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1.
Uraraka couldn’t fall asleep. The thoughts of USJ filled her mind entirely. The broken, bloody face of her homeroom teacher stared at her whenever she closed her eyes for half a second and her ears still rang with a petrifying sound of Thirteen’s scream of agony when their quirk was turned against them by that mist guy. So, she was making herself chocolate pudding in their dorm’s kitchen at two o’clock in the morning.
She was really relieved that UA became a boarding school at the beginning of the new term. Class 1A stuck together through all the hardships, and it was less lonely like that, even if no one was down here with her right now. They were all sleeping safe and sound, she wouldn’t dare disturb them.
Well, okay, maybe she was feeling a little bit lonely, but she couldn't just wake one of her classmates up. After a bunch of rough nights she knew just how important sleep was, and she could manage on her own, right? She was strong enough for that, she was a future heroine after all! She had to act plus-ultra!
But she was still so helpless when it really counted. When she heard Thirteen, her favourite hero, scream, she just froze. She wanted to move, to do something, anything, but her body remained still.
“Uraraka?”
Her head snapped up. Who- oh, it was Midoriya. But why was he awake? Oh god, did she wake him up? She thought she was quiet enough, what if-
“Uraraka, calm down. It’s just me. Everyone is safe, remember? No need to panic. Just breathe for now, okay? In for 1… 2… 3… 4, and out for 1, 2, 3, 4. See? You’re doing great, just keep it up.”
She felt all of her muscles slowly relaxing and her mind calming down. Right. Everything is alright, because she’s not alone in this. She can always count on her best friend Midoriya, proclaimed by very excited Ashido the class ray of sunshine at the first girl-only sleepover at her dorm room. She agreed with her wholeheartedly.
“Are you feeling better now?”
“I… Yeah. Yeah, I do. Thank you, Deku-kun.” She smiled sweetly, and the boy mirrored her expression.
“That’s good to hear! You know, you can always come over to my room if you’re feeling lonely at night. Though I wouldn’t mind if we were in the kitchen making pudding too!”
Uraraka blushed. “Deku-kun, isn’t it forbidden for girls to go into the boys' section?” Midoriya mimicked her again.
“Ah! I- I didn’t mean, I… It’s just, I already asked Aizawa-sensei about it, because I knew that a lot of us would probably have nightmares, and he said that everyone can go everywhere as they please as long as we won’t cause any more problems. And I have a spare futon in my closet.”
“That’s so thoughtful of you, Deku-kun! But I wouldn’t want to disturb your sleep, I couldn’t-”
“Don’t worry about it Uraraka, I don’t sleep much anyways. I’m here now after all, aren’t I?”
At that, the girl couldn’t help but frown. “Well, you should be sleeping, Deku-kun! Why aren’t you?”
“I never slept much anyways. It doesn’t matter.” He made a dismissing gesture. Well, that just couldn’t stand.
“Of course it matters! It’s important to sleep at least eight hours per day, especially for hero hopefuls like ourselves, and-”
“Uraraka,” Midoriya frowned, and Ochako was so surprised by the action that she immediately shut her mouth, “isn’t that a little bit hypocritical of you at the moment?” The scowl on his face disappeared quickly, as if it hadn't ever shown up in the first place. “How about we finish what you started here, okay? Look, your pudding still has some lumps. Let me steer it for a while. Then we’ll make ourselves hot cocoa and consume all this while watching funny cat videos on my phone. Sounds good?”
“I- Yeah, okay. You’re right, and I’m sorry, Deku-kun…”
“It’s no problem at all.”
“No, really, and… Thank you. It means a lot to me.”
“Again, it’s no problem. Now, could you heat up some more milk for hot cocoa?”
“Of course.”
Uraraka felt very lucky to have a friend like Midoriya. She quickly forgot about him admitting to having some troubles with sleep too as they watched cat videos for the next hour, cleaned up and went to their own rooms to get in at least a few hours of sleep until they had to wake up and get ready for school the next morning.
2.
“Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?
