a result of his fire-based quirk. She had never imagined that he was- that he would-.

She closed her eyes as she took a deep breath before bringing herself to address him. “Katsuki Bakugou. … Did you use your quirk on Izuku? On purpose?”

The tears were now rolling down Katsuki’s small cheeks. There was a long pause as he stood there, looking moments away from combustion for a moment. “ Yes ,” he practically sobbed. “He didn’t- He kept wanting to play with us but he can’t! He’s too weak! He can’t handle tests and he needs his food cut up he can’t- he can’t play with me or anyone! But he doesn’t get it! He never gets it! I hate it! He thinks we’re the same but we’re not! Everyone says it! Everyone knows it! Everyone but him!”

Mitsuki felt like she’s going to be sick. She had never ever heard Katsuki talk like this, and her mind is spiraling trying to figure out where he learned that talking about someone like this is right. She couldn’t look at him right now. Hell, she couldn’t be in the same room as him. She felt her own temper rising and she didn’t trust herself.

“Go to your room,” she murmured out as emotionless as possible.
“But-”
“Now Katsuki!” She yelled and glared down at him. “I will come up and talk to you later, but for now, listen to me for once and go to your room! I am very upset at you right now and I need to think.”

The boy looked between his two maternal figures, looking more lost than he ever has, before storming off and running up the stairs. Mitsuki flinched as the slamming of his bedroom door echoed through the house.

It’s at this point that Masaru walked in looking extremely confused and lost. “What’s all the shouting about?” He questioned, glancing in the direction of Katsuki’s room and placing a hand on his wife’s shoulder.

The hand is what makes Mitsuki realize she isn’t breathing. She takes another grounding breath and leans into her husband. “Katsuki’s been bullying Izuku. Badly,” she summarizes in an exhausted tone. Her eyes find Inko’s eyes and look at one of her oldest friends with a pleading expression. “Inko, I swear we had no idea about any of this. If we had we would’ve- I don’t even know where he learned any of this.”

Inko sighs and runs a hand through her hair as she nods. “I know. I know. It was that damned school ,” she curses before shaking her head. “We have a lot to discuss. We should sit down,”

“I’ll get the wine,” Masaru adds helpfully and leads the group into the living room. 

The discussion that happens in the living room is not an easy one. Inko explains everything that she’s learned in the past three days. Izuku keeping secrets. The evidence of the physical bullying taking place. The treatment he hinted at recieving from Mrs. Suzuki and his other teachers. How he’s been calling in to Present Mic’s radio show and the involvement of the two heroes. The custody agreement that she is now apart of and has come to realize that it’s for the better.

Mitsuki is speechless for the majority of this and nauseous more than anything. Still, she manages to down over half a bottle of wine just by herself by the time Inko is down — the sweet, red helps the bitter truth go down easier.

She holds tightly onto her husband’s hand, who sits there frozen with a look of complexed horror on his face. “So … How do we go forward?” He breathes out after Inko has finished. “How can we make this up to you Inko?”

The woman’s face tightens as she considers the question, and then a heavy sigh leaves her as she takes a healthy gulp from her own glass of wine. “You know, despite all of this, I still love Katsuki. He is a good boy. A smart boy. He’s just … been misguided,” she sets down her glass before sitting up to look at her friends. “First of all, you need to get him out of that school. I am under the impression that it won’t be running much longer anyway, but continuing at that school will only continue to do wrong by him.”

Masaru nods in agreement immediately and Mitsuki isn’t far behind him. “Of course. I wouldn’t want him there anyway regardless,” She quickly claims.

Inko stares assessingly at both of them before nodding. “Good. That’s a good first step but it doesn’t change the damage that school already did on him. You … You heard what he was saying early. He calls Izuku Deku for goodness sake,” she huffs and shakes her head before glancing towards the stairs that Katsuki had stormed up. “He needs to see someone. Izuku does too, if I’m being honest. They both have things they need to unlearn.”

This gives Mitsuki a little bit more pause. Therapy was a … tough subject in their home. Due to her own upbringings, she was naturally against it and even just hearing the word had that fire inside of her crackling. Masaru’s hand squeezes hers, grounds her with his coolness. “We’ve … discussed that possibility a couple of times,” his words make Mitsuki’s face stiffen. Discussed was a very polite word.

