Chapter Text
Izuku was sat cross-legged on his dad’s couch, gesticulating wildly while his dad nodded along from his spot on the floor, leaning against the couch.
“... and then in heroics with All Might, Mina scared poor Sero and Sato so bad that Sero missed his tape placement and Sato choked on the packet of sugar he was chugging, and then Sero fell onto Sato’s back and they knocked eachother out meaning they automatically lost though All Might managed to bring up their lack of spatial awareness which made me think that-”
The door snuck open.
“Whew, listener. You’ve sure got a pair of lungs on you!”
Izuku froze, and turned to face the door. His eyes lit up and a brilliant smile overtook his face.
“Mic! Midnight-sensei! You’re here!”
Izuku bounded over to them, his dad quickly following- the man was clearly happy to have them here too. Izuku was about to launch himself into a hug with Mic as per tradition before freezing right in front of the man who looked much less traumatised, and somehow felt less familiar than he remembered.
He momentarily cursed himself. Izuku thought that he had already gotten used to being with the past version of his teacher again, aided by the fact that his Mic had been gone for a whole year and a half, but that clearly wasn’t the case.
He felt an ache in his chest.
Which is why when a pair of once-familiar arms encircled him anyway the ache moved up and forced its way out in the form of a long overdue sob.
Now that it wasn’t in a group situation like the hug from the meeting, Izuku could tell that his hugs were exactly the same as they used to be a year and a half ago.
Izuku let himself indulge in the gentle hold for a few long moments before pulling back and sniffing. A much more familiar hand was placed comfortingly on his back.
“Thank you- sorry, just- thank you Mic- I mean, Mic-sensei, sorry for breaking down on you.”
His dad rubbed his back gently while Izuku looked to the side and smiled sheepishly at Midnight. He took a second to process her soft look, not just in terms of facial expression, but her entire outfit.
He’d never seen the true civilian Midnight before.
He finally gathered the courage to look at Mic again, only to be brought to near tears again at Mic’s own soft gaze.
“Don’t mind it at all, listener. You’re more than welcome to come to me and Nemuri for anything, especially now that you’re Shota’s kid. You’re basically family now.”
Before Izuku had the chance to get overwhelmed Midnight jumped in.
“We know that you spent a lot of time with Hizashi in the future. Things might be a little bit different, but you’re one of us now. You can come to us not just as your teachers, but as aunts and uncles, please call me Auntie Nemuri-”
“Nemuri.” Shota huffed and lightly shoved her away, but he was unsuccessful as Mic quickly filled the space she took over and left directly in front of Izuku to second her statement.
“Yeah, listener! None of that sensei nonsense outside of class. Since your Sho’s kid Uncle Hizashi-”
“-and Auntie Nemuri-”
“-is my new name!” He beamed, with Nemuri comically in his personal space. “Unless you’re not comfortable!” He said, still with a smile. He then wagged a finger in Izuku’s face. “But no sensei.”
Nemuri nodded in agreement. “No sensei.” She parroted.
After a moment, Izuku let the tension fall from his shoulders, and gave a sheepish, almost relieved smile to the two.
Then his dad gently moved past him, ruffling his hair as he went, to greet his best friends with a hug in the safety of his own home.
They both accepted with eager smiles.
“I will never get tired of Shota’s hugs.” Nemuri declared as Shota moved on from her to Hizashi.
“Saying things like that everytime I hug you is why you never got them before. And why you don’t get them at work even now.” Shota groused as he pulled away from Hizashi.
Nemuri pouted dramatically, and Hizashi and Izuku couldn’t help but laugh a little.
As they moved back to the couch with their new additions, Nemuri grinned. “So, Green Bean,” Izuku blinked at the nickname, “did you like the room Sho set up for you?”
Izuku dipped his head and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “He told you?”
Both Nemuri and Hizashi barked out laughter, and Izuku turned to his dad in confusion to see the man grumbling lightly under his breath.
“You should have seen All Might’s face when our dear Shouta went up to him asking him to sign a poster!” Nemuri exclaimed.
“He-” Mic wheezed- “He pinched himself like he was in a dream and then nearly fell over when it hurt!”
Nemuri doubled over. “And Shota just stands there, completely deadpan-”
“And then!” Mic struggled to breathe properly. Izuku was almost impressed by how quickly Mic and Midnight had managed to recall a memory and laugh themselves silly. Almost. Mic hadn’t really changed in the End, clearly. “And then Snipe also pinched himself and Snipe did fall and unfortunately took Thirteen down with him and-” Mic laughed himself out of speaking so Midnight took over again.
“Snipe and Thirteen made a loud bang when they fell which startled Powerloader into spilling his piping hot coffee over himself and Vlad so they both hopped around trying to get the hot coffee to cool down and then-”
Izuku stared in comical horror at Mic and Midnight as he heard of the… misfortune that befell nearly all of his teachers some time in the past week. God help them all if the rest of the student body found out that this was what their teachers, pro heroes, were like in supposedly professional work settings.
“-so anyway that’s how the whole UA faculty ended up on the floor while your dad didn’t move a muscle. I don’t think his face even twitched as he stood in the centre of the chaos, it was glorious really.”
Izuku just gaped at Nemuri. She grinned smugly, even though she too had apparently been part of the staff who ended up lying on the floor. “So of course, though none of us are stupid-”
“Debatable.” Groused Shota.