Todoroki didn’t know why he was telling this to Midoriya of all people. Though somehow the green boy was the only one he could imagine talking to about his problems. He didn’t question it, just like he didn’t question a lot of other things in his life. He didn’t have any choice anyways, so why bother caring?
Still, he expected Midoriya to react differently. He waited for the realisation to come, for the disbelief, for the accusations that he was lying, that he had to be lying. Or for the misunderstanding. But Midoriya was truly always unlike any other human being and the boy smiled at him. It wasn’t his usual, blinding smile either - it was smaller, more gentle and soft and fragile, and somehow a lot sadder than a simple frown could ever be. Shouto was taken aback. What was this? What was he feeling? What was happening?
“Yes, I’ve heard of them. It’s rarely a story with a happy ending, isn’t it?”
“Um…”
“Did you know that Endeavour is the only hero that has just as many fan-groups as he has haters? It’s actually what made him so popular. Of course, the media never talked about it, but the media is biased towards the hero commision, aka their main source of funding after the government. His haters are really devoted to cursing him out under every post on him on the internet that hasn’t disabled comments yet.”
Shouto didn’t know that. But he was glad. Although he wasn’t done yet, he was glad that Midoriya provided some distraction. Now it was easier to force the words he needed to say out of his throat.
“He always wanted me to be the best. To defeat All Might. In order to achieve that, he started training me as soon as my quirk manifested. I’m his masterpiece .”
“No, you aren’t.” What? “You aren’t his or anyone else’s anything, Shouto. You are your own person, you can make your own decisions and no one has the right to deny you this.”
They just stared at each other, Todoroki in shock and Midoriya with an expression full of pure determination, until the green boy sighed deeply, lowered his head and after a second looked him straight in the eyes again.
“I know you probably don’t, or can’t, believe me yet. But trust me, it will get better. You know you can always talk to any of us, right? Especially the teachers. You can trust them - I know it’s hard to trust any of the adults,” Shouto froze. What? Why did Midoriya know this? Why did he understand him? Where was that sad note in his voice coming from? “but it’ll be easier if you do. Personally, I’d go to Aizawa-sensei or Hound Dog first. I heard them both discussing Endeavour's latest great rescue and they chewed him out for not dealing with the civilians the right way and causing far more property damage than was unavoidable.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because everyone deserves help, a second chance and a happy life.”
The small, distant smile on the other boy’s face told him two things. First, he wholeheartedly believed in what he just said. Second, he knew all too well that his rule didn’t apply in some cases, but he was sure that it should and would work for Shouto. Distantly, some part of him wondered if Midoriya thought he himself deserved all those nice things too, but it was quickly shut down. Of course Midoriya believed in himself if he had the strength to help Shouto. And for now, his kind words were enough.
He lowered his head. “Thank you, Midoriya. I’ll consider it.”
3.
It was nearing midnight and Tenya couldn’t sleep. How did he manage to be such a pain, to cause such problems? His best friend and Todoroki - he didn’t really know if he was allowed to call him a friend yet, although after what happened, he probably could - nearly died because of him and his stupid emotions. He didn’t really care about himself almost dying anymore.
Just why had he made such a dumb decision? It didn’t make any sense, he didn’t make any sense! How could he ever believe he was able to take down Stain if his brother failed? Tensei was so much better than him, he was the best hero of all time, and he… Oh god, he must’ve hurt nii-san too! He pictured Ingenium, sitting in his wheeling chair, staring at the news in disbelief. What did his brother feel? Betrayal? Disdain? Disappointment? Fear of losing him, just like he almost lost Tensei?
He couldn’t think anymore. Where was he? Was it night or the middle of a day? He didn’t know, he didn’t want to know, at this point. He was just so scared and tired, only more tired…
“Iida? You okay?”
Where was that voice coming from? He couldn’t see anything.
“Oh, okay, hold on. I’ll give you your glasses.
“Mi-Midoriya, why have you…”
“Shhh, calm down, Iida. I believe you just dissociated a little. Drink some water, won’t you?”
Tenya obeyed. He looked at the clock. It was ten past one in the morning.
