Chapter Text
Inko Midoriya considered herself a good mother. She did her best to provide for and care for her wonderful bundle of joy and ray of sunshine Izuku, even if part of her still feels extreme guilt about how she handled his quirkless diagnosis. She knew that she didn't tell her son what he wanted (NEEDED) to hear but she couldn't bring herself to tell him he could be a Hero without a quirk. Deep down, on some logical level, she knew it was possible but didn't want her baby boy to go through what he would have to in order to achieve it. She would rather keep him safe and help him find a new dream and find friends to grow up happy with before eventually finding a great partner and giving her as many adorable grand babies as possible. Izuku's safety was always her number one concern.
Which is why she was currently livid and standing outside her best friend's home trying to calm down before she started doing anything beyond talking. Several minutes later, anger sufficiently reigned in and breathing evened as much as she thought currently possible, Inko firmly knocked on the front door. She couldn't hold back the exasperated sign and the small upward twitch of her lips as she heard her best friend yelling at someone to get the door. Her small smile was instantly wiped away when she heard a child screaming back to his mother that he would get the door.
Inko forced herself to crush the spike of anger that had ambushed her at the child's voice just in time before the door was yanked open and a small child with spiky blond hair looked at her with a smile and greeted her with his usual "Hey Aunty Inko!"
Fighting every urge to shout at the boy in front of her to never call her that again she managed to respond with a measured "Hello Katsuki, are your parents both home?"
"The old man and the hag are sitting on the couch, working on some new shirt design or something!" Katsuki managed to shout out as he was running back to his room, task evidently considered completed. Normally Inko would have chuckled at the boy's energy buy today it could only annoy her when she realized he couldn't be bothered to invite her in. Briefly stopping to deposit her shoes at the door and slide on her personal slippers the Bakugou family kept at the door for her, Inkoy stepped in and closed the door behind her before making her way to the living room. Rounding the corner of the hallway she was able to see the back of her friend and her husband's heads leaning over the coffee table pouring over a large sketchpad. The blond woman raised her head and on seeing Inko her face split into a familiar slightly feral grin "Inko! Come, come, we were just looking over the sketches for the new fall lineup this year! What brings you over and do you want some tea?"
"Hello Mitsuki. Masaru. Some tea would be great. Preferably something calming as I believe we're going to need it." Inko managed with a genuine but subdued smile. "I'm afraid I didn't come with good news today." The man, Masaru, took a deep breath and moved to the kitchen to pour them all a cup of his favorite tea that always calmed he and his wife and Inko had always enjoyed. Mitsuki quickly put away the designs and the other paperwork, managing to sit down just as her husband was returning with the tea. Both Bakugous focused on Inko for several awkward seconds before Mitsuki broke the silence "What happened? Is this about Izuku? Is he okay?"
Inko took a sip of her tea and gave an appreciative sigh as she reached into her handbag to pull out a small data card. "I have something for you to watch, Katsuki should be here to watch it with us. Izuku is fine, he's resting right now." Relief filled the faces of her two friends before Masaru gained an exasperated look "Katsuki did something again, didn't he?" Inko could only reply with a nod and a curt "Indeed."
A weary sign escaped her best friend's lips followed by a loud "Brat! Get in here!" Fast footsteps sounded as the child in question apeared in the room shouting back his reply "WHAT DO YOU WANT HAG?" Mitsuki didn't get a chance to reply as Katsuki was picked up and placed on the couch between his parents by a very unimpressed father "Sit down Katsuki." The tone in his father's voice froze the boy in place. Dread already starting to settle into the young boy's mind.
Inko nodded in approval as she inserted the data card into the large tv and used the remote to navigate to the only video available before hitting play and sitting back in her chair, leaning forward, and glaring at the screen with her hands clenched tightly in her lap. The three Bakugous began watching with rapt attention but very quickly all three grew incredibly different facial expressions as soon as the camera focused on the playground showing four children, one running from the other three. The picture quality being good enough to clearly make out the faces of all four kids, one being absolutely terrified and the other three sporting what could only be described as sadistic grins. Katsuki and his parents watched on as the on screen Katsuki tackled the child none of them recognized to the ground where he and two of his friends started beating the child. His parent's horrified expressions only got worse when they started hearing the all too familiar popping sounds as the Katsuki on screen started weaving in his explosions between punches. Then they heard him berate the boy by asking if he still thought his quirk was cooler than Katsuki's own.
