Chapter Text
Aizawa Shouta is twenty years old and very tired.
He is too young, a lot of people say, to be doing all the things that he does, but he’s a determined person and doesn’t often care what other people think. That’s why he had married Hizashi straight out of UA, keeping it a secret from almost everyone for two years while they both built their hero careers. Being married to the up-and-coming Present Mic is something Aizawa wishes he could shout to the rooftops, but for their privacy and safety they tell only their closest friends and trusted colleagues.
Aizawa’s seen some shit on his patrols during his two years underground, seen the darker side of society. Seen things that would give seasoned pros nightmares and worked cases that caused detectives to quit due to their brutality.
One thing he would never get used to is the kids.
Aizawa has seen more disgusting cases involving children than he could count. Seen more terrible things than most. Whenever he has a particularly rough case involving a child, he comes home with his eyes wide and haunted, Hizashi immediately understanding what’s happened. Hizashi hears his nightmares, holding him when the horrors wake him up after particularly stressful patrols.
It’s always the kids that get to him the most. Aizawa never considered himself particularly paternal, but so often he wants to just bundle up the kids and run. He wants to keep them safe.
So, one night when there’s a call that an apartment building has collapsed and there are multiple civilian casualties, Aizawa steals himself for the nightmare he’s about to face. All available heroes are called to the scene and Aizawa sees not only his husband there, but All Might, Endeavor, Midnight, and multiple other pros.
The scene is horrifying, the building laid waste across two city blocks. Dust and debris are everywhere and rescue workers are setting up tents and handing out face masks to help prevent people from breathing in the dirty air.
The rescue hero Thirteen is busy removing rubble carefully from the building, clearly trying to get to injured civilians. Dozens of ambulances, police cars, and news reporters surround the scene. There’s smoke and broken pieces of the building everywhere, shell shocked people, lots of screaming and crying.
Aizawa shakes himself a little before heading over to Hizashi. His husband looks…tense. His hair is covered in grime and there’s blood on his chest and arms that’s clearly not his own.
“Present Mic,” he says casually, eyeing Hizashi with concern.
“Eraserhead,” Hizashi responds calmly, but Aizawa can hear the little lilt of stress in his voice, “I’m glad you’re here, there’s still some people trapped inside. We could use you and your capture weapon.”
“On it,” Aizawa says, squashing the urge to take Hizashi’s hand, “See you in a bit.”
Aizawa heads towards the absolute wreck of the building. He doesn’t know much of what happened, but they’re not in the nicest of neighborhoods, and he hears that shoddy construction and poor building maintenance is being blamed. No villain attack, just a terrible accident. Aizawa scans the wreckage, listening for any cries for help or voices, trying to find anyone left that he can save.
He checks all the areas he can find, about to head back to assist with the injured civilians, when he hears some quiet sobbing from behind him. His gut clenches, immediately identifying it as a child.
“M-Mommy, wake up!” the kid is crying, sounding absolutely terrified. Stealing himself for whatever nasty scene he’s about to witness, Aizawa heads towards the noise.
There’s a portion of the building that hasn’t completely collapsed, a support beam sticking up in the air that’s half leaning up one wall. Aizawa can see some broken glass and water leaking out from one of the busted pipes, making the scene wet and grimy. He climbs carefully over the debris, eyes widening when he sees a tiny kid, maybe three or four, covered in dust and grime and shaking what's the clearly dead body of his mother.
“M-Mommy, p-please, I’m s-scared,” the kid sobs, looking haunted and terrified. Aizawa walks over calmly, not wanting to scare the kid. The child turns when he sees him, eyes widening.
“E-Eraserhead,” the kid hiccups and Aizawa freezes. How the hell did the kid recognize him? “E-Eraserhead, c-can you h-help my m-mommy?”
Aizawa gets next to the boy, already knowing that the woman is dead. He leans over to check her pulse anyway, confirming it. He texts Hizashi that he found a kid and another body before looking over at the child.
He’s tiny. Fragile. Aizawa feels the familiar burning anger whenever he finds kids in these terrible situations. He wants to bundle this kid up in his capture weapon and never let him go.
“What’s your name?” Aizawa asks gently, kneeling down in front of him, “You already know mine, so I’d like to know yours.”
“I-Izuku M-Midoriya,” the kid sobs, “Is…is mommy okay, Eraserhead?”
Aizawa doesn’t believe in lying. Doesn’t believe in making things worse by giving people false hope. Despite that, he doesn’t want to crush this kid. He reaches down to take Izuku’s hands, looking at him gently.
“Izuku, I’m sorry but your mom didn’t make it,” Aizawa says as calmly as he can, “I’m going to get you out of here to safety. There are other heroes who will come and get your mom, okay?”
Izuku is frozen, tears pouring from his eyes, but he doesn’t fight as Aizawa bundles him in his arms and capture scarf and carefully gets them out of the building. He passes emergency rescue workers who are there to collect the body of Izuku’s mother. It’s disturbing, but Aizawa focuses on the child who’s currently trembling in his arms.