“Ah, Midoriya. Why are you awake?”
“I couldn’t fall asleep and noticed you were just sitting still, staring into open space, for at least the past ten minutes. Thought I’d help.”
“Thank you, Midoriya. I… I really don’t deserve your kindness. Not after what I put you and Todoroki-kun through…”
“Oh no, I’m having none of that.” Huh? “Of course you deserve it, silly! Yeah, you did something dumb, but now you regret it and want to make it better, so it’ll be okay. And you’re already doing great. You’re always controlling your emotions to suit the rules, so you had to snap at some point. I’m just glad I could support you at that time!”
“What are you talking about?”
Midoriya lowered his head shyly. “Ah, I got ahead of myself again, didn't I? But it doesn’t really change anything, you have to hear it from someone anyway. There’s a fine line between controlling your emotions and suppressing them, and that’s a line you often cross, which results in incidents like this one. But it’s okay! You’re just a kid, you don’t have to be perfect. You’re only training to be a hero, you aren’t one yet, remember?”
Iida… Needed some time to process this, but he thought he understood what Midoriya was getting at. Although… “But Midoriya, you already are a hero! You acted so much better than me!”
And Midoriya laughed. It was a light sound, soft and soothing.
“Ah, sorry, Iida. It’s just… Of course you would say something like that, who am I kidding. But you’re wrong - I’m no hero, really. I just did what I could, and that has to be enough, right?”
“... Right. I shall listen to your advice and-”
“For now, you should just go to sleep, Iida. Look at the clock, it’s gotten late.”
Now it was Iida’s turn to smile. “You too, Midoriya. Sleep well.”
4.
Bakugo was fucking furious. Enraged. Angry beyond any boundaries that ever existed for him. But above all, he was scared, and didn’t know how to fucking deal with it.
Nightmares just wouldn’t stop. Dabi, Shigaraki, that crazy blood-kink bitch… They all didn’t matter, not really. What mattered was All Might. This rescue ended the man’s whole career. The symbol of peace was gone, just like that, and it was his fault. If only he wasn’t that goddamn weak! Shit, he was supposed to be the fucking strongest, he should’ve been able to not get caught in that shitty forest, or at least escape from that stinky bar these bastards kept him in!
Until now his response to everything he faced in life had been aggression and explosions, because he had the best fucking quirk and was destined to use it and let the world know of his greatness. But when it really mattered, his explosions were… Useless. Those shitty villains drugged him with some cheap quirk suppressants.
He couldn’t help but wonder if this was how fucking Deku felt all the time before he got his quirk. And if violence wasn’t always the right thing to do, if he was just as weak as this damn loser, then were all of those shitty things he did to Deku really justified…? When villains talked to him, they acted… exactly like him in junior high. They were all so fucking sure of themselves and their superiority, and, well… They were stronger than him, in the end. In the end, All Might lost his power fighting for his safety while he was just getting in the way.
He couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to keep his volume down in the dorms so others could sleep, so he couldn’t just scream. He also couldn’t blow something in his room up, he was already enough of a bother as it was. He hugged himself tightly and let his explosions loose. They burned . They hurt so much, but he ignored it completely, his thoughts fogged with pictures of Deku’s beaten ass and his unwavering, creepy as fuck smile.
Knock. Knock.
“Kacchan? Are you okay?”
What…? What the hell was the fucking nerd doing before his door at this ungodly hour?! Did he want to laugh him in the face, wipe in his defeat?
“Kacchan, can I come in?”
No, the voice was… Too kind. Just as always. God, Deku was always so kind, and while it was fucking annoying, he probably shouldn’t have reacted the way he did, the nerd probably didn’t deserve his shittiness and their teachers never said anything, why have they never said anything, he deserved to be punished for being weak and- another set of explosions hugged him in a tight, comforting blanket of pain.
“Okay, I’m coming in whether you like it or not, Kacchan. Sorry!”
Ha. The nerd wouldn’t disturb him - he had locked the door with his key.
After approximately ten seconds he heard a soft click and the door opened.
