Power Of A Quirk (That Used To Fill The Vessel)

by StrayCatRunning

Summary:

Left on a roof on what could arguably be the worst day of his life, Izuku wakes up slowly after blacking out, only to wonder what the heck is going on!

Or:

Making friends is a good part of his new life, as is the total freedom of it but Izuku could do without the loneliness.

Or:

Being called on to rescue a sick child via a note in the shape of a paper plane, underground hero Eraserhead hopes this is going to be easier than it looks!

Notes:

A tiny one shot *sob* just a few pages long, and then this happens!!!

Well, at least everyone gets that happy ever after-ish, thank Nezu, all hail the rat god!

_________________________________

He remembered crying.

 

 

Lying in a cool neutral sort of temperature, Izuku frowned, remembering tears as his one time most revered hero crushed his dreams utterly.

 

"Without a quirk, I see no real way for you to be a hero, but there are other….”

 

"Without a quirk...."

 

"....no real way for you to be a hero...."

 

The same words as always, although delivered with compassion and sympathy rather than sneering and contempt.

 

He’d watched All Might puff up and leap away after patting both bottles now impossibly holding the mass of the villain that tried to drown him....

Totally frozen.

A block of ice in the shape of a boy.

 

What next though?

 

Frowning harder until, ‘Oh, I cried some more. Nooooo surprises there then, leaned on the edge wall, bit stupid, but I was coughing so hard….’

 

'It hurt so much, he was supposed to say yes, even if it was a lie he was supposed to say yes!’

 

Breath speeding up suddenly because he remembered crying, the feeling of sick dizziness surge, blackness sweeping across his vision.

 

Falling.

 

Surely he’d fallen onto the roof.

 

Of course he had, if he'd fallen forwards he’d be dead, ten stories did no one any favor's so he had to be on the roof.

 

The tar-grit roof that, if he just ran his hands across would be rough and….

 

The surface he was on was smooth.

 

Smooth like a path or sidewalk.

 

'Not a roof at all then.’

 

'Maybe I - ' 

 

He didn't even know what he was going to use to finish that inner thought, because maybe he what? Flew down onto the ground? Was carried and set down?

 

Fell and died?

 

But he was alive, he could feel it, and while ghosts and such like did exist, provably and conclusively existed, they were rare, mostly what people picked up on were psychometric residues and imprints embedded into structures.

 

People still didn't know what happened when one died, not without-any-doubts at-all anyway, but something did, which would make him feel a bit better if he wasn't currently lying on a sidewalk somewhere with his eyes closed not remembering fully how he'd gotten there.

 

Opening his eyes with utmost reluctance he studied what he could see, near downtown because every building was tall but not skyscraper tall.

 

Like where he’d landed with All Might.

 

Tilting his head he could see street lights radiating - 'Huh, that's weird.'

 

Each light was making light, but it was like a wave lapping outwards from the bulb, lapping and washing outwards. Where one of his hands was in an area it was hitting it felt silky smooth as it touched him. 

 

Letting the strange light caress his fingers he sat up, no way to know the time but as the street was empty, devoid of life, it had to be late.

 

Taking a deep breath he watched as some of the light wave energy swirled up and was sucked down with his breath and he coughed in panic only to feel no pain.

 

It felt good.

 

Like a cold drink on a hot day.

 

Without realizing it he pulled his knees tight to his chest and started rocking slightly as the weirdness of everything suddenly crashed down onto him.

 

The light started it but it was the cat that tipped him over the edge, sauntering along, looking like a cat but it had energy or flames or something streaming off it, like heat waves maybe but more solid, and it turned to stare at him and then hissssssed as it fled.

 

That was all it took to set the tears loose, and he scootched back away from the still lapping light until his back was touching the wall, and he pressed harder against it.

 

He fell through.

 

Yelping he scrambled to his feet and back to the street, the wall feeling solid, yet shivery under his hand when he reached out to touch it again, cobwebs and stone, a duality he didn't have any way to explain even to himself and he cried harder because he didn't know where he was!

 

He wanted to go home!

 

Crouching down he cried harder, fingers tangled into his hair, wails muffled against his knees, and closed his eyes tight.

 

Maybe when he opened them again it would all have been a dream, a nightmare.

 

He didn't feel it as he slid away into darkness again.

This time he woke up warm, all of him, warm right through, and he stretched as he listened to the cacophony of a street in the morning and opened his eyes right as a foot came down, straight through his face.

 

Screaming he recoiled, scrambling for the wall nearest him, no one seeming to see him, walking right through him, curses and flinches from them but he....

 

It hurt!

 

But.

 

It was like the wall.

 

Solid and not.

 

It hurt and didn't.

 

This time he backed into the wall, leaving only his face still poking out as he watched the crowd moving past.

 

He felt stronger now, so big a difference he only just realized how bad he’d felt before.

 

How tired.

 

But his mouth, his throat, so dry.

 

Remembering the light from the streetlamps he slowly reached out into the near liquid blaze all the people were just walking through as if it was normal and scooped a handful of the.... 

 

Energy? Power? light?

 

Looking at it he frowned, "How can I hold light?"

 

But he was, holding it like he’d cup water in his hands, and it too dripped through his fingers like water and, with a shrug, he drank it like water too.

 

Soothing, warm, it eased the dry as dust feeling in his mouth, so he scooped more, and drank until he felt no pain at all, till he felt refreshed like he'd had a tall glass of water and six shots of espresso.

 

Firmly ignoring the memory of how exactly he knew what six shots of espresso felt like, he giggled, cause he felt good now.

 

The entire world was weird and scary and frightening and sickeningly strange and a razor's edge of panic nestled right against his heart but, if he didn't look at all that and instead only looked at the good bit, well….

 

He had a quirk.

 

Seemed to be stuck in it even, but there were people who could help with that, all he had to do was get home, his mom would…. would…..

 

Well, she wasn't great but surely she’d help?

 

Nodding because of course she’d help, she was his mother and HAD to help!

 

He just had to get home.

 

Easy!

 

 

'Okay, not so easy!’

 

His phone was gone.

 

So was his bag.

 

He had no idea what street he was on, despite having a name on a sign over his head from where he'd managed to get to a corner, sliding through the solid not solid walls to keep out of everyone's way, because the name was unfamiliar.

 

Still dressed in his ragged uniform, burns and slime and nastiness but, he frowned, looking closer at his hand, translucent in a way, shimmering like the waves of light that filled the air with solid power, hand not see through yet not solid either, and he suddenly wondered!

 

Closing his eyes he remembered his favorite hoodie, Hawks, black with little red wings on the back, paired with his faded gray joggers, like wearing pure comfort, feeling how it all should be, clean from a shower, hair still damp, all the cares of the day washed away and clothes so soft and worn it was like wearing a hug.

 

Holding that feeling tight he slowly opened his eyes and....

 

Touching it, his hair was slightly damp. Sniffing his skin it smelt like his favorite strawberry soap, and he was wearing….

 

Rubbing worn cotton between his fingers he was wearing his hoodie, his comfortable jogging shoes on his feet because he always paired these clothes with these shoes so while he'd not even thought about his feet….

 

His shoes were there anyway!

 

"Tired, I’m so tired."

 

Leaning on the solid not solid wall nearest him he waited to see if his first state of being would return but no, watching the bank clock across the busy road as it ticked over the minutes, thirty of them snailed past and he was still clean, still dressed in comfort, but his hair did dry. Ruffling in the wind that tugged and teased at him.

 

And wind was a trip and a half! He lost himself watching it as it moved, he was starting to figure out different kinds of power that he could see and wind was, he ran out of words for the sheer power of it.

 

Yet it moved without effort, heaving and surging as it blew past, moving through the sun power like -

 

He didn't have words, language failed him utterly at describing what he was watching!

 

Simply staring at it all he reached out, fingers trembling as he caught some of it, wind power held in his hands, he almost giggled as he drank it down, different to light, much colder, fresher, almost wild as it fizzed down his throat.

 

Shivering violently suddenly as he tried to keep from crying again because, while the power drink made him feel better, no one on the busy street had even looked at him.

 

Not one.

 

He was afraid to call out, so instead he started walking, aiming down-hill because all he had to do was reach one single known landmark and he’d be golden.

 

Instead he found a street map, a big brown stand set out for tourists and he looked at it with relief, the bright red You Are Here arrow letting him find himself and he set off at a slow jog, he was only three miles from home, an easy run when he usually did five.

 

Taking sips of wind, sometimes from the sun, he felt great as he ran, energy ruffling his hair like a breeze, and he only slowed when he reached his home building.

 

Not great, not bad, old but cared for, his apartment block so familiar, the main lobby door of his building was a brief hurdle cause he didn't have his key card so, as no one had even looked his way, he pushed through the door, resisting the urge to brush himself down at the feeling and the lobby staff didn't look either so he slid past and up the stairs.

 

It was a long climb, and he found that the power from the lights was dull, flavorless, and while it kept him going it wasn't like what he’d been getting outside.

 

But that was okay, it was enough for him to get to his own door, to pause, and to finally push inside.

 

 

Home.

 

Trapped in a quirk it was an utter relief to get home at last and he kicked his shoes off, not noticing when they faded away behind him as he padded  into the living room in bare toes only to jerk to a halt.

 

The room had something new in it.

 

Moving closer he pressed both hands across his mouth to stop any noise because.

 

It was a shrine.

 

A shrine for him.

 

Dead.

 

When he was born, when he died, neatly carved onto wood, pictures of him too, and flowers.

 

A pretty green urn, small, neatly sealed.

 

He was dead.

 

How was he dead?

 

Eyes skipping across papers on the table and pictures on the wall he moved soundlessly to his room, only to jerk back in hurt.

 

It wasn't his room, everything was gone, but it was still a room, all pink and unicorns and frilly and….

 

Had someone else moved in? A new family maybe?

 

Going back to the living room expecting in a way to find it as different as his bedroom had been but no, it was all mostly the same as it should be but there were new pictures on the wall, he’d seen them but now, focusing properly he counted three of them, and in each one there was his mother, his father, and a little girl.

 

And then something that had been nagging at him finally got his attention at last, a date on a page on the table and the green leaves on the trees.

 

Summer.

 

But it’d been winter when he'd grabbed All Might's leg.

 

And the date he’d spotted on the bill on the table confirmed it.

 

Six months.

 

“But it was just yesterday I fell!”

 

Clearly not if he believed the evidence of his eyes.

 

He’d been dead for six months and his father had come home and they’d gotten a little girl to replace him with.

 

Without any thought at all he crawled under the bed that wasn't his anymore and curled up and sobbed.

 

Fading out it was an unknown time later when sounds brought him back, a happy little song, clearly being made up as she went along, and Izuku crawled out from under the bed and almost fell through the floor when the  little girl cocked her head and asked, “Wo’re ‘ou?”

 

Four maybe, or five or three, Izuku really didn't know, but someone who could clearly see him, and he only didn't cry with a solid effort as he whispered Izuku, “I’m Izuku.”