When he gets out of the rubble, he keeps Izuku close to him and instinctively rubs his back, scanning until he spots a free medic.
“Eraserhead, here!” the EMT calls from the ambulance and Aizawa walks over.
“This is Izuku Midoriya,” Aizawa says calmly, “I just pulled him from the building. He doesn’t have any apparent injuries.”
The EMT helps Aizawa get Izuku onto a gurney, checking him over for injuries. Aizawa finds out that Izuku has just turned four years old, doesn’t have his quirk yet, and has only one family member he knows of, his mother Inko Midoriya.
Aizawa waits as a medic with some kind of sterilization quirk touches Izuku and all of the dirt, grime, and dust vanishes from his body. It doesn’t clean his clothes, but his body looks better. Aizawa knows the medics can watch over this kid and he should get back to helping, but something…something makes him stop.
He can’t leave this kid.
Izuku looks up at him with wide eyes and Aizawa realizes he’s looking for comfort. Once the medic has cleared him and a police officer has recorded his personal information, Aizawa picks him up again, holding him to his chest. He’s not sure what makes him do it, but the kid just melts against him, and before Aizawa realizes it, the kid’s asleep.
“Who’ve you got there?” Hizashi’s voice cuts in, sounding exhausted. Aizawa looks up at his husband, wishing more than anything he could lean into his embrace right now.
“His name’s Izuku,” Aizawa murmurs, “I pulled him from the building. His…his mom was dead. Kid has no other family. He’s only four.”
“Shit,” Hizashi curses, sitting down next to Aizawa on the curb. “Poor little listener. Where will they send him?”
Aizawa tenses. He doesn’t want Izuku sent anywhere. He wants to protect the kid. He wants to keep him safe. He knows he’s only twenty, but this kid…this kid needs him. He and Hizashi both have emergency fostering licenses like many pro heroes do. They’re young, but…
“With us,” Aizawa says, Hizashi’s eyes widening in surprise.
“R-Really?” Hizashi asks, looking gently at the kid, eyes softening, “Little guy is pretty cute and you know I love kids. But…we’re barely adults ourselves. Can we really look out for him?”
“Yes,” Aizawa murmurs, gently cupping Izuku’s head, “I…I know this is a lot, Zashi. But he needs us. What do you think?”
Hizashi looks around to make sure no reporters are watching before leaning against Aizawa’s side. He reaches down and ruffles Izuku’s hair, melting when he sees the kid snuggle against Aizawa’s chest and stick a thumb in his mouth.
“Okay, Shou,” Hizashi murmurs, eyes fond, “Let’s go talk to the police about taking him home.”
When Izuku wakes up, he’s still in Aizawa’s arms, but they’re in a warm police station instead of outside by the collapsed buildings. He blinks slowly, looking first up at Aizawa before his gaze falls on Hizashi, eyes widening.
“P-Present Mic?” Izuku whispers, clinging to Aizawa’s capture scarf, “You’re Present Mic!”
Hizashi beams, grinning at Izuku with a gentle smile and waving at him. “That’s right! You must have listened to my new radio show, yeah?”
Izuku nods, sticking a finger in his mouth before looking back up at Aizawa. “Eraserhead, where am I?”
“You’re at the police station,” Aizawa says calmly, “Do you remember what happened tonight, Izuku?”
Izuku tilts his head, looking a little lost. “Our house fell down on mommy.”
Hizashi inhales sharply at that. Aizawa keeps his gaze calm as he leans down, kneeling in front of Izuku and putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. “That's right. Your mom can’t take care of you anymore, Izuku. We wondered if you wanted to come home with us. With Present Mic and me.”
Izuku does want to and it hurts. It hurts because his mom is dead, that’s what Eraserhead means. It hurts because their apartment fell down and there’s nothing left. It hurts it hurts. But Eraserhead has been nice and he’s a hero. And heroes are good and not scary, so Izuku nods through his tears. He can go home with Eraserhead and Present Mic.
“O-Okay,” Izuku sniffs, “You live in the s-same house, Eraserhead? With Present Mic?”
Aizawa nods, “Yeah, bud. My name is Aizawa Shouta. Present Mic is Yamada Hizashi. Can you keep a secret?”
Izuku nods, looking a little tearful as Aizawa leans forward and whispers, “Present Mic and I are married.”
Izuku’s eyes widen, looking between the two heroes. “Really?”
“Really,” Hizashi smiles, reaching over to rub Izuku’s back, “Shouta and I want to take care of you, Izuku. For as long as you want. We’ll be your family.”
A few weeks later, Aizawa and Hizashi have settled into being parents. Once it was confirmed Izuku had no other living relatives, they were able to apply for emergency adoption papers, getting custody of Izuku much quicker than usual. The kid fits into their lives easily. Of course, being married, pro-hero dads at their age wasn’t exactly simple, but they manage it.
They get Izuku into therapy to discuss what happened to his mom and work on papers to get him enrolled into an elementary school for next year. He also has a pre-quirk examination confirming he does have a quirk factor and should be presenting a quirk soon. It’s a lot to balance between shifts and Hizashi’s radio gig, but they make it work.