But she thinks of Katsuki detonating just now. She imagines little Izuku, wrapped up in bandages in the home of two complete strangers — heroes or no. She looks at the pain riddled all over her best friend’s face. She swallows down the heavy lump in her throat along with her pride. “We … okay. I … I don’t want him to think that any of that is okay. We’ll find someone.”

Inko seems to relax slightly in relief and leans back against the couch. “Good. Thank you .  I … know this isn’t easy. Doing the right thing is hard sometimes.”

Masaru lets out a heavy breath and nods. “But we do it for them.”

Mitsuki downs the rest of her glass of wine before standing. “I’m going to grab Katsuki. He might take it better and understand better if you’re here while we explain all of this to him,” she gives a sad smile to Inko. “You always have been his favourite Auntie.” She takes a grounding breath before removing herself from the room, the tension that she had been carrying since Inko first spoke slowly beginning to bleed out of her body with every step that she takes.

By the time that she gets to her son’s bedroom, she feels strangely calm. She pauses outside of the door for a moment before knocking. “Katsuki? Your Auntie Inko, your father and I would like to talk to you.” There’s no answer in response. Not even a frustrated growl or a shout back for her to go away. Mitsuki frowned; Katsuki wasn’t typically one for the silent treatment. She knocked again. “Katsuki. Come out. This isn’t me asking.” Once again, silence. Finally, she opens the door, expecting to see Katsuki pouting on his bed. But that wasn’t what she found.

The room was empty, window open, and Katsuki Bakugou was no where to be seen.

Mitsuki’s heart sunk to the floor. “KATSUKI!”

***

The late night bus hissed as it came to a stop in front of a large flashy building with all kinds of radio antennas and broadcast signs hanging off of it. A blond boy with an All Might backpack hops off and takes his stand staring up at it.

He needed to talk to Deku. But Auntie said Deku had been taken by heroes and talking with them for years! His face scrunched up as he thought of all the cool calls and conversations Izuku must have had. He must’ve learned so much about being a hero and he kept it all to himself! He didn’t tell Katsuki anything!

Searching beyond the betrayal that he was feeling, Katsuki knew better than anyone as the winner and holder of a limited edition Present Mic jacket that Present Mic’s “Put Your Hands Up” Radio Show was one of the only places anybody could talk to heroes. Even Dekus.

He marched into the building without hesitation, going straight up to the desk and slamming his hand down to get the receptionist attention as he glares up at her. “I need to talk to Present Mic. Now.”

Chapter Text

The night was tense. They spent dinner talking to Izuku and answering the many questions that had sparked from their visit to UA. The kid didn’t fully understand why he couldn’t stay at his current school. He knew his teachers were mean, and that Mrs. Suzuki was weird, but he thought that was normal, to be expected even. It was a hard conversation having to explain to him otherwise, but it was a necessary one.  The conversation broke down and lead to Izuku telling them about the other kinds of discrimination he faced on a daily basis and how they were the ones who were wrong. People were always mean to Inko at the grocery store and didn’t honor their sales. He wasn’t allowed to even step foot into most hospitals because they didn’t want him wasting their supplies or stressing out other patients. Parents would stop letting their children play with him at the park the second they learned what he was.

It was clear they had their work cut out for them. Not with Izuku himself — gods no. Izuku was just trying his best to survive — but with the world around them. It was funny how blind you could be to the treatment of people until you meet a person within that group.

Hizashi stepped onto their balcony for a moment to breathe. He didn’t want to risk losing control of his emotions tonight, especially after the day that Izuku had. He was just about to head back in when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Hizashi blinked at the sudden sensation, grabbing his phone and looking at the screen.

A text. From his receptionist. His eyes widened and grip tightened on the phone as he read the message. He took a deep breath and re-entered the home.

He’s greeted by the domestic sight of his husband sitting on the couch and watching a movie with a half-asleep Izuku. It’s heartwarming to see just how soft Shouta had grown towards their kid already, but seeing Izuku only tugged on his heart more as he thought of the text on his phone. He waved to get Shouta’s attention and nodded towards the kitchen. He instantly walked over to the coffee machine, readying himself a cup, knowing that the night was not going to be a short one, as Shou followed in shortly behind him. 