“Kacchan, sorry for breaking in, but- oh.”
Katsuki couldn’t hold it in anymore. He laughed and cried. And Deku just fucking stood there, looking at him with something akin to understanding in his eyes. Fuck, Deku always understood him and he never managed to do the same. He locked the door slowly, careful not to make any sudden movements.
“Kacchan, what happened?”
“I… You! You happened, you shitty nerd!” Deku remained silent, prompting him with a lift of his chin to continue. It pissed him off. “You- All Might chose you, and now I fucking know why! Of course he wouldn’t choose a weakling like me, who let some random shitty villains kidnap him just like that!”
“Was this something Mitsuki told you?” The boy’s voice was measured, stable, calm.
“Of fucking course it was her! She’s always right, you know that!”
“No Kacchan, she’s not. She’s really not.”
“Liar! Why are you talking about her anyways? The point is, All Might’s retirement is all my fault!”
Deku sighed and smiled. He fucking smiled. “I figured you’d convince yourself that some dumb shit like that is true.” What the fuck? Did Deku just swear? Was Katsuki dreaming? Was it just another one of his cruel nightmares?
“Katsuki Bakugou, I need you to listen to me very carefully. First, the League is one of the most dangerous crime organisations in the world right now. The fact that they were also stronger than you doesn’t make you weak - you don’t have to win all the time in order to be strong, alright? And second, your mother can make mistakes, just like you and any other human being. And she made many mistakes as a mother, trust me. That doesn’t necessarily make her a bad person, but just know that she’s not infallible, okay?”
Katsuki let free another set of explosions.
“Oh Kacchan…” Izuku immediately moved and was right next to him within a second, holding his hands and stroking them gently. “Please don’t do this. Burns like that are hard to treat, and there are better ways to cope than that…”
“They are hard to treat, huh? And how do you know that?”
“Kacchan.” Something in Deku’s expression steeled, but he still smiled wider. “Even if I’m glad that you finally realized some things from our past, this is not a moment to bring them up. You’re not the one to blame in the first place, it’s the adults’ fault, okay? They were supposed to tell you what’s wrong and right and they failed. All of it is not your fault, not entirely. Do you understand?”
No, Katsuki couldn’t understand. He never understood the useless nerd. But suddenly, it all didn’t matter, and he was crying again. His pathetic wails filled the silence, and were soon joined by soothing assurances, whispers telling him that it’ll all be fine, that he’s not to blame, that he can ask for help, that he’s not weak.
They both didn’t speak of this night until years later, and for now, Izuku just acted like his normal, annoying, shitty self while Katsuki tried to rationalize a lot of things in his life that never really made sense. Bakugou wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he was thankful for that night the nerd spent with him. He still didn’t know why Izuku was awake or how he had entered his room, but - at least for now - he didn’t need to know.
5.
Shouta Aizawa didn’t think of himself as a perfect father, but he had hoped that he was at least able to read people pretty well, and therefore pick up on important signs that appeared when Eri had troubles with something. Turns out, he was wrong.
Well, maybe not entirely wrong, he could still admit that an awful lot of people would do so much worse at this than him. That thought, however, was bound to give him a whole other existential crisis.
For real - How the hell was Problem child, of all human beings on this planet, able to instantly just know what exactly trauma-fueled wavelength Eri was currently stuck on?
It was worrying in plenty of ways. First, Shouta was fucking stupid and still couldn’t sync with kis own daughter’s thoughts. Second, Midoriya Izuku, the ray sunshine of class 1A, both a walking powerhouse and an encyclopedia on quirk theory, with his blinding smile, unwavering kindness and self-sacrificing habits, somehow got it all in a blink of an eye. He wasn’t supposed to. He was supposed to not know shit on psychology, or coping mechanisms, or handling traumatised children. Hell, Shouta himself had experienced bullying and had seen a lot during his years as an underground hero, but he still struggled with keeping up with Eri’s pile of trauma, which was just as high as her life was long. Problem child was really allowed near Eri only because she trusted him as her saviour, although apparently that trust was earned by much more than that.