Inko noticed the two parents begin to round on the child between them and decided to cough to get their attention. "The video isn't over. It gets worse" she muttered with a scowl deepening every second when she and everyone else noticed a boy with unruly green hair run into the frame and place himself between the two sides. "No!" Mitsuki pleaded. "Yes." Inko grumbled as the three adults watched Izuku throw his arms out to shield the fourth child from view.
"Kaachan stop! You've already won, you're making him cry! Why are you being so mean?"
"Shut up stupid Deku! I'm showing this extra his place! He was looking down on me! Saying his quirk was better than mine! Now get out of my way so I can make sure he learns his lesson!"
"N-no Kaachan! I-if you don't s-stop... I-I-I'll have t-to s-stop you m-myself!"
"So the worthless Deku wants to play Hero huh?!! I guess we'll have to remind you of your place too! Stupid! Worthless! Quirkless! Defenseless! DEKU!!!"
The three adults then watched in a combination of horror, disgust, concern, and anger as the Katsuki on screen and his two lackeys brutally beat Izuku for the next ten minutes, screaming obscenities and insults at him the entire time. After what seemed like forever to the adults, the on screen Katsuki got up and told his followers they were done showing this piece of shit loser his place and they walked off screen. The video continued playing, being fast forwarded now by roughly two hours before Izuku began moving again, trying in vain for several minutes to get up, looking around confused before a sad look passed over his face and he stumbled off screen in the direction everyone present recognized as his home.
"I'm leaving this copy with you. I've decided to move Izuku far away from here to try to find him a safe place to learn and grow. I just wanted to make sure you saw what Katsuki did and to tell you that he is not allowed *ANYWHERE* near Izuku in the future if he can't learn to be a better person. If I catch him interacting with Izuku again before he makes significant changes I will be speaking to the police and getting a formal restraining order. I still want to continue speaking with you two as we always have but it will be over the phone and until I feel my son is safe I won't be telling you where we live. Thank you for the tea. Good bye." Inko stood and left the room, putting her shoes back on and leaving the Bakugou residence without looking back.
---------------Three days later-----------------
--Izuku's PoV--
When Izuku could feel himself starting to wake up it was to a strange beeping sound on his left. He tried to open his eyes but found them feeling crusty, like when he slept too long and had the bits of eye gunk but all over his eyes. Reaching up to try to wipe some of the stuff away he felt something like a plastic rope tangled on his right arm, it took some effort but he managed to clear the crusty stuff away enough to open his eyes to see that he was in a strange room with several machines and the plastic rope was actually a tube running from his arm to a bag of something that looked like water hanging on what looked like a metal coat rack. Taking in more of the room he saw a cup and a pitcher of water on the small table to his right which seemed to remind his mouth that it was dry. Just as he was going to try reaching for the cup the door opened and an older woman in a white work uniform that he remembered seeing his school nurse wear so he guessed that she was also a nurse but he didn't get a chance to ask her before she noticed him looking at her and she gave him a reassuring smile "You're awake! That's great, we thought it might take another day or so. Let me go get the doctor and call your mother in okay? I'll just help you get some water first."
At the mention of his mother Izuku perked up, taking the cup from the lady and watching her leave the room again. He barely had time to raise the cup to his lips before his mom burst into the room and ran towards him. Izuku briefly worried that she would knock the cup out of his hands when she would wrap him up in one of her hugs that always made him think that she must have a minor strength quirk when his mom surprised him by stopping mid lunge. The look of confusion and surprise in her eyes was all it took to let Izuku know that she didn't stop herself. Izuku heard a loud sigh and turned his head to see the same nurse from before but the sleeves of her uniform were wrapped around his mother's waist, stopping her from crushing him in the expected hug "Miss Midoriya. I can't let you hurt our patient any more than he already is, nor can I let you rip his IV out with what was clearly an overzealous hug." He heard his mother let out a short squeak before the nurse continued, voice laden with affectionate teasing "Now, I'm going to let you go but you cannot jump on him again and no hugs while I go get the doctor."
Izuku watched his mother make the same face he makes when he gets caught doing something bad and lets out a small giggle, noticing again how dry his mouth and throat are he takes a sip of water while the nurse leaves the room again to find the doctor. He sees his mother reaching forward and running her hand through his hair in what he knows is her way of comforting them both so he leans into the touch while they wait. The door opens and a man walked in wearing something like he remembered the quirk doctor wearing from two years ago so he thinks this is probably the doctor the nice lady talked about. "Hello Miss Midoriya, little Izuku, I am Doctor Tsuchikawa. I was the leading physician in charge of Izuku's treatment during his stay here in Musutafu Pediatric Care and I'm here to check on the little guy now that he's awake to make sure that everything is okay." The doctor spent the next fifteen minutes looking over Izuku and the machines in the room and giving his mom a calming look "Little Izuku is going to be fine. He's going to be bruised for a few days, possibly up to a week and a half, and he's going to have burn marks on him for a while but he'll make a full recovery very soon." Izuku could see his mom's shoulders relax at the news and she thanked the doctor as he left the room. She turned to him and gave him a look that he'd only seen a few times in the past when he'd done something he wasn't supposed to and she wanted answers.