Shouta raised an eyebrow as he spots the coffee brewing behind the blond. “I thought I was supposed to be the one with the coffee addiction?” He mumbled, but Hizashi knew his husband well enough to hear the true question lingering under that tone and behind his eyes: Why are you trying to stay awake? What happened? 

Hizashi sighed and leaned against the counter as he took a long sip of his coffee, hoping that maybe, somehow, the caffeine will ease the brewing emotions inside of him. “I need to go to the studio.” 

Shouta frowned, his dark eyes not lifting from his strangely straight faced husband. “What?”

“They called me in. There’s an emergency,” It’s barely an answer and Hizashi knows it. 

Shouta took a step towards Hizashi, brows furrowing as his face became tense with frustration. “It’s Izuku’s first night here alone, the kid has a long ass day and you’re the one he trusts the most out of the two of us, and you’re leaving? Hizashi ,” he hissed. There’s judgement in his tone that Hizashi knows he deserves, especially when Shouta puts it that way, but there’s also confusion in his eyes.

The radio host sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I got a text. That Bakugou kid is at the studio, alone , demanding to talk to me.”

“Kacchan?” 

Both of the adults’s heads whipped around at the sound of a young tired voice. Izuku stood there, rubbing his eyes as he looked at his two guardians. “Where’s Kacchan?”

Shouta slowly turned his head to look at Hizashi, eyebrow raised in expectation. The blond smiled at the kid and nodded. “Yeah. He’s making a scene down at the studio. I’m just going to drive over and help bring him back to his place cause it’s so late. I’ll be right back. I promise.”

Izuku’s precious green eyes widened. “Can … Can I come?”

Fuck. This was not was at all the direction Hizashi wanted to bring the evening. He, Shouta and Inko hadn’t even gotten the chance to have a talk about what they were going to do with the whole Izuku and Katsuki situation. He sure as hell didn’t want Izuku anywhere close to the bully, but he knew it was more complicated than that. But try telling that to a nearly-seven-year-old who is still naive enough to think the kid that burnt him is his friend. His lips thinned as he tries to come up with a solution that would make everyone happy.

Izuku must’ve seen the confliction on his face. He moved closer to him, those emerald eyes watering as he looked up at him. “Please? I need to talk to him. I wanna tell him I won’t be at school anymore so he doesn’t think I got hurt or something,” 

Hizashi’s heart squeezed; not out of sympathy for the bomb brat, but because his kid was just so damn precious. How anyone could ever harm a hair on his little green head he had no idea. The kid was pure sunshine and goodness. He glanced over to Shouta. His husband ever so helpfully shrugged. He sighed and took another large sip of his coffee. “Alright,” he gave in, and Izuku’s misty eyes widened. “But I need you to listen while we’re there, okay? I … understand that you and Katsuki grew up together, but I need you to also understand my concern because he hurt you-”

“That was an accident!” Izuku quickly interrupted. “He didn’t mean to! He couldn’t have!”

“Izuku,” Shouta chastised. “Even if he didn’t mean to, it still happened. Hizashi and I just don’t want to see you get hurt again-”

“But he won’t!”

“But if he does ,” he emphasised, “we want to be able to avoid that if possible, okay?”

Izuku hesitated, and shifted in his spot. Hizashi could see the turmoil churning away inside of him, but knew that he would push this if needed. He refused to let Izuku get harmed under his watch again. To his relief, Izuku silently nodded in agreement and before taking off to get his shoes and jacket on. Hizashi sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair. 

Shouta approached his husband and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re alright with this? I can keep him here,” he murmured as his thumb rubbed soft circles.

Hizashi really does adore this man. He gave him a tense smile and placed his hand over his before nodding. “I need to talk to that kid. And who knows? Maybe this will be good for both of them.” He slipped on a leather jacket and toed his shoes back on as Izuku waited eagerly by the door. “Are you coming with us?”

Shouta snorted and slid his scarf back over his head. “And let you have all the fun by yourself? Fat chance.”

***

Izuku was practically vibrating as they pulled up to the building. He felt like it’s been months since he’d seen Katsuki and not just two days. He had so much he wanted to tell him. So much he needed to explain. The second they were parked, Izuku didn’t even give Hizashi a chance to turn around to face him. He jumped out of the vehicle and took off towards the studio before either of the two heroes-turned-parents could react. 