 

“Oh, ’m Tenna, i’s nice meetcha!”

 

“That was a nice song, you sound happy?”

 

She’d gone back to her little wooden carved horses and she nodded, “Mmmmhmmmmm i’s best here” - Izuku was guessing closer to four now, maybe even three - “Mamma n Pappa saveded me, no b’dy likeded me at a home so now I’m here!”

 

She almost chirped the final words and the door opened and Izuku’s mamma was there, smiling at the little girl, asking “Who’re you talking to sweetheart, your horses?”

 

“Uhuh, mmmmtalkn to…” but Izuku was shaking his head hard at her, pointing frantically at the black horse and she hesitantly nodded at his mother who scooped the little girl up and carried her from the room with the happy words, “It’s lunch time!”

 

The girl could see him, his mother couldn't.

 

Following behind, keeping out of sight of the tiny person who he was pretty sure was called Tenna, Izuku tucked himself into the kitchen corner and simply watched.

 

Trying to put his emotions away he smiled at her cheer when a plate was set for her, and her squeal at a cup of juice, she was clearly a happy little thing, if they had to replace him with anyone, she seemed to be a better kid for them than he’d been.

 

Why could she see him though?

 

Looking closer at her now he could see the tiny black ears poking through her fluffy hair.

 

Short hair, well, long fur/short hair.  And now he was paying attention the tail was a dead giveaway, black stripped with rings of gray.

 

Cat mutation.

 

Clear as day, and the street cat had seen him, hissed at him even, so, not everyone was blind to his presence.

 

Wandering the apartment again as she munched and his mamma chatted, looking now for clues, his father clearly had come home when Izuku died, or maybe died, cause this was like no ghost shit he'd ever heard about.

 

So, maybe when his body died?

 

Could his body die and not him too?

 

Pushing that aside he looked at his mamma’s room, filled now with the presence of a man he’d not seen since he was five, not talked to for years, three at least.

 

Swallowing down the building knot of emotions he moved out of the bedroom, and went back to the little girls room, it might not be his anymore but it still felt comfortable, safe.

 

Sitting down he lifted one of the horses and examined it. Expensive. Hand carved toys always were, and she had - he counted - twelve of them, and a stable and fence pieces too, even a few bales of hay, all lovingly carved and painted.

 

Had they bought them though? There was no maker's mark, or artists signature, and now he thought of it…. setting the beautiful thing down he went into his mothers craft room, only to find it had something new, an artists bench, a half carved horse carefully clamped in place, and his mother might sew but not.

 

Not this.

 

So his father then.

 

And if the man was skilled enough to make amazing and beautiful things for his new daughter.

 

The emotions got stronger, choking him now.

 

Because if the man could do this now, he could have…..

 

Could have done it all along, even if he wasn’t home, he still could have done something.

 

Izuku was back under the bed now, curled up after crying so hard his entire body hurt from it, and someone was crooning to him, and he looked into deep yellow eyes and a deeply worried little face all scrunched up with tears of her own dripping down and he couldn't help it, he reached out and gathered her close, shushing her as she curled into his chest.

 

Hiding under the bed they clung and cried, a lost boy and the little girl who’d replaced him in his parents' lives.

 

They talked then, when they calmed down, he told her about heroes, she told him about being rescued by one, he told her all about the one who’d rescued her because who wouldn't recognize Present Mic from that description, and she told him how good his hug was when he saved her.

 

He told her about All Might, leaving out all the bad bits, she told him about meeting her new mamma and pappa, he told her about how the world looked now it was both solid and energy, and she yawned.

 

He helped her out from under the bed, tucked her into it, and told her all about how good her new life was going to be, how he loved she was going to have it, how he knew she was going to have the best time ever learning all about the world and how he might pop back in and check on her from time to time and then, tears pouring silently down his face he watched her sleep.

 

When his mother came in to check on her, his father, a total stranger to him, lent against the door frame and smiled softly. Izuku got up and left, there was no space here now for him.

 

He'd always felt like the wrong kid for the life he was living and now it was proven, and they had the right one now, so it was better he just left them to it.

Leaning on the wall outside Izuku drank deeply of the wind, then he scooped fistfuls and scrubbed his face with it, skin tingling from the friction and the one thing he was letting himself focus on was the tiny lovingly carved bay horse he’d been examining.

 

Lifted as he looked at it.

 

How he’d rubbed his fingers across the beautifully sanded haunches, the braided mane, how slick it felt to his fingers.

 

Energy and solid.

 

He’d held it.

 

Lifted it.

 

Ghosts could NOT do that!

 

Poltergeists could but it took a specific set of circumstances to make a poltergeist and they didn't gently lift anything, they threw and tossed and smashed and were filled with rage.

 

Not sadness.

 

'So maybe dead, but not a poltergeist.'

 

Replaced, his father came back for a little girl, not for him….

 

Shoving that aside he reached down and picked up a leaf, twirling it in his fingers, slippery with energy, solid yet not.

 

Ghosts couldn't do this!

 

Letting it fall he wandered off, this was not his home anymore, he didn’t know what to do with that fact but he held it away from his heart and let his feet soundlessly take him where they would.

 

Gathering clouds overhead, thunderheads, an afternoon thunderstorm clearly only an hour or so away, he ignored it as he pondered.

 

Picking a blade of grass, he plucked another and another, and watched a man passing look at them as, to the strangers eyes, the grass simply hovered in the air and they frowned and took a step closer so Izuku dropped them and ran, quirk use was…. 

 

Was….

He didn't have a quirk!

 

Quirkless, it was why his father left, oh they said it was for a job but….

 

“I wonder what her quirk is, cause she for sure has one!”

 

Pushing the tangled knot of jealousy, hurt, betrayal away cause the little girl didn’t deserve it aimed at her, shoving his fear for himself aside again he looked at the park, felt the wind picking up as the storm front hit, feeling them buffet him as he watched them heaving past in indescribable waves of power.

 

‘Can I fly?’ He suddenly wondered.

 

Resolving to try it later when it wasn’t about to storm like a mofo, he focused again on ghosts and what little he knew, and on quirks of which he knew loads!

 

Six months.

 

He’d died six months ago, and only what, woke up? Yesterday? So he’d been lost, or maybe powerless, for six months.

 

Where he’d died, lying on the path at the base of the wall.

 

A faint feeling of wanting to apologize to whoever had to deal with the mess he’d made when he fell he stopped firmly. Whoever did deal with it was probably used to the job and anyway, it didn’t matter because a ghost, a proper and provable ghost, formed in a familiar place to the once living person, or near a triggering object, not where someone just randomly died!

 

Especially as his death was an accident, he'd fallen, not jumped.

 

He could have just as easily landed on the roof when he passed out, but instead he’d been looking down, leaning over to brace his hands on the wall as he coughed, and fallen forwards not back.

 

And died.

 

But he was still here.

 

Quirks.

 

So many quirks existed, yet he'd been quirkless.

 

But what if he wasn't.

 

What if he had an ENERGY quirk, mental maybe, like, oh, astral projection, he knew of several people with that kind of quirk, and it was always so hard to find the activation of some of them, and even harder to prove, "Ooooooooh."

 

A long pained noise as he finally figured it out.

 

He wasn't a ghost, he was a quirk!

 

A quirk without a body, existing on the ambient energy of the world.

 

He made it into an alley before he broke, curled tight and sobbing again, how many times he wondered, how many times was he gonna cry like this but he let that thought go and simply held on and let the waves of heart rending agony crash through him. Thrown away, he’d had a quirk all along and now he was dead and gone and just a quirk himself, no home, no family, no one to ever….

 

To ever….

 

Giving up, he let darkness take him, it was all just too much!

Waking in an alley to hammering rain, lightning slashed with a crashing boom across the sky, Izuku sobbed a few times as he scraped himself up, if he'd been a real ghost then maybe he'd be able to escape the waking nightmare his life now was but nooooooo, he had to be a quirk without a body, to be the stupidest possible thing he could imagine.

 

Useless, no body, no purpose, no home, no friends, no family, nothing.

 

He didn't even know any way to kill himself.

 

That thought brought him up sharp, a slicing pain through his heart, he didn't want to die!

 

But what else was there?

 

Wandering alone, energy dripping in cold rivulets down his skin, still wearing his favorite hoodie, it wasn't wet but he was. How? 

 

He held out a hand, not wet really but the feeling reminded him of wetness, shimmering energy coated his hands, now cupped to catch the stuff filled them. How was everything so strange?

 

Letting it go with a soundless splash he went on, no destination in mind so he watched people rushing to get out of the rain.

Watched another bolt of power split the sky, watched as a shower of something rained down, caught some of it and on impulse, because each different source of energy he’d tasted had been different and nice so he sucked down a big mouthful and yelped, “SPICY, ow Ow OW!”

And he was laughing as he danced and fanned his mouth, laughing like the time he’d tried a hot pepper, how it hurt but was so funny, cause he knew what lightning tasted like now, and how many other people in the entire world knew that?

 

Ignoring how he was crying again he moved on, watched a dog be dragged away by a jogger, the dog could see him, the man didn't.

 

“Tenna, is she my sister? Should I have her tell them….”

 

“No! No, they never wanted me anyway, and like this? A freakish useless reject without even a body?”

 

“No one’ll ever want me, not now.”

 

A harsh broken laugh, “Unless it's for science, I bet a quirk lab would love to get their hands on me!”

 

Somberly pronouncing, “Note to self, stay the fuck away from labs!” he gave a broken giggle and moved on, wandering deeper into the park his feet had found, taking sips of rain power, ducking under trees to avoid the spicy power of lightning. “I wonder if I have to eat anything, or if because I seem to be energy based all I have to do is eat the power all around me? I always knew things like wind had power and oh WOW!”

 

He’d come across a tiny bridge, under it flowed a tiny, faintly muddy stream, he could see the solidness of the people world but in his new world the power it was radiating!

It swirled, crystal clear and mesmerizing, and he couldn't help it, he reached out to taste it, and it was hot, and it clung to his hands and tried to pull him with it, tugging and pushing at his hands now buried deep into the electric amazingness.

 

Smiling he drank deep, it warmed him, right down to his toes, and why rain was cold and this water warm, he didn't know, but it was better than hot chocolate which he supposed he'd never have again really, and on that depressing thought he pulled free (wondering why it took so much force to get loose) of the stream and slogged on, no longer tired but still so sad.

 

He didn't need a home base, but he found one anyway.

 

A library, under the stairs.

 

But it was a big library, not like his little local one, and the stairs were all geometric and stupid, each flight carved like wings or something all poetic but, because of the shape, each level, all twenty-one of them, had a hollow space under the steps, a tiny room almost, invisible from any angle, so he tucked himself in one of them the instant he found it, because he’d been walking for days now, and his heart was tired, and what better place than a library to haunt.

 

Cause even if he wasn't a ghost, he could still haunt a place!

