Chapter Text
“I wish we could have kids,” Hizashi had whined one day, watching some sort of movie while Shouta worked on some stuff for their radio show.
“Why can’t we?” Shouta asked without looking up.
“You mean biologically or…?” Hizashi laughed, shifting to look at him.
“We could adopt,” Shouta pointed out.
“We’re wanted criminals, Sho. The only reason we get away with the radio show is because we do it independently and work alone. If I worked at an actual station, we’d get caught,” Hizashi reminded him. “Being screened to adopt a kid would definitely get us caught.”
“We could just… kidnap some,” Shouta suggested, looking up when his husband gasped.
“How could you even suggest such a thing,” Hizashi questioned, looking horrified. “I’m not taking a kid from their family.”
“I mean kids in bad situations,” Shouta defended. “There are tons of kids out there being abused by their parents or foster parents, and no one is doing anything about it. We wouldn’t be taking them away from their families, we’d be saving them.”
“That’s a good point,” Hizashi conceded. And that conversation set the plan in motion.
For the next few months, they kept an eye out for children on their usual patrol routes. As vigilantes, coming across kids in danger wasn’t uncommon. Just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time though, doesn’t mean their home life is bad. Which is why they also called in some favors from their more criminal-leaning connections.
They kept an extra eye out for kids on their paid jobs. Because well, if the trafficker they were hired to assassinate just so happened to have a kid, they couldn’t leave that poor kid on their own, right? Unfortunately, they had no such luck. All the scum they were hired to cleanse society of either did not have kids or did not have custody.
Eventually, though, Hizashi and Shouta picked their targets. Shinsou Hitoshi, age 10, was an orphan with a brainwashing quirk who was being abused in the foster care system due to his ‘villainous’ quirk. Midoriya Izuku, age 10, was abandoned by his father, neglected by his mother, and brutally bullied by his schoolmates, all because he was quirkless. And lastly, Toga Himiko, age 11, was being starved and conditioned to ignore her quirk requirement of blood ingestion.
In preparation for their kids, they cleared out the studio and the office for their… other work, moving everything to a one-bedroom apartment down the hall that they were able to rent. The usual living area became Hizashi’s new studio and the bedroom became the new office. They were fortunate that assassination jobs paid so much. It also wasn’t the only work they picked up.
Hizashi was excited to set up the kids’ rooms but Shouta reminded him they should probably only provide basic furniture. That way the kids can pick their decor, clothes, and whatnot. It was easy to bribe the blonde into leaving the decor alone with the promise of shopping with the kids later. For now, they ordered furniture and basics online.
Finally, they were ready to get their kids. Since there were three kids but only two of them, they decided to get Himiko in the morning and the boys in the afternoon. They had the kids’ routes to and from school memorized and it would be easy to intercept them. Himiko was easier to take than either of them honestly expected.
Hizashi had his hair loose and wore jeans and a plain t-shirt. A huge contrast from his vigilante costume. Like this, he passed as an average civilian if no one looked into his background or saw him using his quirk. He waited in Himiko’s usual path to school, in a quiet area with few people around. Few witnesses. Soon enough, she was within sight, walking slowly.
“Are you all right?” he asked, stopping her as she passed him. She looked at him blankly for a moment before smiling weakly, an imitation of being okay.
“I’m fine,” she answered, even though her pallid skin told him otherwise. “I slept in and missed breakfast. Just a little hungry is all.”
After he took her, he’d have to teach her not to be so open with strangers. “I could get you something to eat if you like?” he offered.
“Ah, normal food won’t work. It needs to be…” she trailed off with a grimace.
“Blood?” Hizashi asked, holding up a vial he’d drawn before they came here. Her eyes widened and all apprehension drained from her expression as she reached for it. “Ah-ah. Come with me and you can have it.”
She agreed immediately and he led her around the next corner to where Shouta was parked. He ushered her into the back seat, getting in behind her. “Drive,” he told Shouta after handing her the blood. He watched her closely, waiting for the moment that the sedative would kick in.
Izuku and Hitoshi both proved to be a little more difficult. For one, they had to split up, Hizashi going after Hitoshi and Shouta going after Izuku. And for two, neither were starved so completely of one nutrient the way Himiko had been. They had a little more fight in them.
Shouta found Izuku already sporting a bruise on his face and burns on his uniform. He stepped out into the boy’s path. “You’re injured.”
“Um…” Izuku froze where he was.
“I can treat them,” Shouta offered. “Come with me.”
The boy stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before he bolted, running in the direction he came from. “Wait! I’m trying to help,” Shouta called, running after him. And damn, if the kid wasn’t fast, darting down side streets and ducking under various obstacles.
“Kid, I’m not going to hurt you,” Shouta insisted, trying to find a higher vantage point in this residential area.
“That’s what a kidnapper would say!” Izuku retorted. And well, he wasn’t wrong . Kidnapping him was the goal here.
“I know you’re being hurt at school and the teachers aren’t doing anything about it,” Shouta confessed. “I want to help. I’m a vigilante. I save people.”
A head of fluffy, green hair poked out from behind a fence. Apparently, he’d broken into someone’s yard. Good strategy. “A vigilante?” the boy questioned.
“Yes,” Shouta answered, keeping eye contact with the skittish kid.
“How would you help me?” Izuku asked with obvious suspicion. And he really couldn’t say, ‘by kidnapping you,’ could he?
“First, I’d want to see how bad you’re wounds are and treat them. I have a first aid kit,” Shouta said, skirting around the real answer. He pulled out the kit he did actually have as proof. The boy tentatively stepped out of his hiding place and Shouta approached him slowly.
The boy shrugged off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a burn on his upper arm, just above his elbow. Shouta cleaned the wound and bandaged it before checking his face. He directed Izuku to look up so he could see the bruise that wrapped under his jaw. At the same time, he raised a syringe he’d been concealing to the boy’s neck.
Izuku protested at the sharp prick of the needle but quickly collapsed in Shouta’s arms.
Hizashi was having a much harder time. He’d approached Hitoshi, frowned at the cuts on the boy’s face, and couldn’t get him to talk. “I know your foster parents mistreat you. I can give you a better home,” he had offered. He thought Hitoshi was going to accept up until the boy got close enough to kick him between the legs and sprint away.
Collecting his shattered soul and pride, he ran after the kid. When he caught up to him, he pulled Hitoshi into his arms to keep him from running out of reach again. The boy bit his hand. Hard. Having experienced worse, Hizashi was able to grit his teeth and bear it while he struggled to get the sedative from his pocket. Before the kid could get loose, a needle was sliding into his neck and the fight left him as he lost consciousness.
“How’d it go?” Shouta asked when they met up at the car. He could make out Izuku, already asleep in the back seat.
“Mine kicked me, ran, and bit me when I caught him,” Hizashi pouted.
“Hopefully they’ll be more understanding when they wake up,” Shouta said, helping him get Hitoshi into the back seat with Izuku. Seatbelts on both kids, of course. They drove back to the apartment, laying the boys in their bed where Himiko was still asleep. They would show the kids their rooms later as a surprise.
They brought in a couple of chairs and waited for their new kids to wake up. Izuku stirred first, stilling when he saw them and the other two kids. Hizashi greeted him, softly reassuring him that he was safe as the boy tried to shake the other two kids awake. He woke Himiko and Hitoshi in that order. Himiko seemed confused while Hitoshi just looked defensive.
“What are we doing here?” Izuku asked, eyes full of worry and fear.
“This is your surprise adoption!” Hizashi exclaimed. “We’re your new parents!”