He threw the doors open, panting as he caught his breath, and allowed his eyes to scan the room for a familiar head of spiky blond. He gasped when he found it standing rigidly in front of the secretary. “Kacchan!” He called out excitedly and goes to run towards him. 

Katsuki’s head snapped toward the call of his name, and his eyes narrowed onto Izuku. “Deku!” He growls and starts running to meet him. Izuku grinned wide and opened his arms to greet his friend. 

Katsuki used it as a chance to tackle him to the ground. The air was knocked out of Izuku’s lungs as Katsuki grabs the front of Izuku’s shirt and began to shake him. “Where have ya been?! You think you can just cry to some heroes and disappear?! Aunty’s all mad and alone now because of you! And you- You’ve been talking to heroes and you never told me?! Who the hell do you think you are, Deku?!” He screamed as he rattled Izuku’s poor brain. 

Izuku never got the chance to reply as a loud “HEY!” rang from the entrance and a grey scarf wrapped tightly around Katsuki and yanked him off and away from Izuku. Hizashi stood tall and furious in front of him before he could even blink, while Shouta stood firmly beside Katsuki, holding the thrashing child in place. 

Hizashi sneered at Katsuki with an anger that Izuku didn’t fully understand. “Just what do you think you’re doing?” He grits through his teeth, his brows furrowed deeply on his face. 

Katsuki audibly growls and continues fighting against Shouta’s capture weapon. “Let me go, you geezer!” Izuku’s eyes widen at the rude names being thrown to the two heroes. It was clear that Katsuki didn’t recognize them in their civilian outfits, otherwise he knew there was no way that he’d be behaving like this. 

Shouta’s hands tighten on his weapon and he huffs. “Not while you’re acting like a barbarian. Calm down, and then we’ll talk.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Katsuki snaps and tries using his quirk, only for Shouta’s red stare to immediately nullify it. 

“Present Mic?” The secretary calls out having all heads whip towards her. “Did you want me to call security? Or maybe his parents?”

Katsuki’s eyes narrow in confusion, but Hizashi speaks up before he can spit out any more insults. “No thank you, Marion. I’ve got him.” 

Izuku can see the exact moment it begins to click in his friend’s head. Those red eyes blink several times before he slowly turns his head to look between Hizashi and Izuku. “Y-You … You’re Present Mic?” 

He nods firmly. “I am. And you’re Katsuki Bakugou. You won my contest, and burned my kid.” 

Both Izuku’s and Katsuki’s eyes widen in sync; Izuku’s with shock, and Katsuki’s with a convoluting mixture of shame and anger. 

“Y-Yamada-”

“He’s not your anything! He’s Aunty Inko’s kid and my- He’s-” Katuski lets out a loud shout of frustration. “I don’t care if you’re a hero! You don’t get to just take him!”

Aizawa hums and raises an eyebrow at the brat as he glances down at him. “Why would we let him go back to you and your school? So you can continue bullying him? Do you enjoy tormenting him that much?” Katsuki ‘tsks’ and snaps his glare back down to the floor as his body trembles in its restraints.

Izuku didn’t like this. He didn’t like the two heroes, who he had come to greatly admire, tying up and scolding his one and only friend. His chest hurt with the swirls of confusion and discomfort that raged inside it. It wasn’t right to see Katsuki look so unsure. Kacchan was meant to be confident in everything he did. That’s how it always had been. It felt wrong to see him shaking like this. 

Izuku moves around Hizashi and approaches his friend. Katsuki puffs up like a stray cat and growls at him. Izuku is barely phased by the aggression and moves to stand in front of his friend. “You don’t need to tie him up! Kacchan’s my friend!” He says firmly to his guardians.

“No I’m not!” Katsuki barks out and narrows his eyes at Izuku. “We’re not friends!”

Izuku feels like he’s been struck. Sure, Katsuki had been shouting at him more recently, and he and his friends had said many, many not nice things to him, but he had never said this. It causes a numbness, a deep chill, to sink into his bones as he stares at him. “I … What?” He whispers. “Wh-Why not? Kacchan-”

“Shut up, Deku!” He growls, but there’s something more that Izuku can make out on his something. Something far more complicated than just anger or hatred. “We can’t be friends! You’re too weak! You’re quirkless! You’ll just get hurt and not be able to keep up with me!”