 

 

 

It took a few weeks but he worked out a system, because he couldn't use the computers during the day because while he was haunting the library, he seriously did not need an actual expert to come try and get rid of him!

 

He could use them at night which was great, he almost felt real at night as he scrolled through all sorts of things he'd never been allowed to look at before, but he was lonely! So he wandered the city when the sun shone, drinking in the power of it, feeling a bit like a plant, and watched people, following interesting ones for miles sometimes.

 

Counting them too, spotting the ones who could see him. About one in a hundred was his best guess, and those ones taught him how to hide, to evade notice, because he knew there was no help for someone like him. How could there be? Why would there be? There were so many other kids out there, amazing kids, good kids needing homes, no one would want something like him!

 

He learned to steal small things, like cat treats, he could carry them with no problems - had practiced, tested, could even lift something about twenty five kilos for a few minutes but the power it took drained him, left him panting on the ground, mouth open to suck in sunlight.

But he could not bring anything with him when he pushed through a wall. People though didn't look at their feet, so if he carried small things right down by the floor, he could just take them out of the store.

 

And yes, he shouldn't steal, but cats saw him, and now he’d been interacting with a few of them for a few weeks, one of them was letting him get almost close enough to pet her.

 

Of course she still hissed, like they all did, but they saw him and that was enough.

 

Dogs went nuts, and their owners yelled at them, so he avoided dogs.

 

And the one time he went into a pet store he almost had a heart attack along with all the animals so yeah, not doing that again, but!

 

He strolled along in his new favorite place.Fish now, fish were ultra cool!

 

Looking in the big big tanks, the aquarium was quiet and peaceful and he could get in any time he wanted too.

 

Quiet enough of a weekday to let him move without getting walked through, cause it still didn't hurt per say but it was awful all the same.

 

Staring at the wall of glass holding back tons of water, he suddenly wondered, ‘Am I breathing?’

 

Pressing a hand to his chest it was going up and down, and he could feel puffs as he held a finger under his nose, but he didn't have a body.

 

Or lungs.

 

So, breathing or not, could he drown?

 

Easing a hand through the glass into the water behind it, his third time here and he felt silly to only just think to try this, he edged closer and closer, finally ducking his head in and.

 

Was holding his breath.

 

Jerking back with difficulty he laughed at himself, cause how stupid, and the next time he tried he was a bit braver and took a tiny breath, ready to jump back if he coughed or it felt bad.

 

It was thicker than air in a weird way as he gave a tentative inhale but didn't hurt.

 

And he took a deeper breath, and it still worked.

 

It took several hours to get comfortable enough to forget he was breathing water rather than air, for it to be just normal.

And it was still weird how hard it was to pull out of each tank, like a force field or something but he smiled as he looked at a tiny seahorse looking back at him, and he waved at the crow headed boy who was gaping at him, clearly one of the few who could see him, and wandered on, not noticing the shadow thing trying to reach him, because he hadn't seen the sharks yet today.

 

The crow kid found him again, and was banging on the glass, and Izuku frowned and gestured *WHAT?* At him, or them he guessed, and got a sharp *Come HERE, please please please come here being of light and darkness!*

 

A field trip, clearly because the kids teacher and the rest of the class found him then, and the woman was clearly giving out to them for running off.

Feeling bad he got them in trouble he got close enough to almost touch, but he left the glass between the kid and his quirk, because while the quirk was banging and flailing at the glass in excitement, it couldn't seem to reach him. *You can see me?*

 

A double nod, both of them, and Izuku grinned, because it was scary to talk to anyone at this point other than online where he'd been slowly joining a few forums just to take the edge of loneliness off, but this was real life.

 

*Can you come out and talk to us?*

 

*Will you get in more trouble?*

 

How a beak could grin like a devil Izuku didn't know but the crow kid clutched his stomach, yelled "I need the loo!” at the teacher, and ran for it with Izuku following him from behind the glass of several tanks.

 

Standing in a public toilet in a minor aquarium, Izuku stared at, and was stared at in return, by two people.

 

The awkwardness finally got to him and he asked, “Can you hear me?”

 

“Yes" "No”

 

The words overlapped, the boy couldn't the shadow could.

 

“Huh, weird.”

 

Glad he’d taken sign language in school, a globally required class, he signed, “I wonder why.” as he said it aloud as well.

 

“Don't know, Fumi can’t hear you.” the shadow lent closer, “Touch please?”

 

Reaching hesitant fingers, Izuku put his hand out and the shadow pressed into it, and crooned with pleasure as he rubbed behind its ears, and it was real.

 

Like energy yet more solid, made of power maybe. “How do you speak?”

 

It tried to explain, and Izuku tried to understand, and by the time five kids came to drag his new friend away, Izuku could speak and be heard, although he had to yell and the one listening had to be very focused.

 

But he'd get better, he knew it.

 

 

Fumi knew his library, and Shadow hadn't gotten them banned from it like their local, so promised to come visit.

 

Izuku didn't believe him but the very next day, before it got too busy and ran him out, there they were, Shadow yelling “ZOOOOOOOOOO!” while poor Fumi tried to make her be quiet.

 

Laughing in shock and joy, Izuku ran up the stairs and yelled, “Here I am, I’m HERE!!!”

 

They got so many looks as they ran to the nearest park, but it was worth it. He showed Shadow how to catch sunlight to drink, and he learned how to be louder. By the end of the day Fumi insisted he was as loud as a regular person and gave him their address.

 

“I know creatures of darkness and light live in places like libraries but they also need friends, as do we, so come visit us.”

 

“No one will see you, the eyes of vision do not reside in my parentals.” - “No, more like the judgment of assholes does!” - and Fumi’s squawk at Shadows' words had Izuku doubled up as peal after peal of laughter rolled away from them all now laughing with him.

“Yeah, the judgment of assholes lived at my house too, and my old school, but this was almost worth dying for, I’ve never had a friend before, never mind two!”

 

He wondered at the sadness in Fumi’s face and how Shadow draped herself across his shoulders but they all perked up when he promised he’d come visit them tomorrow, he wanted to check on someone today and then he had so much work to do tonight on line cause he'd just found an online course he wanted to take but tomorrow would be amazing!

 

They agreed, and the remainder of their time sped past.

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Tenna had a new horse, five new story books, and a pink sparkly blanket when Izuku slipped in to check on her.

 

(Almost as if they were trying to wash away guilt with gifts, he thought sadly, or buy her love.)

 

Leaning on the wall he listened to his former parents tell her bedtime stories, holding his finger to his lips when she looked at him.

 

He was sure now they’d be good for her, and once they left the room she opened a slitted eye, and peeked at him as he smiled, tiny little fangs gleaming in the low light as she shyly smiled back.

 

“Izuzu?”

 

“Close enough Tenna. How you doing?”

 

A huge yawn and she mumbled “G’d, do’in g’d.”

 

He smiled at how sweet she was, and gave her a kiss on the fur beside her ear and said, “I’m glad, I'm so glad.”

 

 

 

Leaving was so hard, he'd sat beside her for hours, but he wasn't gonna come back again, his sister had a good family, and he’d seen her quirk, it was very like his used-to-be mothers. The slightly ragged cuddle toy had fallen and Tenna'd pulled it back to her with it, so she had a family and a quirk and was as safe as it was possible to be.

 

Leaving her a drawing he’d made as he watched her sleep, of himself petting a small herd of cats and the words “No such thing as too many kitties!” and he firmly ignored how sad he was as he left.

 

Not turning around he simply walked away, the dream of going home totally dead now. 

 

Just like him.

 

He saw several heroes that night as he wandered.

 

Careful not to be spotted, because some of them could see him! Night adapted mutations tended to lean into underground and night time heroics, he wasn't sure if it was quirks or mutations or training or what but it was easy enough to hide when he caught someone's eye.All he had to do was step into the nearest building, or tree, once even into the ground although that had been really hard.

 

After he’d managed it though he practiced it lots because the ground was always there, a refuge indeed.

 

And now he was standing outside a tiny house, crammed cheek by jowl with all the others in the area, and from it…. 

 

Running in because someone was yelling awful awful things!

 

And Fumi and Shadow were cowering away from the rage being spewed all over them!

Shadow was draped protectively around Fumi and hissing at the man yelling at them both, a woman with a mean face watching and, without hesitation, Izuku picked up a mug and smashed it against the wall beside her.

 

It was followed by every plate he could grab to throw at both of them, driving them away from his friends and then with a sweep of his arms everything from the counter smashed onto the floor by which time all four of the room's previous inhabitants were staring at the destruction from the other side of the open door, although only two of them could see what was causing it.

 

See him as he gestured *Poltergeist* and the gleeful understanding had Shadow screaming “GHOST!!!”

 

And Fumi intoning “Clearly a being of darkness inhabits this space! NOT Shadow because she is here, see, you can NOT blame her for this!”

 

A few more items broke and Izuku obeyed the tiny word his friend gestured at him, *Outside* and left the destruction behind as they ran.

 

His friends were only a few seconds behind him because he could go through the wall and they ran, laughing wildly at how it had worked!

 

 

“Are they always like that?”

 

“Yes" "No”

 

Rolling his eyes, Izuku pointed at Shadow and said, “You said yes, so tell me everything.”

 

It wasn't quite as bad as he’d expected but it was bad enough, while they might not hit, their words hurt worse than blows anyway, and Izuku held Fumi as he cried, Shadow draped across them both.

 

 

Wandering alone that night Izuku found himself once again standing under the moon, looking at his one time dream.

 

Not his dream now, he was as dead as his dream was. If he couldn’t be a hero quirkless, how the fuck was he gonna do it bodyless?

 

But he knew someone who needed a hero, needed one badly, and hesitantly he did what he swore he'd never do, he trespassed on UA property.

 

A tiny plan, but he needed a certain room to pull it off, and surely someone would spot him, even so late and everything dark, security should see him, right?

 

Wrong.

 

Energy showed here and there, bright spots of color, and he studied each one for a time, working out how the security system worked. Enough anyway to avoid triggering it, being able to simply walk through walls was a serious help on that one!

 

He’d found the room he needed eventually, a helpful sign pointing the way and everything, and in the dark light of his new vision he found a blank piece of paper and lifted a pen.

 

He’d made sure to drink lots of moonlight just to be nice and strong, and he wrote carefully, a name, address, and who needed help there.

 

Keeping it super simple he finished with a request to not tell anyone how the tip came to be and he set the pen down, and backed away from the desk.

 

Feeling more and more like a trespasser he sighed and left. Maybe he’d come back and explore one day soon, nice and late like now.  A woeful chuckle at the idea of sneaking in to watch hero classes and he was gone.

 

 

Looking down at a note only a child could write, Nezu pondered.

 

He’d already set in motion an investigation into the life of the ones help was being begged for, but that left the note writer.

 

NOT the shadow child, she was tethered to her twin, had nowhere near the range to reach his school, never mind his office.

 

So another child needing help yet he couldn't very well ask lest fear drive the children away.

 

But he could set the twins up with a new and SAFE foster placement, and simply watch and see.