"Izuku, there are several questions I want to ask you but I need to bring in a guest before I do. I'll be right back, sit tight and don't try to get up." He watched his mom walk quickly out of the room and return shortly followed by a tall man with a plain face, short black hair, and kind eyes wearing a long brown trench coat. "Hello Izuku, I am Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, I'm here to have you answer a couple of questions for us about how you ended up here. Don't worry, you aren't in trouble. I've already seen the footage of what happened in the playground, I just need to clarify a few things with you." Izuku began to tremble when he heard the word detective but when the man finished talking he had calmed down a lot "O-okay, I'll t-try to a-answer!" The detective gave him a nod "Excellent. Now I need to know what started that fight with the other four children."
Izuku rapidly rocked his head back and forth and took a deep breath "Kaachan heard Kumitaru-kun say that he had the coolest quirk in the class now and he didn't like that so when school let out he chased Kumitaru-kun to the playground and started hitting him."
The detective nodded again "Why do you think the little Bakugou boy reacted that way?"
"He is always reminding people that he has the coolest quirk in school, the teachers have always said so and they're right! His quirk is super cool and would be really useful as a Hero!"
"The teachers said so?"
"Yes? The teachers have always told Kaachan that he's definitely going to become a top Hero with his super cool flashy quirk. That's what everyone is always telling Kaachan."
"Why does he call you Deku?"
Izuku froze at this question for several seconds and his head jerkily swung towards his mom who looked him in the eye and told him to be honest with the detective. "He calls me that because it means 'Someone who can't do anything' to remind me that I'm useless and can't do anything right." He could see his mom shaking in the chair next to his bed and watched her hands curl into tight balls.
"Do your teachers know what he calls you and why?"
"E-everyone calls m-me Deku. E-even the t-t-teachers." Now he could see the detective's eyes squint and what he could tell was anger played across his face before he could get his expression back to what it was but failing to stop the vein visibly throbbing on his left temple.
"Your teachers tell you that you're useless?"
"Everyone says that I'm a useless quirkless freak."
"Do the other kids bully you too or is it just Bakugou?"
"Kaachan doesn't bully me he's my friend!" He practically screamed his last answer and was breathing heavily now, tears welling at the corner of his eyes just as he could tell he was going to start panicking his mom patted his hand to get his attention "Izuku sweetie, Katsuki is not your friend. Friends don't treat each other the way he treats you. Friends don't hurt each other and not check on you to make sure you're okay. Katsuki is a bully and his parents know about it now." Izuku wanted to defend Kaachan again, he really did, but the look in his mom's eyes was telling him that she wouldn't listen to him try to speak up for his old friend again so he looked back at the detective, intent on getting the rest of the questions over with.
"The other kids all treat me badly. They all say mean things and hit me and use me to practice their quirks. They take my stuff and hide it or break it. They take my lunch and eat it in front of me or throw it in the trash while I watch." This time the detective didn't bother hiding his displeasure, rage and disgust plain on his face.
"Do your teachers ever stop this from happening?"
"No. They ignore it or say that it's good to get practice in early for your quirk so that you can use it better when you're older."
Both adults stood up with what Izuku could only see as horror on their faces, like when he watched that scary movie with Kaachan that one time and had nightmares for weeks after it. His mother began to cry and ask him why he never told her and he started crying too while trying to say that he didn't want to worry her. Detective Tsukauchi paced the room a few times waiting for the crying to stop and when it finally started to die down he handed Izuku a notebook and a pen and asked him to write down in as much detail as possible what has been done to him and by who, paying special attention to what the teachers around him have said and done then he apologized and walked out of the room with his mom to ask her a few more questions.
Izuku had too many thoughts and emotions going through his head right now. He didn't want to get anyone in trouble, he didn't want to cause any trouble, and he really didn't want to make his mom worry... But... He was also tired of the bullying and wanted to hope that maybe things could finally be better. Eyes set in a determined glare normally only reserved for when he is looking for new All Might merchandise, Izuku began to write... and write... and write, providing every detail he could remember of all of the bullying he had received for the last two years after his quirkless diagnosis was revealed to the class by his mean teachers. "I hope this changes something."