“ That is enough ,” Hizashi hisses. Izuku looks up at him, and physically gulps at the rage that is built up in those swirling bright green eyes. Izuku instinctively takes a step back, moving closer to Katsuki. “Why would you say that?” 

Katsuki seemed to be growing more and more overwhelmed the longer he was restrained like this and being questioned by someone who he admires. “Because it’s true! Everyone knows it! Everyone says it!”

The words made Izuku’s throat tighten even more. Reality getting thrown right into face as clearly as it had the day his father left. 

Aizawa huffs and shakes his head. “That’s not good enough. Who’s everyone?”

Katsuki growls and thrashing within the confines of the capture weapon. “ Everyone ! I told you! All our teachers, the people at the grocery store, my friends! Mrs. Suzuki basically has to treat him like a god damn baby!”

“But I don’t want that!” Izuku suddenly hears himself shout and his body move without him even being aware. It’s like he’s a ghost in his own body. He pushes against Hizashi’s arm as he tries to get to Katsuki. “I never asked her to! I never wanted any of that! I just want to be normal-”

“You’re not normal, Deku!” Katsuki snarls. “You’re quirkless! And we’ll never be able to play, or be heroes, or get to be a duo together because you’ll get hurt! You’re so weak that you- you can’t even be near me!”

“No I’m not!” Izuku tries to rush towards Katsuki once more, but Hizashi’s arm quickly wrap around him and pull him back. He’s shaking, tears pouring down his cheeks as he shouts and tries to fight his way out of his guardian’s arms. 

“Hey, hey!” Hizashi shouts, trying to calm him down. “Okay, everyone needs to be quiet and stop for a minute, alright?” He sighs as Izuku slumps in his arms, sobbing as he does and, much to his surprise, Katsuki stops to look at him. “Okay. First of all, Izuku, Katsuki is wrong-”

“But-”

“He’s wrong ,” he bites, sending a glare to the enraged and strangely confused child. “This world is filled with quirkest people. People who think that a quirk is everything rather than just a tool. But they are wrong .” He kneels down to look the two children in the eye. His green stare practically begging them to understand. “Having a strong quirk doesn’t automatically make you strong and a hero. Just like being quirkless doesn’t make you weak and useless. It’s what you do with what you do have that determines who you are,” he explains lightly. It only seems to further confuse the blond and barely manages to soothe Izuku. He sighs, “Katsuki, your school is filled with really really bad people who thought that way. Izuku shouldn’t have been treated the way he was. He is just as capable as everyone else in your school,” Katsuki makes a face showing that he wants to speak out against that, but keeps his mouth shut. Hizashi can tell this isn’t working the way he wants it to. He tilts his head at Katsuki. “Why did you first start picking on Izuku?”

Katsuki’s frown deepens and Izuku stares at the boy with watery eyes, waiting to hear the answer that he has been dying to know since he received his first scar. “Why does that matter?” He huffs. “I don’t have to tell you!”

Hizashi and Shouta exchange a glance, and the underground hero loosens his hold on the kid a little. “We just want to understand, kid.”

Katsuki’s face is bright red as he glares at the ground, his small form shaking. “... Zu promised we’d be always be together,” he mumbles, and Izuku’s eyes widen as he stills in Hizashi’s arms. “We were going to be a hero duo. But … But he can’t. Everyone said he can’t! That he’s too weak a-and- and that I’m so strong! Mrs. Suzuki said I couldn’t even play with him anymore because I’d hurt him! And- And it just made me mad! But he kept trying to play! And still trying to- to-” He growls and shakes his head. “He acted as if all the other dumb kids weren’t always pushing him around and that he wasn’t just some dumb baby that the teacher coddled! He still kept trying to- to- be my friend, even when I … I joined in t-to teach him a lesson, but he can’t! He can’t! He can’t!”

Izuku just stares. Tears rolling down his face, his eyebrows furrowed, as he tries to wrap his head around what Katsuki was saying and what it means. Suddenly, he wishes he had listened to Aizawa and Yamada and stayed home. They were right. 

This hurt.

He doesn’t know what to say to Katsuki. Not after he just affirmed every fear he ever had. He sniffles and turns into Yamada, not even able to look at the other boy anymore.