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Fumi’s new place was amazing, and even better was his sister finally being called a person, she had a new name and everything, although she still let Izuku call her Shadow cause that was how they met.

 

Voice high and squeaky with shock, Izuku asked, “A UA TEACHER?”

 

Getting an equally excited “YES!” they all laughed in relief, and Fumi told Izuku all about it, not one of them spotting the watcher.

 

One who saw two children, yet heard three!

 

A soft smile at hearing herself described by her new kidlings, one of UAs lesser known teachers smiled and retreated. She needed to let Nezu know he was right, her new kids had an invisible friend.

 

 

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Following heroes was getting easier, it was early winter and he’d been doing it for months now.

 

He was very careful at Fumi’s new house. Simply from the questions alone they all knew the adults knew about Izuku, something about him anyway and he didn't want to end up in a lab somewhere or anything scary like that so he wasn't going there very much now.

 

They did still meet up at the library, and the park near their new home, and watching them training now was so much fun, their new parents were amazing, a trio of undergrounders, one retired into teaching and the other two still active, all of them helping his friends train for the entrance exam in a few years time.

 

Tonight Izuku was following one of them, a tall thin man with a lovely shadow manipulation quirk, he was soooo nice, told the best stories! Izuku sometimes hid in the walls and listened before setting out to wander the city.

 

‘Oh, shit, where’d he go?’

 

Realizing he’d lost his target Izuku stamped his foot in frustration, kicked a bit of trash for good measure and took three steps more as a sharp yell sounded, splitting the quiet of the night wide open. “Everybody FREEZE! Heroes! Get down on the ground!” and then, nothing.

 

Nothing for a long time.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Blinking slow eyes he took a deep breath and looked at the sky.

 

Ignoring feet walking through him and tried in a very muddled way to figure out what’d happened.

 

Yelling in the dark, a hero, oh, he must have wandered into a hero bust, and been….

 

‘Erased, I was erased.’

 

‘How am I still alive?’

 

Fumi’s parent was meeting Eraserhead, it was why Izuku was following the man, he’d never even seen Eraserhead, was a huge fan but…

 

Erased.

 

'But with no body how did I….'

 

'Why…'

 

'How? How how HOW?'

 

Sitting up he took deep gulps of what little sunlight there was, weak and shivery, getting up out of the slushy muck and stumbling for the library, his nest was one of his only comforts in life, he needed it!

 

Curled tight, clutching his single soft toy, a cat dragged out of a gutter, blankets he’d stolen off of drying lines that he’d managed one by one to drag into place. So hard, he’d lost loads of them to helpful people just picking them up and throwing them away as he moved them a bit at a time to his hideaway.

Thinking hard he tried to understand, finally giving it up and just being glad he was still here.

 

Of course when he logged on to his email account to find dozens of messages and saw the date…..

 

Six weeks, it’d taken him six weeks to come back from being erased.

 

A frightened sob as he resolved to avoid Eraserhead for fucking ever!

 

 

He’d sent a single message that said he was okay and then shut the computer down, it was daylight after all, people were there to see the computer working without anyone at it, and left.

 

Signs of spring could be seen, despite the ice on the puddles, and eventually he was looking out over grey and storm tossed waters.

 

The ocean was so powerful he usually stayed well away and even now he was a clear half mile back, up on a bluff. Close enough to hear and see and smell but not to get caught by its vast and heaving energy.

 

It renewed him in a way, something so big, so vast, so indifferent to his very existence, yet so filled with light and life.

 

Watching it for hours it soothed the hurt bit inside him and eventually he turned away, returning to the library.

 

Or rather, he'd planned to return to the library, instead he'd heard a tiny sound, and followed that instead, and found a kid feeding cats.

 

Another cat mutation, they were surprisingly common. Animal mutations were a dime a dozen really, and Izuku kept a wary eye out cause at least half of them could see him, so he snuck up carefully to listen cause it was late, like, so late!

He’d seen the tide go out and the moon rise he’d watched the ocean so long, and the kid sounded like crap as he crooned and chatted to the mewing cats.

 

He looked like crap too when Izuku finally caught sight of him, crouched down, talking softly to a half dozen or so cats that immediately turned and looked at Izuku when he took a step too far and was in sight, and of course the kid did too, springing back with a hiss and claws out, splinted tail poofing and ears laying flat as he hissed again!

 

Jumping back Izuku said the first thing that fell out of his mouth, “You look like crap!”

 

Pausing with his mouth open at how stupid he’d just been, he slowly raised his hands in a placating gesture. “I'm really sorry, I’ll just, like, go now….”

 

“Wait.”

 

Fighting tears cause how was he still so stupid as to insult the first person he’d talked to in forever that wasn't Fumi or Shadow, Izuku paused. “I may look like crap but you look like shit!”

 

Blinking in surprise, Izuku asked, “Really?”

 

“Yeah, all dim glow-stick shit, what's wrong with you?”

 

Looking down at hands that shook slightly, and were more transparent now than translucent, Izuku replied,” Well, I died, and then I Think I did it again, but it was an accident.”

 

“Both times?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Right, come with me.” And the kid was off. Despite the injured tail he was all lythe grace and totally silent as he moved out of the alley.

 

Following with curiosity, Izuku took time in each patch of moonlight they traveled through to catch fistfulls of energy streaming down.

He liked moonlight, smiled each time he drank, and felt better when they got to a tree, huge, in a park that was all neglected brush, busted play equipment and trash.

 

The kid easily climbed one of the buttresses of the vast trunk, and Izuku smiled as he pushed into the wood itself, and swam upwards.

 

The cramped open space he eventually reached was a surprise, as was the tangled nest of blankets and cuddly toys, non perishable food filling every spare space, with a textbook or two and a few art supplies scattered about.

 

A tiny crack well covered with nailed up scraps of fabric and the kid crawled in, blinking to see Izuku already there, and once in his bed the kid just stared at Izuku.

 

Finally, not able to stand it any more, Izuku opened his mouth only to get, “My names Hitoshi, no family name.”

 

“Oh,” a relieved smile and he replied, “I’m Izuku, ummmmmm, yeah, I don't have a family name anymore either.”

 

Silence fell like a hammer and Izuku shuffled, wondering what to say.

 

“Do you need food?”

 

Looking at how little the kid had, how sweet they were to offer, Izuku shook his head and said, “I don't really eat any more.”

 

“Are you dead now then?”

 

“Oh no, not dead, I’m a quirk, my body died in a fall, soooo stupid,” Izuku rolled his eyes, “and now I eat energy? Kinda? But just a little while ago I got erased by accident. It wasn't anyone's fault, and I’m only just back from that.”

Plopping himself into a stack of long life milk, he shrugged, “Don't know why I’m back really, maybe it’s true that energy never dies just changes.”

 

“What about you?”

 

Being frowned at wasn't new, but “No, you have got to explain how you can be a quirk, or....” Clever amethyst eyes studied him, “Ooooh, you don't know, do you.”

The flat tone robbed it of any question but Izuku answered anyway, “Nope.” Popping the p just because he could, he shrugged, “Died, came back like this, died again, came back, now I’m here, apparently looking like shit.”

 

Laughter really was the best way to feel better, and together they talked through the remainder of the night.

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A new friend!

 

Izuku had made a new friend, one who’d just recently moved to the streets.

 

The fading green and yellow and purple of bruising the reminder of the attack that sent him out of a place that should have been safe and instead had him holed up in an old tree at the tail end of winter, shivering as ice rattled on the branches outside.

 

Wishing he could cuddle and make the kid warmer but when they’d tried it, he did make it warmer but ran out of energy frighteningly fast. Izuku instead perched on the end of the blanket pile and they chatted, him in his imaginary hoodie and only purple eyes showing from the huddled mass of blankets.

 

“So wait, you have a mental quirk, that's clear but….”

 

"Brainwashing, no, go on and fuck off if you’re going to!”

 

The hurt tone hiding in the harsh words had Izuku saying, “Seriously, brainwashing?”

 

Even the eyes were gone now,the covers fully covering his friend but Izuku didn't care, “Try it on me!”

 

A muffled sound of confusion and he thought he'd not been clear enough so he said again, “On me, try it on me, I’m a quirk, will it work, will it hurt, or feel good, what can you do with it if it does work, what if….”

 

“Izuku?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

The world went silent, faded and distant, emotions so far away, he’d been struggling all day with what he’d learned about how much time he’d missed, trying to understand if he’d died or just been turned off. How he’d ever manage to have a real life if something like that could happen and now all of that didn't matter.

 

A snap and the world rolled back in, and he stretched and sighed, feeling better than he had since he woke up on the street having been erased.

 

“Holy fucking gods, that is amazing!”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Your quirk? Fucking amazing!”

 

“No it isn't, it's awful, stupid, sick as fuck and got me…. Got me…. Got….. um…..”

 

Seeing Izuku practically glowing with indignation at how he was describing his quirk Hitoshi drew to a halt and Izuku then tore that opinion to shreds, giving any of a dozen ways it could be used, finishing with…. “I bet it could be MEDICAL as well, like, super stress relief, or or or maybe even, shit, so MUCH, I bet heart rates go down, and blood pressure too, and can you MAKE memories come back, or make them go away, or or or”

 

“Okay, damn, okay, you win, my quirks amazing.”

 

Frowning in suspicion at mirthful yet watery purple eyes, a reluctant grin tugged at Izuku’s lips, and he sighed and said, “Do you want me to stay or come back?”

 

“I just remembered I need to do lots of things today, cause I was turned off for six weeks but I’ll stay if you want.”

 

“Six weeks?”

 

“Yeah,” shivering because he needed more energy and the tree wasn't generating enough, he was relieved when Hitoshi yawned and snuggled deeper into the blankets. “Come back. Promise?”

 

“I promise!”

 

Good.” a series of sneezes interspersed with coughs and Hitoshi said, “You can tell me all about bein’ turned off when you come back.”

 

The sound of coughing followed Izuku as he headed to see his other friends, and he frowned at it, cause what happened if someone on the street got sick? It was something he'd never thought of before but now was a burning worry!

 

 

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Fumi and Shadow almost killed him with their noise alone, never mind hugs, and a flood of tears, not one of them noticing the relieved eyes and ears focused totally on the reunion! 

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"So, the missing one returns, any idea of where they were?"

 

"No Nezu-sama, no idea, and our kiddos don't trust us enough yet to tell us about them. Even the few questions we did try seemed to scare the invisible kid away for ages."  A fleeting expression of sorrow and Nezu reached out and patted her hand, “Worry not, that day will come when they trust you all, for now, we will all work to earn that trust.”

 

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Izuku was worried about Toshi.

 

A nagging grinding concern, always strong because any kid on the streets was in danger but worse now because his friend was sick.

 

Coughing hard all the time, and Izuku had stolen flu meds and heat packs to help keep him warm but it wasn't working, he was shaking so hard even the tree could feel it.

 

And now he wasn't waking up properly.