Shouta Aizawa felt terrible and needed time to process. In order to do that, he wiggled around in his sleeping bag, sipped his dark as his soul quadrupled espresso and recalled the events of the past evening.
~~~~~
“No, Eri-chan. It’s not like that.”
Aizawa stopped dead in his tracks. What was Problem child talking about? What was he doing in the gardens with Eri?
“B-but Chisaki-san always-”
“Shhh, squirt. Remember where you are? You’re in UA, Chisaki can’t hurt you or any of us anymore. You’re safe and I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere, alright?”
“O-okay…”
“Great! Now, listen to me very carefully. You know how Aizawa is always nice and kind and smiles when you do?”
“Uhm… Yeah, but… I- I don’t know, it's just… Good things never lasted before, and…”
Oh. Oh no. Eri was having another breakdown, and she turned to Midoriya for help and not to him and- wait a fucking moment. The kid was actually dealing with it pretty well. What the hell? Was it even the first time? How much had he missed?
“I know Eri, I know. Remember? I understand those things, right?”
Eri… chuckled. It was the most beautiful sound he could have ever heard, even when it was as broken and sad as his beloved daughter's was. If he had ever wanted to speak and disrupt the conversation, he wouldn’t be able to do so now.
“Yeah, you do. But Zawa-san…”
“Would never wish you any harm. He may make mistakes and not ‘get’ things sometimes, but that’s because he’s just a human, like you. Now, he really wants to give you all those nice things and words and doesn’t want nor need anything in return. He’s not forbidding you from cleaning around the house or cooking because he expects you to pay him in some other way, it’s just not how it works for him. Do you know why?”
Shouta’s heart broke. Eri thought what? How did he not notice it sooner? Suddenly, he could only be grateful to his Problem child for taking care of his precious one.
“Why?”
“Because he loves you, Eri-chan, even if he doesn’t say it as much as I do. I think that he may even love you more than I do, you know, squirt?”
Oh. He really should communicate his feelings more often, shouldn’t he? He just couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Eri would… But of course, she was severely traumatised after all. He’d just have to be sure to be more blunt about those small things with her.
“No! Nobody loves me as much as you do, nii-san! And I love you the most too.”
Aizawa snapped right back into reality. That… actually hurt a lot.
“Ah, Eri-chan… Even if you’re feeling like that now, I think that you will love so many more people, you know? Because you’re my strong little girl and have all the time in the world to learn how to trust others again. You’re already so brave, and you will continue to be. You will achieve great things. Do you know that, squirt?”
“Nii-san, you’re doing it again!”
“What? This?” Midoriya stroked her hair gently. “Or maybe this?” He bumped her nose and chuckled. It was such a sappy scene, but Shouta felt some kind of lonely longing in his chest, and he wasn’t ready for it.
“No! The always saying good words thing!”
“Ah, you see Eri-chan, there are no good or bad words. There are just words that you do or don’t believe or want to believe in. And tell you what - I’m really, really happy that you want to believe in my words.”
“You’re just so smaaaaaart, nii-san… How do you do it?”
“Well, don’t worry about it. It’s not important right now. You and your bedtime, however - these are very important things, don’t you think?”
“Nii-san!”
Soon enough, they were gone, leaving the echo of laughter, love and sorrowful secrets behind them.
~~~~~
Shouta turned around in his sleeping bag and planted face first into the floor of his bedroom. Now that he gave Midoriya’s behaviour more thought, he started perceiving a lot of missed red flags.
Though Problem child, at first sight, didn’t take on any of the leading roles in class 1A, the truth was the opposite. His classmates relied on him with strategizing in heroics, both in school exercises and in the field, and often took his words into deeper consideration, no matter the topic of the conversation. They all trusted him firmly, sometimes telling him things kept a secret in front of their closest friends.
All things considered, Midoriya just seemed… unusually mature, emotion-wise at least. Usually, that sort of wisdom came with many years of experience and was generously associated with those kind, modest and always bright grandpas and grannies.