Hizashi sighs and pulls him closer to him. “Alright. This isn’t something that can be addressed in one day,” he thinks outloud. “Let’s get you home, Katsuki. We’ll be having a chat with your parents but … Izuku is staying with Shouta and I. He won’t be going to school with you anymore. And …” he glances down at Izuku’s small form clinging onto him. “It will probably be a while before you two see each other again.” 

Both boys look up at him with the same shocked, distraught eyes at the notion. 

He ruffles Izuku’s hair and gently begins leading him out the door. “We can talk more about it later. But it’s late, and it’s been a long day.”

Izuku looks at Katsuki once more, then slowly nods. The boys get brought back to the car, Shouta begins driving in tense silence. 

It was going to be a long drive back to the Bakugou residence.

Chapter Text

A flush faced Katsuki, Mitsuki, and Masaru sat on one couch, while a teary eyed Izuku, Inko, Hizashi, and Shouta sat on the other. The families sat quietly as tension hung like cinder blocks over them.

The kids had arrived with the two heroes not that long earlier, and it had been a quick and to-the-point explanation of what went down at the studio that resulted with a small amount of shouting on Katsuki and Mitsuki’s part, and ended with all of them deciding a difficult, long-needed talk would finally have to happen.

Mitsuki sighs and leans forward with her head in her hands. “I just don’t understand, Katsuki. Izuku was your best friend! You used to throw a fit any time that I picked you up! What happened?”

Katsuki huffs and looks away avoiding looking at anyone as he continues to glare forward. He doesn’t give an answer. He doesn’t need to.

Izuku and Inko know all too well what changed more than anything else. 

Inko rubs her son’s back, but Izuku moves away from the touch. He doesn’t want to prove Katsuki right by being a cry baby that needs coddling. She frowns as he sniffles and silently curls more in on himself and shares a concerned look with Hizashi.

Shouta lets out a sigh of his own, running a tired hand down his face. “Look. We’re not expecting you two to suddenly get along. Clearly there are some … issues.” There’s a faint sparking coming from Katsuki at those words, but Shouta quickly silences it with a single look. “Sorting through those will take time. But in the mean time, after what just happened, Hizashi and I are not sure if we’re comfortable with the two of them seeing each other.”

Everyone, aside from the two children and Hizashi’s, breath hitches as they look at the underground hero with wide eyes. Katsuki’s posture bows even deeper as he grows rigid at the mention of being completely separated from Izuku. “Not his damn parents, so you don’t get to choose,” he grumbles.

“Katsuki!” Masaru scolds firmly, but the boy barely reacts. “They are helping Inko. Show them some respect.”

He looks up and he and Izuku briefly makes eye contact with him, Izuku’s wet eyes searching for any semblance of tolerance or longing, before growling and averting his eyes once more. “I don’t care! Why would I care?”

Izuku stiffens, but remains quiet. 

 “I-” Inko looks at Katsuki, her eyes flooding with something akin to grief and a deep maternal betrayal. She looks to her closest friends, eyes searching for some kind of alternative solution, and then back to her son’s new guardians. “If … If you both think it’s for the best and … after the recent events … I-I agree.” She lets out a shaky breath. “At least until there is progress in the therapy sessions that we discussed.”

This gets Katsuki’s attention. He finally looks at his Aunt, his crimson eyes wide with shock and hurt at her words. He expected this from Deku’s new fake parents. But he thought Inko would put up a bit more of a fight before deciding that Katsuki wasn’t good enough to be around her precious, fragile baby. Mrs. Suzuki already thought he was too dangerous to be around delicate, quirkless, Zuzu. What was next? Was he not going to be able to see Auntie Inko anymore? Would he not get any more of her cookies or monthly dinners between the two families? She mentioned therapy — Katsuki didn’t even know what that was, but knew it could only bring more stupid change . A confusing mixture of panic, hurt, and anger all swirl and collide inside him like an inferno as he feels his face get hotter and hotter. Deku was leaving him to go live with two heroes who he’s been talking to for years and never told him. Aunty was looking at him like he was a villain and was also leaving.

He looks up, and Deku is looking at him with those dumb, big, concerned eyes. The same emerald gaze that stared down at him as he extended his hand that day in the river.