 

Looking out at the dark, raining again, no ice but still bloody cold, he took one last look at his friend and dropped into the night.

 

He needed help, and he knew where to get it.

 

Headed for UA to leave another note, instead he froze in near terror, because standing on a street corner, just like a normal person, was Eraserhead.

 

Someone he knew could help, but.

 

What if he killed him again?

 

But could Toshi wait for him to get all the way across town and then back with help?

 

A corner shop, still open, decided him, and he easily stole a pencil and notepad, grateful he could time it with someone coming in through the automatic doors, writing a hurried message, desperate not to miss the hero.

 

Please don’t turn my quirk off, you killed me last time and my friend is sick and might die forever if I don't get him help.

 

He’d learned he could wrap himself around something like a notebook and it would be mostly hidden from view, but now he held it up and walked at the hero, and when he saw the man spot it and shift to attack or defend, Izuku paused and waved the pages.

 

Because yes, he could make enough noise for the man to hear him but sneaking up on someone who could erase him utterly? Was STUPID!

 

A tiny hesitant flutter, and he took three slow steps forward and when the adult got even more tense he backed off a step, and fluttered the pages again, and not sure how else to get close enough to hand the note over he tore it off and folded it into a plane and flew it the last dozen feet to land at Eraserhead's boots.

 

Izuku backed up a few more steps so the man could feel better about picking it up and watched him read it.

So many emotions flitted across his face Izuku had no hope at all of figuring them all out but he did get, “What do you mean I killed you?”

 

He did the plane trick again, after writing, I’m a quirk,you turned me off, it took six weeks to come back.

 

Seeing the man reaching for the latest note he wrote another one and flew it right after. Please, will you come, my friend is sick.

 

“Lead the way, kid.”

000000000000000

 

He’d killed a kid.

 

That thought was rocketing around in his head like trapped wasps, stinging every time they landed, but he focused, a sick kid or a trap was at the end of this trip, and having been led by the floating notebook to the base of a towering tree he was braced for a trap but he watched as new words were written down for him, wind had picked up to near howling and he'd be hard pressed to hear a dozen people trying to sneak up on him so was grateful the kid was using pen and paper.

Crossing his fingers the rain held off because then communication really would be impossible! 

 

He’s up in a hole, see that branch that sticks out due east? The crack is just over that, I’ll go up but you need to hurry.

 

And the notebook hit the tree and fluttered to the ground.

 

A pause and it lifted in the air again, and this time it made it half a dozen feet up before falling again and this time Shouta caught it, the kid was clearly flustered too much to think properly.

 

Another point for it either being a trap or the one leading him being younger than he’d first thought.

 

He cast his weapon up and a firm tug had him landing on the branch, where there was a crack, way too tight for someone his size to get in, but the blocking cloth was easy to push aside…

 

The smell of sickness rolled out from behind it, and he shone a light into a tiny cramped space and a flailing arm, a fevered mutter, there really was a kid and they actually were sick, very very sick indeed.

 

Coiling his weapon carefully into the space, he eased it around the kid in the bed and then lifted them clear of the tangled sweat soaked blankets and pulled them to him. Taking a moment to bind the frighteningly thin child to his chest he got them back to the ground as fast as possible.

The kid was burning with fever, dangerously, fiercely hot!

 

Not knowing if the invisible kid was still there or not he said, “If I hurt you I'm sorry, I’ve called an ambulance for your friend, its eta is five minutes, please,” Shouta hurriedly wrote on the notepad, “come to this address tomorrow, I’ll tell you how he is and we can figure something out about making it up to you, shit kid, I really am sorry for hurting you.”

 

Moving swiftly to the road he kept talking, assuring the maybe there maybe not kid that his friend was going to be okay, he’d be taken care of, to please come to that address, it was safe, he swore it was safe and then he was in the ambulance and they were off and away….

 

Leaving a kid behind, alone as the rain started up again in a shriek of storm wind, a kid Shouta had fucking KILLED!!!

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It was official, Eraserhead was his ultimate tip top favoritest hero in the world!

 

“He is so nice!”

 

Wondering what he should do now, he read the note again, tucked it into the secret pocket they’d made for things like this to keep them safe until Hitoshi could bring them up for him, and set out again into the rain, feeling really good about himself.

 

Worried about his friend, but he was with the best hero ever so should be safe now.

 

Skipping along he went to the all night skate-park, it was always good fun to watch the older teens practicing their moves and even in the storm there'd be a few die-hards busting their moves or their asses, depending on their skills!

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The address was near UA, a quiet residential street, almost spitting distance to the boundary wall and so close to Fumi and Shadow’s house he could almost see it, and Izuku paused, cause, how did one go about this?

 

He was invisible to most people, clearly Eraserhead was one of them, and he could knock on the door but would he be, like, pranking them? Cause when the door got opened no one would be there.

Well, he’d be there but, yeah. Izuku sighed and kept thinking, finally deciding to try something new.

 

Gathering up a few twigs and early flowers, he made a tiny bouquet, and held it as he knocked on the door.

 

That way Eraserhead’d know someone was really there!

 

The plan lasted until Present Mic answered the fucking door instead of Eraserhead, and Izuku squawked and dropped the flowers in a fluttering spray.

 

“Oh no, sorry Little Listener, Eraserhead’s still at the hospital, no, it’s okay, your friend is okay!"  - the words soothed his sudden jolt of terror for Hitoshi - “It’s just legal bullshaaaaaah ummmmm crap, yeah, bull crap!”

 

Seeing the voice hero, all dressed down and ears pink for swearing in front of a kid, Izuku couldn't help it, he snorted.

 

“Eeeeeee yes!” the man looked so relieved, “You are still here, please, Hitoshi is going to be in hospital for the next three days at least, so come in, I’ll tell you all about it, and tell you where he is, even take you there if that's even possible with your quirk. Oh, can you have hot chocolate?”

 

Following the hero after scooping up the bunch of battered flowers so the man would have something to pinpoint him with, Izuku tried to be polite and not look around but, well, he was invisible….

 

“That’s okay little listener, have a good look round.” and the hero laughed as the flowers waved wildly about, “Naaaaaaw, it’s what I’d do if I was invisible!” And he laughed again when the flowers settled down.

 

“Now, can you talk or do we give semaphore a try?”

 

Hizashi couldn't help it, the giggle that met that question had him laughing out loud. If the kid was even half as cute as he sounded, Hizashi’s heart was in serious trouble!

Especially if the kids' living conditions were anyway as bad as Hitoshi’s.

 

“Ummmmmm, yes to telling me about my friend, and no thank you to the drink, I don’t really eat any more, haven't for a long time.”

 

And if that wasn't gut churningly concerning, Hizashi didn't know what was!

 

But anything to keep the air talking, so he said, “Good to know, I’ll grab a coffee and then we can sit down and I’ll tell you all about your friend, sound good?”

 

A “Yep!” was chirrped at him and he grabbed his favorite mug with the hopefully cryptic words - Unders Rock Overs - with a kid of unknown age probably reading it just as he thought he maybe should have picked a different one he carefully turned it round to hide the words and followed the bedraggled bundle of late winter twigs into the living room.

 

“Now,” he said as he got comfortable, the coffee more to have something to do with his hands rather than needing another cup, “your friend has double pneumonia, you literally saved his life when you got Shouta’s help.”

 

The tiny noise and he said, “Oh, that’s his name. Eraserhead, Aizawa Shouta, and I’m Yamada Hizashi. We've been friends for a looooong time, married for a few years now too, but keep that to yourself, ‘k?”

 

“Okay, ummmm, thanks?”

 

“For what kiddo?”

 

“Saving my friend.  I was running for UA when I saw Eraserhead and it scared me but he’s such a good hero, it wasn't his fault at all, like, it was me, my fault, not his.”

 

The flowers drooped to land on an invisible lap, “I was following Fumi’s new dad, hoping I’d see Eraserhead cause I’ve read about him but never seen him and I walked right into the middle of, of…. yeah, it was me.”

 

“Sorry.”

 

The final word was almost inaudible, without his aids turned up he’d have missed it totally.

 

“Is it possible to hug you sweetheart?”

 

“What?”

 

“Well, you sound really sad, and that makes me sad, I’m SUCH a sympathy crier and I’d love to give you a hug but only if you want it and - ”

 

“Has anyone in the history of existence ever said NO to a Present Mic hug?”

 

“Well, now that you mention it, that is a pretty rare thing to have happen.”

 

An actual laugh met that statement, along with, “Then I’d love one? Not sure how well it’s gonna work, cause of me being all weird and shi-ummmmm yeah, but, here, I’ll come to you and we can try?”

 

Opening his arms Hizashi watched the now very sad indeed flowers drop onto the chair and then, like someone was inching into his arms, he was holding someone.

 

Bony, small, young.

 

And they felt a bit like an electric shock but not painful, and a bit like a strong wind pressing against him without any wind at all which was freaky indeed and he carefully gathered them in, curling around the child protectively, and held him close as, in some ways unexpectedly, yet in others absolutely predictable, they started crying.

 

They cried for a long time, heart wrenching wails of a lost child, and in a guess, from having worked with so many mental quirks on the job, he poured not just words into the air but energy into the shaking form he was holding.

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It took a little while for the invisible kid to quiet slightly, for their wails to become sobs, and then hiccups, and in a weird way they became less real in Hizashi’s arms, still there but more a feeling than an actual presence and Hizashi realized they’d fallen asleep.

 

Glad he'd already slid back into a more comfortable position, he carefully held very very still.

 

If the kid faded any more he'd lose track of them totally so he simply breathed, ignoring the ache of arms held too long in one position, and let time pass.

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“Oooooooo, I have got to stop doing that!”

 

A tiny frustrated mutter and Hizashi almost whispered, “Doing what?”

 

He almost laughed when he realized the kid was still asleep enough to not even realize he was talking to someone when he replied, “Crying! I keep crying like, how stupid am I, crying isn't helping anything, just gives me a headache and makes noise. How's that gonna help any of this shit?”

 

“Well, I always feel better after I cry. Do you feel any better?”

 

“Kinda,” a sulky mutter, “still stupid though.”

 

He chuckled, glad the feeling of the child's body was stronger now. “I think both of us can be right on this one.”

 

Hoping the sleepy little listener would keep talking, Hizashi asked, “Can you tell me about how you got like this?”

 

“Oh, I guess?” Hizashi’s heart melted when they invisible body snuggled closer, a face pressed against his neck, hair tickling his jaw, and the child proceeded to shatter his heart into a million pieces.

It was easy to just talk, to pretend he was being held by someone who cared about him, to let the halfway dream state just keep going, for warm arms and gentle questions to pull all the sadness out of him, all the secrets out into the open, and he sighed when he reached, “And now I’m here.”

 

“I don’t know what to do next," he added, "cause I’m nothing but a leftover quirk, no one's ever gonna want something like me, and what am I gonna do with my life, well, what life I have anyway.”