Yeah, the boy definitely had the aura of a calm, optimistic and lowkey very intelligent grandpa, always ready to comfort all the children who came to him to seek guidance with their problems.
The main difference was, Midoriya should be the one looking for help in this scenario - he was still a teenager himself, for God’s sake. But he didn’t act like it - he definitely had an awful lot of difficult life experiences, and Shouta wasn’t planning on going down a rabbit hole of how that happened right now, but the kid still wasn’t entirely ready for the awareness that came with such maturity. Being the only one so far ahead of others his age, he was stuck with understanding other’s problems and seeing solutions immediately while never really being understood or heard himself. It simply sucked, and Shouta’s both respect and worry for the kid skyrocketed after coming to that conclusion.
His Problem child held the weight of the world on his shoulders, didn’t he? Well, Shouta would have to start looking out for him more carefully now. He wouldn’t let his kid just do it all by himself. Midoriya seemed to need something akin to a parent figure, and Aizawa was secretly happy to provide it whenever he got a chance.
+1
Izuku was having an enormously bad day. In short, a lot of small things were slowly piling up on him and his mask was starting to crack. Not like anyone noticed, but it was unnerving anyway.
First, he couldn’t fall asleep due to nightmares last night (the ones about everyone he loved dying right in front of him and the one about his parents coming back) and forgot to put on more concealer around his eyes. Now his eyebags were in plain sight for anyone more observant than a jellyfish. Second, he somehow managed to almost be late anyway and didn’t have time to make his lunch. Third, Shouto was failing at subtly looking at him the whole morning and he wasn’t in a good mood for dealing with shit Endeawhore must have put his son through during the weekend spent away from dorms. Fourth, Kacchan seemed to be even more pissed than usual, which meant higher general tension for everyone in all classes for all day, even if most of his classmates didn’t realise that. Their shoulders were already slightly hunched and Kirishima lowered his voice a little when speaking with his crush. Oh yeah, he had to somehow get one of them to finally confess, else the pining was going to kill both him and Mina, although he would definitely be much less vocal about it.
There was also the fact that he was targeted by the League of villains and All for One, weighed with responsibility of One for All and trying to earn enough money through online tutoring to pay for his apartment, since his mother’s savings had inevitably run out a few months ago and she never sent him any money after just disappearing that one day when he was twelve. With so much going on constantly, his limit was lately reached worryingly easily.
On days like these, he was bound to slip up a few times, but his mask was too strong for anyone to pause for a moment, think things through and figure him out. Or so he thought, but apparently he was wrong, or Aizawa-sensei just told him the cruelest joke Izuku could possibly imagine. He should’ve known though, a teacher telling him to stay after class was never a good thing.
“Problem child. Are you okay?”
And so, as his mind tried and failed to process the evident worry in Aizawa-sensei’s tone, he formed the most eloquent reply he could muster.
“What?”
Aizawa sighed. “I’m not blind, Midoriya. Well, maybe I was, but I no longer am, so I’m not going to repeat my mistakes. I can see that something is wrong.”
His brain-to-mouth filter struggled to keep up, and so came the response.
“Why do you care?”
Aizawa only sighed louder and longer. “Because I am your teacher. It’s normal for me to care about you. But I think that somehow this explanation won’t be enough for you, so let’s just say that I owed you for a long time and only recently realised. Now I’m making up for it.”
“I’m sorry, what? You don’t owe me anything, sensei! If anything, I owe you a lot for teaching me how to be the best hero I can become!”
“Midoriya, that’s literally my job. Answering your question though, I owe you for your help with Eri. I heard you talking in the gardens a while ago, but I didn’t want to intrude. You were handling things well, afterall.”
Izuku’s mind screeched to a stop. Have Aizawa-sensei just praised him? He was evidently having hearing problems.
“Anyway, now that you know, let’s go back to my first question. Are you okay, kid? You seemed a bit off all day long.”
“A-Aizawa sensei, I, um… I’m fine, I, I don’t see why- Why would it be a concern of yours, truly, I, I’m okay! I swear on my All Might figurine, sir!” Izuku’s attempt at joking was a failure, if a scowl forming on his teacher’s face was anything to go by.