Deku broke his promise for them both to become heroes together.
Deku let himself get weak enough that the teacher wouldn’t let them play.
Deku never stopped following him around and made it so he had to show him that he was weak.
Deku talked with heroes and never once thought to share any of the things he learned about them with him.
Deku found a sparkly new family.
Deku was why Auntie didn’t trust him anymore.
It was all Deku’s fault.

Something in him snaps.

Katsuki screams out as he lunges for Izuku, tears pricking his eyes as his parents just barely manage to catch him. “YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!” He screams at him, even though the words feel so wrong in his mouth even as he spits them. “I HATE YOU! I FUCKING HATE YOU!”

“BAKUGOU KATSUKI!” Mitsuki shouts as she tries to wrestle him back down. “Stop it! You’re in enough trouble already! You watch your fucking mouth and sit down!” 

“WELL YOU THAT WON’T BE A PROBLEM, WILL IT?!” Izuku screams back, tears streaming down his face as he stands up. “They’re not gonna let me see you anymore Kacchan! I- We won’t- I won’t b-be able to see-” A sob bubbles from his throat. Hizashi reaches out for him, but before he can even grab him, Izuku turns and flees from the apartment.

“Izuku!” Inko calls out, standing up herself.

But Katsuki isn’t hearing anything. His heart rings like a death bell in his ears as he thrashes against his parents’ hold. “THAT’S RIGHT! RUN AWAY LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO! DON’T COME BACK!” He doesn’t mean it. Deep down he knows he doesn’t mean it and his stomach twists even as the words vomit out of him before he can even think of shoving them back down. There’s a three-year-old version of himself with a shiny new All Might collectors card burning in pocket that wails at Katsuki to take it back. To grab Zu and scream at everyone else that they are the Wonder Duo! Destined to be hero partners! Soulmates! They can’t be separated! Just as he had dozens of times when they were toddlers. But tears flow like magma down his cheeks, broken sobs spilling from his trembling lips as he keeps fighting.

But Katsuki wasn’t that Kacchan anymore. This Kacchan had a quirk that burnt skin. This Kacchan received As and praise from all his teachers for just breathing right. This Kacchan was only ever scolded when it involved Deku . 

Katsuki wasn’t Kacchan. And Deku was no longer Zu.

Inko looks back at him in pure disappointment before taking off after her son.

The two pros sit with the Bakugou family. Shouta has a hand on his husband’s knee as Hizashi creaks from how dangerously tight is locked and his hands grip tightly onto his thighs. He lets out a slow breath, the air around him ringing faintly as he does, before he carefully rises to his feet. He looks at the mess of the Bakugou family with a neutral expression. Sure, he could have a bit of compassion for the fact that Katsuki was a kid raised in a fucked up world.

But so was his kid. Katsuki’s fucked up world meant he got everything served to him on a golden platter. Izuku’s meant he got shoved into the gutter and kicked down everytime he tried to stand up.

If it wasn’t for years of experience as a pro hero, he’s certain he’d be snarling eight now. As it is, he looks down cooly at Katsuki, and the kid finally stills as he catches sight of that look. “I hope you learn from today … for your own good,” he says lowly, and then nods at Sho as the two of them make their way outside.

They have a kid to comfort.

The second they’re gone Katsuki feels like he’s going to combust. His body is shaking, his cheeks wet, his eyes burning. He rips himself out of  his parents arms before they can stop him and storms back into his room. He quickly finds his Present Mic jacket that he had won and throws it harshly out of his room with a shout that vibrates his bones before slamming the door behind him. 

***

Inko ends up coming back to their place that night. It wasn’t the plan, but none of this was planned either. Izuku didn’t say much to the news. He sniffled and nodded before going to his room as soon as they were inside and closing the door behind him. The three adults stood tense in the entrance way. 

“Fuck,” Shouta sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “I’m getting a drink,” he wordlessly moves to the kitchen as Inko and Hizashi follow stiffly behind him. 

With her anger dwindled, Inko now has silent tears of her own dribbling down her rounded cheeks. She shakes her head, staring at her hands. “He was such a sweet sweet boy when was younger. He- He always protected Izuku. They- They were each other's entire world. I- I still can’t believe it’s come to this,” she sniffles and wipes at her eyes.

Shouta hands her a glass of sake.