 

“All Might was right” (Hazashi was going to kill the symbol of peace with his bare hands as soon as he saw him again!) “I can’t be a hero, not before, and not now either.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Why can’t you be a hero?”

 

“Well, because I don’t have a body, how’m I gonna catch someone like this?”

 

“That's a point. Not a great one, but a point. However, I can feel you.  Here, hold my hand, good,” - fantom fingers gripped his fingers tight - “now, push my hand.”

 

He resisted, letting the kid work for it, and when his hand was all the way down he said, “How old are you now?”

 

“Thirteen, I think?”

 

“Then that was very good for thirteen, and you will only get stronger with training.”

 

“Oh.” a yawning sound and worry stabbed through him because the kid felt much lighter suddenly, much less real. “Are you alright?”

 

“Yeah, that took a bit outta me, I need to go outside.”

 

“Here,” still holding the feeling of a child, Hizashi got up and headed for the door, “I’ll carry and you tell me why we’re going outside.”

 

A giggle and, “I eat sunshine? Oh, and moonlight, and water energy but that's hot, I like that, but just running water, still isn't as nice, and street lamps’r good too even if they are a bit dull, and lightning is super spicy!”  

 

Now outside Hizashi could tell the kid was perking up, he was now almost chattering where before it was all slow pauses and languid words.

 

Going by feel it was like the kid was, “Kiddo, are you eating it?”

 

“Oh yeah, the real world is all hard ‘n solid, but my world now is all wiggly and made of energy stuff, and sunlight, I can hold it in my hands ‘n drink it” - a slurping sound - “like this, it's kinda cool really, one of the best parts of bein’ me now is how easy eating is. I hardly ever sleep! I do sometimes when things get really bad but usually I don't bother.”

 

“Not like when I got erased, it took me six weeks to wake up from that, if I was even asleep, I don't really know."

 

“Present Mic, how can I be me without a body?”

 

Still carefully holding the kid Hizashi replied, “I really don’t know, but you know what I do know?”

 

“What?”

 

“I know I don't know your name!”

 

“Ohhhhhhaha! It’s Izuku. I don't have a family name anymore, my folks replaced me when I died, got a really nice little cat mutation girl, she is soooo sweet. I visited her a few times to make sure they were being good to her, and they are.”

 

“Were they not good to you?”

 

Carefully lowering himself down onto the grass Hizashi expected, and accepted, when his heart broke even more, “No, not really.”

 

“I don't know why my not having a quirk was so bad, and maybe it wasn't even that, maybe it was my being a boy. Mamma used at look at the dresses in shop windows and sigh sometimes, and my father went away for a job when I was five, and maybe it was just an accident of timing that had him leaving right after the doctor told me I didn't have a quirk.”

 

“I’m so gonna sue that man, like, so much! If I ever figure out how, cause he messed up my life totally! My life would have been so much better if he'd not gotten it all wrong like that!”

 

“But my, I guess you could call him a sperm donor cause he really never seemed like a dad, but he just left, and mamma was, well, I just wasn't what she wanted.”

 

“And when I died” - only not tightening his arms around the child's shade with a serious effort at those words - “it took me six months to wake up, and when I ran home there was a shrine and another kid in my room and they’re all so happy now….”

 

“I wish I’d been what they wanted, but if I wasn't good enough then, wow, they really won't want me back now.”

 

Wishing he had Shouta here for this because he was surprisingly good with kids, Hizashi asked, “Do you want to know who might want you?”

 

“You know someone who might want me? Really? It’s not a lab or something, is it?”

 

The deeply suspicious tone had Hizashi laughing as he said, “No it's not a lab, Nezu might actually kill us all if that happened, no, I meant me.”

 

“You?”

 

“Uh huh, me.”

 

“I think,” Hizashi continued in a careful tone, “if you like, we can try you living with Shouta and me, and see if you WANT to stay with us longer term.”

 

“But -”

 

“Nope, no buts, we have all of UA’s teaching and medical staff to help us figure out your quirk and how for you to maybe be seen by more than cats, and Shouta already feels like shit, oh, no, sorry, like….”

 

“Crap?”

 

Hizashi ruffled the hair still tickling his jaw from where the kid was tucked tight against him, every now and then clearly taking sips of something (drinking sunlight was blowing his mind, like, so much) and said, “Yeah, crap, for hurting you and he really wants to make it up to you.”

 

“And I’ve met, well, no, I’ve seen pictures of your friend Hitoshi, and Shouta already wants him to stay with us for a while too, see if he might wanna stay with us for life or longer….”

 

“The two of you are welcome to live with us for a day, or a year, or a hundred years, it’s up to you but yes, we want you.”

 

“But,” Izuku protested, “that's really fast! Don't people like, visit orphans a few times before picking them?”

 

Laughing a bit, Hizashi said, “Well, you got here early, so, if you were an orphan and I’d visited you four times, for an hour each, then I’ve spent more time with you today that that, so nope, I don't need any more time to know what I want.”

 

“How about you?”

Holding tight, sunlight filling the air with power, but the energy the hero had given him not long ago was still thrumming through him, Izuku knew what he wanted.

 

And unlike in his last life, this time he listened to his heart, and to Hizashi’s heart cause he could feel it, and nodded, and said “Yes, please, I want that too!”

 

 

Of course it wasn't that easy, but they’d never tell either of their new kids that.

 

Watching four people playing in a park not long after Hitoshi was well enough to come home from the hospital, only three of them visible to all, Shouta wondered how it was possible to be so terrified and utterly happy at the same time.

 

He’d killed their kid!

 

For six weeks their kid had been gone, turned off, dead.

 

The fact he managed to come back was a miracle they were all working on, so that if it happened again - his wasn't the only negation quirk out there after all - they’d be able to help, perhaps flood the area it happened in with a wash of power, but then again, what was more powerful than the sun?

 

He’d gone to look again at where it happened, seen how where Izuku described was mostly in shadow, so maybe extra power might help, someone with a lightning quirk maybe but he just knew he had to be r -

 

“Shouta, if you don't stop worrying I’m gonna have to beat you half to death with a wiffle bat and that is NOT an idle threat!”

 

He couldn't help it, a chuckle escaped him, and he leaned harder against Hizashi’s shoulder, because his mate could fix anything, even him.

 

Which is when, with a shimmer of air and a long count of seven seconds, Izuku appeared for all eyes to see, something they knew he’d been working hard on but with zero success up until this moment.

 

They knew the kinds of mutations that could see him now, what kinds of animals could see him as well, Nezu being one of them, but for Izuku to manage to shift his spectrum to that of visible light was amazing indeed, worth the almost ultrasonic cheer Hizashi had given on seeing him.

 

Nezu’d been working flat out to get the kid legalized, working with only his most trusted law team, had some how found time to give extra data to them and to the support department on how human eyes see, how an invisible kid could maybe twist that to be visible, at least for short bursts. 

 

Nezu, who was working on something top secret, they only knew it dealt with their new son, and that until he was ready, no force on earth could make him speak.

 

Hitoshi was easy to get into their care! A bad school record - defiant, disruptive, delinquent, the three Ds in other words - an even worse record of foster placements where so many excuses had been used to get rid of him. All of it a lie! The kid was secretive, untrusting and frightened, not anything else he’d been fucking called.

 

A feral cat, which was expected not just with his history of being abused by the very people who should protect him, but his mutation.

 

Mutations changed not just looks and appearances, but behaviors, their other new son was a feral cat in many many ways but he was also human.

 

Treating him as both would win his trust, just like their neighbors (and good friends and coworkers') new son and shadow-daughter were earning their new children’s trust, children were a work in progress and it was going to take time for everyone.

 

Watching Megumi swoop and crow with happiness at Izuku showing himself to the world at last, even if for such a short time, they watched Higari strolling their way, several pairs of goggles dangling from his hands.

 

“It’s your day off oh work-o-holic, whatchu doin wavin shit round like that?”

 

Firmly shoving Hizashi off the bench where he landed in a sprawl of laughing protest, Shouta asked, excitement trembling in his tone, “It worked then?”

 

Frowning down at Hizashi still sprawled on the ground, their clever fingered friend huffed. “Not sure he can have one of my treasures now, pot-san calling me a kettle is a bit rich!”

 

“Yeah yeah yeah, bitch on your own time, gimme!”

 

Making grabby hands Shouta finally got the object of his desire. He’d given Higari a list of various animals that they'd confirmed could see Izuku and how their eyes worked and how that might translate, with the man's genius, into a support item that might let all of them….

 

Slipping them on he drew a shuddering breath as he saw Izuku again, lit up as if made from light, flat on his back on the ground, arms up and waving in time to his moving mouth, all of them clearly talking a mile a minute about something, probably the successful visitation.

 

Settling back, ignoring how tears made the goggles try and slip, how bloody cold his face was getting in the very biting spring wind, Shouta watched FOUR kids, two of them his very own, as they did something so utterly normal as play in a park.

 

Simply curling an arm around Hizashi when he rejoined him on the bench as Higari wandered off with a muffled snort of “Saps!” Shouta was certain he’d never need anything more than this moment.

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Nezu wondered how humans could be such a contradiction, such a paradox.

 

He’d investigated these two, raking a fine toothed comb through their lives ruthlessly and found….

 

Nothing.

 

No reason for the ice cold resentment to their full blood offspring yet their joyous love and adoration to their newly adopted daughter!

 

So, when research reached its end, he took the next logical step.

 

Now sitting in their living room, sipping mediocre tea, he hid his despise of them and asked, and got a totally unexpected answer.

 

Because he was a boy.

 

It all boiled down to that.

 

A woman so certain that she was having a girl, (he’d be investigating the maternity clinic very soon for that slip up, how had they possibly gotten it so wrong?) was so happy and grateful to be getting exactly what she’d wanted all her life that, when handed the actual baby…

 

There were all kinds of medical terms for it, but it simply boiled down to wrong baby syndrome, a fiercely controversial misfiring of the parental bond that had started with the advent of quirks but what it meant in the real world was, she couldn't love the one she had because it wasn't the one she wanted.

 

And her unhappiness in turn infected her mate who’d taken a well paying yet distant job to separate from the, for him as well, wrong baby.

 

Wrong child by that time.

 

Wishing nothing more than to simply destroy them both but, he'd met the replacement child already, had set it up as a school inspection - the school board would be doing a full revamp of that school and the inspections and reviews were already well under way as per his recommendation - and she was a darling, and happy.

 

They too were happy - undeserved, yet for the child he’d let it stand - so he bowed to the whims of destiny, did not tell them Izuku was alive, in a fashion anyway, and instead asked for….

 

The woman’s face wrinkled in puzzlement, “Izuku’s baby book?”

 

“Yes, as I explained before, recent light has been shed on the incident that took your son from you, his death was an assisted accident, he in no way shape or form wished to die.”

 

Letting that sink in a moment he went on, “I am gathering any and all evidence possible to make sure the one responsible earns what they deserve, and to that effect I need anything you still have of Izuku’s, as well as any possible remaining DNA samples, and a baby book is the most likely source of that as well at this point in time.”