“Kid. You know that you’re a terrible liar. It’s okay to not be okay, alright?”
Suddenly, Izuku fumed. This was just too much. Nothing made any sense to him at this moment and he just wanted to lock himself in his room at the dorms and cry silent tears until midnight came and went by, unnoticed by him. Yet he was here, trying to figure out what Aizawa-sensei could possibly want from him, and he was told that he was not a good liar. His aura changed immediately as Aizawa watched something break in the boy he secretly considered his son, his mask completely shattered. When he spoke, his tone was entirely different - confident, measured, quiet and poisonous.
“Oh, am I? Because I don’t think I’ve ever been found out on a lie that I didn’t intend people to know about.”
Izuku was expecting a lot of things to be said at that moment. Being called a traitor, getting expelled or shocked silence were his three main guesses. It turned out that he underestimated Aizawa yet again - the emotions flickered through the man’s face for a few seconds, but they set on what he had come to call the dad stare .
“How about you explaining it to me then?”
And Izuku broke . It was a silent spectacle, elegant and majestic in some kind of way. A single tear slowly made its way down his face. His viridian eyes were sharp and had some dangerous spark in them and Aizawa slightly shivered, being on the receiving end of his kid’s analytical stare that was roaming free around Shouta’s minutely starstruck expression. Both of them didn’t really know what was happening, but they just kept looking in each other’s eyes.
Eventually, Midoriya was the first to snap back into reality.
“Aizawa-sensei. I- would you really like to know?”
“Um… Of course, Izu- Midoriya. That’s what I’m here for, aren’t I?”
The boy chuckled. It was a light sound, appearing extremely childish in comparison to his previously venomous presence.
“You can call me Izuku, sensei. I don’t think I’m much of a Midoriya after all that time anyway, so I prefer my first name.”
“We’ll unpack what that means later,” the hero’s brow creased with his worry, “but thank you. You can also call me Shouta, kid. Or drop the honorific, at least.”
“I… think I’ve got something else I would want to call you, but I’m going to wait a little more before I ask you about it. For now, I’ll just go with Aizawa when there’s no one else around.” There was a little pause, where he gathered his thoughts. “What gave me away?”
“What do you mean?”
“You noticed my slip-ups today, but you never did before. What changed?”
“Well, I only recently started giving you and your behaviour more thought, which I wholeheartedly regret. It all began when you were talking to Eri, like I already mentioned. You just knew what to say, and it seemed like you spoke from experience. I was worried - you’re a child, you’re supposed to not know anything about what to do in a situation like hers, yet you do. Then I thought back to all those times when you stopped muttering and stuttering nervously before and it hit me that you were always the one to help your classmates with stuff like that - adult stuff. Managing their emotions, solving conflicts, cheering them up, listening to their struggles - but you were never the one to complain or ask for help yourself. I knew that from now on, I would have to be more observant.” Izuku was crying again, but this time he was also beaming at Shouta like the man hung the moon for him, which he probably, metaphorically speaking, just did.
“Thank you so much, Aizawa. You- you are the first one to ever notice, you know?”
“I hate to ask this, but… Didn’t your mother spot anything?”
“Well, when I was very young, like, three, maybe then… But I only started lying when I was four, and she never cared since then. She- I don’t live with her anymore. She was neglectful.”
“So you’re staying with your father? Why is she one of your emergency contacts, then? You have Yagi listed as your second one, but I know you’re not his son…”
“Oh, you see, I don’t really live with anyone, I guess… Father left when I was four, mom blamed me for it and started ignoring me, and then when I was twelve she just didn’t come back home from one of her long sleepovers at her friend’s house. But, she left me all the money father left her all those years ago, and it paid the bills and put food on my table for the past three years.” Aw fuck. What had he just done? Where the fuck was his damn brain-to-mouth filter? The words were spilling out of his mouth without an ounce of his control, and that was always a bad sign.
“Wait, what? So you’re saying that you’re basically just living alone for three years now?”