Inko downs it in a single gulp. 

Hizashi hums and leans against the counter. “The Bakugou kid is a piece of work. We made the right choice. He needs to get his head out of his own ego before he can even begin to learn from any of this. I’m not holding my breath,” his voice is still tinged with the bitter bite of anger as he crosses his arms over his chest. 

Shouta hums and takes a drink from his own glass. “He wasn’t Izuku’s only bully though,” the other two adults look over to him. “The kid didn’t act alone. And the ideas that got into his head didn’t come from nowhere. I think we all know how fucked up the world’s opinion can be about quirks,” there are sharp inhales of understanding from around the room. “This won’t be the last time we have to speak up for Izuku,” he sighs and looks over at the others. “The fact is, Izuku is quirkless. I did some research when looking into what we can charge that damn school with and there are barely any rights for him. He’s hardly considered a person in the eyes of the law. He’s going to be barred for every step forward he tries to take. Hell! UA’s board doesn’t even accept quirkless applicants!”

“Nezu has been working on that,” Hizashi intervenes.

Shouta huffs, clearly not impressed. “The point is, this isn’t the only battle we’re going to have to fight for this kid. This is a whole out war .”

Inko’s breath catches and she narrows her eyes at the man. “What are you saying? Are you giving up on him now that you know that he’s not just some poor, cute kid for you two save?” She spits accusingly, her hackles rising instinctively after years of having similar things happen.

Hizashi 's eyes widen and flick between the two. “What? No. No. We’re not giving up on, Green Bean.”

Shouta nods and leans more on the table. “Correct. We’re not leaving him. I … just think we all need to be prepared,” he looks over at Inko. “You did not have the resources to support Izuku properly, and you can’t be blamed for that. But we could look into support groups, therapists that specialize in quirkless youth, have Nezu see what activism work might be happening that Hizashi could vouch for on his show. If we want Izuku to have some semblance of a normal childhood, we need to be three steps ahead of any of the bigots that want to tear that away from him.”

Inko blinks, her defensive expression melting a little more with every word the underground hero speaks. She slowly gains a watery smile before she rushes forward and hugs Shouta, a small sob escaping her. The hero tenses and looks confused between the crying woman and his husband who is looking at him with his own green eyes glimmering with pride. “Thank you,” she croaks. “For- For caring. For seeing my boy. For helping so much.” 

Hizashi smiles fondly at the two, and moves in to place a hand on Inko’s back and Shouta’s shoulder. “You don’t need to thank us. Izuku is a great kid. He doesn’t deserve the garbage he gets put through,” he murmurs and glances towards the small room at the end of the hall. “We’ll fight for him. We’ll keep our boy safe.”

Shouta nods and awkwardly pats Inko’s back. “We’ll figure this out. Together.”

***

In his room, Izuku sits curled up under his favourite All Might blanket, sniffling as he holds his knees to his chest.

Katsuki’s words clang loudly in his head, over and over again like the explosions from his hands. He doesn’t want to believe today happened. He doesn’t like today. 

You ruin everything!

He made Katsuki get in trouble

You ruin everything!

He’s the reason his Mama cries so much and why they can’t live together. 

You ruin everything!

He’s the reason his dad left. 

You ruin everything!

He’s made Present Mic worry for over a year and left him without saying goodbye. 

You ruin everything!

He even ruined his own dreams to become a hero by not being special enough to have a quirk. 

He can hear the adults talking outside, but he’s too upset to even care to listen in. Instead, he moves over to his notebooks, his journals with dozens of pages of research and notes on heroes and things he learned from them. He grabs the first one — it’s half filled with notes on All Might, and half filled with notes on Katsuki’s newly developed quirk. Among all these notes are many, many quotes from the All Might interviews that he had watched and read. His eyes immediately find one, written in blue crayon, underlined several times:

Take initiative. Be the change that needs to happen. 

He looks up, All Might’s eyes staring down at him from his place on his poster. He takes a breath, and his grip tightens with determination onto his journal. “Okay, All Might,” he murmurs. “Okay.” 

He wipes his eyes and scrambles over to the small desk that he has and pulls out one of the new notebooks that he has and a crayon and immediately begins writing. 

There was a lot of work to do. Change needed to happen. And Izuku was finally going to be the one to make it happen.