 

Nodding, the man - Nezu refused to even think of him as Izuku’s father, that honor went to his own kittens Shouta and Hizashi - went to retrieve a medium sized cardboard box while the woman took the urn from the family shrine, small enough to fit in the cup of her hands, filled with the ashes of a child taken too soon.

 

Taking it with careful, reverential hands, Nezu remembered his talk with the replacement child.

 

“So I did-ed see Zuzu?”

 

“Indeed yes, you did.”

 

“Good, mmmm’likedid him!”

 

And as she’d begun to purr at the memory of meeting an imaginary brother, he’d smiled.  

 

“Will e see me’gain?”

 

Hopefulness bled through her tone, and Nezu had smiled again and said that yes indeed, she’d see her friend again, he couldn't promise when, but it would happen.

 

She’d bounced off then, back to class after giving him a surprise hug, leaving him with a drawing she’d made and carried everywhere with her just in case her brother showed up unexpectedly, one all blobby with color, stick arms holding scribbled hands, and Nezu wished to just take her, but that wasn't possible, his rage at her parents didn't make them bad for her, just for his own grand kitten.

 

Looking into the box he’d just been given by the man he looked at the notebooks and journals, the mementos of a childhood lonely in the extreme, and lifted out the hope he was pinning so much on.

 

Opening it he thumbed through the Days Of Baby, weight, heights, milestones and pictures and hopes and wishes all written and taped in and there it was, a tiny vial, baby teeth.

 

Ruthlessly repressing any reaction to that discovery, he flipped a few more pages, closed the book, placed it and the urn into the box and took his leave.

He'd thought it wasn't possible to despise two people more than these two when the woman proved him wrong when she asked, “Was it Katsuki?”

 

His blank calm expression had her asking again, “He was friends with him when they were little, please, tell me it wasn't Bakugou Katsuki who, who….”

 

Looking at the two of them, his arm wrapped around her, Nezu carefully asked, “You knew of the bullying?”

 

“Yes, of course I did! I hoped it would stop on its own. Katsuki is such a great kid, I knew he'd get tired of Izuku eventually, and if Izuku’d just left him alone it would all be over. I tried to make Izuku see that but he was always so stubborn, so sure he was, well, just, please, who was it?”

 

Desiring nothing more than to make it hurt he kept his posture relaxed, he had what he’d come for, “No, it wasn't Katsuki who pushed your son,” - the relief on their faces was much too soon - “but he did contribute to Izuku’s death and that deed will not go unpunished, he is already blacklisted from my school and has exactly one year to change my mind before he is blacklisted from every hero school in the country.

 

He was almost out the door when he paused, turned just enough for them to see one eye and a mouthful of teeth as he growled, “I’ll be watching you. If you are not perfect parents, perfect in every way, I’ll have Tenna away from you and both of you in prison faster than you can blink.”

 

Leaving the stink of their terror behind, he took his treasures away with him.

 

He had a meeting to get to, one he was filled with uncharacteristic hope for.

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Step one: success.

 

Hands shaking slightly, Nezu poured tea, breathing a steady rhythm as he inhaled the steam, fragrant and warm, because step two was a success as well.

 

Aizawa Izuku - he’d made sure the child had a new name to go with his new legal status, along with Hitoshi, also now an Aizawa as the name Yamada might be a touch dangerous for either boy to carry - had left behind six baby teeth before his then mother had clearly lost any interest in the book, one traditionally given to said child when they turned twenty.

 

He’d not bothered to ask if she got bored with it or simply expected him to not be there to take it from her but.

 

Ah but!

 

Six teeth.

 

DNA

 

Uncorrupted, not cremated, fresh and safe and clean.

 

And his newly hired, ultra special part of the emergency heroics medical team of UA was a lovely young fem, with an amazing cloning quirk.

 

Given DNA she could replicate, down to the very last cell, a perfect copy of a person.

 

A body ONLY.

 

No mind, no memories, no thoughts or intelligence or soul or remnant, simply a body.

 

He’d poached her, blatantly and without hesitation poached her with the promise of hero training at UA itself. She’d wanted to be a hero her entire life but with her quirk she'd been forced to go into medical training for her government.

 

It wasn’t often he fielded a mission of his own now but he'd gotten in and out, liberating both her and eight others (so perhaps more a rescue than poaching) trapped by a governing body because of what their quirks could do for them.  All of them were now part of his staff, safe and happy and getting so much therapy the counseling department had expanded to fit their needs.

 

Well, with UA she, and any of them who wanted to be a hero, could.

 

She was happy to help his own private project, and easily created a copy of Izuku, which was currently hooked up to several machines to keep the brain sending the proper signals to keep the body alive. Without the mechanical assistance the clone would eventually stop working and die but with the correct procedures, it would live for years.

 

An empty vessel, one he happened to know someone badly needed.

 

Because yes, Izuku had survived so far as a quirk, invisible to most, but it was a quality of life that was questionable at best, and with Nezu’s new information on the sustainability of that same life, it was worth the risk of trying at least to give the child a body back.

Now to convince the parents.

 

 

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“You what?”

 

Nezu was nervous, not an emotion he was used to feeling but, despite facing his own children, boys he’d raised from age ten onwards, he was also now facing parents.

 

Meddling was what he did, they knew that, it was hard wired into his very bones but…

 

He’d been meddling with their child.

 

They'd already been through his legalizing their fostering-soon-to-be-actual-adoption for both boys, how he’d not gotten the death certificate on Izuku reversed but instead.

 

Holding the pages carefully Hizashi said, "A whole new identity, dad? Why?"

 

Telling them all about their poor Izuku’s existence before his body died at age eleven (the age was still a gut punch, and a further year and a half either gone or living alone didn't make it feel any better) how he’d already brought the proper authorities down onto the school district, how his bullies were facing not prosecution but retraining, the teachers already in jail, the villain training experiment the school had actually been shut down, the mastermind behind it also in prison now, the mess from hell he’d discovered simply investigating the death of a single quirkless child.

 

“He does not need any connections back to that.”

 

“This way, if he chooses to reach out to his past, he will be older and better prepared, will have had help with his trauma and have you both to help him.”

 

“All of us,” Shouta murmured, “he has all of us Dad.”

 

Some of the sick fear inside bled away, and Nezu agreed, “Yes, maybe, all of us but….”

 

A cup was set with force before him, he’d not even noticed Hizashi getting up, “Drink that and tell us what you did!”

 

“No, we both know you did something, and you're clearly afraid of how we’ll take it.”

 

“As you’ve already given us our sons legally, all tied up in a bow, and discovered both of their back stories, sorted out an entire school district in vengeance for Izuku, came in like a cleansing fire for the child protection services bastards that fucked Hitoshi over so badly, I really can NOT see what you might have done to be this worried.”

 

Reaching slowly over Shouta carded gentle fingers through the hair still standing on edge along his dad's spine, rubbing behind his ear, and nodded his agreement to what Hizashi’d already said.

 

Finger cupped around the heat of the cup Nezu laid out the experiment, an empty body, DNA identical to the dead child, the chance, so slim, so tiny, for the quirk still alive and almost well to rejoin with an organic envelope.

 

A chance for a child to grow up, rather than remain frozen in time, for what time they had left.

 

How the quirk would grow in learning, and experience, yet would not live as a human would, no puberty, no physical changes at all, clothes that would never change, round baby cheeks always freckled with youth.

 

Nezu talked to his cup, not wanting to see them draw back, for them to be repulsed at his ruthless pragmatism as so many were by him.

 

“Oh dad, oh no, come here!”

 

And he was being held, both his boys so close, they hadn’t run, hadn't screamed at him for taking the risk, hadn't drawn back as so many had when his pragmatic and practical nature combined with his quirk and mind to come up with solutions that were….

 

Inhuman.

 

It had been flung at his head all his life, even now, a hero and teacher and owner of the largest hero school in his country, the most famous in the world.

 

Not even noticing he muttered the word aloud, “Inhuman.”

 

“No you're not.” Shouta’s voice was fierce, low, “You are NOT human, it’s different and if you were thinking, weren't letting…..” 

 

“Letting….”

 

Tears stopped him continuing so Hizashi took over, as he so often did, “Hate voices are still in your head, even now they are trying to be louder than us right now but Dad, I’m the VOICE hero, I’m loud enough to drown those fucking voices out!”

 

“You’re my dad, my Sama, my boss and my teacher and my savior and my fucking DAD and you are NOT human and I am grateful!”

 

“It was humans who muzzled me, humans who locked Shou in closets with a bag over his head, humans who hurt us and would have destroyed us, sold us both into slavery, you found us, found the container we were stuffed into, you saved us!”

 

“Humans hurt us, YOU saved us.”

 

“Now,” tears soaking his fur as he was damned near crushed between them, “just tell us  more about the fuck you came up with cause its gonna be amazing!”

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Looking down at the tiny body in the normal sized hospital bed, Hizashi asked, “How old is the clone?”

 

“We used the largest tooth available but it was clearly not the last of the baby teeth to fall out, she stopped collecting…..” gathering his emotions where they still wanted to skitter and run, “Between nine and ten, the clone is biologically between nine and ten, if this works Izuku will legally be counted as nine.”

 

“Not bad, four years lost physically but then again, he’s lost seven and a half full months just to being turned off as a quirk.”

 

His Shouta, so pragmatic, Nezu was filled with pride, as well as relief.

 

Hizashi though was dripping tears as he whispered “Will it work?”

 

“We don't know.”

 

The words were brisk yet filled with kindness, “Zashi child, we simply do not know.”

 

Placing a palm against the forehead of the empty body Chiyo shook her head, “But it is worth the risk.”

 

Looking up at the two very tall young men, she couldn't help but remember them as gap-toothed scamps and smiled, although it fell away just as fast.

 

“He’s going to die, isn't he.”

 

It wasn't even a question but she replied as if it had been.

 

“Yes Shouta love, he’s dying now, even as we speak.”

 

She simply watched as the three collapsed onto the floor together, arms entwined. “The examinations, all the research, the repeat tests, it's a simple fact, Aizawa Izuku is dying.”

 

“He could last a year or be gone today, but he will not last much longer.”

 

“I’m dying?”

 

The shocked voice came from empty air, and all of them jumped.

 

They’d tried to get all the facts before telling Izuku, to have an option for him, options even, but their clever little one had found them out regardless.

 

Pushing his goggles into place Hizashi made grabby hands at him as Shou said, “Come here Izu, come on, we were going to talk to you tonight, you and Toshi both.”

 

“And Toshi,” he raised his voice, “you can come in too, come on now, that's it, good boy, good boys.”

 

Chiyo made them get up off the floor, to move to the side of the room and to sit on the couches provided, near enough to see the still figure on the bed, and then, for the next few hours, they all talked.

 

Nezu first, then her, then the boys about their lives, Shouta and Hizashi too, an ever flowing conversation about lives lived and choices now before them, and a chance.