“-we can’t resist getting a reaction out of your typically unemotive old man.”
“Old man.” Shota muttered incredulously as Nemuri steamrolled over him.
“So even though we know who the poster is for, we ask him, we’re like- Eraser~ what’s the signed All Might poster for? And this man gives us the most tired glare I’ve ever seen, and trust me, I’ve seen a lot of them. It was glorious.”
Mic, now recovered, happily finishes off the tale. “Sho did that weird grumble thing he does when he’s grumpy-”
Shota cut Hizashi off with an unintelligible grumble.
“Like that!” he crowed. Izuku let out a little laugh at that. “And finally tells us properly that he’s setting up a permanent room for you.”
Before Izuku could recover from what he just heard, Nemuri finished with a “He was so embarrassed about it, it was so sweet!”
Shota nearly pouted. “I was not embarrassed to have a room for my kid but you all make things bigger deals than what they need to be.”
Hizashi and Nemuri finally calmed down enough to soften a bit.
“It’s just- nice to see you be so sweet Shota.” Nemuri said warmly.
“And it’s nice to see you want to take care of your precious listener!” Mic cooed and gently pulled Izuku’s cheeks in a childish manner. Izuku whined but let him.
“I’m eighteen!”
Hizashi cackled. “Not anymore!”
“Let me squeeze my nephew’s cheeks too!” Nemuri squealed and sped over to give Izuku the same treatment which was received with slightly more grumbling than before.
“I’m still a teenager.” Izuku mentioned petulantly.
“Oh, are you now?” Izuku could hear the smugness in his dad’s voice and gave the man a filthy side-eye. The man clearly took the route of ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’, but Izuku would not let him win.
Izuku turned innocent eyes on to maximum cuteness. “You wouldn’t want me to tell Uncle Hizashi and Auntie Nemuri about what Kurakumo did every time you got grumpy now, would you?”
Hizashi and Nemuri swooned.
Shota’s frame snapped up straight and he levelled a piercing glare at his demon child.
“Don’t even think about it you imp-”
Nemuri intervened. “Awh Shota, Midoriya here’s an angel, he could never do anything wrong.
Shota’s expression narrowed at his child’s faux-innocent gaze. “You’re being manipulative.” He hissed.
“Shota~ I bet Obo- Kurakumo just turned you into the little grumpy storm cloud you are, throwing such wild accusations at my precious nephew.” Hizashi tutted.
Both Shota and Izuku paused, though Hizashi and Nemuri didn’t seem to notice, too distracted by Izuku’s “cuteness”.
Shota kept a more careful eye on Izuku without dropping the lighthearted mood.
Izuku raked discerning eyes over Hizashi, before making a decision.
He nodded faux sagely in response to Hizashi’s previous comment, hoping he would disregard the pause. “Yeah, dad’s just a grumpy storm cloud who won’t make the grey go away unless…”
“It rains cats and not dogs!” Hizashi cackled, and high-fived Izuku.
Nemuri clapped in delight. “I’m loving the wavelength you two are on! Grumpy storm cloud Shota who won’t lighten up unless there’s cats.” She cackled. “I’m using that from now on.”
Shota and Izuku stood as Hizashi and Nemuri’s boisterous chatter tuned out of their awareness.
Suddenly, they were hit with a wave of nostalgia that threatened to drown them in a different time.
The tide threatened the air in their lungs.
The scene in front of them went murky.
A boisterous laugh, slightly warped as though it was filtered. “Now, Shota, don’t be so grumpy in front of your cute little student. Let’s get you wrapped up in a cloud…”
A quiet mutter. “Sensei’s like a storm cloud.”
A slightly too-loud yell. “He’s so gloomy and grey!”
A cheeky nod. “Sensei needs it to rain cats and dogs for the grumpiness to clear up.”
A returning bark of laughter. “Maybe just cats, a rain of dogs wouldn’t help.”
A boyish smile hidden behind a purple fog. “You hear that, Sho? Every time you’re grumpy I’m gonna have to turn you into a storm cloud.”
A bright cheer. “Storm cloud Shota!”
An impish smile. “Don’t worry sensei, Mic and I will find the cats for you while Kurakumo bundles you up.”
A performative voice, once heard on a radio. “We’ll make sure the grumpiness goes away…”
A triumphant call that once rallied fellow students. “By making it rain cats and not dogs!”
A mix of young, loud, and warped laughter echoed with unintelligible grumbles, muffled, submerged.
And then as quickly as it came they were pulled back to the surface, and the present increased in clarity like it had never left.
Nemuri and Hizashi gave them a look of concern.
Nemuri tilted her head. “You two okay? You went oddly quiet just now.”
Shota watched as Izuku searched Hizashi’s face, not even registering Nemuri’s question. Hizashi looked back amiably, questions written on his expression.
Understanding dawned on Izuku’s face. He didn’t move from his spot in front of Hizashi, but turned his head to face his dad.
“Thank you. This… this helped.”
Shota smiled warmly in return. “I hoped it would.”
Izuku’s eye twinkled with a knowing glint, before turning back to Hizashi, and latching onto his torso.
Shota saw Hizashi and Nemuri exchange baffled expressions, before Hizashi turned his attention back to Izuku, accepted his fate with a smile, and returned the hug.
Izuku tightened his grip.
The hug was familiar.