Izuku shyly begins to call Aizawa ‘dad’ and Hizashi ‘papa’, both of them melting every time he does. They spruce up their sparse apartment, getting house plants, some warm, thick blankets, wall art, and convert their guest room into Izuku’s new room.
Their friend Nemuri, pro hero Midnight, comes over to help decorate. She helps hang up some cheerful framed art of animals, space, and plants on Izuku’s walls, and brings over tons of toys and books. Izuku likes her a lot and within a month she earns the nickname ‘Auntie Nem.’
Six months after living together as a family, the principal of UA comes over on their rare shared day off, surprising both Hizashi and Aizawa.
“Hello!” Nezu beams at Izuku, who looks positively delighted at the sight of the principal, “My name is Nezu and I am the principal of UA. It is very nice to meet you, young Izuku.”
“You too, mister Nezu,” Izuku says, clearly holding back a desire to pet Nezu’s fur. Izuku’s never seen an animal with a quirk before and he is fascinated.
“What can we do for you?” Hizashi asks Nezu, getting them all settled at the table while Aizawa pulls Izuku onto his lap.
Nezu beams, showing his sharp teeth before saying, “I'll cut right to the chase, we want to hire you to teach at UA! You’ll need to do teacher training and pass some tests beforehand, but we could really use you there. We've been having a hard time getting qualified staff and we're looking for young heroes to step up to help teach the next generation."
After they recover from their shock, they say yes and after everything is settled, between them both they now have five jobs. They only agree to working at UA by getting Nezu to confirm that Izuku is allowed to come with them to school, and the other teachers have offered to watch him when Hizashi and Aizawa are teaching.
It’s not a perfect arrangement, but they manage to make time for both Izuku and each other.
“Higher!” Izuku squeals, laughing joyfully as Hizashi pushes him on the swing set. They’re at the park near their apartment and Izuku has been having hours of fun with his dad.
Hizashi is taking lots of videos of Izuku on the swings, sending them to Aizawa with lots of heart emojis. Izuku seems to be having the time of his life, kicking his legs joyfully.
“Papa, can we go down the big slide?” Izuku asks, eyes wide as he points to the other end of the playground.
Hizashi pretends to be considering it, tapping his chin. “Hmm, I don’t know, the big slide is really tall. Seems a little scary, if you ask me.”
“I’m not scared!” Izuku claims, reaching over to tug on Hizashi’s arm, “If you’re scared I’ll ride down with you.”
“Oh is that so?” Hizashi laughs, gently tickling Izuku’s nose, making him wrinkle his face adorably, “Well, thanks honey. Let’s do it!”
They finish up at the park, Hizashi giving Izuku a piggyback ride on the way home as Izuku chatters in his ear about something he had just finished reading. They get up the stairs and into the apartment, both yelling “We’re home!” as they walk through the door.
“Daddy!” Izuku laughs once Hizashi puts him down, running and checking the bedroom. When he doesn’t see Aizawa, he runs to check the bathroom, the kitchen, even his own bedroom. Frowning a little, he walks back out into the living room where Hizashi is busy hanging up their coats and putting away their shoes.
“Papa, where’s Daddy?” Izuku pouts. Hizashi turns to look at him with a soft smile, reaching over to ruffle his hair.
“Dad’s on patrol, remember?” Hizashi asks gently, “You’ll see him in the morning, alright honey?”
Izuku pouts again, pressing his face against Hizashi’s leg. “I don’t like it when you and daddy go away.”
Hizashi puts a gentle hand on Izuku’s head. “I know, sweetheart. But listen, your dad and I are both heroes, so we have to go out sometimes. Dad will be back really soon, alright?”
That night, they stay up on the couch watching movies until Izuku falls asleep against Hizashi. At two in the morning, the door opens and Aizawa walks in, smiling in spite of his exhaustion when he sees his two favorite people tangled together on the couch. He slides off his shoes and walks over, kissing Hizashi’s forehead and gently running a hand through Izuku's hair.
Izuku shifts on Hizashi’s lap, yawning a little. He looks up, eyes sparkling as he jumps, waking Hizashi up.
“Daddy!” Izuku squeals, leaping into Aizawa’s arms, “You’re back, you’re home! I missed you!”
Aizawa smiles, hugging Izuku tightly. “Hey, kid. I missed you, too.”
“What about me?” Hizashi pouts, leaning over. Aizawa raises an eyebrow, gently flicking Hizashi’s nose before leaning down to kiss him softly.
“Stupid hero,” Aizawa murmurs fondly, “I need a shower and sleep. And someone should already be in bed.”
Izuku is already yawning, looking like he’s about to fall asleep again.
“Come on, honey, let’s get you to bed,” Hizashi says, scooping Izuku up and carrying him to his room, tucking him into bed with a kiss. Once Izuku is asleep, Hizashi heads back out to the bedroom, hearing Aizawa getting into the shower.
Hizashi lays back on their bed, looking up at the ceiling, heart full as he thinks of his sleeping son and his tired, beautiful husband.
Their lives are a bit hectic, sure, but Hizashi is happy.