“Almost four…?”
“Okay, yeah, no, that needs to change.”
Izuku panicked. How wouldn’t he? “Wait- but, Aizawa, I don’t want to go into the foster system! I’m fine on my own, honestly! And it’s gotten easier now that we’re all living in the dorms - I’m not even lonely anymore.”
“Izuku, did I say that you’re going into foster care?”
“No, but it was heavily implied?” Midoriya was made of 100% confusion right now. This conversation was such a mess, and the fact that they were still rolling with it showed just how chaotic and sleep-deprived they both were.
Aizawa just sighed. “You do know that if all of the teachers knew about your situation, there would be a queue to the printer consisting of people already preparing the paperwork for adoption, right?”
“Excuse my language, sir, but believe me when I say it’ll be very heartfelt. What the everloving fuck ?”
“Ah. That might’ve been too much, sorry kiddo.” Izuku was wondering if Aizawa didn’t care that he just cursed, for the first time in his earshot too? Well, that was not the matter, what sensei was saying was ridiculous anyway and-
“Hey, Izuku. You alright there kiddo?”
“U-um… Excuse me, but I don’t- I don’t really understand, how could… How could people care?” Damn, he was on the verge of tears again.
“Well, that’s an easy question, isn’t it?” Midoriya looked the man standing before him deep in the eyes. “Or it should be, anyway. Izuku, you’re a huge helper, aren’t you? Everyone leans on you, even All Might, doesn’t he? That shows just how strong you are, to be able to lift not only your own problems, which are already a handful from what I gathered, but you also lessen the load of others. But you will burn out eventually if you won’t have anyone to lean on. You deserve as normal of a childhood as you can get at this point, you deserve someone who cares about you and takes proper care of you.”
That all sounded like an impossible dream.
“Aizawa, I don’t think I’d be able to accept such an offer, I…”
“Hey, it’s okay, kid. But how about this: you’ll spend the next home weekend at my house and see how it all works out then, alright?”
“I- Yeah. I would like that. If only Eri woill be okay with it.”
"I'm sure she will be. She already calls you nii-san, doesn't she?"
Aizawa smiled. He really smiled. It was a small and fragile thing, but oh-so gentle, caring and loving that Midoriya felt both quite overwhelmed and blessed. Emotions struck him suddenly, like a huge rock falling on his barks. But then he strided forward and fell into his only parental figure’s arms, and was immediately enveloped in a warm hug. Izuku needed some time and space to process things, and his anxiety would definitely strike him after a good night’s sleep, but for now everything seemed light, nice and more hopeful than it did for a long time. He could get used to this.
~~~~~
After his kid passed out in his arms, probably due to sleep deprivation and a huge amount of stress he just went through, Shouta just looked at his face for a long minute. Izuku’s features were so delicate, but…
“You really do seem to carry the world on your shoulders, don’t you, kiddo? Damn. You’re so incredible. The whole class will only realise it after many years, and most people won’t ever notice anything, but you still just do it. You’re said to be the next symbol of peace, but I think you’ll become a symbol of kindness, kid.”
After that set of quiet mutterings he picked his boy up and carried him to the already empty teacher’s lounge. They had a long way to go, but Shouta would be damned if he didn’t give this kid his own best. He wanted to get to know him, to become his confider, to be the person Izuku would instantly turn to in order to sort out both his smaller and bigger problems.
Idly, he wondered what title the kid wanted to call him, but decided to wait with it. What could it possibly be? Some cutesy nickname? He honestly didn’t believe he could ever get mad at his kid, but the only person allowed to call him ‘Shou’ was Zashi…
His thoughts were cut off by the boy in his arms stirring slowly awake. “Dad? Where are we?”
Ah. Well, he definitely didn’t have any problems with that. The sound of the word ‘dad’ coming from his son made something warm and peaceful bloom in his chest.
“In the teacher's lounge, sweetie. You fell asleep for a few minutes, and I suggest you do so for at least a couple more hours. I’ll get you a weighted blanket from my locker, so please just lay down on the couch.”