 

At this point Izuku had exactly two options, risk trying to integrate into a new body or die.

 

It really was that simple.

 

Looking down at his hands, where they not only didn't look like when he’d woken the first time but were even more transparent than when he’d woken up the second, he asked, “How long?”

 

“We really don’t know.  I’m sorry Izuku, I really am.” Voice filled with somber regret at not being able to fix something like this, Chiyo continued, “And there is no way to know if what we want to try will even work, or if it’ll, well….”

 

“Hurt?”

 

“Yes lovie, we have no idea. It might be easy as winking or not possible at all or anything in between.”

 

“Then, let's try it.”

 

The voice was almost inaudible, despite knowing how hard the child was trying, and Hizashi said “Whoa, right, good, we have a decision, good good good BUT, it’s what, noon?"

"Good, we will spend the rest of today OUTSIDE! Izuku, you will spend the entire time not just in the sun but we’ll go to the side park, the one with the stream in it, I know water is different so how about you alternate, sun and water power? Lets see how much you can pack away!”

 

“That way by evening you'll be at full power for the try, how's that sound?”

 

Everyone nodded, and they all went out, even Chiyo. If it was the last time they might have their little one alive and well, because the attempt itself might kill him, then they all wanted to be present as he charged up for the attempt.

 

Even if they got a few odd looks with the matching goggles on every single face, even Hitoshi joined in, despite not needing them to see Izuku!

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Looking down at the body Izuku knew why it looked so much younger than he’d been, well, if he was thirteen now, then the body was nine or ten cause that was the tooth they used, and while it was weird it affected his age like that the quirk used worked like that and his body was younger than he was, weird indeed and his new dads said he’d be in therapy for life from this point on and he agreed.

 

His life had seriously been a bit messed up!

 

Laughing he just looked at himself, the scar across his collar bone was gone, never happened to this him, his wrist was clear too, and he bet all of his scars were gone, cause they hadn't started actually injuring him until he was ten, almost eleven, and it started kinda slow and then he died.

 

Be nice to not have those reminders though, really nice!

 

Thinking of what Chiyo and Nezu had said, that he needed to be calm, to not worry, that he should just breathe and touch the body when he was ready.

 

To see how it felt to touch first, and then try to imagine himself inside it, to fill his mind with how it had felt to be alive, human, living and breathing and eating and even crying and laughing and peeing and eating big bowls of soup.... all the bits of being human one forgets when no longer wearing a body.

 

Not knowing everyone was praying he really could remember it enough to help, Izuku reached out and touched his face, and it was a crackle of energy, like static, but warm and…. 

 

Nice.

 

His body felt nice, the crackle easing to a tingle, and he leaned closer, pressing his fingers deeper, running them down the arm, trying to place his energy fingers into flesh fingers like fitting a glove.…

 

Pulling back slightly it was hard, much harder even that water to get free of, and eventually he changed directions instead, leaving his hand stuck yet maneuverable, and climbed up to kneel on the bed.

Gently easing around so he was sitting in the body, hips now swiveling to line up his legs and feet with the prone form on the bed.

 

It felt, warm, heavy, a weighted blanket, he didn't notice the banks of monitoring devices going off, soundless alarms as he flexed his legs and watched the one on the bed twitch and jerk in response.

 

Tired.

 

He was suddenly so tired, and yawned, leaning back now, propped on his elbows, shoulders aching to hold the position, head beginning to fall back regardless of how hard he was straining.

Suddenly frightened at the feeling of being sucked into the body he looked over and his two dads were right there, goggles letting them see, and…. 

 

“It’s alright sweetheart, it’s going to be fine, lay back now, we’re right here, right here, not going anywhere, we know it's scary,” both of his hands were being held now, and he could feel them, and he gave a sob as he slid back more, and his favorite hero and awesome dad had a hand under Izuku’s energy head, and his other favorite hero was there too, other dad as Hitoshi liked to call Hizashi, they’d argued a bit over what to call him, other dad or pops or pappa.

 

Supported by them both he felt some of the fear ease, and nodded, and they gently lowered him, their knuckles resting of the body below him as his shoulders and chest met and merged with the flesh him, leaving just his head supported now by their fingertips.

 

They shifted, and he felt their fingers smooth across the side of his head as that too was pulled down, fully part of the newly created flesh housing at last.

 

Breathing.

 

He’d been doing it all along, but now it was, air was, he was gasping harsh barks of air in near panic at how different it felt.

 

But he was being soothed, words, hands, a sharp smell of mint, the chocolate kind he loved so much, a smell of comfort.

 

Breathing got easier, a cool breeze of oxygen from a newly placed cannula.

 

But his eyes didn't want to work, darkness sliding up on him.

 

But not the dark of not being.

 

The dark of eyes closed, and he tried to say, “Oh, I forgot.” but it was too much, he yawned instead and fell deeply and utterly asleep instead.

 

Watching their son and grandson merging with the experimental quirk created body on the bed was one of the most nerve wracking things any of the adults in the room had ever seen.

 

Their beloved energy boy, so short a time with them all to be so important, so dear, so treasured, being ever so gently sucked into the body on the bed, to see his fear suddenly surge, Shouta and Hizashi leaping to comfort, to sooth, like the wonderful parents Nezu’d always known they’d be, them holding his ghostly head with careful fingers, letting it lower with such care.

Oxygen from a cannula below the little scrunched up nose, the body trying to speak, more comfort given and then a yawn and. 

 

Asleep.

The body on the bed was asleep and now three strangers, all with incredible quirks, one a foresight quirk, only useful after the fact, because it was probable outcomes across the next six hours, and she rested the tips of all ten fingers on the tiny sleeping face and smiled.

 

“He’ll sleep for five hours, wake for a few moments, and sleep again.”

 

Sitting back she added, “That’s as far as my quirk takes me for now. Again later?” She asked Nezu and he nodded, “Yes indeed, I’ll call you when it’s time.”

 

She left the bedside but not the room, clearly wanting to see what happened next.

 

Next was a quirk called ease.

 

Such a tiny word, but it was a powerful concept, and the older male cupped both cheeks and smiled as he poured the soothing balm of his quirk into the child, and their breathing settled, blood pressure as well, heart rate gentling, all across the board, brain scans as well, all of it eased.

 

Sitting back he smiled, “That’s all I’ve got but he’s much better now, settled in, no idea what caused such a feeling of disconnect but it's gone now, he’s sleeping peacefully.”

 

They could see that, all the red warning lights on the machines hooked to Izuku had eased into yellow, most into green.

 

A very young student now, clearly nervous, smoothing her school uniform down, took the vacated seat, and Hizashi took her hands, and smiled as he leaned over Izuku to say, “It’s alright Aika, take a few deep breaths, you'll do just fine.”

 

Nezu added, “Success or not, your place next year in the hero healing course is assured, deep breaths child and just do your best.”

 

Smiling with a bit more assurance the cotton candy pink hair waved as she nodded, a shy smile as she took her hands back and placed them on Izuku’s chest.

 

Nothing showed, other than a slight frown, and nine and a half minutes later she jerked back as she took deep breaths of air, Shouta catching her as she almost fell, holding her trembling body a he got into the chair, cradling her now as she buried her face into his chest with pink ears to match her hair and managed to say, “He’s good, it’s good, it was mostly good already, I was just checking all his nerves were connected properly, a few weren’t lining up right, took awhile but,” she giggled with relief,” I did it.”

Looking up with a huge grin, “I did it!”

 

“Indeed you did, well done.”

 

It was Chiyo who said it, and added, “I look forward to seeing you in my classes next year, youngster, your entrance exam today has been perfectly executed, you have properly earned your place.”

 

Nerve Map, a healing quirk, subtle and powerful.

 

Making sure she drank the entire glass of recovery potion, grimacing at the taste, Hizashi snuck her a lemon drop to get rid of the nastiness and her parents came in, a brief discussion about her perhaps joining early, yes she’d be a bit younger than the rest but for safety sake it might be….

 

Letting Nezu lead them out of the room, to hand them over to Ryou, Shouta and Hizashi tuned it all out, simply waiting for, and the door opened, Nemuri leading Hitoshi by the hand, and they all smiled when he hesitated for a moment….

 

Before bolting forward to be caught in Shouta’s arms who cradled him as they all told him how well it was going, how promising.

 

Izuku wasn't out of the woods yet but it was so much better than they’d hoped, all the lights now were green, and their son slept, and breathed on his own.

 

He dreamed, for the first time in so long, and while Izuku didn't remember it when he woke up, he did remember how nice it was.

 

Not as nice as waking up, that was amazing, so slow, and warm, and cozy, he blinked his eyes open, managed to drink the water he was given, to say “Thanks Dads” and fall back asleep.

 

The relief in the room could have floated ships it was so thick!

 

_______________________________________________________

 

It took time but from that moment on, it was a progression of tiny steps to recovery, both mental and physical.

 

Relearning walking was much faster than anyone expected, Izuku was up and running inside a week, but it took a full year to access his quirk again.

 

Eating remained a work in progress, he simply tended to forget he couldn't eat sunlight but everyone helped keep him on schedule, even when he got frustrated with it all.

 

Fumi and Shadow and Hitoshi took every single chance to play together with Izuku, and they all trained for getting into the hero course as a group as well, but it was more for fun than anything else, they’d learned Shadow was younger than anyone thought she was which had been a surprise indeed.

 

Closer to Izuku’s new age than to Fumi’s, so Hitoshi and Fumi, after talking it over with their new family and with their friends new dads, decided to wait an extra year to take the entrance exam.

That way the younger two could both catch up a bit more and while they’d still be youngest in class, and the older two would be the oldest in class, but as a team they’d get through just fine.

 

All the parentals all agreed, and without the stress of a hard deadline life could simply be enjoyed for a while, which all of them badly needed.

 

Watching them practicing their rolls and runs in the front garden as the late spring evening began to draw down, all the adults traded sharp grins as Shouta stealthily opened the big doors and Hizashi yelled, “TAG! EVERYONE YOUNGER THAN TWENTY IS IT!!!”

 

Adults bolted in every direction, kids giving yells of glee, the summer evening rang with the sounds of family.

 

 

Sipping his tea, Nezu simply smiled from his seat on the porch and occasionally pointed a child to where a parent was hiding. If his older kids couldn't hide properly, it wasn’t Nezu’s fault and of course he’d help the kittens, even if every now and then the intel he gave was incorrect.

 

It's never too early to start proper hero training!

 

Notes:

______________________________

Wrong Baby Syndrome came about with the advent of quirks and mutations, when a parent or parents are totally and immovably convinced they were given the wrong baby at the hospital!

Like alien limb syndrome, there really isn't a cure for it.

Good parents love the wrong baby/child regardless while always mourning the lost RIGHT baby, but most simply do not, will not, and can not love the baby/child they have for wanting the one they think they've lost.

Oh, while we don't see it here, Nezu and UA bring a sledgehammer to the meeting table and destroy All Might, he retires rather than face the legal repercussions of what he did to Izuku.